Problem: deep tank and and low lighting

[Chef]

I've got a problem. I've got a fairly deep 30" tank with sand substrate. I've got discus so my temp is about 84degrees. Some of my plants are growing new foliage but I've noticed some yellowing in the adult leaves and algae growth starting to accumulate. I wonder if you know what micro or macro nutrients I'm missing that's causing the leaves to turn yellow. Im using some seachem flourish tabs and excel but I don't know if that's enough. I'd also like to know what low light plants will grow super tall for my tank. Any input is appreciated thanks people.

Vincent

[jsnoravo]

Hey Vincent, algae most likely is a sign of lack of co2. I haven't tried flourish tabs but I can tell you that Seachem Iron and Seachem Potassium (along with good co2) work awesome for me. They say Seachem stuff is watered down but works great for me. I've never tried dry ferts only b/c I don't feel like mixing things myself. But anyway, lack of iron is most likely the culprit. As soon as I started adding more iron my rotala butterfly has gotten redder and my HC and Glosso much greener.

*Just caught the part where you're asking about fast growing low light plants. A friend of mine ran into algae problems starting up her tank even with co2 due to not having enough fast growing plants to absorb nutrients. Maybe someone else can tell you more about low light fast growing plants since I don't have experience with any.

[jsnoravo]

Here's a pic of my 20g planted tank. AquaSoil, co2@3bps, Seachem Iron, & Seachem Potassium. Plants I have are 2 kinds of rotalas, some sort of ludwigia, HC, & glossostigma. I was fortunate enough to never have algae problems since starting up the tank, but it helped that most of my stem plants were fast growers.

Image137.jpg

[Tetranerd]

Chef, dont let the algae get you down. It will subside with time.

[Tetranerd]

Here is my Discus mess.





Lit by 2 four foot 35 watt bulbs, and 2 spiral compact flour.

Its a mess that is going to be transferred in a week to a bigger tank.

[BeefyG]

Onion plants will do well in a tall tank. I think swords will too. I had a magazine that had an article about plants for tall tanks. I'll see if I can find it.

[davemonkey]

The root tabs only provide micronutrients and need to be directly under the plants that they are intended to feed. Excel is a "carbon supplement". I'd guess that your plants are lacking in Nitrates or Potassium. The seachem liquids work really well in low light tanks. They have one for each nutrient (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, comprehensive/micors, trace/more micros, iron, and excel). In higher light tanks, you have to bump up their recommended doses and it can start to get expensive after that (that's why "high light" people will switch over to dry ferts).

Anyway, your light and your nutrition should be balanced. Too much or too little of one in respect to the other will cause algae problems.