My New 90g

[Jen]

While he was here, I arranged my coffee table and a few other small tables around the tank so that he could look from all 3 sides. I'm sure he spent alot of his day that way. lol. Poor kitty.

Anyway, an update. Yesterday I decided that I didn't like the sword where it was, so I moved it to the middle. I trimmed it a bit, getting rid of some of the leves that were too big or damaged. My plants haven't been dooing that great since the move, and I'm hoping they will bounce back. My val looks aweful... half the stalks appear to have just plain died... getting all mushy. The crypt looks like half the leaves have fallen off.

So heres a picture as of yesterday, I still need something big on the right, so I'm going to head to my Big Al's tomorrow to see what they have.

 

[Bloo]

Looking very nice indeed. I love that piece of wood !

 

[Jen]

Thanks! I love them too. (there are 2 pieces). They came with the tank. apparently my firends uncle bought the two of them for almost $200. I say I got quite a good deal on this baby.

 

[Jen]

Howdy. I just bought 2 new plants today. Some Ludwiga Arcuata, and some Cardamine Lyrata. They are still on the small side, and I will probably move them as they get bigger. I have to go back to the store next tuesday as they are getting a shipment in of XL plants from tropica, and I hope to find something that will fill in that back right hand corner. Anywho. Here are my 2 new plants! (Technically there are 4, but I'm not gunna show two of the same plants... that's just a waste of space!)

edit - images removed as I lost the pictures from my website. doh!

 

[jimbooo]

looking good canoechiq. i have to say those tiger lotus lillys are growing FAST.

love the ludwiga, nice plant. should go red at the tips when it settles in. never seen the other one before but looks nice.

 

[Jen]

Thanks! The lotus' are growing fast, but I have heard they get tall fast if there isn't enough light, instead of getting bushy. So I'll have to look more into their needs and see what I can do for them. I was glad that I didn't loose to many leaves with all the moving around I did with them. I guess they can be a bit tempermental, but I love the look of them. Such a pretty colour.

The other plant, the Cardamine Lyrata, is Chinese Ivy. I dont think I like it in front of my val on the left... it kinda gets lost in front. I might group the two of them together on the right and hope they fill in and get nice and bushy.

 

[Jen]

I am currently fighting a war with green water... it's aweful in there right now, and I'm hoping the current measures I had taken will help to eliminate it.

After much thought, and hearing too many things from too many people, I decided to buy new lights. I bought a power copmact light a while back and it came with 2 6700k bulbs, and 2 10,000k bulbs. I have decided that the 10,000k bulbs are a good portion of the problem, so $115 later I have 2 new 6700k bulbs.

I also put some PO4 filter floss stuff in my filter to see if that makes a difference. I know that I will have to up the CO2 in the very near future, and will probably get going on that by the end of the week. I spent all weekend trying to find the parts do a DIY system (the pop bottle one) but unfortunatly I can't find the one piece that goes through the lid here in Canada. I found a brass plumbing piece, but the bottom nut doesn't go up all the way because the threads taper... so I'm going to take my hacksaw and cut it in half.

Also got 3 fast growing plants - Ludwiga repens. Hopefully they will help suck up any excess nutrients in the water so that the algae can't get to it.

And the guy at my lfs told me to do small water changes. I was doing large ones...30% every 4 or 5 days. He said to take out 5 or 10 gallons every other day so the algae doesn't have time to replicate. Does that sound right?

I'll post some pics of the new soupy water tonight, and of the ludwiga if i can actually see it!

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

great tank and lovely fish

 

[Iron Man]

Switching bulbs was a good idea, and the more plants you have in the tank the better obviously. When I had a lot of live plants in my tank it was right by a set of huge dining room windows where sunlight was beaming in. There was a minimum of algae in there and the water was crystal. As time went by and the stemmed plants began to take over the tank and I began to really especially hate having the cabomba in there.....I took the stemmed plants out which left only a couple of amazon swords in there. The greenwater took over so badly I had to do 50% daily water changes so I could see the fish!!! I had to keep the windows shut all day and the tank lights off. It still didn't help much though.

Then I reduced the amount of lighting I have on the tank and moved it away from the window. It solved some of the problem but not all of it. I still had to do 20% water changes everyday!!

I finally bought some barley straw extract and just put a capful in during a water change. My water is clear now!!

If you have no other options....a UV sterilizer is also another option to keep in mind.

Just giving you some ideas.

 

[Jen]

Here's my extremely green water... the picture doesn't do it justice. Somehow the camera picked up light reflecting off things in the water. It is much cloudier than it looks.


Iron Man... what is the barley straw extract for? I've never heard of it.

 

[Jen]

Thought I'd add an quick update here. I'll post some pics of my new fish tonight or tomorrow (a few angels, CAE and some gold Ancristrus)

The green water is gone (took a good 3 weeks of daily 30-40% water changes).
Now I have some nasty staghorn, or some other kind of hair algae happening in my tank :

edit - image removed... since I lost the picture from my website. doh!

The water is still as cloudy as it was before... milky white. Not as bad in comparison to the green, but still not optimal.

I think I am going to order some dry chemicals/ferts in the very near future... My nitrates are 0, and it has been advised by a few people. Now is as good a time as any to start on it. I was thinking I could do this half-arsed, some high tech equip, some not, but it appears that it won't work that way. Oh well.

I'm also going to look into the whole pressurized CO2 thing. Theres's been quite a bit of talk about it lately, and I think it makes a good deal of sence. Might as well do something a little more permanent since I know the tank is a permanent one for me. I have no intentions on going any bigger in the forseeable future.

 

[MXPX4318]

best of luck getting the cloudiness to go away, I'm having the same problem w/ my 20g at the moment.

Phillip

 

[Jen]

best of luck getting the cloudiness to go away, I'm having the same problem w/ my 20g at the moment.Phillip

[snapback]861824[/snapback]​

I'm going to try a few more things to get rid of it, I'll keep track of what I do. Do you use co2 in you tank (thats one of the first things im checking out.)

 

[MXPX4318]

best of luck getting the cloudiness to go away, I'm having the same problem w/ my 20g at the moment.Phillip

[snapback]861824[/snapback]​

I'm going to try a few more things to get rid of it, I'll keep track of what I do. Do you use co2 in you tank (thats one of the first things im checking out.)

[snapback]861893[/snapback]​

yeah I run co2, laterite/sand mix, 65watt 6700k pc flourcent, gro liquid ferts.

Phillip

 

[Jen]

Do you use baking soda/bi carb in there? I'm not going to use it with my recipe this week and see if that can anything to do with it.

If that doesnt work, then I'll try carbon in my filter for a week. if not that, then, well, i dont know what I'll try next.