Hey all,
My 10 gallon CPD breeder tank (with some Cherry Shrimp) has in the last couple of weeks experienced an algae bloom. Water parameters seem normal and I didn't see any spikes in these last 2 weeks.
Water parameters:
Am - 0
NO2 - 0
N03 - ~10 (maybe <5)
Ph - 8.2/8.4
Gh - 7
Kh - 2/3
TDS - 147
Temp - 24C (With spring and summer the temp has been increasing from 23 to 25 during the day, I dont have the heater running anymore)
Photoperiod - 12 hours (9am - 9pm with 3 hour ramp up, so peaking from 12pm-6pm). This tank is almost 2 years old and until recently, I've this photoperiod with no issues.
No CO2
I used Amazonia Aquasoil.
Here is what I've done in the lead up to the algae bloom:
1. I removed all of the seiryu stones that used to be in the tank, in an attempt to reduce the water hardness and thus the pH as 8.2/8.4 was on the high end and I was losing cherry shrimp at a steady rate and the high pH was the only thing that was unideal for the shrimp.
2. Probably unrelated but I noticed after taking out the stones, algae was building up on the glass quite quickly after a cleaning sesh. So after cleaning the tank, in 2-3 days I would notice algae back on the glass rather than the 7-10 days it usually took.
3. I switched from tap water to RO water, as the pH was still not dropping and I figured it might be something to do with my tap water. This was also done after my original group of shrimp had all died. after the switch I got another batch of shrimp.
4. Long story but tl
r I randomly recieved a bunch of phoenix moss on mesh in the mail, with nowhere else to keep them, I had to put some in this tank and in turn cover a section of my Monte Carlo carpet. They were there for about 3-4 weeks and ofcourse in turn some of these areas of monte carlo died. Maybe this die-off contributed to the algae bloom?
5. I noticed that the algae growing on the glass would get quite long like hair algae quite quickly. I decided to reduce my photoperiod from 12 hours down to 6. So from 12pm to 6pm. For reasons I'm unsure of, doing so seemed to have made the problem much worse. It was the week after doing this that I noticed a full blown algae bloom all over the tank. The plants were all covered in this algae. As you see in the pictures below.
6. I also reduced my feeding frequency from once a day to once every 3-4 days. Which hasnt made a difference.
6. Shrimp are still dying but not as frequently, maybe 1 every 2 weeks. I have 4 left out of the 13 new ones I got. I'm thinking because the Ph has not decreased even with the change to RO/DI water. Note, I've had these last 4 for a few weeks now with none dying...
7. CPDs are all doing fine, except for 1 unique case which I've posted about here: https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/...clear-circle-stomach-bubble.html#post11389945
8. Something else I've noticed is that, this tank used to have a pond snail infestation, I even had a few grow to be quite big but I just noticed that I can barely see any and there a few empty white shells including a couple of big ones. Maybe a mass-snail die-off contributed to the algae bloom?
I'm planning on doing a re-scape anyways but I want to try and get rid of the algae first so that I can re-use the plants in the tank.
Anyone got any ideas of what I need to do? 2 days ago I reduced the photoperiod down even further from 6 hours to 4 hours, as I thought maybe that 6 hours wasnt enough to kill the algae but might harm the plants which in turn would feed the algae. No difference yet. Im considering implementing a blackout day.
My 10 gallon CPD breeder tank (with some Cherry Shrimp) has in the last couple of weeks experienced an algae bloom. Water parameters seem normal and I didn't see any spikes in these last 2 weeks.
Water parameters:
Am - 0
NO2 - 0
N03 - ~10 (maybe <5)
Ph - 8.2/8.4
Gh - 7
Kh - 2/3
TDS - 147
Temp - 24C (With spring and summer the temp has been increasing from 23 to 25 during the day, I dont have the heater running anymore)
Photoperiod - 12 hours (9am - 9pm with 3 hour ramp up, so peaking from 12pm-6pm). This tank is almost 2 years old and until recently, I've this photoperiod with no issues.
No CO2
I used Amazonia Aquasoil.
Here is what I've done in the lead up to the algae bloom:
1. I removed all of the seiryu stones that used to be in the tank, in an attempt to reduce the water hardness and thus the pH as 8.2/8.4 was on the high end and I was losing cherry shrimp at a steady rate and the high pH was the only thing that was unideal for the shrimp.
2. Probably unrelated but I noticed after taking out the stones, algae was building up on the glass quite quickly after a cleaning sesh. So after cleaning the tank, in 2-3 days I would notice algae back on the glass rather than the 7-10 days it usually took.
3. I switched from tap water to RO water, as the pH was still not dropping and I figured it might be something to do with my tap water. This was also done after my original group of shrimp had all died. after the switch I got another batch of shrimp.
4. Long story but tl
5. I noticed that the algae growing on the glass would get quite long like hair algae quite quickly. I decided to reduce my photoperiod from 12 hours down to 6. So from 12pm to 6pm. For reasons I'm unsure of, doing so seemed to have made the problem much worse. It was the week after doing this that I noticed a full blown algae bloom all over the tank. The plants were all covered in this algae. As you see in the pictures below.
6. I also reduced my feeding frequency from once a day to once every 3-4 days. Which hasnt made a difference.
6. Shrimp are still dying but not as frequently, maybe 1 every 2 weeks. I have 4 left out of the 13 new ones I got. I'm thinking because the Ph has not decreased even with the change to RO/DI water. Note, I've had these last 4 for a few weeks now with none dying...
7. CPDs are all doing fine, except for 1 unique case which I've posted about here: https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/...clear-circle-stomach-bubble.html#post11389945
8. Something else I've noticed is that, this tank used to have a pond snail infestation, I even had a few grow to be quite big but I just noticed that I can barely see any and there a few empty white shells including a couple of big ones. Maybe a mass-snail die-off contributed to the algae bloom?
I'm planning on doing a re-scape anyways but I want to try and get rid of the algae first so that I can re-use the plants in the tank.
Anyone got any ideas of what I need to do? 2 days ago I reduced the photoperiod down even further from 6 hours to 4 hours, as I thought maybe that 6 hours wasnt enough to kill the algae but might harm the plants which in turn would feed the algae. No difference yet. Im considering implementing a blackout day.
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