Trying again.

[Beetlebug515]

So I recently lost the battle with hair and black brush algae, and after tearing down pretty much the entire tank I'm starting over. I made some changes to lighting (much less) co2 (also much less) and ferts. The tank is a Mr. Aqua 37 gallon rimless, with 1 Current USA pro plus, flourite substrate, and pressurized co2. All plants got cut back to almost nothing, the substrate got sifted and cleaned, and I added a 425 gph power head.

I've realized some of the terrible mistakes I've made with this tank. The only source of flow came from the canister filter, a small eheim ecco pro. Lighting consisted of 2 current plus pro led fixtures and 1, 2 bulb t5ho fixture. Co2 was consistently at about 90ppm.

It's about a week after the teardown and everything is looking to be OK. I'm still balancing co2 levels, but it seems to be coming in to line. Here's to second tries.



View attachment 20160814_121925.jpg

 

[kno4te]

Good second try so far.

 

[rooto56]

Keep up the good work

 

[Fat Homer]

Can i ask what you changed with lighting schedule + Ferts

Also, some of my planted tanks at the start went that way coz of too much ferts + light, so i found its best not to dose as many ferts at the start, and let things grow in first before slowing adding nutirents as it is needed...

Otherwise it looks like a good start

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Maybe add a small wave maker and a Oto catfish, what fish r u putting in?

 

[Beetlebug515]

Can i ask what you changed with lighting schedule + Ferts

Also, some of my planted tanks at the start went that way coz of too much ferts + light, so i found its best not to dose as many ferts at the start, and let things grow in first before slowing adding nutirents as it is needed...

Otherwise it looks like a good start

The lighting schedule is staying the same. 10 hour photo period from 10 am to 8 pm. The change is removing 2 fixtures. As far as ferts, I realized I wasn't dosing enough phosphorus leaving excess of other macros. I had it in my head that algae wouldn't live if there wasn't any phosphorus.

 

[Beetlebug515]

Maybe add a small wave maker and a Oto catfish, what fish r u putting in?

I do have a wave maker in there now. 425gph. As far as fish, I've got a couple plecos, a leucistic bushy nose and a starlight pleco. added 3 German blue rams today. I would love to add otos, they are just really hard to find here for some reason.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Can u find Asian flying fox fish? They like to eat algae off leaves. Since u seem to like Rams do u plan to get a golden ram?

 

[Fat Homer]

For lighting period, you may also want to consider adding a siesta period of 3-4 hours...

So say lights on 4 hours, off 3 hours then on 4 hours as it supposedly disrupts the photosynethesis process of algae...

In my case, i also found adding a small surface skimmer helped to reduce any buildup on the surface that also seems to have helped reduce algae... Although that could also be from the benefit of extra flow through the tank...

 

[Beetlebug515]

Can u find Asian flying fox fish? They like to eat algae off leaves. Since u seem to like Rams do u plan to get a golden ram?

Im not sure about any more fish yet. I mainly wanted to keep the filter cycled, hence a few small fish.

For lighting period, you may also want to consider adding a siesta period of 3-4 hours...

I've thought about this, I'll have to see if it works with my current fixture since I can only program in one on time and one off time. I don't know for sure that it will continue to keep time while it receives no power. I suppose I could just set it up to be on all the time and then let the external timer do the work.