Hello from the Bay Area

[Greg]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this forum for a while and have really appreciated all the thoughtful discussions.  After decades without a tank, I set one up in April in response to family demand.  It's since turned into a personal battle with algae -- fascinating for me, but my wife is not a fan.  She wants clear water and beautiful fish, and I haven't provided either.

We have just the one tank -- a 16 gallon, crowded with a UV sterilizer and power head to assist the hang-on-back filter.  We are getting light (plant 3.0 at max 40% capacity) and phosphates (added with Seachem's Neutral Regulator, removed with Phosguard) under control, fertilizing our few plants with Easy Green to 20 ppm nitrates, and hoping that clarity is not that far away.  Lately dealing with a new round of green water and a daily blanket of cyanobacteria.  Hoping the UV sterilizer will help, and erythromycin is on the way.

We started out with four zebra danios.  All are still here, now with a couple otos, three kuhli loaches, two nerites and a handful of other snails from a stowaway.  We've lost a few otos, but so far no other fish. 

Hoping to move some day from setting up this tank to populating it with something that will impress the wife but will not bully or be bullied by our other fish.  My original plan was to go with smaller schooling fish, but she's more interested in seeing one or two showcase fish.

Would appreciate any thoughts on stocking and whether we should hold off until we have the algae under better control.  The picture below was taken almost a month ago, when it seems like we were in better shape.  Not a great shot, but hopefully gives you a sense of where we're at.

We're running a pH around 7.8 and temperature around 76-77F.

Thanks!

-Greg 

[FrozenFins]

Welcome to the Forum!

a Betta would look gourgous in that tank, yes bettas can be kept with other peacful community fish. Your gonna wanna make sure that the betta you get has a good temperment. A way you can see is if you stick your finger in the tank the betta is in. Does he flare at it, if so don't get it. Does he nip at is if so proceed with caution or does he leave it alone and not even relize its there, if so everything will be fine.

a Honey Gourami is really pretty and isn't too aggressive like the other dwarf gouramis. 

[Greg]

Thanks, Jack.

Appreciate the ideas and the advice on how to chose a betta.

[MichelleN]

 I'll second the honey gourami suggestion. This random lady saw us looking at the drawf gourami and recommended we go look at the honeys in another aisle because she loved hers. We're so glad she did. We ended up getting both. 2 dwarfs (we didn't yet know female drawfs are rarely sold) , and two pair honey gourami.  The smaller honeys are much sweeter and more timid than our drawfs (which we also love but had to separate). But the sweet little honey's have plenty personality, especially when breeding, and their yellow brightens the tank. 

[Greg]

Thanks, Michelle.  Good to know!  Seems like they might be our best option.

[Lemon]

On 12/10/2020 at 4:03 AM, Greg said:

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this forum for a while and have really appreciated all the thoughtful discussions.  After decades without a tank, I set one up in April in response to family demand.  It's since turned into a personal battle with algae -- fascinating for me, but my wife is not a fan.  She wants clear water and beautiful fish, and I haven't provided either.

We have just the one tank -- a 16 gallon, crowded with a UV sterilizer and power head to assist the hang-on-back filter.  We are getting light (plant 3.0 at max 40% capacity) and phosphates (added with Seachem's Neutral Regulator, removed with Phosguard) under control, fertilizing our few plants with Easy Green to 20 ppm nitrates, and hoping that clarity is not that far away.  Lately dealing with a new round of green water and a daily blanket of cyanobacteria.  Hoping the UV sterilizer will help, and erythromycin is on the way.

We started out with four zebra danios.  All are still here, now with a couple otos, three kuhli loaches, two nerites and a handful of other snails from a stowaway.  We've lost a few otos, but so far no other fish. 

Hoping to move some day from setting up this tank to populating it with something that will impress the wife but will not bully or be bullied by our other fish.  My original plan was to go with smaller schooling fish, but she's more interested in seeing one or two showcase fish.

Would appreciate any thoughts on stocking and whether we should hold off until we have the algae under better control.  The picture below was taken almost a month ago, when it seems like we were in better shape.  Not a great shot, but hopefully gives you a sense of where we're at.

We're running a pH around 7.8 and temperature around 76-77F.

Thanks!

-Greg 

welcome hope you have good luck with the otos mine didn't do well 😞

also if you have algae why are you adding phosphate and then removing it with phosguard?

i think easy carbon helps with algae 

do the khulis eat or bother the snails? 

[Koi]

From the picture it just looks to me the symptoms of a new tank. I wouldn't worry about the algae as its a sign of a health tank starting to stabilize. Be sure to clean the glass and scrub off the algae of what looks to be a dragon head during your maintenance. I will mention that your plants are still adjusting to the system but once they start thriving, they will be able to outcompete the algae (given dose regularly). Since your still in the early stages of the tank, expect that al the algae you clean off will come back but will slowly be beaten out by your plants. You can give your plants the best chance at beating the algae by manually tanking out the algae wether you wipe it off or you might need to remove leaves that are completely covered by algae.

As far as the phosgaurd goes, without knowing why you're using it, I don't see a need for it. phosphates is one of the macronutrients plants need and you can actually get algae by hindering plant growth. All plants need a collective of nutrients where some algae might only need 1 or 2 of those nutrients. Its the imbalance of available nutrients that create algae wether its in excess or lack of.

General husbandry and a consistent water changes will slowly chip away at that algae. It looks to me your system is doing well, keep up with your maintenance and it'll only get better from here.

[Greg]

Thanks, quirkylemon103!  Sorry to hear about your otos.  The khulis don't seem to take an interest in the snails.  

I was adding the phosphate without knowing what it was.  That Seachem Neutral Regulator, which is supposed to maintain a pH of around 7.0, uses phosphate to help maintain that level.  Not sure why it would make sense to make a product for tanks using phosphate, but I've heard people say they would only recommend for tanks with low lighting.  I was adding the Seachem with every water change and didn't realize until I bought a phosphate testing kit.  Since then, I've stopped trying to adjust the pH with chemicals.  It took a few rounds of phosguard to bring our phosphate levels down to a reasonable level.

The picture here shows from right to left my source water, treated with Fluval Aqua Plus and then with the Neutral Regulator.

[Koi]

23 minutes ago, Greg said:

Thanks, quirkylemon103!  Sorry to hear about your otos.  The khulis don't seem to take an interest in the snails.  

I was adding the phosphate without knowing what it was.  That Seachem Neutral Regulator, which is supposed to maintain a pH of around 7.0, uses phosphate to help maintain that level.  Not sure why it would make sense to make a product for tanks using phosphate, but I've heard people say they would only recommend for tanks with low lighting.  I was adding the Seachem with every water change and didn't realize until I bought a phosphate testing kit.  Since then, I've stopped trying to adjust the pH with chemicals.  It took a few rounds of phosguard to bring our phosphate levels down to a reasonable level.

The picture here shows from right to left my source water, treated with Fluval Aqua Plus and then with the Neutral Regulator.

I think you're going into the right direction by limiting the types of chemicals/additives that you put into your tank. Theres much to be said about having stable water conditions rather then chasing specific parameters. Any system of water has fluctuating parameters, for instance your ph may go up or down a few points during the day, what you want to avoid are massive swings.

It sounds like you do regular water changes, and given that you are not dosing a ridiculous amount of ferts, water changes will circumvent excess buildup. I personally think water changes will do more good and be cheaper to combat these issues than having to buy chemicals. But if it works for you, by all means, I can't knock it if achieves what your needs are.

[Greg]

Thanks, Koi.  Appreciate the advice.  We are doing much better with the algae now, but still remove what we can during what are now weekly water changes.  I try to leave some for the otos if they seem interested.

Planning to add a few more plants this week to help take up the load in the foreground.

We stopped using the Phosguard once the phosphate level dropped below 2 ppm.  We were off the charts of our API test kit when we started.

[Koi]

Oh man I forgot about the otos, definitely save some for them haha. If you're doing weekly water changes, your problems will clear up in no time I wouldn't even worry about nutrient buildup. If I can suggest one 2 more things, I'm assuming you probably do 20-30% water changes, you could benefit to do a 50% every now and then just to be sure you reset your parameters and try remove decaying organic matter when you can. If your plants are still transitioning you'll have some dead leaves you'll need to take out for the next couple weeks.

Other than that you're on the right track and you'll have a booming tank in no time, keep it up and good luck

[Greg]

3 hours ago, Koi said:

Oh man I forgot about the otos, definitely save some for them haha. If you're doing weekly water changes, your problems will clear up in no time I wouldn't even worry about nutrient buildup. If I can suggest one 2 more things, I'm assuming you probably do 20-30% water changes, you could benefit to do a 50% every now and then just to be sure you reset your parameters and try remove decaying organic matter when you can. If your plants are still transitioning you'll have some dead leaves you'll need to take out for the next couple weeks.

Other than that you're on the right track and you'll have a booming tank in no time, keep it up and good luck

Thanks, Koi.  Good to know.  You're right I've been doing 20-30% changes -- vacuuming out waste from the substrate in the front, but leaving the planted areas in the back undisturbed.  I remove decaying plant matter wherever I find it.

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrates (before fertilizing) are consistently low.  Is there something I should look to to see whether it's time for a 50% water change?  

[Koi]

Your tank is still new so I wouldn't worry about it too much right now but maybe something to keep an eye out for in a few months. To keep in short there are a lot other things in our water that we don't test and by doing a big reset will help stop that buildup. Heres a good video that maybe could help you visualize this idea:

 

 

[Greg]

Good to know.  Thanks a lot for taking the time!