Hello all,
I started this 30l long planted tank about 2 months ago. I have one male Betta and 3 Neons (yes i know you're supposed to have more, they will be moved soon) living in the tank. I left my tanks in the care of my mother over the weekend and unfortunately I think she left the lights on for too long because when I returned there was an explosion of GHA. It looks absolutely horrible and is covering EVERYTHING (except strangely enough my Indonesian Java Fern, which is right at the top of the tank). Its mainly growing on my driftwood and glass, but its also covering my java moss and my poor Pygmy chain swords. I know healthy plants naturally produce an algae deterrent, so the fact that its growing on my chain swords isn't a great sign. I dose with Flourish and they were planted with a root tab, so not sure what I'm missing out on here.
It gets worse though, as I've noticed that my bright yellow sand seems to be slowly growing some BGA too! I know new tanks are very prone to this kind of thing, but Ive never experienced green hair algae before, and its proving to be a nightmare to remove! I've tried spraying the GHA with a 3% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide with no luck, and I've tried upping my dose of Flourish excel and lowering my photoperiod. I'm planning on getting some Darwin Algae Shrimp to help clean it up a bit, but I know thats more of a bandaid solution.
Lighting is 1x 15w LED light and 1x 6w LED light that came with the tank (Aqua One Panoramic). Both are on for about 8 hours a day.
The tank is filtered and heated, 30% water changes done weekly
Water parameters are:
PH - 7.2
GH - 120ppm
Nitrate - <20ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
If anyone knows any way of helping to get rid of GHA and the beginnings of BGA, I'd very much appreciate it!
The first two images are the GHA on the chain swords and java moss. The third is the tank when it was initially setup. The final image is for comparison's sake of the same batch of chain swords which are THRIVING in my 25l nano cube tank, which has higher light and no CO2 added. The only difference is substrate and lighting between the two tanks. I would've thought the cube would be more of an issue, but just look at the growth!
I started this 30l long planted tank about 2 months ago. I have one male Betta and 3 Neons (yes i know you're supposed to have more, they will be moved soon) living in the tank. I left my tanks in the care of my mother over the weekend and unfortunately I think she left the lights on for too long because when I returned there was an explosion of GHA. It looks absolutely horrible and is covering EVERYTHING (except strangely enough my Indonesian Java Fern, which is right at the top of the tank). Its mainly growing on my driftwood and glass, but its also covering my java moss and my poor Pygmy chain swords. I know healthy plants naturally produce an algae deterrent, so the fact that its growing on my chain swords isn't a great sign. I dose with Flourish and they were planted with a root tab, so not sure what I'm missing out on here.
It gets worse though, as I've noticed that my bright yellow sand seems to be slowly growing some BGA too! I know new tanks are very prone to this kind of thing, but Ive never experienced green hair algae before, and its proving to be a nightmare to remove! I've tried spraying the GHA with a 3% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide with no luck, and I've tried upping my dose of Flourish excel and lowering my photoperiod. I'm planning on getting some Darwin Algae Shrimp to help clean it up a bit, but I know thats more of a bandaid solution.
Lighting is 1x 15w LED light and 1x 6w LED light that came with the tank (Aqua One Panoramic). Both are on for about 8 hours a day.
The tank is filtered and heated, 30% water changes done weekly
Water parameters are:
PH - 7.2
GH - 120ppm
Nitrate - <20ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
If anyone knows any way of helping to get rid of GHA and the beginnings of BGA, I'd very much appreciate it!
The first two images are the GHA on the chain swords and java moss. The third is the tank when it was initially setup. The final image is for comparison's sake of the same batch of chain swords which are THRIVING in my 25l nano cube tank, which has higher light and no CO2 added. The only difference is substrate and lighting between the two tanks. I would've thought the cube would be more of an issue, but just look at the growth!