# Update on my tanks



## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

I have stopped dosing on the 28 gallon for a week and it still look terrible due to an algae bloom.....

10 gallon is great!!

10g


















28g  ************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! changed the water 4 times this week and added an algae madication called algae destroyer...reason for water changes.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It the green on the glass or in the water?


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## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

emc7 said:


> It the green on the glass or in the water?


green water....usually by now it should be gone after 4 water changes and medication


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Only thing I can suggest is do not add that algae medication again. It wreaks havoc on your plants, the ones you want to grow. I used it once a long time ago and my plants were pissed about that for months. It didn't outright kill them, but it stopped them from growing. And its important they grow when trying to battle aglae.

What are your water parameters, light level, and fertilizers for the 28?


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## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

Mikaila31 said:


> Only thing I can suggest is do not add that algae medication again. It wreaks havoc on your plants, the ones you want to grow. I used it once a long time ago and my plants were pissed about that for months. It didn't outright kill them, but it stopped them from growing. And its important they grow when trying to battle aglae.
> 
> What are your water parameters, light level, and fertilizers for the 28?


Amonia-0ppm
Nitrate-10ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
Ph-6.8 
Gh-3-6
Kh-3-6

Lighting is 48w t5 HO lighting 
I followed the seachem dosing guide for a long time and my water was always cloudy because i had a notion that you always had to dose your tank no matter what!!!! But i failed to realize that my lighting is not nearly high enough for my plants to keep up with the surplus of nutrients. So for now i stopped dosing till my algae goes away. From here on i wil use Flourish and iron once a week and potassium once every other week.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Those are not dwarf rainbows correct? Your gonna need a bigger thank for them at some point.


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## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

Tallonebball said:


> Those are not dwarf rainbows correct? Your gonna need a bigger thank for them at some point.


Yea i went into my LFS and asked for a good sugestion on what to put into a 10g and they told me to throw in 5 of those guys. They seems to be alight but i know they grow to like 2.5 inch. I plan on adding them to my 28 eventually. After i do that ill prob put like 7 harlequins in the 10g


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

So still pea soup? Fighting algae in a planted tank is hard. You can't do aggressive stuff like blackouts. But eventually, the plants should start beating the algae to the nutrients


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

Tallonebball said:


> Those are not dwarf rainbows correct? Your gonna need a bigger thank for them at some point.


those are the neon blue dwarf rainbows 10 gal is a little small for them still IMO but id get some females in there.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Schwartzy61 said:


> Amonia-0ppm
> Nitrate-10ppm
> Nitrite-0ppm
> Ph-6.8
> ...


I don't think your issue is excess ferts, its an imbalance. At about 1.75 wpg of T5 OH you are in low-medium light range. If it were me, just going by your stats I would dose a lot more nitrogen, same amount of K, completely cut out the PO4. Then stick with same amount of traces and cut out the iron unless the plants say otherwise. I would give it a break first like you said, that destroyer stuff is not good for plants. So give them about a week to rebound before you add anymore nutrients. Also liquid ferts are really expensive and IMO not really the best things to use if you plan to run long term. I know the EI method is for hi-tech tanks, but it can definitely work on lower light tanks if you simply cut back the dosing. Its very cheap and effective. $40 of ferts should last you many years.


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## littlefish (Aug 27, 2010)

the best way to get rid of the green water is witn an UV, but if you don't have one you can try the willow method 
http://freshwater-aquarium-passion.blogspot.com/2010/09/getting-rid-of-green-water-with-willow.html


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## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks everyone! What I did was I moved some of the Water Wisteria from the 10g to the 28g. The tanks looks better plus its clear again!


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