DiscusLoverJeff
07-21-2011, 08:33 PM
Hello friends,
Since last weeks storm and no power, I have had a major phosphate spike to 5.0 from 0. I do a 70% water change once a week in my planted/discus 95 gallon tank always, but I feel I may need more than that since they won't come down.
The brown algae is growing rapidly all over my plants, driftwood and glass. Most plants are covered in it.
All my water tests are 0. I use 80/20 RO/Tap. Temp steady at 84. Substrate is Eco-Complete. Lighting is T5 6700k bulbs. I am only running 2 of the 4 bulbs that are new about 4 weeks. After the storm and I regained power, I did a thorough cleaning of the tank by removing dead fish (plecos, corys and tetras), cleaning the driftwood and attempting to clean plants. My filtration is a Fluval 405 and an AquaClear 110. I also have an air bubble bar that runs the length of the tank and pressurized CO2.
My question now is, are all my plants garbage since they are loaded with this algae? My wood I can salvage and I can deep clean the substrate. But damn, lost fish, now plants too?
Here are some photos I took. Sorry for being blurry.
What caused this major spike? I did nothing different to my routine. Do I need more water movement? Do I need more air?
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0206.jpg?t=1311294540
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0207.jpg
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0208.jpg
Since last weeks storm and no power, I have had a major phosphate spike to 5.0 from 0. I do a 70% water change once a week in my planted/discus 95 gallon tank always, but I feel I may need more than that since they won't come down.
The brown algae is growing rapidly all over my plants, driftwood and glass. Most plants are covered in it.
All my water tests are 0. I use 80/20 RO/Tap. Temp steady at 84. Substrate is Eco-Complete. Lighting is T5 6700k bulbs. I am only running 2 of the 4 bulbs that are new about 4 weeks. After the storm and I regained power, I did a thorough cleaning of the tank by removing dead fish (plecos, corys and tetras), cleaning the driftwood and attempting to clean plants. My filtration is a Fluval 405 and an AquaClear 110. I also have an air bubble bar that runs the length of the tank and pressurized CO2.
My question now is, are all my plants garbage since they are loaded with this algae? My wood I can salvage and I can deep clean the substrate. But damn, lost fish, now plants too?
Here are some photos I took. Sorry for being blurry.
What caused this major spike? I did nothing different to my routine. Do I need more water movement? Do I need more air?
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0206.jpg?t=1311294540
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0207.jpg
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/DiscusJeff/Plants/DSC_0208.jpg