Tank: approx 150G (4’x 2’x 3’)
Water Parameters:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = >5
PH = 7.9
GH = 9 drops
KH = 8 drops
(Don’t have a kit for phosphates yet)
Stocking: 6 x juvenile Julidochromis Dickfeldi (approx 2 inches) and 1 x 3 inch BN Pleco
Feeding: I feed NLS Grow pellets once or twice a day, about as much as they can eat in 30 seconds. Sometimes when I am not home my partner feeds them so I suppose it is possible he is overfeeding but if this were the case wouldn’t the Nitrates be higher?
Filtration: Ehiem Pro 3 2075 and Eheim Classic 2217 plus AC 110. I also have a Hydor Koralia 4 in there for extra circulation.
Water changes: I do a 33% to 50% water change once per fortnight (the tank is very understocked at the moment so the nitrates really don’t get any higher than 10ppm even after 2 weeks without a water change).
Substrate: Aragonite sand
Lighting: 4 x Hagen Glo T5 bulbs:
1 x Life Go
2 x Power Glo
1 x Marine Glo
The lights are on automatic timers from 6am – 9am and then again from 4pm – 9pm so the lights are off when I’m not home to view the tank. The tank gets no direct sunlight but may get some indirect sunlight during the late afternoon as it is facing windows.
Plants: Lightly planted with about 20 vallisneria – both giant and corkscrew and 2 small/medium anubias attached to small pieces of driftwood.
Originally I was using 1 Life Glo bulb and 1 Marine Glo and found I was getting brown algae on the rocks and glass and the vals weren’t doing so well.
I swapped out the Marine Glo for a Power Glo to try to turn the algae green but I found the light too yellow and the fish colours didn’t pop like they did under the blue light. So I bought a second light fitting and added back in the Marine Glo plus a second Power Glo bulb.
I also added the BN Pleco at this point who does a great job at keeping the glass algae free.
I use Excel fertiliser about once a fortnight when I do a water change (2 cap fulls in 150G). I have also used some substrate tablets in the past but not for a few weeks now.
The brown algae is now gone and has been replaced by a dark green soft looking hairy type algae on the rocks that is about 2 cm long, the pleco eats some of this occasionally. I also had some very dark green patches of algae on the sand and one very bright green patch which I removed in the last water change (a 50%) when I vacuumed and stirred the substrate. I also cleaned out the Pro 3 and the AC110 with tank water.
The water change was done 4 days ago and I have noticed that since then the water has been gradually turning cloudy and has a definite green tinge. I am assuming that the cleaning of the tank and vacuuming and stirring the substrate has made algae spores water borne and this has led to a bloom.
I know I can blackout the tank for a few days and do some water changes to remove the algae but how do I stop a reoccurrence of this problem? Do I need to reduce lighting intensity or duration, increase CO2 , reduce phosphates or all of the above?
Hoping a planted tank guru out there can point me in the right direction before I start experimenting!
Sorry for the long post! Hopefully you are not :zz:
Water Parameters:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = >5
PH = 7.9
GH = 9 drops
KH = 8 drops
(Don’t have a kit for phosphates yet)
Stocking: 6 x juvenile Julidochromis Dickfeldi (approx 2 inches) and 1 x 3 inch BN Pleco
Feeding: I feed NLS Grow pellets once or twice a day, about as much as they can eat in 30 seconds. Sometimes when I am not home my partner feeds them so I suppose it is possible he is overfeeding but if this were the case wouldn’t the Nitrates be higher?
Filtration: Ehiem Pro 3 2075 and Eheim Classic 2217 plus AC 110. I also have a Hydor Koralia 4 in there for extra circulation.
Water changes: I do a 33% to 50% water change once per fortnight (the tank is very understocked at the moment so the nitrates really don’t get any higher than 10ppm even after 2 weeks without a water change).
Substrate: Aragonite sand
Lighting: 4 x Hagen Glo T5 bulbs:
1 x Life Go
2 x Power Glo
1 x Marine Glo
The lights are on automatic timers from 6am – 9am and then again from 4pm – 9pm so the lights are off when I’m not home to view the tank. The tank gets no direct sunlight but may get some indirect sunlight during the late afternoon as it is facing windows.
Plants: Lightly planted with about 20 vallisneria – both giant and corkscrew and 2 small/medium anubias attached to small pieces of driftwood.
Originally I was using 1 Life Glo bulb and 1 Marine Glo and found I was getting brown algae on the rocks and glass and the vals weren’t doing so well.
I swapped out the Marine Glo for a Power Glo to try to turn the algae green but I found the light too yellow and the fish colours didn’t pop like they did under the blue light. So I bought a second light fitting and added back in the Marine Glo plus a second Power Glo bulb.
I also added the BN Pleco at this point who does a great job at keeping the glass algae free.
I use Excel fertiliser about once a fortnight when I do a water change (2 cap fulls in 150G). I have also used some substrate tablets in the past but not for a few weeks now.
The brown algae is now gone and has been replaced by a dark green soft looking hairy type algae on the rocks that is about 2 cm long, the pleco eats some of this occasionally. I also had some very dark green patches of algae on the sand and one very bright green patch which I removed in the last water change (a 50%) when I vacuumed and stirred the substrate. I also cleaned out the Pro 3 and the AC110 with tank water.
The water change was done 4 days ago and I have noticed that since then the water has been gradually turning cloudy and has a definite green tinge. I am assuming that the cleaning of the tank and vacuuming and stirring the substrate has made algae spores water borne and this has led to a bloom.
I know I can blackout the tank for a few days and do some water changes to remove the algae but how do I stop a reoccurrence of this problem? Do I need to reduce lighting intensity or duration, increase CO2 , reduce phosphates or all of the above?
Hoping a planted tank guru out there can point me in the right direction before I start experimenting!
Sorry for the long post! Hopefully you are not :zz: