Questions- general info.

[megi-lin]

So, yesterday, I siphoned the gravel of my tank and removed the plants because so much food was rotting on them that I could not see! Plus, under the plants, there was so much debris. I have cut down on the pinch I give my fish even though they pretty much eat it all.

1) How often do YOU siphon your gravel? I did mine for the first time in 3 months since restarting my tank and going from sand to gravel.

2) How often do you fill your evap gap?

3) Have any of you been able to remove the hard stuff from the top while your tank is going?

4) Is it okay to not have plants and just put small deco on the floor with guppies?

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[RackinRocky]

I siphon every week, when I do my water changes. If you could hardly see for all the debris, you must be overfeeding. Feed only as much as the fish will eat in 2-3 minutes, and no more. If you waited for 3 months to siphon your tank, no wonder you had so much debris in there! I can't imagine going that long without siphoning. I fill my evap gap every single day. My big tank (55) loses a little over a gallon a day thru evap, and my 20, almost a gallon. My 10 gallon, a little less than half a gallon. Not sure what you mean about "removing hard stuff from top of tank while it's going." Can you clarify that? It's okay not to have plants if you don't want them, but guppies love them to hide in and nibble on, and they reduce nitrates in the tank. Plants are a GOOD thing to have, but you can do fake plants if you prefer that.

 

[megi-lin]

I siphon every week, when I do my water changes. If you could hardly see for all the debris, you must be overfeeding. Feed only as much as the fish will eat in 2-3 minutes, and no more. If you waited for 3 months to siphon your tank, no wonder you had so much debris in there! I can't imagine going that long without siphoning. I fill my evap gap every single day. My big tank (55) loses a little over a gallon a day thru evap, and my 20, almost a gallon. My 10 gallon, a little less than half a gallon. Not sure what you mean about "removing hard stuff from top of tank while it's going." Can you clarify that? It's okay not to have plants if you don't want them, but guppies love them to hide in and nibble on, and they reduce nitrates in the tank. Plants are a GOOD thing to have, but you can do fake plants if you prefer that.

The hard stuff that comes from the water evap over time. It's at the top of my tank in pictures. I had plastic plants. I had to save for a siphon then got the wrong size.


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[RackinRocky]

Sounds and looks like it may be hard water stains. These are difficult. I have trouble with it too. I soak it in vinegar, then scrape with my fingernail or one of those scraper tools for aquariums. I never let my water level get very low, so this has not happened to me, and obviously you can't put vinegar on the glass while fish are in the tank. You should have kept the water level up. At this point, I don't know how you would get rid of it. Maybe someone else will chime in.

 

[megi-lin]

Sounds and looks like it may be hard water stains. These are difficult. I have trouble with it too. I soak it in vinegar, then scrape with my fingernail or one of those scraper tools for aquariums. I never let my water level get very low, so this has not happened to me, and obviously you can't put vinegar on the glass while fish are in the tank. You should have kept the water level up. At this point, I don't know how you would get rid of it. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Thanks. I couldn't soak it in vinegar when I emptied and cleaned the tank. I had an extremely long bought of depression and let about 6 gallons evaporate and let it get FULL of algae. It was so bad I had to like I said, empty and clean the whole tank.
Do you do a full tank conditioner dose when you fill it up every gallon? Or just do a little? I need to know what bigger size bottle to get tomorrow.

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[Fresh2o]

...
1) How often do YOU siphon your gravel? I did mine for the first time in 3 months since restarting my tank and going from sand to gravel.

2) How often do you fill your evap gap?

3) Have any of you been able to remove the hard stuff from the top while your tank is going?

4) Is it okay to not have plants and just put small deco on the floor with guppies?

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1. In my planted tank: never. It is like mud under the substrate. Plants cover 80-90% of the bottom.
2. I add a bit more water when filling after a weekly change. My 20g loses maybe a gallon a week.
3. Perhaps you can wipe the areas with a paper towel dipped in hot water. I think the popping bubbles from the air stone is contributing to the white crusty residue.
4. Certainly.
When adding new water or topping off, I only add enough water condition for the amount of water going back into the tank.


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[megi-lin]

1. In my planted tank: never. It is like mud under the substrate. Plants cover 80-90% of the bottom.
2. I add a bit more water when filling after a weekly change. My 20g loses maybe a gallon a week.
3. Perhaps you can wipe the areas with a paper towel dipped in hot water. I think the popping bubbles from the air stone is contributing to the white crusty residue.
4. Certainly.
When adding new water or topping off, I only add enough water condition for the amount of water going back into the tank.


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Thank you. I plan on a small betta tank, so that is part of my conditioner question.
Appreciate the advice!

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[howardg]

Just make sure the water is dechlorinated. I do pwc and vacuum every week I add some API quick start with each pwc. Get clean


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[2xEcho]

So, yesterday, I siphoned the gravel of my tank and removed the plants because so much food was rotting on them that I could not see! Plus, under the plants, there was so much debris. I have cut down on the pinch I give my fish even though they pretty much eat it all.

1) How often do YOU siphon your gravel? I did mine for the first time in 3 months since restarting my tank and going from sand to gravel.

2) How often do you fill your evap gap?

3) Have any of you been able to remove the hard stuff from the top while your tank is going?

4) Is it okay to not have plants and just put small deco on the floor with guppies?

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I siphon every one to two weeks when doing PWC, and try to focus on different parts of the gravel each time so I don't wipe out all of the BB in the gravel at one time.

There is very little open area on my cover, so I don't have much evaporation, plus I keep the water level up to the black border at the top so I don't notice any of the "hard stuff".

No plants and small decorations/fake plants is fine. But as was posted earlier plants help to remove nitrates from the water which accumulate over time, especially if not doing partial water changes. They also make the fish more comfortable.

Good luck!

 

[megi-lin]

I siphon every one to two weeks when doing PWC, and try to focus on different parts of the gravel each time so I don't wipe out all of the BB in the gravel at one time.

There is very little open area on my cover, so I don't have much evaporation, plus I keep the water level up to the black border at the top so I don't notice any of the "hard stuff".

No plants and small decorations/fake plants is fine. But as was posted earlier plants help to remove nitrates from the water which accumulate over time, especially if not doing partial water changes. They also make the fish more comfortable.

Good luck!

I will probably siphon every month since I don't have many fish. But I also had plastic plants.

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[katiekelsey]

The white stuff that has built up is probably minerals from the water. I get that too on my tank. If your is on the glass I suggest scraping it off
with a single edge razor blade. I use vinegar to get rid of mine, but mine is on the glass top which I can take off to clean.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Cut your water with distilled and use distilled to fill your evap loss. If you keep it full and keep cutting your water eventually it will go away.

Your other option is to empty the tank and use a product called CLR (calcium, limescale, rust). You may have to let it soak in a rash for a little bit, but it'll get it off. After that you will need to VERY THOROUGHLY rinse the tank as the product is not fish safe.

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[megi-lin]

Cut your water with distilled and use distilled to fill your evap loss. If you keep it full and keep cutting your water eventually it will go away.

Your other option is to empty the tank and use a product called CLR (calcium, limescale, rust). You may have to let it soak in a rash for a little bit, but it'll get it off. After that you will need to VERY THOROUGHLY rinse the tank as the product is not fish safe.

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I think I'll just scrape at it over time. I emptied and removed a lot of it on New Year's Eve. Started my cycle all over againm

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[Coursair]

With planted tanks I don't siphon...unless it's an area completely away from any plants.

If you are going to use gravel your substrate should be at least 2" for plants.

If you have issues with uneaten food ?
Feed less or consider Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They do breed, but they also burrow in sand and gravel and eat leftovers.

Guppies like higher pH harder water. I would not throw distilled in.

I'm sorry you tore down your tank. Over cleaning can destroy BB.

Water spots above the water line ? Will they wipe off ? If not, just keep water topped up as needed.

Weekly pwc will help keep a tank much cleaner. With planted tanks I don't siphon much, but I do swirl and hover over and detritus so I can suck that up.

Algae patches on glass or cloudy water ?

Reduce lighting to 6 hours daily ( get a timer)

Feed less

Better water change schedule.

If you dislike water spots get the bubble bar out of there.

My planted tanks rarely get algae. I have lights on timers. I have sand bottoms, but one tank had gravel.

I do weekly pwc, when I was sick, I skipped, but all my plants kept fish healthy.

10g

10g

5.5g holding tank

55g

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[megi-lin]

With planted tanks I don't siphon...unless it's an area completely away from any plants.

If you are going to use gravel your substrate should be at least 2" for plants.

If you have issues with uneaten food ?
Feed less or consider Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They do breed, but they also burrow in sand and gravel and eat leftovers.

Guppies like higher pH harder water. I would not throw distilled in.

I'm sorry you tore down your tank. Over cleaning can destroy BB.

Water spots above the water line ? Will they wipe off ? If not, just keep water topped up as needed.

Weekly pwc will help keep a tank much cleaner. With planted tanks I don't siphon much, but I do swirl and hover over and detritus so I can suck that up.

Algae patches on glass or cloudy water ?

Reduce lighting to 6 hours daily ( get a timer)

Feed less

Better water change schedule.

If you dislike water spots get the bubble bar out of there.

My planted tanks rarely get algae. I have lights on timers. I have sand bottoms, but one tank had gravel.

I do weekly pwc, when I was sick, I skipped, but all my plants kept fish healthy.

10g

10g

5.5g holding tank

55g

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I had a MAJOR bought of depression last year. Left my light on all the time, didn't do evap fill, had algae all over that was unable to be scraped off. It was an awful mess. So I had to start over. I wanted to go from sand to stone so I had to get all that out. I had 2 fish and a snail about the time I was done. I have been slowly adding fish.
I took out the plastic plants cause of food accumulation on them. Plus my algae wafers kept getting stuck in them.
I want to keep the bubble wall so my fish can play and I can rest assured that there is PLENTY of aeration.
How do I attain this trumpet snail?
I have what I think is algae on the glass.
What do you recommend weekly for pwc? I do 25% once a month.

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[RackinRocky]

30-40% once a week is what I do for PWC.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I had a MAJOR bought of depression last year. Left my light on all the time, didn't do evap fill, had algae all over that was unable to be scraped off. It was an awful mess. So I had to start over. I wanted to go from sand to stone so I had to get all that out. I had 2 fish and a snail about the time I was done. I have been slowly adding fish.
I took out the plastic plants cause of food accumulation on them. Plus my algae wafers kept getting stuck in them.
I want to keep the bubble wall so my fish can play and I can rest assured that there is PLENTY of aeration.
How do I attain this trumpet snail?
I have what I think is algae on the glass.
What do you recommend weekly for pwc? I do 25% once a month.

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I would do closer to 50% if you're going to change monthly. That's about what I do. Every 2-3 weeks I do 40-50%.

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[Coursair]

If you have live plants I'd do 50%. once a week

If you have an algae issue do 50% once a week

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/water-changes/118213-please-keep-up-water-changes-your-fish.html

Nitrates build up
TDS builds up

And not just top offs...then your TDS can get really high.

How long are you running lights ?

I run mine 6-8 hours total. You can split it up and run 4 hours and 4 hours so tank is lit while you are home.

Monthly water changes will help grow algae.

Test your water.

Bubbles don't directly add oxygen, they just expose more water to the air.

What temp are you keeping tank ?

You almost never need to restart a tank unless you just want to.

Keep tank filled and keep up on pwc even if it's only 25% and your tank will stay in better shape.

I'll never go back to plastic plants.

Enjoy your tank






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[howardg]

My GBR looks stressed. Off his food. Hiding out in the rocks. Not active. White spot on his nose. I think the gourami has been beating him up. I remove the gourami?? All water conditions are OK


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[Coursair]

My GBR looks stressed. Off his food. Hiding out in the rocks. Not active. White spot on his nose. I think the gourami has been beating him up. I remove the gourami?? All water conditions are OK


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Post this in a separate thread under unhealthy fish. Follow the directions to answer questions so we can help you.


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