Suggestions needed for my tank

[Mar23]

So, some of you know that I am working on fixing the high nitrate issue in my tank. It started a couple of weeks ago. Several things changed around that time. All my MTS were eaten, and I put in new plants that I bought online. It was hornwort. The nasty white hair algae that has appeared was just on the hornwort. So, here are a few things I am doing to fix up my tank and improve it, but I need more suggestions:

- I am rehoming the snail eater and working on replenishing the MTS population.
- I have removed all of the plants affected by the algae.
- I am putting in a few nerite snails to help with algae in general.
- I am doing frequent water changes and testing the water to find a good schedule until parameters are back to normal.
- I have cut back on feeding.

Question 1: the tank is 60 gallons. I have two AC50's in the tank. Should I upgrade to AC70's?
Question 2: Should I get intake extensions for my filters? How far down should they be? Right now they are almost half way down the wall. Should they be lower?
Thank you!






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[brennae]

I don't understand why you took the plants out. Why not clean the algae off and put the plants back in? Plants help to maintain a healthy tank and take nutrients out of the water that could feed algae.

I'd get a Fluval 306 canister filter instead.

How much natural light is the tank getting? This usually contributes to algae.

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[Mar23]

I don't understand why you took the plants out. Why not clean the algae off and put the plants back in? Plants help to maintain a healthy tank and take nutrients out of the water that could feed algae.

I'd get a Fluval 306 canister filter instead.

How much natural light is the tank getting? This usually contributes to algae.

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I tried. The plants I took out were three hornwort that I purchased online. It was a plant package and these were the only survivors. Everything else came to me in really bad shape. A week after I put them in my tank they started to get this algae. They were the only plants affected by it. It is like a white slime that covers the plant and has what looks like detritus stuck to the slime. From looking online at what it could be, it said that this type of algae can happen when a plant is not doing well and it is leaking nutrients back into the water. I removed them, gave them a good clean and replanted them, but it didn't work. So, I removed them again, put them in an empty 5gallon, and replaced them with 3 healthy swords from a reputable lfs in town. So, that is the story behind removing those plants.

I am thinking about a canister filter, but I really do like HOB because of the low maintenance. Don't you have to take apart and clean a canister filter regularly? Also, a canister filter does not fit inside my stand and would have to sit on the floor in plain sight and in the way, since it also doesn't fit between the stand and the side wall.

Light. I am now keeping the tank lights on for 6 hours. The tank gets some indirect natural light, but it is not what caused this white, slimy algae on the hornwort. The natural light does cause some green algae on the glass of the tank, but it is minimal and my cleaning crew already takes care of that.




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[brennae]

Did you happen to get a picture of the white algae you can post?

As for the canister you do have to open it for maintenance but the Fluval models are very easy. They are black but I can understand about them not fitting. Going back to your original post I'd go with the AC 110 unless you have very delicate fish that need quite a low current. You really can't over filter. I use an AC70 on a 20g just because that's what I had. My other 20g I have AC50 or the Fluval 206 canister.

6 hours of lights sounds like you have that under control.

Did you dip the new plants? It is sounding a bit like something with these new plants was off. I admit I'm very bad with dipping the plants. I usually keep them in a bucket of my water for a day or more and then rinse well. I think I got some fish eggs off some because I ended up with extremely tiny fry in a tank with unlikely parents.

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[Mar23]

Did you happen to get a picture of the white algae you can post?

As for the canister you do have to open it for maintenance but the Fluval models are very easy. They are black but I can understand about them not fitting. Going back to your original post I'd go with the AC 110 unless you have very delicate fish that need quite a low current. You really can't over filter. I use an AC70 on a 20g just because that's what I had. My other 20g I have AC50 or the Fluval 206 canister.

6 hours of lights sounds like you have that under control.

Did you dip the new plants? It is sounding a bit like something with these new plants was off. I admit I'm very bad with dipping the plants. I usually keep them in a bucket of my water for a day or more and then rinse well. I think I got some fish eggs off some because I ended up with extremely tiny fry in a tank with unlikely parents.

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I wish my new plants had given me tiny fry! Lol. Instead they gave me nasty algae. I did not dip them. I just rinsed them well in a bucket of tank water and planted them. Probably did that all wrong.

When you say AC110, you mean one or two? I rather have two filters for more even flow. So, 2 AC70's would be 140 gallons, and I only have 60 in the tank. Right now I am at 100 g with the two 50's. I went with the 50's because people were complaining that the 70's were defective.

Let me take a pic of the algae.


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[Mar23]

This is the same picture I posted in another thread. I know there's hair algae, too, but the website also said this slime is usually accompanied by hair algae. I want you to look more at the plant to see the clumps of white slime with detritus. It got much worse after this picture was taken.




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[brennae]

I don't think these fry made it. I put them in a refugium with some plants and offered liquid fry food but I don't see them anymore. They were barely noticeable to begin with. Had I not been on a ladder looking down on the tank I never would have seen them because they would have been rainbow fish snacks.

I meant 1 AC 110 but it would help distribute the flow to have two filters. Not knowing what kind of fish you have makes it hard to say. If there were 2 goldies or 2 oscars I'd say you would need 2 of the 110 models. If you have a low bioload then perhaps not necessary.

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[brennae]

I must have missed the other thread or forgot I read it. Very strange. Today I went to pull cory eggs off a large anubias and when I touched a big leaf to pull it out of the tank there was this jelly all over the underside. It was disgusting and I happened to have paper towel in my other hand, stupid pond snail eggs! Absolutely loaded with them. I wiped white the slimy ick off but it was nasty.

I just can't help but wonder if there was something on the plants before they got to you.

With your AC filters do you use the carbon inserts? I find them pretty useless and instead use the ammonia remover bags available for each size AC. Might be zeolite or something in them
Not sure. Maybe they would help?

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[Mar23]

Yes, I use the carbon inserts. My ammonia and nitrites are at 0. Only nitrates are high. I am thinking about removing the carbon and doing a second sponge, or more ceramic rings.

I would say my tank has a high bioload. It is a sunfish tank. And one of the sunfish is a poop machine. I'm trying to rehome him. He is also the one that ate all the snails.


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[ESeck]

More filtration will not help nitrates. They are the end of the cycle. Plants would help keep them in check. What is your stocking list and what size is your tank?

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[Mar23]

More filtration will not help nitrates. They are the end of the cycle. Plants would help keep them in check. What is your stocking list and what size is your tank?

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Plants: 10 swords, 2 giant Marimo moss balls, 1 anubias on driftwood.

Animals: 3 dollar sunfish (4"), 1 redear sunfish (4"), 6 otos, 6 sterbai cory, 4 lined topminnows (1/2-2"), 3 mystery snails.

The tank is 60 gallons.


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[ESeck]

The swords and anubias don't do a ton for the nitrates since they don't really feed from the water column. You might want to try some stem plants. Any of the hygrophila plants do a good job with that. You don't seem overstocked, so I can't imagine why your nitrates are getting so high.

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[Mar23]

The swords and anubias don't do a ton for the nitrates since they don't really feed from the water column. You might want to try some stem plants. Any of the hygrophila plants do a good job with that. You don't seem overstocked, so I can't imagine why your nitrates are getting so high.

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Thank you. I will look into those plants. I went with swords because, even though I wanted real plants, I do not want a hight tech set up. Just easy to maintain plants. The tank is starting to look a lot better since I removed the hornwort. I think it may have been that. I am going to do another wc tomorrow and check nitrates again.


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