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Penny

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Posts posted by Penny

    First fish coming today, and I'm concerned about my water parameters

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi All

    I'm getting my first fish today in my 28 tall tank. I have lots of moss, baby tears and dwarf chain swords that are all thriving... as is my algae.

    I only fed liquid ferts the day i made the tank and have been doing easy carbon every day. 

    I have a hob filter with course foam, activated carbon and fine foam and all seemed well. I've been testing with the tetra test strips and had nitrate 50, nitrite 1, chlorine 0... (no ammonia test at this point) for a little while after the initial high readings (i added some floating plants to eat up some nitrates)

    I then got my API master test kit ready for my fish and shrimp, and seachem prime. I've done a 10% water change each day for the last few days, with prime to try to get rid of the nitrite but when i tested today I have 2 nitrite and i'm guessing 30 nitrate (its in between the colours)... so my question is this

    Will my fish and shrimp be ok going into this tank?

    Does the nitrite still show but is now detoxified by the Prime? my ammonia and chlorine are both 0.

    Many thanks

     

    Algae in a very new tank

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted · Edited by Penny
    Spelling

    Hi.. I set up my new tank 7 days ago, and within 4 days I had a fine dusting of bright green algae. 

    I was wondering if anyone knows why and how this has grown so fast in this tank. The tank and everything in it is brand new. All of my plants are lab grown tissue culture.

    I added a pinch of fishfood right away, did one dose of fertiliser and have been using easycarbon at the higher end of the dosing every day, as per the instructions. My filter is a hob, with course foam, super fine foam and activated carbon. 600lt/hr on a 90lt tank.

    I have no snails or fish yet. I didn't really want an explosion of bladder snails in this tank if I can help it... Although I do have plenty on hand.

    I was wondering what the best route to go to get this cleared up would be

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    My second aquascape. I wanted to try something different

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    @H.K.Luterman I actually bought the tree and added the moss... It's a Superfish Bonsai tree and was £40.  Now I've had a good look at it I think I'd have a go at making them in future. It's a main piece of driftwood that's the trunk then a few pieces stuck together, then it seems that the joins are smoothed over with some kind of resin and sand combination... It's pretty cool really. Looks grippy and like it will age well. Then the small branches are attached.. possibly with superglue, although I can't see any residue or resin (unlike my fingers which were absolutely covered by the time I'd finished!)

    I've attached a few pics so you can see the details

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    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    My second aquascape. I wanted to try something different

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    Hi.

    I wanted to share my second go at aquascaping..

    I got a 90lt/25 US gallon tall tank for Christmas with the intention of filling it with driftwood and all the extra plants that have popped up everywhere in my nano tanks.  However, at the last minute I decided to do something totally different. 

    I wanted a whole tiny landscape, carpeting plants, perspective trickery, crystal clear water and eventually a shoal of tiny fish to swim through the sky.

    I spent a long time choosing the plants I wanted and settled on Hemianthus callitricoides 'Cuba' as my carpeting plant... I didn't realise this was baby tears 😬 so, we'll see how that does with liquid carbon and not as much light as it would like!😂 I don't actually mind if it doesn't carpet, I think it looks cool tufty. I went for Helanthium tenellum for my grassy Tufts. Christmas moss on top of the rocks and Taxiphyllum on the tree. 

    I used the same Tropica substrate, because I had such great groeth with it before.  

    All the plants I used were in-vitro tissue culture plants and I love them. Unfortunately two pots of the Taxiphyllum wasn't enough to finish the tree so I'll have to order more..  just going to wait a week or so and see what happens with the baby tears.

    Thanks for stopping by to check it out 😁

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    • Like 12

    Browning moss ball

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    So.. I'm no moss ball expert, but I do appreciate the vote of confidence! 

    I never put my moss balls in direct sunlight at all, and I leave them in the fridge for over a week (or however long it takes to treat the algae, if that was the reason for the vacation) 

    I found the brown spots would usually be on the underside if I forgot to move them about.  I try to get them out and give them a good clean every week at least, if not twice a week. The seem to like the attention so I run them under the cold tap to wash off any detritus and sand, give them a squeeze and a roll them about. I've never upped the salinity, but I have read that the appreciate that too.  If there's a biggish brown spot I gently pull the brown bits off and roll the ball up well.

    I have no creatures in my tanks to clean them up, except snails at the moment, I also have no filters so mine do collect all kinds of crud.

    I would definitely beware of putting them in direct light for very long as that does turn them brown. 

    • Like 2

    My first aquariums. Planted nano tanks photo journal.

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by Penny
    Same pic twice

    @Streetwise My aquariums are going well, I think! 😅

    I have baby swords and vallisinaria growing everywhere.

    My floaters keep taking over (I need to clear them again.. it's getting out of hand)

    I had to trim the water wisteria.. it's waaaay to big for my little tanks but I really like it. I had it growing up about 10-12" out of the water before it crumpled under its own weight.

    I have no heaters because they were being weird, with that crusty brown stuff on.. but all seems well without them (and far less water evaporates 😌)

    No life yet, apart from my snails... That's the good news 😊

    All of the aquariums got cyanobacteria, I thought I had it under control and it hasnt come back to the middle and right tanks... The left however, is a bit gooey!😅 I've been doing the treatment... I think I have some kind of green algae too.. can it mix with the cyanobacteria, to make a more greeny blue green slime that's a little stringy and bubbly?! (I should post that in the other section) 

    If there's any other problems you can spot, please feel free to point them out! I have a feeling my plants may need some more nutrients of some kind.. the leaves are a bit see-through. I was a bit nervous to keep adding fertiliser in case it made the algae/cyanobacteria situation worse.

    Tomorrow I have my next aquarium being delivered 😁 a 25g tall (95lt) it will be a place for my baby plants and to grow taller plants and some others I've fallen in love with browsing this forum. I'll be using the same Tropica substrate, and sand because all my plants really took off and are growing well. I'm also going to filter this new tank.

    Thanks for checking in on my aquariums 😊

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    • Like 3

    Will my plants be ok?

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    I've got two faulty heaters in my nano tanks. No fish or shrimp yet, but lots of snails and my plants have been thriving... I need to send them back, but in the meantime, will my plants be ok? How long can I get away without having these tanks heated? And I'm not sure what kind of heater to replace them with. 

    Thank you for any advice 😊

    Something strange happened to my heater... Any ideas?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I woke up this morning to find a patch of bubbles in one of my tanks.. I tested the water and everything was perfect so I scooped out the bubbles and kept and eye on it.

    Then I noticed the bottom cap had come off the heater. (It's a little 25w glass cheap one, but its adjustable and seemed to be doing the job)  I popped the cap back on. Then I noticed the the heater had bubbles all over the under side and it was making a steady stream of tiny bubbles (exactly the same size and consistency as pearling) 

    Turned it off and let it cool in case it was over heating (water felt normal and I didn't get electrocuted) when I removed it the heater I thought I'd find it cracked but it had this weird stuff on it.. only in a patch and only on the underside. It's hard and crunchy like pumice stone. There's no water inside the glass

    The heater has only been in the water for about 7 weeks.

    🤔 Any idea what's up with it?

    Thank you 😊

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    My first aquariums. Planted nano tanks photo journal.

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    Hey Everyone

    I thought I'd show you all my tanks after a month.

    I've had a lot of changes, lots of growth  and runners..and a LOT of baby snails 😃

    At the moment I'm treating all three tanks for cyanobacteria.. it seems to be going well. My water parameters are nice and consistant and I'm thinking about getting some shrimp in there soon to help clean up a bit.

    One of my Amazon swords has a runner with three little plants, so far. My java fern has babies on the leaves.. the Val is sending off runnering in all directions in all the tanks... My grass is growing.. I love the Bacopa Caroliniana! The shape it grows, the long dangly roots and the way it pops out of the surface..its just lovely. 

    I might have lost most of my floating plants.. they got all clogged with the cyanobacteria.. but hopefully some make it.. it grows like crazy. Oh And my water wisteria is growing out the top like a tree!☺️

    The water is always this pale tea colour, I'm quite a fan!😄

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    • Like 7

    Are my nano tanks overloaded with plants?

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    Hi, I was looking for opinions on my tanks... Is there such a thing as too many plants? Should I let it go wild or make any changes?

    My floaters have covered to top of each tank. Should I remove a good portion to let the light through?

    I was thinking of a Betta in each and a few shrimps but I'm not sure a Betta would be able to swim around in the two smaller tanks.. I think they look like they would be great for a shrimp playground though. 

    They've only been set up for two and a half weeks but they've changed so much.

    The left tank has a lot of algae now.. but I finally found my snail babies and put at least 5 in there. 5 babies in the middle tank too.

    The right tank is by far the clearest and that had just two hitchhiker bladder snails for the whole time, but the majority of the babies will appear in here I'm sure.

    I have no filters

    My water seems good now. I'm getting all tanks the same

    No3. Between 10-25

    No2. 0

    GH.8

    KH. 8

    pH. 7.6

    Cl2. 0

    Many thanks for your input.. still in no rush for shrimp/fish. I'm loving my plants and snails 😁

     

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    • Like 2

    Newbie looking to understand my water parameters

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Jessica. said:

    @PennyWow, those tanks are gorgeous!! Beautiful work, love the drift wood centerpiece in each, and how they all work together as a set. The mossballs and the round rocks work well together. Very very nice. I wouldn't be able to resist stock them, I'd do one color of shrimp in each - like red, blue and yellow neos, with a matching colored beta in each. Your willpower to hold off for a few months is impressive. 

    Well... funny you should say that, because that's exactly what I'm planning on doing!😄  

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