13 Stones-UPDATE--3-5-2013...BGA gone, now brown algae...

[talontsiawd]

Non photo update (though I may take pictures later).

I kind of regret not doing a longer dry start, or planting the HC better, either would have been a good idea. I think I have lost about 1/2 to 2/3rds of my HC from uprooting.

On the plus side, HC has transitioned and is a bright green, rather than the dull green it has been transitioning out of. I get a tiny bit of pearling but not significant. I may lower the light, or have a noon burst, as I absolutely love seeing my plants pearl. I know it's fine if they are not pearling but I just like the effect. I do think the lighting will allow for a tank that isn't a lot of maintenance if I keep it as is. Writing this so when I inevitably lower the light and add double the light on a noon burst and get algae, I can say that I told my self so when I get algae.



I may make a thread on this but I have a weird thing going on. I had this black algae on a bunch of my rocks in another tank. Didn't bug me. However, I am getting a small amount of this on the rocks that had it. I didn't clean my rocks. I am wondering if this algae can survive and go dormant. I can take out the rocks that have it (all small) and bleach them which I may do tonight. Kind of strange. This algae only appears on rocks and substrate, never on plants, have no clue what it is. Not problematic yet but I would hate for all my rocks to be covered in this stuff.


I also am getting a lot of film on the surface. I am thinking it's from the substrate which I reused from a tank with the same issue, no rinsing as I was hoping I could keep some beneficial bacteria. Not sure why it's there. On my last tank, even if I used my surface skimmer, it would come back. It always was way worse when I started a tank and would just be kind of noticeable after the fact. I know it isn't the brand of substrate because I have used it a lot without issues, I don't know if it is the cause.


Anyway, not concerned, just have minor issues that are kind of odd to me. No pics because their is less HC than the last, though now everything seems to be rooted well. I may take pics later if I have the energy, had a super fun weekend with friends and family but paying the price today with a huge hang over lol.

[talontsiawd]

I started this thread:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...60#post2107960

I am just wondering if anyone wants to help give ideas for stocking. I honestly just don't know what to do, outside of Cardinals which I like but want something new. I have bought so many fish I don't like and having a single species makes that experience not so fun.

[talontsiawd]

This update is kind of boring. The HC has continued to uproot so it actually looks like I am going backwards. In truth, I have a lot of HC that is just right at the substrate level and it's much more spread out that you would think in pictures. I have also been diligent in trimming any upward growth because I don't have a lot of light on this tank. I have a feeling that once I see some noticeable growth, it will fill in much more quickly than it looks. Still think it will take awhile but I will experiment with upping the light once I have more plant mass, now is too soon.

I bought 6 featherfin rainbow's. I did two things I told myself I wouldn't do. First is I didn't test my water before I bought the fish. I actually went to the store to buy a test kit but they didn't have a full one and were missing one critical one for me to piece together. The second was buying more than a few fish at once. I hate how stores make it significantly cheaper to buy in bulk but I just went ahead and got six. I am sure everything will be fine but I will feel bad if any die because it may be too early, and I told myself I would stock very slow.

On a positive note, I have yet to have much algae at all. As I said in another post, I was getting this black algae that I think was actually dormant and came back. It only gets on the rocks and I just took the two out and bleached them. I also have a very small amount of BGA. It doesn't seem to be spreading much and I pull what I can and have it go into my filter since my UV is on. I will just nuke it with Maracyn as I am 98% certain it came from my last tank and was in the substrate.


Here are some quick/ugly pics:

Front:



Close up of HC to give an idea of what is going on:

[talontsiawd]

Simple update:
This tank has gone through a few cycles of algae. The first and most obvious is diatoms. That hasn't totally gone away but much better. I also got a fair amount of BGA. I think that was either already in the substrate from the last tank I tore down, or from the fact I just rinsed a really dirty filter sponge, along with quite a bit of dead HC. Either way, I conquered it for the first time without using Erythromycin or anything else. Just upped the nitrates and it went away. Lastly, I was getting some fuzz algae, kind of died off for the most part. I haven't treated or removed any algae so I think I am doing well, even though it's frustrating.

Now, the tank seems to be balancing it self out, but growth has been slow. I told myself I would not do anything sudden and I am trying to keep to that. The one time I didn't was filling to early and I lost probably 2/3 of my HC if not more. Filling to early wasn't the mistake, not replanting it was. Anyway, I am doing everything very slowly which probably isn't much fun to watch. I did lower my light about an inch, today, to see what happens. If it goes good for awhile, I plan to extend the photoperiod. If that goes good, I may try my second bank of lights for a noon burst. I will continue to move slowly myself but hopefully growth picks up soon.

Not super interesting yet but here is a pic:

[infamouz23]

I like how your scape makes this look substantially larger than a 20 long. BTW, where do you get your co2 filled? I'm not too far away.

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by infamouz23

I like how your scape makes this look substantially larger than a 20 long. BTW, where do you get your co2 filled? I'm not too far away.

It doesn't look that much bigger in real life. I have had tanks that actually look bigger so that's the only reason I say that. I do need to vacuum up some of the mulm I put in the tank though, I see it everyday so I didn't know how ugly it is until I see past pics.

As for CO2, I have been using Airgas in Concord forever. It used to be a bit of a trek for me when I was going to St. Mary's but now I am 2-3 min away, at most. I doubt it's the cheapest place but it only takes about 5 min and they have always treated me well.

[infamouz23]

Thanks for the info and once I build my regulator, I'll be sure to check out airgas.

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by infamouz23

Thanks for the info and once I build my regulator, I'll be sure to check out airgas.

I did forget to mention they may only do exchanges, not sure because I never asked and didn't start with a nice tank.

[talontsiawd]

I am having algae again. My tubing started leaking as it's really old at the check valve. Time to go get CO2 proof tubing as I have been using silicone tubing successfully forever and like it better but I haven't been using it at high pressure, guess that's not going to work. Still dialing in again, every time I have an issue, I start from scratch, just in case it was leaking when I had it right, don't want to gas the fish.

I thought the brown stuff was just mulm that came from another filter (and I would have seeded the filter, not the tank in retrospect). Now I am getting some fuzz algae, easy enough to deal with.

The other thing is I added more Featherfin Rainbows. I have 13 now. Debating if I want more or not. When they are all over the tank, it looks somewhat crowded, not bad at all, just not wanting me to add more. When they school, 13 doesn't look like much more than the initial 6 did.


Sorry for the horrible pic, my best camera is my phone and it only does well on grow out tanks. Growth is speeding up, I don't know if it shows in pics, now that everything is pretty solidly rooted. Still will be a while I think to fill all the way in.

[talontsiawd]

Photo update..
Nothing new to report, algae seems to be under control, no issues outside of random green spot algae on the rocks and glass. I just trimmed as when I replant, many pieces grow upwards until the first trim. It was a bit more "lush" before but it will grow in faster this way.


Sorry, my best camera is my phone, I will take some pics with a tripod soon.

[altiuscitius]

What substrate are you using? I like the look of it, but I dont recognize it.

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by altiuscitius

What substrate are you using? I like the look of it, but I dont recognize it.

It's a mixture of a few things, not because I wanted to, I just had to add to it and I couldn't find Flourite Black Sand. It's about 50% Flourite Black Sand, 25% Flourite Black, 25% Petco black sand.

[dj2005]

Nice looking scape. Picture update?

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by dj2005

Nice looking scape. Picture update?

I was going to do one last night, probably not today, maybe tomorrow.

However, it's not going to be the prettiest. I have been a bit neglectful and my BGA problem that I thought was resolved isn't. I have been planning to update, so I will do soon, even though it's not at it's best.

[hydrophyte]

I look forward to seeing an update.

Those threadfins are nice in there.