Weak aquatic plants and Blue/gree algae

[jeromecarlyoung]

Hello,
I have a slight problem of keeping my Tank clean (hoovering up any debri twice a week) whilst maintaining enough nutrients for the plants. If I put in a fertilizer for the plants will this increase the rouge blue alge (which snuck in on some bought Java Moss)????
Any help would be great.
The Blue aglae came about suddenly when I decided to give my Otos some extra Courgette and this must have slightly been giving off nutrients as it was in the water for about 3 days at a time.
Is it a choice between Blue/algae or stunted plants. The plants look pale and are in a bed of sand.

Cheers Jerry

[RTR]

Lighting? Type of tubes, wattage, hours per day>

Nitrate?

GH?

KH?

Livestock?

Water change schedule and volume per change?

Supplements used, if any?

[jeromecarlyoung]

10 gallon
Low Ammonia, Nitrates etc.
Two 30% water changes a week with hooving of substrate- Dwarf Puffer has gotten over Ich hence cleaning.
Two Otos and one Dwarf Puffer
Fishtamin Vitamins, two drops a week.
Two 15 watt energy saving bulb

Cheers Jerry

[PolishPuff]

Low Ammonia

Ammonia should be always at 0

[Pufferpunk]

Please post exact numbers for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate.

[jeromecarlyoung]

The main issue is, does putting liquid or tablet forms of fertilizer increase plant growth and also Blue/green algae?
The slight spike which caused the Blue green algae was from 2 wafers and 2 peices of Courgette which were left too long by my 2 Otos. This increased the bio load is what set off the algal growth. It is very minor amounts of algae.
The problem is having plants in not so great substrate (should have had some kind of aquatic compost on the bottom layer of substrate but I haven't).
My Tank has 60% water changes a week and I only (except for what i stated above for my Otos; which i only fed because one had lost a bit of weight- new Oto is very active feeder) feed a single Dwarf Puffer about 6 whiteworms a day and these are small worms are have a small potential Bio load problems.
If I had some residue of organic matter in the tank then the algae and plants would be fine and I wouldn't need to add to my Otos diet. The Tank is if anything too clean.

Thanks Jerry

[RTR]

Two 30% water partials are not the same as one 60% partial. They are close to one 50% partial. You cannot add percentages, it does not work that way.

Nutritious substrates are not necessary for good plant growth. You can add supplements routinely and have perfectly good plant growth over inert substrates. Most planted tank folk prefer substrates with high CEC (catioon exchange coefficient) to help hold and make certain ions more consistently accessible, but it is not essential. Most of my tanks are planted and only a few have special substrates.

For successful planted tanks you must have a good balance of light and plant mass and nutrients. As has been said before, 10s are difficult. How heavily planted is the tank (What percentage of the substrate is covered by plants if you looked directly down on the tank from above with the light fixture removed?).

One self-ballasted 15 W coiled bulb is not sufficient for a 10.

As PP asked, give numbers on all water parameters. "Low" is meaningless. What if any supplements are you adding?

Never ever leave fresh veggies (or any other food) in a tank to rot - that is all but guaranteed to foul the water. Blanch, or freeze and thaw, before feeding and remove any uneaten bits withing hours.

[jeromecarlyoung]

Thanks for that.
About 25% of the tank is currently planted. I have tried in other places but the current and nutrition is a little tough for them .
I got two 15W bulbs so thought that would be ok. A little while ago I had a bout of Planaria and the cure was hoovering the substrate. Before the plants looked ok but after months of fairly regular hoovering the plants look tired. Also had Ich recently so more vacuuming; hence the supplements.
The Blue algae which came off the Java Moss I bought and came about the same time as the Courgette feeding so I'm not so keen on that no more.
I got some plant fertilizer in the post so I'll give it a go.

Thanks Jerry

[jeromecarlyoung]

Just done my first water test in about 4 months and...
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate - I couldn't be bothered as I know it'll be at the minimum.

Dwarf Puffers and Otos don't do dirty water. The clean water is what's effecting the plant's health; no nutrients. The fish are happy though.

There you go!! All done.

Thanks Jerry

[sevenyearnight]

Nitrate - I couldn't be bothered as I know it'll be at the minimum

Psychic readings don't count.

[Flutter]

Nitrate - I couldn't be bothered as I know it'll be at the minimum.

Dwarf Puffers and Otos don't do dirty water. The clean water is what's effecting the plant's health; no nutrients. The fish are happy though.

I'd have to agree with sevenyearnight on this. Plus, it doesn't say much to the people who are taking their time to help you out and you will only give minimal effort. Especially RTR who has serious eye problems and probably better things to do with his time. I'll bet he doesn't prepare his replies in a minute, he puts thought and time and effort into them.

Seems mighty disrespectful to those who are doing their best to help you right now, IM(personal)O.

[RTR]

Well, if you cannot even run water tests on your tank , and do not know what is in you tank water other than guessing, there is little that can be suggested. My best suggestion would be to get artificial plants and some live Java Moss and use it in or on the fake plants for security places for the fish. Twenty-five percent coverage is not a planted tank.

" jeromecarlyoung wrote:
Just done my first water test in about 4 months and...
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate - I couldn't be bothered as I know it'll be at the minimum."

You listed nitrate twice, and nitrite not at all. If you don't do water tests more often than every 4 months and report as if you tested these parameters - that is not helpful to the folks here who were making an honest effort to aid you. Data is data is data If you have none, tell the truth about it. There is a huge difference in what you "expect" and what you you "know".

Good luck.

[jeromecarlyoung]

ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

Now can we get back to the script please.

Java Moss and plastic plants is a sensible idea and thanks.


-Jerry

[Blaine]

Just curious how you manage to get 0 Nitrates in your tank?

[xrayjeeper83]

Jerome if you want the best help you can get around her, we need all the info they ask for. It helps people to know what to suggest. Its not blowing off your original question.