Starting over with a 40 Gallon freshwater tank...location is a problem..suggestions?

Question

We've had the tank for about 3 years. We bought a house 8 months ago and the fish survived the move for a little while then started dying off. Our 5 Bala Sharks died all at one time then the last 2 fish survived but the tank stayed in bad shape. Ive given those fish away and now the tank is empty.

The only place we have to put our tank is in our living room. It is up against the wall next to the front door. I know that sunlight is a problem with fish tanks. There was alot more alge growth and green water.....dont know if this was all caused by the door or not. We try to keep the door closed at all times.

What are some things we can do to help cut down on any extra alge growth? Ive heard that real plants will help. If so, what kind. I would prefer plants that i can bury in the gravel.

I also have a low PH in the water since we moved....instead of 6.8 it's around 6.2. Is that ok?
Any suggestions on fish????
Thanks a bunch

Answer 1

It sounds like the tanks nitrogen cycle died off when you moved and that's what caused to loss of your fish. The location by the door is a potential problem for two reasons, sunlight and drafts. Deal with drafts be making sure you have way more heater than you might think you need. I would use a 100 - 150 watt heater at each end of the tank.

Algae, like other plants needs two things to grow, light and nutrients.

First, I would put something along the back and/or sides that get the most sun. It might not be quite as pretty, but it will help with the algae. Also reduce the number of hours your tank light it on. That will help as well. Now we have reduced the light to algae has available and we can deal some with the nutrients.

Algae has some serious advantages over rooted plants in this area. It gets all it's nutrients straight from the water, rooted plants need nutrition from the water and from the soil. Rooted plants need nitrates to grow. Algae can use nitrates or nitrites thus shorting out the nitrogen cycle and using the nutrients before the rooted plants can get them. To deal with this you really need to starve the algae out. You can't completely, but you can certainly cut it back. Since your tank is empty, go ahead and clean it out and restart it. You will clear out lots of algae that way. You might consider killing all the algae with bleach before restarting the tank, that would give you a clean start.

Before going for rooted plants, I would suggest you really read up on them and get a good idea of what is available and which you would like best. As well as learning what their needs are and how to meet those needs without feeding algae. There are ways but a little too long to get into in one of these posts. For now stick with a few floating plants. They will compete directly with the algae for light and food and will really help hold the algae in check.

Tons and tons of fish would really love a pH 6.2 tank. Loads of anabantoids, live bearers, tetras and south American cichlids would like that water. Grab a good aquarium book that talks about plants and fish and you will find many suggestions of both for your tank as well as a discussion of keeping he plants. Baensch Aquarium Atlas would be a good place to start.

Best of luck with it and I hope this helps!

MM

Answer 2

If your living room gets a lot of sunlight during the day, then yes it can cause algea to grow fast.

Also because of this I would nto suggest turning your light on that often at night.

Basically more light = more algea.

Do you have an algea eater? He will help a little.
Not sure what fish you have now, but there are many types, including snails, and ones that do not get giant like the Pleco.

If you have too much light as it is, I do not think having plants will help cut down the algea.

There is a chemical that is suppose to help - but most people I have talked to say it doesn't really do much.


It sucks, but you basically need to either find a new location or get better curtains and cover up some of that sunlight coming in or your tank will prob always have algea.

The algea isn't going to hurt anything - most people just do not like a dirty looking tank.

Answer 3

I'm not sure why magicman is worried about a draft. Water doesn't cool quickly. I'd only worry about drafts with ir breathing fish like betta in a container without a hood.

As far as green algae on the glass, and tank is not bad. I've got 3 tank that get a lot of sunlight for 1/2 he day. One of them has algae every where, and the rather antisocial betta there is fine. (He keeps killing his snails.) It consumes nitrates, and produces oxygen. Keeping a tank algae just requires a cleaning crew. My main tanks glass is spotless due to the efforts of a clown pleco, rubberlipped pleco, and a number of molly. (In fact I have throw in algae wafers, and sliced broccoli stems to everyone fed.)
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/algae.html

Green water on the other hand is bad. It's an algae bloom caused by too many nutrients in the water. (Keep in mind nitrate is good for plant types, but bad for animal types.) Generally this due to over feeding, not doing water changes often enough, or failure to cycle.
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

Given your low pH and presumably low KH (hardness) you'll want soft water fish.

Examples-
tetras
angelfish
hatchetfish
rainbow fish
barbs
killi fish
kuhlii loach
clown loach

Answer 4

Bala sharks shouldn't be kept in anything under 125 gallons. For a low pH, few small sharks will really thrive. In a 40 gallon tank you could have a rainbow shark, tetras, and botia loaches for the algae. A low dose of coppersafe (ich treatment) in the tank at all times will help ward off algae, as well as phosphate pads in the filter and bimonthly water changes.

Answer 5

THere is no way you can maintain an aquarium in direct sunlight without algae overgrowth, my guess is the tank was getting more sun then you thought and the fish died from lack of oxygen because temp. was too high,the .6 diff in PH would not kill the fish.