Miller's Journal

[anewbie]

I love the look of peace river but for fishes like apisto and geo that like to poke in the substrate for food it is not good for their gills (a bit too coarse). I need something like that but much finer 😞

[Torrey]

On 2/17/2022 at 9:13 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

My wife did a redo on her 20 tall. I thinks it's pretty good all things considered. 

From

To

Oh wow!!!

[gjcarew]

On 2/17/2022 at 12:06 PM, anewbie said:

I love the look of peace river but for fishes like apisto and geo that like to poke in the substrate for food it is not good for their gills (a bit too coarse). I need something like that but much finer 😞

One substrate that I really liked but took a bit more work was the regular 60 lb Sakrete medium-grade sand. I sifted it through a regular kitchen strainer to get rid of all the dust-like particles and what came out was a coarse, greyish, natural looking sand. It seems like it would be small enough for geophagus, and the plants I planted in there did well. It's what I used in the tank below, but it got kinda mixed with the aquasoil I used in the background hence the larger particles.

[Mmiller2001]

I haven't updated the 75 recently and don't have too much to report. Believe it or not, I have reduced some of the species and I'm still looking to do much more. My goal is to get it down to 12 or so. The problem I'm having is I'm trying to save some of the plants that I might be using in the 40 gallon, but the 40 gallon isn't going well and is delaying the final decisions.

You should be able to tell that I have less red species which overall looks much better in my opinion. I've also returned to estimated index every other day dosing and have reduced my micro dosing to .4 Fe as proxy. I've noticed the reduced micro seems to have had a very positive effect on this tank and as such I've reduced all microdosing throughout the tanks that I have in the house. I also feel dosing over 6 days adds a bit more speed to growth and I prefer it this way.

All of my Dwarf Rainbows made it through QT and all of the Oto's too. The tank has really come to life with activity and really feels like a community tank now. I'm looking forward to finalizing the plants and having them grow in. I need the inlets hidden! 😁

Interesting note. I removed my spatulata from the 40 (covered in algae) and amazingly, it was algae free in 2 days! I'm still struggling with BBA on the substrate and after reading some of @Seattle_Aquaristpost's, I will be adopting his strategy. I've ordered a few SAE's for both tanks and going forward, I will plan all tanks with the defense strategy in mind. I'm just not skilled enough to maintain an algae free tank on my own.

I feel like this tank is about to look really good in the next month or so. I'm trying a carpet again and I believe the species is working very well with Eco Complete and should contrast well with this jungle style. 

I wil need to adjust the 53B and the right side is to similar, but those are possible 40 plants...so...

[Torrey]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:39 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I haven't updated the 75 recently and don't have too much to report. Believe it or not, I have reduced some of the species and I'm still looking to do much more. My goal is to get it down to 12 or so. The problem I'm having is I'm trying to save some of the plants that I might be using in the 40 gallon, but the 40 gallon isn't going well and is delaying the final decisions.

You should be able to tell that I have less red species which overall looks much better in my opinion. I've also returned to estimated index every other day dosing and have reduced my micro dosing to .4 Fe as proxy. I've noticed the reduced micro seems to have had a very positive effect on this tank and as such I've reduced all microdosing throughout the tanks that I have in the house. I also feel dosing over 6 days adds a bit more speed to growth and I prefer it this way.

All of my Dwarf Rainbows made it through QT and all of the Oto's too. The tank has really come to life with activity and really feels like a community tank now. I'm looking forward to finalizing the plants and having them grow in. I need the inlets hidden! 😁

Interesting note. I removed my spatulata from the 40 (covered in algae) and amazingly, it was algae free in 2 days! I'm still struggling with BBA on the substrate and after reading some of @Seattle_Aquaristpost's, I will be adopting his strategy. I've ordered a few SAE's for both tanks and going forward, I will plan all tanks with the defense strategy in mind. I'm just not skilled enough to maintain an algae free tank on my own.

I feel like this tank is about to look really good in the next month or so. I'm trying a carpet again and I believe the species is working very well with Eco Complete and should contrast well with this jungle style. 

I wil need to adjust the 53B and the right side is to similar, but those are possible 40 plants...so...

Yes, this is growing in fantastically!

[Mmiller2001]

10 day difference shot.

I believe I've made my final decisions on plant reduction. More to come...

Also, I think I'm going to add a moss wall!

What a mess of plants currently!

[DaveO]

And what a lovely mess. Beautiful.

[SkaleyAquatics]

@Mmiller2001 was reading through the update at the beginning of the year, and wondered what you have done to reduce organic buildup?

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/28/2022 at 5:04 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

@Mmiller2001 was reading through the update at the beginning of the year, and wondered what you have done to reduce organic buildup?

I've gone back and forth with varying amounts of water changes and I've settled on going back to 50% water changes. So those and gravel vacuuming are the ways I reduce build up. I also pick out any floating leaves and prune any unhealthy looking leaves. I do use RO/DI water so water coming into the tank has no surprises.

I was doing very deep gravel vacuuming, but per @Seattle_Aquaristadvice, I'm now trying very light gravel vacuuming. I've been noticing BBA where I use to vacuum deeply. So hopefully this solves this problem. I now just barely tap the surface with the vacuum. 

I also dose on the leaner side of EI (if there's such a thing) and I think I have eliminated green dust algae from the tank. Not that it causes organics, but it has had an overall positive effect.

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 2/28/2022 at 7:26 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I've gone back and forth with varying amounts of water changes and I've settled on going back to 50% water changes. So those and gravel vacuuming are the ways I reduce build up. I also pick out any floating leaves and prune any unhealthy looking leaves. I do use RO/DI water so water coming into the tank has no surprises.

I was doing very deep gravel vacuuming, but per @Seattle_Aquaristadvice, I'm now trying very light gravel vacuuming. I've been noticing BBA where I use to vacuum deeply. So hopefully this solves this problem. I now just barely tap the surface with the vacuum. 

I also dose on the leaner side of EI (if there's such a thing) and I think I have eliminated green dust algae from the tank. Not that it causes organics, but it has had an overall positive effect.

Are you doing the water changes weekly?

I'm just trying to solve my thread/hair algae.

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/28/2022 at 5:33 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

Are you doing the water changes weekly?

I'm just trying to solve my thread/hair algae.

Yes, 50% weekly. I haven't been able to solve my thread algae problem in my 40 yet either. I'm just about ready to start back outs on that tank. Difficult algae to clear so far.

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 2/28/2022 at 7:46 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Yes, 50% weekly. I haven't been able to solve my thread algae problem in my 40 yet either. I'm just about ready to start back outs on that tank. Difficult algae to clear so far.

I wish I knew by par. I have thought about doing a siesta, also thought about a black out, but that makes me a bit more nervous. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/28/2022 at 5:49 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

I wish I knew by par. I have thought about doing a siesta, also thought about a black out, but that makes me a bit more nervous. 

It made me nervous too so it's my last resort. I bought a second filter which will take the tank to 8x turnover. I may have been under filtered during my initial ammonia spike when I swapped the substrates. You can read about it in my AGA journal. I'll be updating it soon.

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 2/28/2022 at 7:55 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

It made me nervous too so it's my last resort. I bought a second filter which will take the tank to 8x turnover. I may have been under filtered during my initial ammonia spike when I swapped the substrates. You can read about it in my AGA journal. I'll be updating it soon.

I have read it thus far and look forward to the update.

[eatyourpeas]

I want my mess to look like your mess!!! 😎

[gjcarew]

This should be your Dutch tank! The whole left three-quarters of the tank is 90% there. I love the combination of the hygrophila serpyllum,  hygrophila angustigolia and rotala wallichii. That rotala macrandra "mini" bush is also amazing.

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/2/2022 at 2:55 PM, gjcarew said:

This should be your Dutch tank! The whole left three-quarters of the tank is 90% there. I love the combination of the hygrophila serpyllum,  hygrophila angustigolia and rotala wallichii. That rotala macrandra "mini" bush is also amazing.

It has crossed my mind. Possibly 😚

...

[SkaleyAquatics]

I am wondering what setting you are currently using on your Chihiro's? Also are you using a phone to capture pictures of the tank or something else? 

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/7/2022 at 1:10 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

I am wondering what setting you are currently using on your Chihiro's? Also are you using a phone to capture pictures of the tank or something else? 

I'll have to be home to show you my settings. I will post it tonight. I'm just using my phone for now, but I do have a DSLR that I should be practicing with. You know, just in case this tank was used for a competition...

[SkaleyAquatics]

Well you better get to practicing with it then.

I don't know what phone you have but your pictures turn out great. I feel like my phone over saturates my shots. 

[Streetwise]

If you want to try a siesta or a dual siesta, don’t be scared! I have had all my tanks on a dual siesta for a few years now. I get to view my tanks more, and don’t have any negative side-effects. You could do more power with your setup.

[Mmiller2001]

I'm very tempted to try it on my 40 gallon. I just doubled the plant load in it and put a bigger filter on it too. I might try lowering co² and running a siesta there.

[SkaleyAquatics]

I mean might as well, what's the worse that can happen

 

[Mmiller2001]

Alright. So, not too much to report but I do want to mention 2 additions the 75 gallon tank received. 

I removed the GLA reactor from the 40 gal algae tank (failed AGA tank) and put it on the main display. I have been waiting to do a review and here's my first impressions. 2 stars, maybe 4 stars! If you have a low GPH pump/filter, it's 2 stars. It didn't improve CO2 efficiency in any way and in fact, due to the plastic chosen for its construction, was louder than my DIY Cerges reactor.

Now, with a pump rated at 394 GPH, things were different. Noise was slightly less and the CO2 "gap" in the chamber was noticeable lower. However, this was unable to reduce my injection rate. That said, this drove my impression to 3 stars. It was less noisy (less CO2 gas gap) and actually created a vortex inside the chamber. It has a lower profile than my Cerges reactor and I consider this a plus. So with all honesty, I'm happy with the reactor up to this point.

But, here's something to think about. So far, all injection methods have resulted in near identical BPS or CO2 flow rate. Why? Why does changing my CO2 injection methods not improve efficiency? I do not understand this phenomenon. This brings me to my next addition. And I'm certainly thrilled and worried about this addition.

So last week I could tell something was wrong, and sure enough; my pump needed a cleaning and so CO2 levels dropped immensely. I literally got BBA over night! I cleaned the pump, installed the GLA reactor and flow was restored. The GLA performed as mentioned above but today I received and installed the American Marine pH controller. But there's a problem, something I don't quite understand.

I was only able to play with it for about 45 minutes, but my first impression is that it's freaking awesome! Here's the problem though. I cranked up the CO2 injection rate. The Chamber created a CO2 gap very quickly and pH dropped very quickly too. The controller turned off the solenoid and surprisingly, the CO2 gap dissipated within minutes. I immediately think I have a leak. I grab soap and water, drowned the CO2 connections, no bubbles. Hmm, what is going on? Can this reactor be so efficient that it removes the CO2 gap quicker than all the other methods I've tried? Apparently so, I see no leaks so far. And if CO2 is leaking, wouldn't water leak from the same source? This reactor dropped pH from 5.2 to 5.01 in just a few minutes. Wow! This bumps it to 4 stars, and only because this PinPoint is so awesome! Is this a perfect combo? We will see, I will continue looking for leaks.

Now I have to decide, do I run the controller over night, or turn it off over night and only have it come on while the light is on? It seems to save my settings after being unplugged, so maybe I should keep it off. I will report back on how this portion goes.

A cool feature is, you can hook and air pump to it, and if pH drops too low, it powers them pump to raise pH. Cool stuff!

I will report back after some time.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[Mmiller2001]

Just doing a small update.

The failed AGA tank remains failed and is exceeding all failure expectations 😁. I mean, I have an endless supply of algae. So that's good, right?I really need to do the blackout, and I'm not sure why I haven't yet.

The 75 is still in transition, but I finally completed my species reduction. I'm down to my final number of 12. I honestly didn't think this was going to be possible. I ordered a few more plants to try and I will do a whole tank shot if I'm happy with the way things look. 

I have a new favorite plant, Star Grass. It's a fast grower but I have no complaints.

I might have finally learned how to beat BBA, so this front is going well. And I will update how I went about doing it. But let me win the war first but first battle goes to me.

That's about it right now. 

Here's a few pictures.

The 40 is a jungle of plants and algae. Oh, and all the shrimp are dead. That was fun! Not really.

<Homer moan> Star Grass!