breakaway

Thanks jenniferh - I saw what you did with your AR380 and it was absolutely stunning.

Yep - lets see it! Here's mine (You can see the tube go into the intake for the UV filter on the top right hand corner of the image). Tank is an Aqua One AR380 (~34L with standard 400 LPH trickle filter). Certainly more discrete than the ridiculously huge bubble counter that comes with the Nutrafin kitset. Some VERY minor bubbles come out of the filter outlet - so I'm guessing the rest of it has dissolved in the water successfully. I decided to use the UV filter + powerhead to distribute the CO2 instead of using the built in trickle filter because I was unsure how having the water pumped up into the spray bar, down through activated carbon, through a sponge, and then through the ceramic noodles and finally back into the tank would affect the efficiency of the CO² mixing into the water.

Yes I have fresh driftwood (bought from Hollywood Fish Farm - I'm not sure on exact age). I did dunk it in boiling water for ~40 min before putting it into the tank. Tap water tests at 7 - 7.4 I have very recently added a DIY CO² system - could this be lowering the pH down to 6? if it is, how to fix? (Short of remoiving the CO²).

After the large water change and addition of carbon last night, I've just done a pH test this morning and it's still yellow (aka 6.3 ish!) More water changes I guess :evil:

Another update - I've finished treating with Wunder white spot cure tonight (7 days total, 100% dose on days 1 & 2, 50% dose on days 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) and also put the activated carbon back into the water. Also did a big water change. All fish look great - no deaths! But the smallest of the 3 platy fry who was worst affected by the whitespot seems to have his growth stunted by the whitespot. He's significantly smaller than the other two fry.

1. It does work, perfectly 2. Airstones are useless at defusing, most of the CO2 will simply bubble up to the top and be released (This is what just about every DIY CO2 site I've read says) Also - do you guys who have been using DIY CO2 turn it off at night? My aquarium is only 38L and I'm worried that this CO2 might be overkill.

Ok I got it all sorted, the silicone is pretty bad at sticking the line to the bottle. Next time I will be making the hole smaller. Here is how I did it: 1. Build co2 bottle using yeast / sugar / warm water using 1.25L bottle. 2. Run air line from the bottle to the intake for my 200lph power head. And that was it - The impeller in the power head (which is also hooked up to the UV Lamp) does a fair job of mixing the CO2. It seems to have been bubbling out at a very constant rate since 12pm this morning. I'm very pleased with this setup - seems to be doing the same job as that $90 CO2 reactor kit sold in stores - and it only cost me $5 to make. The air line was the most expensive component. Also - should I. Be turning off the CO2 at nights after lightsout?

Hi, Yes the seal gave earlier today (looks like I didn't use enough silicon) so I blobbed on a fair amount of silicone on it (this time on the inside and the outisde of the cap) and am waiting 24 hours for it to fully cure. Also the CO² seems to be going pretty well right now (have the bottle sitting next to me without the lid on - I can actually see a significant amoutn of bubbles rising up.) I will post back when I have everything set up. One more thing - Is there a better way of doing this? (the cap -> airline setup I mean) - the sealing seems to be prone to breaking especially if you move the bottle around a bit - either that or I'm terrible at gluing!

No the water is a little warm (maybe around 35 deg C). The bubbles are forming, slowly, but my guess is there simply isn't enough pressure to push the CO² out. I will try with a shorter hose tomorrow.

Hey guys - I've just had my first attempt at setting up my DIY CO², I've used 1 x tsp of Yeast (Edmond's Active Yeast from Pak n' Save) and one cup of sugar. I realise this mix is far from ideal, and it should work - however I'm simply not seeing any results - there are no bubbles forming at all! (It's been two hours). Have spoken to a couple of people who have also done this, but they report voilent ( ) bubbling about 10-15min in. My bottle just sits there looking all cloudy and some very very small bubbles. What am I doing wrong?

Okay just an update - this is day 5 of treatment. The white spots are gone from the neons, and the platys are fine (they never got any to begin with) and of the 3 fry, the one that had white spot has only one or two on his body. I've been doing 50% water changes every day (as I noticed that Wunder white spot cure reducues the pH (usually to 6.3)).

You just answered your own question I reckon. Never dose with random chemicals, especially when nothing is wrong. Edit: Oops, thread dredge!

From what I've read, I think that a good UV Sterilizer will kill the free floating algae spores (i.e. they won't spread), but existing algae will still grow well.

How many watts is the UV bulb? Also are you able to source replacement UV bulbs for these units (As UV bulb efficiency drops and in 6 months time its pretty much useless apparnetly)

I've just installed one into the 38L aquarium, and it seems to have made the water crystal clear overnight. Don't know about its effectiveness against parasites etc though, but technically if you have a low wattage UV bulb in the unit, then the flow rate must also be low otherwise it won't be effective.

Yeah - I'm prepared to do everything it takes. I did a 50% water change last night and re-dosed, and I've just now done an ammonia test, and it's come back at 0 ppm. Also did a pH test, and its 6.6! Must be the medication (Did a half dose today), as instructed on bottle. Fish still active as ever and eating well. Temperature still at 30 degrees, I read that the higher it is the better - do you guys reckon its safe to bump it up to 32 degrees? Or is that too much?

Hey, Ive just done a 50% wate change (gravel vac'd the tank and re-dosed accordingly. There seems to be a significant improvement over the amount of white spots on both the adults and the fry. Will continue dosing to ensure it doesn't come back

Oh okay I was unaware of that. Will endavour to do more research before taking advice. Have just tested PH, came back with 7. Tested ammonia, came back with a result of inbetween 0 and 0.25 ppm. Don't have nitrate or nitrite test kits (have ordered them online, should be coming to me soon). The UV would be helping with the situation hopefully. The water is a lot clearer than it was yesterday. The amount of whitespot on the adult fish have definitely reduced compared to yesterday, but on the 3 fry the amount of white spots are about the same as yesterday before the first dose of Wunder White Spot cure. Have just dosed for a second time and it all looks okay for now. Everyone still eating well, and have bright colors.

Thanks for the advice guys. Is this Morcs from KB? With regard to adding salt to the water, I didn't want to mess with this since I haven't the faintest clue how I'd go about doing this Also, 1. How many days do I have to use white spot cure for? 2. How frequent and what volume should the water changes be while using white spot cure?

Hi, I have just started up an aquarium 2 weeks ago (38L), and under the advisement of the local fish shop have added 10 neons and 2 platys to start the cycle. The tank has the 3 part filtration system (With the activated carbon, a sponge and ceramic noodles - I think its called a wet/dry trickle system, right?). After the end of week 1, I found some (3) platy fry in the filter and rescued them into a breeding trap and have been feeding liquid food 4 times a day since. But yesterday, I fed the fish in the morning, and when I got home in the evening I saw white spot on the fry, and then I got worried, and noticed that there are some white spots on two / three of the 10 neons. I immediately did a 30% water change (Tank was due for its weekly water change anyway) and increased the temperature (slowly) to 30 (usually 27-28) and added an appropriate amount of "Wunder White Spot Cure" to the tank. Have also purchased and installed a UV filter (A Blue Planet UView 9w / 140 lph). Have also removed activated carbon from filtraton system (The sponge and ceramic noodles are still in there) The fish seem fine, swimming around actively like they used to, and have a good (nomal) appetite, and have nice bright colours. From all the reading I've done on the internet, this is all I could have possibly done. Can more experienced people confirm this, and let me know what else is there to be done? How many days should I be dosing with white spot cure? And when dosing how often and how much water change do I need to do? TIA

My friend has the same problems, but its not marine tank related. Every time the temperature drops, he gets orange patches all over his arms.. Its really freaky..

Do you want a UV Light or a UV Sterilizer?

Welcome to the forum JMemonic, make yourself at home Come on into the chat at about 8.30 to 9 pm at nights, theres usually a bunch of us in there.

So what do I need to do for a sump? Can you just get a container and throw your heater in there? Or do you have to light it? Can someone show me how to make a sump? Remember, the soul purpose of the sump is to increase water volume. So im guessing that wouldnt be too much work. Another one of my problems is the space Ive got. Thats why I was keen on a single unit. There is simply no space. I suppose I could drill holes on the floor (which is above the under-house storage) and put some pipes through. This space under the house is even less (actually there is absolutely no insulation) insulated then the actual house, which means more heat loss = more $$$ power bill for heating. I dont want to have the sump in the house simply because there is no space, and also because it is noisy. So I will need to insulate the pipes and the sump (or water container) with polestyerene. Is this feasible?