# My Planted Tanks: Progress



## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

(I will continue updating in the future)

*Tank #1*
Using commercial substrate for planted aquarium. Just enough to make 1 inch deep substrate in 2 x 1 x 1 ft tank. Gravel as shown in the photo below also just enough to make 1 inch deep cap on top of the substrate.


1st day
Only Rotala Indica


17 days
Re-planted Rotala Indica (+ add more), Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes) & two unknown plants
Added Albino Bristlenose Pleco & Apple Snail for green algae problem


30 days
Re-planted Rotala Indica, Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes), two unknown plants & Anacharis
Removed Apple Snail + added 2 x Albino Corydoras
Albino Bristlenose Pleco increased to 6
Added driftwood & rocks


38 days
Removed some Rotala Indica because lot of it melting at the base
Anacharis growing well, Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes) also seems well
Planted a couple of Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana at the back which you can barely see them in the photo, located on the right & left respectively of the lonely off center Rotala Indica.


43 days
Added black gravel on the left-rear side to make that part higher little bit
Added two more Albino Corydoras
Anacharis grow longer
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller


47 days
Rotala Indica almost non-existent
Anacharis grow longer
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller


66 days
Anacharis now overgrown
The unknown plant, the taller one at the left-rear, is dying
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller



*Tank #2*
Using regular garden soil & black gravel. This one I make ticker substrate, ~1.5 inch for substrate & cap.

1st day
Two groups of Rotala Indica back-center & left-front because I want to see how they fare with regular garden soil.
Java Moss patches on the driftwood
Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" at the center, near the driftwood
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana on the back-right near the Anacharis
Anacharis on the back-right
Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant - Hair Grass on the front (I'm having trouble separating them but managed to do it later)



Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red"



Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana respectively



5 days
Added Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes)
Separated the Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant - Hair Grass to small groups/patches
There are two plants on the right, in front of Anacharis. The bigger leaves is unknown plant but it doesn't survived anyway but hidden behind it is Ipomoea aquatica which actually semi-aquatic plant.
Experimenting regular grass but this ones are grow on wet soil. The taller hair grass in front of the driftwood.







9 days
Added more Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes)


Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" doing well


28 days
All doing well except Rotala Indica still having problem melting at the base stem.


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

FUN! I think I rescaped my Spec V ten times in the last year. Its extremely fun to do and I have definitely been getting better at aquascaping each time I do it. Please keep up the progress


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

First post updated!


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

*Tank #1*

89 days
Added Java Fern on the rear-left.










*Tank #2*

51 days
Added Java Fern 'Windeløv' on the front-right.


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## Quint (Mar 24, 2019)

Looks like progress. One suggestion if your trying to get that hairgrass (not sure not great identifying plants) you may have to forgo or limit the water lettuce. The water lettuce is a great plant and absorbs alot of stuff but it blocks alot of light. I have it in both my tanks but remove about half every week ecspecially in my 10g with lower flow because it easily doubles in a week in that tank.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll do that. I'm also thinking replacing the lamp because it doesn't cover the whole tank.


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## celticfrog42 (Oct 22, 2019)

Thanks for sharing the progression! It's nice for a newbie to see that everything will eventually fill in!


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

celticfrog42 said:


> Thanks for sharing the progression! It's nice for a newbie to see that everything will eventually fill in!


I pruned the stem plants when they get tall & the cut stems was planted into the substrate. This is why the Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana are looking bushy than before. It's worth to note that both plants will produced side shoots at where you cut the stem.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Recently I add wild guppies, ghost shrimps & few riceland prawn in both tanks.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Not much but I improved the lighting. Can't really compare with previous pictures because previously I underexpose them when taking the pictures but both tanks are much brighter now.

*Tank #1*
105 days



*Tank #2*
67 days


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

I'm thinking putting a small pump at the back, lower near the substrate, to create flow or circulation. I have Dophin PA500 that I can use for this. [STRIKE]Do I need to do this?[/STRIKE]

Well, I want to do it but if doing this doesn't give any benefits to the aquatic life, so I would refrain from doing it. What do you guys think?


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

https://youtu.be/lp2Rb4D1WiM

Well, I installed the pump. I believe Java Moss needs circulation. You can see my Java Moss not doing well. I only found BBA on it, not on the other plants.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

*Tank #1*
125 days



In Tank #2, I'm dealing with BBA algae on the Java Moss. Total blackout for a week. Java Moss looks a lot better but not great either. Anacharis & Ipomoea aquatica died in the process but I see new growth from both. My hair grass look pathetic too but hopefully it will recover. I have small patch of Java Moss in a terrarium which I hopefully it'll grow in case the ones in the tank doesn't survived. The white stones that I use to anchor the driftwood also gone since the driftwood doesn't float anymore.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Pearling. So satisfying to watch.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

I have a bunch of Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana after trimming. How can I store them if I don't have extra tank? I hate throwing them away. 

Bacopa caroliniana & Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange'


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

My albino BN plecos doing good very good job in keeping my driftwood clean. Also them together with ghost shrimps (mine riceland prawn) helps eats leftover food at the bottom.

Regarding riceland prawns, becareful with the adults because they are vicious, kill & eat small fish like guppies , even young plecos not safe. I feed the adults to my big fish.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Tank #1
153 days


Tank #2
115 days
Java Moss & hairy grass are in poor condition.  Trimmed & re-planted steam plants. Dealing with diatoms & hairy green algae.


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## FrankWhite (Jan 2, 2020)

kizwan said:


> *Tank #1*
> 
> 89 days
> Added Java Fern on the rear-left.


It looks really good.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

FrankWhite said:


> kizwan said:
> 
> 
> > *Tank #1*
> ...


Thank you!


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## BuddyMan (Dec 30, 2019)

Regarding throwing away plants do emersed. Not sure if they can be emersed but if they can heres what i do. Get a big tub and put multiple smaller tubs in that big tub. Punch holes with a heated fork or nail in the smaller tubs. then put dirt in the smaller tubs. fill water in the big tub. add a lid to the big tub. If ur lid is airtight punch a couple of holes for C02. Plant your plants. Maintainance is only every couple of months. Place in sunlight. Direct or indirect depends on how much u want for your plant. they generally grow faster this way then in tanks. AND u dont need to throw away plants. Yay


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

@BuddyMan thanks! I'm considering doing that.


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## BuddyMan (Dec 30, 2019)

No problem kizwan


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

I have problem with Tank #2. Green hair algae keep coming back. And water lettuce are dying. Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange', Bacopa caroliniana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" & Anacharis are growing well, basically doesn't show any indication of deficiency. Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant consumed by GHA, I don't know if any survived. Java moss pretty much dead but this is due to BBA that I have previously. I think I want get rid Anacharis to decrease the demand of CO2.

Can EasyCarbo or Seacham Flourish Excel help in my situation?


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

*Tank #1*
220 days

Freshly trimmed. 
All aquatic life are healthy & thriving.
3 Albino Plecos, 3 ghost shrimps (Riceland Prawn) & 10+ mosquito fish. 
Little bit of green algae on the driftwood & green spot algae on the glass which indicate phosphorus deficiency if I'm not mistaken. 

*Tank #2*
182 days

Driftwood position changed during yesterday cleaning & water change. 
Around a week ago one & only one Albino Pleco went missing. Nothing left from it to indicate it died. Maybe my cat ate it, I don't know. 
There's a lot of organic materials on the gravel that I have tried to remove many times.
Have BBA problem in the past. GHA recently until I trimmed all Bacopa & Ludwigia plants & then did water change. There is still green algae on the glass & on the gravel. 
Unfortunately, during big water change yesterday, when I syphon 90% of the water & also removing a lot of organic mater, I think there's ammonia spike because the guppies & ghost shrimp looks agitated. I thought when I refilled with dechlorinated water, all will be well but no. All 4 guppies are dead in the morning & the ghost shrimp is dead this morning. As of now, it doesn't have any aquatic life in it. 
I used to have a small filter in this tank with activated charcoal but it is old activated charcoal. I removed it a week ago. Maybe when I removed the filter, it change the balance in this tank. Should I put the filter back & with new activated charcoal?
Anacharis frequently in & out in this tank because of the GHA. Now I put them back in to help filtering the water. 
I also have problem with water lettuce keep dying. They used to be OK before but not anymore since a couple of months. I keep taking several from Tank #1 & put it in this tank.
Bacopa caroliniana, Ludwigia sp dark orange & Cryptocoryne Wendtii are growing well but looks dirty. Java fern windelov looks OK but dirty as well. For eleocharis grass, I can see few strands survive.

The dechlorinated water that I use for both tanks is filtered water - mechanical filter & carbon block (around almost 2 years old I think).


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

kizwan said:


> I have problem with Tank #2. Green hair algae keep coming back. And water lettuce are dying. Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange', Bacopa caroliniana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" & Anacharis are growing well, basically doesn't show any indication of deficiency. Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant consumed by GHA, I don't know if any survived. Java moss pretty much dead but this is due to BBA that I have previously. I think I want get rid Anacharis to decrease the demand of CO2.
> 
> Can EasyCarbo or Seacham Flourish Excel help in my situation?


I'm not familiar with EasyCarbo, but to answer your question, Excel can help, yes. For hair algae, my understanding is that it's better to use Excel after lights-off, otherwise it will utilize the Excel just like our plants do during photosynthesis. Best approach would be to manually remove as much hair algae with a tooth brush or something else that you can get it tangled up with, then twirl up the threads and give a gentle scrub where they're attached or just remove that leaf. Just be aware that Anacharis will melt with Excel, so if you want to treat the tank, I'd remove the Anacharis first. I'd do a higher than standard dose, personally, either 2x or 3x. 3x dose is what's recommended after water change, but Excel doesn't accumulate as it breaks down almost entirely within 24 hours, so if you do a 3x dose and your shrimp don't go nuts, I'd keep going with that after lights out. Also, you could try API AlgaeFix if it's available where you are. This is my favorite for hair algae, very effective, but you can't dose it with shrimp because it will kill them, so you'd have to rehome your shrimp to your other tank for a while.

Edit: Oops, just read the post after this, sorry for your fish and shrimp loss. Shrimp don't like big water changes, so a 90% water change would certainly be pushing it. But the fact the guppies died tells me something else may have been going on. What did you treat your water with? Are you just relying on a mechanical filter and carbon block? Carbon block, if 2 years old, could very well be shot completely or at least letting enough breakthrough of chlorine or chloramine to be toxic. I replace my catalytic carbon blocks every 6 months at most in my RODI units, as my tap water is treated with lots of chloramine which is tougher on carbon than chlorine. 
You don't want to use activated carbon constantly as a general rule. Unless you're trying to remove something specific from the water, like residual medication, I would steer clear. My understanding is that carbon will begin to leach after it becomes saturated.

Are you dosing the water column with any liquid or powder fertilizer?


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

mgeorges said:


> I'm not familiar with EasyCarbo, but to answer your question, Excel can help, yes. For hair algae, my understanding is that it's better to use Excel after lights-off, otherwise it will utilize the Excel just like our plants do during photosynthesis. Best approach would be to manually remove as much hair algae with a tooth brush or something else that you can get it tangled up with, then twirl up the threads and give a gentle scrub where they're attached or just remove that leaf. Just be aware that Anacharis will melt with Excel, so if you want to treat the tank, I'd remove the Anacharis first. I'd do a higher than standard dose, personally, either 2x or 3x. 3x dose is what's recommended after water change, but Excel doesn't accumulate as it breaks down almost entirely within 24 hours, so if you do a 3x dose and your shrimp don't go nuts, I'd keep going with that after lights out. Also, you could try API AlgaeFix if it's available where you are. This is my favorite for hair algae, very effective, but you can't dose it with shrimp because it will kill them, so you'd have to rehome your shrimp to your other tank for a while.
> 
> Edit: Oops, just read the post after this, sorry for your fish and shrimp loss. Shrimp don't like big water changes, so a 90% water change would certainly be pushing it. But the fact the guppies died tells me something else may have been going on. What did you treat your water with? Are you just relying on a mechanical filter and carbon block? Carbon block, if 2 years old, could very well be shot completely or at least letting enough breakthrough of chlorine or chloramine to be toxic. I replace my catalytic carbon blocks every 6 months at most in my RODI units, as my tap water is treated with lots of chloramine which is tougher on carbon than chlorine.
> You don't want to use activated carbon constantly as a general rule. Unless you're trying to remove something specific from the water, like residual medication, I would steer clear. My understanding is that carbon will begin to leach after it becomes saturated.
> ...


Just mechanical filter & carbon block. I'm planning to change the carbon block later this month. I noticed that water lettuce died if using tap water but not if using filtered water. So I use that as a benchmark whether the filter is still good. Also I use same filtered water with the other two tanks. I will change the carbon block soon anyway.

I suspect something in the soil but it doesn't contain any chemical fertilizer. It just organic soil with compost.

At the moment I did not dosing with any fertilizer.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

kizwan said:


> Just mechanical filter & carbon block. I'm planning to change the carbon block later this month. I noticed that water lettuce died if using tap water but not if using filtered water. So I use that as a benchmark whether the filter is still good. Also I use same filtered water with the other two tanks. I will change the carbon block soon anyway.
> 
> I suspect something in the soil but it doesn't contain any chemical fertilizer. It just organic soil with compost.
> 
> At the moment I did not dosing with any fertilizer.


So here's my advice - purchase and use Seachem Prime, or something similar, to treat your water for chlorine, chloramines, and detoxify ammonia, nitrates and nitrites before you add it to the tank. There's a couple possibilities with what wiped your tank, but Prime would've likely prevented all of the scenarios. The first two that come to mind - Scenario 1 - disturbed the soil which resulted in some ammonia leach. Prime would've locked up the ammonia, making it a non issue. Scenario 2 - you could have breakthrough of chlorine/chloramine(whichever your city uses) with your carbon block being so old, and with such a large water change, it was enough chlorine/chloramine to kill all your fauna. Prime would've also prevented this. I use an RODI system for all of my tanks, I still add Prime to my water because any breakthrough would be very bad for my shrimp, in particular, but my city uses up to the legal limit of chloramine, which is harder to eliminate with carbon blocks. 

I would also not use water lettuce as an indicator of anything. I mean, obviously, if it's dying, then something is going on, because that stuff is a weed, but to use that as a determining factor for tap vs filtered isn't a great idea in my opinion. I would start dosing some NPK and micros to your water column, though, as the dirt won't be adding nutrients for the water lettuce since it's capped. All of your plants will enjoy some water column dosing, so this would be a great start to see if your water lettuce improves!

You mention you removed the filter, do you have any filtration at all on the tank currently? It's important for there to be water movement, so if there's nothing moving the water around and breaking surface tension, you need to put that filter back on. You don't necessarily need to add a cartridge back in, but you must have something moving the water. Stagnant water is bad bad bad.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Scenario 1 is most likely what happened. They look agitated before I add new water. At the same time, scenario 2 could happened too which make things worst. I just changed 1/3 of water with treated water. I didn't use seacham but similar; removes chlorine & chloramine, neutralize ammonia, heavy metal & nitrites.


You're right on the water lettuce. I will get fertilizer for my tank. What do you think about the DIY fertilizer using dissolvable capsule & regular garden fertilizer?


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

I bought 5 Tiger nerite snails because it is the only ones they have left. Zebra out of stock. However they doesn't look like tiger snails. Can anyone confirm? One doesn't move since I put them in my tank; 3 in Tank #1 & 2 in Tank #2. Originally 3 in Tank #2 but one doesn't moving, so I tranfered it to my stable tank (Tank #1) for now. The trap door did open & close, so it is alive. They did live 4 days inside sealed packaging before I received them. I bought them online.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Update on the nerite snails. 2 still alive & well, moving around when lights off. The other 3 died not long after I posted previous post. Basically one died in stable tank (Tank #1) while the other two died in problematic tank (Tank #2). With so many death & missing-in-action (suspect my cat) in Tank #2, it become fishless tank which is not good because I can only remove so much organic matter & algae by myself.

I suspected the problem is in the soil (garden soil with compost). I have been doing frequent water change. I'm using filtered water treated with water conditioner which is the best my LFS have (mydilab Tension gon). The carbon block (CTO) for filtering the tap water have been replaced with new one. Yesterday I bought very cheap ghost shrimp, specifically riceland prawn to take care organic matter. Before that I checked ammonia level using Api test kit. I was expecting it read some ammonia level because it doesn't differentiate between ammonia & ammonium. However to my surprise, I got 0 ppm reading. Please see attached photo below. I added the shrimps after I tested the water. There's so many ghost shrimp, like 20 of them & only 2 to 3 died (DOA). They already cleaned some of the organic matter. I can see more of my beautiful black gravel now.


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## wiigelec (Dec 29, 2012)

You might consider cleaning the substrate as all that detritus will not be doing any favors moving forward...


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

wiigelec said:


> You might consider cleaning the substrate as all that detritus will not be doing any favors moving forward...


The army of ghost shrimps that I got in there have clean almost all of the area of the substrate, even at the base of each stem plants. Even small patches of green algae growing on the gravel also getting broken down & dying. Without them I cannot remove a lot of the waste because it attached to the gravel. 

All of the plants are now recovering because algae is now under control. One thing I learned that detritus/mulm are rich in nutrients. Algae can take advantage from them. Taking care of them stop algae from blooming. Right now I'm dealing with green water.


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## wiigelec (Dec 29, 2012)

Having the shrimp eat the detritus does not remove it from the system it just converts it even faster into ammonia which causes things like, I don't know, green water?

Physically removing it from the tank via water change and gravel vac may give better results...


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

wiigelec said:


> Having the shrimp eat the detritus does not remove it from the system it just converts it even faster into ammonia which causes things like, I don't know, green water?
> 
> Physically removing it from the tank via water change and gravel vac may give better results...


Of course I did not let them do the job alone. I have been physically removing remnants of detritus & do water change twice a week. "Dealing with green water" should have given an impression that I'm doing my part too. 🙂 I also have been keeping up in ammonia. So far I did not notice any spike & remain at 0 ppm.


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## wiigelec (Dec 29, 2012)

You won't see an ammonia spike. The nuisance organisms are very opportunistic and use it up before you can measure it. The green water is your indication of excess ammonia, caused by a dirty tank with lots of decaying material, as evidenced in your previous pictures.

Just keep up with the cleaning and eventually it will go away, then try not to let your tank get so dirty...


"Green water

This is quite a rarity in tanks (as opposed to ponds) unless you’re tampering with carbon dioxide and nutrient levels, but it can still strike out of the blue. 

The cause is a unicellular alga that lives free in the water, too small to get trapped in filters, and too persistent to be diluted out with a simple water change or two. 

Ammonia is implicated in causing and sustaining green water, and stirring up substrates, subsequently releasing ammonia in to the water, can be a trigger. Off the shelf algaecides may help, water changes do very little, and my own experiences have found that a temporary black out where lights are turned off and the tank shrouded to keep out any external light will help reduce it, but not always eradicate it. 

To add to the frustration, it will often disappear in a day or two entirely on its own."

https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/how-to-win-the-algae-battle-in-your-aquarium/


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

There are so many articles. None of the articles that I refer to mention ammonia.
https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_algae_green-water
https://fishlab.com/green-aquarium-water/

I'm already in the right path if you really read my first reply.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

*Tank #2*
262 days
The water have been clear for a couple of days. No more mulm/detritus buildup. There are few dead patches of green algae on the substrate.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

Re-posting with better picture quality

*Tank #1*
301 days








*Tank #2*
263 days


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

This damn thing keep coming back. Look at the gravel in second pic (problematic) vs first pic (clean). 

















BTW, the stem plants are growing slowly than before. Therefore I ordered flourish & flourish nitrogen to boost their growth.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

I have since two months ago, rescape my Tank #2, clean all of the gravel & added fine sand to get depth to slightly more than 3 inch. So far there is no more BGA. All plants doing well. So far only three types of plants in there that survived.

Problem with Tank #1, BBA appeared on the edge of old leaves. Dosing micro & macro to get the plants healthy. So far all plants are recovering with healthy new leaves but it is slow progress because no CO2 injection & this is not dirt setup.


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## kizwan (Sep 17, 2019)

End of 2020.


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