Skunky
Aquarium Advice Regular
I'm posting in hopes that somebody can guide me--tell me if I'm finally on the right track with the algae problems. I've had this tank set up for 4-5 months. It's a 30g Marineland that came with the whole unit complete on top: hood, filter in place, lighting, etc. I fishless cycled it.
I want a fully planted tank so had about $150 of plants in it. I got through the green spot algae and the diatoms. Plants started growing. The limited fish were swimming comfortably. I used Flourish liquid once a week, watching for growth needs.
After 1-2 months with the tank still relatively new and livestock not so prolific, the lights quit. I called Marineland and the guy said it was a design flaw and their R&D was not planning to research and develop it to fix it so they couldn't do anything. I protested that the lights were advertised as sufficient for plant growth, so he agreed to send me a new glass top, filter and 6,500K LED light unit with timer.
For fauna, I now have a dozen or so Endlers, 3 nerite snails one otto (small guy or gal) and 25-30 RCS that are breeding happily. That's all the livestock I have now. And that's enough. I've been netting Endlers to take the my Mom and Pop lfs and will have to do the same with the shrimp soon. It's not the fish/invertebrates that are struggling.
I read that with a planted tank, one should not vacuum the substrate, as I do each week with my 5g. BTW, that 5g tank has absolutely no algae <fingers crossed> The 30g began with long thread algae and other short green algae. Next, I noticed darker brush-like growth on the edges of leaves. Each and every day, it got worse. I worked hard to keep it at bay, but I couldn't. It was beginning to engulf some of my plants--well most of them. Oh, I do a 40-50% water change every Sat. I have high nitrates in my tap.
I finally got a CO2 pressurized canister. I pulled out the worst affected plants, tried hydrogen peroxide (lost most leaves) planted back what I could, threw out some.
AND I vacuumed that sucker for days to clean the substrate! What? Was I feeding the fish too much? I think so. They are always hungry, but I think they do not go to the bottom to eat what has sunk. ?? And after the plants started to suffer, maybe their roots were not taking up nutrients.
I have some new plants now. The substrate is vacuumed and will continue to be until I figure this out.
The CO2 seems to be working. I'm a little skiddish about it--afraid the thing will explode on me or something (that's why I didn't get it sooner).
The first day on CO2, I lost two juvvie RCS. I think the pH change was too much, too fast. I'm keeping it constant now at 1 bps and only when lights are on. Oh, the lights are on now for 7 hrs. I cut back to 4 hours when the algae got so bad but it didn't help.
I hope all that made sense to anyone who reads this. LOL, I've been trying to work through this on my own by reading various articles, but it is getting expensive! Here's a pic of the tank as of tonight. It's kind of blurry. This is a new iPhone for me.
I use API to test ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Those readings are good, except the nitrates are high. I have not tested pH since I got the CO2. Prior to CO2, it was 8.2 tank, 8.0 tap.
I want a fully planted tank so had about $150 of plants in it. I got through the green spot algae and the diatoms. Plants started growing. The limited fish were swimming comfortably. I used Flourish liquid once a week, watching for growth needs.
After 1-2 months with the tank still relatively new and livestock not so prolific, the lights quit. I called Marineland and the guy said it was a design flaw and their R&D was not planning to research and develop it to fix it so they couldn't do anything. I protested that the lights were advertised as sufficient for plant growth, so he agreed to send me a new glass top, filter and 6,500K LED light unit with timer.
For fauna, I now have a dozen or so Endlers, 3 nerite snails one otto (small guy or gal) and 25-30 RCS that are breeding happily. That's all the livestock I have now. And that's enough. I've been netting Endlers to take the my Mom and Pop lfs and will have to do the same with the shrimp soon. It's not the fish/invertebrates that are struggling.
I read that with a planted tank, one should not vacuum the substrate, as I do each week with my 5g. BTW, that 5g tank has absolutely no algae <fingers crossed> The 30g began with long thread algae and other short green algae. Next, I noticed darker brush-like growth on the edges of leaves. Each and every day, it got worse. I worked hard to keep it at bay, but I couldn't. It was beginning to engulf some of my plants--well most of them. Oh, I do a 40-50% water change every Sat. I have high nitrates in my tap.
I finally got a CO2 pressurized canister. I pulled out the worst affected plants, tried hydrogen peroxide (lost most leaves) planted back what I could, threw out some.
AND I vacuumed that sucker for days to clean the substrate! What? Was I feeding the fish too much? I think so. They are always hungry, but I think they do not go to the bottom to eat what has sunk. ?? And after the plants started to suffer, maybe their roots were not taking up nutrients.
I have some new plants now. The substrate is vacuumed and will continue to be until I figure this out.
The CO2 seems to be working. I'm a little skiddish about it--afraid the thing will explode on me or something (that's why I didn't get it sooner).
The first day on CO2, I lost two juvvie RCS. I think the pH change was too much, too fast. I'm keeping it constant now at 1 bps and only when lights are on. Oh, the lights are on now for 7 hrs. I cut back to 4 hours when the algae got so bad but it didn't help.
I hope all that made sense to anyone who reads this. LOL, I've been trying to work through this on my own by reading various articles, but it is getting expensive! Here's a pic of the tank as of tonight. It's kind of blurry. This is a new iPhone for me.
I use API to test ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Those readings are good, except the nitrates are high. I have not tested pH since I got the CO2. Prior to CO2, it was 8.2 tank, 8.0 tap.