WhiteCloud
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have had a 90 Gallon tank for 6 months now...and my plan was always to make it a planted tank since day 1.
I now have:
1. 2-2.5 Inch Gravel Base (with Laterite 110oz mixed in lower 1/2 of Gravel per instructions on box)
2. 4 x 96 Watt Coralife FW CF Aqualight (providing 3 watts/gallon)
3. Pressurized CO2 Bringing pH from 7.8 to 7.0
4. KH = 4 (was 6 prior to CO2)
5. GH = 6
6. Amm=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=5-10
7. Twice a week dosing with Seachem Flourish
Given this...I should have the most beautiful planted tank. CO2 should be about 18ppm given KH and pH. Plants seem to be growing well (except I have roots growing where leaves should be...but that is another post) and I have pearling happening on the leaves.
..But alas...my tank is a mess! I have a green/brown diatomic mess! At Christmas my Grandfather said "oh, is the glass tinted green"...this was after a scraping the day before.
The water is Cloudy and somewhat Green, I have some tough green algae growing on the glass and gravel, and I have thick Brown Diatoms (I think) covering the leaves of many of the plants (yet some are unaffected) and the slate in the tank. I have 2 otos in the tank...with the fullest bellies you can have. I feed once a day...and only feed what the fish will eat in about 1 minute...and little falls to the grown (which is then taken care of by a Cory)
Tank has for plants: Rotala rotundifolia "Red", Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Anubias spec. barteri, Mayaca fluviatilis (mostly dead from cold shipping...but starting to root), Hygrophila difformis, Heteranthera zosteraefolia, Alternanthera reineckii, Vallisneria spiralis , Dwarf Sagittaria , Sagittaria subulata.
Looking for any and all suggestions? I thought I had done everything right...but something is wrong somewhere!
HELP!
WC
I now have:
1. 2-2.5 Inch Gravel Base (with Laterite 110oz mixed in lower 1/2 of Gravel per instructions on box)
2. 4 x 96 Watt Coralife FW CF Aqualight (providing 3 watts/gallon)
3. Pressurized CO2 Bringing pH from 7.8 to 7.0
4. KH = 4 (was 6 prior to CO2)
5. GH = 6
6. Amm=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=5-10
7. Twice a week dosing with Seachem Flourish
Given this...I should have the most beautiful planted tank. CO2 should be about 18ppm given KH and pH. Plants seem to be growing well (except I have roots growing where leaves should be...but that is another post) and I have pearling happening on the leaves.
..But alas...my tank is a mess! I have a green/brown diatomic mess! At Christmas my Grandfather said "oh, is the glass tinted green"...this was after a scraping the day before.
The water is Cloudy and somewhat Green, I have some tough green algae growing on the glass and gravel, and I have thick Brown Diatoms (I think) covering the leaves of many of the plants (yet some are unaffected) and the slate in the tank. I have 2 otos in the tank...with the fullest bellies you can have. I feed once a day...and only feed what the fish will eat in about 1 minute...and little falls to the grown (which is then taken care of by a Cory)
Tank has for plants: Rotala rotundifolia "Red", Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Anubias spec. barteri, Mayaca fluviatilis (mostly dead from cold shipping...but starting to root), Hygrophila difformis, Heteranthera zosteraefolia, Alternanthera reineckii, Vallisneria spiralis , Dwarf Sagittaria , Sagittaria subulata.
Looking for any and all suggestions? I thought I had done everything right...but something is wrong somewhere!
HELP!
WC