Comments & help For My Office 2ft tank...

[limsteel]

Greetings, I setup a 2ft tank in office with bear minimum cost...
see tank at http://www.arofanatics.com/members/limsteel/office2ft
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 60cm x 30cm x 48cm (2nd hand $10)

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 36W PL (6500K) E ballast ($4 + $10)+ 18 FL (7200K) IronCore Ballast (old tubes + $3)

No. of Hours your light is on: 9 hrs (0830am to 1730pm)

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : none

Substrate Used : Ocean Free Bio Red Clay ($16)

How Thick is your base fert : none

How thick is your gravel : 3cm

Liquid Fertilizers Used : LG Aqua & LG Micro (from home)

Frequency of fertilization : Once weekly

Tank Temperature : suspect that it 24 to 26 due to air condition.

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : Small Internal filter with rain bar(2nd hand $5)

Filter media used : Sponge 7 pieces BioRing, Coral Chips

Tank now 1.5weeks old...

Bioload
Fishes: 50 Neon Tetra, 10 Cardinal Tetra AND 1 Dwarf Guorami
(50 Neon is bought by my office kakies without my knowledge)
Plants: Crypts, Glosso, Rotala Macaranda (narrow leaves), X'mas moss

Problem:
Green algae (not BGA) are coating on the Glosso and Crypts... Rotala Macranda & Xmas Moss growing well.

Neon & Cardinal got Ich... (after 2 weeks) [/img][/url]

[Lme]

the bio load may be too high.. 50 neon in a 2ft tank is too much.

[juggler]

From the picture, there isn't enough plants to soak up excess nutrients.

Suggest add more plants (including floating plants for shade) and slow down on the liquid fertilisers.

[hirowen]

Algae problem may be caused by high level of nutrient level and nitrate level. Try to plant more plants. Fish itch may be caused by the immature filter.
I don't know whether this is related anot, I have encountered algae problem when i mixing PL light with FL light too. After I remove the FL, algae problem seems to solve.

[PeterGwee]

[quote:d4b72429f1="hirowen"]Algae problem may be caused by high level of nutrient level and nitrate level.[/quote:d4b72429f1]

No, algae always have the first dip at the nutrients before the plants do so. Lack of plant mass(is this a planted tank? I don't see much plants in there?) and ammonia spike(overstocking) seems to be the likely cause of the outbreak.

limsteel, a school of 10 neons or cardinals would be the max I would put in your non-CO2 enrichment tank. You need to sell off the rest of the critters or give them away. Plants are way too little for a start by the way...You should have ask your kakies to overstock the tank with plants instead of critters. Try to pack the tank with as much plants as you can get in there. Get some floating plants in there to cover about 10-15% of the surface area to soak up excess ammonia produced. If possible, get some mulm from your established tanks and add them to the filter. Clean out the algae first and then do a large water change. Back off on all addition of nutrients and feed the critters daily after that (maybe an occasional addition of KH2PO4 or KNO3). Do not do water changes after that except maybe 3-6 months later or whenever you mess up the tank for some reason. (Remember to pack the tank with plants and remove the excess critters or else you will have issues no matter what.)

Regards
Peter Gwee

[limsteel]

:P just to update... My college confirmed that the number of Neon is 100 (not 50!) OK tomorrow DIY CO2 and plant mass will get some from Jugg tonight.

If watch change everyday (30%) and additional filter with more bio filtration... will that help? DIY CO2 will be on the way...

[hirowen]

Peter,
Thanks for correcting me!!

limsteel,
I think you still need to cut down your number of fishes. After heavy planting in your tank, there won't be much room for so many fishes.

[limsteel]

Office tank updateshttp://www.arofanatics.com/members/limsteel/office2ft/

DIY CO2 is added. Livestock reduction via Ich. So anymore more suggestion which plants to load in?