MY 1.8m tank project...

I found this on a site please tell me what you guys think.


Energy Usage
[*] Another area in which these two bulbs differ is in their energy usage. A T8 bulb is 32 watts, while a T12 bulb is 40 watts. This makes the T8 bulb a more energy efficient bulb to use. A government standard known as the Federal Minimum Energy Standard requires buildings to start using energy efficient lighting, favoring the T8 over the T12.

Light Output
[*] Both bulbs put out similar light output although the T8 puts out slightly more light, although the difference is not noticeable to the human eye. According to Philips, a maker of light bulbs and lighting equipment, a T8 bulb produce around 2600 lumens (the unit used to measure light output) while the T12 bulb puts out around 2520 lumens.

Over time the bulbs begin to lose their intensity and brightness. T8 bulbs have a slower period of decrease, losing only 10 percent of their initial brightness after 7,000 hours of use. In comparison T12 bulbs can lose 20 percent or double the T8 lose after the same number of hours.
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wow, that is very educational...i did not know that...i think the flourescant in our kitchen is a T10...

 

OK guys I am having a problem with Algae, it is taking over my tank and fast to....
I went a bought 5 Siamese Flying foxes today so I will see if that helps but at the rate the Algea is going I will need like a hundred flying foxes.
is there anything else I can do to get rid of the Algae? I heard of pond clear and as far as I can see it would work but I am worried that it might have some bad effect on my other plants, what are your guys opinion on this?

 

Maybe try cut your lighting time to 8 hours (or so) for now and do frequent water changes to drop the nitrates?

 

i have old thick t10's (i think, or even bigger if possible) over my 3ft. and plants just melt away under the horrible lighting. need to make time to construct a canopy to add t8 fittings etc, but i know my old thick ones dont put out much light... but then, you do have a window RIGHT next to the tank...

DO NOT USE POND CLEAR...
Read the insert, it will kill aquatic plants, and using it with fish you need to dose exactly right g/L

 

Depending on the amount of light coming in through the window, you might not need the lights at all. And can you maybe get a photo of your flying foxes for us so we can see if they are indeed the right ones? As a side note about the algae, I took my two otos out of my tank that's in front of the window and the algae has started growing again. So the fish were definitely controlling it.

 

I will take pics tomorrow of the fish because I am also worried about the fact that they might be something else. I have to put the lights on because there is not much sun that comes in that window due to the way they have built the flat but I will have a look tomorrow and see if the light is needed the hole day or if I should put it on a timer say from 8 in the morning till about 10 and then again from 4 till 8 in the evening but with the light that I do have at the moment the plants seem to be growing nicely so I am really not sure what to do here now. would the Algae go away if I start to add C02 or will that make it worse?

 

Adding CO2 would boost the growth any plant that photosynthesizes so I suspect it would worsen your algae problem.

 

If you read Laure'a threads on fertilization strategies, and PM chat to him regarding algae, he can give you some good indication on what CO2 will do.
Basically plants and algae are competing for the nutrients in the tank. If you add CO2, you are adding benefit to the plants, they grow faster, they get healthier, and they out-compete the algae for the nutrients, and the algae dies. This is also gotta be balanced with the correct levels of light. Too little light and you prety much wasting your time.

 

Question: What happens to the dead algea? Do it break down over time?

 

Zoom is right, but only if you have enough plants. Try feeding your fish less, make sure all their food is finished within five minutes. Vacuum your gravel regularly to suck up any excess fertilizer (fish poo and old food) and do frequent water changes.

Do not use any algaecides!

 

Ok thanks guys
I am going to see if I can get hold of a few more plants to add into my tank and then I will add some Co2 to see if I can get rid of the Algae that why. As for what happens to the dead Algea, does the fish eat it or what?

 

What sort of algae are you getting? Is it just green and brown on the glass? Because that's easy enough to just wipe off with a sponge for now.

As for the SAE, Potch was one of the places that had them, Delilah was going to get them for me. So hopefully you got the right thing

 

I will post pics later today
there is green algae on the glass and on the rocks and a very dark green on the plants that looks like hair. I will be scrubbing the tank later to day as well to see if I can get the worst of it off.

 

Pic of the flying foxes

Her are pics of the Flying foxesor what I hope are at least...
Sorry for the bad Quality pics but as you can see the water is really yellow and the Algae is all over the place.





The back of the tank is now covered in Algae but I think the problem is Sunlight, I have noticed that the part of the tank that is directly in sunlight is really covered in Algae but the part that is shaded from the sunlight has much less algae. I am going to have to cover that window now and see if that helps

 

How did you get them to swim in formation for the kiekie

 

They look right. Black stripe all the way to the tail, jagged edges following the scales, no visible yellow stripe on top of the black one...
Perhaps get a net curtain or a light coloured curtain to regulate the amount of light.

 

My vote would be for ottos as your clean up team. Pating machines!ound for pound they are algae eating machines! And I would agree that direct sunlight is definitely resulting in some algae explosions. Just keep up with manual removal as best as possible...

 

While I agree that otos are excellent algae eaters, they are unfortunately also infamous for there extremely high first month mortality rate. I've had 2 survivors from the 10 that I've bought
And from my research it's a combination of things that causes it. If they're wild caught, there is a high likelihood that they were first weakened with cyanide upstream so they could be caught, and then they arrive on our shores stressed and malnourished. It's advisable to only buy them from a shop that gets bred otos, that have been kept in the shop for at least a month. The odd thing is that the ones that do survive are in fact extremely hardy.

 

Oh dear... I thought they were mostly captive bred, damnit! I have gone out of my way not to buy any wild caught species in this hobby!! >:-( One of my two ottos perished a few days after purchase - but its definitely one of my favourites..