Who pee'd on my lawn?

[tropicalwannabe]

Hey all,

So over the past month, I've started using pressurized CO2 and have seen fantastic growth.  Keeping a bubble rate to just less than 1 bubble per second, gives me just less than the 'normal' recommended 30ppm of CO2 in my tank.

Everything was great... (my tank just before CO2 injection)





Until NOW!!





My perfect carpet/lawn of staurogyne repens is dissolving.  I've been fighting a slowly loosing battle with Cyanobacteria in the tank.  Even with 2x/week water changes (40%/change), this green stinky stuff is winning.
It's really easy to get rid of, peels off everything just like a dead skin from a sunburn, but it comes back oh so quickly.

My shock is before I started with the pressurized CO2, I didn't have any problems. (Okay, that's kind of a lie.  I did have some hair algae but that was reduced/eliminated with reducing the time/intensity the lights were on)
My 4x39W T5HO lights (tubes) are less than 2 months old, so I"m sure I'm still clearly pushing 6500K in the tank.
My Nitrates are zero as well as my Nitrites (as of last check)
I give 10 hours of light, 2 bulbs for the entire 10 hours and the second set of bulbs only run for 4 hours mid day.

Currently, I have turned off the CO2, wrapped the tank so no light can get in as to starve the stuff, and I'm running a single 10 inch long air stone to break the surface of the water.

So my questions:
1. Am I on the right track in my current efforts to Win!
2. My SunSun filter provides a gentle sway to my plants (spray bar mounted on side).  I've read that a better flow of water can help... does my SunSun need a little brother Seio 320 to help things along?
3. Is there a date when we can expect the 9W UV Sterilizer to be back in stock?

In closing, I'd like to point out that the S. Repens are starting to push tiny little leaves.  So I'm sure they will eventually grow back, yet... if I can't get rid of this Cyano, who know how long.

Paul

[Carl]

Sorry about this issues with Cyanbacteria!!

I have an article dealing with it here:
www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2006/07/blue-green-algae-in-aquariums.html

Here is an excerpt from this article about CO2 use
"Use as little added CO2 as needed for a planted freshwater aquarium; while good controlled aquarium studies are yet forthcoming, my observations are that aquariums with large amounts of added CO2 have a much higher propensity for cyanobacteria growth.
This study backs up my observations:
Common freshwater cyanobacteria grow in 100% CO2

For this reason I generally recommend systems such as in the Walstad that utilize a more natural approach to planted aquariums. This is also why the one filter that is unfortunately popular among planted aquarium keepers I do NOT recommend is the wet/dry as these are notorious for their need for added CO2.
Best would be a Fluidized Filter System."

I agree that a better flow, can help since Cyano is easily dislodged with current.
If you add another pump such as the Seio, make sure it is placed low, near where you are having trouble with the cyano

As a side note, we expect the 9 Watt UV to be back in stock within the next 5 days (we have an expected delivery date to us of Tuesday, May 19)

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

I know fluctuating light or Co2 could cause some melting. Have you always used this lighting schedule before the new bulbs. How old were the last bulbs before replacement them? To much light burning them? or the plants getting having to get use to the new intense light?

[tropicalwannabe]

Thanks Carl, your article is why I don't push my co2 to the 'recommended' (30ppm) dosage. My Ista drop checker is usually blueish green, and if I understand correctly this would put me below that 30ppm mark.

My tank began as described by Dianna Walstad (I even have her book). I started with a 'dry start' or immersed setup until most of the S. Repens had matured. As I'm fortunate enough to obtaining Co2 at cost I dreamed big. Even with the little bit I'm pushing into the tank, it's clear my carpet of repens loved the added boost. (course so did the rest of my flora)

Devon, my original lighting schedule was 12 hours all 4 bulbs on. Even when I finally submerged my tank, I kept the same schedule. Since I cut it back to 10 hours a day as mentioned, my hair algae has really diminished. My plan is to change bulbs every 6 months. The bulbs I have now are my first change out, the old bulbs were right at about 6 months old.

There is one additional detail here that may be nothing, but I'll share it just in case.

At the age of 13, I fell in love with rock collecting and the Lapidary arts. To date, I believe I'm still the youngest Junior College student to take (and pass) a college level Gem and Mineral class. (My mentor helped a lot - he was the instructor lol)
That being said, I've forgot most of what I've learned back then, but my love for minerals, and especially Jade and Tigerseye are well present.
This brings me to my additional details, I have created a 'river' of crushed and polished Tigerseye in my tank. It runs from the front glass to the rear.

Tigerseye is simply quartz which really shouldn't be a problem in the tank, especially since it's been in for less than a month. Any thoughts?

Edit: Tigerseye is a quartz as classified by it's mineral classification, however is chemical formula is SiO2 or Silicon Dioxide and I can only imagine the rate it enters the water column is very slow.

[Carl]

May 15, 2015 18:03:22 GMT -5 tropicalwannabe said:

There is one additional detail here that may be nothing, but I'll share it just in case.

At the age of 13, I fell in love with rock collecting and the Lapidary arts. To date, I believe I'm still the youngest Junior College student to take (and pass) a college level Gem and Mineral class. (My mentor helped a lot - he was the instructor lol)
That being said, I've forgot most of what I've learned back then, but my love for minerals, and especially Jade and Tigerseye are well present.
This brings me to my additional details, I have created a 'river' of crushed and polished Tigerseye in my tank. It runs from the front glass to the rear.

Tigerseye is simply quartz which really shouldn't be a problem in the tank, especially since it's been in for less than a month. Any thoughts?

Edit: Tigerseye is a quartz as classified by it's mineral classification, however is chemical formula is SiO2 or Silicon Dioxide and I can only imagine the rate it enters the water column is very slow.

While I am not a mineral expert, I have doubts this would affect your aquarium, but the only way to know for sure is to run some experiments with a tank with and without the Tigerseye and then take some Silicate tests.

Product Resource:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquariumtestkit.html#silicate

Back to the CO2, I am not doubting that it helped the growth of your plants, however at some point the cyanobacteria utilized more so and over came your staurogyne

Carl

[tropicalwannabe]

May 14, 2015 12:48:45 GMT -5 Carl said:

I agree that a better flow, can help since Cyano is easily dislodged with current.
If you add another pump such as the Seio, make sure it is placed low, near where you are having trouble with the cyano

As a side note, we expect the 9 Watt UV to be back in stock within the next 5 days (we have an expected delivery date to us of Tuesday, May 19)

Carl

Looking intensely at purchasing the 9 Watt UV Kit you have online.  

As mentioned above, additional flow will help dislodge any returning cyano.  Would the return from the UV kit be enough? or would I still need an additional (Seio) type pump?

Also, is the 9 Watt over kill for my 40 gallon breeder tank.  My thought was for the little bit of a difference in cost, a bigger filter and higher wattage would be a plus.


Paul 

[Carl]

The UV Return would not likely be enough.
Actually the more "soft" flow of a propeller pump such as the Seio may not dislodge as well as a more direct flow of a more directional power head water pump such as the Rio series. That said, I generally prefer the softer flow of propeller pumps in a planted aquarium.

Here is an article where I review the aquarium pump types. While far from an exhaustive list and it is much more subjective than most of my articles, it gives some good basics about pumps:
www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/12/power-head-review.html

The 9 Watt SunSun UV should be perfectly fine for a 40 gallon aquarium

Resource:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/CompactUVSterilizer.html

Regards;
Carl

[tropicalwannabe]

I'm back for suggestions.

Since my last post, I have eliminated the pressurized CO2 all together.
It appears that my cyno outbreak returns at the same rate as before eliminating the CO2.

I am unfortunately only doing weekly water changes (60% on Sat) at this point which gives the cyno more time to expand compared to my 2x/week water changes.

My local 'mom and pop' petstore (yeah we still have one) suggested removing all the fish, and dumping in a bottle of hydrogen peroxide into the tank.  I was advised it might take a couple of doses before the cyno would not return.  This idea sounds fishy to me and unless I get a second "yeah it works" opinion, it's not happening.


Here's a picture of my tank today just before my weekly water changes, I hope you can see the cyno clearly:





Here's another shot, close up, and you can better see the coverage on my S. Repens as well as on a leaf of Water Wisteria:




I spend on average 2 hours doing water changes.  Most of that time is spend picking every little bit of this stinky stuff off the leaves of my plants.  When I refil the tank, I'm rewarded for my removal efforts by tons of small bubbles rising up from my plants.
I'm doing right, yet there's gotta be a gremlin in here somewhere.  I really don't want to do the 'chemical' treatment (believe it's called earthomyacin) that will cause problems with my good bacteria.


Any last suggestions?  

As always, thank's for your help.


Paul 

[Carl]

Here are a few thoughts:

*Increase your water flow with a power head in the area the Cyanobacteria grows best, since it does not do as well in areas of high current

*Consider a UV Sterilizer run and level 1

*Since lighting plays a major role in cyanobacteria growth, and as well since not all 6500K lights have the same spectrum, I would ask if you no the spectrum of your lamps? If more heavy in the middle spectrums, especially yellow, this too can be part of the problem.
I should note that I have eliminated cyano with just lighting alone.
Reference:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Further Resources:
www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2006/07/blue-green-algae-in-aquariums.html

www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

Upping the flow will keep the algae up off the plants. What was the reason for stopping the co2? Are you using Carbon?