My First Aquascape

[JPT81]

Hi @JPT81 , stick with it . We all go through these phases with algae, especially in new setups. Its so easy to read so much and to receive so much advice, one often conflicting the other. It all gets over whelming and we end up making things worse trying too many things. I know I did .

I found the videos by George Farmer on the Flex quite helpful - Playlist

What I ended up doing with my Flex was getting back to basics, particularly in terms of maintenance. i.e., I started daily 50% water changes (added Prime / Stability / Ferts each time) to keep Ammonia and nutrients in check. I could then start to see improvements in the plants, algae started to reduce, along with the Ammonia. (When the water level is down you could spot treat the BBA, but go steady.) I then slowly increased the time between water changes. I learnt the value of water changes!

Good luck and remember that improvements can take quite a few days to become obvious .

Edit: Check you have some Nitrates in the water, do you know the level? Water changes will usually keep these at sensible levels for you at the start.

Thanks for the words of encouragement dgilbert!
I’m going to do my best to stick with it.
The last couple of days have looked ok.
I’ve had little to no light on and I’ve had my Co2 steady for 3 days at 1 bubble per second and on for a total of 8 hours a day.
I’ve noticed a few small dots of black/dark algae on some of the leaves so I’ve pulled a few of them out tonight along with any leaves that looked like they were dying.
Also, I had what looked like the start of green string algae (if that’s what it’s called) but they seem to have disappeared over the past day!? 🤔
Anyway, tonight I tested my water and these were my readings -
PH - 6.4
Ammonia - 0.25 (it’s sort of half way between 0 and 0.25 so I’ve gone with the higher reading)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

I dosed half a cap of Seachem Stability too but I’ve stayed away from dosing any more Tropica Specialised for the time being.
I’m also seeing my Ammonia start to come down now which is great!

Lets see what the coming week brings! 😊

 

[JPT81]

Day 15 update!
Ive seen a few spots of black/dark looking algae on some of my leaves. I’ve pulled out a few of them along with any dead looking leaves.
Strange thing...I noticed what looked like green string algae on the end of some plants (I’m not sure yet, still learning my algae types) but they seem to have disappears over the past day! Hmmm!

I’ve had little to no light over the past few days and my Co2 has been steady at 1 bubble per second for 8 hours a day. I’ve been doing that for 3 days now.

My water levels seem ok too. My ammonia is coming down slowly, reading somewhere between 0 and 0.25. I’m happy with how that’s coming along.

So here’s a picture. Not much different from the last, but you can really see the plants coming on.
I’m reluctant to start hacking away just yet whilst things stabilise, but I did chat a few leaves off the Reinekii mini as it was covering some of the HC.

As always, thanks for looking! 😊

 

[dgilbert2]

Your tank does look good from the Photo .

Remember you can reduce the CO2 period if you have reduced your lights.

Have a good Xmas.

 

[JPT81]

Your tank does look good from the Photo .

Remember you can reduce the CO2 period if you have reduced your lights.

Have a good Xmas.

Ah, ok cool!!
I was wondering if I should do that too.
I might knock it down to 5-6 hours then.
Thanks for that.

Have a great Christmas mate, all the best!

 

[Big G]

Bit leftfield but makes a lot of sense on some level.

The Butterfly Effect ;(Butterfly effect - Wikipedia) especially once a tank shows signs of maturing and the struggle between competing forces heads towards equilibrium (even if it's not the one we're not striving for.)

All the best

Bg

 

[JPT81]

Small update.
I’ve added around 1ml of Easycarbo to my tank today.
I spot dosed it over what possibly looks like BGA and a strange yellow looking algae? which I’m not 100% sure on. Possibly brown algae? 🤔

Will dose Easycarbo for a few days and see how it goes.
Going to keep light down to around 5 hours a day too.
And now we wait. 😁

 

[JPT81]

Did a water test today and my ammonia is bugging me! 😖
I did a tank water test and a tap water test and as you can see, the colours are pretty much the same.
The yellow colour that my tests produce aren’t as dark as the ‘0 yellow’ colour on the API test table. So I don’t know if I’m reading 0 or if I’m reading something in between 0 - 0.25. 🤔
I’d like to think my tap water doesn’t contain ammonia! 😂
I’ve read that some people haven’t been able to get a 100% reading with the API test kit so I’m putting it down to this issue.
What do you think?

My water test looks like this -

PH - 6.4
Ammonia - 0 - 0.25???
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5.0
Temperature - 25.7

I’m on my second day of spot dosing Easycarbo too. I can see it making a difference on the algae spots I’ve got in my tank. Might keep this up for a few more days to see how it goes.
Light is back on for roughly 5 hours and my Co2 is turned off whilst I dose with Easycarbo. Can Co2 be left on with Easycarbo?? 🤔

As always, thanks for looking! 😊

 

[dgilbert2]

I have always found the API ammonia kit hard to read at 0 / 0.25 and you can easily read it as 0.25! I've found its best to hold the test vial at about 45 degrees to the test chart and read under 6500k lighting or daylight through a window. Looking at your test vial photos I would say the reading is zero. One not to worry about .

 

[JPT81]

I have always found the API ammonia kit hard to read at 0 / 0.25 and you can easily read it as 0.25! I've found its best to hold the test vial at about 45 degrees to the test chart and read under 6500k lighting or daylight through a window. Looking at your test vial photos I would say the reading is zero. One not to worry about .

Thanks as always, dgilbert!
I’ll give the daylight reading at a window a go next time. I’ve been doing it under the brightest bulb in the house! 😂
Thanks for the reassurance! 👍
Question is, when do I declare this a cycled tank!? I’m now on day 20, I think. 🤔

 

[JPT81]

I’ve started thinking about what I’m going to put in my tank.
The first fish I’ve been thinking of putting in are Otocinclus, maybe 4 of them.
After around a month, I was thinking of adding about 5 Cherry Shrimp and another month after that, maybe 6-7 Neon Tetras.

If there are any fellow Fluval Flex 57L owners here, I’d love to hear how you’ve got on with your fish and if they’re similar to what I’m planning. I’ve been reading a few on the forum which are great!

 

[Karmicnull]

I'd put the cherry shrimp in first. They are pretty robust whereas Otos have a bit of a rep for initial fragility. I like your pacing of a new type of fish per month. I did similar and it worked really well.

Cheers,

Simon

 

[JPT81]

I'd put the cherry shrimp in first. They are pretty robust whereas Otos have a bit of a rep for initial fragility. I like your pacing of a new type of fish per month. I did similar and it worked really well.

Cheers,

Simon

Thanks Simon, I’ll definitely add the cherry shrimp first then!
I’m still tackling a BGA issue at the moment so I need to get that under control before adding them.

Have a great New Year mate! 👍

 

[JPT81]

So my ongoing battle with BGA, cyanobacteria continues.
I did around a 50% water change today and sucked out as much cyanobacteria as possible. I then scrubbed the dragon stone with boiling hot water and then squirted on some Easycarbo. I left it for around 15 mins and then filled the tank. I’m probably going to have to do this regularly so I’ll be doing regular water changes for how ever long it takes.

One other thing is the HC Cuba!!!! I HATE IT!!!
Any time I go near it or clean around it, it works itself loose and floats to the top! I cannot get it to stick to the substrate at all.
I was so close to ripping it out earlier but I had to stop myself...it seems like such a waste of money to just dump it.
I know it’s not going to get any better but I’ll probably keep it in for the time being.
Ugh!!! HC Cuba...what a damn nightmare!!!
As we speak, I’ve just looked over at my tank and noticed a clump of HC Cuba floating on the top of the water!
AGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

[Diogo81]

Hello to all,

I’ve also experienced a bad episode of Cyanobacteria on my tank, and what did the trick was to apply hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). It only took a few applications with a seringe and it was all gone one day to another.

If you’re willing to try it, just be careful to don’t use more than 1ml per liter of water, and always do it with your filter turned off.

Best regards


Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

So my ongoing battle with BGA, cyanobacteria continues.

If it carries on consider using ADA’s phyton git. You will still need to manually remove any pockets around the tank you can access first. If it’s below the substrate line you can use a 1ml syringe to inject below the substrate along the glass. Then dose the water column. It’s pricey but it works against Cyanobacteria.

The ADA phyton git Sol is just a thicker solution so it can be painted on hardscape/plants more easily. You get more for your money with Sol than the usual liquid type so it’s more economical. Keep it in the fridge and a bottle lasts years. Typical lack of information regarding ingredients but it is phytoncide.

Other uses... paint wood with phyton git before placing in a new scape and you can avoid the fungus/mould you get at startup. It’s pretty versatile.

 

[JPT81]

Thanks for the replies guys, both great bits of info that I’ll certainly consider if things get even worse!!

 

[JPT81]

My tank hasn’t had much love this week due to working 12 hour shifts for the past 4 days.
Today I intend to have a good clean out and take away a few dead leaves/plants that seem to have melted.
I just wondered if anyone has he’d this issue with a white substance showing up in the corners of their tanks, on the silicone. It’s sort of slimy but when cleaned away, it sort of flakes and floats away. I try to suck up as much of it as possible.
I initially thought it was just the usual bio film that coats everything, but after reading various posts, I’m not so sure. 🤔

 

[JPT81]

Tank update...after a water change and clean out.
I’ve cut away the plants and leaves that had melted and taken away the HC Cuba that had floated away from the substrate.
I’m going to leave the rest in for now but as soon as it floats to the top, it’s getting binned.
I think I’m going to look at other plant options to replace my HC Cuba...such annoying stuff!!

Anyway, here is the tank at the moment. It’s looking bare at the back due to cutting away the bad stuff.

Water levels seem fine though so it’s not all bad.
Looking at trying to find a place locally that stocks Cherry Shrimp, but it’s proving difficult at the moment. Nobody seems to have them!

As always, thanks for looking!

 

[JPT81]

Another quick update!

So, I’ve been lucky enough to have been in work this week so I’ve not had much time to clean my tank. So today I made the effort to clean it and change things up a little.
First I got rid of all the HC Cuba...it was so so annoying. It never rooted in to my substrate and I was sick of it floating to the top!
I’ve separated and moved the Alternathera Reineckii 'mini' so that it goes all around the front left of the tank. I also moved the Staurogyne Repens around the front right, as you can see in the picture. I think it’ll look better this way.
For the time being I’m going to leave the substrate in the middle as it is. I may plant something else in there at a later date...possibly more Staurogyne Repens.
The Rotala at the back hasn’t grown much since I cut of the dead leaves and stems but hopefully it’ll come back pretty quick.

The Cyanobacteria still pops up every now and again but I’ve found sucking it out and water changes is helping.

I’m currently trying to find a local shop that stocks Cherry Shrimp but they seem hard to come by at the moment. Hopefully I’ll get some soon!!

Thanks for looking!

 

[JPT81]

Today was a very special day...
IT’S MOVING IN DAY!!
I bought 6 Cherry Shrimp and drip acclimated them before adding them to my tank.
All seem very happy in their new home. Hopefully they’ll settle in and be around for a long time. 🤞