How Ben Spends His Evenings
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Benauld
Sat, 05/19/2007 - 19:12
Well, I've not seen much action on the geology front lately so I've been pretty quiet. (That reminds me I must get round to sorting that tutorial I had planned to do on Forams). Anyway, I rearranged my fish tank the other night so thought I'd post a pretty picture of it for everybody to enjoy:
I have more to do yet, but I'm happy with the progress so far...
On a different topic, next time I visit my ma and pa's I'll see if I can get some shots of cross bedding in the Permian Bridgorth Sandstone. That's if I can remember the camera next time I go, I've been meaning to do it for ages.
Ha, I guess everybody knows what they say about the road to Hell and all that...
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Nice looking tank!
Nice looking tank!
Hey Ben, After spending an
Hey Ben,
After spending an hour cleaning our tank (replanting plants the goldfish had ripped up, cleaning algae, changing water, etc, etc), I noticed the broader leaf plants had a film of what I presume is algae (or maybe diatoms) on them. Do you have any similar problems? Any ideas what it could be?
The film was very dark green (bordering on black) and peeled off very easily, but the leaf beneath was yellow (probably because it was starved of light). I should've taken a pic, but the light's gone off in the tank now - don't want to wake them up now
Hi, Diatoms usually
Hi,
Diatoms usually produce a golden-yellow covering, cyano-bacteria bright green, so probably single celled algae. Especially if it was a film and not threads. When was the last time you replaced your bulbs? Algae can react quicker to different light levels than plants can.
Also, and this is probably the biggest factor, when was the last water change & how big was it? Because algae is usually a sign of excessive nitrates, (which will be high with goldfish, as they produce lots of waste) - there should ideally be no more than 40ppm.
Hope this helps!
Hmmm...the bulb has never
Hmmm...the bulb has never been changed - we've had it about 18 months or so. The last water change would be last week - the usual 10%. Nitrates were tested then, big fat zero as always (or as low as I can see - there is a tinge of colour, but not much - the test goes purple when nitrates are present). Puzzled really - we've always had this problem, so I'm not sure what the cause is...
Back when aah were a lad
Back when aah were a lad [/yorkshire] my parents kept fish. They had some little guys with sucker mouths who seemed to keep the slimey stuff in check quite well. There were a few different species you could get but off hand I can't remember any names. You could try to see if you can find any to add to the tank.
We have an ottocinclus
We have an ottocinclus called "squiggle" - but she (he? - too small to tell!) is only one fish. We purchased a few, but they are notoriously difficult to acclimatise and squiggle is the lone survivor. We used to have a hillstream loach but (s)he went to a better place. Maybe we should get a few more ottos, but the tank is at capacity already...
I think one of the ones I
I think one of the ones I had was a hillstream loach, but (s)he didn't last too long either if i recall .
Hillstream loaches are quite
Hillstream loaches are quite specialist in their requirements, originating from (you've guessed it) hill streams they need shallow-ish, high flow, oxygen rich water. They are no good in a community tank.
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This makes for some good reading on them: http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane
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It may be worth replacing the bulb Jon. I will be doing mine every 12 months. The output from bulbs declines over time, probably not enough for you to notice, but it means that one of the three essentials for plant growth is missing. i.e. Light. The others being nutrients, and CO2. Algae simply copes better with reduced output than vascular plants do.