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rob_dixon

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Everything posted by rob_dixon

  1. Nice, This is totally what it is then! Fantastically explained, and in hindsight super obvious. I used a ginormous filter on a tiny 14 gallon tank. It was "cycled" but only to that tiny amount i was putting into that tank. When i moved it over to the new 48 gallon tank (even though there was no FISH) it was indeed new aquasoil with lots, lots more ammonia. HENCE, just like you guys (and Cory's video) said, it simply did not have enough bacteria inside and is basically not cycled. Thanks so much guys!
  2. It's a huge ADA superjet 900 running all biomedia. I too am used to running only sponge as I know it's superior, but in this case the filter came with the biomedia included. I actually Not only let it cycle naturally (although added ammonia) but I also seeded it by squeezing out my sponge from my other tank into the intake of this canister filter. AND adding grass from my established tank. That is what makes the situation even more perplexing!
  3. Forgive me but i am new (2 years in to the hobby) but this is either undisputed already, or I have a scientific anomaly. I have twice tried to “hack” a faster cycling on my main tank by running a filter on another side tank for many weeks before I put it on my main one (thinking how smart I was of course - a head start while i do a dry start I thought!) The fact that the side tank was cycled was verified through testing of course - ammonia added brought down to zero. But once I moved that very same “cycled” canister filter to my new tank 3.5 weeks later, the new tank was no longer cycled. NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST. I am now 13 days on my main tank with a filter that was supposedly cycled for 3.5 weeks prior but its like the cycle started all over again and I am again in waiting mode. The thing is, this is the second time I have experienced this - i did the same thing on another "main tank" (I run two main tanks and have a third tank out of sight. This leads me to believe that the media in the filter is not at all where the bacteria reside, but primarily on the inside of the tank. This also points out how much time, money, and energy is wasted on canister filters IMO which are apparently super overrated.
  4. Hi all. In preparation for a new planted 20 gallon tank, for 5 weeks I ran an Oase 350 on a very well cycled 1 year old 14 gallon "lightly planted" tank with no fish, as all my fish had been moved to another tank. (When i added the new filter I turned off the old one). There was still plenty of detritus in this old tank to decompose and create ammonia, but as there were no fish now, in addition I occasionally dosed it with a few drops of Dr Tim's ammonia chloride to help feed our little helper bacteria friends. Of course I tested this tank and sure enough the ammonia would drop to "0" overnight, a sign in my mind that the tank was cycled. In short an attempt was made - I wanted to give my new tank a head start as the soil i use leeches out a ton of ammonia. I thought 5 weeks was plenty, and testing "confirmed" it was ready. BUT when i moved this filter to my new planted tank, it seems the filter is not at all very cycled, as I am reading high ammonia still. (0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates) - almost as if the 5 week "pre-cycle" was pointless. I am curious as to what may have caused this result?
  5. 1) Substrate is ADA Amazonia v.2 with powersand (so yeah a ton of nutrients I am sure even 4 months later) 2) I used wood on top to prevent the blanket from entering the water, kept filter running in full) and placed a heavy blanket on top (and all around) and yeah no light gets through. I even “sealed” the bottom area by folding the blanket in such a way and securing it with a chair. 3) No stagnant water, I raised my lily pipe up high to create turbulent, oxygenated water - very noisy! 4) I did a “Deep clean” of the substrate (as best I could) right before the blackout and a 75% - ish water change. TO Andy, I do have the flow on max flow which is a LOT for this tank so you might be on to something. The water in theory is whipping by the light that is for sure. BUT I alos read that speed of flow (time contact with water) is not as impactful as we think – it’s the frequency at which it passes. (aquarium science.org) The water was NOT bright green and in fact initially I was having trouble distinguishing between a bacterial bloom versus an algae one. It was just dull and cloudy for 3+ weeks but an extract of the water had a hint of green which is when I determined it was algae. Note you can visually SEE the “stuff” floating around like smoke in the tank!! Now after blackout (4 full days NO light) it is clearly very green and thick compared to before. Again, this blanket was thick. Note that through all this one thing I did not do was mess with my filter sponges too much.......I did rinse out the pre-filter, but left the others alone as I do not want to disrupt the bacteria colony. ANyway i officially ended the blackout this morning.....4 total days blackout.
  6. Right?? And keep in mind what happened here......this is not "just" an algae issue, - we all have those from time to time. Here, the green water clearly grew exceptionally worse with ZERO light. At least here on Day 4. I have yet to find a reference where this is stated as even possible in nature but it 100% happened. Anywho: UNS 20 gal with a calculated amount of 15.5 gallons after hardscape volume. Running a Oase Thermo Biome filter 250 with all sponge and the provided Bio-X. Rated 250 GPH, (so 15x turnover) UV sterilizer is the Fluval in Line UVC Clarifier running 24 hours for the 4 days (3.5 days while under blackout) ADA Amazonia v.2 soil Prior to black out: Twinstar 600S light Co2 setup And at one time a Twinstar Algae inhibitor since inception., but I found this to be a questionable use of money, as certainly algae still grew (so I am not using it anymore). But this is one of those things where I only found only 1 video (MJ Aquascaping) where a true test was ran. He claimed to see it worked, but I am shocked there is no additional solid "proof" on this. Anyway I digress. An ADA skimmer - another questionable use of money that somehow gets great reviews - meanwhile I have a TON of gripes with it.
  7. No test kit for that. I could get one but can assume they are high. I know phosphate causes algae. I know "In well water, phosphate often comes from the leaching of lawn" and literally 3/4 of my tank is a lawn of dwarf grass. But there is nothing I would seemingly do differently with this tank unless i want to throw phosphate reduction chemicals at it as a bandaid.
  8. Yep. Same one. The apparent fry food overfeed is what began the troubles and it has not gone back in true balance since. I am open to any ideas at this point but i think from all i read you basically just let it do its thing. The most hilarious part of this story? I have a huge housewarming on Friday with a ton of friends where we "Show off" all the work we did on the home and this was "the cherry on top"! Which is why i went nuclear with a blackout and UV light to get ready, but now its comically bad, looks like pea soup, and I am snickering just typing this. 😂 If you dont laugh you would cry.
  9. Today I plan to remove this tank from the blackout and basically at this point just "give up" for a while and see where it gets me. I kind of racked my brain on everything and one theory i have is the way i did my substrate. Not only is it very very deep towards the back, but I used a mesh bag full of lavarock underneath to lift the rocks and a plastic light diffuser from home depot not really intended for being under water. It is possible that the combo of all this is resulting in a crazy bacterial, detritus, and material degradation party that will take a lot longer to work through than "normal" And on the abnormal side, although i seemingly have defied all known science and grew a ton of green water algae in the total absence of light, I will put this "miracle" aside and work on my new tank. hahaa 😄
  10. Hi guys, whoah now this one has me perplexed, dismayed, and if i wasnt excited about a new tank i am making would leave be beaten. After struggling many weeks with cloudy water (a hint of green, but also where you can visually see "dust" swirling around in the water), I decided to buy a UV fertilizer. And to speed into "turbo mode" clarity I went into kill mode and decided to do a blackout. I removed most of my fish to another tank (which is a non planted one and crystal crystal clear BTW). I left the shrimp as they are hard to catch and left the 4 Ottos as they are stress cases. I turned off C02 and covered so ZERO light got in for what has now been 3 days. Today I took my first peek and OMG its like pea soup in there now!!! And this time its DEFINITELY GREEN. I tested all parms and as always I have zero ammonia, zero Nitrite, zero nitrate and a pH of 7.4. So if a 3-4 day blackout and total absence of light is supposed to kill algae, how do you explain this? If anything, I might expect to see a bacteria bloom feeding on the now presumed to be dead algae, but nope, this is not white milky water but super greeeeeen.
  11. Tank was first "online" 2 months ago (4/6) (after a long dry start). Indeed it is my first Aquascape so thanks, but it certainly is frustrating to have a nice tank you worked so hard on and have ugly cloudy water months later = all other parms being perfect. And thanks, I have read repeatedly time is indeed key. Certainly this food packs a punch I think its best to step away from it. Note i am posting the update for one reason - these are the kind of community posts that helped me learn, so just want to give others the heads up in the event they experience the same with this food. Eleocharis Parvula, Eleocharis Vivipara, and Ludwigia Repens "Super red" The grass is crazy thick from trimming and i did a dry start.
  12. ok so I determined 2.5 weeks later after my last 2 week update it is 100% the Small fish fry food causing this cloudy horrible water. SO weeks ago I got so frustrated I bought a UV clarifier which cleared the water finally while I fed my tried and true old food- the tetra tropical flakes. 2 days ago I feed the Aqua-co-op food and BOOM. Massive bloom. Exactly a repeat of last time. If what I am doing is "overfeeding" this stuff is nuclear and a very questionable product. Because I am NOT overfeeding. IN fact, I fear some of my 19 small fish arent even getting any food the last time i fed them. I bought it because it has a higher crude protein content than my standard flakes. I know this. I also got it BECAUSE of the squeeze bottle feature, BUT in order to deliberately go out of my way NOT to overfeed after last time I can't even use the squeeze feature because i cant trust the "puff" of food. SO i have to puff it into a bowl and then feed a reasonable eye size amount from the bowl. I get it, "it worked for you." But I run a pretty tight ship with my tank and can say for me..... this stuff is going into my compost bin and never again in my tank. My worms will LOVE it.
  13. Sorry to revive this from a few weeks ago but it has been 12+ days now and my water is still cloudy as can be. I have of course read extensively "just give it time" and we are certain its a bacterial bloom so i guess i am posting to get an idea on how much time shall i expect before it does clear? ELSE maybe something is going on. I am feeding "2 fish eyes or less" to my fish every other day, I have an Oase 250 on a 20 gallon - so very well filtered, well cycled and its decently planted, so I am perplexed why it is taking so long to clear. I am now tempted to buy API accu clear to see if that does anything, i figure for $10 it cant hurt? My dismay of course is i thought i was being patient. I spent a lot of time and money on my tank (6 months in the making), and it looks gorgeous otherwise but the super cloudy water is driving me insane and really is taking the wind out of my sails here. Note, as shown we are not even talking "dull" water. This is crazy white cloudy to where I can visually see the white stuff circulating around in the right light. Please help guide me my fishy lovin' friends.
  14. Most likely then. I will wait for it to get back to normal, feed with my old flakes for a bit and then try again with just a tiny fraction of what i used previously.
  15. I am not actually feeding fry. I am feeding small fish - 10 tetras and 8 chili rasporas in a 20 G. . The product said fry "and small fish" Sorry for the glare.
  16. HI peeps! First, I certainly am not calling out this product as bad - its obviously well reviewed, but understand I just need assistance and why this may have happened. My planted tank is very well established - although I can provide parameters as needed to troubleshoot, but basically they are all the same - certainly the exact same they have been for the past 2 months. Ammonia, Nitrite and even Nitrates are 0 (or negligible) with this bloom. I also track KH, GH, and PH - all normal. I bought Easy fry fish food, switching from Tetra Tropical Flakes (and occasional bug bites). I feed every other day. After just 2 feedings, ~3 days) my tank has EXPLODED in a bacterial bloom. It is crazy cloudy now. I will also say it could be an algae bloom, but i have almost none on the glass and rocks and TBH i have never had an algae issue. It certainly tints more "cloudy" versus "green" So I can state with 100% certainly the only change was switching food. My theories are there 2 possibilities here but i am looking to your expertise on more: 1) Because the food is much smaller, its possible I simply added way to much. However, note i deliberately try NOT to do this so I would say "wow" to that and want to say I did not do this! BUT i am new to this tiny form factor food. Maybe it packs a huge punch compared to tetra flakes. 2) ELSE, there is some different ingredient in this food that either triggered the bacteria, or creatures to poop more - (but again Ammonia is 0). My current solution was to do a water change, and certainly not continue to use this food until i stabilize again. So now i am looking for advice on this. I am typically very good at having a learning mindset with the hobby but this time around I must admit I feel at least a little annoyed.
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