ADG Raffle Tank - Finally!

[Mzungu]

I said 'screw it' and did another huge water change. The fish don't mind, I saw some of them for the first time in what seems like a couple weeks! I taped up the left side of the tank (the one close to the window) with some newspaper/junk mail, and there's a big piece of posterboard sitting on top of the light and making a sort of dome over the tank. If that's not a blackout, I don't know what is.

I'll post pictures of it later, but anyone who reads this, please cross your fingers for me!

As promised, here are pictures of what I did this morning:



The most I've seen of the inside of my tank in a while:





"The Blackout"

[mgarrido]

Re: ADG Raffle Tank - Finally!

Wow, thank you!

Right now my main concern is getting this green water outta here. But when that's accomplished, and I actually find out how to properly set my CO2 and such, I will let you know! Thanks again!

You need to add more plants, a lot of plants, on that way the plants can compite with the algae for the nutrients. Dose excel, no co2, no fertz, shorts periods of ligths and big W/C.

[mnemenoi]

I'd say your blackout tactic should fix the problem eventually, I had great success dosing with Excel daily (1/2 listed dose). I have also heard daphnia can be superb in dealing with Green water, though finding a live culture might be tricky. I was thinking about adding some to my planted tank to see if they will actually live and offer a different food source for its inhabitants.

[Mzungu]

I have a few extra needle valves at home if you need it. They are quite tiny and should work for your purpose. It is set up for 1/8" female NPT connections, but I have adapters for nearly anything, just let me know. They just sit around in my toolbox otherwise... I can shot you a pic and its specs if you would like to look it over, they are industrial grade.

Wow, thank you!

Right now my main concern is getting this green water outta here. But when that's accomplished, and I actually find out how to properly set my CO2 and such, I will let you know! Thanks again!

[mnemenoi]

I have a few extra needle valves at home if you need it. They are quite tiny and should work for your purpose. It is set up for 1/8" female NPT connections, but I have adapters for nearly anything, just let me know. They just sit around in my toolbox otherwise... I can shot you a pic and its specs if you would like to look it over, they are industrial grade.

[Mzungu]

I said 'screw it' and did another huge water change. The fish don't mind, I saw some of them for the first time in what seems like a couple weeks! I taped up the left side of the tank (the one close to the window) with some newspaper/junk mail, and there's a big piece of posterboard sitting on top of the light and making a sort of dome over the tank. If that's not a blackout, I don't know what is.

I'll post pictures of it later, but anyone who reads this, please cross your fingers for me!

[cichlid1409]

only had this happen one time (had my tank next to two windows ) massive water changes a couple times a week cleared it up but if your dosing ferts and such thats probably not the way to go.

[Mzungu]

Yup. I haven't been dosing ferts since it started, I turned the CO2 waaaaay down (can't see it, but I'm pretty sure it's off), and I'm running only two out of 4 bulbs on a reduced photoperiod. Yesterday I started a semi-blackout, and only had the lights on for about 2 hours, and today for just feeding the fishes. Oh, and doing water changes whenever I can.

Still green. :mrgreen:

My plan is to somehow borrow a UV sterilizer (I hope) this weekend. With this week being kinda busy, I don't trust myself to keep up with the dosing of H2O2 and doing the recommended water changes that go with it.

I've tried 2 different HOB's with micron pads as filter media (eradicated the other 2 outbreaks of green water I've had in the past within a day), and a few days ago I put a 2211 on there with micron pads and filter floss inside. All these are along with loading the main filter with micron padding when this first started.

Ugh.

[cichlid1409]

still green i guess? have you tried cutting back on the photo period?

[Mzungu]

hows the green water MB?

It's great! :emt_thumbs: )

[cichlid1409]

hows the green water MB?

[TheOldMan]

About 2 ml per gallon of Hydrogen Peroxide should get rid of your green water after 1 or 2 treatments.

[wesleydnunder]

Okay. Had to read that about 3 times, but I think I get what you're saying.

So, my needle valve is at the bottom right of the bubble counter, correct? (Please don't laugh at me if I'm totally off, lol.)

Did I circle the needle valve in red in the picture below? That's what I've been adjusting, mainly. It takes about 1/69th of a turn to make a difference between no bubbles and tons o' bubbles. Does that mean that it's adjusting itself, and I should replace it with something that takes a whole turn to produce tons o' bubbles, for instance?



"The valve seat also has to be cut as fine as the needle to work properly. " Yeah, absolutely no idea what you said there.

I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you about this MB.

Yes, the one you circled in red is the needle valve. From the way you describe its output it's way too coarse in its adjustment. Is it self-adjusting? It shouldn't be. When you set a good needle valve it should stay where you put it. With that in mind, at what low-side pressure do you have the regulator set? 20 PSI is where I kept mine. If your needle valve is giving way too many bubbles at the slightest turn, try setting your low-side pressure at 15 psi or even 10. You adjust the regulator to do this... that's the knob between the two pressure gauges.

For the green water, I'd get a UV sterilizer. It will rid the tank of the green water algae. After it's gone you'll probably need to reduce the light period or fert or both. Balancing a hi tech set up can be tricky, especially with such a small tank.

Mark

[Mzungu]

you get the CO2 problem fixed?

Negative. You're the only person who has posted after I asked my questions, so not much I can do. Everything's the same, except I have pea soup for water and have no idea how much (if any, which is doubtful) CO2 is actually being injected.

I'm just a tiny bit frustrated. :biggrin: But thanks for asking!

[cichlid1409]

nice pics. thump that goby for talkin smack

you get the CO2 problem fixed?