# A Few Problems



## daniel (Jan 25, 2017)

Hi there, I am looking for as much advice and solutions as possible to the few problems I am experiencing in my semi new planted tank. Let me start by writing down everything that I purchased this past boxing day. 

Tank: 55gal breeder tank
Filter: Eheim classic 2215
Light: aquatic life dual lamp T5 (running 8hrs)
Heater: Fluval
CO2 system: Fluval (running when lights are on)
UV Sterilizer: turbo twist 9w (running 24/7)

So the reason I am asking for some help here is because when I first set up the tank (with two experienced guys), everything was running great, wasn’t having any problems at all. They even gave me media from their long time running eheims to get things jump started a bit. After about a couple weeks, I noticed a thick layer of foam on the surface of my water when looking up towards the light but looking down from the top was crystal clear. At this time I only had plants in my tank and all my plants were either melting away or dying completely. I went and got filter floss and did the required water change and tested the water (everything showed normal, see results below). When I did that, that was when I bought the UV sterilizer and installed it that night. It seemed that that problem went away but after about 24 – 48 hours of running, it came back. And not only has is came back, but my tank is covered in algae now which to me makes no sense with the installation of the UV. But carrying on, I then introduced cardinals to the tank and unfortunately, most of them did not survive this past week. My plants are doing okay but not great though. Would love to know some solutions or advice on what I may be doing wrong or what I can do to try and clear all this up and get a properly running tank going.

Another thing I might add is that my heater is actually off as of now because without it on, my tank sits at around 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit and right when I turn it on to the first notch of 76 degrees, it shoots my temperature over 80. The tank is in my room upstairs which is sitting on top of the garage which is known to be the coldest room in the house. 

I am looking for advice from anyone because at this point, I have started to become frustrated and would love to know what I can do or what I am doing wrong. 

Water testing results:
high range ph: 7.4-7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate:10 ppm

Cheers!


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

Hi Daniel,

I have more questions than answers...

What is your substrate?
Did you rinse out tank and filter before use?
Are you running carbon?
What plants do you have?
Did you acclimate the cardinals and how many did you add?
Were you feeding the bacteria up until you added fish?

As for the heater, I would return it.

I hope others chime in with help.

Jackie


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## Wiccandove (May 19, 2012)

Exactly how long ago did you set up the tank? 
Is it possible you are running too much CO2?


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## Bill22 (Jan 21, 2017)

My question is: If your tank already sits at 78-80° why do you need the heater on?


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Are you measuring ph with the co2 on?

7.4 - 7.6 is about what I get aged from the tap. With co2 I'm closer to 6.

Please answer fisheyes questions. I suspect the cause of the algae might be the co2 but it's hard to say without knowing more. No idea what's going on with the fish.


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## Wiccandove (May 19, 2012)

planter said:


> Are you measuring ph with the co2 on?
> 
> 7.4 - 7.6 is about what I get aged from the tap. With co2 I'm closer to 6.
> 
> Please answer fisheyes questions. I suspect the cause of the algae might be the co2 but it's hard to say without knowing more. No idea what's going on with the fish.


Well if there is too much CO2 wouldn't the fish suffocate?


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Yes in extreme cases but the ph reading he is getting is not near a dangerous level. I've had my tanks as low as 5.5 without killing a fish. Plus without surface movement you don't need to inject co2 to suffocate fish just a lack of o2 will do it. When I did overdose my co2 once everything died in a matter of hours. No survivors. 

Cardinals are for the most part wild caught and can be difficult to manage at first. 

If the plants are all melting chances are he's getting an ammonia spike regardless what his test kits are telling him. 

Do you have a picture of that foam? I've never heard of that before.


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## daniel (Jan 25, 2017)

Thanks for the responses everyone, here is the answer to a few of the questions...

Fisheye
Substrate:
first layer is flourite black
second layer is flourite black sand
and this is bordered on one side by white stone aquarium substrate

we wiped the inside of the tank with a damp towel but to say we did a complete clean of it would be too much.
I do not have carbon in my filter

In regards to acclimation of the cardinals when putting them in. I floated the bag for roughly half an hour before putting them in.

I stopped adding bacteria about a week before I got the fish because I ran out but then started to put more again after that big water change I did.

I was not around the guys when they set up the filter so I am unaware of that answer. I will look into it when I speak to him today.

I had 6 guppys just to help along with the cycling of the tank. When my readings seemed safe, I removed the guppys and replaced then with 6 cardinals, and then another 6. After about a week, they were doing great and then I entered 12 more to my tank.

week three - 6 guppys
week four - removed 6 guppys and replaced with 12 cardinals
week five - added 12 more cardinals
week six (present) - down to 7 cardinals

wiccandove
Co2 is running at 1 bps and I turn it on when I get home around 5pm from work and shut it off 30 minutes before the lights shut off (10:30pm)

I set up the tank this past boxing day

Bill22
I bought the heater on boxing day and set up everything all at once. I now have the heater removed from the tank for those exact reasons.

Planter
Yes, I was measuring ph with the co2 on.

These photos are screenshots of a video I took last week, I will take actual photos when I get home tonight. If anyone would like to see the video, please dm me and I can send them to an e-mail. I was unable to upload videos to this.


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for replying.

Do you know what plants you have in there? I ask because crypts, for example can melt after planting but will come back. Also, some plants prefer colder, water and might melt if it's too warm in the tank. It would be a good idea to siphon out the melted leaves but leave stems and roots to give them a chance to regrow.

If your tank is open topped, dust and any house sprays will settle on the water surface so be mindful of that. Also, protein that forms on the surface can be broken up by increasing flow and angling output towards the water surface. I'm not suggesting that that's your issue but something to keep in mind to help get to the bottom of this.

I didn't realize that you had guppies in the tank so the question about feeding the seeded bacteria in your filter was about adding small pinches of food to feed the colonies in an empty tank until you added fish. Adding bacteria supplements only means that you add to the existing colony but without fish, and in a pristine tank, you need to feed them something to keep their numbers up.

Floating a bag in the tank is only part of the acclimation process. Your fish need to adjust to the parameters of your tank water before being introduced and the lfs water in the bag really should be discarded-just to be safe. Do research the bucket and drip acclimation methods to properly acclimate your fish. I always drip acclimate but that's just my preference which I've become accustomed to over time. When the fish come home, I empty the contents of the LFS bag into a fish only container-something deep enough that they can't jump out of. I clip a section of air tubing to the tank the fish will go into, start the siphon and tie a knot at one end to get the flow that I want. Once the volume of water in the container has more than doubled, I know that I have more new water than LFS water and the fish can be safely netted into the new tank and the LFS water goes down the drain or into my house plants. Having said all that, I think it's a good idea to have a quarantine tank for new fish.

Are you using virgin buckets, hoses and nets that have never been used for anything else besides fish?

Carbon isn't necessary but if you think there is something causing issues, you could always stick it in for a month to see if things improve. Doesn't the eheim come with a black carbon pad? Just a thought.

Here are two links about Cardinal Tetra's from two excellent resources.

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/paracheirodon-axelrodi/
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/NeonsCardsArtNeale.htm

Finally, did the Cardinal's all look ok before they started dying off? I've not read anything definitive about Neon Tetra Disease affecting them but hopefully someone with more knowledge can speak to that. A magnifying glass is great to have when you keep little fish.

As for algae issues-my experience is that I've always had it with new tanks. You can deal with it by reducing photoperiod, total black out, and introducing species that will eat it (your tank isn't by a window is it?)

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_3/fwalgae.html

PlantedTank.net is a good resource as is https://www.ukaps.org/forum/

Hope this helps.

Jackie


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## default (May 28, 2011)

This Fluval Co2 kit you're using, I'm going to assume it's the 88g "large" model? Which requires a manual on/off, or have you incorporated a solenoid?

Some personal opinions:
- You don't need the UV, a planted tank rarely uses a UV sterilizer - especially on 24/7. Great for temporary usage when there's green water or extreme algae infestations, but unnecessary.

- Your temperature is high, was too high for most plants to thrive at 80F, I find plants are also affected by sudden water changes, when it gets too hot, some plants continue to grow, some drop foliage, some stall and simply stop growing, and some even melts. Since you've removed the heater - (the reason why your heater was heating up your water more, was because it wasn't calibrated well, so 76F on the heater was not precise - instead it was actually 80F, so if you want to maintain temps around 76F, your heater may need to be set at 72F.) - the plants may have been stalled from the transition.

- How densely planted is your tank? Perhaps take some full frontal shots, and when was it planted? At the start or afterwards?

- Way too many variables at play about the loss of fish in a fairly new tank; not enough bacteria to support the fish, unhealthy cardinals, temperature swings?, too much decaying organic matter in non-mature tank, etc.

- That foam is not clear from your pictures, a frontal shot of your tank may show certain items that could produce it, may just be protein buildup.

- Have you started fertilizing?


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## daniel (Jan 25, 2017)

Sorry about the late response. I have attached a photo to try and show what the water at the top of my tank looks like. 

I have been doing water changes every other day to try and get rid of it but it keeps coming back. I have even scrubbed all the algae off the tank and then in two days time, its covered again. Whatever this is that is building up on the top of my water eventually gets hard and sits still not allowing the push from the outflow to get all the way across the tank. My tank is 48" long and the outflow from my eheim should be reaching the opposite side.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Looks like you have this type algae.

Scroll to the middle of the page. The article describes it as organic build up. Stepping up filter maintenance, manual removal with paper towels and the use of carbon over a few weeks/ months is recommended. It also mentions that Molly's will eat it

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_freshwater_algae.php


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## daniel (Jan 25, 2017)

Thanks for sending me that link Planter. I took a look at it and was wondering what your recommendation was in regards to a surface skimmer versus a power head for this. I was looking on BigAls website and they have the eheim surface skimmer for $70 and power-heads for cheaper. Also saw a Skim350 Surface Skimmer that looks like it could do the job as well. If you have any experience with these, I would appreciate hearing your opinions on these products.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

I have a skim 350 and am currently using it. It works wonders. The only compliant I have about it is that it's a death trap for small fish like Danios for example. Also on the lowest setting it can some times lose its ability to skim if it clogs. In the highest setting it can probably clear up a 6 foot tank in minutes. I also use power heads for the same purpose but I find that the skimmer does a much better job.

It's a trade off. A powerhead has more uses overall depending on which one your referring to while the skimmer is a one trick pony does what it's designed to do really well.

Another option is the skimmer that attaches to your canister filter intake similar to the ehiem one you mentioned. I have no real experience with that type. I've actually ordered 2 and am currently waiting for them to arrive. I'm hoping that they work as I find after a few months after my tanks are setup I don't tend to have to much film build up. I figure it's one less peice of equipment in the tank to maintain.

If it works that is


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