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Re: [APD] 5-year tank rehab



I don't know a gardener that hasn't let a garden lapse with
neglect at one time or another. Think of the algae as
weeds. From inattention, a garden will accumulate a lot of
weeds. To fix things up you need to clear out the weeds to
the extent practicable and make the garden a healthy place
for the desired plants.

I don't know the tank size or what the lighting level is
but if the tank was doing well before the "neglect," then,
if I wanted to slow things down, I would have kept
providing CO2 and reduced the light, either the watts or
the time period.

So that's what I'd do -- add CO2 and reduced the lighting
if I wanted to moderate the growth rate. *Plus* clean up
what algae you can, including pruning and scraping the
glass, and a nice big water change afterwards. Add back
some trace mix after the water change. If the tank is low
on ferts, then it's improtant to bring those levels back up
to get the plants back to more robust health.

hope that helps,
have plants have fun,
Scott H.

--- "Adam N. " <taxonomy at gmail_com> wrote:

> I have a 5 year old tank that's needs a spruce up.
> 
> It's a 220w CF with Co2 and substrate heating.  I did
> some water
> changing  but not real cleaning and for about 4 years all
> was well. 
> Finally I shut off the co2 to slow the plant growth.  I'd
> gone back to
> grad school so for about a year I didn't pay too much
> attention to the
> tank.  It was OK for some time then it I started to get
> algae on the
> plants etc. when I tried to vacuum up the substrate
> endless amounts of
> dirt came up.  I am wondering if with resumed co2
> injection and new
> bulbs I can get things right again or if I should just
> start over.
> 
> The plants are OK but have seen better days.  The roots
> are nce and
> white but a lot of the leaves are soft and its mosly the
> ferns that
> look OK.
> 


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