Is having too many plants a thing?

[Elquinjena]

First back when I had my 55 gal planted tank there was like 1 or 2 plants to use. I dont remember the name but they were cheap and came in bunches.

With my current 16 gal. Went with Anubias gold coin, pogostemon stellatus octopus, Christmas moss bridge, java ferns, hydrocotyle tripartite, and another one that I do not remember name but will post picture. Basically I picked plants that were easy, beginner,  low light and didnt need CO2.injections.

I started having BBA on the java fern, then it started to spread. From what I could find out about BBA and why it was happening, one reason was imbalance in the CO2. (I had other problems like running the light too long but I did think the light i had was giving off enough so ran it longer. I know better now and have better light and i decreased time down to 8 Hrs)

As an experiment I tried doing a CO2 passive diffusion to see if the plants were lacking enough. I used a 14 oz.bottle. In 8 hrs of light the bottle was completely empty of any CO2.

Forgot to add my bio load is 1 betta, 8 neons, 6 danios, 2 amano shrimp, 2 nirate snails and 2 trumpet snails. Using hob pulling water from a under gravel filter and medium sponge filter.

So do I just have too many plants since these are suppose to be not needing extra CO2.

Should i continue with the passive diffusion or go full CO2 set up with a designated co2 tank and regulator?

Or should I cut back on my plants?

Picture is of the 4 little foreground plants I picked up at petsmart. They have grown 3 times the size from when I first got them.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Elquinjena

[Brandy]

I am new too, but I am a long time gardener, so I am new to fish, and the plants seem more intuitive. Personally I don't think it is possible to have "too many" plants, the plants are actually what led me here to aquariums. 🙂 I may be biased. 

I think plants can get overgrown and shade each other and cause the lower levels to die, but that doesn't look like what is happening in your tank. 

I wonder if your plants are getting enough fertilizer? You don't mention any, but if they are growing, then I would say that is a good sign! They must be getting some from your fish at least.

I have struggled with fertilizer. I have found a test kit is really helpful for that. I have really heavily planted tanks, with low fish stocking (working on that!!). I literally never seem to have more than 5ppm nitrates and I am dosing with Easy Green. Most of the time nitrates are reading at zero. At first I assumed I had algae because I was fertilizing too much. Then I got a master test kit, which indicated that I actually may be fertilizing too little.

If you think of algae as weeds, I think it helps--weeds are adapted to less than optimal conditions, and thrive in a crack in the concrete. Not so much your prize roses. On the other hand if you have lots of nitrates and your plants can't eat enough then the algae could grow too. I think it is a bit of a balancing act, so I have been keeping records, and it is helping me dial it in. 

I do use passive CO2 temporarily to boost some plants in some tanks, just to help them get established. I think of it like using row covers or tree supports in your garden, just boosting the babies until they take hold. I notice my plants happily pearling when I do that, so I know they are actively growing faster. I do get algae, but I think as plants fill in, they will begin to out-compete the algae, just like a mature landscape out-competes the weeds while a new one is a weed farm for a bit while you get everything going.

Hopefully, someone with more aquarium experience can chime in. I would like to hear more suggestions too!

[Mikeg]

I don't think you have too many, maybe try some soil? That said, plants and algae actually can release chemicals that inhibit competitors. Read a book about it recently but I don't think it's something us average folk need to worry too much about. Maybe someone else has more info on that.

[Wmarian]

I would say that most plant aquarium geeks recommend heavily planting from the very beginning to help avoid algae problems...and the balance is fertilizer/light to keep the plants actively growing without excess....with co2 you would want more fertilizer to max plant growth in that context. IMO too many plants does not cause algae. Light fertilizer nutrient imbalance should be your target

[Elquinjena]

I do test and change my water, I also use easy green and root tabs where need. 

My water parameters are in the middle of the road and water changes happen when I am at 40 rpm on nitrates. I test again add easy green and test one more time.

I will keep doing the passive CO2 for a bit longer and see about getting at least my own tank of CO2 so I wont keep taking hubby's CO2 from his soda stream. 😁

[Brandy]

Lol, I might have considered the soda stream in the beginning myself! Love it. It sounds like it is just a bit of fine tuning for you then! 

[Lizzie Block]

@Elquinjena The plants in your photo look nice and very healthy! Also, I'm guessing you have nerites 😂 I've had great success spot dosing BBA with a little liquid carbon like Easy Carbon with the filter off. Water changes a few minutes later and within days, it was almost entirely gone. Another option to consider if you're not keen on injecting CO2 with a cylinder and reg.

Btw, this tank had CO2 running every single day for 7 hours and still had BBA! The shrimp were all over it after my carbon spot dose 🙂

[Maria]

On 7/16/2020 at 8:14 PM, Lizzie Block said:

@Elquinjena The plants in your photo look nice and very healthy! Also, I'm guessing you have nerites 😂 I've had great success spot dosing BBA with a little liquid carbon like Easy Carbon with the filter off. Water changes a few minutes later and within days, it was almost entirely gone. Another option to consider if you're not keen on injecting CO2 with a cylinder and reg.

Btw, this tank had CO2 running every single day for 7 hours and still had BBA! The shrimp were all over it after my carbon spot dose 🙂 

how exactly did you spot treat? using a pipette? 

[Elquinjena]

One video i watch the person was using a syringe with a needle to spot treat areas, but they were using hydrogen peroxide. 
I ended up pulling the Java fern and replacing it, also took out other plants that had BBA on them and removed those leaves and gave it a peroxide rinse.
Rinsed off other things I had in the tank in a peroxide bath.

I think cutting my light back to 8 hours instead of 12, removing what was infected with the black beard algae and bathing the few plants that had starts on it has helped. I also think the addition of the co2 passive diffusion has helped too.
Still watching it closely.

Oh and if you remove decorations make sure you have no snails on them. I thought I would lose my nitrate snail, didn't know he was on my decoration when I took it to be cleaned so he fell into the sink, got hit with some hot water and fell into the peroxide bath before I could get him back to the tank. He survived, which surprised me. He is a tough little snail.

[Lizzie Block]

@Maria Yep, pipette. Or I suppose you could just slowly pour a capful onto it with the filter off. Let it sit for some time and then do a water change soon after, though it probably wouldn't harm anything even if you just left the carbon in the tank within the dosing instructions. I've also heard hydrogen peroxide works, but I haven't personally used it for BBA. Best of luck! 🙂

[Maria]

@Lizzie Block thanks! it's shown up in my 29g... I thought I had it contained to my 75g... silly me! I've read if you have anubias you will eventually get bba... anybody else heard that?

[Lizzie Block]

32 minutes ago, Maria said:

@Lizzie Block thanks! it's shown up in my 29g... I thought I had it contained to my 75g... silly me! I've read if you have anubias you will eventually get bba... anybody else heard that?

Yes, I've read the same thing! But, I've had BBA on actually everything at various times. Plants, rocks, wood, filters, intakes and outputs. Even had it on top of my CO2 diffuser and a snail once ?? haha he's a wise snail now. So, I think the major factor at play is light. Your anubias could potentially have BBA growing on it at some point because it's so slow growing, but if you are able to keep it out of direct light, it should be just fine! I generally try to plant anubias in the shadier areas of other larger plants so that it's out of bright light. It usually stays pristine and free of algae that way. Or, if you so choose, you can shorten your photoperiod while you're having a BBA outbreak. All about a light/nutrient balance to totally eradicate it for good.