I have a growth...

[Dochere]

Hello everyone. I have a question for anyone who can help. I have an artificial plant in my tank that has brown spots growing on it. They do not seem to be hairy and so far AlgaeFix, Algae Destroyer, and Red Slime remover have not been able to kill it. Any suggestions?

Tank has been up for 2 years, 70 gallons, 11 cichlids, 76 deg, ph 9.2, gh/kh roughly 400/600ppm respectively, no ammonia, NO2 is 0.

Pic of the issue can be viewed here:

http://www.quickpres.com/test/plantpic.jpg

Thanks in advance.

[Hatter]

If it's an artifical plant, why don't you just take it out and clean it?

[Dochere]

I new someone would say that...:)

I have several times; I am getting sick of it. The way the tank is set up the piece goes through a piece of driftwood. It’s a pain to pull it all apart to get the plant out. I would rather just kill the growth.

[Richer]

What kind of cichlids do you have in your tank? How often do you do water changes/gravel vacs on this tank? What kind of lighting does this tank get? (ie. aquarium lighting, room lighting, window, etc. and duration of lighting). We're also going to need to know your nitrate levels.

-Richer

[Dochere]

The Cichlids are all African, 11 different types. They are all about 2 to 3". Lighting is 2 65 watt compacts with 6700K bulbs. Lighting is on for 8-10 hours a day. NO2 is 0, As for Nitrate I have no idea, the water is never changed, gravel is not vac'd. 8 fish are the originals, 3 were put in 2 months ago. We have never lost any. There are no live plants in the tank.

Tank is set up with 4 extremely powerful reverse flow PH's - moving so much water that you can feel it being pushed through the gravel like a current. There is an emperor 400, a penguin 330, and a Eheim pro 2128. All media is changed every 3 weeks to a month, wheels about every 6 months, alternating between filters.

[Richer]

I think I see your problem. Fish only tanks do not require the amount of lighting you have. They (your fish) only need enough light to tell the difference between night and day. So the ambient lighting from the room or a window should be enough. Only turn the aquarium lights on if you want to see your fish, or during feeding time.
Another problem. Your water changes. Although it seems like your tank is well filtered, you must keep up on water changes. Overtime nitrates in your tank will acculmalate and start to become a problem. Nitrates in themselves are not toxic to most fish in the lower levels, but once they hit the 100+ ppm level, they can be somewhat toxic, and may reduce the lifespan of your fish. I'd suggest you start doing water changes. Begin with changing 10% of your tank water once a week for a month or so, then slowly start to change more water out of your tank once a week until you hit about 40% once a week. Your tank is stocked somewhat heavily, and will need large water changes to keep it in tip-top shape. Although your fish can live with little or no water changes, its in their best interest to live in clean water. Kind of like us humans... we can live breathing in polluted air, but is it good for us? Not at all.

In a nutshell - reduce the amount and duration of lighting on your tank, and start doing water changes to bring nitrate levels (among other potential toxins) down.

HTH
-Richer

[Dochere]

I see your point on the lighting, I figured it was too much but it is what came with this setup. I was thinking of switching to a single actinic 420 bulb, 40 watt. As for the nitrate level, I will buy a test kit for that tomorrow but I highly doubt there is any concern there, I will post when I find out. I am consistantly adding bacteria to the tank durring top offs and I use a nitrate reducer and a nitrite eliminator on a consistant basis.

Thanks.

[Bremer]

I don't know enough about your fish...could you put Otos in that tank? If that is brown algae (and it looks like it to me), the otos will eliminate that in no time. I had brown algae like that and added 3 otos to my tank and it was gone in 24 hours.

Of course, I'm assuming that is brown algae...

[Dochere]

I bought the test kit and my Nitrite level is still 0, my Nitrate level is 20. So I am assuming that this is not the reason for this growth.

Anybody else think this is brown algae and if so what chemical kills it? Also, any clues as to why this is only continually growing on this one artificial plant and no where else in the tank?

[Slappy*McFish]

Originally posted by Dochere
Also, any clues as to why this is only continually growing on this one artificial plant and no where else in the tank?

Get rid of the plant :p :rolleyes:

[rus]

Originally posted by Dochere
All media is changed every 3 weeks to a month, wheels about every 6 months, alternating between filters.
why do you change the bio wheels?

[Dochere]

Slappy :D

Rus - I don't exactly know why. After reading several books and a few online forums it seemed that some people change them so I just figured I would do it. I am constantly adding bacteria to the tank and I have a bio rocker underneth that never gets changed so I figure if not anything else it would not hurt anything.???

[blee358]

I would think of it as some sort of algae. I had that in my sister's 6g tank. I just got some Oto's and it was gone in the next few days. I dunno if that was the cause, but that's just my 2cents.

[keely]

:)
It appears the brown growth on the plastic plant is consuming nitrates and maintaining water quality despite you doing no water changes for 2 years. I would build a shrine around it and leave it alone:)

[Dochere]

Originally posted by keely
:)
...I would build a shrine around it and leave it alone:)

:D

[Dochere]

I am going to open a can of worms here, but what the hey, you only live once. I keep reading posts on water changes and it seems that the general majority of individuals think that this is the way to go. What about individuals who don't want to climb in the tank so to speak and clean glass, siphon gravel, change water, etc.? Is there a better way?

In two years of owning my current tank (mind you I have had a fish tank/s for the last twelve years?) my biggest problem so far has been a small amount of brown growth on a single artificial plant in my tank. This same tank has not had a water change or partial change in two years and the water quality has remained extremely consistent. Previous to this tank I used to do what everyone else does and that is clean it conventionally as mentioned above. I was sick of it and figured that I could come up with something better that what I was doing.

Now I am not saying what I have done is perfect. Most of you will probably disagree with this method of aquarium ownership. I can just see you cringing as you read that this water hasn't been changed in two years. I also have to say that this method of aquarium ownership is expensive as it takes allot of chemicals, additives, etc to maintain the water properly. Just to look at it from my perspective though, I do not see my aquarium as a hobby. I use it for relaxation and soothing meditation purposes. Don't get me wrong, I love my fish, but I have enough to do and enough hobbies to keep me busy without climbing into my tank. I do however want what’s best for my fish and would never do anything to harm them, at least not intentionally. Short of talking about me and what I believe anymore here is what I've done.

In most tanks there is a bed of gravel or other substrate in the bottom of the tank. If you run your fingers through it you will churn up sediment and debris, even if the tank was recently cleaned. I have a friend that has a 125gal tank with oscars in it and no matter when you run your fingers through the gravel you will churn up debris. This individual is religious about cleaning and maintaining his tank. If you do the same thing in my tank, you will see absolutely nothing. This is due to the large volume of water that flows through the gravel. There is a strong current that runs through the entire surface area of the gravel. This current doesn't allow any matter to settle. The under gravel filter is rigged so that it is broken into 4 separate sections - front left, front right, rear left, and rear right. Each of the 4 sections has a large powerhead moving water through each area of the plate. As any matter sinks towards the bottom you will see it swirl and rise as it gets to about 3-4 inches from the bottom. Even large food pellets never touch the bottom. I combine that with a total of three filters cycling just over 1000gph. With these three filters I rarely see any debris floating in the tank.

Now this leads to other issues like proper ph levels and the fact that you are virtually eliminating bacteria growth in the substrate. Using a combination of natural rock with buffering capabilities and a host of chemicals and bacteria, along with the bio capabilities of the filters, I am able to keep the environment quit fish friendly. At least it seems that way. Everything I have tested for has consistently fallen within acceptable ranges. When I submitted a sample of the water to a local pet shop for testing, I was told that the water was some of the best he had seen for a cichlid tank (this was about 3 months ago when I was getting fed up with the brown spots).

Now I am sure that allot of you won't agree with this setup. Allot of you do this as a hobby. I have to say however, that I can't see how this setup is not working. My fish are healthy, the water looks great, the water seems to test fine, I have never had a loss or a disease, and I am always complimented on the overall appearance of my tank.

I would love to hear comments on this and if anyone has done something similar let me know about it. If any of you have ideas or know of other tests that can be done to prove that there are ill effects going on in this tank please let me know and I will buy the tests and check it out. My main goal here is to have a healthy tank with very little maintenance. Thoughts???

[Dochere]

Richer, thanks for the insight on the lighting. I threw out the compact system and bought a ballest with a single 40 watt corasun 420 actinic bulb. I have already seen about half of the growth disappear. I have only keep the lights on when I am home so I am sure that the reduced time has had some effect as well. Thanks everyone.

[99RedSi]

Originally posted by Dochere
I am going to open a can of worms here, but what the hey, you only live once. I keep reading posts on water changes and it seems that the general majority of individuals think that this is the way to go. What about individuals who don't want to climb in the tank so to speak and clean glass, siphon gravel, change water, etc.? Is there a better way?

In two years of owning my current tank (mind you I have had a fish tank/s for the last twelve years?) my biggest problem so far has been a small amount of brown growth on a single artificial plant in my tank. This same tank has not had a water change or partial change in two years and the water quality has remained extremely consistent. Previous to this tank I used to do what everyone else does and that is clean it conventionally as mentioned above. I was sick of it and figured that I could come up with something better that what I was doing.

Now I am not saying what I have done is perfect. Most of you will probably disagree with this method of aquarium ownership. I can just see you cringing as you read that this water hasn't been changed in two years. I also have to say that this method of aquarium ownership is expensive as it takes allot of chemicals, additives, etc to maintain the water properly. Just to look at it from my perspective though, I do not see my aquarium as a hobby. I use it for relaxation and soothing meditation purposes. Don't get me wrong, I love my fish, but I have enough to do and enough hobbies to keep me busy without climbing into my tank. I do however want what’s best for my fish and would never do anything to harm them, at least not intentionally. Short of talking about me and what I believe anymore here is what I've done.

In most tanks there is a bed of gravel or other substrate in the bottom of the tank. If you run your fingers through it you will churn up sediment and debris, even if the tank was recently cleaned. I have a friend that has a 125gal tank with oscars in it and no matter when you run your fingers through the gravel you will churn up debris. This individual is religious about cleaning and maintaining his tank. If you do the same thing in my tank, you will see absolutely nothing. This is due to the large volume of water that flows through the gravel. There is a strong current that runs through the entire surface area of the gravel. This current doesn't allow any matter to settle. The under gravel filter is rigged so that it is broken into 4 separate sections - front left, front right, rear left, and rear right. Each of the 4 sections has a large powerhead moving water through each area of the plate. As any matter sinks towards the bottom you will see it swirl and rise as it gets to about 3-4 inches from the bottom. Even large food pellets never touch the bottom. I combine that with a total of three filters cycling just over 1000gph. With these three filters I rarely see any debris floating in the tank.

Now this leads to other issues like proper ph levels and the fact that you are virtually eliminating bacteria growth in the substrate. Using a combination of natural rock with buffering capabilities and a host of chemicals and bacteria, along with the bio capabilities of the filters, I am able to keep the environment quit fish friendly. At least it seems that way. Everything I have tested for has consistently fallen within acceptable ranges. When I submitted a sample of the water to a local pet shop for testing, I was told that the water was some of the best he had seen for a cichlid tank (this was about 3 months ago when I was getting fed up with the brown spots).

Now I am sure that allot of you won't agree with this setup. Allot of you do this as a hobby. I have to say however, that I can't see how this setup is not working. My fish are healthy, the water looks great, the water seems to test fine, I have never had a loss or a disease, and I am always complimented on the overall appearance of my tank.

I would love to hear comments on this and if anyone has done something similar let me know about it. If any of you have ideas or know of other tests that can be done to prove that there are ill effects going on in this tank please let me know and I will buy the tests and check it out. My main goal here is to have a healthy tank with very little maintenance. Thoughts???

Dochere -

You may want to post this in its own thread because I have friends that report the same success as you! They never change the water, just refill the tank when enough has evaporated and they have NO algae issues and the fish are doing fine!