Lizzie Block
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Posts posted by Lizzie Block
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On 6/17/2021 at 5:30 PM, Leo2o915 said:
For the salty shrimp GH\KH+ for a 5 gallon bucket how much to keep it under 200
Under 200? I'd just do one scoop in 5 gallons if you still have the little spoon it comes with. It's really tough to know exactly how much without measuring. I believe I used around one scoop give or take to achieve 100 TDS in 5 gallons of RO water. So maybe you could add a little more. But I always measure as I go to make sure I'm not adding too much.. highly recommend getting a TDS meter if you don't have one already. If you're trying to achieve an exact level of TDS.
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On 4/24/2021 at 9:46 AM, Trish said:
@Lizzie BlockThis is still one of the most beautiful Betta photo's I've ever seen. Is he still with you and doing well?
@TrishOmg you're too kind, thank you! 💜 He is still with me and he's honestly doing better than he's ever been! He's almost 2 years old now and I learned his original coloration is called 'butterfly' in the betta world. But, his white color faded away entirely after he got that bad case of fin rot. Now he's this gorgeous bright blue turquoise all over with a little patch of orange on his head! hah! no idea where that came from.
Hope your tanks are doing great too!!
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@Irene Yes! We just had this conversation. More people are getting hyped about CO2 lol.
@Daave I run 5 lb cylinders on 10 gallon tanks. Paintball cylinders for smaller nano tanks. If you're just getting into CO2, I wouldn't start off with a paintball cylinder. It can get tricky with different regulators and adapters and you're more prone to leaks, have to refill more etc etc. For a 10 gallon, I've gotten a 5 lb cylinder to last 6+ months easy before the tank even got low.
There are lots of different types of regulators out there, it's hard to know what you want until you start playing with them lol. Amazon has a lot to choose from. CO2Art has been in the game for awhile and makes reliable products. I tend to lean towards CO2Art - their dual stage reg with solenoid and bubble counter is my favorite. However, I did replace the inside plastic ring with a rubber one to prevent leaking. And I generally recommend having some thread tape handy because it can help you stop leaks too.
It's super important to remember that adding CO2 to an already established tank will affect your water parameters as the dissolved carbonic acid lowers the pH of your water. Depending on how high your pH is now, it could be a significant change if you start pumping lots of CO2 in suddenly. I always recommend a longer term, gradual change so that livestock can get used to their new water conditions. 🙂
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@H.K.Luterman Your dog is so cute! Enjoy your goodies!! I'm not responsible for any new tank setups 😉 LOL
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Hello everyone! It's me again, so you probably know what that means by now lol. 😛
And if not, well I am here to give away some well-deserved goodies to three wonderful forum members who have been actively posting content and just generally making the forum fun place to hang out! Three Care packages will be sent out total and they'll be going to:
!! Congrats !! Shout out to these members for being active on here, posting fascinating journals and photos and helping others out wherever they're able. Thank you, friends!
And THANK YOU to EVERYONE for participating and being a part of our community! Anyone can win a care package - So, I will see you all next time on this thread 🙂 Have a great evening ~
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Friends... it's time to give away more Care Packages! Can you believe it's already been a month since the last round?! Shout out to the winners last time and thank you guys for sharing the unboxings with us.
As per usual, three lucky Nerms will once again be receiving a fun Co-Op care package with all types of goodies for being a positive contributing member of this Care forum. These folks have actively been creating topics and posts, sharing journals, photos and more during their time here. A huge thank you for inspiring others and making this community feel like home:
Time to celebrate 🥳
And finally, the last shout out goes to... EVERYONE. For being part of this forum and making it possible. Thank you forum members!!
Have a wonderful evening everyone. Till next time -
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That looks like red flame sword to me 🙂 I gotta agree with Brian, I don't think it would hurt to have root tabs on hand. My guess is the sword is fairly happy now anyways since you've added a bunch of osmocote. In theory, you probably wouldn't need root tabs for some time. If it's growing new leaves, I'd just leave it alone and see what it does. It appears pretty healthy. If growth slows or stops, then try adding root tabs.
Only thing I noticed was you buried the plant fairly deep. Normally I'd recommend planting above the crown (base of plant, where roots meet stems). Especially in sand substrate which can become more compact over time as the tank matures. Just something to consider if you notice the plant suffering at all.
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I'm not completely sure if i'm looking at the same thing - are you referring to the long spiral shaped thing? I've seen those occasionally on the Jungle val that the Co-Op sells. I think it's a flower stem from when the plants were growing out at the farm. It's normal for them to die off and come back as the plant grows. I hope that's what you're looking at anyway lol 😛
Jungle val propagates by sending out baby val plants via a thin stem along the substrate line. So if it's doing that in your tank, you're in good shape, just let it do it's thing and provide plenty of light and fertilizer. Even if you just have healthy roots, a plant can bounce back in time.
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23 hours ago, Slash said:
@CandiTo summarize everything: I think my Crypt melted because of the KH going way down and a lack of new root tabs. Everything else still seems fine and somehow my PH is constant. In addition to Root Tabs should I get Wonder Shells or Crushed Coral to bring up the KH?
Second question: Should I get a phosphate pad for my hang-on back filter to reduce phosphates in my water to get a handle on the massive hair algae problem I have or will that hurt my plants because they need some phosphate (Val, Annubias, Christmas Moss, Crypt, Marimo Moss Balls and guppy grass)?
Third question: What plants should I get for a different tank I have to plant in a SAND substrate? It's a 10 Gallon Pea Puffer tank. Low light.
@Slash I wouldn't overthink it - my guess is that your crypt melted due to the drastic change in water hardness and buffering capacity (KH). If I were in your shoes, I'd go with crushed coral to bring that up as it lasts way longer than a wonder shell. Therefore getting more bang for your buck. The one key with crypts is absolutely no change in parameters, or you will likely get melt. Long term, best way to keep them thriving is not to change anything.
Next. Phosphate pads will not hurt your plants - I mean, I wouldn't run them forever in the tank, because it's usually not necessary. And because yes, it's true that plants need a small amount of phosphate as nutrients. But this is a very small amount we're talking. Maybe just give one pad (you can cut it down to size) a try over the course of a few weeks or so to see if that makes a dent in the hair algae. If not, it's something else. Excess nutrients, light, too much iron there are a number of causes for hair algae. You'll have to trial and error: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/pages/algae-identification-guide-1
Third question - Pea puffers looove plant cover. I'd go with some java fern, anubias of different varieties, maybe some water sprite. If you're content on the sand substrate, I would add root tabs if you want to plant into the sand. But the plants I have just listed don't even need to be. If you go to our website, you can filter plants by low light to see all your options 🙂 https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/live-plants/light-requirements_low-light-plants
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I don't think the USB nano is strong enough sorry to say. I'd go with something more powerful like an Aquatop pump.
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Mermaid weed is a super unique and cool looking plant, I would have picked it up too! I've had it grow just fine with medium-high light and fertilizer in a non-Co2 tank. It stayed a greenish-yellow color. I've also grown it with Co2 and high light and that's how I found to get much more reds out of the plant.
It can be finnicky for some, but I find plenty of nutrients and light do the trick. It's also really interesting to grow it under water and above water because the two forms are so different. I wish you all the luck!
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40 minutes ago, ADMWNDSR83 said:
I couldn't help but notice that @Lizzie Block is listed as "The Quiet Type," because she only talks when she wants to make some people's WEEK!
LOL you're going to love it!
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Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all are having a great week. To make it even better, let's give away some Care Packages!! 🎉
As many of you already know, the Care packages are sent to a few members for contributing positive and thoughtful topics, photos, journals and posts throughout their time here on the forum. That being said, we wouldn't even have a forum without ALL the wonderful folks on here. So, shout out to each and every forum member for being part of this great community and for making The Care forum a fun and enjoyable place. Thank you!
As for this Care package - recipients are...
Thank you, friends, for being such a positive and welcoming presence around here. And for sharing your photos, journals and experiences for everyone to benefit from. Your contributions are greatly appreciated! Hope to see you all around and feel free to send me a pm if you have any questions.
Have a wonderful weekend, everybody! Cheers ~
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I only tried dsm once and that happened to me too. I just went ahead and flooded it... The mold still stayed stuck to the wood after the tank was filled. Then a couple weeks later snails took over the tank and just ate all the mold anyways. lol it was weird.
But, I hear some people have luck with spraying the mold with hydrogen peroxide. Or just leaving the plastic wrap off entirely to let the tank breathe. Haven't personally tried those but they seem reasonable.
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You're totally right, it's because they grow so slowly. I've found the easiest long term solution to keeping Anubias leaves algae free is either lots of snails like nerite snails or keeping it under shade from other plants or decor and out of direct light. Maybe otos would eat it depending on what type of algae it is.
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Sorry to hear, that totally stinks. Do you fertilize the tank with like an Easy Green or something similar? I feel like I'm hearing lots of people having issues with dwarf water lettuce recently, but I find it absolutely thrives in really nutrient rich water. It's possible that removing the wood and losing your floating plants around the same time was a coincidence... But wood can release tannins into the water which affect the pH slightly, plus beneficial bacteria lived on the wood. So it is possible you altered these by removing it. But I would still try to increase nutrients and see if that makes a diff.
Don't let this discourage you from trying new kinds of plants!! You got this! 🙂
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Tough to tell what species from your photo.. But, they do appear to stem plant like. Stem plants will take up nutrients from the water column for sure. I believe they will also take up plenty of nutrients from the substrate too if available. So I like to give my stems root tabs, especially if planting them into sand. And of course I also use Easy Green at the same time.
The rounded leaf stems look maybeeee like a ludwigia, rotala, creeping mint charlie? And the longer leaves are giving me mermaid weed or Hygrophila corymbosa vibes. I could be totally wrong on both accounts lol. Looks like it might be emersed grown (out of water) which makes it even harder to identify.
Here's more info on how to plant different types of plants including stems https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/how-to-plant
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Oh no 😞 it is could still be adapting to underwater conditions. I can't tell if there's new growth or not.. 👀 Ideally nitrates would be present, I'd recommend starting to dose fertilizer or more fertilizer if you already do. I aim for 10-20ppm nitrates from dosing a nitrogen-containing fertilizer like Easy Green. You may want to try some root tabs as well if you haven't already. They're awesome for heavy root feeding plants in gravel. For stem plants, I usually try to keep them under medium to higher light and they really thrive.
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Oh man, I've got opinions on this lol. I feel that each company makes certain products well, but not all. I like Seachem's fertilizer options, I've used Flourish and Flourish Advance in the past with good success. Still prefer Easy green though for simplicity. Also - Seachem Purigen is a superior filtration media for organics, nothing like it. However, I hate their Prime dechlorinator. It's so. dang. concentrated. I always feel like I'm dosing too much.
For Fritz - I personally find it confusing to dose Fritz meds. That being said, Cory has tested a bunch of different ways to administer Paracleanse and Maracyn which I actually have had success with. I also quite like Fritz's dechlorinator options. Particularly ACCR, Complete (with pump from Co-Op) and Fritz Guard as it has aloe in it. I am also mildly skeptical of the bacteria/turbo start products and I don't rely on them 100% without water testing to make sure the cycle took. But, I do believe they help speed the process along by establishing a colony of viable bacteria. I use Zyme 7 when setting up tanks.
In summary, I pick and choose from each and don't stick with one brand in particular. 🙂 (sorry this was long, it could have been longer, I have strong opinions about hobbyist products haha)
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@Shelby Oh no, sounds like your fish is in pretty rough shape 😞 If you've got pictures and water parameters that would help a ton with diagnosing.
Med trio + quarantine tank is always a good option if you can make it work. Pimafix usually isn't strong enough to cure even moderately severe infections. Salt is a good and cheap place to start. It addresses many fungal issues. But, Maracyn (or Erythromycin) and Ich-X as Brandy mentioned would be my recommendation since your fish has had this going on for a week.
Aquarium Salt: When and How to Use It Properly
WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COMShould aquarium salt be used in freshwater tanks? Some people recommend dosing it all the time to provide fish with essential electrolytes while others... How to Treat Sick Aquarium Fish (Even If You’re Not Sure What’s Wrong)
WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COMTreating sick aquarium fish can be difficult, especially if you’re new to the hobby or have never seen this disease before. Based on years of experience... -
Lol a win win, that's a great gift. I've read that the aquasky units aren't necessarily designed for growing plants, unlike the 3.0 planted light from Fluval which is amazing at growing plants. But, I'm sure you could still get away with any low light category plants like anubias, crypts, mosses etc.
I'd wager adding a second strip would give you a bit more flexibility in what you can grow. Also I'd personally turn up the red/blue spectrum led's since those are the wavelengths most utilized by plants. 😁
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Lynze has it. Gotta be something other than planaria, the head isn't triangle shaped in the slightest. Not harmful 👍
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You have some really nice looking new growth though! All those smaller java leaves with the semi transparent tips look new and healthy. Just trim off the brown/algae covered leaves if you find them unsightly. Otherwise I think the tank looks nice. 👍🏻 I like the stones.
Care Packages for C.A.R.E. Forum Members!
in General Discussion
Posted
Hey everyone! I haven't posted on this thread for some time, so it's time for a revival 😄 Meaning more Care Packages for a few of our favorite forum participators! These folks have been positively contributing and helping the community for awhile now, so let's give them our appreciation for their journals, posts and helpful experience -
The Care package recipients this round will be.......... *drumroll*
@Colu
@Patrick_G
@quirkylemon103
We thank you for all you do in this community and for helping to make it a place for learning, understanding and most of all - fun! Hope you enjoy all your Care package goodies and hope to see you around in the future! And if I don't have your shipping address already, I'll be sending a pm on here soon. Thanks all, see you on the next one ~