DrwHem
-
Posts
33 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Store
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Profiles
Posts posted by DrwHem
-
-
I need to move this aquarium to the other side of the room. It's 60 gallons and as you can see is using some hardscape rocks.
If I took out 80% of the water do you think that it would be safe to life the tank separately from the stand? I'm not sure if the tank is stable enough and am hesitant to remove the rocks because I don't know that I can put them in the same way.
-
So i ordered some hygrophila pinnatifida to glue to some rocks. I pretty much got scammed as i paid $20 for 3 STEMS with no roots at all. Now im stuck with these things with no roots or way to connect them to the rocks and if i plant them down in my substrate im afraid they wont get enough light to thrive. The rocks i intend them for are about 3 to 4 inches above the substrate level.
Can these plants be floated for a few weeks to get them some roots so i can glue them down later?
-
So my epic battle continues and its not going well. A lot of the internet info im seeing tells me that the fluval fresh and plant provides high PAR readings at 19 inches, my tank is 22, but i cant image that 3 inches makes a huge difference. Plants seem to do fine for a month or 2 and then slowly get covered in black algae and die off. The 4 otto cats in my tank never attach to leaves only the glass.
I did a fairly large (for me ) plant purchase in spring. I usually do about a 20% water change and glass scraping once a week.
API root tabs 1 per cluster every 3 months
New Plants Late March:
Red tiger Lotus Bulb, still alive and appears fine
Limnophila Aromatica, all of this appeared to be growing quite well and then rapidly died off in the last month
Mermaid Weed, all but one died out in the last month
Rotala Macranda, all died except for 1 or 2 almost bare stemsAmazon Swords, are somewhat fine but not thrivingEarly May:
Glossostigma, all of this died
Chain Sword Narrow Leaf, most of this has diedI continue to dose with the 1 cap of Seachem flourish once a week because its all i have at the moment.
Fluval light settings:
10:00 to 4:30 full daylight
Pink 80%
Blue 5%
Cold White 80%
Pure White 100%
Warm White 80%
Filter: Marineland Magniflow Canister
Tray 1 Activated Carbon
Tray 2 Crushed coral
Tray 3 Seachem Matrix
Tray 4 Seachem Matrix
Tap Water Reading
General Hardness 150ppm
chlorine 1.5 ppm
Carbonate Harness 80 ppm
PH 7.2
Aquarium Water Reading
General Hardness 150
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 50
Carbonate Hardness 80
pH 7.2
Also, i currently use Aqua Care pro freshwater test strips but i have problems viewing the exact readings so i may just be reading my settings incorrectly the colors tend to blur together for me. I wish there was a strip that would just give me digital readouts lol.
In the fall i was planning on redesigning the tank and adding a lot of stacked rocks and adding in some hygrophilia pinitiffida on top of the rock to help get some plants a few inches closer to my light but i just find it hard to believe my light is considered low light at 22 inches.
-
1
-
-
Based on some Internet searches these are my ideas.
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Hygrophila polysperma
Rotala indica
Parrots feather/ myriophyllum
Moneywort
Guppy grass.
Any of these not low maintenance?
-
I have a 60 gallon 25 inch tall tank with a fluval fresh and plant 3.0 on top.
The issue with my tank is the height so while the light level in the top 60% of the tank is probably high, down by the sand it's low.
I have tried numerous low to mid light plants and they do well for a month or two and then they get black algae and slowly die.
The only thing currently more green than black is a few java ferns, a dwarf tiger Lily, and some Amazon swords.
I need something that is considered low light that will thrive and out compete this algae.
I have 4 Otto's, 4 nerite snails, and a corydora for my cleaning crew and I dose seachem flourish once a week.
-
Well I have a tall tank, so won't be much color with my current light other than green lol
-
I like the step by step guides for things I haven't done before. I do like the stacked rock look but it's amazing how expensive rocks can be and I don't need the 44 pounds they sell on Lowes website
-
1
-
-
-
Other than Java fern and anubis, what other plants can survive being glued to rocks?
I'm thinking about removing those pots in the right and putting a stack of flat rocks instead.
-
I'm not very good at laying out an aqua scape, everything I have just seems kind of flat.
It would be nice to have a way to plant some of my Amazon swords in a pot that looks like a rock, for example.
Anyone have any tips on how to redesign this tank? My tank seems too tall for a carpet to ever grow so I'll be adding in mostly Java fern, swords, and some wisteria once these things die off.
But i want to try something more interesting than just planting all on the same level.
-
2
-
-
I just did a 20% water change a few hours ago and added some aquarium salt and stress coat. Heres the latest test:
general hardness 150 ppm
nitrites .5 ppm
nitrates 50 ppm
carbonate hardness 80 ppm
ph 7.6
Current Fish:
1 Rainbow Shark
8 tiger barbs
25 assorted neon tetras
1 corydorra
2 otto cats
4 nerite snails
I generally do a 15% to 20% water change once a month. feed the fish about 4 times per week.
Also, the substrate is black sand with API iron root tabs underneath every cluster of plants which i add in about every 4 months.
-
2
-
-
So i continue to have issues with the black algae and now some string algae all over my plants.
I have changed my light settings to:
sunrise 8:30 to 10:30
Daylight 10:30 to 1700
Red: 70 Blue 5 Cold White 45 Pure White 70 Warm White 60
I bought 2 otto cats but they mainly stick to the intake tube as opposed to the plants...which is what i got them to clean lol.
I also added 4 spread out large bundles of Glosso Elatinoides and 2 bunches of Narrow Chain Sword
Im hesitant to turn the light down lower because thats why i got a new light in the first place, the old light was not strong enough for my plants.
How low can i safely turn down my light and keep my plants alive and starve out the algae?
Current Stock:
1 Red Tiger Lotus
6 stems Limnophila Aromatica
3 Mermaid Weed: high light recommended
3 Rotala Macranda: high light recommended
6 amazon swords (large and small variety)
A fairly large bush of Rotala rotundifolia
8 Bacopa stems
6 or so Cryptocoryne
-
So i am pretty sure any shrimp i add to the tank will be eaten by the tiger barbs.
I have also tried 2 times to add 4 otto cats to the tank but they tend to die for some reason. im guessing the rainbow shark probably chases them around too much.
-
Not sure how to keep the nitrates down besides reduced feeding. im guessing a lot of it is the melted off plant parts hidden somewhere.
ill try removing the blue from 20 to 5% and pushing back sunrise by an hour and bringing up sunset by an hour.
-
1
-
-
anyone have any recommendations for a quick growing no CO2 required carpeting plant? thats what my tank is lacking atm. my dwarf hairgrass died out and it was a nightmare to plant so ill not be doing that again.
-
nitrite 0
nitrate 50-75 pmm
carbonate hardness 80
ph 7.5ish
One of the trays in my filter is all crushed coral in order to stabilize the hardness. i just replaced it about 3 months ago.
-
This tank has been setup for about 3 years now and i would say 50% of the plants in the tank are about 1 year old with the other 50% less than 3 months. The last few years i would buy groups of plants and many would die off due to insufficient light or because the snails ate them. So i got the new Fluval fresh and plant about 6 months ago and i removed the ramshorn snails and replaced them with 4 nerite snails.
The hope was that the new light would enable these plants to grow rapidly to fill the tank and out compete the algae but that dosnt appear to be working. I have to do significant glass cleaning every week with some spot water vacuuming to get the fish poop and melting plant debris removed.
The last month or so i have also noticed what appears to be little algae plants growing on the sand now! i try to siphon them up but they are too heavy i guess.
What do i need to do to get this stabilized and remove the crap growing on my sand? i dont mind light cleaning once a week or so but it is currently a losing battle.
Tank: 60 Gallon
Light: Fluval Fresh & Plant 1100mm
Sunrise: 7:30-9:30
Daylight: 9:30- 17:30
- Pink 80%
- Blue 20%
- Cold White 65%
- Pure White 85%
- Warm White 75%
Sunset 17:30-18:30
Fertilizer: Seachem Flourish 1 cap weekly
-
-
so retested after adding new charcoal yesterday morning.
PH seems to have risen to around 7.4 ish with a carbonate harness around 30?
ammonia is still testing at 6+ so i added another 25 ml of APi ammo lock.
fish do not appear to be showing any signs of stress tho. I just wish i knew where this ammonia came from.
-
Lost another barb overnight 😞
i removed the old charcoal from my canister and rinsed everything off. also threw out the old fine sponge mechanical filter top. my water should be naturally high in KH and the tap PH is testing at 7.2. so im guessing the issue was that my charcoal couldnt effectively absorb anymore load.
did another 30% change and ill just let it sit for a day and test tomorrow.
-
i also have 2 trays of seachem matrix. the bottle does not say anything about if it needs to be changed out at all.
-
tap results:
General Hardness: 300+
chlorine: .8
carbonate harness: 120
ph: 7.2
so im not sure what in my tank is reducing me carbonate hardness.
should i be replacing my carbon level in my canister filter? its about 2 years old.
-
its always tested at around 6.4 for me since i have had test strips. frankly, the fish didnt seem all that bothered by it. i mainly just wanted to increase my carbonate hardness but theres no real way to do that without increasing ph.
-
just finished a 50% water change. added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt and 20ml of stress coat.
current readings
Nitrates .25
Nitrites .5
PH at least 6.4. my test strip dosnt go any lower.
Ammonia at least 6.0. test dosnt go any higher
python no spill cleaning setup question
in General Discussion
Posted
I have been using the python hose to clean out my tank for years. I didnt even think about it when i replaced my faucet with a Moen Adler Pull-down Kitchen Faucet. This faucet dosnt have a male thread for me to connect my python to and i was wondering if anyone knows if there is an adapter kit or something that will let me hook it up to my new faucet.
it has a smaller female thread.