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Marks 120cm Bay Fronted Jungle "A 5 Year Work In Progress"

a power cut, trapped toxic gas under the substrate, an introduced chemical, err . Wtf?
 
Hi Mark,
this must be awful for you after having such long term success prior to the rescape.
it can only be three things, the old disturbed substrate leaching something toxic into the water column, the new gravel or the new stone.
From what i can gather you removed some of the old substrate but left some and topped off with the new black gravel. the only suggestion i have is that the substrate balance has been compromised and for whatever reason is badly affecting the tank water.
I would remove the livestock to a quarantine tank so as not to lose any more, then monitor the main tank and check the obvious nitrite, nitrate, ammonia etc. maybe also put a seperate sample of the rock and gravel into seperate buckets for a couple of days to see if the water goes cloudy. If it doesnt go cloudy you can eliminate these as the reason.
Personally though i feel that even though there is a mature filter etc the tank needs a 'cycling' and settling period to ensure a natural balance before it will be fish safe.
Hope you get it sorted.
Cheerio
Ady.
 
Hi Mark
I would do what Ady suggested.
Did you clean the aquarium gravel?
The problem could of been caused by leaving the tank gravel to dry out....ie uncovered without water....then adding fresh clean gravel on top.
Did you add dechlorinator to the wheelbarrow at the end of the rinsing process :?:
Just a couple of thoughts.
Cheers
hoggie
 
Hi all,
It may be chloramine in the water supply, the water companies put in an "emergency" dosage if there is any breach in the integrity of the water main (burst main, main repair etc.). The conversion of the extra ammonia will deplete the oxygen from the water, even if the filter isn't over-whelmed.

There was an absolute epidemic of this last year after the freeze with peolpe losing £thousands of L number plecs etc.
The more water they changed the worse it became. Do you have a non-tap supply you could use? like rain water? I just bring enough rain-water in for my next 2 water changes to allow it to warm to room temperature. This would also tend to out-gas any extra CO2, if you were worried about fluctuating CO2 levels.

If you use CO2 I would turn it off until things settle down, as a high CO2/O2 ratio is likely to stress the fish. I'd also treat any tap water with Prime or Amquel as these will complex the ammonia from the break-down of the chloramine.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks for the replies guys, i have removed the fish to a tempory home and the good news is they seem fine and are feeding well :thumbup: i have used this rock before so i am sure that is not the cause and the gravel is from p@h and was well rinsed with dechlorinator so i am sure that is fine. as you have suggested i think it was disturbing the old gravel that has caused this problem, i thought i was doing a good thing leaving some of the mature gravel in there but now i wish i had removed it completely. i am guessing it released something or the good bacteria in the old gravel didn't survive the rescape and this has led to the problem. i will keep doing daily waterchanges until some sort of balance resumes. will keep you all posted, thanks again :(
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
It may be chloramine in the water supply, the water companies put in an "emergency" dosage if there is any breach in the integrity of the water main (burst main, main repair etc.). The conversion of the extra ammonia will deplete the oxygen from the water, even if the filter isn't over-whelmed.

There was an absolute epidemic of this last year after the freeze with peolpe losing £thousands of L number plecs etc.
The more water they changed the worse it became. Do you have a non-tap supply you could use? like rain water? I just bring enough rain-water in for my next 2 water changes to allow it to warm to room temperature. This would also tend to out-gas any extra CO2, if you were worried about fluctuating CO2 levels.

If you use CO2 I would turn it off until things settle down, as a high CO2/O2 ratio is likely to stress the fish. I'd also treat any tap water with Prime or Amquel as these will complex the ammonia from the break-down of the chloramine.

cheers Darrel

Thanks mate, i don't have an alternative supply of water but if it doesn't start to clear by the end of the week or continues to get worse i will go and by some RO from the LFS and try that, at least the fish are safe now so i can stop panicking :thumbup:
 
After a week of daily water changes all has remained clear and seem stable, the fish have gone back in and seem happy :thumbup: i have replaced the rocks on the left with some slightly bigger ones and that seems a definate improvement but i did try the wood in front of the rocks on the right but it was just not doing it for me so have put it back how it was. Also i have added some moss to the highest verticle bit of the wood and i have some more moss and bolbitus on order, will do some more photos once they are in, the hydrocotyle is starting to spread a little and all the plants seem healthy. will keep you posted :)
 
pleased to hear all is well.
Time to relax and enjoy it again.
 
Re: Marks 120cm Bay Fronted Jungle - New Pics

I have today added more Bolbitus to the wood and some more moss, here are the latest photos, still a lot of growing in to do and i have an inline diffuser and heater to add as soon as i get a chance. As always comments and suggestion most welcome :thumbup:

IMG_3388.jpg


IMG_3393.jpg


IMG_3400.jpg
 
Things still growing nicely, and apart from a couple of small white patches that have appeared on the black gravel behind the rocks where the flow is restricted, simply removed with a quick vacum, everything seems to be nice and stable. will try and get some better photos this weekend :thumbup:
 
your cryptocorynes look nice and fresh. Are you using plum slate for the rocks?
 
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