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Thread: Is my water normal?

  1. #1
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    Is my water normal?

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    Hi folks,

    I have a new 4x2x2 ft tank and at the stage of setting up.
    The tank is now fill with 3-5 inch of fertilizer, sand and water without plants and fish. only the external filter is running without CO2 injection.

    Need your advice as the water is clear (i wash the sand) this morning when i fill it up. I added 2 tea spoon of baking soda (white powder I got from NA with the wording KH UP)and when i came back this evening, the water turn slightly yellowish with many small bubbles sticking on the wall of the tank.

    I tested the KH level to 3kH with Sera kH test kit (3 drops and water turn yellow) and pH level about 7.5 - 8 without CO2 injection.

    1) is my water normal?
    2) what should i do if it is not?

    Need all the advice from you.....
    Will be planting the plants this weekend.

    thanks!!

  2. #2
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    The only cure I guess is to change water.

    I strongly suggest that you be patient and not to plant this weekend. "Run-in" the tank first. Leave the filter on and no CO2 and do nothing but these:

    1st~9th days
    1) No light
    2) Change water 50% every 3 days

    This will bring about more stable water parameters and prepare the tank for new "add-ons" like plants and fishes.

    10th day:
    1) Plant like what you wanted it to look like
    2) Do not add fishes

    10th~20th day:
    1) add liquid fert, use comprehensive fert like JBL, Sera, etc that contain potassium, according to instruction given
    2) add CO2, KH 3, PH 6.4
    3) for your 4x2x2ft, start with 144 watts for 4 hrs, increase 1/2 hr per day till you reach 7 hrs
    4) at the 20th day, the plants will start to adapt to the water and grow.
    5) add algae eaters like otto and SAE. Ottos alone are good enough, about 10 pcs.

    20th~30th day:
    1) 20th day, if needed add the next set of light to have total of 216 watts. 25th day, increase light duration 1/2 hr a day from 7 hrs to 8 hrs.
    2) at 30th day, plants are adapted to your water. For stem plants, prune the old bottoms (they are hinderance to proper growth) and plant the tops. For rossette, remove the old outer leaves. This step will vitalise all your plants and set them for healthier and vibrant growth.
    3) check CO2 level - KH 2, PH 6.4. You should need about 4~5 bps by now.
    4) at this point, the water is in very good condition for fishes to be added.

    30th days onwards:
    1) a successful vibrant tank
    2) light duration can be increase up to 10.5 hrs if needed. Anything more is a waste. Plants can live well with 7~10 hrs light.

    Note: I may miss out some points.

    BE PATIENT.


    Regards,

    Freddy Chng
    www.killies.com

  3. #3
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    What sand/gravel are you using? How thick is it? What base fert are you using? Any driftwood in the tank?

    I would disagree with FC on one point... go straight to day 10 and plant this weekend. No point running a tank without anything inside. But definite wait before adding fishes.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

  4. #4
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    I have no driftwood in the tank but will be buying them this weekend. As for fertilizer, i use Sera Floredepot (about 10kg). The sand i got was from NA, can't rememeber the brand but comes in 22+kg per pack and i got 4 packs.
    The thickness is 3" to the front and 5" to the back.

    So, i will go and change the water and see will happen next.

    Thanks Freddy and Vinz for your advice!!

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    ----------------
    On 8/14/2003 11:23:33 AM

    I have no driftwood in the tank but will be buying them this weekend. As for fertilizer, i use Sera Floredepot (about 10kg). The sand i got was from NA, can't rememeber the brand but comes in 22+kg per pack and i got 4 packs.
    The thickness is 3" to the front and 5" to the back.

    So, i will go and change the water and see will happen next.

    Thanks Freddy and Vinz for your advice!!
    ----------------
    I agree on going ahead with the plants as Vinz had suggested. I would also recommend adding one or two hardy fish in,(such as SAE, but watch their diet, feed very small amount every 3-4 days). I doubt the fish will feels stressed due to ammonia and nitrite spikes in such a big tank like yours. Especially when there are plants around. You may consider adding some floating plants for the time being as they adapt to the water alot faster then normal rooted plants.

    I had a 4x2x2 at home and what I did was adding small amount(5-10) of fishes every week after the third week, since new cycle always restart itself when you add more fishes. Zero casualty besides some that died due to CO2 poisoning in one of the unforeseen accident. []

    If those gravels comes in brown paper bag, I believe they are "Lapis" aka "Lonestar", they requires no washing, but a light rinse to remove some floating debrics is necessary.
    Cheers and Regards,
    Billy Cheong

    I'm not always dumb,
    Just most of the time...

  6. #6
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    Yeap. Those gravel come with brown paper bag. So they are called 'lonestar'!! Anyway, thanks for the info!!

    One more question. As for the lighting, my tank comes with 4 x 38Watt, 6500K light tube from BioPlast. I don't think this will be enough for my tank (total of 152W). Any advice on this as I will only be having 1.5w/g

    Thanks!!

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    it would depend mainly on the plants you would be keeping , but its a variety of it , 2w/g would be the minimum prefered and also try to get those lights on stands so they will not heat the water up too much

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    yeah, I agree with Vinz.. skip to day 10, even if the condition is stable, it doesn't readily mean you will have a problem free tank after you plant..

    just to add to FC's advise, it is a fishless cycle

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    As for my lighting issue, is there a solution that both my hood that house 4 light tubes can co-exist with those light stand or do i have to replace the hood?

    Need a solution to increase my light per gal for future more demanding plants as well with my current situation.

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    Do you have pictures of the hood? Or tell us the brand and model, and also try finding the pictures at the manufacturers website. We can't really tell unless we know what they look like.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

  11. #11
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    The "run-in" is not meant to cycle tank where you need nutrients like ammonia to promote bacteria.

    Remember many a time, begginers run into problem due to base fert leak, nutrients spikes? The main reason why beginners run into the wall with algae, poor growth, etc, among many factors, this is a major one. The "run-in" period will eliminate all these risk. The rests are easy to alter and control.


    Regards,
    Freddy Chng
    www.killies.com

  12. #12
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    the tank together with the hood is from bioplast. come together with 4 light tube and each is about 1m in lenght.

    so can we modify this?

  13. #13
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    ----------------
    On 8/14/2003 1:01:12 AM

    [snip]
    I strongly suggest that you be patient and not to plant this weekend.

    1st~9th days
    1) No light
    2) Change water 50% every 3 days

    This will bring about more stable water parameters and prepare the tank for new "add-ons" like plants and fishes.

    10th day:
    1) Plant like what you wanted it to look like
    2) Do not add fishes

    10th~20th day:
    1) add liquid fert, use comprehensive fert like JBL, Sera, etc that contain potassium, according to instruction given
    2) add CO2, KH 3, PH 6.4
    3) for your 4x2x2ft, start with 144 watts for 4 hrs, increase 1/2 hr per day till you reach 7 hrs
    4) at the 20th day, the plants will start to adapt to the water and grow.
    5) add algae eaters like otto and SAE. Ottos alone are good enough, about 10 pcs.

    20th~30th day:
    1) 20th day, if needed add the next set of light to have total of 216 watts. 25th day, increase light duration 1/2 hr a day from 7 hrs to 8 hrs.
    2) at 30th day, plants are adapted to your water. For stem plants, prune the old bottoms (they are hinderance to proper growth) and plant the tops. For rossette, remove the old outer leaves. This step will vitalise all your plants and set them for healthier and vibrant growth.
    3) check CO2 level - KH 2, PH 6.4. You should need about 4~5 bps by now.
    4) at this point, the water is in very good condition for fishes to be added.

    30th days onwards:
    1) a successful vibrant tank
    2) light duration can be increase up to 10.5 hrs if needed. Anything more is a waste. Plants can live well with 7~10 hrs light.

    Note: I may miss out some points.

    BE PATIENT.


    Regards,

    Freddy Chng
    www.killies.com
    ----------------
    Wahrao Freddy, your method will really put his patience to test man!! Anyway, I must agree with you... in this, you better don't rush... Rushing tends to bring you more trouble and inconvenience in the end.

  14. #14
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    ----------------
    On 8/14/2003 12:18:19 AM

    I tested the KH level to 3kH with Sera kH test kit (3 drops and water turn yellow) and pH level about 7.5 - 8 without CO2 injection.

    ----------------
    Just in case others are wondering. Baking Soda (or kH-UP powder) itself is alkaline. It raises the kH as well as the pH. The pH can only drop by CO2 injection.
    koah fong
    Juggler's tanks

  15. #15
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    What will happen if I add peat in the filter to lower the PH level. Will my plant suffer?

  16. #16
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    No they won't, but I advise against it as the peat will lower your KH as well and make it much harder to determine the CO2 levels using KH and pH values.

    In a planted tank, better to stick to CO2 and CO2 alone to lower your pH.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

  17. #17
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    ----------------
    On 8/14/2003 2:41:35 PM

    The "run-in" is not meant to cycle tank where you need nutrients like ammonia to promote bacteria.

    Remember many a time, begginers run into problem due to base fert leak, nutrients spikes? The main reason why beginners run into the wall with algae, poor growth, etc, among many factors, this is a major one. The "run-in" period will eliminate all these risk. The rests are easy to alter and control.


    Regards,
    Freddy Chng
    www.killies.com
    ----------------
    Hmmmm... I've never come across problems with basefert leak and nutrients spikes when I start my tanks. But it could be due to planting methods. If a beginner plants with the tank half-filled with water and frequently uproot and re-arrange their plants (as some are wont to do, going by some of the posts) algae problems are apt to happen.

    Here's some tips about planting a new tank.
    - Have a good idea of the layout before you start. Admittedly, that is hard to do when you don't know anything about the plants you just bought.
    - Before you start planting, fill the tank until the water is just starting to emerge from the substrate.
    - Position driftwoods (with or without attached plants), rocks, etc.
    - Start planting plants that can stand on their own, or large plants that have large root systems. E.g. hair grass, blyxa, water-lilies, Echinodoruses, crypts, elatine, glossostigma, vals, plants in emersed form, etc. For plants with large roots systems, this is the perfect time to dig a hole, place the roots in and bury them again.
    - Remember to have a spray ready and spray the plants occasionally, or just sprinkle water on them.
    - Then half fill the tank and start planting the rest of the plants.
    - Tweezers a good as they help get the roots nice and deep without leaving huge finger sized holes in the substrate.
    - Don't keep moving the plants about trying to get the perfect aquascape until the tank is growing well. Especially avoid moving the majority of the plants around in one go. Get the hang of growing the plants well before you start worrying too much about the scaping. Every time you replant, the plant has to re-settle before it starts growing well and taking up ferts, and that leaves a chance for algae to get a foothold. Uprooting exposes base fert and brings som eof them up to the surface.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

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