Will Billy

My big personalities are my 2 dojo loaches. Ones name is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and the other is Bob. For the sake of my 4 year old daughter whom i share this hobby with, all my schooling nano fish use the nato phonetic alphabet ( i.e. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Foxtrot, etc...) the names no doubt get switched around, but we have fun arguing which one is Echo, and which one is Romeo. Fyi Oscar is the official one for the letter O. Kinda cool to have a tiny rasbora named Oscar

There are only a few fish that eat black beard algae. Flag fish do, but they can be aggressive. True siamese algae eaters also eat bba, and nerite snails will eat some of the softer bits. I may be mistaken but i think mollies and guppies will pluck at it some, but they wont eat near enough to keep it at bay.

I have seen quite a few threads concerning a wide variety of algae, namely black beard algae (bba) and green spot algae (gsa). So i wanted to open up a discussion of algae, what are the positives and negatives of having algae in your tank. Why is bba and gsa so hard to get rid of. What causes and cures it. In my opinion algae is sorta like a bonus critter, akin to pest snails ( who wouldnt want a free, bonus algae eating invertebrate that tagged along for the ride when purchasing an aquarium plant ). Or the lowly yet somewhat disgusting detritus worms squiggling around the bucket from your water change. They are a bonus critter completely harmless to fish and plants that eat detritus, that stuff you spend time sucking up and out of your tank. I see them as a bonus, just like algae, all of these so called pests help complete and maintain your ecosystem in a box. Which is what an aquarium actually is, a small self contained ecosystem. If however you are set to fight the good fight against algae, or curb the growth of a particular strain of algae. The best to pieces of general advice i can give is #1 dont panic. Algae is a natural organism that helps remove nitrates and other organic waste in your ecosystem. It will not directly harm fish or plants, but if left unchecked can indirectly harm plants by covering leaves to the point of not receiving light. Basically do not go so far as to harm your existing ecosystem of fish and plants in an attempt to rid yourself of it. Algae is a part of life in an aquarium. #2 when combating algae be patient. As you apply treatments and make adjustments to your water chemistries it will take time to see results. Dont expect 24 hour miracles. I have fought with a bba explosion before, and it took nearly 2 weeks to see the results from some of the adjustments i made. The stuff grows quickly it seems, but dies very slowly. Give time for treatments to work before you decide it isnt working and move on to more extreme measures that could harm your ecosystem. Those are my thoughts, please add content to this thread to help everyone enjoy this wonderful hobby, instead of fretting the sometimes unavoidable but curable factors involved. Thank you for you time.

Hard to tell, i may be wrong, but it might be harmless biofilm. I have had similar biofilm grow on real driftwood that algae eaters, snails, and shrimp love to munch on. Biofilm is just a harmless bacterial bloom. It should go away on its own even if you do not have the aforementioned critters to munch on it. Continue to observe it and take pictures as it grows or diminishes. As changes occur please repost any progress or lack there of for further analysis.

Welcome to the forum. I love community tanks. To piggy back off of James Black’s post all those fish get along great with betas. A beta centerpiece fish with schooling community fish like James advised is a great look to any community tank. Neons and harlequin rasboras are my personal favorites. I also absolutely adore and recommend otocynclus catfish for community tanks. They are a schooling fish that work as a team of miniature plecos eating up algae. A lot of fun to watch a group of them vs 1 large pleco, and they are shrimp safe too, only getting about an inch long.

Welcome to the forum, i love that pic of your cory’s all lined up like they are taking a family photo or something. Thats a great shot ! I cant stop looking at it they are so darn cute posed up in a row like that. Your betas are some real gems too.

Floating plants are easy to plant (drop in water) but can be tricky at times to grow, unless you have annoying duckweed. First off floating plants are really pond plants, so they dont do well with a lot of surface agitation from hob filters or massive bubbles from un regulated airstones or sponge filters. They do better in low flow environments. You can get around this by corralling them with some extra air hose at the top of your tank to a more placid corner. That way they dont get sucked down from hob undertow or pushed around to much from air bubbles. Also water lettuce and frogbit for instance does not like tight fitting lids where condensation can form on top of the leaves. In nature any water that forms on the leaves will evaporate, but may not do so in your aquarium. Lastly water lettuce is a low to medium light plant. Too much light ( which is easy to do with a plant that hovers only inches from your aquarium light) can sun burn its leaves. With proper care and knowledge they are excellent plants that grow quite quickly and remove massive amounts of nitrates while also providing top water shelter for your happy little pets. Other great floating plants are red root floaters, and giant duckweed, steer clear of regular duckweed it gets on everything and makes tank maintenance messy, and can increase your organic bio load from so many dead leaves when they do die off.

If you have fish that move plants around like my dojo loaches i created a temporary crater with my gravel and used plant weights to prevent them from being knocked around so much until they rooted.

Activated carbon will absorb fertilizer. But i think most filter cartridges use like half an ounce or maybe even a full ounce. It shouldn't remove too much fertilizer and when it does it will become saturated and stop absorbing pretty quick. I also have a planted tank with disposable cartridges and have had no issues. Seachem purigen is a superior alternative to activated carbon that removes more organic waste, without removing fertilizers, and can also be recharged and used repeatedly with bleach up to 10 times unlike disposable activated carbon. I only use the activated carbon over purigen because i want to keep my driftwood tannins in my water column and purigen being the superior product it is would eventually remove all my tannins.

I believe, and someone can correct me if im wrong, but Easy Green works better when you have at least 15-20 ppm or more in nitrates. The fertilizer encourages plant growth that will absorb more nitrates from your water column. As mentioned above you have slow growing plants, which will utilize less fertilizer, as well as nitrates compared to a fast growing plant. 20 ppm is the “recommended” level of nitrates with 40 ppm considered to be the high limit. (Being honest i have kept fish and plants at 80 ppm with no detriment). With regard to your lighting i would recommend about 8 to 10 hours tops. While under light and photosynthesis is taking place, your plants are absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen. It is important to note that live plants sorta require a sleep mode too. By turning your lights off the go into this “sleep” cycle and release any unused CO2 and replenish chlorophyll ( the green pigment used for photosynthesis) in preparation for the next coming day.

You are on the right track with the BBA. Finding the balance is key. Usually although not always the most common imbalances for BBA growth is high oxygen and high iron in you water column. Nitrates and other fertilizer chemicals also play an important role as well, but iron and oxygen are usually the main 2 culprits. I have use 3% peroxide on anubias and java fern with great success. Soak them in peroxide for no more than 5 minutes maximum exposure. Rinse well with tap water first, then rinse very well with dechlorinated or used tank water. In 2-4 days it will turn red and take about 2 weeks to fully die off. This trick seems to only work with thick leaved plants such as anubias and java fern. I tried it on bacopa and the bacopa shed all its leaves wilted and died. So i would be carefull what types of plants you do the peroxide trick with. Maybe test it out before you commit to dunking everything in your tank like i did. Just remember fighting unwanted algae takes a long time to see the results from the adjustments you make. Dont get discouraged when you dont see results right away. You might be doing the right thing and not know it for several weeks out.

Here are some tips ive learned about algae in general, as well as black beard algae specifically. I have a planted aquarium as well and i have even gone as far as to purposefully grow green algae in a clear plastic cup in a window to dose my aquarium with beneficial green algae for my ottocynclus catfish, snails, guppies, etc... green algae is the good atuff that most fish and invertebrates like to eat. I do scrape the front and sides of my tank for viewing my fish but mostly leave the back and decorations alone. Like my various plants the algae also helps reduce nitrates in my tank. That being said i have run into black beard algae on some plants i bought from a big box store, (which is why i prefer aquarium co-op plants now) that contaminated all my plants. I pulled all my plants out and soaked them in 3% hydrogen peroxide for no more than 5 minutes, 3-4 minutes is usually best. Then i rinsed them off with tap water, followed by a good rinse and soak in dechlorinated aquarium water before replanting them. After 2-3 days the black beard algae turned red and after 2 weeks was totally gone. Before you attempt this method and maybe someone can further explain why, but all of my thick leaved plants like java fern and anubias all did well and are now free of black beard algae, however my softer leaved plants like my bacopa shed all its leaves wilted and died. Perhaps a more diluted solution would work better for those plants, but i am only speculating. The cause of the unwanted black beard explosion aside from not quarantining infected plants was aided by high oxygen and iron in my water. After i rebalanced my iron in my fertilizers and with some airstone altercations and loss of some plant life to reduce oxygen a bit it has never returned.

I also made a hospital / quarantine tank from a storage tub i bought for $5 at target. I drilled holes in the top and a slit on one corner for hoses and wires. I interchange my water change heaters and air pump for my quarantine tank and use an aquarium co-op nano sponge filter. I also marked 1 gallon increments on the side with electrical tape. In this picture you can see i am curing some drift wood for future aquascaping.

Here is my water change closet. Its simply a 2x10x16 pressure treated board from lowes. I cut it in half to make the top, and the other half i halfed it again to make the legs. I have an air pump with spliters and some small 5 gallon heaters i use to pre-warm and oxygenate the water while i wait for chlorine to evaporate. On the back wall you can see my sump pump ( hanging up to dry out )with tubing and a repurposed washing machine hook i use to drain my buckets into my tank instead of lifting the buckets. I also use a paint tray liner to set my wet heaters and airline tubing in to dry out while not in use.

In my experience i began my 55 gallon planted nano tank with a junky gravel vac that didnt remove much detritus. About 6-7 months in i upgraded to a better gravel vac with a 2 inch mouth and discovered not only have i not been removing detritus properly from my tank, but i had a massive detritus worm infestation i had sucked out into my water change bucket. From what i have gathered they do help make up a more balanced ecosystem. After all the do eat detritus, and any that venture out of the gravel become snacks for fish. My new gravel vac does help keep the population in check now and i dont seem to suck out nearly as much. I view them like those pest snails, they are just a bonus critter for my happy tank

Hello, my name is William, everyone calls me Will Billy tho. Im from Clarksville, TN. I’m sorta new to the hobby. My older brother who raised me was big into the hobby when i was a kid and he got me my first 10 gallon. He taught me how to care for my pet fish and showed me the ropes so to speak. Fast forward 20 years later i just got back into the hobby about 6 months ago with a 55 gallon nano tank. I love nano fish, but i wanted a big nano tank so i could have more of them swimming around. I have a typical nano tank with harlequin rasbora, neons ( one of my favorites ) guppies, cory cats, otto cats, and mystery snails. However my centerpiece fish are 2 golden dojo loaches. I know bottom feeders for a centerpiece is a little unusual but I love my dojo’s. Hands down my favorite fish of all time. Ive named them Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Bob. Ive trained them to eat bottom feeder pellets from my hand, and they will even let me pet them while doing water changes. Im not joking either my wife freaked out a bit when Bob let my 4 year old daughter reach in and gently grab and hold him. I was stunned as he laid there while she held him and then when he had enough he swam off. So cool. Anyway im rambling a bit. Here is a pic of supercali below. Bob was a bit camera shy at the time. Glad to be a part of this forum and glad i found aquarium co-op. I love Corey’s videos and the plants and supplies. See you guys around