im confused.

[aqua man]

ok so i went to aquarium adventure and i put live plants in . i made sure they were low light plants. i put dertalizer on the bottom of the tank and small ityt bitty rocks over them. i was told to turn off the bubblers during the day when the lights are on and turn them on at tnight when the sun goes down for the plants. my barbs are starting to breathe heavily and i dont know why. my nitrites are 0 natrates 40ppm ammonia 0 ph 7 i dont know what i am doing wrong. oh yeah my tap water here on long island is 40ppm of nitrates help please.

 

[neilanh]

what kind of fertilizers did you put in?

If you're not injecting CO2, there's no harm in leaving the airstone on 24/7.

 

[black hills tj]

what kind of fertilizers did you put in?

If you're not injecting CO2, there's no harm in leaving the airstone on 24/7.

Listen to Neil. This guy knows his stuff!

When you say "fertilizer," do you mean root tabs?

 

[aqua man]

it was a clay fertalizer from aquarium adventure. and r u sure i can keep the bubbler on with no effect to my plants ? i have 1 java fern, cabomba, sagittaria, and one more i dont know the name of.

 

[aqua man]

I'm not sure the exact name but it clouded up the tap water like heck i took the fish out for at least two days and put them in a holding tank. this was two weeks ago

 

[aqua man]

and no im not injecting co2 i have stock lighting and its not that heavily planted seeee

 

[aqua man]

what should i do about the nitrate as well?

 

[black hills tj]

it was a clay fertalizer from aquarium adventure. and r u sure i can keep the bubbler on with no effect to my plants ? i have 1 java fern, cabomba, sagittaria, and one more i dont know the name of.

I'm unfamiliar with any "clay fertilizers," unless it is a type of substrate that is used when layering.

The bubbler simply increases surface agitation, which results in greater gas exchange. The only reason you would shut it off, is if you had CO2. This is because you would off gas more CO2 than you would use.

what should i do about the nitrate as well?

40ppm Nitrates right out of the tap seems to provide an interesting situation. I'm not sure what to suggest here. Hopefully someone a little more knowledgeable about this specific issue will chime in.

 

[aqua man]

something like volcanit gravel

 

[Jnam]

I have about 30 PPM nitrates here, i just purchase a 5 gallon RO/DI water bottle from the local chain store (walmart or simmilar) for my 10% WC I mix it 50 50 tap and RO/DI so its +/- 10PPm when it goes into the tank. the 5 gallon runs me 1.50USD. Which keeps the nitrates at +/-35 PPM in the tank. Mine is planted with CO2 and the fish do not show any issues.

Hope that helps.

Ps for the larger WCs I do the same 50/50 splite just with more water obviously...
There are some chemicals Nitraban and some others that claim to isolate the nitrates and nitrites. The largest success i have seen with that is to put in an activated carbon filter a few hours after you put in the nitraban let it run for 48 hours and the discard the filter pad. The activated carbon "holds on to" the isolated nitrates/ites. But if you leave it to long the filter will leach the nitrates back into the tank.

Again Hope that helps.

 

[jrp1588]

clay based and clouds like crazy. Sounds like flourite to me. But yeah, with basic lighting and no co2 injection, you'll be fine to leave the air pump on

 

[Purrbox]

Could also be laterite.

 

[gzeiger]

Has continuous aeration helped the fish breathe?

 

[aqua man]

yes but my tiger barbs have been breathin heavy all of them?, tiger barbs are very prone to ich my other fish are fine. they are labyritnh fish so i dont know since i put the live plants in ther the barbs flash and breath heavy i think i am going to quarintine them i see no evidence of velvet, or ich but err on the side of saftey i say

 

[black hills tj]

Spend 20 bucks and get yourself a TDS meter. With a "clay" like substrate that is causing real dusty water, this may help you determine the cause of your fish breathing so heavily. Here's a little reading about TDS.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=14047