# New tank algae guidance



## Gator (31 Jul 2021)

Any thoughts or comments on my new tank, and this first algae  would be appreciated. 

10 gallon tank
3 weeks old
Aquaclear 30 filter
Nicrew Classic LED Plus, 70 par, 15 watt, 4500 lux, 850 lumens
(Light set about 1/3 level for 6 hrs a day}
Controsoil
Non-dosing
Thrive+ All in one fertilizer(macro and micros),  1.5 ml 3x/week
40% water change every other day
Plants:
Assorted Anubias,
Java ferns Black Forest and Windeluv
Bucephalandra Green Broad Leaf
Nymphaea Stellata
Alternanthera Reineckii Rosaefolia
Rorippa Aquatica
Bacopa Monniera
Bacopa CarolinianaRed
Hereanthera zosterifolia
Dwarf Nomaphila Siamensis

No inhabitants yet.  Might add 6-10 Amano Shrimp soon.

Thanks.  I'm really enjoying this forum.  I have taken alot of the advice here seriously but I will never be perfect.


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## Karmicnull (11 Aug 2021)

Welcome to UKAPS!  Tank looks good and plenty of plants.  Most of your plants are slow growers, but the HZ should bulk out fairly quickly. From what I can see you've got that and the AR floating, which is sensible for the AR as it will like the light.  You're not injecting CO2 so make sure and keep the light intensity low, which you are doing.  You can afford to up lighting duration to 7 or 8 hours IMO, as intensity matters more than duration for low tech.  Don't worry about the white mold on the wood - that always happens for newly immersed wood and will go after a few weeks.


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## erwin123 (11 Aug 2021)

Gator said:


> Any thoughts or comments on my new tank, and this first algae  would be appreciated.
> 10 gallon tank
> Alternanthera Reineckii Rosaefolia
> No inhabitants yet.  Might add 6-10 Amano Shrimp soon.



I think the recommendations on the internet on stocking levels for Amanos are way too high.  I learnt the hard way by following some internet stocking recommendation of 1 Amano for every 10 litres.

I think 1 Amano for every 5 gallons/ 20 litres or less is better if you plan to keep plants that Amanos like to eat.


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## MichaelJ (11 Aug 2021)

Hi @Gator  As @Karmicnull say keep the light intensity low. I think it looks a little too intense for those slow growers (very hard to judge from the picture - and hard to judge what 1/3 level actually means in absolute terms). And to @erwin123 's point, keep the stocking low as well... 10 US Gallon is a small body of water... I have around 15 Neocaridina davidi in various colors (Blue, Cherry, Yellow, Golden, Orange and I will soon be getting a couple of Green ones) in a 40 US Gallon tank. Neocaridina stays a bit smaller than Amano and are super fun and easy to keep in my experience  (so far) and won't eat your plants - at least not the ones I recognize on your list.

Your tank looks good for 3 weeks. Don't worry about diatoms, all new tanks have it at this stage or the mold on the wood. It will go away sooner rather than later. Keep it up for another 4-5 weeks, before you introduce livestock, but I would probably soon start reducing the WC's to 2 x 50% a week.

Filtration and dosing sounds good to me, but I would front load a higher dose right after the WC, say 3 ml, as your are taking out a lot of nutrients with the WC.

Welcome to UKAPS! 


Cheers,
Michael


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## Gator (11 Aug 2021)

Karmicnull:  Thanks for the kind words, and advice.  I will increase the lighting duration from 6 to 8 hours.

Erwinn123:  Thanks for your response.  I'll be very careful not to overstock on shrimp.  

MichaelJ:  Your right about the light intensity.  I raised it to high when taking photos.  It is normally kept much lower.  I love the Neocaridina.  You have a wonderful assortment in your tank.  I thought the Amano would be a bit sturdier.  What do you thing of 4  Neocaridina in a 10 US gallon tank?  

I reduced the frequency of WC last week, and will also follow your advice regarding ferts.

Thanks to all,
Gator


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## MichaelJ (11 Aug 2021)

Gator said:


> MichaelJ:  Your right about the light intensity.  I raised it to high when taking photos.  It is normally kept much lower.  I love the Neocaridina.  You have a wonderful assortment in your tank.  I thought the Amano would be a bit sturdier.  What do you thing of 4  Neocaridina in a 10 US gallon tank?


Hi @Gator  Personally I wouldn't have a problem with 10 Neocaridina davidi in a 10 US Gallon tank - they stay quite small (some would keep 2-3 or even 5 per Gallon but thats just too many IMO). My recommendation would be to introduce them slowly with drip acclimation. Perhaps in two separate batches of 5 shrimps each to see how it goes. Ideally you want to know the water they are kept in at the store to make sure your water is not too far off. They can be bit sensitive to wildly varying water parameters, but properly acclimated they are pretty hardy. Also when you introduce them into a new tank (when its "cycled") you should feed them dry algae wafers as there probably won't be enough biofilm and algae for them to feed on.  I have bought all my shrimps online at aquaticarts.com - out of Indiana, US. As I can tell your in the US, so If your within overnight delivery of IN its a good choice. Their shrimp are good quality and their shipping and handling of the livestock is very good. And the water they keep/breed them in is pretty typical, so drip acclimation should work unless your water is say extremely hard or extremely soft.

Cheers,
Michael


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## Gator (11 Aug 2021)

Michael,

I can't wait to add shrimp to my tank.  Just a few more weeks.  I've already purchased a drip device, so am good to go.  Thanks for the good advice.

Gator


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## Karmicnull (12 Aug 2021)

Yep cherry shrimp are brilliant - they will breed to the available capacity of your tank and eat all the left over food that your fish miss.  I popped half a dozen in my 12L plant holding tank, have fed them virtually nothing (a piece of marrow about once a week), and now have over 30 in there. I'm contemplating my first tank where I won't have cherries as I'll have cherry eating fish, and I'm definitely nervous that I'll have no one in there to keep the tank clean for me...


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## Gator (13 Aug 2021)

Do you feed them bone marrow as in osso bucco?  Happy shrimp.     

I think I need to add a battalion of shrimp to my tank.  Brown algae has made an appearance now.  The BBA is stilll present.  I'm using Excel to spot treat, as well as dosing.   I'm continuing with the ferts, as well as medium lighting.  I understand water flow is very important.  Do you think the Aquaclear 30 provides enough flow. or should I add a secong HOB filter(i have a spare Aquaclear 20)?


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## MichaelJ (13 Aug 2021)

Gator said:


> I think I need to add a battalion of shrimp to my tank.  Brown algae has made an appearance now.  The BBA is stilll present.  I'm using Excel to spot treat, as well as dosing.   I'm continuing with the ferts, as well as medium lighting.  I understand water flow is very important.  Do you think the Aquaclear 30 provides enough flow. or should I add a secong HOB filter(i have a spare Aquaclear 20)?


@Gator Brown algae, most likely diatoms in your case, will all go away when your tank matures... Keep up the WC's etc. as discussed above and arm yourself with patience    ... as for a 2nd filter, I would think the Aquaclear 30 should be sufficient for your 10 gallon tank, however if your think you have stale areas with low/no circulation you could try and add the 20 as well. I am having two Seachem Tidal HOB's on both my tanks - situated in opposite sides of the tanks to maximize flow/circulation. Works really well.
Cheers,
Michael


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## Gator (13 Aug 2021)

Thanks Michael.   I'm actually enjoying the small challenges this hobby is providing.  It sure is a patience builder!!!

I was wondering about the importance of the pattern of water circulation.  Does it make a difference if you have 2 converging flows or 1 continuous loop.  I don't know if I'a expressing this clearly.


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## MichaelJ (13 Aug 2021)

Gator said:


> Thanks Michael.   I'm actually enjoying the small challenges this hobby is providing.  It sure is a patience builder!!!


@Gator for sure. _Patience_ is the operational word in this hobby! ... and trust me, I have made a ton of mistakes in this hobby throughout the years (and probably continue to do so...)  - a lot of them due to lack of knowledge, but definitely also a fair amount due to lack of patience 


Gator said:


> I was wondering about the importance of the pattern of water circulation.  Does it make a difference if you have 2 converging flows or 1 continuous loop.  I don't know if I'a expressing this clearly.


I'd say as long as you don't have any stale areas (i.e. with very low or no circulation) in your tank it should be good. You want to make sure that nutrients (including CO2 and oxygen), which is the lifeblood of the tank, gets distributed well throughout the tank - a common problem is lack of flow at or towards the bottom. Of course, you also do not want to create a tornado-like environment in your tank that will stress out your livestock etc. If you put in the 2nd filter I would move the one already in there over towards the corner and have the 2nd one at the opposite corner - depending on what the space in and around the tank allows for.  It might even be OK if you just move your existing HOB more towards the center. I cant tell what filter media you have in there, but make sure its not jammed as that will obviously restrict flow through the filter and degrade its ability to provide circulation.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Michael


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## Karmicnull (13 Aug 2021)

Gator said:


> Do you feed them bone marrow as in osso bucco? Happy shrimp


Nope! Marrow as in it was a courgette but we waited too long before picking it


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## Gator (13 Aug 2021)

AHHHH.   We call that zucchinni in the U.S.  Thanks for the clarification.   I'll keep that in mind.


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## Karmicnull (15 Aug 2021)

Zucchini - Of course!  Italian vs. French etymology.  
I have a bag in the freezer full of nettles, Zucchini cubes and Sweet potato (Yam).  You need to blanch them before feeding.  Spinach, carrots and lettuce are also popular.  Depending on how hungry they are they may not immediately jump on any food you provide - that just means they're getting plenty from the tank.  Once they've bred to the tank's capacity they'll start feeding.  See <here> for my early experience trying and failing to feed shrimp and a Bristlenose.
I dug out a photo of feeding time once the were hungry (marrow and nettles held down with a wooden skewer). The big one is an Amano.





Cheers,

  Simon


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## Gator (20 Aug 2021)

Looks like they enjoy their diet.  Great picture.  My tank should be ready for adding shrimp. Will confirm tomorrow with my trusty test kit.  There is an outfit in California called BucePlant that provides Overnight Fedex shipping for shrimp.  They sell great quality plants.  Although the level of algae seems to have diminished somewhat, the shrimp should help (I hope!)  Increasing the ferts, and extending the hours of lighting seems to be helping.  

Thank you UKAPS for all the great advice.

Bill


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## cfrancop (23 Aug 2021)

Hello Guys, 

I have a emerged plant aquarium, and last friday I added water to the tank. Today I noticed this type of algae on the Driftwood and in 2 spots near it. I am not sure what type of algae it is. Any advise?

There are no animals on the aquarium yet, just the plants. I have good CO2 and I think I have good water circulation, the sustrate is ADA Amazonia and I have changed 30% of the water today.  

Thank you in advance for any help.


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