View Full Version : My last try at this!
Lady Hobbs
04-05-2007, 02:24 PM
One more try at this planted tank. And I mean my last as I am discusted with this whole deal.
My tank (29gallon) was OK until my big water change the other day as I mentioned in another post. Water was totally messed up by the following morning with a thick layer of scum everywhere. I mean thick! The wood was all slime and the plants were heavy with it.
I have to say it was my easier time to ever catch fish..... Since they were all hanging at the top!!! One scoop and I had all my danios in one swipe. Not much fun trying to find the featherfin since I could only see into the tank one inch!
I drained the tank clear to the fluorite. Scrubbed the sides down. Getting this slime off the plants was another matter. They can't live if they can't breathe so they went into the kitchen sink and I soaked them in mild bleach water to remove the algae. I sure couldn't rub it off! The driftwood I could hardly pick up or it would slide right thru my hands. That got a scrubbing with a brush.
So here I am this morning. Everything cleaned up again. Fluorite was not touched and I put some gruncy filter floss back in as I've lost my cycle obviously. And once again, here I am with ammonia. Where I keep getting ammonia from I have no clue. No fish are in the tank. I've tested the water right from the tap and I have 0. An hour in the tank and here it comes. This confuses me as plants are supposed to eat up the ammonia. I have 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates......only ammonia.
This brings me to where I am now. Do I add the danio's back in and try to do a cycle with them? Do I try to do another fishless cycle? (as mentioned, substrate was not touched so should have loads of bio-load)
Where in $#(*& is this ammonia coming from and why aren't the plants taking care of it? And mainly, if ammonia produces algae, how can I cycle this tank now without adding fish or pure ammonia if it will produce algae again?
I am running no CO2 now and running filters on high to clear the rest of this algae out. Seems OK except for this new tank snydrome I seem to have. I filled the tank with some of the water from my other tank, as well.
If every water change gives me this headache, I am in trouble. LOL
*Sarah*
04-05-2007, 03:22 PM
Wow, what a pain. I wish I could help you, but as I've said, I simply placed my plants right into the gravel and they're all doin great. Even the "high light" ones are fine with the simple 10g incandescents that came with my kit. I hope you get things figured out.
Lady Hobbs
04-05-2007, 03:24 PM
Me too. I can see doing a cleaning and having new tank snydrome and getting the ammonia from the fish and rather starting over. But to get ammonia with no fish and plants........grrrr.
Chrona
04-05-2007, 03:58 PM
One more try at this planted tank. And I mean my last as I am discusted with this whole deal.
My tank (29gallon) was OK until my big water change the other day as I mentioned in another post. Water was totally messed up by the following morning with a thick layer of scum everywhere. I mean thick! The wood was all slime and the plants were heavy with it.
What color was it? If the substrate was not touched, then you may have high phosphates or silicates in your tap water, since water changes alone should not do anything
I have to say it was my easier time to ever catch fish..... Since they were all hanging at the top!!! One scoop and I had all my danios in one swipe. Not much fun trying to find the featherfin since I could only see into the tank one inch!
I drained the tank clear to the fluorite. Scrubbed the sides down. Getting this slime off the plants was another matter. They can't live if they can't breathe so they went into the kitchen sink and I soaked them in mild bleach water to remove the algae. I sure couldn't rub it off! The driftwood I could hardly pick up or it would slide right thru my hands. That got a scrubbing with a brush.
Careful with bleach solutions in the future. Not all plant stand up well to any amount of bleach
So here I am this morning. Everything cleaned up again. Fluorite was not touched and I put some gruncy filter floss back in as I've lost my cycle obviously. And once again, here I am with ammonia. Where I keep getting ammonia from I have no clue. No fish are in the tank. I've tested the water right from the tap and I have 0. An hour in the tank and here it comes. This confuses me as plants are supposed to eat up the ammonia. I have 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates......only ammonia.
This brings me to where I am now. Do I add the danio's back in and try to do a cycle with them? Do I try to do another fishless cycle? (as mentioned, substrate was not touched so should have loads of bio-load)
Where in $#(*& is this ammonia coming from and why aren't the plants taking care of it? And mainly, if ammonia produces algae, how can I cycle this tank now without adding fish or pure ammonia if it will produce algae again?
The plants only take in large amount of ammonia if they are actively growing. I don't think you have enough plant biomass/light/CO2 to deal with ammonia with plants alone yet. I would wait a few days for the ammonia to get eaten up (keep the photoperiod to 8 hours during this time), then put the danios back. You definitely don't want to add more ammonia at this point, since ammonia + light = green water and other types of algae
I am running no CO2 now and running filters on high to clear the rest of this algae out. Seems OK except for this new tank snydrome I seem to have. I filled the tank with some of the water from my other tank, as well.
You need to keep the CO2 running. As long as CO2 is the only thing going into the tank, it will not cloud your water or anything. CO2 will allow the plants to suck up more nutrients. Without it, algae wins.
If every water change gives me this headache, I am in trouble. LOL
Most planted tanks go through this phase, you just need to stick with it. If you remember, I had an algae outbreak from hell in my tank only a few weeks ago, and with 2 part CO2, 1 part dry fertilzer, 2 part water changes, and 5 part patience (and some otos), I'm finally getting it under control. I was a bit lucky because my tank was already matured (in terms of fish cycling) so I didn't have that additional thing to deal with, but it will all settle down eventually, I promise. See if you can get the tap water tested at the LFS though. There must be high concentrations of something that is screwing with plants/causing algae.
Hope that helps
Lady Hobbs
04-05-2007, 05:13 PM
It's all quite a mystery alright. I have moved tanks before, set them right back up with all new water and had no problems. Sometimes they may be a tiny bit hazy but by the next day would be clear again. My nitrates are 0 and possibly that could be raised by not sure how to go about that and the link I posted in that other thread is too scrary for me. I don't want to get into chemicals here.
I put another tank light on this tank so have two lights going which still isn't much but twice what it was and the room is very bright, as well. CO2's going again, not great, but going so will sit and wait it out. I was right on the edge of digging out all this fluorite last night and planting just in gravel! But, it's not the fluorite.....it's something and like you say, all that you mentioned.
Thanks Chrona.
Chrona
04-05-2007, 05:25 PM
It's all quite a mystery alright. I have moved tanks before, set them right back up with all new water and had no problems. Sometimes they may be a tiny bit hazy but by the next day would be clear again. My nitrates are 0 and possibly that could be raised by not sure how to go about that and the link I posted in that other thread is too scrary for me. I don't want to get into chemicals here.
I put another tank light on this tank so have two lights going which still isn't much but twice what it was and the room is very bright, as well. CO2's going again, not great, but going so will sit and wait it out. I was right on the edge of digging out all this fluorite last night and planting just in gravel! But, it's not the fluorite.....it's something and like you say, all that you mentioned.
Thanks Chrona.
Part of it may be Flourite, as I only got algae after I put it in, but I don't think it's the only reason. My theory is that it leeches silicates in the beginning, especially if you have a lot of that dust. This causes brown algae, which dies off when silicates eventually runs out.
www.aquariumfertilizer.com
Greg Watson's website. Dosing fertilizers is rather easy. If you have HOB filters, you don't need to make a mix. Just dump X amount (measured in fractions of a teaspoon) of X chemical on X day into the compartment in front of the filter cartridge so it all dissolved before passing through. The only thing is knowing how much to dose. In my case, I dose 1/16 teaspoon of KNO3 (nitrates) every other day, which raises nitrates in a 10g tank by about 5.5 ppm. In your case, 1/16 tsp of KNO3 would raise nitrates by 1 ppm. Since you need about 10 ppm, you would add 10/16 tsp or 5/8 tsp every other day. Of course, you probably don't have as much CO2 or light, so you most likely will only need about 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon. Lemme know if you need any additional info about what to get and whatnot. KNO3 (nitrate), KH2PO4 (phosphate) and K2SO4 (potassium) are usually added in a 2-1-1 ratio
Lady Hobbs
04-05-2007, 06:06 PM
Thanks. Another note taken.
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 03:22 PM
Saturday
As of today, the planted tank is crystal clear and all readings are 0. I have added some fish back to the tank. I planted this tank for my angelfish but with so much messing up going on, I will leave him in the 20 gallon and put others in this one until I figure out what in heck I'm doing.
I would hate to think that every water change throws this thing into an algae mess. I will leave it alone for 2 weeks this time and see how it goes.
hungryhound
04-06-2007, 03:29 PM
Sounds like quite an ordeal hobbs. We feel for you and hope that everything is back to how it should be.
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 03:33 PM
If this happens with another water change, I will give it up!
Drumachine09
04-06-2007, 03:44 PM
You sure are having a whole heck of a lot of trouble with this planted tank stuff, huh? Makes you wonder if it is even worth it.
xoolooxunny
04-06-2007, 03:48 PM
hobbs, i didnt do a water change with my planted tank for the first month. the nitrates will stay in check with the plants, but i have low/med light so maybe we have different results. I've read about things going insane from doing too much/ too soon water changes on a newly planted tank, so i avoided it. When I started, I only did 5 gallons out of the 75g at a time. maybe 5 on monday, then on wed, then sat. Try and leave it alone for a little bit, but as Chrona said, keep that co2 running!
sergo
04-06-2007, 03:57 PM
i haven't even had the problems you have had hobbs and i and a complete newbie to aquarium plants. maybe you are trying too hard and over thinking everything.
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 04:03 PM
Great. NOW you tell me. LOL
I have always done large water changes as I have angels that require perfect water and very clean conditions. I never thought to change my regime with a planted tank but I can see now that this doesn't get it.
I did see that large water changes are good in reading last night but they didn't mention on newly planted tanks.
I will definately let this tank go for a while now. I know what my mistake was......too much water changing and cleaning out all that slime from the filter set it back.
:14: Knocking myself in the head with my wooden spoon.
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 04:06 PM
i haven't even had the problems you have had hobbs and i and a complete newbie to aquarium plants. maybe you are trying too hard and over thinking everything.
You got that right. Sometimes I can be my worse enemy.
cocoa_pleco
04-06-2007, 04:08 PM
my angels are in my heavily planted 20g, and i only do 20% weekly water changes. The loach, shrimp, and flying fox clean good, and the fluval helps alot
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 04:21 PM
I am leaving my one angel in the 20 gallon for now. I don't know how many you have in the 20 gallon but they require at least 10-15 gallons per angel.
This one could have a nice big tank and friends of his own species if he wasn't such a PITA junk-yard mean. The only fish he hasn't gone after yet is the platies and the bottom feeders altho he hates the clown loaches, too.
cocoa_pleco
04-06-2007, 04:25 PM
theyre babies now. Once they grow, im gonna get a tank between 55g-125g for them and some other fish
sergo
04-06-2007, 04:27 PM
honestly i've never done more than a 10 gal change in my tank, mostly 5 gals every week. you've seen my tank and i have 0 nitrates and 1-2 phosphates. my gh has been coming up (10 now) and i think because i've dosing more with flourish. i put my softener pillow in last night and that should bring it back down to about 5. i have very little algae in my tank, all on the back glass because i leave it there.
Lady Hobbs
04-06-2007, 04:42 PM
Thank you. Yes, my water changing schedule will now change drastically. Too much reading on too many sites can be detrimental sometimes, you know. Too confusing with too many different answers.
I have reached the "forget it" stage and it will now do what it wants to do with not as much "help" from me.
sergo
04-06-2007, 04:45 PM
also i use unbuffered RO water and not tap.
i do my own buffering.
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