[Timmycast]

Hey everyone. Finally joined the forum after browsing for countless weeks. Now onto my question:
Regardless of how much research I did, I jumped right into getting my planted tank started. Planted a few plants, got c02 set up, and started my cycle. My tank is covered in algae right now. Ammonia is at 2.0ppm and nitrites are at .50ppm. Nitrates are undetectable. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't plan better. I just went out bought some dwarf hair grass and got a nice piece of driftwood. And now I want to replant my tank to aquascape better. My question is, should I replant now with my algae bloom over running my tank and cycle started? Or should I wait until my cycle is done. My Tank has been set up for a few weeks and the plants seem to be healthy beside gha growing on them. If I did replant I'd want to remove some of the algae off some plants or just chuck some (my wallet regrets my decision) Any help would be appreciated!

 

[benealing]

I would look into getting some fast growing plants to help remove the excess ammonia and help with the algae problems. Water sprite, wisteria, anachris, and floaters are all easy to find, cheap, and well suited. I would not invest in expensive or hard to grow plants until my tank is more stable.

Ben

 

[Kathyy]

Agree, get a healthy tank first and let the plants grow in so you have lots of material to work with when you rescape. It's great to take apart a mess and be able to have a scape that is fully planted from the start. I start a journal as soon as I get the itch to redo the tank with links to tanks that have features I'm interested in working with and draw out possible scapes with lots of golden ratio lines and such. Gives me something to do and I realize I really don't know what I want yet too!

Lower your lighting for now, be sure you have some NPK+M available to the plants and harass that algae by removing it, pruning sad growth off plants, keeping good flow going and do add more fast growers to the tank. I allow any snails that show up to help me out as well.

 

[Hoppy]

What size tank do you have, and what lighting are you using? That is the most important factor to get right, right from the beginning. If you have far more light than necessary for the plants you want to grow you will always have algae problems. If you have far too little light for the plants you want to grow, your plants will never do well. Always, the best way to start is at the beginning.

 

[Timmycast]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have a 15 gallon tank with the finnex planted + led light. I just recently started the cycle about 3 days ago. I left my light on for 24 hours (went out and didn't come home) I blame that for the massive algae growth. Usually I have the light on 9 hours or so a day while I'm at work. I monitor my ammonia daily and it's just now starting to spike.

Agree, get a healthy tank first and let the plants grow in so you have lots of material to work with when you rescape. It's great to take apart a mess and be able to have a scape that is fully planted from the start. I start a journal as soon as I get the itch to redo the tank with links to tanks that have features I'm interested in working with and draw out possible scapes with lots of golden ratio lines and such. Gives me something to do and I realize I really don't know what I want yet too!

Lower your lighting for now, be sure you have some NPK+M available to the plants and harass that algae by removing it, pruning sad growth off plants, keeping good flow going and do add more fast growers to the tank. I allow any snails that show up to help me out as well.

Should I get some snails before my cycle has completed? What's npk+m? I thought some of the decay on the plants wouldve started the cycle so they've been growing about 3 weeks prior to me actually getting the ammonia to spike by adding raw shrimp. Should I remove the plants to remove the algae growing on them by removing them from the tank? The worst growth of the gha is on the walls on the tank and it's easily removed. Haven't tested ammonia yet today but I will and will post the new reading.

 

[Kathyy]

Ouch. I haven't made the mistake of leaving lights on too long. Yet.

NPK+M means a balanced fertilizer. Since you are running CO2 and good light the plants cannot do with simple iron/potassium [Fe/K] liquid and need a little nitrogen and phosphorus as well. There is a seller here with a number of different packages available, one should suit your tank size well, I'd message him and ask.

Unless you tried really hard or all your plants came in tubes or gel packs it's likely there were snail eggs on the plants. Don't kill them, let them eat up the decaying leaves and algae. I leave them in a cycling tank, the nano had up to 2ppm ammonia and they didn't skip a beat. I wouldn't buy snails and put them in a cycling tank but sturdy freebies, sure.

I believe the Finnex Planted + can be dimmed, cut to 8 hours at 50% or so I'd think. Don't run the 24 hour program until things are looking up. If you must use it [I'd have a difficult time not using it] put a layer of window screen mesh between light and tank to shade it from the light.

 

[Timmycast]

I haven't seen any snails yet. I may have seen one this morning, but I couldn't investigate! I want to get red cherry shrimp once my tanks established. I will get some ferts tomorrow. I think tomorrow I'm going to scrub the walls remove the plants and try to remove some algae from them. I'll keep the raw shrimp I had in there so the ammonia keeps building. Should I drain a bit of water to put the plants in while I clean them or should I just remove algae without it? I'd give myself a good hour to remove the algae and replant. I don't want to prolong my cycle anymore then I need to.
I'll see about dimming my light and I'll get a timer as well.

 

[Hoppy]

Leaving the lights on too long contributed to the algae problem, but the main cause was the light intensity. You probably have at least 80 PAR light intensity. That is high light, and you need to have optimum CO2 concentration in the water, with the concentration being the same every day during the photoperiod, plus good fertilizing, very good tank cleanliness, etc. or algae is an almost certain thing. It is rarely a good idea to use this much light until you have been successful with a low light tank, and have learned all of the basics about keeping a planted tank healthy.

 

[Timmycast]

I'm switching to a pressurized c02 so that should help the problem. Tank cleaning won't be a problem. If I'm constantly battling with algae I'll downgrade my light. Going to start a fertilizer regimen. I'll clean the walls of my tank and remove algae from my plants.