Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Aquamaid on November 17, 2014, 09:28:37 AM
-
Ive cycled tank for about 50 days, and had it inhabited for a month now, i don't seem to have any algae on glass or gravel, it this a good or a bad thing?
-
Do you have real plants Aquamaid? How are they doing?
-
I'm three months in and don't have any either. I don't have the lighting on more than five hours a day and there is little natural light (no direct sunlight) entering the room which will make a big difference. also my nitrates have never really risen higher than 10ppm and algae love nitrates. Some algae is desirable I think as it creates a more natural look but I don't see any reason to worry about it, I'm sure we will be getting some in due course. :)
-
Are you growing plants? Five hours a day would seem an awfully short time to give enough light for plants to grow well.
-
I'm the same WR i have lights on for about 6hrs a day, four or five live plants at the mo, the Java fern has survived living in a tank of Ammonia for a few weeks and still looks fine, so as it's reproducing lots of mini ferns i shall probably have more. Yes i wondered if some algae is beneficial, maybe i have more than i think, and like you say, more to come lol.
-
Most people complain about having algae, some people are just never satisfied! ;)
Whether it's a problem or not really depends upon the individual case. If you have fish or shrimps or snails that like algae, it's a problem if you don't have any. If you don't have any of these, it's not a problem unless you want some purely for the aesthetics.
-
Noooo don't want :o but i read somewhere, that lack of algea means your tank is out of balance chemically, so i just wondered if that was the case?
-
I think it's the 5 hours of light which will restrict the algae. But I can't think many plants will thrive, except Java fern and a few other low light specialists. You wouldn't expect garden plants to do well with 5 hours of light and there is no reason why aquatic plants should do so either.
-
True, i haven't found out what all this tank running is doing to my electric bill, i think that's what's bothering me, but is it perhaps the heater and filter that uses more than the light tubes?
-
One tank won't make much difference, I have 10 running, though none are very big.
You need to know how many watts of lighting you have. 40 watts (it's probably less) would take 25 hours to use one unit of electricity, the cost of which you could find out from your bill if you don't know.
Heating will depend on the ambient temperature in the room where your tank is and the temperature in your tank. The bigger the difference the more you will use, but I find that in a modestly heated room my heaters only come on for a few minutes at a time. Unfortunately, half of my tanks are in unheated rooms.
Normal internal filters will use very little, about the same as one low energy light bulb.
-
Thanks Richard, that's reasuring, this new filter is a monster external filter, so will have to see :)
-
i have four tanks i have algae problems
wish i didnt but mine is down to excessive
light i am going to put all mt tanks on timers
so i dont have to bother about switching them
on and off
-
Good idea ;D
-
means making some short lead up so i can connect them up >:( doh