Tank Refurbishment

[codling]

Hi, I have had my tank now for around 10 months. This was my first ever tropical fish tank and although all my fish are doing when and healthy (I have had the odd casualty but the majority of fish in my tank have been there since day 1). However, ever since I have had the tank my plants have struggled, I am not sure the exact reason why but I suspect it may be down to a lack of substrate underneath the gravel in the tank that prevents the plants from successfully rooting and therefore they only last a few months at best before they begin to die. Up to now I have just been replacing them every couple of months but I am now thinking about completey refurbishing my tank (ie taking everything out and startin over) with a new layer of substrate below the tank gravel to hopefully combat my plant problem. Not to mention this but my tank is has also developed an algae problem over the last couple of months which has caused the tank glass to slightly brown in patches - although this is not to much of a problem as can be removed fairly easily, however the algae completely covers my plant leaves in a kind of blackish/brownish sludge as well as formed a think fur like coating over my live bogwood in the tank. This algae has only developed in the last couple of months even though I havnt been doing anything at all different to my tank and really is starting to turn into a right pain, and along with my plant problem I do not know what else to do. As I say all my fish are doing well and healthy and the tank water quality is fine so in an ideal world I would simple like to resolve the problem without having to start again from scratch but fear this is my only option so if anyone could suggest an alternative I would be more than grateful. However if my only option is to lay a substrate I would also appreciate any advice on the best way to do this while causing the least stress possible to my fish, i.e where to put the fish during this process as I do not have another tank.

Tank Dimensions and Contents:

14 Gallon (54 Litres) - 1 Siamese Fighting Fish, 2 Zebra Danio, 5 Orange Tetra.

P.S. and finally, I would appreciate advice on one more fish/shrimp I can add to this tank once I have resolved my issue because as I previously mentioned I have had one or two casualties that where never replaced and when they were in there it did not seem to effect the water quality or overcrowd the tank so I feel I could comfortably fit another 1 -2 fish in the tank without sacrificing the current balance of fish.

Thanks in Advance

 

[xoedusk]

Is the tank near a window? Has more light been coming into that window the last few months? Maybe this is cause of algae?

 

[codling]

Is the tank near a window? Has more light been coming into that window the last few months? Maybe this is cause of algae?

No tank out of all direct sunlight, only slight change has been a slight increase in room temprature due to the summer months but I have tried to combat this but lowering the heater level to even out the tank water temperature and seems to have worked.

 

[Liam]

The brown algae usually happens in poor light, how much light or watts per gallon (US gallons) do you have, it’s possible that if the light has been running for the 10 months it is wearing out. Ottos, snails or ammano (sp) shrimps are great for eating this algae. You should still get decent plant growth if you have low light but not too low and low light plants. A good substrate wont be any use to plants unless they have sufficient light.

 

[codling]

Not sure exactly what wattage the light is, all i know is that it is a standard tube light but seems a fair size for the tank. Im sure I could find out the wattage of the light but would it be worth getting a stronger light for the tank anyway or can it do it damage if it is to strong? and in terms of it wearing out it may well be starting to now but I have had difficulty with my plants right from the very off when the whole set up was brand new.