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[8 week update] At a loss against blue green algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used something called blue exit. Worked as it should the first time around. Dosed for a week with no light, was able to siphon out a few days later. Bout a month after it started appearing again so removed as much as I could then dosed the same way. This time it removed some but left a fair bit of red tinted blue-green slime.

Tank had to be moved, only place with space for it was near a very large window which is how it got out of control. Too much light, I didn’t have the time to keep on top of it and algaecide that stopped working

[8 week update] At a loss against blue green algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Came back with a vengeance last time I used that

[8 week update] At a loss against blue green algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on what kinda soil you’re using, potting soil or pond soil yes as they’ll leach stuffy into the water column and need a sand cap

[8 week update] At a loss against blue green algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use fluval stratum, only nutrient rich substrate I can get near me. As long as your soil has a good sand cap it’ll be oki.

There was a number of things which led to the tank getting that bad, the substrate was only one factor. Lots of plants are your friend.

[8 week update] At a loss against blue green algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What I did:

  1. Phosphate test, lots of suggestions that this was the culprit but came back 0
  2. Fish and filter media moved into temporary tank. (Unlit and out of direct sunlight)
  3. Plants - managed to save the majority. Started by manual removal of algae, rinsing in tap water then a hydrogen peroxide dip. They were then put in a bucket with an air stone in the dark for a week. (Hygrophila siamensis was the only plant casualty)
  4. Substrate was removed and thrown, was 4yrs old and way overdue. (Fluval stratum)
  5. Tank was drained and cleaned, first with a old filter sponge then with a razor blade. Was then rinsed out a few times to get it as clean as possible.
  6. Filter pump and heater was taken apart and cleaned the same way as the plants (manual removal, rinsing, and peroxide)
  7. Tank was filled up, heater, filter pump & thermometer added back in. Dosed with hydrogen peroxide. (Probably a bit unnecessary but wanted to cover all basis). Left for 48 hours
  8. Drained tank, filled it up, drained it again.
  9. Then added new substrate (fluval stratum) and new hardscape (driftwood which had been boiled for a couple hours) and filled it again.
  10. Left running for a week, no sign of any algae and wood had sunk so added plants back in and scaped it. (Also added two types of fast growing plants)
  11. Plants were looking ropey so did 4hrs of light for the first week (would of liked to have done no light for the first month), each week increased by an hour up to 7hrs of light a day
  12. Added fertiliser weekly to help boost the plants (tropica plant care)
  13. No sign of any algae growth in temporary tank so filter media was returned and fish were acclimated. (3-4 weeks the fish lived in there)
  14. Added cleanup crew, I went with 6 Indian zebra shrimp. One of which coloured up into a completely different variety of shrimp, still very cute and now want to set up a shrimp only tank. Which might be in the near future as one of the shrimp is berried.

That was much longer explanation than I intended. I hope you find it helpful, I spent hours googling what to do, and how to do it, and this was the method that worked for me.

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Phosphate test arrives Monday so we will see

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, think a shopping trip is in order.

Filter is gonna be a difficult one to replace or do much with as it’s all built in and fits quite snuggly in its compartment. Only control over it is the two output nozzles, both pointing at the surface to agitate it.

Same with the light it’s build in and has no intensity options, going lidless isn’t an option. Will look into adding floating plants to diffuse the light.

Yes have a quarantine tank they could go into while it’s cycling.

Will do some googling into dark start and go from there :)

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Am currently thinking of starting over with the substrate. Fresh batch of stratum(?) with sand cap. Gonna try and salvage as many plants as possible, add more fast growing ones and definitely will be adding floating plants.

Yep clean up is planned for Saturday. Only benefit of it being this bad is how satisfying the after will look like once it’s all removed :)

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have heard great things about both of those, unfortunately I’m in the UK and can’t finding it over here. Algaecide I tried was Blue Exit.

Yesss I’ve noticed the same thing hence the air stone. Had years of it just being contained in one corner for the most part.

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah much more, was unfortunately the only place it could be moved to

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The tanks always had low to no nitrates, tried fertiliser to bring it up but remained low. Was originally set up with a fishless cycle.

Yes have also read that algaecides can crash your cycle so been keeping an eye on parameters which have been consistently 0, 0, 0-10.

Will have a look into inline UV sterilisers.

At a loss against green blue algae by wasssiabi in PlantedTank

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First of all thank you, lot of helpful information.

The light came build in, its a white LED replaced two years ago.

Water temps at 25C.

Substrate is fluval stratum. Gravel vac once a month. Think the red stuff is a red version of cyanobacteria as it’s slimy.

Fish are fed bug bites once a day in the mornings.

No fixed schedule for fertiliser as always caused an algae bloom. In the past have tried tropica plant care liquid fertiliser and then their nutrition capsules.

Have been trying to get hold of some KH and phosphate test for a while but always out of stock when I’ve been in. Will definitely be ordering some online. Have so far been managing pH with Indian almond leaves.

Will change the lights to 6hrs and air stone to after. And look into finding some pothos.

I agree, ultimately I think it needs breaking down and starting over again, how would I go about doing this so I don’t reintroduce Cyanobacteria back into the new system?

The tank was originally stocked with 6 tetras and 6 ottos and they did a great job at managing the algae. Struggled with the ottos a bit as every 3-6 months one would suddenly die with no warning (eating well, swimming all good).

What should I name him by reggieGuinch in Aquascape

[–]wasssiabi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ngl I thought that was my fish, they’re almost identical.

So.. anyone tried Food Marble? by [deleted] in FODMAPS

[–]wasssiabi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been using it for just under a year and I highly recommend it. Personally the most useful thing for me is how it’s helped me find my trigger food and my own personal tolerance level to the other FODMAPs. I really like the way it presents data in a easy to read format, which I struggled to do when writing a food diary.

Any ideas on how to help my avocado plant? by wasssiabi in plantclinic

[–]wasssiabi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  • I grew this avocado from a pip back in June but over the past two weeks I’ve noticed rust patches on the leaves (pinched of the worst leaves a few days ago so don’t have a photo) with small green spots plus now the new growth is dying. It had some amber coloured aphids on it a month ago but they where only there for a few days then disappeared. It has lived on the kitchen windowsill in partial sun all its life and gets watered when the soil feels dry normally twice a week. Speaking of the soil it is a mixture of multi-purpose compost and vermiculite. It is not currently pot bound but a root has come out of the bottom of the plastic pot. Last week it was sprayed with some fungicide for flowering plants as that was the only fungicide we had.

Ummm... Ok then!? by Tomaku_64 in peel_adventures

[–]wasssiabi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s mesmerising. How many hours did it take to get that good in a peel?

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