Hello All,
If anyone has any insight I am so appreciative. After almost 24 years of keeping aquariums, I might just give up soon. I had never had anything bigger than a 30-gallon, and about 8 months ago bought a 65-gallon tank. No matter what I try, I cannot get this thing to stay happy. I don't know if there are different tricks for a bigger tank? I have live plants, and have been keeping live plants for 10 years (in fact, most of my Anubias plants are 9-10 years old). I have a fine substrate at the bottom (maybe it's too shallow? only 1 or 1-1/4in deep). I have a double Bio wheel filter. I keep the temp around 80 degrees. I have a circulation pump in the far corner becuase I had this dead zone where debris would settle. I have a piece of Mopani wood. I keep mostly tetras (neons, phantoms, bloodfin, serpae). I keep getting occassional fish death with no signs of disease, some new, some old fish. I cannot get rid of the debris that settles on the bottom (mostly poop), and have never been able to keep scum-eaters like Cory Cats alive for more than 2-3 days (why?). I cannot keep grasses alive, they rot and/or fall apart. It seems I have the best success with slow-growing plants, but try to mix the slow and fast growers in the tank to help nutrient uptake. I have a prolific problem with brownish rusty algae that I've never had in a smaller tank, and I can't get rid of this stuff. I increased light time to about 11-12 hours, I clean the tank almost every week at this point becuase of the debris and algae, and the kicker is that my water always always tests out perfectly (neutral pH and hardness and kH, no ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, no chloramines etc). I am so frustrated! Maybe I'm getting my fish from a store that gets poor quality fish? It's the best I've found within 15 miles though. HELP! I don't want to give up! Any ideas? Thank you thank you!
Jen
Grayslake, Illinois, USA
If anyone has any insight I am so appreciative. After almost 24 years of keeping aquariums, I might just give up soon. I had never had anything bigger than a 30-gallon, and about 8 months ago bought a 65-gallon tank. No matter what I try, I cannot get this thing to stay happy. I don't know if there are different tricks for a bigger tank? I have live plants, and have been keeping live plants for 10 years (in fact, most of my Anubias plants are 9-10 years old). I have a fine substrate at the bottom (maybe it's too shallow? only 1 or 1-1/4in deep). I have a double Bio wheel filter. I keep the temp around 80 degrees. I have a circulation pump in the far corner becuase I had this dead zone where debris would settle. I have a piece of Mopani wood. I keep mostly tetras (neons, phantoms, bloodfin, serpae). I keep getting occassional fish death with no signs of disease, some new, some old fish. I cannot get rid of the debris that settles on the bottom (mostly poop), and have never been able to keep scum-eaters like Cory Cats alive for more than 2-3 days (why?). I cannot keep grasses alive, they rot and/or fall apart. It seems I have the best success with slow-growing plants, but try to mix the slow and fast growers in the tank to help nutrient uptake. I have a prolific problem with brownish rusty algae that I've never had in a smaller tank, and I can't get rid of this stuff. I increased light time to about 11-12 hours, I clean the tank almost every week at this point becuase of the debris and algae, and the kicker is that my water always always tests out perfectly (neutral pH and hardness and kH, no ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, no chloramines etc). I am so frustrated! Maybe I'm getting my fish from a store that gets poor quality fish? It's the best I've found within 15 miles though. HELP! I don't want to give up! Any ideas? Thank you thank you!
Jen
Grayslake, Illinois, USA
