Complexity's 90g Planted Tank Journal

[barrettsline]

Ah, hell, I won't get a great one. But i'm a good sport about it so it's okay. I just don't want POTM to end so if it means embarrassing myself by entering some of my photos, then I'm game.

Thats means allot to me!!!

[Complexity]

Here's how things have been going on my conversion of this tank into a planted tank.

Progress has been very slow, mainly because my time is limited since I'm back in school so I'm not able to work on the tank as much as I'd like. That has caused me to be unable to maintain the tank during the critical setup period which means it's now growing a ton of algae. I'm not at all surprised nor am I all that worried. I feel confident that I can get rid of the algae pretty easily.

Right now, the tank is at its worse with green water, staghorn algae, green dust algae, diatoms, and hair algae. I'm surprised I haven't seen BBA yet, but give it time.

I finally got a day to work on the tank so I got my second filter and UV sterilizer hooked up which should take care of a lot of the problems.

In addition to treating existing algae with H2O2, here's how I plan to get rid of the algae. We'll see how well this works.

Green water: The green water will go away easily enough with the UV sterilizer running so that's not really an issue. I'll just have to keep up with water changes to pull out the dead algae as it's killed by the uv sterilizer.

Staghorn algae: The staghorn algae tells me that I had an ammonia spike, most likely due to the tank cycling and dying plant material, coupled with poor filtration with just the single canister running. Now that I have the second canister running, the water circulation is much better so that will help. After a few days, I'll swap out the newly setup canister with one from my 75g to add a ton of good bacteria which will help with the bacteria and cycling. That should handle the staghorn algae problem.

Hair algae: I hadn't had time to calibrate my pH meter so I ended up dosing too much CO2 so I just cut off the CO2 and stopped dosing ferts. That threw everything into a major imbalance. I finally got my pH meter calibrated and have just started dosing the CO2 again. I just finished a major water change and will start dosing ferts tomorrow which should start getting things back in balance. That should take care of the hair algae issue.

Diatoms: The diatoms are normal for a new setup so I'm not going to bother with them. When I get some ottos in the tank, they'll go nuts over it.

Green dust algae: Only time will tell on the green dust algae. I'm not sure if the tank will go through a full blown outbreak of it or if this is just a normal amount of it. I should know by next week.

Most of the plants are hanging in there so far which is actually pretty good considering what they've gone through. They should do much better once I get the CO2 and ferts in balance.

I finally put my first fish in the tank. I know this might not seem like a good time to introduce fish, but algae isn't going to hurt them, and I want to see if they show signs of parasite problems like the cichlids did. I think enough time has passed. I only put in a few cardinal tetras and some amano shrimp. Water changes and swapping out the canister will help with the cycling issue.

If all goes well, the tank should start clearing up in a week or so. If so, then I can begin to stock this tank with the fish from my 75g. Then I'll tear my 75g down to redo it.

[Crude]

Evil algae!

[Complexity]

Yup! But it's to be expected. I was watching it take hold. Then the green water started coming on. I've never had green water before because I've always had uv sterilizers hooked up so this one was a new one for me. But with the uv sterilizer hooked up again, it's already starting to clear up. Things should be looking much better in a few days.

Can't wait to start back with ferts tomorrow. That should really start turning things around.

[Complexity]

Great news on the green water! The uv sterilizer is already clearing it up! It's only been running for a few hours, but the water is already starting to change from green to translucent whitish. I knew it would clear up fast, but this is even faster than I expected. I have a really big uv sterilizer on the tank (turbotwist 36w 12x), and I just put in a brand new bulb so it's working at full capacity. it's clearing the water up in nothing flat!

[SunnyHouTX]

That's awesome! Hate for you not to be able to make the meeting because of some algae

[Complexity]

Okay, spot dosing 50ml* of H2O2 which is also a full tank dose, as well. Lights and circulation turned off for 15 minutes. Then I'll turn circulation on, but keep lights off so the H2O2 can circulate all through the tank for another 15 minutes. After that, I'll turn the lights back on. No need for a water change since it'll break down to H2O and O.

I'll try to do this 2-3 times a day, depending on how long I see bubbles (if I see bubbles, then I won't dose again since that will indicate the last dose is still active). I've done 2 doses a day without problems before, but I may try to increase that to 3 doses a day if I can spread them out far enough apart.

That algae will be history in no time.




*Edited: This was not the correct full tank dose rate. I accidentally got my H2O2 and Excel charts mixed up. I explain my H2O2 dosing in this post further down in this thread.

[Complexity]

That's awesome! Hate for you not to be able to make the meeting because of some algae

Oh, I'll make the meeting, algae or not! I just won't be able to share any plants if they're full of algae.

[Complexity]

I snapped a couple of very quick FTS pics. The algae issue is going very well. Most of the algae is gone, thankfully. Obviously, the green water is completely gone, thanks the to uv sterilizer. Most of the other algae is dead, but there's still remnants of it hanging onto some of the plants. That will get cleared out when I uproot and trim all the plants which I'll eventually do, especially when I split the plants between this tank and my 75g.

Don't forget this tank is not scaped! So the plant placement is erratic at the moment. The plants are there just to grow and survive while I work on the tanks.

Progress is looking very good so far. I'm still fighting a little algae which I'm dosing with H2O2. My current course of treatment is to spot treat a total of 1.5 cups of H202, targeted at the worst places, and then allowed to go throughout the tank. Lights and filters turned off for 15 minutes. Then filters on without lights for another 15 minutes. Then I turn the lights on. No water changes after treatment. I have cardinal tetras, otos, and amano shrimp in the tank—with no harm to any of them.

Okay, here's the FTS. Sorry, they're a bit blurry. I just snapped these very quickly.

[SunnyHouTX]

I like it. Not erratic to me at all, in fact, I might call it pastoral

[LooksLater]

Wow, looks great Vicki! For not being 'scaped it is quite lovely.

[Complexity]

It will look more erratic as the plants continue to grow since I have some plants in the very front that will eventually go in the mid to back area. They're in the front right now only because I just got them so they're small cuttings which would be too shaded out if I put them where they belong. I'm quickly overfilling the tank with too many plants. I'm pretty much out of room and still have more plants coming in. I don't know where I'll put them! And I don't have time to get the 75g ready yet.

[Complexity]

Wow, looks great Vicki! For not being 'scaped it is quite lovely.

I'm working to collect different plants with a mixture colors and textures which I can then use to truly scape the tank. I used to focus on scaping with rocks and stuff, but I learned that they just get covered by the plants so I'm not even going to bother with them in this tank (other than maybe some rocks in the very front that might show). I haven't decided yet. For now, I'm just glad to see this tank finally turning around. It was a mess about a week or two ago.

[aquabee]

Stunning as always, Vicki. And if that's erratic, then I quit!

[Totenkampf]

looking great vicki! are those a couple lifeguard intake kits linked together? I had a similar idea...

what is your rule of thumb for dosing H2O2 safely...you said both 50ml (0.2cup) and 1.5 cups (355ml) as full tank doses? i like your scheme there with the lights / circulation, i will try that if this hair algae doesnt die all the way out. your explanation of why staghorn shows up made sense to, the NH3 spike from a failed filter is likely what caused mine so perhaps the excel / amano combo isnt what cleared it up so quickly but rather my filter became reestablished