Still Have Concerns

[Byron]

The short answer to your first question in post #75 is no, diatoms is not a serious issue.  Having said that, any algae that increases beyond a certain point can cause issues, though not always detrimental.  It is absolutely impossible tohave an algae-free aquarium, and this is good because such an environment would not be especially healthy.  Lack of algae is usually a sign of something wrong, like too much "cleaning."  We should not think that a sterile clean environment is good, far from it.
 
I'm still wondering if this is diatoms or a form of brush algae.  But whichever, having it behind filter tubes and heaters is nothing to fuss over.  You just don't want it spreading across the glass, plant leaves, etc., as this is a sign of nutrient/light imbalance.
 
Usually algae increasing is a sign of too much light, which can mean too much intensity or too long duration.  I have battled brush algae a few times over the years, and having established a relative balance of light intensity/nutrient availability for the specific plants, it was fairly easy to bring this under control by reducing the light period, or in one or two tanks reducing the plant fertilization.  Initial algae issues in a new tank should be expected; many assume the worst and start making major changes to deal with this, which is worse in the long run.  The tank's biological system will develop over a few months, and changes should be made carefully, and given time to "work" before jumping to another solution.
 
I'm not sure what you might mean by "serious algae growth on the glass," perhaps another video to show this?
 
Byron.

 

[colleen0309]

! I'm sorry, but I had to laugh.
 
    When I first read this post, all I could think is...wow. Then I remembered, I feel the same about my discus tank. Well, maybe not quite so bad. It is strange to me to see someone so obsessed with their tank. Most of the so called fish keepers I know are the type to keep 100's of guppies in a 10 gallon tank,  they won't dechlorinate their water, or they put goldfish in little bowls; silly things don't do automatically. Don't think I'm belittling you for your obsession. Quite the contrary. I applaud your dedication to your pet fish.
     That being said, I never thought I'd say this but, RELAX! I've been a fish keeper for 45+ years now and, like Byron, I very rarely do water tests, unless I see a problem starting. I'm just afraid you are not taking the time to just enjoy your fish. At the rate you are going, one of two things will happen. Either you will get so discouraged and quit, or you will become a very good fish keeper.
    My best advise to you is to listen to Byron, he has given you sound advise. Handle one problem at a time. And the most important, Enjoy your fish. Sit back once a day and watch them. Don't look to see problems, just watch. In your videos, they look like they are acting normal to me.

 

[Kaidonni]

Not much time tonight, here's the algae video, including shots of the stuff at the back of the tank (it isn't on the heating wire, it's just the way everything is lined up - I think the same stuff is on the air stone). I keep wondering if I have any blue-green algae on the front of the glass, also (well, now I do...I wasn't before).
 
Since I cleaned the tank on Sunday, the algae on the front glass might not look so bad. I've mainly shot some footage for reference - I can see what it's like on the weekend for comparison.

 

[Byron]

OK, I do see some algae that I would deal with, also what looks like water spots on the outside of the glass.  The latter can easily be dealt with during the water change; use a wet paper towel to "wash" the outside of the glass, then dry with a cotton towel.  I have a small cotton towel only used on fish tanks that I use to buff the cover glass.  Nothing but water needed.
 
Now to the algae...the film on the inside in the front corners should be removed during the water change.  I use a sponge-type scraper on the inside glass, front pane, sometimes the sides, at every water change even though I don't see anything.  This keeps algae from starting and is half the battle.  This might be green dust algae, but more likely here it may be diatoms.
 
Can you provide me with the light specifications (type, watts, spectrum, etc, and duration daily).  And are you adding any plant fertilizers?
 
Byron.

 

[Kaidonni]

Just the bit that was chopped off at the start, only 14 seconds.
 
Lighting is Sun-Glo 46cm 15w T8, same as it was originally. Lighting schedule has been a bit chaotic, but it's usually 8 hours, give or take half an hour or so (mainly add it on...). I have a digital timer I can fit to the lighting socket now, I shall get that up and running.
 
I have been dosing once a week with Seachem Flourish comprehensive plant supplement, ~1ml (as close as I can get it, might be a little over).
 
EDIT: It might help if I actually upload the video to Youtube.
 
EDIT 2: I've noticed a small amount of algae on a number of the broad plant leaves and the grassy plants, moreso on at least one of the broad plants (the one I filmed at the end of the first algae video, with the sprouting plant coming from it). I'll need to recharge my camera before filming it - if it's worth filming it. On the grassy plant in the very corner, it looks a little like what I filmed on the glass in front of the heating wire.

 

[Byron]

The broad leaf plants are Java Fern.  Make sure the rhizome is not buried; from the video they seem to be above the substrate, just make sure they are.  They can rot if buried.  The fine hair-like roots will grow down and into the substrate is OK for these, but doesn't matter.  This plant is best attached to wood or rock, but as long as the rhizome is not buried it should be OK.  It is a low-light plant though, and I have found that algae is quick to form on the leaves in direct light.  A cover of floating plants prevents this.
 
The fertilizer is probably fine; the light...how old is this tube?  I find the T8 tend to need replacing every 12 months or so.  They lose intensity as they burn, and at some point if the intensity weakens to the point that the plants struggle (thinking more the higher-light plants obviously), algae will take advantage.  Having read this, I experimented and found it to be correct.  And I think you were intending to try the Life-Glo next time?  This might help too.
 
Being consistent with the duration is important, and though this is not the over-riding issue here, it does factor in.
 
Byron.

 

[Kaidonni]

I'm having trouble with planting the java fern because if I try to keep the rhizome completely above the gravel, the plants end up not being planted at all, and when I clean the tank, even a light gravel vacuum causes disruption to those plants. I might need to rethink the plants I keep.
 
It's a brand new light, installed on the 8th March.

 

[Kaidonni]

I've filmed the algae or whatever it is I can see on the plants, but it'll take too long tonight for the video to upload. And silly me maybe should have had a brighter light on in the room when I turned the tank light off this evening, the fish did dart about.
 
EDIT: Here it is.

 

[Byron]

I don't see algae that is what I would call a problem in that video.  I still think it is just a case of getting everything settled so the biological system is relatively stable, including the light/nutrients balance.
 
On the JAva Fern, I would tie them to bits of wood or rock.  This can be very useful.  I have attached JF to a bit of rock and then placed it in corners where ordinary plants have difficult due to light or current.  You can use a small piece of black cotton thread to attach the rhizome to rock or wood.
 
Byron.

 

[Kaidonni]

Filmed the one male minnow, not sure but I think I see a reddish mark under his skin on his flanks towards his anus. I didn't do much editing, it's noticeable in the first 4 seconds. Of course I might be seeing things or something completely normal for him. I think he might have reduced appetite, or complete loss of apetite, can't be entirely sure as he may well have eaten during the last two feedings (Wednesday and Monday), but towards the end of the feeding he wasn't as interested as the other four Minnows and didn't join in. I'll have to keep an eye on him, no point worrying when I'm prone to seeing problems where there aren't any. I could always feed pea tomorrow and see how he does then, and then flake food on Sunday and observe.
 
Some more of one of the plants and also bubbles on the surface of the water, quite a bit of algae on the one plant as best I can tell. Also, quite a few bubbles on the surface at the moment, and I've noticed some rising from lower down in the tank, might be more than usual. I do have the return flow slightly higher than previously, so that might not be helping things as far as bubbles being blown about goes.

 

[Byron]

OK, I can certainly help you out on that plant/algae issue in the second video.  Those leaves are dying, due to light/nutrient issues; once this commences the leaf never reverses, though sometimes one can halt the demise.  We've already been discussing this with respect to light and fertilizers, so the point I want to make here is that whenever a leaf begins to decline, invariably algae will appear on it.  I can always tell which leaves on my Echinodorus plants have begun to die [it is common and expected for the older outer leaves to do this, and some nutrients can be moved from these leaves to newer leaves by the plant, depending upon other factors--these nutrients are termed mobile as opposed to immobile which cannot transfer] by the appearance of brush algae on the leaf or along the stem, depending which species.  So, the algae on the leaves in the video is not a cause for concern as algae, this is normal.  But this does show how quickly algae can take advantage of any situation; it is always present, and we keep it in check with the balance of light/nutrients.  The dying or weakening leaf is a ready source of some nutrients that algae will use when they find it.
 
To the first video, I see nothing wrong with the fish.  Relax.

 
Byron.

 

[Kaidonni]

Still finding a few things to worry about. Was trying to get a piece of flake food out of one of the crevices where the lid drops down to cover the tank opening, and I might have flicked something into the tank, possibly a speck of dust or two; I'll have to get that bit of flake food when the lid is off the tank to avoid flicking it into the water (I'm thinking it will poison the fish if I don't remove it, leeching ammonia or something else into the water). I also notice specks of dust on the surface of the water, and tonight I tried to remove some of them with the business end of a pipette. Mind you, leaving the lid open while doing that doesn't help. I got some dust on the end of the TDS meter, and returned it to the tank when I put the TDS meter in for the next set of readings (as I'd washed my hands in soap recently, I didn't dare touch the end of the TDS meter...I could have tried some kitchen towel, but I didn't bother).
 
Also had the powdery bits coming off the pea into the water yesterday, something which I'd rather avoid because I'm concerned how it might pollute the water, increasing ammonia and nitrites.
 
I think I'm worrying a lot less. Not having a test kit at the moment is helping, and once I get the replacements...I think I'll test a month from when I last tested, which was March 19th. I tested nitrites days before that, but nonetheless, I can test it along with the ammonia after the month is up (so it's really a month with several days or a week tagged on). I think going cold turkey on the tests is helping me a lot. I need to stop worrying so much because I suffer from dyspepsia, and my paranoia over water stats was winding me up.
 
I have the digital timer set up now, and I'm running the light from 2pm to 9.45pm tonight, and reducing it by 5 minutes per night until I get to 9pm (7 hours of lighting). I could have been far more consistent prior to this, and I probably really screwed things up last weekend when the clocks went forward an hour; I turned the light on at the equivalent of 1.15pm on Sunday (2.15pm for me), but didn't figure out how to phase the light being turned on to not shock the fish. The tank light also didn't go on on Thursday when it should have because I didn't remind my parents, so the fish had less light that day (I turned it off after 10pm also, so I left it on past the time it should have gone off). At least I think it was Thursday, it might have been Wednesday or even Tuesday or Monday.

 

[Kaidonni]

Just one final thing, I've noticed it before so it might be nothing - now and then, the Minnows curve their backs and tails - including the caudal fin - upwards or downwards, from about the dorsal fin onwards to the caudal fin.
 
Conducting a 15 litre water change today (~30%). I usually wash my hands out in the dirty fish water after messing around with the kitchen sink while filling the buckets with new water to make sure I don't have any soap or anything else on my hands...last week I had to spit into the dirty fish water bucket due to droplets of water splashing on to my lips (which has happened plenty of times before, I just haven't ever spit into the dirty fish water bucket). Proceeded to wash hands in same water multiple times while messing with the tank water as I wasn't going to be removing any more, hope I didn't transfer anything to the tank from my spit.

 

[Kaidonni]

Just curious as to what type of plant the ones below are (I didn't ask the name at the shop), and also what type of snail has snuck into my tank and if I would want to keep this one or get rid of it as soon as possible.
 
Plant 1, 1a and 1b are the same plant, I attached the 1b one because of the fish in the shot and just thought if anything was wrong with them, someone might be able to point it out to me. Plant 2 is the second of the two plants, same type.
 
Thanks.

 

[Byron]

The plants are Amazon sword plants, almost certainly the species Echinodorus grisebachii (may still be seen under E. bleherae or E. amazonicus as these used to be thought distinct species but are not).  Easy to maintain; they are heavy feeders so a good complete liquid fertilizer is going to make a difference, and with these substrate tabs as well help.
 
The snail is a pond snail or perhaps acute bladder [I always have trouble telling these two apart], they are lovely little snails.  Very helpful, they will graze every plant leaf eating algae (though not excessive).
 
Byron.