Hi-tech 2-foot acrylic cube tank journal

[GaspingGurami]

Is it probable for filter to be dirty after only 1 month? At what stage did you clean your filter for the first time?

More likely, your filter wool is not "dirty" enough. When it is all browned and coated with bacterial slime in another month, you will see how clear the water is.

I get my clearest plantd tank water when the wool's slimy.

[Splendid Warrior]

Ok, I'm not certain what is the cause for the cloudy water but I'm sure its not my filter because this tank has only been set up for 5 weeks and I actually cleaned the pre-filter and replaced the carbon but to no avail.

I started to notice the cloudiness in the past few days and the only things I did which was different from the past four weeks were:

1. I fed my fishes frozen Hikari daphnia. Half a cube each time over one day but I stopped because the fishes don't like it.

2. Fed fishes with ADA granules and Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes which they snapped up with gusto.

3. Added Sera KH/pH-Plus because tank kH was low and I raised it by 1 dKH.

4. Planted some more HC on the foreground.

I now suspect that the cloudiness is caused by some bacteria bloom because I noticed some white spots on one or two of the fishes (2 days ago) and I also had the same problem with white spots and cloudy water when I fed by betta (long time ago) with frozen feed.

I rule out NH4 or NO2 spike because I didn't add any fish nor did I over feed the fishes. All the fishes are healthy (white spots now gone after feeding garlic enhanced Formula 2) and the plants are growing like weeds with no algae problem at all.

I'm changing about 40% of the tank water daily and have stopped fert dosing completely (except Brighty K which is potasium and helps eliminate chlorine when I do water change) but the water would only stay clear for a few hours before getting cloudy again. The cloudiness is not brownish in colour but look exactly like a foggy morning in the forest.

I'm getting quite frustrated and any advice from anyone with similar experience will be most appreciated. Thanks.

[gregorsamsa]

hey,

sorry to spoil it but i think you need to get taller wood inside your tank. you can find them sold at NA. persoannly i think the wood is a bit short. once all the stemmed plants grows, they will look insignificant compared to the overall tank, given the fact that the tank is also 2 feet in height.

[Splendid Warrior]

hey,

sorry to spoil it but i think you need to get taller wood inside your tank. you can find them sold at NA. persoannly i think the wood is a bit short. once all the stemmed plants grows, they will look insignificant compared to the overall tank, given the fact that the tank is also 2 feet in height.

No need to apologise. You may think that taller pieces of driftwood might look better in my tank and I respect that but that's not the look I'm after. Right now, I'm more concern about the cloudy water in my tank. Can anyone help?

[Fei Miao]

It could be you're having a bacteria bloom
check out these threads:
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=23371

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=19915

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=22495

[StanChung]

I had some problems with overactive fish stirring the sustrate...cories in particular. One or two it's ok but put 6 in there on uncovered ADA and it's looks like what you have for two months. Took them out and water cleared in a few days.

From what i can tell, if you suspect it's floating particles, you can use Clear Dash or some other flocculent to bind the fine particles and let filter trap it.

If it's bacterial bloom, a speedy recourse is a UVS. Ultraviolet sterilizer.

Reducing the amount/times fed will help too or you can wait it out.

[BFG]

Mike, any updates for your tank?

[Splendid Warrior]

Mike, any updates for your tank?

I've been busy lately but I'll try to post some updated pics and the 'mystery' surrounding my tank soon. Stay tuned.

[Splendid Warrior]

Hey folks, its been awhile since I last updated on the progress of my tank cos I've been really busy and I've also been trying to figure out my 'mysterious' tank.

I think I can now shed some light on the cloudy water I was having problem with last week. It was partly due to a minor bacteria bloom and mostly my over zealousness in dosing ferts ... because I had a serious case of 'green water' after that!

Remember in my earlier posting that the NO3 in my tap water is 20ppm and I was literally replacing the nitrate in my tank with those from the tap with every water change? Yes? If I had any sense, I would been a lot more light handed with the ferts! I thought my plants were going really well and wanted to help them out a little by sticking to the dosing regimen recommended by ADA but I was really adding too much cos I had no way of reducing the NO3 in my tank.

Imagine my shock when one day I had a nice aquascape with plants bubbling, then cloudy water and then to my horror, green cloudy water!!! I did what most people in the situation would do: I changed water. But the water would remain clear for a few hours before turning green again. So I repeated the process the following day but situation did not improve. It was so bad that I was not able to see through by 2 ft tank! I dosed ADA Clear Dash but to no avail.

I figured I had to hold back my horses and start thinking about the best course of action. The first things I did was to cut CO2 and light supply completely and it was then that a lighted up and I realized the NO3 dilemma I had. I had to find a way to reduce the NO3 in my tank. So, I decided that I will go the DI way to reduce NO3.

One thing I found mysterious when I came home with my brand new DI unit was the tank was beginning to clear. At the height of its cloudiness the NO3 level was over 40ppm but after only 2 days water change and starving it of CO2 and light, the NO3 level had dropped to 10ppm!? How could this be possible when the NO3 level was 20ppm from the tap? Anyone wanna tell me how this is possible?

Anyway, I hooked up the DI unit 2 days later (I was fed up with water changing!) and voila the processed water measures zero for NO3. I performed a 40% water change and the clariness in the tank was superb! I also noticed the plants seems to like the water change a lot cos they started photosythesizing only after less than 30 minutes after the light came on when normally it'd take something between 3 to 4 hours. Is this normal again?

I'm now happy cos I have a way to deal with NO3. I'm still experimenting now but intend to regulate the ratio of tap/DI water with my water change cos my tap water has 2 dKH of hardness and DI water has none. Water hardness has a buffering effect on pH and prevent it to plummet and its especially important for a tank with artificial CO2 infusion.

This has been a long update and I thank you for reading it. The following are 3 pics I shot last night. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on how I dealt with the problems I had with the NO3 and green water problems.


Plants are growing fast! I have trimmed the Rotala indicas and Ludwigia acuartas 3 times.



Echinodorus aquartica at right foreground has grown by at least 300%



The only algae problem I have are in the ADA Lily pipes and clear hose.
Micranthemum microthemoides at the back are growing sideways fast but not up.

[BFG]

Hey Mike, glad you solved the problem. Anyway, what are the tools you used to remove the algae from your acrylic walls? I have a nano acrylic tank but will not add anything unless I know for sure that the media to remove the algae will not scratch the acrylic.

[Splendid Warrior]

Hey Mike, glad you solved the problem. Anyway, what are the tools you used to remove the algae from your acrylic walls? I have a nano acrylic tank but will not add anything unless I know for sure that the media to remove the algae will not scratch the acrylic.

I tried using those cheap white filter wool but they caused tiny hairline scratches. I've since switch to an expired credit card and it works like a gem! Just ensure that the edges on the card is smooth and scrape using long downward strokes.

[wasabi8888]

BFG

Snails are great for removing green algae esp if tank is about 2 ft or less... get those that will not reproduce... i think it's called nerite snail.. C328 and NA both have it...

[Splendid Warrior]

BFG

Snails are great for removing green algae esp if tank is about 2 ft or less... get those that will not reproduce... i think it's called nerite snail.. C328 and NA both have it...

I don't think there are any snails that can remove those 'green spot' algae.

[valice]

Nerites lor... Proven...

[Splendid Warrior]

Nerites lor... Proven...

Really?! You mean they will also remove those algae that I had to scrape off with a card with so much effort?

[valice]

Yup... but cannot have too many.. they like to breed... and lay white little eggs which are more difficult to scrape off, especially on your type of tank...

[jonas]

very nice tank, but plant are too short for such a tall tank, do you have plan to plant any tall plant ?

[wasabi8888]

2 ft tank needs about 2-3 snails.... and the eggs are impossible to remove once it's laid on the silicon...

[valice]

Totally agree on the stupid eggs...

[Splendid Warrior]

very nice tank, but plant are too short for such a tall tank, do you have plan to plant any tall plant ?

I've trimmed the stem plants a few times (they should be twice their height now without trimming) for dense growth so they're kinda short now. I'm hoping the MM at the back will grow another 8-10 inches.... If not, I will probably remove some of them and replace the space with some taller plants. I had some Cyperus helferi at the back but they weren't very healthy so I took them out. Just you know, I don't intend to have any of the plants reach the surface of the water.