Well it shouldn’t be surprising. For almost two years I’ve had a wonderful aquarium experience. Thanks to my Eheim filter you could drink the water. Even when I went 3 or almost 4 weeks between water changes sometimes. Note I always had a light bio-load in my 58g tank. I run 2 24” cheap fluorescent lights (20w) for 10 hours a day (lights are probably 3 years old).
For the first year I was growing plants, but I dropped that because I’m not always around to maintain my tank. I also have fluorite btw. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t changed the filter media yet. I’ve been away at school for a year and I’m always busy on the brief weekends when I come home. I know that’s no excuse though. I know you can get away with 1 year between media changes with a light bio-load (and plants clog it up faster), but 2 years is ridiculous. My mom feeds the fish now.
So anyway, as of 2 months ago I’ve had a major algae problem though algae was practically non-existent before. Obviously I need to thoroughly clean my canister and replace media.
A few days ago I scraped all algae, did a 50% water change and took out all the silk plants, rocks and skimmed the top layer of gravel out for cleaning. I boiled the rocks and gravel and successfully got all the green off. Haven’t put that stuff back in yet.
Yesterday I did another 50% water change and scraped algae in the bottom edges of tank even. Today I plan to rebuild the filter and clean tubing. I’m not going to keep any old media. I want to start over and knock out as much algae as possible because I hate to be doing all this work for nothing. I figure the gravel in the tank now will help it cycle fast. I only have 13 small tetras left. I probably lost about a dozen inhabitants during the last few months under my mom’s care (okay so it was my fault, not my mom’s because I didn’t keep up the major maintenance).
I’ve also been using Seachem Neutral Regulator for declorination and buffering, but I might get some Amquel because the phosphate buffers in the Seachem are working against me now.
I also plan to do another water change today and frequent water changes during the next few weeks.
Any further recommendations?
Do you think I should use a chemical for killing algae too? This way I remove most of the algae plus have the chemical taking care of what little is left.
Finally, do you think I should just take down my aquarium and giving it up until I’m done with school? It’s such a nice tank (58g Oceanic with cherry cabinet, fluorite and Eheim) that I think it’d be a shame to just let it sit around. I like aquariums and I also plan on setting up a 10g at school after the summer. I’m trying to convince my mom to put it in the living room and run it herself. It’s usually very easy to maintain.
Also, any recommendations for cheap new 24” bulbs from Wal-Mart or something. These are not for plants, just viewing. But brands, which might even support some plant life if that is possible for a generic bulb, would be appreciated. Do some show off colors better than others? Thanks everyone!
For the first year I was growing plants, but I dropped that because I’m not always around to maintain my tank. I also have fluorite btw. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t changed the filter media yet. I’ve been away at school for a year and I’m always busy on the brief weekends when I come home. I know that’s no excuse though. I know you can get away with 1 year between media changes with a light bio-load (and plants clog it up faster), but 2 years is ridiculous. My mom feeds the fish now.
So anyway, as of 2 months ago I’ve had a major algae problem though algae was practically non-existent before. Obviously I need to thoroughly clean my canister and replace media.
A few days ago I scraped all algae, did a 50% water change and took out all the silk plants, rocks and skimmed the top layer of gravel out for cleaning. I boiled the rocks and gravel and successfully got all the green off. Haven’t put that stuff back in yet.
Yesterday I did another 50% water change and scraped algae in the bottom edges of tank even. Today I plan to rebuild the filter and clean tubing. I’m not going to keep any old media. I want to start over and knock out as much algae as possible because I hate to be doing all this work for nothing. I figure the gravel in the tank now will help it cycle fast. I only have 13 small tetras left. I probably lost about a dozen inhabitants during the last few months under my mom’s care (okay so it was my fault, not my mom’s because I didn’t keep up the major maintenance).
I’ve also been using Seachem Neutral Regulator for declorination and buffering, but I might get some Amquel because the phosphate buffers in the Seachem are working against me now.
I also plan to do another water change today and frequent water changes during the next few weeks.
Any further recommendations?
Do you think I should use a chemical for killing algae too? This way I remove most of the algae plus have the chemical taking care of what little is left.
Finally, do you think I should just take down my aquarium and giving it up until I’m done with school? It’s such a nice tank (58g Oceanic with cherry cabinet, fluorite and Eheim) that I think it’d be a shame to just let it sit around. I like aquariums and I also plan on setting up a 10g at school after the summer. I’m trying to convince my mom to put it in the living room and run it herself. It’s usually very easy to maintain.
Also, any recommendations for cheap new 24” bulbs from Wal-Mart or something. These are not for plants, just viewing. But brands, which might even support some plant life if that is possible for a generic bulb, would be appreciated. Do some show off colors better than others? Thanks everyone!