My first discus in 100 gallon planted tank

[mmdiscus1]

Hi guys! I am oficiallly owner of this beauty. Have been reading on the forum for the past half a year, gaining experience. I know how much you hate planted tanks, but i love them.

This is my planted with 4 turks discus, and 4 corys. I tried to measusure discus when i wa puting them into tank, largest was 5" or more, smallest was 4" or more. I was nervous so couldnr really measure.

Tank is 31degre celcius, low tech, mts, liquid ferts, eheim 2217 canister, airpump.

Here are the pics, please let me know what you think. Just brouhght them home an hour ago, they are not shy at all. Will be posting more pics

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/y7a7abep.jpg


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[mmdiscus1]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/e2a3e7u6.jpg


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[mmdiscus1]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/apumu9a4.jpg


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[mmdiscus1]

Tank dimensions- width 18inch, height 25 inch, length 62 inch.
How do my discus look? And what these are turks right, they are all from one breeder in Moscow, bu they have different colors some are more pinkish, some omre blueish..

They all stay in a group, not afraid of me, dont run away when i approach. The swam from left corner of the tank to the right front corner , where they all hang out right now. I think they are playing with their own reflections in the side glass of the tank.

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[mmdiscus1]

A few more shots from today.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/ze6ypa3u.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/maguja2u.jpg




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[Elliots]

Your fish look good. You may be good with that number of Discus but once they get used to their new tank they will try to establish a pecking order. I suggest that as soon as you can you get an additional 4-6 Discus. The more Discus you have the better they do up to a point and I do not know where that point is but it is over 10 for a 100 gallon tank.

[mmdiscus1]

Your fish look good. You may be good with that number of Discus but once they get used to their new tank they will try to establish a pecking order. I suggest that as soon as you can you get an additional 4-6 Discus. The more Discus you have the better they do up to a point and I do not know where that point is but it is over 10 for a 100 gallon tank.
They are very expensive here Elliot, i bought for a hundred bucks a fish, total four hundred bucks. Plus they dont sell here, nice one that i want, colorful ones, in one color, this is what i was able to get after six months waiting.

What is the strain of this discus?

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[Elliots]

Where are you located? You did not put that in your registration. If you are in the USA you can order from any of the sponsors on SD, shipping your fish is no problem. Hans and Kenny get the most posts but any sponsor will be good. I always suggest a personal visit to a sponsor if you can. Please remember sponsors are not your LFS. You will not be visiting them a couple of times a month so a 1-2-3-4 hour drive each way is not unreasonable. I have driven to Hans twice 175 miles each way. Remember to get all the additional fish you want all at once to minimze problems of adding Discus and to save on shippiong.

[mmdiscus1]

Where are you located? You did not put that in your registration. If you are in the USA you can order from any of the sponsors on SD, shipping your fish is no problem. Hans and Kenny get the most posts but any sponsor will be good. I always suggest a personal visit to a sponsor if you can. Please remember sponsors are not your LFS. You will not be visiting them a couple of times a month so a 1-2-3-4 hour drive each way is not unreasonable. I have driven to Hans twice 175 miles each way. Remember to get all the additional fish you want all at once to minimze problems of adding Discus and to save on shippiong.
I am thousnands miles away from USA, near Russia.


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[JoseRivera]

Will u post a full tank picture? I wanna see how it looks.

[mmdiscus1]

I brought them in the evening, now its morning, and they are still not eating. I am giving them food they just stare at it no eating. I am worried. Please advice guys... Should i make a WC to make them happy?
Posting pic of full tank now.


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[mmdiscus1]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/22/za8y3y9e.jpg


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[mmdiscus1]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/22/y8yme9yb.jpg


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[JoseRivera]

What are u trying to feed them? Try frozen black worms, just a little at a time and let them get comfortable with that and with you, then slowly add other foods like fdbw

[mmdiscus1]

In panic yesterday i opened a similar thread in general discussion section, i posted there but sorry forgot to post here as well:

Good new guys, i fed them some dry food, this time they tried to eat it. They even tried to pick up pieces from the bottom, and scared off corys that tried to eat it.:) so i guess they are getting used.



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[Willow123]

i am glad they are starting to settle in for you. i am pretty new to them, maybe 12 months of ownership and i am still always super worried about mine. Its like having children!

[Willow123]

ps. your plants look great too.

[mmdiscus1]

Made another WC today, 50%, planning to do it daily, or everyother day.
Btw, i also learned their strain - they are from red turkis he said, close blood ties with wilds. Breeder also told me they are close to one year old.



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[mmdiscus1]

Btw, did i tell you guys that this is MTS mineralized toposil tank with earthwarm castings, this is where i kept journal of converting it to mts prior to adding discus http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=495473 . Thought i share, just in case some of you would like to go MTS way, plants love it.


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[Duskfire Discus]

Gorgeous tank, I like the getto filter you made there. Maybe you could use some hosing and put it behind the tank? Would sure look better.
You're tank is one of the best I've seen IMO. A lot of people get really over board on plants or don't really understand that 2 plants doesn't count as "planted" You have a really nice mix. The plants on you're drift wood are amazing, really full and well taken care of. Surprised without CO2!

[mmdiscus1]

Gorgeous tank, I like the getto filter you made there. Maybe you could use some hosing and put it behind the tank? Would sure look better.
You're tank is one of the best I've seen IMO. A lot of people get really over board on plants or don't really understand that 2 plants doesn't count as "planted" You have a really nice mix. The plants on you're drift wood are amazing, really full and well taken care of. Surprised without CO2!

Thank you. That filter was temprorary, i treated tank with carbon filter just in case before discus arrived. I removed it long ago. Discus loving plants by the way,,


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[mmdiscus1]

My favorite, likes to pose, just took now:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/24/y4azama9.jpg



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[Miamiheat]

100USD is cheap for this size and this beauty. These are around 250USD in my LFS
They seem look like wild tefe to me (i had 3 that i lost). But I am a beginner so I could be very wrong.

[Miamiheat]

sorry looking at this pic this is not a wild tefe for sure. Other pics mislead me.

[mmdiscus1]

sorry looking at this pic this is not a wild tefe for sure. Other pics mislead me.

Breeder told me they have blood of very close tights with wild discus. Btw, didnt know they can charge you that much 250$, what is their size? Mine are 5 inch or more.


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[Miamiheat]

A jumbo breeding pair in Ireland is close to 550 USD at the LFS

[mmdiscus1]

A jumbo breeding pair in Ireland is close to 550 USD at the LFS

Whats jumbo pair? Jumbo meaning large sized? What size?


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[mmdiscus1]

A few updates: i removed one of the driftwoods on the right side, one withous moss. I noticed discus were trying to go under it, there was little space for them. It will be also easier for me to syphon in that area.

I did also clean up front of the tank as possible, remember i have MTS so didnt want to disturb soil a lot - actually it went really smooth. Taller plants went to back side, and there is now more light for my carpet plants and for discus to hang out in front and middle area of the tank. I removed some vals too - more space for fish to swim. And i removed plants on the back side nearby filter spray bar, because thats where discus like to hang out by the spray bar, and i had some taller plants there before.. Chechekd amonia before and after rescaping -zero. While replanting i held syphon(i use python) nearby plants.


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[pastry]

LOL... sorry I got a kick out of this. By the way, I am SOOOOO SOOOO HAPPY for you that you figured out a way to get discus. For anyone else reading this thread, mm had to go through hell to get these fish to where he lives. So not only does he have to contend with maintaining an expensive fish, but if he loses one then it'd be much harder getting another one or two. It makes me appreciate the hell out of being able to go to our sponsors!

Great job MM and they look damn good my friend!!!!!!!!!!!


I am thousnands miles away from USA, near Russia.


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[mmdiscus1]

Thanks pastry, you were rhe one who kept me going.. Now a problem guys:

Fish had black stripes on them when i first brought them, then second day stripes dissapewrd ad they were getting calm. Yesterday i removed one of the driftwoods because it was hard for me to siphon floor, now since yesterday they have black stripes almost always, thy act calm though and bullying almost disapeared. But larg wto dont eat, smaller two eat but only dry food, no beef heart.

I talked to thbreeer in Moscow, he is owner of a discus club there have been breeding and going to discus fairs internstionally for many years. He tells me that looks like fish is struggling he said, raise tank temp to 33 celcius for a week this might help, and they will start eating, if not he said i need to medicate them. Your suggestions? Please help.


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[Second Hand Pat]

Hi mm, two thoughts; one is to check your ammonia and nitrites and the other is perhaps you stirred something up in the substrate when you removed your driftwood. Either way a large WC might help.
Pat

[mmdiscus1]

Hi mm, two thoughts; one is to check your ammonia and nitrites and the other is perhaps you stirred something up in the substrate when you removed your driftwood. Either way a large WC might help.
Pat

When moving driftwood/plants i kept syphone right there under plants. Nitrite amonia zero, i constantly check these days, nitrates high in tap and in tank - Api liquid test shows about 40ppm nitrate its hard to read colors are too close to each other on API charts. Did large water change just yestarday, i dont want tommake them uncomfortable, although i could make another WC right now, its evening time. It wont strss them more?

But remember my problem with those two larger ones not eating started on day zero, so has nithing to do with my driftwood removal yesterday.. Btw, fish is more calm now, my bully doesnt bully them that much.

I just got reply from the breeder he said, they will be displaying dark vertical bars more than other turquoise fishm because these ones(mine) are closer to wild blood. So i guess, i shouldnt panic if i see black bars on them,

So question still remains, should i raise temperature to 33 as breeder suggests for a week? And should i leave thme alone for today, or i should make another about 50% WC?

Tyanks,


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[mmdiscus1]

Nematodes in tank. Any suggestions guys how to get rid of them?


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[sholvey]

More water changes and less food waste in water.

[mmdiscus1]

More water changes and less food waste in water.

Snce i have MTS, maybe thats how i got them? Any medications that are safe for bioload to try in tank?


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[musicmarn1]

how are you doing? how are the fish? most medications kill plants right?

[mmdiscus1]

Plants are doing great, diatoms are fading away.. Erythromecyn that i did for cyanobacteria did nothing to plants, it only reset bioload in my canister. Plants were not affected..

I now have three fish that eat and one that doesnt, those who started eating dont always eat a lot.. So my breeder suggest i should treat them all with metro for a week, in case of filagilates. I think imwill start tomorrow, but i will treat only three that dont eat well, the one that eats like a pig i will leave in tank.


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[mmdiscus1]

Hi guys!
Thought i would give you an update. Have five discus in the tank currently, all adults 5-6 inches i guess. They eat well, i put them on eheim autofeder, so its easier.

Plants are doing great, already gibing away a lot of them, trimming once everey couple weeks or so. I am trying to keep them at the mid level of thtank, so that discus have more space to swim. I will eventually rescape, want to move plants to thbackground and cornrs mainly, and wood in the middle remove it somewhere else, want to giv fish more space to swim.

Well, oth thsn that nothing new, except i got a brand new bare bottom tank, and raising there 6 beautiful juvies about 3 inches, cant wait to put them in this main tank, they are all colorful yellow red blue, marlboro.

Here are th pics. Btw, my eheim filter shaft broke so i took tubes out while waiting for a replacemnt.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/28/2y8edery.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/28/yqena4um.jpg

And juvies in a new tank:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/28/yqa7y6ym.jpg

If u have any ideas on aquascaping more than welcome to post here.


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[mmdiscus1]

Forgot to tell - never again i am doing a planted tank without a soil substrate:) so happy that i have done it


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[musicmarn1]

HOLY MOLY looks AMAZING !@!! well bloody done !! - really i have all soil in mine, cheaper and i figured it works for plants….lol ! tell me what did you use mm? and where did you get it :p and how much was it !? your tank is gorgeous i need you to teach me :o

only thing id add is some more red or pink like rotala indica or bronze crypts for a contrast or the ludwigia i forget which is the red one, something reddish or contrasting perhaps? but its beautiful :) whats your regime?

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks mucmarn1 :) you should check plantedtank.net goto substrate forum there, you will see my journal how i did it.. It costed me nothing, i got sand from a construction site nearby, you can dig it from any garden just make sure no fertilizers.. I also added earthworm castings to it,


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[Madaboutdiscus]

Gradually lower your tank temp to 29 C or so. You're too warm and don't raise the temp to 33 right now.

~Victoria

[mmdiscus1]

My tank temperature is 28 celcius for a long time now.. Weekly 60% WC once or twise.


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[flapjack24]

looks great, what kind of lights are u running?

[mmdiscus1]

Two T5 lights, on timer, 9 hours a day. I did them myself, and hang on the wall down, they are regular workshop kindof lights but balasts are good philips type, and reflection is good on this fixture, its not a typical white color, it is metalic one that reflects light better.

Aquarium length 160cm, lights are about 120cm, so not whole tank is covered, and sides remain dark.. I couldnt find longer T5s yet.


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[mmdiscus1]

Hi all! Fish are doing great. All of them eating. I never lost any, since i got them- and these are my first five discus:) i am now raising a few more juvies in a seperate tank, will be adding them to this main display tank in winter maybe.

Thought i'd update my journal here.. Did some rescaping, more space for fish to swim. Plants are growing very good. Although i am fighting diatom bloom these past weeks. Will be posting some pics.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/16b93d2c49bbdc226405555d62b39ab5.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/91df4a743df382a3cb76595d36846741.jpg


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[Frankr409]

Hi all! Fish are doing great. All of them eating. I never lost any, since i got them- and these are my first five discus:) i am now raising a few more juvies in a seperate tank, will be adding them to this main display tank in winter maybe.

Thought i'd update my journal here.. Did some rescaping, more space for fish to swim. Plants are growing very good. Although i am fighting diatom bloom these past weeks. Will be posting some pics.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/16b93d2c49bbdc226405555d62b39ab5.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/91df4a743df382a3cb76595d36846741.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk. Great looking fish, plants look to be doing well.

[ericNH]

What a tank! That thing is great :thumbsup: Awesome plant development!! I read this thread from the beginning and am glad to hear that you hadn't lost any discus :)

[Mas84]

Your discus and tank look really good. Well done

[mmdiscus1]

Thank guys. I will get some more prettier pictures today


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[zergling]

Tank looks good!

Have you figured out the root cause of the diatoms? Plantedtank.net folks would usually point to silica or new tank syndrome or not enough light(?!) - doesn't seem to be your case though.

[mmdiscus1]

No luck with diatoms yet. I reduced them, by weekly maintainance of canister, and by placing extra diy floss water filter in the tank.. I also had to remove whole bucket of ludwigias from my tank- they were full of diatoms:(

I also increased my WC from weekly or biweekly 60%, to twice a week about 80%.

I do also siphon gravel harder these days, to suck out diatoms there.. Overall it is a pain, and diatoms arent fully gone...but much better now.

I will see like this for a month or two, if diatoms arent controllable i will probsbly tear down whole tank- although dont really want to.


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[OC Discus]

I eliminated diatom by going bare bottom, adding micron polishing filter, reducing tank light to 8 hours, adding a purigen reactor, and doing complete wipe down/rinse of decorations in hot water every week before large 80% water change. Micron filter is changed every 2 weeks and purigen every 4 weeks. Floss in 2 hob filters is changed every 2 weeks, alternating weeks with micron. I haven't seen any traces of diatom or algae for several months now. Good luck.


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[mmdiscus1]

I have planted. So no intentions of going bare bottom.. My purigen 100ml bag, gets pretty dirty dark brown in about 3 weeks, thats when i bleach it.. As for purigen reactor dont know.. I am plannig to build a sump, still researching online.


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[fin6]

Hi all! Fish are doing great. All of them eating. I never lost any, since i got them- and these are my first five discus:) i am now raising a few more juvies in a seperate tank, will be adding them to this main display tank in winter maybe.

Thought i'd update my journal here.. Did some rescaping, more space for fish to swim. Plants are growing very good. Although i am fighting diatom bloom these past weeks. Will be posting some pics.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/16b93d2c49bbdc226405555d62b39ab5.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/91df4a743df382a3cb76595d36846741.jpg


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Nice looking fish well done

[mmdiscus1]

Hi guys!
Posting a few fresh pics from the tank. Hope u like it. Everything seems fine, plants flourishing, i am having hard time constantly trimming them, they grow excessively in my low tech tank.

Just a side note- For a few months now, struggling to contain brown diatoms, no matter how hard i clean or remove thise brown slimmy leaves, they just keep coming back,:( other than diatoms everyone looks happy .

Couple months ago added two more discus, blue diamond kind and a red melon.

Feel free to post your comments, questions.



http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/01/8dfd1f6ea76ef2efa33abfacf5cc6559.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/01/fdd0b4d68d599b0be1acf8c847944e6c.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/01/0a1f310f80fdde9110fc645cb9a1ad6e.jpg


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[allan]

just found this thread well done thats a nice planted tank :)

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks Alan.
Just after posting here, i decide to further trim plants and remove ones wit hheavy diatom mass on them. Now there is more space for discus to swim around:) i removed about couple pounds of plants, but still have plenty left in there. Will post pictures later today.


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[ericNH]

REALLY well done there, mmdiscus1. I LOVE planted tanks like yours. I don't think I'll ever get mine to look like that. And your discus look great! I like seeing the progression in your journal here. Keep posting on your progress, your thread is a pleasure to read.

[mmdiscus1]

Actually this thread here is my diary as well:) i like reading through it, because this is where i tell everything about my tank, and have my tiny milestones. The beginning of this thread is me actually owning discus for the first time, my first post was in january 2014, now its november.. None of my initially bought fish died, thats simething for me:)

although i had many problems with them in the begining, like them now wanting to eat, bullying, etc, i was able to overcome all those from dear members of simplydiscus, and i thank them all for the support.. Definetely couldnt have done it without your support SD!

Here are photos of my a few hours ago trimming. I was able to take a shot od my dicsus, while they were all together in the center of the tank. Enjoy:)

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/02/15d949832eeea0b91a9b9fad701fa056.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/02/5e4e532c0afc5cd6f3c73f461075645c.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/02/fa4987c9e53e9f2d649c2845e6c84ffc.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/02/894879c86013b283282e4d287fddd3c8.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/02/65c8322c217438eb487724cd19f5273e.jpg


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[ericNH]

Well, here's a shot of my tank, so you can see how much better you're doing and feel good about yourself:

84100

[ericNH]

LOL the comparison makes me laugh :laugh:

[musicmarn1]

Eric dont beat yourself up ! my goodness, ive seen so many AWFUL black discus here,(oh wait those were mine!) your awesome and your fish while mis, shaped look clean and happy! ill show you what i had when i started (im not great now im just much better than i was ! ) and where i am now you will laugh at me too !! but its great that your so kind to others and read so much on what you will do better with the next group. I have the highest respect for you so i wont let you bash yourself LOL ;) my picture taking skills here are greatly lacking but you get the idea in terms of shape, color is very clean and sharp i just have lost my good camera

1/. second batch i ever bought 2 & 3/. current discus now 4 & 5/. first discus i bought from LFS and i tried breeding my first pair in a planted...they were a pb and non pb took me at least a month to figure out that was a BAD idea lololol

[ericNH]

You're very kind marn :) Give me another year and i'll give you better shots!

[mmdiscus1]

Yea Eric, your fish looks good, u just need to get rid of that cyanobacteria on your driftwood- at least it looks like it, add more plants, not anubia kind, but larger tall plants..


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[musicmarn1]

You're very kind marn :) Give me another year and i'll give you better shots!

you bet :p

[ericNH]

Thanks mmdiscus :) Cyanobacteria? Are you talking about the bright green stuff on it? I thought it was algae, and I kinda liked the bright green color - like a mossy looking thing. But cyanobacteria sounds bad - I better look this up. I suppose I'll have to take it out and scrub it down. What a mess...

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks mmdiscus :) Cyanobacteria? Are you talking about the bright green stuff on it? I thought it was algae, and I kinda liked the bright green color - like a mossy looking thing. But cyanobacteria sounds bad - I better look this up. I suppose I'll have to take it out and scrub it down. What a mess...

Its not quite clear from your picture, take a closer shot and open another thread. When you do so, let me know, i will post you how i erradicated it with meds and other..


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