Cyndi

Awe, yes, let's sing a sad song for the algae. As soon as I stopped providing it optimal care, it died out. It was surprisingly delicate. At least I have a record of it here! Do you dose with Equilibrium? It seems like it would be cheaper than bottles of Potassium. I'll post Irene's video that talks about it just in case anyone wants to know! Thanks for the engaging discussion - its fun! Wow, I wonder where I've been that I didn't realize this??

I wanted to give an update - I got a lot of good advice from this thread! Per @Kurt Brutting I got some huge 5 gallon size media bags and filled them with the old substrate. (I didn't use it all). This was a mixture of BBS, Statum and a little Eco-complete. This gave me the height I was looking for. The project was stalled because I needed some big rocks. I went to a rock yard - and after much awkward explaining and wandering around like a fool in the heat, I finally convinced the guy in charge to let me grab three rocks from the top of an unbroken pallet. And they were free! Yay! They are strangely patterned, but I feel an odd affection for them. The one underneath the log is named Raphael after my rock yard friend 🙂 @JoeQ I also studied that video and turned my lights WAY down. I found Bentley's suggestion to gradually increase the lighting to be very helpful. Today was the first day for my white lights to be at 50% - up from 33% (This is a 90 gallon deep tank). I'm watching carefully for algae. I do have about 25 ppm nitrates, but after watching Irene's video, I added potassium instead of doing a WC. I also had cut the blue completely off and all the plants melted. None of the stem plants survived my little experiment. Now my blue is very minimal. Luckily I had more cuttings, and hooray, I can buy more plants! All in all I am very happy with the results and I think this will be good long term tank. Thank you everyone for all your help! 🙂

Hi JoeQ - So I found that spreadsheet and I'm reposting it here for convenience - this looks really helpful -THANK YOU!! . I've also reprinted it. One of the issues I'm having is that even now the light is not "bright" enough for my enjoyment, but of course all that algae is also severely hampering my enjoyment, so there's that. I'll go tinker for a bit and report back!🙂

Hey guys! Thanks so much for the great advice - I'll get back this afternoon to fine tune my settings- which I think is a really good stop-gap measure. And I'll turn down the blue right now! So to clarify (I know things get really confusing in a long thread) this tank is a 90 Gallon (25" deep). And the only thing that changed was the substrate. So I think we have established that I have too many nutrients and too much light and not enough CO2. All was well until I CHANGED THE SUBSTRATE (not yelling, just emphasizing for those who skim) 😃. Question: DO YOU THINK capping the current substrate (Blend of Stratum, Eco-Complete, and BBS) would effectively contain the excess nutrients? Again, thank you for all the great responses - I'll go back and review that Bentley Pasco video. And just because I like humiliating myself I've included a pic of the entire mess. Consider this a "before" picture. Note: almost an entire 5.5 gallon bucket of substrate has already been removed at the time of this pic. That spreadsheet sounds awesome! I'm on that thread somewhere, so I should be able to find it Those amanos did some amazing work! Mine were an expensive snack 😑

Media bags would have been an awesome choice (🙄 ). I wish I'd thought of that- it would literally save me $$$$$ 100s! Lights: Cool White and Pure white at 75% - 8 hrs not including ramp up and down. See picture. I also use a Stingray but since the tank is so deep I think it probably only adds color. CO2: Non-injected Ferts: That substrate only Aquarium Co-op Test strips: Nitrate: 10-25 ;Nitrite 0 ;Hardness 150 ;Buffer 40 Water Change Schedule: Weekly 50% Tank was fully planted before substrate change, all growing medium well. Only change was the substrate.

Or opinions for that matter!

Ok, so here's the story. Last November (4 months ago) I added Fluval Stratum substrate (aquasoil) and Eco-Complete to my BBS substrate. Instead of the phenomenal plant growth I had been getting with just my BBS and Easy Root Tabs, I now grow this awesome algae with Rapunzel like hair. I can also grow BBA . But not crypts or anything else. Except Rotala. I am very frustrated. Question: I'm ready to call this substrate quits. Should I remove it or can I cap it with more Eco-complete or Black Diamond Blasting Sand? Anything I do is going to be expensive as this is a 90 Gallon tank, but capping it would be more economical, so I hope that is the answer. Any help would be much appreciated!

Wouldn’t that be amazing!

Feb 24: Hi everyone! I’m excited that the tank is fulfilling its educational purpose. Some of the kids have been asking if there are any new fish. I guess the Congo tetras were not the showstoppers I was hoping for. So, yesterday I added a beautiful white male angel fish with sparkles from my home tank. BINGO! The kids love him! The shelter has a “read to dogs” program and one of the shelter managers told me that several of the kids read to the fish too! I can’t post pics for privacy reasons but it sure was adorable! UPDATE on the EBA: they wouldn’t stop spawning and the female was stressed. I got tired of explaining that the fry wouldn’t survive without a lot of care - care that I don’t know how to give. Finally, I traded the male and now everyone is happy!

January 9 2022 Well, we have big news in the Mostly Mutts Animal Rescue Shelter tank - we have babies! Or more specifically, Electric Blue Acara Fry! Everyone but me was very excited. EBA are very good parents, and they are completely stressed out trying to keep the resident mollies from snacking on their brood. I know our days of enjoying these guys are coming to an end. I don't have a brood tank set up, and my attempts to sell them for a donation to MM has not come to fruition. A LFS will take them, but probably for credit. I'm coming to the conclusion that mostly, I'd love to see them go to a great home. Notes on EBA: I really like the Electric Blue Acara. I'd done a lot of reading before buying them and the reviews were mixed as to whether they'd be good in a planted community tank. Today I can add my two cents: They do well in a community tank with large fish that school (or shoal). They do not do well if they can single out a fish (good-bye mini balloon platy, male apisto super red, female betta, and honey gourami). The single EBA in my home aquarium did fine with these fish until he grew to a certain size, but then harassed them to the point of stressing them until they passed. I never saw him doing it. I'd just turn on the light and see another stressed fish. I finally moved him to my "big boy" 90 gallon tank where he does fine with schools of congo tetra, blue king tetra, cherry barbs and melon barbs. Actually, I think the melon barb school keeps him in check - sort of like the tank policeman! And sometimes they tear up plants.

Thanks so much for this answer! For some reason I didn't get notified that you'd answered - at any rate this is very useful info!

Hi everyone! I need a replacement sponge for my Filter MAX III that I'm using on my fx 4. OR I need a replacement sponge for my ehiem prefilter. In both cases, I would just order another, but Amazon is out. Does anyone know if the Co-Op sponges will fit either of these? Thanks so much! Cyndi

Ok , so I was just able to work through the steps and I finally got it working ! Hooray! But I wonder why I couldn't find it on the Co-op website? Do they still carry this product?

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for 😊

Hi everyone - So I was helping my sister move, and I found this product that I believe was sold by Aquarium Co-op. I can't find it on the website, nor can I find directions for how to use it. Does anyone know how to use this? Thanks so much!

HI JGarratt4, Just need to caveat this with I am an advanced beginner in plants. However, i do have several Fluval 3.0 lights, so I will weigh in while we wait for the experts to show up 🙂 . it would help if you could also post a pic of your tank - it would help me anyway. Is this a new setup? If so, your settings may be way too high - especially on a 20 Long. You are blasting as much light as I do on my deep 90 Gallon. No doubt this amount of light is very stressful for the plants and may be contributing to fuzzy algae. In general, you don't want to blast new setups with a lot of light, so maybe turn everything down to 50%. I've included my 90 Gallon program and pic of tank for reference. I've had to tweak settings a lot, but I was only able to turn everything up when the plants got more established. ****Sigh**** I've just rescaped this tank and now it looks a mess -why did I destroy my beautiful tank???- this picture makes me feel nostalgic. Oh well, we carry on. I

Hi Clovis! I tuned in late to this thread, but I see that your original question relates to your algae outbreak, and I thought I'd add my 2 cents without detracting from the great advice others have given! Please disregard if you already know this info. Your pictures are really helpful in developing a game-plan. Algae grows on plants that aren't getting all the nutrients they need for some reason. It also grows in an abundance of the wrong type of nutrients. I believe both of these issues are what is going on in your tank. For simplicity, I will say what I would do if tasked with tidying up this tank. BTW, your tank is very pretty, I think it just needs some tidying. 1) Wave your hand above the gravel and siphon all mulm that gets disturbed. Now that I've had planted tanks for a while, I believe less mulm is better for plants. Mulm doesn't provide the right kind of nutrients, adds to algae growth, and it looks messy (sorry mulm lovers). You may have to do this over several water changes to get all the mulm. 2) Trim dead, dying, or algae covered leaves. Is that a yellowing anubias in the middle ground? If so, it is severely nutrient deprived. 3) Add root tabs around the base of all crypts and swords and everything else! 4) Fertilize with liquid fertilizer regularly (I fertilize 1X per week after a water change. Sometimes I do a half dose around mid-week or so if my plants are growing strongly). 5) Do weekly 50% water changes. 6) Use Aquarium Co-Op's Easy Fertilizer range - its economical and easy - and it works! Almost everything I've said is controversial, and you will find a lot of contradicting info on the internet. I believe that is partly because each aquarist has differing goals. For instance, I've found that some breeders really like mulm, but the tank isn't exactly show-quality. In my experience, if you want a beautiful, pristine, planted tank, then this is a good way to get it. Good luck and keep us posted! Cyndi 🙂

Poor common plecos- Good job rescuing them!

I have no idea! I knew the filter floss needed changing as the water didn’t have a “sparkling” quality to it. This pleco is still pretty small- and I’ve added a baby long fin blue eye bristlenose. I figure if he gets too messy, he’ll be easy to re- home (I hope!) The water still doesn’t have that crystal clear quality though- I’m thinking of adding bubbles. Maybe it’s that durn pleco! Thanks for your interest @Guppysnail!

August 4 An ignominious day for me. The tank comes with a 20 yro Eheim canister filter which I have no idea how to clean. I enlisted the help of the president of the Shelter, T.T., as this used to be her tank. She told me she would gladly take time out of her busy schedule to help me clean on this day. Well, the day rolled around, and I chickened out. This thing is ancient, and I was worried about rotten gaskets, and how do I tighten that metal ring anyway?? I figured no one would do a project that I'd come up with if I wasn't around to make sure it happened. Well, I was wrong. I show up 30 minutes past the appointed time to find T.T. and the volunteer coordinator, S., up to their eyeballs in 5 yro filter goop. At least I was right that the thing needed to be cleaned ***sigh****. I never, and I mean NEVER have had higher ups take initiative on doing a project I'd assigned. Well, lesson learned. T.T. always follows through - even if I don't. You can bet I'll never let THAT happen again!

I share her videos all the time! Really good, well-organized videos - especially for beginners!

Edit: Still fuzzy, but I think it gets the job done!

Yes - that is a good idea - I will try to get a better pic of the ovipositor on Bella Donna. Pic 3 is Tommy Toes and he is male, but some people at the shelter have other opinions. My instinct to to proclaim, "I know you're wrong and why don't you mind your own business??!!!", but that is not exactly the vibe I'm going for 😛. Anyway, this tank is a good primer for learning how to correct misconceptions in a diplomatic way. In other news, I've had one person ask me to revamp their tank into a planted tank and one person has upgraded his betta from a one gallon to a five gallon - all without me saying anything. The beauty of a well-kept tank speaks for itself!

August 3 A lot has been going on in the Mostly Mutts Aquarium. One of my goals for this tank is for it to be a teaching tank. The tank houses a Red male plakat betta fish (Named Tommy Toes)- remember the tank is 75 gallons and 80 degrees- and he has shown no aggression. However, there has been some discussion as to whether he is male or female. Will you please evaluate these pics to see if I am accurately showing how to differentiate between male and female plakat bettas? How would you teach someone the difference? (Sorry about the quality of the photos - Bella Donna (purple) definitely had opinions about having her picture made!) EDIT: I should add that the info I'm looking for is for a very general audience - like "Is this fresh or saltwater" kind of audience 🙂 No worries - we were all beginners once.