Fluval Spec 5G ...upgrade to a bigger tank? lighting/algae problem

[Shadey]

So, I'm Canadian, and when I moved to the US to be with my husband I had to sell all of my beautiful planted tanks. I bought a 5 gallon fluval spec about a year and half ago, and it's been nothing but problems though! lol.

Recently I bought some new plants from a nice person on here, and I started using my 16" Finnex FugeRay Planted+ LED instead of the stock light. I have flourite gravel with root tabs and liquid CO2. I bought some flourish comp. to dose liquid ferts with, but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

I think the light might be a little strong for the volume of water I've got, but I was hoping that keeping up the CO2 and dosing with fertilizer would keep the algae in line... and it sort of was! But I took a bad fall last week, and sprained my good hand and arm, and kind of let all of that slide... In just over a week I have wrought a horrible hair algae/glass covering jungle of green.
ugh. ><

All I've got in the tank is one male betta fish and some Malaysian trumpet snails. I haven't been able to find amano shrimp anywhere, which were my usual go-to for a ground crew. So, I guess options:

-Order some shrimp from Amazon?

Or, which I'm currently super tempted to do:

-Upgrade to a 10 gallon and get a really nice cleaning crew of shrimp and otto cats? I could do this pretty cheaply, if I could transfer over the light + my current heater, both of which are a little bit strong for the current tank. But would the light be adequate for a 10 gallon or would I be stuck upgrading that again? It's not quite long enough to go all the way across a standard 10.


Any thoughts? what would you do? ; ;
Thanks!

 

[Caliban07]

So, I'm Canadian, and when I moved to the US to be with my husband I had to sell all of my beautiful planted tanks. I bought a 5 gallon fluval spec about a year and half ago, and it's been nothing but problems though! lol.

Recently I bought some new plants from a nice person on here, and I started using my 16" Finnex FugeRay Planted+ LED instead of the stock light. I have flourite gravel with root tabs and liquid CO2. I bought some flourish comp. to dose liquid ferts with, but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

I think the light might be a little strong for the volume of water I've got, but I was hoping that keeping up the CO2 and dosing with fertilizer would keep the algae in line... and it sort of was! But I took a bad fall last week, and sprained my good hand and arm, and kind of let all of that slide... In just over a week I have wrought a horrible hair algae/glass covering jungle of green.
ugh. ><

All I've got in the tank is one male betta fish and some Malaysian trumpet snails. I haven't been able to find amano shrimp anywhere, which were my usual go-to for a ground crew. So, I guess options:

-Order some shrimp from Amazon?

Or, which I'm currently super tempted to do:

-Upgrade to a 10 gallon and get a really nice cleaning crew of shrimp and otto cats? I could do this pretty cheaply, if I could transfer over the light + my current heater, both of which are a little bit strong for the current tank. But would the light be adequate for a 10 gallon or would I be stuck upgrading that again? It's not quite long enough to go all the way across a standard 10.


Any thoughts? what would you do? ; ;
Thanks!

If stick with the fluval, Betta, shrimp and snails. You had the tank good but the fall has set you back. No need to go out for a bigger tank (unless you want one deep down and hoping we can convince you )

Remove the algae by hand and get things back in favour of the plants. Maybe invest the money on an co2 injection system and experiment with different plants and aquascapes. When you have a good grasp then move up. There is less margin for error in a smaller tank but I believe they are better to hone your skills with.


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