120L Juwel Lido - 'eternal Cycle'

[daizeUK]

My humble advice here would be don't give up. If I had your tank right now I would be thrilled and that's not because over the past 4 months my tank has gone to bits. Your TOTM picks looks great and although I'm not sure what algae the tank has at the moment, from reading through this thread I'm quite sure, almost certain you can defeat it.

 
Thanks so much for your kind support, Primous!  That's exactly how I've felt for more than six months now, keeping up the fight against algae because I felt I could win and the tank was worth it!  This has meant spot-dosing with liquid carbon every day and weekly maintenance often lasting 3-4 hours to get it immaculate again.  It felt like I came so close to winning but I've never been able to completely eradicate the algae and as soon as I let slip for any reason then I'm back to square one.
 
I've now reached a turning point because for the first time the plants don't look healthy any more.  The ferns are developing black spots in the leaves and I'm losing plant mass.  I don't think I have any choice but to try changing my tactics somehow.
 
 

Hi Daize,
BBS is available in jars, and I feed it to my young fish as well as some of my smaller species including the Threadfins. Not been around as much lately due to other priorities, but have enjoyed scanning through how you have been doing. I know what you mean I terms of feeling a tank has "hit a wall", although in your instance I think you have a great tank. I have just had to close down the tank which won TOTM in my signature due to an illness that alas is not treatable . Hope you keep going with this one, but if not look forward to seeing what you do next.

Maybe you would be allowed a fire extingusher in the house, as after all they exist in many, many buildings around the world . Good Luck.

 
It's great to see you posting again RCA and I'm so sorry to hear that you've been ill.   My best wishes to you! xx
 
I had to make a choice between either cutting the CO2 off and going low-tech - in the hope that my mostly undemanding plants will survive but the algae might die - or taking the tank to the next level and switching from yeast to full pressurized.  It would have to be a purpose-made CO2 system such as JBL because my household has reservations about using fire extinguishers.  Although I am tempted, at this point the decision is a no-brainer because I can't justify spending a lot of money on a pressurized CO2 system when the tank is already full of algae and I'd probably just feed the algae even more!
 
So for the meantime I think the best idea is to do whatever it takes to completely eradicate that algae and start from scratch if necessary.  If all goes well then maybe I'll be able to restart with a decent pressurized system at some point in the future.   Whatever happens, it's all part of the great learning process!

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
Feels like the end of an era.
 
Really hope that the low tech set up youre doing now will be of benefit, not least to the algae in the hope they will be starved of nutrients and die off, but for the time comsuming maintenace in the sense that you will have a lot more time every day.
 
And am sorry you had an ilness going through December, hope you're feeling a lot better now.
 
Maybe one day, you'll get right back into this with new fresh plans and enthusiasm for this eternal cycle tank

 

[RCA]

It's great to see you posting again RCA and I'm so sorry to hear that you've been ill.

Thank you, however, I actually meant that the fish in the aquarium were untreatable. I have been ill but luckily nothing that serious. I can see in reading it back now how the confusion has occurred. At least we are both ok now to continue the hobby

Glad you are being positive, as we never stop learning and in these cases that is all we can do. I am sure many would agree that we look forward to your next journal/venture.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks guys.  Ideally I'd like to bring this tank back to life and full health but it may take some time and some experimentation to find what works without the tank being the chore that it has become.
 
And RCA - phew!   You had me concerned there!  Still, sorry to hear that the fishies were ill.

 

[daizeUK]

The eventual outcome of removing CO2 has been that the tank has pretty much surrendered to algae 

 
Most of the plants are dead or looking very unhealthy.  All the java fern is gone, hardly any moss left, the only plants still struggling on are my anubias and cryptocoryne.
 
The type of algae infesting this tank is some strange long-haired version of BBA.  I can't find a lot of information on it.  It looks like long, soft black fur and is easily pulled off but it just grows back in thick, luxuriant waves.  It especially likes growing on wood, moss and in exposed roots and rhizomes.
 

This is what it looks like, this is somebody else's tank not mine but it shows the species of algae I'm talking about.  In my tank it is not as thick or abundant as this but it grows everywhere.
http/www.secretlyhealthy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Black-Algae.jpg

 
Repeated direct dosing of EasyCarbo on to the algae kills it off successfully - it turns red and completely disappears.  I used this method for a while to help control it.  Unfortunately it grows back again within a week or two and there's just too much of it to control in this manner.  I have Amano shrimp in the tank so I don't dare add too much liquid carbon.
 
So manual removal, dosing liquid carbon, removing CO2 gas and mucking about with fert levels have done nothing to weaken this horrible algae.  It just keep thriving.  I never had the guts to try a blackout but I feel it's much too late for that now.  I'm throwing my hands up in defeat, it's won!
 
I now want to tear this tank down, bleach it clean and start from scratch.  I've got some ideas buzzing and I also need to set up a temporary home for the tank's inhabitants while it gets taken down for a few days.  It will probably take me a few more weeks longer before I make some concrete decisions, order plants and buy new hardscape, bleach the tank and clean the old adhesive off the back.
 
I hope to start a new thread in the coming weeks when things start setting in motion but for now here's a jumble of my foremost ideas:
> More plants!!!  Especially more rooted plants such as cryptocorynes
> A stable CO2 system, maybe one of those JBL kits.
> A thin layer of play sand at the front of the tank, then a bank of rocks with a deeper bed of plant soil behind.  I don't plan to use Unipac sand again.
 
So this is probably my last update on this aquascape, I just I thought I'd let you know how the algae turned out for the benefit of anyone who gets it in future.  I don't know what went wrong but I assume it was most likely due to fluctuating CO2 from the DIY yeast system.  That's something I will never try again - when it comes to CO2, I reckon it's best to do all or nothing!