7aradox
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2017
- Messages
- 4
Hey guys, so I have started a new aquarium almost a month ago and have encountered some frustrating problems. This is my first ever planted aquarium that I have ever done and wanted to experiment and practice in order to learn more. This what it looked like after I first finished setting everything up:Image
The tank is partially dirted with organic top soil (an inch or so on both sides of tank) and Seachem Fluorite Black as the top layer. Among those planted, I have just Java fern and dwarf baby tears to start out with. In order to promote plant growth, I have an semi-automatic CO2 system running and an Fluval A3992 Aqua Fresh & Plant 2.0 LED for light. I figured this would be enough to grow dwarf baby tears but apparently I was wrong. When I first planted the tears I was told to put a rock on top of the plant because it tended to float.
This worked but as weeks went by, I noticed that the roots were not anchoring themselves at all (or at least did not seem to). I would accidentally hit them while cleaning and they would become easily uprooted. After securing them under a rock repeatedly I noticed that they were gradually starting to die and were not really growing at all. Frustrated, I purchased a glass CO2 checker to put in my tank. After dialing my CO2 in, I noticed an increase of algae growth. I know that this is common with new aquariums but I think the algae were feeding off the excess CO2.
(Also, mind you, I have another established aquarium as well which I have been taking water from and filling it with each water change of the new one.)
With the increase of algae, I figured that I was providing too much excess nutrients in the tank since the nitrogen cycle had not fully been established. I cut the CO2 flow down by half and as well as the light intenisty. I even lowered the temperature down to 80F too (which is where it should be). I did this for a few days but there wasn't much of an noticeable difference.
Fast-forward a week and that's when things started to get really bad. I'm a college student and recently finished my finals for the Fall Quarter. During this time, I hardly did any maintenance on my tank. This is what it looks like now (before I just cleaned it):
As you can see, it has completely succumbed to algae within a week and a half. I even got strange little "worms" as you can see on the glass of my aquarium.
What am I doing wrong? Is my substrate too big for the dwarf baby tears? Am I providing too much light?(there is a window nearby) Am I too impatient? Has my bottom layer of substrate become anaerobic? I am not sure.
I know that I have not been keeping up with maintenance for a week but I feel like this algae is a bit more severe than normal.
The tank is partially dirted with organic top soil (an inch or so on both sides of tank) and Seachem Fluorite Black as the top layer. Among those planted, I have just Java fern and dwarf baby tears to start out with. In order to promote plant growth, I have an semi-automatic CO2 system running and an Fluval A3992 Aqua Fresh & Plant 2.0 LED for light. I figured this would be enough to grow dwarf baby tears but apparently I was wrong. When I first planted the tears I was told to put a rock on top of the plant because it tended to float.
(Also, mind you, I have another established aquarium as well which I have been taking water from and filling it with each water change of the new one.)
With the increase of algae, I figured that I was providing too much excess nutrients in the tank since the nitrogen cycle had not fully been established. I cut the CO2 flow down by half and as well as the light intenisty. I even lowered the temperature down to 80F too (which is where it should be). I did this for a few days but there wasn't much of an noticeable difference.
Fast-forward a week and that's when things started to get really bad. I'm a college student and recently finished my finals for the Fall Quarter. During this time, I hardly did any maintenance on my tank. This is what it looks like now (before I just cleaned it):
As you can see, it has completely succumbed to algae within a week and a half. I even got strange little "worms" as you can see on the glass of my aquarium.
What am I doing wrong? Is my substrate too big for the dwarf baby tears? Am I providing too much light?(there is a window nearby) Am I too impatient? Has my bottom layer of substrate become anaerobic? I am not sure.
I know that I have not been keeping up with maintenance for a week but I feel like this algae is a bit more severe than normal.