simwiz Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 The tank looks GREAT! I want to see more details on those custom lights! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Thanks to ANZAC day I got some time to work on the tank again.... but not before a massive outbreak of green water algae... I guess I'll have to swallow my words Antwan. I have now picked up my CO2 bottle from Air Liquide, and purchased my EI dosing ferts from Stockers Hydroponic supplies. All thats left too do in the immediate future is to finish up the inline heater and stock it with stacks of plants. Later Ill get the lights, spray skirt and door sorted (I need to space these things to keep the inhouse finance manager happy. Tank Shot Heres the base all sorted 2x 6 point power adapter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Chuck a heap of Indian fern in there. That is what I did when I set up my tank, it kept algae from appearing, because it grows so fast. Especially with Co2. But I did have more plants than you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 I've always wondered if you pulled the livestock out and just dumpped loads of CO2 into the aquarium, if that would help cut down the algae, and helps start off the tank with plants taking up more nutients that way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Update 27/06/2012 Tank has been up and running a few months now... and I have finally been brave enough to take some photos. At last the tank seems to have finished cycling.. its been a tough few months of BBA, greenwater, surface scum and brown snot algae. It was so bad I couldnt even look at the tank until a few weeks ago and had to keep apologising to guests when they looked at it. I also lost my large discus to skin ailment (probably due to bad water quality). I have been following the Tom Barr EI method (search "EI for non techy folks" for simplified information). I was only doing 1x 50% water change per week and the algae just seemed to hang in there despite the pressurised CO2, fert dosing and MH lights. Then I read that Tom Barr reccomends you do water changes every 2 - 3 days for the first couple of months of a new setup. Since then I have been doing a 25 - 33% on a wednesday night and a 50% on a saturday morning and the algae has dissapeared fast. Also my testing has shown that Tauranga water is incredibly soft and additional dosing of CaCO3, MgSO4 and baking soda has helped to stabilise the pH swings caused by the lack of buffering of the CO2. Plants have started to really take off in the last 2 weeks, with glosso spreading out along the bottom in nice compact chains. Sword plant has tripled in size and stem plants are starting to hit the surface (snip snip time). Give it another month or two and it will have filled in nicely and will be time to start thinking a bit more about the long-term look of the scape. Next on the list to do is my internal heater and CO2 reactor followed by the skirt around the top of the tank and aroudn the lights. Also, check out my post on my DIY shower water changer setup... if you are going to be doing EI in a large tank you dont want to he bucketing water or sucking on hoses, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Looks much better than the last time I saw it :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 Hmmm. Not too bad :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I have a PO4 nightmare, everytime I check the water it is off the scale of my Hagen PO4 test kit and I cant work out why... but my tank is covered in BBA, spyro and orange snot algaes 1.) I am doing 2x 30-50% water changes per week to try and dilute PO4. I have checked our tapwater and it has no detectable PO4 using the same test kit as above so does not appear to be the source. 2) I have checked the flake food I was using (Aquaone Discus Bits and Tetramin tropical crisps), both seem to be high in PO4 when checked with the test kit so have been feeding very sparingly last 2 weeks using mainly live foods such as brine shrimp (fresh and thoroughly washed frozen), yet doesnt seem to have made any difference. 3.) Heavily planted with MH lights, pressurised CO2 and EI dosing, but have stopped dosing PO4 as already very high. Also stopped dosing CaCO3, baking soda and MgSO4 this week as salts can apparently be high in PO4... again no difference to tank water 4.) substrate is Daltons with good cap of daltons propagaton sand (well washed) 5.) Tank has 19 neons, 1 medium discus, 4x Rams, 5x black neons and 1x small Plecco... I wouldnt have thought this was over stocked, but am considereding getting rid of the rams to try and reduce waste load 5.) My current thinking is that perhaps the large piece of drift wood that I took from the Wairoa River may be leaching PO4..... is that a possibility. I will need to take a small piece of the wood that hasnt been sitting in the tank and check what it does in my PO4 test. Has anybody got any other suggestions??????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 are you using a pH adjuster?, some are made from phosphoric acid which sets off the tests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Nope, no adjusters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karina Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I would suggest try adjusting the time that your lights are on. Also reduce or stop any liquid ferts/root tabs you are using. Treat for the algae. Clean any filters to get rid of any bad built up food waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 3.) Heavily planted with MH lights, pressurised CO2 and EI dosing, but have stopped dosing PO4 as already very high. Also stopped dosing CaCO3, baking soda and MgSO4 this week as salts can apparently be high in PO4... again no difference to tank water ummm CaCO3, MgSO4, NaHCO3..... no P's there have you tested the water straight out of the tap, has a guy the other day similar experience, after further tests and investigation they found a cracked sewer pipe next to a cracked water pipe down the road from him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dachende Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Could it be a problem with the test kit itself ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 have you tested the water straight out of the tap I have checked our tapwater and it has no detectable PO4 using the same test kit as above so does not appear to be the source. interesting one. try and check every variable on its own until you work it out. shouldn't be the sand etc but just try anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbden Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 With EI dosing all nuitrents should be in excess including po4 so the plants should out compete the algea. It is normal/healthy to have algea in any tank. Get a good clean up crew small black line algea eaters and ottos. Looking at what you are doing id look into the flow rate in the tank for the slime algea. If you have alot of BBA id look at ph swings doesnt take much to get it out of control. Do you run a controler ? And light hours i found t5s more than strong enough and did always have to run less hours then was recamended. What kelvin rating are your bulbs? Dont water change to much you will loss to many good baiteria that will help the battle stick to 50% weekly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 With EI dosing all nuitrents should be in excess including po4 so the plants should out compete the algea. And light hours i found t5s more than strong enough and did always have to run less hours then was recamended. +1 to the above. However, i've taken the PO4 component out of my EI mix as I also found it always in excess of the recommended levels. My $0.02 worth? Drop your lighting right back (either duration or distance). Light drives the system, and i suspect your MHs may be way too much? For my tank FWIW, reduced light, no added PO4 - result!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomGilberg Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 looks pretty awesome. i like the old layout in aussie! could you post some more pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted September 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Ok, cheers guys for the suggestions, looks like Angus' light suggestion was the main issue. I cut my light back to 5hrs per day and started getting immediate reduction in algae. I also put in a power head and got a bit more current going... slime algae started to dissapear.... BUT it dawned on me that as much as I liked that big piece of driftwood in the tank it just took up too much space, it was blocking the current, created heaps of spots I couldnt gravel vac and blocked the light from much of the stem plants at the back of the tank. These stem plants were starting to become very leggy even though the glosso at the front was growing fantastically. So I bit the bullet and rescaped the entire tank. Started on Saturday morning and stopped at 1am sunday morning to get some sleep and then finished it off on Sunday arvo. I love the new layout, just wish I had a better camera to capture it... will get a friend to photograph once stem plants grow in. The new layout lets heaps of light into the back of the tank and will be much easier to keep clean. The neons are loving having the wide open space on the right-hand side and the rams seem to really like swimming between the rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Looks awesome Peet! Love the layout especially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Looks Great, Nice Work. :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Heres some photos of my old tank as requested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peet Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Locally caught rainbow fish (East Coast Aust) Locally caught shrimp (OZ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 The tank itself looked great but when I saw the overall pic of it in the room I realised it was only half the size it should have been Bigger is better! :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 lucky bugger used to lover collecting wierd fish in northern queensland the gudgeons are awesome as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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