Avalanches, algae, and egregious rookie mistakes. It's been 5 weeks.
To begin with, a general note on arrogance and how unforgiving nature is to such tendencies. I went all-in on these setups, no budget, no constraints. Purchased expansive equipment, substrate, and fertilizers, along with equally as expensive plants. I really got it in my head that if I pimped the whole thing out, really overdid everything to the max, I could avoid some of the novice pitfalls. Granted, these two scapes are my second endeavor into "high tech" planted aquariums, but I considered my previous one to be a success. Sure, it did take many months to get it where I liked, but I figured with that experience and my new toys, things would be just peachy. As such, I committed many sins and nature is punishing me severely for them. Note to self and to all new capers - you are not god. There are thousands of pages of information urging you to take care of your photoperiod and nutrients within the first critical weeks. These come from thousands of hours of experience. Listen to them.
Sin no. 1: high light and high ferts straight out the gate. It is truly phenomenal just how bright this twister is. Not only was I running it at 100% for 6 hours a day, I also had "dimmed" moonlight periods stretching it from dawn til dusk. On top of this I immediately began dosing rich fertilizers (APT Complete). My thinking was after such a long dark start, and with my overpowered filters and high CO2, the mostly in vetro plants would appreciate the extra energy. Sure, they did appreciate it. But you know what appreciated it even more? Legions of algae. It's laughable, really, and quite embarrassing. If I had set these scapes up for anyone else I would have demanded they maintain lighting and fertilizer control for the first several weeks. But not I. No, I know what I'm doing. I can push the limits. The result has been an absolute unit of hair algae in the 45 P and gobs of diatoms in the 30cm cube.
My initial response was to trim down the lights a few hours until I eventually cut down any moonlight setting altogether. 8 hours a day, that's all you get now. The 30cm cube is still running at 100% as the diatoms are relatively manageable and it's a high-density scape. I'm running the 45P at 75% now as of last week. I did introduce algae eaters- Amano shrimp, cherry shrimp, and horned nerite snails. So far, I haven't noticed a major dent.
Sin no. 2: impractical scape design with no consideration given to physics. I'm an architect, I should really have planned ahead for what has become a major burden in the 45P - avalanches. Due to the algae I have been performing some pretty aggressive water changes. As a result, the water level can drop down below the soil line before I fill back up - resulting in a cascade of soil and plants. In general, the only truly affected plants have been the UG - to my great dismay. As a result, that plant has been up-rooted and re-planted about 3 times now. The first time was due to my attempt to vaccuum out algae - which resulted in some minor uprooting. I realized the UG in general was pretty badly infected with hair algae and decided to uproot all of it and salvage as many healthy portions as I could. But the rest came as a result of two particularly aggressive water changes. I suppose I was banking on carpeting plants to hold the soil's shape more tightly - but the bluff I created with stone really has provided the perfect scenario for disaster. When shaken loose, that packed up soil stacked much steeper than it should comes tumbling over the bluff. With no glass to catch it, it continues rolling. It's not a total disaster and I'm certainly exaggerating the severity. But still, poor design on my end.
Over the past 4 weeks I have thus been playing with my lighting schedules and intensity, done a few replanting sessions, and also had to reconsider my flow. On the 45P I went so far as to remove the water diffuser on the outlet to give way to a much more aggressive jet to ensure adequate flow across the entire scape. I also went ahead and switched to the leaner APT zero, which contains no nitrates, on the 45P. This, combined with the lighting reduction, I hope will aid in diminishing the algae. In general, the only drastic changes to the 30CM cube were the total photoperiod.
Now for a focused look at each setup, beginning with the 45P.
This is directly before a general maintenance session. Plenty of hair algae to go around. Despite the algae, I will say the plants are actually quite healthy. I trimmed down all of the Vallisneria and chainswords as well as the two Alternanthera sp about 2 weeks ago. Both have continued to grow and sprout new, healthy leaves. The S Repens in the front aren't faring quite as well but are hanging on. I also trimmed down all of the stems on the right side. The Ludwigia finally transitioned to aquatic form (that bare stem is the leftover emergent stem with old foliage removed due to shading). It took its time and unlike the transitioning Rotala in the 30cm did not sprout new shoots but instead transitioned vertically in a gradient fashion with its leaves slowly becoming more narrow.
The UG, despite the constant harassment, actually seems to be quite healthy. Thick, green foliage with bladders and runners creeping across the soil. There are some areas of new growth beginning to sprout up. Overall I have seen no more signs of melt after the first week and only healthy and consistent growth. It may now be a while before a full carpet due to the abuse - I may be inclined to buy some more if it really seems it will take too long. But since these portions are now fully acclimated to the setup, perhaps they will begin to grow more rapidly. I think I will soon begin dosing the proton to see if that bolsters any growth. Another point of interest is the intense coloration of the 2 Alternanthera SP. Much more brilliant than in the 30cm. Growing in densely with no problems, although we'll see how that fares once those leaves grow to their full size. Above also is a closer photo of the Ludwigia. Truly beautiful but extremely slow growing. I realize now why mixed bushes are uncommon. In order to give this plant this light it needs I had to sacrifice and shade some of the Rotala surrounding it. In the coming weeks I will separate it towards the back both in this setup and the 30cm cube. The moss is growing aggressively but most of the epiphyte plants are in rough shape battling algae. I will note that the 2 portions of Anubias sp white that were planted in shady areas are doing quite well.
I will continue to fight the good fight against this algae, performing water changes, almost daily scrubbing and manual removal, and keeping an eye on CO2 levels and lighting. As algae is opportunistic, I will attempt not to change too much more in the hopes that more stability will do the plants some good. Just yesterday I performed another water test which resulted in 0's in Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate, communicating to me that there isn't a biological balance issue at play here but truly a lighting and nutrient imbalance. The pH read at 6.4 (at peak CO2 saturation) and my GH was at 7 with a KH of 3. All favorable parameters.
Finally, a photo post-trim. I have resorted to more aggressive trimming and removal of algae-infested foliage. It's an aggressive cycle, however, damaging the plants and thus stressing them, perhaps inviting more algae. The same is true of adjusting my fertilizers and lighting. Now that those adjustments are made, I can only hope stability will come through to balance things out.
Updates on the 30CM cube are much more brief. The water parameters are identical in that setup so I'll skip that.
One change of note is that I did end up giving up on the Elatine Hydropiper. After 3 weeks it was entirely melted with no signs of new shoots. My priority with this scape is to reach a stable garden stage as soon as possible and didn't want to spend the extra time on that specific plant with all of the other issues I am facing. I simply transplanted my S. Repens to the foreground - they're a proven performer and can be quite beautiful when densely grown-in. I also gave up on the Rotala Florida. It was in a shaded area and wasn't growing fast enough to compete with the more aggressive stems. Perhaps I'll try it again once this scape has grown in. In it's place I left a larger open patch and populated that with the Hygrophila SP. Chai. For right now, it gets plenty of light and I'll live with the empty space behind it to give it some space from the stems. It has transitioned well and is sprouting those lovely pink leaves. In the future it really should be placed in front of the Alternanthera cluster as that will grow much taller and potentially shade it out with time. The bonsai is doing just fine, steadily growing and with no signs of melt. It's a good sign for me as, like I mentioned before, I struggled with this plant in my first setup. The rest of the stems are doing OK. I bit leggy and not growing evenly due to the sporadic planting of the Ludwigia sp white. That plant was so big and tall, and as it was transitioning I didn't want to bother it, so it shaded out some of the surrounding stems. In a few weeks I will transplant all of it to the back corner. I most likely will uproot all of the stems, cull off the unhealthy ones, and replant the best looking tops at a consistent height. This scape has already gone through 2 trimming cycles. I would estimate it will be looking much nicer in another month or so.
This concludes a long and very overdue update for the past 4 weeks. I held off mostly out of embarrassment if I'm being honest. As far as questions are concerned, I only have 1 regarding the 45P. I feel good about the reduced lighting setup I have running now but am a bit worried about the fertilizer dosing. As it is still a new setup, I am assuming the soil (tropica) has plenty of nutrients in it still. At the same time, I wonder if completely cutting of nitrates when the bio load is still very load will actually be detrimental to the plants and give the algae more opportunity to thrive. The 3rd sin I committed was changing multiple things at once (photoperiod, flow, fertilizers, and CO2) to try to solve all of my problems. Perhaps I was too harsh? As of now, 2 weeks into the fertilization change, there are no visible detriments to the plants. That's all from me, cheers,
Daniel
