[29 gallon Endler tank]

After the last post, I turned the light down to 20% because of a hair algae problem. Since doing so, the hair algae is gone. Yes! Downside, pretty much all the stems died. The crypts are good and the pogostemon stellatus has come back and growing really well. Anubias holding steady. Java ferns are doing ok. About a third the size they were when I first bought them. 
Been having issues with the Easy Flow tube. Have noticed that the air holes get plugged. Have had to use a toothbrush weekly to clean that area. If I don’t, the flow goes to a trickle. The sponge is being powered by a single outlet ACO air pump. Maybe not enough air output? Not sure

[20 gallon high community tank]

Did a squeeze of the smaller sponge filter yesterday. That thing was filthy!! Pulled out some dead leaves and stray moss strands as well. Able to get some shots of the shrimp cleaning the sponge filter. 

Here’s the cherry barb, one of the Amano shrimp and Julii Cory 

Two if my hobbies. Fish-keeping and watching Formula 1 racing. Poster of all the champions up to 2020. Moved the light to the front of the tank in this shot

[20 gallon high community tank]

The 6 gallon just keeps growing plants like crazy. The barteri has a couple new leaves already and have removed loads of water lettuce a couple times since. This tank takes care of itself. So nice!

The 20 gallon just keeps doing its thing, too. Churning out cherry shrimp like crazy. Loads of Java moss and duckweed coming out of here. The Cory’s are still doing good. Lost one Endler male. Still have three in here. The lone cherry barb is doing good. Really need to get this girl some mates! I really like the glow coming through the layer of duckweed in this tank. 

[Garage tank]

The Cory’s have been moved into the 29 gallon so they have more room. Seem to like all the plants and rocks to hide in. Still have a crazy amount of fish in all three tanks. Not a lot of interest in Endlers!?  I’ll just keep them happy and healthy until I can find them homes. 

[29 gallon Endler tank]

Has been over a month since installing the new uplift tube. Has taken some tinkering to get it just right. Have noticed there is a sweet spot. Says it in the instructions but be honest, how often are those read when you’re so excited to try new things. The tube needs to just above the water level for maximum flow. Too far above and it just creates low flow down towards the bottom. 
I have squeezed the filter several times since installing. Each time, so much gunk comes out. It’s amazing. 
Still having issues with hair algae. Have reduced the lighting to 30% at 7 hours a day. Seems to have helped. Going to cut back on how much food the fish get and see if they will nip more at the algae in between feedings. Will help reduce nutrient load as well. 
The ferns are not doing so well. The leaves keep dying off and getting pinholes. Started upping the dose of Easy Green and adding a potassium supplement to see if that helps. Stem plants don’t seem to be doing well either. Any ideas?

The crypts, Val and pogostemon seem to be doing good.

 

[29 gallon Endler tank]

Last week my order of the sponge filter upgrade kit arrived. All I have to say is it has made a world of difference.  I also added the 5 salt and pepper Cory’s I picked up a couple months ago which has helped as well. 
Before installing the upgrade, I did a water change, filter squeeze and removed whatever Mulm I could get to. 

After installation

Today, I did another water change and filter squeeze. The amount of gunk that came out of the sponge was insane! The gunk was even starting to buildup in the center of the sponge With the Cory’s kicking up debris and the flow pushing stuff back towards the filter, this is the cleanest it’s been since it was first set up. I do want to see if I can increase the flow a bit more though. Probably has to do with the air pump at that point. Seeing what @Cory has coming out of his setup probably has to do with the linear air pump rather than the single outlet ACO air pump. 
I have to say, this is great for tanks larger than 20 gallons. Adding flow which reduces dead zones and helps carry debris towards the filter, it’s a steal at $4.99. 

Dropped in a couple squares of Repashy Community before I took this shot. 

 

and an appearance of an elder cherry shrimp chowing down

 

Curious how much gunk will be in the filter next week?  Plan on doing another small water change just so I can see. 

[20 gallon high community tank]

Thought I would add a couple photos of the 6 gallon cube I have had going for a couple years. There’s a lone guppy, 3 Pygmy cories and a whole lotta shrimp and ramshorn snails. Did a top off of the water and cut the Anubias barteri in half. It was growing out of the water. Put the cut half in one of the garage tanks to keep growing. Pulled some tufts of black beard algae from some leaves. Scooped out a whole bunch of duckweed and moved most of the water lettuce to a couple of the garage tanks as well. This stuff grows like crazy in here. Will probably split the rhizomes on a couple of the other Anubias in here.  They are growing really well

[Garage tank]

I did add a couple drops of Ich-X. The bottle did say it contained Methylane blue. Might be a weaker amount in that than just straight meth blue

[20 gallon high community tank]

That looks pretty cool!

[Garage tank]

The eggs I pulled from the tank ended up turning to fuzz balls.  Don’t think they were even fertilized, not sure though. Oh well, was a quick learning experience. The cories have been in here close to three weeks. They seem to be doing great. No signs of illness, cruising around and searching the substrate like normal. Think it’s time to move them to the Endler tank. Give them so much more room to explore plus a sandier substrate to sift through. 

[20 gallon high community tank]

On 11/3/2023 at 8:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Those shrimp on the moss look so cool.  Really loving that tank shot.

Thank you!! I want to trim the moss back a bit but the shrimp seem to love hanging out in it. Same for the course sponge filter. Last time I pulled it out to give it a squeeze so many shrimplets came out that I just put it back in without squeezing it. I’m sure it’s not full of debris anyway. The shrimp sit on it and are grazing all day. 

On 11/3/2023 at 10:26 PM, Schuyler said:

You're shrimp! They're so red!

They really pop against that green moss

Thank you!! It’s hard to tell for me how red they are. I’m red/green colorblind. When the two colors are together they don’t look the same. 

[20 gallon high community tank]

Scooped out as much duckweed as I could. That took forever! Squeezed the fine sponge filter and did a quick water change. Added a Wonder Shell to help with the shrimps shells. 
One of the Endlers went missing overnight. Presume he died and the shrimp did what shrimp do. 

[29 gallon Endler tank]

Had to do a big trim. Most of the plants are having problems with yellowing and pinholes in the leaves. I have upped the dose of Easy Green to 6 pumps a week and have started to supplement with potassium. Pulled out lots of hair algae as well. Let’s see what happens…

[29 gallon Endler tank]

I have definitely spent a good amount of money but the products are worth it. I really want to give the new sponge filter upgrade kit a try. Will give this tank a good amount of circulation. I tried a power head but that was way too much for these guys

[Garage tank]

Just looked that one up. Looks like a great box. I think I saw that at a local fish shop. Will go there and check it out

[Garage tank]

@TheSwissAquarist thank you so much for the advice! Im thinking of getting a small net breeder to put in the tank. Keep them away from the adults and still have some flow

[Garage tank]

On 11/2/2023 at 8:18 PM, CalmedByFish said:

I think they're corydoras paleatus. I have a few.

Thanks! Looked them up and that’s exactly what they look like. 

On 11/3/2023 at 12:01 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Definitely Palaeatus! I’ve got a couple of juvies on the go in my fry tank: 

(Shrimp for size) 

They take about 4 days to hatch and another 2 days to become free swimming- I fed them with sera micron. 

First time with an egg laying fish. If they do happen to hatch, I’m assuming it would be wise to keep the fry separate from other fish so they don’t become snacks?

[Garage tank]

My Cories laid eggs!! I picked up 5 Cory cats a couple weeks and have had them in quarantine for that time. Just went out to check on them and found eggs on the glass. 

I made a quick setup to keep the eggs safe. Found a few missing. Pretty sure the Endlers were snacking. 

anyone have an idea what kind of Cory these are?

[29 gallon Endler tank]

They really like the Repashy community food

[Garage tank]

I think they like the Repashy community gel

[Garage tank]

Thanks! Writing notes on the tank makes it so much easier than trying to remember when and what was done for each one. Luckily, the window faces north so no direct sunlight hitting it. 
I thought about using the greenhouse panel but wanted to allow more light into the tanks. 

[Garage tank]

Thanks @Ruud  This has been fun and challenging. I purchased foam board insulation to put around the tanks when the weather starts to get colder. Also, the 100 watt heaters in the tanks, preset at 78, should help keep the tanks warm through our winter. Gets to low 30’s even 20’s here. Garage is insulated but not heated. 

[20 gallon high community tank]

The nice part about this tank is it takes care of itself. I do squeeze the fine sponge regularly and scrape the front glass. Add some Easy Green weekly along with clipping dying leaves and scooping of duckweed. Still have 3 male Endlers, 2 Cory cats, a bajillion red cherry shrimp and down to two Nerite snails. One died after being a devoted algae cleaner for 2+ years. 
It’s not the prettiest tank but it’s an active ecosystem and the inhabitants are doing well. No need to do any major things. One thing I do love, the crypts are doing amazing! So large and vibrant. 

[29 gallon Endler tank]

After removing a majority of the adults, the tank looks way better. Time to feed and grow the fry. 

 

Getting the fish out of here was really not too bad. Removed the ship and placed the medium-sized ACO net near one corner and used my hand to guide the fish towards the net. Took some time but worked out. 

[Garage tank]

Everything is all set up and running! I used two already seasoned sponge filters in these new setups. Also added Fritz Zyme 7 to both tanks. The gravel was part of the secondhand purchase of the 29 gallon. For lighting, I lowered my 4’ LED shop light. Then came the fun part. 

For close to 2 hours, which seemed like days, I scooped and separated the males from the females from both the original 10 gallon and the 29 gallon. The ACO net made quick work of gathering the fish. Used a smaller net to catch individuals out of the catch container. Mostly fry and juvenile are left in these original tanks. 

My daughter wanted to write the info on the tank and when I told her this tank was mostly fry and juveniles, she put them in detention on bad behavior.

 

I started to see an outbreak of ich in the 29 gallon. I’m fairly certain this was due to overpopulation.  Was dosing with Ich-X but the time intensive upkeep on doing 30% water changes during the med process was wearing on me. Thought I would do a quarantine tank but realized trying to get a couple affected fish from a school of 70+ was a pain in the a$$! Didn’t notice any ich on the males just the females. When everyone was moved to their new homes. I figured I would give aquarium salt a try. Never have tried it but heard it was a very effective treatment. After reading a couple posts on the main site in the Advice center I went for it. Did a dose of 1 Tbsp per 2 gallons. This was recommended for issues such as Ich. Within a day I saw a huge difference! Most of the spots on the affected fish were gone. I couldn’t believe the speed of recovery. Let the tank marinate for 5 days before doing a 20% water change. Also added more Fritz Zyme 7 to help boost the bacteria. 
All the fish seem to be doing so much better. The males are brighter and the females are still voracious eaters with no signs of Ich. Now I just need to find homes for them.