Algae Disaster!
June 22nd, 2008Admittedly, I’ve been milking my Nova Scotia pictures for all the blog posts I can get out of them. Let me fill you in on why that is. Exhibit A (for algae), see below:
Apparently, it was a bad decision for my to hang some house plants above my tank. At the time, I figured that they would help with high humidity levels, and add a nice accent to the room. Well, what I didn’t realize is that the hanging baskets leaked. I instructed my “tank watcher” to water the plants while I was away in Nova Scotia. Well, apparently, much of that water dripped through the fertilizer laden pots, and straight into my 40G tank.
Multiply that by 2 weeks worth of time, lots of light and additional dosing, and I came home to algae soup. I literally filled a quart container with just algae. I did a huge water change, and am still pulling quite a bit of algae from the tank. I’ll probably end up just tearing the whole thing down, and redoing it. It’s time for a new aquascape anyways! At least the fish don’t seem to be affected by the algae bloom.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
You take such great pictures I don’t think I could ever get tired of any of them!
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
That’s awfully nice of you! Thanks!
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Good tip about the houseplants leeching into the tank. Now that is an algal bloom!
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
What kind of light did you use for your 2.5 gal. nano? Have you done any other nano tanks?
Sorry, this is the wrong posting to ask this question.
JM
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
JM, I used a nice 10″ fixture from Catalina Aquarium. I recommend them. I haven’t done any more nano scapes, but I need to set one up soon for a GWAPA contest that ends in the fall.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hey you know another approach would be to manually take out as much as you could, and let the natural balance of the tank do the rest. Your tank was super-healthy before, and will be that way again if you just give it some time!
June 24th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
bdement, you’re right that that will work too. After a couple large water changes to reset the tank, it’s already looking a lot less algaerific. (I invent words) While many of the plants are healthy, the stems are way too overgrown, and need to be replanted anyways, and I wouldn’t mind a change of pace in this scape. Now, all I need is the time!