# Starting over with my 55gal



## DaTrueDave (Dec 28, 2003)

Click on the pics to see full size!

So, years ago, I had my CO2 set up and my fertilizing routine down pat and I had what I thought was a gorgeous tank (if not elegantly aquascaped):


I was using it to learn how to grow plants. I figured I could learn the aquascaping part later.

Then I had to go out of town on a series of business trips. Lots of two week trips, but the one month trip is what did it. A combination of a power outage and someone that didn't fert/feed my tank resulted in dead fish, dead plants, and me coming home to a tankful of algae. I cleaned it up a bit, but I never really replanted. Only one gourami survived, and I was kinda waiting for him to kick the bucket before starting over. The tank turned into an algae tank. Most of us would consider it unsightly. I was going to leave it until I started over.

Well, my girlfriend got a new tank for Xmas, and I got a new CO2 regulator with two outputs. I'm ready to start over. And the big bag of plants I got from the meeting yesterday are going to help.

Here are some "before" pics. I just dumped everything in when I got home last night. I'll take some more pics after I'm done planting today:




I told you it was a tankful of algae! My hope is that I can post a few more pics here to show that algae can be defeated and that it's never a lost cause.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

DaTrueDave said:


> Click on the pics to see full size!
> 
> So, years ago, I had my CO2 set up and my fertilizing routine down pat and I had what I thought was a gorgeous tank (if not elegantly aquascaped):
> 
> ...


You want to knock out the excess organics and go lean on phosphates till under control. Try to keep your flow good to keep the mulm(fish poop) suspended so your filter will pull it out of the water column. Setup a reoccurring alarm for weekly canister filter cleanings on your cellphone.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk


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## DaTrueDave (Dec 28, 2003)

So, this isn't new algae. This tank has been an algal aquascape for about 3 years now.

Here's a pic after I planted everything (click for full size image):


There's actually some rocks under that big mound of algae on the right side. I got tired of scooping algae yesterday and figured I'd try and get most of the rest with my next water change.

I'll try to update this again in a month or so if things go well. If they don't, I'll let this thread slide down into obscurity, LOL!


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