New tank, few questions

[_]im]

Hi,

I have some questions about a new 10g tank I have. I have set it all up and have recentely placed some natural plants in the tank to help with ammonia levels. I have 7 guppies, 2 potbellied mollies and two algae feeders in the tank now. My question is that the plants have a bit of brown coming on them and are a bit curled up. I have tried to take off the dead part of the plants but the plants are a bit curled up still. I guess what I'm asking is if I should be relying only on these plants to maintain an ammonia level or should I seek a kit to help control it along with the plant? Also I have a good flourescent light system for the tank, so lighting shoudn't be an issue now.
The other question I had concerns my water quality. I have what looks like tiny little particles in it, only upon close inspection. Is this normal, to a small extent? I have excellent water even from the tap (i treated it on top of this fact too obviously) but I'm worried that this small particles may be something negative starting in the tank, any sudgestions about how to treat this without spending a fortune on something that may be nothing?

Any help would be appreciated!
I'm pretty new here, didnt introduce myself before, but hello, this site has been very useful thus far in answering a lot of my questions!

 

[Pearlie]

Quick question....what kind of filter are you using?

The plants themselves should quickly be able to convert ammonia to nitrite (which is what I have found to be true). However, it is the coversion of nitrite to nitrate that will be the problem. With it being new, your biological filter (bacteria that will form at the very bottom of your tank) is not set up yet. I'd recommend using the liquid bacteria starter formulas on the market (I've been using the one by Proquatics but I think any will do), and do regular water changes weekly while watching your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels. Unfortunately, I've always solved the ammonia problem quite quickly. It's the nitrite that's the problem.

As for the filter, I'd recommend the Penguin Biowheel. It has two filters, one a carbon filter that you change at least once a month, and another, the wheel, which contains another population of bacteria that will help keep your tank healthy, which you should never need to change.

And um, for your original question...hrm. I've noticed that once my tank's nitrite levels became healthy (ie, nonexistent), the brown algae no longer grew.

 

[_]im]

I have an aqua clear mini dual filtration system on my tank. Should that be suffiecient?
I will look into getting the bacteria starter to control the nitrate, I was a little unsure of how exactly that cycled, thanks for the help!

 

[_]im]

Oh, and one other thing. My lighting system seems to be quite loud right now. It seems to be heating up quite a bit off the vent on only one of the sides of the light. I turn off the light at night now, but I'm wondering if you can leave it on too long and strain the equipment? I am hoping it is this rather than a faulty lighting system, I just bought it 2 months ago and cost over 70 dollars.

 

[yhbae]

Plants don't really convert ammonia into nitrite, I'm afraid...

It typically takes longer time for nitrite to drop to zero than ammonia to zero. If you see nitrite, you are less than half way done through cycling.

Since you alraedy have alot of fishes in your relatively small tank, you are going to be facing significant levels of ammonia now, and soon nitrites. Having plants do help, but given your stock level, you will need to do alot of water changes, perhaps daily just to keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check.

Do you know of anyone who already maintains aquariums? The one thing you can do right now, is to obtain some gravels (or other objects in the tank with large surface area), place them into your tank. This will seed some bacteria and kickstart the cycling process. If you can get some sponge media from his filter, this will give by far, the best/fastest results.

Alternatively, look for a product called Bio-Spira. This is the only cycling product that works on the market - ignore other products.

 

[_]im]

I guess I got a bit ahead of myself without cycling, but I'll look into trying to fix this before it becomes a mess. Just to add to things, this morning I woke up and my pot bellied molly had about 12 fry, and counting I'm sure. I spotted at least 6 in the tank hidding in the plants and gravel, but I'm wondering, since I don't have another tank, if I could transport them into another container with tank water until I can get up and get something that would let them grow.
thanks again for all the help!

 

[Pearlie]

Plants don't really convert ammonia into nitrite, I'm afraid...

Whoops...doh. Got my Nitrogen Cycle diagram turned around in my head. Thanks for the reminder.

I also know that the Bio-Spira is guaranteed to cycle your tank within 24 hours. It's just a matter of being able to find a lfs in stock.

 

[clutterydrawer]

I guess I got a bit ahead of myself without cycling, but I'll look into trying to fix this before it becomes a mess.

do you know what your ammonia and nitrite levels are?

 

[sinistral]

My question is that the plants have a bit of brown coming on them and are a bit curled up. I have tried to take off the dead part of the plants but the plants are a bit curled up still.

...

Also I have a good flourescent light system for the tank, so lighting shoudn't be an issue now.

The question of having enough light depends on what kind of plants you have and how much light you have. In addition, there's also a minimum level of light for smaller tanks (less than 20g); the "watts per gallon" rule doesn't work so well for tanks of this volume and of volumes in excess of 100g.

So, I'm curious about what kind of light system do you have (particularly curious about what wattage bulb you are running), and what types of plants you have.

 

[_]im]

I'm running a 14W aqua-glo light, I'm not sure on the type of plant I have but I'll look into it.

 

[sinistral]

I see. If you have 14watts of light on a 10g tank, it probably is insufficient wattage of light. Unless you are growing very low light plants such as java moss, java fern, anubias, or a few others, you'll most likely run into problems, as most other aquatic plants won't thrive. I doubt it's an ammonia issue.

You might try upping the wattage of light to 30 or 40 watts total for better results.

 

[_]im]

I will try that, as I've had that light for a while, I imagine it's on its last leg anyways.

Thanks for the help