# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Questions about my tank



## Smilla (May 22, 2003)

I am confused about a few things. I guess I have some questions, I'm sorry if this is a long post. I'm not sure how to make it shorter...

Basically I already have a tank set up. I am willing to make some changes, but want to keep it LOW MAINTENENCE.

1. I currently am dealing with a small algae problem. It's on the acrylic unfortunately so it makes my tank look dirty. I don't like that. I am sort of at odds about what to do.

I've been told the following:

1- increase light

I've seen some posts here in which people (or someone) mentioned they had over 2.5 watts per gallon without injecting co2. I really don't want to inject co2. Maybe it's just something I have stuck in my head.

I suppose I could retrofit the tank, but I have three concerns:
1. heat. I leave the lid open to dissapate any heat generated by the lights in summer.
2. water splashing on the light (the current light has a plastic guard over it)
3. needing co2

Also Wouldn't the light increase the algae problem?

2 - add co2 somehow. I guess there are three ways to do this?

1. use soil (or peat?) in substrate (as I have gathered from this board)
2. inject it (but then wouldn't that be a problem w/my biowheel setup?)
3. add excel (I already know I'll be inconsistent about adding it, so I don't think it's a good idea. I'm pretty forgetful.)
(4. add more fish?







)

I am also told that the otos may be responsible for scratching the acrylic, which may have allowed the algae to settle in the scratched away areas. I don't know if they're not eating it or they can't reach it? It takes a lot of elbow grease to scrub off and I'm afraid that will do further damage.

Also I leave my lid open not just to dissipate the heat, but I'm kinda worried that less oxygen will get into the water at night, especially if the plants are respiring. Maybe that's stupid, I dunno.

So I'm not sure what to do. Rip out my substrate and replace it with a layer of soil underneath? Add more light? Add more fish? Do more water changes? Take out the filter and do less water changes??

I guess I don't understand the reasons behind the suggestions very well. Not to mention I do want to improve the look of the tank. All the plants in it are short and kind of sad looking. I'm not consistent and meticulous and am looking for something that will be easier to maintain (and look nice). I don't want a fast growing tank, but I'd like to see progress. For some reason the only plant that looks healthy and grows well is the crypto. balansae. And it's all they way in a corner, furthest from the light!

--------------------------------------------
Parameters:

pH: 7.8
gH:10
kH:8
ammonia, nitrite: 0
nitrates: ~10ppm

substrate: 100% flourite
substrate depth: ~1.5in

light: 13W over 12 gallon

dimensions: 15.5H x 20W x ~10D (bowfront)

filtration: eclipse system biowheel

plants: 
narrow leaf java fern
compact sword
crypts (I can't remember which kind)
crypt balansae
watersprite (floating)
I originally had some vallisneria and camboba in it, but they died.

When the plants start to turn yellow and brown I add small chunks of flourish tabs near the roots. I sometimes add flourish to the water for the java fern, it seems to turn yellow without it...

no heater, temp varies depending on season (usu. 70F in winter, 80-82F in summer)

fish:
2 otos
3 white cloud minnow
1 ghost shrimp
1 betta

water changes 2gallons every week or two. And I top off w/distilled water.

photo url

[This message was edited by Smilla on Wed March 03 2004 at 01:25 PM.]


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## Smilla (May 22, 2003)

I am confused about a few things. I guess I have some questions, I'm sorry if this is a long post. I'm not sure how to make it shorter...

Basically I already have a tank set up. I am willing to make some changes, but want to keep it LOW MAINTENENCE.

1. I currently am dealing with a small algae problem. It's on the acrylic unfortunately so it makes my tank look dirty. I don't like that. I am sort of at odds about what to do.

I've been told the following:

1- increase light

I've seen some posts here in which people (or someone) mentioned they had over 2.5 watts per gallon without injecting co2. I really don't want to inject co2. Maybe it's just something I have stuck in my head.

I suppose I could retrofit the tank, but I have three concerns:
1. heat. I leave the lid open to dissapate any heat generated by the lights in summer.
2. water splashing on the light (the current light has a plastic guard over it)
3. needing co2

Also Wouldn't the light increase the algae problem?

2 - add co2 somehow. I guess there are three ways to do this?

1. use soil (or peat?) in substrate (as I have gathered from this board)
2. inject it (but then wouldn't that be a problem w/my biowheel setup?)
3. add excel (I already know I'll be inconsistent about adding it, so I don't think it's a good idea. I'm pretty forgetful.)
(4. add more fish?







)

I am also told that the otos may be responsible for scratching the acrylic, which may have allowed the algae to settle in the scratched away areas. I don't know if they're not eating it or they can't reach it? It takes a lot of elbow grease to scrub off and I'm afraid that will do further damage.

Also I leave my lid open not just to dissipate the heat, but I'm kinda worried that less oxygen will get into the water at night, especially if the plants are respiring. Maybe that's stupid, I dunno.

So I'm not sure what to do. Rip out my substrate and replace it with a layer of soil underneath? Add more light? Add more fish? Do more water changes? Take out the filter and do less water changes??

I guess I don't understand the reasons behind the suggestions very well. Not to mention I do want to improve the look of the tank. All the plants in it are short and kind of sad looking. I'm not consistent and meticulous and am looking for something that will be easier to maintain (and look nice). I don't want a fast growing tank, but I'd like to see progress. For some reason the only plant that looks healthy and grows well is the crypto. balansae. And it's all they way in a corner, furthest from the light!

--------------------------------------------
Parameters:

pH: 7.8
gH:10
kH:8
ammonia, nitrite: 0
nitrates: ~10ppm

substrate: 100% flourite
substrate depth: ~1.5in

light: 13W over 12 gallon

dimensions: 15.5H x 20W x ~10D (bowfront)

filtration: eclipse system biowheel

plants: 
narrow leaf java fern
compact sword
crypts (I can't remember which kind)
crypt balansae
watersprite (floating)
I originally had some vallisneria and camboba in it, but they died.

When the plants start to turn yellow and brown I add small chunks of flourish tabs near the roots. I sometimes add flourish to the water for the java fern, it seems to turn yellow without it...

no heater, temp varies depending on season (usu. 70F in winter, 80-82F in summer)

fish:
2 otos
3 white cloud minnow
1 ghost shrimp
1 betta

water changes 2gallons every week or two. And I top off w/distilled water.

photo url

[This message was edited by Smilla on Wed March 03 2004 at 01:25 PM.]


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

What a cute tank!

But I can see that the plants don't look very happy. I never had any luck with plants until I started to use soil-- either garden soil or potting soil.

I would tear the tank down and set it up with 1 inch of potting soil. See my March 1 letter in the "Low-tech Substrate Advice" folder on how to do this. Don't try to reuse the Fluorite gravel, as it will have too much iron. Use new gravel as a cover for the soil. 

Your lighting is borderline. You might get by with 13 watt/12 gal if that's compact lighting, which gives more light/watt. Or the tank gets window light. Make sure you've got a good reflector (If not, line the inside of light housing with aluminum foil). With a few tricks you can increase your lighting without cooking your tank (I have a similar problem during the summer). 

Make sure you have enough water hardness. Most aquarium plants do better in hardwater.. GH should be above 8. Mine is 17.


Hope this helps.

Diana Walstad


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## Smilla (May 22, 2003)

Thank you









LOL. It just so happens that I bought a bag of Miracle Gro a few days ago. I had to repot one of my houseplants.

I hope this is ok to ask, but how is soil different from peat?

The lighting is compact fluorescent I believe. And the tank gets some indirect light from a window, but I don't know if that really does much...

I didn't know about the hardness, that's interesting. Why is that? I was actually trying to keep it lower by topping off with distilled water. The tapwater is already at 8, so if I just top off with tapwater instead of distilled, then the gH will prolly go back up.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2004)

Smilla,

I have the 6 gallon eclipse and also had a problem with algae on the acrylic. Green spot algae took over the acrylic so bad that for a while I couldn't even see into my tank. I was afraid to use anything to scrape it off in fear that I would scratch the acrylic. I eventually found a simple method that worked great. You can use a credit card or some type of plastic card similar to a credit card to scrape the algae off the acrylic. I've been doing this for a month now without adding any scratches to the acrylic whatsoever. It even got the aglae out of the current scratches for me. I recommend that you test it out on a small area of your tank first. 

Also, I do not believe that ottos can scratch the acrylic. I've had an otto in my tank for about a year now and every scratch in my tank is from me not being careful enough when rearranging my tank. Hope this helps and goodluck.

George


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Smilla:
> Thank you
> ...


Pure peat is made from Spaghnum moss, which is very acidic (about pH 5.5). Potting Soil is made to grow plants, so it has additives like dolomite lime to bring pH up and other things to make plants grow better. Honestly, I don't know why potting soil works, but it seems to work great for me. Maybe houseplants are a little like aquarium plants in terms of their soil needs. In my opinion, the Miracle Gro folks have created a soil that works well for houseplants. With what I have seen in my tanks, it does a spectacular job with aquarium plants as well.

Water hardness is important. Hard water contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, bicarbonates, etc that many aquarium plants need (in far larger quantities than the "sacred iron").

Again, my plants and fish are doing great with a GH of 17.

Diana Walstad


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## Smilla (May 22, 2003)

Thanks George for the credit card tip. I can't think of a better use for my credit card









I guess I was just wondering why not use peat. This is all new to me and I was reading various things and getting confused. I had no idea the difference. So higher pH and harder water is better. Hence no peat.

Thank you Ms Walstad for taking the time to answer my post. Wish me luck!!


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