Low Tech/Plant Noob, needing some help

Cloudy View · 10-23-2007, 04:55 AM

Ok, so I've got a relatively new tank that I'm slowly building up.

I've got a 20g high with black sand substrate

Whisper 20 for the filter

Hagen GLO T5 HO 2x24w (1 6700k, 1 18000k) which is only running 8 hours per day right now

that's about it for 'hardware'

Plants:
-2 Bunches Wisteria, making a bit of a wisteria forest on half the tank
-Huge Java Fern attatched to Driftwood
-Ball of Java Moss
-2 Bunches Hornwort
-2 Anubias Nana

Fish:
-2 Sunset Honey Gourami's
-6 Bloodfin Tetra's
-4 Black Neon Tetra's
-3 Sidthimunki's(want 3 more)

I also have a huge amount of Trumpet snails, 3+ Red Ramshorns Snails, and couple Cherry Shrimp(put in 4, know 1 was eaten, haven only seen 2 since then)

After my initial cycle, I somehow messed up my cycle, and ended up having a 'mini-cycle' a few weeks back, which started a pretty decent amount of brown algae and staghorn. That's pretty much all gone now, but now I'm having a green spot algae outbreak it seems.

I'm inconsistently dosing Flourish, but that's all so far.

My ammonia/nitrite/nitrate were all 0'd out last time I check the water.

Everything seems to be growing really well so far, in the 2.5 months the tank has been up, the anubias has put out 2-3 leaves on each plant, the hornwort is growing like crazy, and will likely be replaced with something else soon.

basically, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my green spots

What can I do to get rid of them?

[edit] oops, 24w per bulb, not 14w... so 48w for the tank, but not 48w of full spectrum

dekstr · 11-02-2007, 09:18 AM

Hmm nobody's replying even after 96+ views.

I have a 20g high too, but yours seems a lot better than mine...hahaha.

Green spots? Apparently it's super hard to get off mechanically, and most fish can't eat it. I guess if it's not too bad you can leave it alone, can't do much about it.

Here's a random link that I think might help: http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html

Personally I don't really care too much about algae as long as it's not really ugly or overtaking my tank. I just leave it there, let my Otos eat what they want and occasionally remove it by hand during water changes.

McgJosh · 11-02-2007, 10:22 AM

I have heard that green spot algae is from lack of phosphates and it cleared up in my low tech tank when I added a tiny bit of phosphates.

10-23-2007, 04:55 AM	#1
Cloudy View Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 4	Low Tech/Plant Noob, needing some help Ok, so I've got a relatively new tank that I'm slowly building up. I've got a 20g high with black sand substrate Whisper 20 for the filter Hagen GLO T5 HO 2x24w (1 6700k, 1 18000k) which is only running 8 hours per day right now that's about it for 'hardware' Plants: -2 Bunches Wisteria, making a bit of a wisteria forest on half the tank -Huge Java Fern attatched to Driftwood -Ball of Java Moss -2 Bunches Hornwort -2 Anubias Nana Fish: -2 Sunset Honey Gourami's -6 Bloodfin Tetra's -4 Black Neon Tetra's -3 Sidthimunki's(want 3 more) I also have a huge amount of Trumpet snails, 3+ Red Ramshorns Snails, and couple Cherry Shrimp(put in 4, know 1 was eaten, haven only seen 2 since then) After my initial cycle, I somehow messed up my cycle, and ended up having a 'mini-cycle' a few weeks back, which started a pretty decent amount of brown algae and staghorn. That's pretty much all gone now, but now I'm having a green spot algae outbreak it seems. I'm inconsistently dosing Flourish, but that's all so far. My ammonia/nitrite/nitrate were all 0'd out last time I check the water. Everything seems to be growing really well so far, in the 2.5 months the tank has been up, the anubias has put out 2-3 leaves on each plant, the hornwort is growing like crazy, and will likely be replaced with something else soon. basically, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my green spots What can I do to get rid of them? [edit] oops, 24w per bulb, not 14w... so 48w for the tank, but not 48w of full spectrum Last edited by Cloudy View; 10-23-2007 at 08:48 AM..

11-02-2007, 10:22 AM	#3
McgJosh Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (2/100%) Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: USA Posts: 222	I have heard that green spot algae is from lack of phosphates and it cleared up in my low tech tank when I added a tiny bit of phosphates. __________________ 37g Journal

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11-02-2007, 09:18 AM	#2
dekstr Wannabe Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (2/100%) Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,168	Hmm nobody's replying even after 96+ views. I have a 20g high too, but yours seems a lot better than mine...hahaha. Green spots? Apparently it's super hard to get off mechanically, and most fish can't eat it. I guess if it's not too bad you can leave it alone, can't do much about it. Here's a random link that I think might help: http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html Personally I don't really care too much about algae as long as it's not really ugly or overtaking my tank. I just leave it there, let my Otos eat what they want and occasionally remove it by hand during water changes.