try covering your tank for 48 hours with big blanket or something if it is a bloom this will starve it of u.v and when you remove the blanket you will be shocked! Very important don't peek, fish will be more than for a couple days with no food.......How much gravel? 1/4" is good for unplanted 3/4" to 1" max for planted, any extra is surface area for bad bacteria to grow.
its not ammonia!!!
- Thread starter sweeTang21
- Start date
yeah its like 3/4" or so, thicker in places. ive done a complete water change 3 times in the last month and nothing has changed!! im almost considering getting new gravel. im not sure what else to do. ill try that blanket trick with out a light on and ill see what happens. should i leave the filter running with this method and everything??
You mentioned that you have a new CO-2 system. Is it a sugar water/yeast generator?
Is it possible that some of the liquid got into the tank? This can hapen if the mixture is too active and it foams up. Adding sodium bicarbonate is supposed to prevent this.
If so you probably have a yeast bloom. If you stop feeding the tank and increase thhe water changes it should clear up. A UV system will help as well.
Is it possible that some of the liquid got into the tank? This can hapen if the mixture is too active and it foams up. Adding sodium bicarbonate is supposed to prevent this.
If so you probably have a yeast bloom. If you stop feeding the tank and increase thhe water changes it should clear up. A UV system will help as well.
correct me if im wrong, but i thought baking soda took oxygen out of the water, and wouldnt this harm the fish, or is the level that i would be adding to minimal to cause any issues.
as for what potts050 said, yeah it is a fermentation unit. ive never had that problem be4. could i tell if i open that unit and see if theirs residue above the water level??
as for what potts050 said, yeah it is a fermentation unit. ive never had that problem be4. could i tell if i open that unit and see if theirs residue above the water level??
Add just a little bit of baking soda at a time. Use your test strips, and if you have the six-in-one quick dip it will affect total alkalinity (KH), the green shade. For Cichlids ideal is 120-180 ppm, this will buffer your tank, stablizing it to be able to hold proper PH. the keyhole cichlids are the best fish so aim closer to theirs needs, the other fish will adapt. try feeding once a day for a week or so this will help you reduce feeding to what they need from what they get. the food especially flakes dissolve, you can chemicly clear the water if it is acclimated, wich it is. I never do that though. do you use salt? a scavenger helps fresh water clam, crey, ect.... I used the blanket, reduced feeding vaccumed with every change till no duterous/food, conditioner, freshwater salt. My tanks look like ice,.....Ill post some pics
sweeTang21;819762; said:
Hold on a second or two. I didn't mean to imply that you should put baking soda in your tank water. The baking soda goes in the solution of your fermentation unit. It buffers the solution and allows the culture to work more slowly and last longer. How it works exactly, I can only speculate, but I think it has to do with the equilibrium reached in solution between carbonate anions and carbonic anions (dissolved CO-2) creating an environment that slows down the yeast metabolism.
Openning the unit will not tell you much at this point I suspect. Check the tubing that brings the gas to your diffuser for foam residue. Foam ups are most likely to happen a few days after start up if the unit is in a warm place or if the unit gets knocked over, with fluid getting into the diffuser tubing.
My dumbass cat, Wanker, has knocked over fermentation units while fishing in my tanks resulting in solution being blown into the tank with similar results to what you describe.
I recommend not adjusting pH or hardness of the water in your tank beyond the affect that increased water changes will have, as to do so may push your fish to the 'tipping point' that allows disease or other stress related factors to make maters worse.
