Redoing tank!

[AlonelyCody]

I have a few questions. I am going to redo one of my tanks and i was wondering what would happen or if it was a bad idea to put lava rocks in the tank. Would it affect the water would it be harmful to my fish? And I am wanting to put Link N Logs in the tank as well. Would that cause a problem? Would the dye in it bleed out? should i soak them first? What do you think? I also cant keep live plants alive. My girl friend wants to mix live plants with fake plants. So every 3 or 4 months when my plants die my tanks do not look boring and plain. Suggestions?

:?

 

[AussieGal]

I have no idea about lava rocks...

Regarding something that has dye in it though, I would definately suggest you soak them first - it cant hurt, and you will soon see if the water is changing colour (also wouldn't hurt to test the water parameters after soaking for a while). Maybe someone else can suggest if they are suitable at all though.

I have a mix of fake and live plants - mainly live though. My live plants are only about 10cm high at the moment, so i bought some fake plants to fill out the top more. I think it looks good... disguises the fake ones when you mix it up a bit.

 

[trenac]

What is the wattage on your lights? This may be the reason your plants are dying. If you are using the light fixtures that came with the tanks then this is not enough light. You need a least 2WPG for low light plants. What plants do you have?

Not sure about lava rocks.

I would not use anything in the tank that is bleeding dyes. Make sure that any decor you use is aquarium safe.

 

[AlonelyCody]

I have Harnswart and Dwarf Lilys and the lilys are in one of my 10 gallon tanks and they are still doing ok. But on the lighting :

55g 30 watts
30g 20 watts
both my 10 g tanks have 15 watts each.

So i am going to start looking at bulbs.

 

[flipz]

Link-n-logs are just goint to float, you will never get them to sink. Not in my opinion at least. :? Also I would be scared about the dye. If anything I would recommend boiling them to "cure" them, as opposed to just soaking. But like i said, IMO, they will never sink.

Good luck!

-brent

 

[Menagerie]

In the past, there have been lava rock in the Mbuna tank, but they were replaced by lace rock for aesthetic reasons. Lava rock (according to my fiance) is rather inert and should not change the water chemistry.

 

[trenac]

If you want to get serious about plants than I would look into a new light fixtures for your tanks. As I suspected you don't have enough light in your 55G or 30G tanks to keep plants alive. The reason that your plants are still doing good in the 10G is that you have a little over 1WPG and Hornwort is a very low light plant. The Dwarf lilly may also end up dieing also, but not real sure on the light requirements. Check this link out for some low light plants you may want to try in your 10G tank.
http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=1&filter_by=2

 

[AlonelyCody]

I know i would have to anchor down the link n logs.

and yeah i read up on plants this morning and i don't have nearly enough lighting for them so i am going to look at getting a new lighting setups.

thank you for the info. it is appreciated

 

[TankGirl]

I would not put Lincoln logs in the tank. I believe the dye used would be toxic. Lava rocks are fine for your water quality, but they are extremely rough and many fish get injured with them, so be careful using it for that reason.

 

[illuminum]

I had an igneous rock a while back in my 12 gallon tank and it didn't give me any problems. I also didn't notice any injuries on any of my fish. Just to be on the safe side I'd let it sit in some water for a few days just to see what happens...

 

[LAGlocker]

Not sure about the lava rocks or logs, have never used either in my tanks. I had to redo one of my planted tanks today though, and will tell you, be careful. once you start pulling plants out of the substrate you are going ot have massive amounts of, for lack of better phrase, gunk floating in your tank for a while. So make sure you have the filter going full blast for a bit, also watch out for stress with the fish. I actually got lucky, and didnt pull out all of my plants, left my sword and some hygro in it, and have it replanted as we speak. But I will be testing every day for the next week or so to watch out for any spikes and checkign the fish for pollution induced stress.

 

[AlonelyCody]

Thank you for the info. yeah that is what i was worried about with the link n logs the dye would harm the fish, and yeah i wouldn't want to have any of my fish get harmed from rubbing against the rocks. i am still thinking of other things that i could use in my tank. (O: thanks for the info