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amtiskaw

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Posts posted by amtiskaw

  2. Java fern dying

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    That's very high. Even for a high light tank with CO2 that'd be way too much. Assuming your phosphate is also high, it could be iron phosphate killing the leaves.

    IMHO you need to do a big water change, and if you are dosing ferts, reduce your dosing regime.

  8. My puppy dog Sherlock

    in The Off Topic Fishroom

    Posted

    Drifting off topic here, but I don't think it's reasonable to compare breasts with testes. Breasts aren't part of a female's endocrine system.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of breasts, but you're comparing apples and oranges.

    And removing an animals nads doesn't make him less of a male? Of course it does - that's kind of the point. I'm in favour of de-sexing dogs and cats, but your reasoning is flawed :)

    Cute puppy - I love that last pic :D

  9. Optimising plant growth and minimising algae

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    +1 to what dbden said although I get nutrient deficiencies with the stocker micronutrient mix so I supplement it with Flourish Comprehensive. Most people don't add enough micronutrients so try dosing daily with micronutrients and cut back to every other day if you can still get the same results.

    Hi Jen - what were you finding it deficient in, if you don't mind me asking?

  12. Help needed! BGA..

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    Well my nitrates are at 0. Should I be doing less water changes or dose nitrate? I probably need to clean the filter too....

    I think if it's a planted tank with reasonable light and no CO2, then you should be dosing, but no where near as much as you would for a high light and CO2 injected tank. Ferts don't cause algae - you want them to not be a limiting factor in your tank. As Alan said, it's finding a balance.

    I had a read of a non-CO2 thread on the Barr Report, and he's recommending about 1/8" and 1/32" teaspoon of KNO3 and KH2PO4 respectively once a week or two for a 75 litre tank. You have to take into account your fish load and how many plants you have. He also recommends few water changes, as they cause CO2 swings, which is another cause of algae.

    Have a squiz at http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... hods/page2 - He sometimes takes a long time to say nothing, when all you want is a straight "How much, how often" answer, but it's worth a read :)

  13. Help needed! BGA..

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    I did some reading on the Barr Report (great site) last night, and Tom Barr seems to think it's more a lack of nitrate than excess phosphate. That still fits in with my experience as I was dosing less of my macro mix to get the phosphate down, so had less nitrate.

    "Low NO3 is part of it, and often the main issue in newer tanks and tanks that are really clean and prepped well.

    For other tanks, often clogged filters, a lot of organic matter, dirty filters etc, seems to be more the issue. Also, if you have a lull in plant growth in general, something it will infest some plants, a bit, maybe at the growing tips.

    Excel might help a little, not much, but the overall effect of a large water change+ cleaning filters, + dosing more KNO3, + tweaking CO2 a bit more, etc, jujst run down all the basic items that you need to do and check them off and make sure they are in good shape."

  14. Help needed! BGA..

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    It is often caused by an excess of phoshate over nitrate. The phoshate usually arrives from too much or the wrong type of food. Some people suggest to add nitrate but increinges total macro ferts is not much use without CO2 and good light. Removing the phoshate with water changes and reducing the feeding or changing the food could be the answer. Then blackout to give it a hard time.

    Yep, excess phosphate seemed to be what triggered it in my tank. The macro fert mix I was using had too much phosphate for my tanks requirements. These days I use separate KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosing solutions

    Liam, if your BGA made a comeback in 4 days your tank must have been waaaay out of wack :wink: Mine took 6 weeks to re establish and then adjusting the nitrate/phosphate, and another blackout, got rid of it for good.

  16. API GH Test

    in Technical

    Posted

    Does anyone else have trouble seeing the colour change in API GH test kits? It's supposed to go from orange to green, but I can't see the difference :smln:

    I'm pretty sure I'm not colour-blind - according to this online test, I'm not.

    The kit's only about four months old and the kH test that it came with is fine :-?

  18. Help needed! BGA..

    in Aquatic Plants

    Posted

    Try a three day blackout to kill the cyano. Get some thick garden bags from the supermarket and cover up the whole thing. No peeking! If you can house your fishies elsewhere during the blackout, it might be worth it as you can get an ammonia spike from the cyano dying off :dead%fish

    Give it a good vac and water change after the three days are up. If you see it start to reappear, do another blackout.

    Long term, you might need more water flow/aeration, and/or adjust your ferts/light/CO2 so the plants out-compete the cyano for resources.

    Good luck, it's nasty stuff but you can get rid of it :)

  21. Artwork give away

    in The Off Topic Fishroom

    Posted

    My point being that there are children starving all over the world (and right here in NZ, for that matter) and people pay thousands of dollars for "art"

    Best you sell all your fish keeping gear and donate the proceeds to charity then. Each to their own, is what I'm getting at :roll:

  22. Fishkeepers and IT

    in The Off Topic Fishroom

    Posted

    Nerds! :smln: I do networking and IT security for a large private company. Used to do consulting, but I got sick of the constant travel and pressure. I still get a few international trips each year, but it's usually for audits rather than troubleshooting and roll-outs. We have a great in-house team, and the exec and board are closely aligned with IT - they don't mind spending if the benefits are there. A nice change from the public sector!

    Investigating Splunk for SIEM plus centralised logging and reporting at the moment - pretty cool stuff. I'll be off to Vegas for a Splunk user conference later in the year :bounce:

    That's one of the cool things about IT, lots of new toys to play with.

    If you are thinking of IT for a career, I suggest getting just enough education to get you a foot in the door with an IT provider, then learn on the job and do industry specific courses.

    A co-worker who left for her OE a few years ago got me into fishies. Now I wonder why I didn't do it sooner :hail:

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