phos zorb

[dyinggoldfish]

My tank is beginning to get really hard to clean again. I use phos zorb to keep the algae down, however I haven't recharged my phoszorb since I put it in months and months ago. Does anyone know how to recharge the phoszorb. I know its with salt. But how much to what mills?

Also think I am out of tonic salt... any other type of salt work?

[Jennifer]

If you have algae, there are a few things we need to know to help get it sorted.

1. what is your photo period

2. what fertilisers do you use

3. what is your water change regime

4. what sort of plants do you have

5. what sort of fish do you have

As a rule, cutting out phosphate is not going to solve your problems - while it will make the algae grow slower, it will also make the plants grow slower from nutrient deficiencies and that will mean that they aren't using nutrients in the water column so you can get all sorts of other algae developing.

You can prevent algae by having fast growing plants and by not having too much light (the more light you have, the higher nutrient demand the plants will have). You get fast growing plants by feeding them well (trace nutrients, macronutrients and carbon/CO2). if any of these things are deficient in any way, the plants will not grow well and the algae can take over.

[dyinggoldfish]

1. what is your photo period

2. what fertilisers do you use

3. what is your water change regime

4. what sort of plants do you have

5. what sort of fish do you have

1. My tank is the AR620T, so the lighting is attached in a hood. Not standard long singular bulbs ( so I cant change to marine lights or T3's or whatever). They are standard fish lights. The lights run for 8-10 hours a day. Its also in the lounge but the blinds are closed next to it to prevent direct sunlight.

2. I don't use any fertilisers. I used Flourish for a while but my carbon in my filter zapped it all out. So I took out the carbon and now there is just PhosZorb, foam and ceramic noodles in the filter. In my cupboard I have AquaPlus and Cycle, B-Clear, P-Clear, White-Spot Cure(not that I have ever had white spot, but it was just incase). And Furan.

3. My tank is 130L. I do a 25% water change every 2 to 3 weeks. And give the glass/ornaments a good scrubbing. Then if I have time I let them dry to kill the algae completely (depending on how bad it is). Then rinse them before putting them back in. My tank has been pretty good. The algae doesnt bloom in the water. Just attaches itself to ornaments. And I only feed my bottom feeders twice a week to encourage them to eat the algae.

4. I orginally started with Tiger Lotus, Cabomba, and a mixture of swords. Then added a couple of grasses (which died), and have one flax-like grass still surviving (just). I don't know what it is. Looks kind of like a japanese rush but not the right colour for a japanese rush. I also have java fern

All my plants have been munch up and killed by my fish - even though I feed them spirulina and now all my plants look like twiggy-broken-leaf-horrible things. (So I put an advert to buy plants on trade and exchange forum). So I got that funny grass-japanese thing. And Java fern. Thats pretty much what has survived.....

5. Its a community tank:

Schools:

black neon tetra (5)

neon tetra (4)

albino prescillia tetra.(2)

Tiger Barb (3)

Rosy Barb (1)

Bottom Feeder Fish:

Albino Cory (1)

Goldspot Pleco (1)

Black Line Flying Foxes (3)

Straita Loachs (3) - However I just cleaned my tank and can't find them anywhere :-?

Other Fish:

Kissing Gourami (2)

Like I mentioned before. I am trying to get more plants to fill it up with as its looking pretty scraggy at the moment.

[Jennifer]

That sounds like a nice tank. There are a few things you can do to improve the algae situation. You might already know some of this, but I will list it just for clarity:

1. Reduce the photoperiod to about 6 hours (you can increase it to 8 in a few weeks but for now, just minimise the light so the plants wont starve from having such a high demand for nutrients).

2. Remove the carbon from your filter, it isn't needed unless you are trying to remove a particular chemical from the water. If you do ever need to use it, remove it after a couple of weeks or it will start leaching the chemicals back into the water.

3. Get some more plants (sounds like you are well into this already 8) ). This will be one of the key things that will help sort out your problems since lots of healthy plants will soak up the excess nutrients in the water. Even if you get some plants going in there temporarily, that will help.

4. Start dosing with Flourish Comprehensive, about 1ml per 50 litres of tank water, once every other day. Or you can dose with PMDD (a combination fertiliser that is sold by Hans on the forum). Fertilising will start getting the plants growing well.

5. Start dosing with Flourish Excel, dose as listed on the label. This will provide the carbon source that your plants need to be able to utilise the nutrients. Alternatively, you can also use pressurised or DIY CO2 (do a search of the forums for how to do this) but the Excel is quite a bit more stable than DIY CO2 in terms of carbon levels.

6. Take care that you aren't feeding the fish too much. They can live quite happily on a very small amount of food. Excess waste from overfeeding can produce a lot of nutrients that can promote all sorts of problems.

7. For the types of fish you are keeping, you don't really need to add any salt. It is not harmful to add some salt, but it is not beneficial either for most species of fish.

8. Increase your water changes to 50% once weekly. This will remove excess nutrients built up from the fertilising and help keep the tank balanced for good plant growth. There is no need to vacuum every single time you do a water change - although if there is a lot of waste floating around, do remove this if you can.

9. Make sure the flow is good around your plants as this will help them to grow faster by providing ready access to nutrients. No need to over clean your filter, but just make sure it is flowing well. This isn't essential, but it can help a lot and it can also help the the processing of fish wastes.

10. If your light tubes are over a year old, it would be good to replace them with new tubes. They deteriorate after time and this can result in decreased growth from the plants.

Hope that helps! Keep us updated.

[dyinggoldfish]

I decided to try a DIY C02 thing to help my plants grow. :bounce:

I got the instructions from http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/DIY-Yeast-CO2/7/

I just need to get a proper diffuser for it.... but here is what it looks like so far:

I would like to Thank Mela Apple Juice for the recycled use of the 2L bottle.

[DennisP]

What filter outlet do you have? If you can tie the co2 outlet into the filter it should diffuse enough by the time it gets into the tank.

[the-obstacle]

What filter outlet do you have? If you can tie the co2 outlet into the filter it should diffuse enough by the time it gets into the tank.

I'm interested in this question, can you explain what outlet might be suitable and why?

[Jennifer]

That's great that you are getting the CO2 up and going. I notice two small issues that can cause big problems so it might pay to remedy the situation if you can:

1. The tubing is extending too far down into the bottle. If the liquid begins to froth, it can get sucked into the tubing. This can be easily fixed by cutting the tubing so that it is just protruding from the underside of the cap.

2. Having the yeast bottle above the tank means that gravity could more easily draw the yeast into the tubing if it gets too frothy. It is safer to have the bottle below the water level.

[dyinggoldfish]

That's great that you are getting the CO2 up and going. I notice two small issues that can cause big problems so it might pay to remedy the situation if you can:

1. The tubing is extending too far down into the bottle. If the liquid begins to froth, it can get sucked into the tubing. This can be easily fixed by cutting the tubing so that it is just protruding from the underside of the cap.

2. Having the yeast bottle above the tank means that gravity could more easily draw the yeast into the tubing if it gets too frothy. It is safer to have the bottle below the water level.

Yeah I cut the tube so its only about 3cm in the bottle now.

So far this hasn't worked. - BUT I haven't been put off. I am thinking that my yeast might be bad.... it has been sitting in the pantry for about a year

I will try to put it bellow the tank (which will be good cause then my lorikeet wont keep trying to knock it off - he likes sitting up there).

[Dave+Amy]

Yay Anna, when you get yours working properly, you can pop down to my place and help me build an industrial sized one I WANT A FOREST haha

[DennisP]

I'm interested in this question, can you explain what outlet might be suitable and why?

Most likely any that you can tie ur co2 hose into.

It would involve DIY skills to do it, actually, any part of your filter. The current, media and all that will diffuse it pretty well.

[dyinggoldfish]

So I went and got some more yeast and tried it again. Nothing so far. I read on other peoples that they got something within half an hour.

I even checked to make sure my check valve was in the right way. Its gone that cloudy colour so it appears to be reacting - but no CO2 yet

Any Ideas?

[phoenix44]

2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons of yeast and warm water in a 3L bottle; filled a couple of centimetres over where the bottle starts going conical.

[dyinggoldfish]

2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons of yeast and warm water in a 3L bottle; filled a couple of centimetres over where the bottle starts going conical.

I did 2 cups of sugar and 1 tsp of yeast.... might put another teaspoon in there

[the-obstacle]

Most likely any that you can tie ur co2 hose into.

It would involve DIY skills to do it, actually, any part of your filter. The current, media and all that will diffuse it pretty well.

So co2 introduced to the line before the cannister would still be of benefit once it comes back out? This could be an awesome way to hide the co2 system in a cupboard under the tank as I don't have room for it beside or around the tank but the cannister is a metre below the tank and has room beside it for a bottle or 2.

[dyinggoldfish]

so i noticed heaps of gas build up in the bottle and gently squeezed the bottle -AND BUBBLES!

Any ideas on how to do it without standing there squeezing every five minutes?

[Jennifer]

Any ideas on how to do it without standing there squeezing every five minutes?

Give it a day. 8) There will be plenty of bubbles.

[SamH]

Test for leaks, that was my most common issue with it.