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Water difference in different countries HELP!

4D3

4D3

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Hi,

I have been keeping fish for 20+ years in Australia, mainly Melbourne and Brisbane and I never had any issues with algea, I didn't need chemicals, I just added Seachem Safe for water change and pool salt.

I moved back to the UK, Scotland specifically, a few years ago and in the last 3 months I started a new aquarium in sunny Scotland.

I have the following setup:

-Fluval FX2 (2kg Marine Pure gems, 500g carbon, 500g Purigen + Fluval Mech Pads)
-Fluval UVC Clarifier (on 24/7)
-22w Static UV Steriliser (on 24/7)

There is also an Eheim 350 Skim, and a 5000lph wave maker.

The tanks is 125l, bare bottom, housing a single flowerhorn.

Water prams are 0-0-5, lights are standard full spectrum LED with 10 hours on time per day.

I have already asked this question in the setup/filtration forum and I have followed the advice there, i.e:

1: reduce lighting time (i went from 14 hours down to 10)
2: try 3 days with no artificial lighting (this worked but the stuff grew back immediately)
3: reduce feeding (i feed 3 times a day, as much as he can eat so there is nothing left floating in the tank)

As a last ditch attempt I tried Tetra AlguMin which did nothing at all.

With all of this in mind, why on earth am I getting algae growing on everything?

There seem to be 3(? Possibly 2?) types of algae:

Please see the images:

First pic is these little green tufts that seem to be everywhere

Second pic is the weird brown film

Third pic is a closeup of the brown stuff

And the 3rd type that I can get a pic of is like these long green furry tendrils on the glass.

Please help, what am I missing....is there some radical difference between Australian water.

Why can't I control this algae? Is it natural phosphate in the water? What is going on!

Please help!
 

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It could be phosphates. Old cities have lead pipes so they add phosphate to deactivate the release of lead into the drinking water. Seachem Phosguard or phosphate pads may help. Get a test kit maybe to check or you can contact your water supplier for local test results.

Or just add live floating plants.
 
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4D3 said:
Hi,

I have been keeping fish for 20+ years in Australia, mainly Melbourne and Brisbane and I never had any issues with algea, I didn't need chemicals, I just added Seachem Safe for water change and pool salt.

I moved back to the UK, Scotland specifically, a few years ago and in the last 3 months I started a new aquarium in sunny Scotland.

I have the following setup:

-Fluval FX2 (2kg Marine Pure gems, 500g carbon, 500g Purigen + Fluval Mech Pads)
-Fluval UVC Clarifier (on 24/7)
-22w Static UV Steriliser (on 24/7)

There is also an Eheim 350 Skim, and a 5000lph wave maker.

The tanks is 125l, bare bottom, housing a single flowerhorn.

Water prams are 0-0-5, lights are standard full spectrum LED with 10 hours on time per day.

I have already asked this question in the setup/filtration forum and I have followed the advice there, i.e:

1: reduce lighting time (i went from 14 hours down to 10)
2: try 3 days with no artificial lighting (this worked but the stuff grew back immediately)
3: reduce feeding (i feed 3 times a day, as much as he can eat so there is nothing left floating in the tank)

As a last ditch attempt I tried Tetra AlguMin which did nothing at all.

With all of this in mind, why on earth am I getting algae growing on everything?

There seem to be 3(? Possibly 2?) types of algae:

Please see the images:

First pic is these little green tufts that seem to be everywhere

Second pic is the weird brown film

Third pic is a closeup of the brown stuff

And the 3rd type that I can get a pic of is like these long green furry tendrils on the glass.

Please help, what am I missing....is there some radical difference between Australian water.

Why can't I control this algae? Is it natural phosphate in the water? What is going on!

Please help!
Click to expand...
Although that is extremely minor algae lol
 
RyanScanner said:
It could be phosphates. Old cities have lead pipes so they add phosphate to deactivate the release of lead into the drinking water. Seachem Phosguard or phosphate pads may help. Get a test kit maybe to check or you can contact your water supplier for local test results.

Or just add live floating plants.
Click to expand...
I think I'll grab some phosguard and just float it in the tank to see if it does make a difference, if it does, I'll make space in my canister for it.

As for the city being old, it's Glasgow, so it's very old, although not sure about the lead thing here because Glasgow & Scotland in general is known for hanging amazing drinking water.

That's being said i think Phosphate is the only thing I haven't checked yet!

Thanks for your post.
 
Having read all the above, you dropped from 14hrs a day to 10hrs a day!!!!

I grow plants and don’t have lights on much more than 7hrs - I find no surprise at all in the fact you can grow all sorts of algae by feeding 3 times a day and lights on for 10hrs (Or originally 14hrs a day).
 
Fishman Dave said:
Having read all the above, you dropped from 14hrs a day to 10hrs a day!!!!

I grow plants and don’t have lights on much more than 7hrs - I find no surprise at all in the fact you can grow all sorts of algae by feeding 3 times a day and lights on for 10hrs (Or originally 14hrs a day).
Click to expand...
I am trying to work our if your post is supposed to be a satirical joke, I think it is supposed to be a joke, so i will answer with my British sarcasm just for good fun! (if it's not a joke and you are actually serious my advice would be to learn your fish)

-------comedy reply start-------

So your advice is to not do what the entire world says about feeding flowerhorn? I have been keeping FH for over 20 years and this is the first time in my life I have even been told feeding 3 times a day is too much.

So i assume you know different to the rest of us? If so please can you tell me your secret?

What is the correct feeding plan for my flowerhorn?

Also, if you are correct I suggest writing a book, and it would be worth updating everyone else on the interwebs and tech world about your advice, because you will be onto a money spinner here.

-------comedy reply end-------

The flowerhorn is less than 1 year old, so classified as "Young" feeding 3 times a day as much as he can eat in 2-3 mins leaving no floating food in the tank, it standard practice.

His temp is at 29 C, his metabolism is high and he is a fast growing type of fish.....

When he is 15cm+ feeding goes to 2 times a day and temp drops to 26.5 C to enhance colours and slow metabolism.

This is how you keep flowerhorn, as I said, unless I have been getting it wrong my entire life!

Please see attachment regarding the feeding of these fish...... This was AI generated by Gemini.
 

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