[Show me your blackwater/botanical aquariums!]

@MickS77 Very nice! I'm planning a black water tank for my Cambarellus Shufeldtii, that's why I'm looking for inspiration.

[Show me your blackwater/botanical aquariums!]

As the title suggests, I'm planning on putting together a blackwater/botanical aquarium and am looking for inspiration.

[How to speed up NOB?]

8 hours ago, Diego said:

Incomplete nitrification makes sense only if you think there is already an imbalance between the AOB and NOB bacterias before overfeeding. Lets say if normally a system can cope with a level x of ammonia as it has enough bacterias (AOB+NOB) to convert it to nitrates, if you increase the level of ammonia to 2x, then you'll will experience a mini cycle: a spike of ammonia followed by a spike of nitrites. So why do I see the spike of nitrites but not the one of ammonia?

I think because the plants are taking in part of the extra ammonia while the AOB population grows, avoiding the ammonia spike. So now a larger population of AOB is producing more nitrites but the NOB population has not caught up yet and plants are not helping there. I register the only spike of nitrites.

Assuming I have enough fast growing plants which could cope with the extra ammonia from the overfeeding, I should not encourage the nitrification via biological filtering which only increases nitrites and nitrates. I think this is the idea behind chapter 7 and the Q&A on page 111 of Diana's book.

Thanks Shadow_Arbor, for the inspiring conversation. I have an experiment to run now. I have already gone through the water changes and yes of course it does work. I'll try something else now: removing a sponge filter. 

 

Good luck!

Just want to mention that in theory you could have had a small ammonia spike that you didn't test for in time.

It's also possible that you have many issues at play and not just one. A small ammonia spike, nitrate respiration and incomplete denitrification all working together to bring your nitrites up.

[How to speed up NOB?]

23 minutes ago, Diego said:

Good ideas Shadow_Arbor. I re-read chapter 4 (nitrite accumulation) but I am not convinced. Incomplete nitrification does not make sense. The tank has been established for quite some time and this unbalance is only caused by me adding extra food. Normally there is no accumulation of nitrites, the temperature is fairly constant as the tank sits in my living rom and the ph is high (7.8).

Nitrate respiration could be a thing as the levels of nitrates peaked at 30ppm during the nitirite accumulation event. I have a substrate that would invite anaerobic bacteria but it should effect the tank also when not overfeeding.

The other option is that unlike nitirites which are consumed only via nitrification, ammonia is removed by two processes: nitrification and plants. And plants prefer ammonia/um so they compete against the AOC. If this is true, I should get rid of some biological filtering (sponge filters) and let the plant to take the ammonia instead. Am I over filtering? 

Well if you think about it, incomplete nitrification makes a lot of sense. You over feed your tank, the plants help take up excess ammonia and the ammonia oxidizing bacteria multiply and get to work, now you have a nitrite spike. Seeing as plants prefer ammonium, you're not getting much help from them, so the bacteria are on their own. Assuming more nitrite is being produced than usual, your nitrite oxidizing bacteria need some time to catch up.

 

As for your second point, removing filtration is the worst thing you could do at the moment. Your plants and AOB aren't going to compete with one another in any drastic way. Worst case scenario the plants are taking up all the ammonium and your biological filtration is very weak. Seeing as you have nitrite and nitrate this isn't necessarily the case. Removing filtration will remove all types of bacteria which will only hinder you.

The best thing to do is water change your way out of this situation and next time you decide to over feed do so gradually. Feed a bit more every day until you're feeding the amount you want. That way your mini ecosystem has time to adapt.

[How to speed up NOB?]

36 minutes ago, Diego said:

Recently I noticed a noticeable level of nitrites (0.25 ppm) lingering in the tank after few days of overfeeding. I have been testing the water daily with the API test kit and never observed any level of ammonia >0. So my theory is that ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) act faster than their relatives nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) so that there will be always an accumulation of nitrite while the excess ammonia is converted to nitrates. Also AOB seems to be generated faster or live longer than NOB. Is this plausible?

Has anyone experience a similar issue? Anyone know how to boost NOB?

The tank is a well established 20 long very heavily planted with gravel-capped dirt substrate. There are 6 white clouds plus lots of cherry shrimps. The excess ammonia is caused by overfeeding. Temperature is around 73F. Two small sponge filters on each side of the tank.

 

The issue with your theory is that even if one bacteria "works" faster than the other, their population will increase (or decrease) depending on the amount of food available.

There are a few possible causes to your issue, I will state the two that I believe are most likely and how to counter them.

Theory 1: This, I believe is the more likely case, is incomplete nitrification. This means that the ammonia has been rising and converting into nitrite by the ammonia oxidizing bacteria. For some reason, the nitrite oxidizing bacteria are stressed, this could be as a result of very acidic water, low temp, or maybe a rough filter cleaning. The result? Nitrite oxidizing bacteria reproducing slower, and metabolizing slower. The solution, assuming nothing has changed drastically in the tank recently, water change and check your nitrites, the bacteria will eventually catch up assuming all is in order.

 

Theory 2: Nitrate respiration or incomplete denitrification. Since you have a soil substrate with a cap, I assume you aren't disturbing the substrate. If incomplete denitrification is the cause, it means that the nitrates are being converted into nitrites and then not into their final form of N2 gas. If Nitrate respiration is the cause, it is also a result of different bacteria transforming nitrate into nitrite (a different chemical process than denitrification). The more likely scenario out of the two is Nitrate respiration. Seeing as I'm unsure on how to improve conditions for denitrification your best bet in this case is to reduce nitrates. Less nitrates means less food for the bacteria to turn into nitrite. More info on these topics can be found in Diana Walstad's book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, specifically page 63.

[Anubias in a high tech setting?]

1 hour ago, MickS77 said:

I have anubia in a high tank but not a nano. I have a 30 in tall tank, 8x54w T5 light, and injected CO2. The anubia on rocks at the bottom. With the smaller water volume of nano tanks imbalances in the water happen a lot faster. I'd start slow with a short photo period, run the CO2, monitor nitrates so you don't get an algae outbreak. Crank the light and co2 once the bioload is established with fish and other inhabitants. Algae is always going to grow if you don't find the balance of light, CO2, fertilizers etc. 

I agree, it's definitely all about balance, the question is what kind of balance.

 

Since I'll be using an aquasoil I'm not worried about the root feeders. As a result I'm considering having a relatively low nutrient load in the water column. I believe, that in theory, this should starve out the algae as the anubias and root feeders will use up the little nutrients in the water but the high tech root feeders should have enough nutrients in the substrate.

[Favorite aquarium books?]

I love this book!

[Anubias in a high tech setting?]

I'm putting together a nano high tech tank soon, and one of my main plant choices might be anubias depending on the consensus of this discussion...

The tank is a shallow tank (26cm tall) and is going to have a very powerful light, injected CO2 and an aquasoil substrate for growing and propagating rooted high tech plants. I plan on aquascaping the tank, using spider wood. On the said spider wood I want to grow three different species of Anubias, Nana, Nana petite, and Barteri. These ideally will cover much of the root base leaving only the thinner roots exposed.

In my experience Anubias has grown best in low light setups with little fertilization. In higher light set ups they get covered in algae. Anyone have different experience or any tips?

[Other Pets]

This is Shadow, I've had her since she was a month old, she's seven now.

 

 

 

This is Lucky, she's six years old now.

[Aquarium Record Keeping]

On 7/16/2020 at 12:36 PM, Daniel said:

I am thinking about keeping records for my aquariums. I think I would like to track water parameters, foods fed, tank events. Maybe even miscellaneous stuff like water changes.

 

I am leaning towards an old fashioned notebook, sort of a daily diary. But the techie in me is saying, no…not  paper, go electronic like Word or Excel.

 

I want some easy otherwise I am concerned I will not keep up with it in the long run.

 

I do this for pretty much all my tanks. I write down every week the water parameters, size of water change, amount of fertilizer added and any new observations in fish behavior.

 

Edit: I write this down in a notebook.

[I think my crinim calamistratum may be a mommy]

On 7/15/2020 at 4:56 PM, Hamaquatics said:

Looking at my 55 gallon tank, I noticed something about my Crinim Calamistratum, there looks like a baby plant may be growing.

How long should I wait to separate them and how do I separate them? Do they just pull apart from each other?

Those are definitely new plants. I would wait until they get larger before propagating. In my experience the best way to propagate is to pull out the entire plant and gently remove the small ones with their roots intact. you could try gently removing the smaller ones without uprooting the plant when they get a bit bigger. Unless I'm tearing down a tank I generally leave the smaller ones, that way you get a bushier Crinum.

[Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS)]

On 7/17/2020 at 10:36 PM, DaveSamsell said:

Hi Pete.  Nice to meet you.😊

Personally, I don't consider any snails as "pests", but they get a bad reputation sometimes.  Often, it might be from over-feeding & now there are a bunch, etc, in one's aquarium.  Snails helped my aquariums a lot.

Bladder & pond snails are great also.  I like the MTS because they burrow into the substrate.

I also have Nerites for eating the green spot algae & some Mystery snails for other benefits.

But to answer your question:

These particular MTS's pictured are from Aquabid.  

I agree, I think that MTS are fantastic for planted tanks that use substrates prone to compacting (low quality quarts for example). I have some in a specific tank and use them as food for my Assassin snails when their population becomes bigger than wanted.

[High-Tech Sodastrem aquarium]

@Lizzie Block Thank you so much for the feedback and nice words! Your Cryptocoryne pink flamingo looks fantastic! Hope to have one soon and that it looks as good as yours! Once the green Bucephalandra grows out I'll take close ups of both of them and upload them for identification.

Now about the hardscape, the placement of the stones was intentional (well duh 🤣) but the tension wasn't part of the thought process behind it. The goal was to make a sort of mountain range leading down to a cove of sorts. The bottom left has two stones buried in the soil pointing in another direction to simulate fallen stones that created a sort of cove. The cove will eventually be planted with a carpeting plant of sorts, most likely Pogostemon helferi. I was looking to make this mountain range/cove look nice, didn't actively notice the tension made by the rocks, just thought it looked nice. Specifically in this scape I enjoy the current hardscape placement, but I'll definitely keep a closer eye to the directionality of the hardscape in future aquascapes.

 

Again thanks so much for the feedback and kind words😊

[High-Tech Sodastrem aquarium]

Recently I decided to put together a high tech aquarium. The aforementioned aquarium is a a 61 liter (H-40, L-45, W-34 cm), a good sized tank for light penetration.

The equipment I use is as follows:

• Ehiem liberty 75 hang on back filter
• Chihiros A451 Plus LED light
• Future heater will be the 50 watt Dennerle heater (summer is hot here so my room is cooled to 24C with AC)
• DIY Sodastream CO2 system

I decided to use Dennerle's Scaper's soil as a substrate, ended up using about 7 liters of the stuff, and dragon stone as the hardscape.

This is the only image I have right after adding the soil and hardscape, please excuse the terrible quality.

 

This image is 24 hours after setting up the tank. In this image I am using the Dennerle bio co2 system temporarily until I put together the Sodastream CO2.

The plant selection at the time of taking this image is as follows:

• Anubias nana
• Cryptocoryne nurii "rosen maiden"
• Cryptocoryne wendtii "brown"
• Cryptocoryne scurrilis
• Cryptocoryne balansae
• Eriocaulon vietnam
• Hygrophila pinnatifida
• Bucephalandra sp.

 

After all the parts for my CO2 system arrived I was finally able to put it together. This system consists of a 400g CO2 Sodastream cylinder, a TR21-4 to W21.8-14 adapter, and a CO2 regulator with a solenoid. Long term a large CO2 cylinder is better cost wise, but I decided to go with this system because I'm limited for space. 

The picture on the left is of the system in general, and on the right a picture of the adapter.

 

 

This is the aquarium now, I've moved around some of the plants and swapped some out for others.

The current plant list is as follows (would love if someone can identify the plants I'm unsure of):

• Cryptocoryne nurii "rosen maiden"
• Cryptocoryne wendtii "brown"
• Cryptocoryne scurrilis
• Cryptocoryne balansae
• Hygrophila pinnatifida
• Bucephalandra sp. (Dark green and reddish new leaves, it's the big one in the back) -unsure
• Bucephalandra sp.green (located on a rock just to the right of the filter intake) -unsure
• Bacopa colorata
• Alternanthera reineckii "mini"
• Blyxa japonica
• Nymphaea zenkeri (red tiger lotus)
• Ludwigia repens "rubin"
• Micranthemum Micranthemoides (pear weed)

I hope to soon add Cryptocoryne wendtii flamingo and Pogostemon helferi. These are pretty rare in my country so they're a bit pricey and hard to track down.

 

I'll update on the progression and stocking of this aquarium in the future.

Constructive criticism and advise is welcome.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day and thanks for reading!

 

 

[Hello everyone!]

Hi,

My real name is Yarden, I currently live in Israel. I've been in the hobby for about 3.5 years. I started with a 240 liter planted tank (that recently cracked and almost flooded my house), and have since progressed to owning four tanks as of writing this. From the start I've really taken a liking to the planted aspect of the hobby, recently focusing more on nano tanks and critters. Currently my favorite aquatic animal is the dwarf crayfish, specifically keeping Cambarellus shufeldetii. Here's some pictures of my tanks 🙂