Journal Advanced Planted Tank .... Amateur version

[Sb1415]

5 months (Day 147)

Had a week long trip away and came back to a dense filamentous algae bloom, the long strands had formed a mat. Interestingly the plant growth was the most robust of all times with all the stems touching the surface which was probably the strongest growth that i have seen in a while. However the algae attacked the growing tips so I am assuming there continues to be instability with the algae winning.

It was so bad that i could not bring myself to take a picture of it!

Nitrates were stable at < 1 but > 0, and ammonia finally reaching 0 !! Maybe this is the timepoint when the tides turn and plants start dominating the algae.

Anyways did a massive manual removal which was painstaking but satisfying and had to do a huge trim of the R.blood red, R.tulunadensis and R.Hra. One of the difficulties that i have had with the R.Tulunadensis is that it branches profusely even without trimming and grows quite thick on the top that it shades the lower leaves very densely and the leaves start rotting easily. I am curious how people handle it when it is NOT in a dutch style tank where one would just discard the lower stems and replant that tops. I have reached out to @Dennis Wong but if others having it in a non-dutch style tank where you do not top off and replant with every trims let me know. I love this plant but might change it out for something else, if there is no other option other than replanting with every cycle.

I also did spot dosing with APT Fix prior to doing the regular water change at 80%. My plan is to to be quite aggressive with manual removal of algae and spot dose with APT fix. It does not seem to do much to the algae which is quite wide spread but worth a try atleast untill i finish the bottle.

Other points of note, my Blyxa is starting to flower (hard to see on the pic, better pics soon) which is quite cool. I have seen it in other's tanks many times but happy to see it in mine as well. The redness of the Blyxa makes me think that the PAR level is too high which might be the one of the driving factors of the algae but I don't want to alter the stability and want to see how things go for the next month or so and if still persistent algae without ammonia then will start dimming the lights.

The S.repens which was struggling with has taken off nicely, and a single L.Cardinalis mini survived and is thriving and I have divided it to see how it fills in some areas around the R.tulunadensis.

I don't seem to have an issue with surface scum at all, but with the aggressive algae removal and frequent trimming, I find the Oase skimmer at low flow to be a good device to catch the cut leaves.

 

[Count Krunk]

Your tank looks really nice!

It might not fit "your vision" but some neo shrimp could help with your algae issues. Little machines those guys.

Interesting! Came across this site which will test your tanks biodiversity AquaBiomics – DNA testing for aquariums and aquaculture

Not sure how reliable and way too expensive for me at 100$ but would be pretty cool to know the microbiome of each aquarists tank and how it evolves over time.

I wouldn’t be surprised if few years from now we all check our tanks biodiversity similar to the testing nitrates, ammonia etc.

Maybe this could be a nice topic for the next 2 hr aquarist in depth article!

Reading these posts i was going to mention that website. Very popular with reef tanks, along with ICP testing. Reefers i know haha.

Anyway, main point being a high biodiversity score is really good. Reef tanks trend downward over time unless the keeper is doing something to add it back in.

 

[BenB]

It was so bad that i could not bring myself to take a picture of it!

This isn't fair! I always post pics when my tank looks like ass. Your tank always looks great!
Joking aside, at least you can get it back in this shape. I can't say that right now.

Nitrates were stable at < 1 but > 0, and ammonia finally reaching 0 !! Maybe this is the timepoint when the tides turn and plants start dominating the algae.

If your ammonia is 0, I can't help but feel you're about to turn the corner. I don't remember what your goal NO3 is though. There has been a lot of discussion about where you should be. Be sure to at least check out THIS thread if you haven't already.

 

[Sb1415]

I don't remember what your goal NO3 is though. There has been a lot of discussion about where you should be. Be sure to at least check out THIS thread if you haven't already.

My goal nitrate is close to Zero but not hit zero. It is based on what I read from Dennis and he elaborates here Journal - 20 gallon Rotala florida tank.

My current belief is that plants will do fine in multiple fertilizer regimen but altering the routine would cause stress. This is why both Tom barrs EI tanks are fine and so is Takashi Amanos no nitrate no phosphate tank is fine with a good substrate. For me APT3 daily is a stable factor which I will probably never change and this allows me to focus on other variables and have a peace of mind. Since it is a zero residual system I don’t have to worry about front loading either and I know when my plants need more APT 3 when the nitrate hits zero. This works well in my current routine of 70-80% water change weekly. - take this all from a guy who is battling algae.

 

[Sb1415]

Algae Update

Well the algae is starting to come back quickly. I have turned down the lights by 30%. On @Fishstery mention, I looked up Spirogyra. I think this is what my tank has. It has these strands that are bright green, slimy, hard to remove from plants and forms mats on plants. Not sure where I got it from, since most of my plants are from TC and reputable sellers but did add some new fish and shrimp from LFS.

Reading more about this, it seems like a pain to remove off and if others can comment on their experience with Spirogyra it would be helpful.

Reading from the Barr report forum it seems that API algaefix might help so might give this a try. My root cause was probably the ammonia and lighting which I think I have taken care of .

 

[BenB]

My goal nitrate is close to Zero but not hit zero. It is based on what I read from Dennis and he elaborates here Journal - 20 gallon Rotala florida tank.

Yeah, I think his article about stability hits on this. I was trying to reach a goal and was saying I wanted an excess of NO3, but not excessive NO3. It was working OK until this setback. We'll see how it goes. I do believe low water column NO3 probably requires the plants to be able to get some nutrients from the substrate.

My current belief is that plants will do fine in multiple fertilizer regimen but altering the routine would cause stress.

Oh totally 100%.

- take this all from a guy who is battling algae.

Well, we've all had things go well, and we all seem to know what to do. Then it just seems to go to and is such a nightmare to get back on track. We just flounder around frustrated.

On @Fishstery mention, I looked up Spirogyra.

This makes me laugh because I was thinking this exactly tonight. Seems we used to have it more in the old days. I was going to look up and see what was recommended back then. I can't imagine we had anything better than we do now though. The other evil one I don't see many people post about anymore either is Cladaphora.

Reading from the Barr report forum it seems that API algaefix might help so might give this a try. My root cause was probably the ammonia and lighting which I think I have taken care of .

If you haven't been looking at @bradquade 's journal, you should. He's in the same place we are. He did some tests recently. His was resistant. That doesn't mean it won't work for you. Maybe you have a different strain. HERE

 

[Kwyet]

I have clado right now in the hillstream tank, actually. Awhile back I cut down the lights considerably, made them more consistent, and continued removing it by hand, and it’s much improved.

 

[Sb1415]

This makes me laugh because I was thinking this exactly tonight. Seems we used to have it more in the old days. I was going to look up and see what was recommended back then. I can't imagine we had anything better than we do now though. The other evil one I don't see many people post about anymore either is Cladaphora.


If you haven't been looking at @bradquade 's journal, you should. He's in the same place we are. He did some tests recently. His was resistant. That doesn't mean it won't work for you. Maybe you have a different strain. HERE

Yah i found his journal quite useful and have been talking with him via DM as well, hopefully API would work for mine especially with the lights way down. My biggest concern is that the API algaefix is not Shrimp safe and i have these 4 Amanos that i have no where to transfer to. We shall see......

 

[Count Krunk]

FWIW API ammonia test has quite the bad reputation in the reefing community, with it being proven it false flags 0 ammonia as .25 etc.

Unsure which test you're using.

 

[Sb1415]

FWIW API ammonia test has quite the bad reputation in the reefing community, with it being proven it false flags 0 ammonia as .25 etc.

Unsure which test you're using.

Thanks it is the API ammonia kit (the total fresh water kit) , it kept rising after the 5 min mark and I tested RO water at the same time which was negative which makes me suspect there was indeed some ammonia. It’s negative now for what it’s worth. On to API algaefix later today!