If You Stand Over Here, You Can Almost See The Sea...

[Tommy Gunnz]

I dont know if anyone brought this up yet or not (too much to read here), but the blue actynic bulb is NOT bad for plants at all and anything (usually) that promotes algea growth will promote plant life as well. Blue actynic light is actually BETTER than white light as far as its abilty to travel through water. In fact, it is the deepest penetrating wavelength of light, through water anyways. (This is why SW tanks use it, to get to the corals and such better)

I know a couple of friends of mine use both types of bulbs on their tanks (white 10,000K bulbs and blue actynic) on their planted tanks. In my opinion, it really brings out the colors of the few fish they put in the tank, especially the clown loaches and smaller fish like neon tetras.

 

[STRiDER]

Hi again Tommy

You are truly the first person so far to tell me that I can keep the Actinic.
I really loved the colour that this light gave to my tank and fish but was warned about algae growth.

Think what I will do is following (little experiment)..

I'll leave the new daylight light in for some time (Month or so) then put the Blue one back in and see if I can see a difference in algae growth.

Meantime I'll do more research on it.

Thanks, Andre

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, vac the substrate if you didn't get it all clean before it went in the tank.

good to see someone experimenting a bit! the best way to learn is to find out for yourself, yes do your research and listen to others, but you'll get the best possible practical understanding from tinkering yourself and seeing the results

 

[BigIan]

Looks amazing mate......
The blue bulb isn`t great for the plants as they prefer bulbs with a green/red colour spectrum, but enough on that.
the tank looks great mate quite like the way you`ve layed it out, if i may make a suggestion though move the large rock and the surrounding plants slightly to one side or the other so it looks a little more natural its a little to uniform for my tastes,

And also don`t try to mess too much with your PH, this is very hard to keep stable, if your trying to hold it at a diffrent level from your tap water.
With careful fish choice your fish will prefer to stay in harder, higher ph water rather than softer water with an unstable ph. this will stress them(and you) and cause them to become ill. do some research on fish and choose fish that will go well with your water.

and if ya wanna see what a black back ground will look like heres my tank before i strpped it down to turn it hightec planted

 

[blue_ram]

Nice tank! One more thing to add. You need to get those plants out of those transporting pots. They are meant for short term use only. Most plants have problem growing thru the rock wool, and eventually become root bound or worse roots may decompose.

 

[STRiDER]

Updated pics...

Latest water test

PH 8.0
NO2 0.0

How will this high PH affect my tank over time and how can I lower it ...

 

[methodmza_uk]

Wow, tank looks really good and love the wood on the right.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

very nice!

a ph of 8 isn't nescessarily a problem, have you tested the ph of the water from your tap to see if it's just your area or something that's happening once the water gets in your tank?

simple fact is water in some areas is harder or softer, you have 2 options really, live with it and stock your tanks according to what the natural ph of your area is, or try and alter it so you can keep the fish you really want.

A ph of 8 still gives you plenty of options for stocking so don't panic, there's shed loads of community fish and cichlids that will thrive in the higher ph, and plenty more who can be adapted to live in it through careful acclimitisation. If you find local breeders then the fish will have been born and riased in your ph so will be fine.

While there are lots of options for raising and lowering your ph it can be tricky to get right and you can do more harm than good if you get it wrong.

IMO the best way to lower your ph is through adding a layer of peat to your filter, this will soften it naturally and you can start adding just a very small amount, leave it a few days, test your ph, then keep adding more very gradually until it reaches the desired ph.

you can also get chemicals like the 'proper ph' range from API which will take your ph to the desired level. Personally I don't like adding un nescessary chemicals so I wouldn't use them, they're also not very good for your plants either.

Another option you might consider as you have plants and seem to be enjoying aquascaping, is to get a Co2 kit, I believe this lowers your ph too. But check this with the plant nuts as it's not my field of expertise.

 

[STRiDER]

Thanks Ms Wiggle

Here's my plan of action...

1. Try a different test kit (Just to confirm the findings)
2. Test tap water
3. I've researched the peat solution - and also think thats the best way to go.

4. Co2 will only happen next year, so I'll keep that as a last resort

 

[Underwurlde]

I agree with missW, pH of 8 is not off the scale (but remember this scale is not linear, it is logarithmic). Fiddling with pH can be irksome; what is ultimately desireable is a stable pH

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I agree with missW, pH of 8 is not off the scale (but remember this scale is not linear, it is logarithmic). Fiddling with pH can be irksome; what is ultimately desireable is a stable pH

absolutely, put much more consicsely than me!



sounds good STRiDER

let us know your results and what you decide to do

 

[STRiDER]

Back after short holiday - well, to write exams - not really a holiday.

---------

I found a new test kit for PH, NO2 and NO3
Unfortunately LFS still cannot provide test kit for NH3, NH4 and Carbonate Hardness

Here is the newest test results:

Tank Water:
PH : 8.2
NO2 : 0
NO3 : 5 - 10 mg/L

Tap Water
PH: 8.2


It seems to me that the PH is going to be a problem in the long run. I've decided to try and lower the PH by using peat.

I added peat to my canister filter and after 24 hours the PH is still exactly the same. I will do a PH test every day to see what happens.

------------

 

[Miss Wiggle]

give it time with the peat, it may take a little while to fall, that's good though, a rapid ph drop could spell serious trouble for your fishes.

keep testing every day.

as i think i said earlier tinkering with ph is pretty tricky, you may have to just accept what you have got a stock appropriately

 

[STRiDER]

Running peat in my filter for 8 days now.

PH still between 8.0 and 8.5

I cannot see any ill effects on my fish though.

If the high PH is bad for them, how long before it will affect them negatively?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm that's odd, i would have expected to see a drop by now

with things like an incorrect ph you won't may not see any effects for a while, if ever....... the problems arise when an infection/illness/pollution of some kind gets into the tank, it happens to all of us and one day it will happen to you..... a fish kept in it's optimum conditions will be able to fight off disease quite easily and you should be able to cure most things quickly and with a minimum of losses...... a fish kept in poor conditions will really struggle and you may find however much you medicate you simply can't cure them and you may loose a disproportionate number of fish.

i liken it to a human being kept in a really really cold house all the time, you'd be fine until one day you picked up a flu bug, then because you'd bodies immune system would be low you wouldn't be able to fight it and it could develop into pneumonia which is altogether more serious.