First ever tank

[SamH]

Isn't this just a phase? If so, it happened on my slightly larger tank I just did 10% water changes everyday, started PMDD, cut the photoperiod back by 4hours and let it sort itself out

[maoripho3nix]

Blackout isn't going to help anything. It will appear to work but your plants will stop growing during that time so when you turn everything back on you will have the same problem again. I would add some fast growing stem plants (even if it is just a temporary measure) and fertilise with trace (excess trace nutrients will not cause algae). Do a 50% water change every week to reset the nutrients and make sure you don't have any ammonia as ammonia WILL cause algae. Get those plants growing so that the algae doesnt have a chance. Remove what algae you can see and it will slowly go away.

Ok so tomorrow should I cut back the light time to 8 hrs? (i went from 12 to 10), get some fast growing stem plants (ill get some from the lfs, any suggestions?),increase the WC %, as I only have PMDD which has the trace elements mixed with the rest, will this be ok??

Thanks again Jen :bounce:

Isn't this just a phase? If so, it happened on my slightly larger tank I just did 10% water changes everyday, started PMDD, cut the photoperiod back by 4hours and let it sort itself out

Hoping it will sort itself out

[Nymox]

Ok so tomorrow should I cut back the light time to 8 hrs? (i went from 12 to 10), get some fast growing stem plants (ill get some from the lfs

If cabomba suits come see me down at L.A. tomorrow, Ill give ya some, it grows like a weed in my tanks.

[Jennifer]

Anything really fast growing, like ludwigia, float some of them to block out some of the light if needed but keep up the photoperiod to 8 - 10 hours. For the green algae, keep up with the fertilisation, once every 3 days with pmdd and a 50% water change once a week to reset it. Keep removing the algae from the glass and anywhere that you see it. Are you doing CO2? If so, your lights might be the limiting factor. Just see how it goes - give it 10 days at least.

[maoripho3nix]

Thanks for the advice, will get it sorted.

I would try make it to LA's but I dont finish work til 4 then the attention turns to the kids until their bedtime :lol:

When I can I try and sneak into Kiwipetz in fraser cove.

Will make adjustments, im sure it will come right, the sight of it doesnt realllllllly bother me, but the affects of it does, im sure my glosso is suffering :lol:

Thanks guys

[maoripho3nix]

Update:

I did a 50% water change, wiped the glass, vaccd the gravel, brushed off the stringy algae from the moss (where most of it resides). Went to get some plants from Kiwipetz, Sharn ended up bring some to the shop the next day from her place ( Thanks Sharn) I believe it is Indian Fern. Otos are having a ball of a time eating all the green spots of algae off the glass,rocks and wood. Have been dosing with pmdd every few days. So now I guess its just a waiting game, the stringy type algae is giving way but i noticed the spots of green algae are multiplying. All is well though, as long as the water doesnt go green I will be happy :lol:

Are you doing CO2? If so, your lights might be the limiting factor. Just see how it goes - give it 10 days at least.

Although my glosso is hard pressed for the light I dont think its the light thats causing the imbalance, I think its the C02.......Before even having liquid ferts, I had placed JBL balls under the gravel, so I dont think it was a nutrient thing, gh ph nitrates nitrites ammonia have all been on the good side, however with the CO2....first of all its a DIY setup (sugar+yeast), its inconsistent and barely bubbling (now), its fed into the intake of HOB, which i have a feeling is not doing a good job diffusing, and ive never seen anything pearl in my tank

I currently have a c02 bottle that was part of a Soda Stream kit I picked up, and am planning on saving on parts.

[Jennifer]

Great news about the green spot. That is the best kind of algae to have.

I agree, it will take the plants a couple of weeks before they can utilise the new kick of CO2, ferts and lights. Don't let the CO2 fizzle out too low or you will have an algae outbreak due to the CO2 fluctuations. Try to time your water change with replenishing the yeast mixture (the dissolved CO2 in the new water will help make up for the lack of CO2 generated from the new yeast mixture).

If you doubt that lights can be the key try placing your tank in the sun for a couple of hours, you will see pearling like you have never seen before! 8) (of course I wouldn't recommend that since it can overheat the tank for the wee Otos).

Remember, as you increase CO2, the plants' light demand will also get higher. Also, the 'faster' all of these factors go, the more maintenance and careful monitoring will be required to keep it all in balance.

[maoripho3nix]

UPDATE: Well the green hair algae is subsiding hopefully it will be completely gone soon. I think the addition of the Indian Fern is doing its job. Green spot is showing up in places which I dont mind as its feeding the otos 8)

Heres a pic

Hmmmm I need a background. The glosso is doing ok, just need to clip out some dead parts, some is still covered in brown algae. As I have mentioned before the glosso down the heater end is going well so its no doubt that heat helps glosso, maybe under gravel heater in next setup

Tried earthworm last night for the tetra, they loved it!! Ive noticed with the tetra, they seem to fight a lot?! They are fed every second day so Im sure they aren't hungry, they dont bother the otos and the otos dont bother them, but they seem to always be after each other. Territorial? Aggression? Stress? Males fighting over a female?? anyway I can tell what sex they are??

is a video of them "fighting".

Any comments welcome

EDIT: Spot the oto :lol:

[Zev]

Our tetras used to behave in a similar fashion - there was always one who appeared pretty intolerant of the others, it was the biggest and female :roll:

If they are the same age the smaller ones will be males, females have a slightly bigger gut, males are more streamlined...

[maoripho3nix]

Our tetras used to behave in a similar fashion - there was always one who appeared pretty intolerant of the others, it was the biggest and female :roll:

:lol:

Yep that sounds about right, the biggest one of the bunch seems to push them around, and then the rest get into a mini frenzy. I think they are all the same age, cant really tell as I got them from a LFS.

Thanks Zev :bounce:

[Jennifer]

It's looking pretty good! Well done.

[N1CK]

It's on the second rock back! :bounce:

and, if your tank is the smallest splish and splash tank, A peice of A4 paper works for a background

[maoripho3nix]

Update:

Well not much has really changed. Went hunting for a background, at Warehouse Stationary the only plastic they had was that off the corrugated sheets (What P44 has on his background). Got it in black and cut it to size, looks good as it covers the stuff behind, but now I can see all the algae on the back glass :lol:

The brown algae is pretty much gone, green has taken over ---> :bounce:

I still have the stringy bits in places, persisting in trying to get rid of it.

Remixed the C02 again the other day, I noticed that after doing this, the glosso stemmed, so the balance of things has tipped again.

I have a question, the old WPL (WPG) equation has been thrown out the window, but would it be fair to say that its Lumens Per Watt that should be focused on instead? Although I have a 18w CFL (100W) its lumens pw is greater than that of an equivalent incandescent bulb. In other words more lumens, more intensity v depth???

Im familiar with wavelengths etc, but without a lumen intensity to depth, your plants wouldnt get light from the wavelength. But just wondering if the above is anything to speculate about?? :-?

Everyone loves pics, heres the updated pics, just some I took messing around with settings trying different lighting/shutter/iso techniques.

[Sophia]

my cardinals do the same arguing - my main trouble maker is the smallest - 'he' hangs away from the group some of the time but other times likes to hang with the other 3 smaller fish

I like your tank - you are inspiring me to swap down to a smaller one! Moving house soon so I might have to!

[Zev]

Nice pics - well worth mucking around with the camera settings.

[maoripho3nix]

my cardinals do the same arguing - my main trouble maker is the smallest - 'he' hangs away from the group some of the time but other times likes to hang with the other 3 smaller fish

Yeah I think it has been a fight to see who is the "Alpha Male" amongst the group, as some of the males have nips in the fins, the one who has been chasing after the others the most, has the most nips :-?

The females have been fighting him off too.

I like your tank - you are inspiring me to swap down to a smaller one! Moving house soon so I might have to!

Thank you I'm only new to the fish keeping scene and decided to use the least money to hopefully get good looking results, little did I know keeping a smaller tank in balance is harder than a big one (so Im told). But all in all its been great + educational and fun to observe.

Nice pics - well worth mucking around with the camera settings.

:lol: I remembered some techniques from photography at school, older manual slr camz are so much easier to configure to shoot (Shutter, Aperture, Focus etc). Its not easy taking photos of aquaria, but Im figuring it out.

Thanks guys :bounce:

[JazzyJeff]

Please can we have some updated pics - I wanna see how the glosso is doing :lol: Thanks in advance

[maoripho3nix]

UPDATE: Sorry its been so long since, internet and computer troubles. :evil:

Well everything has turned for the worse, the stringy green type algae is EVERYWHERE . Ive tried different things to get rid of it. The worst affected part was the driftwood with the moss on it, just covered in it so I removed it :evil: . Because I had reduced the lighting time and increased the Co2, the plants still grow well but the Glosso has shot off like trees (its stem not carpeting). Definately need a mow in the tank now. :roll:

The fish are still fine and healthy, but the tank is looking ugly.

What I intend to try:

Continue to clean as much off as I can

Take a portion of the moss and clean

Clean the driftwood

Possibly put the moss and wood back in

Clean the filter case, heater, rocks etc

Increase to 3 w/c per week but less %

Can anyone else suggest anything? Are there any fish/snail that eat this algae and/or all types of algae?

Im still looking for a bigger tank, I wanna do a basic setup i.e sand,rock,carpeting plant,fern background. I figured out how to start the glosso off so it carpets well, so this is a future plan, then I will transfer my fish over.

Open to comments

[Jennifer]

Hair algae is hard to get rid of but you are doing the right stuff with water changes and CO2. The blue snails eat it but as you can imagine, they are slow. Do you have more stem plants to put in there? Try floating them - it will block the light to everything underneath and they will suck up excess nutrients. Keep cleaning it off as you see it so it doesn't get out of control.

[antwan]

The perfect way to get rid of hair algae is a product called algaefix. This does remove the algae, however it doesn't stop what caused it to be there in the first place.

[fordayzbro]

Do you have more stem plants to put in there? Try floating them - it will block the light to everything underneath and they will suck up excess nutrients.

This sounds the right way to me also, get some bushy stems in there to starve the algae of nutrients. Have a big clean, reduce photoperiod, increase circulation if you can and keep up with waterchanges.

[JazzyJeff]

GUTTED!

I was following your progress as I too was making my first attempt at growing glosso. I learnt so much from everyones input!

My glosso is carpeting but is still quite sparse hence why I wanted to know how yours was doing. Our projects are similar but different (that don't make sense!) I haven't had the dreaded algae breakout, this has been thru luck more than calculated planning on my behalf.

I would love to be the hero here and give you the magic combination but I don't have it. What I would like to say is, don't give up.

Thank you for sharing your experience - I'm sure it has made mine more successful. :lol:

[maoripho3nix]

OK

So here is what I did.

I had already removed the moss + wood. Also removed the rocks.

I removed all the equipment filter,heater,thermo....scrubbed it clean, dilute bleached it all, rinsed well.

Whilst equipment was soaking, i scrubbed down the glass.

Did a 50% water removal.

Mowed the "LAWN" lol, clipped back the glosso, hairgrass, indian (also left some floating).

Grabbed one of the 40+ powerheads that I had, cleaned (hardly a spec on it), bleached, and soaked it.

Added the heater and powerhead.

Added the filter.

Filled her up again.

Looking 100x better than before, but I can still see traces of hair algae :evil:

Poor fish, hopefully they will settle alright.

The powerhead has done wonders in blowing the extras i missed off the substrate into circulation.

SO hopefully with the cleaning, added flow, and a schedule of more WC, this hair algae will disappear.

GUTTED!

:lol: YEP

I was following your progress as I too was making my first attempt at growing glosso. I learnt so much from everyones input!

My glosso is carpeting but is still quite sparse hence why I wanted to know how yours was doing. Our projects are similar but different (that don't make sense!) I haven't had the dreaded algae breakout, this has been thru luck more than calculated planning on my behalf.

I would love to be the hero here and give you the magic combination but I don't have it. What I would like to say is, don't give up.

Thank you for sharing your experience - I'm sure it has made mine more successful. :lol:

There were a few eyes watching im glad my experience has helped with your success.

Thanks for keeping a close eye on the project. My guess is your setup is similar with CFL lighting + DIY C02??

Just so you know the glosso has grown outward very well and the roots are well established, however when the algae came on I had to reduce the light time. With this the new growth of glosso would stem up. I believe if the lighting had been efficient it would have carpeted well.

Heres hoping that after the algae ordeal goes away that with a bit of pruning and increased light mine might carpet properly.

For anyone else following and thinking of starting a glosso tank with similar setup, I would suggest doing this first

Growing in minimal water level first

HTH and congratulations and goodluck with the glosso JazzyJeff

Will update as the tank improves :bounce:

[JazzyJeff]

The similarities are - New Tank, Black Silica Sand, Driftwod/Rocks, DIY CO2, Heated.

Plants that I have planted are - Glosso, Dwarf Sag, Riccia (under mesh on a rock) and I added ambulia when I read about adding a fast growing plant. I have also recently added 2 small Tiger Lotus (1 red 1 green)

Fish - Oto's, some GBA babies and x2 Cockatoo Cichlids

Whats different?

Tanks is 100l

I have a very thin layer of AquaBasics under the substrate instead of JBL Balls

I have been monitoring the Iron content and added Flourish Iron when this is low or non existant.

The BIG difference is my lighting is 13w T5 10000k - Lights are on for 11 hours each day

Occasionally I see a film appear on my glass - this I just wipe with the magnet cleaner & I do 20% water changes every 10 days or so. I do regular water tests for the sake of the fish.

Now - to all you experts out there... Do you think its the size of the tank or the lighting that is making the difference?

I would like to now try glosso in my 21l tank also and if I can would like to avoid the algae. I might even do it with the low water line like in the youtube clip mentioned above.

[Sophia]

I too have been having a battle with algae of a different kind and the only thing not mentioned in the previous advice is the phosphate.

If you don't have a test kit for that, take a test tube of water down to the pet shop and get it tested, you might find part of the puzzle.

Best idea is to take a tube of plain tap water and a tube of tank water and compare the 2. I figure my feeding is to blame for excess phosphate in my water as it's clear when it comes out of the tap :oops:

My algae is making inroads to come back and the daily dose of flourish comprehensive seems to keep some of it at bay but I haven't managed to eradicate the main culprit staghorn algae yet - phosphate in the water is the last thing I am yet to conquer.

disclaimer: if your kind of algae is not affected by phosphate I'm sure the gurus will put me straight :lol:

-----

further, what is the benefit of starting the plants off in a small layer of water over starting them off in a full tank but without the fish?