Hey, I have a number of questions involving water quality, flow, algae control, cycling, and ferts. This seemed like the right place to post this, but this post does cover a lot of topics so please move it if you see fit.
Here is my tank.
Tank: standard 10 gallon
Filter: Aqueon Quietflow 10 (100gph HOB) with a phat chunk of acoustic foam (8x4x3 inches, maybe 30-50 ppi) on the intake
Substrate: Coarse sand mixed with some "natural" aquarium gravel (sand collected from local lake)
Light: Finnex Planted+ LED (impulse buy...)
Plants: 85% Elodea plus other unidentified plants (all collected from a local lake)
Decor: leaf litter and some small stones (collected from local lake)
Water:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.4 (!)
kH: ~ 4 degrees (70 ppm)
gH: 4-5 degrees (70-90 ppm)
Tap water (siting for a few days):
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.0
kH: ~2 degrees (35 ppm)
gH: ~3 degrees (55 ppm
The tank has been set up for about a month now and I've seen no progress on the nitrogen cycle. I haven't seen it deviate from 0.25-0.5 ppm NH3 in weeks. The nitrite and nitrate have been 0 ppm. A few days ago I decided that the tank needed more surface area and I went out and bought some acoustic packing foam to stick on the intake. The material that it's made out of should be similar to the stuff sold by swiss tropicals (polyether based). The reason I thought this was it seemed like the HOB filter that came with the tank (a free craigslist find) only had one whimpy cartridge with a bit of filter floss and some activated carbon. Could that have been the reason for the slow-to-nonexistent cycle, and do you think the filter foam will help?
I've been dosing with Flourish once a week, and just today added some Equilibrium that should bring the gH up to about 6 degrees. Should I be raising the gH higher for the plants? Does Elodea even need dosing?
From my water test results something is raising my pH, kH, and gH. The only thing I can think of is the sand. The sand I collected for the tank was taken off a manmade beach. It looks grey like this
Color must be a clue to mineral content. I suspect the sand was the cheapest the state could get. Any idea if this is the culprit?
Any suggestions for lowering the pH? Will a very high pH be harmful for my plants (or future fish for that matter). I'm surprised the leaf litter and plants didn't help bring it down.
Just this last week or so I've noticed an outbreak in hair algae. How can I help beat it back? Do you think my lighting is to intense, and wasted on the Elodea? I did a water change today, and I manually removed some of the algae, which seemed to help. Some/many snails seem to have hitchhiked on the plants (which I expected). Will they eat the hair algae? As soon as my cycle is done I hope to get an Amano shrimp to help with the algae. Do they need a very mature tank?
Also, the tank doesn't have much turbulence, and there is a fair amount of organic matter floating around from the decaying leaf litter and a few plants that didn't make it. This, along with the hair algae leads detritus on the leaves of my plants. Should I be regularly brushing them off, increase the water flow, or not worry about it?
I understand that a steady pH is important to the health of the aquarium, but really, how important is it's absolute value, and is 8.4 too high? What are some fish that do fine in high pH and are at home in a planted aquarium?
Sorry for the massive, rambling, many-topiced post.
Here is my tank.
Tank: standard 10 gallon
Filter: Aqueon Quietflow 10 (100gph HOB) with a phat chunk of acoustic foam (8x4x3 inches, maybe 30-50 ppi) on the intake
Substrate: Coarse sand mixed with some "natural" aquarium gravel (sand collected from local lake)
Light: Finnex Planted+ LED (impulse buy...)
Plants: 85% Elodea plus other unidentified plants (all collected from a local lake)
Decor: leaf litter and some small stones (collected from local lake)
Water:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.4 (!)
kH: ~ 4 degrees (70 ppm)
gH: 4-5 degrees (70-90 ppm)
Tap water (siting for a few days):
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 8.0
kH: ~2 degrees (35 ppm)
gH: ~3 degrees (55 ppm
The tank has been set up for about a month now and I've seen no progress on the nitrogen cycle. I haven't seen it deviate from 0.25-0.5 ppm NH3 in weeks. The nitrite and nitrate have been 0 ppm. A few days ago I decided that the tank needed more surface area and I went out and bought some acoustic packing foam to stick on the intake. The material that it's made out of should be similar to the stuff sold by swiss tropicals (polyether based). The reason I thought this was it seemed like the HOB filter that came with the tank (a free craigslist find) only had one whimpy cartridge with a bit of filter floss and some activated carbon. Could that have been the reason for the slow-to-nonexistent cycle, and do you think the filter foam will help?
I've been dosing with Flourish once a week, and just today added some Equilibrium that should bring the gH up to about 6 degrees. Should I be raising the gH higher for the plants? Does Elodea even need dosing?
From my water test results something is raising my pH, kH, and gH. The only thing I can think of is the sand. The sand I collected for the tank was taken off a manmade beach. It looks grey like this
Color must be a clue to mineral content. I suspect the sand was the cheapest the state could get. Any idea if this is the culprit?
Any suggestions for lowering the pH? Will a very high pH be harmful for my plants (or future fish for that matter). I'm surprised the leaf litter and plants didn't help bring it down.
Just this last week or so I've noticed an outbreak in hair algae. How can I help beat it back? Do you think my lighting is to intense, and wasted on the Elodea? I did a water change today, and I manually removed some of the algae, which seemed to help. Some/many snails seem to have hitchhiked on the plants (which I expected). Will they eat the hair algae? As soon as my cycle is done I hope to get an Amano shrimp to help with the algae. Do they need a very mature tank?
Also, the tank doesn't have much turbulence, and there is a fair amount of organic matter floating around from the decaying leaf litter and a few plants that didn't make it. This, along with the hair algae leads detritus on the leaves of my plants. Should I be regularly brushing them off, increase the water flow, or not worry about it?
I understand that a steady pH is important to the health of the aquarium, but really, how important is it's absolute value, and is 8.4 too high? What are some fish that do fine in high pH and are at home in a planted aquarium?
Sorry for the massive, rambling, many-topiced post.
