Lighting And Plant Help

[TLW1]

Morning Y'all
I need a bit of friendly advice Pretty Perlease. I recently purchased a tank, done all the relevent business waited 3 weeks, got some fish 7 died within like im sure it seemed like MINUTES but was overnight at least. Went back to pet shope explained and the advice some girl told me is to keep light off for a week to destress the little iddy biddy fishies which i done and the 6 i have left seem to be ok. But what she did tell me and i want a second, third of fourth opinion is not to have the light on the recommended 10 to 12 hours and only about 3 to 4 day. Is this good advice or not? My plants have horrid brown spots on them and they seem to be getting worse. What can i do about it and is it a lighting problem after all HELP ! )
The tank come as a complete starter kit so presume its the right equipment needed for that size ...

 

[docbanzai]

Hi,

As a newbie myself, I'm discouraged to give advice but...

This is only my PERSONAL experience; Get some floaty type (i.e. float on the surface) cover-plants (in fact mine are plastic ) ) but they provide some shade for the fishies but allow plenty of light through to your plants. I use the light for approx 10 hours/day and don't have any problems. My fishy residents can hide out under the floaters if they're feeling shy whilst the plants can still catch the rays they need. Of course you need to consider the amount of ambient light as well i.e. is the tank near a window. Also remember that plants need food too (Nitrates & CO2) as well as light. Argghhhh, as if things weren't tricky enough...

Please don't take this as gospel, but it works for me! Chin up... Things can only get better!

Regards,

DocBanzai.

 

[Marcos]

How many fish did you initially put in?
Did you do a fishless cycle using ammonia?

 

[TLW1]

I HAD 13 AT FIRST, ONLY TINY ONES BUT THE PET SHOP I GOT THEM FROM KNEW IT WAS FIRST LOT OF FISH BUT SAID IT WOULD BE FINE, ME NOT KNOWING TOOK THEM HOME. THEN THE OTHER PET SHOP I WENT TO SAID YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE PUT THAT MANY IN. YOU LEARN BY YOUR MISTAKES I SUPPOSE

 

[Bloo]

Hi Tania. I know it's an awful lot to learn and a lot of people don't realise this. The shops makes it sound all so easy - and most of them are too lazy to explain things properly and are only interested in our hard earned cash.

You will see a variety of algae over the next few months. Tanks generally take around 6 months or so find a balance and "settle".

What fish do you have right now ?
Do you know what your ammonia and nitrite levels are ?
How often are you performing water changes ?

It sounds like you are cycling with fish (as opposed to Fishless cycling). If this is the case, I suggest you perform a 20% daily water change to bring any dangerous ammonia and nitrite levels down.

Do not buy any new fish for a good few weeks and until everything is stable and happy for at least 2 weeks.

Most people have their lights on for an average of 10 hours a day. Five in the morning/afternoon (a couple of hours break) and five again in the evening. Three - Four is just too little. Buy yourself a time switch for a few ££'s - it saves a lot of hassle.

I will encourage you to try and read / understand this article on "New Tank Syndrome" / the Nitrogen Cycle.

Hope that helps for now.

Ps: 13 fish for such a small tank is just too many. Even if they are small - most grow to at least 2" and that would mean you already sit as twice as many as you can comfortably have in that tank. Let us know what you'd like to keep and we can help to advise you on suitability and compatibility

 

[TLW1]

Your all so brilliant I wish I had found this forum when I first got the tank. I left it fishless for 3 weeks settled it and bought myself a water testing kit. It tests PH, Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and High PH. I test it every Sunday and the last two weeks everthings settles again. My amonia is an 0 my nitrite is 0.25 and my nitrate I think is 20 (think I have them round the right way) My Ph I thought was slightly high at 7.8. I do a 25%water change every fortnight can I, or should I do it more often ? And the fish that i have left that i have had for 2 weeks now are 4 Lemon Tetras, 1 poor little lonely ol neon and a peppered Cory (hes lovely). And my plant thats megga brown spotted is a Echinodorus bleheri i think.

 

[Bloo]

I too found this forum when I was looking for help and information with a problem

Unfortunately just having left your tank fishless for 3 weeks would have been of absolutely no benefit at all. You would have had to add ammonia (or fish food that rots and creates ammonia) for the beneficial bacteria to grow and establish a colony in the filter. Without ammonia to start the cycle (see that link I gave you), plain water standing won't do anything on its own.

Anyway.... you have the fish in there now and the cycle has obviously kicked off. Unfortunately (as you've experienced), many fish die as a result of toxic ammonia / nitrite levels when cycling with fish. Neons & tetras probably aren't the best fish either as they're not very hardy, but as you have them and they've survived until now, you might be ok still with them.

Water changes won't help to alter your pH. But don't worry about your level - though it's on the high side, it's fine. My tapwater is the same.

Going forward (and once your tank is established), you should do a 20% weekly water change. Two weeks is too long.

But for right now, 20% a day until those levels are zero and the fish are in safe water.

And once all is fine, you can look at getting a couple of more corys - and a few weeks later again, some tetras. These are all fish who prefer to live in groups. But for now, no fish for a few weeks.

Edit: your plant is an Amazon Sword - in in low ligth they are bound to have brown algae on them. They are also very heavy root feeders and you should get some root tablets for them

 

[TLW1]

Bloozoo your a Star. Many thanks for your help im well happy now. While your there whats all this CO2 about ? And do you know what else the stupid bird at the aquarium told me to get Neons and Tetras as there hardy fish ha ha. Needless to say I WONT be going there again.

 

[Bloo]

No problem If you just have an Amazon, I really wouldn't worry about adding CO2 - especially not at this fragile stage of your tank. Your root feeding tablets will do just fine for now.

But in essence, CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) is a gas that plants require to grow and thrive. There always some in the water anyway, but usually not enough to grow an "underwater garden".
There are a couple of ways to add CO2 to a tank. The first method (most people start off with), is a mixture of sugar and yeast which ferments and creates the gas. The gas is then travels via an airline tube onto a special "bubble ladder" in the tank and mixes the gas with the water.

The other (much more expensive method) is pressurised gas in a bottle.

If you need to know more about either of these methods, you can ask the people in the planted section. Or this article will help you out