[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Cloudy water
Dave asked about clearing up some cloudy water / GW from his tanks: (some parts snipped)
-----
>My light setup! Perhaps I missed something when setting this
>up. I have two, two bulb shoplights from homedepot because I'm not spending
>hundreds of dollars on special fixtures that just 'look nice.' Both of
>those lights have 2 plant growth, full spectrum bulbs...also from home
>depot. They say they're good for plants and aquariums in general, perhaps
>not the best lighting for a planted tank, but should be better then bright
>white bulbs, I figured. But I'm wondering if these tubes are catering more
>to algae then the plants, and therefore causing this green water.
-------
I have found that those type of bulbs are usually pretty worthless -- much lower lumen output. I would either replace all 4 or atleast 3 of them with something more akin to a 5000K or 6500K spectrum. There is lots of goof lighting info on the Krib and in the archives.
---------
>Side question, should I not only feed brine shrimp? I had been feeding them soley 1-2 >cubes/day of brine shrimp. I halted the blood worms for now to see if that would help >any...it didn't. But I also have some flake food.
----------
No, you shouldn't. Do you eat the same thing for every meal? Probably not, so don't make your fish!! Also, I would recommend you "thaw" the frozen cubes in a little cup before feeding. Tropical fish don't eat still-frozen-food in the wild, so they shouldn't in your tank either. Also, I would seriously consider feeding some live foods as well.
----
>I'll try again to give as much details as possible...bottom up:
>90g AGA
>I have 5 gallons of bio-balls running in a DIY trickle filter that dumps
>into a 20g bin where a 700gph (4' head, so about 500gph) sump pumps water back into the >tank through the overflow. Next to the trickle filter is a mag 350 (hand-me-down from my >father, I hoped the extra filtration would help) with a pleated filter with a sleeve. Around the >sleeve is packed>cotton, so I suspect it isn't getting much more then about 200gph, if that. >Two 50lbs bags of #1 fillpro gravel (definately larger than sand!) with 55 oz. laterite mixed >in the bottom layer of gravel in the back-half of the tank (mostly).
------
This all sounds pretty good.
---
>An additional 55 oz. laterite on top of the mix in the back-half, making a thin layer of laterite >before about 2-3" gravel.
----
This could be a problem -- laterite is really meant to be covered with gravel to reduce the availability of the Fe to the water column.
-----
>I have no fake plants, not a single ornament. I have about 15 bulbs, 8 growing very well >(back from the dead really, had them in a 10g before). The other 7, 4 or 5 have started >..sprouting and the other 2 or 3 don't seem like they're going to do anything. They haven't >been in the tank very long, either. I have two anacharis bunchs, 3 sword type plants, java >fern and 10 bunches of other plants. One has thick stocks and looks like a thin sword with >white veins...the others are twisted, thin (almost parallel sides) leas. I'll tell ya, the fish like >the new plants to swim in and out of, especially the cat. A handful of the twisted ones I >noticed were VERY rooted, I was spreading them out the other night thinking I had >bunched them too closely together and I started to pull on one of them that didn't budge, I'm >very happy about that.
----
It would help to know the exact plants... Perhaps you could check around the web and get some IDs? Some might not even be aquatics, and that could be part of your problem. It doesn't sound like you have enough plant mass for that large of a tank. Also, how old is the tank?
----
>All the swords came in pots and I left them in the wool.
----
Again, not a good idea. There is usually a lot of nutrients in the wool and that can then be available to algae in the water column.
---
>I did have a DIY CO2 injection (2 liter with 1/4 airline tubing going into a small hole in the >700gph sump's prefilter, right next to the impeller) but I was worried about pumping too >much too fast for our puffer, who was acclimated to freshwater. Since then the puffer has >started losing its beautiful green (leopard) coloring.
----
There's another problem -- not enough CO2 for the amount of lights. That = bad plant growth and good algae growth.
Hmmm... You may want to reconsider some of your fish choices or decide if what you are after is a "planted tank" or a "fish tank with plants". You definitely need to do some homework... I am not trying to be a jerk or anything, but you didn't say anything about water changes, parameters, etc. Have you done any water changes? How many total fish / size do you have in the tank?
It is hard to give advice on preventing algae without more detail.
---
>With all that, the fish seem very happy (all but the puffer). The angels
>have HUGE fins and nice color. My earth eater has nice irridescent spots all over him and >beautiful spike fins, none tattered...all the fish are
>happy. HELP!
------
That is pretty subjective... I think they would be happier with a more varied diet.
Hope some of this helps,
Tony
------------------------------------------
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger:
------------------------------------------
Click Here
------------------------------------------
--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
text/html (html body -- converted)
---