Algae and tank maturity

Diatoms and filamentous algae often attack plants in a new setup. This new tank syndrome is common in new setups, especially ones that use rich aquasoils. Often these issues go away on their own after some time as the tank matures and plants settle in, but what exactly makes for a matured setup?

Introduction

The term 'tank maturity' is often thrown around in hobbyist discussions, but what exactly does it mean? Sensitive animals such as shrimp and more difficult plants adapt better when added to a mature tank, and a mature tank tends to have fewer algae problems. But what exactly makes a tank mature?

Defining tank maturity

Tank maturity can be seen from a number of key aspects. The first, which is well known, is the development of microbial colonies. There are microbes that oxidise ammonia to nitrites and from nitrites to nitrates and there are also microbes that break down organic waste compounds that can trigger algae. Microbes also consume algae directly. Algae are a staple food for many forms of microbial life. The development of microbial colonies occurs not only in the filter, but also in the substrate and other surfaces.

You can watch a video of an amoeba feeding on filamentous algae below:

The second aspect of a mature tank is that newly planted plants need time to adapt to the tank environment. This includes adaptation not only to the water parameters of the new tank, but also to the light spectrum used, differences in substrate and flow, and the microclimate of its exact location in the tank. Newly planted plants also need time to take root, an aspect that is often overlooked. Soil-based substrates (including aquasoils) undergo a transition from an aerobic to a waterlogged environment.

Adapted plants are healthier and better able to resist algae. Healthy plants are very resistant to algae, whereas algae-infested plants tend to be under adaptation stress or unhealthy - this is a universal rule that applies to all tanks. A tank where most of the plants have adapted to the environment and are therefore algae free - creates an environment where algae is harder to trigger for the tank system as a whole. It is therefore much wiser to add sensitive plants that are susceptible to algae at a later stage, when the rest of the plants have settled in and adapted to the new tank environment.

The key to growing many sensitive species, especially those from tissue culture format, is planting them in tanks where the other plants have already settled in and the overall system is stable.

Why is tank maturity important?

The most common algae to plague new tanks are diatoms - their presence almost guarantees that the tank environment is not mature - or that a mature tank has had its biological system severely upset. Green dust and filamentous algae are also common in immature tanks.

Some species such as Bucephalandra are generally easy to grow but are still susceptible to immature tank environments. The picture below shows 2 batches of Bucephalandra brownie ghost 2011 being transferred from a mature farm tank to 2 different tanks. The tank on the left was a mature low tech non CO2 injected tank that had been set up and grown in for a few months. The Bucephalandra adapted well to the tank - and was not affected by algae at all, despite being transferred from a tank with CO2 injection to a tank without CO2 injection. The stable and mature tank system was very resistant to algae.

The Bucephalandra batch that was transferred to a newly constructed tank that was not yet mature was severely affected by diatoms and other algae (pictured right). This was despite the fact that the tank had CO2 injection and all the right parameters. What was missing from the setup was the maturity of the tank. Aquarists who only pay attention to parameters would have been puzzled as to why a plant would react so poorly even if the "parameters are perfect". Planted aquariums are small but complex ecosystems where microbes, plants and animals all interact on a micro level. We cannot define an aquarium by parameters alone, as many aquarists try to do.

How to avoid new tank syndrome and accelerate biological maturity for a tank

 Getting the setup right at the start helps tremendously. Good flow (6x - 10x turnover) and a good flow pattern where there is adequate gas exchange with the water surface is important. Better oxygen levels help microbes to multiply more quickly.

Seeding the substrate with old soil from a mature system and seeding the filter with old filter media helps to seed the system with microbes. Keeping water parameters stable, avoiding harsh chemicals or large parameter swings is also important. Regarding ammonia cycling - dosing bottled bacteria can help, but even then the bacteria will need time to settle into the tank system.

We recommend cycling the unplanted tank for a couple of weeks with no plants or animals and with the filter running but the lights off. This will allow the microbes to colonise the substrate and filter. Typically during this period you will also see your ammonia cycling system mature. While ammonia can be taken up by plants as a nitrogen source, high levels will trigger algae growth and will also melt more delicate plants - so it is generally better to plant after the ammonia cycle has developed. 

 You can read more on tank cycling here and why you should do it.

Starting the aquarium with hardy, adaptable plants will make the aquarium more resistant to algae. Avoid planting difficult or fussy species until the tank is mature. Because hardy plants adapt easily to new environments - and adapted plants are algae-resistant - they create microclimates where algae cannot easily spawn. The more of your aquarium that is filled with healthy growing plants, the more resistant the entire aquarium system will be to algae.

Avoid planting slower growing species, difficult plants or species that are more vulnerable to algae. Avoid planting Bucephalandra, Utricularia gramminifolia, and delicate tissue cultures such as TC Chai, Flamingo in immature setups.

Recovering from the initial algae spike after plants have been added

If you have followed the advice above, algae spikes should be minimized. However, for many folks, it is more likely that they encounter some algae issues that usually spawn a week or so after the initial planting is done . So what can you do ?

The first step is to not panic and do dramatic changes that will shake up the system any more. Check for outlier parameters - however, if your system has been setup well - and you have adequate CO2, flow, light, nutrients for your plants, do not embark on a parameter tweaking spree - this can make things worse rather than better. Plants need time to settle in and changing parameters week to week makes it harder for them to acclimatize. Keep parameters fixed and stable. Most plants grow in a very wide range of parameters, so pinpoint accuracy in most parameters achieve nothing except feeding into the placebo effect of feeling like you have done something to help.

The next step is to do gentle, but thorough cleaning of the tank. If diatoms and filamentous algae blanket plants, you can try to manually remove them as much as possible while siphoning/doing a water change. Typically, a lot of organic detritus is also produced during this period and accumulates on the substrate - you should do large water changes while vacuuming of surface detritus. To learn how and why this is done read this page. Large water changes remove organic waste components in the water and also to remove loose algae and algae spores. For tanks that have not yet fully cycled, water changes also remove excess ammonia - one of the prime triggers for early stage algae.

If your tank is very sparsely planted, consider adding tougher, easier to grow filler plants. A fully planted tank matures and gets over the algae phrase much faster than a sparsely planted one. 

The last thing to do is to be patient and wait. Tank maturity will take a few weeks or even longer in some tanks. Often diatoms and filamentous algae can blanket existing plants and make it seem like a terrible scenario. However, once the plants adapt and the system mature, they disappear very quickly. 

Remember the batch of Bucephanlandra that got hit badly by algae after being transferred into a new tank? The right picture is how it looks like a mere two weeks later. These turn arounds can happen fast if you have taken the right steps to managing the problem. We spot dosed some APT Fix on the Bucephalandra to accelerate the process, along with doing the steps to clean the tank as described above. However, we changed no parameters (same light, CO2, fertilization etc) and just allowed time for the tank to mature.