My freshwater planted nano tank project

[Galsia]

Any idea how to get rid of brown algae/diatoms from a newly established tank? Its killing my dwarf hairgrass.

[Turn7]

These....

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Galsia said:

Any idea how to get rid of brown algae/diatoms from a newly established tank? Its killing my dwarf hairgrass.

Brown diatoms are fairly standard in a new tank. It's a phase that a new tank goes through for a couple of months, before the diatoms suddenly pack their bags and disappear.

In the meantime, perform water changes frequently - perhaps 50% twice a week. And consider reducing the intensity and/or duration of lighting.

We could do with some more detail though. Tank size? Type and wattage of lights? Length of photoperiod? Fertilisation regime? CO₂?

And yes, a couple of Otocinclus will help.

[Galsia]

It got a Juwel Vision 180 but there are only 140 litres of water in the tank due to substrate and rocks.

Its got two standard T5 bulbs with reflectors, lights on for 12 hours per day on a timer. Fertilition is the standard regime from The Nutrient Company (I got the recommendation from you ); Macro solution Sat, Mon, Wed. Trace solution Sun, Tue. Liquid CO2 each day.

I've got 5 Otos in there now. I've already got Cherry and Amano Shrimp.

[Oakey]

Nice tank, been looking at those myself.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Galsia said:

It got a Juwel Vision 180 but there are only 140 litres of water in the tank due to substrate and rocks.

Its got two standard T5 bulbs with reflectors, lights on for 12 hours per day on a timer. Fertilition is the standard regime from The Nutrient Company (I got the recommendation from you ); Macro solution Sat, Mon, Wed. Trace solution Sun, Tue. Liquid CO2 each day.

I've got 5 Otos in there now. I've already got Cherry and Amano Shrimp.

That's way too long a photoperiod. Reduce it to 6-7 hours. You can gradually increase it once the diatom problem is sorted. I made the same sort of mistake in the early days of my nano tank - I reduced the time to about 6 hours. It's now back up to about 8 hours.

[Galsia]

Knocking it down to 6 hours cleared it up in a day or two. Going to ramp it up slowly to 7 hours and see how it goes. Dwarf hairgrass looks healthy but it isn't growing (at least above the substrate) from what I can see.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Great news!

It is amazing how quickly the algae will pack its bags and disappear once you find the right parameter to tweak.

Now, if I could just find a similar cure for duckweed, which is currently infesting my tank. I have started using "Ecopond duckweed control" in my pond - maybe I'll scale the dosage down and try it in the nano tank. It'll require a homeopathic dose!

[Oakey]

There's an alien in my tank, living in a tiny gap under some rocks. Not sure what it is, possibly a snail of some sort. It's the same sort of colour as my Amano shrimp but it's about the size of half a pea.

Edited by Oakey on Monday 3rd October 17:21

[SeeFive]

Oakey said:

There's an alien in my tank, living in a tiny gap under some rocks. Not sure what it is, possibly a snail of some sort. It's the same sort of colour as my Amano shrimp but it's about the size of half a pea.

Edited by Oakey on Monday 3rd October 17:21

Looks like a pond snail. Probably crept in on a new plant or something. They breed like billyho, especially if you are a bit generous with the fish food.

My baby shrimp spotted the other day has now turned into at least a dozen tiny little red miniatures about 2-3mm long all over the plants. Really chuffed as the CPDs seem to ignore them, so chances of survival may be fair.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Oakey said:

There's an alien in my tank, living in a tiny gap under some rocks. Not sure what it is, possibly a snail of some sort. It's the same sort of colour as my Amano shrimp but it's about the size of half a pea.

Could be a bladder snail, possibly an "acute bladder snail". They tend to be quite fast-moving by snail standards.

They will breed and become a pest, so you might want to remove it before that happens. They can reproduce asexually so even one is a potential problem.

[otolith]

This is how mine is looking at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SStiUJdv5tE

[Oakey]

Looks great, what's the really bushy stuff that's growing wildly everywhere?

[otolith]

Java moss, growing on bogwood.

[Oakey]

That's what I thought, did you have to tie it on there?

Mike, I think you're right it may be a bladder snail. Also, I can't find it now, it's no longer under the rock it was hiding under.

[otolith]

Yes, just tied it on with some very fine fishing line to begin with. It's grown enormously since then!

[Galsia]

The algae bloom may have gone but my tank is not doing too well at the moment. The dwarf hairgrass is green but does not appear to be growing vertically of carpeting at all.

I've also had two red cherry shrimp die in the last two days. Everything else looks healthy though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEQ9sVbg2lA&fe...

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

My tank went through a phase where I was losing occasional shrimps as well, at about the same stage as yours. I never did get to the bottom of it, and just suspect that shrimps need a more mature tank. If it's any consolation, my cherry shrimps (mostly blue, but some black marbled ones) settled down after a few months and started breeding at an alarming rate. I started off with 8, added another dozen, lost some, but now I reckon the population is somewhere in the hundreds.

If there's nothing detectable that's wrong (NH₃ NO₂⁻ NO₃⁻) then just hang in there, keep up your water change regime, and it might just sort itself out.

[Galsia]

I beginning to think that my water flow may not be sufficient to move nutrients around the tank, I can never see any plants moving. According to the instructions it moves up to 1450 litres per hour but I don't seem to get much agitation. Should I get another pump?

[Turn7]

When I went the planted route, water movement was deemed very important for the reason you state.Dont always believe stated flow froom pumps either.