ADA 120P Aquarium - One Month Update

[@NaturescapesByRocco]

Hey James, you might already know this but I thought it would be worth sharing! I learned something new about Cyanobacteria that blew my mind and helped me treat it this year multiple times. I had it, I woulld treat it with the antibiotic stuff, it would die off, and it would come back again despite regular maintenance and water changes. As a photosynthetic bacteria (not algae), it has some properties that make it unique compared to aquatic plants. Studies have confirmed that when in a very nitrogen-limited environment, AND with the presence of either normal or excess phosphates, cyanobacteria THRIVES because it can utilize atmospheric nitrogen (N2) from dissolved gas in the water (just from the air in your room), while plants are starved of their preferred nitrogen sources. Plants can only really use non-atmospheric nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), and N is the most important element for our planted tanks (after Carbon). There is a demand-ratio for around15-20 "N" for every 1 "P" in most aquatic plants, so nitrogen is the limiting element in many scapes. I would get the worst cyanobacteria when doing tons of water changes, and it only got worse the more I did them... and that finally made sense. By doing constant water changes, I'm reducing both Nitrates and Phosphates to very low, almost trace levels... but plants need ~20x the nitrate per phosphate, so I was creating a nitrate-limited, excess-phosphate environment. But it gets worse, when you learn that in this nitrate-limited environment, cyano can PULL NITROGEN from the freaking AIR, so while the plants are all held back by the limited nitrate the cyanobacteria can create it's own nitrogen source, and consume the unconsumed phosphate and flourish. You can see this by testing for nitrates in your water -- if you have 0 nitrates but lots of cyano, you know why now. You can find a lot of emerging info if you search the forums online for "treat cyanobacteria dose nitrate"... which is exactly what I started doing. After I treated the cyanobacteria with the antibiotic stuff, I started dosing a bit extra of my nitrogen-only fertilizers. I was amazed -- it literally never came back. Sorry for the long comment, but I am trying to share everywhere! Cyano sucks, and water changes usually don't help or make it worse. Once I realized just how nitrogen-starved of an environment I was creating, and started fertilizing nitrogen-only ferts, it hasn't come back in any of my 3 tanks that had it. Love the iwagumi, love the channel, keep up the good work!

[@anemone_aquascaping]

Thanks for taking the time and explaining all of this! There plenty I’ve learned, particularly with nitrates/phosphates. When I use chemiclean, it usually goes away after two doses, but I can tell it’s not completely “gone”, just not an issue. Since I use ADA ferts (which is a potassium based fertilizer), nitrates and phosphates aren’t dosed. I imagine this would make me more susceptible to cyano! Again, Appreciate you taking the time and hope it helps anyone who reads.

[@sharkking9679]

Thanks for also sharing the bad things that happened.

[@anemone_aquascaping]

Of course! It was sort of mostly bad news haha. But that’s usually how it goes towards the beginning!

[@TheBBae]

I feel like the cardinals could be a really nice pop of color for the tank :))

[@anemone_aquascaping]

They would definitely stand out nicely!

[@snailandalgae]

Love the build. Inspiring. I’m always looking to build an iwagumi tank. ❤ do you have a list of the plants you use?

[@anemone_aquascaping]

Thanks for watching! There are only three plants in this layout. Eleocharis parvula, marsilea crenata, and Helanthium tenellum.

[@snailandalgae]

@@anemone_aquascapingthank you!