Glod's 37.5l Planted Tank Journal.

[nry]

Nerite snails...after seeing George Farmer talk about the one in his nano tank, I bought some for my 54L. They've been in for 3 weeks now and slowly but surely the algae has all but gone. The glass and pebbles are pristine and the plants have also had a good going over aswell: I think that these are amazing little creatures, the algae being eaten off the glass and pebbles seems to stop it developing on the plants as quickly.

 

[Glod]

The only algae problem i have really is the staghorn. The amanos don't seem to bother with it, Otos don't eat it. Strangely since the staghorn went grey i've seen a few shrimp at it, perhaps it's coincidence, but considering i never saw them other than fleeting glimpses before it may be relevant. i've tried manually removing the staghorn, but pulling it off is near impossible, it just rips the leaves apart. I plan to get some scissors to try trimming it off.

The only other other algae that is visible is a smattering of green spots on the glass, but the otos take care of that for the most part. I have some malaysian trumpet snails for the purpose of turning over the sand which they seem to do great, not sure if they are helping out with the alge too since they're nocturnal.

Reading some posts by Tom Barr on another forum he reccomends CO2 as a solution to staghorn, thus for now i am making that my goal. If I'm feeling better I'll go get some sugar and try and get this CO2 kit up and running.

As for the nerite my water is pretty soft, and acidic. Not the best for shrimp or snails tbh. If I find other algae being an issue I'll think about getting a snail or 2

 

[Glod]

Well, still haven't been to get sugar, so for now excel is the extent of the carbon addition to the tank. It's had a huge effect on the staghorn tho, I'd estimate over half is gone and some of the rest is turning red. Yesterday it was paler grey coloured but still there. the change is ... remarkable.

Planning to go get some sugar today, and a check valve to stop water backflow.

 

[Glod]

Thought I would throw up a couple of pics of the staghorn ...

Seems to be going more red as I watch it.

Got some sugar and set up the CO2 kit. Haven't seen any bubbles yet so I probably messed up somewhere. Will give it some time yet, it's only been an hour or so.

So was thinking about the layout for my tank. I have a piece of wood that is kind of V shaped...


RRRRRRRRRRRRR PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
RRRRRRRRRRRRRR WWWWW PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
RRRRRRRRRRRRR WWWWWWWW PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
RRRRRRRRRRR WWWWWWWWWWW PPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
RRRRRRRRRR WWWWWWWWWWWWW PPPPPPPPPPPPPP
OOOOOOOOO WWWWWWWWWWWWWW MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
OOOOOOOO WWWWW UUUU WWWWWW MMMMMMMMMMMM
OOOOOOOO WWWWW UUUU WWWWWW MMMMMMMMMMMM
UUUUUUUU WWWWW UUUUUU WWWWW UUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUU WWWW UUUUUUU WWWWW UUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

R= Rotala.
P = H. Polysperma
W = Wood with java fern at the apex.
O = Pogostemon helferi
U = Utricularia graminifolia
M = HM

Sorry for the crappy text layout, I'll try and do some kind of image for later. Maybe it will be clearer.

 

[Glod]

Just a quick update, looks like the nutrafin CO2 kit just needed time to sort itself out. It's now giving me a bubble rate of about 1 per 2-3 seconds. Maybe not massive, but hopefully it's helping. The fish seem to be coping fine, tho at the moment that tank is crazy overfiltered, lol... has about 400l/h of filtration in a 37.5 litre tank. Watching the pygmy corys play in the flow is fun tho

I have ordered an Eden 501 filter mini external filter to replace the HOB which is probably gassing off most of the CO2. Haven't ordered the new plants yet as AE seems to be out of stock of some of them. I'll email them and see when they're getting more in.

The staghorn is well on the way to being gone. Probably only 20% of what was there is still visible, and it's all going red and dying off. Makes me smile

 

[Glod]

So the CO2 picked up a lot seemed to be bubbling about 1 bubble per second. This afternoon I noticed 2 of my Amano shrimp were going nuts... swimming round and round the tank. I suspect there might be too much CO2 in the water ? Strangely the fish seem unphased so it could be something else entirely.

I disconnected the CO2 and adjusted the spraybar to gas off the CO2 in the water and 30 mins later the shrimp have calmed down. The new Eden 501 mini filter seems to be doing a fine job, the flow is possibly a bit more than I would normally go for but since the Betta is no longer in that tank the remaining fish don't seem too troubled.

Going to test the water now and make sure it's not something else...

*edit as an aside I placed an order with AE the other day for some plants for my pfk offer cube, so they should be here at the start of the week