SqueakyBed
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- May 17, 2016
- Messages
- 10
So I have a heavily planted tank and it's approximately 2 months old. When I first set it up I did a fish-less cycle. Everything went well and plants were flourishing. dwarf hair grass, Limnophila hippuridoides and other plants were growing like wild fire. Then I introduced fish and increased the light up to 10 hours instead of 6 per day. And ever since the tank is going down hill.
It went from a beautiful lush green planted aquarium to a yellow, pale and algae infested tank. I now have green algae and plenty of baby black beard algae all over the rocks. And brown algae all over my plants. And slimy brown algae on the glass at substrate level. dwarf hair grass growth just came to a halt and is now yellow and coated with brown algae. Anubias barteri is covered with tiny black dots but still growing.
Now I am a complete noob. I mean I know a thing or 2 about planted tanks and fish keeping and I do my absolute best to keep the tank fresh and healthy, But I am not doing so well as you will see in the pictures down below.
And to be honest I don't know what I am doing wrong or what I should be doing and that's why I am here. I thought I would post some pictures and my tank specs and hope that veterans and people that actually know what they are doing can spot the problem and help me get this tank back on track.
Aquarium specs:
Dimensions: 48"W x 13"D x 24"H (60g).
Lighting: Finnex ray2 48" (LED). On for 10 hours a day.
CO2: Pressurized (120 bpm). On for 10 hours a day.
Diffuser: GLA Atomic+ CO2 inline diffuser
Substrate: ADA Amazonia Aquasoil
Filtration: 2 Hydor Professional External Canister Filters (240 and 345 GPH).
Heater: Hydor ETH 300 In-Line Heater, 300w.
Water Parameters: Temperature 76°, PH 8ppm+ I use crushed coral in the filter to raise the PH, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppms, Nitrate 5ppm give or take.
Fish stock: 12 neon tetras, 12 glow light tetras, 4 black skirt tetras, 4 red platies, 4 sunset platies and 2 bristlenose (or at least that's what I think they call them).
I dosed 5ml of Seachem Flourish, Potassium and Iron every other day this whole time however I noticed that the brown stuff that is growing on the plant leaves gets a rapid boost whenever I does Seachem Flourish so (2 weeks ago) I stopped dosing altogether and used root tabs as Delapool suggested but I chose the DIY method (Osmocote Plus in gel capsules) to see if that has any effect on algae in general but it didn't get any better nor did it help the plants especially the dwarf hair grass. I also introduced the 2 bristlenose into the tank to help combat algae and they did a great job (they are the reason why you only see the brown stuff at the tip of the leaves they clean the leaf surface but can't clean the tips) but they are not eating it fast enough I guess.
I apologies if I wrote too much but I am trying to get to the bottom of this and I am not getting anywhere, I am desperate at this point. If you are reading this then I am assuming that you read the whole thing which means you care! So please Help!.
Pictures:
Please note: The camera makes the plants look so much greener then they actually are!
It went from a beautiful lush green planted aquarium to a yellow, pale and algae infested tank. I now have green algae and plenty of baby black beard algae all over the rocks. And brown algae all over my plants. And slimy brown algae on the glass at substrate level. dwarf hair grass growth just came to a halt and is now yellow and coated with brown algae. Anubias barteri is covered with tiny black dots but still growing.
Now I am a complete noob. I mean I know a thing or 2 about planted tanks and fish keeping and I do my absolute best to keep the tank fresh and healthy, But I am not doing so well as you will see in the pictures down below.
And to be honest I don't know what I am doing wrong or what I should be doing and that's why I am here. I thought I would post some pictures and my tank specs and hope that veterans and people that actually know what they are doing can spot the problem and help me get this tank back on track.
Aquarium specs:
Dimensions: 48"W x 13"D x 24"H (60g).
Lighting: Finnex ray2 48" (LED). On for 10 hours a day.
CO2: Pressurized (120 bpm). On for 10 hours a day.
Diffuser: GLA Atomic+ CO2 inline diffuser
Substrate: ADA Amazonia Aquasoil
Filtration: 2 Hydor Professional External Canister Filters (240 and 345 GPH).
Heater: Hydor ETH 300 In-Line Heater, 300w.
Water Parameters: Temperature 76°, PH 8ppm+ I use crushed coral in the filter to raise the PH, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppms, Nitrate 5ppm give or take.
Fish stock: 12 neon tetras, 12 glow light tetras, 4 black skirt tetras, 4 red platies, 4 sunset platies and 2 bristlenose (or at least that's what I think they call them).
I dosed 5ml of Seachem Flourish, Potassium and Iron every other day this whole time however I noticed that the brown stuff that is growing on the plant leaves gets a rapid boost whenever I does Seachem Flourish so (2 weeks ago) I stopped dosing altogether and used root tabs as Delapool suggested but I chose the DIY method (Osmocote Plus in gel capsules) to see if that has any effect on algae in general but it didn't get any better nor did it help the plants especially the dwarf hair grass. I also introduced the 2 bristlenose into the tank to help combat algae and they did a great job (they are the reason why you only see the brown stuff at the tip of the leaves they clean the leaf surface but can't clean the tips) but they are not eating it fast enough I guess.
I apologies if I wrote too much but I am trying to get to the bottom of this and I am not getting anywhere, I am desperate at this point. If you are reading this then I am assuming that you read the whole thing which means you care! So please Help!.
Pictures:
Please note: The camera makes the plants look so much greener then they actually are!