First post!!!
Anyway, I am extremely new to keeping live plants. Right now I'm am just trying to learn how to effectively grow plants and maintain a few simple fish simultaneously.
Here's the setup:
29g
Lighting: 2x 24W T5 for ~7 hours daily
CO2: DIY (about .5 bubbles/sec)
Ferts: Seachem Flourish weekly
Plants: 1x Anacharis, 5x Java Fern, and ~15 Corkscrew Vallis
Fish: 1x Golden Algae Eater, 2x Otos
Substrate: Some Caribsea bio-something or another
I mention this current setup because I recently had a massive fight with thread algae. And the fight is not over (although I'm winning the war now). I previously had the lights on for 12 hours with .1 bubbles/sec. I had thread algae covering EVERYTHING.
The wrap a toothbrush around the algae technique only left me with well groomed algae. So I spent about 5 hours doing a 50% water change while I scrubbed the algae off of the glass and rocks. I soaked the plants in a mild bleach solution for ~2 minutes each, then rubbed the dead algae off of the plants. The plants were thoroughly rinsed and soaked in fresh water before replanting. After I was done doing this chemotherapy of cleaning/killing the algae I buttoned everything back together. At this point was when I adjusted the lighting and CO2 to my current setup.
I did all of this yesterday so it is will take some time to determine whether or not my efforts were successful. The plants look a little less healthy after the soak, but I think they can recover with enough love and attention.
So really, I want some opinions on whether or not I have a correct vector on eradicating this algae problem. Seeing as how I'm still so new, I'm open to opinions or tips.
I've included a picture for better conceptualization. Although, don't focus too much on the decorating as currently I am only focusing on keeping plants alive. Aesthetics will follow later.
Thanks in advance!!!
Anyway, I am extremely new to keeping live plants. Right now I'm am just trying to learn how to effectively grow plants and maintain a few simple fish simultaneously.
Here's the setup:
29g
Lighting: 2x 24W T5 for ~7 hours daily
CO2: DIY (about .5 bubbles/sec)
Ferts: Seachem Flourish weekly
Plants: 1x Anacharis, 5x Java Fern, and ~15 Corkscrew Vallis
Fish: 1x Golden Algae Eater, 2x Otos
Substrate: Some Caribsea bio-something or another
I mention this current setup because I recently had a massive fight with thread algae. And the fight is not over (although I'm winning the war now). I previously had the lights on for 12 hours with .1 bubbles/sec. I had thread algae covering EVERYTHING.
The wrap a toothbrush around the algae technique only left me with well groomed algae. So I spent about 5 hours doing a 50% water change while I scrubbed the algae off of the glass and rocks. I soaked the plants in a mild bleach solution for ~2 minutes each, then rubbed the dead algae off of the plants. The plants were thoroughly rinsed and soaked in fresh water before replanting. After I was done doing this chemotherapy of cleaning/killing the algae I buttoned everything back together. At this point was when I adjusted the lighting and CO2 to my current setup.
I did all of this yesterday so it is will take some time to determine whether or not my efforts were successful. The plants look a little less healthy after the soak, but I think they can recover with enough love and attention.
So really, I want some opinions on whether or not I have a correct vector on eradicating this algae problem. Seeing as how I'm still so new, I'm open to opinions or tips.
I've included a picture for better conceptualization. Although, don't focus too much on the decorating as currently I am only focusing on keeping plants alive. Aesthetics will follow later.
Thanks in advance!!!