Miller's Journal

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/10/2023 at 9:11 AM, SugarBassJoe said:

Never had an issue with my clown pleco eating plants, and if he does its very minimal, he's in a heavily planted 20G and everything seems fine, I do see him munching on the driftwood from time to time, but not to often, I feed a a healthy amount of Repashys Morning Wood, that might be helping. 

Awesome, thank you.

[anewbie]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:04 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

I'm reading mixed reviews and wondering if you all could answer a question for me. I bought 3 Clown Plecos, and didn't even think about potential plant eating. If you've had these, did they eat your plants? It would just be the 3 in the 120.

 

The ones i have doesn't appear to eat plants; they do require wood. I do have something eating my Blyxa novo; but i think it is either the whiptail or young bn.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:31 AM, anewbie said:

The ones i have doesn't appear to eat plants; they do require wood. I do have something eating my Blyxa novo; but i think it is either the whiptail or young bn.

Sounds good. How fast would they destroy the wood?

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:04 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

If you've had these, did they eat your plants? It would just be the 3 in the 120.

They do not. Mine don't even leave the wood to eat algae wafers commonly. They are extremely light sensitive.

On 4/10/2023 at 10:12 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Sounds good. How fast would they destroy the wood?

I've got 3 types of wood. They definitely rasp on it, but you wouldn't even know they've been there for years. One stumpy piece I have has a cave, they chewed out the underside of some mopani to make room, but all of that just looks like normal wood erosion over time.

Soft wood I'd be concerned, but with the Malaysian driftwood (stump), mopani, or ghost wood, I don't even notice anything.

[anewbie]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:12 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Sounds good. How fast would they destroy the wood?

Decades? Depends on size and type. Mine hasn't made a dent; neither have my larger L204 - but they L204 did devour a large piece of Cholla Wood which was kind of sad because he loved hiding in it until he ate through it. I think that only took about 18 months.

[Mmiller2001]

Think I found my new Centerpiece fish...Keyhole Ciclids. 

Stocking will be,

My current Dwarf Rainbows (these may not make the cut), Harlequins, Lemon tetra, Gold Lasers, Apistograma, Pencils (not too many left of these), Oto's and my 2 large SAE ( don't have the heart to part with these, big but neat fish)

All the Cherry Barbs are going to be sold along with over 40 babies they dumped into the 40 😆

New additions, and currently my new favorite fish, Brilliant Rasbora. Have 3 Clown Plecos in QT with the Rasbora.

Here's the insane amount of Barb poop in the 40.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Mmiller2001
Forgot my Black Kuhlis make the cut.

[Mmiller2001]

Side notes: my Salzmanni and Purple Salzmanni have never looked better. Not to mention my S. Spatulate are growing so well now. Salzmanni has been the bane of my life and go figure, I told my wife I was going to trash them and boom they turned beautiful. I'm now thinking flow is the number 1 issue in planted tanks. I'm struggling with a good pH drop in the 120, and the only real difference is the better flow. They are resisting the currently algae bloom in the tank.

[Mmiller2001]

These Spatulata were completely covered in algae and deformed. They look a 100 times better. This has been a difficult plant.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[Mmiller2001]

Here's the current algae bloom. Some filamentatious algae and GDA. The GDA is slowing down believe it or not. It was way worse last week. This may be do to using tap water for the initial fill. Since then, I've been using my normal mix for water changes. I'm seeing a few areas of BBA as well. Hopefully the CO2 issue gets resolved soon.

My plans for my water are to push it softer. This is why I'm not sure I can keep the Rainbows. I'm wanting to drop down to 3dGH and 0dKH.

@gjcarew, 3dGH too low for Dwarf Neon Rainbows?

[Mmiller2001]

And lastly, I've never had success with Hydro Japan. It's absolutely exploding in the tank. 

Good flow, good flow and good flow!

Edited April 11, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[gjcarew]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:33 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Here's the current algae bloom. Some filamentatious algae and GDA. The GDA is slowing down believe it or not. It was way worse last week. This may be do to using tap water for the initial fill. Since then, I've been using my normal mix for water changes. I'm seeing a few areas of BBA as well. Hopefully the CO2 issue gets resolved soon.

My plans for my water are to push it softer. This is why I'm not sure I can keep the Rainbows. I'm wanting to drop down to 3dGH and 0dKH.

@gjcarew, 3dGH too low for Dwarf Neon Rainbows?

I haven't kept them before. They are popular around here though, and our water is very soft.

On the flip side, I've heard they are overbred and can have some health issues. If you can find them, Melanotaenia rubrivittata would be a nice alternative.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:01 AM, gjcarew said:

I haven't kept them before. They are popular around here though, and our water is very soft.

On the flip side, I've heard they are overbred and can have some health issues. If you can find them, Melanotaenia rubrivittata would be a nice alternative.

I've had them for a little while in the 75. I keep them at a 4.2dGH. I'm wondering if they might be able to go lower.

[gjcarew]

On 4/11/2023 at 9:03 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

I've had them for a little while in the 75. I keep them at a 4.2dGH. I'm wondering if they might be able to go lower.

I say try it out. Rainbowfish habitats can vary widely across their range. I don't think 3 GH would be pushing it too far.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:13 AM, gjcarew said:

I say try it out. Rainbowfish habitats can vary widely across their range. I don't think 3 GH would be pushing it too far.

Sounds good. Thank you.

[anewbie]

Couple of comments:

panda gara will eat bba - they are a bit on the aggressive side when they eat (they don't attack other fishes but they will push them away in their eagerness to get food)

You might double check but off hand i think keyhole cichild like being in a group; also they mate for life.... so ...

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 3:15 PM, anewbie said:

Couple of comments:

panda gara will eat bba - they are a bit on the aggressive side when they eat (they don't attack other fishes but they will push them away in their eagerness to get food)

You might double check but off hand i think keyhole cichild like being in a group; also they mate for life.... so ...

I'm not worried about the BBA, it will resolve when I get my CO2 right. 

I will be getting about 5 or 6 keyhole's.

[John Henry]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:10 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

I'm now thinking flow is the number 1 issue in planted tanks.

I would love to heard you expound on this: is it nutrient delivery? Effects on algae? how many tank volumes per hour are you presently at?

[anewbie]

On 4/11/2023 at 5:22 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I'm not worried about the BBA, it will resolve when I get my CO2 right. 

I will be getting about 5 or 6 keyhole's.

Yea I'm going to put keyhole in my 40B when i move it to the new ~120 (18hx30wx72); also going to put in a few p. leopoldi... but i don't want to comment on them yet as i haven't own them. Another interesting fish to consider are Laetacara (pick your favorite species though curviceps, dorsigera and araguaiae are most common); they are a little smaller than keyhole and a little more colourful but can't comment on how their behavior differ - they are pair forming.

[Jimmy Cleveland]

On 4/7/2023 at 5:16 PM, Lennie said:

 

SAEs get big tho. They reach 6 inch, so not really suitable for most nano tanks. Also they are known to be territorial as adults. So I would advice adding one more or keeping one. Generally 2 is a risky number for territorial fish I would say. Increases the chance of being bullied a lot.

 

On 4/11/2021 at 7:14 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I'll be honest, it took some time to decide if I wanted to start a journal. The most upfront reason was, what the heck are they and I've never journaled before? But as I thought about it, I remembered how some of the most beneficial help I ever received was from some obscure article, where some random guy, seemingly from nowhere, replied with the solution I needed. So, the purpose of my journal is to try to be that random guy, who randomly comments, and hopefully has the answer to your problem. But in the form of a journal!

You might ask, who is this guy? And I ask myself the same question all the time,<wink>and the only response I can honestly say is; I was a kid who loved fish tanks. So much so, that at age 12, I took my Schwinn bike and went to my local fish store and bought a 55 gallon aquarium. I put that darn thing in my lap and on top of the handle bars and rode 2 miles home. I then went back and under my 1 arm, carried every piece of equipment I needed, in multiple trips, for my first salt water fish tank. A few months later, I had a 20 gallon fresh water tank. I can honestly say. I did pretty well for being so young. I rarely had deaths, I grew some corals, I killed a lot of corals and my fish did pretty well. Without that experience, I would have never learned the single most important information I could have possibly learned and that is: everything I learned 30 years ago is completely irrelevant in todays fish keeping. And anyone one who says, "I've been keeping fish for 30 years" is suspect!

After several moves around the country and 30 years later, I found myself back in the hobby and here my journal starts. A buddy of mine, who has been in the hobby for 30 years <---- had the most amazing black water tank. I mean stunning. So he convinces me to start back up, and I did. "I need that sexy blackwater tank", I said, and I went out and bought a 75 gallon, a 40 gallon two 20 gallons and a 10 gallon. This is when I learned the second most important information I ever learned. More than 2 tanks is way too much work! So I sold the 10 and converted 1 of the 20 gallons to a QT tank. All those tank were black water, and boy did I love them. But something happened, something that changes everything! I bought a plant. And today, I have no black water tanks!

 

Here is the main tank today.

 

 

 

 Vary Nice Duch Scape.. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:03 PM, anewbie said:

Yea I'm going to put keyhole in my 40B when i move it to the new ~120 (18hx30wx72); also going to put in a few p. leopoldi... but i don't want to comment on them yet as i haven't own them. Another interesting fish to consider are Laetacara (pick your favorite species though curviceps, dorsigera and araguaiae are most common); they are a little smaller than keyhole and a little more colourful but can't comment on how their behavior differ - they are pair forming.

I'll check them out. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:03 PM, anewbie said:

Yea I'm going to put keyhole in my 40B when i move it to the new ~120 (18hx30wx72); also going to put in a few p. leopoldi... but i don't want to comment on them yet as i haven't own them. Another interesting fish to consider are Laetacara (pick your favorite species though curviceps, dorsigera and araguaiae are most common); they are a little smaller than keyhole and a little more colourful but can't comment on how their behavior differ - they are pair forming.

Wow, those are beautiful. Is there one that gets around 4 inches?

[anewbie]

I think they most of the Laetacara spieces get around 3 inches for males - less for females. Laetacara thayeri might be closer to 5 inch - it is not visually as attractive and less common. Depending on taste araguaiae have a bit more colour but males are probably around 3-3.5 inch. Oddly enough thayeri is sometime called false keyholes. Also araguaiae  don't do that great in a group - better as a pair.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/11/2023 at 4:50 PM, John Henry said:

I would love to heard you expound on this: is it nutrient delivery? Effects on algae? how many tank volumes per hour are you presently at?

Purely for Nutrient/CO2 distribution. Not to mention mechanical filtration. 

Each pump is up to 538GPH and there's 3 of them. They are DC motors and I'm running them at the lowest controller setting.

[Mmiller2001]

Second attempt with the horizontal reactor. The pipe is 1 and half inch in diameter at a total length of about 70 inches. I added a bypass for this attempt. It does show above the edge of the tank but I'm okay with it. I could always swap to a black pipe if I wanted. But for testing, I'll hold off.

So far, this is way quieter. I mean almost zero trickling noise. The tank trickling is the same amount of noise. My fingers are crossed!

[Mmiller2001]

Well, the horizontal reactor is a beast. Works perfectly. I will need to be careful. I'm hitting a 1.05 pH and still could push more. I'm thinking going higher is not necessary with my plant choices so far.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Mmiller2001