Update Pic - glosso gone, cloudy water gone

[cowman345]

Updated tank shot: 75gal planted, 3 months old (eventual goal: planted mbuna)

Travis, Lonewolf - Thanks for the advice about overdosing iron possibly being linked to cloudy water... I cut down on my iron a bit and the tank is clear again - steady clear for 2 weeks now, though it did take some time to clear after I reduced the iron.

Still trying to get a handle on fertilization, but i'm getting better at making predictions. Siamese Algae eaters are doing a great job of cleaning up, and growing fast. I hope to be ready for some Cichlid fry in the next couple months.

All my staghorn algae is GONE. SAEs eat the stuff pretty nicely (bristlenose pleco may help here) but they prefer the softer algae. Once the soft stuff was gone, they ate all the staghorn.

Still have some green thread algae here and there... SAEs keep it at bay, but can't quite keep up... anyone know why this algae sticks around? I heard it may be due to excess iron. Anyone else have input?

BTW, tore up my Glosso... that stuff was driving me nuts, it was growing too fast and thick and became inundated with riccia growing throughout it which made it a growth bed for algae. I think it looks better now... I'd love a slow growing, short ground cover... any ideas?



-dave-

 

[rich311k]

That tank is looking great!!

 

[Purrbox]

Your tank is looking really nice. I love how you've used the red plants and rock in your aquascape.

As for as a slow growing carpet, if you want a similar look to glosso you could check out the marsilea sp. (clovers).

 

[BlazerFRS]

that's super impressive...

Nice work!

 

[czcz]

Awesome tank. Love your crypts.

Still have some green thread algae here and there...

What's your dosing schedule and test results? Fwiw, I get thread when N bottoms out.

 

[Florida8]

Your tank looks great!!!

 

[travis simonson]

Beautiful tank and super healthy looking plants man! You're doing a great job I love the color of that sword, what species is it?

 

[azn_fishy55]

The tank is looking superb ^_^ I think the sword is E.rubin.

 

[Glenc]

Very nice tank, And relatively fast! Very Inspiring.

 

[cowman345]

Thanks for all the compliments! I must be doing something right...

Travis, the sword in question is Echinodorus osiris rubra or Echinodorus barthii - Red Melon. I thought you had some of those at one point since I based most of my plants on what you had in your tanks... anyway, how's that downoi doing for you? Know where I can get my hands on some?

czcz, my dosing isn't down pat quite yet... generally it goes like this: Sunday water change, mon, wed, fri NPK to target 20:20:30ppm respectively. tues, thurs, sat I dose Plantex CSM+B plus iron chelate (1tbs CSM+B and 1tsp Iron Chelate in 500ml H2O) about 6.5ml.

My nitrates hit a low of about 10ppm accoring to my AP test kit (following instructions religiously)... perhaps they do bottom out and the kit doesn't pick it up. For some reason my Phosphates always read about 2ppm... seems weird, think it's the test kit.

-dave-

 

[Newzpix]

Beautiful tank! I'm with you on the glosso -- thinking of tearing mine out too, for the same reasons you did.

Have you settled on a ground cover plant?

 

[Zagz]

Very beautiful, I must learn how to plant a tank one of these days! The results are amazing!

 

[sherry]

gorgeous tank!!!

 

[cowman345]

newzpix - I was thinking of downoi like Travis is doing, but I'm open to suggestions if you have any. I need something slow growing.. the glosso exploded like wildfire and i couldn't keep up.

-dave-