General tank and Water Questions

[malangbaba]

peace,

some questions:

-i noticed some people here opposed to power filters, due to 'water disturbance'....can you please explain? i thought the disturbance is good to get some extra oxygen in the water?

-Should I use a Water conditioner to clean tap water? I have heard that if you leave water out for a day, the chlorine dissipates? (is this true? does Chloramine dissipate also?

-I have a slightly greyish slimy looking stuff on my tank glass, which scrapes off, but with a couple of strokes with a scrubbing sponge...algae or just fish gunk?

thanks

 

[malangbaba]

another question

-How can i make my water a little harder? my pH is 7.0, but the hardness (both GH and KH) are at 2degrees (correct usage of terms?) which is low for platies....

i have some sea shells, do you think i could boil them, clean them and put them into tank? will they make water harder?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Where did you read about people disliking surface disturbance? If it was in reference to a planted tank, people try to avoid to much surface disturbance in planted tnaks, cos it makes the plants grow less well. Usually though, the more oxygen in a tank, the better.

Chloramine does not dissipate. Unless you are 100% sure your water company doesnt use chloramine, you have to use a water conditioner.

Fraid I dont know about the other questions, sorry.

 

[malangbaba]

yeah, i dont know if they use choloramine....so better safe for time being until i find out...

also, how long till the chlorine dissipates from tap wtaer if left out?

thanks for your answers.

 

[The-Wolf]

chlorine will dissipate within 24hrs, however chloramine will never dissipate.

EDIT
you mat find this artilce helpfull as well. Water

 

[isu_guy]

correct me if I'm wrong, but when you use a water conditioner it will break down chloramine to ammonia (in a non toxic form) that will be read by your ammonia test kit.

You could test your water before you put it in the tank, after you've used the water conditioner. If you get an ammonia reading, you have chloramine, so then you'd need to keep using the conditioner, if not ... well I still wouldn't chance it because water conditioner doesn't cost that much.

 

[pnyklr3]

I think the sea shells will raise the pH of your water, but I'm not sure about the hardness. I have the exact opposite problem here: water is way too hard!

 

[SirMinion]

As well as chlorine & chloramine, conditioners also remove metals from the water which no amount of standing with get rid of.

Copper or even lead from your pipes, mercury from industrial waste and aluminium from clay soils all leech into the water and can harm your fish & inverts. Conditioners render these contaminants harmless.

 

[malangbaba]

-I have a slightly greyish slimy looking stuff on my tank glass, which scrapes off, but only after a couple of strong strokes with a scrubbing sponge...algae or just fish gunk?

???

 

[malangbaba]

Next set of Questions:

-I have a slightly greyish/whitish slimy looking stuff on my tank glass, which scrubs off, but only after a couple of strong strokes with a scrubbing sponge...algae or just fish gunk? Anyone know what this might be?

-Gravel vs sand? what are the practical pros and cons? and how do people vaccum the sand?

-Filters: Whats the pros and cons between an UGF and a Power filter?

-How do yall vaccum your substrate if you have heavily planted plants?

-Does the nitrifying bacteria live in the substrate, filters or water? or all of them? and how long does a filter have to be off for the bacteria to start dying?

 

[clutterydrawer]

whoa

I dunno what the stuff is. It doesn't sound like algae which in my experience is usually brown/black/green not grey. sorry.

Pros of sand: I find it easier to clean as the stuff sits on top rather than going down into it. It's better for whiskered fish which like to dig, eg corydoras catfish. It looks more natural. However some people find plants don't grow so well in it, and sometimes pockets of toxic gas can form in it when it gets packed down too tight. This can be avoided by not making too deep a layer of substrate, and by stirring it with a stick so often. To vacuum the sand you hover above it with the siphon rather than digging into it like you would wth gravel, dirt and debris is lighter than sand so it gets lifted up but the sand stays down.

Filters - you can't have sand with a UGF filter. It's pretty impossible to grow most plants too. You have to be really really conscientious cleaning your gravel because the concept of teh UGF means all the gunk gets sucked down under the filter plates where it will rot and pollute the tank if you're not careful to get it out. You also can't totally dissassemble/maintain the filter without tearing apart the whole tank. However the UGF provides good biological filtration because of the vast surface area provided by the substrate.

If your tank is very heavily planted, you don't vacuum the gravel. The plants will use the dirt in the substrate as fertiliser. If it is moderately planted, just clean the free areas of gravel, don't go too near the plants.

The good bacteria live on all the solid surfaces in the tank. That is, the filter media, the substrate, the tank walls, decor, plants....but not in the water. This is why if you're starting a new tank, you can add gravel or decor from an established tnak to cycle the new one, but not water. I dunno how long it would take them to die if the filter was off. If there was still some kind of oxygenation of the water, i suspect they'd still survive. Id estimate a few horus at least but unfortunately i don't know that any studies ahve been done on it....?

 

[malangbaba]

hey...

thanks for all that info...

so it seems if i want a well planted low maintenance tank i should stick with gravel and power filter.....its only a 10G, and i dont plan to have many fish, so the bio-load should remain moderate....

no i just have to figure what plants to plant....

 

[clutterydrawer]

if you tell me the wattage of your light blub and whether its fluorescent or incandescent, i might be able to recommend some.

 

[malangbaba]

if you tell me the wattage of your light blub and whether its fluorescent or incandescent, i might be able to recommend some.

thanks...i'll have to check tonite and let you know....

anotther questions (sorry they just keep coming... )

what are the disadvantages of ammo-lock? does it keep the cycle from being established? and does actvated carbon remove ammonia as well?

 

[Crystal]

Persionally, I try not to use any of the chemicals that I dont feel my tank really needs, other than the water treatment (I use Prime)
Once your tank is cycled, keep your ammonia down by keeping up with your water changes, and keeping your tank clean.Activated carbon does not get rid of ammonia, as far as I know