Rio Atabapo

[dw1305]

Hi all,

There is a tint of green in the pictures that makes me think it's both cyanos and green algae

Definitely could be, as soon as you get any blue-green tint (because of the <"phycocyanin">) that is a sure sign of cyanobacteria.

Which would surprise me as I rarely see them both.

You get mixed swards, people tend to associate cyanobacteria with poor water quality and low dissolved oxygen levels, but there are <"species that occur in oligotrophic conditions"> and <"as symbionts"> etc.

I'd actually go as far as to say that you would struggle to find any natural liquid water, anywhere which doesn't have both <"cyanobacteria and diatoms present">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mazan]

There is a tint of green in the pictures that makes me think it's both cyanos and green algae. Which would surprise me as I rarely see them both.

I thought that as well, I didn't post anything earlier because I wasn't sure if it was cyanobacteria or not, but it does seem to have that sort of colour mixed in. I have occasionally had a little Cyanobacteria, always when nitrates are very low or zero. Once it seemed to disappear when I used almond leaves, but when it happened again this did not work. It wasn't very much and I just kept removing it manually for quite a while. Then I got some Ultralife blue green stain remover. I put off using it at first as I don't like using any chemicals in the tanks, but eventually I gave it a go. It worked with just one dose, with no ill effects, this was several months ago and the cyanobacteria has never come back (fingers crossed).

 

[fanning88]

*looks at his own tank*
*looks at his own avatar*

I think you might be able to guess my answer.

Just a question, because I think it's due to the lighting in the picture: There's only biofilm on the twigs, not cyanobacteria, yes?


You emphasise that in the few posts you've written until now - Care to share your water parameters? Because it's always a difference if one's talking about simple holding conditions or biotope/breeding tank conditions.
The term biotope is often used here on the board to denote making the effort of recrearing softwater habitat conditions.

The only things I ever test for in my water is ammonia, nitrates, and the ph. I keep all of my dwarf cichlids in a ph of 8 to 8.5 and have for 30 years. They thrive and spawn regularly in my water. I really don't think all the other stuff matters as much as some people might think it does. But that's just me. I haven't had any problems with keeping south American, west African or any other cichlids in the same water parameters. My wild caught checkerboard cichlids and ivanacara adoketa adjusted just fine to the hard water. I'm just adding my 2 cents to people. I don't like someone to get discouraged because they hear all this stuff about water parameters and the amount of tests that some people do on their water. It will likely scare them away from a fish they want to keep for when it's not really that serious in my opinion.

*looks at his own tank*
*looks at his own avatar*

I think you might be able to guess my answer.

Just a question, because I think it's due to the lighting in the picture: There's only biofilm on the twigs, not cyanobacteria, yes?


You emphasise that in the few posts you've written until now - Care to share your water parameters? Because it's always a difference if one's talking about simple holding conditions or biotope/breeding tank conditions.
The term biotope is often used here on the board to denote making the effort of recrearing softwater habitat conditions.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I keep all of my dwarf cichlids in a ph of 8 to 8.5 and have for 30 years.

Do you know what the alkalinity is? The problem with pH is that it isn't a very useful measurement without some measure of carbonate hardness ( also called alkalinity or dKH).

I have hard tap water, about 17 dKH, 17 dGH and the pH will always be ~pH 8 and the conductivity above 650 micro S.

In the tanks I use rain water (it rains a lot here in all seasons of the year) and the pH will be above pH 8 in the afternoon when the plants are photosynthesising and below pH7 first thing in the morning. I don't measure alkalinity (dKH) but I have about 100 micro S. conductivity, so not many salts of any description.

cheers Darrel

 

[fanning88]

Hi all,

Do you know what the alkalinity is? The problem with pH is that it isn't a very useful measurement without some measure of carbonate hardness ( also called alkalinity or dKH).

I have hard tap water, about 17 dKH, 17 dGH and the pH will always be ~pH 8 and the conductivity above 650 micro S.

In the tanks I use rain water (it rains a lot here in all seasons of the year) and the pH will be above pH 8 in the afternoon when the plants are photosynthesising and below pH7 first thing in the morning. I don't measure alkalinity (dKH) but I have about 100 micro S. conductivity, so not many salts of any description.

cheers Darrel

I don't know what the alkalinity is. I don't even have the tests for it. I was thinking about collecting rain water and just using that as much as I can until I get my well fixed. I am on rural water right now. I met an older guy years ago that told me that he don't really believes all those other tests matter to much and that he don't even really do water changes on his aquariums. I just kind of been going off of what I learned from him. And I really don't have very many issues. Although I do stay with doing my water changes regularly like I always have done. I might go ahead and order one of those just to test my water and see what it says.

 

[Ben Rhau]

I'm just adding my 2 cents to people. I don't like someone to get discouraged because they hear all this stuff about water parameters and the amount of tests that some people do on their water. It will likely scare them away from a fish they want to keep for when it's not really that serious in my opinion.

Sure, I think the thing is that often the folks asking questions are saying they specifically want to breed. So people are weighing in on the conditions that allowed breeding for that species. There are lots of threads on this site also where the response was "yes, you can keep them that way but in my experience they won't breed in that." As I said on the other thread, there are always exceptions. These situations have probability distributions with lots of inputs. So we try to steer folks to the techniques most likely to yield success.

 

[PissBabyTheFourth]

There is no general course of action. Blackouts and more competition from plants have helped me. But I had a fraction of the amounts you have there.

Ok, first things first:
Full water parameters? (GH, KH, NH3, pH)
Composition of your sourcewater?
Maintenance schedule?
Light schedule?
Position in the room relative to the window?

Ok so the pH is 5.5, Ammonia is 0ppm,KH is 3 dKH, GH is 3 dGH, I'm not sure what the composition of my tap is but i use an rodi unit, I do a water change every few weeks, I have the light on from about 7 AM to 10 PM, and the tank is near the window but is behind a dresser so it doesn't really get any sunlight, I have the blinds closed most of the time too.

 

[Bramgroet]

I once had a lot of green algae and then I tested the nitrates and they were really low. I added nitrates and the algae went away.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I have the light on from about 7 AM to 10 PM

Chop the light period down, I have 12 hours, but you could try 10 hours. If you want the light on in both morning and afternoon, you could have a midday siesta.

The tanks in the lab. are on for a solid 12 hour block, but the home tanks have a break while I'm at work.

cheers Darrel

 

[MacZ]

Ok so the pH is 5.5, Ammonia is 0ppm,KH is 3 dKH, GH is 3 dGH, I'm not sure what the composition of my tap is but i use an rodi unit, I do a water change every few weeks, I have the light on from about 7 AM to 10 PM, and the tank is near the window but is behind a dresser so it doesn't really get any sunlight, I have the blinds closed most of the time too.

Oh, sorry, typo, I meant NO3, not NH3!
Hmmm, with RO the tap levels are quite irrelevant.

Chop the light period down, I have 12 hours, but you could try 10 hours. If you want the light on in both morning and afternoon, you could have a midday siesta.

Yep, would be my thought, too.

I once had a lot of green algae and then I tested the nitrates and they were really low. I added nitrates and the algae went away.

Usually it's an imbalance of some kind. Too much of this, too little of that... What exactly is individual.

 

[PissBabyTheFourth]

Ah ok, I’ll lower it to 10 hours. And I’ll send you the NO3 results when i get home

 

[PissBabyTheFourth]

Nitrate reading is 0ppm.

 

[MacZ]

Ok, then it's the light period.

 

[Aquaticloch]

Temporarily, I'd lower the hours of light further, 10 hours is substantial. Green algae and cyano is stubborn, I might even consider cutting lights for a while if you have no other plants in the aquarium. It looks like you have some young Monstera delisciosa or a type of philodendron, which would be alright with little light for a few days.

 

[PissBabyTheFourth]

Ok, I'll shut it off for a couple days and see if that works. The algae/cyano seems to be going down a bit so it probably won't take long.

 

[PissBabyTheFourth]

So is it okay for me to get fish soon? I'm looking to get a group of 10 cardinals

 

[MacZ]

So is it okay for me to get fish soon? I'm looking to get a group of 10 cardinals

As soon as it's clear there are no (more) cyanos, yes. Otherwise the tank seems good to go.