Start from scratch after 3 months?

Guys,
I am thinking about starting my 100l community:dry: tank again. It has been running for about 3 months and is a bit of a mess. Or should I have some patience?

Brief story:
Started with 100 liter fluval. Playsand, plants and some panda corys and ottos.

The ottos died an now I have the corys and a pair of Kribs.
I went from an internal filter to an external filter when green(white) algae started to take over. It made no difference. I bought a UV sterilizer and ruined the hose on the external while trying to fit the sterilizer. So now I am back to the internal temporarily. The algae is getting worse.
Bodged up a sytem for the UV sterilzer which make the tank look unsightly.



What do you think? Will starting over agin make any difference?

Definitely.
That is one ugly tank dude.
Only joking. it has potential, just get rid of Spongebob.

Spongebob is gone. Maybe he was keeping it ship shape when I was not looking.

Will starting again get me anywhere? Maybe just taking out the castle thing might make it look less dirty until I get the Algae sorted.
The first picture is about 1 month into the setup. The last 2 were taken last night.

Hi there - is the tank getting a lot of sunlight?

No point starting again if the same problem will happen albeit after a while.
Best try & sort it out this time around & save yourself from having to cycle the tank again.

There has to be a reason for the algae - I would make that no. 1 priority

Once that is sorted then there's nothing to hold you back from changing it anyway you like!

It would get very little external light. It is at the end of a north facing room.

It is the green (floating) algae that is annoying me. The algae on the glass and ornaments only really took hold when the ottos died. Its a lot easier to get rid of that algae.

I am going to remove the castle. Give the glass a good clean. Hoover the sand with gravel cleaner. 40-50% water change and leave it all for a few days with the UV sterilzer. Then I will decide after that.

Sounds like a good plan.

How long do you leave the lights on for each day?
Could you possibly be overfeeding?

The algae will only survive if there is enough food for it.
If there is a lot of light or excess nutrients in the water it will thrive...

Might be an idea to leave the lights off & feed very sparingly for a week once you've done your clean-up.
Your existing plants might suffer without light bit if it sorts out the algae....

Hi dclifford,

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...it,10/limitstart,20/

Check this thread out, it might help you finding a solution.

I hope this helps.
Kindest regards,
Valerie

Very good thread. Just seeing the pictures gives me hope.
I think I will run the UV sterilizer for a while. I have the lights on a timer. I will try to reduce this for the long term.

Hi dclifford,

Curious what that water parameters are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temp..- have you excessive nitrates etc?

When you switched from one filter to the other did you bring across the filter media from the internal and put into the external ? If you didn't then you may have triggered another tank cycle. What I see in the picture looks like a cycle prior to completion...

I would not rush off to start again, going through a tank cycling takes a while. You mentioned that your Oto's died - do you know what of ?

Cheers,

Monty

A UV will only solve a green water problem, it will not clear algae that's attached to objects in the tank.

As you'll see from other threads, this is due to an imbalance in your tank. Getting the right amount of fertiliser and light to get the balance between plant growth and algae isn't easy and takes some trial and error.

I had a serious problem in my community tank and got it under control through reducing light from 10 to eight hours per day. I also add a small amount of fertiliser. You want your plants growing sufficiently so they out compete the algae for nutrients.

The third thing I did was to increase the volume of water changed from 20 to 40%.

I still have some algae, but I'm guessing that it's down to high phosphates in my tap water - 0.5mg/l.

Starting again will have little effect. You need to treat the cause by finding where the imbalance lies.

I completed a 40% water change last night. Scrubbed the glass and removed the big castle. Slighlty re-routed the UV sterilizer. It looks a lot better and I am feeling better about it.

I think the surface algae took over since the otos died. I never normally had to clean the glass or ornaments.

I only ever found 1 of the otos dead. I think there was some some cotton wool type fungus on the tip of its nose.

On this tank I think I might be guilty of excessive light. Since the sand is nearly white, I think it could be reflecting more light back up. It is timed for 10 hours. I will try to drop it down to 8 or 9 on the timer.

On the filter media question, When I went from the internal to the external I used 1 of the 2 sponges from it. When I went back to the internal the sponge went back into that, I also have a sponge and tray of 1 ceramic type things from the external sitting in the tank.

You should definitely drop the time the lights are on down to eight hours. 10 is excessive.

What about them there algae removing products?
Anyone ever use them?

I tried \"Green Away\" for about 3 weeks, it is design for Green water. It made no difference.

I wouldn't recommend the algae removing products. Regardless of what they say, most will harm plants. Anyway, they only treat the symptom, not the cause.

Agree with above posts, the only algae treatment i know that works (even black brush/hair algae) and doesnt affect plants is protalon 707 by esha, amazing product!

I got a nice suprise when I got home from work. The tank is running on about 4 hrs of light at the moment and the UV steriliser. I am going to up the lights to 8 hrs tomorrow.



I can even see fish now:

I have found the best way of getting your algae problem to disappear is live plants lots of them... they compete with the algae for food and generally win if you have enough of them plus it'll make the tank look brilliant if you plant it right:woohoo:

Great news about the reduction of your algae problem. Defiantely the steps you have taken so far seem to be working.

I wouldnt rush to up the lighting. Why bother? Your plants wont mind at all for a few more days, so I would leave it at 4 hours for another week. Watch your plants closely and if any show signs of \"browning out\" then you can up the light.

Also, Id advise caution on the introduction of lots more plants.

Yes, they can be a great way of keeping algae down, but remember, plants only grow as much as their needs are met.

In other words, plants are limited by the lowest need in your tank. i.e. if you have loads of light, but no CO2 then they can only grow to what the available CO2 allows them.
If you have loads of light and CO2 but a lack of nutrients, then the plants will only grow to whatever the low nutrient level allows.

...Whereas algae are God's survivors! They adapt and change to meet whatever they can get from your tank. If the light is good, but there is no CO2, no problem, they will break down other nutrients to get it, or they will switch their working to get a different nutrient to allow them to continue growing.

End result is always the same - lots of slow growing, algae covered plants, and the algae thrives.

The only true way to allow plants to outcompete algae is to ensure your plants get EVERYTHING they need.

One great product for helping your plants AND removing algae is Seachem Excel. Its a liquid form of carbon for the plants, but it has a great side effect of removing algae

Bit expensive, but maybe worth it in your case?

This is the latest photo. UV sterilizer has now been removed and placed on another tank.

Hi dclifford,

Some difference in just a week ! WOW ! Well done !

Valerie

I agree with Valerie, great job and keep up the good work!
You are definately making headway.