[Plants losing their leaves!]

On 1/6/2024 at 5:40 AM, JoeQ said:

I'd go with the simplest solution and say your plants look to be suffering from malnutrition. As plants grow you need to add more fertilizer. Same as with fish, as your fish grow you need to add more food or they die of starvation. It's very unlikely that after a couple of months of your plants being totally fine your kh & gh changed resulting in leaf loss/poor growth.

I've started dosing it with Easy Green. Probably too late to salvage though.

On 1/6/2024 at 8:15 AM, knee said:

Are they getting enough light? 

I believe so... about 8 hours a day.

[Plants losing their leaves!]

not looking great here.

[Plants losing their leaves!]

On 1/5/2024 at 11:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I was gonna say that I had this happen to me and it's nuts! It's definitely distressing. In my case, also with Staurogyne Repens, it ended up being an issue where GH crashed on me. I would grab a GH and KH test kit and verify what's going on there.

Rule of Thumb is that you generally want GH to be double your KH.

Thanks. I'll check it in the morning. I'm sure it's too late for these ones and I'll need to replant since it's such a small tank (2.6g). Look like water changes are the fix then too, which I don't do too often on this tank since it's a SUPER low bio load (shrimp and snail only).

[Plants losing their leaves!]

Hey all,

I have had this desk tank set up for a couple of months. The plants have remained totally healthy and things looked great. All of a sudden, yesterday, one of the species of plants just started losing all its leaves! I really am not sure what is going on here. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Desk Tank Setup]

So, I think I have 2 females and 1 male. The male is much smaller than the females.

Over the past few days, I haven't really seen the females around but one seemed to reemerge today. Not sure if she's pregnant, but I'm hoping so!

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/23/2023 at 9:19 AM, Kit Craft said:

@wes.crockett Well, it seems something so small might be hard to find in a community tank, lol. I tend to like the odd balls. 

For sure. It is super cool looking. The blue's look so dang good on the green plants in the tank though 😄

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/23/2023 at 9:17 AM, Kit Craft said:

I actually really like that not blue one! It is cute. 

It is pretty cool looking, but it doesn't stand out in the tank. I added it to my community tank (to not cross-breed) and I haven't been able to find it since... 

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/22/2023 at 10:56 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

You can tell from the more rounded shape of the abdomen. 

For sure then I have one of each. No activity ye though. Do I need to play some Barry Manilowto kick off the festivities?

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/22/2023 at 7:47 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Have you got any berried females? You could save some $ if you’re willing to wait, seeing as you definitely have at least one female judging from the last pic. ⬆️

Is that larger one a female? I wasn't sure. So far, no signs of mating.

[Desk Tank Setup]

Spike is doing great, but I am down to just three Neocaridina. I will be ordering another 10 soon. They can't keep up with the workload, but they're trying!

[Desk Tank Setup]

This is Spike... Spike likes to eat.

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:12 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Maybe the low buffer is at fault? 
Nerites would be perfect, tho I’ve always had problems getting them past the first week. Otocinclus might also be a good option, if the tank wasn’t so small.

I'll check out nerites for sure. The only snail I have, in my other tank, is an assassin snail.. he's awesome, but not a great cleaner.

I have 2 oto's in my community tank too, but they like to be in bigger groups... The two of them I have are extremely skittish and, I hear, it's  because I have too few of them.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Desk Tank Setup]

Yeah, I'm hoping at least 1 male and 1 female make it. It is newly set up but there is already a lot of algae and such, thought being such a small tank means variables can change easily.

I am using active soil and co2 so the oxygen levels and pH may be lower than desirable for sure.

[Desk Tank Setup]

Shrimp Update... Only three are left alive...

I don't know what's causing the issue though. Ammonia is zero... my AQ Test strips show no Chlorine, Nitrate, Nitrite. medium hardness and low PH 6.4 territory). buffer is 0 as well.

The three that are left all look healthy though, so that is encouraging. my thought is, after a few weeks of them being OK (assuming that they are OK in a few weeks), I will get a few more from a different seller to help mix the gene pool a bit.

I also want to get a snail in here... I need an algae eater for the walls but I don't want a bunch of eggs and stuff in the tank. Any recommendations? Magenta Mystery Snails are probably too big, I would assume. Would a Horned Nerite or a King Koopa Nerite be ok for that?

[TheSwissAquarist Journal 2.0]

On 10/9/2023 at 11:55 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Popped over to a LFS to get an Assassin snail to deal with ramshorns. They’ve slashed the prices on a group of L134 Leopard frogs (It’s what they’re calling them, I think they’re a bit closer to L333 Queen Arabesque Pleco). 250 Swiss Franks is still a bit outta my price range - maybe the danios will help me get there. 

Speaking of danios… they’ve started on the BBS, and are as cute as ever.
I’ve also added a bit of peat to the breeding tank, complete with some wild terrestrial moss from the woods behind my house. Mountain moss is nice and tufty and perfect for spawning. 
I’ve gorged my Glowlight tetras on BBS for the past couple of days, and have added 1M 2F to the tank. Stay tuned! 
Spare pic of my new desktop shrimp tank. Admittedly it’s not as cool as @wes.crocketts 3D printed deco tank, but it’s fun. 😊

Stay fishy Nerms! 

That's a fun desk tank! I like it.

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/7/2023 at 11:27 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I’m a bit of a engineering nerd, so how do you code the printer? Is there a direct user interface or is it a sort of drawing thing?

You’ve got me thinking about printing an uplift tube for a HOBB using my schools 3D printer…😅

3d models are made using CAD software like 3d Builder, Tinkercad, and others. Then another piece of software called a Slicer (Prusa Slicer, Cura, etc) translate the 3d model to something called G-Code. G-code is used in 3d printers, CNC machines, and engravers and is a machine-instruction like language that tells the print head/bed/heater what to do and when and how. That is the 10,000ft view of how it works.

Check out 3d Printing nerd on Youtube for some great content on this stuff.

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/6/2023 at 10:14 AM, Schuyler said:

That's a good point... maybe it would spread into that area if you started off with it flanking. Or if it grew behind and started hanging down inside.

Definitely a cool idea with lots of options... maybe it's time to get a 3D printer lol

Every 6, or so, months, 3d printers go through generational improvements... What you can get today for sub-$500 compared to 2 years ago is absolutely remarkable.

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 10/5/2023 at 11:02 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Try putting the check valve higher up, or make a horizontal segment of airline tubing. 

I removed about 7 feet of coiled tube and it seems to have helped a lot in terms of not needing to purge the line at all.

On 10/6/2023 at 7:14 AM, Schuyler said:

That came idea is really cool. It looks pretty neat all put together like that.

Maybe you could do baby tears, Monty Carlo, or micro swords to cover up the front rim without blocking the hole completely

Thanks! I'm really stoked with how it turned out.

That would look great but there is only about 1/4" of space between the rim and the glass so not really enough room but flanking it may be good. Right now I've just placed rocks around the area.

[Desk Tank Setup]

AAAAND they are getting to work!

[Desk Tank Setup]

The shrimp are here! looks like 1 dead and 1... not blue? I would love an explanation if someone knows what is up with the odd one... My plan is to just put that one in my other, community, tank so it can't breed.

As a shrimp novice, how do these look? Ended up with 9, healthy looking, blue ones.

[Desk Tank Setup]

I found a semi-local breeder who I ordered 10 Blue Dreams from. They will be delivered today!

I replaced the co2 diffuser with a MUCH smaller and better looking one.

I am finding though that water is constantly siphoning up to my check valve. This makes it take way longer for the co2 to make it through the line (30-50 minutes after the time the co2 solenoid is turned on to the time bubbles appear in my tank.) Any suggestions on how to deal with that?

[Desk Tank Setup]

I had shortsighted placement... The co2 releases right under the intake for the filter... I think most of it gets sucked in there.

I ordered a new diffuser (much smaller glass one) and will place it on the right side of the tank, under the pumps spout. Should lead to much better diffusion of the co2.

Otherwise, plants are looking great still. I plan to order my shrimp this week. Any suggested retailers?

[Desk Tank Setup]

We have (some) co2 baby!

I picked this up. First fill up was a disaster as it reacted and came spewing out over the kitchen table... quickly lidded it and salvaged some of the reaction, though I'll likely need to refill it this week again.

[Desk Tank Setup]

On 9/30/2023 at 10:47 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I’ve never tried co2 (I’m more into breeding than aquarium aesthetics 🙃) but I’m told that Marsilea Hirsuta is basically like a dwarf baby tears without needing co2….if you’d consider replacing S.Repens with Marsilea? 

Looks nice! If the Repens don't make it, I'll give these a try. So far everything looks pretty good

[Desk Tank Setup]

I ordered one of those (cheaper) CO2 Generation systems on Amazon. Total of $120 with the tank, regulator, diffuser, bubble check, citric acid, baking soda, and everything else needed... I'm sure it'll be awful.