rubadudbdub
Member
- Joined
- 27 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 143
This tank has been going about a year and gas struggled with algae and never really thrived.
I'm looking for suggestions to get things growing better and tackle algae issues.
It was set up with pond soil and peat mix, as per the guide on here, with gravel on top. I sprinkled about a dozen osmocote balls on the bottom before 1- 1.5cm soil and 3-4 cm gravel.
Plants:
Vallis- this started spreading quickly, but has really slowed recently. It's got quite a lot of fuzzy black algae on the edges of leaves and hair algae.
Crypts- moehlmanni is OK, americum is also doing OK but easily colonised by algae. Another type unknown is surviving but not thriving.
Bucephelandra green. OK, not thriving.
Floating - salvinia natans and water lettuce.
Reducing light by putting insulation tape over every other row of leds has helped reduce the hair algae rate of growth. The tank gets a little direct sun at times, despite my efforts to keep the blinds closed the Mrs opens them.
Ferts: EI mix, once a week or two when salvinia leaves are looking small.
Water changes every 2-3 weeks.
I'm just a bit puzzled as to why things aren't thriving and theres so much algae.
Flow from the filter is pretty sluggish. The gravel accumulates debris, which I siphon out at times. But try not to disturb the gravel due to the soil beneath.
I'm wondering whether the soil cap isn't deep enough. The tank isn't very big so a two inch cap seemed too much.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
I'm looking for suggestions to get things growing better and tackle algae issues.
It was set up with pond soil and peat mix, as per the guide on here, with gravel on top. I sprinkled about a dozen osmocote balls on the bottom before 1- 1.5cm soil and 3-4 cm gravel.
Plants:
Vallis- this started spreading quickly, but has really slowed recently. It's got quite a lot of fuzzy black algae on the edges of leaves and hair algae.
Crypts- moehlmanni is OK, americum is also doing OK but easily colonised by algae. Another type unknown is surviving but not thriving.
Bucephelandra green. OK, not thriving.
Floating - salvinia natans and water lettuce.
Reducing light by putting insulation tape over every other row of leds has helped reduce the hair algae rate of growth. The tank gets a little direct sun at times, despite my efforts to keep the blinds closed the Mrs opens them.
Ferts: EI mix, once a week or two when salvinia leaves are looking small.
Water changes every 2-3 weeks.
I'm just a bit puzzled as to why things aren't thriving and theres so much algae.
Flow from the filter is pretty sluggish. The gravel accumulates debris, which I siphon out at times. But try not to disturb the gravel due to the soil beneath.
I'm wondering whether the soil cap isn't deep enough. The tank isn't very big so a two inch cap seemed too much.
Any suggestions gratefully received.