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33K views 142 replies 51 participants last post by  vvDO 
#1 ·
This is my first tank journal. The only other planted tank I have had is a 10gallon, which was also "dirted" (for those of you reading who are noobs like me, "dirted" means having dirt as your main substrate so plants will grow better). For this 10g, I had a 24W "daylight" bulb in a reflector I got from walmart. I bought some HC (also known as dwarf baby tears) from PetCo, thinking they'd die after reading how hard they can be to grow, low and behold they grew even with that crappy little light. No CO2, only a little fert. dosing (Seachem Flourish I think). So 6 months later, my wife let me buy a 20g long tank, and for my birthday she upgraded my lighting situation a bit with a T5 HO fixture (it was on sale at PetCo). Starting this tank new, I thought I'd record my experiences for those like me who glean anything they can from tank journals. Here goes...
 
#111 · (Edited)
Look into this thread with a disclaimer that it may affect your livestock. You also need to find out what's causing the algae and make sure you make the appropriate changes whether or not you go ahead with more drastic algae treatments. Your problem may be too much light for the amount of CO2. This can be adjusted by either reducing intensity or time the light is on. You can reduce intensity by raising the lights or placing window screen under the lights. Pressurized CO2 should help but you have to be ready for more frequent pruning and adequate fert dosing.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203684
 
#130 ·
Sweet tank man! After seeing it I kinda feel bad for the shrimp you gave me, coming from a super cool tank like that and having to move into my lame 10 gal. When I redo it I'll be taking some lessons away form this thread, lessons like paperclip stakes and sweet Idaho potato dirt. It makes me want Glosso.
 
#131 ·
I left for three months and the tank went downhill. Algae galore. I think it could have been prevented if I would have kept the CO2 going, since the plants STOPPED growing and the algae took over. The plants didn't die, but their growth was stagnant to say the least. I've decided to start again from scratch, aquascape-wise that is. I'll still use the same tank and filter and whatnot. I'm just going to move out the shrimp and fish, empty the tank and clean it, put new dirt in, cap it, plant and arrange it, and release the aquatic dudes into their new pad. I'm hoping that there won't be too drastic "cycle" spikes since I'll be using the same filter. We'll see though.
 
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