Splish's 16 gal gorgeous tank wannabe

[Splish]

I am a little late, I started my tank a month ago but I will summarize everything up to this point!! I will post some pics soon!!

I bought a fantastic bowed front, 16gal aqueon kit from petsmart, it came with:

1 full spectrum flourescent bulb
heater
Medium Quiet Flow filtration filter system

I was quite impressed with the quality of all that this kit came with, my only complaint is I wish the hood could fit 2 bulbs instead of 1.

Here's how my aquarium started
Day 1
1 20lb bag flourite
2 bags natural sand
1 small water sprite
4 small plantlets of hygrophila corymbosa
1 seliginella sp. (which it turns out was NOT an aquatic plant (thanks petco :P) so I removed it after a week


By the end of the first week
added a clump of floating salvinia from local system
I purchased 3 neon tetras to help with cycling
added 2 pieces of mopani wood (turned my tank water a little brown)
placed a large order for plants online
did a water change

By the end of week 3
Yay my plants had arrived
-1 very large Echinodorus barthii
-1 bunch ludwigia natans
-2 potted lilaeopsis mauritiana
-several clumps of Valsinaria corkscrew
-clump of java moss
I purchased 4 Rasboras (I love them!) about 4 days after I got my plants


Here is where my aquarium took a turn for the worse, however...:scry:

- when I added my new plants the flourite turned my water brown and cloudy, I brushed it off the plants as it settled and rinsed my filter a few times over the course of the next few days when suddenly I started to see clumps of brown stuff on my plants, it turns out to be BROWN ALGAE!! Not the kind that sticks to the glass, this stuff looks hairy and it is all over my mopani wood and lilaeopsis

-Also, I got a few free loading snails, probably from the salvinia, I caught them eating my ludwigia!

Week 5-6
I vacummed up the algae as much as possible and did a 50% water change with distilled water, I topped it off with approx. 2ml of flourish to add minerals/salts etc.

I rigged a 20w halogen/Xenon lamp to the back to help my plants grow better, and because I read low light encourages brown algae growth.

So far everyone is still alive, actually my fish look happy, aside from the algae my plants look pretty good but the lilaeopsis is turning a little yellow, the ludwigia lost most of its leaves during shipping but is growing fine otherwise (except a few holes in the leaves).

[Splish]

so does my tank sound boring, or am I just too wordy, I have that problem sometimes. I hope to get some pictures up really soon!

Yesterday I saw a neon swimming vertical, but he seems ok today, I think it ate too much.


The extra light I added to the tank is I think, only helping the brown algae grow faster:scry: so I am leaving it off for now, until the plants begin to grow in some more.

[FishGirl-Seattle]

Not boring at all! But you left out the stuff we are always interested in though, your water parameters - Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings. I didn't see in your journal where you purchased any test kits (get liquid kits) along with those plants:wedgie: . Since your tank is cycling you need to be testing every day - if your ammonia or nitrite gets above .25 you should do a water change, else your fish can be injured by the toxin. Plus the readings will help us determine where you are in your cycle. A tank should be tested weekly once it's cycled, and daily during cycling. Your algae would imply you are building nitrates, which will put you towards the end of your cycle, which is about right at 3 weeks - can't know for sure without test readings. When you say the brown stuff looks "hairy" do you mean as in a measurable filament, or do you mean fuzzy looking? A diatom bloom is brown, and is not uncommon in new tanks, although I've never seen one in an uncycled tank - but then we don't know if your tank is cycled yet so it's impossible to say with any degree of certainty. Also, a neon swimming wrong is usually a sign all is not well in the tank - test your water!

Sounds like you have a nice plant assortment - can't wait to see some pics!

[Splish]

Thanks for the response, I was out of town for a week, I haven't been testing my water myself, however I did have it tested at the local store (can't remember exact readings but the levels were normal the couple of times I tested but both times I had done a recent water change) Also I have been doing water changes every week.

When I got back from my trip I saw that one of my rasboras looked awful, I was suspicious it was dropsy so I removed it from the tank. So far I havent had any problems with the other fish, and all of my neons look fine and are swimming normal.

I did a water change as soon as I got home, and I removed most of the leaves off of my echinodorus barthii, because many were turning yellow, the store I ordered it from said it had been grown emerged and this would happen. Also it was covered with thick brown algae, it was both fuzzy and it had thick long filaments flowing in my water. If it was green I'd probably keep it as pretty.

Otherwise all of my plants are starting to show signs of growth, and I purchased a white snail that friggin rocks!!! It is eating the brown algae!!! and it is the coolest to watch. I decided to hold off on buying any more fish until I am sure I don't have dropsy in my tank.

I uploaded pictures in the gallery but for some reason, despite the confirmation that my images were uploaded, I couldn't find them. I will try get images up soon.

This is my first planted tank I hope everything grows in beautifully, I purchased a 2.5 gallon glass container yesterday as well to make a planted beta tank, and a java fern to get things started... I think I am becoming an aquarium addict.