March 27th 05, 12:24 AM
Heya Peeps,
About 6 months ago I swapped out my inert sand substrate for red
flourite -
looks great!
I went a bit wild and bought a bunch of plants and planted it up with
more
variety than I usualy have (used to have 1 type of weed only : )
The plants were pretty thick when planting, and I didn't cull them, so
I had
to clear out the die-back later on, during which this thick, spiderweb
/
cotton wool algae had decided to cover everything.
Anyway, seeing as the only fish I have are bottom dwellers, I didn't
bother
filling the tank past half way, cause it still needed a lot of work.
This week I've had to clear out the brown cotton wool algae again, it
had
taken over everything, including the surface.
Reading through group history, seems like everyone's advice is to make
competition for the algae, so:
- I'm leaving the lighting as is - 1 fluro tube for ~10 hrs for a 60 *
90 *
120cm tank with reflected sunlight in the afternoon. (1 fluro is not
enough
to maintain these plants I bought, thinking of getting another).
- I've cleaned the filter - something I tend to do once a year hehe.
Did you
know fish-do's can burn your skin? I now have red spots up my arms
where I
got splashed and didn't wash it for half an hour.
- I'll be filling the tank to the top, should give the plants much more
growing room and increases the volume of water per fish.
- I had the slow ehiem output bar installed (ready for my CO2
experiments
later), algae seemed to love slow water (it had made the surface all
gooy)
so I've reinstalled the smaller fast bar, and am using it to blow the
water
round lots.
I've been thinking of making a yeast CO2 reactor, as soon as I get
another
light. I guess that plan just got shelved until I get this damn algae
under
control.
Any other hints? (FYI, I initially thought the spider web algae was
generated by one of the plants dieing back - some sort of kamikazie
weed? If
I'm dieing back, I'm taking the rest of you out with me! That's not the
case
is it?)
Any hints on how to clean this crap up? I've tried sucking it out, but
there's always more. It's all caught in the leaves and growing on the
stems,
so I've been stiring up the water hoping my filter will make short work
of
it...
Oh, I should say a little about my fish:
1 adult Clown Loach (his best friend died : (
3 adult Pletco-whatsits 'suckers' and an assortment of babies who can
never
be counted and/or have been eaten.
It's a pain in the arse that the Plecy's don't like cotton wool algae
for
breakfast!
LiFe.
About 6 months ago I swapped out my inert sand substrate for red
flourite -
looks great!
I went a bit wild and bought a bunch of plants and planted it up with
more
variety than I usualy have (used to have 1 type of weed only : )
The plants were pretty thick when planting, and I didn't cull them, so
I had
to clear out the die-back later on, during which this thick, spiderweb
/
cotton wool algae had decided to cover everything.
Anyway, seeing as the only fish I have are bottom dwellers, I didn't
bother
filling the tank past half way, cause it still needed a lot of work.
This week I've had to clear out the brown cotton wool algae again, it
had
taken over everything, including the surface.
Reading through group history, seems like everyone's advice is to make
competition for the algae, so:
- I'm leaving the lighting as is - 1 fluro tube for ~10 hrs for a 60 *
90 *
120cm tank with reflected sunlight in the afternoon. (1 fluro is not
enough
to maintain these plants I bought, thinking of getting another).
- I've cleaned the filter - something I tend to do once a year hehe.
Did you
know fish-do's can burn your skin? I now have red spots up my arms
where I
got splashed and didn't wash it for half an hour.
- I'll be filling the tank to the top, should give the plants much more
growing room and increases the volume of water per fish.
- I had the slow ehiem output bar installed (ready for my CO2
experiments
later), algae seemed to love slow water (it had made the surface all
gooy)
so I've reinstalled the smaller fast bar, and am using it to blow the
water
round lots.
I've been thinking of making a yeast CO2 reactor, as soon as I get
another
light. I guess that plan just got shelved until I get this damn algae
under
control.
Any other hints? (FYI, I initially thought the spider web algae was
generated by one of the plants dieing back - some sort of kamikazie
weed? If
I'm dieing back, I'm taking the rest of you out with me! That's not the
case
is it?)
Any hints on how to clean this crap up? I've tried sucking it out, but
there's always more. It's all caught in the leaves and growing on the
stems,
so I've been stiring up the water hoping my filter will make short work
of
it...
Oh, I should say a little about my fish:
1 adult Clown Loach (his best friend died : (
3 adult Pletco-whatsits 'suckers' and an assortment of babies who can
never
be counted and/or have been eaten.
It's a pain in the arse that the Plecy's don't like cotton wool algae
for
breakfast!
LiFe.