So, I just got back from a week long vacation to Cuba, and am happy my fish are all alive, if a bit fat. It seems my house/kid/pet sitter was a bit overly generous in his feedings, and ammonia in the 90g has spiked from 0 to 0.25 (dosed with prime last night expecting I'd find that when I tested this morning, and am planning a large wc this afternoon).

Plants are doing GREAT. I'd added a DIY-style CO2 system to the 90 right before I left, and there's definitely been some increased growth as a result. Especially my red lily - it's sending two leaves to the surface, and the taller one is almost there. I know that to prevent the lily from flowering and then going dormant, I should pinch off the leaf - my question is, where on the stem/plant should I do that?

Also, the algae problem I'm battling doesn't seem any better, *might* be worse, it's hard to say. I'm pretty sure it's hair algae, and it's mainly attacking my java moss, although my hairy bacopa and one of the varieties of crypts is also somewhat affected (but still growing well, where the javamoss is struggling). If the CO2 was going to help, would I have seen a change already? Do I need to give it more time?

I'm guessing, since I've still got an algae issue, I've still got an imbalance in the tank, and it's probably nutrients that I'm short on, since, as always, my nitrates are at 0. I'm waiting on our lfs to bring in some macro ferts for me to use, as that seems the easiest route (I'm not big on online shopping). Is there anything else I can do in the meantime to keep the algae in check? I don't want to start losing plants...

Hi cg,


Closer to the bulb or rootstock the better....better to trim before they reach the top. You need to 'train' the plant by constantly cutting to your desired height.

Please post some pics of the algae if possible so we can identify/advise ..

What type of lighting/duration do you have?

Yes, give it more time. Bad things happen quickly and can take some time to rectify.. Remember when you add a new nutrient such as c02, it will cause an increase in the need for other nutes/light/etc.

Hope this helps.

P.S. There are many reputable online merchants. I have bought supplies, fish, and plants over the Web and have had generally positive to excellent experiences

I posted a lengthy detailed description of my tanks here, but the gist of it is, my 90g has 136W HO T5 lighting, sand for substrate, moderately stocked with fish, and fairly heavily planted. I recently added a DIY style CO2 system, instead of the Excel, which was making my vals melt. The CO2 is probably not enough for a tank of that size, but it's better than nothing, and definitely improved growth. The LFS called yesterday to say the fertilizer I ordered was in, so I picked that up and dosed with it last night according to the bottle. I'm now going to spend some time doing a bit of math, and figure out how much I should add daily of the stuff for the EI method.

When I did my tank maintenance yesterday, I noticed that the CO2 IS helping with the algae - it seems to be dying. I was able to wipe it off of my bacopa really easily, and quite a bit is coming off of the javamoss now too. There's been no new algae growth on the glass.

I'll try to get some pics and post them. Whatever it is, it's brownish-grey, and looks quite "dusty". It doesn't form an even, flat carpet the way spot algae does, but instead forms lots of dusty-looking little feathers, about 1mm long.

Well, the algae in the big tank, if that's what this stuff is, is pretty much gone. I upgraded the CO2 to a pressurized system by Red Sea, and have ordered ferts online (am using some premade stuff I got at the lfs for now).

I'm still not sure whether this was algae, and if it was, what type. I've still got a fair bit of it in my 10g, but it's improving dramatically. It showed up in the 10g while I was away for a week and the CO2 ran out (DIY system in there). When I replaced the CO2, it initially got worse. I did a couple large water changes, put in some new filter floss and added a bunch more fish (it's my QT tank for new fishies for the big tank), and now it's going away.

It looks just like dust to me, and rubs off very easily. It is NOT the same as the reddish brown diatom stuff I get in my goldfish tank.

Anybody know what this is?




I've also got some plain old gren spot algae on the glass in my 10g, but I'm not fussing about it yet. My 10g has 46W CF lighting, substrate is Flora Base, DIY CO2. pH around 6.5, GH 80ppm, KH 40ppm. I haven't been using any ferts, since the substrate is supposed to provide everything and the plants are all doing well. I *may* try adding some once the ones I ordered arrive. The only full-time inhabitants of this tank are a betta, a bamboo shrimp, one SAE, and whatever snails come in on the plants. I use the tank to quarantine new fish, to get more delicate or fussy plants started, and to entertain my kid

Right now, it looks really thrown together, because I was just viewing this as a "holding tank" rather than an actual planted tank. I'm thinking this week I'm going to pull all the plants out, then try to replant them in a more aesthetically pleasing way, since the plants in there will be staying in there for awhile (since by 90g is crammed full of plants).