215ltr Ar980

3 month set up so still new

6 clown loach

4 ghost cats

4 dwarf gourami

1 bristlenose

PH 7.6

Ammonia 0

No2 0

No3 0

I posted a while back that I had BBA. I used excel which fixed the problem. Afterwards, the ammonia kept spiking and my fish became quite sick. Drastic water changes from advice on here and they came right.

The fish are fine now, but the tank is not. Black algae (fluffier than BBA), green algae and brown algae that is so thick, it's like slime. I change water 1-2 times per week (20%) religiously and use a gravel siphon. Not overfeeding. The brown slime is back and thick within 48 hours. I'm very careful with contamination and remove the chlorine before adding new water to the tank.

The plants which were average from the start, are now dying and actually rotting in front of me. Turning black, roots rotting off and plants float to surface. The whole tank looks disgusting no matter what I do.

The fish seem happy. So, what am I doing wrong that is preventing me from having both healthy fish and a healthy tank?? I really love this hobby but every day it just seems worse.

PLEASE I'll take any advice!!

Oh, and the tank has plenty of natural light. I noticed with the warmer weather that the sun was hitting the tank in the mornings, so I keep that curtain drawn to avoid the direct sunlight.

so there is no other lighting apart from the natural light?

Can you post a pic? There are 1000's of types of algae out there. What type of lighting, what substrate, what plants, what fertilisers and what are you feeding/how much are you feeding will all help. Do you have the filter that came with the tank or have you a different one?

Hi, camera chose the best time to die, so these are on my phone. Cleaned tank 48 hours ago.

Black gravel with schist

Have only used excel, LFS said to avoid ferts until established. I'm sure this is where I'm going wrong.

Pics below, plants were all an experiment as no shop could give advice on the best plants, so took a variety to test. The Java was going quite well, now is turning black.

WP_000690 (2) by danaj2009, on Flickr

WP_000692 (3) by danaj2009, on Flickr

WP_000676 (3) by danaj2009, on Flickr

WP_000681 (3) by danaj2009, on Flickr

WP_000684 (3) by danaj2009, on Flickr

This was about 6 weeks ago

IMG_1086 (2) by danaj2009, on Flickr

In hood filter

Feeding flake, pellets and blood worms once (worms once per week) once per day

2 x sunlight tubes and 1 x tropical

some of those plants are not true aquatics and may be rotting causing your problem, throw away the mondo grass and the green stardust especially.

Will do. The stardust was the first to go.

Very hard to get good plant advice these days (when shopping). Especially if you're not up to play with names and types. Happily admit that I'm a plant idiot, but I'd like to learn more.

Any common LFS types that are better? I need some height or the gourami get a little antsy.

Any common LFS types that are better?

Sadly very few of the plants at the LFS are suitable for aquatic use. Which part of the country are you in?

look for Ambulia, Saggitaria, Anubius, Vallisineria, Rotala, Polysperma Hygrophilla, Java fern and moss.....

those are the most common proper aquarium plants. im sure people can add to the list

Id be taking some water into your lfs and getting them to test it for you. surly it should of cycled by now :-?

Id be taking some water into your lfs and getting them to test it for you. surly it should of cycled by now :-?

Testing for anything in particular that I can't test for at home?

Thanks for the plant list. I'll have a hunt in the for sale lists and on TM.

Sadly very few of the plants at the LFS are suitable for aquatic use. Which part of the country are you in?

I'm in Palmerston North. I go to wet pets, nice people, very helpful. Just not a huge range in plants.

Oh to be close to HFF. My Dad virtually lived there before he died LOL

Testing for anything in particular that I can't test for at home? .

I would imagine mainly your nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia, but you go to your lfs to make sure that your tests are measuring accurately, i.e. the chemicals haunt 'gone off'.

Cheers, but I use a master test kit at home, they're only 4 months old so should be sweet.

Do you have access to a cannister filter that is already in use on a cycled tank ?

I had similar issues with a 60l tank and a small internal filter (hailea BT-400)

I had almost given up on being able to get this tank running well and healthy , when I decided to put my cannister filter from my 4ft tank on the 60l for the night.

When I woke up in the morning, water was crystal clear, algae was 90% gone and it even looked like something had cleaned all my plants for me.

Since then the tank has been running without issues , apart from the odd green spot on the glass.

Worth a try ?

Good idea but I don't have access to that I'm afraid. The suggestion has been made before though.

Will a canister filter have an impact on algae? Will an infected tank just not infect a new filter, cycled or not?

In my opinion, this brown sludge algae looks like the new-tank algae. It haunted my AquaOne 90L tank and then my 245L tank for about 2 weeks, then almost overnight was gone, never to be seen again.

As for the stringy algae, I can't help much.

Im wondering... (and im no expert) but how about easing up on the water changes? My tanks never had any issues starting, and i only did a water change every couple of weeks and also dont vacuum the gravel. Maybe it'll help get some of the bacteria in the gravel get settled and stop the brown slime stuff?

IME, there are never too many water changes (Even with green water, when water changes FEED the green water).

Live liquid bacteria and fresh water. Lots of flow.

IME, there are never too many water changes (Even with green water, when water changes FEED the green water).

Live liquid bacteria and fresh water. Lots of flow.

+1... remove the plants that are not supposed to be there, also test your Phosphate and Iron levels. as well as a morning and night pH test to see if you are having pH swings.

the live bacteria approach seems to work, I have an old product at work called bio balls, never seem to be able to sell tem but they work wonders on the brown stuff on the stones... even in tanks with big cichlids.

Live liquid bacteria as in something like Cycle?

Haven't heard of bioballs. Will have a looksee.

Those plants are out now. I am having PH swings, but over 2-3 days. 7.6-8.5. My tap water is 7.6.

I'll follow up on the Phosphate and Iron tests.

Thanks for all your help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm determined to get this sorted. On the upside, dealing with this is teaching me quite a bit.

And re the brown algae in new tanks, yes I had that about 2-3 weeks after I started, it cleared as expected. This is worse and more persistent.

215ltr Ar980

3 month set up so still new

6 clown loach

4 ghost cats

4 dwarf gourami

1 bristlenose

PH 7.6

Ammonia 0

No2 0

No3 0

I posted a while back that I had BBA. I used excel which fixed the problem. Afterwards, the ammonia kept spiking and my fish became quite sick. Drastic water changes from advice on here and they came right.

The fish are fine now, but the tank is not. Black algae (fluffier than BBA), green algae and brown algae that is so thick, it's like slime. I change water 1-2 times per week (20%) religiously and use a gravel siphon. Not overfeeding. The brown slime is back and thick within 48 hours. I'm very careful with contamination and remove the chlorine before adding new water to the tank.

The plants which were average from the start, are now dying and actually rotting in front of me. Turning black, roots rotting off and plants float to surface. The whole tank looks disgusting no matter what I do.

The fish seem happy. So, what am I doing wrong that is preventing me from having both healthy fish and a healthy tank?? I really love this hobby but every day it just seems worse.

PLEASE I'll take any advice!!

are the above readings nitrite NO2- and nitrate NO3-?

for plants look at this

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?page_id=25

you have shown java fern and also tiger lotus which are true aquatic plants plus others which I dont recognise. Java fern is not to be planted, tie on to wood or rock. Tiger lotus is a root feeder and needs either ferts in the substrate or balls. Other plants can require liquid ferts. The above site will give you good ideas.

Your pH should not be swinging like that unless you are using pH up or down. I suggest you dont add anything ie plants/fish/ferts until you are able to work out what is happening.

That brown slimey algae is the same that I get in my rasbora tank and it's sitting in a well lit room near a glass doorway letting in more light. The only thing that knocks it back is a 3 day blackout, then it's very easy to wipe off, and that stunts it for a few days so you can clean it up, vacuum up the flakes and have a nice looking tank till it grows back. On my rasbora tank I've blacked out the pane that is closest to the sunlight and it hasn't grown back much, it's very much slower. Now I find that it's trying to grow in my riverbed tank and there isn't much I can do apart from move the tank as the biggest pane is the viewing pane and that's the one that faces the sunlight.