Carissa1

Hi,
A couple of weeks ago I set up my 10g with potting soil, gravel, and some Hygrophila and crypts to try to start an el natural tank. Yesterday I was in town so I picked up some bacopa, ludwigia, and water hyacinths to add to the tank since I didn't have a lot of plants. The water is turning really yellow, lots of tannins coming out of the soil, so I added an air powered corner filter with sponge and carbon to try to clean it up plus take some of the suspended particulates out of the water. Here's a couple of questions I have:

1. I'm still showing ammonia, and nitrites are really getting up there now. My plan was to wait until I get 0's on both and then add fish, does this sound ok? What will happen if I wait a few days before I can get some fish after they both reach 0, will the cycle be ruined then? Or will the soil keep producing ammonia to keep the cycling happening? I wanted to add 5 female bettas.
2. Anyone have experience with water hyacinths in aquariums? There's no top on this tank so I wanted to try something different with a couple of floating plants.
3. The water is pretty cold, probably around 68. Should I add a heater or does it matter for the cycling etc.? Will oto's be ok in water this cold? I really wanted to keep things simple and add as little in the way of heaters, filters, etc. as possible.
4. I'm getting brown algae on the tank walls and some plant leaves. Should I panic? Should I clean it off? I have one 23w screw in florescent 6500k, for about 8 hours/day, little to no natural sunlight at this point. Does that sound ok?

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bdement

I had some under 192 watts and it did well (a little too well actually). It's a high light plant though, so unfortunately I think it's going to die and make a big mess for you. Keep a close eye on it and remove it if the roots start falling off.

Endler Guy

Hi Carissa,

Is this the same original tank or have you started over? I would give the plants time to soak up and use all the ammonia. I wouldn't add fish at all until the ammonia and nitrite issues have been resolved.

Do you have access to any ponds or lakes? I've gotten water lettuce and duckweed from a local creek. I got some frogbit from trading local chara (stinkweed algae) online for postage.

The "cycle" will always catch up so long as you have enough plants to use the ammonia. If you don't, you could have a black-out and all your animals could die. Plants can soak up ammonia, even in darkness. However, they can only use nitrates while photosynthesizing.

Clean the brown algae off. It's probably from silicone leaching from the glass. I still have it but is going away. It actually is more likely to grow in light deprived areas of new aquariums. I still have some in my 55.

I don't know about water hyacinths or cold temperatures. 68 is freezing to me!

newbie314

Funny you should say that about the algae.
I have a new 20g-long aquarium, and there is plenty of green hair algae (at least that is what I think it is) growing on the sunny side of the tank and generaly on the top surfaces. But the front of the aquarium away from the sun light (darker side) has the brown algae growing on it.
New glass and in shade.

Although I do a light sprinkling of brown algae on the 2.5g NPT.

Good to know that ammonia is aborbed at night.

Carissa1

Hi,
Yes the same tank. I did a 30% water change yesterday to take out some of the brownish color from the water. I guess it will just take a while to get established properly. I know I can't add fish yet.

There are swampy areas and ponds around here but I wouldn't know how to begin identifying the plants in them. Soon they will start dying off since we're starting to get frost sometimes at night.

aquabillpers

Silicones leaching from the glass? Are you trying to start a new myth?

Bill

aquabillpers

Depending on how you treated the "potting soil" before you put it into the tank, the soil could continue producing ammonia and other stuff for some time. (Your tank is doing what happens in the buckets in which some of us soak soil before we use it.)

When the ammonia and nitrites get to zero the tank will be safe for your bettas. A well planted tank will hasten that process.


They get pretty large and will shade the bottom too much to allow other plants to grow there.

You need a heater to keep the temperature between 75 and 80, unless you plan to set up a cool water tank.

Don't panic. Brown algae is common in newly set up aquariums. Just keep wiping it off and eventually it will disappear permanently.

You could use more light. Brown algae is often associated with insufficent light.

Good luck!

Bill

Carissa1

I think he probably meant silicates.

aquabillpers

Well, gee, you too! LOL

I don't think that anything of significance "leaches" from aquarium glass.

bill

Endler Guy

Yes, I meant silicates. It can leach from glass as easily as from sand. That's one of the reasons it's so common in new tanks. Now you're in the know.