[Diatoms]

On 10/27/2021 at 3:58 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

Wait brown and stringy? I think diatom is normally a brown dusting like coating surfaces but stringy makes me think maybe it's something else? 4 Otocinclus and a bunch of bladder snails would make short work of brown diatoms I think. 

Yeah im thinking the Brown stringy algae isn't the diatoms, but i really can't find anything about it and it grows very long. It is slimy and easy to come off but if i take it off it just comes right back.

[Diatoms]

On 10/27/2021 at 9:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

This won’t be reassuring or of much help but it may point to something in your source water  

live owned this house for 21 years and tanks on and off the entire time. My brown diatom lessens but never completely goes away. I switched to using jug spring water in 4 of my tanks and the diatom was gone in 2-3 weeks. It was the only change I made. I went back to my tap and it came back. It usually only resides on the walls hard scape or plant leaves that are doing poorly. I used stratum in 1 tank and that one was the worst for diatom. 
 

pull your pothos sit in a jar heavily fertilized keep rotating fresh water and fertz with lots of indirect sun it may perk up. 

ive thought about getting an RO system for water changes. Maybe, i should go ahead and invest in something like that with a 55g tashcan.

[Diatoms]

On 10/27/2021 at 9:17 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

I think diatom algae is the favourite of many algae eating fish/snails/shrimp so maybe add some algae eaters? 

I actually wish I knew how to grow it because of that, once it was all eaten in my tank it never came back. 

Also, how comes your pothos is dying? Had some issues with my pothos but even after all the roots came off it didn't die and is now growing really well. You know to keep the leaves etc out of the water right? (Sorry if you already knew that, don't want to be patronising or anything but can't think how a pothos would die off otherwise, thought they were bullet proof!) 

yeah its just the roots that are submersed. I do have Otocinclus in there just 4. And a bunch of bladders snail. So the algae shouldn't be an issue. Ive got this Brown stringy algae  everywhere. Even the amano shrimp i have aren't doing anything about it. I have even done a blackout for 4 days and still it persists.

[Diatoms]

Hey.,

Ive had my 65g tank setup for over 3months now and im still having a Brown algae issue. Its everywhere. Ive Lowered my lights down to 50% Blue light to 0% and not dosing any extra ferts. I have fluval stratum., and plenty of plants.

2 big Water wisteria plants
1 Pothos which is dying
8-10 clumps of Microsword
3 stems of Scarlet temple (which is looking terrible)

I do put NilocG roottabs in the substrate once a month

Change water once a week and feed every other day. I use the hakari Micro pellets and sinking wafers

Im using Nitrasorb., Purigen, and Chemi-pure Elite for phosphate removal. It is also CO2 Injected.

I don't understand what to do please help

[Brown Hair Algae Issue]

I meant to upload a screen shot of my Light period.

starts at 9 am and is complete darkness at 6 pm
65 Gal tank dimensions are 24x18x36
24 inches deep.
FX4 filter with a slightly reduced flow. Just enough for a bit of surface agitation.
Co2 injection (DIY) 3-5 bubbles per second.

Should i reduce my lights and see what happens? At the same time i really want my microsword to carpet well. I don't dose Easy green every day more like 2 times a week at about 4 pumps each time i dose. I do dose Easy carbon every day 4 pumps aswell.

[Brown Hair Algae Issue]

Hey guys,

Im having a terrible issue with Brown hair algae. Its everywhere.

Its on my microsword, its ALL OVER the roots of my pothos. Its starting to grow on my wisteria.

I have put 1 bag of Phosgaurd in the filter aswell as Chemipure elite, 2 bags of purigen. Still grows. 2 water changes a week (20% each time). I dose EG everyday.
My nitrates stay at about 30-40ppm. tank temp is at 85F (housing GBR's).

I feed every other day to keep down on excess nutrients in the water.
I use well water.
Well water stats:
PH 6.8
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

I have tried everything. I even dip the pothos roots in a small bath of water and hydrogen peroxide and helps for a week then its covered again. I regularly remove the Brown hair algae with a toothbrush every time i water change.

Am i missing something? I need help lol

[Excited for my tank and future!]

On 9/28/2021 at 3:31 PM, Fish Folk said:

I could be wrong, but it looks to me like you've got some females. I can make out the ovipositor on the two. Is there a third Ram? 

yeah pretty sure they are all 3 females. Her colors arent as pronounced but there is a pink belly on her. Those 2 you mainly see are the "Alpha Females" and the third less colored one is the runt.

[Excited for my tank and future!]

@Fish FolkHere is a video. Not a good video as im still trying to figure the camera out. But hopefully i got everything.

 

[Excited for my tank and future!]

I will post a video here a bit later. I keep my tank between 80-82F. They seem to be doing great. Would love for them to live a couple of years. I really need to set up a smaller tank for "pairs" and growing fry. Would love to eventually go into business with these guys, even if its just to support this hobby.

[Excited for my tank and future!]

I have read all of your journal and it has inspired me to do the best i can for them. Any tips? @Fish Folk

[Excited for my tank and future!]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:50 AM, Torrey said:

4th & 5th pictures down looks like the fish approve of your diligence. 

Someone looks like breeding is on your horizon. 

i really hope so! I think i have all females hoping to get 1 male this week. Would love to get some babies at some point.

[Excited for my tank and future!]

Just got these guys a couple weeks ago and they are thriving! I am being very deligent about keeping tank parameters good. I am really enjoying these fish! They are absolutely gorgeous!

[Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming]

On 9/1/2021 at 6:56 PM, Kittkat1981 said:

I will say this.  These lights have alot of blue in all of the led. In my experience. Blue tends to cause more hair algae but idk if that changes with those types of plants and your setup

Yeah maybe if i turn the blue to zero i can take out the bigger chunks of algae. And of course you were help! I need any info i can get lol!

[Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming]

On 9/1/2021 at 6:44 PM, Kittkat1981 said:

My settings are quite different. I had an issue with BBA. After a blackout week and heavy doses of liquid carbon. My setting seems to work for me. NOTE.  I have a 32 inch Seaview light that I use for yellow and red light only. 

Hmm it would seem that my monte carlo wouldn't get enough light with that. But idk im no expert at lighting. Im trying to see if anything of mine would need optomized. Your tank looks amazing.What is the plant on the drift wood with very fine leaves?

[Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming]

Thrilled to have found this thread 🙃 But i have a 65g tank with 2 Fluval 3.0's and this is my light setting.
my tank : Depth 24in.
               Width 36in.

I have:
Anachris
Monte Carlo
Anubias
Scarlet temple
Java Moss

Looking for some critiques for any experts. I am getting Green hair algae and brown algae (very little brown algae)
 

[Be Gentle, Im no expert (German Blue Ram Prep Journal)]

I must say this Camera is amazing!

 

Excellent Photo Of a new leaf forming on the anubias and an oto munching on the wood.

Monte carlo out front. Starting to grow more and hopefully it will grow 10 fold in the next couple of weeks. Still has some hair algae on it but nothing the oto's can't handle.

One of my Assassin Snails. I need to catch the rest of them and donate to LFS. they no longer have a prominent role in my aquarium. Need to get a new type of snail that is more socially responsible for the needs of the tank now.
 

 

Photo of the right hand side of the tank. Need to clip the fishing line that is floating around. bit of an eye sore.

 

 

bit of an action shot of my corys. You can see some hair algae on the monte carlo in the back some.

 

I love this shot. Seems like so much activity. Hoping my Scarlet temple will take off soon. Still need to get some easy iron. Its still growing roots above where it is planted. Not sure if i should trim and replant or leave it alone?

 

Beautiful fat neons. Fed Frozen baby brine and spirulina w/ regular brine shrimp aswell. you can see additional hair algae on the monte carlo.

 

Here is some monte carlo that just hasn't been taking off as fast as the rest. not sure why though.

Im hoping this will be a good environment for my GBR's that im getting. Opinions would be great! and any additional critiques would be very helpful.

Water parameters today is.
PH 6.6
Ammonia 0

Nitrites 0

Nitrates 40ppm

Dosed 4 pumps EG today aswell.

[Dosing Easy Green and how often?]

I have a question aswell.

I have a 65g aquarium thats running 2 Fluval 3.0 running 9 hours a day with a DIY co2 injection system.

Specs:
Fluval stratum
2x Fluval 3.0
DIY Co2 running 4 bubbles/sec
Large clump of Anachris, Monte Carlo, Anubias, Scarlet temple, and pothos plants hanging off the top of tank (roots submersed) oh and Java Moss.

Just wondering also, would the EG cause additional nitrates in a test?
 

[Be Gentle, Im no expert (German Blue Ram Prep Journal)]

So, Update:

Ordered my GBR's a couple of days ago and they should have arrived at the LFS yesterday and im having them quarantine them for 2 weeks before i get them.

Sorry about not posting in a while, for some reason this particular post would not load in correctly. I think it had something to do with my drivers. Updated them and then its fine.

But anyway, i will be posting some picks later for tracking growth of plants and of course some beauty shots. My wife has a 4k camera that i forgot about so i will be using that instead of my dinky phone so hopefully i can capture the plants and fish at a more true color.

I did a 20% water change on monday and my nitrates are staying around 40ppm so i need to fix that. I have a feeling its my filter media. Ive had some of the stuff in there for years. I haven't had the cash to replace a lot of it. What im probably gonna do is use some poly-fill where some of the coarse filter foam is and throw away the really old stuff. Eventually i want to get a mixed bag of filter to replace the ceramic balls i have in there. I also would like to use some activated carbon foam pads to help with water quality down the road ( not that its terrible now) would like some thoughts on the carbon infused pads inside a cannister filter.

[Be Gentle, Im no expert (German Blue Ram Prep Journal)]

Hooray!! i can access my journal again!😍

[Help!]

so turns out its doing the same thing and have used multiple browsers and have cleared everything multiple times and i still get this picture which is linked above. 

[Help!]

i cleared the cookies for this website and that did the trick. appreciate the help. Thought i was in trouble for something.

[Help!]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:42 PM, Gideyon said:

Was this the German blue ram journal? 

If the other journal entries are working, it's likely something hokie with your authentication. 

 

I'd log out of the forum. Sign in again. If that doesn't fix it, Clear your browsers cache and temporary files. Then try and sign in again. 

Note: by doing this, you'll have to sign in again to all your other pages like email, etc.

 

On 8/29/2021 at 8:37 PM, sudofish said:

Looks like a character set encoding issue going on for some reason. I'd try a different browser like chrome. You could also clear the cookies and cache in firefox and see if that helps.

yeah its the GBR post. Ok i will try logging out of the forum and trying that way. I really don't want to do the other. I have tried it on edge and still does the same thing.

[Help!]

So i started a journal in the "journals" subsection of the forum. For some reason i cannot view it any longer ( the post itself) I can view any other page just fine but not that one. Idk whats happening. Every time i click on it i get this LONG coded page. Am i dumb or is this a legit?

[Be Gentle, Im no expert (German Blue Ram Prep Journal)]

Happy Sunday Guys,
Did a water test today, everything looks good in that department. Nitrates still a bit high for my taste and hoping the Anachris will help with that soon. Would rather dose EG and be more in control than have nitrates do what they want. Water change tomorrow. But took some photos for everyone to see. Added a blanched skinned and de-seeded zuccini piece for the Otos and whoever else wants to pick at it. Fed some nano fish food and 3 sinking wafers aswell. They are both the Hikari brand.

 

 

Took a nice photo of my neons schooling together.

 

My camera sucks at taking these pictures and makes it look like i have a terrible detritus issue. Scarlett temple is growing new roots above the substrate. Should i uproot and trim just below the roots and replant? or leave it alone? I have never grown scarlett temple.

 

 

Getting lots of new growth on the monte carlo. But not sure what to do about the brown bits on it. Looks like diatom algea and decaying plant matter maybe. Perhaps a large trim? or plant deeper?

Another clump of monte carlo. Lots of new roots.

 

best picture so far. Oto chillin on my anubias. 

 

Tried to get a good picture of my Amano shrimp but they didn't want to cooperate today. Maybe another day. Let me know what you guys think!

[What's your aquarium related "are you kidding me?" moments]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:20 AM, Keeg said:

What is your "are you kidding me?" moments while doing this hobby?

I'll start with two,

1: Test strips expired, went to a lfs to test my water because its FREE🤩 (like most fish stores lol). The lady behind the counter took my test tube of water, put in a test strip, looked at it for a solid 2 minutes and said, "everything looks perfect". In my head I said "I know it's perfect, its been running for years", so I responded, "Can you give me the approximate numerical values?". She said that wasn't possible, so I asked if I can check, she said no. Safe to say, test your own water unless you want to deal with employees that dont know what they're doing. 

2: Replaced an old heater with a new one because I didn't trust it and I felt like it was going to break any day. 20minutes go by with the new heater, tank is cold. The new exciting smell of burning plastic filled the room. I had wrapped the old heater in a towel and plugged it in and not the new one. I forgot it was wrapped in a towel so when I was looking for the object, I had a nice crispy hand covered in burning melted plastic. My gut was right to not trust it. 

One of my LFS stores around my area don't even test the water. I asked about it and asked what they kept their tanks at and the girl working there ( she was the only one at the store) Said she didn't know and wouldn't even try. Im pretty sure they hire someone to come in and do their fish tanks instead of the employees learning about the products, and maintenance of the goods they are selling. This isn't the first time this has happened at the same fish store either. So, i know its not the girls fault. A little information goes a long way with this hobby i have found out.