A New Start - continued progress

[igirisujin]

@igorisujin,
Please don’t give up.
Perhaps you did too many and too large water changes for too long that stripped off the nutrients from the water column. There was no surplus so to speak for plants to utilize. It’s alright to do daily WC but the way I see it they should be no more than 5-10% of the total volume with the weekly one at 50%.

But the most obvious issue is the Co2.
You’ve got to make that work. BBA is mostly (Or almost always) from fluctuating levels of Co2.
HC will melt from low co2.

Most people have enough light over their tanks;
Ferts are easy as well. Plants usually tell you when they’re hungry.
But get co2 wrong, especially with light on the higher side and it’s all downhill from there on....
I hope you can get this tank back on track.
Good luck to you!

Thanks Andrew. I was working off the basis that the more water I change, the less ammonia is sitting there (from the aquasoil or deteriorating plants) for the algae to get hold of. I stopped changing the water for a couple of days, but due to the increase in diatoms I decided I had to suck them out. Once things have stabilised a bit, hopefully I'll be able to reduce the frequency a bit. a 5% water change could almost be done with a single scoop of a coffee mug!

Agreed, it has to be co2 in your case. 🙂

spot dosing bba with liquid carbon helps, diatoms are easily cleaned by shrimps and snails, good luck 😉

Yeah, I can't get hold of any in Japan - or at least I haven't seen any available. I would normally ask family in the UK to send some bits over, but I won't do that right now. Not a good time to be asking family to send a fish tank care package across the world!! There may be a similar product here that I just haven't found yet, but the Japanese-language BBA guides don't mention it. They focus on dirty tanks and CO2 (or plug the ADA BBA remover stick thing). Another thing that was mentioned was vinegar (酢), but I haven't tried it yet. There was a warning on that blog that it can damage surrounding plants.

Anyway, I sat down for a couple of hours yesterday with my tweezers, tediously removing as much as I could from the rocks and wood. If it comes back, I'll know I haven't solved the problem yet.

The stems are starting to recover from their trim 10 days ago, which is a lot slower than the last time. But at least the new growth seems OK, even if each stem is growing at a different rate. I may do well to replant the stems near the front, as they're not so pretty in the lower parts.



As I said, I spent a long time on the BBA/diatoms. It's a lot better than it was, but there's a way to go.



The HC is pretty ugly (with a few healthy nodes), but the hairgrass seems to be doing OK. It won't be the end of the world if the hairgrass takes over this section completely. The new Hydrocotyle leaves aren't too bad either. I cut off the vast majority when they diatomed-up and melted.

The moss isn't too bad - a little bit of diatoms tangled up in there and it's not as green/clean as it was, but it's not too bad. Hopefully at the next trim the new growth will be nicer.



I'll wait and see now how the situation goes this week - if the algae returns and if the plants continue to recover.

Changes made since plant melt and algae outbreak:

Added second HOB filter (ugly, but cheap and makes water move).

Switched back to the DOOA diffuser, but as I have a second filter now, I was able to put it directly in the flow. I also increased the bubble rate to compensate for it being less efficient than the airstone. It's just prettier, and I want to use it if I can.

Lowered the N and P dosing back down to the minimum one squirt, and hoping that the Aquasoil is sufficient.

Lowered the Do!Aqua K/Micro dosing down to (1ml/day). I had been slightly overdosing, as I was told to do so by the shop here.

Cut the lights down a bit. I can't give a percentage, but the visible intensity is reduced. I'll leave it like that and see how it goes. I don't know the PAR rating.

Thanks as always 🙂

 

[igirisujin]

[Sorry for the photo quality!]

I decided to spend another couple of hours this afternoon sorting out the decaying plants (mostly HC) around the wood. I had been resisting pulling the small piece of wood out, but now I'm glad I did. There was quite a lot of work to do tidying up that area.



I then took the opportunity to rub off as much BBA as I could from the branches, and gave the moss a good trim. The moss had grown right underneath it, but was brown and nasty. Got rid of all that. Now I think of it, I should have taken the small front stones out to bleach too, but that might have caused an undesirable Aquasoil landslide.







I'm not sure whether it can be seen from this photo, but I took out a large amount of melted HC. There do seem to be some new green leaves, so there is hope. Also, strangely, the small patch of HC directly under the filter inlet seems to be very healthy.



Finally, a full tank shot - looking slightly cleaner again.

 

[Ghettofarmulous]

Mate this is a nice tank. I really hope you persist with this. It will come together my man.

 

[igirisujin]

Mate this is a nice tank. I really hope you persist with this. It will come together my man.

Thank you, yes I won't be giving up unless it really goes wrong. I can tentatively say that things are going a little better. Some of the HC seems to be growing better so I'll be trying to cut out the damaged bits to make way for the new growth, hoping it will continue well. Diatoms are still there despite the lower light and cleaning but it's manageable. I would love to have a decent external filter on this, but it's not possible now. I've got the next project in the planning stage, and it will likely have an Eheim 2211.

I think the flow may actually be too strong on the right hand side now, as the stems are taking a pummelling. I don't want to reduce it really though, if I can help it - it's distributing the CO2 better than before.

I'd also like to get some more shrimp, although I haven't actually seen the 3 cherries I have now eating any algae. I wanted some Amanos really, but I think they'll be too big for this 25cm tank - they'll look awkwardly huge!

Finally, I received some BBA advice from a shop owner here yesterday. It seems that in Japan, as we don't have specific products like Excel available, they use a type of vinegar(?) (it's written as 木酢液, and the character 酢 means vinegar) and apply it directly as you might with liquid carbon products. I'll try it later today if I have time.

 

[rebel]

vinegar can definitely kill BBA. Just squirt it directly on the spot with the filter turned off. Turn on the filter in 5 minutes. Don't put too much though because it could be bad for the kH and then pH. ADA phyton git is also ok I hear, esp in Japan. Elsewhere we can't really afford most ADA stuff.

 

[igirisujin]

ADA phyton git is also ok I hear, esp in Japan. Elsewhere we can't really afford most ADA stuff.

Yes, the shop owner recommended Phyton Git first. It's still expensive here - around £20 - so then he suggested trying that vinegar from the home centre next door. It seems it's usually used to treat wood and stop fungus (and apparently also clean cat litter trays!!), and I wonder whether it's the same stuff they use for treating the stylised 'dead branches' on bonsai.

 

[igirisujin]

Well this stuff certainly turns BBA red...! Shrimp showing no interest yet. Will see how it looks tomorrow.

Also, I read several people saying ADA Phyton Git smells like smoky bacon - so does this vinegar! It smells very strongly of the Walkers crisps, and it's all over my hands! I wonder if the Phyton Git is just this stuff rebranded and priced up?

 

[igirisujin]

New guys at work 🙂

You might be able to see the HC recovering a little, too.

 

[igirisujin]

Quick progress update. Sorry for the picture overload! Also, the sharpness of images seems to drop when I add them to the forum. I've tried Flickr and Imgur so far. Any ideas why?

Narrow angle full tank shot.
[/url]

Wider angle full tank shot.










Finally, a little shot of the next tank I'm working on. You can probably see the Mini M in the above photos. I'm taking my time fixing the hardscape for the next project, while saving up for the equipment and plants!!

I'm going to let this current tank run its full course, and see how healthy I can make it after all the issues. When that's done, I'll start up the Mini M 😀 I'm currently trying to decide whether to use the current spot LED light on the Mini M, or go for the ADA light (not RGB, that's very expensive, and seemingly currently unavailable in 36cm). The concern with the spotlight is that it would cause significant shading under the rocks - this wouldn't be an issue for the ADA strip light. I'll probably start a new journal for the Mini M soon.


Thanks 🙂

 

[alto]

Tank is looking good 🙂

Balance light cost, but I really like the ADA Aquasky - the build quality is excellent, the clear fame allows the light to “disappear”

I’ve a couple of older units, and the newer G version - I thought I’d like the G better based upon description, but still quite like the older (original?) model
I do think that the new black Aquasky 60 RGB looks gorgeous in the Green Aqua photos/video, especially with that new stand (but the stand will never be available in Canada as the ADA representation is far from professional, and even the Aquasky 60 RGB was never considered for sale here this year 😕 )

I have ONF’s flat nano + that I use on an ADA 30C, I really like the aesthetics and color rendition of this light

Was that just 5% vinegar that you used on the bba - I’ve never thought to use this 🙂

Re the image quality - bring this to the attention of ukaps administrator @LondonDragon

 

[igirisujin]

Tank is looking good 🙂

Balance light cost, but I really like the ADA Aquasky - the build quality is excellent, the clear fame allows the light to “disappear”

I’ve a couple of older units, and the newer G version - I thought I’d like the G better based upon description, but still quite like the older (original?) model
I do think that the new black Aquasky 60 RGB looks gorgeous in the Green Aqua photos/video, especially with that new stand (but the stand will never be available in Canada as the ADA representation is far from professional, and even the Aquasky 60 RGB was never considered for sale here this year 😕 )

Thanks 😀 Are they dimmable?

Was that just 5% vinegar that you used on the bba - I’ve never thought to use this 🙂

I just squirted it in straight at the affected area (carefully)! I'm not sure how different regular kitchen vinegars would be - this type is typically for garden use here.

 

[igirisujin]

While the BBA and diatoms seem to be receding, they are being replaced by long, green hair algae - also CO2 related?

 

[igirisujin]

The algae is much more under control now, and the plant growth is much better. The BBA is still growing, though - it's not totally dealt with yet unfortunately.

Anyway, I managed to persuade my wife to let me put an external filter (Eheim 2211) on this, as we were going to need to get one when we make the switch to the Mini M, anyway - and I also said her beloved Cherry Shrimp would appreciate it! We have Cherry babies now, too.

The tank looks much better without the two HOBs on the back glass.

 

[igirisujin]

I found out yesterday that some of the under parts of the moss have been dying off. I wonder whether that might have been contributing to some of the issues. I had a good go at cutting out the dead parts today.

 

[igirisujin]

Very quick update. Seems to be going OK, overall. The HC and hairgrass are growing much better now, but I'm struggling with the moss. The underneath parts of the moss seem to be rotting, and I wonder if it might be a cause for some of the BBA issues in the moss? Anyway, the new growth that's creeping up the wood is healthy, but the older parts are gradually pulling away from the wood.

I was running low on the ADA/Do!Aqua ferts too, so I've switched to EI using salts I bought from CO2 Supermarket 3 or so years ago. I've mixed and am dosing according to their guidelines. Compared to the ADA ferts I expect it's a big increase in ppms, so It'll be interesting to see if it changes anything. CO2 sitting steady at 1bps, which seems a huge amount compared to what other people are injecting.

On the right-hand side of the picture is a Mini M I picked up a few weeks ago. I've been working on an Iwagumi for the next scape. I made a thread a while ago about lighting but I'm still undecided, so haven't bought one yet. I was worried that using the spotlight from the 25cm would cause too many shadows, and would leave too many patches in the tank where I couldn't grow plants. It's a toss-up between the ADA light and the ONF Nano now - the ADA being the cheaper option here, but I'm just not convinced by the colour and lack of adjustability.

 

[igirisujin]

Just a couple of shots to show the continued progress. Since switching from ADA to EI powder ferts, the HC and moss seem to be improving. The older parts of the moss are still a little brown though, and I think without re-tying it there's not much can be done. Still, the new growth looks good 🙂

BBA is also still appearing despite all the changes and heavy maintenance. I'm hoping it will be easier to control in my next scape. I have made sure to use silicone on the hardscape, and won't have any wood. I regret not securing my hardscape down this time - the wood is quite precarious!

 

[igirisujin]

Quick stem trim. Really need to work on my technique - I'm not quite getting it right, I don't think!!

Also just switched over to the ONF Flat Nano+ while my I'm waiting for my Mini M plant order. Much better colour than the spot light.

 

[igirisujin]

Little progress update. Stems are starting to wake up after the last trim. It takes about two weeks for the new buds to open. Is that normal? It seems a little slow.

Still struggling with BBA, but all other algae is pretty much gone. Just manually removing the BBA each week, which is quite a task. I'm glad I've secured the hardscape down better for my iwagumi! With this one, a slight knock and it'd be game over!!

 

[si walker]

Very nice.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ray]

Well this stuff certainly turns BBA red...!

View attachment 147902

Looking fantastic - I really like this tank. How did you dose the vinegar - treat the whole tank or spot dose with a pipette?