Doug.l Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Are new at this game and having a few problems. Brought a Aqua One 600 4 months ago and have got a lot of algae growing on the glass. Talked to the local fish shop in the weekend and they told me to turn my lighting down to 4 hours a day. Does this sound right as i also brought some live plants and have read that they need at least 12 hours a day lighting. Any help would be appreciated . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 i aim for about 10 hours a day what fish do you have and how much are you feeding ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 oh and btw welcome to the forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug.l Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Fish i have are 6 Tetra and 1 platty and 1 skunk loach. I feed them a small pinch of food per night. Have lost around 10 fish in the last 2 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 imo skunk loachs can be bad fin nippers were there any signs of that on the dead fish ? and did you take the fish out or are there some missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug.l Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Took out dead one yesterday could not find one on Friday night. Fish have been dying before i put the loach in. What do you think about the lighting???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Have you read about cycling? If you've lost alot of fish and you've only had your tank 4 months that could be your problem there. Lights should be on for 8-12 hours for plants. If you have no plants then keep the lights on for a shorter time. Fish don't really need the lights at all (algae does!) I'd be doing frequent water changes in the interim. If you didn't have plants, then your problem should get better now that you have plants. Fish produce wastes. If you don't do frequent water changes, the algae will feed on these wastes. If you have plants, they will use some of these wastes (like fertilizer). If you have a heated tank, an algae eater will go a long way towards helping too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 ive never heard about a Aqua One 600 :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 It's a balancing act. If you want to grow plants then you need lots of light... but eventually the plants will absorb a lot of the nutrients out of the water and reduce the amount of algae. If you dont have live plants then you can cut down the amount of light and that will reduce the algae growth. I would be more concerned about why your fish are dieing? If the tank has been set up for 4 months it should have cycled by now, but what water changes are you doing and is your filtering working properly? A lot of algae may be a sign of high nutrients in the water. Algae itself wont normally harm the fish, but it may be a sign that something else is wrong. Otherwise you can use 'biological control' with a bristlenose pleco or some Otto catfish. They will clean 99% of the algae of the glass, but I wouldn't like to add more fish untill you work out why you are loosing so many. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 How much are you feeding? Overfeeding will encourage algae too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug.l Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I change 20% of the water every 2-3 weeks. How do i no if the filter is work properly. It is the standed filter that comes with the Aqua Mode 600. Also will it matter if the use a small aerator in the tank just for looks. Thanks every one for your help so far. And no i have not yet read about cycling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 How do i no if the filter is work properly Check the amount of water coming out of the filter. It will slow down over time as the media (sponge) gets full of gunk :-? Have you taken the filter apart and cleaned out the sponge? Just gently wash it out in a bucket of tank water you have syphoned out of the tank. You dont want to over clean it and kill the bacteria living in it. Dont let it dry out or clean it with hot water. Cycling is the process of building up those bacteria in the filters after the tank is set up. These bacteria digest the ammonia that the fish excrete into the water. There are several methods, but basically you need to slowly increase the bio-load (amount of fish) to let the good bacteria establish in the filter. Although a tank might hold say 20 fish once it's cycled, if you just dump that amount in, the ammonia will build up faster than the bacteria can multiply and most of the fish will die I'm not familiar with the tank you have.. how big is it? That basically determines how many fish it's safe to keep in it. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I am not familiar with the design of the aquarium you have but the amount of light required will depend on a number of factors including the type of light, water depth and clarity. Four hours seams way too little---I have lights on 16-17 hours/day (10 - 12 hours would be about normal I would think). Algae needs nutrient and eventually the plants will use a lot of the nutrient and starve the algae. In the mean time you should do larger and more frequent water changes to reduce nutrient. I do 50 to 60% water changes in well established, heavily planted tanks. Cycling is where the waste products from your fish are converted to other compounds by bacteria and eventually removed by plants or water changes. Some of the compounds formed are toxic to fish and may be killing yours. Eventually the bacteria will grow to establish a balancece and all should be sweet. Only feed what the fish can eat in 5 minutes---no more as this creates nutrient. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 No problem adding an extra aerator technically. (Although from what I've read, plants do better when the surface of the water is less disturbed.. but I'm sure there are a heap of folks on here with plants who also have airlines into their tanks) The aqua mode is the same sort of trickle filter as the AR380/620 etc. If you put in the filter layers in the order specified in the booklet and the water is circulating and trickling back into the tank then your filter will be working. You should rinse the white top layer often (i do mine every 10 days usually and I've found my algae problems seem to have reduced a little since I've been more careful with that - the gunk in the white filter wool will feed the algae - I don't have to rinse the black sponge as this tends to stay clean). If you are using a cartridge with carbon you might want to consider changing to something with no carbon as the plants may eventually need fertilizing and the carbon will reduce the effectiveness of the stuff you add. I buy the aqua one white filter wool in bulk packs from my LFS and cut it to size. I stopped using the carbon after asking folks here and being told most people don't use it either (and it's an extra expense you can do without!) I'm pretty new to fish keeping and I had bad algae for the fist several months. Apparenetly this is normal until the filter and tank 'mature' ecologically I guess. Keep cleaning it and add your plants and it should slow eventually. Also there are many different types of algae and they don't all have the same 'cure' so poke aroud the site and use the search and maybe post some pictures if yours doesnt' settle in the next few months. My tank is 7 months old now and full of plants and it's just starting to 'settle in' in the last month or so. There will probably be a period where plants you add will get covered in algae and die. Don't despair 8) . Be sure to take out plants that are dying or they will pollute the water and make the algae worse. Sometimes plants can be saved by taking them out and wiping most of the algae off. If you tank starts to smell VERY musty this is cyanobacteria and looks like algae but it a different problem. I would really REALLY look at buying some algae eaters I'd also say that until things settle, try changing the water more often. I would definitely say that if you don't know about cycling (as I didn't when I started!!) then this will explain your fish deaths. This should also be fixed if you change water weekly and don't add any more fish for a while. When you do start adding some more.. add only a few at a time. You might want to consider buying a freshwater master test kit. Once you understand these tests everything will make sense and you'll have a better idea of how often you should be changing your water. The aque one website says this has 2x11W PL bulbs which shold be pretty good for plants. It also says in the instructions, 8 hours of light is good. Volume for the tank is listed at 65L but with gravel etc probably you've got 55-60L water? http://www.aquaone.co.uk/instructions.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug.l Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Thanks every one for the replys. It seems stranges that people dont no my tank, AquaMode 600 made by Aqua One as i have seen heaps in the fish shop in Nelson. Lots of great comments about my filter and i will try them. Have also turned the lights on for 8hrs now so lets hope every thing comes right.. Thank again and keep the comments coming. Doug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug.l Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Is there anyone in Nelson that have tropical fish that i could come and have a look at how they do it. No commercial people please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 im sure there are a few people in your area that would do that you can look here two http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/freshw ... -vf29.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Send a PM to AMAZONIAN in here as he is president of the Tasman Aquarium Club. You will find posts from him in the club section advertising the date and place of the next meeting. Come and join us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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