Help please

[Warren]

I started mymtank up a month ago. At the 2 to 3 week stage my nitrites read zero I have been adding fish bit by bit once the tank cycled but always seem to have this brown string algae growing at a rapid rate and gets tanglta in the plants

I have 13 amano shrimp some Otto's, 3 Siamese algae eaters and a few other fish I got it out with a toothbrush and did a 50% weekly water change but in the morning it looked worse so i tested my tap water and nittrate reading was around 18mg/l out my tap. I live in Leatherhead Surrey.

Is the brown hair algae due to nitrates out tap being high or new tsnk syndrome only

My SAES eat it but still grows too fast.

What are cheap ways to reduce nitrates other than buying an expensive RO kit.

I was advised that the TnC complete I'm using i ahould up the dosage to 3 x the normal daily dose and up co2 to promote plant grgrow which will kill off the algae.

Should I not rather use tnc light then as that has no nitrates and phosphates and will 3 x the daily dose be ok as I also keep shrimp. My tank is 200 litres.

 

[rebel]

What are cheap ways to reduce nitrates other than buying an expensive RO kit.

Repeat your water changes 60% daily for one week. Then 50% weekly.
Just dose your nutrients at 1x dose.

 

[Keith GH]

Warren

I have 13 amano shrimp some Otto's, 3 Siamese algae eaters and a few other fish I got it out with a toothbrush and did a 50% weekly water change but in the morning it looked worse so i tested my tap water and nittrate reading was around 18mg/l out my tap. I live in Leatherhead Surrey.

Is this your water supplier?
https://www.waterplc.com/userfiles/file/fs_hardness_and_scale.pdf

Yes your water is certainly hard.
Big water changes could make it even worse, I did say "Could"

Talk to every LFS in your area and ask what they are doing. I might even mean only have inhabitants that like a hard water tank.

This might be worth checking out as well.
https://www.sera.de/en/product/freshwater-aquarium/sera-super-peat/

My opinion is start researching its either treat the water or have a hard water aquarium tank.

Keith

 

[jameson_uk]

Not sure of the reasons for the algae but I am sure others will give better advice (flow and CO2 will get mentioned ). Here are a few bits of info though

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/does-high-nitrate-levels-lead-to-algae.53409/

My tap water is pretty high in NO3 (water company samples say average sample was 27.5) and I don't get algae but I do run low tech.

Floating plants are great at sucking up excess nutrients and I have some rampant frogbit in my tank

You have mentioned your setup. Is it high tech? What is the plant mass? What flow do you have?

 

[ian_m]

I started mymtank up a month ago. At the 2 to 3 week stage my nitrites read zero I have been adding fish bit by bit once the tank cycled but always seem to have this brown string algae growing at a rapid rate and gets tanglta in the plants

This is most likely as the tank is not cycled, 2-3 weeks seems awfully short, I normally expect 8-12 weeks to be fine and not require any use of hobby grade unreliable test kits. I think the algae is indicating the tank is not cycled, rather than you just falsely assuming nitrates cause algae. I suspect, as we keep on telling people with the first tanks, do not rely on hobby test kits, the results are too easily influences by other ions/salts in tank water, nitrate is notorious for not reading anything useful.I ran with 320ppm NO3 and 80ppm PO4, accidentally once, and no algae.

This is of course very bad for fish and especially shrimp.

I think you need to (possibly both) dose an ammonia/nitrite remover like Prime or AmQuel (not AmQuel+ as that removes nitrates) and do large daily water changes (50% ?). Remember to dechlorinate the water. Do this for at least 6 weeks to give yout tank a chance to cycle. May be quicker as you will have fish and shrimp poo helping things along.

Just carry on dosing TNC Complete as you must have decent levels of nitrate and phosphate in order for the plants to flourish and out compete any algae.

What is your light ?, its level and duration ?
What is filtration ?
Are you providing any carbon source for the plants ?

 

[Siege]

Ok. From what I see in your log. Your tank is a aquascaper 900 with a Twinstar 900S light.
You were adding fish food to cycle. Believed it was cycled so added fish

You were very lightly planted and unhappy with your hard scape so keep digging up the substrate adjusting the substrate and adding a few more plants.

You don’t mention a dimmer on the light or water change regime.

Full co2, FX4 filter with Lilly pipes.

When setting up a new hi-tech tank, High light, lack of plant mass, an immediate source of ammonia (no need for ammonia plants will do most of the filtering for you ) and lack of water changes (should have been doing 50% every other day) is a recipe for algae.

My suggestions -

-Add even more plants so you are heavily planted on the soil part. Then leave it alone. Every time you touch it you release nutrients into the water column.
Turn down your light with a dimmer (aquarium gardens or hinterfield controller from the forum thread). No more than 8 hours per day. Maybe 7 to begin with. slowly ramp up intensity and duration.
-Increase your water changes - min of 50% twice a week. Certainly a water change after any maintenance also.
-Remove as much algae manually as poss.
-Weekly clean of filter.

Tnc complete is perfect at 20ml per day for a 200l tank. Don’t change to the lite one.

Apologies if I sound negative. Don’t mean to be. You have a lovely set up. Just enthusiastic to start it all up I think (another member mentioned the same on your log)!

 

[Warren]

Warren

Hi Keith Yes SES is my water supplier I'll try that. What does an RO kit cost or I read about a plant called Pathos that absorbs nitrates


Is this your water supplier?
https://www.waterplc.com/userfiles/file/fs_hardness_and_scale.pdf

Yes your water is certainly hard.
Big water changes could make it even worse, I did say "Could"

Talk to every LFS in your area and ask what they are doing. I might even mean only have inhabitants that like a hard water tank.

This might be worth checking out as well.
https://www.sera.de/en/product/freshwater-aquarium/sera-super-peat/

My opinion is start researching its either treat the water or have a hard water aquarium tank.

Keith

 

[Warren]

Not sure of the reasons for the algae but I am sure others will give better advice (flow and CO2 will get mentioned ). Here are a few bits of info though

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/does-high-nitrate-levels-lead-to-algae.53409/

My tap water is pretty high in NO3 (water company samples say average sample was 27.5) and I don't get algae but I do run low tech.

Floating plants are great at sucking up excess nutrients and I have some rampant frogbit in my tank

You have mentioned your setup. Is it high tech? What is the plant mass? What flow do you have?

Thanks Jameson. I have an fx4 so flow is really good. I added adaptors and then clear piping to have lily pipes My plant mass is decent but keep cutting it back to cut away the brown algae that gets tangled in the plants.

 

[Warren]

 

[Warren]

Ok. From what I see in your log. Your tank is a aquascaper 900 with a Twinstar 900S light.
You were adding fish food to cycle. Believed it was cycled so added fish

You were very lightly planted and unhappy with your hard scape so keep digging up the substrate adjusting the substrate and adding a few more plants.

You don’t mention a dimmer on the light or water change regime.

Full co2, FX4 filter with Lilly pipes.

When setting up a new hi-tech tank, High light, lack of plant mass, an immediate source of ammonia (no need for ammonia plants will do most of the filtering for you ) and lack of water changes (should have been doing 50% every other day) is a recipe for algae.

My suggestions -

-Add even more plants so you are heavily planted on the soil part. Then leave it alone. Every time you touch it you release nutrients into the water column.
Turn down your light with a dimmer (aquarium gardens or hinterfield controller from the forum thread). No more than 8 hours per day. Maybe 7 to begin with. slowly ramp up intensity and duration.
-Increase your water changes - min of 50% twice a week. Certainly a water change after any maintenance also.
-Remove as much algae manually as poss.
-Weekly clean of filter.

Tnc complete is perfect at 20ml per day for a 200l tank. Don’t change to the lite one.

Apologies if I sound negative. Don’t mean to be. You have a lovely set up. Just enthusiastic to start it all up I think (another member mentioned the same on your log)!

Thanks very much for the detailed response. I appreciate all the advice.I will speak to aquarium gardens about a dimmer and stop cutting away the plant mass.. Are you certain 20ml per day with tnc complete as the bottle suggests 20ml per week ie 4ml per day.

 

[Warren]

This is most likely as the tank is not cycled, 2-3 weeks seems awfully short, I normally expect 8-12 weeks to be fine and not require any use of hobby grade unreliable test kits. I think the algae is indicating the tank is not cycled, rather than you just falsely assuming nitrates cause algae. I suspect, as we keep on telling people with the first tanks, do not rely on hobby test kits, the results are too easily influences by other ions/salts in tank water, nitrate is notorious for not reading anything useful.I ran with 320ppm NO3 and 80ppm PO4, accidentally once, and no algae.

This is of course very bad for fish and especially shrimp.

I think you need to (possibly both) dose an ammonia/nitrite remover like Prime or AmQuel (not AmQuel+ as that removes nitrates) and do large daily water changes (50% ?). Remember to dechlorinate the water. Do this for at least 6 weeks to give yout tank a chance to cycle. May be quicker as you will have fish and shrimp poo helping things along.

Just carry on dosing TNC Complete as you must have decent levels of nitrate and phosphate in order for the plants to flourish and out compete any algae.

What is your light ?, its level and duration ?
What is filtration ?
Are you providing any carbon source for the plants ?

Thank you for the advice. Light is twinstar 900s run for 8 hours a day on timer High tec. Filter fx4. I inject co2 set to a timer with a co2art SE regulator. Drop checker lime green.

 

[Warren]

My clean up crew consists of 6 nerite snails 13 amano shrimp, 13 ottos and 3 siamese algae eaters.

 

[Siege]

Thanks very much for the detailed response. I appreciate all the advice.I will speak to aquarium gardens about a dimmer and stop cutting away the plant mass.. Are you certain 20ml per day with tnc complete as the bottle suggests 20ml per week ie 4ml per day.

Yes. The TNC complete is better if dosed to the same instructions as the aquascaper complete fertiliser. Ie daily.

http://www.evolutionaqua.com/acatalog/The_Aquascaper_Complete_Liquid_Plant_Food.html

You will be hi tech, although you aren’t that densely planted so want to reduce that slightly. So the advice Dave gave you is correct about tripling than dose daily.

Give some thought to planting more. You could cover the wood in Buce and ferns. Would look nice and give you more plant mass.

 

[Matt Havens]

Hi Warren,

I agree with Siege in the fact more plant mass is needed, Buce's and Anubius will help 'fill out' the middle layers of the setup. and moss will also help without disturbing the substrate.
Maybe even some Microsorum placed in the base of the wood, this would add a lot of plant mass quickly.

Maybe you could add some Salvinia or another floating plant, as i'm sure has been mentioned above these are great "sponges" if you like for excess nutrients and will help.

I personally would try this first and not change too much else to begin with other than your light and water change frequency.
The best advice for the algae I can give is manually remove as much as possible.

Things are going to look bad to begin with but do these small changes and you should start to see improvements within a couple of weeks, don't be disheartened, keep up the good work!

Matt

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Hi, the brown stringy algae is likely a type of diatoms and will fade over time, give it good regular cleans, remove as much as you can keeping feeding to a minimum. As others have said adding fast growing plants will also help. These two images are 4 weeks apart so don't despair!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[HiNtZ]

That smacks of uncycled tank - did you have fish in there for the first 3 weeks? If no then, it's not cycled.