Jungle Fan

Don't rely on "algae eaters", better to control your algae by supplying your plants with all the nutrients and light to outcompete algae. Remember though that it's an all, or nothing deal, plants need all nutrients available, otherwise algae still beat them to the punch. I have seen clown plecos, bristlenosed plecos, otos, flying foxes, flag cichlids all touted as great "algae eaters" yet I've never seen a good looking tank that was just managed by them. In my tank I've got 9 otocinclus, and I see them every once in a while, who eats the most amount of algae in my tank are however the shrimp but I would never rely on just them. Easy Green, root tabs, and proper but not excessive lighting, and some Mironekuton deep sea minerals work better than any cleaner crew, although Nerites do a passable job on the glass.

Rockin' with Amadeus, Alannah Myles, and ZZ Top.

@Mmiller2001 The old Eheim filters were that way, the last I bought three years ago broke after two days, and now they've stopped their selling to North America, even parts are hard to get and I won't constantly bother extended family and friends in Germany to send me replacement parts. The Fluvals require maintenance but they run decent if you keep up with them, my 407 has been very reliable.

Very nice! I love the tetras!

I used to use a pH and CO2 controller for a while but got tired of the constant re-calibrating of the probes, and having to keep up with the expiration dates of the calibration fluids, and having to replace the probe after so many uses. For my taste it was more trouble than it was worth. Test strips and glass CO2 indicator are much simpler, and less of a headache. I do use a digital TDS meter when I do water changes though, because years ago I've had my water utility change wells on me once before which turned into a nitrate nightmare; as established, and heavily planted as my current tank is however, I don't think those levels would phase it much now. However, better to test and know, and be able to prevent than to not know and be unpleasantly surprised. Water testing is your friend!

My fish, snails, and shrimp are spoiled brats, they don't know what fasting is, and they'd let me know should it ever occur, fat and sassy as they are.

@Fish Folk Germany seems to not be playing with their first line player line up this time, either that, or they are occupying their mind with what's currently going on in Europe, so my hopes for 27th Nov. aren't very high, might as well be rooting for FC Barcelona.

I know some folks don't like the tiny bubbles, but after using CO2 reactors, and inline atomizer/diffusers, I 've reverted back to using the Aquario Neo CO2 Diffuser from Aquarium Co-Op, because of articles I had read about the beneficial effects of these tiny CO2 bubbles on leaf growth. The diffuser produces enough to supply my 75 gallon with sufficient CO2 for continual growth and I'm using a Fluval 407 at full flow. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/plant-supplies/products/aquario-neo-co2-diffuser

@MattyMBingo, algae. number one reason for water changes besides nitrates, which rarely are a problem in an established heavily planted tank. I have found that weekly, or at least bi-weekly large percentage water changes have helped me tremendously in balancing out the light, and nutrient requirements for my plants over the years, and thereby have kept algae starving in my tanks for the most part. Of course, number one disclaimer, there is no such thing as a 100% algae free tank.

@Eliot J same thing happened to me, I bought a Marineland combo tank and had to toss out the pressed wood stand my wife hated anyway because it was uneven diagonally across and from side to side. Then I found out that the living room floor in my new house was uneven as well. So I went to the drawing board and had the stand manufactured locally to my design. White oak treated like a boat with polyurethane finish in mission style with slate inserts in doors (gotta keep my wife happy), doors can be opened to 170 degrees, or removed completely with two clicks each, built in metal square tubing frame rests on 8 adjustable feet which can hold 2,500 lbs. each (living room floor problem solved!) the back of the stand is open to reach the power strip I mounted on the wall for better access and to allow for drip loops, the CO2 cylinders (1 active, 1 spare) rest in a box which keeps them from falling over, the bottom wood plates can be removed to adjust the feet. I recently added rechargeable magnetic motion detector lights which I attached to the metal frame the tank rests on, so the lights come on when I open the doors.

@Beardedbillygoat1975 would love to see some pictures of the 60g when you get it set up.

Could be damage from the peroxide if too high a dose was applied. I'm not very subtle with my Anubias whenever something happens to a leaf due to the fact of how many I have in my tank to take care of I just cut them off, and in about a month there are new leaves. I've even had rhizomes where I cut all the leaves off and new leaves were sprouting in about a month and a half, not in my current tank but a previous one where two Anubias had basically taken over a complete 55 gallon tank. I ended up chopping the two rhizomes into about fifty small pieces and attached them to rocks with twine and ended up having fifty new small Anubias plants.

If my tank of 75 gallons were plants only without fish and invertebrates I would still run the filter for flow, and the surface skimmer to prevent the surface residue film. I would also continue to run my air stone at night when the plants actually consume oxygen instead of producing it. That said I've seen beautiful aquaria, especially 180 and 200 gallon tanks without any of these where it was just the plants maintained by liquid fertilizer and root tabs. If you are looking to run a heavily planted tank without livestock, and filtration I recommend looking into Diana Walstad's book. Just running a plant only tank does not eliminate the worry about algae, unless proper fertilization is offered and all nutrients, as well as correct lighting to satisfy the plants' needs, the algae will still find a way to outcompete the plants and become a problem, even if just one missing nutrient is the only limiting factor.

@PineSong If you look at page 1 of the blog I've got a list of what all I started with in addition though 😄. Added some magnetic motion detector lights to the bottom of my stand which I attached to the metal frame the tank rests on, now the lights turn on when I open the doors. No more flashlights to hold while I work, and the lights are USB rechargeable.

@Koi When I got recuperated and back to doing maintenance I actually witnessed what you had mentioned earlier, that the Lobelia cardinalis was turning red. and not just a little bit. Mine had gotten to where they actually had grown close to, and past the surface and were as red as the Ludwigia, I was going to take a picture of it for you but unfortunately It ended up being a very long maintenance session that day, and in the end I forgot. As soon as the Lobelia got to within 2 - 1 inches of the surface they were really noticeably turning red. I am so glad to be back on the forum and @Patrick_G @xXInkedPhoenixX @PineSong, and @CorydorasEthan I will try to be posting more regularly again now that my doctor's appointments will hopefully decrease in frequency soon. When I started this tank I had only 3 - 4 Bucephalandras placed in the tank, now I've got around 20 - 30 mostly behind the stump on the right side of the tank, and in close proximity to the Phoenix moss, and Anubias nana petite.

@PineSong Thanks! I used to do well manicured aquascapes for years but decided I wanted something more natural, wilder looking this time and it came together the way I hoped.

@Odd Duck Yup, Fissidens fontanus, a.k.a. Phoenix moss grows into nice well rounded mounds, whereas my other moss Vesicularia montagnei, a.k.a. Christmas moss has almost fern like fronds that resemble Christmas tree branches and is a bit fuzzier in appearance. The Phoenix moss took longer to establish but was easier to apply, the Christmas moss is harder to apply because you have to attach it wedge by wedge it you want it to look natural but they work great together as neighbors. Thanks for your kind words, it's been a rough year but I have lots to be grateful for.

Just got done with surgery and treatments, and then got hit with COVID and it took several months to recover but now I'm hopefully finally back. After all of this it took quite a bit of pruning and maintenance to get this sort of back to how I wanted this tank to look. I thought I'd post some pictures of "The Jungle" at 2 1/2 years now. My Anubias seem to be on a break now but my Bucephalandras are blooming nonstop.

@Kurt Brutting I've tried 3D backgrounds multiple times but decided against them for my 75 gallon tank because they tend to take away a lot of space and I did want to place multiple driftwood stumps for my epiphytes and the moss. Also depending on the quality of the materials used the 3D backgrounds were a mixed bag for me, one that had a rough surface and imitated stone ended up being a green algae magnet, and some of the wall with resin stumps tended to discolor over the years. My current background came rolled but lay 100% flat out of the tube and was self adhesive with the provided liquid and I can say that after now 2 years I have still no air bubbles, or separation anywhere.

Just a quick shot from a recent walk in our regional wetlands park.

@Patrick_G I'm home for a bit before I have to head out for more treatments. I got my background from DeepBlueThemes, was a bit pricey but I had it produced specifically for my tank from one of their themes called Classic Greens that displayed plenty of driftwood overgrown with Bucephalandra and Anubias and works perfectly for my jungle tank as sort of a continuation of my plantings.

Much like the struggle against algae.🤣

I just had a conversation with another fishkeeper in a local LFS who complained to me about having to wait for the bleach solution to evaporate after cleaning his diffuser and how he dreads cleaning his algae infested CO2 diffuser. So I decided to check the Aquarium Co Op web site if they had any cleaning recommendations, and to my surprise the only thing listed were the pre-installment instructions for the Aquario Neo CO2 diffuser: "It is recommended to soak the diffuser for 30 minutes or so before use so the brown ceramic disk can become saturated with water and start producing the smallest bubbles right away." So I decided to share the cleaning routine I have been using on my large Aquario Neo CO2 diffuser from Aquarium Co-Op for years now. I use a plastic syringe to which I have attached a 5" piece of aquarium airline tubing, I draw up the plunger so the syringe is filled with air, then I connect the other end of the airline tubing to the CO2 diffuser pipe and purge the chlorine solution from it. Next I disconnect the diffuser and draw up some distilled water to which I have added a few drops of dechlorinator like Fritz Complete, or Seachem Prime into the syringe. I reconnect the airline tubing to the diffuser and by depressing the plunger force the treated water through the ceramic disk thereby dechlorinating the diffuser. The reason why I used distilled water is so as not to get any calc deposits into the disk. No big deal, no day of waiting for drying, no apprehension about left over bleach. Just thought I'd share after hearing from someone "how much cleaning trouble", the very same diffuser I've been using for near two years without any trouble at all, is.

In my experience Fluval Stratum lasts about 6 to 7 months before it becomes inert. I would clean the glass, siphon the detritus from in between the gravel, and do 30% weekly water changes, maybe add some more plants and make sure the plants get all the micro nutrients they need besides Easy Green All In One. If your light is already down to 6 hours I would not reduce it any further. Algae eaters generally do not solve algae problems, usually there are either too many nutrients, or not enough nutrients so that whatever is missing becomes the limiting factor to the plants being able to outcompete the algae, you've already tried limiting your light cycle, another factor could be the spectrum of your light source depending on what kind of light you use. You could also try adding some faster growing stem plants to your set up and see if they will outcompete the algae. You might also want to take a look at your current filtration. I clean my pre-filter and power filter sponges, and the sintered glass trays at least twice a month in drained tank water from my 50% water changes. Other forum members have different maintenance regimen but I believe firmly in weekly water changes, and substrate and glass maintenance, with the bi-weekly filter maintenance it's a routine I have gotten used to over the 54 years I've been keeping fish now.

I think I'm gonna need a bigger pool!