R3GG
Fish Crazy
I've been taking pictures of my planted tank since i set it up so i thought i'd briefly run through the algae problems and redesigning that occured.
July 04 Before any beard algae growth, the plants in the tank here have just become established and frequently show signs of growth through bubbling. Some fertilizer Is used, no CO2 enhancement Is used:
July/Aug 04 The tank is still developing rapidly here, filtration at this stage consists of an external fluval 204 filter only
The plants are clean and new and grow at an amazing rate
This growth continues for months and i trim the plants on occasion. The fluval 204 begins to lose power and gets blocked and i find myself having to wash it every week as it just dribbles water after a couple of days.
I introduce a 2nd hand filter. Its a biolife and seems to do the job. From now on my tank begins to decline. Hair algae starts to cover everything and plant growth altogether stops...
A close up
Its pretty depressing this stuff, it only comes off with intense scrubbing and you cant get it off leaves without damaging them. The tank looks nothing like it did. Whether this algae came in on the filter or in water from a LFS (most probably the former) i'll never know but something had to be done...
Amano shrimp, otocinclus and sucking loaches have no impact on the algaes growth.
After reading up on black beard algae and seeking advice on the forums i decided the best option was to chuck the plants. Cleaning with bleach doesnt seem worth the effort as i dont think the plants would miraculously resume growing. Plastic plants would grow more than these !
Here (above) the tank has been stripped of all plants affected by the algae and only a few very small plants from runners remain. The filtration is upgraded by the return of the fluval 204 (left of picture) and a powerhead to increase water flow (also left). The biolife is cleaned internally and externally and the bogwood and rocks are scrubbed of algae. Feeding of the fish is halted to reduce nutrient accumulation within the tank. A large number of fast growing plants are on order to replace the ones old ones. These include vallis, Mexican oak leaf and ambulia (thanks to gf225 for advice). Mechanical algae and waste removal continues.
07/04/05 To create a more natural ‘amazon’ look a large piece of bogwood is added (left of image below) and replaces the rock that lay there previously. Not only do the small number of cardinals look a lot brighter but all of the fish now appear more interesting as they swim in and out of the various holes and tunnels in the wood. I have also created the illusion that the wood stretches to the middle of the tank - this is infact a separate piece of wood. The water will become redder in appearance as tannins are leached from the wood, this will decrease over time with water changes and is not a problem as it will benefit some of the fish. I’ve done this before the plants arrive as I think it will be a lot easier than deciding to do it in a rush when they do arrive or when I’ve already planted them - i dont want to crush the plants when positioning bogwood so i feel its best to plant around it. The line to left of the bogwood is my twigcat
I await the arrival of my plants on tuesday, i'll take some pics once they are all in and update this post!
Thanks for reading
July 04 Before any beard algae growth, the plants in the tank here have just become established and frequently show signs of growth through bubbling. Some fertilizer Is used, no CO2 enhancement Is used:
July/Aug 04 The tank is still developing rapidly here, filtration at this stage consists of an external fluval 204 filter only
The plants are clean and new and grow at an amazing rate
This growth continues for months and i trim the plants on occasion. The fluval 204 begins to lose power and gets blocked and i find myself having to wash it every week as it just dribbles water after a couple of days.
I introduce a 2nd hand filter. Its a biolife and seems to do the job. From now on my tank begins to decline. Hair algae starts to cover everything and plant growth altogether stops...
A close up
Its pretty depressing this stuff, it only comes off with intense scrubbing and you cant get it off leaves without damaging them. The tank looks nothing like it did. Whether this algae came in on the filter or in water from a LFS (most probably the former) i'll never know but something had to be done...
Amano shrimp, otocinclus and sucking loaches have no impact on the algaes growth.
After reading up on black beard algae and seeking advice on the forums i decided the best option was to chuck the plants. Cleaning with bleach doesnt seem worth the effort as i dont think the plants would miraculously resume growing. Plastic plants would grow more than these !
Here (above) the tank has been stripped of all plants affected by the algae and only a few very small plants from runners remain. The filtration is upgraded by the return of the fluval 204 (left of picture) and a powerhead to increase water flow (also left). The biolife is cleaned internally and externally and the bogwood and rocks are scrubbed of algae. Feeding of the fish is halted to reduce nutrient accumulation within the tank. A large number of fast growing plants are on order to replace the ones old ones. These include vallis, Mexican oak leaf and ambulia (thanks to gf225 for advice). Mechanical algae and waste removal continues.
07/04/05 To create a more natural ‘amazon’ look a large piece of bogwood is added (left of image below) and replaces the rock that lay there previously. Not only do the small number of cardinals look a lot brighter but all of the fish now appear more interesting as they swim in and out of the various holes and tunnels in the wood. I have also created the illusion that the wood stretches to the middle of the tank - this is infact a separate piece of wood. The water will become redder in appearance as tannins are leached from the wood, this will decrease over time with water changes and is not a problem as it will benefit some of the fish. I’ve done this before the plants arrive as I think it will be a lot easier than deciding to do it in a rush when they do arrive or when I’ve already planted them - i dont want to crush the plants when positioning bogwood so i feel its best to plant around it. The line to left of the bogwood is my twigcat
I await the arrival of my plants on tuesday, i'll take some pics once they are all in and update this post!
Thanks for reading
