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Aquarium people- What is this?

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Okay, the little cube tank for our daughters Betta has been stripped of all plant life and cleaned thoroughly out- but I want to know what the heck was that??? :shock: When I pulled it out it stank something shocking! So my partner's said "no" to anymore plants, we're to get fake ones instead. Okay- Here it is:[img]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b276/Spiritedsprite/DSC00074.jpg[/img] What do you'll think?

Monsterpony Thu, 03/12/2009 - 19:08

Did you get it at Petco (or maybe it was Petsmart)? They have been notorious for selling non-aquatic plants in those plastic tubes. A non-aquatic plant in a tank will rot very quickly.

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquar…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Be careful with your tank if you cleaned it out completely. It may go through another ammonia cycle to reestablish biological filtration.

Sara Thu, 03/12/2009 - 22:36

Every tank has biological filtration unless the substrate is being rinsed with every water change. The good bacteria are going to have a tough time sticking to those marbles though.

accphotography Thu, 03/12/2009 - 22:49

I think it was said that the amount of biological filtration in substrate was about 2% with some minute figure in the water column and about 97% in the filter media. Not sure where it would be in a non-filtered tank, or how much would be there at all. Since non filtered tanks are supposed to be changed 100% daily, I would suspect there isn't much bio filtration being done. But I could be wrong...

Sara Thu, 03/12/2009 - 22:55

Seriously?? There's got to be more than 2% of the biological filtration in substrate, especially if you're using something with a lot of good surface area. You can even jump-start a new tank with substrate from an established one, although I always just pop in bio-balls from my heavily filtered show tank.

I've never done 100% daily water changes on my non-filtered tanks either. Then again I had a thick layer of sand substrate, live plants and snails in there so that helped.

accphotography Thu, 03/12/2009 - 22:59

That's what I've read in several places. In fact people even say that chances are seeding with substrate will offer very little help. Bioballs RULE though!!

Live sand and plants definitely help with filtration in a non filtered tank. I think some would go more than a day in that situation, but there are those that still would.

Sara Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:04

Hmm, I haven't posted on a fish forum in quite some time so maybe they've changed what they are saying now. I used to go on cichlidforum quite a lot but it was too busy for me to keep up with so I had to quit. For me a forum is all or nothing -- I either have time to read all the posts or I don't go.

Anyway on that betta tank with sand and plants I was doing maybe a 50% water change once a week or so.

Fledgesflight Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:07

No, not from a petshop- I got the fish and three plants (including that one) from a guy who runs an aquarium shop.
Was that transparent film fungi? It literally started at the roots and was to where it is in the photo in about 3 days..

The little tank is not filtered- guy said that with just one fish it shouldn't be a problem. I did like the plants it set a nice looking environment will have to think of something else.

Oh yeah- and to change the 25% water every week or so.

Sara Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:12

[quote="accphotography"]Hmmm. I wonder what a test would have shown? That's generally what the people I talk to go by.[/quote]

What test, and on what tank? Mine? I tested my betta tank periodically and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate were all fine. I had much more trouble with my little African community tank for whatever reason. (pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus, leopard ptenopoma, and small school of congo tetras)

Monsterpony Fri, 03/13/2009 - 01:40

If it is a small tank with a betta, I would suggest doing at least every other day water changes. Plants can be more susceptible than the fish to water conditions and keeping the water quality of a small tank up is actually quite often more difficult than a big tank. For example, let's say that a fish produces 1 mg of nitrate a day. In a one gallon tank, that means the nitrate level goes up 1 mg per gallon per day. In a ten gallon tank, the change would only be 1/10th of a mg per gallon per day. If 5 mg of nitrate per gallon were toxic to a plant, a one gallon tank would reach that level in 5 days versus 50 days in a 10 gallon tank.

ACC- I managed to force cycle my 92 gallon tank in 10 days with only a few mesh bags of substrate from the 44 gallon tank plus 6 zebra danios. The 44 gallon only has a HOB power filter with no biologic filter so using filter material wasn't an option.

nerd Fri, 03/13/2009 - 03:47

That reminds me of brewing kombucha! Not something I'd want in a fishtank (and ultimately not something I want in my tea either, which is why I no longer brew kombucha...)

nerd Fri, 03/13/2009 - 03:49

That reminds me of brewing kombucha! Not something I'd want in a fishtank (and ultimately not something I want in my tea either, which is why I no longer make it...)

Sara Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:24

[quote="Monsterpony"]ACC- I managed to force cycle my 92 gallon tank in 10 days with only a few mesh bags of substrate from the 44 gallon tank plus 6 zebra danios. The 44 gallon only has a HOB power filter with no biologic filter so using filter material wasn't an option.[/quote]

If your HOB is big enough you can toss biological filtration in there... and even the mechanical filtration (sponge thingy) starts to act as biological filtration as it ages. I've also started/cycled tanks by swapping sponges.

I'm actually down to just one tank right now because I've been really busy with personal stuff and the horses over the past year, but I can't ever let that tank go because it's a wealth of biological material for any new tanks I might want to start. I'm way too impatient to do it the danio way and I found biospira to be only somewhat satisfying.

I might be adopting my coworker's red devil, not my kind of fish, but he comes with a 55 gallon setup which is tempting. My own 55 gallon is sitting empty right now but my daughter and I have plans to turn it into a community of teeny things. How cute would that be?!

Monsterpony Sat, 03/14/2009 - 03:26

I was still in the beginning of my learning phase...I didn't even cycle the 44 gallon, just tossed a bunch of fish in and got lucky. The 44 has a crappy setup because it the lid allows for only a small HOB filter. I have added some sponge filters since, but I haven't figured out how to get a really good filtration boost.

Community tanks are my absolute favorite. My 92 gallon has about 50 one inch fish in it (gold barbs, neon tetras, black skirt tetras, rasbora hets, hengal's rasboras and a bristlenose pleco).

critterkeeper Sat, 03/14/2009 - 07:47

I would do a 25% change on my 2-gal beta tank every other day with a 100% change on Saturdays with no problems at all - Scar (short for the Scarlet Pumpernickle [loved WB cartoons] and not any physical defects) was a very happy fish.

Oh another tip - I would use his changing water to water my house plants (diluted with reg. water of course) and they stayed bright green and growing.

Sara Sat, 03/14/2009 - 11:24

Well I was inspired by the aquarium post so I dusted off the 55 and got started on my community. It's currently cycling with a sponge and bioballs from the show tank and six neon tetras.

What I really want is a gigantic Tanganyikan community tank but that's going to cost money I don't have. I love love love calvus and julies.