Assistance Needed with High Tech Aquarium

[eddie462]

Good evening everyone, I have this 40g breeder that I completed on October 29th. I am having algae problems, detritus and other particles collecting on surfaces, and the hang on back filter causing plants to always lean over. The first picture is of my aquarium. It's cloudy as I cleaned the hob filter. The second picture is an example of the detritus or whatever that is building up on plants, rocks and the substrate. The third picture is of the stem plants and Vallisneria leaning over from the hob filter.

I installed a co2 regulator with a timer that injects co2 when the light is on. I had the light on for nine hours a day, but I just lowered in to eight hours. The light is a Fluval Plant 3.0 that is at 80% brightness for each color. I dose the recommended amount of NilocG Thive S which is one pump per five gallons. The filtration is one Aquarium Co-op small sponge filter and a Seachem Tidal 55. This is a Walstad aquarium, where I have Miracle grow potting mix capped with pea pebbles and Eco Complete planted substrate without soil underneath.

I have city water. The water parameters out of my faucet are 7.4 ph, 2-3 KH and 4-5 GH. I set up this aquarium with soil because my water seems to have very little nutrients dissolved. Stem plants that I had in my paludarium always had nutrient deficiencies. Stem plants in another walstad tank that I set up did not have any nutrient deficiencies for the 4 months that the aquarium was running and I didn't have any fish stocked in it nor did I add fertilizer. Most of the plants came from previous aquariums, and the bba on the rhizome plants is spreading quickly. The also a lot of brown diatom algae on the rocks and some green spot algae on the driftwood.  Some of the Bucephalandra leaves have holes in them which I suspect are nutrient deficiencies.

Do I need to add calcium to this aquarium. I understand that I need to find a balance with this tank to fix the algae issues, but I don't know if I should increase the liquid fertilizer doses at this point. Do I need to add Seachem Equilibrium or crushed coral for some minerals? For the detritus, I was thinking about replacing the hob with a Fluval 207 with a spray bar or an internal filter with a spray bar for better circulation. I had a UV sterilizer with spray bar on one of my other aquariums, and that kept the substrate clean. Will the canister filter or internal filter fix the issue of the plants leaning from the hob filter? I am going to bleach dip the plants with a lot of bba, and spot treat the other algae with hydrogen peroxide. Thank you for your help!

Edited November 30, 2021 by eddie462

[Kittkat1981]

There is an awful lot going on here.  The fact that we have both diatomaceous and bba tells me you had a cycle and lost it some how.  The only recommendation I can give is do a liquid carbon black out.  7 days black out. Black out the tank, double dose liquid carbon for 4 days then regular dose for the next 3. Make sure you do it in the morning on the last day then a 20% water change for 3 days.  Monitor the tank after that. Reduce the light period as well.  2 cents given. Good luck

[Mmiller2001]

Try and find out what the amount of Mg and Ca is in your source water. Your GH and KH are in a good spot, but it would be nice to know where the ratio is on GH.

When injecting CO2, the cold hard reality is water changes need to increase. I would be doing 50 to 70% water changes every 7 days. This really helps with algae. 

Test your source water. See if it has any ammonia or nitrates so you can account for that during water changes. 

I would dose the incoming water to to 20ppm NO3 as proxy. 

You need to double check CO2, you want a 1 to 1.5pH drop from degassed CO2 to peak CO2. Set a sample, from your tank, out for 24 to 48 hours. PH it. That's the degassed pH. Then pH the tank after CO2 has been on for 2 hours or so. That's peak. 

CO2 should be on 2 hours or so before lights on. And off 1 hour before lights off. I would run the light for 8 hours total with a 30 minute ramp up and down.

Eventually, dry fertilizers are going to be your best route. I like EI dosing, I would do some research and start trying it.

Once everything starts growing better, I would top, replant and toss any portion of plants with algae.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Mmiller2001

[eddie462]

On 12/2/2021 at 7:58 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Try and find out what the amount of Mg and Ca is in your source water. Your GH and KH are in a good spot, but it would be nice to know where the ratio is on GH.

When injecting CO2, the cold hard reality is water changes need to increase. I would be doing 50 to 70% water changes every 7 days. This really helps with algae. 

Test your source water. See if it has any ammonia or nitrates so you can account for that during water changes. 

I would dose the incoming water to to 20ppm NO3 as proxy. 

You need to double check CO2, you want a 1 to 1.5pH drop from degassed CO2 to peak CO2. Set a sample, from your tank, out for 24 to 48 hours. PH it. That's the degassed pH. Then pH the tank after CO2 has been on for 2 hours or so. That's peak. 

CO2 should be on 2 hours or so before lights on. And off 1 hour before lights off. I would run the light for 8 hours total with a 30 minute ramp up and down.

Eventually, dry fertilizers are going to be your best route. I like EI dosing, I would do some research and start trying it.

Once everything starts growing better, I would top, replant and toss any portion of plants with algae.

Thank you for the help. I will try all of this.

On 12/1/2021 at 10:45 PM, Kittkat1981 said:

There is an awful lot going on here.  The fact that we have both diatomaceous and bba tells me you had a cycle and lost it some how.  The only recommendation I can give is do a liquid carbon black out.  7 days black out. Black out the tank, double dose liquid carbon for 4 days then regular dose for the next 3. Make sure you do it in the morning on the last day then a 20% water change for 3 days.  Monitor the tank after that. Reduce the light period as well.  2 cents given. Good luck

Thank you for the help, I will do this if I cannot dial the tank in first.

[Streetwise]

@Mmiller2001 has good advice for high-energy aquariums.

[Patrick_G]

I haven’t done a Walstad tank or used injected co2, but I’m thinking many five week old tanks go through a similar stage. It’s part of the process and it’ll improve with time and a few adjustments. In the pics I see what I think is black beard algae and also diatoms.  I think you’re on the right track with cutting back on your lighting period. That should help with the bba. A cleaning crew of Amano shrimp and Otocinclus will help with the  brown diatom algae. You might have to spot the dose the bba with liquid carbon while you work on getting the right balance of light and nutrients. Change one thing at a time a give it a few weeks to see if it’s working. 
To control the flow from the HOB I’ve used a method I learned from MD Fishtanks YouTube channel. Take a plastic bottle and cut a piece of plastic that can be wedged under the waterfall from the HOB. It’ll direct the flow over the surface instead of hammering your new plants! 

[eddie462]

On 12/1/2021 at 10:45 PM, Kittkat1981 said:

There is an awful lot going on here.  The fact that we have both diatomaceous and bba tells me you had a cycle and lost it some how.  The only recommendation I can give is do a liquid carbon black out.  7 days black out. Black out the tank, double dose liquid carbon for 4 days then regular dose for the next 3. Make sure you do it in the morning on the last day then a 20% water change for 3 days.  Monitor the tank after that. Reduce the light period as well.  2 cents given. Good luck

How do I know that a double dose of Liquid co2 would be safe for my fish. Google searches say to not overdose seachem excel. 

[Kittkat1981]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:38 AM, eddie462 said:

How do I know that a double dose of Liquid co2 would be safe for my fish. Google searches say to not overdose seachem excel. 

I think I found the regimen on fishlore.  The carbon supplement i use is from the coop and I'm not sure how much glutaraldehyde seachem has vs easy carbon.  If you are that concerned, you can still do the black out but just regular doses.  Just make sure the tank is blacked out completely. No feeding.   My experience with this method is with a 65 gal angelfish tank.  8 angelfish 7 green laser cory, 2 vampire shrimp, 1 bamboo shrimp and chompa.....the world's angriest bristlenose. I didn't lose a fish. They were ravenous after the blanket came off.    My setup is  65 gal. Aquatop canister, 500w eheim heater and I have air stones in the tank as well.