Freshwater tank

monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I have no idea where else to put this. My daughter has a 'half-hexagon' style 5 gallon freshwater tank with a whisperi10 filter. It did have 2 lilly pad bulbs in it and those things were growning extremely well. We did have green water and i did a water change of 3 gallons. It didnt really help and last night, after waiting about a month, I did another 3 gallon water change and I removed the lilly pads. The water is still green, but better than before. I have a fear that the water will return to the green it was before and we just wasted the lilly pads before they could bloom. There are 3 plastic plants in the tank that have some algea on them. I have thought about removing them and washing them to get the algea off of them. I just dont want the green water to make a return. Tank inhabitants are:
2x albino cory cats
2x neon tetras
cant find the otocinlis, probably dead and eaten
mystery snail died a while ago and was eaten, empty shell in tank
On the good news side of things, that little neon that had the pink puffed belly, is doing just fine and is all healthy now. It has almost doubled in size and the problem with its belly is gone.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Algae bloom. Is this tank in an area where it's getting hit by direct sunlight? New tank? Manual removal usually doesn't stop the problem. Could someone be overfeeding the tank too much perhaps?
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3333929
Algae bloom. Is this tank in an area where it's getting hit by direct sunlight? New tank? Manual removal usually doesn't stop the problem. Could someone be overfeeding the tank too much perhaps?
I agree, try leaving the lights off for a day or two. Check some of the water parameters especially NO2 NO3 NH3, but you don't have a huge bio load. Maybe your daughter is feeding them too much, as Corey said
 
dmanatee

dmanatee

Member
I would watch out, "technically" your tank is a little over crowded for a five gallon FW tank. I would defiantly run parameter checks.
And when I used to work a the LFS I found with those tiny aquariums if you replaced about a cup of water every other day or so with fresh water, the tank tends to stay absolutely beautiful. Also make sure that your not over cleaning the tank, Just like SW tanks the best is to do small water changes else you are working against the beneficial bacterial and are constantly re birthing the new tank syndrome cycle. That being said, the first couple days the tank will still be green but will be diluted slowly/ Also make sure your changing the carbon filter ever 28-30 days.
best wishes!
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
this tank has been running longer than my SW tank. Sometimes the light doesnt get turned on at all durning the day. The tank is fed a small ammount every other day. There is a window near it, but it has a shade pulled all the time. And how is 4 fish, 2 of which smaller than a fingernail over crowded in a 5 gallon tank?
Can I use the API saltwater tests on this to see what the levels are? I really dont want to buy the freshwater test kit and all i have are the dip sticks. Is there some kind of pleco that stays small? I dont want to get another ottocinlis just to have it die again. I know plecos get big, like really big, but is there a kind that stays small? I think i need a green algea eater as there are green algea balls on the glass. I will be removing the plastic plants and cleaning them somehow. Can I stick them in the dishwasher?
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3334119
this tank has been running longer than my SW tank. Sometimes the light doesnt get turned on at all durning the day. The tank is fed a small ammount every other day. There is a window near it, but it has a shade pulled all the time. And how is 4 fish, 2 of which smaller than a fingernail over crowded in a 5 gallon tank?
Can I use the API saltwater tests on this to see what the levels are? I really dont want to buy the freshwater test kit and all i have are the dip sticks. Is there some kind of pleco that stays small? I dont want to get another ottocinlis just to have it die again. I know plecos get big, like really big, but is there a kind that stays small? I think i need a green algea eater as there are green algea balls on the glass. I will be removing the plastic plants and cleaning them somehow. Can I stick them in the dishwasher?
Monsinior, I use my SW tests on my freshwater tanks, Pleco's get really big an they may become aggresive in a small tank. I have ottos in 4 of my FW tanks never had a problem with them, they are very sensitive. I clean my plastic plants by soaking them in vinegar then rinsing and soaking really well in water. I like the dishwasher idea just rinse them really well because of residual soap. Do you have any live plants in your tank, maybe you should think of some low light ones like java mosses and ferns, anubius. ALso check your pH that may be knocking off the ottos, I am suprised the neons are lasting, they are usually the first to go.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3334130
Monsinior, I use my SW tests on my freshwater tanks, Pleco's get really big an they may become aggresive in a small tank. I have ottos in 4 of my FW tanks never had a problem with them, they are very sensitive. I clean my plastic plants by soaking them in vinegar then rinsing and soaking really well in water. I like the dishwasher idea just rinse them really well because of residual soap. Do you have any live plants in your tank, maybe you should think of some low light ones like java mosses and ferns, anubius. ALso check your pH that may be knocking off the ottos, I am suprised the neons are lasting, they are usually the first to go.
Alrighty then, I will use the SW tests to see what I get. I will put the plastic stuff through a rinse in the dishwasher and then soak them in hot water for a while. The lilly pad bulbs were removed during the last 3 gallon water change. It certainly appears that the green water got worse. What is the pH range for ottos? Looks like I will be off to sprawlmart for more water today.
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
pH 6 to 8 - nitrates below 10, you can use tap water as long as you have water treatment stuff for chlorine. They like steady parameters in water, if you buy more make sure you get the ones with good round bellies. Don't buy the chinease Algae eaters - they get big and aggresive.
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
They are the good eaters I guess, I have about nine of them in total. They are a great little fish, they are considered a catfish. Did you check your water yet.
 
dmanatee

dmanatee

Member
I meant no disrespect to you; I guess the term I meant was full.
As it is neon tetras each get respectively between 1 ½ to 2 inches full grown and in small aquarium do stay about a 1 in but still have the same requirements. And as for your albino Corry cats they get about 3 in. Just like in salt water fish sometimes its the tiny ones that make the bigest messes and in this case the corry cats can pollute the tank very quickly.
So mathematically yes the tank is full but you are more than compensating for that with the filter you have.
As for algae eaters have you looked into the otocinclus they get about 1 ½ to 2 inches and are great algae eaters. Also out of curriosity are you adding freshwater aquarium salt to you system. if you are that may have been the demise of the snail (they are not friends with the salt). But on the flip side it will help to keep you neons very healthy. about 1/2 tablespoon for five gallons.
Best wishes.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmanatee http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3334206
I meant no disrespect to you; I guess the term I meant was full.
As it is neon tetras each get respectively between 1 ½ to 2 inches full grown and in small aquarium do stay about a 1 in but still have the same requirements. And as for your albino Corry cats they get about 3 in. Just like in salt water fish sometimes its the tiny ones that make the bigest messes and in this case the corry cats can pollute the tank very quickly.
So mathematically yes the tank is full but you are more than compensating for that with the filter you have.
As for algae eaters have you looked into the otocinclus they get about 1 ½ to 2 inches and are great algae eaters. Also out of curriosity are you adding freshwater aquarium salt to you system. if you are that may have been the demise of the snail (they are not friends with the salt). But on the flip side it will help to keep you neons very healthy. about 1/2 tablespoon for five gallons.
Best wishes.
I have alread had 2 ottos die in that tank for whatever reasons. This is why i as asking about small plecos. I personally feel the filter that is on there is a POS and when I tried to convince my wife to get a new one she said,"No. Why spend more $ on a filter than what the whole setup cost?" I can see why, its the freaking green water. I have no added salt to the tank and would prefer not to. The daughter wants another snail, and I know we need an algea eater in there of some kind. I might get another otto this saturday when we get the SW fish. I have a media bag that came with my SW tank that I dont use. Can I get SW carbon and put it into that media bag and stick that into the filter instead of using Tetra's media? Would it be better if I did that?
BTW, there is no bubbler in this tank. The surface gets decent agitation from the filter.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3334233
Monsinious I sent you a PM check it our, don't do anything to your tank. Al
I read it and would think this would be the case, but, I have let it sit all green and stuff for a while before I did the first major water change. It then sat for 2 weeks before I did the second major water change. Here is the jist of the post you sent me via PM:

[hr]
An easy way to get rid of green water in newish tanks is to do nothing. Especially no water changes, for 10 days to 2 weeks.
This sounds easy, but is really hard because most ppl are too impatient to sit through this period. One has to understand that you can not "thin out" green water with water changes, no way, it will always survive and grow back. The trick is to let the GW get really, really thick, it will eat up that very specific nutrient combination that is needed, then disappear and never come back.
In established tanks, the cause of GW is often NH4 (ammonium). Maybe filters are overloaded/need cleaning, maybe something is dead in the tank, maybe the substrate needs a cleaning, maybe something else. In those cases, water changes can help, if they get rid of the NH4 buildup.
Another trigger for green water can be total lack of phosphates. If you are sure you have plenty of them, then that's not it. If you are not sure, maybe do a thorough test. Sometimes we have phosphates in our tapwater, and then all of a sudden it disappears. Or, some ppl use chemicals to stabilize pH, these often contain phosphates too...
Filtering out green water with conventional filters isn't possible. And removing fertilizers with activated carbon won't work either. You can definitely nuke GW with UV or diatom filtration, it might come back, but with UVS it would be easy to just turn it on again and nuke it again...
I think others suggest to blackout the tank, but I am not a big fan of blackouts at all, often GW is coming right back after a few days or even hours.

[hr]
So I will test it using the strips and my SW kit and we will see what is going on, or not going on, in that tank. It very well could be ammonia as the snail, when died, stayed in the tank because we couldnt see it through the green water. If the ammonia is high, these cory cats have survived worse, then new carbon should solve that yes?
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
Yes ammonia carbon, I am almost thinking for the size of your tank take everything out including fish, clean everything really good except filter and reset it up, clean the gravel good but not really good - if you know what mean.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///forum/thread/382189/freshwater-tank#post_3334240
Yes ammonia carbon, I am almost thinking for the size of your tank take everything out including fish, clean everything really good except filter and reset it up, clean the gravel good but not really good - if you know what mean.
Let me test the water first and then, i am thinking due to ammonia, add the carbon and see where that goes before I break it apart and start over.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
So the API results:
pH 7.4 I think its lower than this but this is the lowest the scale goes.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 5 to 10
The dip strip results
pH 8 something (it is a strip test)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Alkalinity seemed high
Hardness was high.
So its not the ammonia, i think. I know I need an accurate pH reading on this stuff. I will take a sample to the LFS on saturday and have them test it and see what they say. I will take out all the decorations and run them through a rinse in the dishwasher and then soak them in hot water for a while before scrubbing them. Gotta clean out the dishwasher now.
 
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