Pepere
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Posts posted by Pepere
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I haven't had any personal experience with Ramshorn snails doing anything for me in regards to algae. And I have had Ramshorn snails that hitch hiked in to my tank on plants that have been resistant to attempts to eradicate them.. I finally gave up…. In my personal experience I feel their algae control abilities are over rated…
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I am not a big fan of the whole dimming your lights to battle algae program. I also have not had much success with algae eating livestock taking care if the issue.
I tried those strategies for months and months with minimal to show for it,
My greatest success battling Algae has been from optimizing plant growth and reducing preferred food for the algae. Healthy vibrant plant growth defends itself well from algae growth. Struggling plants leach waste organics from their leaves that Algae likes to munch on.
I have found the best results with practices such as weekly 50% water changes, increasing flow in the tank, using the combination of a turkey baster to suspend detritus from the substrate while using a siphon to pull out the resulting cloud of debris stirred up by the turkey baster while doing the water changes. Clean your filter often, especially during initial clean up…. Doing water change clean ups more often than weekly in the initial phase…. Pulling out plants and soaking them in room temp seltzer water overnight and replanting them… keeping water parameters such as GH with optimum Ca and Mg levels and low KH optimized and stable as well as Nitrates in the 20-30 ppm level.
Using these methods I have been able to Maintain a non CO2 injected tank free of visible algae.
I have also utilized 15 minute hydrogen peroxide whole tank treatments to help knock down algae. The way I do it is to remove biomedia from the tank and let it set in a bucket of tank water during treatment. Turn on filter without media to have good flow in the tank assuming some sort of powered filter with good flow…. Add 4 tablespoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons of water and allow it to circulate for 15 minutes and then do a 50% water change to reduce Hydrogen Peroxide levels.
I would only do this hydrogen peroxide treatment a few days after having thoroughly cleaned the tank and substrate and soaking the plants in seltzer first. In fact I would personally do a few whole tank cleaning sessions first before doing the peroxide treatment. If you are not comfortable doing the whole tank treatment with peroxide I can understand. It can speed things up, but I bet you can achieve similar results over time simply with the cleaning and stability methods over a longer period of time.
I would not reduce lighting photoperiod below 6 hours myself.
All of the above is what works for me…
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On 3/30/2024 at 1:23 AM, Seattle_Aquarist said:
Did anyone ever mention the calcium-magnesium ratio (Ca:Mg) during that discussion?
Excellent write up Roy.. the Magnesium issue is 1 reason I don’t follow the adding crushed coral to deal with soft water mantra so prevalent in the hobby. Crushed coral only adds calcium and carbonates, and your levels are constantly in flux, plummeting with a deep water change and rising from there…
dosing Equilibrium, or calcium and mgnesium salts gives you a predictable level of calcium and magnesium that can be extremely close to the water being taken out…. Plants reprogram their leaves to optimize for the soup they are being served. A fair amount of energy and resources are used to reprogram. Stable levels allows the plant to use that energy and resources for plant growth and defending against algae instead…
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Another week, another update photo.
The Ludwigia Repens had broken the water surface. I shortened it. The Tiger Lotus was getting overpowering. It looks like I really butchered it but there are several young leaves that will develop quickly.
The new background plant by the intake is establishing nicely. I will likely be trimming it down next week and planting the tops to expand that one.
The Cardinal Lobelia should grow in nicely in the coming week.
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If you are planning on concentrating on plants and especially if using pressurized CO2, a strong argument can be made for a canister filter.
canister filters can provide better control of flow helping to keep co2 in suspension better especially with an inline diffuser.
When I start up a 75, it will be a canister filter without question.
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I think by and large the leaves themselves are unlikely to recover. The plant very well might recover. Plants seem to prioritize new growth optimized for growing conditions as opposed to repairing existing leaves.
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On 3/28/2024 at 1:09 PM, Rosi said:
Another question I've had that I'm seeing a ton of contradicting information on is how long the bacteria lives outside of the filter. Example, if the sponge dried out, are they all dead? I've seen so many different answers to this question.
And which answer is the right one… cause they are not all right…
I avoid letting them dry out…
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Just rinsing out the polyfill and replacing eill help also.
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I wouldnt think you need another HOB in addition to the Aquaclear.
I have not felt the need for a UV sterilizer myself. I have had cloudy water a few times. Every time, adding a cycled sponge filter in addition has cleared the tank up quickly.
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I have a fluval 107 on my 20 high. I use the fluval spray bar positioned on;the back of the tank right below water level with the flow aimed at the front of the tank. This sets up a gentle circular flow across the top, down the front and then back torward the back of the tank and up to the flow bar.
sometimes fish will surf the current near the front if the glass, but they know that setting back an inch or so from the glass is fairly calm water.
what hob do you have currently?
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On 3/27/2024 at 11:10 PM, Rosi said:
This is super helpful, thank you. I will definitely Google "heterotrophic bacteria and crystal clear water".
I have also wondered about the Biomax getting clogged. It would seem that it would, considering how the larger holes in sponges get clogged, too.
Aside from the sponge filter in the 10g and not throwing out the poly-fil, do you have any recommendations for filter media to replace the Biomax for added surface area?
The fine pore sponges on the double sponge filters I keep cycled gets squeezed out in a weekly basis. The difference in water flow before and after is noticeable. Coarser sponges should go at least a month.
While some people go longer with coarse sponge, I like cleaning them out to get the trapped detritus out of the tank thereby reducing waste organics in the tank.
I dont use ceramic type media myself. In my zfluval canister filters I use theprovided foam pads, the a quick lear pad on top of the biofoam then instead of ceramic type media I use cheap nylon pot scrubbers in the next two chambers and pack some polyfill in the gaps in the corners to prevent water bypassing the scrubbies,amd a purigen packet last of all.
I cant say this is the “Best possible” filtration setup, but I am pleased with the results it gets me.
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On 3/27/2024 at 6:46 PM, Rosi said:
can certainly try that, but I feel the issue isn't that the BB are too few in the 20g since all of my parameters are and remain perfect.
Right. You have plenty to nitrify ammonia and nitrites.
what you need is to build the population of heterotrophic bacteria for crystal clear water. The amount of surface area for nitrifying bacteria is less than that needed for sufficient heterotrophic bacteria to clean up the water.
search the phrase “heterotrophic bacteria and crystal clear water”.
My gut feeling is that it is bacteria Not throwing out your polyfill should help. I am not personally sold on the ceramic type biomedia. On paper they have LOT of surface area but in practice, I suspect their pores get clogged with biofilm and functionally the surface area is not so great.
In any event, I dont suspect it will hurt anything….
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It might be worth running a sponge filter in the clear tank for two weeks to seed it well and then transferring to the problem tank.
What are you using for biomedia?
in the meantime rather than replacing polyfill when servicing I would simply squeeze it under tank water and replace. It will be home to a nice amount of bacteria.
these are the sponge filters I keep cycled to transfer to a tank in need of extra care. They attach to tank wall freeing up valuable substrate real estate.
4 pack for $14.00 at Amazon…
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How long have you had this tank set up?
Do you have any other tanks in the house..
If you put a sample of water in a white container is there a green tinge to it? If yes could be green algae water starting…
I had similar happen in a 17 gallon fish bowl that at the time was bare bottom and youngish after putting new fish in it and treating with quarantine meds. I went to bed thinking it looked a rad foggy and woke up to the bowl looking like the glass was completely frosted over.
testing parameters showed no ammonia or nitrites and ph normal…
I placed a spare sponge filter that I keep in a display tank to keep a cycled one on hand and 12 hours later the tank was much clearer, and by 24 it was as clear as any of my other tanks.
without question it is frustrating…-
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Rather than plywood, you could just run an extra 2 by lengthwise front and back and voila, the stand is now 21 inches front to back.
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On 9/3/2022 at 2:16 PM, Cory said:
I'll inquire with our manufacturer.
Did you ever hear back results from your inquiry on this @Cory?
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This one has a way to go…. I am basically starting over with a blank slate and current plants are what I saved from previous iteration.
My goal is to stabilize it eliminating the algae issue before adding new plants.
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Well, tank suffered from a greasy brown growth predominantly on the Cardinal Lobelia , but also was staining the rocks and on the glasswork…. This condition was predating the rescape.
This weekend I gave it a going over.
I gave the canister filter a good cleaning and left the media in a bucket of dechlorinated water and put the filter back in operation without any media in it and then dosed the tank with peroxide at a rate of 60 ml per 10 gallons with filter pump circulating everything well and let it run for 15 minutes. I then scrubbed the glass and glasswork and did a deep water change to dilute the peroxide.
I pulled the cardinal Lobelia, Ludwigia Repens and Anubias and soaked them overnight in seltzer water and replanted the next morning.
I also pulled out the rocks, sprayed them with peroxide, let set, scrubbed, rinse repeat, repeat all three times, put them back in the tank.
Lets wait and see what that did to the stuff…
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Another week, another picture.
The Lidwigia was emersed before trimming. Yes, I could have did a better job trimming and shaping it, but it has been an exceedingly busy week and weekend…
cardinal Lobelia trimmed and replanted, should return to a good height by next week.
the Corymbosa Compacta floated to the top, so I replanted it a bit deeper. We will see what it does…
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Well, worst case scenario, having extra spare parts on hand is not a bad thing.
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On 3/21/2024 at 3:18 PM, Tanked said:
The filter is old enough that attempting to remove/adapt the risers may prove fatal.
If they are standard penn plax type ugf, adapting is very easy.
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Without question, replacing the stock air riser tubes with Easy Flow kits with DIY adapters will significantly increase flow….
Now if you want increased flow for the sake of increased flow, great…
But Iirc, I read where replacing standard air riser tubes with powerheads that significantly increases flow well over what an easy flow kit does, you are only increasing effective biofiltration by about 20%. Ie, increase. In biofiltration is not linear to increases in flow..
Fwiw I run my ugf in my 29 with a uniclife UL 40 dual output pump. One output per air riser.
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On 3/20/2024 at 3:26 PM, JoeQ said:
Might have needed the right conditions to grow?
If anything it was worse before.
17 gallon non co2 fishbowl evolution.
in Photos, Videos & Journals
Posted · Edited by Pepere
I got fed up with the Safe T Sorb migrating to the surface above the Black Diamond Blasting Sand.
so… today…
rocks, driftwood, java fern, anubias in one bucket of tank water, floating plants and hornwort in a plastic tub, stem plants crypts, s repens in another plastic tub, and all livestock in a bucket of tank water.
modified ugf plate.
Old Safe T Sorb and BDBS mix in mesh bags for beneficial bacteria on it as well as cation exchange, 2 mesh bags aquasoil in front where all the stem plants are…
New BBBS 2 inch cap, rocks, driftwood java fern and anubias replaced.. then fill with water, plant stems return livestock…
replanted stems, filled up and livestock returned…
Now, that table could sure use some cleaning up too.