Hello all It’s been long time since i posted something here and the reason for that some great members of this forum who helped me to create a perfect and stable tank but now i need some help to do this one more time. So here is the story: I always wanted a high tech planted tank but after some research and looking at the costs of the equipment i realized that it will be very expensive to turn my 30 gallon tank in to a high tech planted tank and besides I should removed all the residents of the tank since the early stages of a planted tank the water is very unstable. I had a spare 9 gallon tank so I decided to turn this tank to a high tech planted tank. In the past 8 months I bought special light,tropica substrate, a small filter but strong enough and set up a hand made CO2 system. 15 days ago I prepared the tank and bought these plants: monte carlo grass, ludwigia, hair grass, hydrocotyle, rotala bonsai, pogostemon stellatus sp octopus, Phoenix moss and weeping moss. I also bought 2 rocks and a big driftwood. I planted the plants and made a simple acquascape(or try to) and filled the tank. Here is a photo: At first some problems acquired like the driftwood wasn’t heavy enough(i put a big rock on it) or I accidentally broke my defuser( i replace it with that ugly plastic cup) but all those problems took care of. After 2 weeks lots of changes happened. The good news is that all of my plants except hair grass are showing new growing some of them like ludwigia are fast others like Monte Carlo are slow and although my hair grass is not growing but there are no signs of melting. But despite that plants adjusted quickly there are numbers of troubles too. The biggest one is brown algae which i know it is common for new tanks. Reading the problems which cause this algae im suspecting that it is my nitrite. Ammonia readings gone very quickly but my first number of nitrite was 10ppm( don’t worry I didn’t put any fish in there) this number decreased to 7ppm after couple of days and stayed there then it dropped to 3ppm and was stabled for one week and tonight when I checked it was almost disappeared but this brown algae still existed and it is bothering me too much since it’s covered my hair grass and my rotala bonsai stems also it is covering my driftwood too.What is the best way to get rid of this?? I kept some pest snails(bladder I guess) to clean this but they are slow. The second problem is happened after my nitrite starts to go down there are number of creatures in my tank. I know one of them are Diatom worms they are on my glass but their number aren’t high and i have no idea why they are on glass not substrate I don’t drop any food in this tank any ideas?? I know the second guest as well and I just noticed them today. I spotted several hydras sticking themselves to my pogostemon how can i get rid of these guys I only knew that gourami like to eat them but i have no mind to add one. The third one is something that I don’t know and im suspected that hydras are using them as food they are very small so I cannot take their pictures their color is white and they are roundish and can see they have very tiny legs/antennae too they are swimming /walking on my glass like insect but i can see them on my wood and floating in the water any ideas about them?? Im very sorry that i made this long but I wanted too explain everything
Your not going to like what i'm going to say, but since i've made these past mistakes before I can reflect back and tell you how i should of handled my problem. The hydra you might be able to get rid of the by physically removing them. I would recommend a gourami, but that's out. The rest of the hitchhikers won't leave. If your still very early in the process. you might consider a tear down. That would give you some time to actually plan out a scape. Normally, it takes me about a month tweaking the design. Go with only tissue cultured plants. The pests you described sound a bit like freshwater skuds which are beneficial. That is actually the only pest i introduce to my aquariums. As for the co2 system, i used to use a diy system and eventually moved to actual system. They are much more reliable and are better for plant health. I spent 120 on the entire system by buying all the pieces separate. If the co2 systems are marketed towards aquariums the prices shoot up in commarison to if they are marketed to beer making. I've got a 10 gallon co2 tank running and it only costs 8 dollars to fill up every 6 months. As for aquascapeing, i highly recommend smaller decor. While you can achieve a pleasant look with a center piece in the middle, this is very hard and i recommend moving the piece off center to create interest. The piece also dwarfs the aquarium. Lastly, if you are going to let the aquarium run, i recommend you replant the top parts of the ludwigia. The bottoms aren't healthy and are probably going to deteriote soon.
Thanks for replying Im actually have no problem with some unwanted guest in my tank as long as their numbers are checked. Of all those creatures that I mentioned only hydra is a problem since I don’t know what eats it. As for CO2 system im actually looking for a good system from diy. The problem is the shop that im buying my supplies is only selling big companies stuff(like ADA, tropica,Ista and...) and they are super expensive. Im looking to other shops but so far I only found CO2 disposable cans. What do you mean by replanting top parts?? Should i cut the down parts and then plant it again or something else??
I would cut the ludwigia stems in half, replant the top half of the plants, and pull out the bottom half. As for co2, this is what i purchased and it works very well. I fill it up every 6 months and it only costs about $8.00. https://www.amazon.com/10lb-Aluminu...UTF8&qid=1527250511&sr=8-13&keywords=co2+tank https://www.amazon.com/Kegco-KC-LH-...rd_wg=v8kob&psc=1&refRID=2P1SXKRRNE233QG2994P
Tnx again check the links can’t say anything about the CO2 capsule but the manometer is way cheaper Also I forgot to ask about brown algae the growing rate of it slowed a lot but it’s still exists what is the best way to completely get rid of it and clean the plants from it??
If your talking about diatom, then the main problem is usually nitrates. Keeping elements balanced as in ferts, co2 and lighting helps give plants a edge over it. I also recommend otocinclus which greatly help control it. lastly, it's very normal to need to scrub rocks and walls off it every few weeks or so.
