I'm Back to Freshwater and Starting a New Build

[Angellove78]

From what I read, Your beneficial bacteria found a home. They say it's harmless and your pleco will love it. And yes, it will cause ph to drop. They say it will naturally go away in a few weeks or so. But if you want, you can take it out and scrub it. It's a natural fungus. But, I'm not 100% sure. It's just what I thing and what I've looked up.

 

[speedy51]

From what I read, Your beneficial bacteria found a home. They say it's harmless and your pleco will love it. And yes, it will cause ph to drop. They say it will naturally go away in a few weeks or so. But if you want, you can take it out and scrub it. It's a natural fungus. But, I'm not 100% sure. It's just what I thing and what I've looked up.

Interest. Thanks Angellove. Since it sounds like it's harmless I'll leave it alone. I am adding 11 plecos and 6 oto's to my tank as a clean up crew. Hopefully they will do all the work.

 

[Delapool]

Hey all I need your expertise



What is this growing on my driftwood? I am also starting to see this show up in other parts of my tank on driftwood.



https://youtu.be/T1Cfarrr5iU







How do I get rid of this? Also would this cause my PH to drop. It's gone from 8.13 two days ago to 7.6



Not sure what can be causing this. Any ideas?

Does black beard algae match? Viewing on train without glasses so ... Else on wood I sometimes get fungus but it generally for me doesn’t move with water flow.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

[earhtmother]

2nd the BBA - the natural occurring algae on my wood that appeared when I put it in my shrimp only tank looked like a semi transparent jelly and disappeared in a couple of weeks

 

[speedy51]

How do I get rid of this and how did it get into the tank if it was cycling?

 

[Fresh2o]

Late to the party: Is the driftwood somewhat new (few weeks old)? If so, then it could be a naturally occurring fungus. I believe new driftwood releases compounds (sugars?) that are conducive for fungal growth. It should go away on its own. Or you could remove it, then boil and/or scrub it, and it should not reoccur.

 

[speedy51]

Late to the party: Is the driftwood somewhat new (few weeks old)? If so, then it could be a naturally occurring fungus. I believe new driftwood releases compounds (sugars?) that are conducive for fungal growth. It should go away on its own. Or you could remove it, then boil and/or scrub it, and it should not reoccur.

No not weeks it’s less than 4 months old. I also have the white fuzz on the branch as well. Would staving it for a light source help.

 

[Angellove78]

No not weeks it’s less than 4 months old. I also have the white fuzz on the branch as well. Would staving it for a light source help.

It would probably help. I'd think. They say you can kill it by scrubbing it with a toothbrush, wire brush with some hydrogen peroxide, bleach (not what I would recommend), something like that. Might try vinegar. But, any of that you'd have to boil it after.

 

[coralbandit]

White stuff is bio slime .Harmless otos and shrimp love it. It will go away.
Many boil and I have heard of it coming back.
I knew someone who 'baked' his wood and never came back.. I would just wait it out or brush it off..

 

[speedy51]

It would probably help. I'd think. They say you can kill it by scrubbing it with a toothbrush, wire brush with some hydrogen peroxide, bleach (not what I would recommend), something like that. Might try vinegar. But, any of that you'd have to boil it after.

White stuff is bio slime .Harmless otos and shrimp love it. It will go away.
Many boil and I have heard of it coming back.
I knew someone who 'baked' his wood and never came back.. I would just wait it out or brush it off..

Thanks Angel and Bandit. I turned off my tank lights last night and they have been off all day. I just check and my ph is slowly climbing it's at 7.85. I guess that BBA was taking all the O2 out of the water.

 

[speedy51]

Question on Gas Exchange

Alright my friends I need your advice on a thought but first to my question.

Do you run your tank with glass tops or no glass tops?

Does anyone pipe in air from the outside?

I know that in saltwater we would run a tube in from the outside to our skimmer but in freshwater we don't use skimmers.

Has anyone done this?

I have a high level of carbon dioxide in my house which it seems that it is contributing to my low ph.

Last question. If I use a skimmer pump in my sump with a tube for outside air, do you think that it would improve gas exchange?

 

[coralbandit]

I do think outside air would improve your ph.
I use the flipper/small part of my glass lids as a jump guard in the back of my tank only. Sump is completely open ,I even removed the piece that closed in the drawers..6 overflows for each filter tower counting the tanks and the sump with 2 towers and 3 drawers in each along with one last overflow. Marineland model 4 sump water bridged to a 29g.I used to add co2 so I know even large tanks with sumps can have the ph manipulated by gasses .
https://r.search.aol.com/_ylt=A0LEV...=img-ans/RK=0/RS=qI0Jj4n19JspqiVq6i3iT5A9TxM-
Not my pic but you get the idea. I only run one bio wheel [one tower] with square sponges on both sides before the water bridge [2"pvc] .

 

[Angellove78]

From experience, I hate glass tops now that I have them. They are a pain to clean once they get the build up on them, and they cloud the vision of the light. But they keep the jumpers in. Others will have to answer the other questions.

 

[speedy51]

I do think outside air would improve your ph.
I use the flipper/small part of my glass lids as a jump guard in the back of my tank only. Sump is completely open ,I even removed the piece that closed in the drawers..6 overflows for each filter tower counting the tanks and the sump with 2 towers and 3 drawers in each along with one last overflow. Marineland model 4 sump water bridged to a 29g.I used to add co2 so I know even large tanks with sumps can have the ph manipulated by gasses .
https://r.search.aol.com/_ylt=A0LEV...=img-ans/RK=0/RS=qI0Jj4n19JspqiVq6i3iT5A9TxM-
Not my pic but you get the idea. I only run one bio wheel [one tower] with square sponges on both sides before the water bridge [2"pvc] .

Bandit I did know Marineland made a sumps yet one with the patent bio wheel. Looks good.

 

[speedy51]

From experience, I hate glass tops now that I have them. They are a pain in the *** to clean once they get the build up on them, and they cloud the vision of the light. But they keep the jumpers in. Others will have to answer the other questions.

Angel I couldn't agree with you more on the glass tops. When my tank ran as a reef tank I never used them and I never really had a problem with jumpers. My tank is pretty deep at 31".

I decided to put the glass tops on when I saw that my evaporation rate was 1-1/2 times higher than my saltwater version. I have a 40 gallon ATO resevior system and that was going quickly without tops.

I think I'll try no tops for a while to see if that improves.

 

[Angellove78]

Angel I couldn't agree with you more on the glass tops. When my tank ran as a reef tank I never used them and I never really had a problem with jumpers. My tank is pretty deep at 31".

I decided to put the glass tops on when I saw that my evaporation rate was 1-1/2 times higher than my saltwater version. I have a 40 gallon ATO resevior system and that was going quickly without tops.

I think I'll try no tops for a while to see if that improves.

Lol, I'd rather add the water. But I couldn't go without them unless I build a taller stand for my 75g. I have a 2 yr old little girl who's always wanting to "help." Lol! And she's a climber. And she's alot like her mother. Meaning: if she don't get help with what she needs/wants to do, she'll figure out a way to do it herself. Lol!

 

[speedy51]

Lol, I'd rather add the water. But I couldn't go without them unless I build a taller stand for my 75g. I have a 2 yr old little girl who's always wanting to "help." Lol! And she's a climber. And she's alot like her mother. Meaning: if she don't get help with what she needs/wants to do, she'll figure out a way to do it herself. Lol!

Too Funny My 7 year old is the same way. He doesn't wait for anyone.

 

[Delapool]

I used to use an air pump but that was more as I liked the look of the bubbles. I have Perspex covers to stop evaporation and also fish jumping but am running CO2 so only really check the ph is not falling too far while CO2 is being injected.

Before that I was just adding some carbonate to buffer ph more as we have soft water.

 

[speedy51]

I used to use an air pump but that was more as I liked the look of the bubbles. I have Perspex covers to stop evaporation and also fish jumping but am running CO2 so only really check the ph is not falling too far while CO2 is being injected.

Before that I was just adding some carbonate to buffer ph more as we have soft water.

Delapool how do you take care of gas exchange, if the tank is covered and you inject CO2?

 

[Delapool]

Delapool how do you take care of gas exchange, if the tank is covered and you inject CO2?

I have some small inch gaps around canister filter pipes and the canister filter outlet points towards surface to get some water movement at surface. Not as much flow as I had as filling tank more to higher level but some movement. That seems sufficient even though tank is 4 x 2ft. I do try to cover most large gaps as the yoyo loaches are notorious jumpers in my tank.

The CO2 injection does use a ph probe which I’m finding helpful now. This cuts off CO2 injection at about 6.7 I think which I found allows a bit for any further ph drop from the CO2 injection. Normal tank ph is probably about 7.2 or 7.3.