Lots Of Silly Questions

[kiwifish]

hi i have a few questions to ask (sorry if is seem tedious to some of you if the questions get asked again and again).

i have my tank for about 10 months now and only discover this forum very recently. after reading some of the theads. it got me to question about the setup of my tank.

1) airstone - i like my tank to be heavily planted with real plants so do i still need to have it? i have the air on 24/7 is it ok ? or do i turn it off everyday? ( i also have a very good filter - not sure if this info help)

2) algae - some of the plants i have since when i 1st brought the tank have now they've grow into a really good looking plant ( some even flowered - but got eaten), but now have algae on them, do i throw them away, or can i clean them off?

3) lights - how much hour of light does the tank need? at the moment, is on for about 14 hours a day.

4) plants - i have a variety of plants ( don't know what is what ). some just grow and grow and some get picked by the fishes, and within a month, they can demolish the plant. for those that is allow to grow, do i trim them? and those favour by the fishes, how can i stop them from eating all of it?

5) fake plants - they don't look very good in the packet, so why do some people have them? i have brought one before, and the angel decided he doesn't like it and kept attacking it.

i shall only post these questions for now

thanks

 

[SuperColey1]

1) airstone - i like my tank to be heavily planted with real plants so do i still need to have it? i have the air on 24/7 is it ok ? or do i turn it off everyday? ( i also have a very good filter - not sure if this info help)

No you will drive away CO2. Big misconception with CO2 IMO that the CO2 will gas out your fish at night. Pressurised will use solenoids if they don't want CO2 at night and DIY will struggle to get 30ppm let alone gas their fish out

2) algae - some of the plants i have since when i 1st brought the tank have now they've grow into a really good looking plant ( some even flowered - but got eaten), but now have algae on them, do i throw them away, or can i clean them off?

Most will say wrap tootbrushes around algae and scrub this and that but if it were me. I would sort the root cause of the algae (probably CO2 related) and then bin ALL affected leaves.

3) lights - how much hour of light does the tank need? at the moment, is on for about 14 hours a day.

14 hours is far too much. dependent on how much light you have I would suggest between 8 and 12 hours

4) plants - i have a variety of plants ( don't know what is what ). some just grow and grow and some get picked by the fishes, and within a month, they can demolish the plant. for those that is allow to grow, do i trim them? and those favour by the fishes, how can i stop them from eating all of it?

If you feed the fish they will not eat your plants. You may se some algae loving fish like mollys pecking away but they are eating the algae from the leaves not eating the plant. Plecs 6"+ can just bulldose plants and damage them that way. Plants that get too big cut them just above a leaf joint about 1 inch from the waters surface and plant the cutting in the substrate keeping each stem 2cm apart. They will then form a thicker bushy plant.

5) fake plants - they don't look very good in the packet, so why do some people have them? i have brought one before, and the angel decided he doesn't like it and kept attacking it.

Because planted tanks can look very hard to maintain and it is just easier for some people to have plants that don't grow, don't need meds, get moved but not pulled up by larger fish etc. I would never have a fake plant again. They look so much worse than the real thing.