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Anonymous

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beaslbob":15x9ouc3 said:
There is a highly technical term for your tank. Its call normal. :D

IMO one of the great things about this type of tank is it can be left alone for a couple of weeks and it just takes care of itself.

If the brown algae is just on the rocks then that is the mulm buildup and normal. You can just leave it there or suck it out for looks.

At this point it is past time to add more fish. What I would recommend is to buildup a trio of platties. a male and two females.
If the shark eats the babies then partition off a back corner with an egg crate so babies can be protected and grow up there.

Once you get the platties built up in a few months then add some different fish.

You probably will get a light algae on the glass which is brown and usually hard and crusty.
Just cleaning the glass every 6 months or so should be all that is needed.
If you get more than that you may have to adjust feeding and lighting so the plants continue to thrive but not the algae.

You could also get at this point a very dark blue almost black algae like cyano bacteria.
That is more of a problem because it takes nitrogen from sources like the dissolved air as opposed to the ammonia/nitrates.
With ammonia/nitrates at 0 cyano can take off.
The key is to keep the plants growing to limit the other nutrients the cyano needs.

But basically at this point you need to get more fish to help the plants.

And you are well on your way. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!


what??!! 8O

please explain that statement :? :?:
 
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Anonymous

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vitz":3js4oyqx said:
...

You could also get at this point a very dark blue almost black algae like cyano bacteria.
That is more of a problem because it takes nitrogen from sources like the dissolved air as opposed to the ammonia/nitrates.


...


what??!! 8O

please explain that statement :? :?:


I thought the statement was clear.

Does it disagree with your knowledge or experience?
 
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Anonymous

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are you saying that cyano feeds off of nitrogen from dissolved air in the water column?


how does it do that ?
 
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Anonymous

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vitz":160qbukt said:
are you saying that cyano feeds off of nitrogen from dissolved air in the water column?


how does it do that ?

Let me start another thread with references.

May take awhile.

Short answer is becaue it is cyano. LOL.
 
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Anonymous

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Bob's mostly correct. Cyanobacter can fix Nitrogen directly from the water. "Dissolved air" is a little misleading, dissolved Nitrogen would be more accurate even if air is mostly Nitrogen ;)
 
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Anonymous

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er- how do you determine what percentage of the N in the tank is actually from atmospheric N as opposed to the N coming from the tank environment, and how do you measure the relative uptake of the N source by the cyano?

stating that cyano have the ablity to 'fix' N from atmospheric 'N', and stating that most of the 'N' absorbed by cyano is atmospheric, is a pretty big leap of faith, imo.(and doesn't necessarily follow)
 

ozboy22

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hi all
i just have to wait and see what happens,i will be going again next week for 2 weeks so it wont be touch again untill i get back
,but after i get get back i will be moving to my new house so just want to know if you guys know of any good moveing tips for the tank as i dont want to start again with it .
here pic from last night
sorry about big pic's
 

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ozboy22":2osb1oqd said:
hi all
i just have to wait and see what happens,i will be going again next week for 2 weeks so it wont be touch again untill i get back
,but after i get get back i will be moving to my new house so just want to know if you guys know of any good moveing tips for the tank as i dont want to start again with it .
here pic from last night
sorry about big pic's

Dern you just got this thing doing now you gotta move it :D


I moved a bunch of 10gs and a 20g over 1000 miles in sub zero (f) temperatures one time. the trip took 3 days so it was a challenge.

if the move is relatively short I would recommend you move everything but the tank in one trip then move the tank. that way you can better plan when the tank will be and the new house will be setup ready to receive the tank.

basically reuse as much if not all the water you can. Put in containers with the plants in there. The containers would best be insulated and definately open top to allow air/water contact. And to allow light to reach the plants.

If you take the substrait out I would recommend you rinse it before you put it back in the tank. If the tank is completely emptied then go ahead and rinse the tank out also.

At the new location you basically setup the tank just like when you first did. Add the substrait, add some water, add the plants then fill up with water. Then add the fish.

If you have some water you cant use then add new water over a few days until the tank is full again. As usual cold water that has been ran for at least a minute. The slow adding of new water will allow the plants to condition the water.

The tank will probably be cloudy at first, but should clear up rapidily. So that in a couple of days it will be clear again.

Even without the move at this point I usually get a "scum" on the surface of the water. That scum goes away as you add more top feeding fish like the platties.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
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please resize the pics so we don't have to scroll right and left to read the thread :)
 

ozboy22

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hi all
i see your all at it again.lol
any way brought sum fish today
4 platys for the one that remained all alone so thier 5 platys
2 clown loches
1 red tail shark
4 santa cluse (that what guy called them not sure about thier real name)
2 Bristlenose Catfish
12 Neon Tetra
about stocking what the rule on that need help there guys???
the tanks still the same and i wont be moving anytime same as i have renters in my new house so i be staying here untill next summer then i be moving
oh yeah got sum vale grass in there to and a fake log i post a pic when i put up my test on tuesday i did a quick test today before i bought the fish and where all the same as last test so i just have to wait and see what happen's.
it a lot better looking at fish swimming then plants growing lol
bye
 
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To me it sounds like a lot of fish. And with some aggressive types also. Especially with another shark.

Doing some very rough calcualtions it appears you are approaching 1"/gallon.

Best thing now is to not feed and see if nitrItes bump up in a couple of days.

If nitrAtes slowly build up a little that is nothing to worry about.
The plants consume both ammonia and nitrates so with an increase in bioload they may get the nitrogen from the extra ammonia as well as the nitrAtes.
That will prevent or at least vastly reduce ammonia/nitrIte cycles but may allow nitrates to rise slightly.

But if the bioload is high enough you could get a nitrItes spike which will only last a few days with no feeding.

After a week if you notice no nitrItes start very small feedings.
But delay feeding if nitrItes are not on their way down.

If you get a nitrIte spike that comes down before the end of the week then start small feedings.

Hopefully others can comment on the choice of fish.
I would have just added the platties but then there are many ways to set a tank up.
And I have heard that with a very large amount of plants, fish can be added very quickly.
I just haven't tried that myself.

Keep us posted.
 

ozboy22

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hi beaslbob
as above that's the total of fish in thier not forgetting its roughly 55 gallons.
Anyway if i get a chance i will put up some result of the test
.i state now i have pretty much done nothing to this tank in maintaining it
just plants lol kind of cool .
i did notice one thing is that the alge that was growing has just about gone i notice one little mark on budda
anyway i see most of the guys have left this topic alone now .lol all talk
well i still post in here to keep it updated untill i move to the beach next year
untill lately chow
 
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glad you are still posting.

The algae went away because the plants were consuming the nutrients instead of the algae. As long as you keep the plants ahead you will have little to no algae. In fact the apearance of algae will be an indicator nitrates have bumped up a little.

so there will be this "balancing" between the fish plants algae and everything else. to me The best thing is to keep the plants ahead of everything.

I am glad you like this setup. You will lose fish from time to time. You will have to do some touch up. But basically, now it should be setup to run for years. Especially if you can get paltties established. But then with the sharks that could be a challenge.
 
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lucky guy. moving to the beach. Hopefully it is a saltwater beach.

Wanna know a hush hush secret? This same design works with saltwater using sea grasses and macro algaes. As long as the fish don't eat the plant life.

With modifications like a refugium, some circulation, a calcium carbonate source, you could have just about any saltwater tank. Just be going to the beach and collecting everything.

As I said lucky guy.
 

ozboy22

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thanks beaslbob
well the beach is two min's up the road put real close god love aussie weather.
well before i move into saltwater i think i will see how i go here 1st any it's kind of cool not doing much to the tank .
oh by the way thier's one 1 shark in thier he the liver of the 1st fih that went in thier .
anyway good to see your still posting beasbob watch what you say but
hate to see you be banned
 
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thanks.

I misunderstood about the shark. One is good.

I hope this does work out for you. There will be problems but IMO many less problems then with filtered, water change methods.


I have been formally requested to not post on this board, but will continue to answer your questions. I think what they are really upset with these methods for reef tanks. So the request applies to the reef forums and not the FW forum.

Bob
 
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beaslbob":2p6582k9 said:
thanks.

I misunderstood about the shark. One is good.

I hope this does work out for you. There will be problems but IMO many less problems then with filtered, water change methods.


I have been formally requested to not post on this board, but will continue to answer your questions. I think what they are really upset with these methods for reef tanks. So the request applies to the reef forums and not the FW forum.

Bob


wrong, and just plain untrue based on 90% or better of all accumulated experience of all hobbyists in the world today

there isn't ONE hobbyists grouping that doesn't recommend water changes, including the leading plant BB's

shame on you, stupid troll :x :roll:
 
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in fact, large water changes are one of the main methods recommended on the major leading planted aquaria BB's for mineral replacement, in lieu, and combined with, chemical suuplements
 

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