When Tanks Go Bad

[zig]

Well my tank used to look like this

And then i added this, sulphate of iron

but i made a slight miscalculation and added about 10x in one dose

about 3 hours later it looked like this

oh boy was this a mistake

it had a severe reaction on my Pogostemon helferi, it started to melt as well as being covered in algae

its a thread algae or cladophora, impossible to get rid of other than bleach all the plants, so total strip down.

Just a couple more shots

Basically the stuff is everywhere, everything is covered in thread algae, some of the threads are over a foot long easily, it happened almost immeaditaly after dosing the sulphate of iron, within a few hours thread algae appeared everywhere, i just noticed long threads floating in the tank and on closer inspection it was everywhere, within 24 hours it was really BAAAADDDDD.

RIP tank

 

[jayjay]

it looked so good before!

i never knew it could grow that fast literally hours.....

sorry about the tank though

 

[saboy]

Can you still salvage the plants ?


Will the thread algae go away ? Water changes maybe ? To take out the excess dosage ?

 

[Qays]

LOL! I love your somewhat experimental thoughts.

What are you going to do to fight the algae? Large water change + Tank black out?

 

[zig]

At the time i was well $%^&*" off, but tbh now i dont really mind, its a pity about the Pogostemon helferi, because that took at least 2 months to grow as big as it is, so im fed up about that, i doubt it will survive a bleach dip, basically thats the only real option with cladophora when it gets this bad, you have to bleach everything and do a total tank stripdown, it grows everywhere on the equipment as well as the plants! i have done several water changes since but the damage was already done, the stuff is still growing!! ow well, time for something new i guess, i will concentrate on my small tank for the moment with the plants i posted in the thread last week about the Utricularia graminifolia. Thanks for the comments anyway guys.

 

[NAL]

Gutting. If I might say that tank was looking great, with real potential. I am surprised it went downhill so quickly. I had some issues in the past, much more slow burning, with a similar algae. It seemed to coincide with me adding extra Flourish Iron-a bad mistake in the end too. I guess there is a good lesson anyway. Sorry about your tank though.

Nick

 

[Themuleous]

Zig mate, I feel your pain I really do (cant help chuckling though, sorry ) sorry about the P.helferi too, mine has actually almost completely recovered from the 'white out' it suffered.

I used to get this stuff on my main tank, it never grew on the plants, just the glass, but never this bad, is there really nothing you can do? Would shrimp not hoover it up?

Sam

 

[Qays]

Oh, thats really bad!

Look forward to seeing it re-done

 

[Bloo]

that's truely astoundingly shocking !
We live and learn hey ?

I'm sure your tank will soon be back to its former glory

 

[George Farmer]

Hard lesson learnt there matey.

Beautiful aquascape I have to say, one of, if not the best a regular TFF member has produced IMHO. Well worthy of PFK submission.

What's the bright green moss? It's stunning.

 

[Qays]

Yes, the tank is simply the best tank i have ever seen. It must be amazing up closer.

That mossy stuff is really nice, the way its growing high above.

 

[zig]

Thanks for all the replys guys definatly makes me feel a bit better, im not sure what to do next though tbh, i think a total stripdown and try and salvage what plants i can may be the best option, i might just clean out the tank totally, bleach it and all the equipment and the plants in a mild dip and see what i can salvage, it would be a good opportunity to try out some Aquasoil in a new setup although getting it imported from Richard at aquaessentials will probably cost a lot of money, maybe more money than i bargain for, how many bags would i need? anybody any idea, maybe Chris or oldwhitewood?? the tank is 30x18x18 and 40 US gallons.


lesson definatly learnt the hard way, it was the first time i had dosed sulphate of iron and i had checked around the web for a suitable dosage, i can't remember where i pinned down the final figures for a dosage amount, i think i cross referenced a few different sources, anyway i dosed the tank with what i thought was the correct amount and like i say a few hours later i noticed the thread algae in the tank, i then double checked what i had dosed and soon realised i had made an error in my calculations, i think i auctually dosed more like about 15x what you would normally dose instead of 10x as stated above, not that that makes much difference, im sure 10x would have been the same result.

Anyway time for a change, thanks again for all the replys, we will be back stronger and better, watch this space!!

Edit: i forgot about the moss, its a mix of christmas and java moss......i think!!

It takes about 6-7 weeks to get looking as full as in the first photo, just apply it very thinly and tie it on, light and ferts will do the rest, when it gets to big and full looking i dont bother trimming it as that would be really messy, because as you know moss does not float, so basically i just rip the whole lot off and start again as above, it looks just as good each time i let it grow out, like i say it peaks looks wise around about 6 weeks into the growth cycle.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awww man what a shame, that was a beautiful tank!

 

[George Farmer]

You'll need two 9 l. bags of Aqua Soil I'd say. Will you be using Power Sand too or just Aqua Soil. Check out AE for more interesting info.

If you do use AS then keep a close eye on pH and KH, it drops dramitically in the first few days, especially as you have soft water.

Got the e-mails fine mate, thanks.

 

[NAL]

George is right-I used 2 whole bags of Aqua soil (9 L) in my Rio 125, plus 1 bag of Powersand Special S. To be honest, a 9 L bag of Aquasoil is really no more expensive than Flourite, Aquabase or any of the other popular 100% substrates. I think it is £25.99/bad compared to 24.99 for Florabase. I'd use it over Flourite any day. Honestly, you won't regret it. If you don't want to use PS, you can buy volcanic grit/pumice and mix it with some peat to get a similar additive to Powersand. Look up 'kyodama' on Bonsai supply sites in the UK. If you want to see an ADA set-up journal I've got one over at the AE forum.

Nick