soem questions pls

[nigi]

hello by d way.

1 i have a 12 gal tank, for filtration i have ceramics, foam,active carbon, and phosex. Should I remove the phosex and put something better, also the ceramics how long should i leave them before changing them?

2 This black dust is covering every spot of my aquarium.on bogwood its more green and hairy,my plants turned black instead of green.lately i've been neglecting a bit but i want to make it better.The guy at d store said it might b too much proteins, what should I do.I'm cutting down on lighting time, 6 hrs max for now.

3 could I add some gravel now ?its been set p for a year and a half, but i had put some fertilizer with the gravel, and now i'm seeing more of fertilizer than gravel actually, which are these grey ugly stones.

thats all for now, its my 3rd time posting here, and no one ever replied, i'd like some help, got loads of books but those don't answer all the questions sometimes

 

[Billsgate]

Your filtration is fine i believe. You shouldn't replace your filter ceramics, just scrub them off in old aquarium water when you do a water change. Do this once a month and your ceramics will be fine. I'm not sure what phosex is so i can't help you with that.

I have no idea about the black dust.

You could add some more gravel. Wash it off thoroughly and put some in a cup. Put the cup to the bottom of the tank and pour the gravel out. That's how i would do it.


Welcome at Aquarium Advice!!!

 

[jsoong]

i had put some fertilizer with the gravel, and now i'm seeing more of fertilizer than gravel actually, which are these grey ugly stones.

What fertilizer you put into the tank & how much you put in? The ferts should dissolve in the tank & not accumulate at the bottom .... something is not quite right here.


Black spots - are these algae? or are they actual dust? Black dust is prob carbon - did you rinse the carbon out before putting in the filter? However, I wouldn't think there would be enough dust in a carbon insert to cover everything .... Maybe this is black brush algae or something like that?

 

[TankGirl]

Welcome to AA! Sorry about the poor response you had before, let's see if we can get to the bottom of this.

More info would be helpful - do you have a plant substrate that you typically cover over with plain gravel? I too am confused about that.

What kind of filter is it? It sounds like it might be an AquaClear but it could be a small canister also. In addition to foam and rigid media (like the ceramics - those can simply be rinsed out weekly or whenever debris gets clogged on them) you need some fine floss type stuff to trap small particles. If the dust you speak of is not attached to anything, but is free floating and settles unless disturbed, then I agree it is probably carbon and your filter does not necessarily require carbon at all. Some floss would trap that and not allow it to circulate in the tank.

If the black dust is actually an algae that grows on things and has to be wiped off or scraped off, then you are talking about a trickier issue and may require a change in your maintenance routine. In terms of your plants, 6 hours won't give them an opportunity to utilize the nutrients in the water, so they might lose out to algae, which is more efficient at using the nutrients that are available. A longer photoperiod to let the plants get the most of their photosynthesis might be in order, like 9-10 hours. You want to make the environment optimal for plant growth, so there are no excess nutrients for the algae. You can also consider a "siesta" period in the middle, like 4 hours on, 2 hours off, 5 hours on.

What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[jacktheknife]

i like to use a long funnel when adding gravel, just make sure the hole is big enough

 

[nigi]

so the filter i have is a trickle filter, i don't know the brand bec its incorporated with the aquarium itself, d aquarium is JEBO.

The black is actually not dust but hairy stuff, i have to scratch it off plant leaves.

the ferulizer i had put it underneth the gravel when i set up, but obviously now with vacuming everything is mixed , and honestly i don't like the look of the fertilizer i prefer the gravel on top. Its not peat, its some kind of stone.

i did a waterchange and changed the foam,cause it had been there quiet a long time, and i thin i'm seeing an improvement on teh alea, planning to do another w change soon, so that i don't leave it to mature.

So not leaving the light on for long periods doesn't actually help to destroy algea? thats what the guy at the store told me, that algea gets ebergy from light.

 

[TankGirl]

Yes - not leaving the lights on will help to destroy algae, but your plants are actually an excellent algae "destroyer" if given the proper conditions to thrive. They will be able to use the light and the nutrients in the water more efficiently than the algae, and the algae will starve. So by cutting back your light to 6 hours, it may help algae but your plants won't do well at all - they require more light than that to photosynthesize and uptake nutrients in the water. It's confusing, but when your plants are growing vigorously the algae won't have a chance.

I think I understand about the gravel - what you have is possibly laterite or something like that, which is a gravel additive and can be very messy when it comes to the surface. I stopped using it for this reason.

Sounds like you are on the right track with things, keeping your filter maintained and increasing water changes, and another thing you might check, if you can, is the phosphate level in your tap water. That can contribute to the black algae infestation.