Teephphah
Fish Fanatic
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 73
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Come ye, come ye, harken near and hear this dreadful tale of woe and misery. Take care however, for this is not a tale suitable for the slight or the weak of heart. Alas, the adventure I am about to relate begins thusly:
So, my (very cool) sister got me one of them there new Aqueon Evolve nano tanks (the Evolve 4 to be specific) as a gift for our joyous winter holiday celebration. It was promptly smuggled from home into the office cube where plants and pets are sticly verboten. (Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law!)
I also smuggled in some playground sand and a timer and viola. I'm, theoretically, ready to rock.
I proceed to fill said Aqueon Evolve 4 with water from a variety of sources (Bathroom, water cooler, other)and it's been sitting here since, oh, say, about early-to-mid January. Eventually, my keen planty-senses told me, "it's time!" In response to this prompting, I ran home and covertly stole some plants from myself at home (I never suspected a thing!). Threw them ("they" being, in no particular order (except alphabetical): anubias, crypt (smallish), java fern, ludwigia repens (R.I.P.), pygmy chain sword, and some spiral valis.)in the tank and . . . well, I already said "viola" earlier and I can't think of a good synonym.
With the exception of the ludwigia, everything seems to be doing fine. Even the pygmy chain sword seems to be doing better here than the parent plant at home.
HOWEVER . . .
I started to get some algae issues. So, I ordered myself some cherry red shrimp off of the e-bay like the kids do these days. Let me just say that I did not know, at the time, that the POWER of the filter was adjustible. I also did not know that cherry red shrimp posess a profound inate curiosity that induces them to investigate places they should not go.
The results were . . . tragic.
On the other hand, the stowaways that came in the java moss that came along with the shirmp were MUCH more successful. In no time at all, I had a thriving (and also disgusting) snail community. As most any animal lover would, I eliminated them with extreme prejudice. (Also known as two treatments of Had-A-Snail, also known as "copper.")
Did a 50% water change after the first treatment, and about a 75% change following the second and now . . . blue/green algae. Everywhere! I've scrubbed and removed it, pruned leaves that were covered in it, done more water changes, and even gone the full black-out route, but this stuff keeps coming back! (On the bright side though, as I look at it now . . . it is pearling, so . . . you know . . . there's that.)
Checking the sticky Algae guide, I'm reading that my problem is probably that my nitrates are . . . low? Now, granted, I tend to pride myself on not taking too much too seriously, but I've been playing with planted tanks for a little while and LOW nitrates are not a problem that I've seen come up all that often.
Before I read the algae guide I would have guessed that my problem was in my inconsisant application of ferts and liquid carbon (Flourish and API CO2 Booster respectively), but thankfully I now know that THAT'S not to blame.
I've been wanting to begin stocking this thing with something, but now that it's practically a toxic waste dump I figure I need to get that little issue cleared up first. I understand that this is probably a question with a ridiculously simple answer, but anyone know how to bump UP nitrates in a nano, and will just doing THAT cure my ills?
Beyond that, and looking toward the future, I'd also be thankful for any stocking suggestions.
Thank you for your time in reading all of this and any advice that you may have to share.
So, my (very cool) sister got me one of them there new Aqueon Evolve nano tanks (the Evolve 4 to be specific) as a gift for our joyous winter holiday celebration. It was promptly smuggled from home into the office cube where plants and pets are sticly verboten. (Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law!)
I also smuggled in some playground sand and a timer and viola. I'm, theoretically, ready to rock.
I proceed to fill said Aqueon Evolve 4 with water from a variety of sources (Bathroom, water cooler, other)and it's been sitting here since, oh, say, about early-to-mid January. Eventually, my keen planty-senses told me, "it's time!" In response to this prompting, I ran home and covertly stole some plants from myself at home (I never suspected a thing!). Threw them ("they" being, in no particular order (except alphabetical): anubias, crypt (smallish), java fern, ludwigia repens (R.I.P.), pygmy chain sword, and some spiral valis.)in the tank and . . . well, I already said "viola" earlier and I can't think of a good synonym.
With the exception of the ludwigia, everything seems to be doing fine. Even the pygmy chain sword seems to be doing better here than the parent plant at home.
HOWEVER . . .
I started to get some algae issues. So, I ordered myself some cherry red shrimp off of the e-bay like the kids do these days. Let me just say that I did not know, at the time, that the POWER of the filter was adjustible. I also did not know that cherry red shrimp posess a profound inate curiosity that induces them to investigate places they should not go.
The results were . . . tragic.
On the other hand, the stowaways that came in the java moss that came along with the shirmp were MUCH more successful. In no time at all, I had a thriving (and also disgusting) snail community. As most any animal lover would, I eliminated them with extreme prejudice. (Also known as two treatments of Had-A-Snail, also known as "copper.")
Did a 50% water change after the first treatment, and about a 75% change following the second and now . . . blue/green algae. Everywhere! I've scrubbed and removed it, pruned leaves that were covered in it, done more water changes, and even gone the full black-out route, but this stuff keeps coming back! (On the bright side though, as I look at it now . . . it is pearling, so . . . you know . . . there's that.)
Checking the sticky Algae guide, I'm reading that my problem is probably that my nitrates are . . . low? Now, granted, I tend to pride myself on not taking too much too seriously, but I've been playing with planted tanks for a little while and LOW nitrates are not a problem that I've seen come up all that often.
Before I read the algae guide I would have guessed that my problem was in my inconsisant application of ferts and liquid carbon (Flourish and API CO2 Booster respectively), but thankfully I now know that THAT'S not to blame.
I've been wanting to begin stocking this thing with something, but now that it's practically a toxic waste dump I figure I need to get that little issue cleared up first. I understand that this is probably a question with a ridiculously simple answer, but anyone know how to bump UP nitrates in a nano, and will just doing THAT cure my ills?
Beyond that, and looking toward the future, I'd also be thankful for any stocking suggestions.
Thank you for your time in reading all of this and any advice that you may have to share.
Anyway, I've amonia-ated the tank and I'm now watching it expectantly just waiting for the magic to happen. I'll keep everyone informed as to the progress. 
