Newbe

[fastfly48]

greetings aquarium gods.

I've been posting in the begginers strand but I think I might get some more help here concerning my plants.
I have a few jave fern and some vallis. I have 9 fish: 3 neons, 3 danios, 1 cory and 2 bristle nose.
My tank (about 3 months old) is about 80L. otb filter. 40W HDD 600 twin tube floro light.
The guy at the pet store set me up and reckoned I'd have no problems. Ha. need I say more.
Within a few weeks...major algae bloom. I actually only just got rid of it. Water is still a bit cloudy though.
I just did a water test. phosphate was zero (thanks to the phosgaurd!) nitrite and nitrate was zero but ammonia was quite high...prob. from some dead plants from my black-out to kill the algae.

With only a few fish and a few plants I was wondering what I should add first...more fish or more plants? Or nethier?
I really want a nice planted community tank and would really appreciate your help in getting me there.
cheers.
Ry.

[malkore]

A properly cycled tank will never have more than a trace of ammonia when things go bad...and no ammonia at all when the tank is healthy.

Plants with plenty of light should always mean no ammonia...so you have something else going on in the tank, or a bad ammonia test kit...or a nessler based test kit that's giving false-positive results due to the dechlorinator you use.

As I understand it, your tank should be a little over 20 US gallons. Is your light fixture a TOTAL of 40 watts (2 20watt bulbs) or 80 watts (2 40watt bulbs)? Either way, some CO2 injection would help with your algae problems...and so will proper fertilization. Having phosphate and nitrate at 0ppm is bad. You want about 1-1.5ppm phosphate and 10-20ppm nitrate at all times...basically maintaining a 1:10 ratio of phosphates to nitrates.

You'll also need a trace mix, that includes iron...or dose iron separately. You could be low on potassium as well.

Be sure to read all the plant stickies at the top of this forum.

[fastfly48]

holy moly.
sticky reading in process.

Oh, on the packaging for the light it says "sinlge tube" then somewhere else 40W.
however the light has two tubes. So to be honest I'm really not sure if it is 40W as it says or indeed 80W becasue there are two.

Ry.

[rich311k]

What does it say on the bulb it self? Should be printed right on there.

[malkore]

If the bulbs are about 2 feet long, they are 20w each. That's most likely what you've got, unless they are T-5 bulbs.

[fastfly48]

thanks for your replys guys!...

I just had another look at the tubes and they are connected...so they look like two but I guess you could pass them off as one...therfore I'm a quite sure the whole thing would be 40W as it says...anyways...
I've got new news:
I still have green water for starters (even with super low phosphate levels!)...
I've been doing heaps of reading and one thing that all the books agree on is that the cause of green water is too much lighting or too few plants.

But if I cut back on light even more I'll kill the plants even more!
I've just stared adding some fert. for the plant becasue I had no iron in my water at all. It's brand is AZOO it looks Asian.
The guy at the shop said it would help matters...but it seems every time I go to the aquarium shop they just milk me...everytime I leave with something that's supposed to cure everything...and nothing ever happens

Anyways...hope you guys can shed some more light on th matter for me!
cheers.
Ry.

ps. thanks for tolerating my success deprived aquarium abitions...

[fastfly48]

oh by the way...I looked on the tube/tubes and I couldn't see a wattage marking...or any marking at all. Must be a dodgy brand!

[Todd2]

Yea, sometimes you will get milked/ripped off when you go to the LFS. Usually they want you to buy something that will "supposedly" help but it doesn't, this isn't always the case though. It's good to do your research before you go to the LFS so you know whether you're being taken advantage of, etc. I usually don't ask for help in there, instead I come on AA and ask Anyways, just follow malkore's fert instructions and you should be ok with the algae, your plants will also be happier. About the bulb, could it be possible that its a CF bulb and that's why it has "two bulbs" but is really "one bulb"? Just a thought.

[fastfly48]

Thanks Todd and Malkore...and anyone else that want to say anything!

I fear though that my plants have lost the battle, and that without me adding more, will not be able to defeat the evel green mist.
I'm adding fert like I said before but the guy at the shop said to dose every three months. I think I must have heard him wrong though. The packaging doesn't say how often to use...just how much to use, so I'm a bit in the dark as to how often I really need to be adding this stuff!

I firgure that, my tank has an un-balance in nutrients and enough light...so the green mist will stick around. The only answer all the books have is to get more
plants. Apparenlt a well planted tank willl have minal algae mist problems...and sounds great to me!
My tank is defnitly under-planted (almost desolate) so I'm fairly sure that adding more higher plants must help matters becasue the ones presently in my plants just can't compete if I'm restricting the lighting to limit the green mist.
How does that sound?

Thank you all so much....and Yes I am actually figuring things out for myself too!

cheers.
Ry.
Ry.