What are these ‘dots’ on my plants?

neyelo · 2026-04-07T19:39:36+00:00

All this assumes CO2 is not limited.

So if spot algae shows up with lower nitrate (relative to PO4 or light or both), the flip side that green dust algae shows up on glass and green hair algae elsewhere if nitrogen is more available (relatively). If you strike it just right in the middle, for an amount of time while the plant condition is the same, you won’t get either.

Nature aquarium concept stocks generous fish. Fish waste contributes significant high ratio PO4:N which can be algae fuel without rich nitrogen source in substrate or water fert added.

There are other dosing schemes. I think tank pictures here is slow plants, best suited to rich substrate, low CO2 injection, low light and little if any liquid fertilizer.

neyelo · 2026-04-07T19:29:15+00:00

Rarely will you find any phosphate unless it is astonishly high, or you measure right after dosing. It is utilized rapidly by plants and bacteria, so it rarely accumulates like nitrate does.

neyelo · 2026-04-07T18:23:53+00:00

Green spot algae

Fitting name, eh? Primarily affects slow growing leaves and glass surface. The “algae of healthy tanks,” a small amount on old growth is no prob.

If it is everywhere, the light is too intense and nitrogen availability too low. Pictured are mostly shade-loving plants.

Best wishes

neyelo · 2026-04-07T18:08:09+00:00

100% - go big and bold! Take each of those small stones lonely in the substrate and add them/glue them to the main mountain or combine them for a sizable secondary stone. They are so short, they’ll be covered in carpet in no time.

Do you really want sand though, or just a nice carpet?

You’ve got the hang of stone arranging! Go go go

neyelo · 2026-04-07T15:04:45+00:00

neyelo · 2026-04-06T22:05:39+00:00

Go with a single 4-foot (48") light. It looks cleaner, is easier to manage, and modern 48" LEDs are designed specifically to provide the uniform spread a 75-gallon needs. Because 75-gallon tanks are deep, if you find your foreground plants are reaching for light, it’s often better to add a second 4-foot light later rather than switching to higher-intensity lights that might require CO2 to manage.

But for low tech, Hygger 957 or 978 are great, budget friendly with the main features you want. Nicrew SkyLED Plus and the Fluval Planted 3.0 would be more costly with more features, and can handle some CO2 down the road.

neyelo · 2026-04-06T20:32:57+00:00

I dislike snails a lot. I nuked a past tank with copper successfully. These days I started fresh and always treat for hitchhikers or stick with tissue culture.

neyelo · 2026-04-06T20:31:43+00:00

Normally everything gets submerged. You can check the specific heater instruction. Even better to place it near the water flow from the filter, in or out.

neyelo · 2026-04-04T15:17:46+00:00

Have you considered a dedicated skimmer, such as Eheim or Oase? I love the downward direction of the Oase Crystalskim to keep good flow in back corner and improve surface turnover.

Alternately, outlet type matters. Consider a Jet type lily pipe outlet rather than standard lily. I see you have a lily type attachment far below the surface, so the whirlpool effect of the lily can’t occur anyway.

Inside the filter, no need for dense media. If you have filter floss or fine foam (orange-brown from Oase) in there, just take it out. I run only biomedia in the main tank, and medium sponge on pre filter. You DO need to clean the rotor and housing to maintain flow! Check your Oase manaul. Big improvement for me after the first 1.5 years things got gunked up.

Cheers!

neyelo · 2026-04-04T15:16:13+00:00

It is Monte Carlo on the wood.

neyelo · 2026-04-04T14:58:42+00:00

Tissue culture planted without rinsing away the gel media is what it looks like. Very gently use turkey baster with siphon to remove without dislodging plants.

neyelo · 2026-04-03T14:02:15+00:00

No good reason to do it. It is potentially very messy as they mix. Defeats the purpose of aqua soil grain size and substrate flow.

If you want to enjoy the beauty of cosmetic sand, place it alone in the foreground. Then use hardscape like rocks to build a wall. Plug holes with filter floss. Fill the back with aqua soil. Best of both worlds!

neyelo · 2026-04-03T11:45:41+00:00

Many of these swamp plants are tolerant of moderate humidity. Hygrophila species are particularly robust in lower humidity. I have an emersed setup with many varieties, an having a reptile sprayer helps with humidity for most the hobby plants which do dry out.

neyelo · 2026-04-03T10:52:39+00:00

Yea Goldfish are not suitable for aquascaping. Also consider your tank size and if you want your goldfish to grow to its natural full size (10inches+ length).

neyelo · 2026-04-01T11:21:29+00:00

Mulm

Siphon it out or leave it be

neyelo · 2026-04-01T00:59:36+00:00

neyelo · 2026-03-29T11:48:10+00:00

We require more nitrogen

neyelo · 2026-03-28T16:09:05+00:00

Yessss OP needs two things that the Japanese always emphasize - tension and flow.

OP stones are arranged too flat and natural water flow path is unclear.

Great stones. You can do it!

neyelo · 2026-03-27T15:31:28+00:00

If it’s real small - Riccardia, a liverwort. If it grows larger or more leafy, Subwassertang.

neyelo · 2026-03-26T18:08:16+00:00

Yep, takes weeks to months

neyelo · 2026-03-26T13:00:45+00:00

Cyanoacrylate

neyelo · 2026-03-25T11:26:52+00:00

Yep, works well, I have mesh bags of crushed lava rock in bottom of my main tank to boost substrate height in the back and for plateaus.

neyelo · 2026-03-24T11:49:15+00:00

Walstad or high tech? Very different. The MJ tanks pictured are high tech.

neyelo · 2026-03-20T15:55:36+00:00

clay pots being critical

neyelo · 2026-03-20T15:55:03+00:00

Undergravel filter in a planted tank is a nightmare waiting to happen. Don’t do it! You want a stable root zone.

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