Algae, Rowphos And Planted Tank

[lgarvey]

Hi,

I have an mbuna tank, but always wanted to keep aquatic plants. So I decided to set up another 90L tank. The tank is stilll a work in progress but is currently runnign with a load of aquatic plants in, water and fish.

Here's a pic: http/www.lyndongarvey.co.uk/buddha2.jpg

It's only been running for about a week and is not cycled -- I have used bactinetts and during the weekend I will transfer over a lot of established filter media into the new filter to really kick start things.

I am seeing algae growth on the glass and want to try and nip this in the bud, so to speak. I have red the pinned article on algae and have some ideas about how to proceed.

My question is: can I run rowaphos in the filter, or will this deprive the plants of a source of phosphate?

I started incorrectly and put the wrong substrate down and will be removing the water, gravel fish + plants and putting in some tetra plant substrate with a layer of gravel over the top. It looks just like soil, so i don't know how I could prewash it -- which the LFS guy advised. I suspect I'm going to just put it straight into the tank, put the gravel over the top, thend put a bowl into the tank to poor the water in to prevent the substrate from being moved about. If anyone has any advice re's this -- I don't want a tank that has a tonne of floating soil-like substrate in it! -- then let me know. =)

One other thing, I have an arcadia t5 lighting unit with room for 4 t5 lights. Currently I just two (marine white I think) running, but am unsure how to determine the WPG rating. I could add 4 t5s, so it should enable me to grow plants that have high light requirements.

Anyways, any advice is appreciated as I'm totally new to running a planted tank.

Cheers,

L

 

[aaronnorth]

you have a non aquatic plant, the one with white on the leaves. Take it out and put it in your window

the bactinettes will die without a source of ammonia, especially for 1 week, so you have probably wasted your money on them.

what ype of algae have you got? take a look in my sig for an ID.

total watts / total US gallons = wpg.

 

[lgarvey]

you have a non aquatic plant, the one with white on the leaves. Take it out and put it in your window

the bactinettes will die without a source of ammonia, especially for 1 week, so you have probably wasted your money on them.

what ype of algae have you got? take a look in my sig for an ID.

total watts / total US gallons = wpg.

Thank you so much for your help!

The white plant looks beautiful, but does indeed look non-aquatic. I will turn it into a houseplant and give it lots of TLC.

The bacinettes have a source of ammonia in the form of the waste produced by 6 x-ray tetra. I will put half of the filter media in the new filter soon, as well. At the same time I plan to put either 2 angel fish or german rams (not sure which yet ) into the tank.

The algae is appearing predominantly on the glass of the aquarium, and when I use an algae magnet it scrapes off and looks bright green. Does this help? I'm only seeing it acrue, quite quickly, on the glass of the aquarium.

I want to build a really cool planted aqaurium, but i'm a newbie. Time to do some serious reading! Advice is REALLY appreicated =)

L

 

[aaronnorth]

The bacinettes have a source of ammonia in the form of the waste produced by 6 x-ray tetra. I will put half of the filter media in the new filter soon, as well. At the same time I plan to put either 2 angel fish or german rams (not sure which yet ) into the tank.

thats fine then.

It might be green dust algae (GDA)

taken from algae Guide in my sig:

Description
Forms on the glass creating a dusty appearance across the glass. Sometimes so bad you can't see into the tank.

Cause
Low CO2. Low nutrients. Quite common on new setups.

Removal
Easily removed with a magnetic glass scraper or similar. Often reappears very quickly. Allow the algae to run its full cycle by leaving it well alone for 3 weeks. It may become unsightly but just bear with it. Then scrape it all off and do a large water change. Sometimes requires a second treatment to fully clear and leaving it for 4 weeks. Recommended to slightly reduce dosing during treatment.

 

[SuperColey1]

Forget the Rowaphos. You want the phosphates.

For the green algae on the glass this is normal. Just leave it for 3-4 weeks until it goes brown and crispy. Then turn the filter off, wait for the water to stop moving within the tank and scrape it off with a razor blade. Vacuum up the algae where it has fallen. You shouldn't see it again. Some people have to do this twice. I did it once and couldn't se into the tank but once it had run its cycle and been removed it never ever came back.

TetraComplete doesn't need washing nor does any nutrient substrate that is being 'capped' by another substrate. The gravel/sand that goes on top can be washed but I also just put it in and let the filter do the work for me. That gravel is quite large. You could do with getting some much finer stuff 1-3mm grain.

You need to know the Wattage of your tubes then divide the total wattage of the 2 tubes by the USG volume of your tank. There is a aquarium volume calculator at the top of the forum. I would suspect you already have enough light.

AC