NEW TANK PICS!!! - Look at the difference a week makes....

[AquariumFreak]

Hey Gang,

Well didn't get as much done on the site that I was hoping too but I did say I would take a new today and show the growth I've had in just a week.

http://www.jeffandami.com/7_days.jpg

My 2 big concerns are:

1) The hygro is taking over the left side of the take and I am starting to noticed that the glosso isn't growing as fast on that side. When is it safe to trim these suckers?

2) Notice the water color... last week it was clear and this week it's green/brown. How can I clear this up? (I did a 45% water change before the photo was taken, it was worse).

Well tell me what you think and thanks for the advise in advance.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

Hiya Jeff

I hate to sound like a broken record, but you really need to learn the the basics of water chemistry.

You can post 2 or 3 post a day here on AA, but until you get a basic knowledge of water para's, plant needs, fish needs etc...(remember, they all live in harmony to create a biosphere) your simply throwing darts in the dark.

By all means, Im not trying to pook you in the eye at all. I've been in the exact same boat as you. The best advice I can give to you is take a couple of deep breaths, and relax. Monitor your water paras and make notes on observations of fish, plants, feeding, water temps, water para's etc.

Your on the right track. It appears your stressing a little to much. Relax a little. Get yor para's in check and let nature take its course. Fish tanks are suppost to be relaxing and stress relief

 

[betowess]

I just read your other posts for the first time tonight. I ditto what Mojo just said. Great advice Mojo. At KH 17, WOW, that is some serious carbonate hardness. And 15 dGH. That is Rift lake Cichlids hard water. IMO,way too hard... you need to try to get the tank in the high 6 ph (around 6.7 or 6.8 pH) with your CO2 around 25 to 30 ppm. The CO2 will get you there now that you have found the leak. And yes, Milwaukee recommends teflon tape in the owners manual for the all in one set ups. I posted that to you once.

Try to get the GH down to to around 6 dgh. Do you know your tap water parameters after sitting for 24 hours? That would be a good starting point.

At 6.8 pH and KH 6.5 you will be at 30ppm CO2 range which will keep alot of BBA algae and green algae problems in check. Check out Chuck Gadd's site... http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/ Most plants will do alot better in slightly soft water. Regards ferts, that is a lot of research and very important or Algae will become a big time problem. Rex has the best method on his FAQ. I highly recommend digging into it. SAEs and shrimp are no substitute for good water parameters. Otherwise your macronutrients can/will get out of balance and with all that light you might experience recurring green water, a royal PITA to get rid of. I speak of most of these things from personal experience.

Also, lately I have shifted to a 3 hour miday "siesta" and my plants are doing great. I have almost no green algae at this point. (knocking on wood) HTH Bob

 

[AquariumFreak]

I do agree I need to get my water chemistry down. I just get a little confused when reading all the different articles out there. I am half tempted of buying a RO system to help with the hard water, (woman will kill me when I do this).

After reading Rex's FAQ on water chemistry (http://rexgrigg.com/aa.htm#wc) I am a little worried I am fighting an uphill battle with my hard water.

If you have hard water plan accordingly. Unless you have a lot of time a money it's not worth fighting the water.

I went to the water chemistry link off of Rex's site (http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html) and noticed that you really don't want your kH too low nor too high, what I can't find is what is the number I want to shoot for?

Again it looks like the only way to really achieve my goal of lowering the gH and kH is by getting a RO system and mixing that water with my tap water.

So I know if I get my KH and GH down I would most likely be less stressed and be able to enjoy the tank more. The CO2 is GREAT, I can keep the pH set anywhere I like except for the fact I then get too much CO2 in my tank.

This weekend I will test my tap water straight from the tap as well as waiting 24 hours. I will also start testing my tank water every other day, or is that too much?

My last question is how do you guys do your water changes? I have a small siphon hose and it took forever to to drain the 45% and then use a 5gal bucket to fill it back up. Just wanted to see if there was a better way.

Thank you again for all your help with my tank.

Jeff

 

[AquariumFreak]

Also, lately I have shifted to a 3 hour miday "siesta" and my plants are doing great. I have almost no green algae at this point.

I just started the 2 hour siesta myself, might try the 3 hour though because I am getting a bunch of algae. How long are you leaving your lights on a day?

 

[Mr Burns]

i'm afraid that i will have similar problems with high gh and kh. i haven't done the tests yet, but you can tell the cincy water is hard. even worse, i'll be around 4wpg. it sounds like an uphill battle, but i'm up for the challenge. besides having a magnum HOT on hand as a diatom filter, one of the things i was thinking about doing to soften the tank water was by putting a ten gallon tank under the stand with a small air pump and a bag of prepared peat moss. i could drain the water from the tank with the python, but then getting the water up from the 10gal becomes a problem. on somewhat of a side note, would a UV sterilizer be a good investment? any suggestions on a small/cheap RO unit?

i should probably get a good test of the tap before jumping to conclusions...

 

[AquariumFreak]

I did some tap water tests right before I setup the tank but for the life of me can not find my notes. I'll do it tonight when I get home. Now why do I want to test the water after letting it sit for 24 hours?

Been looking around at some RO systems and so far ebay beats everything:

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...rtProperty=MetaEndSort&query=REVERSE+OSMOSIS+

The next question is how many stages do I really need?

 

[Mr Burns]

i just ordered the hagen master kit from big al's. hopefully by next week i'll be able to get some answers and -maybe- put my mind at ease....or completely freak me out. those ebay prices for the RO are much better, btw. anybody know what the pressurized tank does?

i'm back to debating whether or not i should go with the 2x55 and 2x96 or just go with 4x55...grrr i keep having this feeling that 302watts is going to be overkill and that i should stick with 220. my biggest problem is that the center of the tank will have a 5" brace at the top to keep it from bowing out, so it's not like light is going to get through that anyways. plus, i think the farthest distance the plants (glosso) will be from the bulbs is about 20". sorry for the partial hijack...

 

[AquariumFreak]

How many stages is your RO unit?

 

[Mr Burns]

i don't have one. if my gh and kh turns out to be what i think it is, i will either have to do the peat moss thing or get an RO unit. if i get an RO, it will be the one you had linked to...

with my lighting changing to 220, the only plants i'm worried about are Eusteralis stellata and Ludwigia arcuata... with the 4x55, i'll have 3wpg.

 

[AquariumFreak]

Well I just broke down and bought the following RO unit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20756&item=2396760815&rd=1

What do you guys think?

 

[Mr Burns]

$90...not bad, not bad. how long is it going to take to fill up your tank with that?

 

[AquariumFreak]

Not really sure... says it will produce 110gpd so I am sure I can get plenty from it. I plan on just setting it up in the garage and filling up 5gal jugs so when I am ready to do the water change I'll be ready.

And I just got back from buying some RO water which cost me $24 for 30gal so I will be making this unit worth it in no time.

Going to be going home tonight and doing another 30gal water change with the new water and testing the tank water after. Wish me luck.

Jeff

 

[Mr Burns]

do you have lobelia in your 10gal? what's the plant directly behind the rock in the center?

 

[AquariumFreak]

Good question!!!

I have no clue what type of plant that is, I got it from a LFS and have been amazed that it has lived so long in that tank (just has the lights that came with the tank)

So if anyone knows what type of plant that is I would love to find out.

Jeff

 

[medge00]

letting your water sit for 24 hrs. is a better reflection of its hardness and ph. I believe it has something to do with gas exchange. Do a search on AA to see what some do for green water... diatom filters, UV, and RO water come to mind

 

[medge00]

btw, its looking good!

 

[betowess]

I don't know much about RO systems. But your CO2 should be able to drop your KH quite a bit. That is why folks like me with too soft of water add CC to our can filters to hold the kh/Ph stable. Maybe you need a RO to lower the GH. I don't know. But fish do adapt to a wide range of GH I have heard. And some plants like Vals prefer harder water. Most people use a "python hose" for water changes with bigger tanks. I don't have one yet but I have heard they are great.

You will still want a 10 to 12 hour photo period even with a 3 hour siesta. So that makes total time from 13 to 15 hours if you include a 3 hr. dark siesta time with the light time.

A lot of people like the Vortex brand D-1 diatom filter to pull out GW (green water... which is a single celled floating algae). I believe Vortex makes another model for bigger tanks which you would want for a 55 gallon and up... I can't remember the model number. Big Als has them. One uses diatomaceous earth (and get the 5 lb box of diatom powder) to coat the filter bag which filters the GW algae from the water. Its a great GW cure, but GW can/will come back unless the water parameter's macro and micro nutrient balances are decent.

Another thing to do in addition to diatom filtration to wipe out GW is to put some Nitrazorb in the can filter and some charcoal and, yes a 70% water change and also a 24 to 48 hour total blackout. This blackout includes physically covering the tank with light proof blankets as well. This cure was posted on aqua botanics. It works, but can kill fish. I lost two nice clown loaches doing this once. I hope you don't have GW as it can be a royal PITA to get rid of.

By the way, at 30ppm of CO2, the reason its not hard on the fish is your plants will be/should be producing massive amounts of O2, which is great fun to watch them pearling. Good luck

 

[Mr Burns]

jeff, the magnum HOT can be used as a diatom. if the need should arise, which it most certainly will, that's the way i'm going. it is also a great secondary filter to the XP3 and at a lower price than purely diatom filters, so it's a win-win-win.

 

[AquariumFreak]

So would I run this on a daily basis or just when I need it.

I was also reading up on http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=13431

thinking of picking up some diatom powder today