Cabomba/Anacharis gunk.

W

wackydan

Fun, not crazy.
Nov 21, 2005
396
0
16
55
Matthews, NC
I think it's Cabomba by look, though it seems to be growing larger in my tank than the 8 inches I've seen on other sites....

Anyway... I did a fair amount of tank maintenance today due to a missing Cory - Found dead - had him for about two months, and he was never quite right anyway, but I though he'd improve. NOticed that there was a lot of "gunk" on the leaves, and I'm not sure what it is. Hard as heck to get off, as the leaves are so fine.... Top of plant's new growth is clean and bright green. The gunk is kinda grayish in color.

Not sure if it's food getting caught in the leaves or not.... any ideas? Is it normal???

Specs -

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates- 5

Those are pretty consistant. I do dose Flourish + Iron + potassium but not every water change.... I definately dose lower and less frequently then they spec..... Also been getting more green algae since I went with the power compact lighting.

16 gallon

1 Cory
2 Ottos
4 Bolivian Rams (moving to larger tank soon)
1 Striped Raphael
2 ghost shrimp
common/pond snails.

Lighting - power compact 40watt 50/50 6700+ actinic?
filter - Marineland biowheel 100
 
That's probably some kind of algae. You have high light for your tank, dose only minimal ferts, your nitrates are a bit low for good plant growth, and I don't see you mentioning CO2 injection or Flourish Excel. That's an imbalance that will result in excessive algae growth.
 
Ulan said:
That's probably some kind of algae. You have high light for your tank, dose only minimal ferts, your nitrates are a bit low for good plant growth, and I don't see you mentioning CO2 injection or Flourish Excel. That's an imbalance that will result in excessive algae growth.
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But don't the plants consume nitrates, hence lower nitrate readings?

I figure I'm at about 2 wpg accounting for typical loss.... I thought that was a safe in between for growing some moderate light requirement plants. No C02 being used.....

I was at 1 wpg with the stock light... and the plants seemed to not be doing as well as they are now....

I'll lay off the ferts and see if that helps.
 
wackydan said:
But don't the plants consume nitrates, hence lower nitrate readings?
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That's correct. Nevertheless, plants like something about 15 ppm better ;).
I figure I'm at about 2 wpg accounting for typical loss.... I thought that was a safe in between for growing some moderate light requirement plants. No C02 being used.....
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Well, nobody accounts for losses. You are at 2.7 wpg, and it's not T12 light, but something better with much higher light intensity per watt. Which is quite a lot for your small aquarium.
I was at 1 wpg with the stock light... and the plants seemed to not be doing as well as they are now....
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Sure. When you ramped up the light, they were growing quickly and used up all nitrate, minerals and CO2 they could get. If anything is missing, the algae will use those resources that are available in abundance.
 
You don't want to lay off the fertilizer - when the plants don't have the nutrients they need is when the algae takes hold. If anything, you need to increase the fertilizer. Decreasing could cause an enormous algae outbreak.

On my 10 gallon 2wpg tank I use more than 5 times the recommended amounts of Seachem's various fertilizers over the course of the week in addition to Flourish Excel for carbon. I was being taken over by hair/thread and green spot algae, and now all that algae is nearly gone.

I suggest checking this out:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php

Enter in your fertilizers so you can see how much you are dosing versus how much you need to be dosing per week (aim for the ranges they list on NO3, PO4, K and Fe). With your lighting, you need to be fertilizing those nutrients I listed on a regular schedule. More light = more photosynthesis = more plant growth = much greater need for nutrients.
 
wackydan said:
ok.. so two very different responses.....anyone else?
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Those responses were not different. You have too much light for not using ferts. Most probably, you will also have to supplement CO2, if you want to get rid of the algae problem.
 
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With that much light I would recommend using more ferts and using some kind of co2. You can use DIY co2 or one system that you buy or it is also possible with 2.7 watts of light to use florish excel. Since I started using florish excel for the co2 and florish for ferts the algae in my tank has been brought under control. I have 2.8 watts of light on two of my planted aquariums and this regimen seems to work out fine for them.

Marinemom
 
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