Severe Algae: Chicken vs. Egg and 2 years of struggling to grow anything planted

[nabokovfan87]

I want to start by saying my goal right now has been to grow moss. Simply moss. *deep breath, exhale slow*

I had a tank which crashed due to my inexperience and losing CO2/fertilizer regularity.  That was the underlying reason for the plants struggling.  Following a few months of that, I trimmed the plant that was doing "too good" (PSO) and seemingly destroyed any progress I had on the tank.  Everything dwindled down slowly over time except for my anubias. 

Following that, we moved houses, which led to everything in tubs with a light and almost no day to day care.  I also lost the ability to setup the tank for an extended period of time which led to massive BBA outbreaks and extremely bad conditions for the plants.  This post is my attempt to try to explain everything that has happened since those initial struggles and offer any bits of advice I can to help others who may have struggles with algae.

I'll start here, with this video, and my morning of thoughts when the robots on youtube finally got one right and recommended a video I actually wanted to click and watch intently.  I would encourage you to click it on and listen to George as you read and then go back and re-watch with the added visuals. 
 

When I first setup any sort of a "display tank" I had some pretty high expectations for myself. I had a tank, with good substrate, easy plants, and I wanted to let the plants grow before I did anything else. The idea being it was a planted tank, not an aquarium.  I want to have plants in my aesthetic and I wanted to be able to have consistency in my dosing schedule and just enjoy the greenery.

I planted the tank, it looks amazing and like 100's of videos I'd seen of aquascapes that led to success.

Immediately I had issues with the plants uprooting themselves, not taking hold, melting, and withering away.  All of that $ spent on plants was basically a waste.

Attempt 2, I did a lot more research on planting depth, tried to ensure they didn't pop out of the substrate and things stayed in place, withered away, melted, and was basically a waste.

Attempt 3, I tried to add the anubias from the tubs, convert it to new growth and then add another batch of plants and *hope* they actually take hold.  Things were on edge of sustainability.... I can't keep buying plants to fill in this tank and have failures.  This is the point when everything started to crash continuously for me.  The anubias had BBA, the dwarf hairgrass had brush algae, melt, KH issues, lighting issues, lack of nutrients, and ultimately was not setup for success.

Between power failures, my own struggles with consistency, overdosing because I thought it was a lack of nutrients causing the plants to fail and noticing too many shadows on the tank I had to take a step back and really just adjust how I was viewing the entire situation.

One of Cory's videos had encouraged consistency, longer time between water changes, a month or several weeks at minimum.  I was focusing on consistent weekly water changes and trying to keep that schedule, adjusting my lighting and dosing as a focus for my changes.  There was some success to playing with those variables (separately), but ultimately the tank did crash and has struggled.  I currently have the lights turned way down and I currently have the dosing set for 2/3 of a dose 2x a week of easy green. 

I think every sentence above speaks to how frustrated I have been with my inability to grow anything. I know if I add a stem plant in the back, it will help.  If I add moss it will help.  My struggle is getting enough new growth so that the entirely of the new growth can push out the algae for good.  More on this concept later.  I have had the tank to a place of stability where the algae is not increasing several times. Weeks of stability, but eventually something happens and it always takes hold again.  I have even gone to doubling, tripling the amount of amano shrimp in my tank as a means to passively increase the ability of the tank to clean itself.  Through all of these struggles there has been a few nuggets of advice I want to pass along and hope that if anyone is as discouraged as I am, to hold your chin up and try to keep pushing through the algae issues.

First, I really want to commend, ecstatically so, the ability of amano shrimp to be great and cleaning algae in a tank.  It doesn't matter what it is, they will *eventually* get to it. My best example I can give you is 2 bushes of anubias that have pretty long roots. It's almost like clockwork how they let it fill with BBA, clean it, go elsewhere, and then cycle back to clean those roots.  Waking up and seeing those pale bright green roots is one of my favorite things.  They can clean any variety of algae and they will do so without needing much of anything besides oxygenation and time.

Second, manual removal and manual effort is the only real way to get through a severe algae issue.  When it first started I was at a loss because every bit of my anubias was caked in BBA covered leaves. If I remove those leaves, the plant will be encouraged to grow, but have nothing but a rhizome and a few roots to do so.  Giving the plant time to do it's work, manually removing the leaves as new ones appear, scraping it off leaves when I can, using a brush on hardscape, scrubbing the hard algae off of the glass and hardscape, and manually taking out every bit of frustration on algae growing on the equipment is the only real way to make progress.  It's going to float around the tank and massive water changes will help to siphon out a lot of the floating debris, but it takes constant weekly effort to keep brushing it off and keep pushing it back to get ahead. Especially if the algae is stubborn and persistent. On wood, use a knife or razor blade and scrape it off.  Use a sponge or stiff brush on rocks to remove it.  Use a soft toothbrush on your leaves and then siphon everything out.  Remove the filter, clean it thoroughly, and get ready to do the same thing next week if you need to.  Keep doing this, until you get things going the right direction. That is how you give your plants a fighting chance when you're dealing with severe BBA.

Third, and I want to say this is my opinion only, I think everything that is green or brown brush algae and green hair algae can simply be stopped by adjusting lighting, dosing, and giving the tank time.  There are members here who have algae balls for their tanks as a main feature plant.  It's very cool to see.  I would prefer moss instead, but I totally understand there can be an aesthetic where something like green hair algae looks nice on the back wall of a tank as it grows in.  Manually removing it once, fixing the tank lighting, adjusting dosing, I think will generally fix the vast majority of issues for most tanks.  The plants can generally out-compete those two types of algae pretty easily.  A lot of people struggle when the brown/green brush algae becomes the BBA variety over time as things worsen.

Finally, what do I mean by the chicken and egg thing?  Well, this is where I am at now.  I have to fix algae so I can have plants, but I can't fix algae because I don't have enough plants.  Sometimes plants literally just won't work well in your water. Be it the type of plant and parameters in your water or a situation where those plants came from water that is very different than what you can provide.  I think a lot of my own struggles come from water chemistry differences as well as not having the bioload to actually out-compete the algae in question.

This is where I go back to my first statement, I simply want to grow some moss....

I am on the verge of getting rid of this stinkin' BBA, it's been a journey and I'm hopeful.  Make sure you have enough plants in the tank. That's the final tip.  If you're really, severely struggling with plants, add something like PSO that will just out-compete everything in the tank and grow literally.... like a weed.  (ref. Goliad Farms and their love of hornwort).

The main thing is to keep pushing through the struggle, adapt when you need to, and pay attention to what the tank is telling you.  Even daily, try to figure out what is going on.  It might mean spending 20-30 minutes sitting there and pondering. It might mean testing 3-5x a week to track how your plants are using fertilizers. Understanding what is going on is critically important and above all be patient and try to give your plants the best chance to grow in.  If you need to, consider adding more.

[Brandon p]

I’m not crazy good at scaping.  I have learned that some algae can be good. I like the bright green algae that grows on some wood or rocks. It’s not for everyone. I use moss all the time. I two takes that are covered in moss. One has moss growing over the eco-complete. I love it. I it came from my yard. The second the moss is different ground moss. It is a test tank, I wanted to see how a tank with only moss as a substrate. So far been up and down as far as looks go, but it have been great for everything else including breed numbers. I do have rooted plants in the first tank but very easy ones of course Amazon sword and red melon sword, pennywort. I do have several  moss “trees”. Yes, moss “trees”moss glued on drift wood branches and I like them I had a plan it’s not there but it’s the long game.

[nabokovfan87]

@Brandon p Well, the moss is officially on the way.  Here's to hoping I can grow it.  The plan for now it to just suction cup it to the wall and let the mat grow in a bit.

I also got some stem plants to add to the tank and hopefully provide that little boost I need to finish knocking this algae out.

CO2 is standing by ready to go when the tank is ready for it also.  I don't think this algae has a chance anymore! 😂

[Axredx]

You know, in my struggles with plants. I hated algea and moss. I would nuke it the minute I saw it. After many failures I let nature do its course I allowed green hair algie, black beard, green moss and even brown algie to do its thing. I fetilized my plants well with tablets and easy green. Gave them 8.5 hours of light. Overtime the plants won, the algea receeded and I have had success. Keep trying and dont give up. The feeling of sitting in front of you tank and seeing you plants bloom is imazing.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/4/2022 at 4:06 AM, Axredx said:

The feeling of sitting in front of you tank and seeing you plants bloom is amazing.

Oh for sure!  Even with a high tech CO2 setup, I haven't had a ton of success getting the tank to pearl.  There was several days where I'd just sit there in awe and then I had some plants flower for me, yet again, breathtakingly fun day when I saw that.

I know the plants were happy because of their growth and things like that.  The tank was happy because everything was working well.  I can't wait to get back to that! Especially considering now, I have substrate that other plants will enjoy and thrive in a bit easier.

It's funny, I say the plants only pearled a few times.  I'm sure it was many more times, but I just never paid enough attention at the right times.
 

On 7/4/2022 at 4:06 AM, Axredx said:

Overtime the plants won, the algea receeded and I have had success. Keep trying and dont give up.

1000%.  It's a quote from a movie, "Are you tired?"  Definitely not!

I appreciate the motivation, thank you!  Nice work getting through the algae. It's a good feeling when you get there and takes some doing.

[Brandon p]

On 7/4/2022 at 2:02 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

@Brandon p Well, the moss is officially on the way.  Here's to hoping I can grow it.  The plan for now it to just suction cup it to the wall and let the mat grow in a bit.

I also got some stem plants to add to the tank and hopefully provide that little boost I need to finish knocking this algae out.

CO2 is standing by ready to go when the tank is ready for it also.  I don't think this algae has a chance anymore! 😂

Good luck. I have only had the diy CO2. That was helpful growing growing in the moss. I never had much luck traditional aquarium mosses. So I used the CO2 and did I of the no-no’s a had a tank in the window. The ground moss I went to using did great. I learned that light is super important and light as close to sunlight is the best. I have 3 tanks with moss one is in the sun one has a hygger light(which I like ), and a very good finnex. The moss grows more flat on the one with the sun and the finnex. With the hygger it grows well but differently. It grows much thinner, tall, and stringy. If that happens I personally try to trim that more often.  The others with the better light source I never have had to trim that. I hope that helps. I think you have all the things to work. Good luck 

[nabokovfan87]

Planted everything today.  Officially closing my chapter (whether it's happening or not) on the "I can't grow plants this year" phase of my hobby.  Worst case the CO2 shows back up, but it's been a journey and I'm excited to have some moss again.  Photos are in the journal, but here's the "beauty shot".

[Guppysnail]

In the future This may help give you plants a  bit of a “do over” to shed some the algae.  Of course it will come back unless you find what is causing it but this at least will save money in constantly buying new plants until it balances out. I

f you try it I encourage you to share before and after photos with us on the RR thread. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Guppysnail

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/7/2022 at 4:44 AM, Guppysnail said:

In the future This may help give you plants a  bit of a “do over” to shed some the algae.

Definitely makes sense.  The difficult part, and I think one of my biggest issues was just not knowing enough, and not setting things up for success.  The frustration being that when you fix those issues it's not like the algae just disappears overnight.  I've taken hardscape and plants and stuff and directly treated with Hydrogen peroxide and it didn't make a dent.  I look forward to when it does make sense for me to try the RR method, but I am hoping that this is it!

It's been a journey and watching the algae latch on to melt, not having new growth, it's just so frustrating as a hobbyist when you know you're 80 or 90% of the way there.

[nabokovfan87]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to review and follow up with my status.  I want to review some of the things mentioned above and provide some insight as I tried to tune my methods and continue learning how to deal with this stuff.  There have been some ups and downs, but ultimately my goal is that I want to try to help people who were (or are) in my shoes and feel like they just don't know what they are doing wrong.  Even in the past couple of weeks, I've had some dramatic changes and it's been illuminating, shedding some light on why exactly my plants were failing me the past few months.

On 7/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I want to start by saying my goal right now has been to grow moss. Simply moss. *deep breath, exhale slow*

If we recall from the post above, this was my initial goal:

This is the most recent view of my tank now, 75G, following the move of everything:

The most pivotal thing here is that the moss is growing, doing very well.  I think a lot of my issues previously were not dosing, not having enough light, and not really putting the moss in a place to succeed.  In the 29G I had the moss right under the HOB output and it worked so well there, but the BBA also loved that spot.  The BBA grew faster than the moss, which meant that the algae won out most days.  Once I moved to the slightly smaller tank, you can see above, the moss is finally winning that battle.  I wake up every morning and watch the amanos graze on the algae.  Placement of plants does matter, and it's one of the tools we have to fight this stuff.
 

On 7/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I had a tank which crashed due to my inexperience and losing CO2/fertilizer regularity.  That was the underlying reason for the plants struggling.  Following a few months of that, I trimmed the plant that was doing "too good" (PSO) and seemingly destroyed any progress I had on the tank.  Everything dwindled down slowly over time except for my anubias. 

Even recently, I learned that I needed to test my GH/KH better.  I was using a method, but I was not verifying accuracy.  I assumed the test I had was accurate, but it wasn't.  My own inability to read the test alongside water issues with some invertebrates in a different tank led me to discover I had fallen on the wrong side of the equation yet again with the buffers I was using.  GH was lower than KH, nitrates were low, CO2 was finally working, but overall nothing was growing.  I tested the water constantly, but nothing was working.  I added more ferts, no real change.  I made some other changes which we'll dive into next, but ultimately... Knowing what my water was doing and how that related to the plants was key.   Getting my GH > KH (thank you for that tip green aqua!) was one of the key things I learned and it's something I will monitor moving forward.

Everything is a tool of sorts.  Maintenance, fertilizer dosing, water changes, manual removal, trimming, testing, and monitoring are all tools.  Sometimes you need to sharpen your own skills using those tools in addition to everything else.  Stay motivated, stay invested, stay hopeful, but you do need to put the time in with your tools to get to the core issue.  Finding out what your core issue is in your tank varies, but have the patience (years in my case) to get to a point where you feel confident enough to grow some moss.

On 7/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Second, manual removal and manual effort is the only real way to get through a severe algae issue.

I will start by saying that algae is not the enemy, but it's simply a natural indication of certain things going on.  Algae, much like aufwuchs, biofilm, detritus, and copepods are normal things that show up in your tank.  There is a need to keep things in check, but seeing some algae is not the end of the tank.  Having algae, might even take years to get the plant in question to recover, but you can get there.  There is a video by Jurijs Jutjajevs that shows a method of using flourish excel / easy carbon to dip plants over a few days to get rid of BBA.  That is a fantastic way to handle algae issue on a lot of plants.  My testing tells me to do so with a bucket, lid, and airstone, but ultimately it was used recently with success and I now understand.... yet again still learning... a bit of my prior struggles. 

Listening to a livestream with Bentley it was brought up to do a blackout to help the tank start fighting the algae.  To soften it up so that the shrimp and algae eaters could then go after it.  What I realize now is where I failed previously.  You're trying to kill the algae by choking out light and nutrients.  Alright, the algae is going to respond like most things by trying to spread and grow.  The tip on the stream was to perform daily water changes to minimize the spores in the water.  What a novel concept and an easy way to try to minimize the effectiveness of the algae to fight back.  Brilliant.  Then we have the video by Jurijs mentioned above.  It notes that you don't want to simply dip the plant once, but that you want to weaken the algae first, then repeat the dose again.  Further this enforces the idea that one method, one step in the right direction isn't enough.  We need to be diligent with how we fight off algae.  The most recent video I watched was from Corvus Oscen, trimming plants and discussing his tank and algae issues.  His bit of advice was to trim your plants much more than you normally would because that alone is how you encourage new growth.  My best example of this method is moss.  I've talked with many hobbyist who don't cut / trim the moss.  Who don't propagate it out and encourage those fine bits of moss to grow into longer strands.  The best thing I've done is to keep the moss trimmed, the S.Repens trimmed, and to encourage the new growth on the plants.  This gives the healthiest part of the plant the best opportunity to use light energy and the higher chance of pushing past the algae battle. 

Manual removal helps, spot treatment is effective, but can damage plants, the dip is a really good way to handle things.  Ultimately, none of these fix the issue until you find out why the algae is returning and where your flaws are in eradicating that algae.

The other major change I did was my light is no longer on top of the tank.  While this doesn't seem to make a ton of impact, I find that it really does.  Not only does it change the refraction angles on the light, but it does also help to spread out the light itself.  There is no longer the hotspot affect across the middle of the tank.  The spread (lighting technical term) is across the depth of the tank, front to back, which helps to ensure that I can turn the light up without burning out some of the plants in that midground or higher up on the tank.

From the very crude example above, if we look at the blue lines as our "optimal light beams" you can see how the refraction is slightly different.  First note that in both cases the lid and the water refraction is ignored.  Those both worsen the scenario.  As the light is  lifted, those beams to the front and back of the tank  are at say... 15 degrees off axis compared to 25 degrees when the light is right on the rim.  Then you have to ask yourself, if it's easier to get those rays of light to the bottom of the tank with the light lifted.  Surprisingly, my gut tells me it's helping. 

On 7/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Finally, what do I mean by the chicken and egg thing?  Well, this is where I am at now.  I have to fix algae so I can have plants, but I can't fix algae because I don't have enough plants.  Sometimes plants literally just won't work well in your water. Be it the type of plant and parameters in your water or a situation where those plants came from water that is very different than what you can provide.  I think a lot of my own struggles come from water chemistry differences as well as not having the bioload to actually out-compete the algae in question.

On 7/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

The main thing is to keep pushing through the struggle, adapt when you need to, and pay attention to what the tank is telling you.  Even daily, try to figure out what is going on.  It might mean spending 20-30 minutes sitting there and pondering. It might mean testing 3-5x a week to track how your plants are using fertilizers. Understanding what is going on is critically important and above all be patient and try to give your plants the best chance to grow in.  If you need to, consider adding more.

I definitely look at the photo above and still feel that chicken and egg issue.  I am mostly utilizing moss as a plant load, but I do have some other plants that are slowly growing.  I did end up moving all of my very low demand plants to a separate tank with very specific controlled parameters.  In that tank, the algae is still there, but I have seen all of those plants double in size.  Again, I need to find that balance of nutrients, lights, and plant demand, but I am fixing the same issues I was on the bigger tank.  Due to some testing on this low demand tank, I discovered the GH vs. KH issue in the main tank that was causing my plants to stagnate.  Ultimately, as mentioned, finding that reason for your issues is the most beneficial thing you can do to fix the algae.  It is also the most significant challenge, especially given that we all tend to avoid testing the parameters that matter unless you're following an EI dosing regime.

Right now, I dose in GH buffer as one of my weekly ferts.  That's just where my water is at and I need to make sure the plants have those nutrients available.  I dose in iron as well as the easy green fertilizer. 

Ultimately, my goal is still to simply grow moss.  My goal is to get better with moss.  My goal is to get better with all plants in general.  Whether it's herb garden stuff for cooking in the kitchen or the aquatic garden in my room, the goal is to have these pieces of nature thriving.  In the past few months it's become clear that I have so much t learn on a basic level.  There is so much to digest on an intermediate level.  I think I will always be in awe when someone has all the pieces put together.  That admiration of being able to produce nature, I don't know where it comes from for me, but I do cherish it.  I hope that skill develops over the coming years.  Just like everything, it's something I have to try for and not just blindly hope that things work out.  I think the biggest advice I can give since the last post is to constantly search for advice from people who have the skills and aquascapes you admire.  Check out some of the green aqua, Jurijs, George Farmer, Corvus, Bentley, and so many other wonderful sources of information.  Hop on a livestream with someone who likes plants and ask those questions.  Try to figure out that puzzle as best you can and I wish you the best of luck in doing so.

I'll end here.... the introductory statements about why from George Farmer here are profound.  I think I need to watch a lot more of his content, but I really do appreciate the mantra and not just the visuals behind so many aquascapers.

 

[Guppysnail]

Sometimes all it takes is a bit of success to get us past the frustration. Real growth and understanding then takes place in leaps and bounds. 
I am glad you are finally feeling good about this tank. Congratulations. 
One word describes this journey so far 

PERSEVERANCE 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:16 AM, Guppysnail said:

Sometimes all it takes is a bit of success to get us past the frustration. Real growth and understanding then takes place in leaps and bounds. 
I am glad you are finally feeling good about this tank. Congratulations. 
One word describes this journey so far 

PERSEVERANCE 

For certain.  I appreciate it. 

I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have without the help of so many different sources.  The one on one advice that @Bentley Pascoe provided was (and is) so valuable.  It's a hobby of trying to help one another and sometimes it's so easy to feel confused by what is the right thing to do.

Watching @Irene's talk at aquashella right now and it's related to that same struggle. 

I am anxiously awaiting more plants and things to try out.  I am looking forward to observing how plants I have failed with previously handle the current setup and to understand what I will learn from those experiences.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/20/2023 at 1:39 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I was thinking about this again this morning and there is a video that Cory made on the topic.  I'll try to find the details and link it here.
 

Light directly on the rim:
Center of the tank with glass top: 66 Par
Center of the tank with glass top removed: 90 par (light is slightly FWD)
Comparison of placement, center of light vs. rear of tank (light is slightly FWD):  84 vs. 33 par
Comparison of placement, light moved from FWD of tank to center of tank: 90 (no glass) vs. 72 par (with glass)

Light raised up 10" via canopy:
Center of tank: 38 Par (was 66 par on rim)
*unfortunately there isn't a corner measurement*

Edited May 20, 2023 by nabokovfan87
added clarification

[nabokovfan87]

Hello everyone, I hope everything is going wonderfully on your side of things.

It is one of those days where I feel deep in thoughts.  I feel this sort of near overwhelming urge to hit a reset button, find a time machine, or just this urgent need to decide that everything is ok right now in this moment.  I saw a video and it wasn't anything too out of the ordinary, but I think when you pause a bit and sit and think about a few key things it is a pretty profound piece of content.
 

I think it's been this process for me, over and over, where I have to pause when I see an old photo of my tanks.  I do this simply because I am trying to recall the person that was making that tank at the time and what has changed since then.  What did I learn?  How did my techniques change?  What moments do I remember that stand out?  I watched the video above with the intent of focusing specifically on the music and trying to really not think too far back in the scenes or to think too far ahead to more recent shots of Corvus' tank.  My goal was to really see how he pruned the plants, replanted, removed, and how is style of tank changed over time.  A piece of hardscape would come into frame and it was as if I was recalling the 2-3 videos when he would go back and discussed his eventual removal of that piece of wood or rock.  Trying to show it off again because it had been hidden over time by the jungle.  the goal again to reset and just focus on what was in front of me, not the outside noise.

When I finished watching the video, foreshadowed by an early moment in the day where I realized I need to go work on the big tank and try to fix an issue, I was contrasting all of those thoughts while watching the above content with my own tank.  Much like this thread, I have a very introspective mindset and I wanted to really try to fix some issues that I know I have let progress.  As usual it is certain things where I have simply opted to "give up" and feel so defeated.  It is the part of the planted tank where I literally do not understand what I am doing wrong.  The aspects where I have tried so many things to see what works and time and time again I have simply made things worse for myself.  Recently I saw the algae making a comeback, so I tried to clean things, I did an extra water change, and then I went ahead and treated some plants in the tank for that algae.  I wake up every day to two things.  First, there is moss in the skimmer and the second being that the amano shrimp accidentally detached the moss from the hardscape while trying to eat off the algae from that moss.  This morning I noticed that the sheer amount of flow I have in the tank is a bit too strong for it's own good.  Maybe that explains some of the moss issues.  I spent a good amount of time trying to decide if I go down the route of removing every scrap of moss and starting over or if there is a better method.  Do I need to clean the wood, remove the outer surface that is a bit softer and rotten or is this type of moss simply never going to attach in the way that my other tank worked?  Is this an issue of mopani wood vs. ghost wood or is this tied to the specific variety of moss?  Is this a light or flow issue where the placement of the moss itself is causing the issue.  Is there something else that I'm missing?

Today is Plato's Cave and this constant reminder that sometimes you cannot solve a problem until the information itself is clear as day in front of you.  I am trying to research and figure out the next steps for the tank.  I am mulling over what specific things to do, the order, and the importance of each step.  It sort of reminds me of the journey of a sushi master trying to learn for 10 years just how to rinse and cook rice properly.  Ultimately, you set your own standard for what you feel is the goal that you wish to achieve.

I know I need to handle this wood and moss situation.  I need to observe if the moss is doing extremely well in any specific placements or if there is the BBA showing up on every inch of that main tank.  I need to pull one of the filters and try to lessen the flow in a region for the fish.  I may need to revise the way the spraybar is directed to allow for a better relationship between circulation and algae with regards to the CO2 and the BBA.  I need to be able to ensure that when I use an algaecide, it's not just haphazardly used in such a way to result in no difference in the end.  I need to decide if using one is even worth it anymore.  After using one for months you would assume that a dent should've been made, but the simple answer is always going to be that you cannot overcome the algae without fixing the root cause of the algae in the first place.  Is the cause simply that the algae was introduced into the tank or is the cause much more complicated than that? 

Hopefully I can get some work done on the tank today and make the right steps.  I will leave you with this....  It was something that I really enjoyed watching and there are a few very good tips when it comes to how to place plants in your tank.  I admire the little details that this aquascaper shared.  I especially enjoyed the note by Amano about how "you can fit a plant then."
 

 

[nabokovfan87]