rockgurl89

silly me though a bigger tank would make this hobby easier :facepalm: maybe I'm just one of those people who should just stick to cats, at least you know when they're sick!

have never used any product to remove algae, would a uv sterilizer help if I have parasites etc?

I set up the tank just over a month ago, cycled it and have slowly stocked it up. added the two balloon rams last weekend and that is the only new addition I have made in two weeks. I have been doing at lest 3 water changes a week until last week as everything was on track. All the fish seemed fine (except my bristlenose who had been hiding a bit more than usual for about a week - which has happened to me before) before they died.

Got home from work yesterday and found a poor bumblee goby dead. I fished him out and tested all my parameters (Ph 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrate 0 and nitrite 0) which were all fine, so I wrote him off as being the weakest link. Woke up this morning to another dead one, so fished him out,did a water change and all was fine again. Got home from town this afternoon and my Bristlenose was dead :tears: Poor Rodney didn't know it was coming. Now I am not the best at keeping them alive sometimes, but have never had 3 within 24 hours die on me before. I have 2 angels, 4 Bumblebee gobys, 2 balloon rams and 4 clown loaches left in my 160l planted tank. I have a slight green water problem (lights on for 8 hrs a day) and only add prime to my water (with some PH regular as my tap water is a bit high, around 8, and I was sick of using PH down and always having it rise up again) and some Aquarium complete every now and again. Will a UV sterilizer help with my mysterious deaths at all? I'm thinking of getting one for the green water problem anyway, but will it also help with the slight algae on my plant leaves?

daltons aquatic mix with silver streak 08-1.4mm grade aquarium gravel

I was originally thinking plastic coated wire, but trying to find anything suitable was a nightmare! I have no idea what else would be causing the Ph to rise (other than I have used two non galved screws to fix my driftwood together) so like I said it was my only thought.

I have a moss tree I made with some sticks from an old floral arrangement and ever since I have put it in my tank the Ph keeps slowly climbing. So I was going to remove the stick and use some 16 gauge galvanised wire to replace it. Will this have any effects on any levels in my aquarium? Any input would be appreciated

:thup: that is a nice looking tank!

I have been using Aquarium complete, and have kept bumblebees with these angels for about a year so I am safe with those. One neons tail looks a little worse for wear (although to be honest it may have been like that when I got it) but everything's looking good tonight so far

For the first half an hour the angels were a bit nippy, but they have been fine for the last few hours, hopefully it stays that way!

The tanks been set up for a week (after its cycle with barbs), my angels are always sensitive and have been fine and I'm monitoring all my levels everyday just to be sure its still its fine! It is the first time I have had clown loaches but I am generally a trial and error person

Update: Have now stocked it up with 10 neon tetras, 4 clown loaches, 1 Bristlenose, 6 bumblebee gobys and 2 angels.

My first decent tank, and first aquascaping project. I have planted Dwarf sagittaria, Twisted Valisneria, H. corymbosa Stricta, Hydrocotyle verticillata, a couple of amazon swords and attempted a christmas moss tree (time will tell how well that goes!) with a couple of spindly sagittaria in the corner. I have some golden and five striped barbs keeping the tank going until I can get fish sorted. Let me know what you think,but I'm super happy thus far :happy2: The fiance thinks I should cover the filter intake but once the plants grow I think it will cover it up sufficiently.

I got the sample pack off the people selling this off trade me and this was one that was included. If you want I can send it to you as I went for the silver streak instead? PM me if you would like me to send it to you

Have been checking online as to what is available in the way of aquatic plants. I usually just take what I can get or what looks nice in the shops without knowing what I am getting. Are the following available in NZ? *Echinodorus ozelot *Anubias barteri 'Coffeefolia' (coffee anubias) *Cryptocoryne parva *Fontinalis antipyretica (Willow Moss) *Pogostemon helfer *Echinodorus schlueteri ‘Leopard *Anubias minima And if so does anyone have/know of anyone who sells any? Have had bad experience of buying from stores and contracting algae problems :facepalm:

Thought that was the way to go, thanks for confirming. Now the new next challenge of choosing and sourcing plants!

I have had a planted tank for a few months but have just purchased a new 160l tank (bit of an upgrade for me). I was going to put the aquatic mix and gravel in the tank before cycling, but when do I add the plants? Ideally it would be good to fill up the tank a wee bit then place plants and fill to cycle, is this how most people do it? will plants affect the cycling process in any way?

well I was thinking the black silica substrate, but maybe not after hearing that. Will go with the fine gravel. Thanks for your help :thup: much appreciated

I have just today got my new 160l tank, and am now thinking about substrates. I currently have 2 bristle noses and was thinking that if I used sand then they would ingest it (obviously NOT desirable), so would a finer gravel around 2-5mm be more suitable for them?

thanks for your help everyone I am off on holiday tomorrow so I feel safe (and releived) to leave my tank as is

I use just like small stones (the neutral brown colours) you can sort of see them in my pic<----- I guess having had it a 7 for so long, i thought there was a problem when it rose. Do you think that this is just the new ph to live with now?

ph of my tap water is fine, I checked that. I have the air pump to add some airation to the water as there is little surface agitation, and I like bubbles :thup: I am mainly concerned for my bristlenose as I lost two within the space of two weeks a few months ago. I had all my levels checked and just the ph was high. The ph down doesn't do much apart from keep it low for a few days, and i really need to get the root of the problem. On a side note i have no idea what co2 does in a tank, i thought it was only a thing with planted tanks?

I have had my ph jump up recently and nothing I do will lower it for long. A friend of mine who has a tank similar to mine (55 litre with a small air pump, heater and a rear hanging filter) was told to remove the driftwood (for the bristlenose to graze on) and replace it with some coral. Apparently this worked well for her. So my question is, would this work? I think the driftwood is my problem, but if I remove it what will my bristlenose (Rodney!) graze on? or is that not a problem?

So all of my Neons were carefully checked, however 3 of them had to be removed Hopefully the now 4 Neons will be fine, however If not, I will definatly not be replacing them with more of the same (however pretty they are!)