Zikofski's Ada 60H (45) Iwagumi Tank Journal

[Zikofski]

WOW is the only word i screamed when i cam down this morning, to find the tank absolutely sparkling clean, the ottos i added along with a WC yesterday have cleaned my water of the green algae and have cleaned my rocks a little but too that was not expected this morning i shall get a picture tonight to prevent the annoying reflections that i get in the tank glass during the day, i can't describe how crystal clear it looks compared to yesterday if only i took a picture yesterday as the algae has all been cleared up i am going to buy some more red cherry shrimp this morning and move my amano's out back into there original home and i have also increased my lighting to 12hr day see how the ottos cope with that

 

[Mamashack]

Looking forward to seeing your pristine tank later!

 

[Dandyman3]

Looking forward to seeing your pristine tank later!

 
+1

 

[Zikofski]

well about that picture i went out for 2hrs to buy more shrimp and fish, 9 more red cherrys 5 more ottos and 1 bn pleco for my
other tank.

when i got back it looked like pea soup again very frustrating i hope the tank in the morning is clear i shall then take a picture and maybe another in the evening with the pea soup, loght was on for 12hr today so hopefully this will increase my plant growth

my 9 cherry shrimp doing good i removed the amano shrimp so none will get eaten and i moved the remaining coppers into this tank again i shall try and get a picture tomorrow

 

[Mamashack]

So is the pea soup like an algae bloom then?

 

[Zikofski]

yes acording to the website i linked earlier its called green water, its not as savear as it looks in some pictures but does lok worse when the lights are out be interesting when i get my veggie filter up and running if it will aid in my nutrient problem as that i am sure is 100% the blame for all this algae now

the ottos have cleaned the rocks nicely and the cuba continues to grow well althi i have noticed the very edged are considrs ly darker and growth is much slower there so o may haft to redesign my LEDs and maybe add some more like another ring around the outside to cover the sides a bit more once my veggie filter is up i may work on that

 

[Mamashack]

I don't envy you, Zik! I've all on trying to keep mine alive without any further complications like ferts etc.

 

[Zikofski]

okay picture time
 

 

 

 

 

 
with 12 cherry's i counted 24 copper harlequins they are lovely watching them school when I'm near the tank but after a while they all glass surf apparently they do this when they are bored and or hungry my 5 ottos doing a lovely job of keeping my tank clean of algae i highly recommend them to anyone who hates diatoms and green dust, i can't confirm if they are eating my green water but my green water does disappear over night since i added them, i also supposed to have 2 assassin snails in there but i never ever see them

 

[Mamashack]

They'll have burrowed into the substrate looking for food probably.
If you reduce the photoperiod you might reduce the pea-soup effect altho I guess they need to eat something!
I've heard that Bacter AE is good for promoting biofilm production which acts a food source for the shrimp (and the others I guess if they are glass-surfing.)
That's the problem with new tanks - not enough gunk for them to eat until it matures a bit.
Haven't got any yet - waiting for pay day at the end off the month! 

 

[Zikofski]

yea i am not sure about the bio film but i know the shrimp are esting something on the leafs of
the cuba like they so on moss usually, its not my cherry that are glass surfing but the rasboras maybe if i feed them daily it may stop, i only fed them once or twice a week, so daily feedings now and i can now feed the cherrys some shrimp food i bought when i had cherrys last year and they loved that then and i managed to breed them then as well so fingers are crossed i shall give it a few more weeks till i get any more fancy shrimp

 

[Zikofski]

and here is the tank at like 1pm
 

 

[Dandyman3]

Loving these continuous updates. The thing with this tank I suppose it is hard to introduce filter floss although directly in the filter or things like that to help clear the water. Perhaps try the crystal clear water product by tetra? See if that helps clear it up. You don't really want to add active carbon if that would affect plants. Unless you could add a large plant which requires heavy co2 behind the rocks to the far right hand side of the tank see if that helps any? 
 
Had a few questions which puzzled me; 
 
Where is your heater in the tank? I can't see it  
Where do you get your shrimp from? 

 

[Zikofski]

well all this green water did occur the day after i added some filter floss not ideally in the correct place within the filter but i manages to squeeze it in a space after the last basket just before the impeller, probably taking a huge risk of it going into the impeller, but a risk worth taking so far. well latest update from today is i bought some more shrimp. but firstly to your question this cloudiness is caused by an algae not by particles so filter floss won't do anything to cure this, only thing that will help is a UV steriliser which i would like to get hold of a new filter the Aqua Manta 1000U, its 200lph more power than my current Eheim, won't be as noisy as my Eheim and has the UV steriliser, the heater for this tank is external inline heater i shall get a pic tomorrow if you like. 
 
also the shrimp, i bought from my local Maidenhead aquatics store along with all my other fish and shrimp, but i have just bought the last 5 Fantasy blue shrimp from Sharnbrook Shrimps £11.99 each plus £9.99 postage these are the high grade blue shrimp so i am hoping and should be the dark dark blue variety should look amazing with the bright red and greens in this tank.

 

[Dandyman3]

well all this green water did occur the day after i added some filter floss not ideally in the correct place within the filter but i manages to squeeze it in a space after the last basket just before the impeller, probably taking a huge risk of it going into the impeller, but a risk worth taking so far. well latest update from today is i bought some more shrimp. but firstly to your question this cloudiness is caused by an algae not by particles so filter floss won't do anything to cure this, only thing that will help is a UV steriliser which i would like to get hold of a new filter the Aqua Manta 1000U, its 200lph more power than my current Eheim, won't be as noisy as my Eheim and has the UV steriliser, the heater for this tank is external inline heater i shall get a pic tomorrow if you like. 
 
also the shrimp, i bought from my local Maidenhead aquatics store along with all my other fish and shrimp, but i have just bought the last 5 Fantasy blue shrimp from Sharnbrook Shrimps £11.99 each plus £9.99 postage these are the high grade blue shrimp so i am hoping and should be the dark dark blue variety should look amazing with the bright red and greens in this tank.

 
Sounds interesting. I am all for the idea of UV light too apparently that is something else which is meant to help reduce bacterial infections with it sterilising the water. Currently linking into filters, co2, lights etc. I would leave to see that heater, don't think I've seen one like it before! 
 
Which is your local Maidenhead aquatics? Sharnbook shrimps have there own website? I'm looking at a few places to try source shrimp and saw Kesgrave have quite the selection too. 

 

[Mamashack]

@ Dandyman I've had a couple of lots of shrimp from Kesgrave and they couldn't have been packaged any better in my opinion, however I have found that they have used (and still continue to use - I just checked) deceptive photos on their eBay adverts. The shrimp arrived safe and sound even tho they weren't as dark as the photo suggested.
I would be concerned about using UV light because of the beneficial bacteria, but I guess the unit would be positioned where it didn't harm them.
Haven't gone back through the thread yet, Zik, but could it be too much phosphates etc?