Oh no! there's green hair growin' in my tank!

[pdiddymoose]

Well good news bad news;  good news:nh3/4 is zero.  bad news: green flowing strings of hair growing right off the front glass of the tank.  leaving town in two days.  Should I let it go for 8-9 days and deal with it when I come back?  Or, should i try ta do sumthin quick.

Tank's a 20gal.  Appears to have just finished fishless cycle.  Ammonia is zero today.  Have'nt tested nitrites yet. I planted the tank last week.  2 @8-9"  cobamba; a java fern; 1 anubias nana; something that petwarehouse says is wisteria but does'nt look like what I ordered; about 12-14' and 1 pot of micro sword.  My lighting is primative- a four foot shoplight with 2 reg 40 watt bulbs.  I figure this is 40 watts of light, cuz only half the lite is over tank. Also have an 18" phillips "agro" T8 in the hood lite. Another 15 watts.  I have'nt started CO2 yet.  Would this help?  No ferts,  have been adding something called flourite that came with a test kit.  I think it's iron and other micro nutrients.  Four drops of that a day.Lights on 12 hr, off 12 hr.  Plants are growing.  Have'nt seen pearling yet.  No fish in the tank yet, but, now that it may have cycled, I have a pair of cory cats I was gonna transfer.  I know they're not algea eaters.  I've never seen SAEs around here but I have'nt done a concerted search either.  Don't think I could get em anyway, cuz there's so much to do B4 we leave for the Outer Banks.

I'm a neophite to live plants.  I plan on getting my lighting a little more tuned up soon and start DIY CO2 before we leave (tomorow).  been crazy busy with other stuff and kept forgettin to pick up some yeast.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  

peace; out.
pk

 

[riddlephil]

i dont know if your lighting will be enough for those plants.  Java fern will do fine, but cabomba and micro swords need a lot of light.  As for the algae, no clue

 

[wayne]

I'm no expert on my plants, but that seems like a light for a little tank.  Maybe your plants need a little time to settle down and start growing to take full advantage at the light, but until then all that's going to happen is you'll grow algae.  I would cut down on the time and intensity of the lgiht, but you'll need to ask an expert for numbers how much

 

[riddlephil]

try putting some hygrophila in the tank.  It grows really fast so it will use up some nutrients instead of just growing algae.  Do you have any brown algae?  If you do, ur light is insufficient

 

[pdiddymoose]

Ok,

This is what I've done: Cut the light done to 9hr ON, 15 OFF.  Raised the fixture to about 6" off the water.  Started CO2 via DIY- 2 liter.  The tests are all good; NH3/4 = 0, NO2 = 0, NO3 ~10.  Don't know 'bout hardness.  Last tests were very low KH and GH was like 16 or so.  Also, the cabomba that is near the filter outlet is bent over and has started sending off roots @ the nodes.  I bent them down to the substrate to see if they take root.

I think that there's plenty of light for this tank, ~around 55Watts.  That's within the 2-4 watts/gallon formula.  On the high end in fact.  It's a 20G.

The two palleatus cories are very happy in this tank.  Tried to get to an LFS that I like, that might have SAE but got lost and could'nt find it-- figures.

Does anyone know 'bout that "wisteria"?  Looks like an herb you might cook with,  like mint, or coriander/cilantro.  It has fine white fuzz like velvet that you can only see when it's outta water.  Not very pretty at all.  Can I send it back?  I'll ask.

thanks