Help - tank levels not as expected in fishless tank
- Thread starter CV26
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I agree with Colin in #31 above. Test as you like, but leave the tank running for a few days to see what happens.
On the plants, we can look into that. What plants, and how many? A photo of the tank would answer this best. We know the GH is around 9 yo 10 dGH so no issues there. Are you using any plant additives/fertilizers, and if yes, which and how much?
What is the light? Data of type, spectrum, duration, etc.
On the plants, we can look into that. What plants, and how many? A photo of the tank would answer this best. We know the GH is around 9 yo 10 dGH so no issues there. Are you using any plant additives/fertilizers, and if yes, which and how much?
What is the light? Data of type, spectrum, duration, etc.
Dark rock is back in and we've done a 50% water change too.
Bog wood was being pinned down between the two large rocks and is still a bit floaty. It's gone back into it's own bucket to soak again until it sinks of its own accord.
Shop have agreed to swap the dodgy rock and we'll be triple checking anything else we get before it goes in the tank.
Plants are all tropica easy ones - 5 different ones: Limnophila sessiliflora, Cryptocoryne wendtii tropica, Hygrophila siamensis, Echinodorus Reno, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. The crypto and echino have both had a couple of melting leaves.
We have some plant food but we haven't put any in for a week. Given all the water changes we've now done we have just popped some in as we don't want to lose the plants.
Light wise we have the tank light on for 10 hours a day on timer. It's the light that came with our Aqua One 60/100 tank.
The tank is located on the middle of a large room so although there are 2 windows, one at either end, it doesn't get any direct or strong sunlight.
Bog wood was being pinned down between the two large rocks and is still a bit floaty. It's gone back into it's own bucket to soak again until it sinks of its own accord.
Shop have agreed to swap the dodgy rock and we'll be triple checking anything else we get before it goes in the tank.
Plants are all tropica easy ones - 5 different ones: Limnophila sessiliflora, Cryptocoryne wendtii tropica, Hygrophila siamensis, Echinodorus Reno, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. The crypto and echino have both had a couple of melting leaves.
We have some plant food but we haven't put any in for a week. Given all the water changes we've now done we have just popped some in as we don't want to lose the plants.
Light wise we have the tank light on for 10 hours a day on timer. It's the light that came with our Aqua One 60/100 tank.
The tank is located on the middle of a large room so although there are 2 windows, one at either end, it doesn't get any direct or strong sunlight.
Can you post a photo of the tank showing all the plants?
I can make some initial comments. Crypts are notorious for melting at absolutely any change in their environment; moving the roots even within the same tank, any change to GH, pH, temperature, light, even just replacing the old light tube with a new one...some species are worse than others for melting. The leaves simply turn into a pile of mush. If this is the case, siphon out the leaves/mush but do not disturb the roots and with luck the plant may rejuvenate though this can take anywhere from days to weeks to months.
The Echinodorus reno, I assume is E. reni (according to Tropica's site info)...this is a red cultivar, and red leaf plants are trickier than green. For one thing, they need brighter light and this means more red light. Plant leaves appear the colour they are due to reflecting that light, so green leaves reflect green light, red reflect red. Which means even more red light because red is the primary driver of photosynthesis so there has to be more of it. LED light frequently fails in this, as it is often cooler white which means more blue and less red. If you could post the link to the aquarium I might find out something to help; I tried but got no where on the Aqua One site as I don't know what tank you have.
Having said the above, how long has this tank been running with the plants in? Many will grow new leaves and the older existing leaves begin to die off. Swords (Echinodorus) can bee like this, though not always.
The fertilizer, which brand is it?
I can make some initial comments. Crypts are notorious for melting at absolutely any change in their environment; moving the roots even within the same tank, any change to GH, pH, temperature, light, even just replacing the old light tube with a new one...some species are worse than others for melting. The leaves simply turn into a pile of mush. If this is the case, siphon out the leaves/mush but do not disturb the roots and with luck the plant may rejuvenate though this can take anywhere from days to weeks to months.
The Echinodorus reno, I assume is E. reni (according to Tropica's site info)...this is a red cultivar, and red leaf plants are trickier than green. For one thing, they need brighter light and this means more red light. Plant leaves appear the colour they are due to reflecting that light, so green leaves reflect green light, red reflect red. Which means even more red light because red is the primary driver of photosynthesis so there has to be more of it. LED light frequently fails in this, as it is often cooler white which means more blue and less red. If you could post the link to the aquarium I might find out something to help; I tried but got no where on the Aqua One site as I don't know what tank you have.
Having said the above, how long has this tank been running with the plants in? Many will grow new leaves and the older existing leaves begin to die off. Swords (Echinodorus) can bee like this, though not always.
The fertilizer, which brand is it?
The plants look pretty healthy to my beginner eye. We have removed the melted leaves as soon as we've spotted them and the gravel has had a good syphoning with care given not to dislodge roots.
The food is Reeflowers Aquaplants All Inclusive. We have put a dose in tonight but it has been at least a week since the previous one.
The tank is the AquaNano 60
https://www.aquaone.co.uk/aquanano.php
The food is Reeflowers Aquaplants All Inclusive. We have put a dose in tonight but it has been at least a week since the previous one.
The tank is the AquaNano 60
https://www.aquaone.co.uk/aquanano.php
Well, we must assume they mean what they say, that this includes "all of the elements that are required in planted aquariums." I have an issue with manufacturers that won't openly disclose ingredients.
Same here for the light; let's assume "powerful LED lighting" means something. Sigh.
OK, continue using the fertilizer but keep in mind their warning about too much. And if you do a water change using a conditioner, wait 24 hours before adding the fertilizer. Most conditioners detoxify heavy metals, and these include plant nutrients copper, iron, zinc, manganese. No point in negating them. Waiting a day to add the fertilizer is usually sufficient, I do this.
Crypts are not an easy plant to grow. They get sold as beginner plants because they have a rhizome that stores nutrients and the plant uses those reserves to grow. If the conditions are not good, they start to starve to death after a few months. In addition to this, if the rhizome is damaged at all, either during transit or when planting in the tank, it will rot and the plant will die.
Most crypts and swords are commercially grown in green houses with their roots in water and the leaves out of water. They grow faster this way. When the plants are put underwater, their terrestrial leaves will usually rot and new aquatic leaves will grow.
Liliopsis needs lots of light and is not a good plant.
Some good plants to try include: Ambulia, Hygrophila species, Ludwigia, Elodia/ Hydrilla, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Swordplant, Pygmy Chain sword and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
Pygmy Chain Swords are small plants that can be grown in the front of the aquarium and do better than Liliopsis.
Water Sprite can be grown on the surface as a floating plant, but also planted in the substrate where it grows into a lovely light green bush.
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re: returning the light rock. You could try soaking it and hosing it off each day for a week and see how the water tests after that. If it is still releasing ammonia then take it back. But chances are it has a bit of organic matter on it and that is rotting and causing the ammonia. By hosing it off each day you might be able to remove all the organic matter and it should stop releasing stuff into the water. If it doesn't stop after a week of hosing it off, then return it.
Most crypts and swords are commercially grown in green houses with their roots in water and the leaves out of water. They grow faster this way. When the plants are put underwater, their terrestrial leaves will usually rot and new aquatic leaves will grow.
Liliopsis needs lots of light and is not a good plant.
Some good plants to try include: Ambulia, Hygrophila species, Ludwigia, Elodia/ Hydrilla, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Swordplant, Pygmy Chain sword and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
Pygmy Chain Swords are small plants that can be grown in the front of the aquarium and do better than Liliopsis.
Water Sprite can be grown on the surface as a floating plant, but also planted in the substrate where it grows into a lovely light green bush.
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re: returning the light rock. You could try soaking it and hosing it off each day for a week and see how the water tests after that. If it is still releasing ammonia then take it back. But chances are it has a bit of organic matter on it and that is rotting and causing the ammonia. By hosing it off each day you might be able to remove all the organic matter and it should stop releasing stuff into the water. If it doesn't stop after a week of hosing it off, then return it.
To recap - in the tank now are the 5 plants, the gravel and now the dark rock which had proven itself to be doing nothing to the water.
Yesterday the tank readings were maybe a trace amount of Ammonia and 0.25 Nitrites. Nitrates continued to read the same as our tap water has all along - 7.5 so stage 2 bacteria arent involved yet.
We changed 50% of the tank water and put in a dose of the plant food last night.
Today's results...
Despite the water change we seem to have trace amounts of Ammonia edging towards 0.25. We have Nitrites of 0.5.
Nitrates are again the same, no change at all. PH is sitting at 8.2 by the looks of it.
So something is still churning out Ammonia!
I can only assume it's being caused by plant waste? Is there any other explanation?
Is this a bad thing? What do we do next?
Yesterday the tank readings were maybe a trace amount of Ammonia and 0.25 Nitrites. Nitrates continued to read the same as our tap water has all along - 7.5 so stage 2 bacteria arent involved yet.
We changed 50% of the tank water and put in a dose of the plant food last night.
Today's results...
Despite the water change we seem to have trace amounts of Ammonia edging towards 0.25. We have Nitrites of 0.5.
Nitrates are again the same, no change at all. PH is sitting at 8.2 by the looks of it.
So something is still churning out Ammonia!
I can only assume it's being caused by plant waste? Is there any other explanation?
Is this a bad thing? What do we do next?
How often are you feeding the fish?
Fish food produces heaps of ammonia. If you are feeding once a day, you will get ammonia readings until the filter bacteria kick in.
Fish waste also produces ammonia.
Try doing a bigger water change (75% instead of 50%), and gravel clean the substrate to pick up any uneaten fish food or fish waste from the gravel.
Fish food produces heaps of ammonia. If you are feeding once a day, you will get ammonia readings until the filter bacteria kick in.
Fish waste also produces ammonia.
Try doing a bigger water change (75% instead of 50%), and gravel clean the substrate to pick up any uneaten fish food or fish waste from the gravel.
This is what's baffling us...it's a brand new set up, fresh 'out the box'
The light rock has obviously contributed but that's now gone so something else is causing the Ammonia.
Being absolute beginners we don't know what our next step should be really.
The light rock has obviously contributed but that's now gone so something else is causing the Ammonia.
Being absolute beginners we don't know what our next step should be really.
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