whetu Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone in Auckland has any plant cuttings I could have? I've had a bit of a disaster with my tank (bought stuff off trademe, didn't sterilise, nasty outbreak of bush algae). I had to take down my tank to move last weekend so I decided to do a major sterilisation. I've thrown out all my formerly cherished plants and I'm going to start again At this stage my tank consists of only gravel and rocks. I'm going to boil and scrub the driftwood before returning it to the tank to make sure it is really thoroughly clean. Unfortunately the cost of the move and other recent expenses means I can't afford to buy new plants from a shop and the tank is looking like an underwater desert. So if anybody has any plants at all that they would be willing to take cuttings from, I would really appreciate it. The tank is 450 x 600 x 1200mm (2 ft high, 4 ft long) so even if you have a big plant that has out-grown your small tank, I would love to adopt it and give it a new home! I have plenty of lighting, ferts etc in stock. I used to have the tank looking really lovely before this bush algae catastrophe so you can rest assured I will take good care of any plants you give me. Thank you to all my fellow hobbyists - I hope you can help a slightly discouraged fishy person Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 I can help with the plants, but I've got algae so you'd have to sterilise them before adding to your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish_fingers Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone in Auckland has any plant cuttings I could have? I've had a bit of a disaster with my tank (bought stuff off trademe, didn't sterilise, nasty outbreak of bush algae). I had to take down my tank to move last weekend so I decided to do a major sterilisation. I've thrown out all my formerly cherished plants and I'm going to start again At this stage my tank consists of only gravel and rocks. I'm going to boil and scrub the driftwood before returning it to the tank to make sure it is really thoroughly clean. Unfortunately the cost of the move and other recent expenses means I can't afford to buy new plants from a shop and the tank is looking like an underwater desert. So if anybody has any plants at all that they would be willing to take cuttings from, I would really appreciate it. The tank is 450 x 600 x 1200mm (2 ft high, 4 ft long) so even if you have a big plant that has out-grown your small tank, I would love to adopt it and give it a new home! I have plenty of lighting, ferts etc in stock. I used to have the tank looking really lovely before this bush algae catastrophe so you can rest assured I will take good care of any plants you give me. Thank you to all my fellow hobbyists - I hope you can help a slightly discouraged fishy person Stink to hear but can happen often..... I'm the self appointed master of algae..... guilty of overfeeding :oops: Anyway, am due to take some cuttings from my 4ft tank so will have some Polysperma, Ambulia, stargrass and maybe some others..... flick me a PM if your still interested... these don't have algae and are dosed with flourish excell on a weekly basis, sometimes more.... not to mention the ambient light they get. Yeh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted May 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 Thanks fish_fingers & purplecatfish. I have learned my lesson about sterilising plants so hopefully I won't have another algae outbreak! I will PM you both to accept your kind offers and arrange to pick up some cuttings from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish_fingers Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 PMed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 If you haven't sterilised the gravel the algae will come back. It will likely come back anyway unless you create conditions it does not like. From comments on this forum Flourish Excel seems to work to help control it. However, the best way to get rid if it so it never shows is CO2 + PMDD and intense lighting. When you start to get 100-150mm growth a day from Ambulia and one full new leaf from sword plants every 2 days you have conditions favourable for plants and not good for algae. That combined with a few good algae munching fish and you will never see the algae again... You will never remove algae but the correct conditions mean the plants will significantly out-compete it to the extent where it cannot be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted May 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 Thanks for the advice, Warren. I actually threw away all the gravel I had in the tank and started again. I also boiled the larger rocks and the drift wood before returning them to the tank, and scrubbed the tank glass very thoroughly. The kind of algae I had was something I've never seen before. It wasn't a nice even greenish layer (which I have no problem handling). It was horrible hairy dark green/black stuff that grew like very thick fur on everything. The best way to describe it would be to imagine a black Persian cat inside your fish tank! My bristlenose catfish couldn't eat the stuff and I was actually scared they were going hungry because the 'normal' algae had nowhere left to grow. The "fur" was very fibrous and would block up everything - I have two eheim filters and they struggled to keep working. I had to keep cleaning the algae out of the intakes. After dismantling the tank and cleaning the filters I ran them with very hot salty water for a while, in the hope that any algae inside the filter would be killed. I'm also dosing the tank with algae rid so if I have accidentally transported any bits in while netting the fish, hopefully the algae rid will stop them getting established (although it seemed to be completely ineffective on trying to get rid of it once it was established.) I have also thrown away my glass cleaning magnet, boiled the nets and either boiled or thrown away all the cleaning equipment I used to get rid of the algae. If this doesn't work, you will all hear me screaming from North Cape to Bluff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwalk Posted May 12, 2008 Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 This may be a silly question, but how do you sterilize a plant?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted May 12, 2008 Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 Chop off its pieces I do with bleach you can also use potassium permanganate One capful of pure bleach, Non scented type free of additives per 20 litres of water. soak few a few minutes rince in water with added water ager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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