Am I on the right road?

[Neon Rainbow]

Hi everyone, Am I glad to find this site!
I started keeping tropical fish around 3 years ago with plastic plants and a Greek temple as decor...
It didn't take long for me to want a natural look in my tank!

All I wanted was some lush green plants and a healthy environment for my fish, unfortunately all I've had is algae issues and dying plants and a persistent cyanobacteria problem, I've read up loads but can't seem to get it right, there's so much conflicting info on the web.

I was about ready to give up when I thought maybe I would give it one last try, so...

I changed my substrate to eco complete
Bought a powerhead to compliment my internal fluval U4 and Aquamanta 1000L external with spraybar, all the output is directed towards the front glass in the hope of assisting flow, what plants I have left are all gently swaying..

Within 2 weeks most of the new plants I bought I have had to pull from the tank, they had a black slicky stuff which I took as cyanobacteria, happens to all of 'em after a little while.

I originally had my lights on for 8 hours a day and I was dosing easy carbo daily 3ml, and profito every other day.

My tank is in a room with patio doors so there is quite a bit of ambient light but I've nowhere else for it to go.

I've reduced my lighting to 6pm to 10:30pm
The plants I have left are..
3 x Echinodorus bleheri
1 x sad looking hygrophila difformis
1 x hygrophila polysperma
I'm still dosing 3 ml easy carbo daily and 1ml profito every other day.

My tank is

160L
2xT8 30w with reflectors ( 1x daylight, 1x JBL colour)
Temp 26
PH 8
Any advice would be really appreciated,
Thanks
Kev

 

[faizal]

Hi. Welcome to the forum . I am not an expert at all. In fact i am still trying to find my way to lay claim to a beautiful tank. But from what I've learnt,...your light level appears okay but you are dosing liquid carbon which as you know automatically makes it a high tech tank. Of course the growth rates are much slower & your choices of plants are not as much as a pressurised system would offer but it is still high tech.

I never had much luck with liquid carbon & stem plants. But you could try to increse the easy carbo dosing a bit & see if it has any positive changes over a 3 week period. Just saying with easy carbo or excel i think you really need to be consistent with their daily dosing or else you could still result in plant melting.

Some plants that i found easy to manage with liquid carbon are mini bolbltis ( i am sure it should apply to the regular big bolbitis too), nymphae rubra, anubias ( all kinds), echinodorus tenellus, cabombas, cryptocorynes.

Dosing a tank with liquid carbon as you may well know increases the tank's demand for more nutrients.

Here's also an example of dosing for an excel (liquid carbon) supplemented tank which is advised by Mr Tom Barr.

For a US 20 gallon tank:
1/8th teaspoon KNO3 ( potassium nitrate)
1/16th teaspoon KH2PO4 ( potassium phosphate)
2ml of Seachem flourish ( i think these are micronutrients)
1/8th teaspoon of Seachem Equilibrium
50% water change per week

Cyanobacteria is often caused by low nitrate levels ( according to james planted tank webpage). Dirty substrates and filters can also cause it.

Best way to deal with it :Clean out as much of it manually as you can. Do a large water change.Dose some Nitrates. Continue with the daily liquid carbon dosing even in the absence of light.Complete blackout for 3-4 days.

These are just guidelines though,...and i think there are many who do things differently as per their own experience. Hope this was of some help.

 

[Neon Rainbow]

Hi Faizal,
I introduced the easy carbo as I read it killed off some algae as a side effect, and it did have a positive effect on the BBA.

I'll increase the easy carbo gradually as I think my Oto's are a bit sensitive to it, hopefully it might reduce the nitrates a bit by increasing nutrient demand?

Currently my nitrates are reading 30-40

Will my plants photosynthesise with four and a half hours light?

Thanks for your help

Kev

 

[faizal]

Hi Kev . To be perfectly honest i haven't used a nitrate test kit in over 4 yrs. From what i've learned so far, they can be really misleading. Hence i've stopped using them. Your plants will do fine with 4 and a half hours of lighting. They will just grow slowly that's all. And i am sure by now you are well aware that it will help to keep those algae at bay.

I have only followed Mr Tom Barr's dosing recommendations (as above) for my excel tank & it came along fairly well except for the very slow growth rates probably due to my very low light levels. By "fairly well" i mean,...i didn't really have much luck with mini java ferns & stem plants.

If you could upload some pics to show the algae & the present conditions of the plants it would really help us a lot. If you are indeed having cyanobacteria then a total blackout for 3-4 days is probably required.

Don't get discouraged. Someone here once told me "The more problems you encounter, the faster you will learn". You should have seen my first effort!!!.

 

[faizal]

.... hopefully it might reduce the nitrates a bit by increasing nutrient demand?

I am really sorry but i couldn't understand that bit. Could you be kind enough to explain it again please?

 

[Neon Rainbow]

Hi Faizal,
Thanks for the encouragement, I must admit I was on the verge of giving up but I don't like to give up without putting up some kind of fight

Neon Rainbow said:

.... hopefully it might reduce the nitrates a bit by increasing nutrient demand?

I am really sorry but i couldn't understand that bit. Could you be kind enough to explain it again please?

I was reading that nitrates should be 10 to 20 in a planted tank, being as mine are 30 to 40 I was thinking that increasing the easy carbo dosing it would encourage the plants to use up more of the nitrates?

Since turning down the light duration I haven't had the film that appears between the substrate and the front glass, so here's hoping

I have started to increase the easy carbo dosage, I am doing it gradually because of my Oto's and rainbows.

I have taken some pics of the current state of the tank but when I try to upload I get a message saying I do not have permission?

Thanks for your help
Kev

 

[Neon Rainbow]

Here's a couple of pics of how things are at present,
Thanks
Kev

 

[faizal]

Hi Kev . The tank's looking not bad at all actually. It's great that you are doing what needs to be done. Increasing the easycarbo gradually is a very good idea too since you have the otos. Give it atleast 2-3 weeks to settle & the dosing as you well know should be consistent too.

About the nitrate levels though, I am sorry but i am not too sure about it. I hope someone else might help to shed some light on that.