# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Fast growing plants to outcompete hair algae?



## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Hey All! What are some good fast growing plants I can get for my 10G to stem the growth of hair algae? The tank has been set up about four months. It currently houses a pair of guppies, four white clouds and a whole bunch of guppy fry. For plants I have a bunch of java moss, a java fern, R. indica (about 10 stems), a bunch of H. polysperma which is growing emersed, a small grass like plant, hornwort and a small H. difformis. Water lettuce, salvinia and duckweed make up the floaters. No filter. I'm not sure what to do to get rid of the algae. The tank gets A LOT of sunlight plus the 15W flo. tube from the light. What I'm thinking of doing is the following, I'm going to get a background for the back of the tank to keep out some sunlight. I'm also going to start vacuuming the tank weekly as it collects a lot of detritus. I'm also going to remove all but the guppy fry. In addition, I've added two algae eating shrimp. I have no idea what type of shirmp they are, that's how they were sold to me at my LFS. Here's a picture if anybody can identify it that'd be great. Looks like a ghost shrimp to me, but I'm not 100% sure...










Anyway, the other thing I'm thinking of doing is adding some more fast growing, nutrient absorbing plants, does anybody have any suggestions? I was thinking of trying to find a small sword, but what else might fit. Should I add a filter to help keep the tank a little clearner, too?

Thanks in advanced for your input!

-ricardo


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Funny. Looks like I'm having _exactly_ the same problem with my tank. My tank is probably as heavily stocked/planted/lit as yours. Everything is great, except for this one type of algae, looks just like yours. Doesn't grow too fast, but is annoying nonetheless.

By sheer coincidence, I went to my LFS today and talked to the manager, who had a nice looking planted tank going. He too had the same problem for the past several months. He said he could never get rid of it. Then one day on a whim he talked to Seachem and they told him it was probably a type of cladophora (which is what I thought it might be too - it's sort of hair like, but also branched and forked, and rather stout for an algae - one of the more "plantlike" algaes I believe). Seachem recommended their Flourish Excel product. He was skeptical - as I am - but he said within two weeks of using the product 90% of the algae was gone. He then started fertilizing with Nitrogen (I wouldn't put him completely in the El Natural category) and now there's almost no trace of the algae. He was not doing any CO2 fertilization.

I know it's only one data point, and not scientific, but his experience was very similar to mine and sounds like you too. It seems that maybe there's actually _not enough_ nutrients and/or CO2 for the plants. You have a ton of really fast growing plants - the r. indica, the floaters, and even the java moss - which also points to the conclusion that the plants may actually be starving - either for nutrients or for CO2.

I'm going to try using the Excel and see what happens. I'll keep you all posted whether it works or not

I wouldn't go to any drastic measures yet - if you have what I have, I wouldn't panic quite yet.


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Oh, also that looks like the classic Amano shrimp. Definitely not a ghost shrimp.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

All my tanks that get sunlight have hair algae. Every one, both natural and regular.

Given the sunlight and the nutritious substrate, I'd bet it is CO2 that's the limiting factor.


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## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> I'm not sure what to do to get rid of the algae.


Ricardo, start by re-reading the chapter on algae control in _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ before you take any drastic measures!!!

Is your soil layer exposed to sunlight (sorry, I can't remember if you mentioned that in another post)? Are your floating plants thriving? As littleguy said, you already have many plant species in your tank that have the potential to grow super fast, so if you can get them going the algae will not have as much of an advantage.

Why are you thinking of removing most of the fish from the tank? Also, it seems to me that vacuuming the tank regularly and adding a filter would just remove nutrients and CO2 that the plants could use to out-compete the algae.

Hope this helps!

From Alex.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Probably to reduce nutrient levels in the water.

a cycled filter would increase nitrAte levels, cuz the biobugs would get at least some of the ammonia and convert it to nitrAte. Seems to me like that would make the problem worse by increasing nitrAtes.

I don't find the hair algae to be a problem. It pretty muchly stays confined to the sunny side of the tank (the back). I just remove it every couple of weeks.


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Ricardo, here's a link about cladophora and possible treatments. You might compare your algae to that in the picture, I don't know if they're the same thing. I hear that cladophora has a noxious smell if you crush it in your fingers.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae-speci...highlight=cladophora
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae-speci...i-have-question.html


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## javalee (May 8, 2006)

Ricardo,

Were you ever able to get your nitrate up above zero? I seem to remember yours being low?

As far as any algae goes, I've found that when anything inhibits plant growth, algae sets in. For instance, everytime my nitrate drops to around zero, I notice that all my resident algae become more prominant and that they disappear when I increase the nitrate (by adding more fish or snails or food or all of the above). Also, when the light starts to get blocked by floaters or just because the growth has become too dense, a good pruning and water change always helps. Miss Fishy noted how her plants were doing poorly after no water changes for 9mo.(suspected salt build-up), and that a large serial water change perked the plants right up. I second that too (especially if you have a tank that is too thick to keep clean of dying plant matter, etc, like mine). Her algae issues resolved after the water changes.

The only other thing i could think of is that maybe (?) you don't have enough plants in the tank for all the sunlight you get? I remember a picture a while back that you put up and it seems like there was ample room for more plants. In that case, any plant additions would help---especially some rooted ones with access to the nice nutritious soil layer since you already have floaters.

So do you have too little nutrients or too much? What is your nitrate now?

BTW, the plants showing in the photo look very green and healthy. That's what made me think about maybe just adding more plants (and keeping all the fish in there to fertilize them).

Good luck!


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## DLevy (Dec 20, 2005)

Ricardo,
I won't pretend to know what would solve you're problem because I don’t. But, whatever you do don’t try too many changes at the same time. I think that in a natural aquarium you won't achieve good balance with too many or too frequent a change. Further, it will be very difficult for you to know what the cause of the algae was if you change many things at once. I'd remove the algae with a toothbrush or something then change only one thing then wait and see what happens. Fix what you might think to be the major problem first then if the algae reappears change the next thing. 
I hope you have success in fighting this and whatever happens let us know, I'd be very interested to hear and learn from your experience. 

Good Luck
Danny


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

These are all excellent suggestions, much better than mine







, that's for sure.

I tried the Excel for the last two days. Don't know about the algae, but the guppies look a bit skittish all of the sudden (first time in months) and the pregnant cherry seems to have dropped all her eggs and molted (I can see some eggs in the molting). Maybe her eggs just never got fertilized and she dropped them naturally. Or maybe most of the eggs did hatch and I can't see the babies yet. But I'm stopping the Excel treatment immediately.

Sheesh. That's what a get for taking a step towards the dark side


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Dlevy makes a great point. It's probably not a good idea to change so many things at once, if you don't understand the root cause of the algae. I know Diana Walstad recommends taking the multi-faceted approach in the war on algae. But in her case, she usually understands the root cause and she's in the middle of an outbreak that requires major action. Then when she does take action, all her adjustments are in alignment to affect the same ecological change. I think in your case, the root cause is still a little unclear, and it sounds like this hasn't reached "outbreak/infestation" stage yet which would require immediate action. If time is not urgent, this may be a great opportunity to learn about the algae and its underlying causes.

I think the advice you have received so far is excellent, but not all in agreement. I think this is because we don't know all the facts about this tank. Maybe some addition photos and info would be helpful to us all?

I myself am very interested in this thread, because I think I may have the same problem and would like to understand why/how it continues to hang on despite healthy plant growth and no other forms of algae.

Good luck!


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Hey All! Thank you all so much for all your input! 

First some replys to your comments:

littleguy- Thanks for all your input, especially about your experience w/ Flourish Excel and the Amano shrimp... now, if I could only find them (the shrimp that is)

Betty- Yes, I think its def. CO2 as well as a general nutrient deficiency (see below). And yes, I was going to remove fish to reduce nutrient levels, but there are NO nutrient levels!!

Miss Fishy- The soil was exposed to light and actually, the first thing I did when I noticed the algae was to duct tape over the exposed soil, but alas, that didn't do the trick (perhaps I should actually UN-duct tape?)

Javalee- I think you hit the nail on the head... read on. Oh, and too few nutrients!

Danny- I was going to take your approach but it's just too hard to get rid of all the algae, particularly around the stalks of the H. polysperma and the stems of the R. indica without uprooting them... I think it's a combination of factors so, as you can see below, I'm trying a variety of changes. Littleguy agreed w/ you especially since I didn't know the root cause of the algae, but I think I do now.

So anyway, I've had a lot to think about w/ regards to this tank... I re-read Diana's chap. on algae and read through all of your posts multiple times. In the time it has taken me to do all that, the tank has gone from bad to worse. The algae has begun to spread from the back glass (facing the window) to the front and all along the gravel. Some of the algae is so wrapped around the H. polysperma that I can't even get it all out. In adition, the R. indica is dying, as is the M. quadrifolia. The R. indica is getting little holes and slowly dying. The java fern and moss appear to be doing ok as is the grass like plant... 

SO, here's what I think should be done, let me know what you think... First, I retested the water today and here are the stats...

pH- 6.9 this morning
pH- 7.3 8PM this evening
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, iron- 0
GH - 0 dGH
kH - 3 dKH
I believe that puts my CO2 somewhere around 10 - 6 ppm

Clearly the plants in this tank are starving. My goal is to increase the nutrients in the tank (now, isn't this the opposite of what one should do to combat algae?!) Anyway, I will be boosting the GH w/ Calcium Cloride and Epsom Salts as per the GH article floating around this forum. I'm also going to start dosing micro nutrients. I've bought Seachem's Flourish and will be dosing as per the instructions. I've also removed all the floating plants except two or three water lettuce (exactly the opposite of what Diana recommends in her book, but again, the problem here I think is a lack of nutrients not an excess.) Now, the dosing is only temporary... I figure w/ fewer floating plants and heavier feeding there will be more nutrients available. As soon as I see some improvement I will slowly ease off the dosing and see what happens. I'm not sure what to do about the iron. I figure there's enough in the soil for the plants needs. I've also added a Red Sea Nano HOB filter to circulate the water and get nutrients to all the plants. I'm still debating where or not to add CO2.... I'm also debating whether to dose w/ nitrogen or just use Flourish and see if things improve. (probably the latter)

My theory here is that w/ all the extra sunlight the tank gets, this tank is more like a high-tech tank! I was going to just cover the back of the tank and see if that helped, however, that wouldn't take care of the nutrient deficiency in this tank. So my goal is to increase the nutrient load and see if the plants respond. Hmmm... thinking about it as I write, I think I SHOULD start CO2 as well.... I was going to add Flourish Excel, but after littleguy's experience, I'm going to hold off on that. When and if the plants bounce back and the algae dies down, I'll put some backing along the back glass to block out some light and try to bring this back to a "real" low tech tank...

Hopefully these steps help the plants bounce back and defeat the algae. 

Please feel free to respond w/ your comments. I'll keep ya'll posted....

-ricardo


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## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

Ricardo, I'm sorry to hear that the algae has got even worse!

You did say feel free to respond with comments, so here is my two cents (more like two _dollars_, actually)! Adding CO2 and dosing micro nutrients might be the way you go in the end, but perhaps you could try less drastic measures first. If you only recently put duct tape over the exposed soil layer, and didn't do anything else at the time, I'm guessing it wouldn't make any difference. Have you thought about removing as much algae by hand as possible without uprooting your stem plants, increasing the GH and adding charcoal to the filter to remove any allelochemicals that the algae may be producing, leaving the floating plants in place and waiting a couple of weeks to see what happens? I am guessing that increasing the GH would help the plants a lot and the charcoal might make a big difference too, but you have to be patient because plants usually take a while to respond.

If you are feeding the tank very well, the fact that there is zero Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate could be due to denitrification rather than a shortage of nitrogen, right? I know only one of my tanks has any measurable Nitrates but the plants are thriving in all of them. I've never ever been able to measure Ammonia, Nitrite or Nitrate in any of my ponds, but again the plants are fine.

From Alex.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Hi Ricardo,

Sorry to hear about your algae problems.
Is your GH is really zero? That means that there's no calcium! If this is true, I can understand why your plants are dying and algae is taking over.

I'd put paper or anything to block out sunlight coming into tank. Since the plants aren't getting enough calcium, the light is totally wasted on them. Then I'd work at getting the GH up to 6 or 8.

Please see page 114 in my book. Focus on Table VII-6 which shows that plants without water calcium die. The scientist used a hardwater plant for his study, but in my experience folks that have softwater have poor plant growth...unless they add calcium and magnesium. 

Bottom Line: If you want to grow aquarium plants, you need to have a GH of at least 4. The majority of that contribution (to the GH) should be from calcium (not magnesium).


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Just an update on my experience with Excel and shrimp.... I found a bunch of baby shrimp today! They weren't killed or lost like I originally suspected. Just took me a while to find them







.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Ok, so my GH test kit was not working (I figured this out after testing the tap water and still getting a reading of 0 and I KNOW our tapwater is harder than that. So I got a new kit and sure enough, the tank is at a GH of 8, so clearly this was not the problem. I stopped dosing the flourish b/c although it plants did start to look a little better, the algae also grew even faster.

I also did a little experiment. I took two mason jars and filled them up with water from the fish tank and placed one in the bedroom in my dresser and the other in front of the window that this 10G tank is located by. The water in the bedroom is crystal clear while the water by the window is already getting algae in it. SO, I think the main problem here is really the light, too much of it. So, instead of going high tech w/ the tank, I'm going to put a blakc or blue backing around the back (like Diana suggested) and maybe the sides of the tank to see if that helps. Of course, I still don't know what to do about the R. indica w/ the dying leaves.... No idea what that's about









-ricardo


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> Ok, so my GH test kit was not working (I figured this out after testing the tap water and still getting a reading of 0 and I KNOW our tapwater is harder than that. So I got a new kit and sure enough, the tank is at a GH of 8, so clearly this was not the problem. I stopped dosing the flourish b/c although it plants did start to look a little better, the algae also grew even faster.
> 
> I also did a little experiment. I took two mason jars and filled them up with water from the fish tank and placed one in the bedroom in my dresser and the other in front of the window that this 10G tank is located by. The water in the bedroom is crystal clear while the water by the window is already getting algae in it. SO, I think the main problem here is really the light, too much of it. So, instead of going high tech w/ the tank, I'm going to put a blakc or blue backing around the back (like Diana suggested) and maybe the sides of the tank to see if that helps. Of course, I still don't know what to do about the R. indica w/ the dying leaves.... No idea what that's about
> ...


I wouldn't worry too much about one species dying. Stem plants are tricky. Sometimes they just don't make it in a low-tech tank. Crypts, swordplants, Java Fern are the ones I have the least, long-term problems with.

I get a fair amount of matt algae in one tank during the winter when trees outside don't shade the window. I remove the matt algae by hand and keep the window blinds pulled down.

Unless your plants are all melting down, it may be better than you think.


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## DLevy (Dec 20, 2005)

> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> I'm going to put a blakc or blue backing around the back (like Diana suggested) and maybe the sides of the tank to see if that helps.


Ricardo,
Are you planning on shutting out all natural light or just minimizing it. I'm asking because I'm about to try something similar with my tank and was wondering how I could utilize the sunlight (because it's the best for the plants) but maintain better control on it's intensity (like with flourescent lights).

Danny


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

I'd turn out your light for starters!. I like the idea of natural light as long as you don't cook the fish!-Paula


> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> Hey All! What are some good fast growing plants I can get for my 10G to stem the growth of hair algae? The tank has been set up about four months. It currently houses a pair of guppies, four white clouds and a whole bunch of guppy fry. For plants I have a bunch of java moss, a java fern, R. indica (about 10 stems), a bunch of H. polysperma which is growing emersed, a small grass like plant, hornwort and a small H. difformis. Water lettuce, salvinia and duckweed make up the floaters. No filter. I'm not sure what to do to get rid of the algae. The tank gets A LOT of sunlight plus the 15W flo. tube from the light. What I'm thinking of doing is the following, I'm going to get a background for the back of the tank to keep out some sunlight. I'm also going to start vacuuming the tank weekly as it collects a lot of detritus. I'm also going to remove all but the guppy fry. In addition, I've added two algae eating shrimp. I have no idea what type of shirmp they are, that's how they were sold to me at my LFS. Here's a picture if anybody can identify it that'd be great. Looks like a ghost shrimp to me, but I'm not 100% sure...
> 
> 
> ...


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

The leaves may be dying because of too much direct sunlight. Turn out that electric light and deal with the sunlight- I don't know? YES, get an Amazon swordplant. I love them! They take over. Val. do too and you can get rid of hair algae. I have hair algae in my 20 ga. It just gets fluorescent light from to 20 watt bulbs. That
s probably too much. I'd like to get a swordplant in there if the algae eater would leave it alone. There's lots of duckweed, some puny java moss and crypt and I plan to change that. Only four? swordtails and four? guppies, not producing and one ugly algae eater-5"that my daughter worships. Therefore , I'm probably overfeeding. There's a Whisper filter in the tank that I keep going. No direct sunlight. Hello, messager. As usual, I don't know how to respond-Paula the computer illiterate.


> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> Ok, so my GH test kit was not working (I figured this out after testing the tap water and still getting a reading of 0 and I KNOW our tapwater is harder than that. So I got a new kit and sure enough, the tank is at a GH of 8, so clearly this was not the problem. I stopped dosing the flourish b/c although it plants did start to look a little better, the algae also grew even faster.
> 
> I also did a little experiment. I took two mason jars and filled them up with water from the fish tank and placed one in the bedroom in my dresser and the other in front of the window that this 10G tank is located by. The water in the bedroom is crystal clear while the water by the window is already getting algae in it. SO, I think the main problem here is really the light, too much of it. So, instead of going high tech w/ the tank, I'm going to put a blakc or blue backing around the back (like Diana suggested) and maybe the sides of the tank to see if that helps. Of course, I still don't know what to do about the R. indica w/ the dying leaves.... No idea what that's about
> ...


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Thanks for the tips all! Diana, I reckon you're right, stem plants are pretty hard. I guess the reason I became concerned is b/c they were doing so well before. Could the H. polysperma be losing its lower leaves b/c of the emergent growth? I'm actually not having much luck w/ the polysperma in my 30 gal either. Just doesn't grow very well, older leaves get holes in them too. 

Danny: What I did was take a piece of aquarium backing and stuck it to the back and sides of the glass. Comes most of the way around on both sides. To compensate for the less sunlight, I also lowered the fixture onto a piece of glass over the tank (it was being held up about 2.5" off the surface before. I also opened up the window behind the tank. This way, it'll get some light from above too (so, I'm just cutting down on the light from the back and sides). I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Paula: The light's only on about 11 hours a day so it shouldn't be that bad. Same as my other natural tank. I think the main problem is the excess sunlight. We'll see what happens...

-ricardo


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Ricardo,
Stem plants often do well in the beginning. Many just don't have a lot of staying power; I think they usually have trouble competing with other plants for CO2! Rotalia species and Bacopa monnieri have always done better in my tanks than Hygrophila polysperma. 

Also, if the stem plants are growing emergent, the lower leaves may, indeed, start decaying.


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

That's interesting you've got a similar light situation in another tank. Good luck!-Paula


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## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

So what is happening in this tank, Ricardo? I'm itching to know how it goes! Any changes for the better, or for the worse?

Just on the subject of emergent stem plants' lower leaves decaying, the _Hygrophila_ species "Narrow-leaf" that is growing emergent in my 68 litre tank had been without underwater leaves for about a year, when it suddenly sprouted some in amongst its mass of aerial roots. It makes for quite an interesting effect, with the bright green, elongated leaves "floating" on a white waterfall of roots.

From Alex.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Heya Alex, and everybody else.... This tank is slowly recuperating. I stopped dosing Flourish. I also re-scaped it. Trimmed the H. poly. a lot so it's mostly submerged now. Looks a lot nicer... I'm going to keep it emerged, but being sure to trim and keep up the submerged part so it doesn't look as ratty as it did.

Anyway, that trim allowed me to remove a lot of the algae. I'm going to do a water change this weekend as removing the plants stirred up a lot of gravel/soil. I also taped the black background along the sides and back, though I think I might re-expose the sides as the tank is really dark now. There's still quite a bit of algae left, mostly just growing along the gravel. Once I change the water I'll start the filter up again and add carbon to soak up any iron.... In any case, it's def. looking a lot better. Here are some pictures:














































Thanks for reading! Let's see how it improves... I'm getting some new plants soon and some will def. go into this tank.

-ricardo


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

Great pictures. Great plants and fish etc. Reminds me I STILL have to attack the hair algae on my little java ferns. There is an Amazon in that tank starting to take off which I'm ecstatic about and a crypt.The duckweed is slow coming back and I kinda took too much myro out. Be awhile before I can replenish that. Fish are fine at least. Just the java having a time because I've been too busy. My daughter scraped the algae of sides of 20 ga. so we can see other fish now. closed curtains so there's filtered sunlight on tha tank (thin curtains)-thanx for great shots of tanks!-P


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Here're a couple new pics of the 10 gal. Added charcol, changed water, added some gravel. Will add more plants next week.

Here's a couple shots of my shrimp...


















I like the green glow in this night-time shot...










and some other shots....



















Thanks for reading!

-ricardo


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Looks like your water lettuce is VERY happy!
I love the way the roots look.


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## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

That is great that the tank is starting to recover, and it looks lovely too! I really like that Guppy with the black tail. If you were wondering what that grassy plant is, it looks like a _Lilaeopsis_ species to me.

I see you have some Duckweed caught in your Java Moss. In one of my tanks, I used to have a huge clump of Java Moss growing right under the outflow from the canister filter and bits of Duckweed were always getting sucked down into it. One day when my aunt was visiting, she said to me, "Hey, look! Your moss has flowers!". Now I can't look at a clump of moss with Duckweed in it without taking a closer look, just to make sure that they really _are_ bits of Duckweed.









From Alex.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Yeah, it'd be cool if the moss flowered. Heck, I didn't even know it did! One thing I have noticed that happens in this tank but not the 30 gal is that the underside of the duckweed is purple! When you looked at the tank from the bottom up, all you saw were tiny roots in a sea of purple leaves. It hasn't done that since I covered up the tank and reduced the amount of light though... Too bad, it was so much prettier...

-ricardo


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

When I sold/traded some fish or plants to a local fish store there was some duckweed in the bag and the young clerk thought they were flowers and I breathed a sigh of relief because I thought duckweed was the bane of aquarium existence back then!She at least really liked them.-Paula.


> Originally posted by Miss Fishy:
> That is great that the tank is starting to recover, and it looks lovely too! I really like that Guppy with the black tail. If you were wondering what that grassy plant is, it looks like a _Lilaeopsis_ species to me.
> 
> I see you have some Duckweed caught in your Java Moss. In one of my tanks, I used to have a huge clump of Java Moss growing right under the outflow from the canister filter and bits of Duckweed were always getting sucked down into it. One day when my aunt was visiting, she said to me, "Hey, look! Your moss has flowers!". Now I can't look at a clump of moss with Duckweed in it without taking a closer look, just to make sure that they really _are_ bits of Duckweed.
> ...


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

Hope to get some shots in if appropriate about plants . Took pics while daughter at school. Now she's on break and can find time to send hopfully fo fuorum of plants I've been talking about.-Paula


> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> Here're a couple new pics of the 10 gal. Added charcol, changed water, added some gravel. Will add more plants next week.
> 
> Here's a couple shots of my shrimp...
> ...


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## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

> Originally posted by Ricardo V.:
> Yeah, it'd be cool if the moss flowered. Heck, I didn't even know it did! One thing I have noticed that happens in this tank but not the 30 gal is that the underside of the duckweed is purple!


Java Moss doesn't flower (no mosses do); my aunt just thought they were flowers and even though I knew they couldn't be, I just had to go and make sure anyway!

I also love the brightly coloured undersides of some Duckweed species. In one tank I have some Thin Duckweed (_Landolita punctata_) and Large Duckweed (_Spirodela polyrhiza_). The Thin Duckweeds have purple undersides, while the Giant Duckweeds have red undersides so they create a lovely multicoloured effect.



> Originally posted by GuppiesRfun:
> When I sold/traded some fish or plants to a local fish store there was some duckweed in the bag and the young clerk thought they were flowers and I breathed a sigh of relief because I thought duckweed was the bane of aquarium existence back then!


LOL! I remember when I first found some Duckweed in one of my ponds, and asked the LFS owner what it was, he said it was a useless weed and that I should throw it away! Well, I didn't and now I have two different Australian native species, and I'm hoping to get some of the other native species too.

From Alex.


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

Mi, Ms. Betty, Are you still around on this forum? I'm in the Yuma desert. It was 75 degrees yesterday but has been 85 and will be that soon again and hotter of course. How come the comets in my pond are not eating the duckweed I give them? Is it Spring Fever? The water lily is coming forth, the myrophilium is doing okay. I exchanged the water. The fish look good. I was hoping they'd eat my excess duckweed but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything and will help cool the water in summer if it lives thru it. Thanx-Paula


> Originally posted by Betty:
> Probably to reduce nutrient levels in the water.
> 
> a cycled filter would increase nitrAte levels, cuz the biobugs would get at least some of the ammonia and convert it to nitrAte. Seems to me like that would make the problem worse by increasing nitrAtes.
> ...


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## GuppiesRfun (Apr 26, 2005)

It'd been intesting to know where my duckweed came from1-guppies


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

That's interesting! Duckweed only lasts a few minutes in my goldie tank. both my commons and the fancy goldfish love it.


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