Questions On New Tank Setup.

[wolfrad]

I am about 3 1/2 weeks in a fish cycling of my 5 gallon aquarium, I noticed that the towel under my tank was soaked and the water level had went down about 4-5 inches, thought I had a leak in the tank. I checked the filter and where the small filter connects to the tank in the back it was leaking out little at a time but enough over a long period of time to make somewhat of a mess. I noticed that the filter itself has some greenish brown algae on the front of it and also the spout where the water leaves the filter to go into the tank had algae hampering the flow. Also the sack (I suppose charcoal) was covered with algae, so I took it to the sink and ran water through it and cleaned the algae out a little. Now was I stupid to wash this out and what can I do about the algae, now I do leave the light on almost 24/7 so I'm sure that doesn't help matters but what should I do about what I've done---did I mess up the cycle of the tank?

 

[nukeonekitty]

It may have been a mistake to rinse off the filter media while cycling. Next time tank some water out of your tank and rinse it in there. You may have killed any colony of bacteria you had. If I were you I would wait to worry about the algae. Maybe just keep the glass clean. That is really normal for a new tank to get an algae bloom like that. You could also keep your lights off for a while, algae can't survive with out light!

 

[SamUK]

are you testing the water?

you should soon see if theres something wrong but as said above, tap water kills of the bacteria so its best to use a bit of tank water and then jus throw it away.

the lights being on so long is definately the cause of the algae so maybe get a timer to switch them on and off?


how come the filter leaked outside the tank?


oh and what fish are you using for the cycle?

 

[wolfrad]

are you testing the water?

you should soon see if theres something wrong but as said above, tap water kills of the bacteria so its best to use a bit of tank water and then jus throw it away.

the lights being on so long is definately the cause of the algae so maybe get a timer to switch them on and off?


how come the filter leaked outside the tank?


oh and what fish are you using for the cycle?

The filter is a small one of course, it came with the setup that I got from Petsmart, it lies on the back of the tank and when the media was clogged up the water couldn't flow through it like it should and decided to go backwards at a small rate, dripping out the tank.
I'm using some dwarf platy's bought from Petsmart, they were .99 cents each.

 

[nukeonekitty]

Can you test your tap water?

 

[wolfrad]

Can you test your tap water?

Ya, sure I can get it done---how would that help??? Not trying to be rude, just don't know what difference it would make.

 

[nukeonekitty]

We can get an idea where abouts you are in the cycling process if nitrites or ammonia are showing.