Planted aquarium help

[RossG]

Hello all,

I was hoping to get some advice with plant growth and an algae issue that I'm currently experiencing.

Tank background;
I have a 10 gallon (45 litre) waterbox cube aquarium - see attached images. I've filled it with tropica aquasoil and dragon stone. I've also attached my lighting schedule - I have a fluvial plant nano.

I think these are the plants I have;

• some kind of Crypt
• sp. Repens
• Rotala Hra
• Alternanthera reineckii
• dwarf hair grass

Fish stocking generally consists of some cherry barbs, neons and some ottos. I also have 3 Armano shrimp too.

I've been injecting CO2 into the aquarium since the start. The aquarium has been running for around 1.5 years now and I've never really had any major issues with algae. As well as never really having any issues with algae, I've really struggled getting the dwarf hair grass to grow and spread throughout the tank, which you can see in the pictures.

I had to leave the country for most of December, so the tank was neglected over this period - my co2 also ran out... I came back to green string algae and BBA throughout.

I've since stabilised the co2 input and cut back a load of the plants that had BBA. I've been doing very regular water changes and I've started spot dosing areas of BBA with easycarbo - I'm concious I can't use much of this stuff in such a small tank!

I was hoping I could get some advice on dealing with the BBA and what might help stabilise the tank a bit better to help encourage the plants to grow more - specifically the dwarf hair grass.

I'm considering the use of fertilisers, but fear this might make the algae issue worse! I wonder whether some floating plants would help, or just adding a few more pots of grass?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks ☺️

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS

I'm considering the use of fertilisers,

You definitely need to add some nutrients to your aquarium. I'll let others suggest a way forward for you.

I wonder whether some flying plants would help

Yes do, I'm a <"floating plant obsessive">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Myrtle]

If you're injecting CO2 then you definitely need to add fertiliser, that would explain the poor growth. I'm not an expert on algae, but now you've stabilised the CO2 again, your BBA should diminish with the treatment you're doing.

 

[G H Nelson]

Implement this below tutorial.
Plus you will need to add fertilizers for the plants to flourish.

Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently. This idea has been around for a long time so not new, it has benefits, especially for a new setup. 1. Improves water quality. 2. Reduces excess light. 3. Reduces diatoms. 4. Reduces...

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