A good cleaning crew

[Mar23]

A timer would be a good investment for your tank. You can set the lights for the morning when. People are home and then off until someone comes home again in the afternoon. My algae tanks are the ones getting a lot of natural light.

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I will look into a timer. How many hours should I have the lights on? My lights are not that good. They came with the tank.


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[fish wrangler]

+1 when I worked lots of hours timers were my friend.

the vast amount of light per day is undoubtedly the issue here. Along with that 80ppm nitrates.


Caleb

+1
14 hours a day is very long. I went from 6 to 6.5 hours and my hair algae increased. Granted I am running high tech with pressurized co2 and daily ferts, but the little increase made things worse

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[ImACoolguy]

I will look into a timer. How many hours should I have the lights on? My lights are not that good. They came with the tank.


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No more than 8 a day and you should see some improvements pretty quickly.


Caleb

 

[Mar23]

No more than 8 a day and you should see some improvements pretty quickly.


Caleb

Thanks!


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[coralbandit]

Lighting is the issue with your algae IMO after you get your water straight.
A timer like Brennae said.
Some of the best planted tanks you see on this site get little more then 6 hours light!
As for a vacuum you have a serious overfeeding issue IMO(ask me how I know?).
I breed and know I need to offer unlimited food to fry but to the point water quality suffers does me or the fry no good!
My 180g hasn't been vacuumed in a year or so......
My waterchanges are all from water column.
My nitrates average 20ppm at the end of the week!
Feed less.
Way less.
I keep marine fish that get fed 1 or maybe 2 times a week for years now!
Water quality comes first IMO for all.
I actually use just hoses in some tanks no vac attachment!
I have more then three different sized vacuums I lied!
You need to stir up the crap in your sub part by part(1/4 of tank max) and suck it out!.
Get replacement water right; proper temp and dechlorinated.

 

[Mar23]

Lighting is the issue with your algae IMO after you get your water straight.

A timer like Brennae said.

Some of the best planted tanks you see on this site get little more then 6 hours light!

As for a vacuum you have a serious overfeeding issue IMO(ask me how I know?).

I breed and know I need to offer unlimited food to fry but to the point water quality suffers does me or the fry no good!

My 180g hasn't been vacuumed in a year or so......

My waterchanges are all from water column.

My nitrates average 20ppm at the end of the week!

Feed less.

Way less.

I keep marine fish that get fed 1 or maybe 2 times a week for years now!

Water quality comes first IMO for all.

I actually use just hoses in some tanks no vac attachment!

I have more then three different sized vacuums I lied!

You need to stir up the crap in your sub part by part(1/4 of tank max) and suck it out!.

Get replacement water right; proper temp and dechlorinated.

Reverse suction? I will try that. The vacuum is not good. The syphon that I use is kind of short, so I will have to get a separate, longer tube for vacuuming.
So, my question is how much is enough food? Here is what I have in the tank:
- 6 sterbai cory
- 6 otos
- 4 top minnows (between 1/2 and 1 1/2")
- 3 dollar sunfish (adults, about 4")
- 1 sunfish fry (about 1")
- 3 mystery snails
- 1 redear that I will be getting rid of soon (about 4")

I am aware that the cories and the otos are tropical. My tank does not get below 75 degrees. They are all healthy and doing well. The sunfish are territorial with each other, but not aggressive towards other fish at all. They are a variety that is pretty peaceful.

I feed the tank once a day in the evening. I give them a variety of food that I alternate, but in a regular feeding they are getting 3 cubes of bloodworms (they eat them like they have been starving for weeks), and about 5 Hikari carnivore sinking pellets (only 1 of the sunfish and the cories eat them). Sometimes they get krill instead of the bloodworms, and bottom feeder tablets instead of the carnivore pellets.




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[fish wrangler]

Reverse suction? I will try that. The vacuum is not good. The syphon that I use is kind of short, so I will have to get a separate, longer tube for vacuuming.
So, my question is how much is enough food? Here is what I have in the tank:
- 6 sterbai cory
- 6 otos
- 4 top minnows (between 1/2 and 1 1/2")
- 3 dollar sunfish (adults, about 4")
- 1 sunfish fry (about 1")
- 3 mystery snails
- 1 redear that I will be getting rid of soon (about 4")

I am aware that the cories and the otos are tropical. My tank does not get below 75 degrees. They are all healthy and doing well. The sunfish are territorial with each other, but not aggressive towards other fish at all. They are a variety that is pretty peaceful.

I feed the tank once a day in the evening. I give them a variety of food that I alternate, but in a regular feeding they are getting 3 cubes of bloodworms (they eat them like they have been starving for weeks), and about 5 Hikari carnivore sinking pellets (only 1 of the sunfish and the cories eat them). Sometimes they get krill instead of the bloodworms, and bottom feeder tablets instead of the carnivore pellets.



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You can still vaccum with a short tube.

With your stock I dont think you shouldn't be feeding more than 1 of the cubes.

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[Mar23]

You can still vaccum with a short tube.

With your stock I dont think you shouldn't be feeding more than 1 of the cubes.

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1 cube seems too little for 4 adult sunfish, especially if we add that the other fish are having some too. These are small cubes.


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[Mar23]

I'm thinking that maybe the bloodworms are just making a mess and they are probably not even that nutritious. I think I am going to try to culture my own "bigger worms" so there is no chance of them getting lost in the plants or the substrate. Any thoughts on that? I could feed the worms to the sunfish and everyone else would get pellets/tablets.


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[Guppylove85]

Im my opinion its the red ear...we are talking turtle here right??? They are notoriously messy. I had one that grew up and 75 gallon with a under tank filter rated for 200 galons is what kept that tank clean. But she was almost 10 inches then. And is happily living in a pond.
Get the turtle out and find it a happier home. Your fish will thank you too.

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[brennae]

My corys love bloodworms and scour the tank looking for them.

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[Mar23]

Im my opinion its the red ear...we are talking turtle here right??? They are notoriously messy. I had one that grew up and 75 gallon with a under tank filter rated for 200 galons is what kept that tank clean. But she was almost 10 inches then. And is happily living in a pond.
Get the turtle out and find it a happier home. Your fish will thank you too.

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No. A redear is a sunfish. I would never keep a turtle. I had one as a child and they are the dirtiest creatures. A redear sunfish is also called a shellcracker. They eat snails. This one ate all the snails in my tank and I think it is what triggered the issue. Nothing is eating the food residue anymore.


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[Mar23]

My corys love bloodworms and scour the tank looking for them.

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Mine eat them too, but the frozen bloodworms I have been using have some residue that makes the water dirty.


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[brennae]

I only use Hikari. I've had problems with other brands

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[Mar23]

I only use Hikari. I've had problems with other brands

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I use Omega One because that is the brand they sell where I live. The cubes are ok, but the flat bag that you have to break pieces off is not good.


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