Tank maintenance help

[exactionfigure]

I've had my tank set up for quite a while now and everything is going ok but I'm a very sporadic person so I deiced to write a schedule for tank maintenance I'm going to write out a monthly plan for:

Filter floss change
water change
trimming (if needed)
dosing
algae scraping
c02 changing ( I've yet to figure out the best solution to make it last long it's been really random)

I just need a bit of help as to when and how often to do these things and is there anything I’m missing?

Thanks
-Matt

 

[coldmachineUK]

Filter floss change
water change

1. I'd say once every month. Do you run a canister filter? If so, once a month sounds fine. If it's an internal I'd say you'd probably need to do it more often (since there'll be less of the floss to start with)

2. Twice a week, 15-20% each time. I stick to a routine of Wednesdays and Saturdays for this so I can keep to it! You are better doing two smaller water changes in one week than one larger water change.

HTH.

 

[rkilling1]

It all depends on what you are doing. what type of tank are you running? High light? medium light? fish load? filter? plant mass?

 

[rich311k]

We also would need to know how many bottles you running on you DIY set up. What kind of and how consistent those CO2 levels are.

 

[exactionfigure]

ah, of course. sorry about that - here are the specs.

Tank: 20 gallon high

Light: 65 watt coraflife ligh

Filter: 1 HOB penguin 200 with blue filter floss cut to fit and 1 small aquaclear filter filled with Bioballs.

C02: DIY system with 2 - 2 liter bottles that connect to the intake on a powerhead

Plants:Java Moss MicroSword Marimo Ball
Java Fern Anubias Barteri Anubias Coffeefolia Rotundifolia Rotala, Indica
Foxtail Ceratophyllum demersum Green Cabomba Cabomba caroliniana
Water Wisteria Hygrophila difformi

Livestock:6 black phantom tetras 2 ottos 1 cory cat 1 pearl gourami 1 yellow lyretail molly 1 pineapple sword 1 african dwarf frog, tons of random baby snails that caught a ride on my plants and 1 chinese algae eater (that i've been trying to catch and remove from my tank for months now!)

 

[rkilling1]

tank sounds nice BTW.

First things first, I found that running 2 cups of sugar filled to the brim (or a couple inches under) with water and 1/4 tsp bakers yeast (and a pinch of baking soda) and (2) 2 liter soda bottles, I could get away with changing out 1 a week and keep good levels of CO2 (28 gal tank). I suggest the same to you.

I always would clean out my pequin 170 weekly. that would entail mostly just rinsing the filter media and then other times, depending upon the flow, I would have to clean the intake tube and impellor.

what ferts are you dosing? this is going to be the a big thing for you and the amount of light you have and CO2 injection.

 

[exactionfigure]

Thank you, I'm using all the Seachem ferts and just following their guidelines on how much, think that will be ok?

anyone else have opinions on the other stuff?

I'm going to draw up a weekly/monthly chart tommrow and I don't want to miss anything


Here is a pic I just took:

 

[rkilling1]

Is that green spot algae on the Anubias and on the glass?

 

[drobertson]

I love your driftwood!!!!!!

 

[exactionfigure]

Yes I don't quite know what to do about it, that's pretty much why I’m posting this
What I’ve been doing is working ok but not great, I have a bunch of small problems that I don't think I would have if I knew what to do to take fully proper care of the tank.


btw I love this driftwood too I think it really makes the tank, I found it online and originally bought it for a dart frog tank I was planning to do, I never got around to setting it up so I used the wood for this tank I have a few smaller pieces too that I'm going to use on other tanks in the future.

Here is a pic from a while ago so you can see more of the driftwood.

 

[rkilling1]

lets dig deep, shall we.

KH, GH, pH, NO3's, PO4's

when are you dosing?, how much are you dosing? and of what are you dosing?

How often are you doing PWC's?

what type of light is that? what type of bulb is in it? how long is it on?

what do you want to do with this tank?

that should get us started.

 

[Jchillin]

Getting back to the original questions:

1. Filter floss change - This is entirely up to the floss. If it's completely yukky during your monthly cleaning, remove it.

2. water change - If you decided to use EI, once weekly is absolutely necessary.

3. trimming (if needed) - You just answered your own question.

4. dosing - If you are using EI, macros and micros on alternate days. You will need to figure out the amount(s) of each.

5. algae scraping - If things are in balance with the above, we won't need to discuss this.

 

[exactionfigure]

Thanks guys, what is EI? I use RO water if that has anything to do with it.


As far as my levels I don't have the test kits for those yet, I only have the regular test kits for PH amm Nitrate and nitrite and all those levels are good
I'm going to get test kits for dosing but my lfs doesn't have them yet. I have heard of people that don't really test and dose based on growth and recommendations, do you think I could get away with this if I kept up on it?

I have been following the recommended dosing on the seachem bottles for my size tank and I can't complain things have really taken off but then again I do have green spots but I haven't really been on the ball about doing it either.
Same thing with PWC I haven't been keeping up with them, I was doing them bi-weekly and sometimes weekly but this is really why I wanted to make a schedule so I can stay on top of things
The light is a 65 watt coraflife light and the bulb is the one that came with it which I was told on these forums when I bought it that it would be good.
It's on for 12 hours a day on a timer from 11am to 11pm.

as far as what I want to do with the tank I just want it to be healthy and clear with tons of overgrown plants, kind of natural but not overly messy but I have a feeling wont be trimming back as much as most people do because I like that overgrown look.

 

[exactionfigure]

All right I have drawn up a schedule that I’m going to adhere strictly too

Dosing: I am pretty much clueless on dosing at this point I have Seachem Flourish Phosphorus potassium and nitrogen and I’m just following what the back of the bottle says for my size tank...but it says it's for beginners so I’m not sure what else I can do.

PWC: twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday)
Filter: change once a month and wash off once a week if necessary
c02: change both bottles once a week (I’ve yet to figure out how to successfully balance out changing one at a time with consistent c02)
Algae scrape when necessary and trim when necessary

How does that sound? Also any thoughts on dosing w/o test kits?

 

[rkilling1]

for some reason I have not been getting e-mails for this tread?

but anyways:

Yes I don't quite know what to do about it, that's pretty much why I’m posting this
What I’ve been doing is working ok but not great, I have a bunch of small problems that I don't think I would have if I knew what to do to take fully proper care of the tank.

once you find out what EI is, you will find managing your aquarium much easier. Here is a lengthy post from Tom Barr about his EI method to maintaining a range of nutrients within your aquarium thereby maintaining algae at bay and keeping your plants thriving:

http://www.barrreport.com/estimative-index/62-estimative-index-dosing-no-need-test-kits.html

then this one:

http://www.barrreport.com/articles/1800-ei-light-less-techical-aspects-estimative-index.html

please read through those. they answer a lot of questions.

you can't go by seachem's doses, they are not for a highlight tank. Don't worry about the spot algae. once we get you on the right schedule with the right ferts, all that stuff will go away.

Why are you using RO water?

 

[exactionfigure]

Aren’t you supposed to use RO water? I can't use my tap water we got a letter from the city saying they were going to add some stuff to the water and not to use it on fish tanks and for a while I was using bottled water and everything when really bad and my ph went crazy RO water has worked fine for

and thank you for the links I will read them right now.

 

[Purrbox]

RO water by itself is not ideal for planted tanks. Generally tap water is much better for plants. You situation would be one of the cases where it's better to use RO water, just make sure to use a product like RO Right or Equilibrium to reconstitute the water with the necessary buffers and minerals that your fish and plants need.

 

[rkilling1]

Aren’t you supposed to use RO water? I can't use my tap water we got a letter from the city saying they were going to add some stuff to the water and not to use it on fish tanks and for a while I was using bottled water and everything when really bad and my ph went crazy RO water has worked fine for

and thank you for the links I will read them right now.

NO. As Purrbox as said, plants need the nutrients that are contained in tap water.

What the City letter said was probably that chloramine is now being added to your water supply and do not add it to your aquarium. we all got those letters. There are now products on the market that remove or convert chloramine to something that does not hurt your fish. I would reread what was sent to make sure. If that was the reason then I would STOP adding RO water unless there is some other reason to do so and use Seachem Prime condition your tap water.

PS. If you go back to tap water, do it slowly. do 20% PWC every week to twice a week until your parameters are steady. don't want to shock your fish.

EDIT: as seen here: http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/dwstand.pdf your state is adding chloramine to 4 PPM. That still may or may not be why you got that letter.

 

[exactionfigure]

And all this time I’ve been busting my ass carting 6-7 gallons of water from my lfs every week!

So you’re saying I can use water from the tap if I add Seachem Prime condition?
The letter was about a year or two ago so I don't have it anymore I think it was directed to only Taunton and not all of MA since we have several sources of water.
I feel very uncomfortable using tap water, I would like to because it would make it 110% easier when I do water changes.

I was using spring water for a while and I was having major issues ph went up to 8 or above and I had tons of algae

The RO water has worked great so far my plants have been taking off and my fish have been healthy I have a spot algae outbreak at the moment but I'm sure it’s from not dosing or improper dosing

I can't find any info about the water supply in Taunton Ma, I'll try to find that letter or info on it.

 

[rkilling1]

And all this time I’ve been busting my *beep* carting 6-7 gallons of water from my lfs every week!

So you’re saying I can use water from the tap if I add Seachem Prime condition?

That is what I am saying. BUT you will have to confirm this first. I would hate to have you add straight tap water only to see your fish kill over. Call you local water supply and ask what that letter was about and other concerns there may be. Look into a 'Python', if you can use the tap water. http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...o=3&Ntt=python&In=All&previousText=python&N=2

I can't find any info about the water supply in Taunton Ma, I'll try to find that letter or info on it.

again, see if your local water supply office can help you.

we will continue this post once we get your water figured out. having to do PWC from your tap is WAY easier. LOL and much better for your plants.

The algae problem is from not having the proper ferts combined with the level of lighting/CO2 you currently have. again this will go away once we get you squared away.

HTH