Newish aquarium. Planting a lush tank....

[frannyscho]

I've probably done the same thing that everyone does - got a new tank, struggled with cycling, lost fish, coped, restocked, bought lovely plants and seemingly everything was going swimmingly until the blue green algae set in and now it looks a mess. I've bought two baby bristlenose catfish who are doing their best and I've given it a jolly good clean and it looks much better, but I can see that it is seeded with lots of little bits of green that I'm fairly sure will start the whole thing off much faster than before if I don't learn alot quickly.

Lets start from the beginning with this bit.

Tank 45gals
Lights - 2 (Sun glo 42" 40W and Aqua glo 42" 40W) on 12hrs a day, timed
Fluval 4+ filter with carbon insert pad and cottony type insert pad
Fluval Aquarium heater
Long double strip airstone

Fish
1 Sunset Platy and her two 2cm babies
2 Pearl Gourami
2 Loaches
2 Upside down catfish
2 Dalmation Mollys
1 Balloon Molly
2 Baby wild bristlenose catfish
6 glowlight tetras
5 forktail rainbow

Gravel base, a bit of bogwood, two pretend cave type hiding places,some plastic plants and some real. Can't remember what each are called but have got pics.

 

[George Farmer]

Before you can think creating a "lush" planted tank you need to get rid of your blue-green algae (BGA).

Read through the last part of the pinned algae article - this should help.

If you're serious about starting a planted tank then I recommend you read through all the pinned planted articles. Starting with lighting, then CO2, EI and algae. It is a lot of reading but it should give you an idea of what is required to acheive a successful planted tank.

Unfortunately I cannot give you a "simple" solution as the nature of the planted tank is not simple.

 

[frannyscho]

I had given it all a quick read, and will do so plenty more times, but as with all learning it always seems so complicated at first until you know what you're doing.
It was all the pressurised tank business with the CO2 that got me confused, and made me think it wasn't the same for mine.
What was it that I had done so wrong to make so much of it grow so quickly? and is the BGA the same stuff as ordinary algae. (probably stupid question but I don't know).
I will read up again.

 

[modernhamlet]

You've got a little under 2 watts per gallon of lighting, so you don't necessarily need CO2. You can certainly add a simple yeast based CO2 system later if you'd like. Pressurized is probably overkill in your tank at the moment.

BGA is a completely different thing than green algae, In fact, it's not even algae. It is a cyanobacteria colony. It thrives in an environment with an abundance of phospate (usually caused by overfeeding) and lack of competition from higher plants.

You might also consider removing the carbon pad in the filter, as it will absorb many of the nutrients your plants need to grow.

 

[houndour]

BGA is a completely different thing than green algae, In fact, it's not even algae. It is a cyanobacteria colony. It thrives in an environment with an abundance of phospate (usually caused by overfeeding) and lack of competition from higher plants.

Are there any other reasons? My bga is returning in my 20 gallon. It's on the surface of the sand. I don't overfeed...I feed once every 2 days. I havent been dosing phosphates and they currently stand at 0.5 to 1.0ppm. I've been keeping my nitrates above 15ppm. So approx 15-20ppm. I've also removed any obstructions to flow of water (as I had problems before of bga building up among vallis on the surface).

 

[modernhamlet]

Are there any other reasons? My bga is returning in my 20 gallon. It's on the surface of the sand. I don't overfeed...I feed once every 2 days. I havent been dosing phosphates and they currently stand at 0.5 to 1.0ppm. I've been keeping my nitrates above 15ppm. So approx 15-20ppm. I've also removed any obstructions to flow of water (as I had problems before of bga building up among vallis on the surface).

[snapback]905325[/snapback]​

Stubborn BGA you've got there. You've used just about all of the fixes I know of:
- keep phospate down
- keep nitrates up
- good circulation
- regular water changes
- consistant manual removal
- support the plants

I had a very brief breakout in my first tank that didn't come back once my plants got a firm footing. Sorry I can't help more. Maybe someone else will have better ideas...

 

[frannyscho]

To get rid of it amongst sand or gravel, is it necessary to boil it all and clean it that sort of way? Is it something that "seeds" itself or recolonises by any residues and therefore is more or less guaranteed to come back. Do you sort of have to start again with new stuff? Or with all the corrective measures you are talking about will it be merely overcome but is always there? Where does it come from?

Did I just start it off by beginner overfeeding? I feed mine twice a day, is that much too much if houndour only does it every two days? I admit mine are fat! or pregnant?

 

[houndour]

To get rid of it amongst sand or gravel, is it necessary to boil it all and clean it that sort of way? Is it something that "seeds" itself or recolonises by any residues and therefore is more or less guaranteed to come back. Do you sort of have to start again with new stuff? Or with all the corrective measures you are talking about will it be merely overcome but is always there? Where does it come from?

Did I just start it off by beginner overfeeding? I feed mine twice a day, is that much too much if houndour only does it every two days? I admit mine are fat! or pregnant?

[snapback]905943[/snapback]​

apparently bga always exists...its in the air or something (ok I could be talking crap here but I'm sure i read this during my research) and something can trigger it to grow. The things I've found out are:
stagnant water
low nitrates
high phosphates (generally from over feeding)

I worry that I under feed my fish, but after 4 months of feeding them every other day most are still alive. (and I'm sure the ones that have died did not die from starvation). When I feed my fish flakes (for the guppies), I break the flakes up into smaller pieces so they can eat it whole, rather than spitting it out and then it floats to the bottom to rot - if not found by bottom dwellers. And I feed tiny bits at a time to give them a chance to eat it all then feed them more. So I get minimal amounts going to the bottom.

Then I add some sinking pellets for my corys and botia.

 

[frannyscho]

Did you start feeding them on alternate days only because of the BGA?
Did you have to scourge your tank to get rid of it before doing those other methods?
I'm just not quite sure what to do next. The fish don't seem to mind, but I can see that the water is loaded with minature green filaments and not lovely crystal clear water like my other tank. The filter is obviously either not doing its' job or can't cope. I've gently squeezed it out on two consecutive days after the big clean, but i'm anxious not to remove the biological stuff inside it.
I think i'd better have a good old read up.

 

[zig]

Dont keep cleaning the filter this wont help, you are correct it may damage the bacterial colony and you will keep having mini cycles, which in turn may induce more algae.