Clean up crew suggestions

[KatNor21]

I have a 30 gallon long with neon tetras and honey gourami - 27 total small fish. I'd like to add some cleanup crew. I do have a couple nerite snails and they're keeping the driftwood pretty clean, but many of my plants have brown hair algae spreading around. I already have amano shrimp in another tank (and they don't touch hair algae) so I was thinking fish, bottom feeders and/or algae eaters, but I can't have too many, and need them to stay small. Any suggestions? The water is medium hard with a low pH, 76-78 degrees.

 

[Byron]

A photo of the plant with this "brown hair algae" would help us ID the algae, but I suspect it is brush algae which I have seen appear black, dark green, brown, and black-red [technically it is a "red" algae]. Nothing will eat this [there are I believe two fish that might, but they get large and need a group, etc, etc]. Problem algae is best dealt with by resolving the cause. And in a planted tank, that means the light/nutrient balance. I had to deal with brush algae (two different forms) over the years, until I finally got the balance right for my plant load.

If you could provide data on your light (spectrum, intensity, duration) and fertilizers (if any), we should be able to work out the balance. And water change amount/frequency. I'm not up on LED lighting if this is what you have (I'm still using T8 because I understand it and it works in my situation), but someone else can help out; the main thing is knowing the other data.

 

[KatNor21]

A photo of the plant with this "brown hair algae" would help us ID the algae

Here's some photos

 

[KatNor21]

If you could provide data on your light (spectrum, intensity, duration) and fertilizers (if any), we should be able to work out the balance. And water change amount/frequency

I have a finnex stingray LED light and it's on for 12 hours a day on a timer, but I've now changed it to 10 hours. I use Aquarium co-op fertilizers - Easy Green liquid and root tabs. But the tank is only a month old so I haven't dosed too much. Water change frequency...once or twice a week I suppose. 30-50% depending on nitrates.

 

[Essjay]

Does the light have a K rating, either on the light itself, the package it came in or on the website? Lights come with different K ratings, some are better for plants while others are not as good for plants but allow algae to flourish.

 

[Byron]

From the photos, it is as I expected, black brush algae, which can appear in a couple of different forms. But it is this algae. So establishing/restoring the light/nutrient balance is the only way to deal with it.

I don't know much about LED, but I have heard this light is OK for plants, so we'll leave it at that. It would help to confirm the Kelvin rating though to be certain of the spectrum. We can adjust the duration to get the balance better, but we can't do anything about the colour spectrum. Check the printing on the unit, on the packaging if you still have it, or see if it is on the manufacturer's web site (you will know which fixture better than I will).

Ten hours is a lot of "daylight" and I would recommend reducing this to 8 hours. My tank lights are on 7 hours, and over time I worked this out and since I did (4-5 years ago now) I have not had any black brush algae issues.

Now to the fertilizers. The Easy Root Tabs may be OK, they list the nutrients but no percentages, and some are missing. I would suggest you switch to Flourish Tabs, either now or when the Easy Tabs are used up--definitely then if not before. The liquid I assume is the "All in One" and not the individual nutrients. This too is not bad, though calcium is missing and they have a lot of nitrogen which is useless as the fish produce ammonia (one form of nitrogen) and plants use this, not nitrate. Your tap water GH is thus the primary (really only) source of calcium, and you said this was "medium hard," do you know the actual number for the GH? You may find this on the water authority's website. If "Washington" is Washington State, and you are west of the mountains, your water is very soft (like mine north of you in SW BC); if you are east of the mountains, I believe it is slightly harder but not sure. So the calcium issue may be pertinent here.

I would need to see a photo of the entire aquarium in order to know the number of plants (species and number) but reducing the light may be sufficient now, and change to the better fertilizers now or later. Seachem's Flourish Tabs are the best I have found and I've been using them for more than 10 years. And their liquid Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, minimally. None of the other "Flourish" line products are needed, or advisable frankly. Another good liquid is Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti.

 

[KatNor21]

Does the light have a K rating, either on the light itself, the package it came in or on the website? Lights come with different K ratings, some are better for plants while others are not as good for plants but allow algae to flourish.

The box says 7,000k daylight LEDs

 

[KatNor21]

Your tap water GH is thus the primary (really only) source of calcium, and you said this was "medium hard," do you know the actual number for the GH?

Last I checked it was 150ppm. I am in western WA, so yes my water is soft. But I added crushed coral to harden it up a bit.

 

[KatNor21]

Thanks for the advice! I'll adjust some things and see how it goes.

 

[Essjay]

The box says 7,000k daylight LEDs

That's fine. Ideally it's ~6500K for plants but yours is near enough.

 

[Byron]

Last I checked it was 150ppm. I am in western WA, so yes my water is soft. But I added crushed coral to harden it up a bit.

Crushed coral will maintain a higher pH, but in my experience it did not increase GH. Is the 150 ppm [which = 8 dGH] for the tap water, or the tank water with the crushed coral?

 

[KatNor21]

Crushed coral will maintain a higher pH, but in my experience it did not increase GH. Is the 150 ppm [which = 8 dGH] for the tap water, or the tank water with the crushed coral?

I have the opposite problem. I'm trying to raise pH (along with adding minerals to the water) with crushed coral, but it's not working. My pH remains low (6.4), while the GH is now (as of this morning) 300ppm. The more crushed coral I add, the higher GH gets, but pH does nothing. For comparison, I have a brand new tank I set up yesterday. Haven't added anything but conditioner to the water and the GH is 0ppm, I kid you not. Zero. My water has nothing in it, so I feel that's unsafe for fish. Hence, adding crushed coral.

As for the pH, I don't know if it's necessary to be higher. I have neon tetras, honey gouramis, endlers, snails and shrimp, and a betta (2 different tanks).

 

[Byron]

I have the opposite problem. I'm trying to raise pH (along with adding minerals to the water) with crushed coral, but it's not working. My pH remains low (6.4), while the GH is now (as of this morning) 300ppm. The more crushed coral I add, the higher GH gets, but pH does nothing. For comparison, I have a brand new tank I set up yesterday. Haven't added anything but conditioner to the water and the GH is 0ppm, I kid you not. Zero. My water has nothing in it, so I feel that's unsafe for fish. Hence, adding crushed coral.

As for the pH, I don't know if it's necessary to be higher. I have neon tetras, honey gouramis, endlers, snails and shrimp, and a betta (2 different tanks).

OK, a couple of issues here. First, on the last point...for the soft water species (tetras, gouramis) the lower the GH and pH the better. My water is zero GH/KH and I do nothing to raise either [I experimented with the pH once, more on this momentarily] but I keep only soft and very soft water species. The endlers will struggle and like all livebearers must have harder water than this; moderate hardness (range is basically 10 to 35 dGH, with a basic (above 7) pH. Shrimp (unless one of the soft water species) also need the calcium. Snails, depends which; my pond snails (to my surprise actually) seem to manage. I would separate the endlers to their own tank (which can be fairly small, so not too onerous) and provide suitable conditions; a calcareous substrate is one easy way, or you can buy mineral salts such as those for rift lake cichlids; not sodium chloride (common salt), but the mineral salts like calcium and magnesium.

On the other issue...as mentioned above, you do not (and I would not) increase GH or pH for the soft water species. The crushed coral is likely raising the GH, but not the pH. I was a bit off previously...when I was buffering the pH in two of my tanks in the 1990's I used dolomite, which is calcium and magnesium, and just two or three tablespoons in a nylon mesh bag in the canister filter of a 90g and 115g tank kept the pH around 6.6 (natural pH of our water then was below 5). But so far as I know, the GH remained zero.

Crushed coral is not a good buffering for pH, but it would improve things for the endlers by increasing the calcium (hence increased GH).

 

[KatNor21]

OK, a couple of issues here. First, on the last point...for the soft water species (tetras, gouramis) the lower the GH and pH the better. My water is zero GH/KH and I do nothing to raise either [I experimented with the pH once, more on this momentarily] but I keep only soft and very soft water species. The endlers will struggle and like all livebearers must have harder water than this; moderate hardness (range is basically 10 to 35 dGH, with a basic (above 7) pH. Shrimp (unless one of the soft water species) also need the calcium. Snails, depends which; my pond snails (to my surprise actually) seem to manage. I would separate the endlers to their own tank (which can be fairly small, so not too onerous) and provide suitable conditions; a calcareous substrate is one easy way, or you can buy mineral salts such as those for rift lake cichlids; not sodium chloride (common salt), but the mineral salts like calcium and magnesium.

On the other issue...as mentioned above, you do not (and I would not) increase GH or pH for the soft water species. The crushed coral is likely raising the GH, but not the pH. I was a bit off previously...when I was buffering the pH in two of my tanks in the 1990's I used dolomite, which is calcium and magnesium, and just two or three tablespoons in a nylon mesh bag in the canister filter of a 90g and 115g tank kept the pH around 6.6 (natural pH of our water then was below 5). But so far as I know, the GH remained zero.

Crushed coral is not a good buffering for pH, but it would improve things for the endlers by increasing the calcium (hence increased GH).

Oh no.... How do I lower the hardness? I've already added the coral and can't remove it.

 

[Byron]

Oh no.... How do I lower the hardness? I've already added the coral and can't remove it.

You won't lower the hardness unless you remove the crushed coral, and it will continue to release dissolved calcium into the water. There is no safe way to counter this, as it will continue as long as the coral is present. I assume it is mixed in (or is the) substrate; if you have another tank for the endlers, you could use it inn that tank and then get a bag of Quikrete Play Sand or similar for the larger tank.