A Few Beginner Questions On Varying Subjects.

[oneblondebrow]

Hi all,

I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me regarding my new setup.

1. My new tank arrives Monday and due to the fact i require to put it in the same place as my current tank is it means i have a slight dilemma, What i plan to do is Fill up my 40 liter bucket with gravel/fake and real plants/decorations/heater and filter to make a sort of home from home environment for my fish, Then i can position my new tank and start decorating and filling it up. I will need to leave this for 24 hours to make sure i can get the exact temperature of my old tank, once it has reached that temperature i will then add the old fully cycled filter and run that side by side with the new one for maybe 30minutes, now i will start adding the fish with some of as much of the original water i can. Will this be ok?

2. I currently am having some major issue's with Algea which i cannot seem to get rid of even after a 4 day blackout and adding some Alodea densa plants, Also reducing the hours the light is on, Is this likely to transfer to the new tank setup if so how else should i get rid of it, Is there any treatments?

3. As i will be having a load of Alodea Densa plants in the new tank do i need to add some sort of Co2 Fertilizer?

4. Is it worth me getting some sort of aeration system?

Hope you guys can shed some light on these questions.

Many thanks

 

[fishyfeet]

Hi all,

I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me regarding my new setup.

1. My new tank arrives Monday and due to the fact i require to put it in the same place as my current tank is it means i have a slight dilemma, What i plan to do is Fill up my 40 liter bucket with gravel/fake and real plants/decorations/heater and filter to make a sort of home from home environment for my fish, Then i can position my new tank and start decorating and filling it up. I will need to leave this for 24 hours to make sure i can get the exact temperature of my old tank, once it has reached that temperature i will then add the old fully cycled filter and run that side by side with the new one for maybe 30minutes, now i will start adding the fish with some of as much of the original water i can. Will this be ok?

I cant see a problem with that, as long as the filter keeps running that should be great.
If you are putting your new tank where your old tank is, is this wise if you have algae, is it near a window?

2. I currently am having some major issue's with Algea which i cannot seem to get rid of even after a 4 day blackout and adding some Alodea densa plants, Also reducing the hours the light is on, Is this likely to transfer to the new tank setup if so how else should i get rid of it, Is there any treatments?

Any treatments that kill algae will damage your plants, algae is a plant. Algae will out compete any plant is there are enough nutiments, if you plant enough plants that are fast growing and use up nitrates then the algae will struggle to advance, you are unlikely to get rid of it completely in any case. I have two tanks one has hardly any algae, the other is plagued by it, the only difference is one is nearer the window that the other, otherwise they are treated the same, oh and one has lots of vallis in it, vallis doesnt grow well in the smaller tank, but algae does.

3. As i will be having a load of Alodea Densa plants in the new tank do i need to add some sort of Co2 Fertilizer?

no, i found co2 useless unless you get a decent system, so either do it properly or dont bother.

4. Is it worth me getting some sort of aeration system?

This makes no difference to fish or plants and just looks nice, if your filter provides water movement that all you need. Bubble curtains etc look nice but some plants dont appreciate it.

Hope this help, just my opinion for what its worth, others will no doubt add their view. di

 

[Assaye]

1. My new tank arrives Monday and due to the fact i require to put it in the same place as my current tank is it means i have a slight dilemma, What i plan to do is Fill up my 40 liter bucket with gravel/fake and real plants/decorations/heater and filter to make a sort of home from home environment for my fish, Then i can position my new tank and start decorating and filling it up. I will need to leave this for 24 hours to make sure i can get the exact temperature of my old tank, once it has reached that temperature i will then add the old fully cycled filter and run that side by side with the new one for maybe 30minutes, now i will start adding the fish with some of as much of the original water i can. Will this be ok?

Get two buckets - put your fish in one and as much water as you can from the old tank into the other. Then, take your old tank down and set up the new one. Add new, washed gravel or your old gravel (your fish don't need it in theirt bucket) and your decor. Put the heater and other equipment in and take the old sponges out of your old filter and put them in the new one. Saves you needing to run two filters. Add the water from the old tank from the second bucket and top the tank up with fresh, dechlorinated water. Check the temperature and add water from the kettle if you need to raise it, or cold water if you need to lower it. Turn your equipment on, let the heater settle down (should only take a few minutes for it to work out what temperature the water is and start adjusting it properly) and then once you are happy everything is working, add the fish and the rest of their old water. No need for it to take longer than an hour and as far as the fish are concerned, they've just had a large water change.

If you run two filters and don't add anymore fish, the new filter won't get any bacteria as all the ammonia and nitrites will be eaten by the bacteria in the old filter. If you add new fish, you have a chance of getting some bacteria to come and live in the new filter. If you want to try that method, you need to leave both filters running together for at least a month, ideally much longer. It's much easier just to use your old media in the new filter.

2. I currently am having some major issue's with Algea which i cannot seem to get rid of even after a 4 day blackout and adding some Alodea densa plants, Also reducing the hours the light is on, Is this likely to transfer to the new tank setup if so how else should i get rid of it, Is there any treatments?

If you do a proper scrub down of your decor and anything else that is moving accross, it might be OK. However, it depends why you have got algae in the first place. If it's something like excess ammonia, infrequent water changes, too few plants or unstable CO2 levels, then you might get the algae coming back if you don't rectify these problems.

3. As i will be having a load of Alodea Densa plants in the new tank do i need to add some sort of Co2 Fertilizer?

You can add CO2 if you like - if done well it will stablise CO2 levels (which may cut down on algae) and will certainly make the plants grow stronger and faster. However, with elodea I don't think it is necessary. They certainly don't need CO2 injection to survive.

4. Is it worth me getting some sort of aeration system?

As long as you have good water turnover in the tank (a filter designed for that tank size will suffice if you don't have messy fish like plecs or goldfish) and as long as you can very visibly see surface water movement, then I don't think an air pump is necessary. However, it can't hurt IMO. I never run air pumps so I'll leave others to discuss the merits of them.

 

[oneblondebrow]

Any idea's how i would add the old media to the new filter as they are both different makes and models, The old filter is a Interpret PF1 and the new one will be a Juwel bio filter with the 600 pump set? Also how much of the old filter shall i use?

 

[waterdrop]

You just have to get creative when moving media. Remember that the bacteria are microscopic, there are millions of them and they are not picky. Sponge type media can be cut up with scissors into smaller shapes that can be fit in a new place. Loose media like ceramic gravel or rings can simply be moved into a new shaped space or inside some bag-like container in the new filter (for instance some filter come with thin sponge bags filled with carbon and since you don't need the carbon you can slit it and refill it with the already matured ceramics from the old filter.

~~waterdrop~~