heff

I've read that it's more the spectrum than the kelvin rating that matters.

Is it possible that I would be upsetting my balance by adding Excel? Any thoughts on me having the right amount of light?

I had done some reading and part of the reason that I'm minimizing water changes it to keep my plants adapted to a low carbon environment.

I've heard that excel can do wonders with algae though; I should probably give it a shot. This is a daily dose thing, correct?

@ubr0ke - T5 aquaglow that's about...umm... I actually don't remember how old it is. I've got my receipt somewhere. Sure feels like I replaced it six to eight months ago.

I can't say that the tank is heavily planted, but moderate. I am fertilizing, but only when necessary. I keep a relatively close eye on my nutrient levels because I'm trying to keep a "all natural tank" and minimize water changes. So far so (relatively) good. I do a water change maybe monthly.

I'll try playing with the longer ciesta to see what happens.

I've also had very little luck with otos; they seem to live anywhere from 2-6 months and off they go to the great fish tank in the sky. I haven't tried nerites yet. All things considered, I'd like to fix the algae rather than get critters to work for me.

While I think my water parameters are "alright" (~20ppm nitrate, 1-2ppm phosphate, 1.4Wpg, photoperiod of 4 on, 1 off, 4 on, no direct sunlight only crappy office T8s above me), I'm still getting quite a bit of GSA (or what I believe is GSA) growing in the corners and near the substrate of my tank.

I'm pretty sure it's GSA since it's rock hard, primarily on the glass and near impossible to remove aside from scraping it with sharp objects.

I've only got an aquaclear mini so my circulation isn't that hot. Since this is only a 10gal tank, I'd rather not go spend $50 on a powerhead.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hugh

No, that's right, it's not that toxic. I know there have been times where I could swear my test kit was defective when my reading said either 80-160ppm...

I have a fridge available but I don't really want to put them in the one where everyone keeps their lunch. I'm sure they'd love to share space with my TOXIC - DON'T DRINK bottles.

Good call on the brown bottles though.

I got it in liquid form from All Seasons down near Whyte Ave. Liquid form because that's the only way they'll sell it in Alberta (maybe Canada too?). I don't know if they ship either...

And dirt cheap too, I think I paid $15 for enough KNO3 and KH2PO4 to last me well over a year. Just call up ahead of time because it takes some time to make the mix.

My bottles of fertilizer are clear plastic water bottles (marked up with black sharpie so nobody drinks it) and I noticed that in my KNO3 bottle I've got what looks like mold in there!

Has anyone had this happen? Is this stuff best left in the fridge?

I should probably dump this and remake it eh?

Thanks!

Jeez, that looks fantastic.

That is awesome!

I've got a 14W aqua-glo over about 10" of water. The hygro leaves with holes are about 6" away from the light.

When holes start to appear, is it best to get rid of the leaf immediately?

So my hygrophilia (corymbosa...? received it from jvision) has started to get small holes on some of the older leaves. From what I read, this tells me that I likely have low potassium in my tank.

I'm currently dosing KNO4, KH2PO4 and Seachem Flourish comprehensive. Should I be dosing K2SO4 as well? Looking at Epcor's readings, I see the average amount of sulphate is 60 ppm so should I really be adding more?

Ideally, I'd like to keep my water changes to a minimum but I'm wondering if I'm trying to create the impossible situation where my plants and critters are healthy and I don't have to do water changes every week.

If more info is needed about the tank, lemme know. I'll post a ton of it.

Any input would be appreciated as I'm pretty new to this and probably need a bit of guidance.

Cheers,

Hugh

Well, I'm about to float it. I had originally planted it but it's obviously too far away from my mediocre 1.4 watts per gallon...

Is it "normal" for hornwort to drop needles? Or was it the 40% water change I did yesterday that might've killed it? I try to minimize changes (1 per 4-6 weeks) as I attempt to run a low-tech, natural tank. The water change was prompted by 40-80 ppm NO3 and 2.5-5 pmm PO4.

I can go into great detail about my setup if someone really wants to read all of it

All the best...

EDIT - Ah, I'm reading some more about the fact that it might just be the lower needles that dropped due to lack of light. It appeared to be nearly all of the needles, but it might just be the bottom 90%.

Thanks smith, jvision has already set me up with a bunch (and it looks pretty fantastic if I don't say so myself...)

Don't otocinclus enjoy hair algae? An oto wouldn't solve your problem of algae growth though. I would go with jvision's suggstion of fast plants to outcompete the algae though.

Does anyone have any hornwort they're looking to get rid of?

I'm looking for something to grow quickly and fill some of the empty space in my tank, as I'm told is the right thing to do with planted tanks when you're starting them up.

Any suggestions as to where I could do some reading on deficiencies and what each looks like?

Morphine, I spent about $15 on 250g of KH2PO4 and 250g of KNO3 in 1L of water. Based on the initial mix I made up this morning, this should last me years.

I'm mostly following a couple of suggestions from these posts:

http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/

http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/433-Non-CO2-methods

Sounds pretty low maintenance, so we'll see how it goes.

Not at all, I think it was just short of $15 for 250g of KH2PO4 and 1L jug of KNO3 (250ml of fertilizer mixed into 1L water).

It took about 30 minutes for them to get it ready for me though; the main guy was dealing with a dude that looked like he bought all the stuff for a pond. Finish with the guy who's dropping a grand or so 100% or split time to help the guy buying < $20 of stuff... oh the tough decisions.

See? I knew I joined this forum for a reason Rock on. I can't wait to see some good growth... and likely a plethora of algae while I get this figured out.

If you were to go the way of chemical annihilation, doesn't copper kill invertebrates really well?

Alright. Got my 1L of KNO3 and my 250g KH2PO4. All Season didn't really know what I was talking about when I said General Hardness Boost (Calcium and Magnesium).

Do you guys have a specific product for hardness boost so I can walk back in knowing exactly what to buy?

Oh, and break up your light schedule (4-6hr on/off cycles for a total of 12hrs on) to help keep algae at bay until you upgrade your CO2 system.

I've read that even 1-2 hours with the lights off in between five or six hour up time will do marvelous things in regard to combating algae. Algae doesn't have the efficiency to store energy the way plants do, so the on/off cycle hinders the algae.