Hi,

I am new but I have been watching the board for a while. I just need to share today. We used to be avid fish keepers back in B.C breeding tetras and Apistogrammas but then we moved to Alberta and hard water. Not having the room or the desire to play with adjusting the water we gave it up. When we moved into the new place we thought 1 planted comunity tank, after 30 various tanks and multiple breeding pairs ... Now 3 years later the tank is nicely planted with rotala, crypts and saggitaria but has never taken off. Constant problems with algae. DH sugested CO2 which I decided to try. Big improvement. But still blue green mat across the floor of the tank. Try bottom feeders to at least get water movement across substrate. Ghost shrimp saw them for about 2 weeks. Rainbow shark took up residence in the top corner, helpful. Did I mention a Jewel cichlid, won't let anything near bottom of tank, eats fish etc. Can not keep a pair, he is too aggressive. Can't get rid rid of him he is beautiful. So constant waterchanges to clean substrate. Fine. Python, must be 15 years old works fine, except... Connectors blow apart all the time. So here I sit dripping wet, got to go mop the floor. Your sympathy greatly appreciated. Bye the way any suggestions on how to get rid of algae problem also appreciated. Very low tech 65 gallon tank, double flourescent strip total 40 watts. Single heater that does not seem to work, temp stays about 68 degrees(tank is in basement). Powerflo 150 power filter and 2L DIY CO2 injector. 4 gold barbs, 5 rosy barbs, 1 jewel, 1 rainbow shark, ghost shrimp?? PH has dropped to about 7 with CO2, haven't checked hardness, it was off the scale. No measurable nitrates etc. Fish are all healthy, so are the plants, crypts are multipling like crazy, got to start getting rid of them soon. Thanks. Hope you got a laugh.