Well I Got So P***ed Off.........

[Rodders]

I just ripped all the plants and everything out the tank. Left a few bits of wood for the nocturnals to hide in.

Fooking £150 worth of plants down the drain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just gonna let it settle for a while now and let the water clear up.

Then totally new layout to be done.

Thats the plan anyway.........

 

[steve711]

Why?

 

[Bloo]

why ?

 

[Rodders]

Cause it was constantly cloudy.
All plants had dead leaves and looked sh1te.
All rocks covered in algea crap.
All plants covered in algea crap.
Glass getting green in2 days
Basically everything was sh1te.
Filters blobking up and required cleaning every 2 weeks?!?!??
It looked B******s

Eventhough I dosed etc....added CO2 blah blah....

It just wasnt working........

 

[Ste_J]

Good luck Rodders!

Must admit that just before I went on Holiday I was getting into the same frame of mind with thinking that things were not working out. Then I went away for a week leaving the tank to it's own devices with a small dose of ferts being added. After a week of not being touched the tank looks spot on with the glass keeping cleaner now than it ever did, main changes were laying off the NO3 dosing and ading a fluval 1 for added current, the fern that was looking more black than green has really started to take off again.

Moral of my story is to leave the tank to it unless it starts to show signs of sickness - not tweaked my CO2 for ages and no water change for coming up to 2 weeks.

 

[lljdma06]

Sorry about your trouble Rodders. I am on the tail-end of a similar problem. Had terrible BGA algae and everything looked absolutely nasty. There were days I wanted to tear apart the tank too. I feel for you. Now it is cloudy, so I must have over-dosed something and need to resolve that issue, but at least my algae is gone! For now...

Good luck to you and I look forward to seeing your new aquascape. I think I'm going to try multiple water changes over the next few weeks to see if I can dilute the cloudiness. If push comes to shove, I'll try carbon for a few days and reduce the photo-period to compensate for the lack of nutrients. I just have to be patient, which is very hard. Again, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles and really wish you the best. Believe me, I know your pain!

 

[Rodders]

Been playing with everything over the last month.
CO2 levels.
Stopping dosing.
Few other things.
Nothing of which seemed to do anything.
Couldnt do numerous water changes in a 650litre tank cause just wasting too much water and time....

Fresh start...

 

[lljdma06]

Fresh start...

No problem, sometimes that's best. My tank is only 56liters or so (15g), much easier to do water changes on that one.

I would die if I had an algae problem in a 650 liter tank! No wonder you took it apart.

 

[steve711]

A word of advice,

when you set up again use some Rowaphos in your filter.

DO NOT add Nitrate and Phosphate, irrespective of what people say on here, they are the two biggest causes of algae.

If you're going to use CO2 then don't use those home made yeast efforts and measure your PH together with GH and KH and use a good proprietory fertisliser, Seachem Flourish, Tropica Mastergrow, if you have the money you can't beat Dennerle's fertilisation regime.

Just lay off adding Nitrate and Phosphate, more than enough Nitrate will be produced in your tank anyway and the fish do not like it...

Hope it goes OK and persevere, no planted tank should be without some algae, it's not natural.

 

[danski]

sorry for your pain..i can kinda feel your pain as this whole thing is turning into a big experiment for me and i have been fighting the algae blues for what seems like months..doing all the things you said..playing with co2,ferts,dosing,adding nitrates to 30ppm,nothing worked and algae almost made me do the same thing,so i went back and added a few more red ludwig and some moneywort or pennywort,whatever it was and left everything alone and added nothing for about a month and things are turning around finally..the algae is dying slowly and my plants look much more happier..basically alot of the stuuf just failed me and doing nothing except adding small amounts of kent freshwater and today after two weeks added a small amount of phosphate....so im finding for me doing nothing is actually doing something..im glad to hear your gonna have another go..after this testing im gonna go with alot more stems and fast growers and slowly add slow growers..

 

[steve711]

adding nitrates to 30ppm,nothing worked and algae almost made me do the same thing,so i went back and added a few more red ludwig and some moneywort or pennywort,whatever it was and left everything alone and added nothing for about a month and things are turning around finally..the algae is dying slowly and my plants look much more happier..

after two weeks added a small amount of phosphate....

You hit the nail on the head, you did nothing and it's starting to work.

Throw your Nitrate and phosphate in the bin - you don't need to add them.
Get yourself some Seachem Flourish, Tropica Mastergrow or something similar, a pressurised CO2 system and see how you go.

 

[danski]

im already pressurised,with good lighting and the lot,thats why i thought i was gonna be able to grow a masterpiece..boy was i wrong but i think i can get it . seems to be working for me and the good thing is almost all my plants survived the onslaught of algae..my plants were covered in thread algae blowing in the water movement and clogging my filter..so i just let it all go just kinda gave up and away things went..

 

[zig]

adding nitrates to 30ppm,nothing worked and algae almost made me do the same thing,so i went back and added a few more red ludwig and some moneywort or pennywort,whatever it was and left everything alone and added nothing for about a month and things are turning around finally..the algae is dying slowly and my plants look much more happier..

after two weeks added a small amount of phosphate....

You hit the nail on the head, you did nothing and it's starting to work.

Throw your Nitrate and phosphate in the bin - you don't need to add them.
Get yourself some Seachem Flourish, Tropica Mastergrow or something similar, a pressurised CO2 system and see how you go.

This is really bad advice mate and i wish you would stop giving it. It works for lots of people, just didnt work for you.

 

[mikenas102]

You just gotta find what works for you. When I first started there was nothing I could do to stop Green Water outbreaks. I finally decided to get a UV sterilizer. I got a 9W Turbo Twist for my 30 gallon. Now my tank is clearer than my tap water. I strictly follow the Seachem dosing regimen. My plants grow like mad and I can't trim them fast enough. No algae problems thanks to SAE's. I also can't kill a fish if I tried. There are actually some I wouldn't mind if they kicked, but they just keep going and going and going. I don't buy into the rubbish that UV sterilizers aren't good for planted tanks. Mine has been running 24/7 for over 3 months and like I said I can't trim my plants quick enough. You need to find what works for you. Sometimes simple is better. You might want to try the UV and some simple dosing plan like Seachem's.

 

[steve711]

adding nitrates to 30ppm,nothing worked and algae almost made me do the same thing,so i went back and added a few more red ludwig and some moneywort or pennywort,whatever it was and left everything alone and added nothing for about a month and things are turning around finally..the algae is dying slowly and my plants look much more happier..

after two weeks added a small amount of phosphate....

You hit the nail on the head, you did nothing and it's starting to work.

Throw your Nitrate and phosphate in the bin - you don't need to add them.
Get yourself some Seachem Flourish, Tropica Mastergrow or something similar, a pressurised CO2 system and see how you go.

This is really bad advice mate and i wish you would stop giving it. It works for lots of people, just didnt work for you.

I beg to differ, I have never have and never will use this method. The few people on here that advocate adding Nitrate and Phosphate are the first and only people I've ever heard doing it.
All other details regarding planted tanks state get Nitrate as low as possible and eradicate phosphate - simple.
I think your statement of it works for a lot of people is the other way around, adding Nitrate and phosphate only works for a few people, I think through luck and fast growing plants rather than judgement.
There are counltess sources of info in books, magazines and on the net stating what I keep saying.

You'll notice as well all the people posting on here with algae problems are dosing with Nitrate and Phosphate...

In all my years of keeping plants this place is the first place I've ever come across this odd practice.

But, if you want lush algae growth, just keep adding the Nitrate and Phosphate, you never know you may even find some fish that like Nitrate.