Aquariums

lindosfan1 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:10 am Post subject: Aquariums

Read the previous threads very helpful, 2 questions the water colour when I filled the tank was to very green any quick way round this.
The second questions are there any books around in English or good websites giving details of types of fish and aquarium maintenance.
Thanks

buksida · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:36 am Post subject:

Green water is usually an indicator of high algae content so make sure the tank is not in direct sunlight. Also get an "algae eater" or Pleco in there to help get rid of it and add a few plants.

I haven't found anything online that applies to aquarium keeping in Thailand but there are hundreds of sites for elsewhere.

Just post your questions here and we'll see what we can do - I've had aquariums here in HH for about 6 years now.
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lindosfan1 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: aquariums

The problem with the colored water is that this is what comes from the tap. But it could still be algea.
Thanks how is your oscar

buksida · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:44 am Post subject:

If filling direct from the tap its best to let the water stand for 24 hours before you add it to the tank, how much and how often do you do your water changes?

Green water from the tap doesnt sound too healthy to me!

Sadly big Oscar went to the tank in the sky but I now have two smaller ones coming along nicely.
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lindosfan1 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:07 am Post subject: aquariums

This is the first filling, no fish till the tank is right. The water from the tap is sometimes an alarminngly dark colour, but I do not drink it it is just the fish care worrying me.
Thanks

Randy Cornhole · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject:

Big Oscar dead!!! sweet Buddha, drop a bomb out the blue why don't ya... Crying or Very sad

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buksida · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject:

Aye Oscar swam off into the blue last year sometime, I'd kept him for 6 years ... longer than any of my relationships with women. That either says a lot for fish or little for me!

lindosfan, good idea cycling the tank first especially if you intend to keep less hardy fish such as Discus. I've never found water testing kits here though so need to get them sent over from Farangland.
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lindosfan1 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: aquarium

Thanks for help Buksida alarmed about the fish lasting longer than wives, I hope I am luckier there. Very Happy

repsol · Amateur Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 28

There is a fish shop on the Grand Market every Wednesday and Thurday, they have pumps, filters, etc. I think you should get a white bottle saying "Monitor" on it, it's a blue liquid to clean/clear the water. There are directions in Thai on the bottle... Wink

Do you have a pump circulating the water, or at least an air pump with a filter?

If you have a water pump with a built in filter (usually a small area of the aquarium with extra glass walls and an overflow), you should add the "bio balls" (small plastic balls a little smaller than a golf ball) they help growing and keeping the cleaning bacteria.

How big is the aquarium?

I have 4 aquariums here, and the ones giving me trouble sometimes are small... the big one is doing the best, but it is also the only one with a water pump and built in filter...

Is the water really green, or just dark (brown)? The only time I had dark (brown) water coming out of the tab was when the water tank was nearly empty and the new water flowing in was stirring up the sediments from the bottom of the tank.

I have some test strips here, if you want I can give you a couple to find out about the water quality etc. it's one of those 5-in-1 tests, I had to ask friends to bring them over, I don't think you can get those here.

I had a problem with high nitrite count, which kept killing my plants. I found a cool website for this problem:
http://www.aquabotanic.com/DIYCO2.htm

There are some helpful articles on this website: http://www.netpets.com/fish/fishref.html it is terribly formatted, active links turns white as the background, hehe. Take a look here about algea: http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/freshref/algaepa.html - it might just help putting in some real plants...