Plants

[stubby_knight]

It is day 15 of getting my tank started fish2:in cycle).

I am having a lot of trouble stabilizing my tank. The PH this morning rose to 7.8 and ammonia level rose to almost 1.0. I also tested nitrite levels and each time it was 0, like the tank has no good bacteria whatsoever.

So I bought API PH down. Also bought API stressZymes+. This is also suppose to introduce the good bacteria that we want in our tank. But for both of these I have to wait before using them again and neither seemed to have had any affect. I plan to do another PWC tomorrow as that is affective at reducing the ammonia levels. I have also reduced feeding schedule to once every 2 days (I was feeding them daily).

So this brings me to my question.

I only have 1 plant in this tank. Can I, should I consider adding more plants?
What kind of plants?

 

[Rivercats]

Leave the ph alone. Trying to adjust the ph with chemicals is hard on fish and the effects are only temporary. A stable ph is the best thing for your tank.

Plants always help. What type of lighting do you have? Stock lights, T5HO, ??? Easy plants that are low light tolerant would be adding water sprite or wisteria, anubia, java fern, crypts, and possibly swords. If by chance you have higher light there are others that can be recommended.

As for cycling it doesn't happen overnight so don't get upset. If your doing an in fish cycle you need to do a 50% WC whenever it rises above .25. Check the sticky's as there are alot of great info on doing in fish cycle.

 

[stubby_knight]

Lighting and more

Thanks RiverRats

Today I noticed the PH has risen to 8.0. What could be causing the PH to rise? I did a 50% PWC (ammonia was at 0.75 now down to .3 or .4). The one fish that seem stressed was the Molly and that was AFTER I did the PWC. Can changing the water affect the PH (lower it in my case) when it is very high?

Lighting.
I have a stock light. It looks like an ordinary neon with a high UV component. Also this equipment I did not buy but it came from someone else who tried their hand with an aquarium, but their fish kept dying. So I inherited much of this equipment and also realized it must not be trivial. Also a bit about myself. I have a large backyard and want 2 ponds connected by a little stream. I thought this tank could give me some fish experience for the ponds, which would both be +200 gals.

 

[Rivercats]

Ponds are different again, I've had ponds for 15 years and the two we have now are over 2000g and the other coming off the 20' stream is only about 400-500g. You need to research about keeping ponds.

As for the tank and ph... have you tested your tap water's ph? You need to get a container and fill it with tap water, aerate it for 24 hours to gas it off, then test the ph. If your tap ph is high then it stands to reason your tanks ph will be the same.

BUT if you test your tap water and find it is significantly lower in ph than the tank then you have something in your tank that is increasing the ph. What substrate do you have? If you have any rocks as decorations in your tank did you do the vinegar test on them? Do you have any sea shells in it?

Was the tank used for saltwater before you got it? You bulb sounds odd, like a salt water bulb. If it's used I'd see about getting a new bulb in the 6700K color spectrum.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

You've been demoted to a river rat. 0_0

 

[Rivercats]

You've been demoted to a river rat. 0_0

I was hoping no one would catch that... figured you would

 

[ejaramillo01]

You've been demoted to a river rat. 0_0

Lol....lol

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I was hoping no one would catch that... figured you would

I love it! Sometimes the auto spell correction does crazy things to my posts, too. I'd be dead in the water without the edit function to correct things that the spell corrector "fixed". lol

 

[Rivercats]

I love it! Sometimes the auto spell correction does crazy things to my posts, too. I'd be dead in the water without the edit function to correct things that the spell corrector "fixed". lol

That is the very reason I don't have spell check in use... lol.

 

[ztigris]

What will a tank previously used for salt water do? If you cleaned it throughly how does it effect a fresh? Reason I ask my acrylic was a salt tank but it was scrubbed top to bottom over a few days.

 

[Rivercats]

What will a tank previously used for salt water do? If you cleaned it throughly how does it effect a fresh? Reason I ask my acrylic was a salt tank but it was scrubbed top to bottom over a few days.

I asked if it was saltwater before because the bulb you described sounds like a bulb used in a saltwater tank, not a bulb used for planted tanks.

 

[ztigris]

Ahh that was the op with the lights. Thanks! Was worried I missed something important and may have problems later on my tank. :

 

[stubby_knight]

Lighting and More

Sorry .. I noticed your name is Rivercats not rats.

Ok, just tested the PH of the tap, but did not aerate for 24 hour because I had not read your reply until now. So I will re-test; though the PH was very high. Also on the bottle of API PHdown, it does say hard water (lots of minerals) will resist changes to PH and that is what I observed.

The Aquarium came practically new. I don't know whether it had been used as saltwater tank, but don't believe it was. It is a 10gal Aqueon tank, with filter, pump, the lid (which has a built-in light) a device that puts bubbles in the tank, water heater, net for removing fish, a small fish bowl for temp housing fish, Aqueon water conditioner, Aqueon fish food, 3 fake (plastic) plants, sponge Bob's pinneaple house, and a skull (for fish hiding places).

I purchased a background for the tank, 10 lbs of aquarium gravel, API Freshwater Master test kit, aquarium salt, API stressZymes, API PHdown, one live plant (I don't know what kind), and the fish.

The light makes the colors glow extra bright, which to me suggests a high UV component. I just assumed aquarium manufacturers purposely do that. In particular the neon tetra's blue stripe really glows nicely. The kids also really like the sponge bob house.

PS. When I do a PWC I take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with tap water, add the water conditioner and a table spoon of aquarium salt. Should I be doing anything more or different?

 

[Rivercats]

Okay that explains the light, its a kit made for kids, not plants, and the light is for glowlight fish. Try re-doing the ph on the aerated tap water and see what you have. Just don't use the Ph down as it's really hard on fish and is a temp fix. Honestly you don't need to salt, its more for treating sick fish. Otherwise that is how you do the WC. See what the tap ph is and we can go from there.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Do you remove 5 gallons of water from the tank when you do water changes?

Definitely skip using the salt and try a full spectrum daylight bulb. If you want something that will still highlight the blue on the fish you could use a 10000K daylight. They're ok for plants as well.

 

[stubby_knight]

Re: plants and lights

Rivercats - I did the Ph test after allowing the water to aerate for 24 hours and it is 8. On the light question, are you saying that this light will be hard on plants? Also I started adding the salt after one of the molly's died. It says molly's do better with salt.

CorallineAlgae - Yes 5 gals at a time.

So a new light and I can research which plants to get. Does this site have that kind of info.

PS. Since the PWC no more fish have died. But the Nitrite and Nitrate levels remain at zero, as though I have none of the good bacteria formed yet.

 

[Rivercats]

That type of bulb won't grow plants very well if at all. It needs to be replaced with a bulb in the 6000K to 6700K range to get good plant growth. Don't use salt with plants, it's really not necessary. And if you only have molly's a high ph is just fine. They do better with higher ph as do most live bearers. If you change your bulb you can do the plants I suggested.