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Milky Water, Kribs and Light
Subject: Milky water
Don,
> I recently had a problem with algae, so I tore down the tank and
> cleaned everything, add new sponge's and carbon in the side mount and
> the Fluval 203 on my 55 gallon tank. I realize that this removes the
> good bacteria, but I was getting tired of cleaning the talk every 4-5
> days. <snip> but now the water has turned a 'milky see through' white
> color. Does anyone know why this would be the case? I have been doing
> a 40% water change every other day hoping that this phase would become
> history. The fish seem fine and the plants are growing nicely now.
> After the oto's had cleaned the tank, there was a lot of waste from the
> fish at the bottom, but the ammonia and nitrate levels seem fine also.
> Anyone have any clues?
It sounds to me like a bacterial bloom, most likely brought on by the
drastic cleaning the tank got. To some extent, the tank needs to cycle
again. Probably the reason you are not seeing ammonia or nitrate spikes is
that you still ahve _some_ nitrifying bacteria on the plants, and the plants
are also using most of the ammonia(um) produced by the inhabitants.
The best course is to continue just as you are. Monitor ammonia and
nitrite, do partial water changes if indicated by the test kits, and wait it
out. Most bacterial blooms are harmless to the inhabitants as long as water
conditions are otherwise good.
Subject: What do I do with Kribensis babies?!
John,
> About twenty days ago, I bought a pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher on sale
> at a local store, and today I see a school of baby Kribs swimming around
<snip>
> Erik said that I should siphon out some of the fry, but I have trouble
>getting to them in the densely planted tank. Any chance some of the fry
>will survive if I simply leave them alone in a 90gal tank with lots of
>plants to hide in between?
While you would need to siphon off most of the babies if you wanted to raise
them in large numbers, it is entirely possible (probable) that a few babies
will live to grow up in a tank that large. I have a seemingly perpetual
population of Kribs in my 75G. Besides, if you give it a try with this
spawn, and it doesn't work, you'll have another chance in a month or so
anyway!<g>
Re: New light setup
Shaji,
> Karen, are you saying that you *need* CO2 and and trace elements to
> keep a tank in balance if you have high light?
What I'm saying is that you *need* to balance the light in the tank with
adequate amounts of CO2 and trace elements. If you can do this without
artificial supplementation, that's terrific... but it's a difficult
balancing act that most people can't achieve.
Karen