# new to planted tanks :/ need some help please



## vincel892 (May 23, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to aquascaping and have just recently converted my dad's salt water tank to a freshwater setup. The tank is 7' x 2' x 2' (~200 gallons). I currently have aqua soil as the substrate and some dragon stone. I am hoping to grow a nice carpet of monte carlo with a few other midground and background plants. This project started a year ago...and I semi gave up due to me not knowing much about anything and just basically winging it. The tank was basically plagued with algae of all kinds and I stopped caring for a while. I recently just started up again with greater motivation to do it correctly this time around. The water is now clear again with some algae here and there. I was told by a local aquascape store owner that I had blue green algae and that I should treat with erythromycin. I went ahead and did as I was told...The algae seemed to have died away but I now have a layer of what seems to be like thick brown dust over my stone and some of my plants. They occasionally flake off, float around and get stuck on plants, other rocks, etc. I'm not sure whether this is the aftermath of the erythromycin treatment or something else. I am debating whether I should scrape it all off before I proceed. Any ideas?

I am running three 250 watt metal halides for approximately 6 hours per day. I just recently built an external CO2 reactor based off of Tom Barr's Venturi Reactor. I started the tank on CO2 today at around 4:00 pm and at around 9:00 pm, the pH was still above 7. The CO2 bubbles seem to be dissolving well from the oncoming stream of water and I do not see any large bubbles from the water output into the tank. Does it usually take longer for CO2 levels to build up in a 200 gallon tank? My reactor is ~ 12" x 3.5" in diameter. I also added a video of the moving water/ CO2 in the reactor. I also did my first macro dosing today following the EI dosing method. THe amount I am dosing is enough for a 150 gallon tank (i figured I'd do this since my tank is not heavily planted atm) I currently have what is equivalent to ten 1" x 1" monte carlo pads, 5 blyxa japonica stems, 5 bundles of riccia fluitans tied to rock, and 2 amazon swords planted in the tank. In terms of fish, i have about 15 otocats, one cory cat, and about 15-20 tetras.

Im sorry if you have become very confused at this point since I was all over the place. I probably did things completely out of order as well. I'm just looking for any input at this point.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a quick run through of my tank





Here is the CO2 reactor in action





Here is the brown flaky stuff on my stone
http://i.imgur.com/23dqwFJ.jpg

I've posted this on other forums and was hoping someone here could give me some advice. Thanks in advanced


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## Professor Monkey (Jan 8, 2015)

Beautiful scape. I love the rocks and the layout.

Looks like you've done some research and have gotten the necessities in place - lots of light, good substrate, and even some CO2.

Now the challenge that every underwater garden faces; balancing light, nutrients, and CO2.

Keep in mind that light is the driving force and it will determine how much CO2 and nutrients are needed by the plants to produce healthy growth. Your algae problem is due to the enormous amount of light that isn't being used by the plants. Although the plants have everything they need and should start going well, there are not enough of them in there and nearly all of the light entering the tank is available for algae to use. 

I'd recommend getting A LOT more plant biomass into the tank. Include some fast growing plants (which can always be removed later) to help keep nutrients in check while your preferred plants establish themselves.

Hygrophila species grow rapidly, Vals multiply quickly once established and can provide shade once they reach the surface, narrow leaf chain swords also spread quickly and provide excellent ground cover, and pennywort grows like a weed. These plants are typically cheap and can be replaced once your other plants have proliferated. Alternatively if you have the $ you can stock your tank with the plants you want right away. Check out the marketplace to buy from other members - there's often good deals to be had.


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## vincel892 (May 23, 2012)

Professor Monkey said:


> Beautiful scape. I love the rocks and the layout.
> 
> Looks like you've done some research and have gotten the necessities in place - lots of light, good substrate, and even some CO2.
> 
> ...


My major problem right now is with CO2. I got a CO2 drop checker today and it still remains blue after several hours of running CO2. I dont know what the problem is. I dont see any bubbles coming out of the output back into my tank so it seems like my external reactor is working. I was thinking of trying a more powerful pump and see if that fixes it. Do you know how powerful a pump I would need for a tank of this size?


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## Professor Monkey (Jan 8, 2015)

Even with adequate CO2 levels you'll still need more plants. My tank has no CO2 and grows very well without algae.

To increase CO2 you can reduce surface agitation to prevent degassing and/or increase bubbles per second to your reactor.


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## vincel892 (May 23, 2012)

Professor Monkey said:


> Even with adequate CO2 levels you'll still need more plants. My tank has no CO2 and grows very well without algae.
> 
> To increase CO2 you can reduce surface agitation to prevent degassing and/or increase bubbles per second to your reactor.


I'm starting to plant more and just filled my co2 this morning. Hoping this will fix something.

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