clownbaby

Heyo! This is my aquarium - going to rescape it soon! Here is before: I don't know how I will rescape it, but I want to do so before adding raspboras and gouramis. So... yea! 😄

There is no way you couldn't love this tank. Oh my goodness. Honestly - I am stunned. This tank really is so calm and relaxed -- it does not strike me, but yet it truly stuns me. It is just beautiful, in the most subtle way. My favorite part of your tank is... the whole thing. This is amazingly beautiful. What is the stocking / planned stocking? What are the plants you've had the most success with? Oh my gosh, these are both amazing tanks. Crypts are really starting to make me excited - I am so tempted to rescape my tank and incorporate some crypts. Any species you recommend? I know wendtii is super popular. On your 75g, I cannot help but fall in love. Those rocks are beautiful and so intricate! Did you purchase those or find them? The wood piece is equally as amazing! What plant is this???!!! I am in love with it so much!!! P.S (sorry for all the questions) what fish are in your 75g omg they're so cuteeeee!!!! YOUR TANKS ARE AMAZING

Same happened to me! It's just a bacterial bloom. It will clear up soon! If you want you can add snails to clean it up or just manually remove it, but it will eventually go away. No need to worry!

Whether it is part of the hardscape, the plants, or even the inhabitants... what is the favorite part of your tank? I'll go first! I love this whole corner, but my favorite part of it is the moss! I was getting really frustrated because it wouldn't stay down and it was way past my bedtime, so finally I just shoved it in place, and to me it looks awesome in the foreground. I love seeing all the cute threads of moss ^__^

Could be hydra, a microorganism closely related to jellyfish. You usually don't need to worry about these. They can't sting powerful enough to harm you, your fish, or shrimp, but they do eat other microfauna. You can remove them if you want, or not. If you plan to breed shrimp or nano fish, they may eat the fry, but that is a maybe. Take this as a compliment that you have great, healthy water! Here is more info: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/hydra

Now, I am not a biologist or fish expert, but I see no reason why black sand would be a bad substrate - it seems like it would be ideal. They are primarily black with white spots, so I would imagine this would make them feel safe (especially if you have a larger group and lots of hiding spots). If you really wanted to, mixing in some lighter grey or white sand probably wouldn't hurt, but I do not think it is incredibly necessary at all. Trust fish experts over me, but this is how I would look at the situation. Hope my input helps a little bit!

Something like dandelions and deadnettles aren't "invasive", just non-native. They're widespread weeds that don't threaten native species, which is why they aren't our priority. That being said, both come from Eurasia, not the Americas, so we will pull them up if we see them. They do have benefits to wildlife; purple deadnettle is a plant that honeybees adore! Same with flowering dandelions. But... native plants have more benefits to wildlife. They aren't a species of worry at all. The reason the forestry project wants them gone is simply so they do not outcompete native wildflowers in our meadow (which is honestly quite unlikely). They will always grow in the Americas whether you remove them or not; invasive ≠ non-native. Certain weeds aren't a threat and are also so widespread, calling them invasive is kinda a waste of time in a sense. You do not need to worry about these species at all. Remove them if you'd like, but they're not real problems 🙂 I'd say put that energy into your state's noxious weeds! ALSO thank you so much for caring about invasives!!!!

I am not worried about winters here, all the plants I chose are perennials and hardy / native to my zone. Mosquitoes sound like they will be a problem - literally behind my house is a wetland I already have to deal with those suckers a lot, I do not want any more! I think I will increase surface agitation... I really do not want to add any stocking because summers are dangerously hot here (and winters dangerously freezing), meaning they'd mostly be in an aquarium... which I do not have (nor do I have the time / money to have two aquariums). Surface agitation shall do, thank you for the tip! This is a pretty easy fix, just gotta tighten some stuff with the motor of the pump. And I think this will make it more appealing to birds as well!

oh! --OH

After I do a water change, they suddenly swim all over the place, shoal, dart up to the surface, scavenge the substrate... basically, they are SUPER active. I have a really small shoal (4 currently, getting more tomorrow though) in a 30gal, and they pretty much just chill and hide in my plants for most the day. However when I do a water change, they start rushing around! Is it the increase in water current? Is it because it kicks up the substrate? Is it just the fresh water? Is is the temperature change? Is there anyway to know what specifically they enjoy about it so much?? The only reason I wonder this is because of the water current ... would they enjoy one of those current devices? I just want them to be happy 😂😭😭

Hey! I have finally convinced my parents to allow me to have a water garden to grow my favorite native plants. It will be an outdoor water garden, under a cover to prevent the Pacific Northwest rain from flooding it for 9 months. It will be a half-barrel, like this: It holds about 25 gallons of water. I've gone around with aquarium silicone on all the cracks and seams, and I've covered the inside with a pond liner. It will have a small bubbler fountain, as I do want it to also serve as a partial bird bath, and birds love moving water. That being said it does not make a lot of water movement, but a very small itty bitty ripple. It will not have fish in it. Here are the plants I plan on: Eleocharis acicularis Fontinalis antipyretica (water moss) Ranunculus aquatilis (water crowfoot) Caltha palustris (yellow marsh marigold) Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys (tall white bog-orchid) Galium trifidum (bedstraw) I've never done something like this before... if you have any advice or tips, I would really appreciate it! Please help this poor newbie! I don't know what I am doing!!!!!!!

Entry Eleven - April 25th, 2024 I am a forestry intern now!! I received an unpaid forestry internship and am now working to restore native habitat at a small local park. For reference, the park is 3 acres, which is pretty small for a habitat rehabilitation project. Regardless, I am super excited to help out!!! I do not plan on going into forestry as of right now, but it is seeming more and more tempting, so this will give me insight on if I would like to pursue it! Gosh I am so excited...! Here is a quick mimic map of the park and the zones. I was assigned for surveying and invasive species removal. I am surveying two zones and removing invasive species in three zones. For surveying, I will be working in zone 2 and zone 5. For invasive species removal, I am working in 3a, 3b, and zone 4. This poor forest is covered in invasives. Here are our "focus" species or species we are working to eradicate first: English Ivy (hedera helix) - chokes out trees and creates a dominant ground cover, preventing native wildflowers from growing. Himalayan Blackberry (rubus armeniacus) - extremely painful and invasive. It forms thickets that are impassable and spreads via cuttings, runners, and seed; meaning if you don't remove all the roots, it doesn't go away. Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) - chokes out native vegetation and reduces habitat and food sources for wildlife. Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) - spreads by runners and has a powerful root system that makes it hard to remove. Additionally, buttercups in the ranunculus genus have a skin irritant compound, making them unpleasant to remove. Creeping Charlie [Ground-Ivy] (Glechoma hederacea) - a menace. Smells lovely, has great flowers, but is extremely invasive. Thrives in shade, meaning it loves the forest understory. Non-priority / Secondary species (species that we would like to remove, but are not as important as the priority species) Dandelions (Taraxacum spp.) - non-native and weedy; removes growing space for native plants. Yellow-flag (iris pseudacorus) - only one specimen was present, immediately removed. We will be keeping a lookout for more. Purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) - common weed in the Pacific Northwest... yet, it is still non-native, so it's gotta go! Chickweed (Stellaria media) - common weed, but we still want it gone. My first day was yesterday (Wednesday the 24th!). I mainly removed meadow buttercups and creeping charlie in zone 3a. I cleared a large plot and as the sun was directly on me and it was 80 degrees, I then moved into the shady area of zone 3b and started removing Himalayan blackberry. What a chore... ouch! I barely made a dent in that stuff. I ate my lunch by the stream, which was very peaceful. I also heard a very angry Douglas-squirrel who was screaming his angry wrath of blood... also known as defending his territory. Sitting by the stream was amazing. It was shady and misty which was very refreshing, and across the stream in zones 1a and 1b, there were many skunk cabbage plants!!! Skunk cabbage is my FAVORITE plant EVER! So that made me super happy. I finished lunch early, so the head ranger had me begin surveying. I started in zone 2, since that is where I ate my lunch. For surveying, she had me note what plants I saw, their habits, their size, presence of flowers or fruits, and any additional notes. The plants I noted were: Deer fern Skunk-cabbage Redwood sorrel Maidenhair fern False solomon's-seal Siberian Miner's lettuce Western bittercress Lady fern Trillium [wake-robin] (only two plants) Common water-moss Wet rock moss Various sphagnums Some rushes/grasses ; I am not skilled enough to Identify these Nootka cedar English Ivy Of course my notes were more in-depth than that, but you get my point! I also surveyed for any birds or insects that I spotted. Nothing to report there. Anyway, that ended my day! This will begin to be a biweekly internship, so you will receive many updates on it!!! I am really excited about this!

That definitely depends on what is in your soil. Not all soil is made equal! If you go out in your backyard and dig up some soil, it'll probably be depleted (or "dead", as I call it!) within a year. But if you do it carefully and in layers, it could withstand multiple years without dying easily. When using a natural process, it is best to mimic nature! I learned this the hard way. Typically, the soil of wetlands and lakes is formed into layers. The layers are dependant on the environment, but here is a general baseline of what is typical and average: (In order of TOP-most to BOTTOM-most)! silt or sand loose, powdery clay heavily decayed plant matter / compost (to the point in which the plants cannot be identified) chalky, loose sandy soil clay sandy soil non-decayed plant matter (peat) Each of these are pretty much proportionate to each other. But, to simplify it for the aquarist, here is the formula I used (in order of top to bottom!) mix of pea gravel and sand compost organic soil clay crushed lava rock (primarily for an area for beneficial bacteria & surface for microfauna to reproduce) peat and leaf litter The only thing I would have changed is to add a layer of silty / very sandy soil on top of the compost. Not a thick layer, but something to keep the compost down when I needed to plant something. Now, eventually this will be depleted, but due to the presence of peat (which is actively decomposing now that it is not in a bog) it will keep adding nutrients. Honestly, once the soil does die, I just plan to stick root tabs in there anyway because I am not dealing with that LMAO. Finally, I had one more note: there are plants that "fix" nitrogen or add nutrients into the soil. Azolla (mosquito fern) is a plant that fixes nitrogen. This nitrogen will eventually get into your soil and feed the plants. Finally, some plants only use roots as anchors; some aquatic plants take up their nutrients through the stems and leaves, not the roots. Meaning soil isn't a benefit, nutritionally. This is only true for SOME aquatic plants though, so be sure you check. Plus, detritus worms and other microfaunas and macrofaunas eat fish poop and add nutrients into the soil again, which is great. It is a complicated thing but I feel confident in saying my soil will have nutrients for at least two years... and once it does die, I just will use root tabs and Easy green to fertilize my plants. Personally I am unsure because I've never used it, but I have a hunch that something like fluval stratum (which is partially firm/solid) dissolves a lot less than true soil does... but please do not quote me, as I haven't used this. I'd also recommend using hardier fish if you want to try dirted tanks. They can cause some problems if you don't know what you're doing (like me!), so maybe try it out on a betta fish or other hardy fish that can tolerate some changes in water quality. Shrimp are not hardy, so any changes could easily kill em, I'm not surprised to hear that happened. Personally all my snails are really happy with the dirt! They constantly go under the gravel into the dirt and eat stuff. Also, if you want to try it out or "dip your toes", I recommend a little ecosphere! Just go to a local stream or wetland (lake, bog, soggy area, etc) and scoop up some dirt and water into a jar, shake, and let it settle. The layers of soil will separate into soil at the bottom, with sand being at the bottom, then clay, then silt and plant matter. Then for your next jar, get the same dirt, but before adding water, cap it off with at least an inch of sand (ideally 2 inches). Get one plant (aquatic or not, it doesn't matter, since this isn't a real tank,) and plant it before adding water. Next, add the water, and plant another plant into it. Compare and contrast how the water changed when you planted something versus how it was with the plant already planted. Compare the water with the first jar versus the second. What are the differences? What looks better? I did this after my tanks but I found it really helpful anyway. Sorry for rambling, nature stuff is my passion and special interest lol!! I hope it helped!

This is a really cool additive!! You can make natural ponds without using a plastic liner by using animal manure, but for some reason I never thought to add it to aquariums. Have you had any problems with ammonia? This is really interesting and awesome! (also, would love to see pictures of your cows!!! ❤️ i love farm animals, especially cows, they're my favorite!) !!! mhm! I think I definitely should have added some sand and silt to it, now that I have spent more time playing and exploring in ponds, lakes, and streams. Most of the soil composition in these streams is fish poop, sand, silt, and decaying leaf junk. Now that I know better I would definitely base my soil mix more on what is found in natural wetland areas. Thank you so much for the feedback!!!

Do you like to use dirt in your tank, a different fertilized substrate (perhaps like fluval stratum or even root tablets), only inert substrate, or none of the above? Why do you use dirt? Why do you not use dirt? What is your experience like? You can provide as little or as much information as you'd like! I'd love to hear about it. My personal opinion is I like dirted tanks and think the pros outweigh the cons, but I wish I had researched more before jumping right in. Dirted tanks cause a bit of problems: primarily making the water muddy or murky, especially if you don't know what you're doing. I used my own mix for "dirt": peat moss, organic soil mix, clay, decaying leaf litter, and crushed lava rock. I knew this would provide nutrients to my plants, and I was confident. But this was my first time using live plants, and my first time using dirt. Gosh, I didn't know what I was getting into... I had to do five water changes the first week setting up my tank, simply because some of the dirt matter dissolved into the water. To cap off the substrate, I had to use almost two inches of fine pea gravel + sand mix. That being said, I do not regret it: I would just go about it differently in the future. So here is what I would change: get the dirt wet AND waterlogged before capping off with inert substrate or filling the tank. This will reduce the random bubbles. don't cheap out on inert substrate: get more that I think I will need. At first I only got enough to cover barely an inch deep, which was not enough. It just caused more pain and ended up mixing my inert substrate in with my dirt mixture. It was super difficult and I had to restart once or twice. after I did get my inert substrate figured out, I filled the tank all the way up before planting. Not the best decision, as I learned. Instead, next time I will fill the tank about half way and then plant. Honestly, just like planting a veggie garden, I would probably "mound" the plants with sand/gravel a little to encourage them to STAY IN THE DARN GROUND. I also learned not to be scared of weights, glues, and strings. At first I was kind of stuck-up and thought it wasn't natural and ergo bad if you used things like plant weights or if you glued/tied your anubias down. HECK NO. These are tools. Use them! That is something important I learned. When I was putting moss in my tank I quickly learned I needed string to tie em down... and when I purchased some rotala it came tied with a weight, and gosh this stuff is helpful. I love these tools and glad I tried them. So how do you feel about dirt in tanks? What did you learn?