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Yoshi

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Everything posted by Yoshi

  1. Yoshi
    I did another significant water change today, probably in the 60-70% range in my battle against the tea. It's cleared up quite a bit! I want to see how much the wood is still leeching into the water, but based on how much I've been able to get ahead of it with just two water changes spaced out over about 6 days, I'm hoping I can just let it run and continue to cycle. Afterward I reduced Easy Green, Easy Iron, ammonia, and Equilibrium. My stem plants in the back of the tank aren't doing so well. When I tried to put another root tab under one of them is completely uprooted and when I fished it out of the water all the lower stems had started to turn brown. I planted them when the tea was really dark, and I couldn't really see what I was doing, so it's possible I missed putting the plant on top of the root tab at that time. I would still really like some tall background plants across the back of the tank for aesthetic as well as practical purposes.
  2. Yoshi
    These are all good tips! I just started using the ACO sponge filter in my 55 gallon tank, so I'll have to remember these methods in a few months 🙂
  3. Yoshi
    Are you running any kind of filter? One thing I'd worry about with that much floating plant cover is whether there's enough gas exchange going on to keep appropriate oxygen levels in the water.
  4. Yoshi
    Some of it I imagine would depend on what kind of plants you have. Some are going to have longer roots than others. I know I read somewhere that long roots can actually be a sign of nutrient deficiency. The roots are expanding trying to find more nutrients to absorb. But don't quote me on that one.
  5. Yoshi
    I was always told that Wondershell raised GH, but didn't really affect KH?
  6. Yoshi
    If there's room what I would do it put a sponge in next to the cartridge and let it run for several weeks. During that time the BB should seed into the sponge. Then you can ditch the cartridge.
  7. Yoshi
    I've thought about green neons! But I've heard they aren't necessarily the hardiest species which is one of the reasons I was thinking more of cardinals. And it's amazing that you brought up silver hatchets! I've been thinking a lot about them and they've gone on, come off, and gone back on the list several times. The only thing about them that I'm worried about is the jumping. With those aqueon lids there's a small gap in the back that I'd have to figure out how to cover.
  8. Yoshi
    My stocking plans for my 55 gallon keep changing, but one of the few constants on my list is cardinal tetras. I love that full line of red that runs from nose to tail.
  9. Yoshi
    Thank you!! I'm still trying to decide the level of tannins I want. I don't mind having some, and I understand that it's actually beneficial to the fish. But at the same time I do want to be able to see my fish once I get some in the aquarium, at least on occasion 😄
  10. Yoshi
    So bit of an update. I did an approximate 50% water change yesterday and re-dosed Easy Green, Easy Iron, and ammonia. I also did 3 tablespoons of Equilibrium. With the Equilibrium, I just dumped it in which was a mistake since it doesn't dissolve very well. I've got white powder sitting on the sand and on some of the plants. Next time I'll do a slurry type approach. The larger water change made a big difference in the tannins, although it's still darker than I'd like it. But that's a work in progress. I'm assuming the wood will continue to leech tannins for some time. The pic is about 24hrs after the water change. Tonights parameters: Ammonia .25 Nitrate 50 Nitrite 10 GH 75 KH 180 PH 7.4 With the ammonia processing so quickly it seems like that first stage of BB is reasonably well established. I'm just waiting for that second stage to really settle in - I'm assuming that's why my nitrites are so high even after such a significant water change. The higher nitrates I'm thinking are from the Easy Green and the beginnings of the nitrites starting to convert over. One question - should I continue to dose ammonia? Will that first stage BB die off if I don't? Btw, this is kind of becoming a journal of my internal thoughts and musings. If I'm talking out of my rear regarding anything feel free to correct me!
  11. Yoshi
    I don't mind some tannins, but I think this is a little extreme. The camera makes it lighter than it actually is. In person you can't even see the back of the tank and you can't see anything looking down from the top.
  12. Yoshi
    This is my first time dealing tannins like this. Does the water ever get saturated with tannins? Like, the water can't absorb anymore even though the woods has more to leech out? That's why I've been doing some water changes, to sort of keep things moving. That and I have about a dozen plants in there, and I'm afraid with the tea so dark they're not getting enough light.
  13. Yoshi
    It does. Rubs right off! I don't have any snails in there yet, but I'm planning on having about a dozen once the tank is fully cycled. A mix of nerites and trapdoor snails 🙂 Yeah, the tank is SUPER dark right now. I didn't realize that one piece of driftwood would leech so much tannins. Since I don't have any livestock in it yet I'm not too worried about it, but I am doing some water changes. It'll stop being so dark. . . eventually. . . 😄
  14. Yoshi
    So this afternoon as I was making some adjustment to my aquarium I noticed this growth on the airline tubing connected to the sponge filter. I'm assuming it's some kind of algae? As some background, the setup is very new. Only been running for 10 days or so. I don't have any livestock in it yet. It's moderately planted with some buce, anubias, maybe five stem plants, and a handful of red root floaters and water spangles that haven't really started propagating themselves yet. I have an ACO LED light set at 50 to come on 7hrs a day. I would like to set it lower, but the piece of driftwood I have in there is leeching tannins like it's going out of style, so I turned it up higher to try and get sufficient light to the plants at the bottom of the tank. When I checked parameters last night my nitrites and nitrates were pretty high but I'm still working on the cycle so I wasn't planning on doing another water change until mid-week. Any thoughts?
  15. Yoshi
    Welcome to the forum! Those look amazing!
  16. Yoshi
    Parameters today: Ammonia 0 Nitrates 60 Nitrites 10 GH 25 KH 180 PH 7.6 I'm a bit confused though. After I did the water change yesterday I added ammonia to keep the cycle going. When I tested that evening I was getting about 1.5 reading. Today it's at 0. I only started this tank a week ago yesterday. The ammonia converting bacteria wouldn't have established themselves already, would they? I did add a full bottle of the FritzZyme bacteria at the beginning, but even so that feels awfully fast. Obviously the nitrite bacteria still need to grow, but this is going a lot faster than I expected.
  17. Yoshi
    Congrats!!
  18. Yoshi
    He's camera shy! 😅
  19. Yoshi
    Mine buries himself all the time. He's in a 5 gallon tank with my betta, Kalahni, and at first I thought maybe he was doing it because Kalahni was bothering him. But they seem to get along fine. I just take it as part of their normal behavior.
  20. Yoshi
    I ended up doing a 25% water change today, not because I was worried about my parameters, but because the tea had gotten SO dark I wasn't confident sufficient light was getting to the plants at the bottom of the tank like the annubias and buce, even with the light turned up to 100. The tank is noticeably clearer, although still VERY dark. But at least now I can see a bit of green in the plants. Before the tannins made everything just look orange.
  21. Yoshi
    https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/is-dechlorinator-harmful-to-fish#:~:text=Generally speaking%2C no.,hazardous in poorly oxygenated tanks. Cory also posted on another topic regarding water changes that I found interesting. In the end though, I think @gardenman makes a great point. There is no "one way" to do water changes. The deeper I get into the hobby the more I find it's much less like math and more like art. No one formula is going to work for everyone in all situations. You find what works best for you and the fish you keep.
  22. Yoshi
    I have a Tidal 55 that I use on my 55 gallon tank along with a medium ACO sponge filter. I think your setup sounds right. Two things I'd say: The blue sponge that came with it and the ACO sponge you're moving over from the Tetra are going to serve essentially the same purpose. To me they appear to be about the same PPI, the blue pad maybe being a little bit finer. No harm in leaving it in, but if you're short on space you can take it out. I'm a big fan of putting a pre-filter sponge on HOB intakes. It's not essential, but it gives more filter area for the beneficial bacteria to grow and I've found also helps with the longevity of the unit itself as it filters out at least some of the gunk before goes through the intake. Enjoy your new filter!!
  23. Yoshi
    One thing to keep in mind if you're doing frequent water changes - most dechlorinators have the affect of reducing oxygen, especially if they're over used. I'm with @lefty o, do changes when needed. Although if I've gone a month without needing to do one in my 5 gallon I will do maybe a 15-20% change at that point just to refresh and give me a chance to do a bit of a gravel vac.
  24. Yoshi
    I will say, I love my black racer nerite 🙂 He's in my 5 gallon and keeps the algae at bay. I named him Norman 😄
  25. Yoshi
    Parameters today: Ammonia .25 Nitrate 50 Nitrite 5 GH 25 KH 180 PH 7.8 I'm surprised the ammonia is that low since I added some yesterday, so I added 150 drops today. My bottle says 4 drops per gallon, but I didn't do quite that much since I was getting a bit of an ammonia reading. Nitrates are high, but I also did a full 5 pumps of Easy Green yesterday, so maybe that pushed it up. I have a water softener (pretty much have to where I live) so I expected the GH to be low. For shrimp and snails I'll have to figure out away to get that value up. What do you all think? Should I do a water change or should I just let the plants work on the nitrates?
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