My first 4foot Adventure

Okay then that is good then so that is out of the way then, how often do you feed your fish? I do 2 x 20%wc weekly.

How often do you clean your filters in tank water?

 

Hi Javei

Please post a FTS. I suspect there is something leaching nasties into the tank but need to see it. As the saying says, a picture says a thousand words...

 

feed my fish twice daily, letting some food drop to the bottom for my cories and kuhli loach and eel. i do 5%-10% two to three times a week, my tap water is cold, if i do smaller changes its easier to maintain correct temp. i will take a pic tonight and post it as soon as possible.

 

at the moment i use pool filter sand, and @Barry.M gave me some gravel/clay stuff to put under my plants for nutrition. i have two rocks, one castle, hmm and rocks i collected out of our garden, washed with salt and boiling water of course. and plants, i will post pics of the rocks,plants and everything else

 

As far as I know boiling rocks can cause problems but I'm not sure what problems.

 

Nope I dont think so dude :bigsmile:

 

hehe, funny. i don't think its the rocks anyway

 

They explode,depending on what rock it is and how long you are boiling it.

Aren't you supposed to use vinegar to test rocks,garden rocks are often sprayed with pesticide to keep insects away and it can last for years.It's very deadly to fish and even to humans in concentrated doses.

BTW i've read it's a bad idea to use sand for planted tanks,apparently air bubbles get formed under the gravel and nitrates build up.When it's disturbed it releases all the nitrates at once causing a nitrate spike.

Edit:

 

hmmm i dont completely agree with that to be honest. a very good filter is dsb (deep sand bed) its excactly loke in the vid. the gas that escapes there is supposed to be harmles and its actually ybat gas that was nitrates that turned into hydrogen gas or something

 

Pool filter sand is ok for aquarium use. All aquarium gravel or substrate can become anaerobic, the bubbles that form under the gravel are not very harmful, I have had them before and my fish were fine.

Boiling rocks is not bad, just sterilizes them.

 

IM using swimming pool filter sand (silica sand) we don't use pesticide in our garden. i scrubbed the rocks with a scrubber.

if it had pesticide on, do you thin it could have been washed off?

 

the rocks i found in the garden is in my tanks for two months now

 

pesticide wont up the nitrates. you need to find a way to do bigger waterchanges

 

must say the high nitrates is quite werid

 

hehe jip, i asked my parents, they don't use pesticides anyway. what would be best maintenance this winter?

 

I do 2x 15% wc, one on friday afternoon and the other saturday afternoon then the temp chang is not to bad for the fish.

 

see i do 2x50% wc weekly but i have a 500L jojo drum with 2x300w jager heaters in them

 

I can only afford the 2 heaters and half of the jojo and than I'm completely bankrupt.

 

i buy all my stuff over time. the heaterd i got with a 2nd hand tank and got the jojo drum at a good price. i also sell aquatic plants to help me on my expenses in this hobby. it helps alot. but ja dont wanna hijack here. you guys need to up the waterchanges. if its not a planted tank. and you have space get yourself orca nitrate cubes. but its just as expensive

 

What is orca nitrate tubes?