Still feel like a newb.

[Fishnerd360]

I don’t really know why as it’s an established planted tank. Maybe do a 50% water change, trim the plants, and maybe add some fertilizer for the plants/nitrates. Possible when cleaning the mechanical filtration you used tap water killing the bacteria, causing everything to be zero and the new colony of bacteria needs to grow? I have no evidence to back this up, but I feel like the bacteria is hungry and needs to be fed some nitrates lol.

 

[The Morning]

Have not cleaned the filter recently. I trim the plants every water change. Not heavy but remove 10 leaves or so every other day. I appreciate the response. I am used to crystal clear water in both my tanks so this bugs me.

 

[The Morning]

Just an update. I think the tank is doing fairly well at this point. Some plants I thought had completely died off started showing new growth. I trimmed a boatload off of the plants and you can hardly tell.

 

[eon aquatics]

seems like a good setup to me

 

[Fat Homer]

Tank looks pretty healthy to me, no excess algae, nice green foliage would indicate plants are happy...

 

[The Morning]

Just an updated picture. Really happy with how this tank has progressed.

 

[The Morning]

Just an update on this tank if anyone is following. I decided to switch things up a little. Didn’t think the African cichlids with heavy plants looked great so I went more the community tank feel. Like the results. Heavily trimmed the plants as well.

 

[EntoStentor]

that's awesome, good job, i wish i could get a tank to look like this

 

[The Morning]

Just seeing if the video works.
First video uploaded. The clarity of the video is quite a bit less than the original on my phone. Anyone know how to fix that?

 

[FJB]

Beautiful!
Your tank has developed very nicely and all plants look quite healthy. Are you still running the CO2 in there or not? Just curious. Clearly it is working well for you.