Pacers94

I just couldn't sustain the plants and find a happy place where they thrived. Also with work just too busy to maintain. I just wanted to go bare bones on the tank with sand and rocks then whatever cichlids, african or SA, fit that profile and the right amount.

I've liked the electric blue acaras and have kept a couple, but those are the only ones i have had experience with

Hello everyone. I am redoing my 55 gallon tank to be a cichlid tank. I am still not sure on if i want to do a south american community tank, a peacock tank, if i want to just get like 1 severum. Not sure. I'm also not that knowledgeable in terms of different types and what goes with what and how many you can have of each. It will not be a planted tank, just thinking of sand and rocks to keep it simple.

I haven't seen this before, pictures my wife sent me before I get home today. I have 4 other cichlids, all fine from looking. This one has been hiding, color faded, and now just today this growth. Anyone know what's going on? Parasites?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to provide an update. From what i can see all the algae has gone! anything left has died and is being eaten by my siamese algae eaters. just need to do some light trimming of plants but it's back to normal!

Thanks for the feedback. What happens with the algae once it dies off with spot treatments, will i need to physically take it out or will it dissolve?

Hi everyone. I've been really struggling with a staghorn outbreak in my 55 gallon. I've read many forums on here and other websites for advice, i just want to ask again and see what worked best for others. I bought 4 siamese algae eaters for my tank yesterday, as i can't have shrimp due to my other fish in the tank. I don't run CO2 but plan on getting a setup pretty soon. Other options i see that have worked best are a tank blackout and spot treating with liquid carbon. Any advice would be great. And to skip any questions, yes it is staghorn algae, PH 7.2, Ammonia and nitrite 0ppm, nitrates 40ppm, lights on about 8 hours but at 85% intensity

So will balancing eventually kill it on its own? And what's the best way to start? I reduced the light from 8 to 6 hours today so I don't want to change too much like you mentioned

Thanks for the advice! Best way to remove the algae?

Hey everyone! I tried to read up on this issue before I posted. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this, im still learning about different algae. From what I understand, this fuzz is caused by excess nutrients and/or lacking CO2 levels. I've seen people advise going easy on ferts and introducing CO2 to the tank to raise levels and have the plants out compete the algae. Any help to get rid of this. Also, what critters can I get to help this? Currently in the tank are 3 acara cichlids, 2 dwarf gourami, 8 corydoras, I rubberlip pleco. I bought some otocinclus but they didn't really touch the stuff. Tank has fluval stratum, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate about 40ppm. Ph 7.2

If there is a die back period, what can I do to ensure they don't full on die?

@Fish Folk yes its about 5 weeks old. 55 gallon, 20" tall, 12" deep, 4' wide

@Fish Folk I have very hard water. Temp is about 75 degrees. The photos were taken today, plants have been in there maybe 3 weeks

Hi everyone, hope your weekend started of well! I've received a bunch of helpful feedback on others questions I've posted, and I hoped I could get some help with my plants. I can't seem to get that nice, green, lush look from my plants. Attached are some pictures of what I'm seeing. I do have root tabs in, several for each of the bigger plants. I am using the Fluval stratum so there's a little bit of nutrients there. I use Easy Green and have been messing around getting the right ratio. I also copied an intricate light schedule I saw from someone else on the forum. Any advice is appreciated! Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~ 40ppm, ph 7.2

@Odd Duck thanks man. So it was the UV that got it done? And it stayed away once it went away?

How well do you think this will work on a 55 gallon? i've been struggling trying to find the right schedule, might adjust to these when i get home and see. @StaceyTNBCkicker

Hey everyone, just wanted to provide an update and maybe see if @Cory might chime in?! So water parameters are great, ammonia and nitrites at 0, nitrates about 40ppm. the pictures below are the time lapse of how this has gone. The first picture was on 06/27 before any fish (and i did put them in a little premature so that slowed cycling), the cloudiest picture was about a week later and at it's worst. the last picture was as of this morning. I bought a UV sterilizer this past friday 07/23 and have been running it 12 hours at a time. I haven't done anything crazy, only a few 10% water changes every 3-4 days. My question is I clearly want the water clarity in picture 1, will the sterilizer get me there? do i just need to be patient and let it ride out, monitoring water parameters? Any advice is much appreciated. P.S. - the camera adds a little orange to the pictures, so they're not as bad as they appear

Thanks! Yea just haven't seen it grow like that before

Hey everyone. Just wondering if this is good or bad algae, I've never seen this before. I've mainly dealt with hair algae. I brushed the tank last week and it's slowly grown back. Not too worried about it unless it's really bad. Ps going to be getting a rubberlip pleco tomorrow, so hopefully he'll take care of it

Hey everyone, just wanted to update. The ammonia dropped to 0 around friday night, meanwhile nitrites started to climb. as of last night the nitrites are going down slowly, hopefully nearing the end of this cycle. i did a 10% water change on thursday and last night. The water has cleared up a bit, but still has that tint to the water. When researching the fluval substrate, i've read that it could color the water until it matures and most of the nutrients have come out of the substrate. But fish seem happy and healthy, they've never stopped eating. Added some adult amazon sword plants over the weekend. I'll upload a picture when i get home tonight

I'll upload pictures after work. How soon should i put her in a breeder box?

I think a green plant background would look good. I like to match the color scheme. I have a tank with a similar substrate to yours and plants and i put a nice green planted background. Then i have a blue gravel substrate with some rocks, so i put kind of a blue sky background on it

Hey everyone! I've never had a fish give birth on my before, and i'm almost positive my female molly is pregnant. Like i said i've never dealt with fish babies, so if she does give birth what do i need to do? i don't have a spare tank, and she's currently in a 29 gallon with 2 other male mollies, about 15 tetras of mixed kinds, 1 angelfish, and 2 corydoras. Any advice would help! Also, what can i do to help ensure she does give birth? water is about 77 degrees, ph 7, nitrates 20 ppm

@Duke Silver The picture was as of about 8pm last night. readings were ph 7.2, ammonia 1ppm, nitrites 0.5, nitrates 10-15 ppm. Camera adds a little bit of an orange tinit so it's less than what the picture shows

@Duke Silver I'll take a picture when i get off work. I have it on 5 hours a day at white 100% with the blue light at 0%