... if anything, about how I treat my plants?
Specs: 55g. substrate is rinsed clay oildri, some fine pieces as well as coarse.
I consider it 'lightly to moderately' planted, some of you might consider it a sparsely planted desert
Plants currently: Watersprite, Italian Val, Algae balls, couple of tiny sprigs of a cardinal plant that have been literally growing from a tiny 3 leaf leftover of the orignal plant... Red and non-red wendtii.
Plants coming: I just ordered some HC to replace the hairgrass which I cant keep rooted thanks to my SAEs (if they uproot the HC, they're finding a new home!)
Current water specs and dosages:
PH - 7.6-7.8
Ammonia/nitrites - 0
Nitrates - typically around 10, usually 5ish after 15 gallon weekly water change
KH - Usually around 3
GH - Usually around 6-8
Phosphates - Still coming down from insane heights, down under 5ppm as of last week.
Aquarium salt 1tbl per 5 gallons
Flourish Excel - "few drops more" than a cap full (i.e. 6-7ml) every evening around 5pm
Flourish Potassium - 2 caps full every 3-4 days
Flourish Comprehensive - 1 cap full every 3-4 days
Just added 1 Flourish tab under the center of the val area and 1 under the wendtii 3 days ago.
Lights: 2x55w ahsupply.com T5 blubs and reflector kits (110w total), on 3:30pm, off 10:30pm. Bank of tank covered with heavy paper to not allow any direct light in from windows.
Issues I think I have: I've got a small bit of a red/brown colored algae on some things but it's not spreading so I'm letting it coexist at the moment. Very little green algae, also not really spreading or at least kept in check by the clean up crew. My bigger issue is the runners off the val are extremely slow growing and aren't even trying to get to the top of the tank.
Questions I have:
Am I dosing the right amounts for the mass and types of plants I have? To me sometimes the watersprite casts a yellowish green hue and things just seem to grow s l o w.
Should I consider switching to CO2? We're actually considering a 2nd tank (125 gallon) in our new house and that one will be more heavily planted so CO2 will probably be the choice for that one vs a gallon of excel a month, I figured if I do one, why not do both?
Enough for now. Here's a shot of the tank taken last night to give an idea what's in there.
Thanks in advance!
