Red & Green - End of days?

[Fiske]

Thanks for the amusing tank tales

Sorry for your algae woes
I'd like to say I understand, but in truth I'm rather inadequate at growing the stuff
- except when I went away for 6 weeks & somehow the lights were stuck ON & the CO2 solenoid stuck CLOSED ..... that was some marvellous stuff

I suspect hard water just grows better algae ..... though I'm not even really certain on that either as I've seen some excellent algaescapes in other people's tanks - I suppose I'll just settle on mystified

Some would insist it's not enough flow, not enough CO2
but I run my tanks with a paltry 5x tank volume flow rate - and that based upon the filters theoretical maximum flow rates (I've never bothered to measure)
and some amount of CO2 (I try to turn it on before lights on, but then I need light to count the bubble rate, so errrrrr not really)
and some arbitrary unroutine photoperiod
and some erratic fertilization (though I've tried to add daily ferts since my recent rescape)
- in short I should be an algae master ... & yet that accomplishment eludes me

Tank 90 x 45 x 53cm (tall)

Substrate - Tropica aquarium soil (it's readily available & sands I might like to use, are not)
Water - tap, very soft, acidic (pH 6 - 6.4 usually)
CO2 - Tropica nano kit (my fish really aren't keen on 30ppm CO2 anyway ) & the diffusers are fantastic (definitely not as pretty as ADA but once hidden behind greenery, who's looking anyway)
Lighting - Kessil A160 x 2, full on (water column height is a major dampener) x 5-7h (occasionally 10h )
Fertilzer - I dose 4-6 pumps Tropica Premium, 2-3 pumps Tropica Specialized daily (except on the odd day where I neglect to turn on lights ... or anything ... should I even admit to such heretical action )
Water change - 60%ish, MWF at present as I do grow some rather nice surface scum - algae??? it's goopy & sticky slimey & barely opaque - I could set up the Eheim skimmer (still in its box) ... or I could just do a water change with surface suction

I do always start the tank with a good amount of fast growing stem plants - 3 pots Cardamine lyrata this time
Other tank (60 x 45 x 53) turns out to have Rotala rotundifolia (1-2-Grow cup promised R 'Bonsai' ) & 1 pot M umbrosum (one of my all time favorites)

I run CO2 24/7 (though nonphotoperiod rate is very slow - just enough to see a few bubbles coming off diffuser .... or sometimes more if I'm not patient with adjusting that flow rate .... or none for a couple days if I'm away & cyclinder empties ) as tanks receive a good amount to ambient light (depending on weather) & tap has KH 0-1


Before I started on my mystified oration, I was merely intending to comment on your experience of the leaping lampeyes (lovely fish) - as you may've guessed (by now), I've yet to observe them flying through space (& time) but this I suspect is a consequence of tank dimensions (there are water parameter related behaviours but these fish are so widespread, I doubt it's a defining factor here)

Thanks again for your dedicated journaling

(my photo attempts are exponentially worse )

Yeah, hard water is great for algae. How big a role the difference between hard and soft water plays, I'm not sure; it does play a role I feel (from very unscientific experience). I usually add some rainwater on waterchanges, but in the beginning I did use straight tap, for convenience (since I did loads). I did add H. tripartita and frogbit to the tank this time around, so I'm fairly certain any issues is from flaky CO2 and too much light (not lightperiod, though). Tank is in a north facing room, away from windows, so this time of year ambient light is minimal.
I'm phasing Tropica out soon, for a while at least; and trying APFUK's dry salts EI instead. We'll see.
There's a bit of CO2 left in the bottle, the atomizer seems less leaky after my superglue circus yesterday, so I hope I can leave it til after the weekend.

Re. jumping fish: Yeah, fairly sure the reason for the jumping lampeyes was tank size, that and positioning; it's a room that gets a lot of use. They were quite shy and someone passing by could make them huddle up in the furthest corner. A waterchange could ruin their day Lovely fish, yes, and much appreciated by mrs. Fiske. But not for this tank, they really need much more space and larger numbers. The Boraras before that, I felt it was caused mostly by the tank not being grown in enough by plants, the bright light and the fast flow. Still struggling to find out how I can keep a good flow, but not have so much current...

Thanks for reading, and your comments; it's nice to know I'm not just babbling to myself

 

[Fiske]

I know this thread has been a lot of moaning about algae, to a degree where it would seem I'm completely overrun. In all actuality, yeah, I have algae. If you go close, you will spot them.

That said, I'm fairly happy with how far I have come:

What I have done:
- Lowered light output with the tape hack. Actually has the pleasing side effect of lessening the light bleed around the tank.
- Secured (hopefully) my current level of CO2, by glueing my UP atomizer, thus securing I'll have to get a new one, as it cannot be disassembled. At least my CO2 should go into the tank.
- Manually removed a lot of affected leaves, spotdosing easycarbo on a few trouble spots on hardscape.
- Switched to APFUK starter kit EI. So far happy with it.

Since last update:

Some of the crypts (wendtii, I think) in the background was removed, and replaced with C. crispatula. I know they get huge, but I had to have them . Added a few C. albida here and there.

Moved inline atomizer to filter inlet.

Ran yet another pH-profile today, got a 0.6 drop from CO2 on to CO2 off. Not super impressive, I know, but it seems like it's the most I can get at this point. DC is yellow at end of period.
Critters are fine at this level, might want to try upping it slightly.

TDS 284
GH 15
KH 14
pH 7.3-6.7 over CO2 period.

Neritina decided to abandon ship after munching almost all of the diatoms. Found it on the floor on the 2. day of not spotting it. Dude was still alive! Now lives with the shelldwellers; not a tank where food will run out anytime soon :O

 

[Fiske]

I could re-introduce mr/mrs/ms Neritina here for a quick lunch, although it would probably leave the premises after munching what could only amount to an appetizer.

Anyway, the diatoms and green algae are 99,9% situated on glass so not too worried, although I did decide to tempt fate and up my light period to a ridiculous 6 hours :O
Scrape of at waterchanges, continue...

In other news:

- I noticed that the not-glued end of the atomizer was leaky (sigh), after trying to tighten it in situ (it was PTFE taped, to no avail) I noticed the unit had several cracks... After reading horror stories about the entire body falling apart, dumping aquariums onto floors; I decided enough was enough and spent that particular day off driving to the LFS, and getting a JBL Proflora, and installing it promptly. This means that the ceramics wasn't soaked for 24-48 hours per instructions, so bubbles seem fairly large. Placed on the inlet, hopefully the filter acts as an intermediate reactor, and aside from occasional burps seem to work. The entire housing gets flooded on CO2 off, so hopefully it will get better. Back to tuning CO2 I guess (more sighs). Have ordered chinese Qanvee (now called something else), from chinese site, arriving with chinese mail sometime around chinese newyear, I guess. To bad about UP, I liked how well it diffused; but the build quality was (is?) way too risky for something placed inline below aquarium bottom. I'm amazed they are so popular; is it because of lack of similar products, or was I extremely unlucky? Not sure I'd ever risk finding out...

- Bicycle tape light dimming still in place, and will for considerable future.

- Still dosing APFUK ferts, still happy with it. 7,2 mls of macro and micro every other day, 6 days pr week. 1 ml of Easycarbo pr day, so still overdosing here. 50% wc pr week.

- Did my 2nd trim of HC, and 1st trim of moss last weekend. Also removed 2 kgs (give or take) of frogbit. There's way less of that now.

- Buces flowered again, just so I could watch the flowers rot before opening. These plants are slooow, makes the Cryptocorynes seem like fast growers.

- BBA/stags reduced to pitiful remnants hanging on, on a handful of places; while I point and laugh. Die!

- Picture time, realizing I really, really, really need a tripod:

C. albida "brown", beautiful plant, really like it:

Sorry about reflections, but the angle was fun:

My lawn (shrimp has sense, and got off it):

I'm off to Berlin for a couple of days next week, will do big waterchange before leaving and slightly overdose ferts, and let it tick along.

 

[Fiske]

It's has been a fair while since last update.

Got tired of the tape hack. And decided to get a proper dimmer for the A451. I couldn't find a readymade one that was satisfactory, so ended up cobbling something together myself:

Please note the dial goes to ELEVEN!, for that extra oomph. All things considered, I found it appropriate. (Actually the scale is senseless. It maxes at around 9-10, so I'm running somewhere around 40%.)

Been running with inline atomizer Qanvee for a couple of months, and very happy with it. Disregard chinese snake oil salesman BS about "efficiency reverse osmosis" on the box; this is quite a good unit. Diffusing is on par with UP atomizer, I'd say; and the housing seems sturdy and not prone to cracking if you look to hard at it like UPs. So happy I bought a 16/22 mm one for my AS600 tank.

Still dosing APFUK ferts. No complaints. Inquiring minds want to know if Tropica ferts are good for houseplants

Got a glass lily pipe, to try and soften the water jet. And rise my bloodpressure during filter clean. So far it survived the first clean, so fingers crossed. Also it seemed to soften the current, whilst retaining flow. I'm sold.

Got rid of the Eheim filter materials (ceramic noodles and substrat pro), and replaced them with cubes of 30ppi foam, lightly "packed". So flow is great so far, despite the C. crispatula starting to fill in.

/tech babble

Decided to live a little and got a few more fish. Additional Hara jerdoni, so I could have some more secret fish I only see at wc day. Lost one, so I have somewhere between 5-8. I'd have to pull everything apart to do a headcount here, so, yeah...

Decided I needed some fish to actually look at and bought 12 C. margaritatus. They weren't in too good shape, quite emaciated. One actually seemed to have a hard time swimming, and wassomewhat deformed. I decided to do what Mother Nature would do (take it outside and smash it with a brick). Supposedly they were wild caught, but I think there must have been a miscommunication somewhere. Pretty sure these were bred, and they willingly eat dry foods, IME not too common with wild fish. I think I lost another after a good while, but am not too sure, they're a bit hyper and hard to count. After a few weeks of intense feeding (2-3 times a day) they have colored up nicely and are wellshaped (if not bordering on FAT). They seemed to appreciate my dimming and current efforts too. And they don't jump

Plants are doing ok... The crispatula is too big for this tank, I knew that going in, and seems to get a bit of mechanical damage on some leaves. Other crypts are growing, very slowly. Did a massive moss trim. Buces are slower than frozen molasses in slow motion. I find it hard to strike the right balance between light, ferts, co2 and slow growers, without exploding in algae. Since most algae now are barely hanging on, I accept that everything else is slow. I guess the low maintenance sits well with me too, these days. If I keep this tank around after I start my AS600, it will be low tech.

The HC seems to have decided to change its lot in life and slowly lose its grip in the substrate, to take up a career as floating plant. Not sure if it is because of the much lower light, or if some of the critters uproot it. It has no place in a tank that is slowly entering decommisioning/conversion to low tech anyway. Also have accepted I don't have the time/patience for lawn maintenance these days. So I pick up some of it and that's it I guess...

A bit of BBA hanging on, have realised I will never eradicate it completely. Do a bit of spotdosing excel, and removal of old leaves. It doesn't spread (much), so as long as it is subdued I kind of look past it. It does mean I will not use any plants, hardscape or substrate from this tank for the 600, which was the initial idea though. Only critters will make the move, if I keep this tank going, shrimp will stay here too.

Quick phone pic, warts and all: