gregswimm
Fish Addict
After fighing with BGA for some time now, it has moved to all of my tanks (excluding fry tanks).
My planted tank is a 29g filtration is a tetra whisper ex20 and an aqueon quiet flow 50. I have pre-filters covering the intakes of the HOBs, but they get clogged often and the flow suffers quite badly. Substrate is flourite mixed with regular gravel. I lowered the lighting from 1x23" T5 + 1x34"T8 down to just 1x34"T8, wich I try not to keep on for more than 10h, but sometimes I forget. Temperature stits at a steady 78.5F, Ph comes out of the tap at 7.8 with a total hardness around 10dkg, 0ammo/nitrites. Feeding is 2x a day with kanamycin antibiotic flake (im fighing a flexibacter infection). Stocking is 2x kribensis and 1 black phantom tetra (I had 3 ottos but over the period of 5 months they have vanished). Water changes were not very often maybe 1 ever 2 months (I heard low tech tanks water shouldn;t be changed often I think this is what cause the flexibacter), I change the water now 2x a month. No ferts, no CO2. Plants are 5-7 sad looking Valisnara spiralis (they took a hit from being covered in BGA), 4 anubias 1 is angustifolia or afzeli 2 are barteri(rather large and fast growing for anubias), and the other is probably a nana-like species. I have a few mounted java fern, but it hasn't done much in a few months, some B.pannywort that took a hit from the BGA and what i think is a ruffled sword. (Ill get a recent pic of this tank when I find my camera)
The other is a 55 Tanganyika setup with only 1 mounted java fern. Filtration is an aquatop CF-300 and this bio filter thing I made out of a pill bottle dotted with holes, filled with gravel and an airline in it. Stocking was 2x J.marlieri, 6x L.ornatipinnis and 3x A.compressiceps. Due to some agression/spawning issues I now only hav 2xJ.marlieri (with a ton of juvies/fry), and 2xornatipinnis (with a ton of juvies/fry). 6/5 I added 2 nerites and 1 myster yellow snail. I plan on returning the mystery snail as he is pooping more than I do. Lighting is 2x48" T5, one of which is blue and the other is a normal spectrum wihich i would guess falls somewhere between 5500k and 10000k. Water changes were 30% weekly but now are 10g a day as im just finishing my fight against flexibacter (I won! \0/). I feed this tank 2x a day with kanamycin flake, and 3x a day with hikari first bites/microgrind. Parameters are ph of 8.0, GH of 13dkg, temp of 80F, 0ammo, 0nitrites, the highest I ever saw nitrAtes was at 80ppm, I freaked and did a massive change; I am now doing 10g changes per-day. The algae in this tank is 2 fold, a fabric-like film that forms on the sand/rocks it gets darker in thicker areas and I am un-sure of the color as I am color blind, but on the rocks where it tends to get thicker bubbles form on it which are easily knocked off by the fish. The second type is a just a green film on the back of the tank, the julies used to enjoy grazing on it but don't show much interest lately.
55g tank 1 moth ago, ill get a recent one when i can find my camera.
The last one is a 20L with a 23"T5. Filtration is 1 aquaclear 20 and 1 tetra whisper internal 10i. Stocking is 6x L.Multifasciatus, and 3x A.compressiceps (growing them up so they can go back in the 55) and 2 yellow mystery snails. Feeding is 2x a day with NLS grow. Water changes is a weekly 5g change. The algae here is 2 fold, the first being what is assume is BGA it forms black/brown fabric like mats on the substrate and shells allong with a brown/black goopy substance matting on my javamoss. The other type looks like strings/threads of hair coming off the shells and now that I look close also off the black/brown mats of algae. Once again, I will provide a picture when I find my camera lol.
Another interesting bit of info about my local water, when I life guarded at my local YMCA; we always had algal issues in the pool. One day my boss decided to test the phosphates of the tap water, I don't remember the figure but he shocked at how high the levels were.
The algae isn't causing any major problems aside from cloging my pre-filters, preventing my shell dwellers from digging in the substrate, and choking out my plants. So maybe it is causing major problems, either way if you have any suggestions/tip/advice please let me know
. Also are there any phosphate absorbing products on the market? and how well do they work?
My planted tank is a 29g filtration is a tetra whisper ex20 and an aqueon quiet flow 50. I have pre-filters covering the intakes of the HOBs, but they get clogged often and the flow suffers quite badly. Substrate is flourite mixed with regular gravel. I lowered the lighting from 1x23" T5 + 1x34"T8 down to just 1x34"T8, wich I try not to keep on for more than 10h, but sometimes I forget. Temperature stits at a steady 78.5F, Ph comes out of the tap at 7.8 with a total hardness around 10dkg, 0ammo/nitrites. Feeding is 2x a day with kanamycin antibiotic flake (im fighing a flexibacter infection). Stocking is 2x kribensis and 1 black phantom tetra (I had 3 ottos but over the period of 5 months they have vanished). Water changes were not very often maybe 1 ever 2 months (I heard low tech tanks water shouldn;t be changed often I think this is what cause the flexibacter), I change the water now 2x a month. No ferts, no CO2. Plants are 5-7 sad looking Valisnara spiralis (they took a hit from being covered in BGA), 4 anubias 1 is angustifolia or afzeli 2 are barteri(rather large and fast growing for anubias), and the other is probably a nana-like species. I have a few mounted java fern, but it hasn't done much in a few months, some B.pannywort that took a hit from the BGA and what i think is a ruffled sword. (Ill get a recent pic of this tank when I find my camera)
The other is a 55 Tanganyika setup with only 1 mounted java fern. Filtration is an aquatop CF-300 and this bio filter thing I made out of a pill bottle dotted with holes, filled with gravel and an airline in it. Stocking was 2x J.marlieri, 6x L.ornatipinnis and 3x A.compressiceps. Due to some agression/spawning issues I now only hav 2xJ.marlieri (with a ton of juvies/fry), and 2xornatipinnis (with a ton of juvies/fry). 6/5 I added 2 nerites and 1 myster yellow snail. I plan on returning the mystery snail as he is pooping more than I do. Lighting is 2x48" T5, one of which is blue and the other is a normal spectrum wihich i would guess falls somewhere between 5500k and 10000k. Water changes were 30% weekly but now are 10g a day as im just finishing my fight against flexibacter (I won! \0/). I feed this tank 2x a day with kanamycin flake, and 3x a day with hikari first bites/microgrind. Parameters are ph of 8.0, GH of 13dkg, temp of 80F, 0ammo, 0nitrites, the highest I ever saw nitrAtes was at 80ppm, I freaked and did a massive change; I am now doing 10g changes per-day. The algae in this tank is 2 fold, a fabric-like film that forms on the sand/rocks it gets darker in thicker areas and I am un-sure of the color as I am color blind, but on the rocks where it tends to get thicker bubbles form on it which are easily knocked off by the fish. The second type is a just a green film on the back of the tank, the julies used to enjoy grazing on it but don't show much interest lately.
55g tank 1 moth ago, ill get a recent one when i can find my camera.
The last one is a 20L with a 23"T5. Filtration is 1 aquaclear 20 and 1 tetra whisper internal 10i. Stocking is 6x L.Multifasciatus, and 3x A.compressiceps (growing them up so they can go back in the 55) and 2 yellow mystery snails. Feeding is 2x a day with NLS grow. Water changes is a weekly 5g change. The algae here is 2 fold, the first being what is assume is BGA it forms black/brown fabric like mats on the substrate and shells allong with a brown/black goopy substance matting on my javamoss. The other type looks like strings/threads of hair coming off the shells and now that I look close also off the black/brown mats of algae. Once again, I will provide a picture when I find my camera lol.
Another interesting bit of info about my local water, when I life guarded at my local YMCA; we always had algal issues in the pool. One day my boss decided to test the phosphates of the tap water, I don't remember the figure but he shocked at how high the levels were.
The algae isn't causing any major problems aside from cloging my pre-filters, preventing my shell dwellers from digging in the substrate, and choking out my plants. So maybe it is causing major problems, either way if you have any suggestions/tip/advice please let me know
. Also are there any phosphate absorbing products on the market? and how well do they work?
