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  • Results 1 to 14 of 14

    Thread: Planted Tanks!

    1. #1
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      Planted Tanks!

      Hi guys it's me again. The past few months was labour intensive... (Next time i build a pond it will be with others for sure... Lift hundreds of 30 lb's bricks back and forth is NOT fun at all..) Anyways my high tec tank just got an outburst of diatom like algae >_< Completely ate up my HC carpet... Originally i thought it'd just go away but happens to get 10 times worse by day... Im likely to pull up all my hc during this week... ( At least some are still alive.. back to farming these guys emersed /: ) The Anubias Nana ver. Petit on the other hand is doing fine .. am able to clean off the algae by hand .. Other guys like hydrocotyle tripartita and Ceratopteris thalictroides are not doing too bad either.. might need to cut back lighting and co2 for a while...( Rather not to increase the macro nutrients.. )

      According to some online threads, they say that this algae is caused by high silicates and nitrates. Which is funny because my nitrate reading is 0 ppm .. xD Dont know about silicate

      Anyways I was just bored and decided to make a little thread for chit chat for those who got an outburst of ( Brown algae???)

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    2. #2
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      Sometimes upping the CO2 and K dosing helps plants outcompete and get rid of the algae. I had reef and planted tanks for many years before the moisture became a problem inside in the 'newer' house. Since then have been wasting time with the ponds.

    3. #3
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      Add some ancistrus or otocinclus to control the algae.

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      XD my octos are working hard to maintain my 55 gal right now.. ( While the cory cats just slack off ... why did i even buy them ) Anyways this may sound wierd but... my green dust algae is ALL GONE! The remaining are all brown... and ready to fall off... On the other hand cutting down co2 and lighting doesnt seem to help with the diatom/ brown algae problem... Im going to try dosing some excel and upping the macro nutrients... If i dont see any results in the next few days im going to have to take down the tank and restart it... sigh.. gota kill my filter again.... ( I read that a 3-5 % H2O2 solution could kill the algaes... but I dont know where to get any.. And as i recall they are Oxidizing materials. no?)
      Last edited by New Member; 10-16-2014 at 07:23 PM.

    5. #5
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      3% H2O2 is common drugstore variety hydrogen peroxide. Yes it is an oxidizer, and is used to kill string algae in ponds. If not overdosed, the fish are not affected, but there is the chance of overdose and killing fish.
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      The only ones i found at some of my local drug stores contain various compounds... The one i have right now has (Purified Water, Sodium Stannate, Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Pyrophosphate and Methylenephosphonic Acid + Phosphoric Acid.. )

      Are they supposed to come with all these salts and acid?? The percentage of ingredients arent labeled but the sodium kinda worries me a bit >_<.

      Btw this is a no fish tank P:
      Last edited by New Member; 10-17-2014 at 01:52 AM.

    7. #7
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      Is this a newly set up tank? Cut back on water changes and let the algae use up the silicates. The brown algae should disappear. Again, ancistrus cats will completely remove the brown algae in a day or two.

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      No its cycled. Been running for 6months now

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      Sigh.. just pulled up a few tennis ball sized clumps of dead hc today .. ( Like this Name:  WP_20141018_004.jpg
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      Hopefully the surviving ones can recover.. then ima go back farming them emersed >_<

    10. #10
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      IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO CAN ACESS OTHER AQUARIUM FORUMS. Recently i've been thinking over and over again about the mass outbreak of diatoms. Annual tap water chem reports for my place shows very little silicate. Of course Silicate affecting diatom/ brown algae may be just a myth but in my case i'd like to get to the bottom of things... First off. What i learned about diatom outbreaks - High silicate, Low light, Excess light, and excess nitrate/ ammonia. Now, Water nitrate= 0. Ammonia =0 check. Last time i checked for nitrite at the time of algae bloom was at 20 ppm. Next; I am using sky star led ( 40 type ).. NO IDEA what the par or wpg for this thing is but it's bright. Comparable to the ADA aquasky series. Only thing i see that may relate is the Lux. Written 1.460 Lux at 50 cm depth. Tank is a standard 10 gal btw. Next; I keep my light set to 8 hours a day. no more no less. >_> I Think 8 hours is ok...

      FINALLY, for silicate. I do not have a test kit for silicate but IF MY ALGAE BLOOM WAS INDEED CAUSED BY SILICATE then that means silicate had to be entering the tank somehow. Tap water ? no. fish? no. Plants? no. Substrate ?? Highly doubt it.. Currently using Flourish Excel and Flourish. I do have seperate macro nutrients but dont like to use them often as it can cause some imbalance XD ( I do not know the exact balances so. yeah. didnt look into it . Busy. )

      Currently Im suspecting that it came from my DIY co2 reactor. This tank was clean when i used pressurized. Thought about it and decided not really much of a point of running pressurized on 10 gal.. DIY could prolly suffice. I am suspecting that silicate entered via occassional siphening of water from yeast filter into tank. ( when i refill yeast and etc ). Now you may disagree with me but i honestly have no other clue... I am suspecting that the standard silicone tubing is being corroded by Co2 forming silicate compounds which then entered the tank. And would explain the non stopping suppily of silicate for the diatom to bloom with.

      What im talking about right now has no direct evidence of any kind and the only indirect evidence i see is the Whitening of the silicone tubing in the yeast filter. NO, no yeast have gotten into the water or the tube.

      FOR THOSE WHO GO ON OTHER PLANTED TANK FORUMS please help me ask professionals ( Unless you are a professional; Would be great ) who may be able to anwser my questions. Of course i will be doing so too but more people the more efficient the work gets done.

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    11. #11
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      I had planted tanks for a long time. I gave my advice ^. I never saw any scientific evidence for the silicate theory and you can practically throw out your water tests. It is more about the nutrient dynamics than the standing water concentrations. The reason you have a bloom is that the algae are more effective at utilizing nutrients in your tank than the plants. You need to figure out what is holding the plants back -light, CO2, or some other nutrient- K? I suspect you have too much P (and maybe N) relative to the CO2, K, and light.

    12. #12
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      Plants growing emersed and transplanted to an aquarium and then grown submersed often don't do well. The leaves on the plants often turn brown or fall off. You need to add some fast growing plants to your planted tank to outcompete the algae.

    13. #13
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      I could have gotten a nutrient imbalance overtime because i have too many fast growing plants. EXPECIALLY water sprite. That thing grows like a weed. i Littlerly had to cut them down to halfway every 3 other day to keep it from growing out of the tank. Great plant. Prolly the plant with Most growth IME. HC i feel like is slow growing.. takes a while to grow xD 3-4 weeks to carpet. Anubias is not bad. 3-4 leaves every week or so. hydrocotyle tripartita is a weed too. have to trim this guy back every week or so. eleocharis acicularis grew moderately. Mixed in with the hc carpet.. Looks pretty nice actually when they mix together. The last plant i had was riccia. always pearling. Great growth..

      Honestly i need to get a more spec test kit.. after this experiance. dont ever wana go through breaking down my hc carpet again. This time im planning on doing a lawn of hc + eleocharis acicularis mix in my 55. Or might get a 60 cm low iron high clarity glass tank.

      to conclude, i do agree that nutrient imbalance may have been a major cause of the bloom. One small question would be that why havent i gotten any other types of algae bloom ?? I KNOW i have hair algae + green dust algae in there somewhere. More like my green dust algae on the drift wood and glass started dying off O_O''


      Also in rely to Aquajoe about plant transferring from emersed to submerged; So far i've never had any problems with going emersed to submerged. Max die off was around 10% for any plant i grew.. Hc being one of the higher melting rate ones.. But overall it's fine. As for plants like anubias, no die offs. They are virtually indestructable as some others said.
      Last edited by New Member; 10-28-2014 at 07:35 PM.

    14. #14
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      Quick post, this is completely unrelated to the algae stuff: While I was youtubing- about planted tanks. i came across a video with an AMAZING design. Aquarium built into a small japanese house model; creates a mini garden feeling expecially with the house built around it. NEVER thought of this before. I am planning to do a similar one with my 5.5 gal thats been sitting around doing nothing. Please tell me what kind of artwork this goes under if you know.. as i couldnt find anything relating back to it on the web.. O_O'' shocked me quite a bit..

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