64 replies to this topic

[Kimbo]

plants look good mate!!

[malbone]

I have some fast growing called either Hydro or Hydgrow? It has a large leaf and thick stem and grows very fast in my low tech tank so should go berserk in yours if you want some and I live in the next suburb to you.

Cheers
Mal

[Alfred]

Hi Mal

Yes please! But only if you are doing a prune. Graeme offered me some but I didn't have the heart to let him take it out of his show tank!

Will PM you.

Alfred

[vishy_100]

Looking awesome mate, i will give you a call,
Matt

[duck]

Looking good,I am at the moment trying to set my light's up for my large tank and the amount of wire's is a nightmare,So i think i will get some tulips wire's.

I did mine 3 layers as I have no clue what is in the topsoil and water lily compost.

This is what concerns me a little if you don't know what in there,Will it be safe for the fish?

[Alfred]

Fish? What fish, this is a planted tank!

The gravel and water lily compost is for ponds usually with koi in them, so that is safe. I do not know about the topsoil and if I were to do it again, I would leave that out.

Just took a cup of water from the tank to see it in sunlight and it looks like the wood is still leaching tannins.

[Alfred]

Okay, I have some Hydro in the tank now thanks to Mal hopefully that will kick off fast and absorb some of the nutrients.

I will be away for 5 days next week and the whole week after that, so all I can do is to keep my fingers crossed that I won't come back to pea soup!

Did some fine tuning to the location of the rain bar and the filter pickup, Co2 stone and heater. What temp do you keep your tanks at? I have had some wild swings from 29 to 20 and now I an setting at 23. will see where it stables when the lights come on.

It's up to 6 hours today. At the moment I am just using 6 tubes and with the haze not enough light is reaching the MMs so they are starting to climb.

[Alfred]

Anyone have algae eating fish to spare?

I did not soak the pcs of wood that I picked up and some algae is starting to grow on it! Sigh!

I hit it with a pressure washer and no algae grew when I was soaking it, so it must be the nutrient rich environment that is causing it to grow.

[punie]

Alfred, what kinda algae?
Soaking does nothing against algae.

Btw, i'd float that difformis if i were you, they grow alot faster that way and the roots would be hanging.
If you can run a carbon filter for a week. It would speed up the process.

[Alfred]

Hi Jerome

Thanks for chiming in. The algae is not the usual one we see in tanks. it is growing in a clump and is light brown in colour. I know that I am supposed to soak in chlorine first but got lazy. It must be bacteria or mold of some kind that settled on the wood when they were "out there"!

Tempted to take it out of the tank and scrubbing it then soaking it in chlorine, then again in dechlorinator. Will wait a couple more days to see if it gets very bad. Just dropped 4 bristle nose catfish courtesy of Graeme into the tank. Tested NO2 and NO3 just before that and they were fine.

Jerome - Would you run high CO2 at this stage? Will that help. I have 8 t5s but am only running 6 at the moment.

Hmmm.......... carbon filter for a week, that's and idea, think I have a 1000l/h powerhead somewhere.

cheers

Alfred

[vishy_100]

Alfred see me for carbon if you need some I ordered a stack a while ago and don't need it,
Good luck
Matt

[Noddy65]

Whats the carbon used for in new tanks?...please please tell me its good for getting rid of green water.

Mike

[Alfred]

I have a double water filter that I could load with a particle and carbon filter, that I could hookup with a power head, but maybe a bag of activated carbon in the filter will be easier. Matt, will give you a buzz tomorrow.

I believe that the carbon will help reduce the amount of nutrients in the water thru absorption.

[punie]

It was discussed in one of the previous meetings of ASWA, if my memory doesn't fail me, it went something to the extent of how carbon molecules being so tiny that they can hold and bind other bits.

In layman terms, it absorbs all the gunk, smell and what nots.
But bear in mind it has a filter life span of 2 weeks or up to a month before it purges everything and fires it back into your tank.

Mike, i doubt it will clear your GW. It would clear the water up abit, but once you remove it, it's all coming back.

[Alfred]

The tank is settling down. The cloudy water is still there but not getting any worse. I did not get the algae bloom (GW) that I was expecting (of course I have now jinxed myself) but there is quite a bit of tannin in the water. When I scoop water up to do the different test, it is actually brown!

I will be getting some carbon off Matt tomorrow, so I will pop that into one of the filter trays.

Question, should I change some of the water? The tank has now been running for 7 days, so the filter is not yet established, The bacteria bloom is not getting worse and is infact starting to clear. I am tempted to skim the surface as there is a film starting to develop which is actually trapping the fine CO2 bubbles.


What do you folks think?

[duck]

If you not going to keep fish why run a filter?Just put a power head for circulation,I don't think you need to establish bacteria for a planted tank.

[Alfred]

I was kidding, of course there will be fish! LOL

If the tank does not cycle, it will not be clear. I could always add ammonia to the tank, but it would be easier to add fish!

[duck]

Whether your tank is cycled or not,i doubt it has anything to do with your not so clear water,I would say it's got more to do with the substrate you layered, it's still settling down.

[Alfred]

I am pretty sure that the cloudy water is due to a bacteria bloom and not suspension from the layered setup. Two things tell me this.

1) There is no sediment on anything in the tank.

2) I scooped up a large container of water and let that settle as well( no water movement from the filter) 3 days and no sediment either.

The water is tea color, I am pretty sure it is tannins. I put a piece ( a cutoff so that the piece in the tank would sit properly) in a separate container and it turned the water brown as well. These pieces have not been in water before. I picked them on the road side when I was driving thru the Sterling Range a few weeks back.

I hope there is some improvement when I get back from the week long trip I am taking tomorrow.

Went to Vebas today and got 6 Ottos and 6 SAEs. Matt contributed 7 tiny Bristle Nose cats as well, so I have just added 19 tiny fish. I think that the volume of water should be able to handle it. I hope!

[Alfred]

I am pretty sure that the cloudy water is due to a bacteria bloom and not suspension from the layered setup. Two things tell me this.

1) There is no sediment on anything in the tank.

2) I scooped up a large container of water and let that settle as well (no water movement from the filter) 3 days and no sediment either.

The water is tea color, I am pretty sure it is tannins. I put a piece ( a cutoff so that the piece in the tank would sit properly) in a separate container and it turned the water brown as well. These pieces have not been in water before. I picked them on the road side when I was driving thru the Sterling Range a few weeks back and had soaked them for only 2 days before they went into the tank!!! Stupid me!

I hope there is some improvement when I get back from the week long trip I am taking tomorrow.

Went to Vebas today and got 6 Ottos and 6 SAEs. Matt contributed 7 tiny Bristle Nose cats as well, so I have just added 19 tiny fish. I think that the volume of water should be able to handle it. I hope!