Starting over...how?

[eparadis]

Hi all. I am not so happy with my tank these days. I had planted it a long time ago sort of randomly before I knew about this site, or anything about planted tanks. I have upgraded some equipment and want to replant the tank. Here are the stats:

55g FW
HOB filter rated at 120 gpm
130 watt PC light
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 5-10 ppm
Nitrite - 0
Kh - 89.5 ppm
Gh - 125.3 ppm
Ph - 7.6
Co2

Fish - Big fat pleco, baloon Molly, Albino Cory Cat, 10-12 Red wag swordtails, 1 clown loach

Current plants - some version of amazon swords and some other random plants. Most are coated with black algae of some sort, I am going to do some trimming in a minute. A lot of the outer leaves are rotting off, but the inner part of all the plants look pretty green. There is some hairy algae on my ornaments and I am looking for some Siamensis to handle that.

Opinions?

 

[Guest]

Whats your substrate?
Planning on CO2?

You have enough light (2.4 wpg.) for some plants, but not those that require high light. You would still have very many plants to choose from.

The pleco could cause trouble, when they are big they can uproot plants or eat too many leaves.

 

[eparadis]

Substrate is just basic gravel. I have a HOB CO2 canister that I use off and on. I am trying to keep the surface calm and lowered the output tubes from the filter to about halfway down the tank. I have not tested for iron, should I? I throw in some plant fertilizer every now and then. I know my substrate is not so hot for plants, but I do not have the capacity to empty it and start completely over.

I try to keep my Pleco happy with an algae wafer, but I have been avoiding those since I wonder about their contribution to the algae bloom I have. He is about 8 inches long. His dorsal fin is awesome, he is my favorite fish in the tank, so I don't mind too much if he snacks on the plants.