Another 29 gal planted tank

[tnnlynch]

Figured I would open a thread in the journal area to track my progress.

First week...

 

Second week (after some die back)

Week 3 - Added a pot of scarlet temple on each side of the tank. Seeing a bit of melting but overall they look good.   A few of the Vals are starting to grow again in the back,  The american frogbit has really taken off with 8" roots and two more new clusters forming.  I think I will keep two separate rings of frogbit as opposed to one large one.

The same Anubias keeps disconnecting from the dragon stone at the slightest touch - it really wants to be a floating plant.

 

[smoore]

Very nice!  It looks like a happy place for some fish to live. 🤩

 

[tnnlynch]

I discovered a flaw in my original plan for tank maintenance once I programmed my temperature monitor.   My basement water connection (a maintenance faucet in the utility room) is only cold water. At 65 degrees it is way too cold to put directly into the tank (once it has fish).   Looks like I will be using buckets at least partially filled with hot/warm water from upstairs. Hauling buckets through the house down stairs was not what I wanted but I can't tap into the hot water easily.  Sigh. 

[Colu]

On 6/14/2021 at 9:49 PM, tnnlynch said:

Figured I would open a thread in the journal area to track my progress.

First week...

 

Second week (after some die back)

Week 3 - Added a pot of scarlet temple on each side of the tank. Seeing a bit of melting but overall they look good.   A few of the Vals are starting to grow again in the back,  The american frogbit has really taken off with 8" roots and two more new clusters forming.  I think I will keep two separate rings of frogbit as opposed to one large one.

The same Anubias keeps disconnecting from the dragon stone at the slightest touch - it really wants to be a floating plant.

 

Beautiful tank

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

You could use a python with some extension tubing. Good luck. Off to a great start.

[tnnlynch]

@Beardedbillygoat1975 Sadly when I remodeled our laundry room (upstairs) I used faucets that preclude a python attachment.  Running a hose through the high traffic areas of the house would probably not be well received either.  Looks like a lot of stairs are in my future.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@tnnlynchyou’d be surprised what you can come up with. A lot of people use a pump and hoses - put a 5 g bucket in sink or tub, get water to temp you want, put pump attached to hose in the bucket and turn it on. You could even use Dean’s DIY python he just did the video of. Then to do the return you put the pump in the tank and run the hose to sink or tub. 

[tnnlynch]

Moved the floating plants to a corner shadowing my Java Ferns as opposed to limiting light on my sword plant. Added some Zebra Danios, Amano shrimp, Zebra Nerite and mystery snails to the tank. I upped the lighting a bit the week before I left but otherwise everything looked stable when I went on vacation.

When I returned I noticed something unusual about my floating plants...

All the roots are gone (and the pogo needs trimming).  I assume the snails are to blame...

Edited July 26, 2021 by tnnlynch

[tnnlynch]

On 7/25/2021 at 9:37 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@tnnlynchyou’d be surprised what you can come up with. A lot of people use a pump and hoses - put a 5 g bucket in sink or tub, get water to temp you want, put pump attached to hose in the bucket and turn it on. You could even use Dean’s DIY python he just did the video of. Then to do the return you put the pump in the tank and run the hose to sink or tub. 

@Beardedbillygoat1975 I was thinking of buying a few more buckets, filling them the day before and let them come to room temp overnight.  Keeps the mess hidden in the basement.  I will have to check out Dean's python video as well.  Thanks.

Edited July 26, 2021 by tnnlynch

[Scott P.]

The tank is looking good. I have no idea who ate the roots from you floating plants.

[HH Morant]

Like yours, my pogos turned left when they hit the top. I did not trim them because I am considering moving them to a new, taller tank that is not ready yet. My catfish like to sit in the pogos - like sitting in a tree - now that the stems have turned horizontal.

[Patrick_G]

I’ve had the roots on my floaters die off for no apparent reason. Some of the leaves died too, but they eventually recovered. This was before I was using Easy green so I sort of thought it was from lack of nutrients. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Taco Playz]

I love that tank. What did you use for the black background?

[anewbie]

On 7/26/2021 at 10:09 AM, Patrick_G said:

I’ve have the roots on my floaters die off for no apparent reason. Some of the leaves died too, but they eventually recovered. This was before I was using East green so I sort of thought it was from lack of nutrients. 

Bit surprise; i grew some in a pail for 6 months and didn't use any fertilizer; roots reached all the way to the bottom (over 18 inch).... But i did use an extremely strong flood light so they got plenty of light.

[Patrick_G]

@anewbie, It’s really interesting how they grow differently in different situations. My wife’s 6.8 gallon Betta tank is tightly sealed with plastic wrap to keep the dwarf frogs from escaping and must have a high humidity at the surface. The water lettuce in that tank grows huge and is dark green. My guppy tub out in the sun grows medium size and a pale green. Our other tanks are somewhere in the middle of the two. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Patrick_G

[anewbie]

On 7/26/2021 at 11:33 AM, Patrick_G said:

@anewbie, It’s really interesting how they grow differently in different situations. My wife’s 6.8 gallon Betta tank is tightly sealed with plastic wrap to keep the dwarf frogs from escaping and must have a high humidity at the surface. The water lettuce in that tank grows huge and is dark green. My guppy tub out in the sun grows medium size and a pale green. Our other tanks are somewhere in the middle of the two. 

I think the colour bit might depend on light level. Plants adjust to either absorb more or less light as needed.

[tnnlynch]

@Patrick_G I cut back on the ferts as I was on vacation but the fish-less quarantine tank full of frogbit seems to be fine.   I will swap out the floaters between the tanks and see what happens.

Edited July 26, 2021 by tnnlynch

[tnnlynch]

@Taco Playz  I used a blackout window film from Amazon.  It is a little fiddly to apply but so far is working well. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q29NBH7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by tnnlynch

[ChemBob]

I have snails in all my tanks, as well as floaters. I've never seen them going for the roots. I do enjoy the occasional sinking snail when one gets on a floater that can't support its what. It's like a little snail tornado cascading to the substrate. 

[tnnlynch]

I watched one of my mystery snails eat the roots of my frogbit.  First it trapped the root against the leaves at the surface:

where it stripped the fine hairs off the main root as well as almost severed it.

You can see the two untouched roots next to the damaged one.  

[tnnlynch]

When I set up my new tanks in my basement office, I blacked out the small window to help keep the algae in check.  I had quite a bit of green spot algae on my rocks, leaves and walls.  I scraped the front glass but left the other surfaces alone as I had ordered hill stream loaches.  The 2 loaches, 8 cherry barbs and 4 corys came in from Aquahuna  late July.  I lost 4 of my barbs (1 DOA) and three within a day of arrival but everyone else made it through quarantine fine.  By this time the algae on the anubias, sword and glass was very noticeable. The one wall and rear that get weak sunlight had rather thick algae and my snails and shrimp didn't seem to make a dent in it. 

Three weeks later and I have almost zero green spot algae left:

You could see where the loaches cleaned the glass daily.  The olive nerite snails have now cleaned off the anubias while the apple snails cleaned the sword plant.  Now I am worried about not having any algae they will eat. I removed the blackout paper on the window but they clean the glass faster than it can grow.  I have tossed in some algae wafers lately but the loaches seem to ignore it while every other animal in the tank eats it.  I assume they are getting enough of what they need from that behavior. 

[Patrick_G]

We’ll done! 

[tnnlynch]

Still fighting some green hair algae on the Vals.  Manual removal works but it's a bit difficult to do without pulling up the plant.  The apple snails will eat it but I seem to have too many food options for them to really put a dent in it.   I will have to keep tuning the fert/light cycle to see if we can eliminate that next.