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StephenP2003

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Posts posted by StephenP2003

    Why am I such a failure at moss?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, DaveSamsell said:

    Could be too much light.  Was wondering do you have a higher ph & gh\kh?  I believe that moss likes softer water with a lower ph, but I am no plant expert.  🤔

    My PH out of the tap is 8.0 but settles at 7.5-ish, a tad lower in tanks with wood. Also out of the tap my GH is zero and KH 7 degrees. I use additives to raise my GH to 6-ish. In my livebearer tanks, I use Aquavitro Mineralize and wonder shell to really raise the GH. 

    Storing excess plants/trimmings

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by StephenP2003

    I've reached a point in my planted tanks where a lot of my trimmings/runners need to be removed since I'm out of room. I'd like to be able to trade them in at my LFS once I've accumulated enough -- right now, mostly runners from vals and trimmed hygrophila, ludwigia, and bacopa. What's a cheap way to store them for -- say -- a month or two (and ideally let the stems sprout new roots)? A desk lamp over a bucket? Does the water need regular changes, circulation, heat?

    • Like 1

    Liquid Test Kit Stand - DIY ​ 📊📉📈 ​

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    I want to make a full tray that not only holds the test tubes but also the test solutions. I have one right now  modified from a test tube holder I found on Amazon. I cut out the back half to accommodate the solution bottles. The tubes are color coded for each tank, as are my sample syringes. But I have more tanks, so need more room if I want to test them all at once. 

    IMG_20200721_154007.jpg

    • Like 3

    Therapeutic fish keeping.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Anxiety and depression here. I tend to immerse myself into hobbies for distraction, often at the expense of time with other human beings like my family. Aquariums is a hobby my wife participates in, though, which has really influenced my commitment to it. She got me into the hobby initially, and I of course took it overboard. 

    All my tanks (display and breeding) - May 1 Update w/ new FishTube video

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by StephenP2003

    15 hours ago, Sliceofnature said:

     So you basically just sprayed insulating foam onto foam board and then poured sand over it right?

    Yep. I decided to do it after I saw this Youtube video: https://youtu.be/ELtoOJKgfKM

    Like I said above, the result after one spray/load of sand was a nice cavernous effect, which might be great if you're keeping larger fish, but I didn't want to risk anything getting stuck and rotting behind there.

    • Thanks 1

    All my tanks (display and breeding) - May 1 Update w/ new FishTube video

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by StephenP2003

     

    2 hours ago, Edward Steven said:

    I love how that stuff feels like easter grass. I thought it was fake when I first got some from my friend.  Once it anchored and started growing, I was pretty confident it was real.

     

    Do you do anything special to grow it? I don't use CO2, just doing easy green a couple times a week and running a Fluval 3.0. If you look at the above pic, notice that the new stuff is green whereas the older moss (only a week or two old) is a little closer to yellow. This is my first attempt with subwassertang, but I've had bad luck in the past with the traditional mosses.

    Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming

    in Community Resources

    Posted

    On 7/14/2020 at 7:33 PM, Streetwise said:

    2. Copying Programs: You can copy programs between lights, but only of the same size model. So I can use the same program on various Nanos, but for my 15"-24" units, I have to create a new program, which I can then share between those units.

    FYI, I am able to share programming between my 36" and 48" versions. Perhaps there's something unique about the Nanos that don't translate to the standard length versions.

    • Like 2
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    All my tanks (display and breeding) - May 1 Update w/ new FishTube video

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    Spray foam, black aquarium sand (which is not really sand), and tan play sand, plus some dark brown and gray krylon fusion for some streaks of varying shades, topped with satin polyurethane to keep everything together. Then once it started growing algae of various types in the surface, it really started to look its best. Once cured, those paint products are inert. Or so I'm told by people smarter than me at chemistry. It hasn't caused any noticeable problems in the past 6 months. I don't know how larger fish would treat it in terms of destructive behavior. 

    If you do the spray foam and sand once, the result is a very deep cavernous effect. Looks super cool, but since I was planning on keeping smaller fish, I was afraid something would get stuck and/or die in a hole one day and I'd never see it. So I did a second spray inside the caverns and loaded with sand again. 

    If I could do it again, I would use foam that expands the least, and not use such a thick styrofoam board as the foundation. The background took up more tank real estate than it needed to. 

    • Thanks 2

    All my tanks (display and breeding) - May 1 Update w/ new FishTube video

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by StephenP2003

    This seems like an ideal place to log the changes in my tanks, and get opinions on issues I'm struggling with.

     

    You'll notice a trend in most of my aquariums -- collectoritis. I'm at the stage of fishkeeping right now where I can't fathom a species-only tank. My schooling fish are all in sufficient numbers, but I still love the variety. I think I have an even bigger problem with plants. Over the past year I've just been buying all the plants to find out which ones grow (it's a secret, no one knows).  I'll post each tank in order of acquisition.

     

    1. Living room display, 40 breeder, initially set up August 2019.

    Below is what the tank looked like back in October. Started it out as a super-artificial scape, and then I realized how much I liked live aquatic plants and began adding them in droves.

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    After some experience with subsequent tanks, I went back to this one for an overhaul. This is what it looks like today (changing the substrate was a B-and-a-half):

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    YouTube video on this tank:

    The tiny sword plant you see in the lower left corner of the first pic has grown into the giant sword plant in the second pic. The floating moss ball was a recent addition from the Co-op, and while it arrived in great condition, I am cursed when it comes to growing moss. I just can't figure it out.

    Stocking: Angels, rosy tetras, maccullochi rainbows, australian rainbows, otos, powder blue dwarf gourami, and emerald corydoras.

    Update 4/10/21: I've been messing around with backlighting on this tank. See video below.

    2. Dining Room, 20 tall, initially set up September 2019

    I wanted to breed bristlenose plecos. It didn't take long before I saw baby bristlenose all over the glass, at least 30 of them. Unfortunately, they dwindled one by one over a period of two weeks - no idea why. There was one survivor, which has grown 2+ inches. But since that initial spawn, I've only seen white eggs that the male pushes out of the cave. Any tips to get this back on track? In addition to the plecos, it's housing my wife's platys from her classroom tank (she's a teacher) which are breeding, as well as breeding endlers and cherry shrimp.

    spacer.png

    Stocking: Male and female adult and one juvenile bristlenose pleco, platies, endlers, cherry shrimp.

     

    3. Daughter's tank, 20 tall, set up October 2019

    My daughter (8 years old) wanted a tank for her room. Trying to move her away from the artificial plants but she likes them too much. So I just have to keep doing bleach dips every month or so until I can get the lighting balanced (upgraded her light recently). The lighting upgrade seems to have negatively affected her live water sprite, though. Used to be lush and green and now seems to be falling apart.

    spacer.png

    Stocking: Platies, platy fry, green fire tetra, sunset honey gourami, pygmy corys, and guppies from my wife's classroom tank

     

    4. Son's tank, 20 tall, set up November 2019

    My son (6 years old) loves dinosaurs, so we went with sort of a prehistoric jungle theme.

    spacer.png

    Stocking: Zebra loaches, panda corys, cherry barbs, purple harlequin rasboras, and one platy (offspring from my daughter's tank)

    YouTube Video on my Kids' Tanks:

    5. The livebearer tank, 40 breeder, set up in February 2020.

    In the dining room next to the pleco fail tank, I have guppies, platys, and cherry shrimp breeding up a storm. I started with just guppies in the 20 tall in October, trying to breed the fancy strains from my LFS. I could never keep a single one alive for more than a couple weeks. I had purchased some already-pregnant females, which gave birth and died. I raised the fry and let them breed as well, and it looked like I was getting some strong stock out of them, so I set up this 40 breeder to let the guppies do their thing. Simultaneously, my daughter's platy was having babies, which I also added to this tank. Because of how much feeding I was doing, I added panda corys and cherry shrimp to the mix.

    But then in March/April, there was an outbreak of some horrid bacterial disease. My corys were happy, my shrimp were breeding, and the platys were thriving. But for several weeks the guppies died one by one, then two by two, then five by five, etc. I probably lost 75% of my guppy stock. Maracyn didn't touch it, nor did . What ended up working was kanaplex, though it crashed the cycle. Should've quarantined... I didn't lose any corys or platys during all this drama, though.

    I decided not to buy anymore guppies and just let my surviving endlers and guppies breed. Things are doing better, so much so that I've been able to grow out enough stock to trade in at my LFS.

    Also trying to grow java moss glued to foam (removed from my bonsai tree because nothing was growing).

    spacer.png

    Stocking: Guppies, endlers, endler/guppy hybrids, platys, panda corys, cherry shrimp, and amano shrimp

    Note: The background in the above tank, as well as the cave, were DIYs that were intended for tank number 6. However, I wasn't entirely satisfied with the result and found a better DIY method online. Still, didn't want the first background to go to waste.

    EDIT (April 30, 2021): The amazon sword has really taken over since that above pic. I finally finished my video on this tank:

     

    6. The Bedroom Display, 90 gallon, set up February 2020

    Sometime in December, I dove into a large DIY project. I had 1/2 inch glass cut to custom dimensions so it could fit in a particular space in my bedroom, and I siliconed it all myself. Tank dimensions are 55"L x 17"W x 24"H. I also built the cabinet/stand and created the foam rock background . The tree used to have the moss I mentioned above, but recently changed it out for subwassertang. I plan to buy more of it soon.

    Every plant in here is exploding.

    I've had trouble keeping cardinal tetras alive. Can't tell you how many I've purchased, but the 15 or so left in here are doing well now. I've lost far fewer rummynose.

    This tank is just so much fun to look at. The rainbows and corys are always spawning, the forktails play in the spraybar current, the rummynose stay together and swim back and forth, the amano shrimp are big enough to stay visible and crawl all over the rock wall, and the gourami patrols the tank like it's his job and eats from my hand. The cardinal tetra just sort of exist and look pretty.

    It's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning.

    spacer.png

    Stocking: Cardinal tetra, rummynose tetra, boesemani rainbows, forktail rainbows, pearl gourami, otos, julii corys, and amano shrimp.

     

    7. Betta in the bedroom, 16G fluval spec, set up June 2020

    My wife wanted a betta tank, so we got one, tank number 2 in the bedroom. She made all the aquascaping and stocking decisions. New tank so still sorting out the algae, fert/light balance.

    Another christmas moss floater, doing better in this tank for some odd reason, but still don't have high hopes. 

    spacer.png

    Stocking: pygmy corys, white cloud mountain minnows, and betta

     

    BONUS: Quarantine bin

    Learned my lesson with those guppies, so I'm quarantining now. I'm trying to add a few more cardinal tetra to my 90G. I've had great success with aqua huna fish, except for their cardinal tetras. This time around, I ordered 20 and put them in this 10G sterilite container. I lost 9 of them over 48 hours, but the remaining 11 have been alive for the past 6 days. Still don't look great, though.

    spacer.png

    • Like 15
    • Thanks 1

    Other Pets

    in Off Topic General

    Posted

    Jojo and Coco -- the puppy is Jojo, just adopted at the end of May. According to the dog DNA test we did, she's part Amstaff, Great Pyrenees, and Boxer. 

    We adopted Coco two years ago. She's half Amstaff, with some Australian cattle dog and Rhodesian ridgeback mixed in.

    JojoandCoco.jpg

    • Like 2
    • Love 1

    Hello from Louisiana!

    in Introductions & Greetings

    Posted

    It's hot. And humid. I was gung-ho about doing an outdoor pond in the beginning of COVID quarantine, but I'm glad I held off, because I remembered how much it sucks to go outside right now.

    Anyways, I'm Stephen (pronounced Steven, not Steffen). I'm 35 years old and work for a large tech firm (remotely). I have a wife, two kids, two dogs, two cats, and seven aquariums. Started this hobby super-casually when I was in my early 20s, took a long break, and dove back in hardcore last August. All the money I used to spend building/upgrading gaming PCs now goes to fish keeping -- it's a better addiction that my wife wholeheartedly supports and enables, and one which I've forced upon my kids (they love their respective aquariums, but they won't be watching a fishtube livestream anytime soon).

    Right now I'm at the stage of the hobby where I just want to have all the fishes, so I have settled on a bunch of community tanks and breeding livebearers and cherry shrimp (aka putting them in a tank and letting them reproduce in spite of me).

    I'll upload pics of my tanks soon I'm sure.

    • Like 3
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