my 4x2x2 planted tank

[Verminator]

Looking fantastic. Any chance of a clearer picture by having a larger image perhaps?

Really digging your foreground, E.Tenellus at its best f'sure!

[weeyang19]

Folks,


Here's my 2 week old planted tank. If you ask me about those cardinal tetras...I have already tested my water with a couple of commando fishes...

ADA to E.Tellenus is really very potent.




By the way, I have yet to clear the cloudiness in my tank...That's really sadz...More water change to come...

My substrate: Bacter100, Super Clear, Tourmaline BC, Penac W, Power Sand Special + Ferka Aqua base..

Don't ask me why I added the ferka aquabase. I had good experience with it with my last tank..which seen rather good healthy growth of crypts, etc.

Hi bro nice tank set there, with nice scaping

[wynx]

Hi bro nice tank set there, with nice scaping

Thanks for building the tank for me.

[weeyang19]

Thanks for building the tank for me.

No problem bro, like your scaping keep us updated

[cicjay]

Wow, beautiful 'scape.
Reminds me of a lake bed.
Are those tetras cardinals or green neons?

[wynx]

Wow, beautiful 'scape.
Reminds me of a lake bed.
Are those tetras cardinals or green neons?

Thanks for your nice comments...I am still working on the scaping
Those are cardinal tetras...

[wynx]

Too long never post any updates on this tank of mine. Actually, right now I am having a crisis of some sort. I am having super milky water. It actually happened after I removed those vallisneria from the the back. Guess that must have stirred up the substrate badly. It is amazonia one.

Then after that, my filters gave up on me, strangely all 2 units of them, I had 2 no. of 2028..I managed to get one working, while the other I cleaned it out, replaced the impeller and the shaft too.

Long story short, I do not think I overfeed or added any new live stocks into the stock leading for this to happen.

What I do suspect is that there is a bacteria bloom, or that I stirred up too much silt from my tank since I am using old and new amazonia...

Either case, I am very unhappy with how things are going.

[Ian Lim]

Too long never post any updates on this tank of mine. Actually, right now I am having a crisis of some sort. I am having super milky water. It actually happened after I removed those vallisneria from the the back. Guess that must have stirred up the substrate badly. It is amazonia one.

Then after that, my filters gave up on me, strangely all 2 units of them, I had 2 no. of 2028..I managed to get one working, while the other I cleaned it out, replaced the impeller and the shaft too.

Long story short, I do not think I overfeed or added any new live stocks into the stock leading for this to happen.

What I do suspect is that there is a bacteria bloom, or that I stirred up too much silt from my tank since I am using old and new amazonia...

Either case, I am very unhappy with how things are going.

Bro,

You have UV light? I have milky water for a numbers of years until I decided to installed UV light and I am very happy with the result.

[barmby]

'Wah lau' Edwin, what have you done!?!? UV light will definitely help. It works for me. A shortcut :P

[wynx]

This milkiness I must fight..in fact to be real honest..this is the 1st time I am battling such dramatic milkiness...

[weeyang19]

This milkiness I must fight..in fact to be real honest..this is the 1st time I am battling such dramatic milkiness...

Hi bro may be u can come my office i can pass u a powder will clear in 2 to 3 hours. Call me at 96672353

[Morgan01]

Too long never post any updates on this tank of mine. Actually, right now I am having a crisis of some sort. I am having super milky water. It actually happened after I removed those vallisneria from the the back. Guess that must have stirred up the substrate badly. It is amazonia one.

Then after that, my filters gave up on me, strangely all 2 units of them, I had 2 no. of 2028..I managed to get one working, while the other I cleaned it out, replaced the impeller and the shaft too.

Long story short, I do not think I overfeed or added any new live stocks into the stock leading for this to happen.

What I do suspect is that there is a bacteria bloom, or that I stirred up too much silt from my tank since I am using old and new amazonia...

Either case, I am very unhappy with how things are going.

it's highly recommended not to use any anti-cloudy water addictives or "crystal clearwater" solutions. you are basically shelving the problems elsewhere.

make sure you have good water flow...add a power head or wave maker if necessary. with ADA aquasoil + your eheims no matter how much it gets stirred up...the cloudiness will clear in no time and your water should be relatively crystal clear.

[lorba]

Edwin, i suggest reduce hours of lighting and add a UV if milkiness is serious enough. Dont bother to change too much water unless you think the dirt stirred up is causing undesired water parameters resulting in the bloom. If u have any left over biostarter bacterial product, dump them in.

[wynx]

Let me share what happened to my case. After 1 month of frustration of super cloudy water that started after I uprooted all vallisneria from my Aqua Soil Tank, the tank cloudiness is incredible. It is almost like mud water! No kidding!

I tried large water change with super low flow, minimize water flow, etc..changing filter media...oh well, nothing seems to help

So, then my research lead me to 2 things, UV and Seachem Purigen.I am not very willingly to try those since they tend to have some effects of the bio chemistry of the tank.
I have not started on UV lights since I have exactly got the right hose to pipe water into the sterilizer. I worked on the purigen, 250ml all into my top layer of 2028 into a very small bag.

1st day not visible results...2nd day some 36 hours later, the clarity is returning. My wife message me to relay the good news!

On the 3rd day, the clarity is still improving. I am astounded. I can't wait till the whole tank goes crystal clear.

anyway, anyone want to share their experiences as well? Like how many days did it take to clear the tank with purigen and what is the effect of the purigen in the planted tank affecting KNO3? If it actually suck up nitrates, I reckon I can load it up by adding more fishes or dosing seachem Flourish Nitrogen or something to bring up the KNO3 level.

[aquarius]

If it actually suck up nitrates, I reckon I can load it up by adding more fishes or dosing seachem Flourish Nitrogen or something to bring up the KNO3 level.

For your situation your primary reason is to remove the cloudiness and after the tank water is clear, you should remove the purigen otherwise you'll be wasting your money cos on one hand you are adding nitrate and on the other hand the purigen is removing the nitrate from the tank. It's like pouring water into a leaking pail. You should change to a new pail or patch the leak first before pouring water into it.

[wynx]

Here's how the tank looks one year after planting. I did not scrap off any algae before the photoshoot cos they come back faster than you can imagine. I believe that's the Green Dust Algae that they talked about. I am going to be following Tom Barr's method of ignoring the tank for 20 days and we shall see what happened next..seriously I am quite skeptical whether it will work but anyhow, I have exhausted all my means already. And that's the most pesty thing in the whole tank that I am not able to deal with for a long while now.

The nitrate level is reading approximately 15ppm( light orange on my tetra nitrate test kit)

phosphate is approximately 0.1mg/l

[kensaiz]

nice. sad for the cloud.

[barmby]

Honestly, not because i know you. I feel that the tank is quite nice. Don't talk about ada competition standard, I feel comfortable about this tank. The discus is not stress, The tetra are not shy, didn't hide among the thicket and schooling, still! Some guys can make pretty tanks but they get never their fish to cooperate..

[gcce]

It is nice to see that your tetras are not shy.. swimming out in the open.
My cardinals are still rather shy after 5mths.... coming out to the open to feed only.
Still trying to figure the cause. My other pencils, ember, espei, WCMM & oto swims freely in the open.

[wynx]

Thanks guys..

I think I still like my tank but my wife thinks otherwise. I think the challenge is to clear the green tinted glass without it reappearing the next day...and improve overall clarity. I do like to be fuss free when it comes to maintenance.