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Hey guys, I know I havn't been around much, school has been kickin my butt...lol, I have SAT's comin up soon, so I have been trying to prepare for that, and pick out colleges. For those wondering, I think I will try to get into the veterinary field, thinking of UC Davis, since they have one of the best programs in the country.

Anyways, algae persisted to grow in my tank. My current stock list remains at 5 harlies, 1 angel, and 3 ottos. Will be adding 5 more harlies, and 1 more angel in the future, but I think I want to get this algae under control before I add any more fish load to the tank.

This past sunday, I finally got fed up w/ all the algae, and did a major trim down. I am back to ground zero almost. I should have taken a picture to show how bad it was. Dad called the algae on the java moss my "beard". Here is a pic from the last water change, about a week ago
Well, the algae continued to grow after that, and so I tried to clean the wisteria, and ludwigia repens, but could not, so I threw away most of the pieces that were covered in algae, keeping a few, because I would have had no plants. I really trimmed the java moss, and spread it out over the log real thin. Tried to clean the Anubias Nana by hand, but nothing improved there.

I didn't realize how much my plant load would be reduced by my "algae removal rampage" and am hoping that this reduction doesn't actually make my problems worse.
here you can see the ludwigia tops w/ algae on them, which pretty much covered all.

As I was ripping out the wisteria I found this mystery plant, that must have tagged along when I originally started the tank, because I did not plant it myself. I am guess its maybe some sort of crypt, but am not sure. I went ahead and replanted it where the hairgrass was, that I ripped out, because it was not growing at all, and just dieing. Any ideas?

Picture of the tank after this sunday

lookin_around,

Nice to see you back, and I understand that school is more important. My daughter would like to be in the veterinary field as well, but she is only 6 years old and has many years to go before she reaches your stage.

The tank really looks now like it did at the beginning, you sure did some major removal there. Why do you think you have all this algae? What is your fert routine? Water change routine?

I think for the time being you should up the plant mass by adding some cheap fast growers, like Wistera, just to have enough plants that help in starving out the algae.

And - good call on your mystery plant - it is a crypt, either Lutea or Lucens, I can never remember which is which.

Keep us posted,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am honestly not sure why I have my algae. Probably just a lack of tank maintenence. I try to do a wc every week, but sometimes don't get around to it for up to 2 weeks. I am hoping to stay on top of all that. I measured my nitrates, and pH today, since yesterday I dosed 2 ml of my plantex solution. My nitrates were at about 5 ppm, so I dosed 3 ppm of Kno3, and my pH was at about .25-.5, so I dosed 1 ppm of Kh2p04.

I won't be able to go look for some stem plants untill tommorow after school. I will be going to Petco, and Petsmart, since thats about all thats available around here. I am really hoping they have something that I can use, I'm sure if they will, due to the stores being relatively new. I will also be looking for a glass diffuser for co2, but don't think I will find one. I may end up ordering one online if I don't spend too much at petco.

Hey guys....little update...I went to the stores today, that are a half hour away, and they had zero stem plants...except for some bamboo. So no luck there. I took a friend with me, and well, since I told her the type of fish I had, and that I was going to buy more sometime, decided to get them for me now, and sorta suprised me when we got out to the truck. Guess I should have made it clear why I was waiting on them. Well, since I didn't want to be mean, I accepted them, but I have no extra tanks here at the house.
So I guess my new stocklist brings my rasbora count up to 10

lookin_around

That is a very nice friend, send her my way please the next time I go to the LFS, I can always use a few more fishies.

10 Harlies is a nice size group, they will be way more stunning than having only 5. Although it was not the best time to get them, at least your tank isn't cycling and this action would have pushed it over the edge. I find that Harlies are rather hardy and believe they will not mind you adding some plants for them.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Haha, yea she's a good friend...only one that shows an intrest in this "fish craziness" I'm obsessed with.

Well...went to the local pet store, to see if they had anacharis, I figured that even though I don't like it...its still a stem plant, and I could add it to the tank. Well, I get there, and they're are all out of it, and w/e plants they had were all pretty much dead. If I get any plants there, I try to do it right when they get a shipment in when the plants are still healthy...Only plant I've gotten there is my Crypt Wendti, which is doing quite well.

On a better note, I ordered a glass Co2 diffuser to help increase the amount in my water, as I think that the filter method isn't working too well. I got the 3" one from this site
So, now I just have to wait for it to get here.

Lets hope I can stay around for a while this time...and not leave FP for a few months...hehe, busy busy

Lets hope I can stay around for a while this time...and not leave FP for a few months

Yeah, at least wait with leaving until the tank is all set

Nice that you ordered the diffuser, let's see what wonders it can do.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well...tonight I ordered some dwarf sag since the hairgrass didnt grow at all. I am really hoping that this stuff will grow.
Still planning on getting some anacharis as well, or some other stem plant(s).

Well, today I went down to the LFS and got some Anacharis stems. Planted them today, and I'm stil waiting on my dwarf hairgrass...hopefully will get here soon. I wasn't sure where to put the anacharis so I just put it in front of the vals for now...I have a feeling that when I get the dwarf sag, I will have to move the small crypt and anacharis stems somewhere else in the tank. But am not really sure where. Was thinking anacharis at the back near filter, and the crypt just in front of the Vals.

full tank shot w/ anacharis

P.S.-Sry for the dark pictures...forgot the shutter on the camera was turned up to 1/100

lookin_around,

Yeah, next time give us a frontal shot with a little more light

Anacharis, in your case Egeria densa, is very sensitive to Flourish Excel, in case you add this.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Oh...so should I stop adding my flourish excel? I already added some this morning, and am currently at school. I hope it isn't already too late. Company that I ordered the Co2 diffuser from said they can't ship it out until tommorow, so I have to wait for that to get here. Hopefully I'll have it by this weekend.

lookin,

Don't think one shot of Excel will hurt it too bad, I understand it that dosing regularly with excel would hurt it, but not necessarily once.

Nice to see you switched over to a glass CO2 diffuser. They work quite well. And what can you say about Bensaf the trend setter - in these parts the man could sell a cherry popsicle to a woman in white gloves.
it's important to keep the ceramic disk clean, however, so that means a soak in a bleach/ warm water solution every two weeks. 1/2 bleach, 1/2 hot water. let it soak for 10 mins, then soak it in warm water with at least a triple dose of dechlor. Rinse again and you're set. If it starts to get clogged the bubbles will come out of it much larger and that will cause less diffusion into the water. You want them coming out in a fine mist which it will do when clean.

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Back in the saddle!

lookin_around,

Did you pay your order by Credit Card? When I saw your entry with the link from which you ordered I did follow suit and ordered some myself. I got them last night . Maybe my order was handled first either because I paid by CC or because I ordered 4 .

Ingo

EDIT: Ignore the help link on the CC, I did not pay with Crushed Coral

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Haha...how do you like them? I used my prepaid credit card, and on sunday, had to use it for my bro, cause he forgot his wallet when we went to lunch, so I had insufficient funds on it when they tried to proccess the order...refilled it, and called them back telling them to run it through again...so hopefully they did it and everything is fine.

Thnx for the tips nowhereman...Will be sure to do that

lookin_around,

I don't know yet how I like them, I haven't replaced my Reactor yet. I will try it on the weekend during my next water change.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well...just got the Co2 diffuser for my tank today...and it is broken...just my luck. SO I called the company tonight, and left a message. They will probably call me during school tommorow, so I have a feeling it is going to be hard to actually talk to someone...especially w/ state testing goin on right now
haha...wish me luck

lookin_around,

Oh bummer

I think one of the smaller ones that I ordered has a little crack too, but I will not bother to even call as I have 4 overall. This was part of the reason why I ordered more than 1, I remebered Bensaf saying at some point way in the past that they might break during shipping and that is why he bought more than one.

I wish you good luck with the company call. Let us know what happened. I wonder if they will say that you will have to pay shipping but they give you the diffuser for free. In any case maybe you want to add a second one, to be on the save side. They can also break when you (or any of us) handle them and it calms you down if you know that there is a backup.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Just got a call this morning before school from the company, and she said that they shipped another one out to me today free of charge, and just told me to keep my broken one because they don't want to be sending broken glass through the mail. She also told me to keep my diffuser for 2 weeks, because the shipper may want to collect it, because I guess they had some sort of insurance or somethin, so they made a claim with them.

Great company to deal with, and will consider doing business in the future. Mary-ann was very nice

lookin_around,

That seems very nice of them indeed. Now the only problem is that you will have to wait another few days until this shipment arrives and you are ready to go .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well...just got the other diffuser today, and just my luck, it was broken today as well. So I just called the company and left another message. This is getting frustrating.