For how long is an new tank considered new?

Although I've had my tank up and going for a couple years I'm still in the beginner stage as I really am learning tons. I keep reading about diatoms and new tanks - well I've had this persistent pesky brown algae for the duration of my tank being set up. I keep thinking I'm doing something wrong and I'm sure I am.

I have a 10 gallon fresh water that currently houses 6 tetras, a female betta, a ghost shrimp and a snail (had two other shrimps but they both died). I have an anubias, bacopa, micro sword, and a hemigraphis, marimo, and a lucky bamboo (considering taking it out). The plants are all fairly new, about a month with the exception of the bamboo which has been in the tank from the beginning.

I have recently changed my lighting as the hood I had was old and broke, it was the cheap kind that came with the tank and held two incandescent bulbs, one side stopped working, the other side had an Aqueon 50/50 10 watt bulb. My poor fishies and plants were not on a regular lighting schedule. My job has me away for 36 hours+ at a time and I'd alternate leaving lights on during one trip and leaving them off for another (not anymore, we are on a timer now!) I now have a Mairineland Advanced LED with daylight and lunar LEDs - 660 Lumens 7500K with an automatic timer (Have had it for 3 days now).


I do weekly water changes of 25% and find that every time I clean the tank I uproot some plants (try not to). I almost always run my tap water through my Britta water filter before going into the tank (is this ok?). I use API products mostly - recently switched from prime to API (the odor of prime water conditioner makes me nauseous). I also change out the carbon filter when its dirty, about once a month (however I've been reading on the forum that people rinse the filter in the dirty water and re-use - or planted aquariums don't need them at all - confused here).

I have a whisper 10I (are these actually any good? and does the bio scrubber actually do its job?). Would a filter with a biowheel be better, or a canister filter?

I keep the water about 76 degrees, my heater sits under my filter hoping that the current helps with moving the warm water around (insufficiently - or so says my thermometer when I move it around).

I probably feed too much... I love watching them eat and they usually eat everything within just a few minutes - mr. shrimp gobbles up what manages to hit the floor. I use different types of food - HikarI micro pellets, Tetra Tropical Flakes and Sally's freshwater multI pack frozen food along with algae wafers which I break up and put a few pieces in the tank a couple times a week (they never last long, betta loves them). I do not feed all types at the same time, I rotate them. I usually feed in the morning and at night. Sometimes they get lunch too.... There's never left overs either the fish eat it all up or the shrimp finds it.

Plants have a two year old ECO-Complete substrate (has it lost its usefulness?). I use API plant tabs and monthly API Leaf Zone, and daily API CO2 Boost. None of my Bacopa plants look very healthy, my Anubias looks ok but the roots are starting to turn brown (possibly because I cannot keep it from floating, so I put a rock on the roots to keep it down). The Hemigraphis isn't as vibrant as it was in my petstore's tank, Micro Sword seems to be doing well... bamboo - meh, its slowing looking worse but roots are white.

I also have a fairly large piece of drift wood in the tank.

I've been using the API tester strips which I'm learning aren't very accurate (are they adequate for my set up?) my tank consistently sits at

GH 180
KH 120
PH 7.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

So I tried to give as much info about my tank as I could - hopefully I'm along the right path but if not, please direct me to a better one.



Should I consider more shrimp and possibly an algae loving snail? If yes, how many and what kinds?


Thank you for taking the time to lend me some educations :;alien

 

Since when did these frequent blooms start to occur? White / cloudy white is an indication of a new tank(usually). Yours might be from DOC (dissolved organic compounds) might be a rotting leaf somewhere, rotting fish (yellow water tint), or rotting uneaten food. As you have been overfeeding it might be that issue. It might also be diatoms when you suddenly changed your lighting schedule. Also a nitrate of zero is unusual, it indicates that the tank is uncycled. What are your filter medias? If you change out your filter media every month maybe you are always undergoing cycling of the tank.

 

I'm pretty sure I have the diatoms, it grows everywhere, plants, driftwood, outside the filter, on the heater on the aquarium sides. All the filter has for media is activated charcoal. I change just that, I leave the bio scrubber alone. The water is always clear. No dead fish - removed the shrimp that died, everyone else seems healthy. I'm starting to wonder if I'm killing off that good bacteria.... The brown algae (diatoms) have hung around over a year. I usually take the driftwood out and scrub it under warm water to get all the brown algae off..

 

I know that mostly people use carbon filters to remove medications on the water, if it is possible, upgrade your filter to something that would allow you to add more filter media. Maybe the next one in line for your filter or aquaclear 20. Add media filter such as ceramic rings, sponges, and filterfloss. Measure the amount of food you give, general rule is what they eat in 2-3 mins. Twice a day is ok. It is better to underfeed than to overfeed, usual dying off of fish is linked to overfeeding. Also only wash filter media during water change in old tank water as chlorine kills of the BB.

 

Ok... Questions. I do actually have an aqueon 20 (was too much flow for my 5yro betta - he's gone now).

So I can switch filters - I will keep the old media in the new filter. I can easily add the ceramic rings, but do they go in the filter on on the aquarium floor?

Sponge and filter floss, how do I use them?

 

Here, I found a good guide to proper filter placement.

 

Thank you! That did help - well, the link didn't work but I still found the info.

I am convinced I'd been removing all the BB with every cleaning. Ugh. Well, I know now and I've made changes. Now it's it waiting game.