Lowee's 45gal Journal

Any ideas on the algae?

My staghorn appeared when I upped the lighting period too quickly, and also seemed to be related to slightly unstable CO2. I lowered the lighting period and went to two Nutrafin cannisters and it has now stopped. I meticulously removed any staghorn I could see and also any affected plant leaves. It seems to attack poor growing plants.

The only change i have made to my lighting period was to decrease by 2 hours, that may have an effect. As far as i can see the CO2 is , the drop cehcker is a nice green colour. I dont think it is anything to do with the growth as the Wisteria is growing massivly everyday, but atleast it has been limited to the wisteria, which is just a temporary 'weed'. Thanks for the ideas though!

Tom

I would continue to remove affected leaves. Hopefully things will settle and it will stop growing back.

Got some new pictures for evryone to see! I added 16 rummy nose tetras and 3 ottos. Both are supposed to be sensitive fish, but 1 week in no deaths and they all look healthy and active! Im still havin problems with algae, mainly hair/thread algae and staghorn on the wisteria. My rotala and egeria is also covered in a dust like substance, almost looks like rotton food. But the fish are definately not overfed. Any one know what this might be? And any more ideas on the algae?

Also comments more than welcome on the tank!

lowee said:

Got some new pictures for evryone to see! I added 16 rummy nose tetras and 3 ottos. Both are supposed to be sensitive fish, but 1 week in no deaths and they all look healthy and active! Im still havin problems with algae, mainly hair/thread algae and staghorn on the wisteria. My rotala and egeria is also covered in a dust like substance, almost looks like rotton food. But the fish are definately not overfed. Any one know what this might be? And any more ideas on the algae?

Also comments more than welcome on the tank!

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Hi lowee tank is looking good, i like the open space in the centre the wood will look good when the moss has grown.regards john

The tank is really starting to shape up Lowee, and that is some good lighting in the background. Sixteen Rummy Nose in all that free space should look pretty good. Personally, Otos are the first fish I add to a tank, and I have always found them to be tougher than most people think.

Crap accumulating on the Egeria could be due to a lack of water movement, but I am not too sure. Mine eventually went leggy and brown, due to it being a cold water plant. I can recommend putting Micranthemum umbrosum in its place (currently 50% off at AE). It is a lighter green than what you have at the moment, making a nice contrast, and Tropica MU is superb quality, easy to grow and is a serious algae buster.

Dave.

Ok, thanks for that Dave! You can also see from the picture that my ludwigia in the right corner is really struggling, it has barely grown at all since it was put in there! Not sure why that is, might replace it.

I would also love to replace the egeria with something else, but that is my main algae buster, the same with the wisteria! When do you think it would be safe to replace them?

Tom

My Ludwigia took ages to start growing. When it eventually grew enough, I gave it a trim which slowed it down again. After a while it started to grow quite well and it turns a nice orangey colour when it reaches the surface. Mine never attracted any kind of algae, so it should be worth persevering with.

My Egeria was great at first, but as it deteriorated it started to attract threads of algae. Once it was fairly well covered I chucked it, and the threads never came back in any significant way.

As long as you have algae and the Egeria and wisteria are doing OK, I would hang on to them. You could try adding Rotala sp on a temporary basis to get on top of the algae. Your tank is looking great, but considering the algae situation, you really need to fill out with some fast growers for the time being. If you don`t want to mess up your current planting, you could squeeze stems in to any spare filter hose clips etc. you have, and using the suckers, you could stick them to the side of the tank. Things will look crap for a while, my two new tanks have looked this way for nearly three months now (you won`t need to wait this long seeing as your tank has been up and running for a while).

I look at your tank and all I can see is it crying out for lots of fast growers to get on top of the algae.

Dave.

Ok, I will bear with the Ludwigia and hope that it gets growing!

I think my egeria is going the same way as yours did, it started great but seems to be struggling now and attracting algae. I like the idea of the suction cups, i think i will probably get some rotala or polysperma cuttings and stick them in there. They would be great above the wood, not blocking any light. How long should i leave the rotala before trimming, as some of the stems have a andlready reached the surface and are bending over. They really are fast growers!

I think one of the main reasons of algae maybe unstable CO2, my little 500g cylinder only lasts about a week. So i have to keep changing to yeast. But my dad works in the gas industry (knows the owner of air products) so he said he could get me a 5 litre cylinder w/valve for about 50 quid (is that a god price?). So hopefully i will be able to get that running asap, the algae must love my ever changing CO2 levels!

Tom

lowee said:

I think my egeria is going the same way as yours did, it started great but seems to be struggling now and attracting algae. I like the idea of the suction cups, i think i will probably get some rotala or polysperma cuttings and stick them in there. They would be great above the wood, not blocking any light. How long should i leave the rotala before trimming, as some of the stems have a andlready reached the surface and are bending over. They really are fast growers!

Tom

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What is the temperature of your tank? Remember E. densa is really a sub-tropical or even a cold water plant. I should have remembered another bit of information as well. In my experience, I find Egeria densa does not like CO2 injection, which I find very strange. It's always done best in my non-CO2 tanks or in CO2 tanks where the levels are lower. I had forgotten this bit of info, if it is in fact true. I remember reading it somewhere as well. E. najas, again was a better choice in my experience.

llj

I have my water set at 26 degrees, but all that sounds right! The egeria is growing wildly but it is leggy and leaves are falling from the bottom.

I think water current may be a problem in the tank, the flow from the filter outlet is very weak and i dont think i can increase it. It barely even moves the rotala on the other side of the tank. Any ideas on how to increase water movement?

Tom

Well the tank is looking pretty different right now. I spent well over 4 hours on it yesterday,did a 75% water change, finally got fed up of the egeria so i chucked that and i removed some wisteria and cleaned the rest. Might cut some of the rotala and replant it in place of the egeria. These pictures give you a slight idea of what it might look like in the end!

Well its been a while since the last update! And not a huge amount has happened to be honest! Things are growing steadily and i am still yet to lose any fish. (the tank is teeming with baby tiger/cherry shrimp!) I went to pick up my new CO2 cylinder yesterday, managed to get a brand new 5 litre cylinder, filled for absolutley nothing! They also said they would re-fill it whenever i want for free! I am currently running only 1.7 WPG and only dose twice a week as on thursday i go to australia on a rugby tour for over a month, so im turning it low-tech while someone else is looking after the tank.

Comments welcome!

youi got the cylinder for free !?! how ! so lucky ..