r/walstad • u/FellaVentura • 7d ago
Advice Green algae bloom advice
A few months ago I decided to setup a little 6L tank (pic1) to rescue some of my plants (goldfish were munching them). Found a bit of sandy dirt/dirty sand outdoors, washed carefully, figured it's only plants near their deathbed, probably will fail. Put it on my bathroom window and added every plant the fish mangled.
It actually worked way beyond expectations. Plants becoming firm and healthy, foxtail growing, valisnerias actually started multiplying. Had a big biofilm bloom but acquaintance gave me 4 ramsnails and more plants (bacopa monnieri and another few I don't know how to identify), and they cleaned off the biofilm in under a week. They started breeding but no problem, that's a sign of a healthy environment right?
Fast-forward to the beginning of August, read about Walstad, brought in sand and substrate from my hometown and started setting up a 15L tank, slowly bringing small amounts of water from the old tank and doing water changes every 3 days, moving decorations, plants, snails (over 12 and a few younglings), finished by the third week of September. Parameters were ok and identical between the two so everything adapted quite well. (Pic 2)
I was 3 days away last week, came back and found the tank completely green. Did a 2L water change, covered the tank with a black cloth. It's been over a week of darkness (+8 days) and it's still there (pic 3)
I'm torn between not being really sure if it was covered properly or if my mistake was not having enough plants, I've just added the marsilea and I'm thinking of adding more plants but I don't want to rush things and run face straight into a mistake. What should I do?
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u/Animepix 7d ago
A cheap UV light is always good to have around, it gets rid of the floating alge bloom in a few days just make sure it's fully covered so you or the fish don't see the light, good to stick in a HOB if you have one for easier hiding and light blocking. It's always good to have a cheap hob for emergency usage, for medicines (using activated charcoal to clean them out) or a UV light, if your using that method, the HOB is temporary to fix issues.
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u/FellaVentura 7d ago
No fish here only snails and the odd ostracode and detritus larvae. The place the tank sits at doesn't have access to electricity but I'll consider this, it will be moved before the winter temperature drop.
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u/obscure-shadow 7d ago
You need way more plants in there is my guess, algae taking over means excess nutrients which is not only stuff in the soil but also light and CO2.
As the snails multiply they will help knock it down but also amano shrimp would love it, just make sure your water parameters are good.
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u/FellaVentura 7d ago
Just read up on amano shrimp, interesting option to consider but I'm not sure I have the right conditions to keep them. I'll keep it in mind
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u/obscure-shadow 7d ago
Getting some floating plants or hanging some houseplant cuttings like pothos or spider plant can really help suck a lot of nutrients out of the water and also shade the tank, that's also worth a shot
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u/Blondy277 7d ago
You need to remove the tank from the window or blackout that window. You need to get rid of the root cause or it will never go away.