Dana

Mate, this was epic. These fish better feel bloody lucky LOL The plants I've placed are cheapies and experimental depending on what happens. I've taken Sophia's advice and am down to 3 hours of light per day. Currently cutting and painting core flute to black out 2 sides. The underside and underneath of rocks was crystal clear. Light appears to be my nightmare. No plants could be saved. They'd rotted and fell apart when touched. Rocks and plants out at 6pm Scrubbed for an hour Removed part gravel, scrubbed some more Put fish in bin with aquarium water, heater and pump Battled another 30 minutes to find 2 glass cats hiding amongst the murk... Drained tank, scrubbed as I went Finally emptied tank, chased brown slime with a siphon All gear outside, scrubbed All back in tank just after midnight Final tally from starting on rocks was 6 hours. Fish in bin just over 4, ammonia didn't spike. 4 out of 6 loaches turned grey within in hour. Worried as one glass cat looked milky, but has recovered. Bob doesn't seem phased after his evening in the drain pipe. He seemed rather partial to the 2 minute noodle I found him attached to on my kitchen floor after the flood from removing the entire plumbing system... Before after by danaj2009, on Flickr Unhappy fish... IMG_1341 by danaj2009, on Flickr Always keep the lid on in case of unexpected interest.... IMG_1343 by danaj2009, on Flickr Midst epic night time horror... IMG_1342 by danaj2009, on Flickr The hell that followed in my kitchen at midnight... IMG_1354 by danaj2009, on Flickr 3 week old cartridges...(replaced) IMG_1348 by danaj2009, on Flickr Home stretch 11pm IMG_1346 by danaj2009, on Flickr Done IMG_1361 by danaj2009, on Flickr Fish are happy, I've never seen them move and play in bubbles quite so much. Demanding food everytime I move. The larger Gourami jumped my wrist when I went to adjust heater tonight. Loaches are screaming in and out of bubbles. All 4 glass cats have actually ventured out with lights on. We shall see....

But, did you know... A bristlenose can survive in a drain pipe for 20 minutes before he is noticed missing, having cold coffee, 12 buckets of water, a pot rinsed and scrubbed with detergent, and an old tin of tuna dumped on him. He can also survive being dropped on the floor out of said pipe while a frantic nutbar woman is swearing her head off at a stupid wrench that won't open, while cursing herself for being the worlds worst fish keeper. Tough nut that little sucker fish....

FINISHED! 4.5 hours. I have to go clean the carpet due to a minor flood issue... Will post pictures of tonight's EPIC nightmare tomorrow LOL :slfg: :slfg: But, they're all alive. Not happy, but alive.

Ok will do. Mental note for future...when removing and scrubbing plants...MAKE SURE YOUR BRISTLE NOSE IS NOT ATTACHED SO HE DOESN'T GET STUCK IN THE DRAIN!! Quick spanner action and a kitchen cupboard flood with pipes everywhere and he's back swimming in the tank...

Part way through. Rocks and gravel and clean as a whistle where ever light from tubes doesn't hit....

The 2 x sunlight tubes are 6,500. I can't find a rating on the singular 25W tropical tube but it is in the blue spectrum visually. I researched prior to changing tubes, and all advice given was towards this combination.

Hi Sophia, I listened to your last advice and have kept curtains closed on sunny windows. No other areas I'm afraid as I have a very open full window typed house. Unless I put it in the back room which is never seen. It kept the green algae down, but this brown slime is increasing. All the advice given here I take on board and is very much appreciated. I'm going to gut the tank tonight, and see what happens with close monitoring and water changes over the coming weeks. I can't see any other option.

I changed the bulbs recently due to age. Installed 2 x 30W sunlight and 1 x tropical (aqua one). No cannister filter (but is on the cards as not liking in-hood set up). Just unsure about what qty of water to transfer back due to ammonia. Only a few hours worth though. They'll be back in the main tank within 4 hours.

This is going to sound like a really dumb question... I'll transfer aquarium water into the bins with the fish. Do I transfer it back when I'm done? Will cycle be enough to make all new water safe? or do I do a mix of both? Worried about a) ammonia in the bin water going back into the tank, and b) killing my fish by putting them into an uncycled tank Sorry, dumb question, but this is my first full tank overhaul. Better to ask and look stupid than wind up with dead fish.

The work trips are only 1 night at a time, just lots of them. The most I'd be away from the tank is 36 hours which means I'll be there to keep a close eye. I had a bubble tube running across the back of the tank previously, it clogged with slime so I centralized the outlet in one corner. It appeared to increase flow as there is more movement, but I'm still not sure which is the best option. Thoughts on this? Outlet at one end, one at each end or back to the tube??

Thank you. That is a very generous offer. I was hoping to get it done tonight as I'm away with work quite a bit over the next few weeks. I'm thinking if I pull the rocks etc and clean prior to transferring fish, then I should be able to do it in 2-3 hours. I'll keep testing the ammonia in the bins to be safe.

Thanks. I've picked up 2 57ltr bins. The plants are passed saving (rotten), so I grabbed a few new ones when I was in town. No spare filters at all, but certainly a reminder to get something for future use. I wont use any chemicals for cleaning. Without filtration, will this be suitable for 3-4 hours? I'll do it tonight in one go.

Heading out to get a couple of fish bins. I have a spare heater and a dual air pump so will set 2 up as the Gourami get antsy with each other. Should I add some Cycle before reintroducing the fish to the main tank? Woohoo for my Saturday night.... :slfg:

That's a great idea. How long can they stay like that? I don't have a spare filtration unit and the current one is in the hood.

I thought about that. Problem being, I don't have anywhere to house my fish while I do it.

This API is a 2 part test. Now showing 20ppm.

Ammonia issue around 8 weeks ago. Water changes every 2 days 30% till dropped. Levels came down, fish were still sick so I changed 60%. They turned upright by morning, and started eating 24 hours later. Ammonia was reading 0 by then.

I put the loaches in when snails appeared. Find small shells every now and again. Here's something interesting....just doing tests. Went back to instructions to be sure I was correct. Instructions advise time to shake vile ,I tripled the time just to be sure solution was mixed....am staring at it on the bench as it gets darker..... shall see in 3 minutes....

BTW, the grasses have been removed.

I had an ammonia issue a short while ago where I nearly lost several fish. Massive water changes sorted it. This problem followed. The tap water is 7.6. I'm just doing another round of tests now as they've been swinging quite a bit of late. Substrate is gravel. Shown here approx 3 months ago before this all began IMG_1086 (2) by danaj2009, on Flickr

I battled the council for over a year, just to test our drinking water. They didn't do anything until I posted a photo on their facebook page of the black water my daughter was supposed to bathe in. The manganese issue was shown in discoloration of the water. Copper/brown. If it's trace, then there is nothing I can do about it. Would Manganese not poison the fish? They're healthy. It can be rather nasty and contributes to lack of brain development in children if decent doses are given long term.

Oh. location stated above.

Cheers. I'll pick up a different nitrate kit tomorrow. The nitrate reading has always bugged me. Just didn't seem right. Spoke to LFS a few times and although very helpful, they couldn't identify what was going on. I'm loathed to change the plants for obvious reasons. And same with fish, I didn't want to change anything as clearly I don't have the balance right. I really don't want to give it up, but everything I do just makes it worse. Sorry for self vent over.

I thought the same thing. I'm in Ashhurst which is a small village 10kms outside Palmerston North. Our town is on bore water. We had a manganese issue, but with regular flushing from the council, it hasn't been an issue since before the tank was installed. The nitrates rose to 5-10ppm 3 weeks after tank was in place, dropped back to zero and have stayed there. I've always wondered if it has something to do with these issues.

I've posted a few times about this. Have taken advice given. It's out of control. Pics taken just after water change and gravel siphon. (note, TLC was suggested, not stocked in region so have had to order online, not used yet). AR980 215ltr, been running 4-5 months. PH 7.6 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 (slight spike 4 months ago, back to 0) Ammonia 0 4 Dwarf Gourami, 6 Clown loach, 4 ghost cats and Bob the bristlenose. No overfeeding. Flake, pellets, wafers and blood worms once per week which I remove any excess worms. Fish seem healthy. Water appears clear. Neurotic about weekly water changes Was advised to remove certain plants. Have done. Was suggested too much light, reduced Been dosing with excel. Note pics make algae look red as in Dying BBA, but that's just the camera. It's black. Green algae has to be scraped daily. Brown slime coats everything within 48 hours, even clogging filter intake I'm borderline giving up. Love it, love my fish. I'm just at my wits end. The healthy looking plants in the background are just a poster... Please, anyone have anything else that I could possibly try?? It's worse every day. IMG_1316 by danaj2009, on Flickr IMG_1314 by danaj2009, on Flickr IMG_1313 by danaj2009, on Flickr IMG_1311 by danaj2009, on Flickr IMG_1310 by danaj2009, on Flickr