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Major questions here!

in my peat soil, i see these little silver backed insects drawling in and out of the soil! are they dangerous? also! theres these little sliver type worms, they arent big, but the heads are very pointed and they are slimy, greyish brown, and almost see through, are these dangerous??? are they preying on the other bugs?? my soil is moist enough, that it looks wet on top, wet enough that like, algea is coating the surface, and moss is growing in spurts all over, i have this green velvety carpets growing all over too, the are growing all the same type of plant out of them too that looks like microscopic nepenthes gracilis without the pitchers, i really need to know if any of this stuff is bad!! this has all been like this for a while, and my plants are flourishing too! i mean really growing! could all these bugs be helping the peat soil make nutrients the plants are feeding off of? please, i need answers! i would hate to see this 125 gal cp tank go down the tubes! and i need answers to all these problems, if thats what they are, thanks

ccrider
 
nobody knows anything about these issues? hmm, i really hope these things arent any problems.
 
C.C.,

I have had a lot to say about these issues in the past. Here is my take on this: the various lifeforms growing in your pots is indicative of nutrient availability. Probably your TDS (total dissolved solids) is too high. Possibly the peat has partially decomposed during or before your use, and/or the sand you are using has some associated mineral dust, phosphates, and the like. This has encouraged the growth of algae, and most likely cyanobacteria. Both these plant forms possess the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, as well as being ideal substrates for the opportunistic colonization by moss and fungi. The insects are likely feeding from this material, and may pose threats to the roots of the plants.

I am not sure how you are growing the plants: whether in pots or in a natural substrate. If in pots, you might try daily flushes and spraying of the surface to try to leach out the nutrients. If there are seedlings affected by this, I would certainly advocate pricking them out into new media as the germinating moss will quickly overwhelm them. Sometimes regular flushing and spraying can get the algae under control. If it doesn't, you can try removing the top inch or so of media, and replace with fresh mix. I suggest a topdressing of pure peat or live milled moss, not too tamped down, as this will afford a lower ph that might discourage the return of the algae.

The only other alternatives are to either repot everything from the bottom up with new mix that has been repeatedly rinsed prior to planting, or to bite the bullet, take a deep breath and hope for the best - time may resolve the issue. I would opt for the former choice though: flush and redress the pots.

Hope this helps.
 
mmm, theres only a few pots submerged in the soil, its not a pot, its a 125 gallon tank! lol the mixture im using is a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite, i only use distilled water, and i havent used superthrive in a long time, theres 240 watts of light on top, so its very bright, theres no way to stop this growth, as i have already pulled out some of it, and it regrows back! im wondering if this is just the start of a natural ecosystem/bog. after all, these things do grow in the wild, all around these plants too without killing them, look at my posting in the green house section of this forum, you will see my post on my 125 gal tank there, with pics, great revues on this tank tamlin, im just wondering about this cause ive posted this topic like 4 times maybe since i joined here, this is the first response on it for me, lol also, i have sphagnum popping up all over, will this overtake the green moss/fungus? my main concern are these worms and these little microscopic insects, if they will do damage, they have been present in the tank, ever since my first tank, a ten gallon tank, as a matter of fact, im going to post a couple of pics here too, so you can see it
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thanks for your advice, but i think i need to give you more detail, and that includes visual too
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only prob i have really is photographing the lil boogers! as far as redoing the landscape, well, youll see how hard it will be to do that when you see the pics
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. thanks again!
 
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