Pale Leaves

[johnstires]

My dwarf hair grass has turned from green to yellow. The new growth is green, but soon turns yellow like the rest. None of my plants are doing very well. My Pennywort has patches of paleness on it and my rotala indicia is not as red as it usually is.

I've been having algae problems lately and I've recently cut my lighting from 10 hours to 8 hours. The algae has died down alot and is not a problem. My pH is 7-7.2.

I'm wondering if I'm missing micro-nutrients, but the substrate is Eco-complete and I thought that would do the job. Do I need to add extra nutrients? I already add CO2 and Flourish.

[johnstires]

I've been reading up on this and I'm wondering if I need to add nitrate. I have a low fish count in my tank, high light and adequate CO2. I recently removed my filter from the tank and now just use circulation.

[anonapersona]

At high light levesl you probably will need extra nutrients.

How high?

[johnstires]

3.6 WPG. It's an ahsyupply PC bulb and reflector so it's probablly a bit more intense.

[djlen]

You need to dose N,K and P plus the micros that you are now supplying. Sounds like your plants have used up their stores and need fertilizing.
Check our sticky at the top of the plant page for info. on what to use and where to get it.
The best way to fight the algae is to get the plants growing well.

Len

[johnstires]

Thanks for the info and the sticky. What I'm wondering is, can't I just stock the tank with more fish and feed them a little more? Or is that too imprecise? It seems like that would add more ferts. i feel silly adding Nitrate and Phosphates, I've spent my whole life trying to figure out how to get rid of that stuff.

[ianjoe]

Yes, after fighting nitrate and phosphate problems in a "regular" aquarium, it does seem silly to add them. However, in a planted tank, healthy plants use up the extra nutrients and beat algae to them.
I started with just adding nitrates, keeping them around 5ppm. Then I was adding pottassium and traces, stuff hard to really overdose on.Still, something was missing in my tank, slight hazyness (sp?) in the water. I decided to go for it and add a couple drops phosphate. Only a day later and my water was crystal clear. Granted sometimes I added a little too much and a little algae appeared. Though, once you get the hang of it, your plants will grow leaps and bounds, youll be algae free, and have clear water.
HTH, it was just my experience getting into fertilizing my tank.

[johnstires]

But I'm still confused as to whether I should be overfeeding or overstocking? I only feed once a day, should I double that? Also maybe I shouldn't be doing weekly water changes. I've read that Diana Walstad supports less water changes and more food, as it helps the plants grow. But I'm wondering if this is too imprecise for more delicate plants. Any opinions?

[Tempest]

You are doing a highlight/CO2 tank which would be considered high tech I think. If I am not mistaken the Walstead tanks are a lower tech type. It's hard to mix methods and get good results. Overfeeding gives you ammonia problems which can lead to sick fish and algae blooms. Some people don't do the large water changes with the high tech but I find it best on my own tanks so I don't need to be so dependent on test kits for one point. Doing a large change each week to reset the tank keeps any nutrient you may have in excess from accumulating.