New to planted tank, please help but I am obviously doing somthing wrong.

[go20214]

First off, I've got a 75 gallon Bowfront, a T5 Teklight 4 bulbs, an Ehiem 2236. Aqua Soil from fish warehouse, and quite a few plants in already. I've done my water change because of new soil but, my water is murky green. I don't have a co2 system set up yet but, I did order a regulator and an UV ultr violet because i was told that would clear up my water in a week or so if i connect that to my Ehiem. the problem is my plants are dying and my water is murkey green. What am i doing wrong and what else am i missing for a perfect setup? advice is very much appreciated.

[manifresh006]

Sounds like Green water algae Pics could help but im pretty sure it Green water algae

You could use a blackout method By covering the tank for a couple of days as well as checking the ammonia levels from time to time

Also the uv should help make sure its in working order and that the bulb isn't out<<<<< Sorry thought u had a uv filter already LOL

From my experience Algae Bloom comes from NH4 and strong lights might want to use the blackout method w/ uv possibly a water change after, then lower the light period once algae looks to be under control either less hours of light or less light output

Let us know how it goes you came to the right place for help Welcome to the Box!!!!

MaNNy

[Roujin]

From my experience Algae Bloom comes from NH4 and strong lights might want to use the blackout method w/ uv possibly a water change after, then lower the light period once algae looks to be under control either less hours of light or less light output
MaNNy

+1 and welcome to the box

[Complexity]

What am i doing wrong and what else am i missing for a perfect setup? advice is very much appreciated.

You have an excellent start, but you are missing one major component required for planted tanks: Patience.

The solution isn't to get more equipment, but to get what you have in balance. The exception to that is the uv sterilizer. It will clear up the green water as that is an algae bloom. A uv sterilizer isn't necessary to clear up green water, but it will speed things up and isn't a bad piece of equipment to have anyway.

What would be most helpful is if you could give us some more details of your setup and what you are doing with it. For example, you have an excellent lighting system, but no mention of what bulbs are in the TEK fixture or how long your photoperiod is (how many hours you are running 2 or all 4 of the bulbs).

Can you post a picture of the tank?

What your readings are for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
How long has the tank been running?
What plants do you have and how many (how "full" is the tank with plants)?
What is the photoperiod for your lighting?
Are you fertilizing the plants, and if so, what ferts are you using and how much/how often do you dose ferts?
You said you do not have CO2, but are getting a regulator. Are you planning to add injected CO2?
What fish are in the tank and how many?
What are you feeding and how much/how often?
What water changes are you doing? How much water and how often?

If you could offer this information, I might be able to help you find where the balance may be off which is contributing to the problems you're having. But the main thing is to be patient with the tank. It takes time for a new planted tank to mature, and during that time, it's not uncommon to have problems with algae. You'll probably have different kinds of algae as you go along until you get everything in balance and the tank matures. Eventually, things will settle and your tank will be much more rewarding.

[go20214]

I really appreciate the tips and comment. Anything helps! thank you again.
is what i need co2 tank 20lb or 10lb and a good reactore if you guys have any recommendations on that. I'm not a DYI type of person.

i have one tester fish the tank right now, it has been a week and it's still alive.
I still need to find a top of the line reactor also if you guys know where I can find one picture are below. I will try to post better picture because i don't have a digital camera at this moment.

http://i49.tinypic.com/k9hslg.jpg

[PhishPhreek]

You have everything your plants could want and the little green plants are thriving......... Ooops
If will take time to get the ballance right and you want it now....
You can kill them with a UV
You can remove most of them with a water change but they grow back quickly.
you can use a 5 micron paper cartridge in a recirculating loop available at most home improvement stores
Or you can use the good old, time proven, Diatom Filter. If it can take the haze out of beer, it can take the green out of your tank.
My personal favorite is to use a wet dry and put daphina in the sump.

[mgarrido]

I really appreciate the tips and comment. Anything helps! thank you again.
is what i need co2 tank 20lb or 10lb and a good reactore if you guys have any recommendations on that. I'm not a DYI type of person.

i have one tester fish the tank right now, it has been a week and it's still alive.
I still need to find a top of the line reactor also if you guys know where I can find one picture are below. I will try to post better picture because i don't have a digital camera at this moment.


http://i49.tinypic.com/k9hslg.jpg

WOW!!!
To much ligth, to much nutrients but the good thing is green water cannot hurt your fish, just looks ugly.
100% w/c and turn of the ligths for a couple of days, use the UV and for your co2 setup i will go with any of these:

CO2 Reactor 100


Red sea 500


AquaSoils is a very rich nutrients substrate for plants but when you start a setup at least for the first week you need 50% W/C everyday and keep and eye open in your NH3 (ammonia).
Also replace the actinic bulbs for your fixture (btw... nice ligth fixtures) with somehing more friendly for pants between the range of 5500k to 12000k). if the others are 10000k will add 6700K to pops the greens, also a 8800k is a really good option.
For last consider add a second filter (maybe an Eheim 2217 or a Rena XP3), your 2236 is to small for your tank. And like complexity said: Patience.

:emt_thumbs:

[wesleydnunder]

As stated, aquasoil is heavy with ammonia out of the bag. It needs a large water change to dilute the ammonia and should be heavily planted right away to have something to use the available nutrients. So...

You need more plants ASAP

Water changes and/or blackout for 4 days will kill the green water but it will come right back if the nutrients are available to it.

I'd lower the photoperiod to 4 to 6 hrs after it's gone, until you get more plants.

I personally prefer 6700K color temp for the planted tank lights but everything from 5500K to about 8800K will be beneficial to your plants.

As Vicki suggested, be patient... don't panic. Your tank is just out of balance and will stay so until it's fully planted and you get your co2 on line, so you can do some things to offset the imbalance in the mean time.

+1 to previous posts

Mark

[kwc1974]

+1 to a lot of commetns above.

the greenwater can be killed by blackout for 3-4 days (although with your tank not finished yet it will come back), UV sterilizer, massive multile water changes 80&#37;-90% per day every day (probably need to do at least 50%WC to reset tank nutreants) or the H2O2 method has worked great for me.

Amazonia is high on hte nutrient load as described above, and there is a description here on the box on WC schedules.

The best thing you can do other than a good WC is to plant heavely. Stem plants are preferable as they consume loads nutrents. Floaters as a temporary plant will help a lot too.

Get CO2 on ther ASAP otherwise you will have to learn to get rid of other algeas as well.

Above all, do as complexaty suggest. have a lot of patence and come here to ask a lot of questions.

[Complexity]

You're getting good advice. My only caveat is in regards to doing a blackout. If your plants are already dying, a blackout might not be what you want. The green water is ugly, but not harmful, and the uv sterilizer will clear it up quickly enough.

A 10lbs CO2 tank should be fine. Pick up a pH controller while you're at it.

You didn't answer my questions so I can only give general advice. As others have suggested, stuff the tank with plants when you start up even if that means adding temporary plants you do not intend to keep long term. One of my favorites for this purpose is hornwort. It just floats or you can anchor it down; it does not have roots. It is a true aquatic weed that will use up the ammonia (after depleting nitrates and nitrites) in the tank. It helps get over the initial start up phase of a new planted tank.

I use the Rex-style reactor so I can't suggest other kinds. I don't know anyone who's used anything other than the Rex-style. They're extremely easy and cheap to put together. http://www.rexgrigg.com/diy-reactor.htm

In your picture, it looks like you have blue light bulbs which I suspect are acentic bulbs. If so, throw them away and get plant bulbs. Mark (wesleydnunder) offered some good advice as far as what bulbs to get. If you want to go top of the line, you can get Giesemann builbs. I run a combo of midday (for white lighting) and aquaflora (for plants).

[go20214]

More Updates!

First, I want to thank you guys for the warm welcome and help you've provided. I've checked the water, the ammonia level is fine PH is fine as well. I didnt Use the blackout method by covering up the tank but, i did however turned off the light for a day or so. Sorry I didnt list what i've already have. I'm also picking up a full 15lb aluminum tank this Sunday for $70.

-TEK Light 58 watt bulbs (I had all 4 running daily on a 12hr timer)
-Bought a Fluval 405 and replace my Eheim 2236
-45watt UV (hooked up to the filter)
-An Azoo Regulator
-1 Rena 500watt Smart Heater in the middle of the tank
-2 Drift wood from Fish gallery (love that place)
-12 plants, some, i bought from lance but they died.

-7 50 cent size angel fish
-5 Cory 1.5 inch
-2 Discus about 3-4inches
-1 brown pleco 2inch
-1 sail fin pleco 2inch
-1 gold nugget pleco 2.5inches
-3 clown loach 1inch
-1 crawfish i got for free at petsmart, it was fun to watch.

From what yo all are telling me, It must have been the lights (all for 48inch 56watt bulbs) running 12hrs a day. I am limiting it to 3-4hrs a day now and keeping the UV on and it seems to show quiet an improvment! I just took some pictures.

Does anyone have any ideas on what brand of reactor and diffuser to purchase??

The after pictures are the first two and the before picture is the last one, on the right. I'm getting use to this whole forum thing!

[Complexity]

Having that much light on a tank is more than a written invitation for algae. Fortunately, you're only dealing with green water at the moment. If the lights remained on that long, you'd have more algae than fish or plants!

I have two tanks with the same fixture you have. On my 75g planted tank (pic in sig), this is my photoperiod:

11am -- 2 lights on
12 noon -- 4 lights on
5pm -- 2 lights on
9pm -- everything off

That is a looong photoperiod (10 hours!) which I had to work up to. Notice that I run all 4 bulbs for only 5 of those hours. I started out with 8 hours total and just 4 hours with all bulbs, but as the tank matured, I managed to inch it up to what I have now. I also should mention that I have a large number of "algae clean up" fish in the tank that help keep things clean.

On my 90g, it's much simpler since that's not a planted tank (it just has a few plants). I run 2 bulbs for 12 hours. Never all 4 bulbs for that tank. There aren't enough plants to handle it, and I want the long photoperiod.

It's still not easy to see in the pictures, but it doesn't look like you have that many plants in the tank. That tank should be filled so full of plants, the fish barely have room to swim. Get weedy plants. You can remove them as the tank matures. Ask for hornwort. Hygro is also a good choice (and frequently desirable enough to keep long term). Anacharis is also an excellent plant for new start up planted tanks. It releases chemicals that help control algae.

You're on the right track. Adjust your photoperiod and add lots more plants. Things will turn around quickly.

[go20214]

Having that much light on a tank is more than a written invitation for algae. Fortunately, you're only dealing with green water at the moment. If the lights remained on that long, you'd have more algae than fish or plants!

I have two tanks with the same fixture you have. On my 75g planted tank (pic in sig), this is my photoperiod:

11am -- 2 lights on
12 noon -- 4 lights on
5pm -- 2 lights on
9pm -- everything off

That is a looong photoperiod (10 hours!) which I had to work up to. Notice that I run all 4 bulbs for only 5 of those hours. I started out with 8 hours total and just 4 hours with all bulbs, but as the tank matured, I managed to inch it up to what I have now. I also should mention that I have a large number of "algae clean up" fish in the tank that help keep things clean.

On my 90g, it's much simpler since that's not a planted tank (it just has a few plants). I run 2 bulbs for 12 hours. Never all 4 bulbs for that tank. There aren't enough plants to handle it, and I want the long photoperiod.

It's still not easy to see in the pictures, but it doesn't look like you have that many plants in the tank. That tank should be filled so full of plants, the fish barely have room to swim. Get weedy plants. You can remove them as the tank matures. Ask for hornwort. Hygro is also a good choice (and frequently desirable enough to keep long term). Anacharis is also an excellent plant for new start up planted tanks. It releases chemicals that help control algae.

You're on the right track. Adjust your photoperiod and add lots more plants. Things will turn around quickly.

Vicki, I will have to follow your lighting period. If you don't mind me asking what sort of algea clean up crew do you have in your tank??

Thanks,
Quang

[Complexity]

I have about 40 amano shrimp, 3 nerite snails, about 15 otos and 6 (true) SAE's.

[Zulaab]

All of your pleco's will clean the glass, roots etc..
Like Vicki said, get Otto's (sold some places as "plant pleco's") or the scientific name Otocinclus.

And for a 72 bow front -- get about 15 of them. They thrive ONLY in a group. They are inexpensive to get, usually around 1.99 each, and City Pets usually has them in stock. Get somewhere around 15-20 of them. They will clean every plant and leaf in your tank.