Journal Advanced Planted Tank .... Amateur version

[Sb1415]

Day 46 - Filamentous Algae Phase

• Water change - 70%
• Post WC - 4 ml (2ml of APT 2 and 2 ml of APT 1)
• Decreased fertilizer to 1 ml of APT 3 and 1 ml of APT 1 daily (cannot help with the co-incidence of filamentous algae and switching from APT 1 to APT 3)
• Lights dimmed to 50%
• Co2 - 6 am - 2 pm
• Every other day fish feeding (Decreased)
• Co2 tank refilling fiasco - see separate thread.
• Algae Removal
  • Manual filamentous algae removal
  • No chemicals for now
  • Maybe some blue green cyano in the front like in my prior tank - some on substrate not sure how to exactly clean this. Very localized
• Plants
  • Rotala BR - Thriving, but does have some long hair algae
  • Ludwigea Arcuata - Newly planted emersed - Planted on tuesday let's see what happens
  • R.Indica Bonsai - Not sure if I really like them, very slow growing, but in an area of high flow and will be nice if it continues to stand tall ... just needed to be taller
  • B.Japonica - Doing well
  • H.Pinnatifida - Taken off as you all predicted @techman81
  • S.Repens - Continues to have intermittent melting and hair algae, going to wait it out
  • Dwarf hair grass - doing ok, some runners
  • P.Decannensis - My original ones in the front are doing well, the ones in the back may be a different cultivar, struggling a bit to adapt.
  • R.Florida - Covered in hair algae , makes me sad. Don't have the heart to trim it or algicide it. Going to see if it fights it off
  • R.Tulu - Doing really well! It seems to like my tanks, have planted a single stem next to the R.Indica to see if it does ok in the high flow area.
  • L.Hippuroides - I had planted multiple shoots, stems with the tops on are thriving well but the bare planted stems growing slowly, i topped some of the new shoots and replanted them.
  • Syngonathus - Growing ok, but lot of hair algae
  • AR - Growing well but hair algae have trimmed them.
  • L.Wilsonii - Taken off, but not sure if I like it. Will have to see as it grows more.
• Questions
  • How do you all clean cyano in the substrate close to the front of the glass. I was able to clear off some in the glass but not sure how to clean it on the substrate
  • Do plants ever clear the fine hair algae from their leaves ?
  • Any comments or suggestions welcome.

Thanks all for reading.



Nice view of the hair algae !! The newly planted emersed L.Arcuata

 

[techman81]

S.Repens - Continues to have intermittent melting and hair algae, going to wait it out

Before giving up and leaving the FB aquascaping groups, I read many posts from people struggling with S. Repens which surprised me. It's been one of the easiest plants for me to grow. Knowing what your setup is, it surprises me that yours is struggling.

As for the hair algae, I'm battling it a bit now as well. I think you're doing the right things though. I do use APT Fix and APT Fix Lite (around moss) occasionally though.

 

[Unexpected]

I read many posts from people struggling with S. Repens

I struggled with it and haven't tried it again in years

 

[Sb1415]

Before giving up and leaving the FB aquascaping groups, I read many posts from people struggling with S. Repens which surprised me. It's been one of the easiest plants for me to grow. Knowing what your setup is, it surprises me that yours is struggling.

As for the hair algae, I'm battling it a bit now as well. I think you're doing the right things though. I do use APT Fix and APT Fix Lite (around moss) occasionally though.

Part of the problem might be that I had grown them from TC in my old (now deceased) 29 gallon tank which had an inert substrate. It might be just struggling to adapt to the aquasoil. If this all doesn't do well, i might plant a new set of TC to see how they do.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I learned that Green Aqua injects gluteraldehyde (seachem excel) with a syringe and needle, into the substrate between the glass to kill Cyanobacteria.

I tried it with H2O2 and that worked too but left bubbles for a week or so in the algae's place against the glass.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Do plants ever clear the fine hair algae from their leaves ?

This is such a good question!

IMO, algae never really goes away if you don't remove it manually yourself.

It's true, there are some types of algae that might go away if things get fixed, or might be eaten over time... but 90% of the time (especially for GHA) you have to remove it, it will not go away on its own.

The good news is, if you have your tank healthy and balanced (like your new growth is showing) it likely won't spread, but it's very unlikely for it to go away on its own.

Remove as much as you can. It's painstaking work, but if you remove algae AND get your tank balanced, it won't come back any time soon.

 

[Sb1415]

This is such a good question!

IMO, algae never really goes away if you don't remove it manually yourself.

It's true, there are some types of algae that might go away if things get fixed, or might be eaten over time... but 90% of the time (especially for GHA) you have to remove it, it will not go away on its own.

The good news is, if you have your tank healthy and balanced (like your new growth is showing) it likely won't spread, but it's very unlikely for it to go away on its own.

Remove as much as you can. It's painstaking work, but if you remove algae AND get your tank balanced, it won't come back any time soon.

Thanks. How would one remove what’s on my rotala Florida ?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Thanks. How would one remove what’s on my rotala Florida ?

I'd cut the tops, leaving 1.5" of stem below. Replant the top stems, remove the algae-covered bottoms.

 

[Sb1415]

I'd cut the tops, leaving 1.5" of stem below. Replant the top stems, remove the algae-covered bottoms.

Wish you wouldn’t say this!

 

[Sb1415]

Almost 2.5 months in have been struggling with filamentous algae. Going to try and keep the fertilizer dosing stable and see.

I have not really liked the plant placement. As I will be doing a major clean up curious if people have thoughts on how to improve the layout, let me know. Thanks!

 

[Lush_Aqua]

What happened to your blyxa? It looked like you had several green/orange nodes doing well. Move any to another tank? I'm curious because I started with a small batch in my tank as well, but for some reason it sort of died off. I'm left with one very small orange stem I'm trying to nurse back to life.

I also noticed your H. Pinnatifida is struggling. Maybe it's not as happy being planted in the substrate? I have mine growing like a weed only while it's attached to my driftwood.

 

[Sb1415]

What happened to your blyxa? It looked like you had several green/orange nodes doing well. Move any to another tank? I'm curious because I started with a small batch in my tank as well, but for some reason it sort of died off. I'm left with one very small orange stem I'm trying to nurse back to life.

I also noticed your H. Pinnatifida is struggling. Maybe it's not as happy being planted in the substrate? I have mine growing like a weed only while it's attached to my driftwood.

The Blyxa did very well, but I thought there were too many. Filamentous algae seems to like the tips of the Blyxa and it sort of got hard to keep removing them with multiple Blyxa so ended up just leaving one. This one is doing well and I could potentially split it. It’s interesting that it changed color with 10% increase in lighting. The pinnatifida is actually growing like a weed but this is the first time I have planted it on the substrate and it sort of doesn’t bunch and starts sending runners everywhere. It is also facing really hard flow so got ton of filamentous algae and I have trimmed it quite hard. I might remove it and maybe repurchase it when I set up a scape with hardscape. Yours look fabulous, so lush!