Depressed and on the verge of giving up

[Vincentwangzx]

I'm almost at my wits end of how to deal with my planted tank already. The algae issues are just never ending! I had to deal with BGA growing over my beautifully growing Java moss tied to driftwood to make a tree, which I read using warm water can help to remove the Cyanobacteria which it did, but it also killed my moss along with it! My HG also has fizz algae growing all over it, along with diatoms and maybe some BBA but I'm not sure. They also are not spreading despite keeping them for a month and a half. Some yellowing has occurred despite dosing Excel daily, and Flourish every other day. I feel like switching my tank to a marine tank if nothing I do is helping hahaha.

My tank is a 24litre Nanotank with an internal overflow sump, which I keep active filter media, and a HOB filter, and a submersible pump that feeds the water into the main tank.

Here's my questions: I have an oto in there, along with 4 threadfin rainbows and 6 CPDs and 2 long finned cherry barbs. Should I add more algae crew like Amano Shrimps, or just buy the Algexit that I read about in this forum? Here's a photo of my tank in the earlier stages.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1425289457.883481.jpg

I have another 5 litre tank that houses some RCS as well, which are dying one every few weeks (I had 8 and now left with 4) for some unknown reason. That adds to my wanting to give up planted tanks too. They're just not breeding despite the temperature being at 27-28, and the water being pristine clean.


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[Pork Life]

[QUOTE=Vincentwangzx;810514]I'm almost at my wits end of how to deal with my planted tank already. The algae issues are just never ending! I had to deal with BGA growing over my beautifully growing Java moss tied to driftwood to make a tree, which I read using warm water can help to remove the Cyanobacteria which it did, but it also killed my moss along with it! My HG also has fizz algae growing all over it, along with diatoms and maybe some BBA but I'm not sure. They also are not spreading despite keeping them for a month and a half. Some yellowing has occurred despite dosing Excel daily, and Flourish every other day. I feel like switching my tank to a marine tank if nothing I do is helping hahaha.

My tank is a 24litre Nanotank with an internal overflow sump, which I keep active filter media, and a HOB filter, and a submersible pump that feeds the water into the main tank.

Here's my questions: I have an oto in there, along with 4 threadfin rainbows and 6 CPDs and 2 long finned cherry barbs. Should I add more algae crew like Amano Shrimps, or just buy the Algexit that I read about in this forum? Here's a photo of my tank in the earlier stages.

My suggestion, restart the tank again by removing all algae affected plant. For BBA, it's high light/low CO2 issue. You will be wasting co2 since your tank has an internal overflow sump due to surface agitation.
For BGA and fuzz algae, manual removal is required. And for a 24 liter tank that's a lot of fishes you got in my opinion so either get a bigger tank or sell/give away some fishes.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1425289457.883481.jpg

I have another 5 litre tank that houses some RCS as well, which are dying one every few weeks (I had 8 and now left with 4) for some unknown reason. That adds to my wanting to give up planted tanks too. They're just not breeding despite the temperature being at 27-28, and the water being pristine clean.

5 liters is a bit small to house shrimps. At least use a 1ft tank to keep them. And check your gH.

[tropic]

Its not a huge tank. You can always restart and reset the system if things are beyond any fix.

[seudzar]

For those algae, try SAE and yamato shrimp. No need to put a lot. My tank also infested with thread algae and bba and I still won't give up.

[Suzerolt]

I believe the root cause is related to the fertilization regime.

Seachem flourish is a micro fertilizer. You are still lacking the macro - Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus(P), Potassium (K).
Seachem excel is primarily a carbon source.

Hence, the system is provided light but not insufficient macro (NPK) for the plants to grow. Hence the plants cannot photosynthesize properly (yellowing) & algae takes over.
A clean up crew may help but believe that algae will outpace the amount they eat. Moreover, most clean up crew won't touch BBA.

Suggest to reset the system as what Tropic suggested
Take the fishes out. Clean out the wood with hydrogen peroxide. Buy new plants & give it the right fert dosing regime that includes the macro ferts (refer to other posts in this forum)

BTW, Marine tanks are a magnitude more difficult that freshwater tanks. Need to monitor Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Phosphate, Nitrate, Potassium, Iron.... and dose accordingly.
Trust me....a magnitude harder.

[sfk7]

Yep if you cant handle planted there is no way you can figure out marine.

Usual suspects for algae check

1) too much livestock
2) too high lighting or too long hours
3) balance between lighting co2 level and fertilising regime
4) frequency of water change

To keep it simple. First lower the lighting wattage and hours (about 5 hours)
And then keep it low tech with twice weekly water change and add excel as per dosage. If tank is cycled add algae crew

[Clementkai]

Yep if you cant handle planted there is no way you can figure out marine.

Usual suspects for algae check

1) too much livestock
2) too high lighting or too long hours
3) balance between lighting co2 level and fertilising regime
4) frequency of water change

To keep it simple. First lower the lighting wattage and hours (about 5 hours)
And then keep it low tech with twice weekly water change and add excel as per dosage. If tank is cycled add algae crew

Agree with him. Marine a lot tougher especially if want to keep SPS. 101 things to test for...

[mUAr_cHEe]

Vincentwangzx,



I am going through almost similar as you and it is not just confined to my tanks.


But considering your tanks are just 24 litres and 5 litres, you are open to more extreme and radical solutions like restarting the tank. The would be easiest and most straight forward. It would also be a good break during the downtime. You can take this time to relax and hopefully not find any new hobby.

To combat your algae problem in a more rational way, you can choose to 'hantam the problem' by introducing more algae clean-up crew or even the blackout method.
To effectively overcome your algae problem and also prepare for the hobby-long war against algae, ID the algae properly (which you might already did) and find out the cause of it, use test kits to confirm your suspicion and deal with the problem accordingly.

Once the battle is won, trust me, the sweet taste of victory will be satisfying. Savour it whilst it last as the war is never over.


Hai. Now I wish someone could encourage me too. *turns around and looks at 324 litre battlefield*

[Vincentwangzx]

Thanks guys, I feel the love.

The reason I felt like switching to marine is due to my internal overflow sump which is ugly for a planted tank (white background is nicer), but good for marine. But u guys are right, it is infinitely harder.

Seems like what I'm missing out is macro nutrients; do u guys have any brand that doses all three macros at once to recommend?

I do have a CO2 unit for nano tanks using disposable cylinders, but people tell me the surface agitation causes a lot of it to escape. So I shall use excel instead.

I think I shall decomm my 5 litres tank. It just does not seem to work out.


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[mUAr_cHEe]

Why not house your RCS in your 24 litres tank? The fluctuation of the water parameters tank over such a small water volume makes it harder for you to have stable water parameters for your RCS to thrive.

[Vincentwangzx]

@mUAr_cHEe u may be right, I think I will try to make my 24 litres into a shrimp tank with just CPDs. I really like the look of CPDs so can't bear to give it up. The rest I think I will give away.


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[mUAr_cHEe]

What is CPD? Pardon my ignorance.

[Vincentwangzx]

Celestial Pearl Danios. Cute little fellas with beautiful spots and fits. Males are blue, females are green.


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[Ingen]

Don't give up yet! I'm been fighting this war and this is my 4th iteration for my 2ft and each time was because of different algae issues. Every time I thought I learned something and rescape to reset the tank a new type of algae emerges. The last scape is facing slimy algae issue, suspected to be BGA haha. I reckon it's my lighting being too strong but without a dimmer, I just got to find other ways to compensate. That's just part and parcel of planted tank.

[limz_777]

Thanks guys, I feel the love.

The reason I felt like switching to marine is due to my internal overflow sump which is ugly for a planted tank (white background is nicer), but good for marine. But u guys are right, it is infinitely harder.

Seems like what I'm missing out is macro nutrients; do u guys have any brand that doses all three macros at once to recommend?

I do have a CO2 unit for nano tanks using disposable cylinders, but people tell me the surface agitation causes a lot of it to escape. So I shall use excel instead.

I think I shall decomm my 5 litres tank. It just does not seem to work out.


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more importantly is where your interest lies , for beginners in marine i think its better to go for larger volume tanks , also their fair share of algae plague

[seudzar]

Most or less I suspect your tank bioload is a bit high and all your plants are low growing plants. I would suggest you add in some fast growing plants

[barmby]

There are not lot of plants in the tank. Moreover, tank of small sizes like above need to do some water change every day. The smaller the tank the higher level of difficulty. I have never done planted nano tank because its tough. It doesn't mean you cannot be successful, all you need to do is conduct water change everyday : )

[Ipit]

The smaller the tank the more succeptable it is, reason being there is only so much slack in terms of water perimeter, when i frst started my 2 ft planted i had similar algae issues as well.

The balancing act between Number and types of plants, Feeding, Fertiliser, Lighting, CO2 makes it tough.

Based on my limited experience, i would deal with the issue one at a time and try to understand why a certain type of algae inhibits the tanks. One point that is frequently overlooked is the water circulation, good water circulation will eradicate dead spot and ensures that organic waste are removed (this increases Nitrates)

Don't give up bro slowly isolate one issue at a time

[Urban Aquaria]

From your description of the 24 liter tank, i notice one important livestock which is missing that will help manage the algae = shrimps.

The single otocinclus (or is it a juvenile L183 starlight pleco? i see it behind the wood) in the tank will only eat some of the soft green/brown algae on the glass and plants, but it will not touch the fuzz algae or filamentous algae. Shrimps will be able to pick at and eat the fuzz/filamentous algae amongst the plants 24/7 (they do a way better job than us), so shift the RCS over to the 24 liter tank to help out. They will appreciate the added stability of the larger water volume too.

In every tank that i have run so far, any tank without shrimps automatically becomes a fuzz/hair algae fest after a while, then when i add in an army of shrimps, they clear it up. When i remove the shrimps, the algae starts appearing again, thats how much work they do.

Along with reducing light, reducing feeding, doing more water changes etc and all that standard stuff... you can consider dosing AlgExit, that will boost the effectiveness of your war against algae. Nowadays i use AlgExit as a treatment to clear algae from newly bought plants in my quarantine tank, i can get a bunch of moss that is infested with hair/thread algae, put it in the quarantine tank with double dose of AlgExit, after a few days, can see all the hair/thread algae turning white while the shrimps in the tank clear the algae remnants.

From my experience with hairgrass, it is indeed a rather slow-grower without Co2 injection so you have to be very patient with it (it also takes me ages to grow hairgrass in low tech tanks too, but with Co2 injection it starts growing like wildfire). Its all a matter of managing your expectations based on your tank setup.

If you can't wait for the hairgrass to grow out, then consider replacing it with other easier carpet plants like glosso or monte carlo which tend to fare much better in low-tech tanks.

Since both of the plants in your tank are slow-growers in this setup (which are not much help when dealing with the algae issues), therefore adding more fast growing plants will help soak up the excess nutrients, try floating plants like frogbits, salvinia natans/minima or dwarf water lettuce, they use Co2 directly from the air, so with an ample supply of light, they can grow fast.

Btw, if you don't like the IOS tank design, then just buy a nice braceless tank with canister filter (and lily pipes) and create a new scape, then once its cycled and ready, transfer the livestock across... much easier.

[Vincentwangzx]

Thank UA and all the others for the tips. I actually did use Co2 injection but through the ANS glass diffuser and I was told the surface agitation was causing the CO2 to escape, so that's why I switched to Excel. Anyway I have transferred my remaining RCS to the 24 litre tank, hope it fares well there.

I have also changed my light schedule to just from 7-12 pm to deal with the algae issues. Sometime two weeks later I shall take the time to rescape my tank, hopefully that will help.

That L183 was my earlier acquisition when I did not know much about Plecos, and now I'm just keeping it till I can get a 2 feet tank to rehome it in.


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