Journal Ben's Plant Pharm

[Koan]

for the itch and the burning sensation in your cabinet?

 

[Koan]

P helferi.. I bet I threw out 60 little plants

Apparently, it's time for an "Orphaned Plants Need a Home!" forum

I'd have been all over those!

 

[BenB]

Apparently, it's time for an "Orphaned Plants Need a Home!" forum

I'd have been all over those!

I threw out so much stuff. I felt bad, and I thought about doing a ROAK but I'm busy this week and a winter storm is coming. It's not great weather for shipping plants. Should have plenty more in a few weeks and the weather might be OK to ship, depending on where you live.

 

[GreggZ]

Plants are looking very good @BenB ....nice job!

So what did you do to reset the tank? Elbow grease goes a long way in this hobby.

And glad to hear you are enjoying the tank again. That's what it is all about. I think of it as a form of therapy.

 

[BenB]

So what did you do to reset the tank? Elbow grease goes a long way in this hobby.

I pulled up all the plants, scrubbed the glass good, and sloped the gravel. I'm not really shooting for some kind of aquascape, but I at least tried to organize the plants a little better. I had been putting it off. Didn't take as long as I expected.

 

[BenB]

Green Dust Algae is starting to get me. It isn't terrible yet, but its building steam.

I've looked at Denis Wong's site, and I think I'm doing everything he recommends except for a lower temp. I have a thermo filter and the temp is pre-set. So not much I can do there. I might be wrong, but it seems I have seen other people recommend a higher Phos. Dennis doesn't mention this. What are your thoughts?

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Higher phosphates is usually the “solution” for Green Spot Algae. Personally, I only see Green Dust Algae when there is some sort of die off in the tank leading to excess ammoniacal nitrogen from fish or invert die off. But this could be any form of extra waste that is throwing off parameters. When in doubt, deep clean as best you can without deeply disturbing your substrate if that makes sense.

 

[BenB]

Higher phosphates is usually the “solution” for Green Spot Algae. Personally, I only see Green Dust Algae when there is some sort of die off in the tank leading to excess ammoniacal nitrogen from fish or invert die off. But this could be any form of extra waste that is throwing off parameters. When in doubt, deep clean as best you can without deeply disturbing your substrate if that makes sense.

Well, I don't have any fish and all my plants are tc. However, I was just getting a little and then last week I did a reset of my tank with a lot of substrate moving and the GDA really took off after that. I could have released more NH3 than I realized from the substrate. I'll keep working on it and do extra water changes. Thanks for the tip.

FWIW, Winston of S21 Aquatics told me when he pulled up plants, he also had the tank suction right behind it to suck out any organics released from the substrate. I pulled up a lot of plants too. So again, a few water changes might get me back on track.

 

[BenB]

To help combat the green dust algae, I was going to do the last thing on Denis Wong's list of reasons that cause it. I have a thermo filter that keeps the water too warm. The heater part has a separate cord/plug. I was going to unplug it. Ambient temps should keep my tank at 65-70. I don't think there would be an issue. Should be warm enough for the plants. There is no livestock otherwise. What do you think?

 

[Kwyet]

Sounds good!

 

[Jeff Miotke]

To help combat the green dust algae, I was going to do the last thing on Denis Wong's list of reasons that cause it. I have a thermo filter that keeps the water too warm. The heater part has a separate cord/plug. I was going to unplug it. Ambient temps should keep my tank at 65-70. I don't think there would be an issue. Should be warm enough for the plants. There is no livestock otherwise. What do you think?

Those temps are no concern at all. What is the temperature now?

 

[BenB]

Those temps are no concern at all. What is the temperature now? Also gda is usually high Nitrogen (any form) in the water column along with strong light.

It is 79F and yeah, I've lowered my N already.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

It is 79F and yeah, I've lowered my N already.

Ok yea thats a good change to lower the temp. The Nitrogen is a balancing act. I usually keep my nitrates around 5 ppm these days as well as reducing my light accordingly. All in an effort to reduce maintenance and Im still enjoying solid plant growth. But I suspect you just have a lot of light. Even in healthy tanks too much light can turn the glass green quickly.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

To help combat the green dust algae, I was going to do the last thing on Denis Wong's list of reasons that cause it. I have a thermo filter that keeps the water too warm. The heater part has a separate cord/plug. I was going to unplug it. Ambient temps should keep my tank at 65-70. I don't think there would be an issue. Should be warm enough for the plants. There is no livestock otherwise. What do you think?

As Jeff said no issues for plants. I have noticed slower growth once you dip into the low 60s but other than that there hasn't been much of a concern. I do attribute some plants not doing the best at lower temps particularly nymphaea sp Peru Puerto Maldando and once I was able to raise to 72-75 it did much better, another that has been a struggle is echinodoras iquazu 2009.

I think the plants you have shouldn't be a problem just expect slower growth across the board.

 

[BenB]

Lesson learned. If you pull out 30 plants. Put back 7. Not every one you can stuff back in.

 

[BenB]

1. Big Maintenance Day
- Took out all the plants
- Brushed off all the gda
- put about 15% back of what I had taken out. I learned that just because you remove a bunch, doesn't mean you have to fill it all back in. Need to leave it some space to grow.
- took out the Rotala H'Ra and added Alternanthera reineckii “Rosanervig’

2. Removing Pogostemon erectus is a nighmare. The roots were so invasive. I pulled a clump in the back of the tank and the substrate in the front moved.

3. Thanks to Dennis Wong for the tips/article on the green dust algae. I think I have it beat.

4. I really want to transition this tank over to something lower maintenance for the summer, but I'm enjoying some of these plants for now. Also, I'm struggling to find the plants I want to put into the lower maintenance scape.

5. I have to be up at 5am, so a no frills post tonight.

This is a crappy post maintenance pic. The water still isn't clear. I still need to get a background.


Why can't I delete a post?

 

[BenB]

Ugh!

I’ve been dealing with green dust algae for quite a while. It had gotten better, but I still haven’t beaten it. I’ve been trying to do more water changes but we have been remodeling a bathroom and doing anything around the house is difficult.

About 3 weeks ago, my water started getting a bit cloudy. I though, oh hell, here comes the green water, but it never converted. I told myself the GDA was dying, and the cloudiness was caused by the floating dead bits. Even more reason to do more water changes. dead bits = ammonia

I did a 60% water change back on Thursday and repeated today. The water was cloudy, but it wasn’t bad. Three hours later when the light was on, it was green pea soup. I can’t see anything it is so thick. How does it go from just a bit cloudy to dense thick green in 3 hours?

Thursday, my ammonia was 0.

Oh well, I have a mini UV filter. Time to dig it out. Tom Barr says when you have green water, you usually have no other algae. Something to look forward to when I get this taken care of.

 

[BenB]

Green Water

Short Version
I've never had a tank go from cloudy to green in 8-12 hours and then back from green to just cloudy overnight.
It's been really weird.
It usually takes a lot of effort to fix green water.

Long Version
Seems every time I set up a new tank, I get green water. I don't know why. It's never as late as 4 months though. weird #1 When it started getting cloudy, I thought, here it comes. But it was 3 weeks before it finally went green. That was weird #2. Then even more weird, it went from cloudy to green over night. I've never had it happen that fast. Weird #3 Then it went from green back to cloudy over night. I've never gotten ride of green water without a diatom filter, UV filter, or a blackout. Weird #4

April 13, 2024: No UV Filter


April 14, 2024: Still no UV Filter
To me, this is technically still green water. It's just not green.



April 17, 2024
UV Filter added to tank

 

[Unexpected]

Now that's just weird.

 

[BenB]

UV Filter Added 2 Days ago.
I know it takes a bit, but it seems like in the past it was a little quicker. I've seen no difference. This filter really pushes the water through. I think it's too fast. The algae has to have exposure to the UV to kill it. I'm considering covering half of the intake holes.
Does anyone have any perspective? Am I being too impatient?