Planted Tank In Progress...

[Teelie]

This is much cleaner than it was the other day. The algae got out of hand over the weekend and progressively through the week. I cleaned out a lot of it and have turned the lights off and covered the tank with a towel until more of it dies off. The only inhabitants aside from the plants are a lone survivng Amano shrimp from a group of three and a Ramshorn snail and some smaller pond/pest snails that hitched a ride.

This is a 29gallon aquarium. It's been set up for a little over a month. The lighting is 2 55 watt compact fluorscents and whatever sunlight seeps in from the window to the right. The substrate is flourite, approximately 2.5-3" deep and some liquid plant food on hold until the algae is under control. I have a Java Fern and three other types of plants, names escape me but I have the tags for most of them and I'll add names when I find them. I also got a clump of Java Moss I'll be adding to the wood tomorrow.

I'm adding some Bristlenose fry tomorrow to go to town on whatever algae they can. I'm not expecting them to handle it themselves but they can use the grow out space and help me get it in check while I work on it.

 

[Pimp]

looks good so far

 

[SuperColey1]

Thats a lot of light for a 29G with not many plants in it and that is most likely why you have so much algae, although at the mo only looks like on the glass. lol

The tank in my sig is a 29G with 73W (2.5WPG) although the pic is taken with 0.6WPG

With that much light you are going to need to fill it with fast growers now or face the wrath of every algae ever known to man. lol

You will also struggle to keep on top of CO2 using yeast with that size tank and light (3.8WPG)

Maybe a better idea to turn one of the 55W until you are planted up properly, although I bet you bought a twin starter which only lets you have 2 lights or no lights.

Andy

 

[Dave Spencer]

Maybe a better idea to turn one of the 55W until you are planted up properly, although I bet you bought a twin starter which only lets you have 2 lights or no lights.

Andy

Been there, done that, paid the price!

Ditto everything Andy says. Plecs, Otos, Amanos may help, but with that light they will never get on top of things, plus you are growing types of algae they won`t touch.

You need to halve the lighting, maybe having full light for a short midday burst. You will also need a decent fert regime (EI for example), but you you will definitely need some plants to feed the ferts to in the first place (75% coverage with fast growing stems).

I can see rhizoclonium on the bogwood to the left, which is a PITA and can take over your tank. Before long you will be at the stage where a three or four day black out will be the only way to get on top of the algae, but you have to have the lighting, planting, ferts sorted for the black out to work long term and give you a healthy planted tank.

Dave.

 

[Teelie]

I've got the lights off for now and other than some algae on the leaves I've scraped off, it's gotten under control. The number of plants is growing too. I've just been slow and careful about how much I've added but now that things look relatively stable I'm going to add more.

The lights are actually a dual set with individual switches so I can halve it to 55 watts . I read that 105 watts would be the best lighting for a tank this size so when I got the chance to buy the fixture cheap, I went for it. I didn't think about just having one set on at a time until it was better planted though.

I've also picked up a dual 65 watt (130 watt combined) fixture (and might get a second one as well) I'm going to put on a 40g breeder in the future so any suggestions for fast growers? I can get Anacharis easy but I'd prefer something a little less resiliant if possible and a little nicer looking.

Also, any suggestions on a better CO2 catalyzer? I'm trying not to spend too much money though I am considering one of those automated systems that does almost everything for you.

 

[SuperColey1]

I'd steer away from the fully automated Ph controller types because they only cause problems with inconsistent CO2.

With that amount of light I'd just get a pressurised setup with a solenoid and a timer in the plug socket.

Also if you can seperate the lights so that they are individual plugs then use timers on these as well. Then you can have a 'midday burst' lighting.

Don't worry about the look of your tank at the moment. Just fil it up with any fast growers while you get used to keeping a planted tank. aesthetics come later.

Andy

 

[Teelie]

Both lights are on seperate timers already so I've got that covered. I guess I'll just grab whatever I can get to help out compete the algae then work on it from there. Thanks.

 

[john starkey]

Hi Teelie, my advice is plant loads of plants, regards john

 

[Teelie]

Did another water change today and cleaned out a lot of the dead/dying algae from the substrate and planted some more stuff. A pair of Amazons and a Aponogeton boivinianus as well as a bit of Anacharis that snuck along. Keeping the lights off but the aquarium exposed to indirect lighting in the room. I'm going to do another water change Saturday I think and remove any dead or dying leaves.

Fortunately the only dead leaves so far were from the Amazons I got and one from a smaller squat looking plant. Everything else is surprisingly green and growing except the stemmed one to the left in the picture and it's only a little faded (which it was already when I got it).

 

[Teelie]

Update on the tank. I've added Hornwort, the Red Wenditti and an Anubis (tommorrow) and now there are 4 more Amano shrimp. Unfortunately I've got a lot of pond/pest snails to remove too but that's a project for a later time. I'm currently looking at this CO2 system for the tank.

 

[Teelie]

Bump up. Took this today. I've got a CO2 cannister hooked up (has been for roughly a month) and have done some massive pruning over the months to remove damaged and dead leaves and removed some Hornwort to another tank. Stuff grows like a weed as you can see. The Java Fern in back is doing well and started sprouting shoots that I've removed to aother tank to grow on some wood in there.

Some of the other plants have obviously taken off too. It took longer than expected to get the CO2 running but now that it is you can see the plants perking up. The Aponogenton and Amazons were doing pretty bad with damaged leaves but there are new leaves replacing the old ones though the Amazons are suffering some still. Also have a big snail problem but I'm going to handle it the old fashioned way: A cup with a piece of cucumber in it overnight.

Wanted inhabitants include two juvenile Bristlenose offspring (with more on the way), 4-5 Amano Shrimp (4 for certain, 5th probably around somewhere) and the newest fish, 8 (tank born) Celestial Pearl Danios.

 

[Luketendo]

Well done algae should not come back now.

 

[Teelie]

Just a few small tufts left on the gravel now. I'm going to put some flat slate with java moss in there as soon as I can get the moss to properly root onto the rock. The tank that was in got pretty hairy (algae) at first too. Overdid it with the nutrients.

 

[Themuleous]

Looks good, keep up the good work