Discus tank conversion, bare bottom to planted

[Tequila]

I'm only doing a water change once a week, if that answers the question, the tank has been on a treatment cycle for the past week to try and stop the mass illnesses although nothing seems to be working, both turks are still ill, the cobolt and the sapphire are fine. Can't work it out at all, everything is ok water wise yet the fish just aren't getting better

Nothing has changed going in, food, water etc so there can't be a problem from that front, the only new thing is the chemi pure but that can't be the problem either as it's been in a while now.

I'm just going to let things be until it straightens out, take it easy for a month and see what happens. The LFS that I got the fish from before seems to be having problems shifting the large of stock they brought in so the price is tumbling. They have also got some fully grown fish in that are huge, so is the price but Mrs Y is concerned about dropping money in the tank until what ever the problems are are sorted out

Sounds like you may need to watch the stock at the LFS more closely. I never ever buy new arrivals, even though I get a 48 hour guarantee on all fish I purchase, regardless of why or what they die from.

Ask your LFS if they will test the water chemistry of there tanks for you. Or stop smoking in the house, go outside and give yourself cancer, not the fish. But I also think that you need to stop using so much of that dam RO water and or stop adding the minirel crap to it afterwards. Also until the fish start doing better stop adding the Flourish, don't worry about the plants they'll deal with it.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Sounds like you may need to watch the stock at the LFS more closely. I never ever buy new arrivals, even though I get a 48 hour guarantee on all fish I purchase, regardless of why or what they die from.

Ask your LFS if they will test the water chemistry of there tanks for you. Or stop smoking in the house, go outside and give yourself cancer, not the fish. But I also think that you need to stop using so much of that dam RO water and or stop adding the minirel crap to it afterwards. Also until the fish start doing better stop adding the Flourish, don't worry about the plants they'll deal with it.

Interesting comment, the LFS in question has the same fish stock from the ones I bought months ago, the new large fish won't be considered for a while, we seem to have a similar outlook on purchasing fish. I'll knock the flourish off for a week and see if anything changes, thanks for the heads up

 

[Tequila]

Interesting comment, the LFS in question has the same fish stock from the ones I bought months ago, the new large fish won't be considered for a while, we seem to have a similar outlook on purchasing fish. I'll knock the flourish off for a week and see if anything changes, thanks for the heads up

Don't misunderstand it's not the Flourish thats the problem, I just suggested you not add anymore chems than you have too until the fish get better.

Heck for all I know your fish could be getting sick do to the fact that the water chem is now alot better now that your using the chemi-pure. And the body system just isn't able to handle all that clean freshwater now. They may just be too used to that Moon water that you have over there.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Don't misunderstand it's not the Flourish thats the problem, I just suggested you not add anymore chems than you have too until the fish get better.

Heck for all I know your fish could be getting sick do to the fact that the water chem is now alot better now that your using the chemi-pure. And the body system just isn't able to handle all that clean freshwater now. They may just be too used to that Moon water that you have over there.

No misunderstanding, Less is more so to speak

 

[martcoug]

Yabbrox just out of interest do you have filtration UV in ur tank?

 

[Yanbbrox]

Yabbrox just out of interest do you have filtration UV in ur tank?

Standard internal juwel jumbo filter and power head also a tetratec 1200 canister, standard media, clay things, bio balls, foam pads and a chemi pure bag.

No UV

 

[Tequila]

I find that UV systems are best suited for Marine Fish Aquariums, not so much for Inverts. In freshwater UV systems are best for use in Aquariums that aren't kept at very high temps ie: 79F or less, because the parasites that UV systems help to keep in check can thrive in temps less than 80F. But keep in mind that UV systems are generally not used within the flow of 100% of the aquariums water, because UV systems don't discriminate UV lighting will kill both beneficial and non beneficial bactria's, as well as parasites, some fungi and algae.

So please be careful in your use and application of UV systems.

 

[Yanbbrox]

I find that UV systems are best suited for Marine Fish Aquariums, not so much for Inverts. In freshwater UV systems are best for use in Aquariums that aren't kept at very high temps ie: 79F or less, because the parasites that UV systems help to keep in check can thrive in temps less than 80F. But keep in mind that UV systems are generally not used within the flow of 100% of the aquariums water, because UV systems don't discriminate UV lighting will kill both beneficial and non beneficial bactria's, as well as parasites, some fungi and algae.

So please be careful in your use and application of UV systems.

Interesting, if I can put a pond tilt on this, UV filters are common in the pond setup for algae/general green water problem control, obviously at much lower temperatures. So are you saying that if you had a vat of bio balls and some filter pads in a pond filter setup the UV could actually be a hindrance by attacking the bacteria with these, or does the fact that water volume is considerably larger, there are no harmful effects? I've always thought that on this kind of setup a UV should be the last thing before the return but never thought why maybe this explains it?

Please clarify

 

[Tequila]

Interesting, if I can put a pond tilt on this, UV filters are common in the pond setup for algae/general green water problem control, obviously at much lower temperatures. So are you saying that if you had a vat of bio balls and some filter pads in a pond filter setup the UV could actually be a hindrance by attacking the bacteria with these, or does the fact that water volume is considerably larger, there are no harmful effects? I've always thought that on this kind of setup a UV should be the last thing before the return but never thought why maybe this explains it?

Please clarify

Yes the UV should always be the last thing your returning water passes through, though alot of people that I know of won't use their UV on 100% of the returning water. Because while UV are great on ponds for clearing up green water, and good for dealing with pathogens and bactria UV don't discriminate. And while sterilization sounds great when your referring to drinking water or waste processing it's not exactly what one wants to try an keep living fish in.

Plus the best way to get the most out your UV is through slow water movement, aka as keeping the target items in contact with the UV-C rays longer. And slow water movement doesn't work well at all with most mechanical filteration systems.

I myself have sold a few hundred UV systems to people over the years, but I have never had a reason to use one outside of a commercial marine aquarium setup. Though I do prefer the idea of a totally non chemical treatment for bactria, pathogens, parasites and free floating mirco-algae (aka Green Water). I would think that if you can keep all of your "good" bactria in your canister filter all the time, that you shouldn't have any trouble from running your UV on 100% of your tanks water 100% of the time.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Yes the UV should always be the last thing your returning water passes through, though alot of people that I know of won't use their UV on 100% of the returning water. Because while UV are great on ponds for clearing up green water, and good for dealing with pathogens and bactria UV don't discriminate. And while sterilization sounds great when your referring to drinking water or waste processing it's not exactly what one wants to try an keep living fish in.

Plus the best way to get the most out your UV is through slow water movement, aka as keeping the target items in contact with the UV-C rays longer. And slow water movement doesn't work well at all with most mechanical filteration systems.

I myself have sold a few hundred UV systems to people over the years, but I have never had a reason to use one outside of a commercial marine aquarium setup. Though I do prefer the idea of a totally non chemical treatment for bactria, pathogens, parasites and free floating mirco-algae (aka Green Water). I would think that if you can keep all of your "good" bactria in your canister filter all the time, that you shouldn't have any trouble from running your UV on 100% of your tanks water 100% of the time.

I've only ever encountered a green water(aka algae) problem in a fish tank once, that was before this tank was planted and I had someone to 'look after it' for a few days whilst I was away and came back to a green tank. None of my tanks are anywhere near direct sunlight, the main cause of any potential algae problems. I do get a bit of green on the glass every now and again since planting but nothing I would consider to be any where near a problem, I simply wipe the glass, no problem.

For any bloom problems then the easiest solution(which is what I did at the time) was to turn out the lights, cover the tank up completely, no light, no algae, simple stuff really.

The same can't be applied to a pond environment as to cut the light out would be very difficult, therefore UV is more of a necessity than a luxury. Like you say, flow rates can been a real pain as that doesn't work in a pond filter as they tend to have a large throughput. It make a mockery of all the filters with uv built into the main chamber.

Back on to the tank environment, I'm sure that with a separate UV after the canister return it could be done but I really don't see the need to or why anyone would want to /

Four posts in a row and all in agreement, must be a new record

A little update on the fish, the turks are still not fine but seem to be doing better