How does your garden Grow?

[Zepp914]

I thought the bright stuff was cyanobacteria. I have had that in a previous tank and I could kill it with peroxide, but never totally get rid of it.

Whatever I have is the same color as my green plants and Excel does seem to keep it in check. I was hoping to avoid CO2 if possible. Thanks for the info!

 

[Becca]

Cyanobacteri is blue-green and grows in a sheet/film.

 

[Wobblebonk]

Cyanobacteria only looks stringy under a microscope otherwise yeah it's like a slimy blob/sheet. I hardly ever get any cyanobacteria but I have a hard time keeping green hair algae out of mosses sometimes

I've been thinking about trying a clado carpet in one tank... not "mossballs" all over but an actual carpet of it.

 

[Becca]

Cyanobacteria only looks stringy under a microscope otherwise yeah it's like a slimy blob/sheet. I hardly ever get any cyanobacteria but I have a hard time keeping green hair algae out of mosses sometimes

I've been thinking about trying a clado carpet in one tank... not "mossballs" all over but an actual carpet of it.

I have some sort of cool algae you should come get a scraping of. I think it's algae, at least... It grows to about a 1 cm in length and likes driftwood. It looks like a thick, green carpet.

Claudiphora really likes light and will grow on things that are higher up better than it grows at lower levels. My moss wall in the 33 used to be covered in it until I added CO2, although I had a brief resurgence a few months ago. It's a huge problem in my 125. The tank has a very strong light (Current Plus Pro) that is on for longer than it should be (hubby's tank) and all of the taller plants and mosses growing up the 3D background are COVERED in it.I pull buckets of it out each week. It's really annoying.

 

[Zepp914]

Buckets? Ewwww

From what I have read most algae is caused by an imbalance of something. The problem is finding out exactly what is out of balance. Too much light? Too little light? Too much fertilizer (Macro or micro)? Not enough fertilizer? Too much CO2? Not enough CO2? Etc etc. The trial and error takes weeks to test. During that time some plants may die and the tank looks awful.

 

[Becca]

Buckets? Ewwww

From what I have read most algae is caused by an imbalance of something. The problem is finding out exactly what is out of balance. Too much light? Too little light? Too much fertilizer (Macro or micro)? Not enough fertilizer? Too much CO2? Not enough CO2? Etc etc. The trial and error takes weeks to test. During that time some plants may die and the tank looks awful.

Not Claudiphora. It behaves like a plant. There are two things plants like that it doesn't - CO2 and (like most algae) H2O2. Actually plants don't like the latter, they just don't die after you spray it on them.

 

[mchambers]

Great thanks!

I have the SE version, so I can't fool around with the timer light settings. For some reason it bugs me that it is always on. I am going to keep it in 24/7 mode and if it becomes a problem, I can get an old fashioned outlet timer and just leave it on max.

I have the original 24/7. I understand why the always on aspect bugs you. Another CCA member used to complain about that.

With mine, you can set it on a standard timer, so that it goes off at night. When the timer comes on the light assumes it is 3 a.m. I've done that on one of my tanks, but not on two others.

 

[mchambers]

Buckets? Ewwww

From what I have read most algae is caused by an imbalance of something. The problem is finding out exactly what is out of balance. Too much light? Too little light? Too much fertilizer (Macro or micro)? Not enough fertilizer? Too much CO2? Not enough CO2? Etc etc. The trial and error takes weeks to test. During that time some plants may die and the tank looks awful.

People always claim it's the balance, but they never give clear instructions to figure out the problem. I've had cases of two very similar tanks, same substrate, same light, and same fertilization, and one tank has BBA and the other doesn't.

 

[b considine]

And, once again, we're back to http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/algae-in-the-planted-aquarium/.

Blaise

 

[Becca]

And, once again, we're back to http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/algae-in-the-planted-aquarium/.

Blaise

I've read it. This is where I got my info on claudiphora... well, actually, I got it directly from the author.

 

[Wobblebonk]

I need a 2' + tall tank for a pendant style light I have. Right now it's on a 12" cube and I have to cover it with 2 layers of cheese cloth because at its lowest setting it's almost 150 par while 22" over the substrate.

I want to try it on a low tech 60 gallon cube (24") and try to have a clado carpet in about half the tank. I think it can be done.

The light that kept reverting to max power and tried to give me a BBA carpet in under a week is about 50W stronger than a 48" current plus pro. I'm going to replace the dimmer/remote thing it came with with a TC420 or something so I can use it again. Probably on its own tank this time, maybe hung a foot over an 80 gallon frag tank or something around that size, I might even just use it as a holding /grow out tank for plants. I'm not sure, I need to get my house fixed before that. Stupid storms

 

[Becca]

I need a 2' + tall tank for a pendant style light I have. Right now it's on a 12" cube and I have to cover it with 2 layers of cheese cloth because at its lowest setting it's almost 150 par while 22" over the substrate.

I want to try it on a low tech 60 gallon cube (24") and try to have a clado carpet in about half the tank. I think it can be done.

The light that kept reverting to max power and tried to give me a BBA carpet in under a week is about 50W stronger than a 48" current plus pro. I'm going to replace the dimmer/remote thing it came with with a TC420 or something so I can use it again. Probably on its own tank this time, maybe hung a foot over an 80 gallon frag tank or something around that size, I might even just use it as a holding /grow out tank for plants. I'm not sure, I need to get my house fixed before that. Stupid storms

We have damage from storms, too. No fun.

I wish I had a light that powerful - the 210 is tough to light, even for undemanding plants.

Here's the weird moss algae I mentioned

 

[FishEggs]

I'm using a 4 tube t5ho light over a 50g breeder and it gives me a nice hair algae carpet. Using cheap Plusrite brand 6500k bulbs. I started it out trying to do a carpet of Monte Carlo and some moss and it was going great until my c02 regulator went kaput.
I have a new regulator now but I still need to get the tank swapped out. Should have taken a pic before I scraped all the algae out last weekend. It could have been a wig for st. Patty's day.

 

[FishEggs]

I wish I had a light that powerful - the 210 is tough to light, even for undemanding plants.

Is your 210 open top or do you have a canopy/lid on it?
Maybe you could do some track lighting over it with some LED spot light type bulbs? I have parts available if interested.

 

[Becca]

Is your 210 open top or do you have a canopy/lid on it?
Maybe you could do some track lighting over it with some LED spot light type bulbs? I have parts available if interested.

It has glass lids. We are on a really tight budget lately, though I wouldn't mind learning how to DIY.

 

[Wobblebonk]

Is that a standard 72x24x30? Maybe a bunch of cheapo led floodlights might work, or if upfront cost is the problem t5ho is fairly cheap upfront for a ton of light. For leds I find that the highest cri/par with an emphasis on blue and red that you don't build yourself is from uhh "special tomato" lights. But you are trading some of the customization / built in ramp up timers of like fluval or current for power and cri. You may need to wire a dimmer onto the psu also.
also the sbreeflights are plenty strong enough but you'll need at least 2 and they look like Chinese black box lights because they basically are Chinese black boxes.

 

[Maryland Guppy]

Look at this! Others have provided pics of their tanks with plants.

Becca tanks look awesome with plants.

FishEggs algae wigs are not so good!

 

[Becca]

Is that a standard 72x24x30? Maybe a bunch of cheapo led floodlights might work, or if upfront cost is the problem t5ho is fairly cheap upfront for a ton of light. For leds I find that the highest cri/par with an emphasis on blue and red that you don't build yourself is from uhh "special tomato" lights. But you are trading some of the customization / built in ramp up timers of like fluval or current for power and cri. You may need to wire a dimmer onto the psu also.
also the sbreeflights are plenty strong enough but you'll need at least 2 and they look like Chinese black box lights because they basically are Chinese black boxes.

I understood like 3 words of that. PM me with additional details?

 

[mchambers]

I understood like 3 words of that. PM me with additional details?

You need a new flux capacitor, I think. Either that or more dilithium crystals.

 

[Wobblebonk]

Dilithium crystals (uv spectrum maybe? I've got only a few freshwater lights with uv. Or possibly absurdly high par...) are turning my new buce leaves purple... should I be concerned? Maybe pics later today.