Did your algae problems start before or after the frequent large water changes?
I was going to say no, but then I went back to look at the dates closer (CSI style
😎) and you may be on to something there.
I did a brief timeline in january but the following one should be more thorough.
I love having a journal, its really really useful to be able to go back in time and look at things again.
My goal is that everything significant is written down here online or in the paper journal.
It doesnt always happen but I try. Filter cleanings I need to get better at writing down.
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Timeline: (Safe to skip if you want!)
03.11.2021
The front light was increased from 10% to 15%. I assume both Fluvals were running at ~10% before this.
The Fluval 3.0 has five controllable channels, when I write just one percentage then I am talking about the general percentage of most of the channels, but not necessarily all of them. My go-to for a long while was 10% Red, 1% Blue, 10% Cool white, 10% Pure white and 10% Warm white.
For reference the "Planted" preset provided with this light is 84% Red, 20% Blue, 73% Cool white, 100% Pure white and 80% Warm white.
But this date the blue channel was increased to be the same level as the rest, so all channels at 15% for the front light and 10% on all channels for the back.
09.11.2021
Instead I have serviced one of the filters, since they have both been untouched for like 6 months.
So even if it was a bit of a big cleaning for one filter, I should hopefully get away with it since there is another filter left entirely untouched.
Im thinking ill do the other one in about a week and a half.
Did somewhat heavy handed filter cleaning of one canister, second one was indeed done a week and a half later.
If heavy handed filter cleaning was the
main cause I would have expected to see something soon after this, which did not happen.
15.11.2021
.. plants look to be doing well
No algae bloom yet. This was 12 days after the increase in blue light, which rules out increase in blue light as the
main cause. Algae respond rapidly to changes and a bloom would be evident by 12 days.
20.11.2021
Added 24/7 airstone and Eheim diffuser on one outlet. Increased flow in tank from Eheim diffuser.
Removed a lot of debris and did a large water change.
Started treating for Scutariella, medication itself highly unlikely to have anything to do with algae bloom imo.
21.11.2021
..very minimal algae, in fact I still havent cleaned the glass of the tank since I set it up
Still no algae bloom. Fertilizer dose was too lean and plants were complaining a little bit.
22.11.2021
I found pictures I took of making homemade root tabs. They will have been covered in fresh clay at this point so I probably let them dry for at least a week if not more.
26.11.2021
The fishsticks went to their new home, no livestock left in tank to stir the sand aside from the snails.
01.12.2021
Guesstimated addition of homemade Osmocote root tabs around this time
10.12.21
Increased fertilizer.
Some will point to this as a cause but I have increased fert dosing tons of times in my tank and never had algae bloom because of it, so I am not convinced.
The plants were a lot happier after this though.
X.12.2021
Unknown date around mid december there was another large water change and I treated the Scutariella again.
01.01.2022
..most of (although not all) the plants are growing better, but ive also had a quite large flush of algae of all kinds.
I remember that the algae bloom happened around the time I added the root tabs, but not the exact date.
I was quite busy in december so was not paying much attention to the tank.
Treated for Scutariella the third time but didnt change the water in advance.
Changed lights back again to less blue channel in case it caused the algae. Front 15% overall and 2% blue, back 10% overall and 1% blue. Looking back from now it didnt seem to make a difference.
Following this date there have been filter cleanings and a lot of water changes, but they were not written down.
Nor do I know exactly when I reduced the amount of filter media.
09.01.22
Increased light slightly overall because I was nervous about the plants not getting enough, also increased red spectrum somewhat.
This was mostly because my Ludwigia Super Red was about to die
07.02.22
Decreased light again and moved light demanding Super Red higher up in the tank. Changed blue channel to 0% on both out of desperation, probably pointless.
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Take-away:
So I havent gotten
much wiser, but I did start doing sporadic large water changes about a week and a half before the estimated addition of the root tabs.
The root tabs are still standing out as the most likely "trigger", but may have been helped along by several smaller factors.
Sudden increases in ammonium (Is it wrong to write ammonia like I usually do?) is agreed by most to be a trigger of algae, seemingly a notable exception to the "nutrients dont cause algae" rule of thumb. At least I think it is?
Fluctuations in CO2 levels caused by large water changes could be one of those "helper" factors to the bloom.
Another could be the build up of gunk in the sand following the departure of the fishsticks.
Disturbing the nitrification by removing too much filter media might also contribute, especially for the diatoms, although not everyone seems to think so.
If the root tabs were the main trigger, the algae should decrease again eventually. It may be taking so long because of all of the helper factors keeping the instability going.
The end goal should be to get the tank back to normal as soon as possible, see previously mentioned battle plan.
Ammonia is a strong signaling chemical in many processes from what I understand, algae especially are tuned in to respond rapidly to it. Makes sense the tank will need to refind its balance once you start adding it, especially if not done super gradually.
