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Re: Cloudy Water



Thanks for all the replies on the cloudy water...I'll try to get all the
questions without making this a book...
All headers, emails...everything is stripped out to make it shorter.

> Dave, for whatever it's worth I have had a long running problem that
> appears exactly the same as yours.
> The only way I have found to clear it is to do a massive (and I mean
> massive >50%) water change.
> Recently I added a UV sterilizer that I purchased from
> http://www.thatfishplace.com (part # CU0060 $79.00), and I have gone
> past the 14 day mark without any kind of cloudy water problem.

Thanks for the feedback.  People have suggested UV sterilizers in the last
post I made, but I was hoping I wouldn't need more equipment then what I
already have hooked up.  I think I'll try a few other things, then if I have
to I'll go the UV route =)

>> But I'm wondering if these tubes are catering more
> > to algae then the plants, and therefore causing this green water.
> Try running the micron filter for 3 days after it clears up and then add
> some more biofiltration to your system.

I have the mag running 24x7 next to the trickle filter...

> Well I can tell you this much, you sure don't have enough CO2 for the
tank.
Cool...I'll try a setup of 4 as soon as I drink that much soda ;-)  As for a
reactor, I've seen various setups.  Although I said above that I didn't want
to add more equipment, is there a particular product you'd have in mind?
The only other thing I can think of is sealing the inlet from the overflow
on the 5 gallon buckets for the trickle filter and bubbling the CO2 up
through the bio balls...I don't know its such a good idea, nor do I know if
it would work at all!  Guess I won't worry about the lights for now either,
and hopefully balancing out the plant mass/CO2/lighting will help this out.
Oh, and btw, I have a small lava rock in the tank...forgot to mention in
last post.
>
> 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.

I've read through the krib and looked for an FS bulb hoping to avoid
purchasing $20 a pop bulbs (at least!!!).  I'll re-read it, see if I can
find more appropriate info on bulbs that would be worth the costs.
>
> >Side question, should I not only feed brine shrimp?
> No, you shouldn't.
Ok, I'll thaw out the brine first before feeding them.  Other then that,
what kind of live foods?  The only I know if is MORE live brine shrimp.  Is
there something else that I can use?  How do I grow them?  Hehe, gonna have
another look at the krib, but if you know a particular site with loads of
info on live foods, I'd appreciate it.

> >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.
Perhaps you misread.  The laterite is completely covered by 2-3" (at least)
of gravel.
>
> 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?

I'm sorry I haven't ID'ed all the plants.  I do recognize all of them,
though, as true aquatics.  Tank is very young (<2mo.), and all the stock
plants are pretty new (<1mo.).  The bulbs are older then the tank itself,
probably closer to 4 mo.

> >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.
Ok, I'll break the wool off and replant if they're not already completely
rooted (probably not anyway).  Though I didn't have any wool around the
other potted plants before when I had this problem.  Anything is worth a
shot.
>
> There's another problem -- not enough CO2 for the amount of lights.
Commented above...gonna try 4x as much =)

> >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.
I guess...I'll try to vary the diet slightly more and see how they like it.

Thanks for all the suggestions people!  I'll keep ya posted on the outcome
=)

By the way, if ya'll want to see some pictures of the tank, check my site =)

https://computergeek.dyndns.org/modules.php?set_albumName=Tank&op=modload&na
me=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

With the linewrap it probably broke...but thats the whole link, can also try

https://computergeek.dyndns.org/modules/gallery/Tank

There are pictures in there (and some small explinations) of the filtration

-Dave