jvision

IME, you can't really 'get rid' of BGA - like Andy said, it's everywhere. However, from what I've learned through the school of hard knocks is that if you let it dry out, it usually kills what algae is alive :guns: (I know, cyanobacteria are a bit of a different story).

But, if you keep good housekeeping (or tank-keeping, I guess) practices, you won't really have the problem again.

P. salousi are not too hard to find - try placing a post in the Buy,Sell,Trade section asking if anyone has some to sell.

They'll dig, too.

There was some discussion on the Aquatic Plants Digest a couple of years ago about Redart (or was it Red Art) clay. You could Google "Aquatic Plants Digest" and run a search in their archives for red art or redart clay. I remember them talking about the difference between the two - or maybe they were saying they're the same thing... I can't remember.

There was a guy in Vancouver who was making his own fertilizer clay balls - sent a few my way when I bought a bunch of plants from him a few years ago. Try Googling "Steve's planted tank" - I think that's where I found him...

Hope this helps!

Welcome to AA!

I add the Acid Buffer right to the tank for the WCs - that way I don't have to worry about teeny tiny messurements.

What I do for the tanks I use buckets for, is take out all the water I'm wanting to change (ie. 2-3 buckets full), then add all the chemicals (Prime, Acid buffer, ferts); then I add the water back. Haven't had any problems.

The thing to note is that when dosing Prime, dose for the entire tank volume. When I dose Acid Buffer, I dose for the total volume of water I'm adding.

Hope this Helps.

40 watts over a 10g, isn't that a lot of light for a tank without CO2?

Also, aren't the spiral flourescent bulbs that fit into an incandescent fixture the same as the long tubes, as long as I get "daylight" bulbs?

The whole watts/gallon rule works best for your midsize tanks. When you get to the smaller tanks, it seems a higher ratio works better; and, for larger tanks, they use a lower ratio.

The difference between the spiral tubes and the long tubes, is that the long tubes actually provide more light. Light is reflected back onto the bulbs inside the spiral, so only 1/2 the bulb is effectively providing light (or only 1/4 if you aren't using a reflector over the bulb).

If I were using spirals over a 10g, w/o CO2, I'd say 2 of the 13W bulbs would work. If' you're adding CO2 and ferts, then I'd up to 2 x 26W.

HTH

I just bought a 5 lb. box of laterite from someone and I want to put it in my 55 gal. planted which is already running. He suggested I roll the laterite into balls and bake them in the oven.

HOSStile, what you can do is actually put a small piece of your fert sticks in the laterite ball before you bake them. This will bring NPK to the roots of the plants. Plants that are mainly root feeders are Swords, Crypts, Valineria & Sagiteria, and Lillies/Lotus. As Garhan mentioned most other plants will do well with dosing ferts in the water column.

I really wanted to wait 'til some of the other plants filled in, but I thought a good 'before' pic would be nice to share.

This is the tank:

I have 3 x 40W T5 bulbs with a regular shop light reflector. I have one pressurised CO2 systme on the far left at about 2 bubbles every 3 sec, and an Hagen brewer on the right - both are using the Hagen ladder difuser. The pressurised system also has a powerhead chopping up the bubbles that make it out the top of the ladder, blowing a fine CO2 mist throughout the tank.

I fertilize regularly, and this is what happens:

The plants regularly pearl because the water becomes saturated with O2.

Even the Java fern is pearling!!

For ferts, I dose 1/2tsp of KNO3 and 1/4tsp of K2PO4 every other day, and ~20mL of Flourish every other day. For algae maintenance, I have a pair of BN Plecos, a pair of SAE, and these guys:

Cardina japonica - Amano shrimp

Flourish is just traces - no macros (NPK) at all. For dosing ferts, trace elements are the only ones I by at the LFS - it's just way too expensive to dose macros using the comercial aquarium products.

Thanks for the info, Mr. Fever. I think I will skip out on the N. leleupi, and save that for another tank... maybe right beside this tank (I wonder if my wife would object to me using her antique trunk as an aquarium stand?? :chair: ).

I'm thinking that 4 Ps. elongatus will round out the tank for now. 'Til I get that 35 set up.

It's an odd thing when adding CO2. The CO2 itself doesn't harm fish at all, but when you keep adding more when the plants are photosynthesising as much as they're going in a given system, it will eventually drive other dissolved gases out - water can only hold so much.

How are you measuring CO2? If you added more, it shouldn't be staying at 5ppm. If you're using the pH/kH chart, do you have any buffers in the water - do you change tap pH for a WC? Any shells in the tank?

The thing w. the CO2 chart, is that it depends on carbonate being the buffer.

I've found that if you need to up the pH, use Baking Soda; and, if you need to lower it, I use Seachem Acid Buffer.

Look out when you take the filters off your lights! The plants will probably bubble like champaign for a day or two (water becomes saturated w. O2), until they use up all the NPK - then you'll have to start dosing ferts... lots of fun!!

The JF and Anubias are rooted to shells. The Amazon is under a good layer of shells, too - just noticed a few leaves poking out last night. If it does get destroyed, I'm not going to be upset at all. I don't even know how it got in there!

Let us know how the plants do with the mbuna. I put a bunch of plants in my malawi tank and they were stems by the end of the week.

I've heard good things about using Java Fern and Anubias w. Africans - ppl say it's not too tasty, or something. I noticed a few other plants in there that I don't have a lot of hope for (Amazon sword & stray Crypt got in there somehow ).

I've had the lights on a timer for a month, so there's been some nice algae growth - I hope they like it! Nice green threads and spots for them to munch on. I saw them picking at it last night.

One word of 'caution' though, I'd definitely recommend something larger for Mel. cyaneorhabdos than a 29 in the long term, unless you plan on stocking and filtering heavier than you already are.

Hmmm.... I like all the ideas mentioned here!

I'm not too worried about the filtration. I actually have a few terrestrial plants growing out of the back and in the AC - there is no detectible N-P-K, and tonnes of space for bacteria to grow.

I would like to add something like Neo. lelupi (spelling? - the yellow guys) for contrast. Probably 4-6 of them. I was told by the guy at BAs that the Mels are pretty passive for mbuna, and the N. lelupi aren't too aggressive either. Thought they might be a good fit.

But, bigger tank? Hmm.... I should show this concern to my wife, and perhaps she'll let me set up that empty 35 gal (2" deeper than standard 33 gal). Of course, she'd make me get a 'real' stand and canopy!

HOSStile, thanks for reposting the pics!! Save me some time when I go home. :beer:

I can't see the pics at work, either. I'll try to upload them again when I get home.

So, I set the tank up about 2 months ago. Lots of shell work to keep the pH buffered. Also added lots of tough plants b/c... well, I'm really a plant guy

This 29 gal was planted before, so I just left the AC 150 on it, and added a Fluval 103 that was filtering a 35 gal before I moved. Everything's been ready to go, I was just waiting 'til I had time & $ to get the fish.

This is the tank.

These are the fish

Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "Maingano"

I picked up the last 6 at Big Al's Edm last night. They seem to be loving their new home!

I remeber checking eBay about a year ago for some fishroom stuff, and they had RO units for cheep. I seem to remember one specific eTailer selling them NIB, and had some good feedback from people on the APD.

I would have bought one, but my roomie at the time started selling them, and ended up having one in the house for free for a while.

Rift Lake cichlids would love it! Many others, it seems prefer softer water.

Even if they're really tough, it's still a good idea to do the acid test. There are some very hard rocks that will dissolve slowly over time - I believe there was just a discussion in the Planted Tank section about Marble doing just that!!

If you want to save yourself a trip to the pool supply store, you might be able to get away with vinegar. It's a much weeker acid, but if you look closely, you might be able to see some bubbling.

If you're going to be putting the rocks in a FW tank, a good soaking in a salt solution should kill most of the grublies. :chair:

HTH!

You might want to bring along a little muric acid (swimming pool pH adjuster) to see if the rock will dissolve in water. Just put a few drops on the rock. If it bubbles, it will dissolve in your tank and usually buffer your pH quite high. If there are no bubbles, they're great for the tank.

Then boil 'em for a few minutes.

I think most of the peat sold at HD, and other garden centres are pure - just check the label and/or ask someone to make sure.

I saw a great DIY article online once using a wide eaves trough and an incandescent light socket for a 10 gal - I think the actually PC bulb is the most expensive part!! I think the article might be on The Krib.

I'm into DIY as much as possible - I've never used laterite!

Yes, mulm is basically filter crud, or do a good gravel cleaning in your other tanks - that'll do the trick!

You can pick up peat at the LFS, but like lighting it's generally cheeper to pick it up at Home Depot and the like. I bought a huge bale of it for less than $10 at HD or a garden center somewhere. I work w. SAs a lot, so I tend to use it more than ppl w. Africans.

#3 gravel has an avg. grain size of 3mm. You can go w. laterite, but it's just the same as adding peat and/or mulm, but it's more expensive. :P

If pH is a concern, use some mulm from another tank. However, I'd just toss in enough peat to cover the bottom - maybe 1/4". It might drop the pH a bit to begin with, but if it's buffered well, it won't be a problem.

One of the easies ways is to use one of those incandescent hoods, and screw in a couple of 13W PCs.

To plant it, I'd put a think layer of mulm or peat under about 3" of #3 gravel - you may want to add a few ferts to the substrate, too (Flourish Tabs, Jobes spikes for ferns).

Plants to use? Hygro (PM me if you want some) would be great - it's easy to grow, and you can start w. just a few strands, and you'll soon have enough to plant the whole back of the tank. Foreground?? Tanker may have to thin out his E. tennelus again, soon - that'd be great, and would fill in nicely.

Place a 1/2 coconut shell or 2 in there for the fish to hide in, and you have a beatiful planted 10 gal!

I know you may not want to add CO2, but it always helps. Those Hagen units would work great - or even DIY. You don't need a lot for a 10 gal, so it wouldn't be a lot of work.

Tanker, there is a good site describing nutrient deficiencies. Read here. With your CO2 and light levels you will not see a vigorous plant growth, but they should stay healthy. However, I would try to up the CO2 level to ~ 10-15 ppm. Your diffuser or gas supply is not up to the task. Try increasing the bubble rate, and if this does not help, you may want to consider some more efficient way of diffusing the CO2. I would not add more fish at this time as it brings more variables to what you are already dealing with.

I agree with Milan, here. Before you add more fish, up the CO2. CO2 is ALWAYS the most important nutrient to add. You found this out by just adding 5ppm! Adding more CO2 will not impact anything in a negative way, as long as your plants are healthy.

Once you up the CO2 a bit (try adding a ventury inline with your spray bar), you can easily add more fish w/o much trouble. If you add more fish now, you'll likely see an increase in algae. At your current light level, you should be able to keep a relatively high fishload, feed them well, and see excellent results from your plants. Should you decide to up the light, you'll have to start dosing ferts to keep the algae down (I know it sounds odd, but it's true!) - if you keep the plants well fed, they'll out compete the algae.

I fertilize using the Estimative Index, and no longer us any of my test kits (just pH & KH once in a while), PM me, and we can work out a deal.