Rose said:
Tell me everything you can about your set up. Things like how often you do water changes, how much each time. Number of fish, type of fish. Size tank (in gallons), what do you have for a substrait? What are your water peramiters (ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes, pH, phosphates if you have a tester for it)? WHat kinds of plants do you have? Do they have any new leaves since you put them in? How long has the plants been in the tank? What type of lighting, how many watts total? What type of bulb and the rating if you know? Do you add ferilizer or any kind of addititves for the plants? If so what do you add, how much and how often? How often do you feed the fish in the tank and how much? Is it by a window does it get any sunlight? How long has this tank been up and running? Did you cycle it before you put plants in or after the plants were in? Names of plants and how many of each? I think that's all I'll need but I'm sure to come up with more questions.
CO2 is a matter of preference and how hard they want to work on their tank. I have what is known as Low tech tanks. Meaning I have low to mid lighting, no CO2, hardy but fast growing plants that eat the excess nutrients. Once I have the other info then I can help you figure out if you need CO2 or not. Rose
Hi Rose,
"Tell me everything you can about your set up."
OK, here goes! Firstly, this is a matured tank (over 10 years old). When I acquired it, I shifted the whole lot (gravel, filter, water, fish and plants) to their new location, so it was well cycled. Since then I've had to do a total strip-down and replace all the gravel (it hadn't been cleaned for years and was like compost), but I kept the matured filter media so I've not had any ammonia or nitrite to contend with.
Now to your questions:
* "how often you do water changes, how much each time"
Currently 20-30% every 2 days, because I've had a problem with nitrates (now fixed) and then I had a problem with pH (it comes out of the tap at 9.0). I've been gradually swapping my water for peat-filtered water to lower my pH and get that Amazon look.
* "Number of fish, type of fish"
OK, the cherry barbs are under an eviction notice, as are my black neon tetras. My current stock is:
4x Pearl Gouramis (immature, 2 to be evicted)
4x Black Neon tetras (to be evicted)
3x Beckford's pencilfish
5x Cardinal tetras
6x Cherry barbs (to be evicted)
6x Rummy-nosed tetras
1x Bristle-nosed plec
1x Gold barb (tiny)
2x Golden apple snails
* " Size tank"
Officially, 110L (approx. 25 US gallons, 21 UK gallons). It's a Juwel corner tank so has slightly more swimming room to a rectangular tank (52" at its longest point).
* "what do you have for a substrait?"
3mm sandstone gravel (pH neutral). Plants are mostly in small pots.
* "water peramiters (ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes, pH, phosphates"
pH 7.0 (hope to get it lower still eventually)
KH 10 (also hope to get lower)
GH 14
N02 0
NH4 0
NO3 10 (and dropping)
I haven't tested for phosphate, but that is something I intend to do, due to the algae. Tap water came out with 75ppm nitrates the other day, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's also high in phosphate.
* "WHat kinds of plants do you have? Do they have any new leaves since you put them in? How long has the plants been in the tank?"
5x Giant vallis
1x Dwarf vallis
2x Amazon swords
1x Dwarf Amazon sword
1x Java fern (plus plantlets)
2x Java moss
2x Anubias
They are all producing new leaves. I bought the moss and anubias but the rest were in the tank when I was given it. However, they weren't thriving. I'd like to get some of those feathery, Amazon plants to replace the Java fern, and use the fern in my cichlid tank (although the rate it's reproducing, I'll probably be able to do both tanks). I've recently split my dwarf sword plant and put half in another tank.
*"What type of lighting, how many watts total? What type of bulb and the rating if you know?"
I have two 15W Sun-glows with light-doubling reflectors (I haven't got a lot of options with lights since it's a Juwel tank). I've lose the box, but I got them because their spectrum seemed best suited to plant growth (very yellow light).
*"Do you add ferilizer or any kind of addititves for the plants? If so what do you add, how much and how often?"
I give my plants a dose of Flora-Boost liquid plantfood, once a week. It's really made a huge difference.
*"How often do you feed the fish in the tank and how much?"
I feed twice a day, a couple of pinches of flake, dried bloodworms, frozen daphnia, pellets, frozen peas or whatever I fancy that day. It is usually enough for them to gobble it in under 3 minutes!
*"Is it by a window does it get any sunlight?"
Very little natural daylight (hence the tubes).
*"How long has this tank been up and running? "
(See above)
*"Did you cycle it before you put plants in or after the plants were in?"
Yes
The tank is well cycled and the Juwel filter colum seems to work well. Despite adding new fish, I haven't seen any kind of ammonia or nitrite spike yet. I feel I've covered all bases for my plants and they are growing quite well (my anubias is doing particularly well). However, if I can get my plants to really
thrive perhaps they can out-compete all that algae (although the algae isn't as bad as it was and is possibly a hang-over for all those years when the nitrate levels were 250ppm+).