Anubias and particles

[Beanpole]

Hello, looking for experience of anubias flowering. I've had a issue with particles in the water, cleaned filters and checked everything, not added anything new, it's a mature tank 3 years old and most of the wood and plants are older from previous tank. Tried purigen and filter floss, waterchanges which work for that day then its back. It isn't hazy like bacterial bloom and isn't green either. It's very small particles a little bigger than dust. It isn't microbubbles either. I've tried everything to clear them but then I realised the last few months my anubias have been flowering one large clump has 4 flowers on right now. Could it be the pollen from the flowers slowly getting swept in the flow? It seems a lot but I'm running out of ideas and wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience? Many thanks

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

If your referring to the green spots, it’s GSA (Green Spot Algae). Another poster had a similar issue with his Anubias. This normally pops up on slow growing plants older leaves as you have noticed. As long as you don’t see this anywhere else in the tank, it’s no big deal. Not much you can do to fix it since it appears your anubias are under good lighting and it’s only affecting some leaves and not all. You can clip the affected leaves if you wish. If everything else in the tank looks great I’d leave well enough alone Beautiful growth by the way

 

[Beanpole]

Hello thank you for your reply, sorry I wasn't very clear in my post having re read it. Green spot algae I am familiar with but leave it alone for the most part. Sometimes remove the most effected leaves but it's a low tech tank no daily ferts no co2 etc so I mostly leave it to do its thing and keep the front glass clear. My issue is particles floating in the water colum. They are very hard to get a picture of and they show more when the light is brightest in the evening. I have two filters a eheim 2213 and a fluval 406 plus two korolia nano circulation pumps in the tank. It's a roma 240. I've never had issues before with particles and I'm totally confused by what they are and how to get rid of them. I've got filter floss in both filters and it clears a bit only to look worse again in the evening. Is it possible it's not pollen at all and its some reaction to the brighter light level? In which case bacterial? Many thanks.

 

[Beanpole]

 

[Beanpole]

Managed to get a picture showing the particles and full tank pic for a better idea. As you can see doesn't look awful but up close they are very visable especially where the light hits them. Never had this issue before so hoping someone has more experience of them and what they could be. Many thanks.

 

[jolt100]

Hi, have you tried putting some in a clear glass jar and seeing what happens after a few hours ?
If it's solid particles being kept suspended by the water flow they should sink or float to the surface.
If it's something like infusoria they will still be visibly moving. Try looking with a magnifying glass.
Cheers
John

 

[Beanpole]

Good idea! I haven't thought of that. I've turned filters off for a few minutes and watched and they didn't float or sink just hung about in the water. If infusoria is it a big problem? I shall look on interwebs. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[tiger15]

I have 3 to 5 Anubias blooming simultaneously in my 75 gal tank and I have never observed any pollens. If the dusty particles are not bacterial bloom, then your mechanical filtration is not tight. Do you have HOBs or canister filters. If the mechanical filter pad in either filter is not tight, water can leak through the edges or short circuit pathways and the water will never be clear. I know the average time my HOB will get clogged up but if it did not occur way passed the average time, when I took it apart I always found short circuiting leak. The same can occur with canister if it exceed the average time it is supposed to be slowing down.

 

[jolt100]

Infusoria or copepods are not a problem in themselves, think live food , but it could be a sign of overfeeding or organics build up.
If you can see things moving, tiny worms or cyclops lay off feeding the fish for a few days and see if they eat the freebies.
Cheers

 

[Beanpole]

OK will hold back on the feeding, I can see exactly why now if that's what they are as I had kribs breed and a week or so after I caught the juveniles and gave to fish shop is when it began. I think I have not lessened the food amount enough. There was 21 juveniles so makes perfect sense I just didn't put two and two together. Thank you for the help.

 

[Beanpole]

Just seen the filter reply, I have two canisters one ehiem 2213 and one fluval 406 I do suspect the fluval has bypass but until this it was always clear before so I'm thinking it is the little water bugs basically. I've not left it any longer than usual between cleans. The plant mass has increased though so could also be contributing to more floating particles in general so maybe I need to up the filter cleans. Thank you for suggestion.

 

[tiger15]

Just seen the filter reply, I have two canisters one ehiem 2213 and one fluval 406 I do suspect the fluval has bypass but until this it was always clear before so I'm thinking it is the little water bugs basically. I've not left it any longer than usual between cleans. The plant mass has increased though so could also be contributing to more floating particles in general so maybe I need to up the filter cleans. Thank you for suggestion.

Just counted today I have 12 blooms simultaneously in my Anubias tank, and the water remains crystal clear. Even if your plants generate floating particles, a good mechanical filter will filter the particles out. If it is hazy from particulate matter, not milky from bacterial bloom, then there must be short circuiting in your canisters. I use HOB which I can detect overflow or short circuiting easily, not so easy with canister which is hidden and out of sight.

 

[Beanpole]

OK so a update on particles haha would say need to get out more but that's currently not a option. I got a jug of water from tank and studied it with magnifying glass. Did see one tiny moving flea like bug but literally one and I searched for awhile. The majority does seem like tiny tiny particles of dirt and sank after about a hour but some still just hung in the water even after a hour as they are so so small. It's a bit like a miniature version of when disturb gravel but only the very fine material going into the water. It is implying my filters aren't right somewhere but surely they both wouldn't have started bypassing at the same time? Wouldn't one still eventually clear it even if the other is playing up? Flow on both is the same as ever. All I can now think is its being constantly disturbed into the water by flow or a fish even. It is pretty heavily planted so gravel vac is all but impossible as have crypt parva all on the front gravel and large plants everywhere else. The fluval has a kind of prefilter section of sponges which I do notice always gets dirty at the top and the bottom first and takes awhile for the length of the sponges to get dirty so I do think there is a factor of bypass just within the design but this is not a new filter so it's always been the case. It's very frustrating as the water itself is very clear until you get really close and see the particles. Many thanks for all the replies.

 

[tiger15]

There is a trick to vacuum over carpet plants using turkey baster.



From your description it appears to be particulate matter, not milky bacterial bloom. If the filter is not short circuiting, then the media is too coarse to catch fine. What mechanical (not biological) filter media do you use. I use tight filter pad for my HOBs and change them about once a week when water is forced to overflow. If it doesn't overflow in more than a week, something is wrong and it must short circuiting around the edges.

 

[Beanpole]

Thank you I will give that idea a go for the gravel. In the fluval with 4 baskets 2 are medium black sponge and 2 are bio media, then I have one layer of fine filter at the top over the biomedia and its hard to tell if it flows over as in a canister but it is always dirty I clean it once every two weeks. So one canister one week the other the next week. The other canister is ehiem which has one coarse sponge and one medium sponge then biomedia and again filter wool as top layer. One very odd thing I've noticed is I added half a small bag of standard aquarium gravel the bag was 5kg so added about 2.5 kg as needed deeper substrate at the back for plants. Now the strange part is I dropped the magnet for the circulation pump in the tank while cleaning it and gravel stuck to magnet! I've gone around with a magnet picking out any that stuck but is this normal? I have never had magnetic gravel before. I've added seachem cuprisorb to my filter in case it is leaching and heavy metals but it would be near impossible to remove this gravel, it has mixed as gravel does with the rest and it is pretty heavily planted. I've a large amount of expensive coarse sand/gravel in there and just added this as a top up so got a cheap generic gravel bag to add. It is for aquariums though so thought no harm. Will add picture if that is allowed of the gravel I brought and in question. Many thanks.