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Crashnburn7

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Posts posted by Crashnburn7

  1. 5 minutes ago, FishyThoughts said:

    Yeah, it’s a tough one. Brown algae isn’t one you normally hear everyone struggling with. I was setting my tank up for guppies and otocinclus, so the brown algae wasn’t an issue once they were added. Then there was some snail eggs that came on a plant. So dozens of snails later... not a speck of brown algae to be found. Though I’m not sure the otos needed the help. 
     

    I’d probably look at adding 2 or 3 nerite snails, amano shrimp or another algae eating species that requires brackish water to breed. That would at least help you with maintaining that tank while trying to figure out the cause of the algae. 

    Thanks Fishythoughts - I tried snails, as I said before, they just die.. The last tank I showed I am breeding guppies in, you cant see any because they move to fast.  I dont know what is going on either - but I think its a lighting issue, I just dont know how to adjust it - I have tried many times.  Maybe I will cut some of the blue out and wait a few weeks and see if it subsides. 

  2. 6 minutes ago, FishyThoughts said:

    I definitely understand that, not sure anyone gets in this hobby to just spend time on tank maintenance. Unfortunately it takes awhile to see results from a change made to an aquarium, unless its a drastic change. You could add snails to help with the algae. Just make sure you decide if you like snails in the tank  beforehand. If your not big on snails, get a couple that can’t reproduce in freshwater and they can be easily removed later. If you don’t mind snails, get ones that can reproduce in freshwater (wouldn’t have diatom algae problems, but could become snail problems for you). As previously mentioned Nerite snails could be a good option and could help decrease your maintenance time of scrubbing algae. 

    If you didnt read a response I sent to someone else, I tried snails.  I cant keep them alive in that tank for over 3 weeks.  Not sure why.. but they just don't live. I may try again - its been well over a year.  

    I dont make major changes - if I make any changes I do one at a time, I also journal it all.  So, I am not necessarily a newby at this, I just cant understand why I cant get rid of this brown algae.   

  3. 32 minutes ago, FishyThoughts said:

    I will check if I can find the article about the manufactured substrates. (Better than trying to quote from memory) But since they have materials in them for promoting plant growth they do contribute to increases in ammonia, which results in higher nitrates. 
     

    I did find an interesting article regarding the brown algae though. It discusses how diatoms are nutrient poor starting out and nothing really eats them, but as they age they increase nutrients and everything starts eating them. 

    AQUARIUMSCIENCE.ORG

    There’s more references to other aspects dealing with aquariums as well. Seems like an interesting site. 
     

    As for the lighting, I still need to work on getting mine setup and tuned in correctly. I can’t say how much of a difference the lighting really is or not. I had some nitrates that I was dealing with at the same time, so when I solved that problem it could have been what was helping with the algae more than the lighting. My nitrates were due to excessive buildup in the corner behind a Java fern I had on some wood. I don’t gravel vac much normally and that area was covered so it didn’t get vac’d. Downside of changing multiple things is you can’t specify how much something effects another. 
     

    I know algae isn’t always an appealing site for the aquarium. But as previously mentioned 40-80ppm nitrates is on the high side. I would say to focus on trying to get that lowered and stable. And correcting that could also end up fixing your algae problems as well. Even if lowering the nitrates doesn’t fix your algae, the algae won’t hurt the fish so there’s plenty of time to deal with that. 

    The reason I was leaning towards lighting in when I originally posted, is when I used the stock T5 that came with the kit, everything was fine, for several months - and I did it all manually.  When I got the finnex 24/7 planted+ within a couple months it started.  I did not do anything different, but change the light.  Now I have been manually cleaning it every week for probably close to 18 months.  I do know how to control the nitrates, but there are so many plants in there (there is over 50 floating water sprite) that I let the nitrates go as a test to see if the plants would just uptake it and let it resolve itself over time.  Not the case though.  I expiremented with adding extra fertalizer, as I saw that in one of cory's videos but within 2 weeks it was out of control and took me several hours to clean it, so I dialed it back again.  

    I know it wont hurt my fish, but if it stays on the sprite and java fern too long, it starts to die back because it isnt getting light.  So as of now, I spend about an hour and a half every weekend manually cleaning it off.  I just cant see doing it long term.  I have another tank too and just got a 3rd, so I would like to spend time with other fish and setups vs cleaning algae.  

    I know its growing, all that sprite came from one plant originally.  I planted out a 2nd tank and 3 of my friends tanks with it already as well and I remove a handful a week.  

    I'm not sure if any of that helps more - but its becoming time consuming and I would like to expand the hobby, not just focus all my time on one tank. 

    -Steve

  4. 6 hours ago, FishyThoughts said:

    What substrate are you using? If it’s not an inert substrate such as gravel or sand, then that could be contributing to your elevated nitrates. 
     

    And I couldn’t find the article I read awhile back, and hopefully I’m remembering it correctly... But I believe it mentioned that algae can use the blue light spectrum easier than other plants. So the 2 hrs of blue light at the end of your day could be contributing to algae growth. Also, algae is supposed to take longer to recover from dark periods than other plants. You could try cycling your lights, such as 4 on, 4 off, 4 on.

     

    The light cycling did help me with controlling the staghorn in my 20 cube. I having been using a 4/4/5 cycle for mine and my plants still grow like crazy. 

    I am using ecocomplete.  I did get my nitrates down with extra gravel vaccing over the last two weeks.  I am using blue light in my lighting all throught out the day and ending in blue.  Should I cut it out or lower it? 

  5. On 12/8/2020 at 3:48 AM, test.tin said:

    When you say naturally, do you mean to not use fertilizers? If so, using fish poop will work to grow your plants. Using fertilizers in my opinion is just easier and assures that they are getting other macro and micro nutrients.

    I believe the nitrates are too high. Plants can only use up so much nitrates/nutrients, any excess nitrates/nutrients will go into fueling the algae. That's why the general rule is to be about 10-20ppm. Enough nutrients for the plants, not too much that will lead to a bunch of algae.

    Gravel vacuuming can help with lowering the nitrates. I would try upping the percentage for water change. Maybe try doing 50% water changes every week.  

    Another thing you can try is to have more plants in your tank. You don't need to buy more plants, just cut and replant the one that you already have. I see that you have some water wisteria in your tank. You can leave it floating and that should help pretty well. For the water wisteria that are planted into the substrate, i would just trim those at half their current height, and then replant those trimmings. Continue to do that for awhile, and you'll have fuller/denser plant mass that can help with the excess nutrients.

    Also, try putting in some snails to help eat some of that up. I personally like nerites cus they can't reproduce in freshwater and they are good at eating algae.

     

     

    Hey test.tin, I use fertilizers, I just am trying to stay away from chemically treating my water if I don't.  Since your suggestions I have done more gravel vacuuming and slightly higher water change, I am just pinching off the hose so I am doing more gravel.  

    I tested today about 20ppm 2 weeks in a row, so today I added a few squirts of easy green.  For some reason, I cannot keep nerites alive in my tank - longest was 3 weeks.  Couldnt figure out why, I could try again I suppose because that was over a year ago now. 

    Thanks!

  6. Thanks,

    I understand what you were saying, I was hoping there was a way to do it more naturally.  Should I just gravel vac 3x per week or more until I see it drop? Is the nitrates really too high, or is it the wrong kind? 

    My guess is overfeeding is killing me, I have 4 corydoras, 2 pleco, 1 pictus and an angel fish.  I water test every Saturday and change water on Sunday.  I have been feeding shrimp pellets because that has seemed to be the biggest hit amongst all of the fish.  Is there something better I can feed where I can control it better?  I have to do a lot of target feeding. 

    thanks again!

  7. Hi test.tin,

    I change water (25-30%) and clean algae/trim plants every Sunday.  One of Cory's suggestion was to add fertilizer to add the additional nutrients, which I tried.  I saw no difference with the nitrates.  Tank ranges from 75-77 depending on how high I keep my heat or how cold it is outside.  

    Here is a pic to compare after I did plant maintenance and did a water change today. 

    I know it may be hard to tell via the pics, but it is a significant difference.  I would need to take close ups before and after. 

    -Steve

    Tank after 2 years.jpg

  8. Thanks Colu,

    I am trying to find the balance, because I remove it manually every week and I get most of it.  I think it is probably on everything at this point, so I am trying to find a way to find the balance.  

    My light is currently around 8 hours and ends in a low blue light for a couple more.  I have it ramping up and ramping down for a 10-12 hour period of time. 

  9. Hi Everyone,

    I know I have met some of you in either the chat or youtube, but if not, my name is Steve and I live in northeastern CT with my girlfriend and our two bull terriers. 

    I kept fish when I was a kid but recently got back into about two years ago now.  I started with a 39 gallon and decided to plant it.  Its a fairly basic community tank with couple pleco and cory cats, along with an angel fish.  About a year ago I set up a 10 gallon tank for my girlfriend because she wanted shrimp.  I battled that for about 8 months and I did ultimately figure out the problem of why they kept dying, but i had to totally strip down the tank to do it.  Now I am breeding guppies in that tank.  I did plant that one as well from propagations from the 39 gallon.  

    I am still fairly new and I always have questions, but I also do plenty of research as well.  It took me so long to join the forum though because we also do a nice size garden and that has pretty much come to an end, so I figured I would join the fun!  

    Attached are a couple pictures of how I started my planted tank and what it ended up becoming. 

    Looking forward to talking with you,

    Steve

    new tank.png

    Tank after 2 years.jpg

  10. Hello Everyone,

    I have been fighting brown algae for close to a year and a half and no real sign of it stopping.  I have watched all the videos I could that Cory has posted on this and have tried everything.  I know its some sort of balance I am missing but I am unsure now which direction to go, as all I seem to be doing is making changes every few weeks.  I am using a Finnex 24/7 planted+ on a 39 gallon.  My nitrates usually stay around 40/80 whether I add fertilizers or not.  

    I have not fertilized in well over a month and still keeping a consistent reading.  It is primarily on my sprites but it does go to other plants too.  I clean off as much as I can every week.  At this point I think I have 2 issues:  #1 - over feeding and #2 I am thinking needs to be a light adjustment, but I don't know if I need to increase or decrease as I have done both (but maybe not enough).  Should I start with an increase, or a decrease?  

    Let me know what other information you would need to provide suggestions. 

    Thanks,

    Steve

    Tank 12-6.jpg

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