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20 litre Betta tank algae control

G

Greeny

Member
Joined
26 Nov 2017
Messages
75
Location
Norwich UK
Hi all,

Getting a little downhearted about the algae issue I have at the moment, I have beat the blue/green algae outbreak a while ago thanks to the product UltraLife blue-green slime remover. I decided to dose daily eco complete at around the recommended amount however quickly the little BBA that I had in there just exploded in both my tanks. I suspected it could have been the daily dosing so I stopped it. I did some large trimming and removing but as you all know it doesn't solve the problem it still climbs onto new leaves eventually even after a thorough trim.
Easy, low maintenance plants in both tanks, hygrophila polysperma, drawf sage, rotala and a species of Crypt. That's why I suspect the sudden increase of dosing caused the outbreak.
However more is needed to get it under control and that's what I need help for.
The 20 litre has a clip on 11w light from Boyu on for 8 hours, no Co2, no excel dosing and just my Betta, feeding controlled in order for him to eat it all and no waste.
The 48 litres has 2 9 watt LEDs on for 6 hours a day, stopped dosing, no fish as it was a tank to practice on, no excel.
Stopped short of bleach dipping the plants, I tried spot hydrogen peroxide and excel dosing but no success so far.
 
Hi all,
A photo of the tanks would help, and also what type of filtration and dosing regime you have (I'm not sure what eco complete is as fertiliser)?

Cyanobacteria (BGA) outbreaks can be caused by a <"rise in organics in the water">, some-times as a result of having too much/wrong type of filter media in the filter, other possibilities are low NO3 levels (<"cyanobacteria can fix N2 gas"> and make their own nitrogen fertiliser).

I know they aren't to everyone's taste but Red Ramshorn Snails will <"eat BBA sporelings"> (but not established tufts).

cheers Darrel
 
Not really related but wondering if you set up the Fluval Roma 200 (from an earlier topic)?

11watt LED light on the 20litre tank seems a lot :wideyed:
- what are the dimensions on this tank?

George Farmer recently set up a 30cm cube with the Aquario CO2 kit (15£ includes everything) - I’d be inclined to add this to one of your tanks (OK I’d add it to both ;)) and see how that goes
This is a yeast based system so produces 24/7 CO2, easy to add in a switch (airline) valve so you can control CO2 to tank

Using the non-livestock 48litre tank as the experimental tank,
- follow Filipe Oliveira Excel method to reduce algae
- add the Aquario CO2 kit, as no livestock I’d just leave as is & adjust filter at night to provide good surface agitation (reducing CO2 etc)
- clean filter, daily water change, daily water column dosing with Tropica fertilizer system or Evolution Aquascaper (or similar) ...
What is the Substrate in this tank?
Plant density?


You might find the non-CO2 injected 90cm tank (in Aquaflora showroom) set up by Filipe Oliveira interesting, video series begins with initial tank set up, following tank progress over the last couple years

I linked the videos in this thread
 
Sorry for the delay in replying back guys, I just got back from holiday and realised after I posted that I had so much to do I didn't get a chance however I've took in the advice that you shared so thanks for that and now that I'm back I can get hands on again at trying to solve the issue.

That eco complete I was talking about was actually Evolution aqua complete liquid plant food. I bought it because it was recommended by George (I'm sure on some videos he called it eco complete) and I dosed 1ml a day before I got the BBA bloom. So I thought perhaps it was due to fertilizer overdosing or it had the chance cause the blue green algae was under control and it was free to thrive. I stopped dosing unless I did a water change and I did remove leaves that were affected but I know its about trying to get the balance in order for it to die off again.
The filtrations are nothing special and maybe part of the cause, certainly for the 20Litre anyway. Any recommendations of filter and filter media?
I'll do a clean up and take a couple of photos in order for you guys to see them soon.
Thanks for the info Darrel and I'll look into the snails.

I never really thought of lighting capacity Alto cause it didn't really look that bright when on but yeah I can see what you mean now. I'm not sure the dimensions of the tank, it has a rounded front which makes it a bit awkward to get accurately the dimensions but realising now when I say 20 litres, its not the tank capacity but the amount in the water column after substrate etc. Both tanks have ADA amazonia substrate and the plant density particularly in the 48 litres is thick. The hygrophila in the 20 litre is up to the surface.
The yeast based system sounds interesting and I'll look into that and I will also look at the videos you suggested.

As for the 200 litre, after some considerable thought I have decided to shelve the idea for now as I think it may be a case of running before I walk. I appreciate the possibility of it being actually easier with a larger water capacity however I also considered the cost of it and the limited room we have for it too as where it is standing now a sofa would really be more practical. I thought about perhaps getting hold of a 100litre rectangular tank and seeing what I can do with that first, less hardscape, less substrate, less filtration should hopefully make it feel a bit more budget friendly. For now though, the fight against algae begins.
 
Regarding filtration... for a tank such as this where space is at a premium, I would personally recommend a hang on back filter. This removes as much equipment as possible from the tank, and also facilitates hiding any other equipment such as a heater in its compartments if you can get your dimensions right. Most have adjustable flow too. Alternative would be a small corner filter such as the Nano Clean Corner Filter by Dennerle which has a mini spray bar for good circulation in the tank. Either way you will want to transfer any cycled media into these that you can when/if you replace your current one so as not to loose the beneficial bacteria!
 
I haven't managed to find the Aquario CO2 kit much at all online. Only found 1 on Amazon for £18 plus £7.50 delivery. Does anyone know a better source for this product?
 
Hi guys, I've been meaning to do an update for a while now but just haven't got round to it until now. After getting your help and encouragement I found myself feeling very positive and happy about aquascaping again and towards the fight against the algae issues I was having. I have posted some pics which is of the 20 litre and some stubborn algae I'm not totally certain what it is (it could be BBA struggling I guess) diatoms? It is due for a clean though, will do that on Tuesday. I have been dosing liquid co2 and making sure light isn't on too long. I haven't managed to get the aquario co2 yet but thats ok, my goal it to set up and aquascape a 125ltr in place of both tanks and am going to be injecting co2 into that. I will be buying the co2 art elite series regulator soon so I may set it up in the 20 ltr to give it a whirl. If not in the end it'll be in the 125ltr. I'm thinking that I need to replace the light on my 20 ltr as this may not be helping and I think it may be due for replacing.

My 48ltr is much better now, its faired better than the 20 ltr in fact, it seemed as though it was getting over the issue when I had posted here because it didn't take long for it to look much better again afterwards. I have trimmed everything right down in the tank in order for it to grow back stronger and by then I hope to sell it on with all healthy plants and a decent carpet of dwarf Sag. I'm thinking that if I can concentrate on only one bigger project, it will be better for the limited time I have. I only use 1 of the 2 LED lights in order to keep the lighting down and dose liquid co2.

So basically, if you can a little info on the algae that I haven't managed to eradicate in the pics below if thats ok and any suggestions to improve it would be grately appreciated.

Thanks though for the help so far because it really got my mind breaking through a wall that was stopping me from going foward.

20181125_192929.jpg
20181125_192935.jpg
20181125_192943.jpg
 
Ok, yes I'm happy about it all now. I've now got some experience down and reasonably tackled an algae outbreak etc. I'm thinking of selling all my existing tanks and getting my one major project, free my time for other things and hopefully fingers crossed have a beautiful aquascape. I'm considering an ADA tank or an Evolution aqua tank in order to maximise the viewing of it.

P.S I did give the above a clean and it looks pretty good as you can see it was in need of it. Thanks again to those who helped me get through a testing time.
 
Your plants look healthy :) Its tough to tell it could be diatoms or just detritus settling on the flat surfaces - if cleaning took care of it probably the later. A little more flow to kick it about so it gets picked up by the filter might help.
 
tam said:
Your plants look healthy :) Its tough to tell it could be diatoms or just detritus settling on the flat surfaces - if cleaning took care of it probably the later. A little more flow to kick it about so it gets picked up by the filter might help.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm definitely much happier now. I did my second weekly clean today since the photos and some of it comes off of the Hygrofila but some is stuck there so I can't get all the leaves totally green so perhaps theres something there. I did have trouble with troublesome sticky detritus after a clean and re-scape, I think after some time of uncertainty that it could have been the broken down dead blue/green algae which I had a really bad time of for quite a while back then. Its taken a long time for it to be gotten rid of without starting totally from scratch.

I'm not sure if it is already on full power but if I can get a little more I'll give it a try. I'll post some progress pics soon. Thanks again.
 
I want to change my light to an LED and just wanted to know if a 3w aqua one that is 23cm in length over a 40cm in length will be able give the whole tank enough light. I didn't want to get anything super bright but just worried that it won't reach all the corners and anything too bright would upset the balance. My current bulb needs replacing anyway.
 
I've gone for it anyway, its not going to break the bank if it isn't adequate or I have problems with it. I'm going to do a video of how it goes as well, will be good for a review as there doesn't seem to be any out there at the moment for that light. I think it will keep it under the low light catagory, I'm kind of hoping that it may help the plants fight off whatever they have on them due to the old bulb in the boyu being replaced.

At the end of the day, whats aquascaping or aquatic plant keeping without a bit of trial and error :D
 
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