Beginners beware (high light dangers)

[lewis.r]

And it will literally change over night to nitrate! So keep being patient. Your doing it the right way

 

[cjhuck27]

And it will literally change over night to nitrate! So keep being patient. Your doing it the right way

Debating to do a RO water change. Thoughts?

 

[Fresh2o]

Debating to do a RO water change. Thoughts?

Is there a problem with your source water? Apologies if you've already mentioned it.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I hope so. I put a decent amount of Nite out on it last night and the nitrates only went up. Very confusing.

I wouldn't be adding any chemicals if your cycling. I'd just be doing water changes once your nitrites start to spike abit. 30% should be fine to knock it down nicely. Remember though you don't want to knock out all the ammonia because the bacteria needs this to turn into nitrates.

Don't be fooled by all these products on the market. It's best to deal with problems in the awuarium naturally rather than just bombing them with chemicals

Oh any direct light from your window may end up causing algae problems down the track so keep an eye on it

 

[cjhuck27]

I wouldn't be adding any chemicals if your cycling. I'd just be doing water changes once your nitrites start to spike abit. 30% should be fine to knock it down nicely. Remember though you don't want to knock out all the ammonia because the bacteria needs this to turn into nitrates.

Don't be fooled by all these products on the market. It's best to deal with problems in the awuarium naturally rather than just bombing them with chemicals

Oh any direct light from your window may end up causing algae problems down the track so keep an eye on it

Trust me I have already thought about this. No Fresh2o I used well water to fill the tank. And Bert2oo1 it is a brand new tank that I have been keeping a close eye on as far as overloading it with chemicals. I plan on getting nice chiclids and I do not want to spend money on these fish just to have them die due to a nitrite problem. It seems to be hanging right around 2-4ppm and has been like that for a week and a half now. Our ammonia level is great, <.1ppm. I think if I do a 30% change with RO water I agree it should knock it down quite a bit. It is just very frustrating it seems as if Im just stuck.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Here's that video I watched by Dennis Wong.

https://youtu.be/KDdpUe4Olcg

It's about algae and focuses heavily on co2, nutrients and lighting. There's even an experiment that he conducted using bottles of water. Interesting stuff.

Some have you may already have seen it but always worth a watch. His other videos are great too and some of his scapes are breathtaking.

Great video! Although this has made me extremely nervous about all my hardscape haha. Looks like I'm going to need more plants

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I hope so. I put a decent amount of Nite out on it last night and the nitrates only went up. Very confusing.

The guide and supporting links about the nitrogen cycle should help clear up what is going on in your tank. It is a long slow process, you're literally growing millions of bacteria from just a few right now.

Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/?p=43[/QUOTE]

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Trust me I have already thought about this. No Fresh2o I used well water to fill the tank. And Bert2oo1 it is a brand new tank that I have been keeping a close eye on as far as overloading it with chemicals. I plan on getting nice chiclids and I do not want to spend money on these fish just to have them die due to a nitrite problem. It seems to be hanging right around 2-4ppm and has been like that for a week and a half now. Our ammonia level is great, <.1ppm. I think if I do a 30% change with RO water I agree it should knock it down quite a bit. It is just very frustrating it seems as if Im just stuck.

I used well water in my tanks without issue. Test your well water for nitrite/nitrate, although I doubt that is an issue. Using purified water could be an issue down the road if you don't add any buffers back to it. Simply topping up with RO water is a-ok without adding anything.

Your patience will pay off soon. You're doing the exact same thing you did to grow the first set of bacteria and reduce your ammonia (keep dosing, btw)

 

[Bert2oo1]

Bumping this post back up. Still a lot of threads with people talking about getting those big fancy lights.

Anyone looking at high light fixtures needs to read this thread.

DONT waste your money on fancy expensive fixtures. Your money is best spent else where.

Co2 is more important than a bright light.

 

[Caliban07]

Bumping this post back up. Still a lot of threads with people talking about getting those big fancy lights.

Anyone looking at high light fixtures needs to read this thread.

DONT waste your money on fancy expensive fixtures. Your money is best spent else where.

Co2 is more important than a bright light.

But but I was just gonna update my thread to tell everyone I was getting a second Chihiros A series fixture to double my lighting. [emoji849]

 

[flchamp89]

I got three ray 2 for my 10g anubias tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

But but I was just gonna update my thread to tell everyone I was getting a second Chihiros A series fixture to double my lighting. [emoji849]

Haha seriously? Your a brave man

 

[Bert2oo1]

I got three ray 2 for my 10g anubias tank

You have a lot of experience to be able to run high light tho. Beginners are better to go medium light to start then leap to high once they can keep an algae free tank. High lighting causes so many issues when first starting out that people lose interest or strip a whole tank down because they can't handle it anymore

 

[flchamp89]

Bert your posts are spot on. I preach same thing. I was kidding. Its friday I guess that was wrong of me.

 

[Caliban07]

The problem is that the priority is given to light over co2.

Your still right Bert. We don't need nearly as much light as we think. In my case I'm choosing to ramp it up [emoji6]

 

[GNAAAR]

In my experience small led lights are bright and make the tank look amazing. I have 2 small strips with 3 LEDs in each for my 10 gallon and they are great and my plants are doing amazing with the lights as well. I got those lights for 8-ish dollars to!

 

[Bert2oo1]

Bert your posts are spot on. I preach same thing. I was kidding. Its friday I guess that was wrong of me.

Haha my bad it's 4 am here so I'm a little tired/working at the mo. Missed the sarcasm haha

 

[Bert2oo1]

The problem is that the priority is given to light over co2.

Your still right Bert. We don't need nearly as much light as we think. In my case I'm choosing to ramp it up [emoji6]

Same goes tho you have serious knowledge and experience to back the high lighting. I still think your crazy tho haha

 

[flchamp89]

Bert and caliban are yall on the planted tank forum too ?Im on so many I get confused who is where.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Bert and caliban are yall on the planted tank forum too ?Im on so many I get confused who is where.

I'm on ukaps I don't post there tho I feel I'm not smart enough for those guys haha they have serious science behind them