New tank startup question

[Matth22]

Hi All,

Having recently moved house and housing fish in temporary accommodation, I’ve just finished re-building my 90lt tank using some big bits of bogwood, rhino stone and planted it heavily.

I’m using Ada Amazonia, black sand and plenty of root tabs for the crypts.

Seeded filter with some used media, confirmed producing nitrite in the first 24 hours at around 0.25ppm.

Pictures are of just after flooding and today (2 days later)

Clearly a bacterial bloom. My question is, to water change or not to water change? I’d planned to do 50% daily for the first week to discourage algae, but everything I’m reading says don’t do any water changes with a bacterial bloom

 

[bazz]

It looks to me like it is clearing up by itself, could it have been dust from the sand?

 

[MichaelJ]

What @bazz says.... Looks good to me. 1st picture is very likely just dust particles - but even if its a bloom of sorts - which I do not think it is - it's obviously taking care of itself 👍

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Matth22]

It looks to me like it is clearing up by itself, could it have been dust from the sand?

Just to clarify, the cloudy photo is 48 hours later, and the clear one is just after flooding. I can also now see the sort of oil slick type film although my skimmer is breaking it up.

Just tested ammonia and nitrite again and I’m 0ppm ammonia and 0.25ppm nitrite, which surprised me especially the 0ppm ammonia using Ada Amazonia which I’m sure leached tons when I used it previously. I tested ammonia twice to be sure.

Should I just carry on and water change daily for the next few days then?

 

[John q]

Should I just carry on and water change daily for the next few days then?

Leaving a bacteria bloom to run it's course is sometimes suggested (not by me) in a non planted tank, but in a planted tank with new amazonia substrate and root tabs I'd suggest big daily water changes.

 

[Matth22]

Leaving a bacteria bloom to run it's course is sometimes suggested (not by me) in a non planted tank, but in a planted tank with new amazonia substrate and root tabs I'd suggest big daily water changes.

Thanks for clarifying. Much appreciated!

 

[MichaelJ]

Just to clarify, the cloudy photo is 48 hours later, and the clear one is just after flooding.

Thats helpful Yes, blooms are very common with organic enriched substate.

Should I just carry on and water change daily for the next few days then?

Yes... daily as @John q says.

If it persists, you can throw in a small UV filter to accelerate the process.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Matth22]

Thats helpful Yes, blooms are very common with organic enriched substate.


Yes... daily as @John q says.

If it persists, you can throw in a small UV filter to accelerate the process.

Cheers,
Michael

Great. Thanks Michael!

 

[G H Nelson]

Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently. This idea has been around for a long time so not new, it has benefits especially for a new set - up. I try and cover at least 50% of the water surface minimum. 1. Improves water...

www.ukaps.org

hoggie

 

[Hanuman]

Leaving a bacteria bloom to run it's course is sometimes suggested (not by me) in a non planted tank, but in a planted tank with new amazonia substrate and root tabs I'd suggest big daily water changes.

I agree with that.
My experience is also that a bacterial bloom when setting up a tank is different from a bacterial bloom in mature tank. Algae blooms when setting up a tank usually clear up quite rapidly in a matter of days, at least that's what I have experienced. I am uncertain why this is though.
In my mature tank I had an algae bloom after sprinkling some Bacter 100. Don't ask why. Bloom lasted over 2 weeks and didn't look like it wanted to recede. After doing WCs it came with revenge only 2-3 days after. Then I said enough of the shenanigans and threw in there a UV filter. That took care of the problem in 4 days exactly.

 

[Matth22]

Well 24hrs and a big water change later and things are looking markedly better! Hopefully a couple of days and we’ll be all good.

Thanks for the advice all!

 

[_Maq_]

Hopefully a couple of days and we’ll be all good.

Hopefully... Your nutrients load is truly generous.

In my mature tank I had an algae bloom after sprinkling some Bacter 100. Don't ask why. Bloom lasted over 2 weeks and didn't look like it wanted to recede.

I was surprised while having read on your long-lasting bloom. Incidentally, a bit later quite the same happened in one of my tanks, over half-year old. The bloom lasted for six weeks (!) in spite of multiple WC. I've got no UV lamp, and I didn't want to harm the plants using any microbe-killer. In the end, after another nearly complete WC the bloom disappeared magically and mysteriously.
If only I could find out what did I do wrong?!

 

[PARAGUAY]

Reminds me of a long ago article by Nathan Hill(PFK magazine) setting up a hightech set up using the EI Fertiliser method ,out of the blue it suffered a huge bacterial bloom,no matter what he tried nothing reduced it. Then as if unexplained it completely disappeared leaving crystal clear tank and healthy plants. Unexplained but is it maybe something what eventually goes

 

[Hanuman]

I've got no UV lamp, and I didn't want to harm the plants using any microbe-killer. In the end, after another nearly complete WC the bloom disappeared magically and mysteriously.

UV filters do not harm plants. That would only be true if the UV filter is not contained in a housing and plants are directly exposed to UV light. If your concern is killing beneficial bacteria, then that will also not really happen since the very large majority of bacteria is either in the substrate, plants and filter. They are not free floating in the water column. If that was the case then every WC would wreak havoc in our tanks.
In my case, sprinkling ADA Bacter 100 on the surface of the water was the reason. The product claims to contain 100's of bacteria sp including heterotrophic bacteria which if I'm not wrong are the ones responsible for cloudy algae blooms. These bacteria are beneficial as well obviously but are not usually found free floating in the water column in such large amounts.

If only I could find out what did I do wrong?!

Did you stir the substrate at some point? Is it an old tank with loads of organics?

Interestingly, after the bacterial bloom was resolved, all my plants and fish were looking better for some reason. I guess the bacteria did some cleaning job on the plants but also the reduced lighting caused by the cloudiness gave the plants some chill out time. This is pure speculation ofc as I really don't know why. Also, I am not 100% sure of this but I think the bacterial bloom was accompanied by an algae bloom which benefited the fauna for obvious reasons.

 

[Hanuman]

Well 24hrs and a big water change later and things are looking markedly better! Hopefully a couple of days and we’ll be all good.

Thanks for the advice all!

In your place I would let the algae bloom run its course and simply ignore it and keep doing your regular maintenance without any extra steps. The tank is newly setup so it's better to let it just do its thing.
In my case when using a UV filter, I had to clean the floss every single day (yes I clean floss contrary to the general advise you see out there of just tossing used floss and using new one - it can be reused and reused for years). Anyway, it was brown at the end of the day. I also added some floss in the intake so to catch most of the dead material. I don't think you need all this though. Just let it run its course.

 

[MichaelJ]

I've got no UV lamp, and I didn't want to harm the plants using any microbe-killer

All plants in nature get exposed to a lot of UV light (as you obviously know) - which rarely happens in our home aquariums unless we exposure them to sun light. A UV filter in an aquarium only exposures whatever it sucks in from the water column. Yes, the filter won't discriminate between good bacteria (that overwhelmingly lives in the substrate anyway) and bad bacteria. I use low turn-over UV filters in both my tanks... mostly as a backstop for killing pathogens and algae spores. It's been working wonderfully for me for years. I can not quantify the value of it, but I haven't had a sick fish for a as long as I remember and my plants are doing just fine, so I feel confident its a win only.... One concern that I used to have was breakage of chelates due to the UV light but someone convinced me that its really a non-issue with a low turn-over UV filter at the wattage (9W) I'm running at.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Hanuman]

One concern that I used to have was breakage of chelates due to the UV light but someone convinced me that it really a non-issue with a low turn-over UV filter at the wattage (9W) I'm running at.

It's even less of an issue if you run the UV only for certain hours, preferably far away from the moment you dosed your traces, which are usually consumed by plants quite rapidly.

 

[MichaelJ]

It's even less of an issue if you run the UV only for certain hours, preferably far away from the moment you dosed your traces, which are usually consumed by plants quite rapidly.

Right. And quite frankly I used to be really particular about that in the past. Now I just run it 24/7 ... zero downside so far.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Hanuman]

Right. And quite frankly I used to be really particular about that in the past. Now I just run it 24/7 ... zero downside.

Well yes, there is one. Paying more electricity and changing the bulb much faster 😂
Not sure running a UV filter 24/7 in a tank has a lot of added benefits from running it say 12h or even less, say 5 or 6 hours specially if you are not really adding anything new to the tank.

 

[MichaelJ]

Well yes, there is one. Paying more electricity and changing the bulb much faster 😂
Not sure running a UV filter 24/7 in a tank has a lot of added benefits from running it say 12h or even less, say 5 or 6 hours specially if you are not really adding anything new to the tank.

Sure thing! It’s just because I’m sloppy. 6-8 hours a day is just fine.