Tryin to re-do an old tank

[ahkarboy]

I was wondering how did you get the "new" loam in there as you mention. Those loam bought from market/flower shop might well contain urea/ammonia as I mention which will kill your critters (which you don't seem to care.. ). Plants are tough and not easy to kill as compared to critters. I would resolve the issue that is causing the critters to die first rather than plants.

Regards
Peter Gwee

It was a very long time ago.We put too much taht time........but when we put a little bit they didnt die.nothin really happened...onli like 5 fishes died

[ahkarboy]

Now I'm confused... do you want to re-do the tank? Or keep the tank as it is and get rid of the algae?

For your current tank:
- Most likely not enough CO2 for your plants. Go get a KH and pH test kit... and use them to figure out your CO2 levels. See Chuck Gadd about this. And while you're there, read the other articles too.

- CO2 diffusor: not up to the job for a large tank like a 5 footer. I suggest an external CO2 reactor. Either DIY... there are a few plans on the net including this one in AQ or buy one.

- No fertilisers... plants got not enough food for the amount of light you are giving them... no wonder you get algae. You need to start fertilising (including CO2) so that your plants can grow optimally and outcompete and drive away the algae. But before that, tell us what and how many plants you have in there... if you don't have or don't intend to have much plants, the methodology is different.

- Filter media... very poor, good candidate for cause of fish death. Go get some ceramic rings, Eheim EhfiSubstrate (or cheaper equivalent), coarse filter pad, fine filter pad. What's the brand and model of your filter (so we can tell you how to organise the media)? It is normally from bottom up: ceramic rings, coarse fitler pad, EhfiSubstrate (or equivalent), fine filter pad.

-Algae... remove as much as possble manually and use algae eaters. You need to make conditions good for plant growth to keep the algae away. Depending on the type of tank you want, you will need to adjust the amount of light, CO2 and fertilisers.

You have some choices to make.
1. Do you still wish to keep it as a planted tank? Or you could convert to a fish only tank.
2. If yes, what kind of planted tank?
- High light, high CO2, lots of fert, fast growing plants, very beautiful tank (provided you aquascape it and maintain it).
- Low maintanance tank... less light, less CO2, less fert, less maintainance/effort, slower plants. Nice, pleasant, mostly green tank with less plant choices.
3. Do you want to re-do the whole tank or keep the tank and try to fix the existing problems. This will affect the advice we give you. (To change the substrate, you must re-do the whole tank.)

I want to re-do it for design as its really messy n i've covered the co2 part my dad got like a huge c02 thingy

[ahkarboy]

Seems there is a confusion here based on impressions. Ahkarboy, is the loam you mentioned new or been in there 6-7 years?

we put the loam in last year. anyway it doesnt matter.just drop the loam thing k

[ahkarboy]

Hi Ahkarboy,

I hope none of the replies made to you have sounded offensive in anyway, if they may be. We tend to be blunt here, but we are really trying to help

Just one question:
What dimensions are your tank? You mentioned 5 X 2 X 20... is that in feet or in cm or in inches?

Try to answer vinz questions.

Cheers,

Error....sori 5x2x2 feet

[vinz]

I want to re-do it for design as its really messy n i've covered the co2 part my dad got like a huge c02 thingy

Do you still want to change the substrate?

As for the CO2, just because you have a huge CO2 thingy, it doesn't mean you are injecting enough CO2. For a high light tank, you need to maintain 30ppm of CO2 for the duration of the light period. You also need to plant lots of plants and start fertilising the tank.

Maybe if you share with us what design you have in mind, we can give you more specific advice... maybe pictures of tanks that have inspired you?

[kayser78]

BBA ah. i kenna before and i use the h2o2 treatment plus azoo to eradicate the problem. you can find a series of post in arofanatics regarding this treatment.
be careful that such a treatment will raise the kH drastically. so water change has to be done at least once a week

[michael lai]

Dear Ahkarboy,
I recently change my subtrate in my 3 ft tank, from crushed coral chips to gravel.From what I gather, you would be better off to change the subtrate and 'LOAM' altogether. Which means changing everything that lies below. It would save you alot of trouble, TRUST me I know:] Then wash your old substrate and use it for your next project.
There is no strainer for this kind of job and you would save alot of water if you change.Time frame 2 days(Sat Morning start-End Sunday night.)
Planning in advance would save you alot of effort and money.There is good advice at Juggler's website.
My 2 cents worth is that the algae is coming from your 'Loam'.