Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
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Posts posted by Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
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Love the Co-op’s sponges. I include a few on every order to make sure I have some. I’ve had no trouble getting green spot algae of my glass with it.
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Ok, so I have made some changes and I’m watching to see what happens.
I removed my overrun stem plants and put them in an excel bath (bucket of water with regular dosage of excel) for four days closed in a five gallon bucket. Most of them survived and they are pristine. I also bought six new bunches of stems to add. I loaded the substrate with 10 root tabs and everyone is doing great. On Sunday I half dosed the tank with Easy Green (4 pumps in 75 gallon).
I have ordered root tabs from the Co-op to load my substrate with this week’s water change.
My nitrates tested at 10 ppm just now. This is my current goal so I will be watching the parameters closely this week. I tested before the Easy Green dose.
I currently have BBA on my anubias, Java fern, Jungle Val, Amazon swords, and pogostemon stellatus octopus. I’m considering dipping these in an excel bath (not the Val)....I’m trying to make corrections, but I would also like to remove the BBA now. Thoughts?
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19 hours ago, Zach S said:Do the looks of Hang on Back, Canister filters, or sponge filters bother you, if so why?No, because I understand their importance to my controlled ecosystem. Although I do what I can to hide them. I do wish I had bought smaller sponge filters so I had more space for plants.What function would you want to add to Hang on back or Canister filters?I love the idea of a heater in the filter. I like filters that are customizable.How often and why do you clean your hang on Back or Canister filter?I currently clean my canister filter every other month. It is pretty dirty by then and I want to maximize flow.How do you clean your Canister or Hang on Back filter?(is their something specific that bothers you about this process)I take the media out and rinse it in the tank water that I took out during a water change. When I dump the water I first rinse out the canister with the water from the water change.
Nothing about the process bothers me, but it can be a cold process in the winter.What types of filter media do you put in your Hang on Back or canister filter, why?Course sponge, Medium sponge, polyfiber, and bio rings.In what ways do you modify your Hang on Back or Canister Filter?I am thinking about making my own spray bar the one that came with my canister sits too low in my tank I filled the trays with my selection of media. -
If ammonia is that high I would do a water change to get it down, and it will have to be a big one. If you only did a 50% water change you would still be high. That being said I don’t like to do changes larger than that.
I would do the large water change and treat the water with enough conditioner to treat the full tank’s volume of water. A conditioner like Prime will “detoxify” the ammonia( if you aren’t using Prime you will need to check if yours will detoxify ammonia for 24 hours, many/most do). This way you reduce the ammonia, detoxify what is left, and do another water change tomorrow after testing. It should only take a couple of water changes. Oh! And no feeding until you get the ammonia back down to .25 or lower (you have nitrates so ammonia should be below .25).
As for the feeding problems. When you have your ammonia down feed some foods that sink more easily or put your flake under the water before releasing it. I would drop a small amount on the surface, and then put some under the surface for the other fish. The sinking pellets (like Extreme nano) would be less messy, but if you already have flakes and aren’t worried about getting your fingers wet you can wait on the new food.
But no feeding until you get the ammonia under control.
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I think it is commonly referred to as the “crown”. Basically where the transition to roots takes place. Gently pull the plant so the roots are covered but the crown is sitting in the gravel.
Also, root tabs. Amazon swords eat root tabs. Every other week. It stops growing start putting two every other week. It begins to yellow do it weekly. They are monsters that are never fed well enough. Haha.
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Just did a water test. Nitrates are down to 10ppm and pH is 8. Goal reached, now to hold.
I just added root tabs last weekend, but I’m ordering more next week from the coop. I’m going to try to keep the substrate full of them.
I believe my main water column feeders are the pogostemon, anubias, water sprite, and Java fern. So I’ll be watching them to make sure I am providing enough nutrients for these plants.
I have noticed more of my fish munching on the BBA so I hope it is continuing to die off.
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I have a small school of Corydora. I’m hoping to add more, but I started with Paleatus and I really want to do Sterbaii or something else. So I may do 6 and 6.
I also have a couple of nerite snails and mystery snails. I love watching the mystery snails travel the tank looking for food and a nice spot to sleep.
I don’t know if I consider them a bottom feeder, because they stay mid-aquarium on my plants, but I also have a small school of otocinlcus.
Lastly, Red Cherry Shrimp... everywhere. Even hanging from my floating water sprite.
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On 11/10/2020 at 11:53 AM, RobertE said:
Apart from the Tanganyika thunderdome tank, I was extremely impressed with the selection and layout of it. The whale shark tank was absolutely stunning and the freshwater layouts were inspiring.
General public aquarium discussion is welcome here or the Georgia Aquarium in particular.
Rickey’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN is also an amazing aquarium to visit.
I have wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium for a while too.
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I put in some extra work yesterday.
I am trying to lower the nutrients in my water column and increase the nutrients in my substrate. So last night was the second water change of the week. I’m hoping to get my nitrates below 20 ppm. They were around 30 ppm when I tested yesterday. I may do another before the end of the week.
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If you don’t see any behaviors similar to the one I don’t know that I would worry about it. If your tank is small enough a lot of people around here would still treat them all. Depending on species a lot of fish come in with parasites. When I first learned about the trio I dosed my whole tank to make sure everyone was good.
Now I use salt in my QT with everything that comes in.
is the QT’d fish eating?
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What are the symptoms?
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My old medium prefilter that I ran on my hob was too small for the intake when I bought a canister. So I took the canister intake off and ran the medium just on the intake tube (I removed the bulbous “cage”). It worked well, but I wanted to increase the filtration surface area.
The large is massive in my tank! It fits the intake “cage” perfectly, but it almost touches the substrate. I did some tweaking for now and I’ve been considering how I am going to modify it.
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Thanks! I know Corydora don’t need sand, but we really enjoy watching them on the sand side.
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It’s time to update this thread. I’ve posted in other areas as I’m working through some algae issues right now.
I’ve done a lot of trimming to remove BBA and GSA. I have recently stopped dosing Easy Green. Some forum users recommended using more root tabs and less liquid for my plants. I’m going to try that and see if it helps with the algae.
I also added a few bunches of Ludwigia to the tank last night... and today I noticed a planeria. Trying not to freak out. I know Cory says they are harmless. Looks like I’m doing some research.
Those Mollies are killing me. I have so many fry in the tank. They are everywhere. I recently bought four Gold Dust Mollies that I thought were female. They must have been too young. Two are definitely males. I don’t see a lot of breeding going on currently. I’ll be watching to see how off I am on the male to female ratio. I have some older fry that should be ok’d enough to sex soon. They all appear to be female.
Im pretty sure I am down to two mystery snails. Which is very discouraging because I hatched two small egg clutches in the tank. I guess I haven’t been feeding enough... but I feed heavy with all of the fry, shrimp, and snails. I’m surprised that I wouldn’t be feeding enough.
I changed the water yesterday so I’ll be testing the water tomorrow to see how I’m doing in nitrates.
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Im in the same boat. I’ve been putting a tab around my swords every 2-3 months and they are still struggling.
I didn’t realize I would spend so much hobby money on Root tabs. Haha!
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I had a system failure last week. I woke up to find the sponge filter was not running. My pump was not running. I had a spare air pump so Interested lugged it up and switched the line... no air.
I took my sponge filter apart and there was air coming through the line. My Ziss Never clog was... clogged. I loosened the stone, connected the line and it worked.
Unfortunately, through out all of this the little guy never moved. He was gone. Such a bummer. The hole was healing up, but he had lost all color around the area. I’m not sure if it was the infection or the airstone failure...
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There is a huge difference between the large and medium prefilter!
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I'm finding that I have been underfeeding with root tabs as well. I thought I only needed to replace them every 3 - 4 months... but I guess all of my plants would rather I do them every other week or so...
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I keep taking 4:3 photos with this new phone. Here is the whole tank.
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On 12/5/2020 at 10:02 AM, Tami said:
I am having the exact issue - try adjusting the easy green first but am getting impatient as now the black beard is growing hairs and my hard scape has green dots. I have a Fluval and the highest setting is warm light at 13% - I am trying to make one change at a time and just keep cleaning and trimming weekly. Maybe will go to just root tabs since I have dwarf sag/crypt wendii, amazon sword, anubias and java fern. Can't wait to see what other feedback comes through
I have cut back on the Easy Green. It might take a couple of weeks to get the nitrates down. I don’t want to do a big water change. I added some more root tabs yesterday as well as some more plants (Ludwigia). I’ll keep the thread updated.
I have also trimmed a bunch of leaves off my plants to remove the BBA and GSA. Slow and steady.
I have all of the plants that you have. All but the Java Fern prefer root tabs. I have a lot of trouble with Java Fern, but it’s my water. Everyone in my area has trouble with it.
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On 12/4/2020 at 3:31 PM, test.tin said:
I think one thing you can try doing is to cut back on dosing easy green. From what I could gather from your profile picture, majority of your plants are root feeders. I would personally cut back on the easy green and let the plants get nutrients by the root tabs. Maybe aim to be at under 20ppm, maybe even less for nitrate. The algae won't be able to access the nutrients from the root tabs, but can easily use the fertilizer in the water column.
Also, if you have some leaves that are just too covered in algae, I would recommend to just trim/cut that leave off. That way the plant can use that energy to grow new healthy leaves, instead of trying to repair that one.
Thank you for the advice. I think you are correct. I took inventory of my plants and most are root feeders. The nitrates being so high is most likely feeding the algae.
I have:
Ludwigia Repens
Rotalla Indica
Dwarf Chain Swords
Cryptocoryn Wendtii
Amazon Swords
Tiger Lotus
Bacopa Carolinia
Brazilian Moneywort
Jave Fern
Dwarf Sagitteria
and Water Sprite floating
So, yeah, there are a lot of plants. I need to order some more root tabs from the co-op. I think I like those best. I added more root tabs this week and some ludwigia. I also did a water change yesterday and I am not adding Easy Green yet. I’m going to try to lower the nitrates before dosing again.
Thanks again for the suggestion!
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On 12/4/2020 at 2:19 PM, DaveSamsell said:
Several Nerite snails helped reduce my GSA a lot.
I have two. I’ve tried to limit them because I don’t want the white dots. I’m adding one at a time to make sure I get all males. Hahaha.
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On 12/4/2020 at 2:35 PM, lefty o said:
nerites are about the only thing that seem to touch green spot algae. i know it has been a while since the original post, but i would cut back some on the easy green for a while. when nutrients in the water are more than what the plants need, it seems to me that is when algae becomes problematic.
I think you are on to something here. Some of my plants weren’t doing so great, so I thought I needed more easy green. But after evaluating my life pant stock, I think I need more root tabs and less easy green.
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10 hours ago, Ken said:
Back in the old days I gravel vacuumed, that was with plastic plants and goldfish. I wonder if with smaller less messy fish and live plants maybe I just could just let it go.
I have a panted tank and I don’t vac the substrate. I want all that poo to get into the gravel and feed my plants.
I do still change water, but I would live to get to the point the plants take care of it all.
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And Now Green Spot Algae
in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Posted · Edited by Mitch Norton
That’s what I’ve been thinking today. I have the Anubis on some pieces of driftwood that can easily be removed. Thanks for the advice.