Total non computing

[ICIT2LOL]

I make my own charcoal for my tropical fish tank and I was wondering tis morning while I was doing it is softwood better for the charcoal I ant or would hardwood be better.

My other query is is eucalyptus wood safe to sue as I know that contains fair amount of volatile oils.

Anyone who does this have any ideas as Googles come up with not much at except on ho to make it.

 

[Golden]

What are you using charcoal for?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Just for clearing the water, removing the phosphates in conjunction with specific phosphate remover material, keeping it sweet smelling and getting rid of chemicals I use for algae control etc.

The black brush algae I have is just about bearable at the moment as long as I treat the water with the algae treatment.
I ask because I ran out of my home made stuff and withing a week the water started to become cloudy - well foggy looking.

I also use two bacterial filters or bacterial beds

 

[Golden]

I think I mentioned this a few years ago...get a few Siamensis to take care of the black brush algae....other algae eaters will not touch it.

Charcoal from any wood will do fine as an activated carbon source, but cloudy water suggests you might be overfeeding? When was the last time you cleaned out the filters?

 

[Anak]

Any type of hardwood, but it can be made from any number of materials including sawdust, bamboo, coconut shells, olive pits or pecan shells.

[FONT=times new roman,times]For thousands of years men have been making charcoal (non-activated) from all manner of trees, but experience taught them that the harder the wood the better the grade of charcoal.
Source: Making Charcoal at Home[/FONT]

I see you may have found your "is eucalyptus wood safe to use" answer here from dadpad: http://>>> Pets >>> Making Charcoal >>> forums.whirlpool.net.au, but I would listen to his caveat:

In smaller quantities i dont think you'll have a problem but fish are finicky little critters.

It sounds like you have access to a steady supply of Eucalyptus, I offer these next two links to help you differentiate between the hardwoods, both from Australia:

This link is from a building firm that uses hard and softwoods, what is nice is they offer a picture and description of the various wood species that they use and that should be helpful in identification, you can even compare up to five different species.
On it you will find trees that have Eucalyptus in their botanical name but that doesn't necessarily mean they are Eucalyptus, only that they have characteristics similar to Eucalyptus: Hardwood Timber, Trees, Forest Species & Properties - on WoodSolutions

This list is from the Hornsby Shire: Indigenous trees - Hornsby Shire Council the same goes here, on it you will find trees that have Eucalyptus in their botanical name but that doesn't necessarily mean they are Eucalyptus. Click on the fact sheet .pdf links to the right to find out more about their proper family.

This leads to the next question; Is it better to use activated or non-activated charcoal for aquariums, and which do you use? That depends on several factors:

• The size of the tank.

• The population of Fish.

• Other types of aquatic critters.
  

• The types of flora and algae you have in the aquarium.

• Types of stone and coral.

• The one thing you do not want to do is use chemically treated activated carbon as that type is unsuitable for use in the aquarium. You want the type that was heat - steam processed (200-1600 C) while regulating the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

If you've been doing okay with your present charcoal system and your fish are happy, stay with that. If you're unsure about the Eucalyptus that is available to you, try and get a picture of the bark and leaves and I try to help you figure out if your source would be a viable alternative.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I think I mentioned this a few years ago...get a few Siamensis to take care of the black brush algae....other algae eaters will not touch it.

Charcoal from any wood will do fine as an activated carbon source, but cloudy water suggests you might be overfeeding? When was the last time you cleaned out the filters?

Thanks for the heads up on the Siamesis Colin (I remember it was you that identified that algae way back when I first got the tank "infected") and this happens just every now and then it has been crystal clear for a long time now.

Now I don't go mad with he feed but did find a really good dealer just lately (as I think the algae came from there in the first place) who sold me some dried Australian black worms and I am wondering maybe it may be them I only use a tiny amount as a teat is usually I feed them mosquito larvae but with the cold weather they are as yo know is short supply now.
I did try to reactivate some of the charcoal in a very hot oven for 20 minutes but i made no difference so I just made more fresh stuff.
filters I clean he corner one every three days the overhead once a day for the intake tube and whenever the two refillable cartridges get clogged and I know when they are getting past the use
by date as the water backs up in the in tank. The large sponge say once a month and the bacterial one least as I have to and that is only the top intakes grid.
All the refillable renewable filters phosphate remover gauze in them that gets replaced when looking a bit grubby and I try to keep that black brush to a minimum by physically removing it. But I shall see if I can get those Siamesis from the fellow in Orange.

Anak Yep mate that is me asking the question in the forum I used visit before I found this one (I couldn't stand the flaming and general arrogance of a lot of them and yep theta bloke has answered my question, and I have a ton of eucalyptus trees on my five acres so not shortage . I have been using Elm timber up to now not knowing if that the eucalypt's have a lot of volatile oil in the leaves mainly (I know) wanted make out for sure before I went ahead and us it..
I have a 200 litre (4 foot) tank with about 35 smaller fish with a few plants and stuff.

I have mainly basalt rocks with quartz gravel in the tank and one problem I do have is that any water I use to top up the tank has to be treated with a Ph down as the water is so alkaline where I live because it flows out of and across limestone bed rock.

The method I use for making charcoal is very simple
this video shows it down with gas - I use the second method only mine is just a bonfire and I plug the top with earth afterwards. It also gets rid of garden rubbish.

How To Make Charcoal (High Quality) - YouTube < this method shows the escaping gases and volatiles better. I also use a large bulk coffee tin instead of the paint can


Making Charcoal - YouTube

 

[Golden]

Siamensis : be sure you get the true Siamensis, Chinese Algae Eaters are often mistakenly sold as Siamensis and they are very aggressive and will not touch black brush algae.
Identifying the Siamese Algae Eater

You do use the tank water to clean your filters right? Sometimes if you upset the nitrogen cycle it tries to re-establish itself, and sometimes this is manifest in cloudy water. What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? I wonder if you aren't cleaning the filters too often.

What pH is your natural tap water? I generally do not recommend using pH modifiers, since you can get pH rebound in the tank, where it goes from low to high very quickly causing stress in the fish.

What fish do you stock in your tank?

 

[linnemeyerhere]

To answer your question I would steer clear (no pun intended) from Eucalyptus as that oil is very aggressive for cleaning and many other needs but I doubt fresh water or marine fish would dig it at all......why risk it? I would say harder woods should work well for charcoal. Now maybe I should Google this but what makes charcoal activated?

 

[Golden]

Now maybe I should Google this but what makes charcoal activated?

Baking it in an oven and driving off all the absorbed impurities....basically de-absorbing it.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Like what makes toast Melba ! haha

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya Colin mate I take you mean the Flying fox I have had those before and they are reasonably hard to find around here and this new dealer I found suggested other things too but they would I am guessing go after my smaller stuff which is mostly neons, scissor tails, rummy noses and some small (at the moment albino guppies) I do have some Corydoras - panda, sterbi, schultsei my last large Tiger barb, a couple of Black Widows and a couple of Rosy barbs about 25 in all.
Plus I do intend to get some rater nice rainbows he has in the shop but they are a bit on the pricey side right now.

Hum I have no idea of the nitro levels mate as I don't have a kit at the moment but will get one - just one of those things you always mean to get then forget. The cleaning well for the last two months I say I have cleaned every few days but more like two weekly as I have been living at my partners house in Parkes a lot. In hindsight then I suppose my mate who keeps an eye on the place could be feeding a bit too much as the filters gets dirty real quick?? The worst culprit in the intake tube for the overhead as it gets clogged wit black bush withing two days.

Now the tap water is unbelievably alkaline Colin and my test tube goes indigo immediately hence me using down pH stuff I would reckon it would be around 11 - 12 Ph plus they put so much chlorine in it because I think the water source is not that overly clean. So I try to keep my pH around neutral as much as I can - I test it before I mix the refill stuff to try and keep that equilibrium right.

Thing I never had many problems until this algae thing go into the tank and has been quite a a battle to get it back to something like normal

 

[ICIT2LOL]

To answer your question I would steer clear (no pun intended) from Eucalyptus as that oil is very aggressive for cleaning and many other needs but I doubt fresh water or marine fish would dig it at all......why risk it? I would say harder woods should work well for charcoal. Now maybe I should Google this but what makes charcoal activated?

You burn it it a non oxygen environment so it burns off the essential oils an the like but leaves that carbon behind. Burn wood in an open to oxygen way and as you know you end up with ash. Activated carbon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Golden]

John,

The Flying Fox is also a false Siamensis...its a very good community tank fish when kept in a pair or more, but as far as I know it also will not eat black brush algae.

What type and age of pH tester are you using? Most will not test past 8.5 or theareabouts. pH of 12 is exceptionally high....I can't see a council supplying the alkaline water. I suspect the readings aren't quite right. What I would recommend is to try the API Freshwater Master test kit. Get some base readings of pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate....high nitrate levels can cause algae problems so I would check that too. How often and what proportion are you changing tank water?

All your fish are community fish, so they can usually tolerate some range in pH, especially since they are captive bred.

Lets see your water parameters, and go from there.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

John,

The Flying Fox is also a false Siamensis...its a very good community tank fish when kept in a pair or more, but as far as I know it also will not eat black brush algae.

What type and age of pH tester are you using? Most will not test past 8.5 or theareabouts. pH of 12 is exceptionally high....I can't see a council supplying the alkaline water. I suspect the readings aren't quite right. What I would recommend is to try the API Freshwater Master test kit. Get some base readings of pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate....high nitrate levels can cause algae problems so I would check that too. How often and what proportion are you changing tank water?

All your fish are community fish, so they can usually tolerate some range in pH, especially since they are captive bred.

Lets see your water parameters, and go from there.

Ok Colin I will get one those kits in the meantime I do have access to fluid testing stuff at work (an RN) and the sticks we use test for nitrites, protein, Spec Gravity, ketones (which can alter pH) pH etc in urine so will be reasonably accurate for a baseline, just at the moment I have just been using that methylene blue dropper and go by the change colour on the small test tubes.

Now unfortunately I have a fairly immobile shoulder and have to get someone to help me change the water a it is quite hard to lift any amount for changing purposes a I think my last real change was some time ago around four months. So it really is over due a change but will see what Ican do after I have got these readings.

I have never had this problem before with this algae and I thought not much of until it suddenly seemed to take over the tank in what also seemed to me a very short space of time.
It got so bad I had to remove just about most of the rocks I had especially for their looks and for places for the shy ones to use
I have to add though that since adding a few more plants it seems to have slowed it down a bit so maybe there is too much plant food in the water?? .

 

[Golden]

If you haven't changed the water in 4 months, then I expect your nitrate levels to be very high (100ppm +), leading to the algae problem. This is a well known phenomenon. You need to aim for about 5 to 10ppm nitrate.

The only way to reduce nitrate levels is through water changes. I would start by changing 50% daily until your nitrate levels are under control - dont add any new fish to your tank until then, or they will suffer nitrate shock. Thereafter, you need to aim for a 10% change weekly.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok mate I will try as long as the shoulder lets me but if you say it has to be done to keep those levels down I might have to enlist my gardener mate to help out.