Already worried after a few weeks ...... And years of failure

[Trevorb101]

I have had a 4ft tank for 20 years. Freshwater tropical. Always failed miserably to maintain any sort of healthy environment. So, time to start again and do it right. I bought a new Juwel Vision 260. I use both the included Bioflow 6.0 filter system and an external JBL e700 filter. Currently using the two Included Juwel T5 Daylight tubes and I added the reflectors which it says doubles the light intensity. I have them on for about 10 hours. I used the Juwel textured backwalls and filter cover - but I think that might have been a bad idea.

I decided to take things slowly because in the past I think I rushed too fast to get fish in before things had settled. I live in a very hard water area and I am using water that has not gone through my domestic water softener.

I decided to firstly plant up the aquarium. I put a layer of Trpoica Aquarium soil in and topped that with JBL Mandato substrate ( more aesthetically pleasing). I added quite a few plants, all of which were described as "easy".

3 lobelia Cardinalis Wavy
3 Anubias gracilis
3 Anubias hastifolia
3 Anubias nana coin
3 ceratopteris siliquosa
1Echinodorus bleheri
2 Echinodorus ozelot red
1 Echinodorus red devil
7 Valseneria Asiatica
5 Egeria (not densa)

I haven't got a CO2 system but I am about to add a JBL m502 system.

I set this lot up 3 weeks ago or so. I added a bacteria starter every day for first week. I can't remember what it was. I haven't added fish yet.......that was planned for next week . Water measurements every few days. Started with very high Total Hardness. Latest measurement is

Nitrate has gone up to 50mg/l
Nitrite almost 0
KH 0
GH 14
pH 6.4
Chlorine 0
CO2 < 15

Most plants growing well. My problem is that in last 5 days algae is becoming a problem. I am struggling with saying what algae I have but I see threads of red stuff and leaves are getting covered in brown-green stuff.

Help! This time I was trying very hard to take things slowly but before I even put fish in I am having an algae problem. What have I done wrong and will it just get better if I add CO2?

Thanks from Belgium

 

[Manisha]

Hi, sounds a great set up! Only adjustment I'd think may help would be a shorter initial photoperiod (5/6 hours) allowing plants to establish their roots then later increasing as needs be ☺

 

[kadoxu]

Hi, sounds a great set up! Only adjustment I'd think may help would be a shorter initial photoperiod (5/6 hours) allowing plants to establish their roots then later increasing as needs be ☺

Like @Manisha said, 10 hours seems like a lot this early... you should have started with 5/6 hours a day and increase 1 hour every week.
Are you using fertilisers?
CO2 may help the plants to grow better and keep algae in check. Adding floating plants can also help to reduce algae.
What are your ammonia levels?
What's your water temperature?
Nitrates rising may be a signal that your tank's cycle is about to be "complete".
Are you doing water changes?

Have you considered adding shrimp (Amano or Red Cherries) to the tank? I'm not saying to do it right away, since I don't know your ammonia levels... but they can be an awesome cleanup crew for algae and dead leaves. Some snails can do wonders as well... just be aware that some can become a plague, so do your research first.

 

[Trevorb101]

Thanks for replies. I will shorten light times to 5 hours. Ammonia levels ?? Ok that I don't have measure for. I am using a kit that only measures the chemistry I listed in initial post. I will get the appropriate test tomorrow. I have changed about 25% of water each week and added a water treatment for tap water each week. Water temp is 24c. I haven't used any fertiliser yet as I assumed the soil had enough to get started.

Should I be adding fertiliser already?

I will keep shrimps in mind for future reference.

 

[Martin in Holland]

For a low tech tank, you might have to much light (PAR) and indeed to many hours (0.5 Watt per liter is a good guide to start with...no reflector). I would also suggest to get some KH+ , with a limited CO2 supply it's important to be able to buffer the little CO2 you have.

 

[alto]

Tropica's website is well worth a visit -
Light
Supporting Plants
Tropica App

& more

JBL m502 system.

this looks like a nice system but with very hard water, you need to add rather more CO2 gas in order to achieve moderate etc levels of dissolved CO2 (in the water column), so you may find that the 500g cylinder only lasts a month or so ...
- Does the regulator fit "standard" CO2 cylinders
- Is there a nearby filling station that is able/willing to do the 500g cylinder & what's the turnaround time (you don't want the tank to be without CO2 for days etc)

I'd pick up another KH test kit or have the lfs check your values - it's unusual to have 0 KH with 14 (or more) GH

 

[alto]

I used the Juwel textured backwalls and filter cover - but I think that might have been a bad idea

I'd remove this sooner rather than later if you're unhappy with it

 

[kadoxu]

Thanks for replies. I will shorten light times to 5 hours. Ammonia levels ?? Ok that I don't have measure for. I am using a kit that only measures the chemistry I listed in initial post. I will get the appropriate test tomorrow. I have changed about 25% of water each week and added a water treatment for tap water each week. Water temp is 24c. I haven't used any fertiliser yet as I assumed the soil had enough to get started.

Should I be adding fertiliser already?

I will keep shrimps in mind for future reference.

With your PH level I'm not sure if you need to worry about Ammonia at all, since you'r not going to get much of the toxic form, but high levels can be harmful to fish... someone else here may be able to give you better information on this before you go out and buy the test.

Usually the recommendations I see here in the forum is to start with daily 50% water changes on week 1, 50% every other day on week 2, 2 or 3 water changes on week 3, and then just once a week.

You should start fertilizers right away. Aquatic plants get a lot of nutrients from the leaves as well, with such high levels of light you may be killing the plants already...

 

[Trevorb101]

Thanks for the guidance. I visited my nearly LFS today. ( My LFS is not very good!)A few language problems but making progress. I have concluded that I wasn't doing enough water change, had too much light and wasn't providing enough nutrients for plants. Not quite starting again but almost. This time I hope with more success