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Consistency Deficiency

how often have you been cleaning the filter? when i had a lot of media i had to wash it every two weeks to maintain flow in my tank. now i have a couple small cubes in my eheim classic filter and it runs mainly as a co2 "reactor".
Ive been cleaning it approximately monthly lately, but im bad at doing it consistently over a longer period of time, (chronic consistency deficiency) 😄 Im always hoping to improve myself though. How did you notice it was due every two weeks? When you reduced yours, I assume you didnt notice any effect on the tank? Did you do it very gradually?

I think I might have reduced my filter media a little bit too quickly. "What, Hufsa going overboard?! Why ive never-"
Unless all the things I think I understand so far are wrong, a tank with a ton of CO2-enriched stem plants will be better at smoothing over such a bump in the balance, compared to my tank with mostly rhizome plants and mosses. Your tank being the former kind. Im looking to reduce a bit the amount of rhizome plants and get a few more stems in, but I need to sort through a few of my current issues first

but have you tried contacting CO2 Art through live chat? They always got back to me very quickly, sometimes within the hour and stayed on the chat until it was resolved.
Yeah I did this at one point before I bought the regulator, but it sort of ended up on email any way as it sent copies of the replies across the platforms. I think it depends a little bit on who picks up your issue, the rep I talked to before buying the regulator was fairly quick, while the one I got after I bought it took a longer time to reply. Now they have switched me back to the first rep again for my current issue, I quite like this rep so I dont mind.

Also, how do you keep your sand so immaculate?!
Oh dear im not quite sure what you mean to be honest 😅 Since ive been struggling lately with it getting dirty between the grains. If you mean like visible particles sitting on top of the sand, its usually a combination of factors. Back mounted spray bars are really good at swooping up debris in the front, I had a lot more sitting on the sand when I had plain pipe outlets. So good flow, but back mounted spray bars will not be optimal for every hardscape layout. Also I dont have any soil in the tank, so there is none of that to make a mess. Lastly I usually have corydoras or something else on the bottom, which Im sure we all know are not cleaners, but they wriggle around a lot in all kinds of places and help the current pick up stuff off the bottom.
 
I go through exactly the same thing as you do @Hufsa, bursts of aquarium joy where I'm happy to tackle any problems head-on, add new plants, watch the fish, think everything is beautiful and I'm not bothered by things that aren't right yet (I've never managed to get things "just right" in my main tanks much to my annoyance). And then times of rage and sadness at algae, or dodgy plants, or a fish dying unexpectedly where I can hardly look at it without feeling guilty that I missed something. And stress of thinking omg I need to fix this asap but I don't know how! I don't really have any advice but just know that you definitely aren't alone and you definitely shouldn't stop posting, though you are allowed the occasional vacation from us 😅
 
How did you notice it was due every two weeks
flow was going down really quick, and i didn't like to do maintenance after the flow dropped, every two weeks worked well with a lot of media.
I assume you didnt notice any effect on the tank?
absolutely none, but I also do have a soft water tank. ammonia toxicity is never really an issue. I reduced the media a little bit at a time, ceramic rings one week, substrat pro the next, then my fine sponges. didn't notice any diatom algae.
our tank being the former kind. Im looking to reduce a bit the amount of rhizome plants and get a few more stems in, but I need to sort through a few of my current issues first
some fast growing stems and floaters might help if you haven't already got some. if all else fails, you can always reduce light, it helps with a lot of things.
 
flow was going down really quick, and i didn't like to do maintenance after the flow dropped, every two weeks worked well with a lot of media.
Hm ok, interesting. Ive only really noticed flow decreasing if ive disturbed the substrate greatly letting a bunch of particles find their way into the filter, or if I leave them for a super long time, like 6 months. But my tank is still low tech, so we should keep in mind that we may be comparing quite different systems.
absolutely none, but I also do have a soft water tank. ammonia toxicity is never really an issue.
I have played with the idea of reducing my KH a bit using acid, but it has remained an idea for now. It would mostly be to feel more confident buying very specialized soft water plants like Tonina. It would involve adding a strong acid to my water change barrel using protective equipment, and I would need to have a reliable source of said acid as Im not keen to run out of it suddenly. My KH is 3 out of the tap, but my tap has an unnaturally high PH because the waterworks adds NaOH (Sodium hydroxide / lye / caustic soda) to protect their shitty pipes. Im not entirely sure what the practical effects of NaOH are, but that is my basic understanding as of now. I wouldnt want to go to 0 KH I think, from 3 to 1.5 maybe, I dont know.

On a semi related note, I have introduced a new quality control process for my ideas, which entails me telling at least one normal person about my idea, and seeing if they are horrified or not. If horrified = yes then idea should be reconsidered or at least explored more in depth.

I reduced the media a little bit at a time, ceramic rings one week, substrat pro the next, then my fine sponges. didn't notice any diatom algae.
Uhh yeah.. I think I removed about half of the media in one go because I am a deeply flawed human being. A likely reason reason why the diatoms are so extensive right now.

some fast growing stems and floaters might help if you haven't already got some. if all else fails, you can always reduce light, it helps with a lot of things.
I could never get floaters to thrive with me, the only time I was able to keep them happy was when I made a basket to keep them in. The basket stole a lot of light from the plants below and was very in the way, so I removed it and the floaters died again..
I have a lot of surface agitation and they are just bashed around too much sadly.
I have considered alternative floating plants, or rather, any kind of plant with access to atmospheric CO2. Having at least some plant mass with the "aerial advantage" seems like such a good safety feature, as their capacity for growth is just much greater. I cannot keep my tank without at least a partial lid, and there is not a large amount of space between the waters surface and the lid. This makes things difficult. One idea is to make a cutout in the lid for a small peace lily or equivalent. I would probably need to install a light for it in the ceiling above the tank but it can be done. Another idea would be something low growing along the wall of the tank in the small gap between lid and water, maybe Hydrocotyle or Ceratopteris. But this wont be optimal space for anything and the light will be poor for the plant..

Cant reduce my light any further, back Fluval is running at 10% and front is running at 15%. I am quite certain I am already hovering right above light compensation point and if I go any lower than these percentages plant growth starts stalling completely and the plants get unhappy. I havent gotten particularly good at growing plants, but I have gotten highly skilled at being bad and I can see the subtle signs the plants are sending me when I am taking things too far.
 
I have played with the idea of reducing my KH a bit using acid, but it has remained an idea for now. It would mostly be to feel more confident buying very specialized soft water plants like Tonina. It would involve adding a strong acid to my water change barrel using protective equipment, and I would need to have a reliable source of said acid as Im not keen to run out of it suddenly. My KH is 3 out of the tap, but my tap has an unnaturally high PH because the waterworks adds NaOH (Sodium hydroxide / lye / caustic soda) to protect their shitty pipes. Im not entirely sure what the practical effects of NaOH are, but that is my basic understanding as of now. I wouldnt want to go to 0 KH I think, from 3 to 1.5 maybe, I dont know.
this is what i'd do if everything else in my tap wasn;t so damnn bad. 20gh and 30ppm+ No3. to anyone thinking their tap is trash, think again:cool: it also had if I remember quite an alarming amount of toxic trace metals so yeah... RO it is.
around 3ml drops kh by 1 point in 20gallons APPARENTLY. also remember kh isn't too high or you;ll need A LOT of oxygenation to keep the tank safe, if I remember correctly the process releases co2. cough cough no 14kh water pls. It can also melt plants if not distributed well, i'd suggest dilluting it by a lot then dropping it in a power head.
this thread might help
I wouldnt want to go to 0 KH
smart, you wouldn't want any residual Hcl floating around the tank!
3 is borderline for softwater plants, 1-2 is much better. i suspect the ammania will perk up aswell, just a hunch.
A likely reason reason why the diatoms are so extensive right now.
they'll go away dont worry! diatoms are the least of your worries imo.
on an interesting note, I have noticed tiny bits of diatoms on the glass in my tank after starting urea dosing, perhaps it's simulating a maturing tank, who knows.
I could never get floaters to thrive with me, the only time I was able to keep them happy was when I made a basket to keep them in. The basket stole a lot of light from the plants below and was very in the way, so I removed it and the floaters died again..
floater corral?
 
Hi all,
So I finally felt ready to gradually remove some of my media from my entirely filled up canisters.
Could the diatoms be caused by that, if the remaining filter media is still working on finding the balance again?
My guess is not, but you can always put the extra filter media back in. As long as it doesn't impede flow I don't see any problem with it.

You should have <"plenty of oxygen flowing into the filter">, purely because <"you have a planted tank">.

I was originally interested in filter media because it was apparent that people weren't getting the amount of nitrification you would expect from their canister filters. I knew that <"relatively small trickle"> (and <"moving bed bioreactor">) filters could deal with <"huge bioloads"> in aquaculture and sewage treatment, but similar volumes of media were failing to deal with bioloads orders of magnitude smaller in aquariums.

It was at this point I found out about floss, "denitrifying" filter media and the <"syphon aspect of filter usage">.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,

My guess is not, but you can always put the extra filter media back in. As long as it doesn't impede flow I don't see any problem with it.

You should have <"plenty of oxygen flowing into the filter">, purely because <"you have a planted tank">.

I was originally interested in filter media because it was apparent that people weren't getting the amount of nitrification you would expect from their canister filters. I knew that <"relatively small trickle"> (and <"moving bed bioreactor">) filters could deal with <"huge bioloads"> in aquaculture and sewage treatment, but similar volumes of media were failing to deal with bioloads orders of magnitude smaller in aquariums.

It was at this point I found out about floss, "denitrifying" filter media and the <"syphon aspect of filter usage">.

cheers Darrel
Darrel, can you elaborate a little? I know that I have the change my fine floss every 2 weeks to be safe and if I lave it 4 weeks I get toxicity issues see “let’s play detective” thread. Is this what you’re talking about?
 
Hi all,
I know that I have the change my fine floss every 2 weeks to be safe and if I lave it 4 weeks I get toxicity issues see “let’s play detective” thread. Is this what you’re talking about?
Yes, pretty much. I think you had an <"extreme example"> probably because of the <"lack of tank maturity">, recent plant trim and CO2 addition, but that is <"the general issue">.
So today I get up, do my thing, peer at the tank and find ALL the still living shrimp at the surface, half a dozen dead shrimps stuck to the filter guard and ALL the fish going in circles gasping at the surface and a couple of crispy jumpers. 50% panic water change. Everything back to normal, you'd think nothing happened.....................
Cleaned the filter and gave it a really good once through, the floss I'd put in only 2 weeks ago was black, can't believe how dirty it had gotten so fast, good job the 150's are an easy filter to clean......
I'm thinking we've got to the bottom of it. Clogged filter floss ........... No gaspers. Seems it really was the filter.
I like to keep all of the <"mechanical filtration outside of the filter body">, so no floss, or fine sponge in the filter, and <"no thick, sticky biolfilms"> inside it.

I let the <"synergistic plants and microbes"> <"mop up the nitrate (NO3-)"> (and all other forms of fixed nitrogen) and then just make sure that all of the the <"filter media is fully oxygenated all of the time">, so that you never get a <"build up of TAN"> or nitrite (NO2-).

cheers Darrel
 
this is what i'd do if everything else in my tap wasn;t so damnn bad. 20gh and 30ppm+ No3. to anyone thinking their tap is trash, think again:cool: it also had if I remember quite an alarming amount of toxic trace metals so yeah... RO it is.
Oof, yeah I can empathize. Im fairly privileged with my tap water. RO for me is not on the table at the moment, we rent and it wouldnt be a good idea to start plumbing things etc. Once we are in a more permanent and owned location I dream of a semi automatic or fully automatic water change system, which might include RO depending on source.
It can also melt plants if not distributed well, i'd suggest dilluting it by a lot then dropping it in a power head.
Some serious calculations and testing would have to happen before I start reducing KH. Also only in a separate water container and then letting it equilibriate with pump or airstone over night. The americans (no offense) are absolutely insane to pour strong acids straight into their tanks and just hope it dilutes before it hits something. I would never ever do that. Sometimes when im going down a rabbithole my journey takes me through plantedtank.net and I have seen pictures of what happens when reducing KH right in the tank goes wrong. Its not pretty.
smart, you wouldn't want any residual Hcl floating around the tank!
Yep, exactly my thought.
they'll go away dont worry! diatoms are the least of your worries imo.
I think so too, im gonna say diatoms are the least problematic algae and usually all you have to do is just wait it out.
on an interesting note, I have noticed tiny bits of diatoms on the glass in my tank after starting urea dosing, perhaps it's simulating a maturing tank, who knows.
Interesting, but not surprising :geek: Ammonia is a strong signaling chemical in many processes from what I understand, algae especially are tuned in to respond rapidly to it. Makes sense the tank will need to refind its balance once you start adding it, especially if not done super gradually.
floater corral?
Ive tried every kind of contraption you can think of, that kind kept letting the floaters out occasionally, and I was also highly annoyed that the floaters escaped every time I did a water change, as well as every time the water level dropped a bit.

My guess is not, but you can always put the extra filter media back in. As long as it doesn't impede flow I don't see any problem with it.
Hm. If I put the filter media back in now, that wont help anything though would it? Its been dried out for over a week, so surely the bacteria and archaea are dead?
About impeding flow, all filter media reduces the flow through the filter to some degree I think. I buy the argument that for planted tanks, where the plants are doing a lot of the heavy lifting, reducing media in trade for more flow makes sense since we need good flow to run everything "turned up to eleven" (EI and CO2), but dont need massive amounts of media surface.

It was at this point I found out about floss, "denitrifying" filter media and the <"syphon aspect of filter usage">.
Im gonna admit im still using my filter as a slight siphon. I tried pre-filter sponges but I just cannot keep up with cleaning them every week, and I found that when they clogged, they clogged much more absolutely than the mesh intake screens. Safety wise it was therefore more of a liability than an advantage in my particular setup. The mesh screens keep everything larger than a fraction of a milimeter out, but dont seem to clog in the same way. Since all the debris is on one surface, the otos and shrimp pick at the debris and I think that helps break it down and prevents a bit of the clogging in a way. In addition, for me cleaning the external canisters is easier than cleaning the intakes, so I do it more often. I am definitely on board with that relatively open intakes, rarely cleaned filters and fine floss to finish it all off is a bad idea, and if you have a traditionally lightly planted or non planted tank in addition, its just a disaster waiting to happen.
 
Hi all,
I tried pre-filter sponges but I just cannot keep up with cleaning them every week, and I found that when they clogged, they clogged much more absolutely than the mesh intake screens.
I've gone to using larger and larger sponge blocks, it means that weekly maintenance isn't essential. I doesn't matter to me that they are so large, I don't do aesthetics and have very weedy tanks. I use them on filter intakes as well as power heads etc.

-attachmentid-15562-stc-1-d-1254795378-jpg-jpg-jpg.jpg

I bought a 12" x 4" x 4" (30 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) sponge block (like the above) last week for £9 delivered, so they are still a cheap option.

cheers Darrel
 
Some serious calculations and testing would have to happen before I start reducing KH. Also only in a separate water container and then letting it equilibriate with pump or airstone over night. The americans (no offense) are absolutely insane to pour strong acids straight into their tanks and just hope it dilutes before it hits something. I would never ever do that. Sometimes when im going down a rabbithole my journey takes me through plantedtank.net and I have seen pictures of what happens when reducing KH right in the tank goes wrong. Its not pretty
lol, yeah not the best for safety, someone i used to know poured it in striaght in the tank without gloves or anything. they just like living life on the edge:lol:
 
I've gone to using larger and larger sponge blocks, it means that weekly maintenance isn't essential. I doesn't matter to me that they are so large, I don't do aesthetics and have very weedy tanks. I use them on filter intakes as well as power heads etc.
I try to do aesthetics but aesthetics doesnt seem to want to do me ☹️
I think the sponges with drilled holes like the one you linked will be better than the sponges I had, I just cut a slit in a sponge using scissors and forced it on, but I think in doing that I also pulled on the pores of the sponge and closed them somewhat, if that makes sense. The pores were probably going from an O to a <> which is not good for flow and clogging. Aside from the color I am happy with using fine mesh so will probably continue with it unless my needs change.

lol, yeah not the best for safety
Yes to be clear I am not encouraging people to use strong acids and I only mentioned it as a side note when you were talking about KH.
I have no current plans to lower my KH this way. If I want Tonina etc I will just try them out first in 3 degrees KH and see how it does, and then take it from there.

someone i used to know poured it in striaght in the tank without gloves or anything. they just like living life on the edge:lol:
I assume you write "used to know" because they have since died in a horrible accident, likely involving some sort of chemical spill.
 
Hm. If I put the filter media back in now, that wont help anything though would it?
Unless you totally stripped the canister of its media, which I'm guessing you didn't then I'd assume "if" the bacteria left in the filter needed to play catch up it would have done so in a few days anyway.

On a side note AND WITHOUT turning your journal into a water change discussion... Did your algae problems start before or after the frequent large water changes? I'm at work so only just skimmed through the last few pages of the thread but wondering if doing repeated large changes maybe upset the stability of things.
 
I will just try them out first in 3 degrees KH and see how it does, and then take it from there.
they should be fine tbh. @erwin123 has similar water i believe, and grows softwater eriocaulocaea.
I assume you write "used to know" because they have since died in a horrible accident, likely involving some sort of chemical spill.
he was a great friend...:lol:
 
Hi all,

I've gone to using larger and larger sponge blocks, it means that weekly maintenance isn't essential. I doesn't matter to me that they are so large, I don't do aesthetics and have very weedy tanks. I use them on filter intakes as well as power heads etc.

-attachmentid-15562-stc-1-d-1254795378-jpg-jpg-jpg.jpg

I bought a 12" x 4" x 4" (30 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) sponge block (like the above) last week for £9 delivered, so they are still a cheap option.

cheers Darrel
Hi Darrel what type of sponge( PPI) do you prefer?
 
Hi all,
Hi Darrel what type of sponge( PPI) do you prefer?
I think these ones are are 20 PPI. They are described as <"coarse">, but I buy them because they are cheap, easily available and work for I want them to do.
I wouldn't want any finer than 30 PPI, but these are large enough so they don't clog.

cheers Darrel
 
Did your algae problems start before or after the frequent large water changes?
I was going to say no, but then I went back to look at the dates closer (CSI style :cool:) and you may be on to something there.
I did a brief timeline in january but the following one should be more thorough.

I love having a journal, its really really useful to be able to go back in time and look at things again.
My goal is that everything significant is written down here online or in the paper journal.
It doesnt always happen but I try. Filter cleanings I need to get better at writing down.

------------------------------------------------------------
Timeline: (Safe to skip if you want!)

03.11.2021
The front light was increased from 10% to 15%. I assume both Fluvals were running at ~10% before this.
The Fluval 3.0 has five controllable channels, when I write just one percentage then I am talking about the general percentage of most of the channels, but not necessarily all of them. My go-to for a long while was 10% Red, 1% Blue, 10% Cool white, 10% Pure white and 10% Warm white.
For reference the "Planted" preset provided with this light is 84% Red, 20% Blue, 73% Cool white, 100% Pure white and 80% Warm white.
But this date the blue channel was increased to be the same level as the rest, so all channels at 15% for the front light and 10% on all channels for the back.

09.11.2021
Instead I have serviced one of the filters, since they have both been untouched for like 6 months.
So even if it was a bit of a big cleaning for one filter, I should hopefully get away with it since there is another filter left entirely untouched.
Im thinking ill do the other one in about a week and a half.
Did somewhat heavy handed filter cleaning of one canister, second one was indeed done a week and a half later.
If heavy handed filter cleaning was the main cause I would have expected to see something soon after this, which did not happen.

15.11.2021
.. plants look to be doing well
No algae bloom yet. This was 12 days after the increase in blue light, which rules out increase in blue light as the main cause. Algae respond rapidly to changes and a bloom would be evident by 12 days.

20.11.2021
Added 24/7 airstone and Eheim diffuser on one outlet. Increased flow in tank from Eheim diffuser.
Removed a lot of debris and did a large water change.
Started treating for Scutariella, medication itself highly unlikely to have anything to do with algae bloom imo.

21.11.2021
..very minimal algae, in fact I still havent cleaned the glass of the tank since I set it up
Still no algae bloom. Fertilizer dose was too lean and plants were complaining a little bit.

22.11.2021
I found pictures I took of making homemade root tabs. They will have been covered in fresh clay at this point so I probably let them dry for at least a week if not more.

26.11.2021
The fishsticks went to their new home, no livestock left in tank to stir the sand aside from the snails.

01.12.2021
Guesstimated addition of homemade Osmocote root tabs around this time

10.12.21
Increased fertilizer.
Some will point to this as a cause but I have increased fert dosing tons of times in my tank and never had algae bloom because of it, so I am not convinced.
The plants were a lot happier after this though.

X.12.2021
Unknown date around mid december there was another large water change and I treated the Scutariella again.

01.01.2022
..most of (although not all) the plants are growing better, but ive also had a quite large flush of algae of all kinds.
I remember that the algae bloom happened around the time I added the root tabs, but not the exact date.
I was quite busy in december so was not paying much attention to the tank.
Treated for Scutariella the third time but didnt change the water in advance.
Changed lights back again to less blue channel in case it caused the algae. Front 15% overall and 2% blue, back 10% overall and 1% blue. Looking back from now it didnt seem to make a difference.

Following this date there have been filter cleanings and a lot of water changes, but they were not written down.
Nor do I know exactly when I reduced the amount of filter media.

09.01.22
Increased light slightly overall because I was nervous about the plants not getting enough, also increased red spectrum somewhat.
This was mostly because my Ludwigia Super Red was about to die

07.02.22
Decreased light again and moved light demanding Super Red higher up in the tank. Changed blue channel to 0% on both out of desperation, probably pointless.
-----------------------------------------------------

Take-away:
So I havent gotten much wiser, but I did start doing sporadic large water changes about a week and a half before the estimated addition of the root tabs.
The root tabs are still standing out as the most likely "trigger", but may have been helped along by several smaller factors.
Sudden increases in ammonium (Is it wrong to write ammonia like I usually do?) is agreed by most to be a trigger of algae, seemingly a notable exception to the "nutrients dont cause algae" rule of thumb. At least I think it is?

Fluctuations in CO2 levels caused by large water changes could be one of those "helper" factors to the bloom.
Another could be the build up of gunk in the sand following the departure of the fishsticks.
Disturbing the nitrification by removing too much filter media might also contribute, especially for the diatoms, although not everyone seems to think so.

If the root tabs were the main trigger, the algae should decrease again eventually. It may be taking so long because of all of the helper factors keeping the instability going.
The end goal should be to get the tank back to normal as soon as possible, see previously mentioned battle plan.
 
Timeline: (Safe to skip if you want!)
The answer to the puzzle is likely written here. I'm not going to go out on a limb and say exactly what caused the issues because I don't know, i will however offer my thoughts.
My go-to for a long while was 10% Red, 1% Blue, 10% Cool white, 10% Pure white and 10% Warm white.
Did this go-to setting work? If it did then I see no reason not to go back to it or something similar.

I feel the pain first hand with regards to suffering ludwigia super red. Moved mine to the back of the tank which reduced the amount of light it was getting and then reduced the light further to combat bba.
The ludwigia sulked, new growth was small and more green than red. My heart was telling me increase the light but my head said don't, I reached a compromise and raised the intensity by 1%.
Thought prosses was "its only 1%, how is that gonna be beneficial to algae"~ "touché old bean, if it won't benefit algae, how the hell will it help the ludwigia.." 🥴
Sudden increases in ammonium (Is it wrong to write ammonia like I usually do?
Haha I hear you on this one, I prefer ammonium, it somehow feels kinder on the critters.
Truth is when we choose to dose either we accept we're potentially making a bet with the devil, if we get lucky the devil will bow and accept that he's been beat, if we don't get lucky...
Ammonia/ammonium spike gets my vote for the shortlist.
Fluctuations in CO2 levels caused by large water changes could be one of those "helper" factors
Another suspect ~ fluctuating co2 levels are widely blamed for causing bba and I think its also linked with diatoms. I think you also mentioned above the ferts levels were also fluctuating wildly at this point due to increased water changes. You'd probably get away doing both those things on occasion but would imagine doing it repeatedly will come with consequences.

I suspect a mixture of things that you listed above have caused or exasperated the problems, not just the ones I've picked out above. I'm no planted tank guru but firmly believe balance or stability are the key features to success, you've had a wobble mate, nothing more nothing less.

Fairly confident you'll fix these issues, keep the faith 👍
 
Does BBA appear in tanks that don’t have driftwood?

I have my kids tank, which was a hot mess in the water chemistry dept, recently went through a huge amount of diatom bloom, but there is only a scattering of Java moss and no other plants.
Zero BBA. 15g tank with probabaly 4 fish with a total sum of 15” in fish length, so max recommended stock. I probably over feed this tank a tiny bit, but I have no frame of reference, I do a good pinch twice a day of tiny pellets.

I have another tank “the NICU” aka the “guppy mill” several rocks from the same tank that’s in my journal. It has had some diatoms and a very tight green non filimentous(spelling?) algae on the rocks and driftwood and all over the glass. But no BBA 34+ baby fish in a 10g. Also one smaller piece of driftwood that is very hard. It was branch wood not root ball. I over feed the he’ll out of this tank with ground flakes.

On my journal tank it’s a root ball of unknown origin or species that’s gone pretty soft in the water. That tank has BBA. Rocks and wood collected from same stream. Plants are having a hard time there but thrive in my 10g. No livestock no fish food yet.

Do you have root wood in your tank? Wondering if there’s a correlation.
 
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