Help with Plants

Logic316,

I have a 58G tank with Bolivian Rams, angels, some cories and gouramis.
Currently I have two OTO and two Tru SAE in there. I do weekly water changes
and feed them twice a day.
Nitrate, nitrites, ammonia, ph, etc are at normal levels. Lights are being
controlled by a timer. I currently have a FloraBase substrate. Plants are
growing but many have this brownish thing that looks like alage on the
leaves. I will see if I can get some amano shrimps and keep monitoring the
levels.

Regardins the light, any brands in particular?How do I calculate how many
watts per gallon it provides?

"Logic316" wrote in message
...
Pedro wrote:
Im using the fertilizer three times a week.
I will describe my tank as medium planted. My planst seem to have a
brownish algae. I am trying everything i can to save them.
Any suggestion are welcome. What type of light do you suggest?

For freshwater plants, using a light that provides a minimum of two watts
per gallon (but no more than 5 watts per gallon) is a good rule of thumb.
Going stronger than that could promote excessive algae growth. It's best
to keep the light on for 12-14 hours a day, but no longer.

As for the brown algae, the way to get rid of it is by reducing the level
of waste nutrients in the water that they are feeding on. Do 20-30%
partial water changes every week, be careful not to overfeed the fish, and
keep the gravel as clean as you can. You also need to make sure you don't
have too many fish in your tank, as they may excrete a lot of waste into
the water that the algae could be feeding on. There are also water
treatments that inhibit algae growth by reducing the levels of nitrates
and other unwanted substances in the tank; one such product is called
Algon which you can buy at http://www.algone.com
It also helps a little to have a few algae-eating shrimp living in the
tank. Amano shrimp are great at eating algae, ghost shrimp are OK too and
are fun to watch. Snails also like to eat algae, but be careful what kind
you get as many varieties will also devour your plants - the best types of
snails that wont eat your plants include the Olive Nerite snail and the
Japanese Trap Door snail (aka Periwinkle snail).

- Logic316



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