Newbie Needs Advice!

[Kez*]

Hi! I am a newbie to the fish keeping world and have a few problems I wondered if anyone could help with? Ive had the tank about two weeks and after a week added four silver tips. The temp is 24, with a few plants and a log to cover the filter from view but the water seems to be going green and I havnt changed it yet. The fish didnt eat for a week but are slowly having a few flakes. I need to try and work out how to get the water clear and healthy for the fish but there is so much conflicting advice about how much to change or when to, im not sure what to do ... anyone help???

 

[fishcollector7000]

Hi! I am a newbie to the fish keeping world and have a few problems I wondered if anyone could help with? Ive had the tank about two weeks and after a week added four silver tips. The temp is 24, with a few plants and a log to cover the filter from view but the water seems to be going green and I havnt changed it yet. The fish didnt eat for a week but are slowly having a few flakes. I need to try and work out how to get the water clear and healthy for the fish but there is so much conflicting advice about how much to change or when to, im not sure what to do ... anyone help???

Hi , its fine! i have trouble with this all the time! my manly friend always says as i have been told at the lfs also do a 25% water change. and if it still looks bad a bucket every other day after that!

hope this helps?

 

[Irf]

I imagine that if you added a few fish after just a week then you are going for cycling the tank while fish are in it. Perhaps this is the reason they have been off their food? It might be that while the toxic ammonia was affecting them they didn't feel up to eating. Are you doing water tests? To be honest, the tests are the best way of judging water quality and not the colour. Well, that and how the fish are behaving I guess.

The greeny tinge will be algae. What sort of lighting have you got, and how long is it on for?

Irf.

 

[Kez*]

IT is a flurenscent tube, and Is on all day except goes off when I goto bed.

 

[GUYZY]

On all day hey? Maybe you should cut down on the times that it is running because long lighting leads to algae problems.

 

[DarkEntity]

1) you never cycled the tank prior to adding fish, so they are now getting poisoned by Ammonia etc.

read the cycling sticky

2) the green is an algae bloom.

 

[Kez*]

On all day hey? Maybe you should cut down on the times that it is running because long lighting leads to algae problems.

Thanks! Ive been reading that 6 -8 hours a day is best, would you agree?

 

[leecara]

Hi, I am new as well, and also got fed lots of bad advice, I have found, and this is my personal opinion, to take all the advice and use what works for you.

I lost lots of fish due to not cycling my tank before adding them - to be honest i had not even been told about cycling tanks, any way, now I have 7 little fishes, i test the water daily and if the ammonia or Nitrite is above zero i do a 30% water change (depending on how high the reading, sometimes a bit less) The bacteria is builiding in my filter as the Nitrate reads 5 now and the ammonia and nitrite today is zero, so don't despair, it takes time but as long as you do this regularly for a couple of weeks or so then it gets there in the end.

Also I have my light on for only 8 hours - I have been told that this is fine.

Also we were over feeding, I now only feed my fish every two - three days - this seems to help as they don't then put as much waste into the tank.

I was also given advice to check the filter etc, to make sure it can cope with the size of your tank and to add bacteria in liquid form to help speed things up.

Good luck

 

[Irf]

IT is a flurenscent tube, and Is on all day except goes off when I goto bed.

There are threads in here that explain in great detail the pros and cons of lighting intensity and duration. Look at some of them - they may be in the planted tanks forum. The general thinking appears to be that two lighting periods work best, no longer than 4 hours each I think, with at least an hour in between.

Not certain of the times though - best check or seek detailed advice. However "on all day" will almost certainly be the cause of your algae problems.....

Irf.

 

[SuperColey1]

Lighting wise I turn my lights on at 12 midday and then off at 4 for 2 hours then on at 6pm until midnight.

It all depends if you have a planted tank. The plants obviously need light. Different plants need more light than others.

The fish will usually get used to the lighting times, much as we get used to things.

the break in the lighting (siesta) is reported to affect algae but not the plants (I can't confirm this as I've never suffered from algae yet.

Hope this helps until someone more knowledgable spots this thread