Should I keep going with this series? Also don't forget to like the video (it helps a lot) 🙌 🚨Watch this next!🚨 Inspiration playlist! th-cam.com/play/PLr.html... CO2 buying guide! th-cam.com/video/dIVrr1yS3sU/w-d-xo.html How to SETUP your CO2! th-cam.com/video/qSHZ4F2PI2o/w-d-xo.html Simple fertilizer dosing! th-cam.com/video/I_KBOUM1RXM/w-d-xo.html EASY SHOPPING! (affiliate links) My favorite soil (US) bit.ly/3Hopkda The light that I use (low tech) (US) bit.ly/3b1XiZe The light that I use (high tech) (US) bit.ly/3mJ2rYH Potassium (US) amzn.to/3NSeEGb (US) bit.ly/3mIUG4S (EU) amzn.to/3mMsazq Algae scraper (US) bit.ly/3aTq6ms (EU) amzn.to/39t6EN5 👉🏻Cool Aquascaping T-shirts: mosscotton.com/ Code: mjaqua10 👉🏻Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my TH-cam channel: TH-cam.com/mjaquascaping 👉🏻 Use Code ''amsterdam'' for 10% off CO2art products
At this point I’m wondering if my submission was successfully sent, but I’m still hopeful. Even without our tank getting shown I’m still learning a lot from the others! So please keep this up! Very educational series!
For Ethan: Increase water flow. Dragonstone is good at collecting detritus in the holes, you may need to scrub the rocks with a wire brush to dislodge it. Wire brush is necessary to get rid of the algae on now, follow this with a big water change. Increased flow will help keep it free of organics. I suspect your phosphates are quite high. You could run something like Chemipure Green or Seachem Purigen in your filter. Don't overfeed the aquarium. Make sure the plants are getting iron and potassium so they grow to outcompete algae growth. You may need to introduce a fast growing plant to help you achieve a balance after all those other factors are put in place. Hope this helps. Good video, MJ. Keep up the great work.
@@Maxfraser_ Reducing the phosphates should help prevent the hair algae, but I personally prefer hair algae to bba because it's easier to manually remove and more fish eat it.
I'd and that this tank is FAR from overstocked for the size and amount of plants. I've got a 5gal heavily planted tank with 2 kuhlis, a nerite, a dwarf crayfish and a few endlers.... which quickly turned into about 10 adults and 30+ babies of different ages. I was sure I was headed for a crash, but my nitrates? ZERO ppm! And this with neutral ph, moderately hard water. Minimal algae. Speaking of algae, I may have to send Mark my walstad no tech jar since I have not seen a no tech setup discussed yet. Overwhelmed with green spot and staghorn, considering a teardown...
dragon stone collecting waste was my guess, too. the rocks are full of openings that accumulate so much stuff and sometimes aren’t properly cleaned, so there might even still have clay in them. i’d get a fine hose and go inside the little holes to see if there’s anything to be cleaned. maybe even use a clean mascara wand (which you can get it for free at makeup stores) to stir them up and lose up any settled debris.
I really enjoy these series. It makes me feel better knowing there are people out there that are having the same troubles I experience now and then. We are all members of the same group. ☺️. I like how you change up the content of your videos. It keeps things fresh. Cheers 🏄🏼♂️
Tips for everyone who is going to start a new aquarium: Fill up with 2/3 with plants that grow quickly and normally dim lighting and NOT plant nutrition until after 4 weeks also change 1/3 water every other day+ Co2.
This is a recipe for disaster. You should use liquid ferts, especially if you have a lot of stem plants. Algae isn't caused by excess phosphates or nitrates, but by co2 fluctuations and amonium presence if you have a healthy plant population. Also, if using aquasoils you should prepare them in a separate tank/container for a week by doing the water changes you mention, if you aren't very experienced you run the risk of the amonium in the soil killing plant roots otherwise. Your comment makes it seem like you should change water every two days regardless of what your substrate is, but that just causes more algae due to co2 fluctuations.
Now we'm talking about starting from day 1 and you using soil in the substrate you have to change a lot of water but also check all water values (also temp in the water), the best is to start the aquarium 14 day without plants or light. This is a hobby where no one has the same type of water values and what you plant also has its algae with it so there is no 100% correct answer.@@KraljHD
@@bilen911 Sorry but I have no idea what you mean since your English isn't the greatest, but as I've said, aquasoils should never be used raw in a tank, they should always be cleaned and amonia removed from them during the duration of a week in some sort of bucket or spare tank.
It's in many cases the light. Also for example if you work office hours. Just let the light start around 13:00 instead some people start at 09:00. Atleast that's from my expérience. So adjust it to the moments where you are actually at home and can enjoy it / reduce light hours.
This is an interesting channel. I just came across it. My tanks are all plantless but I thought I'd share my algae results. I have 17 heavily stocked African Cichlid tanks. All the tanks in my basement have lights that run from 7 to 7 every day. My tanks upstairs all get a lot of natural light. One in particular gets direct sunlight a few hours a day. With my maintenance schedule and using anoxic filtration not one of these tanks grow Algae. The 75 gallon tank in my kitchen has 25 cichlids in it and hasn't had the glass cleaned in 15 months and is pristine. Looks like I cleaned it this morning. I have a ton of filtration on these tanks, feed a quality food twice a day everyday. I vacuum the substrate and do water changes weekly and clean the filters when needed. Usually about every 3-4 months depending on the tank. I clean the floss in the filters monthly because I think it drastically effects the efficiency of a filter because it clogs so much quicker than the sponges. Anyhow the combination of my maintenance and anoxic filtration has resulted in zero algae. For reference many of these tanks have been running for years.
hello Please make a video on how to prepare plants before planting inside aquarium to get rid of snail eggs,snails or algae.. especially for those who are not using tissue culture plants what dip can we use..hydrogen peroxide,alum or bleach.. which is safe for plants?
Great series and info 🔥🌱 Could you show 'the true' light intensity on your tanks? That is without camera compensation. MD does it sometimes, but I dont know how accurate it can be 🤔 Maybe that would be helpful
The pro lights are super bright! I just switched to a fluval plant 3 to replace the light that came with my kit from maidenhead aquatics. I tried to match the same intensity, and I had to dim it down to around 25%! But the colours in the tank look incredible! Being able to change all the colour channels, set sunrise, siestas, and sunsets, with no horrible unreliable timers, is totally worth the cost 👌
Unfortunately I’m only around a month into the hobby and have no idea what’s going on with Ethan’s tank, but I’m sure lots of other good folks will be able to help. Very fun series this one! Interest seeing other tanks having different kinds of algae problems, not just me
Ethan's aquarium - I had that weird, bright green, furry algae on some driftwood a couple of months ago. I set the wood in a tank with Malawa shrimp ( Caridina pareparensis parvidentata) and it was gone overnight. They love that stuff. Pretty tank
MJ nice video to help those with algae problems. i think most algae issues are due to poor plant growth. high lighting itself is not bad, but combined with poorly managed co2 levels is a recipe for algae issues and poor plant growth. optimizing co2 means that it should be ~30ppm by the time the lights turn on and remain relatively stable throughout the photoperiod. this is achieved by high co2 injection rate and increased surface agitation. it's a delicate balance between the two. observing a 1pt. drop in pH in real-time is the key, something that drop checkers cannot provide.
Here's a fun story of my basent tank, which has been interesting of late. Had a mostly natural dirted tank, and was looking beautiful for a few months. I noted low phosphate and potassium deficiencies. I fixed and this helped the plant growth immensely... Tank was placed in my grow room with my citrus trees, so too much light for sure. I was hoping to grow more algae to feed the fish, shrimp, and snails. It worked, but came with the unwanted staghorn too :( I now have the light set to 10% output. As the plants grew, water flow reduced. As I neglected the tank due to being busy, the filter on my circulation pump started to clog slowly too, further reducing circulation. So poor circulation, too much light, and neglect, and low phosphate & potassium.. My tank was FULL to the brim from my dwarf Sagittaria had spread to fill every nook and cranny, and grew from the few inches carpet it was, inches to 12-15 ". Any spare space left had hand fulls of staghorn to be removed. I started cleanup a couple weeks ago, and removed around a 3-4 gallon containers full of plant material and algae. Need to do quite a bit of work still.. maybe this weekend. On the bright side, the otocinclus, shrimp, snails, and my hilstream loach seem to be doing ok. I even saw some *baby shrimp* while doing the cleanup. Other interesting finding was the pink bacteria in the substrate. It's Pepto bismol pink. I have a deep substrate, so definitely anerobes working down there. I presume it's a cyanobacteria. It's 1-5cm below the sand substrate on one side. I might inject some glutaraldehyde down there with a syringe, but I almost want to leave it, out of curiosity.
Without even watching the video I will assume its too much light and not enough plant mass. Most of my lights (cheapish Cichiros AII) are kept at maximum 20-25% @7 hours lights duration. The lights sold today are way too powerful, but I guess its just human psychology to use everything at full blast haha. Now lets go and watch the video....
Found this really useful - I just ordered the wrgb pro as they have no stock of the non pro version here in UK. I wanted to be able to adjust the light via the app. I think I'll start at 30% for 6 hours and work up the time and intensity from there
I think you should definitely continue with with series! I find it extremely helpful because I myself has a tank with algae problems. I am currently on holiday and I will be back in about 2 weeks. Will I be able to send in my tank to be reviewed at that time? It would be so amazing to have my tank reviewed. I am not really sure what my algae is but it is covering the monte carlo, crypts and the rocks in my 55L tank that is about a year old. It sounds like you are being flooded with emails from people who want their tank to be reviewed so I hope I wont be too much of a hassle. I am from Australia NT btw.
Another thing I would like to add is the ADA Na water with cation filter. It's easier than an RO system and will help with the Seiryu stones and already hard tap water systems. It's what I am currently using and so far no problem for almost a year.
For Ethan Clean all the filters,external,pipes,vacuum the carper once for this time,than do a %100 water change.Make sure your co2 is stable and at 30-40 ppm minimum all day,maybe you could buy a ph/co2 indicator.After you are %100 sure about co2,lower the light intensity a little.Make sure your co2 starts minimum 1 hour before light.Make sure your water parameters are okay,maybe you could go for ro-di.Change water %30 per 3-4 days.Make sure that you add 7ppm potassium ,1ppm phosphate,1 ppm nitrate per water change (Or only potassium if the nitrate problem persists).This will make your ferts accumulate to minimum good levels with %30 water changes.Feed fishes with micro pellets,like one or two pellets for one fish.And wait 4-5 weeks.Maybe you could check your tap water for nitrate.
It’s funny that when I first got into this hobby, having enough light was always a main issue. Now you can buy a relatively inexpensive light and wind up with two or three times the amount of light you actually need.
About Ethan's tank, those nitrates gotta come from somewhere :p Tap water in some areas of the world have nitrates in them, but it could also be Ethan overfeeding his fish.
Ethan, I saw that you have a very thick soil substrate. Last week, I just rescape my tank, and in the center of the tank, I had some hardscape, and around it heavily planted. The water flow was very small in the center. When I pull out the aqua soils, the soil in the center are all in big lump, and smell bad. This is a sign of reverse nitrification, which is caused by lack of oxygen. I am not sure if you are experiencing similar thing, but I hope this can help you. To tackle it, all you have to do is poke holes on your substrates, and change water afterwards. By poking holes, you will release NO2 and NO3 into water column, so change water right after. The hole will also allow new water flow in and hopefully help with growing beneficial bacteria. I hope this can help you. It may not be what your cause is, but I say is no harm.
I have a question maybe you can answer it, it may be a stupid question but I’m far from an expert at this LOL I’m cycling a tank for Sulawesi Shrimp. I have Neocaridina and Caridina tanks already and they’re doing great. I know Sulawesi shrimp love a mature tank with lots of biofilm and dust algae. Is there a way to specifically grow dust algae?
Hi MJ, how high is it advisable to hang a aquarium light starting from the water surface? Assuming that what are the facts / guidelines you’re taking in consideration. I hope to hear from you. Thank you, Greetings Willie
I want to setup a 17 gal aquarium(24 "x12" x14"). I just wanted to know if a 20 watts flood light would be good for my tank or not. I saw MD fishtanks use a 20 watt floodlight in one of his aquariums. I want to grow some easy growing plants like monte carlo, vals, anubias etc. Should I also include a DIY CO2 system just like you have in some of your tanks?
13:38 Ethan's tank, does he have nerite snails? Got those and horned nerites took care of the rocks, especially when the snails doesn't have other food sources (e.g. left over food, dying plants).
Hi mj, I'm starting a nano 55l scape and I am choosing the right plants for my layout at the moment. How many different species would you choose maximum in order to avoid an unbalanced look? Thank You a lot!
@@MJAquascaping thanks for the reply! I'd like to show you my layout and my considered plant list. It's my first scape and I would love to get advice from you if that is possible?
With this light I have the 60 mm there is a dimming option for white and rgb all separate. It confused me at first thinking that the white channel is the sum of all the three channels actually it’s a separate channel. In short you need to dim all 4 channels separately. Lower the blue to 15 or 20 the green to 30 the red to 35 and the white to 20. Great light confusing interface
Wish I had seen this clip 4 months ago. I set up my high tech tank and every thing was going fine untill two weeks ago. Then bam blue green algae bloom in a week. I am looking at using a UV filter to combat future blooms. Seams my problem was too much light (chihiros A2 at 100%). Its now back at 65%.
The mystery tank :- soil nutrients depleted. As simple as that. Solve algae issue then start dosing ferts and it wont come back. Highly recommend lean dosing
i need your opinion , how do you think about anubias in low tech but with high /med light? i have low tech heavily planted tank lot of echinodorus, crypts and stems plant that requires med-high light no algae issue so far except a bit green hair algae , i planning to add bunch of anubias like barteri , nana , nana golden , petite to add more deep green coloration..i heard a bad thing about anubias in high light which will yellowing or not doing well is it true?
In my experience it is hard to keep the Anubias healthy in medium to high light. Try to put it somewhere it will be shaded by other aquarium plants. I have also had the best success keeping it attached to stuff down by the substrate so it’s furthest from the lights and the roots can find their way down in to the substrate. Any time I’ve attached it higher up on hardscape it hasn’t done as well! Hope that helps a little
hi mj just want to ask if liquid fertilizer do expire. just got back from the hobby after 2 years and tried to reuse my ferts im not sure if it does work but i got lots of bba.
For Ethan 20 gallon: That's not algae, it's red freshwater cyanobacteria. I had the same issue and got it diagnosed at a lab. Get chemiclean or another erythromycin based solution and dose it directly in your tank. DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING, NOT EVEN THE MEDIA, because the bacteria will pop back in if you do remove it. It most likely came with something that you then put in the tank. But another tip I could give is that it's not needed to do water changes in an established tank as much as you do. Doing it twice a week will lead to heavy co2 fluctuations and introduce algae. You should do water changes preferably once a month, but considering that it's a 20 gallon, you could do it once every 2 weeks if your tank can't handle longer intervals.
Is that red cyanobacteria removable mechanically? I might have something similar on my slow growing plants, impossible to remove mechanically or chemically (excel or hydrogen peroxide).
@@cherrypoutines6269 it's imo harder to remove mechanically than bba, but not completely impossible, but since it's not actually algae. It will just come back if you don't remove it's root cause.
@@KraljHD oh, so i guess it's not the same then. What i have is impossible to remove mechanically, tried to scrap it off an anubias leaf, it left a hole. And Anubias leafs a pretty strong...
@@cherrypoutines6269 It can still be it, it's not that difficult to tear an anubias leaf. It can be one of two things, red cyano which I've said in my main comment or red spot algae. The latter appears mostly on glass and rocks and is mostly seen as bright red large circles, mostly alone and if left it starts covering the whole rock, the red spot algae is scientifically called hildenbrandia and it's very rare. If it's on a plant, then it's almost certainly red cyano imo. Both are very similar in appearance, but in my experience red cyano is darker and is "thicker" like a small fuzzy carpet if it's on wood and thin and purple covering if it's on a plant, similar to bba. I've had both and both at the same time, they're two of the hardest algae to remove. And if you have one you most likely also have some real bba in the tank. Ps. If you have true hildenbrandia, then just wipe the tank. It's not worth it. Trash everything except the aquarium itself if you can properly clean it and leave it out in the sun to dry for a week. Hildenbrandia will go into your filter and everything else and if it's there, it'll find it's way back in even if you clean the filter. So it's better to just throw it away sadly.
@@KraljHD this thing has never been fuzzy. Ive had fuzzy that went away since i have severe lack of nutients and light in my tank for a long time now. What i don't understand is, if it's bacteria or algae, it should have been affected by hydrogen peroxide. I used 3% straight from the bottle and rubbed that on the leaves. Nothing, other than the leaf melted 2 weeks later. Also i have nothing on the glass, just some on the rock i think and some on the slow growing plants.
Let’s help Ethan: I think he’s got diatoms. As usual my recommendation is more fast growing stems to take away nutrients from the algae. If that’s not possible, you actually could benefit from some additional stocking of about 10 to 20 amano shrimp.
I just rewatched it and I noticed he heats and aerated the water used for water changes. You’re just kickstarting the algae growing process by doing that in my opinion. All I do is keep my water in 5 gallon jugs in a dark place at room temperature. I would also switch to less frequent water changes. Once a week at most, at 10 months you should have a well established tank which should be able to go well over a week without any water changes. Add Amanos!
Had some staghorn algae and clado in my tank after some issues with my canister filter and it spitting a LOT of stuff from it in the tank, used 2Hr APT Fix and i am now on day 7... all algae dead, plants thriving back to full health.
The problem Ethan aquarium may be NO3 in the tap water. Measure the tap water so you don't blame the wrong thing. If NO3 in the tap then buy a RO system and make your own blend without NO3 (that is removed in the RO).
Hello Mark. Nice video. This reviews should be a series. Please do more, and please, review my scape, I sent you a e-mail in 22-jun. Best regards. Vinicius from Brazil.
@@MJAquascaping Hi MJ thx for the reply. What actually happen is Im doing dry start method for monte carlo. Now it have some cyanobacteria on it do you have any advice for this?
I thought Algae Troubleshooting usually starts with lights being too bright. It’s odd to see people invest in expensive overly powerful lights before understanding how lighting affects Algae.
Halo ik heb een grote probleem met de kleine slakjes. Heb ze in de bak gekregen door een plant die waarschijnlijk er me besmet was. Ze verwijderen is bijna onmogelijk . Wat raad je mij aan. Heb alles al er uit gehad. Planten weg. Hout gereinigd. De hele bak leeg gemaakt maar is geen avans. De binnen en buiten filter vernieuwt van sponzen maar na een maand hetzelfde probleem. Help.. Is een aquarium van 240l
Get a broccoli stalk and place in the tank. The snails will love it and crawl over it to eat it. Once it’s covered in snails (around 2-3 days) remove it. Do that often until the amount of snails has decreased. Also, reduce the amount of food you’re putting in your tank if you can
Ethan’s Issue: sure he has nitrates from fish waste, but what about micro nutrients and iron? Edit: commented seconds before you made the same guess as me 😃
Why are all of these people with low light plants running such powerful lights?! I guess it’s the age old mistake of trying to throw money at a problem in an attempt to fix it.
Something totally irrelevant. After watching Stranger Things the new season, I can say that you look exactly like that Russian prison guard! Haha. But with a mustache
@@AmazonasBiotop , Can use for example JBL SilikatEx rapid (filter material). But first, test it about silicate values. But I'm pretty sure, there's a huge value for silicate\phosphate.
Should I keep going with this series? Also don't forget to like the video (it helps a lot) 🙌
🚨Watch this next!🚨
Inspiration playlist! th-cam.com/play/PLr.html...
CO2 buying guide! th-cam.com/video/dIVrr1yS3sU/w-d-xo.html
How to SETUP your CO2! th-cam.com/video/qSHZ4F2PI2o/w-d-xo.html
Simple fertilizer dosing! th-cam.com/video/I_KBOUM1RXM/w-d-xo.html
EASY SHOPPING! (affiliate links)
My favorite soil
(US) bit.ly/3Hopkda
The light that I use (low tech)
(US) bit.ly/3b1XiZe
The light that I use (high tech)
(US) bit.ly/3mJ2rYH
Potassium
(US) amzn.to/3NSeEGb
(US) bit.ly/3mIUG4S
(EU) amzn.to/3mMsazq
Algae scraper
(US) bit.ly/3aTq6ms
(EU) amzn.to/39t6EN5
👉🏻Cool Aquascaping T-shirts: mosscotton.com/ Code: mjaqua10
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👉🏻 Use Code ''amsterdam'' for 10% off CO2art products
Make it a regular! Like maybe once a week.
Yes yes pls - love your tanks and videos man
♥
At this point I’m wondering if my submission was successfully sent, but I’m still hopeful. Even without our tank getting shown I’m still learning a lot from the others! So please keep this up! Very educational series!
Once a week. User submission reviews is something everyone loves.great entertainment for us = Great for the channel we support.
For Ethan: Increase water flow. Dragonstone is good at collecting detritus in the holes, you may need to scrub the rocks with a wire brush to dislodge it. Wire brush is necessary to get rid of the algae on now, follow this with a big water change. Increased flow will help keep it free of organics. I suspect your phosphates are quite high. You could run something like Chemipure Green or Seachem Purigen in your filter. Don't overfeed the aquarium. Make sure the plants are getting iron and potassium so they grow to outcompete algae growth. You may need to introduce a fast growing plant to help you achieve a balance after all those other factors are put in place. Hope this helps.
Good video, MJ. Keep up the great work.
but it could make string algae with thst flow
@@Maxfraser_ Reducing the phosphates should help prevent the hair algae, but I personally prefer hair algae to bba because it's easier to manually remove and more fish eat it.
How much do you feed the Fish. They only need a pinch a day. Maybe this is the cause of the High nutrient level
I'd and that this tank is FAR from overstocked for the size and amount of plants. I've got a 5gal heavily planted tank with 2 kuhlis, a nerite, a dwarf crayfish and a few endlers.... which quickly turned into about 10 adults and 30+ babies of different ages. I was sure I was headed for a crash, but my nitrates? ZERO ppm! And this with neutral ph, moderately hard water. Minimal algae.
Speaking of algae, I may have to send Mark my walstad no tech jar since I have not seen a no tech setup discussed yet. Overwhelmed with green spot and staghorn, considering a teardown...
dragon stone collecting waste was my guess, too. the rocks are full of openings that accumulate so much stuff and sometimes aren’t properly cleaned, so there might even still have clay in them. i’d get a fine hose and go inside the little holes to see if there’s anything to be cleaned. maybe even use a clean mascara wand (which you can get it for free at makeup stores) to stir them up and lose up any settled debris.
I like this format its one of the best on youtube yes this is the best series I have seen real help for all.
I really enjoy these series. It makes me feel better knowing there are people out there that are having the same troubles I experience now and then. We are all members of the same group. ☺️. I like how you change up the content of your videos. It keeps things fresh. Cheers 🏄🏼♂️
Omg that speedy voice when you read out the tank specs, cracking up.
😅
Had me checking the playback speed!
Tips for everyone who is going to start a new aquarium: Fill up with 2/3 with plants that grow quickly and normally dim lighting and NOT plant nutrition until after 4 weeks also change 1/3 water every other day+ Co2.
Beginner here , thanks for the advice, would the dark start method also be a good idea? ://th-cam.com/video/ULCBqSQYaOY/w-d-xo.html
I totally agree. I always forget how many nutrients new aquasoil leaches into the water at the beginning of a tank's life
This is a recipe for disaster.
You should use liquid ferts, especially if you have a lot of stem plants. Algae isn't caused by excess phosphates or nitrates, but by co2 fluctuations and amonium presence if you have a healthy plant population.
Also, if using aquasoils you should prepare them in a separate tank/container for a week by doing the water changes you mention, if you aren't very experienced you run the risk of the amonium in the soil killing plant roots otherwise.
Your comment makes it seem like you should change water every two days regardless of what your substrate is, but that just causes more algae due to co2 fluctuations.
Now we'm talking about starting from day 1 and you using soil in the substrate you have to change a lot of water but also check all water values (also temp in the water), the best is to start the aquarium 14 day without plants or light.
This is a hobby where no one has the same type of water values and what you plant also has its algae with it so there is no 100% correct answer.@@KraljHD
@@bilen911 Sorry but I have no idea what you mean since your English isn't the greatest, but as I've said, aquasoils should never be used raw in a tank, they should always be cleaned and amonia removed from them during the duration of a week in some sort of bucket or spare tank.
you are the fish tank doctor!!!!!!
It's in many cases the light. Also for example if you work office hours. Just let the light start around 13:00 instead some people start at 09:00. Atleast that's from my expérience.
So adjust it to the moments where you are actually at home and can enjoy it / reduce light hours.
Thank you mark cut back my fertz and raised the light added some more plants and it's like night and day
This is an interesting channel. I just came across it. My tanks are all plantless but I thought I'd share my algae results. I have 17 heavily stocked African Cichlid tanks. All the tanks in my basement have lights that run from 7 to 7 every day. My tanks upstairs all get a lot of natural light. One in particular gets direct sunlight a few hours a day. With my maintenance schedule and using anoxic filtration not one of these tanks grow Algae. The 75 gallon tank in my kitchen has 25 cichlids in it and hasn't had the glass cleaned in 15 months and is pristine. Looks like I cleaned it this morning. I have a ton of filtration on these tanks, feed a quality food twice a day everyday. I vacuum the substrate and do water changes weekly and clean the filters when needed. Usually about every 3-4 months depending on the tank. I clean the floss in the filters monthly because I think it drastically effects the efficiency of a filter because it clogs so much quicker than the sponges. Anyhow the combination of my maintenance and anoxic filtration has resulted in zero algae. For reference many of these tanks have been running for years.
hello
Please make a video on how to prepare plants before planting inside aquarium to get rid of snail eggs,snails or algae..
especially for those who are not using tissue culture plants
what dip can we use..hydrogen peroxide,alum or bleach.. which is safe for plants?
Great series and info 🔥🌱
Could you show 'the true' light intensity on your tanks? That is without camera compensation. MD does it sometimes, but I dont know how accurate it can be 🤔 Maybe that would be helpful
The pro lights are super bright!
I just switched to a fluval plant 3 to replace the light that came with my kit from maidenhead aquatics.
I tried to match the same intensity, and I had to dim it down to around 25%!
But the colours in the tank look incredible! Being able to change all the colour channels, set sunrise, siestas, and sunsets, with no horrible unreliable timers, is totally worth the cost 👌
Once again MJ awesome video, keep up the great work! Part 3 would be awesome! I love this style of content, it’s very helpful and informative.
I can’t stress enough how much the lean dosing method has helped my tank have little to no algae!! And like MJ said 23/24c water temp is perfect!!
Like the video - I’d like to see one where you just review tanks, I’ve got 2 to send you pictures of!
Very informative aquascaping videos each time !!! Keep up the good work
Unfortunately I’m only around a month into the hobby and have no idea what’s going on with Ethan’s tank, but I’m sure lots of other good folks will be able to help. Very fun series this one! Interest seeing other tanks having different kinds of algae problems, not just me
Ethan's aquarium - I had that weird, bright green, furry algae on some driftwood a couple of months ago. I set the wood in a tank with Malawa shrimp ( Caridina pareparensis parvidentata) and it was gone overnight. They love that stuff. Pretty tank
Nice to see everyone did their best helping out Ethan! 💯💪🏻
Great video as usual Mark! Very helpful! Keep up the great content!
MJ nice video to help those with algae problems. i think most algae issues are due to poor plant growth. high lighting itself is not bad, but combined with poorly managed co2 levels is a recipe for algae issues and poor plant growth. optimizing co2 means that it should be ~30ppm by the time the lights turn on and remain relatively stable throughout the photoperiod. this is achieved by high co2 injection rate and increased surface agitation. it's a delicate balance between the two. observing a 1pt. drop in pH in real-time is the key, something that drop checkers cannot provide.
Awesome to see another episode, I am currently building a proper High tech tank
Good luck!
Here's a fun story of my basent tank, which has been interesting of late.
Had a mostly natural dirted tank, and was looking beautiful for a few months.
I noted low phosphate and potassium deficiencies. I fixed and this helped the plant growth immensely...
Tank was placed in my grow room with my citrus trees, so too much light for sure. I was hoping to grow more algae to feed the fish, shrimp, and snails. It worked, but came with the unwanted staghorn too :(
I now have the light set to 10% output.
As the plants grew, water flow reduced.
As I neglected the tank due to being busy, the filter on my circulation pump started to clog slowly too, further reducing circulation.
So poor circulation, too much light, and neglect, and low phosphate & potassium..
My tank was FULL to the brim from my dwarf Sagittaria had spread to fill every nook and cranny, and grew from the few inches carpet it was, inches to 12-15 ". Any spare space left had hand fulls of staghorn to be removed.
I started cleanup a couple weeks ago, and removed around a 3-4 gallon containers full of plant material and algae.
Need to do quite a bit of work still.. maybe this weekend.
On the bright side, the otocinclus, shrimp, snails, and my hilstream loach seem to be doing ok. I even saw some *baby shrimp* while doing the cleanup.
Other interesting finding was the pink bacteria in the substrate. It's Pepto bismol pink.
I have a deep substrate, so definitely anerobes working down there. I presume it's a cyanobacteria. It's 1-5cm below the sand substrate on one side.
I might inject some glutaraldehyde down there with a syringe, but I almost want to leave it, out of curiosity.
0:40 me as belgian : oh :(
Without even watching the video I will assume its too much light and not enough plant mass. Most of my lights (cheapish Cichiros AII) are kept at maximum 20-25% @7 hours lights duration. The lights sold today are way too powerful, but I guess its just human psychology to use everything at full blast haha. Now lets go and watch the video....
If you want to film brightness, you have 2 options:
stadardized candle: like a light in part of the shot
same cam settings (use the all manual mode)
Found this really useful - I just ordered the wrgb pro as they have no stock of the non pro version here in UK. I wanted to be able to adjust the light via the app. I think I'll start at 30% for 6 hours and work up the time and intensity from there
I think you should definitely continue with with series! I find it extremely helpful because I myself has a tank with algae problems.
I am currently on holiday and I will be back in about 2 weeks. Will I be able to send in my tank to be reviewed at that time? It would be so amazing to have my tank reviewed.
I am not really sure what my algae is but it is covering the monte carlo, crypts and the rocks in my 55L tank that is about a year old. It sounds like you are being flooded with emails from people who want their tank to be reviewed so I hope I wont be too much of a hassle.
I am from Australia NT btw.
I’m planning to do episode 3 on the 26th of this month 👍🏻
great video, as for Ethan's tank, is he over feeding his fish? adding some shrimp could help with those algae on the rocks
Another thing I would like to add is the ADA Na water with cation filter. It's easier than an RO system and will help with the Seiryu stones and already hard tap water systems. It's what I am currently using and so far no problem for almost a year.
For Ethan
Clean all the filters,external,pipes,vacuum the carper once for this time,than do a %100 water change.Make sure your co2 is stable and at 30-40 ppm minimum all day,maybe you could buy a ph/co2 indicator.After you are %100 sure about co2,lower the light intensity a little.Make sure your co2 starts minimum 1 hour before light.Make sure your water parameters are okay,maybe you could go for ro-di.Change water %30 per 3-4 days.Make sure that you add 7ppm potassium ,1ppm phosphate,1 ppm nitrate per water change (Or only potassium if the nitrate problem persists).This will make your ferts accumulate to minimum good levels with %30 water changes.Feed fishes with micro pellets,like one or two pellets for one fish.And wait 4-5 weeks.Maybe you could check your tap water for nitrate.
It’s funny that when I first got into this hobby, having enough light was always a main issue. Now you can buy a relatively inexpensive light and wind up with two or three times the amount of light you actually need.
About Ethan's tank, those nitrates gotta come from somewhere :p
Tap water in some areas of the world have nitrates in them, but it could also be Ethan overfeeding his fish.
Ethan, I saw that you have a very thick soil substrate. Last week, I just rescape my tank, and in the center of the tank, I had some hardscape, and around it heavily planted. The water flow was very small in the center. When I pull out the aqua soils, the soil in the center are all in big lump, and smell bad. This is a sign of reverse nitrification, which is caused by lack of oxygen.
I am not sure if you are experiencing similar thing, but I hope this can help you. To tackle it, all you have to do is poke holes on your substrates, and change water afterwards. By poking holes, you will release NO2 and NO3 into water column, so change water right after. The hole will also allow new water flow in and hopefully help with growing beneficial bacteria.
I hope this can help you. It may not be what your cause is, but I say is no harm.
great video MJ have a good day :D
Yes please make a part three of your series.
Enjoying the series 👍
Ethan…have you tested your tap water for nitrates? Some areas have nitrates in the water supply (esp. rural USA).
No nitrates in tap, definitely overstocked 18 cardinal tetras, 1 betta, 5 amano shrimp, 5 kuhlis, scuds and bladder snails
I have a question maybe you can answer it, it may be a stupid question but I’m far from an expert at this LOL I’m cycling a tank for Sulawesi Shrimp. I have Neocaridina and Caridina tanks already and they’re doing great. I know Sulawesi shrimp love a mature tank with lots of biofilm and dust algae. Is there a way to specifically grow dust algae?
Hi MJ, how high is it advisable to hang a aquarium light starting from the water surface? Assuming that what are the facts / guidelines you’re taking in consideration. I hope to hear from you. Thank you, Greetings Willie
Good series, waiting for part three 👍
Im glad seeing this vidéo i also have these kinds of algea with a wrgb2 pro set at 65 % on a 30 cm high shallow tank i bump it down to 45
I want to setup a 17 gal aquarium(24 "x12" x14"). I just wanted to know if a 20 watts flood light would be good for my tank or not.
I saw MD fishtanks use a 20 watt floodlight in one of his aquariums.
I want to grow some easy growing plants like monte carlo, vals, anubias etc.
Should I also include a DIY CO2 system just like you have in some of your tanks?
Please continue series. My fav new aquarium channel. You should look at a partner vid with Dustin in the states. He's a plant nut too.
Hello question is controsoil gd for growing stem plants when u can't afford all that other soil that just cost to damn much
Part 3 please! Greetings from Brazil. BTW You should also try Brazilian barbecue someday.
13:38 Ethan's tank, does he have nerite snails? Got those and horned nerites took care of the rocks, especially when the snails doesn't have other food sources (e.g. left over food, dying plants).
Hi mj, I'm starting a nano 55l scape and I am choosing the right plants for my layout at the moment. How many different species would you choose maximum in order to avoid an unbalanced look? Thank You a lot!
Hey! Depends a little on the style and the layout, but I would stay between 5 and 10 different types
@@MJAquascaping thanks for the reply! I'd like to show you my layout and my considered plant list. It's my first scape and I would love to get advice from you if that is possible?
fantastic series, very helpful and interesting. Sydney Australia 🙂
Keep up the good work mark
May need to look at the food that is being used and the amount which could cause the high nitrates
Why don't you like spraybars? Just curious
With this light I have the 60 mm there is a dimming option for white and rgb all separate. It confused me at first thinking that the white channel is the sum of all the three channels actually it’s a separate channel. In short you need to dim all 4 channels separately. Lower the blue to 15 or 20 the green to 30 the red to 35 and the white to 20. Great light confusing interface
Be sure to cool your tank adequatley when doing blackouts and also make sure that your tank is well oxygenated.
Wish I had seen this clip 4 months ago. I set up my high tech tank and every thing was going fine untill two weeks ago. Then bam blue green algae bloom in a week. I am looking at using a UV filter to combat future blooms. Seams my problem was too much light (chihiros A2 at 100%). Its now back at 65%.
My best natural tip for very many related problems is Javamose.
How abou 90cm 50 gallon im using vivid 2 rgb in 13inch above the water im struggling with green algae on plants like hairgrass
The mystery tank :- soil nutrients depleted. As simple as that. Solve algae issue then start dosing ferts and it wont come back. Highly recommend lean dosing
i need your opinion , how do you think about anubias in low tech but with high /med light? i have low tech heavily planted tank lot of echinodorus, crypts and stems plant that requires med-high light no algae issue so far except a bit green hair algae , i planning to add bunch of anubias like barteri , nana , nana golden , petite to add more deep green coloration..i heard a bad thing about anubias in high light which will yellowing or not doing well is it true?
In my experience it is hard to keep the Anubias healthy in medium to high light. Try to put it somewhere it will be shaded by other aquarium plants. I have also had the best success keeping it attached to stuff down by the substrate so it’s furthest from the lights and the roots can find their way down in to the substrate. Any time I’ve attached it higher up on hardscape it hasn’t done as well! Hope that helps a little
Exactly this!
Im wondering, what actually is the model of the Shelf you have your aquariums placed on?
This is the one www.leenbakker.nl/kasten/wandkasten/wandmeubel-kyan-zwart-naturel-180x120x40-cm
@@MJAquascaping Thank you, very much appreciated!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Yes, everyone loves to hear your Belgian accent... (Okay, I'm from Antwerp) 😏
😅
hi mj just want to ask if liquid fertilizer do expire. just got back from the hobby after 2 years and tried to reuse my ferts im not sure if it does work but i got lots of bba.
I'm not sure to be honest. I would probably buy new ferts just to be safe
For Ethan 20 gallon:
That's not algae, it's red freshwater cyanobacteria. I had the same issue and got it diagnosed at a lab.
Get chemiclean or another erythromycin based solution and dose it directly in your tank. DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING, NOT EVEN THE MEDIA, because the bacteria will pop back in if you do remove it.
It most likely came with something that you then put in the tank.
But another tip I could give is that it's not needed to do water changes in an established tank as much as you do. Doing it twice a week will lead to heavy co2 fluctuations and introduce algae. You should do water changes preferably once a month, but considering that it's a 20 gallon, you could do it once every 2 weeks if your tank can't handle longer intervals.
Is that red cyanobacteria removable mechanically? I might have something similar on my slow growing plants, impossible to remove mechanically or chemically (excel or hydrogen peroxide).
@@cherrypoutines6269 it's imo harder to remove mechanically than bba, but not completely impossible, but since it's not actually algae. It will just come back if you don't remove it's root cause.
@@KraljHD oh, so i guess it's not the same then. What i have is impossible to remove mechanically, tried to scrap it off an anubias leaf, it left a hole. And Anubias leafs a pretty strong...
@@cherrypoutines6269 It can still be it, it's not that difficult to tear an anubias leaf.
It can be one of two things, red cyano which I've said in my main comment or red spot algae. The latter appears mostly on glass and rocks and is mostly seen as bright red large circles, mostly alone and if left it starts covering the whole rock, the red spot algae is scientifically called hildenbrandia and it's very rare.
If it's on a plant, then it's almost certainly red cyano imo.
Both are very similar in appearance, but in my experience red cyano is darker and is "thicker" like a small fuzzy carpet if it's on wood and thin and purple covering if it's on a plant, similar to bba. I've had both and both at the same time, they're two of the hardest algae to remove. And if you have one you most likely also have some real bba in the tank.
Ps. If you have true hildenbrandia, then just wipe the tank. It's not worth it. Trash everything except the aquarium itself if you can properly clean it and leave it out in the sun to dry for a week. Hildenbrandia will go into your filter and everything else and if it's there, it'll find it's way back in even if you clean the filter. So it's better to just throw it away sadly.
@@KraljHD this thing has never been fuzzy. Ive had fuzzy that went away since i have severe lack of nutients and light in my tank for a long time now. What i don't understand is, if it's bacteria or algae, it should have been affected by hydrogen peroxide. I used 3% straight from the bottle and rubbed that on the leaves. Nothing, other than the leaf melted 2 weeks later. Also i have nothing on the glass, just some on the rock i think and some on the slow growing plants.
Come to Texas. I’ll cook you a brisket!
the most worth it product from ADA is probably green gain plus. i know its expensive in europe and america. if you try it you would be amazed.
Me encantan estos videos, se aprende mucho! Y la mayoría de veces es problema de luz, curioso. Un saludo!
Let’s help Ethan: I think he’s got diatoms. As usual my recommendation is more fast growing stems to take away nutrients from the algae. If that’s not possible, you actually could benefit from some additional stocking of about 10 to 20 amano shrimp.
And as I said measure the tap water so it do not contain the NO3 if so switch to RO.
I just rewatched it and I noticed he heats and aerated the water used for water changes. You’re just kickstarting the algae growing process by doing that in my opinion. All I do is keep my water in 5 gallon jugs in a dark place at room temperature. I would also switch to less frequent water changes. Once a week at most, at 10 months you should have a well established tank which should be able to go well over a week without any water changes. Add Amanos!
Are you over feeding your tetras? Is the food getting stuck in the carpet?
Are you over feeding your tetras? Is the food getting stuck in the carpet? Amanos! :)
It's not algae, but red cyano, you can't kill red cyano like you would algae. Low light makes it worse.
Had some staghorn algae and clado in my tank after some issues with my canister filter and it spitting a LOT of stuff from it in the tank, used 2Hr APT Fix and i am now on day 7... all algae dead, plants thriving back to full health.
Is Ethan over feeding?
Any co2 diffuser recommandations for a 20 gallon
Nice algae review 👍🏻
The problem Ethan aquarium may be NO3 in the tap water.
Measure the tap water so you don't blame the wrong thing.
If NO3 in the tap then buy a RO system and make your own blend without NO3 (that is removed in the RO).
some of the audio sounds sped up and choppy?
Hello Mark. Nice video. This reviews should be a series. Please do more, and please, review my scape, I sent you a e-mail in 22-jun. Best regards. Vinicius from Brazil.
does liquid carbon bad for monte carlo as you say it will kill the hairgrass
only if you apply it directly to the plant.
@@MJAquascaping Hi MJ thx for the reply. What actually happen is Im doing dry start method for monte carlo. Now it have some cyanobacteria on it do you have any advice for this?
Bonjour tres interessant 👍
Ethan my best guess is you have blue green algae.
I thought Algae Troubleshooting usually starts with lights being too bright. It’s odd to see people invest in expensive overly powerful lights before understanding how lighting affects Algae.
Halo ik heb een grote probleem met de kleine slakjes. Heb ze in de bak gekregen door een plant die waarschijnlijk er me besmet was. Ze verwijderen is bijna onmogelijk . Wat raad je mij aan. Heb alles al er uit gehad. Planten weg. Hout gereinigd. De hele bak leeg gemaakt maar is geen avans. De binnen en buiten filter vernieuwt van sponzen maar na een maand hetzelfde probleem. Help.. Is een aquarium van 240l
Anatome helena: slak etende slakken.
Get a broccoli stalk and place in the tank. The snails will love it and crawl over it to eat it. Once it’s covered in snails (around 2-3 days) remove it. Do that often until the amount of snails has decreased. Also, reduce the amount of food you’re putting in your tank if you can
helpful yes
Thanks
Thank you!
Part 3 please
1st 😚
😎😎😎
Is it ok to run Co2 24/7?
Yeah no problem
Ethan’s Issue: sure he has nitrates from fish waste, but what about micro nutrients and iron? Edit: commented seconds before you made the same guess as me 😃
What about if the light we use isnt dimmable what do we do
Add floating plants! Or reduce the photo period
Yo love it
30% water changes every 2 weeks ? Not even 50%
I do wana hear your belgian accent xp k ben van Antwerpen! Xp
Why are all of these people with low light plants running such powerful lights?! I guess it’s the age old mistake of trying to throw money at a problem in an attempt to fix it.
ooit een zoutwatrer cube maken ?
Wil ik ooit wel een keer proberen!
Something totally irrelevant. After watching Stranger Things the new season, I can say that you look exactly like that Russian prison guard! Haha. But with a mustache
Ben ik de enige die niet kan slapen tot ik zijn Belgische accent gehoord heb?
Ethan, for me it's silicates....to much silicates.
If silicates then there's filter material for that and another reason to also switch to RO.
@@AmazonasBiotop , Can use for example JBL SilikatEx rapid (filter material). But first, test it about silicate values. But I'm pretty sure, there's a huge value for silicate\phosphate.
More more more
I run my wrgb2 pro at 100% 😜😅😅😅
You are a special breed 😁
If everyone is making this mistake, I am probably making this mistake
Make a discord!