need some advice

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xtwister

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 17, 2004
Messages
21
Location
toronto
I have two tanks, 1 30G with 1 live plant rest fake with tetras,pleco,barbs which has been running quite smoothly for years.

The 2nd tank 55 gallon with live plants also with smaller fish and a 7 inch pleco (i know they arent good to in there but he's been good) But the plants are getting fuzzy . I tried some of those additive fungi removers and that. I also tried turning off the lights for a couple days and covering the tank to let no light in. Didnt work. I removed the homemade c02 bottle and thats been off for a couple months. Nothing. Still fuzzy plants. Theres been minimal loss in the tank (fish get old I guess) and they seem to be happy but the cotton ball of fungi (or whatever it is) doesnt make the environment look nice. Any advice would be nice. TIY.
 
Perhaps manually remove all of the "fuzzy" stuff. Also, you might try 50% water change. Do that once a week. See if that helps. Beyond that I think more info or pictures are needed to figure out exactly what your fuzz is.
 
The pictures aren't very clear, so it's hard to tell for sure what you're dealing with. Since it appears to be brown colored it's probably either Diatoms (common in new tanks, easily brushed off) or BBA (Black Brush Algae, very difficult to remove without damaging the plant).

Some additional infomation about your tank would be helpful. Answer the questions from the Plants Need Help sticky to help ensure that you are including all the info that we need to help you.
 
ok I'll answer those questions to the best of my knowledge
also the algae isnt easily removed. I had to cut some of it out before. They are almost like roots. So I would say its the BBA. Thanks for your help. I also have about 4 inches of gravel on the bottom for plants to root in.

~Plant(s) affected? sorry I dont the names but most of them.. about 4 different species
~Tank size/volume? 55g
~Lighting/wpg? 2 x 40w GE blubs sp65 have a 3rd but dont use it. bulbs are 4feet long
~Do you inject CO2? If so do you know the level? I have but not lately.. Home made
~What do pH, KH, PO4, NH3 and/or NO3 test kits say? they are all within specs. Tested about 3 months ago
~Dosing? What/how much/how often? Not sure what that means
~Heavily, moderately, or lightly planted? moderate to heavily
~Fish stock? neon tetras, yellow tetras, a few small plecos. I larger pleco, snails, tuxedos, and some cleanup crew fish (dont know their names) but scavengers. About 3 of them.
~Tank Location (near windows - in direct sunlight)? otherside of room. No direct sunlight
~How long has tank been set up? over two years.
 
Dosing refers to supplemental ferts such as root tabs, macro and micro nutrients. From your description, it does sound a lot like BBA, a real nuisance algae. The question about your test results is intended to show the actual numbers you have. Do you have these exact numbers?
 
in that case. Its never been dosed.
How can the BBA be removed. Is there something I can pickup from Big Als.
Or am I going to have to manually remove them.
I dont have actual test numbers. I went by the charts and the results were
good acording to the color chart. I dont have my testing kit here or else I would test it now.
 
It is very likely that your Nitrate has bottomed out. Removing it is a PITA because it cannot be removed manually; nor is using additives an option. Folks have used a variety of methods to remove it. Check here for some methods.
 
thanks for the help. I'll check nitrates when I get the kit back and thanks for the link
 
Actually I suspect that the root of the problem is that you were using DIY CO2 on a 55 gallon tank. Low fluctuating levels of CO2 often induce BBA and once it takes hold it can be very difficult to get rid of. The two main methods of dealing with BBA involve getting the nutrient levels balanced including CO2 and either manual removal of the affected leaves or spot treatment with Flourish Excel. While often highly effecting, Flourish Excel can hurt some of your plants especially Anacharis and Vals.

With only 80 watts over your tank CO2 really isn't necessary, so removing the DIY setup was probably a good move. If you want to give it a try in the future it would probably be a good idea to consider Pressurized as it will be much easier to get sufficiently high levels of CO2 and keep them steadier than when using DIY. Based on this and your fish load, a good trace mix and Potassium are the two things that you would likely need to be dosing. A quick test of Nitrate and Phosphate would confirm whether or not they are necessary at this point.
 
Lonewolfblue said:
This very well may help as well. It is very effective, just be very careful if you go this route....

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/algae_peroxide.html
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link. I tested the nitrate and its 5 according to the chart which is where its supposed to be.

Iamb trying the hydrogen peroxide according to the link. I am going to try a real small dose. under 20ml. I do see some results already happening on the one side of the tank. Some clump of the algae already came off and floated to the top. And a few oxygen bubbles. Just odd cuz the other side had a small dose and isnt doing anything. Maybe the filter sucked it up. I'll turn it off on the next dosing if things go good.
 
I'm guessing you're using the AP test kit (since about 95% of us are). A level of 5 for nitrates is really kind of inconclusive on that kit. It is pretty inaccurate at low levels, and 5 could mean 0. Most try to keep levels around 10 so that you can be sure they aren't zero. Not the best method, but the best without buying a very expensive test kit..
 
I not sure what the AP test kit is but I have the Hagon Nutrafin test kits.
I thought 5 since its a lightish pink. i test it on a starter tank before and it was clear.
I'm getting light pink on both my tanks and the 110g large chichlid tank (not planted) and they are both quite successful. Its just this planted tank thats giving me the bba problem.
I am suspecting of what PurrBox stated about the DIY co2. I believe the last time I ran it signs were showing up of the BBA. He stated low co2 starts it but I was putting co2 in and the plants always went nuts. So I let that c02 run out and havent started it again (months ago) but the bba kept getting worse.

You mentioned to get it upto 10. How can I get it upto that. And i guess they have some type of digital meter for checking it? Since the color chart variance from 10 - 110 is quite close.


also: I have the third florescent light thats not plugged in.. Should I bring it upto 120w from 80w? Settings right now are 80 from 7pm to 1am with abit of daylight (not direct) during the daytime.
 
Hobbiest Grade test kits (like AP and Hagen) aren't terribly accurate until you get upto about 20ppm. To ensure that you are getting good test results you need to calibrate your test kit against a known solution. I believe that PlantBrain recently posted some detailed instructions on how to do this.

Higher Grade test kits are much more reliable (although apparently they should be calibrated too) and are less likely to give erronous results below 20ppm. Unfortunately they also cost a pretty penny.

To raise your level of Nitrates you would need to start dosing it. Common sources are Flourish Nitrogen and KNO3. It is very common to have to dose Nitrates, Phosphates, and Potassium along with Trace Ferts in higher light tanks. The plants are growing so fast that they go through more nutrients than would normally be in a tank without dosing.

I wouldn't recommend upping the amount of light over the tank, unless you have your CO2 in line and your ferts ready to go. Otherwise you'll end up culturing even more varieties of algae. However 6 hours is a fairly short photo period. I would recommend upping your light to 8-12hrs per day. Closer to 8 if you're not looking to maximize growth or having algae issues, closer to 12 if you're really looking to push plant growth and get a tank to fill in.

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but there is some great information in the stickies at the top of the forum and in the artcles section that would probably help you to get a better handle on CO2, Fertilization, and Lighting. Give them a read, or two, or three if you haven't already.
 
xtwister said:
Lonewolfblue said:
This very well may help as well. It is very effective, just be very careful if you go this route....

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/algae_peroxide.html
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link. I tested the nitrate and its 5 according to the chart which is where its supposed to be.

Iamb trying the hydrogen peroxide according to the link. I am going to try a real small dose. under 20ml. I do see some results already happening on the one side of the tank. Some clump of the algae already came off and floated to the top. And a few oxygen bubbles. Just odd cuz the other side had a small dose and isnt doing anything. Maybe the filter sucked it up. I'll turn it off on the next dosing if things go good.
Click to expand...

If you are dosing, leave the filter running. You want it to dissapate, and not stay, or if any fish go near, can get their gills burned. Should be some circulation. But again, this is not the best route, just a last resort, as it could affect fish and the plants.

Also, it's not low CO2 that triggers it but low fluctuating CO2 levels. So upping the CO2 will benefit as well.
 
Thanks for the response. Thanks i have been going through the stickies. Lots to learn after having fish and plants for years. I did have the lighting at 12 hours and the plants were over whelming.. From top to bottom. I guess my mistake why cutting the time in half. I will up it to 8-9 hours like you suggested. This is what it currently looks like.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/xtwister/IMG_0748.jpg

And the cat on top doesnt eat them.. he likes the heat from the ballasts.

I wont add the 3rd like either like you suggested since the diy co2 went array since I used/stopped it.

I've never dosed anything before.. places like big als has nitrates,phosphates and pottassium? I've never looked for them but they stuff like that in concentrate?
Sorry for being a newbie but I'm trying to correct my mistakes that I've made and trying to avoid losses. And have to admit this is a great site. You guys are great!
 
Big Al's has Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphates, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Comprehensive. They also have Flourish Excel.
 
ok so if I get some flourish nitrogen to bring up my nitrate level. And some Flourish Potassium. Possilbe for now lower my light to 40watts but add longer duration.. maybe to 12 hours would help my situation for the short term? I've been reading and reading so its abit confusing.
 
For lighting, I would stay between 8-10 hours. 12 isn't bad, and will get more growth. But algae could take advantage of the longer hours as well. Or you could do 4 hours in the morning, a 2 hour break, and 8 hours in the afternoon/evening.
 
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