MattyIce

If you plant an aquarium, add fertilizer, and start to see plants grow, you know that the plants are feeding on stuff in the tank, so you know they can feed on fish waste in the tank. In the event that you got the plants from a running aquarium, there was likely bacteria on them, so you also seeded beneficial bacteria in the tank when planting the plants. These are the factors going into planted cycling a new tank. To note, the plants aren't taking up too much waste, and the bacteria only grows as large as you feed it. In my opinion, a planted cycle is really more just making a safety buffer for the first few fish you add until the tank gets fully cycled to an actual fish bio load, so still be cautious with how many fish you add at a time for at least a few weeks after you notice plant growth. In my opinion, the right amount of plants would depend on how many fish you are planning to initially add to the tank. If once the tank is Plant Cycled, you plan on adding 3 white cloud minnows and slowly add more every week after that, you would barely need any plants. Where if you want to add a lot of fish initially, you need a lot of plants.

A couple months ago I Planted a Tupperware container with 5 Val and 5 Potamogeton Gayi, along with some other stuff. The Val and Gayi flourished, so I took a huge chunk of plants from the corner for the tubs: Separated them out to individual rooted sections and planted them up. I put The Val in the tub that already had some and the Gayi in the other tub. had a blue hygro grow emersed like crazy, brought it over to my 150 to try and convert it. It’s been in there for over a month and doing good so I decided to trim out the rooted sections and plant them in the tub I was able to get 5 good rooted sections I also scrounged up 5 dwarf sag runners and 2 Taiwan lily that I got planted in the Val tub I have a scarlet temple growing emersed that I want to convert so I moved it to the 150 gallon, but I was able to trim a rooted piece from the bottom that I planted in the Gayi tub:

Been trying to make cheap planted tubs for propagation and rooting trimmings. I have a dirted indoor 50 gallon rubbermaid pond and a dirted indoor 40 gallon tuff stuff for this purpose. Today I set up 2 more, two large concrete mixing tubs from Home Depot, 13$ each for the tubs,24 x 36 outer dimensions, 8 inches tall, 20.9 gallons when filled to the rim, I’m going to use this journal to document my progress. Dirted with a thin layer of miracle grow organic garden soil: used pea pebbles to cap (full bag for each): did 100% water change like 6 times on each: using a single 32 watt ge balanced spectrum grow light for each: No heaters, but I am going to get sponge filters for them. Had some Val runners I trimmed out of another tank, maybe 9 of them, planted them in one of the tubs:

I grew some in my pool over the summer that flowered, not sure why it flowered,though lots of ferts, lots of room to grow, and direct sun for most of the day: My plant was huge, some of the lily pads were over foot in diameter and the flowers were 8-10 inches in diameter. I don’t know if growing to that size is a requirement for it to flower but if it is, a 29 gallon might be too small.

Got a brute trash can and the wheel dolly, 20 gallon, put in a bulk head, and 2x3/4 mip to 1/2 barb connectors that fit the bulk head. The bulk head is low, this makes it easier to start a siphon on tanks that are low to the ground. With the hose connected to the trash can it is difficult to start the siphon. I have a barb inside with a short length of hose that I connect when i need to start the siphon. When it arrives I’m going to use a transfer pump and 20ft of python hose for draining the trash can. With the transfer pump I can keep that stationary where it needs to be plugged in/hooked to the drain, and just drop the python hose in the trash can when I need to drain it.

So with tanks the side panels fit between the front and back panels but they all sit on top of the bottom panel so the 5 panels are 2 x side panels that are 11.25 ish x 18 2 x front panels that are 30 x 18 1 x bottom panel that is 12 x 18 i trimmed them into 2 side panels that are 11.25 ish x 17.25 ish 1 bottom panel that is 18 x 30 2 front/back panels that are 12 x 18 2 eurobracing strips that are 2 x 18 - I would recommend 3 inch in the future to make cutting the glass easier. sanded everything down and reassembled as you said. Once back together I added a layer of silicone as extra protection on all edges. With the front panels at 12 inches and the side panels at 11.25 ish, I use the euro bracing strips sitting ontop of the side panels while bracing the front and back panels at the ends of the strips to kinda fill in the difference so I don’t have to trim down the front and back. with the front and back panels now being 12 inch tall instead of 18 but the same thickness glass, I have no worries about the front and back panels, but now the side panels span a 18 inch gap instead of 12, even though it is only 12 in tall, to be safe I give them that extra support.

Action movie: the fifth element Comedy: groundhog day Drama: Rashomon Horror: jeepers creepers Fantasy: Akira Sci-fi: Akira Western: once upon a time in the west Sports movie: Diggstown Pirate movie: The Princess Bride Christmas movie: Harold and Kumar Christmas Instead of category I did a few greatest movies by actor as a kind of category Buster Keaton: The General Humphrey Bogart : We're no Angles Toshiro Mifune: Sanjuro Audrey Hepburn: Roman Holiday Marlon Brando: Munity on the Bounty Ask me what the greatest movie of all time is and it is hands down The Princess Bride. It is almost never #1 in any category, but almost always top 5, giving it an overall score that nothing compares to.

If you are any good at cutting glass, and have the tools for sanding down the sharp edges, you could take it apart, and rebuild as a 29 gallon lowboy:

been wondering how something like this would work, more specifically a crushed coral eco complete cap for a dirted tank, than the fluorite sand blend you used, though they have similar cec. This is all theory I’ve been thinking about, but With the soil at a 40-100 cec but over saturated with nutrients, initially there will be excess nutrients, with the fluorite or eco complete at around 7-11 cec I would think work as a buffer for the early stages of a dirted tank helping reduce the likely hood of algae in combination with water changes while perhaps also shortening cycling . Going to try the crushed coral eco cap for my next dirted, I’m wondering, What kind of lighting did you use, how long did you cycle the tank before planting it, and did you notice any algae issues?

Doing well, filled to 75% yesterday after 24 hours and then today got it to about 90-95%. Did a 1/3 water change early today and then filled it to 90 ish %. Later in the day I noticed the fish didn’t seem happy, so I did another 1/3 water change And every one is happy now. I’m thinking when I had it at half tank, waste started building up and I needed to do the extra water change to get it back to normal. Between the lights being off and condensation, it’s not the best picture, but it’s just condensation and the seams are looking great: As far as today though, it’s been about 2 weeks since I started my 29 convert low boy, with out a heater temp ranges from a low of 70 at night and 74 during the day, water measurements are right, and the algae is taking off, so I moved my 5 gold Rice fish, 3 juvi white clouds and about 20 cherry shrimp into the tank:

From the front: closeup: From the back: Don’t really leave it for beneficial reasons, more just lazy.

I am pretty sure it is Pogostemon stellatus octopus

Glass Center brace dropped into my 150 while doing a water change. Silicone just gave way. Scrapped out the silicone to take the center brace apart into 3 pieces, cleaned it up, reassembled it and siliconed it back in place. Going to keep the tank half full for at least the next 24 hours. Looped some string around it and have it hanging from a piece of wood to keep it in place until it cures:

Been about a week since the last pictures and about 3 1/2 weeks since I first found her in the overflow. I’ve done 2, 35% water changes since the last pictures and haven’t added any more salt or meds. The wound on the side looks to have a little scaring but is pretty well healed and the tail looks like, with time, it will completely heal.

Does any one know if there are any studies out there specifically on the CEC of Eco complete? I was not able to find any. the best I can find is a study on volcanic basalt, showing it having a CEC around 8-11, which is high compared to inert substrates that have almost no CEC, but kind of low compared to something like organic soil which can have a CEC ranging from 40-100. A preliminary study of acid volcanic rocks for stonemeal application - ScienceDirect WWW.SCIENCEDIRECT.COM This study is related to the chemical and mineralogical characterizations and to the availability of mineral nutrients in four fresh samples of fine m…

Was watching an older filtration video from aquarium coop today, Cory says something about how all that really matters is surface area for bacteria that is touching water, he also briefly brings up the idea of putting a HOB on a sump. he says it better than me at around 32:50:

Potamongeton Gayi? Long thin leaves with some Wine color: spreads with runners, with higher light it is a lot more red:

In a 75 gallon I had 2 jack dempseys, a dominant electric blue and a normal jack, both female. I got the blue with bad popeye that I couldn’t completely cure so it really only has the one eye, which typically allows everything else an easy escape. I guess it got a little too aggressive towards the other jack and The other jack tried to escape into a very tight overflow. I did not notice it for about 24 hours due to heavy plants, the fish was weak with half the tail fin gone and a large gash on its side. Moved her to a 40 breeder grow out tank with about 15 juvi jacks. For the first 5 days Daily I’d do a 50% water change around 8 am and dose myracyn and salt to bring tds to 300 from a stable water source at 125. In the evening I’d do a 35% water change with just adding salt to bring tds back to 300. All water changes were done with water at the same temp as the tank. these are the first photos I took, Cloudy fuzz initially formed on the wounds, it had just started to clear off: here is from the next day the fuzz is a little more clear in this picture: And 2 days after that, 6 days after the initial injury, most of the fuzz is gone, and the tail fin isn’t as ragged, can almost see new fin growing: over the next few days the tail fin is showing some good growth, and the top of the wound on the side is starting to heal. Here are some close ups from last Thursday: and here are some closeups I took yesterday: At this point I’ve stopped dosing the marycyn. Every other day I do a 35% water change, and I keep the tds around 250 using salt.

Activated carbon can help remove chemicals, I would put some in my tank as a precaution if I was in the same situation.

Compared the GE 32 watt, Phillipps 250 watt equiv , and kessil a360X tuna sun on my 150 shinning through a thick layer of duck weed and floating plants. used manual settings on my camera except for the white balance so exposure settings are the same. GE 32 watt: Phillipps 250 watt equiv: Kessil a360X: Since with the lenses they are similar to a single point light like the kessil or the sun, I get a little shimmer. I just set up a tank with 2 of the GE's and 2 sponge filters for the water movement, here is a sample of the shimmer I get:

I use GE 32 watt balanced spectrum grow lights, they work great, 28$ if they are on sale + 8$ for a fixture. For tanks that need two or them, like my 40 breeder or my 50 Rubbermaid pond, I use 1 GE and 1 Phillipps 250 watt equilivelent flood light. Here is one of the GE lights, I have it about 2 feet above a 40 gallon tuff stuff, provides pretty decent light: I’ve added a few more plants to it, but here is a more current photo:

My assumption is that you are using Aquarium Co-op Brine shrimp and that you were using the San Fran Bay brand. I have found the aquarium co-op brine shrimp take a little longer to hatch than the San Fran Bay Brand (2-8 hours longer) and that almost all the eggs float, whether they are hydrated or not, instead of the san fran bay brand which mostly sink to the bottom once they hydrate. So after 24 hours, there wont be that many hatched shrimp, barely any dead brine shrimp either, almost everything will be floating. this sounds like what you are experiencing, i'd say wait longer, if you give it another 4 hours and the brine shrimp you can collect increases, it is probably just a matter of the AC eggs taking a little longer to hatch than what you are used to. Though incase that is not the issue, another factor is that pickeling salt is more fine and packs together better than other salts, like kosher, if using pickling salt as a replacement for Kosher salt in a recipe you would typically only need about half. Maybe try 1 and 3/4 tablespoons of the Pickeling salt instead of 2.

Got the last item piece to this puzzle today, the bulbs and fixtures, so I got it set up Miracle grow dirt capped with pea gravel and crushed coral: Planted with spare plants I had floating around, pogo octopus, jungle Val, normal Val, Taiwan lily, and a little ludwigia: Planning on rice fish, white clouds, and shrimp.

I'm about 30 miles north of Philly. About 2 years ago my mother got a 100 gallon Rubbermaid to sit in on hotter summer days. Used it that year, took the plug out for winter, and left it sit outside, right side up so water pooled in the bottom. the next summer no one felt like cleaning it, so it continued to sit through a second winter until this year when I used it for summer tubbing. I've had no issues with it.

Amano shrimp: