nat

:heart: Just wanted to share my happiness to find 10 healthy (looks so ) babies of Ameca Splendens in my 50 gal community tank. Do they require a special care?

It is not a slimy algae, just on the contrary - very hard and not easy to scrape. So I do not think it is cyanobacteria. I could not find in the Internet which describes what I have in my aquarium. Tank parameters - 50 gal aquarium, DIY yeast reactor, 25 deg. celcium, 4 watts per gallon lighting. I believe while I was away no ferts were added. I already cleaned up the aquarium from the dead plants, changed 20% of the water (and am going to do more frequent changes in the future) and added ferts. It looks much better, but I am still concerned about the algae. It does not look good and I do not like the fact that I could not diagnose it (therefore I do not know what to expect). But surprisingly, all the fish have survived and the water tests showed zero amounts of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

I am back from my 2 month vacations and am chocked about my aquarium look. Some plants died, those remained do not look healthy. And everything - plants, aquarium glass, driftwood and rocks are covered with the layer of white-green dust. Does anybody know what it is is? I quess it is some type of algae, but which exactly and how to fight them? HELP!!!

I bought mine in Petland in Shawnessy.

Hm, my otos seem to have their favourite spots which they clean to squeaky cleanliness... but some parts of my driftwood and rotala are left without attention.

I started with 12 hours, then when noticed algae - cut to 10, and now (2 days already) it is 9 hours, like you recommended. My otos are not interested in brown algae, I have read that SAE like them. Do you know anything about it?

Garhan, thanks for your input! Everything is done already like you suggested, except for the light - it is currnetly 10 hrs (was 12 before). Tomorrow will cut it to 9 hours. Flourish really did not provide enough iron (good point, chloeclose :thumbs: ). After I added some Plant Gro, test shows 0.5. P.S. PO4 reads zero

well, I know that too - brown algae are the sign of not enough light. But even if take into account some dispersion of light because of glass cover, my 192W per 50 gallon seem to be plenty. Maybe it is just normal thing for new aquarium - to have oubursts of algae growth?

Thank you guys! I will use different fertiliser to see how it works - Hagen Nutrafin Plant Gro. Water change seems to be not a remedy in my situation - I'm changing approx. 5 gal of water twice a week anyway. I am also thinking of using peat as a filter media - maybe lowering of PH will help. I have read that peat helps to fight with algae which are nicely growing in my tank The funny thing is that algae are brown too. (Could algae "eat" my plants?) Oh, by the way - about tests for nutrients. I have two tests for iron (not expired) and it shows zero level of iron, though I am using liquid fertiliser and have Fluorite/Laterite under thin layer of regular gravel. I wonder why? Ryan: what is discus essentials - is it a fert? What company/brand is that? Sorry I do not keep discus and never paid attention to discus related stuff. I expect new plants to arrive next week - I ordered them from internet shop in Ottawa. Here's the link for those interested: http://www.ottawaaquatics.com They have lots of plants not awailable in Calgary's shops. I hope the plants would arrive in good condition. I will keep posted.

Did this happen to anybody else? One month ago I set up a new aquarium with plants (and fishies). Two weeks ago I noticed my plants started to get brown spots (or better say stripes) on the edges of the leaves. It looks like rust. Especially Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis). And it is considered easy to grow plant! I thought maybe it is a lack of some nutrients, therefore I bought Seachem Flourish plant supplement. No result! Tank parameters: 25C (77 Fahrenheit) ph - 7.8-8.0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate - 0 Light is bright - 3.8 Watt per gallon I am also injecting some CO2 (probably not enough, but it is better than nothing). Any considerations on what is happening?

I have set up an aquarium recently and at the moment the only inhabitants there (except live plants) are japanese algae eating shrimp and Otocinclus. I had a little bit of algae growing on a driftwood, but in a couple of days they ate it all. I decided that it is time to start feeding my fishies, but Ottos seem to be not interested in Algae tablets I bought for them. What should I do??? Will they starve? Should I buy other food, for example, flakes? Maybe a diffrent brand? I will appreciate your experience!!!

Awesome tank!!! :thumbs: What are the plants? Do you use any water softener? (peat)? Calgarian water is quite hard (in my tank GH=7.9) and I am wondering how it will influence plants...

Thanks guys, that is just what I thought :mellow:

I seem to have lots of questions I have ordered Coralife 36 inch Power compact freshwater fixture (190Watt) for my 50 gal aquarium. Unfortunately after delivery I found out that I got a light that has one 10000K 96 watt bulb and one actinic bulb 96 watt. Question is: will the plants grow under such lighting or I should exchange the lamps to 6700K recommended for freshwater aquariums? (I want to be able to grow plants requiring high light).

thanks guys, I found the information very useful. And great looking tank, Garhan! Hope to have one like that some time. I decided to try mixture of flourite and laterite covered with regular gravel. Everybody has a right to make their own mistakes, right? We'll see how it works. Now my concern is that I have too much light - 192 watt per 50 gal.