Brownish stuff

[Mellie101]

Hello, so sorry to ask yet another question. My tank has almost
finished cycling. Have been saying that for a week now. I have some
greek parthanon type ornaments in my tank and noticed a brown stain
developing on the top of them. I just thought that it was the reaction
to the water and maybe they will start to look aged rather than the
bright new colour. Have now noticed that some of the leaves on my
artificial plants are too stained brown. Now some of the gravel has
too become brownish. I know its hard to picture without pictures and I
am renowned for being bad at explaining things. The filter seems to be
doing a grand job. Fluval 404 in a 55g. I got a brush and tried to
see if the brown 'stain' would come off. I'd say that it does budge
some but not really. The fish are all health (3 fancy goldfish) and
having fun. I vary there food daily so can't really blame it on that.
Any suggestions? I'd leave it but it doens't look very nice.

Second question (sorry) I have put about 6 artificial plants at one
end of the tank to give the fish some privacy and the rest of the tank
is slighty decorated. Wanted an open swimming end for them. Have found
that they all hang out in the planted end for 90% of the time. That is
the area that I feed them. I did wander if it was because the outake
pipe was at the other end but surely they would just stay under that.
I've seen them swim through it so it doesn't bother them.

Any suggestions greatly recieved.

Mellie

[Altum]

Mellie101 wrote:
> Hello, so sorry to ask yet another question. My tank has almost
> finished cycling. Have been saying that for a week now. I have some
> greek parthanon type ornaments in my tank and noticed a brown stain
> developing on the top of them. I just thought that it was the reaction
> to the water and maybe they will start to look aged rather than the
> bright new colour. Have now noticed that some of the leaves on my
> artificial plants are too stained brown. Now some of the gravel has
> too become brownish. I know its hard to picture without pictures and I
> am renowned for being bad at explaining things. The filter seems to be
> doing a grand job. Fluval 404 in a 55g. I got a brush and tried to
> see if the brown 'stain' would come off. I'd say that it does budge
> some but not really. The fish are all health (3 fancy goldfish) and
> having fun. I vary there food daily so can't really blame it on that.
> Any suggestions? I'd leave it but it doens't look very nice.
>
> Second question (sorry) I have put about 6 artificial plants at one
> end of the tank to give the fish some privacy and the rest of the tank
> is slighty decorated. Wanted an open swimming end for them. Have found
> that they all hang out in the planted end for 90% of the time. That is
> the area that I feed them. I did wander if it was because the outake
> pipe was at the other end but surely they would just stay under that.
> I've seen them swim through it so it doesn't bother them.
>
> Any suggestions greatly recieved.
>
> Mellie

The brownish stuff may be diatoms. They're common in new tanks and go
away on their own.

Fish like to be close to cover like plants. I think knowing they can
hide makes them feel more secure. Oddly, the more plants and cover you
have in a tank, the more of the tank the fish tend to use.

If you like the ease of plastic plants, the great big Aquarium Systems
"Fancy Plants" work great in 55 gallon tanks. I had one of their giant
bamboo plants once and the fish loved it.