Can you send me 150ltr please?😉
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New to aquaria, advice needed!
- Thread starter mrhoyo
- Start date
mrhoyo
Member
Hahaha I wish I could.
It's typical, if you go back to the start of this thread it was guppies i wanted and it's not really feasible. At least it wasn't African Cichlids!
mrhoyo
Member
Testing day
Before water change:
TDS ppm 338
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5(maybe 10)
KH 1
GH 8
Hardness after water change:
dKH1
dGH 5
200ppm TDS
Puts me in a peculiar situation with the mineral salts now, I need to increase dKH but dGH looks ok
Before water change:
TDS ppm 338
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5(maybe 10)
KH 1
GH 8
Hardness after water change:
dKH1
dGH 5
200ppm TDS
Puts me in a peculiar situation with the mineral salts now, I need to increase dKH but dGH looks ok
mrhoyo
Member
3 weeks in to this now.
Test before today's WC:
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0.25?
Nitrite 0
KH 1
GH 7
Nitrate 5 or 10
All were very easy to read except ammonia and nitrate as attached (flash and no flash).
I've got bugger all dKH again so I've popped some crushed coral in the filter in an attempt to stabilise things. It might work, worth a go for a few £.
Getting good at growing algae too, I didn't think I'd ever be cleaning a fish tank with a toothbrush.
Test before today's WC:
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0.25?
Nitrite 0
KH 1
GH 7
Nitrate 5 or 10
All were very easy to read except ammonia and nitrate as attached (flash and no flash).
I've got bugger all dKH again so I've popped some crushed coral in the filter in an attempt to stabilise things. It might work, worth a go for a few £.
Getting good at growing algae too, I didn't think I'd ever be cleaning a fish tank with a toothbrush.
mrhoyo
Member
Still having some algae issues, is it a case of keep changing water every day or two for a while? I was hoping to be down to once a week by now.
I've been dosing Easy Carbon but it doesn't look to do a whole lot.
I haven't fertilised for a week now and changed water Monday, Saturday now today.
I've got a handful of small amano shrimp, horned nerites, a tiny ancistrus (and 10 ember tetra) but they haven't had any effect yet, mainly because they're new and tiny.
I've been dosing Easy Carbon but it doesn't look to do a whole lot.
I haven't fertilised for a week now and changed water Monday, Saturday now today.
I've got a handful of small amano shrimp, horned nerites, a tiny ancistrus (and 10 ember tetra) but they haven't had any effect yet, mainly because they're new and tiny.
Ray
Member
Ugh. Does that Brush or siphon off? Are your Ottos eating it?
I’d be wary of not feeding too long because if your plants get into ill health it gets worse...
We should start by looking at flow and lighting: How much flow do you have in the tank - is the water slowly rolling around? Also is your light on full power and for how long? Also what temperature?
I’m actually still getting some of this in my own low tech tank so I’m hoping someone more experienced will drop by.
I’d be wary of not feeding too long because if your plants get into ill health it gets worse...
We should start by looking at flow and lighting: How much flow do you have in the tank - is the water slowly rolling around? Also is your light on full power and for how long? Also what temperature?
I’m actually still getting some of this in my own low tech tank so I’m hoping someone more experienced will drop by.
mrhoyo
Member
I look to have a variety- the blue stuff rubs off nicely whereas the fluffy stuff is a bit gooey.
The plants move a fair bit due to the flow, I have a HOB that's pretty oversized for this tank.
Light is full power from 2 to 8. Classed as low lighting according to Aquasabi.
Water temp is 23c give or take a degree.
I haven't noticed the bristlenose or amanos really eating this algae but they are pretty small still and quite secretive. I've seen one or two snails on it though and have more of those on the way.
I'm fairly certain I have BGA so started a Blue Exit regime last night. We'll see how it goes.
Hi @mrhoyo
It certainly looks as though you have cyanobacteria (aka 'BGA') in your tank. May I suggest that you read through a thread that, I think, is entitled 'Do I have BGA' started by @Ruskie? In order for Blue Exit to be effective, the dosage needs to be increased beyond the dose suggested by Easy-Life, the manufacturer. In that thread, I included a fair amount of information that, I hope, you will find useful. Then, we can take it from there.
JPC
It certainly looks as though you have cyanobacteria (aka 'BGA') in your tank. May I suggest that you read through a thread that, I think, is entitled 'Do I have BGA' started by @Ruskie? In order for Blue Exit to be effective, the dosage needs to be increased beyond the dose suggested by Easy-Life, the manufacturer. In that thread, I included a fair amount of information that, I hope, you will find useful. Then, we can take it from there.
JPC
mrhoyo
Member
It turns out I've actually read that previously so it's a bonus. I'm on day 2 of standard dose, do you think I should add another today, do triple tomorrow and then move up to quadruple?
Already ordered a phosphate test based on your recent thread, it seems to make sense.
Hi @mrhoyo
Please remind me how bad the BGA is. And what tank inhabitants do you have? Perhaps you could attach a photo to your reply?
Did you order the JBL phosphate (sensitive) test kit? It's a good kit to work with. As with all test kits, if the colour you get from your sample corresponds to the maximum value on the chart, dilution of your test sample may be called for. You can use distilled water, RO+DI water, RO water or pure rainwater to do this. When I say 'pure rainwater', I'm referring to water that hasn't flowed over a roof, for example. When it rains, just stick a large diameter funnel in the top of a clean container and collect this water. It won't be a lot but it should be sufficient for this purpose.
JPC
Please remind me how bad the BGA is. And what tank inhabitants do you have? Perhaps you could attach a photo to your reply?
Did you order the JBL phosphate (sensitive) test kit? It's a good kit to work with. As with all test kits, if the colour you get from your sample corresponds to the maximum value on the chart, dilution of your test sample may be called for. You can use distilled water, RO+DI water, RO water or pure rainwater to do this. When I say 'pure rainwater', I'm referring to water that hasn't flowed over a roof, for example. When it rains, just stick a large diameter funnel in the top of a clean container and collect this water. It won't be a lot but it should be sufficient for this purpose.
JPC
mrhoyo
Member
API for now, will get JBL if I have no luck though. It looked pretty complicated on the photos.
mrhoyo
Member
I don't but do have Purigen (put it in at the weekend to see if it would help the algae situation).
mrhoyo
Member
Is the JBL test any easier to decipher? This API one is like 50 shades of green. Today's tests:
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-5
Phosphate 0-0.25
KH 1
GH 3
PH 6.9
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-5
Phosphate 0-0.25
KH 1
GH 3
Hi @mrhoyo
You need to remove the Purigen as it will remove the Blue Exit from the water column. The instructions for Blue Exit state "Remove the adsorbent materials (such as active carbon)".
JPC
You need to remove the Purigen as it will remove the Blue Exit from the water column. The instructions for Blue Exit state "Remove the adsorbent materials (such as active carbon)".
JPC
mrhoyo
Member
I suppose that's coming out then which is a shame because the algae free bits look nice. I thought Purigen was didn't affect such things for some reason.
Hi @mrhoyo
Both your nitrate and phosphate are at very low levels, particularly the nitrate. I'd be tempted to firstly increase nitrate to 20 ppm using something like TNC Complete. This will likely increase phosphate to around 2 ppm, which is a bit higher than I would have liked. Ideally, we'd use separate fertilizers for nitrate and phosphate. A bit of trial and error is called for, I'm afraid.
You'd be wise to replace the API Phosphate kit with the JBL PO4 Sensitive kit. The first of these is insufficiently sensitive as it jumps from 0.0 to 0.5 ppm.
JPC
Both your nitrate and phosphate are at very low levels, particularly the nitrate. I'd be tempted to firstly increase nitrate to 20 ppm using something like TNC Complete. This will likely increase phosphate to around 2 ppm, which is a bit higher than I would have liked. Ideally, we'd use separate fertilizers for nitrate and phosphate. A bit of trial and error is called for, I'm afraid.
You'd be wise to replace the API Phosphate kit with the JBL PO4 Sensitive kit. The first of these is insufficiently sensitive as it jumps from 0.0 to 0.5 ppm.
JPC
Purigen removes organic compounds from the water just like activated carbon. The active ingredient in Blue Exit is salicylic acid, which is an organic compound.
JPC
Ray
Member
Agree that Nitrate is too low.
@jaypeecee - hi Jay, what's your target ppm for phosphate & nitrogen to give the BBA a headache? Seem to recall in another thread you were hypothesising that the ratio of the two was in some way important?
