[APD] Bad air and light?

[Gwmangen at cs_com]

I've been lurking for about four months reading the archives and have been 
fascinated by all the information on lighting, CO2 and fertilization.  I've been 
in the hobby for twenty-five years and have learned more lurking around here 
than I ever thought I knew before.   I used to go for all the technology and 
chemicals I could afford (e.g. canister filters, pH buffers and ion exchange 
resins.)  If only I knew then what I am learning here.

I have a two gallon tank filled with reconstituted RO water to about 100 mg/l 
CaCO3 + MgSO4.  25% of the water gets changed every three days.  The lighting 
is a 25 watt Verilux incandescent bulb eleven hours a day in a piano lamp ten 
inches over the substrate.  The surface area of the tank is 72 square inches. 
 A fan keeps things cool.  The KH is kept around 5 dH with input of Potassium 
Bicarbonate.  CO2 is injected making the pH go down from 7.6 to 7.0.  The air 
flow on the sponge filter is adjusted to offset CO2 injection and keep the 
CO2 at about 15 mg/l.  The java fern, bolbitus h. and anubias nana are 
fertilized with two drops of Tropica Master Grow at water changes.  Nitrate and 
phosphate are tested and kept low to abate algal growth.

The java fern and anubias did well at first but now new growth on the java 
fern is smaller and much of the anubia's rhizome has disintegrated with no new 
growth.  The Bolbitus has never done well but has some new growth.  There is no 
abnormal discoloration of foliage evident on the anubias or java fern.  The 
tips of the old growth on the bolbitus have disintegrated but the leaves have 
not died.  I was raided by algae for the first time in five months three weeks 
ago after trying to see how much PO4 I could get away with adding to the tank. 
 I thought the PO4 might help the plants but the algae became too much of a 
problem.  Also, algae encroaches when iron gets up over 0.05 mg/l and or when 
nitrate gets above 5 mg/l.

My questions are:

1.  Does the chelated iron in plant fertilizers break down and rust faster 
when the water is aerated and should more be added to compensate for a loss of 
available iron?

2.  Do I have to use flourescent lighting and stop aerating the water?

3.  Can a tank that doesn't have enough plants be sustained by minimizing 
nutrients?


The way things are going, I'm going to end up just growing java fern soon.   
The incandescent light was working a couple of months ago.  I realize it may 
have to go.  Thank you for reading all of this.  I'll be lurking in the 
archives.


Sincerely,

George Mangen

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