New to planted tank, please help but I am obviously doing somthing wrong.

[wesleydnunder]

All of your pleco's will clean the glass, roots etc..
Like Vicki said, get Otto's (sold some places as "plant pleco's") or the scientific name Otocinclus.

And for a 72 bow front -- get about 15 of them. They thrive ONLY in a group. They are inexpensive to get, usually around 1.99 each, and City Pets usually has them in stock. Get somewhere around 15-20 of them. They will clean every plant and leaf in your tank.

If you go out and get the otos before you get your plants, be sure to get some algae wafers to feed them until there is enough food in the tank for them. Otos have gut bacteria which allow them to digest the algae they eat. Without a steady diet of algae the bacteria can die and the otos will starve to death when food becomes available.

Mark

[naps]

Remember if you have Angelfish or discus ottos can become food and get stuck in the throats of larger fish and kill them.

[Sea-agg09]

It sounds weird, but slow the flow rate on your filter(if you can) while you are trying to clear up the water. It makes sense that you want more water to go through your filter to clean it up, but in fact you are keeping the water stirred up and keeping all the particles in suspension. Slowing the flow rate will allow the particles to settle, and the algae will be on a surface, rather than in the water. When you filled the tank up, you disturbed the bottom and released a ton of nutrients into the water. Once the light came on, the algae present in all tanks took advantage of it and bloomed. This can also happen when/if you vacuum your gravel.

[Darbex]

A trick I learned was use Excel for green water makes it go away in a few days

[Mzungu]

If you go out and get the otos before you get your plants, be sure to get some algae wafers to feed them until there is enough food in the tank for them. Otos have gut bacteria which allow them to digest the algae they eat. Without a steady diet of algae the bacteria can die and the otos will starve to death when food becomes available.

Mark

Wow, I never knew that. Very interesting, Mark, thanks.

[wesleydnunder]

Wow, I never knew that. Very interesting, Mark, thanks.

It's one reason why you can have die-offs of otos for no apparent reason, time after time. During the shipping process from fish farm to wholesaler to lfs, otos and most other fish aren't fed because fed fish foul water and cause more maint. for the shippers. I've heard of otos not having access to food for two weeks or more during this process, causing their gut bacteria to die. By the time they reach the lfs the damage is done and many don't survive it.

Mark

[go20214]

you guys are wonderful, i really appriciate the help once again. I have a several picture to share as an update, without the Co2 Tanks and reactor i am having a hard time keeping the plants well.

[kwc1974]

Do diy co2, better than nothing. The glosso will thank you for it. Also, you need a lot more plants with all of that Amazonia in there. Get some easy stems, maybe a sword or two. The glosso needs the bottoms trimed and replanted