my first attempt at a planted

[kygirl]

This is my first time doing a 65 gal comunity/planted tank.

Well every time I go to a pet shop around here and I see a cool looking plant; I add it to my tank. My tank needs to be rearranged and The ball of christmas moss floating in there will be use for a moss wall this weekend. The substrate is flourite and I use excel and flourish.

The fish in the tank are 3 young discus, 3 young angels, 5 cardinal tetras,4 bumble bee gobies, 1 gold nugget pleco, 3 albino cory, 3 jeweled corys, 6 bamboo shrimp, 1 gold snail, 1 blue snail, and 4 longfin german blue rams all are living very peaceful and I do a water change once every other week.

 

[timwag2001]

is that anacharis in there? if so. excel will kill it

 

[timwag2001]

also that looks like you have an anubias with the rhizome buried. that should be above the substrate

 

[kygirl]

not sure what a rhizome is? I have been winging this whole thing. The anacharis is doing extremely well. It is growing more then the other plants I have to trim it back about every 3rd day.

I did buy a few of those seeds from walmart at the aquarium section and threw them in the tank. Just to try them out and they seem to be thriving too.

Only thing that is driving me nuts is the green algae blooms on the glass wall.

 

[mom2reds]

the anubias is the plant that is pictured with the blue rams the thick part that the roots come off of is called the rhizome and should not be buried or it will rott. Your tank looks nice and your fish are beautiful. I would watch the anacharis because it does have a tendency to melt with the use of excel.

 

[kygirl]

thanks for the tips, Ill fix the anubias when I install the moss wall(tomorrow), once I figure out how to work around the filter intake.

I have tow little kids, so I have to wait for their daddy to be home to play in my tank.

 

[kygirl]

Anyone able to tell me how to control algae growth in a tank. I have green blooms on the glass and once in a while i get fussy black algae on my java fern that I quickly cut off and get rid of. and it is only ever on the java fern.

 

[Purrbox]

Is the green algae on the glass easily wiped off, or does it take some muscle and scraping to remove it?

 

[timwag2001]

this might help
James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide

 

[kygirl]

it is clusters of little round circles on the glass and hard to get off have to use a razor blade to get it off.

I am pretty sure that it is not a water flow problem. And I do a water change once a week for my discus.


I don't know much about co2 and I am not sure where I could get a co2 unit for a 65 gal. Co2 is more and likely my problem from reading the site you linked. ( BTW very helpful site)

 

[timwag2001]

its green spot algae.
if you have the money to spend i would get a phosphate test kit. i have run into similar problems, dosed P and it went away within a day or two.

you can get a co2 system from e-bay. milwaukee is one brand that you could choose from and is one that is recommended around this site. co2 tank which you can get from a welding supply house, paintball store, i've heard that you can score some from restaurant suplly stores.

 

[Purrbox]

Definately GSA (green spot algae) and a sure sign that your Phosphate levels are too low. You'll need to dose Phosphate to get it to go away.

 

[SparKy697]

Welcome to the new world of planted tank chemistry

I agree that excel can melt anacharis, but I have grown insane amounts of it in the past while using excel. I suppose it's a function of how much you are using. There seems to be a threshold with planted tanks where you can either have a low light tank with a few plants, or you go whole hog and do the fancy lights, co2, and ferts. Not a lot of grey area in the middle or so it seems. You are well on your way to the latter. You may want to do a little reading on diy co2 if that suits your fancy. It's a slippery slope for sure, co2=more ferts= more.....

Love your choice of fish btw. Hard to tell for sure but it looks like you may have a pair of male gbr. I love to watch them stare each other down like that. Nice looking tank too.

 

[kygirl]

I have 2 pair of longfin german blue rams in my tank the are always laying eggs but then once they hatch they eat them. I love watching them also.