48L Aquascaped tank - where am I going wrong?

[cdewsnip]

About 8 months ago I set up my first Aquascaped tank. I've done my best to read and learn as much as possible but for some reason it just has never quite established itself properly and looks nothing like the examples I see in the magazines and online!

I was inspired by this nano aquarium that George Farmer set up and have closely followed this: Nano nurturing | Practical Fishkeeping magazine


I've spent a lot of time and money on trying to buy/do what my tank needs but no matter what I do it doesn't seem to work right. The main problems are:

1. The plants are growing but not particularly well. The Blyxa Aubertii in particular is really ragged.

2. Having both the aqua soil and the HC makes it extremely difficult to clean the bottom of the tank and it always seems a little bit dirty somehow. I try to use the vacuum above it to pick up the muck but I either stir up the aqua soil which makes a big mess or I end up vacuuming up the HC!

3. Recently I've developed both Blue green algae and Oedogonium algae. I read that these can be due to nutrients being too low so I changed from Tropica Plant Nutrition to the plus version about a month ago with no luck. I also increased the Excel dosage slightly as I heard this can help and I have been cutting out the blue green algae each week.

4. Even though I do weekly 40% water changes and have added a more powerful external filter to the tank the water just never seems clean somehow. Perhaps I’m being realistic but I never seem to have that beautiful crystal clear water with nice bright green plants. It always just seems a bit of a brown/green mess.

Overall I’m just not particularly happy with it and it hasn’t turned out like I’d hoped at all (I’m sure this is quite common!).

The good news is that all my fish seem to be happily chugging along and I haven’t lost any at all.

I have a few questions that I’m looking to answer and would really appreciate any thoughts/ideas:

• The problems I’m having and the fact I haven’t been able to solve them makes me wonder if perhaps I’ve just been too ambitious and unrealistic with what I am trying to set up. Should I modify the setup to make it easier to maintain and change some of the plants? The Aqua Soil just always seems to look dirty for some reason and I wonder if pebbles and removing the HC would make things a lot easier (I love the look of the HC in planted tank examples but somehow it’s just not the same in my own!). What should I use instead of Aquasoil in this case?

• Where am I going wrong here? I’ve read a lot of posts about aquascaped tanks and it doesn’t seem like I’m doing anything obviously wrong but clearly something isn’t quite working. The filter is apparently a good one, the Aquasoil is supposedly very good, I have increased the lighting, I am adding liquid carbon, I’m using what I’ve heard is the best plant fertiliser, I’ve added Otos to help with algae etc.

• If anyone has any advice on how I can improve the aquascaping of the tank that would also be most appreciated!

I’m taking images now so will add these in a few minutes which will hopefully illustrate what I’m meaning. Thanks so much in advance for any help given!



Details:

Aquarium:
48L Aqua Pod aquarium
2211 Eheim Classic filter (I replaced the internal filter that came with the AquaPod)
2x 15watt daylight bright bulbs (I replaced the night bulb with an additional day bulb to get additional light) – 10 hours per day
24 degrees

Fish:
6x Endler Livebearers
4x Cherry Barbs
4x Otocinclus
4x snails

Maintenance:
2ml Flourish Excel each day
2ml Tropica Plant Nutrition plus each day
40% water change each week
Light gravel vacuuming each week
Wipe algae off glass each week
Check water parameters each week

Setup/plants:
ADA Amazonia Aqua Soil
Pogostemon Helferi
Hemianthus callitrichoides "Cuba" (HC)
Redmoor wood
Tropica Plant Substrate
Knife stone from Aqua Essential
Blyxa Japonica Dwarf soft rush
Blyxa Aubertii
Anubias Barterii (growing on the Redmoor wood)

 

[ricardo48]

Firstly I would add the excel and tropica plant every other day and make sure you dont dose them both on the same day.

You setup is 2.5wpg roughly speaking.... the nano setup you linked to in PFK magazine is running over 6wpg so bear that in mind when you try to compare the 2 as hes running a much higher lighting with pressurised co2 so he will get much better results at a much faster rate.

Persurverence is the key... ( think thats how you spell it ) took me ages to finally get my aquascape looking remotely respectable and that included a phase of blue/green algae. I actually covered alot of mine over as it was on the gravel. This starved it of light/oxygen and it died.

Do you have any other algae? Green spot algae, hair algae. staghorn etc?

 

[cdewsnip]

Thanks for the advice Ricardo. I wasn't aware that Excel and TPN+ should be dosed on alternative days but I'll give this a go. It's also been suggested that I increase the dosage of both of these which I will try.

In terms of algae I have the blue/green stuff and then the hairy stuff (Oedogonium). I do wonder if perhaps I have just attempted a tank that's too high tech and not sustainable to me so if this is the case then I'm happy to make any amends suggested.

I thought I'd also post my tap water and tank water levels in case this helps:

Tank:

Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - ever so slightly above 0
Nitrite - 0

Tap water:

Ph - 7.4
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite 0

Images can be viewed here though they aren't particularly clear sorry:

Snapfish: Share:Registration

Any other advice would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ricardo48]

Its not a case of it "should not" but more a case of its best to dose on alternative days rather than dump them both in. Sometimes products react with each other and they can precipitate out which means they cant be used by the plants.

If im right dosing Excel should be 2/3 times a week at 1.5ml per 15 gallons.

So you are actually over dosing with your 2ml every day. so instead dose excel every other day at 4ml.

With your lighting I doubt the plants are utilising ALL the carbon from the excel so overdosing is just wasting money unless its to combat algae.

Your post has already confirmed your nitrate as being near or pretty much 0. This is already showing a deficiency in a key macro nutrient ( nitrogen )

I am somewhat surprised your tap water contains 0 nitrate, I would assume this is down to the inaccuracy of hobby grade test kits.

With such a small tank I would really consider EI dosing. Search around on google for Tom Barr Estimative Index, it will explain everything about dosing EI for a none co2 tank. Alot cheaper in long run and will rule out all variables such as nutrients so the only cause of your problems would be co2 or light.


If you want the kind of results you so often see in magazines you need co2 whether it be diy or pressurised. Unless you plan on sticking with low light/ low tech plants then you can get by on just liquid carbon.

As you have a small tank diy is a good option for you and this combined with EI dosing and your lighting should solve all your problems with algae and poor plant growth.

 

[happygirl65]

I might actually try backing off your light to 8-9 hrs a day and change the flow....if you direct a power head for example on the blue green algae it will likely disappear, it has been my experience that it can only thrive in stagnant /low flow spots. It's worth a try.

 

[ricardo48]

I also thought lighting period will not help or hinder cynobactetic algae? they are anaerobic producing there own nitrogen. they prefer it when tank nitrates drop to near 0 and can survive with low light?

but yes I agree any algae problems and you should immediately drop lighting to 8 hours a day MAX