10 Gallon Tank I lost the battle against Algae. I'm going to try again.

I've now been in the hobby for two years, but failed against algae the entire time. My first tank was not planted. That was my fault.
My new 10 gallon is planted, and I even spent the money on Co2 to try to combat algae.

I think my buggest issue this time is not enough plants. And my fish requires higher temps (81-85) since it's a German Blue Ram, and I picked some plants that require colder temps (my mistake). Those plants aren't growing, and algae is taking over.

I'm going to start over one more time and re-plant the entire tank. I don't want to give up on this hobby, but algae keeps winning and I'm getting frustrated. I tried nerite snails. They ate a lot of algae and biofilm, but they also pooped so much that it was worse than having algae. My entire tank was covered in snail poop before long. So I donated them to the local pet store.

My plan now is to remove all the plants, and hairgrass. Instead, I'm planning to add some plants which are tolerant to warmer water, and easier:
6 anubias
4 java ferns
and a bunch of hornwort

Attached a photo of my hardscape.

My questions:

- If I do this new setup with these low tech plants. Since I already own the co2 tank and already invested the money in co2, should I still use co2 anyway? I know these plants don't need co2, but it can't hurt either. All plants can benefit from co2, right?
- I know anubias and java ferns are slow growing, but if I add a bunch of hornwort too, do you think this will be enough plants to help resolve my algae issues?
- I know that to avoid algae, I need to have the right balance of Co2, nutrients, and light. Where should I try to start? Since these are low light plants, should I try only 6 hours of co2 and light, and a low dose amount of fertilizers? I use PPS-Pro dosing. Or should I do more like 8-10 hours of light with Co2?

 

I wouldn’t do any co2 if their low light plants. Add some Anacharis to float around your tank and maybe even a couple pothos hanging outta your tank to help wit the nitrates. 6 hours is a good place to start wit your light schedule
What r u planning on stocking the tank with? Probably wouldn’t do GBR’s again… might wanna try a shrimp tank or ember tetras n a couple nerites once it’s well established

 

What sort of light? Do you know the PAR level you can achieve? If it's bright enough for hi tech it would be a shame to waste your CO2 equipment. Load the tank with plants, inject CO2 and algae will not have a chance to compete.

 

What sort of light? Do you know the PAR level you can achieve? If it's bright enough for hi tech it would be a shame to waste your CO2 equipment. Load the tank with plants, inject CO2 and algae will not have a chance to compete.

I use this light:

NICREW SkyLED Plus

PAR@12" in air - 95
LUX@12" in air - 6300

Are you suggesting I could get the Java ferns, Annubias, and hornwort and keep using my Co2?

I'm still keeping the German Blue Ram so I need to use plants that can tolerate 82+ degrees.

 

That's plenty of light I just wondered why you were getting algae with your hi tech setup. Providing plenty of light, nutrients and CO2 along with large weekly water changes normally facilitates lots of plant growth to the detriment of algae. What sort of algae was it?

Anyway if you'd prefer to lower light intensity and still inject CO2 you can certainly do that. There's plenty of articles on that topic online. Just for starters:

Is CO2 beneficial for low light planted tanks?

 

That's plenty of light I just wondered why you were getting algae with your hi tech setup. Providing plenty of light, nutrients and CO2 along with large weekly water changes normally facilitates lots of plant growth to the detriment of algae. What sort of algae was it?

Anyway if you'd prefer to lower light intensity and still inject CO2 you can certainly do that. There's plenty of articles on that topic online. Just for starters:

Is CO2 beneficial for low light planted tanks?

Here was my tank while it was cycling. 0 Algae with temp at 73 degrees. Once cycled, I had to increase temp to 82 degrees to add my German Blue Ram. That's when the red plants started dying (probably too warm?) and algae bloomed all over the place.

I attached a photo of the algae. With the red plants dying, and mostly just hairgrass in the tank, algae bloomed like crazy. It looks like a brown hair type of algae. (See attached photos). Someone told me my light might be too strong. So I bought a dimmer and reduced it to about 50-60%, but still have crazy amounts of algae growing every day. Keep in mind, the red plants started dying with high temperature, so my only plants left were the hairgrass -- so maybe that's why algae was taking over?

I noticed that a lot of the plants that tolerate high temps in the 80's are low tech plants, such as Anubias, Java Fern, Hornwort. So this is why I'm considering to start over with my plants and re-do it with low tech plants and co2. I love my German Blue Ram, and I don't want to change the type of fish I have in the tank.

Your thoughts?

 

My tank temp gets a bit warmer (over 84F) in mid summer and I do notice a bit of extra algae during that time but it's manageable and my plants don't die off. I think the die off may have contributed to your algae issue, e.g:

How to control fuzz/hair/thread algae (filamentous algae)

82F is not that warm. Was the red plant A. reineckii? It's supposed to be ok up to 86F. Maybe there was another reason for the die off or maybe the increase was a bit too rapid?

 

My tank temp gets a bit warmer (over 84F) in mid summer and I do notice a bit of extra algae during that time but it's manageable and my plants don't die off. I think the die off may have contributed to your algae issue, e.g:

How to control fuzz/hair/thread algae (filamentous algae)

82F is not that warm. Was the red plant A. reineckii? It's supposed to be ok up to 86F. Maybe there was another reason for the die off or maybe the increase was a bit too rapid?

The red plants were Alternanthera Reineckii Rosanervig. When I first planted it, the first week at 73 degrees, it turned VERY healthy and nice looking.

Then, I changed temp to 83 degrees to add my German Blue Ram, and the plant was growing tall so I trimmed the stem about 50%... After that, it just went downhill. Leaves started turning transparent and it started dying... now they are almost totally dead looking.

Any idea why that happened? I'm dosing PPS-Pro daily, 9-10 hours light, and plenty of co2. I have no idea why the red plants started dying. Was 83 degrees to high?

Do you think my plan to go with just Java Ferns, Anubias, and Hornwort with a little bit of co2 is a good idea? I want plants that can thrive in 82-84 degrees for my German Blue Ram -- and hopefully to be able to control this algae problem.

 

Too low ratio of plant mass to water volume combined with too strong lights will result in filamentous algae.

Hence Iwagumi setups / large area of carpet plants are for the experienced, in my humble view. Although a very shallow tanks help anyone trying to pursue this (hence, Iwagumi are typically shallow tanks).

Hence, I would give up on large areas of carpets and focus on plants that grow upwards in order to increase the overall plant mass. This way, you can also start with dimming your lights somewhat. They require less light than carpets and it only triggers them to grow upwards.

Once, plants start to take off, you can gradually increase light strength, allowing light to further penetrate in the water + trigger red pigments of certain plants. Don't focus on the red pigments, initially.

Just my take.

 

I would load up on the Hornwart and/or consider adding Water Sprite or Water Lettuce. Fast growing plants that can handle a nutrient overload should cut down on algae some. When your other plants become more established you can take them out if you like.

Also, how much are you feeding your fish? Overfeeding could be partially responsible for a nutrient overload. You could plop in a snail or two as well.

 

you can try 3 hours on, 1 hour off, in cycles like that, algae is a pretty simple organism, and can't adjust as easily as plants do to restart photosynthesis. in theory the algae should struggle to conduct photosynthesis and starve and lose ability to produce spores, needing 4 continuous hours or more.

in practice, this might just trade one type for another, like diatoms (brown dust algae)......
But I'd say it's worth a shot.