How to save this tank

[asondhi]

A few months ago my mental health tanked and this is the result. I stopped dosing ferts or easy carbon, stopped carefully tuning the lighting and CO2 with plant growth, stopped doing water changes... pretty much only fed the fish and dipped a test strip in once in a while to make sure no one was going to die. 

Luckily my other 2 tanks were established/balanced enough to continue thriving and experience no negative effects... probably because they're low-tech. 

I need some advice on saving this tank, it's a UNS 45U (~10g) with a betta, buttload of cherry shrimp, snails, and some chili rasboras. Medium/high tech setup with CO2 injection and a twinstar light. 

Under all that algae is some UNS controsoil with a Monte Carlo carpet that's melted back a good bit (but seems to still have a strong root system). There's the obvious pearl weed and a dwarf crypt whose name escapes me. 

Aside from manual removal and a series of large water changes (working up the energy to do so now), what can I do? How can I prevent this in the future? I plan to massively reduce (or just stop) CO2 injection and light duration to slow down growth and resource consumption but do I have any other options? My other two tanks are newer, yet I have managed to balance them much better (I'm assuming because of water volume) 

Thanks in advance! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/13/2022 at 1:44 PM, asondhi said:

A few months ago my mental health tanked and this is the result.

I'm very sorry for what you're going through and I hope things are doing ok.  It will get better. 🙂  There's is a quote from Walden, a book by Henry David Thoreau and it's about leaving the day behind you and trying to take each breath, step, moment, and day into a better one.

On 11/13/2022 at 1:44 PM, asondhi said:

Luckily my other 2 tanks were established/balanced enough to continue thriving and experience no negative effects... probably because they're low-tech. 

I need some advice on saving this tank, it's a UNS 45U (~10g) with a betta, buttload of cherry shrimp, snails, and some chili rasboras. Medium/high tech setup with CO2 injection and a twinstar light. 

Under all that algae is some UNS controsoil with a Monte Carlo carpet that's melted back a good bit (but seems to still have a strong root system). There's the obvious pearl weed and a dwarf crypt whose name escapes me. 

Aside from manual removal and a series of large water changes (working up the energy to do so now), what can I do? How can I prevent this in the future? I plan to massively reduce (or just stop) CO2 injection and light duration to slow down growth and resource consumption but do I have any other options? My other two tanks are newer, yet I have managed to balance them much better (I'm assuming because of water volume) 

For all of your tanks, I would suggest a few, maybe 3, 50% water changes (or 4-5 30% ones) in order to stop something like old tank syndrome from setting in.

It sounds like you're on the way to doing that, which is good news.  For this tank specifically, because it's a betta tank, I would move the fish aside into a bucket with an airstone or something for the day so you can work at your own pace.  With that aside you can focus on draining the tank down and removing the duckweed with a net.  Scrape the glass and use a brush or something to scrape any rocks or wood to try to remove the mass of algae.  It'll like come out with a big net scoop or two. 

Once you're at that point, trim the plants down to a reasonable height and potentially re-plant any stems you would like to see grow out a little bit more.  I wouldn't do much more than that.  Modifying the duckweed means that you will be able to give those plants at the bottom more light.  Whatever your lighting is right now, Limit it to 3-4 hours to try to reduce algae. You can also cut it back in power just for the time being so that you can help fight off a lot of this severe algae. 

I think all you really ought to do is add 3-4 amano shrimp and let them help you with the tank longer term. No big deal and the betta shouldn't be able to torment them.

Lastly, I just want to say that you will eventually find that cleaning, maintenance is actually a soothing exercise.  You feel like you're doing something, and it's something fun because it makes you feel better when you're done with it.  You're mentally trying to improve and physically improving the tank.  There is a lot of stories about fishkeepers going through similar issues and how the hobby has helped them.   I'll post a link to one story you might enjoy.  Try to have a good day, the tank, despite the algae, looks great and the fish is awesome. Take care of yourself and the fish!

I know Bentley has one, there is one of a guy who has fish up in the mountains and I was trying to find that one.  But here is one from the ACOs very own Zenzo.

 

[Comradovich]

Well, you're not alone in keeping a tank to help out with your mental state. I think you'll find this is a pretty common reason to have a tank or three. For maybe the same reason, it also isn't that uncommon to fall behind on your maintenance.

Lighting is the main factor that will help with the algae. Cutting down your light period will reduce the number of hours the tank can photosynthesize, that'll slow down the plant growth. Since you said you'd be cutting back on the fert/CO2, this'll mean less is available in the water column for algae to use. Without a lot of extra light/nutrients in the tank, the plants should out compete the algae. You have some floating plants that are water column feeders, but a lot of your stem plants and crypts are root feeders. Adding stuff to the water doesn't always get nutrients down to where they're using them.

I agree with @nabokovfan87, you should start treating maintenance like a meditative exercise. Think of a Zen garden. You've gotta pick up leaves in that, and then re-rake all the little paths into the rocks. Sometimes trim a branch or three. If that sounds like maintenance, that's because it is. Having to re-establish order on the space at regular intervals in the point of a Zen garden. To do something similar with your tank, try breaking down your maintenance tasks into discrete intervals. By "discrete intervals", I mean pick something that'll take you a set amount of time, and just do that one thing. For instance, algae scraping the glass. It'll take you about 20 mins or so. Once you're done, the tank will still look messy overall, but you can immediately see that at least the glass is clean. When you start to despair, focus on that glass and remind yourself that you finished that particular task. Pick a new task, put the time in on that, then repeat until the tank is done. Little tidbit I learned to deal with anxiety: break the problem down into smaller chunks, then focus in on just one chunk at a time. Chunks are doable.

Another handy tip is to pick up a cheap set of aquascaping tools. Keep those tools near the tank. That way, if you notice something is getting ugly, you can fix it with a few minutes work. Fixing an algae problem is simple if there's an algae scraper next to the tank. If a java fern's got a leaf that looks in really bad shape, well you've got these scissors. Snip, toss, done.

While I would suggest going with @nabokovfan87's suggestion on the amano shrimp, I'd stay clear of new fish. It's tempting to grab some otos but you don't have a lot of flow in a betta tank, and an SAE would outgrow you. Something like some small nerite snails would be better for those crypt leaves. Mystery snails are good for glass and hardscape, but mine always seemed to panic when their weight pulled down the java fern leaves. I had pristine looking driftwood, and half-cleaned java ferns.

Speaking of the crypt leaves... look on the board here for a guide on "Reverse Respiration". If I remember right, that'll require you to buy a bottle of club soda and a ziplock bag. Supposedly gets algae off plants like magic. There's a few other posts on this board of people's before/after pics that seem promising. That's a thing you could do overnight, and it'd make a difference.

[PedroPete]

Sending you the vibes you need to face reworking the betta tank, @asondhi 🙂Thank you for sharing your journey with us!

Also, there is some REALLY great advice in this thread. Thank you, all, for the manageable steps and solutions. I'm sure they'll help out more folks than you'll ever know!

My 2 cents were....

- time limits for maintenance and breaking up bigger tasks into smaller ones, which you can choose to "chunk" together or not...depending on how you feel.

- water changes as described above

- use the co-op's algae scrubbers or razor blade or similar product to clean hardwater stains near top (those always pull my eye on my own tank and decrease my enjoyment)

- limit light as described above

- manually pull out hair algae using chopstick(s) [and determine how much algae you're willing to live with in the short term and long term]

- add at least 1 amano & 1 nerite snail if you have the time and money

- find time to spend interacting and watching the betta and rasboras live their little lives in a such a neat ecosystem.

 

 

[Mmiller2001]

Are you looking to remove co2 all together going forward?

[meadeam]

I totally understand tanks being reflective of one's mental state.  I had a bad bout with depression not long ago, and it played out in my tanks.  I ended up taking some down and consolidating.  The thing I have been repeating to myself is to enjoy the time I spend working on my tanks rather than avoiding the chores.  I refined my water change routine as well so I can get it done quickly without making a mess.  That helps a lot because if all else fails, I at least never miss a water change. Other things can wait if necessary.

[Patrick_G]

I wouldn’t overthink it too much. You’re on the right track with manual removal and reducing light. In any case, the hair algae isn’t really all that harmful, it even helps suck up a lot of Nitrates. 
Anecdotally, I've found it grows fastest under strong white light, so having a balance of colors might help keep it at bay. 

[Jennifer V]

I'm in the camp that thinks green algae is pretty. It may be a camp of one. Ha!

We see all of these photos of pristine tanks because we love Google but tanks don't always look like that in real life. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to have a perfect tank.

I'm going through this myself after being away from my tanks for five weeks. When I returned, I looked at the algae, dead or dying plants and cloudy water and nearly had a meltdown. But one foot in front of the other right? Are the inhabitants healthy? I'm sure they are which means the problem is aesthetic and totally fixable. And adding some Amano shrimp could be really fun and breathe life into the situation as you see them clear the algae. 

Don't try to be a superhuman. You're already a human who's super. 😊