# Help, help!! be patient with me please :)



## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

Hi there..

Please help! INCOMING! I am pretty new to planted aquariums.. Been into it since April of last year.. My last tank was doing great! ..Then collectoritis set in, I learned more about aquascaping, and learned how to sell off new growth on aquabid.. LOL
Then I got a brilliant idea to sell off most of my plants, re-scape, and start over. Headache ever since.. I developed a severe case of black brush algea, it got all over the edges of the plants, it looked awful, and something smelled even worse. So I ripped out all the plants, tossed what was infested, and saved what I thought I could.
I placed the 'ok' plants in a rubbermaid bin with a PC flurescent over it, and a power head for about 2-3 weeks before I had the time to rescape and get on with it. 
Then I got the idea to put my happy fish in my 10g, and buy a baby black piranha for the 75. So, I made a rock/driftwood 'hill' scape with a big open foreground. I put in 4 Crypt walkrei, 4 wendtii, 1 parva, and 2 stems of B caroliniana all of which were emersed. Then, from the rubbermaid thing, I put in a bunch of plugs of dwarf hairgrass, and H micranthemoides. I got some healthy glosso from a friend, and bought some E vivipara (didn't look too good) from the lfs.
It has been about ==1 WEEK!!!== and the tank is riddled with BBA, this puffy looking sort of thread looking algea, green dust algea, and a bit of this smelly bacteria that grows under my parva, and seems to be spreading onto some leaves in a brown coat form. HELP!!! What am I doing wrong? what would help!!! thanks in advance!!
Anyway, I have a 75g with 4x55w ahsupply bright kit w/6400k bulbs 10.5 hrs a day, flourite, KH 5, pH 6.6, (press CO2) ..dosing 15ml CSM+B @ 1 tbsp/250ml, 10ml Chelated Fe every other day... 10ml potass.nitrate @ 1 tblsp/250ml, and 5ml potass.phosphate I bought from lfs premixed.. AP test reads 2.5-3ppm. macros dosed non micro days.
This is so frustrating after having such a nice and healthy tank before.. can't seem to get this under control!!


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## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

i forgot to add my filter setup..

Rena FilStar XP2 barely ripping the surface, and an Aquaclear30 powerhead w/filter attachment halfway under the surface.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

You need a lot more plant biomass. Get some fast growers and put them in there.

Once the tank is established then you can remove them.


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## anonapersona (Mar 11, 2004)

Laith said:


> You need a lot more plant biomass. Get some fast growers and put them in there.
> 
> Once the tank is established then you can remove them.


And you can often get a bunch of fast growers just by asking in a forum like this, offer to pay shipping and a few bucks extra and someone will be happy to bag their weekly cuttings to mail to you.


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## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

Thanks a whole lot, I figured that was the case.. Does everything else I'm doing sound good??
How many plants should I get?? I just bought 2 bunches of anacharis to toilet after growth gets going, but if anyone wants to give a bunch of cuttings, please pm me!! thanks!! thanks a whole bunch!!


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## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

ok, I got 4 bunches of anacharis to add and toss when this equals out.. I added an amazon sword, a val, and about 4 more crypts.. should I keep going?
Please help, things don't seem like they are getting any better!


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## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

also getting about 10 micro tenellus, and 2 bunches of dwarf hairgrass..


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Get more fast growers...


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## RuThY (Jul 31, 2005)

Thanks..lol i guess it is back to the lfs.. anyone want to donate plants? thanks again..


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

Here's a fast grower that will help a ton: Ceratophyllum demersum aka hornwort. It's a floating plant. In my opinion the stuff is ugly as hell, but it grows very fast. I think there was some recent research that said it actually produces a chemical that inhibits algae growth. Get that CO2 up there too, that always helps with algae reduction. Keep a close eye on the Rhom while upping it though.

Nice Rhom man  Do you post on Pfury too? I don't come across many fans of predators on this website.

I used to keep a planted tank with a school of 9 Pygos. Planted tanks and Prianhas can be difficult... especially if you have a spawning pair of RBP. Just remember that P's are VERY messy fish and due to their diet you're going to have a lot of nitrate in that tank. Be sure to keep some fast growers in there to deal with the nitrates regardless of algae problems. Back when I had my pygos I found that Rotala indica(rotundiflora), Hygrophilia polysperma, Cabomba caroliniana, and Ceratopteris thalictroides(Water sprite) grew like crazy. I can only guess that this means they must thrive on higher nitrates.

Here's a pic of my tank back when I had the Pygos:


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