Pepere
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Posts posted by Pepere
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On 2/20/2024 at 4:13 AM, TMartins said:
I was getting back in the hobby after a 20 year hiatus and I went on YouTube and started watching videos about fishkeeping and @Cory made an appearance on K&G Tropicals to talk about aquarium plants and I instantly became interested in keeping live plants in my new aquarium and the rest is history
This is my story to a T as well…. Though I must say I never watch KG tropicals anymore. While I find I don’t agree whole heartedly with a lot of Aquarium co op advice, I love a lot of their products and love buying from the Co op….
If the co op is selling a product I want it is my first choice company to purchase from by a longshot…
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Weekly water changes and then dosing tank to same fertilizer and hardness levels if you supplement those. Manual removal of as much as you can before the water changes.. weekly substrate cleaning, regular filter cleaning. If dosing easy iron, back off on that some.. patience and time.. it can take weeks…
As with all Algae, prevention is easier than treatment…
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On 3/9/2024 at 11:47 PM, Wisdom said:
BTW, what is that red fern in the center that grew like crazy? I want one. LOL!
It is a Pink Flamingo Crypt. While it is growing well now, it sat and struggled for about 8 - 9 months with old leaves melting away about as fast as new ones would sprout before it finally started to take off..
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Or you could opt for a spraybar..
If you go for a t, the feed wants to go into the bottom of the T and hit the back of the T and diverge left and right, so that you get mostly even flow out each lily pipe..
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Your canister filter should have a means to adjust the flowrate..
Alternatively you could plumb in a splitter and have 2 lily outlet pipes.
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Done by a Masters grad student in Biochemistry.
No magic bullets to instantly kill it off. No dim your lights tweak your ferts, get algae eating animals…
Rather reducing the conditions that makes your tank too inviting to BBA…
just 10 and a half minutes…Very well worth watching a few times…
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After shortening the Cardinal Lobelia and Ludwigia Repens.
yes I seriously reduced the Val. I have some new plants coming in the mail so made space for those…
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On 10/5/2020 at 4:47 AM, Lady Libby said:
I'm looking for a heater that will fit down the opening of the ziss hatch
I bought this 10 watt preset at local Petco.
I would worry about the 50 watt over shooting the temp setting due to thermall mass and inertia.
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Saturday morning, weekly servicing.
I start by filling a bucket about 3/4 full and add dechlor to it and then transfer over the driftwood, rocks, java fern, anubias, hornwort, water lettuce, and the box filter.
As you can see the majority of the plant load is removed.
Then I siphon out 2 pails of water using the turkey baster to lift up detritus from the substrate and hoover it away with the siphon.
Here you can see how much crap the box filter with an easy flow kit is able to remove in 1 week. Thank you @Cory for inventing the easy flow kit. It is absolutely AMAZING how much it increases flow!
Then replace everything and refill.
I am at day 17 of no visible growing algae after finally getting rid of it. Still not declaring victory, but loving the look every day…
New pic after everything settled from servicing..
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I am starting a new journal for the fishbowl and separating it from the learning to aquascape journal.
Here is my new 17 gallon fishbowl
This is the third layout of hardscape…
simple Undergravel filter using Easy Flow kit for increased flow and a home made adapter.
Safe T Sorb substrate with mesh bags of aquasoil toppedwith Black Diamond Blasting Sand.
No CO2.led floodlight bulb in an architectural lamp on a timer…
Easy plants… java fern, anubias, ludwigia repens, bacopa, pink flamingo crypt, monte carlo s repens…
trying to learn to balance a non co2 tank. A skill that has so far eluded me…
Two weeks later.
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Here is a photo after a week of growth before trimming back.
I will post another after the trimming session.
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I had a Pink Flamingo crypt hanging on by a thread for months and months. Like around 6-9;months….New leaves sprouting just barely as quickly as old ones melting away…. It just never was taking off….
Then it took off…. And I can’t definitively tell you why. But it certainly wasnt a change of flow or filtration.
It could very likely be mere coincidence that the crypts had established themselves sufficient for growth to expand at the same time as you changed from a canister filter to a box filter.
My experience of changing to canister filters from box, sponge, undergravel filters, hobs, have been unflinchingly positive. Better flow yields less detritus in bottom of tank, better co2 suspension, less algae. Better flow circulates nutrients to leaves better and removes leaching metabolites from leaves better..
The only tank I dont have a canister on is my 17 gallon fishbowl. I think it would be unwieldy in the bowl due to the round sides. In that I have a UGF and a box filter both sporting easy flow kits that greatly increase the flow from them. The round glass walls of the tank seem to slow down flow a lot less than standard aquarium walls..
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The Fluval 307 does seem a bit big for a 20 long…
I run 207s on my 29 and a 107 on my 20 high.
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On 3/6/2024 at 10:00 PM, Nate Duncan said:
My inflow and outflow are on opposite sides of the tank.
You might try a flow bar just below the surface of the water on the back pointing to the front.
this spreads out the flow significantly and induces a back to front circular flow. It hits the glass and washes down the front, comes back across the substrate and back up.
The majority of the noticeable flow will be the top boundary level and down the front of the glass. I have fish that play in the flow at the front glass, but just an inch away from the glass a fish can just sit there and just lazily move from flow…
I have this setup on three tanks and with 6 Emerald Green cories kicking up any detritus on the substrate and Re suspending it the pickup pulls that in to the canister.
I suspect your Celestial Pearl Danios would be fine sticking in the lower current areas with this setup while you run it at full flow.
If you went with Sponge filters instead, I dont think debris loads would get any better than what you have now…
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I started a 17 gallon fish bowl without CO2 because I wanted to try again balancing a non co2 tank to get to no noticeably visible algae.
I am not declaring the war as won as yet, but at least 1 battle has been.
This iteration I have had far less algae then I ever had kn my other tanks before going high tech. Co 2 canister filter etc…
I developed that annoying thin long filament strand that gets entangled in plants like strong spider silk. It has been eliminated for now and has been gone 14 days and counting…. Again, not claiming victory…
I have a diy modified under gravel filter plate with Easy flow kit replacing the uplift tube. And I have a Lees triple flow medium box filter with an easy flow kit on it with polyfill for mechanical filtration.. No CO2, mostly easy plants, Ludwigia repens, crypt Wendetti, pink flamingo crypt, anubias, bacopa, java fern, rotala, water lettuce, hornwort, s repens…
I wouldnt say it is less work than the co2 tanks though. Maybe less trimming of plants, but that is it..
I clean the box filter weekly vs monthly for the canister. I spend more time on water changes in fishbowl as I am stirring up sediment with a turkey baster and siphoning it away that I dont have to do with the canister..
perhaps you might want to invest in a ph controller for your co2 solenoid, Then bubble count becomes less of a concern…
My low tech 17 gallon fishbowl
My high tech 29 gallon display tank.-
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On 3/6/2024 at 12:40 PM, Cory said:
But it's not the same heater. RIP the Aquarium Co-Op heater. 🙂
If you ever brought it back, I would be buying again…
In the meantime I am using the AQQA and have it controlled by an Inkbird controller. As such my temps vary 2 degrees. Turn off power to heater when it hits 76, turns back on when it drops to 74. I figure this gives longer on time and fewer on off cycles.
I love the low height that allows me to not have to unplug it when I do water changes. It hides so nicely behind plants. I like the controller being out of the water…
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I prefer the smaller size of the Green Neon Tetras in smaller tanks. Less bioload allows a few more fish…
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Vinegar will clean up the mineral deposits off of the glass lid nicely..
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I will be renovating the livingroom before I get a 75. The room will be gutted to the studs and rebuilt. I plan on installing a drain next to the tank and a holding tank in the basement directly underneath.
I plan on plumbing an overflow siphon from the tank to the drain so all I have to do to drain to 50% will be open a valve and it will drain to that level and stop, I will also have a drain plumbed in to the tank stand that I can slip an end of a gravel vac down in to so I can gravel vac without buckets.
refill will be flipping a switch on the wall to turn on a pump.
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It is possible. Especially as the plants grow in and start shading out the understory.
I wouldnt right now though as you report you had better growth initially.
On 3/3/2024 at 9:20 PM, svachon9 said:I'll give this a try and a couple of weeks
In a tank not supplemented with co2 it is good to give it a longer period to see positive growth. Plants spend energy and resources to reconfigure themselves to changes in conditions. In a co2 tank, that can take 2 weeks bed
fore seeing positive change. In a tank without co2 it can take up to 6 weeks.
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No, but it is going to stunt plant growth.
low phosphorous can cause it. And high light on Anubias can cause itto grow on Anubias…
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On 3/3/2024 at 8:29 PM, svachon9 said:
But you think with my lighting, 8 squirts, once per week is OK?
I suspect you will be low on trace elements and possibly potassium and phosphorous depending on what the phosphorous and potassium levels are in your source water.
The reason I suggested a deeper water change to lower nitrates down to around 10 ppm and then dosing back up to the 20-30 ppm nitrate level was to see if that gives your plants a surge of growth, which would indicate they were being limited by nutrients other than nitrate.
The dosing instructions on the bottle are overly simplistic in many respects. Lighting is not the only variable.. plant mass is a much bigger variable .. and a 90 gallon tank is pretty deep. Par falls off quickly with depth.. those short plants at the bottom of the tank are seeing much less light than the ones growing halfway up…
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Are you dosing Flourish Nitrogen to add nitrates?
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I find adding some phosphorus helps clear up green dust algae on plants. I usually get it on Anubias. In case of Anubias if you can shade the anubias from high light that can help as well…
your nitrates also strike me as quite low. Which Seachem fertilizer are you using?
How are folks using their InkBird (heater usually electrified or not)?
in General Discussion
Posted
I use the inkbird as the controller and the heaters internal thermostat as a redundant safety.
I do it this way for a few reasons.
1.) I run a 2 degree variance with my Inkbird. Ie it energizes the heater when the temp drops to 74 and deenergizes when the temp rises to 76. This results in fewer cycles per day and the on time for the heating element is longer. I suspect each heating cycle turning on and then off weArs in the element more than simply staying on for a longer period of time, and in the case of a bimetalic strip opening and closing contact in a greater, every time that contact opens there is a spark that erodes the contact…. Ie, I think running this way males the heater last longer. Granted I use it to control co op style heaters with electronic switches and that is less of an issue..
2.). With the co op style heater, the internal clock for end of life display only accumulates time when the unit has power flowing in to it.
3.). I minimize the amount of time I have energized current carrying conductors immersed in my tank. The heater is the only thing in my tank that has a wire carrying current. If I look at the controller and see the tank temp is 75.8 I am much more likely to stick my hand in the water without unplugging the heater and just unplugging the canister filter. I do admit it would be safer to unplug both and then make sure both are turned back on after,..
Those are my reasons for using the Inkbird as the controller… But I think it is great for people to use an Inkbird using either strategy. Either way you get a backup thermostat to reduce the risk of overheating the tank…