Sophia Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 what's the tank looking like now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 It's back. BBA spotted this morning. New plants are rotting, slime building. I'm collecting what ever rain water is available, I've added clearmax to the filter and have stopped using water from the hot water cylinder. Water changes twice per week, light and food limited. P04 still raised, PH near 8, all other levels within normal. I give up. I really just give up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 darn it. that sucks. my only suggestion would be to give up on plants and get plastic ones... plants cause a lot of issues... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 Just checking that you do realise that with restarting your tank you will have algae outbreaks. What do you mean that other readings seem okay? My tank currently has brown algae, green spot algae and some small tufts of bba which is completely natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 Oh yes, I know it's common to have algae to some degree. My problem is how much of it. It takes over everything. The plants rot within a few days regardless of type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 I would be interested to see what happened if you could somehow only use rainwater and no tap water. Whether or not you will feel like another variation by now is another story :tears: if only there was a fish that ate slime algae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 just speed reread this thread again - what sort of substrate are you using and where did you get it from what sort of rocks and where did you get them from what types of plants are they do you have to turn all your lights on at once or are they able to be turned on separately how long did it take for the algae to build up how often have you water changed this time around and how much how much excel are you using what is your stock this time around what are you feeding how often and how much what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings what is your kh do you use chlorine remover for water changes did you use a liquid bacteria at start up I know you will have already answered these questions but bear with me if you can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy11 Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 Hey try adding more fast growing plants as this will make the algae have to compete for light nutrients etc. Also adding siamese algae eaters will help get rid of the black beard algae. Discard all the plants that are heavily affected by algae, and maybe add some CO2 and increase the current flow. If some bits of algae fall off then manually remove it from the tank because it will start to decay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimebag Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 +1 for the siamese algae eater. I always keep at least one. found they are the key to having no bba. just got to make sure you get a true sae. is there any way you can fill a large bin/barrel/buckets from somewhere with town supply water to use for water changes for a month or 2? or as suggested try rainwater? sorry if this has been posted before just skimmed this thread good luck and keep trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Your lighting is fine it's only 85w over 215litres.. that's actually low (<0.5w/litre), I prefer 1w/litre or more. I'd recommend some hardy slow-growing plants like java fern, you can even tie it to a rock, and it can survive algae attacks. you should at least that way get something growing to help to absorb excess nutrients I have an idea, those sponge cartridges you replaced, do they have carbon inside them? i came across some that did, possibly they are leaching phosphate (as you mentioned earlier re carbon). try the PO4 tests again on a bucket of tap water and bucket of tap water with the cartridge submerged, test every second day for a week or two I'd also recommend doing lmsmith's tests: I would try doing a huge water change to get your phosphate down as low as possible. Take a phoshate reading. Do your regular routine with lighting, but don't feed the tank. Do another phosphate reading in 5 days without feeding and see how much the fish are adding to the system. I wonder if it's also worth setting up another container of a similar size and ghost feeding it then doing a phosphate reading - that way you can see if the fish or food are adding more phosphate? If it's the food, you can change to a lower phosphate food. If it's the fish, you can reduce the bioload by taking out some fish and seeing if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Flake food is high in phosphate. Can you change to something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/water ... phates.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy11 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Buy a phosphate zorb and see if that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Your lighting is fine it's only 85w over 215litres.. that's actually low (<0.5w/litre), I prefer 1w/litre or more. Watts =/= light and litres=/=depth, the WPL theory is bust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Watts =/= light and litres=/=depth, the WPL theory is bust. yeah whatevs not to me. how many people have a huge long tank that is not that deep?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Not sure what point you're making but the fact of the matter is that watts per volume is not a valid formula for the amount of light in an aquarium. Person A with a 60cm long x 30cm high & wide (54L) tank may do well with two 20W CFL bulbs, however person A has no right to tell person B that the same two bulbs on their 30 long x 30 wide x 60 high (54L) tank will have the same results. There will be less than half the light at the bottom of tank B among other factors, CO2, nutrients, etc. Instead of using watts per gallon or litre, one must look at lighting on a case by case basis. Hope this clears things up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 i know what you're saying but how many people would realistically have a 30x30 tank that's 60 deep? lol the point is it's better to have a roughly workable formula that's easy to work out than for people to have to ask everytime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 hrmmm... invest in a lux meter???? LSI (lux per square inch) is one of the accurate ways to calculate lighting. http://fotohobbist.com/blog/lighting-for-planted-aquariums-watts-per-gallon-lsi-lumen-lux-what/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 a roughly workable formula But it doesn't work these days. Back in the days of standard aquarium sizes and T12 tubes, yes it worked. But there are just too many different lighting choices and unusual tank sizes to even consider the above formula. I can guarantee you'll get more LSI out of a 200w halide than you will from 2x 100w incandescent bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 You don't want a Lux metre (they are pretty much useless), You want a PAR (Quantum Light Metre ) Par is the measurement of light available for plants during photosynthesis. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showt ... p?t=184368 And PAR metreas are Super expensive in the $300 range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Dana has pretty much done what she can do as far as lighting goes in her situation. That was me politely saying :smot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Thank you Sophia lol. Latest update... I called the council and had my mains flushed. Added Clearmax to the hood filter as advised by the rep, happily take further advice on this re removing phosphate. Appears to have had no impact. Tap water still reading 0 for cold, and .5 for hot water cylinder. 30% water changes every 4-5 days, incl gravel siphon and moving rocks. PH 7.8 (usual for this tank) Ammonia 0 No2 0 No3 40ppm (water change yesterday, about to do another after this reading) P04 2.5 (WTF!!!) Feeding once per day. I found a grey hair today.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/water ... phates.htm you have probably read this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Yeah, read that but thanks. It must be food, and the decaying plants are a given. A bit of a vicious circle really. The tank kills the plants, the plants poison the tank. So, the shops haven't been of any help. Best non or low phosphate foods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 live food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.