Juwel Rekord 800 Queries

[Josh&Leo]

Hi, I've just joined this site & would welcome any comments on the following
About 12 months ago I set up my tank, fishless cycled then slowly introduced fish & plants. All seems to be going reasonably well, water readings always good & have lost no fish or plants.
However, whilst Juwel recommend frequent changing of the various filters I have heard that this is unnecessary & in fact damaging as it is not allowing bacteria to grow within the filters. Thoughts please?
Also, I have the tank lit for approx 8 hours per day & I'm definitely not overfeeding, but I have green hair algae (I think) attached to the top of the plants, brown-ish "blobs" (little more than dust) gathered around the base of the plants & rocks, & the rocks & other decorations turn black almost as soon as washed.
I also dose with C02 using TetraPlant C02-Optimat but can't really find a definite guide to how many doses per day I should be using.
If anyone can decipher all of the above I would be very grateful for any help!
Thanks in advance.

 

[mhancock]

Hi, I've just joined this site & would welcome any comments on the following
About 12 months ago I set up my tank, fishless cycled then slowly introduced fish & plants. All seems to be going reasonably well, water readings always good & have lost no fish or plants.
However, whilst Juwel recommend frequent changing of the various filters I have heard that this is unnecessary & in fact damaging as it is not allowing bacteria to grow within the filters. Thoughts please?
Also, I have the tank lit for approx 8 hours per day & I'm definitely not overfeeding, but I have green hair algae (I think) attached to the top of the plants, brown-ish "blobs" (little more than dust) gathered around the base of the plants & rocks, & the rocks & other decorations turn black almost as soon as washed.
I also dose with C02 using TetraPlant C02-Optimat but can't really find a definite guide to how many doses per day I should be using.
If anyone can decipher all of the above I would be very grateful for any help!
Thanks in advance.

I certainly would only change one part of filter media at a time, never all at once!

Re the algae, keeping the tank in the dark with no food for a couple of days should help. It may be that with summer coming (!) your tank is getting lots of natural light as well as the 8 hours of bulb light.

 

[Akasha72]

hi josh&leo,
I have the exact same tank and have had it since the end of December/beginning of January. I also have a hair algae problem. I blame the fliter as for me the flow isn't good enough - especially at the left hand side of the tank. Whilst it is still working though and still under warrenty I have no plans to change it.

RE the filter sponges - I've left mine alone. I also have no plans to change them. The only one I do change on a regular basis is the really fine wool one that takes in fine particles.

I asked questions recently about changing the nitrate sponge (the blue one I think, but it could be the green one lol) as I discovered high nitrates in the tank. I was advised to leave it alone. I've cured the problem by adding more plants. I am more concerned about losing the good bacteria the sponges have built up and I'd be really worried that changing them would create a mini cycle - which we can all do without

I have some new carbon sponges though as I've had to dose meds last week and this. The original carbon sponge went in the bin and I'll be adding new at the end of the week when I do a large water change.

Does that answer your query at all?