A bug in my planted...

[cichlidicted]

so last night i was vaccuming the gravel in my planted tank ... until i saw something which at the beginning thought was a huge tiger shrimp !! when i looked closer it was something i never saw before ... probably thinking i've descovered a new species!! SO,  i decided to tear up the tank looking for it, pulled it, placed it in a water bottle. and went to google !!

eventually it was not something new, and i've just wasted 4 hours replanting everything....
based on some pictures, the bug is called damselfly.

My question is, the reason i vaccumed the gravel in the first place is because i have iron defficiency in tank.
Today i'll be getting dry fertz for EI dosing... should i dose Seachem Iron too ?
any damage to plants from tearing up the entire tank ??

[fischkopp]

I found a couple (many) of damselflys in my shrimp tank once. If you find one, chances are that there are many more.  Freaky little beasts, I am sure they hunted down a few cherries. I could never explain how the got in there: I live on the 15th floor and never saw any of them flying around. I think it was the lack of predators that gave them a chance to survive; the tank had no fish at all.

The plants shouldn't have a problem if you tear the tank down and replant it completely. I do that all the time [with stem plants]! Just make sure they don't dry out and try not to break too many leaves.

Dosing iron is important at the point where the substrate won't supply enough. You can get trace mixes, which not only include iron but also other essential trace elements. I have heard good things about the Seachem line, it's easy to use anyway. B&B provides it in dry form as well.

[cichlidicted]

Hey fishkopp
I wonder how it survived in their, i had P. salousi fry in their ... guess they are not so aggressive after all.


Yeah i went the last day and got the dry fertz, including the trace elements ...
i installed the reactor we we built today, and am dosing the 90g tank with this

3/4 tsp KNO3  3xweek
1/4 tsp KH2PO4 3xweek
1/4 Trace 3xweek

with 50% on sunday followed by addition of macros.

sounds good ?

[Toss]

Keep an eye on the algae developement. If you don't have enough plants in there to take up all of those nutrients, the algae will

[charlie]

The better approach is to dose half the suggested amounts until you get your CO2 tweaked to consistent recommended levels & then observe the plant growth before increasing ferts. , this will help stave algae issues.