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Tropica root tabs and surface film

dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Unfortunately you will have to keep <"changing water">. "Prime" might help, as it will <"complex some of the ammonia (NH3)">.

I'm very wary of <"controlled release fertilisers">, because "controlled" can easily <"become "uncontrolled">. I've had my <"own experience of this">.

If you have them? <"floating plants will help">, they aren't CO2 limited, so can make use of the extra ammonia.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link Darrel.

I don't have floating plants but I do have Limnophila sessiliflora which grows quickly as you probably know. I will trim the stems and allow them to float. This will a. expose them to more light and b. as you say remove Co2 limit.

I don't want to run my own Co2 as I am aerating and it would be a waste.
 
Just an update for myself really,

About every 8 hours a water change is required. Today I tested the tank and I did 100% water change over time making sure temperature was the same.

18C5F37B-2F58-4536-BED4-41B3736FBDFD.jpeg

I’m testing water before and after change.

Today it seems that the level didn’t drop (significantly) despite the water change/ dilution.

675934FA-2FBD-4746-8D53-551DBA643784.jpeg
Control left, before WC middle, After WC right.

Something I haven’t considered is when ammonia stabilises is when to start dosing ferts to water column. Should I bring Co2 on and use plant health to gauge when to start introducing ferts to water column again?

I strongly suspect an algae bloom at some point but I’ll manage that as it comes. No livestock loss yet

3 Otto
4 galaxy rasboras
3 amano
15 shrimp
 
Plan B.

I have removed all livestock after one of my Otto’s died. I suspect his gills were damaged from consistent ammonia exposure. All in a bucket.

Should I stop water changes, up Co2 and allow plants to kick in and filter to catch up on loading?

Thanks in advance 7E90A52F-3D58-4ECC-BC44-6C4103B4CA1D.jpeg
 
Hi
Moving the live stock was wise.Make sure you cover the bucket as you may end up with jumpers.
I will carry on changing water daily or every other day.Dial your CO2 in and try to get some floating plants (Best)or fast growing stems as your plant mass is quite low and seems unestablished.
Also keep the airstone on at night.You can set it up on a timer so does not overlap with your CO2 injection period.

Regards Konstantin
 
@Ghettofarmulous

if anything during this time, I wouldn't increase the PH of the water if you been doing so. maintain lower PH and let the NH4 stay in its ammonium form and it is quite harmless, I had fish in 8+ ppm NH4 at one point and it was similar incident with osmocote, but I wouldn't recommend keeping the fish in such a high level of NH4 in long term.

I eventually had to tear down the tank because I was getting 0.25 - 8 ppm reading within few days even with multiple water changes, so I would expect something similar in your case. this also indicate that you have added way too many root tabs and at this point I wouldn't blame Tropica but a user error.

I would strongly recommend floating plants at this point if you choose not to tear down your tank, I would estimate 1+ ppm drop in NH4 daily if your entire tank was covered with Floaters.
 
Last edited:
Hi Happi, all.

Thanks for the message, I maintained the pH circa 6.8. This is a drop from an average morning pH of 7.66 and the degassed aquarium water (24hrs standing) recorded as 8.37. In still building a profile but at 6.8 my drop checker is lime green close to turning yellow. I’m still building the profile.

I had removed all stock from the tank on Wednesday and tested the tank every 12 hours. Today it remained at indicated 0mg/l

I did a big water change, allows to turn over and tested again. All good so I put everything back. Tomorrow I begin monitoring pH and building profile.

I appreciate everyone’s input. I learned a lot. I don’t blame Tropica at all, I may have followed a few YouTube videos a bit literally. Next time I’ll be very careful and consult forum records.

I lost one fish and pulled a muscle in my shoulder logging buckets about.

Control- purified water
Bucket - temporary fish hold
Tank

A702C5CF-3A4E-42FF-867A-D2A130C6BEF7.jpeg
Saturday

7F3C64CC-CB7C-43CD-B2F6-16D23460F0E3.jpeg
Thursday both tank samples9AA73EAB-331B-4758-A079-E8B19D290056.jpeg
New water change system
 
I thought I would close this thread out with a final update.

After a week the tests indicated Ammonia levels had returned to 0 mg/l. Daily water changes were required and all live stock was kept in a bucket. In all I lost one Otto which is a shame. I really hate losing fish to my own mistakes.

Anyway I'm grateful for the help and support. All going well now.
 
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