I left for a week and my tank went to h*ll.

[gadgetguy]

I went for a week on vacation with my dad and left my sister in charge of my 55g planted tank. Plants: Giant Vallisneria, Water Sprite, Hornwort. I came home and my tank was green. There was algae ALL over my glass tops. As for the vall, it's turning brown. I started with a little slip and it has grown amazingly up until now. Now that it's decaying in the water, the cycle has started and I'm having to change water every 1-2 days because the decaying plant is causing it to cloud up. Any suggestions to revive the plants? Anyone had any good experiences with certain ferts?

 

[Purrbox]

More information about your setup would be helpful. What is your current setup? Lighting, CO2, dosing routine, etc.

Is the water green or is algae coating all the surfaces?

Remove all of the dead and decaying plant matter as it won't come back and will continue to cause water quality issues.

 

[gadgetguy]

Sorry. Lighting is Coralife 6700k 65watt x2. No CO2, no meds, nothing other than food. I've got a Fluval 2 or 304 and a AC20.

I cleaned off all of the algae and what not and the water is just cloudy, not green now that I've done a big water change.

Arrgh, that's like all of my plant!

 

[sherry]

that is a lot of light on a 55 gallon without co2.. I'm amazed you hadn't had problems before... if you go over 2wpg on cf you really need to consider co2 or excel and fertilizers.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, I have 130W on my 55G as well, and no CO2 and am having no problems other than green algae on the glass. Did you do a PWC recently before leaving? It's always a good idea if you are leaving for a week, to do a PWC before you go and not feed the fish. As for the plants, with the vals, you shouldn't be having any problems with that lighting. What are your water parameters?

ph?
kh?
nitrates?
phosphates?
temp?
Type of gravel?
Any driftwood?
Any other circulation other than filters?

 

[JustOneMore20]

What did your sister do while you were gone? You said she was in charge....did she just feed the fish? Do you think she could have overfed?

 

[sherry]

Lone wolf are you following plantbrain's no co2 guide or are you winging it? I am a little in awe get some nerites for the glass cleaning duty !

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually I haven't seen the no CO2 guide. I'm just running 2 Emperor 400's as well as the 130W lighting. I think the reason for the green algae is that the bulbs are getting old and really need to be replaced. Other than that, I'm not dosing at all, and have anacharis and cabomba in the tank.

 

[sherry]

Plantbrain's answer to me when I thought old bulbs were causing my algae was simple : less light doesn't cause more algae. Check co2.. in your case since you are not injecting research is non-co2 tank methods.. and really olive nerite snails will clean your glass in one night

 

[rkilling1]

Plantbrain's answer to me when I thought old bulbs were causing my algae was simple : less light doesn't cause more algae.

Old light bulbs = shifting of the light spectrum

shifting of the spectrum = less light useful for plants

less light = slower growth and sheading of leaves

slower growth = build up ferts in the water column and lower consumption of NH3.

sheading of leaves = more NH3 and organics in the water column

more ferts and NH3 in the water column = algae.

This would depend on how fast the light bulb changes the spectrum. The slower the better. ie the bacteria have a chance to catch up with the NH3 in the water column.

 

[corster]

poly filter will help too.