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The otos have been doing a great job of cleaning the glass and have moved on to the algae on the red melon swords and rosette swords -- haven't been helping with the more wispy brown algae that's coating/choking my cabomba's. However after 6 days of happy otos and no ammonia or nitrites, I've...

Nitrites were zero this morning; dosed to 2ppm this morning, and was back to 0 ammo/0 nitrite by 6pm, nitrates under 20. I went to the fish store and picked up 6 otos. Five look very happy, can't find the sixth, but I know they can be very good at hiding. Four are attached to the glass doing...

Nitrites have dropped below 1! Getting close, finally. Hopefully they'll hit zero and stay there soon, and I can find a time to get to the store mid-week.

And the nitrites are finally dropping! The test still reads 5ppm, but it took the full five minutes to develop to that color, instead of the usual instant color change. I've been adjusting the pH a little higher since that favors the second stage bacteria, maybe that's been helping jump start...

Looks like my Apon U, is sending up a flower spike! I must be doing at least something right.

So was lazy and only did a 25% WC. Nitrites are still through the roof, but at least nitrates are reading non-zero (more than 0 less than 5) for the first time, so maybe the nitrite consumers are starting to work. Course the ammonia bacteria are a little too active :) I don't want them to...

These nitrites are crazy... All told today I've done an effective 66% WC (several serial smaller WCs... I know they are less effective than a single large one but easier to avoid disturbing plants, etc). Nitrites are still above 5ppm. Did an additional test using 1/3 tank water, 2/3rd tap...

I seem to have a fair bit of biofilm :) that's why I thought to get some ottos to help control that. At least it looks like pictures of brown algae, growing on large rocks, glass, and hanging off some of the more fine plants. References are saying ottos love it :) I don't dose glut or...

Cool, I'll swing by a Lowes later today. Tank cycles ammonia like there's no tomorrow (2ppm to 0 in under 24 hours), but nitrites are at crazy high levels (off the chart after a 40% water change). Going to do another large wc change in a bit. I'd really like to be able to get a few ottos soon...

Got the BML today, already setup over the tank, looking good. Visually it looks about as bright as my existing light (but you can tell its biased towards the red end of the spectrum. I'll get some pictures later. Going to have to control it manually for a bit -- just noticed the wall timers I...

BML should be here soon, but switched to PPS-Pro today (from all the Seachem stuff previously), and wow, so much more pearling! Hoping the stem plants recover now that other parts of the aquarium seem so much happier

Oooh, my BML has shipped... soon, soon :) Guess I'll swing back by the LFS tonight, wanted to pick up some more DBT, now that I know I can make it happy in my tank.

I'll check the texture of the dots on the leaves when I get home, I suspect based on appearance I have two different types of things growing. I'm just happy that I've managed to save the DBTs. The main fix was just keeping the light fixture directly above them, and moving one of the stem...

I'll pass on the assassin's I think I'm getting them under control and I think my cycle's starting to work, finally seeing a good nitrite spike and dropping ammonia. No rising nitrate's yet, but until I see the nitrites drop, rapidly, I assume the plants are consuming nitrates faster than...

I'm hoping I'm about the turn the corner on getting the things dialed in. Planning to do a 30-40% WC change this weekend(was hoping to do 10-20% multiple times a week and avoid larger ones, but this week's been hectic) and some pruning of the less healthy shoots, might pick up a few more plants...

No, the CO2 had been on (subject to the ph controller overriding that) all night. I had finally managed to get a pretty consistent 4bps flow going and didn't want to mess with it. don't have it also hooked up to a timer yet. Without any livestock, didn't think it would cause problems to leave...

Got my drop checker finally. This morning pre-lights coming on it was a little on the yellow side and the pH controller had shut off the co2, so looks like I have that dialed in just about right.

Just ordered the BML light 6500XB. Tank is slowly turning around and colors are returning, but its taking moving the light back and forth (hence when I have two fixtures I should be solid). new growth on the red melon sword is nice and colorful, as is the purple cabomba. The DBT is starting...

So is it best to cut & remove the melting leaves once its clear they're melting and not merely unhealthy?

I've sent the BML light guys an email, with goals and the stats on the current light. Hope to hear back from them soon. Current things I'm trying to understand: 1) WTH is going on with my regulator, I still can't get it to a nice 3-5 bps range. If I set it to ~4 bps, 10 minutes later its a...

So the tank seems to be doing a little better with the slightly increased light (no cover) and increased ferts and co2. Some of the purple cabomba is getting its color back. The Apon. U is still melting, but that's expected. The Dwarf Baby tears are having the worst time, so I'm thinking...

That's a good point, there is some change. I'll have to track it better, but I think if anything it would be going the opposite direction. (Ie I turn off the CO2 overnight. Start it up in the morning, an hour or so before the lights turn on. Room temp is normally ~72-74. Thermostat allows...

I've removed the glass top for today, I'll see if the cabomba start to look any better with the stronger light in a day or so. Still futzing with the regulator, it seems that after about an hour the bubble flow slows rather dramatically. In the past I had it set to ~2 bps, but it would be down...

OK, so just expected melt on the Apon U, that's good to know. The cabomba's should be getting plenty of both light and co2. The light's about 6-9 inches from the tops of the cabomba's and they're on axis directly under the light. The manufactorer reports 172 PAR at 12 inches on axis. I go...

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely try that next time. Came home from work and my tank is less happy :( More purple cabomba uprooted itself and it was fine this morning and since friday... All the top leaves (that were the nice purple/pink) are turning white in both the floating ones and...