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OnlyGenusCaps

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  1. OnlyGenusCaps
    That sucks, dude! I am so sorry to hear it. I've been battling a restriction in part of the soil pipe, and getting my kids' bathwater coming up the floor drain (nothing into the tanks, as I have an air break for their drain), but that is nothing like you are dealing with. Good luck! I can't even imagine. Well, I can, but I don't want to.
  2. OnlyGenusCaps
    A microscope photo would go a long way to a closer identification, but if I had to guess, I would guess something in the Chaetophoraceae like a Stigeoclonium species. The branching pattern could suggest something in the Cladophoraceae like a Cladophora species, but those tend to be finer and wispier in FW species, in my experience. Yours looks a bit coarser which is why I'm leaning toward the former guess. But this is just a guess. Whatever it is, I agree it is a very cool looking algae! What a nice discovery upon feeling better! I came across what I would call "Green Beard Algae" once at a LFS. It was beautiful! It had a dark aspect to it like the regular Audouinella BBA, but with the ends being almost metallic green like the band in the right light on a neon green tetra. The owner game me some for free, but it never made it in the tank I introduced it to. I would have taken an entire tank covered in that stuff!
  3. OnlyGenusCaps
    Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the meeting, and felt enough of a connection to join the club. It's really a bunch of very good folks. And now one more! 😃 Welcome!
  4. OnlyGenusCaps
    Thanks! You know how long I've wanted them, too. Smaller scale than the original plan, but I think that's going to work out fine. Today's update is that I finally, and at long last, have an automatic water changer (AWC) that I am happy with! It took 4 iterations but I'm finally happy. I've done PVC, drip irrigation line, PEX tubing, and none of those worked well for me. Their either leaked, or were hard to regulate, and I ended up tearing all of them out eventually - at loads of wasted expense. The ironic thing is my final setup is inexpensive. So here it is: 1) I had to get some work done on my plumbing system (I have a well and so I have various filtration I manage). This was probably the most expensive bit, but I got a harden hose valve installed in the spot that had the water at the stage of filtration I wanted to use. To that, I attached a battery operated sprinkler timer from Amazon with two zones, which is all I needed. Then I attached a fitting that got me to 3/8" RO line tubing. 2) The 3/8" line then runs to a group of tanks. When I need to branch to a single tank, I use either a T fitting with a reduction to 1/4" RO line. 3) The final tank on a line gets a reduction fitting down to 1/4" as well. 4) The water is delivered through my homemade tops via a 1/4" hole I drilled to create a tight fit for the incoming RO tubing. And that's it! It is the simplest system I've built, and probably not coincidentally, the one that has given me the fewest problems. Really anyone who can hook up a garden hose, or use push connect fitting for a home RO filter, can build this. Plus, it is quite inexpensive. Finally, I have my forever AWC. 🥰
  5. OnlyGenusCaps
    And I for one am so glad you did!
  6. OnlyGenusCaps
    Can you explain? That checks out!
  7. OnlyGenusCaps
    Nerites: 5 will keep your biofilm down and the glass pretty clean (except for the eggs, which you'll have to scrape off), they won't eat leftover food that cichlids leave behind though MTS: start with any number, you'll have plenty soon enough
  8. OnlyGenusCaps
    Glad I'm not the only one! It's a big reason I don't have tanks smaller than 20gal. I can see I am in good company.
  9. OnlyGenusCaps
    Welcome! I'm down in the Cities, but the local club (Minnesota Aquarium Society) has nearly 400 members from all over the state (and across the country as well as beyond). If you are looking to connect with local, or local-ish folks in your case, feel free to join our meetings. You don't need to be a member to attend the online meetings, and we have one on guppies tomorrow at 7pm. Good to see you here!
  10. OnlyGenusCaps
    Are those macros growing on the powerhead too?! A tank full of life!
  11. OnlyGenusCaps
    As someone who drills all their tanks, but still struggles with small tanks, may I ask what specifically you changed to achieve your success?
  12. OnlyGenusCaps
    In my 75gal mbuna tank I have Colombian ramshorn snails who help clean up the uneaten food (leftover Repashy Super Green gel food with veg'n stuff thrown in the mix) and do a little on the glass. I'd also add limpet nerites, or any "horn" nerites with spikes for better glass clean up.
  13. OnlyGenusCaps
    Oh good! That means I didn't get too lost. 🤪
  14. OnlyGenusCaps
    Wow! Just, wow! That's an simple and elegant solution to home blackworm cultivation! I might try to keep some blackworms again. You have aeration, but do you use biofiltration? Do you think it would be beneficial for the setup if the aeration came from a sponge type filter? How much and how often do you do water changes? Would you be willing to give step-by-step for your final tower design, and you feeding procedure? This is really cool!
  15. OnlyGenusCaps
    It's a miracle! Well, science. Which is a miracle!!!! So, I was adding the phyto to my tank to help get the pods established. Some of the algae took hold on the rocks, as you can see in the last update. Well... I stopped dosing the phyto figuring the pods now had enough algae to eat. Check out the rocks now! I don't know how well it comes through in the image but - Gone! It's all gone like a week later. None of the visible algae remains. Not on the rocks. Not on the substrate. Nothing. The copepods ate it all! I've started dosing phyto again. In related news, I now have plans with a live-foods expert in the state to go collecting copepods in FW around here. We are going to collect, isolate, and try to culture pure strains of benthic copepods with the intent of making this sort of sorcery happen in FW tanks. Can you imagine starting a tank and dosing FW pods knowing you could skip the diatom stage?! Or knowing if you got hair algae, or green-spot algae, that you could introduce some pods and not have to think about it again. That's the dream! And our goal.
  16. OnlyGenusCaps
    Agreed! Well done on the revision @dasaltemelosguy! There is likely to be some Al (though I am not aware of any Al accumulators in algae - there are a range of metal accumulators in vascular plants however, but topic for another day). I suspect, if I am following your train of thought here, perhaps the more salient issue is that the Mg plays a critical role in the metabolic processes in the algae.
  17. OnlyGenusCaps
    Now that's a dog who is begging for some skijoring!
  18. OnlyGenusCaps
    Ah the freedom that obsolescence brings! No longer pressed by the requirements set upon me. No, no. I'll be with my tanks, thank you. 😎
  19. OnlyGenusCaps
    I grew up alpine skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But now I live where it is flaaaaaaat! Some people still try to alpine on little bumps, but I've decided it's important to adapt to my current conditions, so I took up nordic skiing when I moved here. Plus, I trashed my knees doing moguls when I was younger avoiding knuckle daggers (i.e. snowboarders 😜) who at least at the time would plunk down in the middle of runs and just become speed bumps. Moguls guaranteed no boards! 🤣 Now the battle is with train trashing snowshoers. There's always something I suppose.
  20. OnlyGenusCaps
    I've not. I have one. But in the 10+ years I've been growing it, I've just kept it with my other Sarrs. I have used the pitchers in cross section as displays at the State Fair before though. I probably should have put it in with some guppies at some point and found out if the traps work to catch fish as they are purported to. Still time, I suppose.
  21. OnlyGenusCaps
    Wow! I've been out of the hobby for like 2 years, and I've never heard of that vendor! Their prices are all over the map, as is their selection. I can't even process it right now. So weird! Got it! That makes sense. I am always curious when folks outside of the CP hobby have success with the plants. The hobby (or as I just learned, as I knew it back in the stone ages of 2 years ago!) is pretty canalized into a single way of cultivation. So, when folks who aren't steeped in that mindset succeed, there can be a lot to learn! I'm always excited if I find out I have been doing something wrong for years because I just wasn't adventurous enough. Sorry, I didn't mean to take us down the garden path. It's a great plant, and I am glad you shared it with everyone here!
  22. OnlyGenusCaps
    Oh... See, that's the only reason I would consider doing a real "paludarium". If I don't need the "above surface-tension" space, then why bother? Or, at least that's my approach. You know, if you could land some Amazon milk frogs, they do well in setups like that, are no threat to fish, and if you can raise tads, they sell. Really well! Just a thought. Regardless, it sounds like an awesome project, and I am excited to see it come together. I look forward to updates!
  23. OnlyGenusCaps
    I don't believe you for a second, you young whipper-snapper! I know you got the Insta-Toks. (How old do I have to be to talk like that?! I already love that I am called an "elder" millennial - who prefers to think of themselves as Gen-X, thank you very much!).🤣💀😂💀
  24. OnlyGenusCaps
    I've not heard of them being invasive anywhere. But they are considered challenging to grow in the CP community, so well done! Did you get yours from Phil at Meadowview in VA? I think Mike at The Carnivorous Plant Nursery in MD used to have the red variant from Dawrin, Australia. Be warned though, his prices are usually pretty high! What water hardness do you grow it in?
  25. OnlyGenusCaps
    Hi @anewbie! I haven't made a proper paludarium since before the term existed - we just called them all vivariums back then (we didn't know!). When I did it, I got a sheet of acrylic from Tap Plastics the size I wanted the background. Created a wooden frame around it, coated in epoxy release. Set out some lace rock I liked, and added an appropriate epoxy (also from Tap). Then before the epoxy cured, I added a bunch of my favorite aquarium gravel to it, to give it texture. Once it was cured, I took off the frame, and drilled holes into the top so I could create a drip wall, and along the bottom so the water would refill from the bottom. The background was placed into the tank about 3cm off the back glass, and sealed in place with silicone. I'd show you a picture, but if one survives it would be somewhere in my parents house; you see it was taken on something called... Film. Strange stuff. Required a drug store and patience. I wouldn't recommend the above process, though the final product was very durable! I will say I don't like foam backgrounds. Though what @James V. did above is really nice! Josh's Frogs makes various cork flat backgrounds. Some are flat (agglo, whatever that is) and the "natural virgin cork sheet" in various sizes. Those make doing cork backdrops easier, depending on the look you are going for. It becomes cut to fit and silicone in place. As another option, Glass Box Tropicals has sheets of hygrolon, which looks totally fake, because it is; but can grow moss and plants to a density that completely obscures it. What are you planning on stocking with?
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