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Re: Gamera's New Tank, Plant Nutrition



Okay, Tom, I'm going to follow your tank maintenance schedule.  I had
performed about a 75% water change on Wednesday evening, but did not add
any nutrients to the tank because I was waiting for a response from you.
Unfortunately, my last post regarding this subject I had posted from work
and the message never went through to the APD.  I didn't notice my post was
missing until later that evening.  Since I couldn't remember everything I
had written, I decided to wait until I got to work the next day and re-send
the message.  So I didn't add any nutrients per your recommendations until
last night.  I added 5 ml TMG, 1/2 teaspoon K2SO4 and added KH2PO4 using
the test spoon from my SeaChem Iron Test Kit (one scoop).  I will add 1/4
teaspoon KNO3 today.  Some observations I made during the day after my 75%
water change: my plants were not pearling as much yesterday (I don't know
if this is because I didn't add any nutrients after the W/C).  That Glass
Surface Algae is creeping up even more now.  It's rearing its ugly head on
my rocks, driftwood, Anubias and tank walls, even more than it was before.
My tank lights were not on yet this morning before I left for work, but I
peered into my tank anyway (using the room lights) and was able to see this
surface algae starting to coat the walls of my tank already.  So, 75% water
change Wednesday night and tank walls starting to get coated with algae by
Friday morning (that's faster than my old tank!).  Could this be because I
didn't add nutrients to my tank right after the water change?  I highly
doubt one day without nutrients would be enough for my plants to become
deficient and allow algae to take over.  I performed a full battery of
water tests last night before adding any nutrients and nothing was severely
deficient (pH=6.8, KH=5, GH=9, CO2=24ppm, NO3=10ppm, PO4=0.05-0.1ppm, Fe
=<0.1ppm).  BTW, I forgot to add, while performing the water change
Wednesday night, I also cleaned my filter for the first time since I
started using it two months ago.  I simply rinsed all the pads and bio
media containers in a bucket of tank water.  Boy, that filter was all
gunked up.  Could that have been the reason for my rising Nitrates?  Also,
would rinsing the filter have any effect (good or bad) on this surface
algae?  Another thing I'm wondering about is the length of my photoperiod
and what effect it would have on this surface algae?  My photoperiod is
currently 10 hours and runs from Noon to 10 pm.

Well, that's all I can post for right now.  I have much to do here at work.
Thanks again for your insight, Tom!  Also, thanks to anyone else who would
like to chime in with any advice.

-Gamera