Algae, Gsa, Gda And Something Else I Don't Recognise.

[garuf]

Hello, I thought I would be algae free after overdosing excel but that seems not to be the case, here's my tank after 2 weeks.

The 2 algae that bother me the most are the unidentified one that looks just like strings of grey dirt and the gsa which are thick in my moss and anubias respectively.

What do I do about ridding them and preventing them coming back?
Ill try and get a better picture of the unknown algae tommorow.
any help is gratefully received.
in the meantime thank you in advance.

 

[Themuleous]

I have always found GSA to be a tricky one to get rid off. Hows you're co2? I think the tank is lacking some fast growers too. If it were me. I'd be tempted to strip the tank down, salvage what you can and chuck in a load of stems, ludwigia or hygrophila or such.

Sam

Just had a thought, get some nerite snails

http/stores.ebay.co.uk/gogosnails_TROPIC...4QQftidZ2QQtZkm

they take a bit of time, but Ive got two in my 60lt and they keel the glass and plants ultra clean and free of algae

 

[garuf]

I have always found GSA to be a tricky one to get rid off. Hows you're co2? I think the tank is lacking some fast growers too. If it were me. I'd be tempted to strip the tank down, salvage what you can and chuck in a load of stems, ludwigia or hygrophila or such.

Sam

Just had a thought, get some nerite snails

[URL="http/stores.ebay.co.uk/gogosnails_TROPIC...4QQftidZ2QQtZkm"]http/stores.ebay.co.uk/gogosnails_TROPIC...4QQftidZ2QQtZkm[/URL]

they take a bit of time, but Ive got two in my 60lt and they keel the glass and plants ultra clean and free of algae

My co2 is high, I run my drop checker at yellow, and dose ei.
Also I have loads of fast growers, the entire back wall of stems has to be trimmed every week, Its got hygropholia polysperma and bacopa carolina in there. should I just float a bunch of hydro in there?
and that's just a temporary solution at the end of the day surely?

 

[Themuleous]

George always says to have 75% of the substrate covered in fast growers, I see quite a bit of the substrate at the moment. When you prune the stuff at the back replant it else where in the tank. Don't worry for the time being how the tank looks your first aim is to get it algae free. Once you get that you can start to rearrange things.

I made the mistake of having lots of anubias from the start in one of my scapes and no fast growers, needless to say the scape didnt last long until the algae took hold.

Sam

EDIT - I would still recommend some snails and/or or shrimp.

How long are the lighting on for?

 

[garuf]

Hmm, aww well live and learn, I wish id know about the fast growing thing since the start. lighting is 10 hours, 36watt power compact.
can't keep shrimps, my rainbows get hungry and shrimps are tasty snacks
I'll look into some snails too

If I was to strip down would I not have to strip down totally including washing substrate, filter and tank?

 

[Themuleous]

Did no one tell you that when you first started the EI? Sorry Gareth.

If I were top strip the tank down I'd give the gravel a good clean but leave the filter as you dont want to have to start the cycle again. Get as much of the algae and other crud out of the tank before starting again.

Sam

 

[garuf]

Did no one tell you that when you first started the EI? Sorry Gareth.

If I were top strip the tank down I'd give the gravel a good clean but leave the filter as you dont want to have to start the cycle again. Get as much of the algae and other crud out of the tank before starting again.

Sam

Nope. Was never informed on anything like that.
Next Sunday looks like I'll be doing a full strip down then
Once I've stripped down what do people recommend I do?
Do I replant how I want it or do I stick loads of stems in and then just make do or what?
btw, just swapped over to fire extinguisher co2 went faultlessly


Oh and by the way I use aqua soil, should I still use it?

 

[Themuleous]

Glad the FE went easily, its not a tricky as I had thought when I did mine.

I take it thats ADA Aquasoil? In which case I hear moving it can make a right old mess. Try it and see, if it disintegrates leave it along and just remove the plants and whatever algae you can get off. Unless you have some left over?

Re the plants, I would do half and half, i.e. gets lots of stems in there, but you might as well try and make a bit of a scape out of it Plant the same species in dense clumps, to give a better appearance and colour 'blocks'.

Sam

 

[garuf]

Urgh, Is there nothing I can do without having to do a total strip down? I don't want to end up losing all the plants I've only just put in/gotten to grow well.

I don't understand what's gone wrong I Dose EI have hi-co2 yet still have copious amounts of algae.

 

[garuf]

Help

 

[Themuleous]

The issue in the tank is a lack of plant mass. If you dont want to strip it down, get some more fast growers in there. Did you notice an NH3 spike when you first added the ADA AS to the tank? You also seem to have a few fish in there. At some point there was probably NH3 floating about, as the plant mass is low it was not used up and as NH3 is a significant algae trigger, the resulting algea happened.

Re that last photo, some shrimp would probably clear that thread algae up.

 

[garuf]

Gassed everything
Got home after staying at the girlfriends and the regulator on the co2 has been moved and everything has been gassed. drop checker so yellow its shocking, even worse than the green-yellow of normal
SO disheartening

 

[Themuleous]

Oh that's crap mate did it kill the fish? Sorry mate and it was probably my recommendations to get that reg as well. Oh s**t

Sam

 

[garuf]

killed everything, otto's, the rainbowfish, even found some shrimp amongst the dead (thought they'd been eaten long ago but obviously not)

 

[Themuleous]

Thats horrible. Was the cylinder nearly empty? They can 'dump' co2 when they are running out?