fordayzbro

I'm tagging out of algae conversations..........

A new setup will almost always get algae. List your filtration, photoperiod and ferts... Cheers

Great stuff! :happy1:

Sweet, you had diatoms. No light for the holiday has caused it.

Could be silicates that have caused the breakout. What lighting are you using? Usually - green algae = too much light, brown algae = too little light.

Would be easier if you posted a photo, could be diatoms.....

This photo is a bit old, he just had a haircut...

Not sure.... Here's the link http://www.fish-street.com/resun_mini_w ... gory_id=35

This one was $10US. sunsun nano wavemaker. Well worth it, helps with flow and distributing Co2 bubbles

After a quick trim......

The Phantoms are my new favourite fish. I'll try and get some better pics...

UPDATE Returned home today from 2 weeks in Christchurch to find an overgrown tank. Only a couple minor algae spots to be seen. I took these pics as soon as I got home, no maintenance done at this stage

Well it's happened again........ I'm working down in Canty at the moment with my family taking care of the daily tank maintenance. Got a call from my mother today to let me know that some of my fish were gasping at the surface or sunk to the bottom of the tank. I had to talk her through a 50% waterchange, turn off the Co2, adjust the wavemaker and outlet pipe to get some o2 in the water.... The drop checker was yellow at lunch time. I think it was an overdose of excel which has caused the problem. All the fish are fine now, no casualties. :happy2: After experiencing this several times now... I think if you want to run pressurised Co2 and dose with liquid carbon, you really need to use a drop checker to keep tabs on Co2 levels.

I'm just "meh" about it. It doesn't suprise me that a petstore has dead fish...... yet it still saddens me to hear hear it. Should we just agree to reply to these theads with meh? Meh

Yep, that's the gist :lol:

All I can say is "it is what it is"......A petstore, not a LFS. I agree that some branches may have bad service and some of the tanks may be have dead fish floating about, but it's about educating NZ's largest chain of petstore's on how to look after animals they have never kept before. It'll take time.... Let's put this into perspective people. Don't get me wrong, I don't work for Animates or care much for it but, if you are are true hobbist you're not going to spend that much time in there anyway. To cut a long rant short, it's not even worth another thread..... :facepalm:

Being a large chain of pet stores they most likely do regular stock takes etc. Questions maybe asked by the management why the fish stocks are so low…… Perhaps more training is required on identifying diseases early on and correct medication to use. At the end of the day it’s not a good look to have 2 dead fish in every tank. I don’t believe many people would by fish from a tank that had dead ones floating about…. It’s good that you have raised that with the staff, nobody likes to see any dead animal

I always find the staff at Animates cheerful and beleive they have filled a hole in the market where they hold a broader range of products for a petstore. I remember when my local petstore used to sell basic stuff for goldfish at that's about it for the aquarium side of things....

It's always sad to see dead fish..... You would struggle to find a LFS around the world that wouldn't have at least one dead fish in a display tank though, just goes with the territory. :tears: My experience with Animates is they usually have at least one person who has reasonable knowledge on fishkeeping. Personally, I’ve bought some nice plants, my tank and a filter from Animates for good prices but never any fish.

It's a tough one.... I've come close to losing fish to lack of O2 a couple times now. At the moment I running my Co2 at 2bps and dosing 1.6mls of excel daily and 3.4mls after water changes. The Co2 turns on 2 hours before lights on and 2 hours before lights off. The drop checker is usually yellow when Co2 switches off. To work some O2 back into the tank I just angle my wave maker to the surface and lift my outflow pipe so it's half sticking out of the water when the lights go out and re-adjust in the morning. I love having healthy plants and an algae free tank but not at the cost of gasing fish to death...... :tears:

Recipes for minimal algae tanks ( don't take my word for it..... it's all over the net) Hi Tech - Intense light - High filtration ( 10x or high flow around tank ) - Co2 injection ( crank it till your plants go nuts, slowly turn down then add livestock ) - Ferts.. Loads of macros, bit of micros then loads more macros - Maintenence ( Weekly water changes ) - Plants, plants, plants and some plants - minimal bio-load - stable conditions - time Low tech - Short photoperiod - plants that suit low light conditions - weekly fert dosing - Liquid Co2 dosing - minimal bio-load - time Not many people have algae free tanks but those who do... have found balance. yeah.

Righto.... 1/ Reduce photoperiod to 6-7 hours 2/ Start dosing excel daily (check the recommended dose, for your tank approx 1.7 mls per day) 3/ Check the Lph rating on your filter, might be worth adding an extra external or a small wavemaker to increase flow 4/ Dosing with Seachem products can be costly, should be dosing - excel, iron, trace, potassium, nitrate, phospherus or NPK. To save some coin you could try dosing with PMDD available on TM 5/ Try introducing CO2 via diy which is really basic but effective or CO2 injection I keep a log of my daily dosing, Co2 injection rate, waterchanges, filter cleans and any signs of algae. Makes it easier to work out what could cause a sudden outbreak of algae.....

Firstly some questions Photoperiod? Filtration? How much excel are you dosing? I see you are adding Potassium but what about the other macros? Sounds like you have plenty of plants.... That's a good start

8 hours should be o.k. Is your CO2 on a timer? Do you have a drop checker? Liquid carbon and CO2 injection is fine. Stirring up the bottom of the tank without a water change could be a problem..... ammonia spike.

Dimensions & volume of tank: Height 57cm. Width 60cm. depth 37. AR620T Like this Lighting: Stock 2x 18w fluro, and 2x 20inch 20w power glo t8's Substrate: black gravel from HFF about 50mm deep all round Plants: Massive Amazon Sword, lots of Java Fern, Dwarf sag?? grass. Getting rid of the repens soon and going with something p44 recommended Fish stocking: 2 juvenile Discus, 13 cardinal tetras, 1 electric blue ram, 2 adult bristlenoses Goals: NO ALGAE, and a lush health tank. Currently after about 3 days the glass gets a green spray paint like algae all over it. CO2: I have a Fluval 88g co2 setup at around 1bubble per second, and all my plants are pearling like you wouldn't believe Filtration: Aqua One CF1200, and a UV filter. Currently I am dosing with PMDD off trademe at around 6 drops daily. I don't mind spending a few hundred on lighting and other bits if I can get something that will work for my tank, and look nice. the lights need to be able to be raised up off the tank about 30-50mm to let the have the filter tubing go over the tank rim. Sounds like Green spot algae (GSA) or Green dust algae (GDA) Reduce photoperiod Increase nutrients Dose with liquid carbon daily Check your flow around the tank, all plants should be swaying gently like in a breeze.