# 60-P: How to Turn an Algae Mess into a Clean tank in less than 3 days.



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Subscribed for sure. I've been wanting to go to the San Marcos River for a while now and you just convinced me a little more that it is a trip worth tanking.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

great intro..i've sub'ed


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

I've been to where that photo in Seattle was taken! Hoh Rainforest, that plant is Hornwort, or Certerophylum demersum, right? I collected some and tried grow it, but I didn't have the right set-up. 


Subscribed.


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

Fantastic Frank. How often do you have to trim that Riccia? Do you trim it right down to the substrate each time?


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Da Plant Man said:


> I've been to where that photo in Seattle was taken! Hoh Rainforest, that plant is Hornwort, or Certerophylum demersum, right? I collected some and tried grow it, but I didn't have the right set-up.
> 
> 
> Subscribed.


The Hoh is quite beautiful. There is another area north of Seattle, which I forget the name of, but it's north of Conway and is quite beautiful as well. I must admit I do not know which plants those are, I've been to that location, but it's not my photo. Rather unfortunately, all the photos I had of when I lived in Seattle were lost some time ago.



Robert H said:


> Fantastic Frank. How often do you have to trim that Riccia? Do you trim it right down to the substrate each time?


Thanks Robert! I have trimmed the Riccia twice now in about 5-6 weeks. I trim it about half way, I will show a video of trimming next time I do it.

The trick with Riccia is the bottom rots, so to trim half way preserves the middle healthy growth while letting the bottom stay in tact. Trimming to the bottom would leave you with only the rotting stuff, so you'd be jeopardizing clean grow back.



radioman said:


> Subscribed for sure. I've been wanting to go to the San Marcos River for a while now and you just convinced me a little more that it is a trip worth tanking.


You should definitely make the trip to the River. The best spots are near aquarena springs and at Sewell Park in the University grounds.


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## grogan (Sep 13, 2011)

Hey frank,
You seriously need to make a trip to Alaska this summer! If you wan't inspiration this is the place. This is me collecting rocks on the Matanuska river yesterday:

















Wait till the state turns green!


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

I would love to live in Alaska...you are so lucky.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I'd love to make a trip to Alaska some time.

Also, planting of the 60-P will occur tonight.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

As a side note, the main carpet plants I ordered arrived in small quantities and not in great condition. Which is my fault - I should have opted for 2nd day or next day shipping. The result was they sat in a warehouse over the weekend.

Which just means that this'll be a lesson in resuscitating plants in a layout.


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## iter (Apr 24, 2012)

Frank--
By follow your threads such as the recent Mini M, I have been very motivated and inspired to plan and start on my first (planted) tank. This thread will be no exception to follow and to learn. Thanks!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Quickly: So I've decided to deviate from the beaten path on this one. Was going to just use manten, but got encouraged to use a more challenging medium.

More later


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

Francis Xavier said:


> More later


dont be a tease.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Been waiting for this. Can't wait to see the final details and how it progresses.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Sneak peak teaser:


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Rocks looks great and are very "traditional" for the setup (in a good way).


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Decent start!

That's not Oiso sand...


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

iter said:


> Frank--
> By follow your threads such as the recent Mini M, I have been very motivated and inspired to plan and start on my first (planted) tank. This thread will be no exception to follow and to learn. Thanks!


This is one of the best compliments I can receive. I'm glad you've been inspired and motivated.

You'll have to share with us how you do!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

talontsiawd said:


> Rocks looks great and are very "traditional" for the setup (in a good way).


The rock type is a bit off the beaten path - lace rock doesn't lend itself well to classic "iwagumi."

Rest assured there's gonna be a few surprises here!



roybot73 said:


> Decent start!
> 
> That's not Oiso sand...


I consulted with my friend, Luis Navarro on the topic of Oiso sand, in which we discussed Amano's early works, he managed to convince me away from it for this tank, as many plants don't do well in gravel like Oiso - which explains a lot of Amano's early obsession with Riccia and crypt / sword layouts. 

I do, however have the bug to use some Oiso sand soon for something.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Francis Xavier said:


> The rock type is a bit off the beaten path - lace rock doesn't lend itself well to classic "iwagumi."
> 
> Rest assured there's gonna be a few surprises here!


I meant more of the actual design and directions the rocks point. It's got the same vibe as many of the first iwagumi scapes I saw when I first started.

It's really weird seeing a non open top ADA tank lol.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

I've never seen a ADA hood like that?


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

talontsiawd said:


> I meant more of the actual design and directions the rocks point. It's got the same vibe as many of the first iwagumi scapes I saw when I first started.
> 
> It's really weird seeing a non open top ADA tank lol.


Oh no, I totally follow what you're sayin. 

An ya, a non open top ADA tank is a little weird even in person!



TexasCichlid said:


> I've never seen a ADA hood like that?


It's the old Green Glow 604. Discontinued in the early 2000's in light of Solar I / Solar II.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

*The Aquarium that Started with Difficulty

*Let me be honest. This tank was one of the *most grueling setups* I've ever done. It took over 7 hours to put together, was riddled with rookie mistakes and was filled with completely avoidable mishaps.

_The Start

_I received a plant shipment from a company, and due to my own idiocy, selected a shipping option which resulted in the package being _held over the weekend in Houston heat._ 

This meant that the hair grass I had coming was completely useless. I mean -terribly- useless. Two green strands per pot.

The glosso was somewhat salvageable but had-that decaying sewage color to it at the bottom. Only the tops could be saved.

The HC was a complete and utter mess - it was dark green burnt out, with only a few sprigs salveagable from the mess.

The Riccia I had floating outside in a bucket as a reserve dissolved into nothingness - a careless error on my part to not watch it and treat it well. It had grown fine for 3 weeks, but over the weekend disintegrated. 

I had some moss in a sealed cup - the moss is fine, but upon opening the container it had the ever so great smell of anaerobic bacteria, which filled the room in an instant. 

*It gets better. Keep reading for more spectacular blunders.

*I was selecting rock from a pile of old Manten stone from a torn down tank, at which time Mike Senske starts sassing me about doing something similar to what I already had in the Mini M.

Now, Mike's the kind of guy who'll hit all your small little trigger spots. Triggers you don't even know you have until he's pushed the button. 

For me, this particular trigger was "man, we've seen that a thousand times. Do something different."

Of course my brain, very logically, thinks: well, we've seen it a thousand times from Amano, but not really from anyone else. 

This argument, however, never presents itself. So I let myself get challenged to using lace rock. _Which has never really worked in any of the all-star layouts we see around._ Mike even mentions having tried it once and failing miserably or rather, it just not coming to fruition.

So, there's no turning back. I pick up some random lace rock to take home.

Now, this is a problem. I had visualized how this layout will look for two weeks now. Which meant I had to start completely from scratch with rotting plants, a hodge-podge mix of *really old* Amazonia II and Amazonia I and on top of that, I had no idea how on earth I was going to use these rocks.

*Laying out a hardscape is all about feeling. You can't just sit there for hours and hours tweaking and tinkering and looking at it or the scape looks forced and unnatural.*

Basically if you can't put down the hardscape in 5-30 minutes, you're doomed. DOOMED!

I started the process at around 7:00pm.

Here at 7:00 I got the easiest part of the tank done (and the only thing that went smoothly) :

Bacter 100, Clear Super, Tourmaline BC, Penac P & Penac W



Fine Layer of Power Sand 2L



Well....From there...here's what I had

1/3 bag of 1 year old Amazonia II, 2 unopened Amazonia 3L bags, 1 Amazonia 3L bag half opened, 2 years old. 1/4 bag Amazonia II Powder Type, 1 years old and 1/2 bag 9L Powder Type New! Amazonia (from the Mini M).

So...very diligently...

I added the Amazonia II, then the Amazonia (the NEW! Amazonia followed after the hardscape).

*This could be a disaster. Each of these soils have differing nutrient levels and more importantly, they affect water differently...this is definitely not a good idea.

*So what I inevitably did to solve the hardscape vision issue was this:

played with rocks for 20-30 minutes. 

10 minute break

played with rocks 20-30 minutes

10 minute break.

I repeated this about 3 more times.

This wasn't working. In any sense of the word "work," except to make my back hurt.

*So, the end result I came down to was simple:

*I closed my eyes, relaxed and literally just thought about what the aquarium wanted to look like, how the stones wanted to form, where they had been, what they were doing. What was growing on them.

After 10 minutes of this exercise, I came to this layout:



*But we're not done yet.

*As much as I could I desperately saved and scraped together what plant matter I could.

I used empty Riccia stones to serve as place holders for where the riccia would be (since I have none and will get some today), then carefully placed as much of the HC and glosso around the stones as I could save. 

From there I developed the mid ground (and will have to wait for one of the most important plants to arrive to flesh out) and background (surprises here).

I then took the anaerobic mosses and began chopping them up to use as accent pieces around here in the layout.

_After all this, I get the tank together, filled with water (abysmally planted), and....

Turn on the filter for black spewing everywhere._

I made the most noobie of noobie mistakes.

I didn't wash the carbon enough.

So consequently, black carbon powder spewed out all over the layout, leaving me with a black tank to go with the black hood and the black stand.

I don't have any pictures. At this point I went "okay, well, I have to do a water change tomorrow anyway to solve this."

At 2 AM.

So, the result is this: I really, really hope that the way things begin isn't always the way they end, because if so, _this will be one rough ride, pilgrim._

Also, the roommates cat, hopelessly curious, was an endless terror throughout the night.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Damn, dude. 
Things can only get better, right?


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## grogan (Sep 13, 2011)

Dang, I thought I was working on some cool late night tank projects. I removed the tank in my bedroom to make room for a 60p. soon I will be doing ada projects at home too!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I actually set this one up at my business mentor's apartment, so it'll be moving locations a couple times over the next few months.

There was quite the spectacle with neighbors coming over to see such a thing go up. 

One, who is an avid gardener (and actually is responsible for all the gardens in the area there), while a bit drunk explained to my business mentor's wife:

"Oh man, this is really professional, I mean -really- professional. You see how it's got a gravel layer at the bottom, then a medium soil layer in the middle and then a fine soil at the top? And how those rocks are placed with the plants? That's incredible! The guy who did this (not knowing it was me) really knows what he's doing. That's perfect for plants."

Suffice as to say, the wife was glowing at the compliments for the aquarium (so guys, if you want to get your significant others into it, just produce something cool that gets compliments by others and she'll love it and support it). Sure enough she turned around and wanted her mom to get an aquarium and so on.

I spend about half my time at home, half there, so I find it best to have the meditating presence of a full-blown healthy planted aquarium where I do work and relax.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Making orange juice from lemons:


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

With the setup like it is now I have arrived at a vision for the tank.

I'm envisioning a kind of archaic structure, with darker green foliage and plants as they grow in in the back.

I haven't decided on whether to stick to say, crypt retrospiralis or go more full bodied with stems in the back, but we'll see how it progresses so far. 

The bolbitus gives it a distinct look with the stone. A friend commented on it looking like an island off the coast of thailand. While I stick to more "micro" inspiration and individual rock groupings rather than "macro" landscape inspiration, this does seem to be an adequate comparison so far.


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Frank, the way you start this topic really shows your love for aquascaping and plants! Awesome thread, can't wait to see it progress.

Also, without hijacking it, I'm trying to determine the exact size of the ADA Mini-L. The ADG shop site has conflicting numbers; which are correct?



> Dimensions: 45cm X 24cm X 30cm (14.17in X 9.45in X11.8 in)


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

That's an incorrect inches conversion.

The proper inches conversion is closer to 18", the 45CM is correct.

This thread will shortly turn into a "how to turn around a disastrous start."


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Francis Xavier said:


> This thread will shortly turn into a "how to turn around a disastrous start."


Thank god.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Francis Xavier said:


> This thread will shortly turn into a "how to turn around a disastrous start."


Please!! I'm in this same boat...


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

After some meditation (which is a nice word for staring into space and thinking "what the hell do I do with this now.") 

With a fresh mind I tackled the beast.



_The gumbo mix of aqua soil is clearly having great effects on the water condition. At least it's not pitch black anymore!_



_Yummy bucket shot. Do your daily water change in the first week._

As predicted, the HC melted into oblivion. The condition I received it in was just too poor, even for me to turn around. The glosso, which is somewhat more resilient, has faired better, but inevitably it'll all be scrapped.

*The Plan of Attack*

Basically this is going to require some creative "retooling."

I've had the opportunity here for my vision on this aquarium to finalize and turn into something that actually has direction. 



_No, my vision isn't floating plants, in case you were wondering._

I want to point out here, that the only reason I have stems floating here is that I need to keep them in good shape until the weekend when I will modify and create the next step in the end scape. Those are a few possibilities, but not all will be used.

I will end up likely removing the bolbitus in favor of 100% Hygrophila pinnatofolia 

But the basic idea is this:

One: Riccia + eleocharis belem primary foreground.

This will create a bright impression, and as eleocharis and riccia tend to grow together in the wild, they blend well together. So the front will have more riccia stones as this goes on. 

In the mid/background I'm going to deploy E. Tennellus to fill out the spots and add depth. 

The background, I kind of want to experiment with a tasteful balance of stems.

See the idea here is to go a bit off the beaten path here, and the hygrophila mixes well in color with the brightness of riccia and tennellus. Bolbitus lends a darker impression, but for now allows for visual recognition of the spots. 

I'll have more as I go.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I need to stress how important starting right is.

Because, ultimately, I was impatient and / or poorly timed things, I had a horrid start and was scattered all over the place.

It took about 300% more effort to turn around this mess to the _starting point_ than had I just started right to begin with.

1.) Aqua Soil mixture tannins like crazy. Brown water crazy. I don't advise this. However, it's a minor issue and will resolve itself with enough water changes over time. 

2.) Starting without enough plants = massive plant die off. Refer to my nano tank thread for the principle on this one. Basically plants like friends, lots of friends. When they're lonely they start wilting.

About the only good thing, is I knew exactly what to expect:

If I didn't quickly get more plants into the tank, I knew I'd get a massive algae outbreak by week 2. Which mean I was able to completely avoid that bomb by acting quickly and swiftly.

#1. Removed the completely evaporated / melted / destroyed HC to get rid of dead matter.

#2 Removed Glosso - was doing better, but no longer fit the scape.

#3 Added DHG Belem: this will mix well with the Riccia as a carpet. 

#4 Added more Riccia Stones. This will be the primary focus of the scape as a carpet now.

#5 Added lots of E. Tennellus Micro. Love this plant.

I then decided to start messing with stems, but since I had similar issues with a variety of stems, I'm having to carefully re-evaluate (mostly you have to plant stems all at once to get proper balance and proper planting).

Result on Friday / Saturday:



Yummy Ammonia Water:



Saturday:



Close-ups:





Now, by Monday things have begun to perk up and gone to regular scheduling for growth. The Eleocharis is spreading runners and the Riccia is perking up, which is great!

I also added in E. Vivipara, as I had been looking for this plant for ages. 

At this point I'm still doing daily water changes.





I'm waiting on a few more stems to arrive, and then I'll make a final decision on how it'll all come together with the stems. The Vivipara will mostly be intended as a back drop.



(this is after a water change)



My next step will be simple:

Finish with stem planting and straighten substrate line.

Aside from that, I haven't begun dosing yet. Will wait a while. Ultimately the stems might find there way out of this tank.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Nice to see that you've "righted the ship".
Layout looks nice. Similar in some ways to your Mini-M, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Where the hell did you find the e. tennellus?! I've been looking for it for weeks.
If you can clue me in, I'd be much obliged


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

youve done a really great job salvaging the tank. 
if it were me, i would have let it run, watched it algaefy, looked at it for 30 seconds and said "f*** it", then restarted from scratch.

good luck with the new foreground. i myself am in love with e. belem, and am currently trying to grow out my last 4 runners in an emersed setup.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

loved how you turned this around. its giving me inspiration as tomorrow i will attack my own mini-m and try to turn it around as well. what stems do you have behind the rock at the moment?

Question about your stone arrangement. It looks like you have 4 stones, unless I am missing the fifth one, I thought that you needed to have odd numbers for an iwagumi? 3,5,7..etc. but I could be completely wrong...i mean it looks good to me.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

roybot73 said:


> Nice to see that you've "righted the ship".
> Layout looks nice. Similar in some ways to your Mini-M, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
> Where the hell did you find the e. tennellus?! I've been looking for it for weeks.
> If you can clue me in, I'd be much obliged


Thanks roybot. It has a similar layout design to the Mini M. Not intentionally, but it ends up being scaled. The similarities come from similar rock placement (although the subtleties are vastly different in effect and scale), and similar plant choice (as I'm currently having a love affair with Riccia fluitans and tennellus).

I found it from jnaz. It's actually e tennellus micro or some such silly name which the scientific community can't decide on. I just call it classic tennellus.

I've been steadily growing it in the Mini M, it spreads like crazy there and I have new plantlets every two days that are ready for transportation. I plan on having a mini-farm of the plants I want to use consistently sooner or later. So I can keep putting together trimmings for you if you like (cut at the runner). give it two weeks and I'll have a bunch of pristine stuff.



@[email protected] said:


> youve done a really great job salvaging the tank.
> if it were me, i would have let it run, watched it algaefy, looked at it for 30 seconds and said "f*** it", then restarted from scratch.
> 
> good luck with the new foreground. i myself am in love with e. belem, and am currently trying to grow out my last 4 runners in an emersed setup.


Thanks marko! The Belem has taken off from it's emmersed state. It's going to be interesting to balance their growth. I don't know why people call this one a slow grower, it seems to be spreading quicker than E. Acicularis for me. Unless of course it's not actually belem.



frrok said:


> loved how you turned this around. its giving me inspiration as tomorrow i will attack my own mini-m and try to turn it around as well. what stems do you have behind the rock at the moment?
> 
> Question about your stone arrangement. It looks like you have 4 stones, unless I am missing the fifth one, I thought that you needed to have odd numbers for an iwagumi? 3,5,7..etc. but I could be completely wrong...i mean it looks good to me.


Glad you are inspired frrok! Much of planted aquaria is more about dedication and patience and knowing what to do when you mess up. 

Even professionals, with the possible exception of Amano, when starting a new planted tank have an equal chance of messing up big at the start if they get arrogant about plant quality, density, etc and don't stick to the tried and true principles. 

There are actually 5 stones in the layout, two stone groupings: on the left there are three (the third deceptively appears to be a part of the main stone as it is in the back and gets obscured by plants / stone angle) and there are two on the right. 

The stems, I'd have to actually go and look up more names. Stems have historically been my weak point, so I'm using this tank to refine my skill set on them. 

Pictures:





Dosing right now: zero, green bacter after water change.
Week: 2
Water change: every other day

Dosing to begin saturday.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

looking good. 
looks like the water has cleared up quite a bit.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Did you change sides with the Lily pipes and Pollen glass?


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

The tank is progressing! It is time for Amano's and O-cats as Diatoms have appeared and it's nearing week three.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

The stems really saved that lace rock. I hope you never touch that stuff again, though.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

I like the rocks. I kinda want to do something similar, but iwagumi-ish and with fissidens lightly attached to the rocks.

So far so good!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I let this tank get out of hand. Disastrously out of hand. Through improper maintenance regimes and a rocky start, the aquarium crashed into a blur of algaeified mess far from the clean elegance of what a planted aquarium should be. 

But I did something else.



*That something else is, I turned it around and fixed it.*

1. Without Restarting

2. Without Replacing Plants

3. While keeping the scape in tact. 

_And I'm going to teach you how I did it._ Make sure to follow so you can learn how to solve some of the most frustrating problems in planted aquariums.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

Wow, that's quite the mess alright. This will be interesting to see, the methods you use to turn it around. You should youtube some of this stuff!


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

Ah Frank, let me guess...CO2 ran out or some type of lighting fiasco?! Either way, I absolutely *love* the unusually large rock layout. Subscribed!


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## dantra (May 25, 2007)

It looks like that was part of the plan all along.  It will be great to have a visual reference to turning this tank around. Some people can read what to do and carry it out while others need visual instructions/assistance in order to understand and solve the problem.

In any event, it will be interesting to see where and how this goes. As always, looking forward to the tutorial.

Dan


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Background on The Mess:

The Mess occurred due to being negligent on water changes initially - as well as not starting with the appropriate amount of plants from the get go. This meant a difficult transition period for the aquarium. 

Solving the Mess:

*Day 1

Step 1:

*

Clean the Glass, remove algae from all glass panes. When using a straight edge razor, thoroughly go up and down across the aquarium to remove all spots of algae. View the glass pane from an angle to see algae behind the glass that is not readily apparent from the front view.

Not Shown: CLean Lily Pipes and filter hose with Spring Washer M to clear algae from these surfaces to hurt their growth.

*Step 2:

*

Drain Water. See bucket. Lots of Algae!!



Allow aquarium to run like this either for 4-5 hours or over night - keep water level lower than filter out put. Here I allowed it to run like this for 4 hours, then filled with water again. Add Green Bacter during this process for bacterial growth.

This intense oxygenation is good for the bacteria and creates a spurt of bacterial growth to bring the aquarium into balance.

*DOSING: *Only Brighty K. Green Bacter (10 drops) for Bacteria. Phyton Git (10 drops) to attack algae. 

*Day 2* 



Starting Day 2, the aquarium looks like this.





Yummy Algae! We're going to solve this problem.


*Step 1, Day 2:

*

With the aquatic plants reaching the surface and with established root growth of 3 weeks, the best way to remove algae quickly is to remove the infected leaves as much as possible while still healthily letting plants grow back. 

Trim the plants (carpet plants all the way to the base, stems as low as you can if the first trim, if the second or third, cut as low as possible to remove algae infected leaves).



Water change again! Remove the trimmings.



Fill the aquarium back up - add 10 Drops Green Bacter for Bacteria, add 10 drops Phyton Git for anti-algae, 10 drops Green Gain for plant regrowth boost after trimming.

Other Dosing: Just Brighty K.

End of Day 2:



*Day 3:

*

Aquarium Restored to Balance! No need for another water change.

As you can see, stem plants have already grown back a bit, as well as Tenellus and other plants with algae gone. 



Riccia pearling beautifully - plants growing in quick and healthy.

Day 3 Dosing:

Brighty K + Green Brighty Step 1

Phyton Git 10 drops (daily until Day 7)
Green Gain 6 drops (daily until Day 7)


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

There's still some residual algae in the Riccia - however this will soon be removed and problem solved, especially once it's grown to trim a bit off. Use of airline tubing to remove any excess in the Riccia as well as in tough areas like this aid quite a bit.

Other notes:

No bump up in Co2.
No Addition of Excel or other carbon-additives.

Before:



After 3 Days:



Tools Used:

Razor: Aquarium Glass Cleaning
Spring Washer M (Lily Pipes + Clear Hose Cleaning)
Pro Scissors Short Curve Type (trimming)
Green Bacter (promotes beneficial bacterial growth)
Phyton Git (algae preventor / attacker)
Green Gain (promotes new plant leaf growth after trimming)


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

wow, what a 180!


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## dantra (May 25, 2007)

Nice, direct, to the point, awesome.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

dantra said:


> Nice, direct, to the point, awesome.


Agreed. Although I do wonder what would happen with an inline UV? Would the same results occur with the same level of neglect or would the algae proliferation occur in different types/species (more resistant to UV sterilization)? I've always been a believer in the motto "a pound of prevention..." Nevertheless, that is impressive results with such little effort and in such a short amount of time!roud:


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

UV doesn't fix the primary imbalance that caused the algae. It's not prevention if you're using it to cure the problem of lack of maintenance.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

styxx said:


> Agreed. Although I do wonder what would happen with an inline UV? Would the same results occur with the same level of neglect or would the algae proliferation occur in different types/species (more resistant to UV sterilization)? I've always been a believer in the motto "a pound of prevention..." Nevertheless, that is impressive results with such little effort and in such a short amount of time!roud:


Honestly, I've found little use for UV outside of much, much larger aquariums (in the 300+ gallon range). In the 60-P at the gallery I think we've only ever had green water once, and that was fixed after a single water change - which happened because the filter turned off over night. 

It's important to note that I didn't so much have "green water" - that was just the pure volume of algae in the aquarium water after scraping the glass, as well as all the nice little spores swimming around turning the water green. 

What I have noticed is different types of algae popping up as the result of using _different methods_ of lighting. It might be my imagination and pure coincidence - but I swear I've been encountering different algae types when using Fluorescent vs. CFL vs. MH. This setup is hardly a test to what algae prop up - but all the others have been fairly formulaic with what shows up when - this one was a curve ball.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Day 4!



The carpet is really coming together now! A side note: even though I removed all the HC some of the left over mush grew into some HC popping up in the corner. Aquatic plants resilience is amazing!



Happy stems, happy riccia.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Love the stem plant placement, love the rocks. 
The riccia works for me a lot better in this tank than in your Mini M, I think it's the scale of the leaf structure. 

Also, diggin the retro light, I'd love to have one of those things.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks for the compliment, Chloro.

It does have a much greater sense of scale in a larger tank - part of the challenge of the Nano, which does require 10 minutes of trimming every two weeks to keep nice and tidy.

The retro light is pretty ingenious - it has a cooling fan which keeps the tank at about 72 degrees, despite being in an un-airconditioned space in Texas, as well as a door to open to add food, fertilizer etc. Past that you can manipulate how many bulbs you want to be on, having 4 bulbs the order is: 1 & 3, 2 & 4 or all On or all Off. It's a nice piece to see ADA's ingenuity evolve over time and reflected even in the early products. 

I'll have to watch the stems on the right - they grow like weeds. I mean, you can literally watch them grow an inch in a night.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Hello my friends,

I have just started a new blog dedicated to aquascaping and the planted tank

On it, I will be showing all of the methodology I use - all of the success tips and mental strategies so you can be even more successful.

I'd like to extend my invitation for my first introductory posting, as the week goes on, I'll be adding in new content and highlighting certain key questions to answer. 

Look forward to speaking with you more,

-Frank Wazeter


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## meowschwitz (Sep 6, 2011)

What kind of riccia are you using? It looks great and would love to get my hands on some.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

great job with the algae.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

meowschwitz said:


> What kind of riccia are you using? It looks great and would love to get my hands on some.


It's just Riccia Fluitans - to my knowledge, if you like I can put you on my list for trimmings from the Riccia from my scapes.



@[email protected] said:


> great job with the algae.


Thanks marko!


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## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

Should the phyton git only be used as a cure and not a full-time preventative? I have some, but have always been leery of using it for fear of harm to the plants as well. 

Great journal documenting how a lot of elbow grease can turn things around quickly when you stick to it!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Haven't updated this one in a bit but here are some shots as of a trim a few days ago:





Gotta get that vivipara under control and even out the riccia carpet!


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## iter (Apr 24, 2012)

The plants in the back sure looks wild!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Sure is! Needs some good old fashioned attending to from my neglect due to container!


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## PinkRasbora (Jan 22, 2005)

Wow, this is amazing. That much stuff would have brought alot of people to a full tank tear down redo. Thanks for all this information!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Amazing... How did you manage to extract the algae from within the ricca?


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## bluestems (Feb 7, 2012)

Thanks! This was very helpful as I'm battling diatom algae currently with scraping the glass and airline tubing vacuuming. Although I also have 3 amanos and 2 bee shrimp, the algae is still multiplying, reappearing immediately within a day after maintenance. 

I'm thinking of trying the Phyton Git. Is it harmful at all to mosses, dwarf red lily, hc or dhg?


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

hey frank great tank, any updates?


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## LyzzaRyzz (Nov 6, 2012)

Great teaching style! Subscribed!


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## Kado (Oct 30, 2012)

Great intro! Really interesting read.


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

How's the tank doing?


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