Marcelo

Pretty cool 😎 I am also a beginner here. this forum is amazing … I needed help and the guys saved my life. Welcome to the forum

How is your shrimp ?

The same thing happened to me last month when I started to dose Seachem Excell as a way to reduce algae and after 2 days I lost my 5 ghost shrimps. I had them since months so it is pretty clear that the Seachem Excell or something on it caused my problem. I did read some posts saying this can be caused by drastic changes in the water or some chemical being added. Did you change something or started to dose something ? Some big water change ?

The only thing that helped me was Seachem Excel. I have been dosing Excel for about 1 week and I see a big improvement. Look my thread:

Hi All, Coming back to give a little update and keep a record of what happened so it could help someone in the future. I was able to increase nitrates a little bit (with Easy Green) but it didn’t help. I decided to go with Seachem Excel for now, I have been using it for 2 weeks and it is working. I see a reduction occurring. I loose 2 or 3 shrimps. I also replaced some old bushes of Hair Grass with new ones as a way to have more plants fighting again algae. My plan is to gradually stop Excel in about 1 or 2 months. lets see Marcelo

Great ! What I can also do is kind of trim 5 to 10 blades per week or month so I would keep the bushes and trim old ones 🙂 this is a hobby so, let’s see right 🤣.

Thank you very much @ryan1 and @ccc24 ! Marcelo

Hi Everyone, I bought and planted these 3 dwarf hair grass bushes about a month ago and even knowing I should split the bushes in small spots as a way to cover my substrate, I decided to keep them as bushes (see the picture) as I liked this visual. Questions: Is it ok to keep them as bushes? Like the picture ? Their height right now is about 5 inches and I want to keep it. Can I keep trimming at this specific height from time to time? thank you so much for your time and answer.

Hi Everyone, I am a little bit confuse because of the color of the algae (it’s is not black … it is kind of dark green). Could you help me to identify ?

@Biotope Biologist, are they aggressive between theirselves or with other fishes too? My soon has a small tank so I could move one …

Hi Everyone I bought both of them days ago as Chinese Algae Eater but they are so different that I am starting to thing I have an impostor 😀 Can you help me to identify them please ? I appreciate your help

I am reading “The Ex:”. by Freida McFadenn !!! A mind-bending psychological thriller - she (the Ex) is nuts !!!! Crazy crazy ! it’s free if you have Amazon Prime

I know !!!! It’s easier to say than to do 🤣 anyway …. The good news is you put your hands into the tank and move things later 🤣

Have a look on this product: Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover I had issues when I left my tank alone for 14 days ! After hours looking for what to do I found this product. I had fishes, Nerites and shrimps and nothing happened with them.

Hi @Tommy Vercettimy GH was higher (about 300) weeks ago but I used some API pillows to decrease it as I was having issues with my fishes. Well, it decreased to much 😆 and now I am slowly increasing again. Every day I put a cup of tap water (Prime first). How much Seachem Excel you have used ? The same dose they say in the product box?? Or less … ? Daily ?

Hi @JoeQand @Keeg Thank you for your advises. Looks like the algae is reducing. I don’t have a way to say what was the main point / solution or if many of them together helped with this but this is what I did: - reduced the temperature to 79oF - I did move my canister inflow and outflow to create more water circulation and make sure all plants had at least a little. - I kept the CO2 like before (no changes) - I suspended additional fertilization - I know the “siesta” is not usually applied for folks with CO2 but I am doing anyway 😆 3,5 hours lights on, 2 hours off and 3,5 on again. As soon as the lights go off, I turn on my O2 for 2 hours …. thank you for now, I will post again in some days Marcelo

Is there some Petstore (Petsmart, Petco, other) close to your place that you could bring some water and ask them to test?

I personally liked but if you want to get some advanced advice, look for “golden ratio”. Google it https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_aquascaping_aquascaping-with-the-golden-ratio

Hi Everyone, I found a lot of posts like this but - arghhh - so many variables !! I am lost ☹️

@JoeQ I keep my water in about 82 oF as I have some tetras and neons. I didn’t think about temperature … I will research about this.

I am not saying you should do this but if you want to reduce the hardness, you can use those pillows (api softener pillow) . They work very fine *but* take care with the fishes and etc because in my tank, it reduced from about 300 GH to about 40 GH in two days and I have the feeling it was too fast ! After this, when needed, you can use RO water or Distilled water that you can find in Walmart or etc

Did you use TAP water to fill your tank ?? I am asking because I am from Florida and the tap water here is like this 300 or more !

I am using Tetra Easy Strips to measure but as it is indeed odd, I did bring some water to a local store and they also measured 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites. in regards to CO2, I am not sure about what to do (reduce or increase) as I saw other posts saying CO2 actually helps to reduce algae 🙂 but thanks for the suggestion. Maybe I need to increase ? light is a good point ! Maybe reduce to 7 hours or even use that technique of implementing a break (siesta). let’s see if other colleagues will advise ! thank you

Hi, I am struggling with these hair algae (is this hair algae?) since 3 weeks. I already tried water changes and I am not sure what to do. ph 6.8 in the middle of the day and 7.3 in the evening (some time after the CO2 turns off). nitrate 0.0 nitrite 0.0 ammonia 0.0 KH 89 GH 71 CO2 less than 1 bobble per second or maybe 1 per second (started about 1 month ago) 5 drops of BrightWell FlorinMulti per day. Light was on 8 hours per day. I am starting my plants so I am not sure if the problem is the fact that I don’t have many plants yet ….. Do you have some clue or suggestion? I appreciate very much.

Following @Coluand @CJs Aquatics Advises, I moved the 3 left neons to the quarantine tank adding an air stone, aqua salt and increased a little bit the water temp. The stop dying but are not eating yet. I will come back with news in the next days