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Here's the background on my situation.
I've had a 90 gal (non-planted) tank setup for 6 years. Our city water supply was from a well, extremely hard and the PH of the tank was always 8+. I never attempted to buffer and only stocked fish that would tolerate the water.
Fish load is moderate.... rainbows, tetra's gourami's and a few others. I water change 20% once a month.
Filtration - UG (with PH feeding a 10w UV), 2 Penguin 350's. Water was always crystal clear. Lighting was 2 65w CFL (6700K) (Current 2 bulb fixture).
All was fine until March of this year. Our water supply changed to "creek" based.
A few months after the change algae started. All over everything. Water remained clear.
I spoke with my local fish guy, he recommended I add some plants.
I added a few Water Wisteria, a Java fern, Amazon Sword and Red Ludwigia
All appeared to grow but soon were covered in algae.
The plants started looking terrible. The Amazon Sword lost all of it's leaves, the Jave Fern never took hold to the rocks I tied them to.
I did some reading and found out:
1. I didn't have enough light
2. UG filter is not good for live plants
3. Coarse gravel is not good.
4. Most "city" water adds phosphates to the supply.
So I did the following
1. Completely tore down the tank (Saving my water and fish in a 80gal trash barrel). I kept the filters running on the side of the barrel.
2. Removed the UG filter and gravel
3. Scraped off all the algae. Wiped the inside of the tank with a chlorine solution. Soaked all the rocks and decorations (have a large ship and fake "root") in a chlorine solution for 24 hours.
4. Thoroughly rinsed everything and let it air dry for 2 days.
5. Filled the bottom of the tank with substrate from aquariumplants.com
6. Refilled the aquarium and put everything back in it's place.
It took a few weeks for the tank to recycle. I also replaced the light with a 4 x 65w (6700k) fixture.
One moth later, all was cover in green again...only worse. (I have 4 algae "eaters" and they couldn't keep up with it.)
Did some more research and determined phosphates could be a problem. Got a PO4 test kit and tested. Level was somewhere between 5-10.
I purchased a Phosban reactor and started it.
The levels are now down to .5 and the algae eaters are doing their job.
New growth on the plants is not being covered with algae.
The phosphate level of the city water is .5-.6 (I called and asked the plant manager).
I have a few questions:
1. What is the "recomended" level for phosphates? I plan to more heavely plant the tank and add a pressurized C02 system.
2. If the phosphate level should be higher, should I simply stop the reactor and restart it when level's go back up?
3. Should I stop/restart the reactor when doing water changes?
4. Am I making this too complicated?
Thanks,
Steve
I've had a 90 gal (non-planted) tank setup for 6 years. Our city water supply was from a well, extremely hard and the PH of the tank was always 8+. I never attempted to buffer and only stocked fish that would tolerate the water.
Fish load is moderate.... rainbows, tetra's gourami's and a few others. I water change 20% once a month.
Filtration - UG (with PH feeding a 10w UV), 2 Penguin 350's. Water was always crystal clear. Lighting was 2 65w CFL (6700K) (Current 2 bulb fixture).
All was fine until March of this year. Our water supply changed to "creek" based.
A few months after the change algae started. All over everything. Water remained clear.
I spoke with my local fish guy, he recommended I add some plants.
I added a few Water Wisteria, a Java fern, Amazon Sword and Red Ludwigia
All appeared to grow but soon were covered in algae.
The plants started looking terrible. The Amazon Sword lost all of it's leaves, the Jave Fern never took hold to the rocks I tied them to.
I did some reading and found out:
1. I didn't have enough light
2. UG filter is not good for live plants
3. Coarse gravel is not good.
4. Most "city" water adds phosphates to the supply.
So I did the following
1. Completely tore down the tank (Saving my water and fish in a 80gal trash barrel). I kept the filters running on the side of the barrel.
2. Removed the UG filter and gravel
3. Scraped off all the algae. Wiped the inside of the tank with a chlorine solution. Soaked all the rocks and decorations (have a large ship and fake "root") in a chlorine solution for 24 hours.
4. Thoroughly rinsed everything and let it air dry for 2 days.
5. Filled the bottom of the tank with substrate from aquariumplants.com
6. Refilled the aquarium and put everything back in it's place.
It took a few weeks for the tank to recycle. I also replaced the light with a 4 x 65w (6700k) fixture.
One moth later, all was cover in green again...only worse. (I have 4 algae "eaters" and they couldn't keep up with it.)
Did some more research and determined phosphates could be a problem. Got a PO4 test kit and tested. Level was somewhere between 5-10.
I purchased a Phosban reactor and started it.
The levels are now down to .5 and the algae eaters are doing their job.
New growth on the plants is not being covered with algae.
The phosphate level of the city water is .5-.6 (I called and asked the plant manager).
I have a few questions:
1. What is the "recomended" level for phosphates? I plan to more heavely plant the tank and add a pressurized C02 system.
2. If the phosphate level should be higher, should I simply stop the reactor and restart it when level's go back up?
3. Should I stop/restart the reactor when doing water changes?
4. Am I making this too complicated?
Thanks,
Steve