I need some encouragement and advice

[dogdoc]

I'm soooo frustrated right now, I feel like I want to quit keeping fish!!!!!

Let me set the stage for you. Started out about 4 months ago with a tank for my daughter. Just a simple setup with community fish and some anacharis. I'm hooked at this point, and the MTS bug bites hard. I set up a 10 gal at work with a couple of fake plants, a few platys, white clouds. Everyone is happy, and continues to be. Both tanks fairly problem free.

Then the trouble starts. With the encouragement of my wife, I begin thinking about a bigger tank. So I raided my slush fund. I thought 75 gal sounds about right, lightly planted with easy care/low light plants and eco-complete substrate. (~1.5 wpg) I got it set up, put plants in and got a few fish in for cycling purposes (as well as some filter material from the other tanks).

Prob #1 some snails hitchhiked in on my plants. Not a big deal, picked out all that I can see, and I plan on a few loaches anyway.

Prob #2 as soon as the fish go in, I start testing water params only to learn that my city tapwater has changed from pH 7.2-7.4 to a whopping 8.4 and it has stayed very soft as well. (3 deg for both KH/GH) Not only is this not ideal for my fish, but by the CO2 calculator I have 0.9 ppm co2.

Prob #3. I have algae popping up all over already. Not just the brown diatom stuff, but green hair algae and some type of brown stringy stuff as well. And the plants aren't looking too hot either. I haven't added any ferts or chemicals other than the eco-complete.

Now I know that there are solutions to all of these problems, but honestly, I can't afford CO2 injection, a new light setup, and a reverse osmosis unit right now. If you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

On the bright side, I found the cure for MTS. Right now, I don't even want to look at my tank. Sorry to vent, but nobody at home gets why I'm out of sorts right now, and I'm betting that some of you here have had this experience.

Mike

 

[brit_s86]

I have never had that problem.I use tap water,and the only chemicals I have in my 55 gallon,are Amolock 2,and Stability.My fish are happy,and I havent lost any since I set up my tank.Ive never had bad algae either.

 

[jaglar]

dogdoc,
I feel ya. Part of the algae might be that it is a new tank set up. The snails shouldn't be to big of a deal. After all once you get loaches they will be GONE
As I think you know, more WPG would be ideal... 2 or more. (for my 10 I find 2 to be ideal) I personally do not use CO2.
Are you interested in getting shrimp? Some eat algea. A 75 is exciting! Once you get it past the initial bumps you will have so many stocking options.*BOUNCINGS

I am sure there are easy non-chemical solutions to the water parameter problems, but I dont know them

Its okay! good luck!

Jag

ps like brit i dont have water param problems, although I get hair algae, it goes away after a while.)

 

[Lotus]

Don't give up!

There is an algae cycle in most new tanks, which you can either get rid of by monitoring some parameters, or allow it to go its natural course. I assure you in a month or two, you'll be over the hump and your tank will start looking good. Patience is a virtue that fishkeeping and plants often teach us. Things don't generally happen very fast when we want them to, but do it in their own sweet time.

I always found this article gave me some perspective: http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/Evolution.html

None of the things you need to do to your tank need to be expensive or time consuming.

Are you currently adding CO2 to your tank? I would definitely check nitrates and phosphates in the tank, and see what answers those provide.

 

[rhoymand]

I set up my 55gal a few months ago. first week I got my habitat package from arizona gardens half of them die! I was sooo about to give up on plants. but Im happy I stuck with it. maybe its just me, but I havent had an algae breakout yet. kinda waiting for it too. I wanna buy some amano or cherry shrimp.

 

[allybanana]

Hang in their mate i know how stressfull it can be

what is wrong with the plants?

are the growing tips white?

 

[wayne]

What's the pH in the tank? If you have very soft water then the pH can vary massively as you are seeing as the slightest amount of chemicals can make a big difference. If you want a lower pH (I'm guessing you do) you can try several things.....
1. Leave it out overnight to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. What's the pH if you leave some standing overnight?
2. Ignore it. If you find your pH goes down very quickly in this water as it has almost zero buffering, although it has a high pH you can just try adding it to the tank as the pH is going to collapse as soon as it touches tank water, and it's puny alkalinity is overwhelmed by what's in the tank water.

 

[prettypleco]

Hang in there it will get better. Every new tank i ever had has always had an algae problem . When you buy plants you get hitchhikers. A few loaches will look at them like escargot. I don't use co2 because my plants grow like weeds without it. I have a green thumb.

I don't deal with pH problems though my water is really hard. The thrill of this hobby is achieving the balance. Sometimes you just gotta work a little harder for it.

 

[dogdoc]

O.K. I'm starting to calm down a bit. I don't have co2 injection on this tank, and honestly, I did not want to go down that road if I don't have too. I did think of upping the wpg to the tank, though I don't have far to go before I have to add co2. I may do it someday, but my goal for this tank at this point in time was to have a tank that would support some plant life without a high dollar light and co2 unit. Most of the plants came from the "low light" section of aquarium plants. I thought hey, some low light plants, good substrate, and 1.5 wpg would meet my needs. I guess I may have to look at the plants like a fish cycle, see who lives through it and go from there. My crypt seems to be slowly rotting away and the vals (the one plant not on the low light list) aren't looking to shiny either.

I have been testing water parameters every day (usually twice a day. So far, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates have all read 0. pH in the tapwater here is about 8.4 right now with 3 dKH.I have 6 black phantom tetras and 2 pearl gourami in there right now. I also put a used filter cartridge from one of my other tanks in there to help seed some bacteria. (it is from a different type of filter, so I just plopped it in the back of the tank) Fish have been in there 6 days now, and I find it weird that there has not even been a slight ammonia reading. I have been intentionally overfeeding somewhat in the hopes that I can keep the bacteria in the used filter cartridge from starving.

Lotus, that is a great article. It helped me a lot. I'm used to seeing the brown diatom stuff show up in new tanks (and oddly, that has not really shown up yet), but this brown and green hair algae stuff showing up in the first week threw me.

 

[lisa1124]

I have an algae problem, too. The stringy stuff is gross! I have around three types in my tank and it takes alot of work from my professional tank service to clean. One problem, I keep the light on too long so I need to get a timer and set it turn turn on and off twice a day. Also, I was told that I should get a couple of SAEs (Siamese Algae Eaters). The otto cats help, too.

 

[Lotus]

Some plants have a tendency to die back a little when newly planted, crypts and vals are some of those. They should start sprouting new growth soon. In the meantime, try to remove dead plant matter and floating leaves when you can.

Adding some more plants usually helps with the algae, as the plants take the nutrients away from the algae.

It's very possible to have a low-medium light setup that doesn't need too many ferts or CO2. I have that kind of setup in several of my tanks.

If you can, get a phosphate test kit, and also test your tapwater. High phosphates in relation to nitrates can cause more algae than normal. The ratio should be about 10:1 of nitrateshosphates. It seems to matter more in the beginning than it does later on. I have often put a phosphate remover pad in my tanks during startup, as I already have phosphates in my tapwater, and it has seemed to help.

 

[geekrockgirl85]

i'll second what lotus said: don't worry too much about the crypts. i planted a small red wendtii crypt when i first got my tank, and within the first week the leaves started rotting or "melting" away. after a bit, though, it seriously came back to life. i've divided it twice in the last month or so, and little sprouts seem to keep popping up, with no CO2 enhancement whatsoever.

in regards to the pH, i do what wayne mentioned... letting the water "age" before adding it to the tank. if after a night or two the water is still a bit more alkalinic than you'd like it to be, you might start adding a bit of peat in your filter. a few peat granules after the carbon cartridge in my filter have kept my pH just a smidge below neutral.

don't sweat it. soon your tank will grow out of its awkward phase. *thumbsups