Lizzie Block
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Posts posted by Lizzie Block
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^ This.. Freezing works well for me too. But, if I'm going to use them up in less than a week, I just stick them in the fridge in an air tight container and monitor the quality.
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Lovely tank!! Really love the cypress and your vintage decor. So unique! Curious to know which plants you are adding next...
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Wow, very curious. Could this be one if those imposter situations? Like, it's not a true Amano?
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@RyanR hahaha he's great! Your betta is just gorgeous and that half tetra is cracking me up too LOL zombie fish is just in time for spooky season 😆
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Your bettas are beautiful! My betta is called Derek. Named after Derek Zoolander because his tail looks like the big Z on the dvd cover hehe. 🤓
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Super cool, Daniel!! I often think about what planted tanks would have looked like back in the day or if they even existed at all way back in the early 1900's.
Here's my contribution to top-view Tuesday. Equipment heavy, high tech planted rimless. This tank was my pride and joy! But, too many gallons for the apartment I live in now unfortunately so she sits empty haha..
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Agree with ange - Alum itself is a flocculant, that is how it clears water so quickly. It causes particulates in the water to aggregate and sink to the bottom, creating a crystal clear water column. It's used industrially and to treat polluted bodies of water/swimming pools.
I've read on nat geo I think that aluminum sulfate (alum) can be toxic to animals after a body of water is treated and the animals consume the water. I believe it is the aluminum part that would be harmful to fish as it's even harmful to humans in enough quantity.
Hoping someone on here has some applied knowledge - but, I personally would err on the side of caution too.
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@Andy's Fish Den Thank you for posting this, Andy!! You're the best.
I have been waiting for this article to come out for almost an entire year now. They interviewed me right after Aquatic Experience last fall in New Jersey.
Aquascaping in that nano contest was honestly one of the best times of my life. 💚 Really hoping they continue with it. I'd like to improve on my ranking from last year.
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Don't know if I've ever seen this light modified. It is trendy to mount lights though, to add some height. Some people do it from a wall shelf or something similar so they don't have to bother with the ceiling. Universal mounts also exist, but you'd have to find the right one for your setup.
This is from the r/plantedtank sub-Reddit, not my image at all:
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Planted tank substrates are great! They are packed with minerals and nutrients that plants need and your plants all sound like heavy feeders. Eco complete, Seachem fluorite and Fluval stratum are what I've used and liked.
If possible, keeping water parameters as close to the old tank as possible might work out in your favor. You still may see some melting of leaves as the plants adjust to their new home. But stable parameters mean they'll have an easier time. Changing the substrate could affect your parameters, for example.
So fun, I love recycling plants. Sometimes you get to see an individual plant take on a new form in a different tank. I've done this with many Crypts.
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@braids You could try a trusted local fish store or friend who keeps fish - just ask for some cycled filter media OR have them just squeeze some filter media into dechlorinated water and get it home asap and pour it with your sponge filter. I've done that a few times, it's very effective. Of course there are always risks there.
Or you could try a product like this: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/water-care/products/fritz-zyme-7-live-bacteria-freshwater. It's like filter squeezings in a bottle lol. Live bacteria ready to live and multiply in your tank. It isn't perfect though, you'll want to be testing your water consistently with this product.
That's just how to seed a filter normally. Since you'll want a consistent source of ammonia for the bacteria to feed on and thrive, maybe you would consider adding some of your new snails into the bucket (provided you took the steps above) and giving them some food to munch on. Or if not, consistently feeding the bucket with fish food even though it's empty. The food will break down and release ammonia into the water which the bacteria will eat up and convert to nitrites / nitrates. Some people add actual ammonia, it's a whole thing. A 'fish-less' cycling rabbit hole..
If it were me though, I would take all my steps above and just do it in the tank I want to keep long term. And skip pre-seeding. But, maybe I'm lazier than you 😛
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I personally wouldn't risk it either.. Maybe you would consider removing the bridge, spot treat your staghorn algae, after a water change or two put the moss bridge back in? I've killed more moss than I'd like to admit dosing glutaraldehyde hah. Mosses are quite sensitive to the chemical.
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^ A great idea especially if adding CO2.
The idea is to run the CO2 during the day when lights are on since that's when the plants will be photosynthesizing and using the CO2 to grow. That said, it creates a big change in water chemistry and that might have been a bit shocking to your fish. The CO2 dissolving in the water forms carbonic acid, making the water more acidic. In addition to simply adding more CO2 gas which even to people can be dangerous in large amounts. If I were introducing CO2 to an established aquarium, I would probably do it over the course of a week or couple weeks. Like increase the time the CO2 is running each day little by little until the fish are used to it running for a full 8 hours every day. Even if that wasn't what was making your fish sluggish, that's still how I would do it haha.
Running the air stone over night wouldn't be a bad idea either.
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CO2 is most ideally used in aquariums with medium-high lighting. Assuming you're working with a CO2 cylinder and not yeast-based - Get a regulator with a solenoid so that it can be plugged into a timer and set on a cycle, it saves money by saving gas when the plants don't need it at night. Time it with your lights, some people do it as: CO2 comes on an hour before the lights come on in the morning and then CO2 off an hour before the lights turn off at night. I don't find this necessary.
You might consider increasing your dosage of ferts too since you'll be adding a decent amount of a new nutrient (carbon) to you plants. The other nutrients/minerals might need to increase as well to maintain balance. Play around with it. Maybe get a drop checker and indicator solution to have a visual on the levels of dissolved CO2 in your water. The indicator solution will turn a green color when the level of CO2 is 30ppm which is said to be ideal for livestock and plants.
Also, I always add thread tape to my cylinder threads before tightening the regulator around it. It's helped stop/prevent leaks for me in the past. You can test for leaks by putting soapy water near the fittings, look and listen for bubbling indicating leaking gas.
CO2 can be great overall because you can grow more types of difficult plants. But, I have a high tech and a low tech tank and I love them both equally. 🙂
P.s. you don't have to spend extra money on CO2 proof tubing, tons of people just use regular airline tubing for many years with no issues
One of my high tech shrimp tanks, I love the aquario neo diffusers:
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I concur.. Red coloration in (most) aquatics can be mainly attributed to strong lighting. CO2 helps too. Maybe you'd consider upgrading your Nicrew to a Finnex/Fluval or even a Beamswork like Brandy mentioned. All of those light options never fail to give me beautiful reds/pinks in my plants and I've used each independently.
If you have a photo, that would help too. @Brandy your lilies are beautiful!
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I am really not that knowledgeable on keeping fish, is this what they call hole in the head disease?
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Salty Shrimp works really really well and is easy to dose. Plants seem to love it too. I use gh+/kh+.
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19 minutes ago, GayleA said:
I have pictures on my computer and phone. What app is appropriate to use?
Hey @GayleA if you have a PC, a super easy way to shrink down a photo is in MS paint (throwback, I know) right click on the photo, open with and select paint. The 'resize' button is in the top menu. Same thing can be done in Word using the 'compress images' button in the picture format menu and then right click, select 'save image as' and just save to your computer. Any major photo processing software will do the same, Lightroom, Photoshop and Gimp for example.
If you want to do it on your phone, you can use any app that will 'compress' a photo. Google Play store or the App store both have lots of apps that do this. Should be a quick download and can be used in the future if you need to resize photos again.
Let me know if there is anything in there that I need to explain better 🙂
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@BeetleLann That's totally okay! I completely overlooked the fact that you're in Ontario and it's difficult to get meds there. I'm glad your little betta is still doing okay and hope the meds work well for him. So sweet of her to send those. Also major congrats and best of luck in grad school!! ❤️
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Looks like some staghorn algae - a red algae ironically. You can do lots of research about it and how to get rid of it on google. Just like other algae, it's caused by something tipping the balance of your tank. It can grow on plants that are suffering too. It takes advantage of excess nutrients and light.
In my personal experience, I get it when I have way too much light on my tank. I left for vacation once and my light timer decided it wanted to just stay on 24 hours per day for 7 days straight even though I set it on a schedule. Tank was covered in this stuff, but it slowly just started going away with a normal light schedule combined with manual removal.
There's other tips and tricks out there, but overall it's not particularly harmful to the tank. 🙂
Staghorn algae in my tank :
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So neat! Is the yellow shrimp a female? I struggle to tell them apart sometimes. At first glance, I thought they were both male.
Anywho, came here to share a red and blue shrimp I accidentally got when my cherries spawned with my 'blue dream' neocaridina. Super cool! Tie dye.
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@Sleepy OH my goodness what?? Your tank is just stunning! Wow. Those crypts really do look like a pink panther or pink flamingo. I've seen crypt tropica turn like a nice reddish brown color under some good lighting, but never seen it turn so pink. When did you order these and were they all from one pot? Also, what kind of light are you using? I have so many questions 😂 Amazing job!
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Agree, I don't prefer deep tanks either. My favorites are 20 long, 55 and 75. I love longer tanks vs. taller tanks. I just think they're so aesthetically pleasing 🙂
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@TifNee837 Wow! looks great in the betta tank! I've had a similar experience with this plant - I think it may be *Water Sprite? 🙂 I'm fairly sure anyways. For me, it would do well for some months and then start to brown and die off, but not before sending out tons of new stems as some type of last ditch effort to save itself. Hmm.
But, I've found it to do better in softer water than hard. Not sure of the reason.. Just lived like a year longer. Difference of probably 10 or 15° GH. I thought ok maybe it just prefers soft water. Also, Water Sprite is also a prettyyy heavy feeder, so potentially it could not be getting enough nutrients. Especially if you do lots of water changes or have a lot of other plants in the tank like me.
These two variables are what I've changed and had success with when I found my water sprite wasn't doing well, even under high lighting.
I also hear it does well floating in the water column instead of rooted. I have not tried it. You could try to snip a piece off the top of the big plant and try it floating in your 60 gallon and see how it does!
Lizzie.
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Floating plants
in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Posted
I personally really love this one! Dwarf water lettuce I think is what it's called. Doesn't seem to grow nearly as quickly nor as dense as something like duckweed which can easily get out of control. It's really manageable and my betta loves to hang out in its long roots
Dwarf Water Lettuce 🙂