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Just a few aquarium questions... <20 some Megs...>; residual NH3,
U1 zots, Crypt melt, moving pH 8/7/16
Please re-size and re-send all... Your files are more than an order of
magnitude too large.
Re: Just a few aquarium questions... 8/7/16
Yikes...I was wondering why they were taking so long to upload, didn't even
notice they were that big.
Resized in PS, hope this is a little better!
<Yes; now just need you to delete the carats (<<<<) in the text below and
re-send. BobF>
re: Just a few aquarium questions... 8/7/16
<Oh, found the original text here>
Hello crew! I just started up my old aquarium and I have a fair amount of
questions about water quality, some of my old plants, etc.
My tank is a 10 gallon. Started it up a little over 2 months ago, let it
cycle through, and added a single Betta after the cycle was finished.
The parameters are
pH: 7.5
nitrates: 0
nitrites: 0
ammonia: .12? (it's not exactly at 0 and not at .25 on the test kit, so I'm
assuming it's right in the middle)
<Toxic; and am wondering wherefore/why the residual ammonia here?>
temp: between 74-78 degrees
My first question is about the ammonia. Both in the past and currently, I
cannot keep the ammonia at 0 for the life of me because my tap water has a
small amount of it.
<This should cycle through though... And you should eliminate w/ water
conditioner use ahead of placing it in the tank>
It's not at a terribly dangerous level but it's enough to be worrying,
<Debilitating.>
I've tried using ammonia-removing products, including prime, on the water I
store away for water changes, but the ammonia tests as 0 and then has a huge
spike occurs a few days later. Is there any way to get it down and
stay down?
<Yes... a few ways. Let's have you review here (as I/we have no way of
knowing what you already know):
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwammf3.htm
and the linked files above>
My second question is about this strange white and brown stuff growing on my
driftwood. I'll attach some pictures, some of them I couldn't get to focus
but I hope they're good enough. There are brown chunks of what looks like
fish feces or a kind of fungus, mostly on the bottom half of the driftwood.
It's kind of tough to remove so I had to scrub it off with a
toothbrush, but it just comes back anyway. Along with that are white specs,
mostly on the top of the driftwood.
<This appears to be bits of decomposition... the wood, likely food, feces>
I can't tell you how many pages I've checked trying to find out what these
are. The only answers I come back
with are black beard algae/brown string algae and white fungus/Nerite snail
eggs, but whatever's on my driftwood doesn't look like any of those. The
white specs even look like they're starting to spread to one of my crypts.
My Betta seems to be unaffected by either of them, but I've had a baby
Bristlenose in a hospital tank and I wanted to move him in soon. I'm worried
that this stuff could make him sick if he eats it. Any ideas what either of
them are?
<As stated... you might benefit from more circulation, filtration here>
Third question is about the crypts (also in the pictures) I was growing them
in a large bowl for a while and they were doing very well with API leafzone
and some natural sunlight. They shot out very nice, healthy green leaves,
but when I transferred them to the tank, they started turning a reddish
brown and getting ruffles. I read that this happened to a few
other people that changed the way they were fertilizing their tank, though
they stated that they were still very healthy. Mine are kind of getting this
weird translucent reddish-brown look and a couple of the leaves have
completely melted, but the leaves had been bright green and strong before.
<Crypts are susceptible to this sort of decomp. under stressful and varying
conditions>
I have an LED light strip but others have been able to keep crypts just fine
with them. Is there another reason they're not doing as well?
<Can't tell w/ the data provided. There may well be a nutrient deficiency
going on here... N, P, K, Fe....>
My final question (phew) is about the pH. It's always been at 7.5 (or
higher, not sure if it even shows up on the test kit..) I want to lower it
to around 6.8 or 7,
<I would NOT do this. Leave it as it is... will drop a bit in time. See WWM
re pH and Alkalinity for a bit of background>
but just like the ammonia, I've tried two or three pH altering products and
they drop the pH rapidly and spike it a few days later.
<... yes... alkaline reserve is buffering it back up. Common >
I was thinking I could try Indian almond leaves or wood, but they would
release a lot of tannins and I'm not sure if it would add to the ammonia or
not. Have tried adding distilled water as well and there is no affect (but I
do have 20 empty gallon jugs laying around) Do you have other suggestions of
how to lower it safely?
<Time going by is the very best. Don't fuss w/ pH here, period. 7.5 is fine
for what you have livestock wise>
I'm very sorry this is so long, I was debating on whether I should divvy the
questions up into different emails but I thought it might be more
troublesome to get them each separately. But I thank you very much for your
services. I always go to this site first if I'm having any problems and it
has been extremely helpful and informative! I greatly appreciate any answers
and advice you can offer.
Jenevieve
<Glad to be (hopefully) of assistance. Please DO write back if all is not
clear here after reading. Bob Fenner>
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Anubias and crypt balansae 10/17/12
Dear WWM,
<Andy>
I have an established tank for 2+ years it's a Juwel Rio 125 with
standard lights 2 t5 28w bulbs day and nature.
I have some crypt balansae growing but they never get big enough. They
grow to around 20cm then curl or just curl and never really grow.
<Something missing perhaps... or perhaps, too much>
Could this be too much light, I put root tabs in recently and it
improved slightly but I was hoping the would replace my vacillis
<Vallisneria?>
as a tall bg plant without taking over. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.
<I'd be testing (PAR/PUR meter) your lighting, and ferrous ion et al.
nutrient concentrations>
Also, I have some Anubias round leaf which I'm planning on attaching to
wood as it's recommended not to bury the rhizome. I would like to attach
them to the wood about 10cm above the substrate using superglue.
<Mmm, no. Just time w/ thread, thin monofilament>
Would the roots get enough nutrients from the water as they may not
reach the substrate straight away?
<You/I can't tell w/o water quality testing... N,P,K and Fe>
Many thanks
Andy
<As many welcomes. Bob Fenner>
Cryptocoryne melt 9/7/12
Good afternoon, folks. Got a question for the resident planted
tank experts. A couple of months ago I had a heater malfunction
and melted all the C. Wendtii in my 20H.
<No fun>
These were sizable plants, one of them taking up approximately
one-quarter of the tank. They are coming back okay, but I have
noticed an explosion of snails and have developed some nuisance algaes
that weren't there prior.
This has not abated with increased water changes - in fact, last week I
tried 25% daily changes to no avail. In trying to re-arrange some
of the newer sprouts, I discovered a massive carpet of roots where the
large plant used to be. Should that be pulled out?
<I would do so... take the tank down, thoroughly was the substrate, toss
the dead, decomposing plant material>
I am wondering if it is beginning to decompose and causing my snail and
algae problems.
<Very likely so. Bob Fenner, who has had similar experiences>
Thanks,
Scott
Web Site Correction Hello: Regarding your references on this
page: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/cryptocoryne.htm
The name of our magazine is misspelled. It is "The Aquatic
Gardener," not "The Aquarium Gardener" Will you please
correct this? <Yes, will do> If it would be appropriate to add a
link to our site, it is at www.aquatic-gardeners.org. While these
particular issues are no longer available, new issues are published
four times per year. Thanks, Cheryl <Thank you for this notice. Bob
Fenner>
An Affinity for C. affinis >Hello there, >>Hello
there. >I am a 66 year old Scottish plant grower. >>I'll
be 40 in February, and I spend so much time at this computer I think my
bum is growing roots.. does that count? >For some time now, I have
been trying to grow the Affinis Crypt, as I grew it many years ago. I
am afraid that the continuing messing about with the water supplies,
make this more difficult. >>Are you messing, or is your
municipality messing? >Our soft Scottish water did not appear to
suit the plant. Taking advice from the web, the plant appeared to
prefer harder water and in fact the PH used in some cases was 8 to 8.5.
I would wish to see this plant flourish again, but there appears to be
too many variations in how this can be achieved. Do you have any advice
on this ? >>If I understand you correctly, you wish to
"harden" the water (raise alkalinity/buffering capacity as
well as mineral content), as well as raise the pH (which buffering
would do), yes? If so, there are commercially available
additives, SeaChem makes a whole slew of GREAT
products. Another way to handle this is to get some crushed
coral or dolomite (calcareous substrate is the idea here), put it in a
bit of pantyhose and either bury it in the gravel, or place it where it
will get water being forced through it. I STRONGLY suggest
you also visit a site called ThePlantedTank - http://www.plantedtank.net/ and join
their forums (or simply peruse). Their information is
excellent (though I still disagree strongly with medicating a display
system). >Many Thanks, Jim Davidson >>You're
welcome. Marina
Plant trouble Hi Sabrina, Thank you
very much for your answer, I was really happy to receive it had to get
so much personal attention, it was amazing, thank you
again. <No problem - that's what we're here for
;) > Well, I realized that I have a Cryptocoryne plant (I think I
spelled it right) <'y' instead of 'I' -
Cryptocoryne - but hey, close enough!> and it usually dies off (this
is what I have been told) I am supposed to wait for it to
regenerate later or clip all its leaves off and then see what
happens. <Umm, this is common practice with some
Aponogeton species, but I've not heard of this being done with any
Cryptocoryne species. Perhaps you can find more about them
here: http://users.bart.nl/~crypts/index.html
- there's more info on Crypts there than you can shake a stick
at!> And the CO2 generator seemed to be too complicated to set all
by myself, so I went to the store and bought a pretty cheap one, I
thought though, I will make my own solution instead of buying theirs
and may be hook it to my own bottle. <Sounds like a
plan.> So if it is possible I will save money on
refills. <Yup.> (thanks for giving me the website
though, I am not much of a technical person I even do not know where is
a powerhead, so there was no way I could have hooked up my own (I have
a tank for maybe 4 months and have never had one before).
<Well, welcome to the hobby, then!> I still wondered how can I
improve my light situation, yes, I have a black lid hood with one strip
of light on it. If I can do that by buying the hood with
glass lid and then put 4 strips of light instead of 2, then I would do
it, I don't think they are expensive. <A lot of this
depends on what size tank you have, and what kind of plants you wish to
keep....> And then I have one more question: what ph level should I
keep in my tank with added CO2 so it does not kill the fish <Again,
depends on what plants and fish you have/wish to have. A
good plant book will help you in the plant hunt, and here's a nice
website to browse: http://www.tropica.com/default.asp
. You can find out pH tolerances of your fish (and so much
more info) at: http://www.fishbase.org/ .> and how
do I regulate it because my generator does not have any
control switches? <My approach to this was to use two
such systems, and alternate when I change out the yeast mix, so when
one's petering out, the other's going
strong. Otherwise, test your pH in the evening right before
you turn off the light, then again in the morning right before you turn
the light on again. You're aiming for stability, here,
so if the two readings are the same or very close, you're
okay. If the readings are significantly different, you may
want to disable your CO2 at night.> Well thank you for your answers
in advance and I really appreciate you taking your
time. Lina <You bet, Lina. Any
time. Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
