Journey With Algae

[StevenF]

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The ph of the tap vs any tank is the same at 8.2. so no big swings with ph. I will test again without outgassing as that's the way I add it to the tank. Then I will test tanks again.

Though, I was thinking...even in a tank with no live plants, could the gh and kh go down a bit from the fish and the bacteria that are in the tank? If they are using some of the nutrients?

This is a good question because my water softens once it's in the tanks and one of them isn't planted so I've been wondering this too.
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the answer is yes. I have seen some major KH swings when I had a tank recovering from a very high phosphate levels. However for a stable tank the changes due to changes in nutrient levels would probably be small and below the minimum resolution of your typical test kit

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Just a quick update. I did a water change(almost 50%) on Saturday. Tried to get as much cyanobacteria out as possible but that stuff just doesn't want to suck up in the gravel vac! And I suck up a bunch of sand...would it be easier to net this stuff out?

Anyways I haven't done anything else, no new plants or fertilizer yet until after payday this Thursday. I noticed the day after the water change the cyanobacteria was starting to come back like it has. However, Monday I noticed that it had seemed to shrink back. Yay! Let's hope it keeps going in this direction!

Also...i had planned on putting a bristlenose pleco in here eventually but one of my babies I had bought passed away from planaria. The one I have left is going into the big tank when I get it done. So...my plan was to get 6 nerite snails and still eventually some Malaysian trumpet snails(hopefully this payday as well!). But yesterday I went to a smaller chain store(petsway) and they had 4 nerites. So....i just added them yesterday. Lol.

So, that's the update for now. (Quick question if anybody wants to answer...if I have up to 6 nerites in this tank instead of the pleco, as well as the mts), can I have 20 neon tetras or should I stick with 15? I'm trying to find good plants and I think it's going to be Brazilian pennywort maybe floating. That is my next step before getting other plants but I'm going to try to get it good and planted.)

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, scratch that last question....i may not be able to have nerites in the tank after all. I sat down to look at them and noticed a whole lot of planaria. 3 out of 4 snails seem affected. It looks like I will have to use the no planaria stuff again that will kill nerites...

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Quick update in this thread as well. I still have cyanobacteria but I don't think its quite as bad as it was with the more frequent water changes. The green spot algae seems to have slowed way down as well. The bba seems almost nonexistent.

I'm going to do a large water change today if 75% to get the salt out of the water that I was using to see if it would treat planaria and other nasties.

But, this water change I am also going to go through the sand really well to hopefully get more organics out of it. I definitely think the diagnosis was spot on. Now to hope with doing this and keeping up with water changes instead of being lazy, that this will get rid of the cyanobacteria. Wish me luck!

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I think the algae is getting under control. BBA seems nonexistent now. Green spot is coming in way slower. However I'm still getting the cyanobacteria. It seems like it wants to come in more and more. I've been getting out what I could though. I did turn the white light down a couple more notches since I threw away the dying floating plants I had. I just added a couple of Indian almond leaves and they seem to love them already. Do you think adding plants(probably wisteria) will help combat the cyanobacteria?