Is this Black Haired Algae???

[flamechica]

This is my 7g tank with a Finnex fixture that sits on top - not the clip on kind. Any algae I have ever dealt with has always been green, so I'm wondering if this is that BHA stuff I have seen you guys/gals talk about? The Red Melon Sword is the weakest link in this tank, so it seems to be the one that has the most of this fluffy funky stuff, whatever it is, but some of the other plants are starting to get it too. Almost all of the plants have root tabs under them - whatever kind Cory sells at the Co-Op is what I bought. I lost some when I changed out my substrate (forgot to dig them out before removing the substrate - DOH!), but I have some Flourish ones on order. Most of the other plants seem to be perking right up, except for this Sword - and yes, I made sure when I lost some that the sword has a tablet underneath because it looks the worst. This fuzzy stuff doesn't seem to be real bad yet, but I would like to take care of it before it gets bad. It seems to be the consensus that algae growth is due to lack of CO2 or too much light. I don't want to do some fancy CO2 system, especially on this little tank, so how else do I put Co2 into my tank? I'm running the light about 10hrs or so....maybe that is too much with this high powered light?





Also, what do you all do with your yellow, dying leaves? If you trim them, where do you trim them? Or should I just leave them alone?

 

[tazeat]

BBA, too much light without co2, first step is probably to reduce light period or break it up to a morning and afternoon times. The yellowed leaf, I usually would just trim. Trimming encourages growth so long as sufficient nutrients are available.

 

[flamechica]

Well, thanks for responding, tazeat. I spent pretty much all day yesterday reading as much as I possibly could and tried to figure things out on my own, because it kinda seems like I am on my own here...I guess my tanks aren't big enough or filled with interesting enough fish for people here.

This is kinda what I figured out and did, whether it was right or wrong....Because I just changed out the substrate for brand new substrate and I haven't been dosing the water column - all they have is a few root tabs placed in between plants since I lost a few tabs when I changed out the substrate, I don't think there is enough nutrients in my tank for the plants. So, besides taking your suggestion on cutting back the light, I am also going to be adding some nutrients too. I had some Kents Marine Plant Pro that came with one of my big orders that I ordered with some stuff for my hex tank, before doing much reading on fertilizers. So, I put some of that in there, but read a bit about that and realized that it is missing some things, like Potassium and Iron, which seem to be the big ones that contribute to plant yellowing and brown spots - which the sword is having a big problem with and the water sprite is starting to yellow too. So, since I have been having some big pain issues this week, I decided to run down to Petco, since I live pretty close to it and see what they had instead of making the trek to the co-op, and they had something called API Leaf Zone, which has just Potassium and Iron in it, so I grabbed a bottle of that and dosed that in the tank last night. So, now, I guess it's a waiting game...

 

[KaraWolf]

If I had any idea what it was Id chime in but Ive never personally seen algae like that so couldnt say. Do try to at least read all the trouble threads in case I can answer!

 

[flamechica]

If I had any idea what it was Id chime in but Ive never personally seen algae like that so couldnt say. Do try to at least read all the trouble threads in case I can answer!

Thanks, Kara. I understand that not everyone is going to know every problem that I come across. It's not only this thread that has made me come to that conclusion. It's all good though.

 

[Cory]

Which finnex light is on that tank, a planted plus, stingray? Are you running the top on the tank? That will shade it by about 20% if you want to lower the light requirements for a bit. I think dosing some water ferts and adding some floating plants could help balance out the tank, then you can remove the floating plants as it establishes to let the plants down below flourish as much as you like.

 

[flamechica]

Which finnex light is on that tank, a planted plus, stingray? Are you running the top on the tank? That will shade it by about 20% if you want to lower the light requirements for a bit.

I believe it is the 16in Ray 2. I bought it with the tank and I am just getting into this whole LED stuff, so I had to look on FInnex's site and compare it to what they had up there. It's silver, only has white lights and on the side of it, it says 9w - so that is how I came up with the 16" Ray 2.

It didn't come with a lid. My husband had a scrap piece of plexi from making a lid for my hex tank that he made a lid for this tank to keep the cats from fishing in it, BUT it isn't big enough to go under the light, which we figured was good enough to keep the cats out at least. The light isn't positioned exactly center in the tank, It's like 3/4 way back if you are looking from the front. It didn't really occur to us about the lid taking away some of the harshness or whatever from the light, so we might have to re-think the lid situation.

I think dosing some water ferts and adding some floating plants could help balance out the tank, then you can remove the floating plants as it establishes to let the plants down below flourish as much as you like.

There is a little bit of duck weed, but probably not enough for what you are talking about. It came with the tank and since I don't particularly care for it, I have kinda been not so careful with it when doing water changes. lol. Maybe I will stop in today and get something else from you.

 

[Bob]

I like your fish

 

[Cory]

Which finnex light is on that tank, a planted plus, stingray? Are you running the top on the tank? That will shade it by about 20% if you want to lower the light requirements for a bit.

I believe it is the 16in Ray 2. I bought it with the tank and I am just getting into this whole LED stuff, so I had to look on FInnex's site and compare it to what they had up there. It's silver, only has white lights and on the side of it, it says 9w - so that is how I came up with the 16" Ray 2.

It didn't come with a lid. My husband had a scrap piece of plexi from making a lid for my hex tank that he made a lid for this tank to keep the cats from fishing in it, BUT it isn't big enough to go under the light, which we figured was good enough to keep the cats out at least. The light isn't positioned exactly center in the tank, It's like 3/4 way back if you are looking from the front. It didn't really occur to us about the lid taking away some of the harshness or whatever from the light, so we might have to re-think the lid situation.

I think dosing some water ferts and adding some floating plants could help balance out the tank, then you can remove the floating plants as it establishes to let the plants down below flourish as much as you like.

There is a little bit of duck weed, but probably not enough for what you are talking about. It came with the tank and since I don't particularly care for it, I have kinda been not so careful with it when doing water changes. lol. Maybe I will stop in today and get something else from you.

Ah Yes, a ray 2 is going to be a lot of light for that small tank. If you can raise it off the water surface that will help also. Roughly raising it 4 inches would put about half as much light on the plants. Assuming a way 2, you have a high light fixture with low nutrients and co2, this will cause you to use up the available nutrients fast and grow algae. Also most of the plants seen in the tank are fairly low light plants as well.

A combo of adjusting the light/fertilizers should be able to improve things, but it will take time to see the changes.

 

[flamechica]

I like your fish

Thanks!

Ah Yes, a ray 2 is going to be a lot of light for that small tank. If you can raise it off the water surface that will help also. Roughly raising it 4 inches would put about half as much light on the plants. Assuming a way 2, you have a high light fixture with low nutrients and co2, this will cause you to use up the available nutrients fast and grow algae. Also most of the plants seen in the tank are fairly low light plants as well.

A combo of adjusting the light/fertilizers should be able to improve things, but it will take time to see the changes.

Ok. Just talked to my hubby and he said he has another piece of plexi that should be able to go under the light and he should be able to fix that today when he gets home from work. I will see if he has an idea about raising the fixture as well. I'm getting ready to head down your way to see about floating plants and discuss this further.

 

[Cory]

Just a heads up I'm at home not at the shop today. Lamont will be there and can help you. Salvinia or water lettuce would be some good floating plants for ya.

You might try something like this out of the acrylic.

 

[flamechica]

Ok. Thanks! I will show this to the hubby.

 

[Bob]

To me, it looks like your frog is covered in algae too =P
I see white legs and thats about it lol

 

[flamechica]

Just got back from the Co-op. Got some water lettuce and a few more fertilizer tabs to make up for the ones I lost. Plus, Lamont suggested that maybe the sword needed more than 1 tab under it.



Hubby will be home soon and will work on the new lid and I will see what he says about lifting the light. Then hopefully my plants will start improving instead of looking worse.

To me, it looks like your frog is covered in algae too =P
I see white legs and thats about it lol

Haha! No, just a crappy camera and dirty glass. I wish I had better pics of that frog. He was such a ham. He was my favorite, but he isn't around anymore. He would follow my hand around the tank when I would have to reach in there to do maintenance. He even let me pet him with my finger and if I tried to stop, he would practically swim into my hand wanting more. I didn't really like to pet him because I didn't figure it was good for him, but he seemed to like it. He was quite friendly and not a bit afraid of me, of course, once he got used to me. I really miss his little croaking at night. Once another tank is ready and I move some fish, I will find me another male frog and I am hoping he will be friendly like this one. I have a female right now, who is pretty friendly to me, but not so much to my corys, which is starting to worry me a bit, but no one has got hurt so far. So, fingers crossed that everyone stays unharmed until another tank is ready.

 

[Cory]

Awesome. I think the water lettuce will help ya.

 

[Bob]

Haha! No, just a crappy camera and dirty glass. I wish I had better pics of that frog. He was such a ham. He was my favorite, but he isn't around anymore.

I have always like them, but have never got one. I read that they are pretty fragile and don't last long in aquariums so i never got one. They are fun to watch though.

Did you get your 55 set up yet?

 

[flamechica]

I have always like them, but have never got one. I read that they are pretty fragile and don't last long in aquariums so i never got one. They are fun to watch though.

The guy pictured as my avatar, I had for 3yrs or so. I have read they can live to be 8yrs old, though I haven't experienced that myself. The one pictured, is the one that I have had live the longest and he is the one that I got back into the hobby with, so I guess his age is what I will try to beat with the two I have now. The reason that most people don't do well with them is because they don't see very well, so you can't just drop food in the tank and expect them to find it, especially if you keep them with other fish. The other fish will gobble up the food before they ever find it and they end up starving.n Also, if you go to a place like Petco or Petsmart, they rarely have the knowledge to tell people that it isn't really appropriate to feed them fish flakes. I had all these troubles when I first started this hobby. Other than that, I don't really find them difficult to keep. I choose to hand feed mine frozen blood worms. I cut off a frozen piece hold it between my fingers and let it thaw in the tank water. They can smell it and come out, then I approach them slowly and they see the worms moving in the water current and they attack. It's kinda fun. I recently started live black worms too, but I didn't want to touch those, so I use tweezers and just kind wait for them to be in the front of the tank and feed them with then.

Did you get your 55 set up yet?

No, the hex tank is coming first. Hubby wants to reinforce the stand for the 55g and I want to paint it to go with our black entertainment center. As for the hex tank, the hold up is that he finally got most the of limescale off, but while doing that, he realized that some of it has worked it's way under the seal. While it may not leak right now, we are afraid it will leak in the near future. So, he decided to reseal it to be safe. He has never sealed a fish tank. He works at Boeing and has worked with seal doing stuff on the airplanes, so he was fairly confident, but he wanted to do a practice run. We had a 10g tank that also leaks, so he did that one first. Did it last night and we are waiting on it to cure.

 

[flamechica]

My husband got my new lid built and the glue for the part that raises the light got done curing this weekend. Most of the plants are starting to perk up with the ferts I have been dosing and the water lettuce I added to shade them a bit. The algae is still hanging in there, but seems to be getting a little better - it's the worst on the sword, which you can't see due to the glare on the tank. I just wanted to show off the lid the hubby built.

 

[Anonymous]

That looks great! Forgive me if it's already been mentioned but can I ask what type of age eaters you have in this tank?

 

[flamechica]

No, algae eaters in this tank. I think I just caught the algae issue early. It was only attacking my weakest plants and still kinda is. So, I cut back the time I was keeping the light on, got some water lettuce to diffuse the light and started dosing ferts because it seemed like my plants were lacking nutrients as I had completely changed out the substrate the week before. Plus, being a small tank, there are only two yoyo loaches, so after reading and getting input here, it seemed to me that with the high light, not very many fish, and no CO2 system, I needed to supplement the plants. I think I just got really lucky. There is just a little bit of the fuzzy algae on my sword and a very minor amount on one of my water sprites that isn't doing as well. But it looks a ton better than it did. I think being proactive early really saved me.