AndreaW

3/25/22 - I got another Nerite. He's a tiny zebra and I had to go with the vacuum theme so it's named Rumba. So now there are three. Rumba likes to creep into Cosmo's food trough, which Cosmo does not appreciate. 4/2/22 - Cosmo's tank today: Overall, the tank is growing well. I have a couple Java babies that have popped off the mother plants. I'll probably transfer them to the 46G tank. The water lettuce is growing like crazy and I've pulled out handfuls. I love it. There is some duckweed in there too, but the water lettuce seems to keep it in check, so far. Cosmo loves swimming through the roots. It's time for some pruning and maintenance. The Java moss has gone wild. I think I might move some of the java ferns toward the back to give some more open space up front. There are a few plants in there that I have no idea what they are. I think I might have a crypt and a sword? I also need to do a little mulm cleanup on aisle 1 (the front of the tank). Tomorrow will be tank maintenance day for this and the 46G. I need to figure out what dosage of EG to do each week because this tank has a low bio load and isn't providing enough Nitrates and I think I need more Phosphates.

I'm new to aquatic plants but here's what I've learned: holes in the leaves (unless they are damage from fish) are usually a Potassium deficiency. Where the spots are darker, I would lean toward a deficiency. It also could be melt, which can happen for months after being added to a tank, but where you are experiencing it on two different types of plants, and Javas are Potassium hogs, I think that's it. Adding fertilizer will help, but it will only affect new growth, so you have to add it and then wait and have patience to see how it is working. The leaves with holes are still effective at providing nutrients, so don't trim them off unless they are turning yellow or mushy and are obviously dying. Keep an eye on new growth. If you are still reading nitrates at 0ppm, then you may need to dose more EG to get that number up. Here's an article about high Nitrates, but it also covers low Nitrates: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/why-is-easy-green-raising-my-nitrate-level?_pos=1&_sid=ffa1eb244&_ss=r

I was talking to my uncle about fishtanks the other day and he asked how often I do water changes. I was thinking it was an odd question, but answered it and then he said, "How often do you drink the tank water when you try starting the syphon? I did that once and got rid of the tank because the taste of fish water was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted!" What makes it even funnier is that my uncle is a mechanic and has had to syphon all sorts of fluids from cars and has had mouthfuls of gas, brake fluid, etc. and he didn't have as much to complain about with them! I'll drink my tank water ANY day compared to car fluids!

@ Widgets & @nabokovfan87 ~ You are right. I need an extra "Are you sure you have thought through this" button late at night before I post! I spent the night dreaming of rigid pipes! I'll take a look at PVC, computer liquid cooling supplies. I was thinking further, and it definitely needs to be rigid. The silicone tubing would be flexible and would need clips (like heaters) to secure it to the wall, but this will be further away from the wall than a heater would be and I would really rather not deal with suction cups anyway. My thought is that with a rigid tube, with a somewhat close fit, I can put it in place between the two powerheads and it will hold itself there as the powerheads are hanging on the back edge of the tank, and I have a back strip that is cut to shape around them. It should be easy to maintenance if I can do it that way. Anyway, I'm off to Home Depot this morning and I'll see what I can find! Thanks for the ideas.

I'm not sure I would advise a school of Common Plecos.... Might not be enough room for them in there! Thanks for the laugh!

Bettas are quite resilient in KH, GH, pH, etc. as long as your pH doesn't fluctuate. I also agree that chasing numbers is not important for Bettas. The biggest thing beyond a steady pH and a healthy nitrogen cycle is the temp. If you keep them at a lower temp, their metabolism is slower so you will want to feed them less, and in really low temps they will tend to have more health issues. I agree with @FlyingFishKeeper that Fish Lore seems to have some good parameters if you are looking for specific numbers.

I'm trying to find a rigid tube that has an inside diameter (ID) of 3/4" that will attach to the outlet of a powerhead, that I can drill holes to create a DIY spray bar. Each powerhead is rated for 145 GPH, for a total of 290 GPH. I haven't figured out what size holes and how many I will need to have to soften the flow of water yet. I'm thinking that if I can find a tube that is rigid, I can turn both powerheads toward each other (along the back wall) and have the tube connect them, I can create a whole wall of flow, rather than the concentrated flow from the two corners. So far, I can find 3/4" ID silicone tubing that is flexible, and 1" rigid tubing, but I haven't found a source for 3/4" ID rigid tubing. I think the uplift tubes are 1" diameter, and that would work great if I could find a piece about 36" long, but a 3/4" should work perfect without having to find something to adapt. This is the powerhead outlet with the flow diffuser removed. It is round, and seems to be exactly 3/4". This is what I have in mind. Powerheads (in red), facing each other. Rigid tube (in green) suspended between the powerheads with lots of holes for water to flow out of. I found some polycarbonate tubing many people use for light sabers, but I don't know if that's aquarium safe and some people said it looked a little cloudy. At this point cloudy isn't as important as just finding something that will work. I'm sure it will just grow some algae anyway, like the uplift tubes, which I need to replace as well. I'm confused as it says it is 1/8" thick, 1" OD, 3/4" ID, which doesn't add up...

That's cool you have an experimental tank for plants. Are the water parameters close to your other tanks so you don't experience melt when you move them back?

Yes, Cories are kinda funny that way. However, they are also sensitive to water parameters and will sometimes exhibit strange behaviors when something is off. Last month, one of my cories was floating upside-down at the top but as soon as I would approach the tank, he would perk up like nothing was wrong (happened a couple times). Turns out there was a small ammonia spike from some uneaten food. Apparently he was the sensitive one. I did a water change and he perked right back up and was fine after that.

@H.K.Luterman ~ That is awesome! I don't know what the round thing is but it's really fascinating! I really want a microscope now.

My 46G has a glass lid and my cat jumps on top of it frequently. I think if I took the lid off it might take him jumping once to learn his lesson....

Is your tank open top or could you have a section at the back open? I think this is a neat idea if you don't have a jumper. He uses a Peace Lily out the top.

@Jawjagrrl ~ I have one of those glass holders in my tank and I use it for Cosmo's "food trough" where I dump his food to keep it contained. I filled it with gravel and it's nice because I can pull it out and clean it when it gets messy. I thought about getting another one or two to plant some Anubias to have growing on the side walls but unfortunately I got Anubias rot and I'm afraid to try more in his tank.

@Jawjagrrl ~ I think you should let him decide! Seriously, acclimate him and put him in to see what he thinks of it and what he likes/dislikes. Maybe some floaters with longer roots. Mine seems to love wandering through his roots. Definitely his log (assuming he likes that) Sorry, not too many crazy ideas flowing here!

Peace Lilies are sometimes used. Maybe Purple Waffle plants as well? Any "houseplant" that is currently growing terrestrial will need to grow new water roots so I know some people will trim the roots back to an inch and then put it in water and remove the roots that rot while growing new water roots.

Weird! I have it mine set to turn off at 10:00pm. Last night I went down at 10:45pm and they were still on at 10%....the L6 setting. Kind of like it had got stuck. My first thought is that I had messed with them so maybe I accidentally overrode the DIY settings. I haven't touched them tonight so I'll see if it happens again. What I really need to do is set timers on my phone for 1 minute before the transition so I can run down and catch it in action.

One tip, if you don't know already -- when resealing the silicone, place tape to define your edges so you get a clean edge and then remove the tape while the silicone is still wet. Also, if you are buying silicone from a hardware store, make sure it doesn't have any additives to prevent mold, etc.

@Guppysnail ~ I've never seen such beautiful Plecos as you have!

Oh boy, then I'm going to have to set up another tank or re-home one then. I didn't realize what I was getting into when I bought them. I thought having two would be nice so they could have a friend.

I have the same problem with lots of plants and a low bioload. I can't seem to get enough nitrates in my tank. I found this article on ACO but haven't sat down and figured out how much EG I need to dose: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/why-is-easy-green-raising-my-nitrate-level?_pos=1&_sid=ffa1eb244&_ss=r ETA: Scroll down to the section about low nitrates.

I don't have another tank I can move one to but maybe I can set up an enclosed breeder box that I can switch one or the other to to give them a break. How long a break do you think I should give her? Maybe I will need to set up a small temp tank from this one?

I have really hard water (and I assumed plenty of calcium) but I do supplement green beans and Crab Cuisine to help give them some more calcium. I ordered some Wonder Shells and a high protein "Snello" mix to try. Ummmmm, they like to snuggle -- A LOT! Just kidding, to *properly* sex Mystery Snails you have to pull them out of the tank and get them to lean out of their shell while you are holding them upside-down (they try to right themselves) and you will either see nothing, or a sheath. Otherwise, you can kind of guess because the male has a bell edge to their shell more than the female. For Nerites, I'm not sure, but I'm basing it on egg-laying.

@Ogpulchra If it's only 1" I don't know that I would worry too much about the shear pressure. I think the wood can handle that just fine. However, if you are a worrier, braces in the corner would be a good compromise.

My son got 2 Mystery snails for his tank a few months ago. We ended up with a male and a female. My son named them Chip and Dale before we knew their gender (after the chipmunks). They loved crawling all over the castle, but would often get stuck inside and would try to squeeze out the little windows. They've grown a lot and I'm thinking I need to increase their calcium with how rough their shells are looking. I've also been told you should have 4 females to 1 male to give the females a break. I may have to separate them as I've been told the males will damage the females shell if they are too active (is daily considered active? ) and that might be happening to her. I also have 3 Nerites in my Betta tank Hoover (male), Kirby (female), and Rumba (unknown gender, zebra). I think they like to taunt "Cosmo" the Betta, but I doubt they even know of his existence, despite him flaring and showing off to them. They just do their thing. Hoover likes to plow through the good stuff: I'll be honest, at first, I didn't like snails -- but they've grown on me and I adore my Nerites!

I don't see any fin rot or current damage. The webbing between the blades is even and healthy. It looks like there might have been some damage in the past, but everything right now looks healthy. Watch for white edges (will be hard to see on Gandalf) and ragged edges, rather than the even web between the blades, or blades that are ragged.