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General questions
I could use some help. I know that for many of you these are the same old
questions, forgive me for asking them again.
I'm not new to having a few plants in my aquarium, but I'm new to trying to
put emphasis on the plants in my tank.
I had gone through a year of differing algae problems, mostly the hair type
algae. I threw out all of the java ferns in desperation as the algae seemed
to live so well on the java fern, despite my constant hand removal I also
used a full time carbon filter on my tank during that time. I began cleaning
much more often and concentrated hand removal of the algae. One the algae was
under control I then got a 'bloom' of cyanobacteria. Through constant
harvesting and adding a power head low in the tank I was able to abolish it
(so I thought) from the tank. Once that was under control I added more light,
several faster growing plants, a DIY CO2 system and starting adding iron and
minor element (FloraVit) to the tank. I can tell that I'm needing some else,
assuming potassium at least. The plants are really happy with the CO2, big
increase in growth. I do see pearling (I was so excited to see what all of
you were talking about). I know that I have to take out some of the slower
growing plants (crypts have grown like crazy in my tank, I have a small field
of them) to make room for faster growing plants. I also know that when I pull
the crypts I'm probably going to release a bunch of nutrients into the water
column.
With the changes thus far a new course of cyanobacteria started, I opted to
try erythromycin. I'm finding conflicting information about how long to add
it, and whether to add it half or full dosage. It is definitely receding
quickly (very little visible now), as I started treating the second day I
saw it. Now I'm seeing some type of algae on some of my plants (it looks
like small 'bunches' on the plants growing from a small spot and 'branching
out into hair like strands). Two days after starting treatment with
erythromycin I also found ich on a few of my cardinals. I haven't had ich in
this tank for 2 years, all new fish are quarantined and I hadn't added
anything new recently. There are so many areas of this I could use help on,
but I mainly need suggestions for:
What nutrients I need to add to my tank
How long to treat with how much erythromycin
What fish might help with the hair algae
How to treat ich with the tank already being dosed with erythromycin
Tank:
5o gallon (4 inches of gravel substrate so maybe only 40 gallons of water)
Phazer double light fixture with 2 - 8500K bulbs (these are T-8s, so I think
its 32 watts each)
Parameters: (last two weeks, haven't tested since I started the erythromycin)
Nitrite undetectable
Ammonia 0
pH 8.5 <maybe slightly lower than last weeks test>
gh 12
kh 10
iron not detectable
Thank you in advance for any direction you wish to share,
Sue
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