AllFishNoBrakes

Too good. Now, he needs to make the holder for the test tube so you can shake that bad boy for a minute, too!

I’ve found it way harder to grow plants in, and I’m not gonna be doing bags of aquasoil under the sand and things of that nature. Also way harder to gravel vac, and I don’t like that mulm sits on the top of it. Overall, just not for me. I simply prefer gravel

I’m a heathen and have my Cory’s on gravel. I know, I know… but I just really don’t like sand. I have sand in the 20L blackwater tank (started as a shrimp tank if you remember) and that’s fine, but I wish it was gravel. Used the leftover sand in my Pea Puffer tank, and I wish it was gravel there, too. It’s a smooth gravel, though. Might be fun to do a “crystal clear blackwater setup” in this one. Just wood with a few rocks, and a few epiphytes, but clear water. Could help take the actual blackwater setup next to it and help carry it over to the next tank, and contrast the extremely dark water next door. Might be onto something here… That’s my problem, too! I don’t know exactly what I want to do, so figured I’d grab some ideas from the fellow Nerms and see if any of them sound fun. The Cory’s are staying for sure, the GlowLights are getting up there in age and won’t be around forever, and the same goes for the Hatchets. I’m seeing it as an opportunity to do something fresh with the 29. Used to be one of my favorite tanks, but now it’s just one of the tanks, so I think a refresh could help put it back on the favorite list. Black Neons could be fun!

@Lennie that’s a pretty rad set up, but paludariums aren’t really my jam. I want that box of water as full as it can be!

My 29 gallon was the first “big” tank that I ever set up, and #3 of the 14 I currently have running. I’ve always enjoyed it, it taught me a lot in those early days, but I’m currently itching to do something new with it. The Dwarf Neon Rainbows will be moved to the 55 gallon with the Angelfish. The Glowlight Tetras are getting up to the 3+ year old mark and will live out their days in this tank. Still have a couple Marbled Hatchets and those too will stay and live out their days. Albino Cory’s will stay as they’re currently what I enjoy most in the tank. Hardscape definitely needs an update, as well. I love the piece of Spiderwood in there, but it could use an update overall. Knowing me, I’ll probably just use more DragonStone and more wood. I’m a sucker for that stuff. I’ve contemplated a second blackwater tank but I’m not sold on it. It’s literally right next to the current blackwater tank. Always an option, but I’m not sold on it yet. Basically, I’m not set on anything whatsoever, but I’m kicking around ideas. I’ve learned that I want to be 100% sure on what I want to do and build exactly what I want. I’m beyond the “let’s try that” stage of my hobby as I end up stuck with fish I’m not stoked on. So, I’m curious, what YOU would put with the Albino Cory’s in a 29 gallon? I’m in no rush to make a move, but just know I want to do something different. For once, I don’t want to breed in this tank. Just want a lovely planted community. Let me know your thoughts or what you would do if you had this tank!

Agreed that if the old filter went in, it should be able to handle the load, assuming you’re feeding the same. The filter doesn’t care what tank it’s in, it simply processes the load that has been established. I would test daily, and any time ammonia got to .5ppm or above I would do a 50% water change. You could also use a dose of Prime to help get through any ammonia that is present. Test daily, water change as necessary, use Prime or Fritz Complete if you have it and want to skip a water change, and you should be back to fully cycled in no time.

All the same sex would be the way to go then, in my opinion. With lots of caves and lots of driftwood you’re creating lots of places for them to spawn. Before purchasing any fish I’d ask the store about returning whatever sex you don’t want after you’ve grown them out and can sex them. If they’re cool about it, maybe you could get some store credit for growing them out to put towards other things, or trade them back at a bigger size (that they should be able to sell for more) for more juveniles to grow out again and sex. Lots more work, for sure, but would meet your needs.

My first Pleco spawn was ~50 fry. Since then, I’ve learned to just check the cave with weekly water changes, or if I notice the male heavily guarding his cave. When they spawn again, I just pull the eggs out of the cave and dispose of them. A community setting might be more difficult to pull eggs as there could be more places for them to spawn, but I would be surprised if whole spawns could survive. Doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen, just means it’s more difficult than my setup where they only really have 2 places to spawn

14 is still pretty good for something you weren’t expecting! Pleco fry blow my mind with how big the yolk is compared to the fry

All my 10 gallon tanks (6 of them) just run a sponge filter. Even my 20 gallon long just has 1 sponge filter. Really comes down to what you prefer more and how much flow you want or need.

Agreed that they don’t “disappear” when water is added, but when I’m looking at my tanks I don’t really pay attention to the silicone. Where I do pay attention to it is before I buy the tank. I try to select the tank with the “best” silicone job. I’ve seen tanks that have it dribbled all over the viewing panels of the glass and I definitely don’t want to take the time to scrape it off.

Howdy fish folk! Yesterday I water changed all the tanks and reset all the air stones. I really hope ACO comes out with a true never clog air stone as I’m getting real tired of having to do this every week to maintain the amount of air coming through the stone that I want. Don’t really think it’s a hard water issue as my water is super soft and there’s never any calcium or other mineral build up on the felt. Almost seems like the air coming through felt dries it out and then it doesn’t work as well as I want it to. Fingers crossed ACO solves this problem for me in the near future. Green Neons have the meds removed from the water with a 50% water change and are chugging right along. Couple more weeks (at least) of quarantine and then I’ll move them over. Stoked to get them in the blackwater tank. Still dealing with a little green water in the 6 gallon cube. Did an extra water change on that tank today to try to combat the problem. Some pics I snapped today: 6 gallon cube got a fat trim yesterday and an extra water change today. Once the Green Neons come out of the quarantine tank I’m gonna get another handful of CPD’s for this tank. The lone survivor from the first group of CPD’s from a year and a half ago could use some fish friends. Albino Cory’s spawned. Again, lol. The female looked suuuuper plump this morning and everyone was zooming around the tank. The only reason this spawn was as surprising is because they just spawned last week, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it two weeks in a row. Elsewhere on the forum I saw someone mention tannins, and to have less of them to “boil botanicals for 15 minutes and then let the botanicals steep for an hour”. Tried that today and the extra boil time plus steep time definitely removed more tannins. This will allow me to have a deeper concentrate for if/when I want to replace tannins from the blackwater tank when doing water changes. I have also thrown a couple leaves in another tank, so if I wanna darken up the water I could definitely use this. Keep those eyes peeled 👀 Added 3 giant Catappa Leaves yesterday, and then boiled 3 more today along with 3 Pear Pods, 3 Twisty Pods, and 3 other botanical something or anothers to the tank. Boiled everything for 15 minutes and then steeped for an hour to get the concentrate above. This allowed me to add a bunch of visual appeal to this tank (as all the old leaves have basically decayed to nothing) without adding a ton more tannins (hopefully) as the water is already super dark. Also, the Chili Rasboras are continuing to settle in and will swim/school to the front of the tank now, instead of just at meal time! This allows me to actually see them, have the dark dark water I want, and really enjoy this tank more. Their coloration is beautiful. Need to get the Green Neons in here and the shrimp feeding dish out and we’ll have a tank I’m super happy with. Cheers, everyone! Thanks for rocking with me and my tanks. Until the next one.

My only real comment is that 40ppm nitrates shouldn’t be something to stress over. I have tanks that run ~40ppm nitrates, and have for years with no issues. Agreed with @Colu that as your floating plants start to spread they will help soak up nitrates. If it was me, I wouldn’t stress it.

Lol, for sure. I never imagined I’d have 14 tanks in my house, but I do, and I love it. The @ wrote itself. Appreciate the kind words regarding the tanks.

I’ve successfully raised a couple batches of the Albinos. And a couple batches of the Julii’s. They’re fun, but slow growers, and I really just don’t have the time right now. Just a couple Anubius in the blackwater tank.

@nabokovfan87 excellent question. I too was puzzled. I always click the buttons, and felt like I didn’t need to. Now we know! Thanks for asking the question, and thanks to @Zenzo for the clarification.

Spider wood is inert and will not affect your water parameters. I also really enjoy the look. Being inert is the bonus to me

Yup, another update. Sorry, folks. Really just trying to squeeze it in while I’m not at work. Went by the LFS today and they’re starting to recognize who I am. I walked, saw a familiar face, and said, “what’s up man?” I was greeted with a, “hey, welcome back!” this time. I asked how my Panda Angels did that I brought them last time and they said really well. I started to browse, and the dude asked me, “what else do you breed?” Feels good to start to develop a rapport with another LFS. Them asking what else I breed tells me the Panda’s did well and they’re interested in what else I do. Was hoping to pick up some of their Blue Velvet shrimp for my girlfriends tank, but what was left was the remnants, and if this hobby has taught me anything it’s that patience is key. We’ll wait until they have excellent specimens in again and we’ll snatch em up. Some pics from today: My girlfriends tank on all its glory! Definitely different from any of my tanks, but that was her plan. Excited for her to put in the moss wall in the back and fill it up with blue shrimp. Albino Cory’s spawned. Any hatching and raising is still on hold as my life just isn’t in a place to handle it right now. Bag water from my new friends 👀. Pretty close to the tank water. Tank water the new friends will be going in. Softer than the bag water, slightly more buffer, and about the same pH. New friends. 10 Green Neon Tetras for the blackwater tank. Just beginning the acclimation process and completely washed out from the drive home. Some lady cut us off, causing the bag to fall off the passenger seat… We were none too pleased about that. Started adding some tank water and they started to get a little color back. Hard to capture in a picture, but they already look so much better. Out of the bag and into quarantine. Med trio dosed and we’ll let that sit for a week. Then, we’ll do a 50% water change. From there, these guys will stay in this tank an additional 2-5 weeks. 3-6 week quarantine total. Excited to get the next group of friends into the Blackwater tank! Until next week, Nerms.

Agreed. Once nitrites hit 0, do your 50% water changes and you should be good. Continue to monitor and test and you’ll develop your routine. Feels like FOREVER when your tank is cycling, but in the long run it’s really just a blip on the timeline of the tank.

Lots of tannins looks like this: Im going for full blackwater in this tank.

I’m 99.99999% sure the free, small, reusable bag is tied to Easy Green For this order, I bought the Nano Pellets, the Complete, the Easy Green, 1 small bag, and 1 large bag. 2 small bags showed up, which leads me to believe it’s tied to the Easy Green as the rest of the order simple doesn’t make sense. Go get your Easy Green and your free reusable bag!

I wouldn’t re-dose ammonia. Bacteria’s are present and working. Just be patient and when that nitrite hits 0 do a water change and you’re off to the races.

@TheSwissAquarist For sure. I have 22 of them, and they school around the tank together. The tint is literally so dark and they’re so small that they’re just hard to see, lol. I could turn up the lights, too if I wanted. It’s all a balance between the aesthetic I want for the tank and the amount of tannins and seeing the fish as often as I want to as they tend to school around together towards the back of the tank.

We’ve played with the rock structure to create a shrimp hotel and just moved all the rocks over near the tank. Time to put them in! It’s super fun watching her have fun with her tank. She also has a super rad idea for a “moss trellis’ wall/background. If it works it’s gonna be awesome! I’ll definitely share pics here in the journal as her tank takes shape and evolves. Appreciate the kind words regarding work. This is my sixth or seventh store opening so I knew what was coming up, just never makes it easier. The real kicker is that towards the end of this month and through the 4th or a July we have a two week big county fair festival where we sponsor/cook/serve/vend 3 different sections of the park. Super fun, but tons and tons of work. My boss also took a 2 week vacation right before this store opening. So, all in, it’s like an 8 week marathon for me of early mornings, late nights, too many hours to count, and not much time to rest. I’ll make it though! I always do!

What up fish friends? Finally got a day off today after I don’t even know how many in a row. Store openings are brutal. Water changed everything and squeezed a whole bunch of sponges. Also siphoned out the majority of the mulm in the Pygmy Cory tank. Left some behind as I believe they will continue to spawn, but it had reached the point that I was over it lol. Removed a bunch of duckweed too. Thinking about throwing some Indian Almond Leaves in that tank and tinting the water a bit. Definitely not going to go as dark as the other blackwater tank, but I wouldn’t mind having some more tinted water around! Crazy water colors today: The 6 gallon dirted cube has gone a little green. Probably because for a few weeks I was putting a few drops of Easy Green in there trying to help out the red root floaters. They were falling apart… now they’re deep red and thriving, but the water is going green… I think I’m going to hold back on any extra nutes until they start to struggle again, and then do one dose of like 6 drops and see what happens over a couple of weeks. Might do an extra water change tomorrow to help get rid of this green water I have going on. Blackwater continues to be super dark! No wonder I can barely see the Chili’s in there! Gonna hold off on any other botanicals for a minute. I’m in a weird place where the leaves and other botanicals are breaking down into nothing, so I want to add more because I love the look of the leaves in the bottom of the tank, but I also want to be able to see the fish! Just like everything else in life though, it’s a balancing act. I’m hoping that the Green Neons will show a little bit better. The chilis come to the front for a feeding frenzy at meal time, but outside of that I have to really peer deep into the tank to see them. Panda Angels continuing to grow out nicely and the next batch of 10-15 will be ready to go in a week or so. My girlfriend finally busted open her box of slate for her shrimp tank and I’m excited to see what she does with it! Outside of working way too much all is good. Hope you all are well! Cheers.