Thanks! He will take bites here and there but it hasn't been a big problem. I bought him a long time ago as an impulse purchase not knowing they eat plants so I got lucky with him lol.Looks brilliant! Does your Severum not eat any of the plants?
Thanks! He will take bites here and there but it hasn't been a big problem. I bought him a long time ago as an impulse purchase not knowing they eat plants so I got lucky with him lol.Looks brilliant! Does your Severum not eat any of the plants?
So a lot has happened in the last month. As suggested I began dosing chelated iron DTPA. I also started dosing iron gluconate. I started front loading all my macros after my water change and the other 6 days I dose my micro solution and each day I'll dose half a teaspoon of gluconate and a pinch of DTPA. I'm honestly not sure If I've seen a significant difference but you can judge for yourself in the video.
Another change in fertilization is that I bought some pottasium chloride which I began to dose on top of my macro solution. I've noticed people dose much higher pottasium than what is in my pre-mixed macro packet. I now dose an extra 20 ppm pottasium.
I was getting tired of looking at the GDA coating my plants so I did something many of you may disagree with. I bought an algaecide. I used API algaefix and within a few days most of the GDA that was on my plants melted away. I now have pretty clean plants with no algae except on a few older leaves. I haven't noticed the GDA return on the plants but time will tell if it comes back. I think the plants look pretty healthy but you guys can tell me if anything looks wrong with them. I am noticing a small film of GDA returning on the glass but I'm just happy it's not on the plants.
I also added an army of snails to help manage any algae that may come back or is still there. I added 200 olive nerite snails, 50 mystery snails, 100 ramshorn snails, and 300 malaysian trumpet snails. I've noticed the malaysian trumpet snail babies are amazing at eating GDA on plants, but they only clean up to the bottom third of the tank. Hopefully that's where the ramshorns come in. The nerites are great at cleaning larger surfaces. The mysteries I am not sure if they are good algae eaters, but they are the most fun to look at.
During this time period my tank came under attack from ick. I think I somehow cross-contaminated from my aunts fish tank that had ick. I treated the tank with API ick super cure. Weirdly only the plecos, severum, loaches, and live bearers where affected by the ich. The angelfish did not get a single speck and acted completely normal. I unfortunately lost a few baby plecos and my three clown loaches. But as of now all the fish look healthy and recovered.
I tested my GH and KH and this is what I have. GH: 15 KH: 8. After adjusting my CO2 to reach the proper level and increasing surface agitation I am now going through 5lbs of CO2 per week. I am curious how much does everyone pay for CO2 around the world? I'm currently paying $30 to exchange my 20lb tank. I considered getting a 50lb tank which has $60 refills. But I am not sure if It'll be too heavy to be practical.
Here is what the tank currently looks like, I will be trimming my rotala bushes sometime this week. I'm also planning on replacing a bush or two with rotala blood red and ludwigia super red. I have some on the way so I may consolidate two of the rotala bushes into one.
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Here is a video of the tank so you guys can get a better idea of how the plants are doing.
Thanks! I have two wave makers on each back corner of the tank facing the front glass. And in the middle overflow I have a return pipe facing the left and right side of the tank.Looks fantastic! You are on the right path for sure. How many wavemaker you have ? Flow looks on point.
From my vantage point I cant say for sure if this is Phytoplankton (green water) or bloom of some other bacteria - or what could have caused it.I would prefer not to get a UV sterilizer since I don't want to add more heat to the tank since the pumps already add a bit of heat. I also hear a UV sterilizer may make my problems with micros worse. But my main concern is adding more heat.
I found this 55W on Amazon Jebao PU-55 Pond and Aquarium Clarifier, 55-watt, Black https://a.co/d/fttVIcg I've really liked their pumps so I may try this UV. They also have a more expensive stainless steel version I may get instead. Looking at the reefing forums it seems 55w is around the minimum for my tank size. Because of that it may not add a significant amount of heat. The reviews seem to have success running it on big ponds so I may give this a try. I'd probably run the CO2 return from the reactors into this and then into my main return pump.Due to the size of the tank you will probably need a lot of UV firepower to provide enough coverage. With UV I wouldn't be worried about breaking down micros (Fe in particular) if you just dose early in the day and only run the UV over night (say 12 hours per day).
Yes it's the ultra life blue green slime remover. I can't find the ingredients it just says does not contain algaecides or erythromycin. It's a pink powder. I think the cyano showed up when my plant mass was very high and I was only dosing 7.5 ppm nitrates. I remember missing a week of dosing nitrates. That may have started it. I'm hoping the increased macro dosing addresses the root cause.I am not familiar with the "slime remover" or what its active ingredients are - is that the UltraLife one? We usually recommend not using chemicals to fight algae in the tank, but rather focus on the root causes.
Thank you!Fabulous tank and a great roller coaster journey! 1200 litres - wow! 👍
Thank you!Stunner! Amazing!
I am pretty sure it was phytoplankton since just a day of running the UV caused the filter sock to turn a very solid green.@RickyV Did you establish what was causing the cloudy water?
Well, glad you got it sorted out. You’ve got a lovely tank there and it was a shame to see it like that.I am pretty sure it was phytoplankton since just a day of running the UV caused the filter sock to turn a very solid green.