# My tank is failing, help please.



## GoldieCrazie (Oct 2, 2010)

Hello, 
I am hoping someone can help with this situation. 

Here is some info on the tank:
5 gallons
florescent 15 watt 'gro-light' bulb
No filter
Bubbler for one week
2 nerites and unknown number of malaysion trumpet snails
Dirt from flower bed in back yard
Tank is located on my bed stand, on sunny days there is lots of indirect sunlight in the room, cloudy days there is no sunlight in the room. So far this spring/summer we have had only a few sunny days.

This tank has been set up for right around 6 months. The first 3 months were rough, lost lots of stem plants, but then it suddenly cleared up and all was well. I added my frogs and things went okay for about a month, then algea started, and those nasty white rice like worm things and more plant death. At month 5 I removed all the frogs, I left the tadpole to grow bigger and stronger. Last week I moved the tadpole to another tank and added a bubbler.

Every week I remove thick brown 'fluffy' algea from the gravel and all over the plants, I rip out as much black algea as I can, and do my best to remove the green algea, and remove more dead plants. The algea is all back within a few days. I have less than half of the plants I started this tank with. 

Since last week when I added the bubbler, my plants that were thriving are now dieing, which is really making me nervous considering the ones dieing are my favorites! I have had them for a long time and have grown them from itsy bitsy plantlets. Good side is the algea growth has slowed. 

At one point I tried hydrogen peroxide, it did nothing to the algea and killed all my anacharis.

Any help is appreciated, thank you.


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## abufisher (Jun 17, 2011)

have you done water changes? i think once the algae is on plants its almost impossible to take it off.. try getting a O-cat or plecos..


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## GoldieCrazie (Oct 2, 2010)

I do water changes every week. I was thinking about O-cats, but I don't have a filter in there and the tank is far from stable. I don't think they would survive.
I am probably going to tear down this tank tomorrow and move the surviving plants into my other tank.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Hi, Goldie,

Here are a few thoughts.

Forst. your plants aren't doing well and that is the cause of your algae problems. 

If you are using one of those "twisted" bulbs, that isn't providing enough light. Replace it with a 30 (prox) watt bulb, maybe of a different color temperature, unless you like the reddish hues from the Gro-Lite. You don't say how for how long the light is on; try about 10 hours a day and see what happens.

Improved lighting and continued maintenance should help. The plants might also need extra nutrients; consider adding a few fish and overfeeding them.

Water changes are not good for NPT's, because they remove nutrients from the water.

The use of "flower bed dirt" is dangerous because it might contain fertilizers and herbicides, as well as worms and other undesireables. I don't think this is a problem in your case.

You have some hair algae; consider getting an American flag fish to eat it while your aquarium matures. Other algae eaters, like plecos, will get too big for your tank.


Good luck, Goldie. Keep us informed.

Bill


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## quality68 (Jun 20, 2011)

to remove algea from plants its too difficult try plecos
and if you have plants in tank then don't do lots of water change


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## GoldieCrazie (Oct 2, 2010)

aquabillpers said:


> Hi, Goldie,
> 
> Here are a few thoughts.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your response. I was getting ready to tear it down, but maybe I will wait a couple more weeks. 
My bulb is one of those twisty bulbs, its the highest wattage I can find for my hood. 
Maybe I should move the tank to a window?
I could probably borrow a couple guppies from my brother until the tank balances or I give up. I'll slow down on my water changes. I should probably go buy more plants too, its getting pretty barren.


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## ramis (Feb 19, 2008)

What color temperature is your light bulb. It's best to use something around 6500K. If that's what you have, then you may have too much light, because you have 3 watts per gallon. I previously had a ten gallon tank with no CO2 added with two 10W bulbs, and it was enough to grow plants. Did you ever have green algae when you first started your tank? If your light is less than 6500K then you should get a different light bulb. 

Getting algae off the plants is difficult. I would start the tank over. Keep the substrate, but clean the tank and get new plants. Don't do any water changes if you don't want to be supplementing CO2. Fluctuating CO2 levels happen when you do water changes and that causes algae. 

Also get some fish that eat algae, like ottos, they are great. Because you will get some algae anyway, they'll keep it at bay.


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## thereddarren (Mar 19, 2010)

According to Walstads book, color temperature doesn't make a large difference, if I remember correctly. 

If you have adequate light levels then it may be worth your time to look into adding a floating plant such as frogbit to compete with the algae. It would help slow the growth.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

One huge thing could be flow. Do you have enough water flow in your tank? I'm not really talking about filtration, but flow. If you don't it might be the issue. Flow mixes the nutrients and CO2 around in your tank so that all the plants can use it. 

The wgp rule really doesn't pertain to small tanks. I think 15 watts is not enough light. That may be your main issue. I'm not sure that just extended your light cycle will work. You need more light. 

The hair algae you have is EXTREMELY difficult to kill. It likes the same conditions that plants like. You have do to a 3-5 day TOTAL blackout followed by spot dosing peroxide to kill it. Even at that you may have to repeat it several times. Flag fish will help, but most of the time they can't keep up with the growth. Also if given food or algae choice they'd rather eat the food.


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## GoldieCrazie (Oct 2, 2010)

Thank you for all the responses and great information. I did end up tearing down the tank  All my plants in the tank died. I moved the plants with rhyzomes (sp?) into another tank, hopefully those will recover. 
I don't think I will be re-doing this tank for awhile. I need to find a new way to light it, collect more plants, and decide what fish to keep. 
I'm thinking I will remove the rim in the mean time. 
Thanks again!


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## sierramists1 (Jun 22, 2011)

Did you try a water test? There might have been something off with your chemistry. Like Tex Gal said, however, I think the problem was not enough flow. I'm really sorry to hear about the tear down!  Good luck on your next tank!


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