FamilyFish3
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I am looking for added advice to what I have read about, in order to get rid of black beard algae based on what I have going on in my tank.
Set Up:
60 gal, 48”x13”x24”
Fluval 306 canister filter
Substrate - Pool filter sand mixed with black blasting sand (80/20)
2 – Current Satellite LED plus, 48”
PAR (according to manufacturer)
36 – 12”
28 – 18”
21 – 24”
Fish – 1 pearl gourami, 2 blue gourami, 3 boesmani rainbow, 3 turquoise rainbow, 4 angelicus botia loaches, 1 golden zebra botia loach = all are 3 inches or less
Problem:
Started/cycled the tank in February and changed the lighting in June from the stock hood with two 18” T8’s to the two 48” LED strips noted above which sit directly on the tank rim. (tons more light!) I believe based on the PAR reading that these lights fall within the low light range for the bottom half of the tank and in medium light range for the top half of the tank. Please let me know if this is not accurate. After trial and error, these are the plants I have left – anubias, two java fern, and two small swords. We had purchased beautiful purple cabomba in June and it got torn apart by my gouramis although it did get a chance to grow very tall. I also tried some sort of hair grass, but it didn’t grow. Before the cabomba I was adding Seachum Flourish Excel every other day but then I read cabomba doesn’t like it so I stopped. And I do not add CO2. We were dealing with diatoms over the summer which I believe is going away now. However we now have black beard algae all over the driftwood, rocks and some plant leaves. (I admit that when school started in September, I started slacking on the consistent water changes, lack of plants, possibly over feeding and running lights for approximately 10 hours per day led to the current issues.)
Now the tank glass has been scrubbed, 50% WC on Sunday, rinsed filter media in bucket of tank water from WC, rocks and purigen bags from canister have been bleached then soaked in prime/water and will be ready to go back in tonight. We have started adding Excel again daily (6 ml for 60 gal) and we are on the 2nd day of a blackout. I would love to fill this tank up with low - med light plants (that my fish won’t eat) to balance the nutrients, but should I wait to see if the black beard on the wood goes away? Or should I add lots of plants now to help with the balancing? (after the blackout of course). My tank is very narrow – should I only use one light strip? I am hoping to get this tank balanced without doing CO2. Also plan to do another 50% WC this weekend.
Additional plants I’m hoping will be compatible with my lighting, fish and using Excel, along with any recommended fertilizers:
Vallisneria Americana, Corkscrew or Italian
Echinodorus Bleherrii (Amazon Sword)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Balansae or Spiralis
Hygrophila Corymbosa
Crinum Natans
Ludwigia Repens
Taxiphyllum Barbieri (Java Moss)
Cladophora Aegagropila (Moss Balls)
I will add pics in a few. Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Set Up:
60 gal, 48”x13”x24”
Fluval 306 canister filter
Substrate - Pool filter sand mixed with black blasting sand (80/20)
2 – Current Satellite LED plus, 48”
PAR (according to manufacturer)
36 – 12”
28 – 18”
21 – 24”
Fish – 1 pearl gourami, 2 blue gourami, 3 boesmani rainbow, 3 turquoise rainbow, 4 angelicus botia loaches, 1 golden zebra botia loach = all are 3 inches or less
Problem:
Started/cycled the tank in February and changed the lighting in June from the stock hood with two 18” T8’s to the two 48” LED strips noted above which sit directly on the tank rim. (tons more light!) I believe based on the PAR reading that these lights fall within the low light range for the bottom half of the tank and in medium light range for the top half of the tank. Please let me know if this is not accurate. After trial and error, these are the plants I have left – anubias, two java fern, and two small swords. We had purchased beautiful purple cabomba in June and it got torn apart by my gouramis although it did get a chance to grow very tall. I also tried some sort of hair grass, but it didn’t grow. Before the cabomba I was adding Seachum Flourish Excel every other day but then I read cabomba doesn’t like it so I stopped. And I do not add CO2. We were dealing with diatoms over the summer which I believe is going away now. However we now have black beard algae all over the driftwood, rocks and some plant leaves. (I admit that when school started in September, I started slacking on the consistent water changes, lack of plants, possibly over feeding and running lights for approximately 10 hours per day led to the current issues.)
Now the tank glass has been scrubbed, 50% WC on Sunday, rinsed filter media in bucket of tank water from WC, rocks and purigen bags from canister have been bleached then soaked in prime/water and will be ready to go back in tonight. We have started adding Excel again daily (6 ml for 60 gal) and we are on the 2nd day of a blackout. I would love to fill this tank up with low - med light plants (that my fish won’t eat) to balance the nutrients, but should I wait to see if the black beard on the wood goes away? Or should I add lots of plants now to help with the balancing? (after the blackout of course). My tank is very narrow – should I only use one light strip? I am hoping to get this tank balanced without doing CO2. Also plan to do another 50% WC this weekend.
Additional plants I’m hoping will be compatible with my lighting, fish and using Excel, along with any recommended fertilizers:
Vallisneria Americana, Corkscrew or Italian
Echinodorus Bleherrii (Amazon Sword)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Balansae or Spiralis
Hygrophila Corymbosa
Crinum Natans
Ludwigia Repens
Taxiphyllum Barbieri (Java Moss)
Cladophora Aegagropila (Moss Balls)
I will add pics in a few. Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
