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3 year old fish tank
> I have a newlly planted 20L tank that has had fish in it for three years.
>The substrate is 100% gravel. The plants seem to be doing well thus far.
The
>PH is around 7.0 and I keep the temp at 75 degrees. I only have one 20W
strip
>light on the tank as of now (I am planning on replacing it with a double
20W).
>I measured the nitrate level today and found it to be 1.0. The tanis
filtered
>by a Dynaflow filter.
>I also have noticed an emerald green mat of algae beginning to cover the
rocks
>and some of the gravel. I haven't seen any on the plants yet.
>(Cabomba,Hygrophilia, Amazon Swords,Bacopa,Wisteria). I assume I should do
>about a 50% water change, stop with the iron supplement, and maintain strict
>10 hr. light period per day. Should I do anything else at this point ?
I would question the accuracy of a 1.0 ppm nitrate reading in a 3 year old
fish tank. This seems _awfully_ low. Are you sure your test kit is
accurate, and a _low range_ kit?
That said, water changes are the way to go unless you have nitrate and/or
phosphate in your tap water. You _will_ need to increase your lighting for
most of the plants you have to do well. When you say they are doing well
"so far", how long has it been? It usually takes several weeks for plants
to go seriously down hill from lack of light.
Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Association