Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
how long before diatoms go away?
This is my first aquarium in 30 years. I am learning a lot, but I'm getting
frustrated and need some advice. I have a standard 29G aquarium with five ~2" juvenile goldfish. The tank completed the nitrogen-nitrate cycle almost one month ago. I am very careful about feeding and water quality (water changes, frequent water testing, etc). The diatoms coat everything in the tank. Threads in this list, and several web sites suggest that it will go away, my question is, "when"? I have tried to introduce a variety of higher order plants to help but the brown gunk just uses the leaves as another surface for growth. I even have pothos with the roots in the aquarium to try and help. I introduced a 55w CF lamp two weeks ago and a Nutrafin CO2 injector (yeast type) a few days ago, and started adding "flourish" three times over the last week. I have done everything I am willing to do to minimize surface agitation. I am noticing some new growth on a couple of plants, but they still look pretty nasty. I have fluorite substrate on it's way, but before introducing it and investing in more plants, I want to get rid of this brown creeping crud. Any advice? Am I on the right track, or am I missing something? chet |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
how long before diatoms go away?
You've done all the right things, except maybe to add a few snails and/or
ottos. More important than a variety of higher order plants at this point is *quantity* - add lots of cheap, fast growing stem plants and gradually replace them with nicer specimens later. Goldfish don't need the heat, so keep the temperature down around 70º to inhibit algae. These things take time. Achieving and maintaining a desirable, stable aquarium environment is a process, not a goal. kush chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message ... This is my first aquarium in 30 years. I am learning a lot, but I'm getting frustrated and need some advice. I have a standard 29G aquarium with five ~2" juvenile goldfish. The tank completed the nitrogen-nitrate cycle almost one month ago. I am very careful about feeding and water quality (water changes, frequent water testing, etc). The diatoms coat everything in the tank. Threads in this list, and several web sites suggest that it will go away, my question is, "when"? I have tried to introduce a variety of higher order plants to help but the brown gunk just uses the leaves as another surface for growth. I even have pothos with the roots in the aquarium to try and help. I introduced a 55w CF lamp two weeks ago and a Nutrafin CO2 injector (yeast type) a few days ago, and started adding "flourish" three times over the last week. I have done everything I am willing to do to minimize surface agitation. I am noticing some new growth on a couple of plants, but they still look pretty nasty. I have fluorite substrate on it's way, but before introducing it and investing in more plants, I want to get rid of this brown creeping crud. Any advice? Am I on the right track, or am I missing something? chet |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
how long before diatoms go away?
I totally agree with kush, but I would just like to inject that having a few
snails is absolutly a good thing, just make sure that you monitor their reproduction. (i.e. if you get a snail explosion, then you want to make sure you take some out) Snails are great for algae control, but you just have to keep a close eye on them or your plants are toast... -Jason "kush" wrote in message ... You've done all the right things, except maybe to add a few snails and/or ottos. More important than a variety of higher order plants at this point is *quantity* - add lots of cheap, fast growing stem plants and gradually replace them with nicer specimens later. Goldfish don't need the heat, so keep the temperature down around 70º to inhibit algae. These things take time. Achieving and maintaining a desirable, stable aquarium environment is a process, not a goal. kush chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message ... This is my first aquarium in 30 years. I am learning a lot, but I'm getting frustrated and need some advice. I have a standard 29G aquarium with five ~2" juvenile goldfish. The tank completed the nitrogen-nitrate cycle almost one month ago. I am very careful about feeding and water quality (water changes, frequent water testing, etc). The diatoms coat everything in the tank. Threads in this list, and several web sites suggest that it will go away, my question is, "when"? I have tried to introduce a variety of higher order plants to help but the brown gunk just uses the leaves as another surface for growth. I even have pothos with the roots in the aquarium to try and help. I introduced a 55w CF lamp two weeks ago and a Nutrafin CO2 injector (yeast type) a few days ago, and started adding "flourish" three times over the last week. I have done everything I am willing to do to minimize surface agitation. I am noticing some new growth on a couple of plants, but they still look pretty nasty. I have fluorite substrate on it's way, but before introducing it and investing in more plants, I want to get rid of this brown creeping crud. Any advice? Am I on the right track, or am I missing something? chet |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
how long before diatoms go away?
Yep - try to get ones that don't eat plants - the larger variety that are
livebearing reproduce slower as well. On the algae problem, definatly cooler water - and turn the lights down if your not gonna put in a lotta plants - single cell (algae) will grow faster than plants, so I'd recommend doing the plants thing - LOTS of CHEAP stem plants, to compete with the algae. You also can try using some phosphate removers to reduce the amount of phosphate in the tank - algae needs this stuff more that plants do. "Jason" wrote in message gy.com... I totally agree with kush, but I would just like to inject that having a few snails is absolutly a good thing, just make sure that you monitor their reproduction. (i.e. if you get a snail explosion, then you want to make sure you take some out) Snails are great for algae control, but you just have to keep a close eye on them or your plants are toast... -Jason "kush" wrote in message ... You've done all the right things, except maybe to add a few snails and/or ottos. More important than a variety of higher order plants at this point is *quantity* - add lots of cheap, fast growing stem plants and gradually replace them with nicer specimens later. Goldfish don't need the heat, so keep the temperature down around 70º to inhibit algae. These things take time. Achieving and maintaining a desirable, stable aquarium environment is a process, not a goal. kush chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message ... This is my first aquarium in 30 years. I am learning a lot, but I'm getting frustrated and need some advice. I have a standard 29G aquarium with five ~2" juvenile goldfish. The tank completed the nitrogen-nitrate cycle almost one month ago. I am very careful about feeding and water quality (water changes, frequent water testing, etc). The diatoms coat everything in the tank. Threads in this list, and several web sites suggest that it will go away, my question is, "when"? I have tried to introduce a variety of higher order plants to help but the brown gunk just uses the leaves as another surface for growth. I even have pothos with the roots in the aquarium to try and help. I introduced a 55w CF lamp two weeks ago and a Nutrafin CO2 injector (yeast type) a few days ago, and started adding "flourish" three times over the last week. I have done everything I am willing to do to minimize surface agitation. I am noticing some new growth on a couple of plants, but they still look pretty nasty. I have fluorite substrate on it's way, but before introducing it and investing in more plants, I want to get rid of this brown creeping crud. Any advice? Am I on the right track, or am I missing something? chet |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
been away long time, need ideas | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
been away for a long time, tank design help | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
how long before baby amazons are viable? | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
How long to keep Palm tree supports before removal??? | Gardening |