Darren's Disaster Journal " Homeland "

[shrimply]

I think I've just about had enough, everything that can possibly go wrong has.

The tank hood has warped presumably due to the heat, I've been keeping an eye on it with the intention of fitting a cooling system if it was getting too hot, but it really wasn't the wood was warm to touch but not hot.

So no I don't know what to do, or how bad it will get, basically the tank looks awful now, it just won't suit a luminaire nor can I afford one.

It's just made me lose all enthusiasm for the project and I have no way of fixing it.

 

[shrimply]

07/09/09 -

Well given up worrying about the tank hood, I'd had a bad day yesterday and it was the last thing I needed. However, its not hot enough to be a hazard so it can be left for just now, and if we need to replace the hood in the future then it will be looked into then.

Also have come to the decision that I will need to replace the plug on the solenoid, for some reason it just doesn't have a good connection using the shaver adapter and I'm constantly having to check to make sure its still on.

Tank developments seem to be minimal, I'm not sure what to expect here or how quickly things should grow. I've been removing dead leaves from plants as they appear and presume that some die back is normal during acclimatisation to a new tank, at least I hope so. So really I'm just waiting now to see what happens, the only thing of slight concern is that some of the red species have produced small amounts of new growth which is green and not red, suggesting that there possibly isn't enough light in the tank but I don't really know.

Still working on getting the CO2 at the right levels but seem to be getting there.

 

[shrimply]

Just a quick update a week after planting and some (slightly) better pictures

You can see the green growth on the red plants that I'm concerned about

Also wondered if anyone could ID this plant and offer advice on why it continues to die, I keep thinking that the new leaves are growing but it just really seems to be slowly turning to mush. Its the only thing that seems determined to die on me.

 

[emma12321]

tank looks great so far. the plant looks like creeping jenny which is a garden plant theough it grew well round the edge of my pond in boggy conditions

 

[shrimply]

Thanks, apparently it should do well in high light, and I'm led to believe I have high light.

It's funny one stem seems to be doing fine and the others are just slowly dying away, its the same with a few of the plants, some stems taking root and others dying away.


I'm wondering if there's not enough fertilizers, I'm dosing 10ml of all-in-one solution daily, anyone want to comment on that?


Also I'm feeling the need to add more plants, may take my dad to Dobbies ( well my dad will take me to Dobbies) sometime next week and see if they're Tropica plants are fresh enough. Just concerned that there seems to be small amounts of algea appearing and I don't want it taking over.

 

[aaronnorth]

5ml per 100litres.
so 12ml is what you should be dosing. if they are melting then it is a CO2 issue, or emmersed growth dieing off. keep pruning as it promoted new growth.

what algae are you getting?

 

[shrimply]

I'll up the ferts slightly then.

I've got brown algea, which is obviously forming in the centre area, where there is less flow and no plants, so isn't really a surprise, I'm juts cleaning it off as it appears.

There is also some green stringy algae, I'm not sure what type it is I've been looking at the guides and can't decide. It was only a small amount on one plant though and I haven't seen any more yet.

I have also just broke my drop checker, I have a duplo one also so its no big deal but still cursing as it smashed in my hand.

 

[shrimply]

15/09/09 -

Quick update, there's not much going on really, although I seem to have several different types of algae appearing in small amounts
Brown algae
Blue-Green algae - visible on some of the gravel
Black brush algae - Not too sure on this I have something resembling this appearing on my java moss - it fits the bill but is white at the moment
Hair algae
Fuzz algae - effecting one small plant

Now I'm not sure if i should just leave this and let the plants prevail. Although the list looks awful it is all in very small amounts, unnoticeable except through close examination, except the brown algae which I'm cleaning off as it appears. I've upped the ferts to 12ml a day and slightly upped the CO2 so is a small amount of algae normal or should I worry. Hopefully I'll get a team of cherry shrimp in shortly, I want the plants better established first but I imagine they will clean up a good amount of the algae.

Now the thing of major importance my tanks is going through its first test, I'm going to find out if its parent proof. I'm going back to uni tomorrow, so my parents are going to be adding the ferts, doing a weekly water change and keeping an eye on the CO2, nothing too complicated I hope.

I'll be back every second weekend anyway as I have snakes that need fed so I'll make any major changes and check from problems then. And of course to keep this thread updated.

 

[aaronnorth]

get the shrimp in asap. they wont affect plants, just be careful of loaches which will uproot them hehe.

 

[shrimply]

Just a quick update, plants seem to be doing fine, I had to give them all a good trim yesterday. But have big algae issues.

No picture as I don't really have time, but the tank doesn't look great to be honest. Brown algae everywhere, but of more concern is the cyanobacteria which is taking over. I cleared it all yesterday and its back, I know when I come back in a couple of weeks it will of totally taken over. I've been reading up on it but can't really find the root of the problem so if anyone can offer any suggestions then that'd be great as it looks over and I'm really uncertain of what's wrong.

 

[aaronnorth]

low nitrate
ammonia spike - lack of maintenance, dirty filters, disturbing substrate, not enough plant mass vs stocking levels.
lack of flow.

It is probably an ammonia spike due to the first few weeks of the tanks life, how often are you doing water changes and what percentage?

That will also explain the diatoms.

run some amonia remover, zeolite orr purigen in the filter too.

 

[shrimply]

Thanks, I'm changing about 50% of the water once a week and properly cleaning the filters every couple of weeks, the filters were keeping a tank of Mawali Cichlids alive ( and we're kept cycled) so I can't understand why they'd be struggling with the three small fish which are in now, unless of course the ammonia is being caused by the filter bacteria dying, but I honestly would of thought that would have to balance out very quickly.

The substrate really hasn't been disturbed and there are three small fish and the tank is slowly filling out with plant growth. So I am a bit confused.

I have added another small power head to create movement in the area right in the middle of the tank, where there was the least current and most cyanobacteria growth.

I can add more potassium nitrate to the all-in-one solution if you think that would help and will try and get some ammonia remover soon. To be honest I don't really like messing with the water chemistry and have never used chemical media in my filteras but if you think that would help then I'll try and get my hands on some.

 

[aaronnorth]

I would either do a daily water change - even 30% would be ok, obviously more the better.
or run chemical media in the filter and then do a weekly water change.

Personally, i do both as it is less risk, as do many other people.

You arent messing with the water that much, just removing some ammonia, it doesnt remove all of it so the bacteria still gets enough.

 

[shrimply]

So an upgrade, the tank is thriving on neglect, I've been away for over a month, sitting exams (one on plants ironically) and my dad keeps "forgetting" to do water changes, so they're only being done every couple of weeks. My mum was running low on fertiliser so it been being dosed at half measures.

Anyhow, I never got around to buying ammonia remover, or rather the man at Dobbies looked at me blankly, and despite stocking seachem products made no effort to see if he could order it in for me, I never got around to ordering it online. But I have no cyanobacteria and the only algae present is a good amount of hair algae which I will manually remove.

There was some cherry shrimp introduced and they seem to be about, but I have no idea how many, but there's a couple who appear to be carrying eggs so hopefully I'll get a nice population going. There hasn't been any more plants introduced since the inital batch, and although most of them seem to be doing OK, a few of the amazon swords leaves look a bit worse for wear and some of the crypts at the front have a few small holes in them, I'm an unsure if its a mineral deficiency or snails, a couple of sites suggested snails were to blame from the symptoms but I'm unsure so any advice is welcome.

Which brings us on to snails, I have an infestation, not really sure what to do, I may just start removing them as I see them and see how that goes, but I'm not sure how important they are in maintaining algae and mess within the tank.

Anyway, I'm off to do a water change and try to conquer the jungle. There is pictures to go with this post but the idea was that photobucket would have uploaded them by the time I'd finished typing them and its taking ages so I'll post them when its done.

 

[shrimply]

OK Pictures, not the best but I had camera battery issues, and people moaning at me for trying to eliminate light sources