Reply With Quote
things don't jump out due to temperature (hardly)
its because they can't breath that they jump out. so test for ammonia, nitrite, and maybe other toxic substances. (if you have lotus. check plant roots, could be hydrogen sulphide.)
wahlau... just found a dried-up SAE outside my tank...
and this is already the second time...
dunno if the problem is related to my cooked shrimps...
anyway, are SAEs known to jump out of tanks? or is my tank temperature/condition that bad that they were forced to jump out???
things don't jump out due to temperature (hardly)
its because they can't breath that they jump out. so test for ammonia, nitrite, and maybe other toxic substances. (if you have lotus. check plant roots, could be hydrogen sulphide.)
if they can't breathe.. i should be seeing them at the water surface yeah? that's not the case...
my lotus is planted on the gravel... can't see the roots... but the plants seems to be doing well.. bubbling and all...
May I know what test kit are you using? Maybe you should stop CO2 injection for the moment to be safe and get an air pump for your tank just to drive off the excess CO2..(could be CO2 poisoning)...It might even be NO2, NO3 or even ammonia problem which require you to do water change.
Best solution now is to do 25-30% water change, stop CO2 injection and add an air pump to remedy the thing for the moment.
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
i am using Tetratest 5 in 1 test strips...
results were posted early in this thread...
have stopped my CO2 injection and added an airpump...
water changes are done on Mondays regularly and even yesterday morning as well... don't think i'll do one for now...
but how will my above actions affect my plants?
i have lifted my lights to about 5 inches above the water surface to cut down the temperature and put in plastic covers on top of the tank as temporary measures...
Remove the plastic covers for ventilation...it gonna trap more heat you know..In my opinion the 5 in 1 tetra test kit is not really recommended (Get all sorts of weird readings) get a pH test pen if you can afford it and other individual kits (much more accurate and safe in my experience). Temperature is not really of much concern here as I had tank water temperature up to 33 degrees last time and no apparent harm to both shrimps and fishes. (Please do a water change as I had doubts about your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels...all are deadly you know...don't be lazy!!) And last...not much harm to the plants as long as it is not for 3 days and more..
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Oh...forgot about your temperature shifts which may occur with aircon being "off"....okay..you can do away with the water change for now...best is to get a heater...set it to 28 degrees..should solve the problem I think...might be the shock cause by temperature shifts everyday...(that's my guess...hope that helps)
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
not lazy lah... but in office mah... a bit difficult to do so now lah... but the last water change was only yesterday leh... it should have cleared off whatever "poison" there is right?
arrgghh!! the tetra kit cost me $29 from aquamart and u say its not recommended??!! what brand do you have in mind for the pH test pen?
get a heater? thought my temperature is too high right? can the heater lower my temperature if its too high? and what's more... my tank is only 1.25ft long... adding a heater will totally spoil my landscaping... not that its very nice in the first place lah...
Your plants should be ok... I don't expect them to suddenly wilt. However, if your SAEs are jumping out, I would say that there is something really wrong. I've never had an SAE jump out of my tank... they tend to be pretty hardy... lemme think a bit... maybe some of the other "pros" got ideas? Simon? DEA?
Allen
Irn-Bru...you mention your Office is air-conditioned.. at what temperature is your air-con set to? Don't tell me its only 28 degrees? I think most are at least 25 and below?...Changes to temperature when air-con is off could make your creatures uneasy...Imagine I tell you to bath in water of 22 degrees...then ask you to jump into another pool at 33 degrees..repeatly over several days..sure you get sick mah. But really depends on how large temperature change..I need to know the difference...YOur tank lights are off before the air-con is off? Oh..almost forgot..any anti-chloramine solution to tank during water change? You never know whether the tap water in your office contains any chloramine or not leh...better to be safe than sorry.
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
the air-con is centralised, so dunno what temperature... but its actually kinda cold in here... everybody's wearing jackets and sweaters...
yes tank lights are off at 5pm before the air-con is off at around 7pm...
sigh.. will go get a thermometer on Monday lah... can't scrimp anymore liao...
I'm taking a look at your parameters again...
39x22x27 = 23.166L max not 28 like you said and then you still have to minus your wood, gravel etc... sp lets assume 20L = approx 5G
ok you have 32W of light meaning... you have a whopping 6.4W/G thats really bright... considering you have office lights as well. Do you have lots of riccia floating or just a little bit?
I'll assume your CO2 is ok for now since no fish hanging beneath the surface.
Can you check what your flow rate is for the filter? i.e. how many L/hour? too high a flow rate may be stressful on your fish.
How thick is your substrate with ferts? Remember this will reduce the actual amount of water even more.
Water change can't be faulted, though one wonder if you stir up lots of dirt when you refill....
Temperature may be a concern, but I'm not sure... no experience keeping tank in office.
Your fish load hmmm depends on how big your SAE are? mebbe you could post a pic?
The other parameters have no glaring problems... I just think you should cut down on the lights a bit... though it does matter how your lights are mounted (i.e. how far)
ok thats my 2cents for now
Allen
A cheaper alternative is to position a rain bar near the water surface to drive out the CO2. Isn't it?----------------
On 11/22/2002 5:13:07 PM
......Maybe you should stop CO2 injection for the moment to be safe and get an air pump for your tank just to drive off the excess CO2..(could be CO2 poisoning)...
----------------
I have dwarf cichlids in my tanks! Do you?
I still don't think its CO2 poisoning... no signs of that. The fish seem happy and thats a good indicator.
Actually I was wondering, do your lights go on and off during the weekend as well? and is your office pretty dark? i.e. do they switch off all the lights?
I'm thinking that besides the temperature issue... there could be one with lights... imagine being in pitch darkness. and then suddenly 'click' timer activates and suddenly your 32W comes blasting in... heck I know I sometime jump out of bed when my wife accidently turned on the ceiling lights when I'm sleeping... mebbe thats what scared your SAE? This is more true if your office is totally enclosed... no windows means no ambient light.
Allen
don't assume your no3/no2 are zero
what does the chart say?
first off, i'd advise a 30% water change for 3 days in a row
this should take care of it
my suspicion is no2 spikes
also, when was the last time you did a water change? N isn't the end all and be all
i'm sure there're plenty of metabolic byproducts which linger in the water
we'd have to do a DOC test to find out
allen,
i have already taken into account the gravel (about 1.5inch average), though not my big log... so water volume should still be 23L or say 6G. think 28L was a typo.
no, not alot of riccia floating... only filling 1/8th of the surface... but i've just removed them to another 1ft yesterday...
yes, CO2 seems to be okay to me too... if not all of them will suffer the same fate right?
how do you calculate the flow rate? anyway, my flow rate is the slowest, in fact... there's almost no surface turbulence at all...
water change is done by pouring onto the top of my wood, it minimises direct impact on my subtrate... used to pour it onto a piece of styrofoam...
my SAEs are adolescents only... probably the smallest that you can find in LFS here...
lights could be the problem... so far i have moved it further up... about 5 inches away from the water surface...
benny,
rain bar is too big for my 1.25ft tank... besides i'm using a hangon filter... abit troublesome yeah?
i've used separate air-pump to drive-off excess CO2 at the moment...
DEA----------------
On 11/23/2002 9:26:10 PM
don't assume your no3/no2 are zero
what does the chart say?
first off, i'd advise a 30% water change for 3 days in a row
this should take care of it
my suspicion is no2 spikes
also, when was the last time you did a water change? N isn't the end all and be all
i'm sure there're plenty of metabolic byproducts which linger in the water
we'd have to do a DOC test to find out
----------------
i have some dirty brown colour on my results but the chart has no such colours for me to match at all...
30% water change for 3 days in a row? can't do so... unless i go all the way back on saturday and sunday lah...
what's a DOC test? how do i do it for my tank?
thanks
the flow rate for the filter is usually specified by the filter maker... if you have the original packing, its probably stated on the box somewhere... if not, you can try searching their webby for the info.
Allen
I'm still curious what is the temp of your tank. If ppl in the office are wearing jackets/sweaters, I'm guessing it's as low as 21~22 deg.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks