Aquaria Central - Planted Aquariums

Major Algae Problems- Please Help!

CinnamonPearl — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:38:33 GMT

My 38 gallon aquarium has been having algae trouble for a long time. But now it's starting to get really bad. My plants are dying out. The anubias were hit the worst and all theirs leaves died except one on each plant. The crypts are slowly melting. The amazon swords' leaves are dying. I'm panicking now because I don't want all my plants to die since I worked so hard on this tank.

The types of algae are green diatom, green spot, and green hair. The tank has two 39W T5HO bulbs running six hours a day, is dosed daily with Excel, and is dosed with nutrients weekly using the EI method. The tank has really heavy filtration. It's not overstocked and the fish are fed every other day. If you want to see the exact stock, check my signature. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem? Thank you.

Help-plant ID

kenshinH — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:45:42 GMT

Hi guys! can you help me identify this plant and does it need root tabs?

Thanks!!

Traveling again this week.

THE V — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:24:37 GMT

Just thought I toss up a few shots of how I leave a low tech planted tank for two weeks while on business travel.

The weekly fertilizer is set up per day in the pill boxes. My wife drops it in while I'm away. She tends to get busy while I'm gone and just relying on her to drop it in a few times during the week works. Realistically as long as she remembers twice a week it's fine. She just dumps in everything for the previous couple of days. I usually get back and need to do some pruning.

The lights have always been on a timer and I do two water changes (50%) before I go and when I return to reset the tank.

I've found that using two auto-feeders works. I've tried all sorts but these tend to work the best. Each one contains 1/2 of their normal feeding. If one fails the fish still do just fine for a little while. Generally with these I only have one day get clogged and not feed for the two weeks I'll be gone. Normally due to water being splashed up by an eager fish. I always put fresh batteries into them and make sure they are clean and dry.

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Water flow direction

Fish_Bone — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:43:30 GMT

I am slowly putting together a 75 gallon that is going to be planted. 48x21x18 and a ten gallon that is planted. I am getting ready to put a canister filter on the ten and it got me thinking about spray bars. My question is how strong should the flow be for both of these tanks? And the question I.am really interested in is the direction of the spray. Should I do the standard side to side directional spray? Should I go across the top or from top to bottom? Or run it across the bottom? Anothidea was to run the PVC along the side's and all the way across the front top of the tank, I would be hooking 2 canisters return lines to each end. Idk I am just kicking around ideas and looking for memebers input.

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Thinking of Starting a High Light Planted Tank

CinnamonPearl — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 02:55:56 GMT

I have a betta fish I was planning on giving away, but because of sentimental attachment, I may decide to keep her. If I decide to keep her, I'm going to start a 10 gallon high light planted tank for her to live in. But the problem is I don't know any good plants for a high light tank. Does anyone have any plant recommendations? I'm interested in both red and green plants. I plan to use a Finnex Ray 2 LED fixture, eco-complete substrate, pressurized CO2, and dry ferts.

Arrow head plants in aquarium

BenefulBrad — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 01:43:42 GMT

A while ago a friend and I were fishing in float tubes and there were a whole bunch if arrow head plants in the water. They were growing in a really muddy part of the lake. I have ponds do I took one and planted it in my pond. They grew like crazy and multiplied. Winter came and I thought they would die but in the summer after everything melted there were little acorn sized seeds. I thought it would be awesome if I could get them to grow in my tank do I planted some and surprisingly they are doing sweet and look sweet in an open top planted tank. Take a look. Any one else ever do this? We are in Michigan and these do great in 70 + degree water. There is a smaller arrow head to the left that hasn't fully matured out of water yet. I'm excited for them to get full grown and come out of the tank.

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African river biotope build thread

allaboutfish — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:44:24 GMT

So I decided to make a thread on my 55 gallon African river biotope. This tank is being setup as a 55 but I'm going to upgrade to a 75. Here's the stocking list
6-8-Congo tetras
3-minnows
1-cutteri cichlid
1-leopard ctenopoma
1-African knife
1-African butterfly
1-Senegal bichir
1-delhezi bichir
The tank will have several manzanita branches with river rocks. For plants I'll have several types of vals, anubias, and African water fern. I'll be using white sand. I got the first piece of manzanita today, but until I get my stand finished I won't be able to truly set it up with sand and everything BC right now its just sitting on some plywood.

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Planted tank flow/ filtration question...

Fish_Bone — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:39:39 GMT

I just ordered a fluval 305 with intentions to put it on my 10 gallon planted tank, but I know that it is rated for a 70 gallon tank and has 260 GPH.

maybe I will just swap my eheim, ECCO 2234 and it is rated to 60 gallons and 145 gph, from my 30 gallon...

I question the "rated" numbers for my eheim, I know that its flow isn't very strong, but it should be enough for a planted 10 right?

minimum stocking, 1 Red marble BN and 4 cobra guppies. I am getting ready to bump that number to 10 guppies soon.

eventually both canisters will end up on my 75 gallon that I am still piecing together.

Also the reason for the canister is so I can use my DIY reactor for the CO2, rather than just buying a diffuser.

CO2, Water Agitation, and Plants

Symbol — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:05:49 GMT

So, I find myself somewhat confused regarding CO2 levels and water agitation. I've read in several places now that you should not have too much surface agitation or use bubblers or whatnot in planted tanks since that will "blow off" all your CO2. Okay, fine. No bubblers for me; nice, calm water. However, my LFS has lovely little cascades and waterfalls going on in their plant tanks. Loads of surface agitation! And their plants all look fantastic. So, obviously there's something I'm missing here. Maybe this is a stupid question, but I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this for me. When do I have to be concerned about "blowing off" my CO2 and stunting/killing my plants and when is water agitation okay/recommended?

Lighting duration/frequency

FishFanMan — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:41:43 GMT

Hi,

My tank is just a month old and I have some nice swords and anubias which are growing nicely under my 30" LED lights in my 16" high 34 G tank. I'm thinking 8 hours is enough for these plants and hopefully not enough to cause algae to establish in my tank.

Is there harm (not good for plant health) if I turn my lights on for 4 hours, then off for 4, then on for 4, then off for 12 hours?
To be exact my timers are set for moon lighting 6am to 7am, bright lights 7am to 11am, no lights 11am to 3pm, bright lights 3pm to 7pm, moon lighting 7pm to 11pm, no lights 11pm to 6am.

Does darkness in between the total 8 hours of "sunshine" cause any sort of issues with plant health?

Thanks.

Black beard algae?

Manafel — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:07:29 GMT

I have a 55gal tank that I have had running for about 3-4 months now, its lightly planted. Here lately I have developed an algae problem that I can't seem to get rid of. It's covering all of my plants in the tank. I have tried pulling the plants out and trying to rub the algae off, but it keeps growing back. Also, my plants haven't really been growing at all...

The tank has plenty of water circulation, and I do weekley 50% wc. Has two cascade 500(I think that this is the right number?) filters. I test my water and it never gets above 40ppm of nitrates. No ammo or nitrites, pH sits at about 7.8. I'm not sure on the make or model of my lighting fixture, but I have two day light compact flourescents running at the moment from about 4pm until midnight or so.

I'm guessing its bba from the look of it, but thought I would get someone else's opinion, and also I'm not sure how to get rid of it...

I'm about to toss the plants and just start over later...Thanks.

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75 Gallon setup where to start............

kimbm04r — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:37:24 GMT

I have a 75 gallon aquarium that I ordered an Aquascape plan from Aquariumplants.com. It is expected to be delivered Friday with all the plants. I took the reading on the tank tonight and I have the following:

Gh - 30
Kh - 160
pH - 8.4
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Phosphate - 5
Calcium - <20

The tank contains:

6 - Glofish Danios
5 - Harlequin Raspbora
2 - Juvi Angelfish
2 - Cardinal Tetra
1 - Oto
1 - Dwarf African Frog
2 - Ghost Shrimp
14 - Juvi Mollies
1 - 6" Pleco
1 - 6" Algae eater (not sure what kind)

Equipment includes:

Filstar XP2 filter
Aqueon 48" T5 Dual Lamp Fixture (1- 28w 6700K Daylight and 1 - 28w Colormax bulb),
Marineland 36-48" Single Bright LED Fixture (10w 600 Lumens) Both sets of lights operate on a timer 10-12 hours per day
Eco-Complete substrate, at least 80 lbs
Airstone Bubbler behind rock

This tank has 60 gallons of water, believe me, I should know, I used a 1 gallon pitcher when I filled it up and I marked 5 gallon increments on the tank as I filled.

Pressurized CO2 system that I intend to hook up soon, 5lb bottle with Milwaukee MA957 Regulator, Milwaukee SMS122 Controller
Greg Watson Dry Ferts (KN03, CSM+B w/Iron, K2S04, KH2P04) and Epsom Salts

This is a list of the plants that are coming in the package:

4	Sagittaria, Subulata (narrow leaf)(Sagittaria subulata) - 10 Plants per order
1	Aponogeton, Madagascar Lace (Aponogeton madagascariensis)
5	Cryptocoryne Parva (bare root)(also available in pots)
2	Cryptocoryne, Lutea (Cryptocoryne lutea) Pot (medium size)
2	Cryptocoryne, Wendtii, Bronze (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. Tropica)
1	Cabomba Green (Cabomba carolina)
1	Cabomba Purple (Red) (Cabomba pulcherrima)
1	Ludwigia, Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens)(also available in potts)
1	Myrio, mattogrossense

And these are in the tank right now:

Wisteria
Anubias
Java Fern, Winlov
Cyrpts of some kind
Mariamo Ball

This is a picture of the tank as it is right now.

My question is this:

Given the numbers for this tank as it stands right now, what is suggested as a good place to start for the ferts and CO2 and what dosing regimen would you recommend, dry dosing, PPS Pro, EI, or what and how would you go about it? Should I get everything started before the package arrives or should I wait until I have them in the tank? Also, I have an RO unit available if you think that would help, (I currently use our well water for changes) it needs new cartridges but it is an option that is available, I checked it tonight and it is at Gh of 20, Kh of 40 and pH of 6.8. I checked the tap water tonight and it is very close to the tanks numbers.

Thanks for all your help. Please let me know if I forgot to include any information that may be useful.

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AQUAPONICS?

Fish_Bone — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:58:58 GMT

I found a book tonight while I was searching for a book/info on growing plants in aquariums. It was a book on building and maintaining a way to grow plants or vegetables using fish waste from a tank that circulates into a planted tray, into a sump, and then back to the aquarium.

Surprisingly it addressed basic needs for growing plants very well. It talked about photosynthetic active radiation, lux, lumens, photosynthesis periods, etc.

I was curious to see if anyone is running a such a setup and or if anyone has realized there is such a wealth of info pertaining to our hobby from other hobbies or other aspects of our hobby.

Huge aquatic plant ID

Imperialfish — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:00:06 GMT

Need ID Asap
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...d.php?t=543432

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Plant ID

Catharine — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 07:29:45 GMT

This sprout appeared in my tank about a week ago. It looks like a crypt to me, but I didn't know they reproduced like this; mine usually sends out runners.

For the record, I have crypts, chain swords (Sagittaria subulata, I think...), tiger lily, amazon swords, etc. I used to have an aponogeton bulb as well, if that helps...

I have attached a picture of the sprout. Sorry about the blurriness; it's really tiny (about 1" from leaf tip to root tip). Thanks in advance!

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