Mountain's Green Water Options

[mountain]

hai , looks like fated all first timer has to fail on their first attempt (Xian Ku Hou Tian ) .. well.. yesterday was the 6th or 7th day.. no sign of green water.
the tub probably crashed on the 4th day when it failed to turn blur, instead turning to Brownish... (I shall call this the HB Brown water ) with the ammonia hitting high end, guess the ammonia too high, or my PL not power enuff.. well restarted yesterday, but with the same fish.. so ... chance still quite low if the dud is sick from the bad water...

consult yur 2 matters, PH, i set it up at 8.0 range last nite, with 1 3" fish. Is the range of PH alrite? how abt the Bio-load?


another matter is, i have another experimental tub near the window, with 4 parrot's inside with a simple wool filter, i think 1 1/2 mth no chance water, no change wool liao.. its walls are lined with greenish stuff , which i have to use my hand to scrap off.. now.. those are another type of algeas .. tio bo??

[HappyBuddha]

Kekeke. I would wait a few more days as virgin green takes a longer time to kick in. How many wattage is your PL lamp?

I suggest you don't up the pH with baking soda for now. Only do that after you have successfully cultivated your green water. See ah, for 1 ppm of NH4, the water is okay at pH 7. The same 1 ppm of NH4, however, is deadly when the pH is above 8.8 as shown in the attached chart. Maybe that's why you're getting the HB brown water instead as your fishes are not feeling well.



The correct way to do it is... after you have successfully cultivated intensely green water, take a pH test kit to test the pH just before you discard the green water. Then match the new clear water's pH to it. You know what I mean?

And just to make you dulan a bit... remember I lost 2 oranda recently in my indoor green water tub? Well... today is probably the 3rd or 4th day I restarted from scratch (I didn't use a single bit of possibly spoilt old green water to seed it) ... and I'm already seeing lightly tinted green water. I expect it to turn noticebly green tomorrow. The key... I guess, is a strong lighting source (I've got 2x55watts PL to kick start it running about 10-11 hours a day.) The tub was cloudy yeseterday with decomposed bloodworms and poos flowing around. I had to increase aeration as the fishes were noticeably gasping for air.

Kekeke.

[HappyBuddha]

Bioload.... I have four 1 1/2 inches cheap ($2 each) oranda in the tub. They're actually brand new fishes I just bought to kick start green water. I started feeding them on day 2 with frozen bloodworms and lionhead pellets. Unfortunately my AmmoniaAlert meter is not working.... but I'll test the NH4 and pH with JBL kits later; they should be high. ICQ me if I forget.

Oei, you said 2 matters!

Yeah... those are not the "free-floating" algae of green water (since they are not floating but sticking!) Damn... you have those in your tank and you wipe them off? I'd love to have them in my main clear water tank. Everytime I go to AC I'd just stand in front and admire that mega glass tank with those carpet-like algae. Swee ah.... somemore you can see the fishes green poo poos.

[mountain]

kam sia for yur advice bro.

will discard the water and start afresh tonite with neutral PH.

i using the original 55w PL tat comes with the CRAquriam case.. i know .. it could be a low class PL, but its damn new.. its still bright (to me) and if i discard..wat a damn waste..

just 2 clear things up a bit (my england lousy, so is my math) .. u using "2x55watts PL" - does it mean physically 2 pairs (4 tubes)??? if so, tat means i am only using half the lighting required!!

my dud was also grasping for air 2 days ago.. i guess its from the high ammonia.. u must be feeding alot bro.. u even have remaining decomposed BW!!

[mountain]

Bioload.... I have four 1 1/2 inches cheap ($2 each) oranda in the tub. They're actually brand new fishes I just bought to kick start green water.  I started feeding them on day 2 with frozen bloodworms and lionhead pellets.  Unfortunately my AmmoniaAlert meter is not working....  but I'll test the NH4 and pH with JBL kits later; they should be high.  ICQ me if I forget.

Oei, you said 2 matters! 

Yeah... those are not the "free-floating" algae of green water (since they are not floating but sticking!)  Damn... you have those in your tank and you wipe them off?  I'd love to have them in my main clear water tank.  Everytime I go to AC I'd just stand in front and admire that mega glass tank with those carpet-like algae. Swee ah.... somemore you can see the fishes green poo poos. 

dun need to test lah .. i think u can save those few drops .. it should be high anyway.. wat are u expecting?? 0 readings??

u using 4 1/2" .. wa say .. every huge bio difference from my One 3" ranchu .. i think tonite play Ti-Kum with my main tank liao.. see who kanna jackpot go into the tub

[Allan]

Buddha asked me to test them for him. Anyway, I'm curious about it too.

pH is 7.5.
NH4 is a very high 2 ppm!

Let's see. That's harmful to fries only. Thank god.

I should add that there are FIVE orandas and not 3 like Fred mentioned earlier. So if five small Orandas produce 2 ppm of NH4 in 3-4 days, it's no wonder your lone fish is unable to produce enough ammonia to help cultivate green water.

Cheers.

This post has been edited by Fatallan: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 4:28 pm

[Allan]

kam sia for yur advice bro.

will discard the water and start afresh tonite with neutral PH.

i using the original 55w PL tat comes with the CRAquriam case.. i know .. it could be a low class PL, but its damn new.. its still bright (to me) and if i discard..wat a damn waste..

just 2 clear things up a bit (my england lousy, so is my math) .. u using "2x55watts PL" - does it mean physically 2 pairs (4 tubes)??? if so, tat means i am only using half the lighting required!!

my dud was also grasping for air 2 days ago.. i guess its from the high ammonia.. u must be feeding alot bro.. u even have remaining decomposed BW!!

Don't rush out to buy another CR Aquarium lamp.

By "2x55 watts" he meant he has two CR aquarium lamps, each one has one 55 watts PL tube. His CR Aquarium lamp, however, was modified to fit a different PL lamp. The original CR brand's PL lamp is weak. He told me when he visually compared the intensity between a, then brand new, SaferElectic brand 55 watts and a few months old CR 55 watts, the output of the later is noticeably weaker.

It would be wise for you to upgrade your CR lamp to use the SaferElectic or Osram PL lamp tube. But you'll only need one lamp for that same tub you have as Buddha's.

Cheers!

[Allan]

From what I gathered, since the Oranda's aeration mishap disaster struck on Monday, this tub of "virgin" green water is no more than 4 days old.

As you can see in the attached photo, it's not really as lightly tinted as Buddha made it out to be but obviously green.

And... those are really cheap Orandas but interestinly they all have pom poms.

[Allan]

Sorry bro Mountain I didn't post the photo to make you "Cake Sim". I just want to show you the effect of strong lighting.

Do seriously consider upgrading your lamp. I think there's a DIY guide somewhere in the forum. The parts are not too expensive. If I recall, the tube is $12 while a single 55 watts eBallast about $20. It's hard to maintain good green water with a weak lighting source.

Cheers.

[mountain]

hey bro Allan, no no .. i where will get "Cake Sim" .. where to find so many Sifu and advice but in RafflesGold. I say Kam Sia still not enuff ah ..
will digest yur replys with absolute concentration...

[HappyBuddha]

How's your green water now? Mine was quite intense and I changed it leow.

[mountain]

i dumped that first tub of water liao lor..
didn't really wana start again becaz of weak light source.. but wat the hack ... i started it anyway , dump another not so favourite dud into the tub, so far .. ammonia already creep abv 2.5 last nite i checked. and of course no green but full of decomposed stuff, and maybe a bit "cloudy" .. at least better then the first one where it turned brownish dirty. but see wats the tomorrow nite, if lousy i shall stop.

in the mean time, i just gotta buy the osram tube and the eballast! which i never had the time!

This post has been edited by mountain: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 4:53 pm

[HappyBuddha]

i dumped that first tub of water liao lor..
didn't really wana start again becaz of weak light source.. but wat the hack ... i started it anyway  , dump another not so favourite dud into the tub, so far .. ammonia already creep abv 2.5 last nite i checked. and of course no green but full of decomposed stuff, and maybe a bit "cloudy" .. at least better then the first one where it turned brownish dirty. but see wats the tomorrow nite, if lousy i shall stop.

in the mean time, i just gotta buy the osram tube and the eballast! which i never had the time! 

Decomposing waste and "cloudy" water. Your green water is on its way!

I know many bros buy the PL bulb and eBallast from this guy. Beside lower prices, he delivers to your door step for free. Song boh?

Ask him if he can get you the 10,000 kelvin 55 watts Osram.. From what I know he buys in bulk from a distributor and pass on the savings (earn a bit lah) to you so your special request for 10,000 kelvin may not save you much. But heck... you can't dial 62353535 for a PL lamp leh.

[CyberET]

mai use so high temperature na.. normal daylight 6500K can liaoz..

[mountain]

mai use so high temperature na.. normal daylight 6500K can liaoz..

u dun really expect me to leave my tub down under the HDB block for the sun when i go work, and come back home expecting it to be there

Maybe the tub will still be there minus the content

next time buy top top top top floor, go up rooftop.

Idea : Submit proposal to HDB, open up Roof Top for Green Water Hobbyist. Maximise Space Utilities in Singapore, save Electricity , Raised more A class Ranchus.