Tom
Member
My Mini M has been up for over 2 and a half months now, and just get steadily worse like my other tanks. Just as with the 10 liter, it started well with no algae. Then got fairly heavily attacked by the 'flat' diatoms for a week or two only on the rocks, but then receded very quickly. They were then taken over by the 'stringy', 'mushy' diatoms which have never left and continue to get worse.
I had accepted that these diatoms might have been caused by the HC adapting to the new submersed conditions as some of it had melted where the algae appeared. Now it's just getting silly. The HC is now growing pretty well, and the diatoms have spread to previously very healthy areas of the tank.
The HM I added melted within a week of planting it, which I also don't understand. The rest of the stems look really nasty below the top growing tips.
There must be a reason why I can't keep a tank going these days, but a couple of years ago I had great success with almost no problems whatsoever. If you spot anything I'm doing wrong or not doing, please point it out!! I'm getting fed up of wasting so much money.
The pics:
Here's the info:
25 liter tank
Light: Back to 18w again from 24.
Filter: Eheim Ecco Pro 300 (700lph)
CO2: Back to 1.5 bps again, with atomizer - I'm sure it's overkill
Daily Ferts:
2ml Spezial N
2ml Flow Grow Mikro
2ml Brighty K
0.45ppm PO4
0.4ppm MgSO4 started in the last couple of days
1.5ml Aqua Carbon/Excel
Green Gain
Maintenance: Daily 50%+ water change before lights and ferts with tap water heated to room temperature over night. Removal of some diatoms with tweezers, filter rinse in old water once a week.
Crew: 1 Oto (1 died), 4 Amano Shrimp (don't seem to eat algae any more, but did to start with!)
I had accepted that these diatoms might have been caused by the HC adapting to the new submersed conditions as some of it had melted where the algae appeared. Now it's just getting silly. The HC is now growing pretty well, and the diatoms have spread to previously very healthy areas of the tank.
The HM I added melted within a week of planting it, which I also don't understand. The rest of the stems look really nasty below the top growing tips.
There must be a reason why I can't keep a tank going these days, but a couple of years ago I had great success with almost no problems whatsoever. If you spot anything I'm doing wrong or not doing, please point it out!! I'm getting fed up of wasting so much money.
The pics:
Here's the info:
25 liter tank
Light: Back to 18w again from 24.
Filter: Eheim Ecco Pro 300 (700lph)
CO2: Back to 1.5 bps again, with atomizer - I'm sure it's overkill
Daily Ferts:
2ml Spezial N
2ml Flow Grow Mikro
2ml Brighty K
0.45ppm PO4
0.4ppm MgSO4 started in the last couple of days
1.5ml Aqua Carbon/Excel
Green Gain
Maintenance: Daily 50%+ water change before lights and ferts with tap water heated to room temperature over night. Removal of some diatoms with tweezers, filter rinse in old water once a week.
Crew: 1 Oto (1 died), 4 Amano Shrimp (don't seem to eat algae any more, but did to start with!)