Show me your aquarium

[Oberheim]

Nicks90 said:

Question for the more learned on here, beard algae..
My water quality is great, all well within parameters and my fish are thriving. But I just can't seem to shake bearded algae.

Last time i fully cleaned down my tank i bleached everything, substrate, filter housing, everything. Then boiled everything else and spent an age rinsing everything before starting the tank again. For a few months it's all been great, but last few weeks I've noticed it starting to grown on the plants and my ornaments again.
Really sick and tired of it.

Any ideas how to get rid of it for good?

Beard algae likes light and a decent water flow. Try reducing both in your tank if possible. A fast-growing floating plant like water spangles can really help to control algae too. It prevents a lot of light from getting to the algae once it’s growing across most of the surface and will also outcompete algae for phosphates. I have a healthy colony of water spangles covering the surface of my 60 litre and get barely any algae of any type. Water spangles allows enough light through for low-light plants such as crypts or Java fern to thrive - my crypts are doing brilliantly despite most of the surface being covered and are completely algae-free. When the surface gets too spangly for my liking, I just yank a couple of handfuls of it out. It’s bigger than duckweed, so easier to remove.

[otolith]

Recent outbreak of blue-green algae in the tropical planted tank. Getting on top of it, but still some bits left. Happened after I removed a huge amount of Christmas tree moss that was taking over, but has thrown it out of balance. I cut back the rampart anubias in the temperate planted tank and moved a load of cuttings to the tropical tank, and have added some foreground crypts.

Have also just this weekend added half a dozen yoyo loaches after looking for some for ages. They’re brilliant little beasts, loads of personality.

[budgie smuggler]

otolith said:

Recent outbreak of blue-green algae in the tropical planted tank. Getting on top of it, but still some bits left. Happened after I removed a huge amount of Christmas tree moss that was taking over, but has thrown it out of balance. I cut back the rampart anubias in the temperate planted tank and moved a load of cuttings to the tropical tank, and have added some foreground crypts.

Have also just this weekend added half a dozen yoyo loaches after looking for some for ages. They re brilliant little beasts, loads of personality.

Nice tank, love the rainbows!
But please keep an eye on that heater, I had one of that Interpet brand which got condensation inside like yours has, and it exploded (with a bang and glass went everywhere!). Eheim is a good brand if you replace it.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 9th June 09:23

[otolith]

budgie smuggler said:

But please keep an eye on that heater, I had one of that Interpet brand which got condensation inside like yours has, and it exploded (with a bang and glass went everywhere!).

I've had a few die over the years, but never explode - that's a bit worrying!

[Sway]

I never use glass heaters any more. Only titanium - preferably with a heating controller so there's an alarm if it fails (and should prevent any potential 'fail on').

Heaters are pretty much the biggest equipment cause for a tank crash iirc.

Stunning tank though! Love rainbows, but have never given them a go.

[budgie smuggler]

Sway said:

I never use glass heaters any more. Only titanium - preferably with a heating controller so there's an alarm if it fails (and should prevent any potential 'fail on').

Heaters are pretty much the biggest equipment cause for a tank crash iirc.

Stunning tank though! Love rainbows, but have never given them a go.

Ti heaters generally *must* be used with a controller, as they have no built in thermostat.

But here's a tip, don't use an Inkbird controller unless you like dealing with electrical fires and smoke damage



the bit i circled in blue was an inkbird. Luckily I caught it very early thanks to the smoke alarm waking me up.

Annoyingly though it did crack the sump (£250), and also destroy the £250 AI Nero 5 controller and the £200 return pump. Luckily no damage to the tank itself.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 9th June 10:45

[joropug]

Ouch!

On my main planted tank I am suffering a little with what I think is the aqua soil deteriorating and entering the water column, resulting in a little cloudiness of the water and the silt settling on the glass.

I've been doing regular water changes and rinsing the filter in clean tank water. Have some fine filter floss coming today which I'll add to the filter media to see if that helps. It's particularly noticeable if I have the lights bright and is spoiling the tank a bit.

I've done some aggressive substrate cleaning and a lot of silt comes out will see how it goes.

A bit annoying as the shop said not to bother capping it l, but in hindsight all of my research suggests best to cap it.

So. Plan is when I get some time, is to buy a wider siphon without a filter and to suck up about 1 inch of aqua soil around the tank.

I'm then going to buy black sand and carefully apply it over tank. The biggest complication is all of the plants, don't want to disturb them. Wish me luck...



It doesn't look too bad but when you compare it to my new tank which is crystal clear.... I have aqua soil in the far corner , raised and capped with sand all over. Was very pleased how the hardacape turned out. I used a hammer to destroy one piece to create a rockfall natural effect.









The white filter is temporary as it is matured, I needed to move the fish so used mature water and the filter to kickstart it. The permanent filter is built into the corner section and there is a convenient slot for a heater to be housed in the filter too, but it was a bit small so I got the Dremel out! I did smooth it don't worry:



Got this tank for £100 all in brand new from gumtree. Really pleased with it and came with some pricey plastic ornaments I'll sell, the sand and some fluids, filter, heater, light etc .

In other news my tank full of 270 Guppy fry has been dismantled , I sold about 210/220 to someone for £70 and rehomed about 50 across the two tanks. The colours are really starting to come out on them now.

Edited by joropug on Tuesday 9th June 11:06

[otolith]

Sway said:

I never use glass heaters any more. Only titanium - preferably with a heating controller so there's an alarm if it fails (and should prevent any potential 'fail on').

Heaters are pretty much the biggest equipment cause for a tank crash iirc.

Yeah, the reason that the other planted tank at my house up north is temperate is that I had a heater get stuck on and lost everything except the bristlenose catfish. I replaced the heater and put the bristlenoses back in, but with an eye on the electricity costs (it's in an unheated conservatory) I set it to 18C and added danios, Florida flagfish, and Brochis catfish. It's been running happily like that for a couple of years, but I recently added some platies and mollies - may come to regret that, they are less prolific breeders at lower temperatures, but the tank is warm during the summer.

Sway said:

Stunning tank though! Love rainbows, but have never given them a go.

Thanks - it's a bit out of balance at the moment, but I'll get on top of it. The rainbows tend not to be any trouble. I'd have liked to go Amazonian again just because of the diversity of species available, but the water here is very hard and it always feels like a losing battle. I used to buy RO water when I lived in Wiltshire, and before that I used to run tapwater through a massive bin full of peat, but south east Asian seemed a path of less resistance. At least the bristlenose catfish in the clean-up crew are tough as old boots!