I started my first planted tank in January but do to algae issues am about to start over again and am looking for advice on what test kits I should have and what additives I should use to keep my plants healthy.

I started with a Sword and some other plant I can't remember ( I now know I need to write down what plant varieties I get). The fish shop gave me a growth stimulator which I used weekly as recommended. Both Plants did very well for a month and then started getting yellow and transparent. My fish shop had me add iron, which quickly solved the problem. About the same time I added Java moss for my cherry shrimp. Unknown to me at the time, the java moss came with several varieties of algae, green hair and black beard. The algae loved the tank conditions and quickly spread on my plants. The cherry shrimp will eat the stuff, but not fast enough. My ottos don't seem to like it. My Nerite snails are great at cleaning but won't (or can't) get on the plants. I remove infested leaves weekly since manual cleaning doesn’t work or destroys the leaf anyway. Since the infestation started I stopped feeding my plants with anything and wonder if that is part of my problem. Fish shop tests show I have high phosphates and have been trying to combat that with additives.

The only tests I have are a PH test kit and those 5 test strips, which don't really tell me anything. Should I get a phosphate and iron test kit? Carbon? Anything else? What should I be feeding my plants to keep them happy and hopefully not encourage the algae? I do 20% water changes each week and vacuum the gravel every 2 or so. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I don't use test kits but did a few tests a long time ago.

I found that peat moss in the substrate kept kh and gh constant for years but without both rose over time.

My pH was 8.4-8.8 (api high range test kit) after a month or so.

by not adding food for the first fish I got very low and very short lived ammonia/nitrIte spikes (if any) but an initial nitrAte spike to 15-20ppm. Which dropped down after about 3 weeks.

So I guess you could get the api tests for ammonia/nitrIte/nitrates/kh/gh/pH.


For iron I dose iron gluconate (available at drug stores). Just dissolved a capsule in an old coke bottle and does a capful each week.

my tanks have no water changes, no mechanical filtration, and no circulation.


Just my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

There are test kits that are good to have, but unless you have excessive amounts of something in your tank or not doing regular water changes, you don't necessarily need them....above the normal ph/ammonia/nitrite/nitrate anyway. I have 4 hi-tech tanks and I don't test for phosphates or Fe. I just simply do my 50% water change a week and don't worry about it.

I'm guessing it is some other imbalance that has fuled your algae issues. What size is the tank, what type of light do you have, what lighting spectrum is the bulb in, how long do you keep the light on, CO2 or not?

beaslbob, I've been reading about your tank setup and must say I am intrigued. Doubt I'd do anything like it with my current tank since it's already setup, but may if I ever have to do a complete reboot. Or maybe i'll get a 10 gallon and try it out. Sure would be nice to discard water changes and reduce the noise and power usage of the filter.

My tank is a 16 gallon bowfront. I use a slightly oversized Aquan filter but don't know the stats on my light. I originally kept the light on probably 13 hours a day but reduced it to 10 after the algae started up. I do not hav a CO2 system. I'll check on the light when I get home today. I may drop into my fish store and grab more plants since the two I have left are very small after being severely trimmed of infested leaves. As an experiment I started feeding the plants again with the one growth stimulator I have (will get info on that too) and added Iron since the one plant is looking deficient. Worst case I will discard the two remaining plants and try new. At least I know where not to buy my plants from now after getting that infested java moss.

sound like my first attempts at a planted tank. I tried a couple plants but they just died off. Only when I added lotsa plants as the only filtration did I get the amazing results.

So if you can get a bunch of anacharis or vals and see what happens.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I do have a two Vals left, thanks for prompting my memory of that plant name. That was one of hte first plants I bought and it reproduced 4 other plants and keeps on going. Leaves got up to 3 feet long before I trimmed them. It is my iron sensor. With enough cherry shrimp it might survive since they are like little lawn mowers running long the edge eating the hair algae. I do want more of those but hope I can get the algae under control so I don't have to remove too much of it.

I checked my lighting and I have a 15W 8000K light. Good color but wattage is too low based on what I've read (2-3 watts per gallon). With a 16 gallon tank I should be looking at a 30W light at least. Does that sound right? One negative issue with bowfront tanks is the lack of lighting in the bowed front. I have glofish and noticed that immediately.

That is right, for standard fluorescent fixtures. When you get into T5HO and LED fixtures, the WPG rule no longer applies because they are so efficient.

My personal suggestion would be a 50 Watt SHO bulb, a socket switch, and a spot reflector from your hardware store, along with some egg crate to set it on over the tank. The setup will cost you about $80, but it's worth it in my opinion.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!