guys I need help.
I've been scrubbing some of the rocks from 1pm till now. The yellow stains on two of the rocks can't be remove, like it's fused on it or something.
No matter how long or hard I scrub it's still there, soaking it in boiling water for 30 mins doesn't help either.
any bros with experience can shed me some light?
Right now I just soak them in boiling water again and set it aside.
@jc koh. I think the yellow "stains" are part of rocks. If you scrub like crazy, i think the rock will become smaller by a few millimetres. Just guessing. Hope someone can clarifies.
In my view, if you cannot scrub it off, just leave it as it is part of nature. I might look even better with that.
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LitiAquaria
Planted Tank Journal | YouTube |Instagram | Facebook Page
don't spend too much time trying to scrap things off if it doesn't come out, end of the day, you might bury the yellow part in soil or the yellow part is facing the back hence cannot be seen...
I guess this just depends on how you prefer the colors of the rocks, if you don't like the yellow stains, just try to specifically pick and use those individual rock pieces without the stains (or those with less stains), and position them to minimize the view of the stains.
You could also try scrubbing the stain parts with H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide, can get from most local pharmacies), its a common method to remove stains from household hard surfaces and items, so it could also work on rocks too. Just make sure to wash and soak the rocks again for a while after that.
That being said, usually after being in the aquarium for a while, those large surfaces of rocks will also eventually be covered in algae anyways (hopefully the nice green fuzzy ones), so any odd stains will also be hidden too.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 14th Nov 2016 at 12:38.
When the stones are covered with algae in time, the stained or discolored parts do add some nice tonal effect to the stone, though it may not look pleasant in the raw.
Some so-called stains may be fossilised matter embedded into the rock and thus cannot be removed by scrubbing but only by chiselling or cutting.
LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!
The yellow stain should be part of the rocks mineral content!
From the looks of it, the rocks seem to be in different shades, might be different types of rocks.
When picking rocks, it might help to wet them a little to see if they will 'match' in the tank! The color tones change when the rocks are wet.
Looking forward to updates!
Cheers,
JJ
@Urban Aquaria,
Just bought it.
But I'll try with lemon juice first. If cannot then I'll proceed to using H2O2.
Will keep you guys updated.
guys, I need help with some brown/green water issues,
ok I'm 12 days into my new set up tank.
the water has been a bit greenish/brownish since the first day.
I've been doing 30-50% water change daily, it will look better after the water change but turns greenish/brownish again the next day.
this is the water parameter before the water change:
water temperature at 29 degrees most time
ph - 6.6 - 6.8
ammonia - 0.25ppm
nitrite - 5.00ppm
nitrate - 20ppm
been setting the photo period to 6 hours daily, co2 at 3bps.
MC and sp mini is doing ok, there are some melting on the MC leaves but they are spreading out.
I'm dosing with ADA fertilizer, 3 pumps of step 1 and brightly k daily.
is the color of the water normal at the initial stage and will disappear over time or do I need to increase/decrease something out of my daily routine to control it?
thanks guys.
Get some floating plants to absorb excess nutrients? I don't recommend fully dosing ferts when first starting up a planted tank until the plants fill in n have established well. Also, try to plant more plants from the start, especially stem plants since most are fast growers meaning they suck up excess nutrients well.
the main rock looks great!
wow .. the spread of MC is like fire!
try changing 50% of water and see how.. alternatively you can add JBL Clearol to clear things up a little..
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you might green water coming.. watch your lighting hours..
Some suggestions based on my experience:
- 6 hours photo period is conservative, I'll stick to it unless the MC start growing upwards or you've got bad growth. You can up the lighting when things stabilises and when you want more aggressive growth
- Slowly reduce fert dosing, say -20% for a few days, observe and adjust. It seems to me your nutrients are in excess now.
- Up the water change frequency. WC 30% every 3 days is not excessive.
- I think Ammonia is the main trigger for green water. WC helps keep it in check until your tank stablises.
- Get some floaters to help soak up excess nutrients, it's cheap (less than S$1). It may block some lights but consider it a temporary measure. Avoid duckweeds.
- Water change, more.
- If green water do break out, my advise is go the UV route; it is by far the fastest and most effective counter measure. See my post http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...lessons-learnt
- Did I mention water changes?
- Once you start to introduce livestocks, you may need to adjust the CO2.
- Test kits provide a rough insight to your tank's chemistry, that's all to it. They are not accurate, and can be a red herring. Learn to read plant growth and formulate your own regime.
- Do the above until water quality and growth improves; adjust accordingly until you find a good balance of light + nutrients + maintenance. There's no gold standard, and it's always a moving target.
- Water change!
Last edited by Ivan Choo; 15th Dec 2016 at 09:57. Reason: typo
Great advice from Ivan! Ya. It seems like nutrients are excessive in your tank.
So do more water change if you see green water. Tropica recommends to do even up to 75% water change every second day until water is clear again. If after that still see green water then turn off the light for 2 days and change 75% water before and after.
Also as other sifus said to put floating plants. That is very wise since you are having Iwagumi style and might not want to plant some fast growing one in the tank.
Nevertheless, MC is growing very well now. Great job!
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LitiAquaria
Planted Tank Journal | YouTube |Instagram | Facebook Page
I like the idea of buying some floaters too.
What is the proper way to introduce them to tank?
Don't want any pests to get in the tank..
UA has a sticky on plant quarantine procedures somewhere in this forum. Very helpful when I first started
Just rinse them in tap water and inspect each of the floating plant leaves from top to bottom, trim and toss away the melting ones and those with obvious signs of snail or critter eggs (usually they look like jelly blobs or tiny cocoons).
Put the cleaned floating plants in a container of water dosed with higher concentration of your choice of anti-pest and anti-algae chemical treatments. Put some light on the container and let the floating plants sit for 1-2 weeks. Observe if there are any more pest critters or algae that pop out. If you feel its okay, then can intro the floating plants into your tank.
Note that this is still not a 100% guaranteed solution though, but it can help to greatly reduce the risk of introducing most pests.
Wow! I didn't know so much need to be done for proper introduction of floaters..
Mind me asking, if I throw a big marimo ball into the tank, will it act as a good nutrients absorber on par with the floaters?
Well, all those steps are optional. As with most LFS plants, they could also just be dumped directly into a tank without any treatment or quarantine... which is what most people do.
Just that later when annoying pest critters and tough algae start to pop up and run rampant in the tank, then the epic fun battles begin.
While marimo balls do take up abit of nutrients, due to their ultra slow growth rate, the amount of nutrients used is far less than than floating plants with their super fast growth rates. The overall effects of marimo balls on nutrient levels tends to be very minimal.
If you need plants to really help to remove excess nutrients, best to go for fast growing stem plants or floating plants.
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