I have a 25g tall tank, moderately planted with swords, java lace, onion plants, and some giant grass. Micro swords are already gone and the last few stragglers removed today. I planted them with flourish tabs in the substrate and at first everything was going great. They seemed to be thriving but in the last month or two the brown algae has gotten pretty bad and my once healthy plants are deteriorating fast. The ph used to stay around 7.5 but now is usually closer to 6.5 between water changes. I think i overstocked the tank for a while although my water parameters were always good. No ammonia or nitrites. PWC's happened once a week with nitrates around 10-20ppm. Right now i have a dwarf gaurami, 3 white cloud minnows and 5 rummy nose tetras and a singapore shrimp in the tank. Either way, water parameters are always good as far as I could tell by my API test kit.
Anyway, at first i kept thinking, this tank is fairly new, diatoms are normal and i'll just wait it out...but it just kept getting worse and then my plants stoppped growing and started getting holes in leaves etc. What is going on here? I dont really know where to begin to fix this. I'm willing to put in the work and/or expense if i only knew WHAT to do...? I just got a 55g set up and i want to sort this out before i repeat the same mistakes. My 25 gallon "practice tank" is kinda failing so the time to ask for help is now. HELP!
Anyway, at first i kept thinking, this tank is fairly new, diatoms are normal and i'll just wait it out...but it just kept getting worse and then my plants stoppped growing and started getting holes in leaves etc. What is going on here? I dont really know where to begin to fix this. I'm willing to put in the work and/or expense if i only knew WHAT to do...? I just got a 55g set up and i want to sort this out before i repeat the same mistakes. My 25 gallon "practice tank" is kinda failing so the time to ask for help is now. HELP!
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