My 12L: An Iwagumi style Nature Aquarium

[Discusapisto]

Sorry to hear about your tank I was really enjoying this thread. Down with algae it happens to the best of us. You'll be back in shape in no time keep us updated please.

 

[aqua_chem]

Any close up shots of the algae?

 

[fort384]

Alright - the reset it just about complete - after a 2 week dark period, the algae I think is completely eradicated. New plants (hopefully algae free) should be arriving shortly. If I ever see that particular strain of hair algae again, it will be too soon.

 

[aqua_chem]

What are your new plans?

 

[fort384]

For now, I am just going to concentrate on growing some UG. We will see where it goes from there.

 

[aqua_chem]

I just got some UG in today too. Looks like good stuff.

 

[fort384]

My new UG arrived. It kind of looks pretty sickly. I guess I will see if I can bring it back to life.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Dang, bad luck followed by bad luck!

 

[aqua_chem]

My UG arrived in a bad way too. It's already starting to bounce back though. Are you going right to submerged or doing dry start for a few weeks.

 

[fort384]

submerged. It was grown submerged supposedly - they gave me a choice between submerged or emersed.

 

[meegosh]

Mine was pretty nasty looking when it showed up. It's kinda like blyxa IME, it melts a bit during shipping but bounces back fairly quick. It is still a fairly slow growing plant as far as I'm concerned.

 

[fort384]

The last batch I had grew ok. It just was covered with algae like all the rest of my plants. I tried an h2o2 dip and blackout on it but that did it in.

So far so good with the new batch. Not much new growth yet but the leaves are still green... There just weren't many leaves. What they sent was mostly roots.

 

[meegosh]

The guy on TPT that I got mine off of was rather generous. I ordered a 2x2" mat and I ended up getting a 2x6" mat. He had 20g longs with nothing but emersed and submersed UG growing. Probably had 10 different tanks going too.

 

[fort384]

Yup that's where I got it the first time. Unfortunately he is growing out right now so Owens to a different source.

 

[fort384]

Well, after the reset, my UG is growing great, but still growing a ton of algae. Never had so many issues with a planted tank. I thought this tank would be easier since it is more than double the volume I am used to

Here are some pics... any id on the algae and ideas for eradication? It looks almost like BBA, except the strands are long and stringy... but it is very wirey (if thats a word).

Light is on 8 hours per day. Maybe it is just too much light for the depth of the tank?

Since all I am growing is basically UG, I stopped dosing ferts. Maybe I need to dose again. I don't know...

 

[fort384]

Well, I did a couple of large water changes this week and did some spot treating with excel. It seems to be helping a bit.

Also got some Blyxa Japonica in today from Max...

You can see it planted towards the rear. The UG is coming in great (it is a slow grower though). It started off as 2 quarter sized pieces. The HC planted on the left started off as literally 2 stems, so it is coming on strong. Overall the tank has been neglected some thanks to my reef start up, but I am still pleased with it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

How's this tank looking? Been a while since you updated. Still on the backburner?

 

[fort384]

Actually it is looking a little better. Still not great. The HC has really started to fill in considering it started from like 2 little stems. The UG is growing well but I am still getting hair algae and every time I pull out hair algae I inevitably pull some UG with it.

 

[aqua_chem]

What have you been doing about the algae so far?

 

[fort384]

Have tried excel spot treating, reduced photo period, manual removal, increased co2 injection, etc.

I think the issue is the light is too much for this shallow of a tank.