[Bryan1218]

Hi there, I'm concerned about the health of my new tank. It was a long cycle and I just added livestock. Plants appear to be rotting near the roots and are losing the battle to the algae. I just cleaned the pipes and tubs but they were covered in the same brown algae.

My water param are

Ph 6.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm
GH and KH are within range for what I have in the tank (can't remember exact numbers)
TDS 120
temp is 70-72 fahrenheit

here is a link to a video of what the tank currently looks like

Thanks for any help.

 

[sudhirr]

You have diatoms. It will naturally go away. The video shows that you have a good amount of surface agitation and flow which are good and they will help fight the diatoms.

When you say that the plants roots are not in good shape what exactly are you referring to? Are the roots browning? If it’s roots browning, that will get better once the diatoms are gone.

For me manually removing as much of the brown stuff as possible, 50% water changes every 2 days seemed to help. Did not use any chemical treatment. Otos in the tank will help but it will be slower.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bryan1218]

Ok I'm glad to hear they are diatoms, the brown on the monte carlo can get extremely long I thought it might be hair algae. Manually removing it without damaging the paints has been difficult. They are very fragile and slightly rotting in spots. How would you suggest going about that?

The roots are a little brown, but while I'm trying to remove the diatoms the plants seem like they'd rather uproot than let go of the diatoms. Struggling to get it out of there.

 

[sudhirr]

I made a video of my tank at that point.
“Algae is outrunning me. Completely lost at this point!!!”

I pulled out, cleaned and replanted the Monte Carlo multiple times. I sourced and planted fresh Monte Carlo in the patches.

Tropica substrate helped because I was able to pull out and replant cleanly. I do not have exp with Ada Amazonia as of now but if it was Fluval stratum I would have given up by now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bryan1218]

I feel like I'd kill so much of my tank by uprooting and cleaning... the dwarf grass roots from runners that run all over the place. Is pulling and cleaning necessary or will it eventually die off like I thought you originally meant?

 

[sudhirr]

Pulling out cleaning and replanting in combination with more water changes, canister filter cleaning worked for me. It was taxing and hard; it felt like I have scaped this foreground 2-3 times now.

Mixed plants carpet is always harder on maintence imo.

You could try this on a corner patch and see the results and if things work out then go ahead with the remaining cover.

What is your lighting and co2 status?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bryan1218]

UNF Flat Nano LED for 10 Hours and around 20ppm Co2 (light green) according to the drop checker

Its not that I'm not willing to do the work, I do a TON of water changes. One every day or couple days. But I'm really hesitant to tear up all my dwarf grass... hoping there is another solution. The monte carlo I've had to replant a few times and it replants quite easily.

 

[Asteroid]

UNF Flat Nano LED for 10 Hours and around 20ppm Co2 (light green) according to the drop checker

What are the light settings your using. If they are high and your running 10 hrs that's the main part of your problem. All the co2 in the world is not going to prevent algae in an iwagumi with high light and long duration, especially at startup when the bio-filter is weak.

 

[sudhirr]

What are the light settings your using. If they are high and your running 10 hrs that's the main part of your problem. All the co2 in the world is not going to prevent algae in an iwagumi with high light and long duration, especially at startup when the bio-filter is weak.

Agree. Would cut down on the photo period and try if this is able to control the algae for a bit.

In my case prior to diatoms stage I got an infestation of green hair/thread algae and at this point itself I cut down the light to 4 hours.

I have ramped up from then on in 30 min increments and am currently at 6 hours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Random guy from India]

I had the same and what I did was add frogbit to my tank (after removing as much as I could), I added enough to cover about 80% of the tank surface. within 1-2 weeks they all disappeared.

 

[Bryan1218]

Thanks for the feedback! After reading your advice and researching also I will try a mix of the two. I will do daily cleanings and every other day 25% water changes(I feel I'm stressing my shrimp currently with the every day). I will also limit light to 3 out of 4(the light has 4 settings) and 4 hours a day while putting some cardboard around it the other 20 hours since it gets some indirect ambient light during the day.

With that amount of surface agitation do I need to worry about oxygen levels in the tank with limited photo periods?

Bump:

I had the same and what I did was add frogbit to my tank (after removing as much as I could), I added enough to cover about 80% of the tank surface. within 1-2 weeks they all disappeared.

Would there be any downside to this? Change in water parameters, plants dying due to less light, etc?

 

[Bryan1218]

Curious also if this is enough surface agitation for this tank? Concerned about oxygen levels for the shrimp. I'd rather not have more hardware in the tank than I already have.