Hey all, this is my 33 gal tank that i have had running and cycled for probably a year or so now. In it is one figure 8 puffer and 2 knight gobies. The fish are doing well but i am noticing a LOT of debris all over the plants and gravel and I'm not sure what the cause is. At first i thought it was just fish waste, but its becoming an absurd amount every week that 3 fish can not produce at all. Ive heard about diatoms, but have never experienced them so i am not sure. I also seem to be having an algae issue. On the tank i have one 39W T5 HO 4500k strip light and it runs for JUST over 6 hours a day. Im not sure what is the cause of both this debris and the algae- I'm not even sure if they are related. I think all my plants are low light ( anubus, ciliata, java fern)- and they have been just sustaining over the last months but i haven't seen a lot of growth at all. Any help would be awesome, and i have attached some pictures to help paint a better picture. Please chime in with any and all advice!
Diatoms? or......?
- Thread starter patola_l
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
aqua_chem
Aquarium Advice Addict
How tall is the tank? Is the stuff in question free floating? If not, is it easy to rub off?
The tank is 18 inches tall- however there is a good 4 inches of gravel (not positive, i have to remeasure in the morning). There is definite algae on some of the ciliata leaves (as you can kinda see in the last photo) as for the "stuff"- on the gravel it is definitely loose, and forms small clumps over time. On the plants it is more stuck on, but yes, i can remove it by rubbing the leaves between my fingers.
aqua_chem
Aquarium Advice Addict
The stuff on the bottom is probably just mulm. Do you ever vacuum it up? If the algae is dark colored (ie not green) and coming off easily, then its probably just diatoms and you can wait it out.
Eleven13
Aquarium Advice Activist
That looks similar to what I had on the leaves of my anubias in my betta tank. I ended up reducing the photoperiod to 8 hours, and within about a week it became very loose and I was able to just brush it off and get rid of it with a water change.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Nitrates up, pH and total alkalinity down
- Latest: Airborne 82nd
-
-
