Unforeseen Complications!

[eaglesaquarium]

I haven't heard from Marineland, but I am hoping that I can trade the 350 in for two 200's for a little extra cost. If not, a friend of mine knows a guy who does tanks all along the New Jersey, PA, Del, MD, D.C. area for a living, and he thinks that he might have a couple of 200s in his stock to trade for a 350. So, things are going pretty well, all things considered.




Feeling better today than last night!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

A new complication has developed! An orange-brown deposit has developed overnight in the tank. The problem is that this build-up has happened apparently before in our water. (My wife noticed it before, and apparently it comes and goes...weird.) Anyway, we called our water company, and they will be out on Monday to test it. We shall see. I think it might be rust from our water pipes or the pipes leading to our house, but can't be sure. I am glad we drink our water from a filter!

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Could it be algea? Is the tank in sunlight? Not had this problem, but read on here a similar thing. Unless it's coming out of the tap like it.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It's coming out of the tap like that. So, nope not algae.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oooo very strange. Yeh I wouldn't like to be drinking that water. Is it the hot and cold or just hot or cold?

If it's just hot it may be your hot water tank. But other than that I don't know.

Has your other tank cycled yet btw?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Almost cycled... 12 hour double zeroes last night from 4ppm. Going for two in a row today!


Apparently its both hot and cold. My wife has seen it from the toilet as well. It seems to come and go. This is only the second occurrence that I've really seen. We filter our water befoe we drink it anyway, so it's not too bad for us, but it will be nice to find out what it is...

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Yeh I would like to know if it were me too.

Ooo great news on your tank!

So you will be getting your fish in a few days then?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No, not really. The 10 gallon tank is my quarantine tank. It is just going to be there for emergencies or for when I add new fish to my main display tank. That tank, however, was backordered. So, it took too long for me to wait and do absolutely nothing, so I started to cycle the filter for it in the smaller tank. It should come up to speed on the main tank quickly. I actually might not get fish until September unless I can convince my dad to take care of the tank for a few weeks at a time over the summer. He's already coming to take care of my garden, so I don't want to overload him with tasks.


I am still working on a plan to add ammonia to the big tank to keep it all cycled up during my journey's this summer. (Of course all this depends on what the heck the stuff in my water is! )

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oh ok. Well it will only take weekly 10% water changes whilst your away, that will be the easiest option. The other way I read on here is o put shrimp in so it rots away and produces ammonia. Unless that was your thread I read it in. Not sure tho haha!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, that was my thread!


I'm thinking of just doing a light stocking in the tank 10 rasboras or similar and see if my dad would do a little water change and fill the autofeeder for me. I'm not sure though.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Spoke with a neighbor, he had a similar problem with the sediment in the tap water, and it didn't resolve itself until recently. (And to be honest, it might not have completely been resolved.)





On the issue of the filter, I spoke with Marineland, and they said to ship it to them, and include a letter with what I would like for them to do to resolve it. I am thinking of buying a 200 separately and use one of the cycled biowheels on the 200. Then I will float the other biowheel in the back of the filter vertically, so that it still gets a good amount of flow and rotate them every 12 hours. Then, I will send the 350 housing back, with the new biowheel and one cartridge, and ask them to return the housing for a 200, without the filter media along with a refund for the difference in price between the the 350 and the 200 (or just ship it back for free, which would be just as good to me at this point). Then when the new 200 arrives, I can put the floated biowheel into the new 200 on the opposite side of the tank and bingo I'm in business. What does everyone think?

 

[waterdrop]

As long as bacteria stay wet and you make an effort to give them a flow of ammonia and oxygen in reasonable concentrations then die-back is not usually too much of a problem.

~~waterdrop~~