Odd Duck Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 On 2/7/2022 at 1:58 PM, Dark River Aquatics said: Thank you! What does ORD mean? I’m not familiar with the term and Google wasn’t helpful with it, sorry! Exactly what @xXInkedPhoenixXsaid. Randomly renews when you least expect it, you magically get 2-3 back, then cut off again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 Ahh that makes sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 (edited) Redid my 15g tank that used to house the Tefé babies into a new home for these Kribs! This is an old picture of the tank, I ended up taking a bunch of the plants out to use in other setups and the light was a bit strong anyway and the tank has had some hair algae issues for a while, so I tore it down about halfway and redid it. Most of the plants came out, did multiple heavy gravel vac’s of the substrate and siphoned out the top inch or so of substrate along the front, and added some Safe-T-Sorb & root tabs plus fine gold sand as a cap layer. The foreground carpet of dwarf sag, marsilea crenata, and Monte Carlo was pretty thick so I left it and sprinkled sand over the top, but all the other plants plus a few rocks came out and a stumpy piece of wood from another tank went in. Added plants pulled/trimmed from other tanks including various crypts, some buce, Hygrophila Polysperma “sunset” that’s mostly reverted back to green from being in a high tech tank, some salvinia minima, an echinodorus miracle, and then re-added some of the plants from the previous layout like echinodorus parviflorous, more dwarf sag, and a few others. Also boiled up some botanicals and added a coconut hut, and swapped out the filter from a little Sunsun brand hang on mini canister (which was awful and air-locked itself constantly) to a Finnex PX-360. Love these little canisters, although it didn’t fit between the tank and wall so it’s sort of resting on the rim of the tank. The stumpy wood got turned into a sort of planter, cut up some scraps of filter foam to support a couple of parlour palms, philodendron micans, and a small propagation of cebu blue plus some pinches of emersed Java moss, emersed susswasstertang, and a small cutting on Monte Carlo - hopefully these will grow in enough over time to cover up the moss and look natural. I’ll probably add more moss at some point soon out of impatience, and ended up raising the light up higher to accommodate the emergent plants and also (hopefully) help prevent the hair algae from coming back Overall I don’t think it came out half bad for a project only utilizing things already on hand, I did buy another bag of sand but other than that there was no money invested - just reusing things from storage or from other tanks. The tank has been sitting for a couple of days and has gotten a couple of small water changes, but there was enough seasoned material that went into the redo (filter media, reusing the existing substrate + hardscape, plants, etc) that there hasn’t been any ammonia spike registering on water tests so I added the Kribs last night after the lights went off. I just added a few more plants before making this post so they’re hiding behind the piece of wood and aren’t feeling photogenic, but they seem to be doing ok. Edited February 26, 2022 by Dark River Aquatics 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Pretty sure they like it here 🙌🏻 Been totally, completely, frustratingly unable to catch the pair of Apisto Trifasciata out of my 75g so I went rogue and got a pair (I think) of Apisto Erythrura Rio Mamore. They’re still small and very washed out in color, one is yellowing up and looks like a very likely female, and the other is grey and is hopefully a male. We will see! They’re very timid and camera shy but they’re eating well and the female has discovered the Coop Apisto Cave hidden behind the rocks. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Tanks are looking beautiful! 😍 May I ask what the name of the botanical that looks like a corkscrew is? Looks fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 3/3/2022 at 11:06 AM, eatyourpeas said: Tanks are looking beautiful! 😍 May I ask what the name of the botanical that looks like a corkscrew is? Looks fun! Of course! It’s a banana stem from Tannin Aquatics https://tanninaquatics.com/collections/stems-and-bark/products/banana-stem-pieces They’re nifty, but pretty soft once boiled and don’t last very long - IME they’re great for making biofilm for shrimps because they decompose so quickly, and because they’re so squishy I typically don’t add many at a time but they look neat! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 3/3/2022 at 8:09 AM, Dark River Aquatics said: Of course! It’s a banana stem from Tannin Aquatics Thank you! I will be adding one soon. My shrimp would go bananas over it! 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 I think I’ve said this before but you have a great feel for aquascaping. The cube looks especially good. All the plants are in the right spot for the amount of light they need and everything looks super healthy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 @Patrick_Gthank you! I really appreciate that 🙂 @eatyourpeas I see what you did there 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 12, 2022 Author Share Posted March 12, 2022 (edited) This is more updates of the same, sorry if it’s redundant but I’ve been swamped at work all week and am still captivated by these two tanks whenever I have a chance to relax - watching these Kribs sift through sand for bits of food never gets old 😄 I did add a piece of wood ziptied/suction-cupped to the back glass of their tank to create a shelf, and added a small airlift tube to throw water on it - the goal is to allow it to “carpet” with mosses & susswassertang, and I added a small previously emersed buce brownie purple for haha’s. There aren’t many plants on it yet because I’d like to experiment with added locally collected mosses in the spring to see what happens - for science and stuff Going for sort of a riverbank look without having to make it a full blown paludarium, and if it’s a failure it’s easy to remove and forget it ever happened. The plants are doing pretty goodly and the pogo sampsonii & hygro sp “creeping” are starting to look snazzy. Even though I’m intentionally limiting the fertilizer they seem to be doing ok And lastly, I added some brownie ghost 2011 and a few other buces to the little cube and gave it a haircut a few days ago. The Rotala H’ra & mini butterfly are catching fire in terms of color, and 1ml of Easy Green every 2-3 days seems to be the ticket so far with fertilization. One of the BG11’s is a little sad looking but hopefully it likes being in softer water with a bit more light I swear the last pic wasn’t edited at all, just focused the camera on the stems and the chihiros light with the normal 50% red/blue & 40% green that the tank is used to brings out some nice colors 🤓 Edited March 12, 2022 by Dark River Aquatics 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 Did a muuuuuch needed trim on my 75g today, holy wow it was overgrown. Haven’t trimmed in about a month between being busy and being lazy, and pulled a total of almost a 5g bucket worth of stems out of it 🙈 Replanted a lot, did away with a lot of ratty ugly stem sections, and ended up with quite a lot to sell or auction off now which felt good. And the epiphytic Monte Carlo that happened by accident is starting to look kinda cool (a loose but must’ve gotten stuck in some buces and it’s been going to town) Some of the plants are suffering a bit from being so shaded out; the flamingos and a few others have experienced some melt but should hopefully recover. The finished result just felt good though, it took a few hours but was a much needed maintenance & meditation session 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 I can't even... I went "ORD" on page one. Holy sheesus your projects are so beautiful. the fish, the rocks, the wood, the plants. I whooped and hollered out loud and I think my husband rolled his eyes at me. 😛 This is just so inspiring. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/13/2022 at 10:29 PM, Minanora said: I can't even... I went "ORD" on page one. Holy sheesus your projects are so beautiful. the fish, the rocks, the wood, the plants. I whooped and hollered out loud and I think my husband rolled his eyes at me. 😛 This is just so inspiring. Thank you, that means a lot! 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/13/2022 at 8:32 PM, Dark River Aquatics said: Thank you, that means a lot! 😄 I'm being serious. 🤣 I forced my husband to look at your hardscape and I raved about every aspect. He was patient but I can tell when he's over it. Haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 95 stems of mixed Hygro Sunset & Hygro Creeping crown stems cut to 6-8” sellable size and one (1) lunatic who counted every single one 😅 Along with some Ludwigia Glandulosa X Repens hybrid and a few others to go up in the local groups and get gone 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 My plant nerd friend is unfortunately tearing down his 75g rare plant collection tank next weekend in favor of a smaller and more manageable tank (super bummed about him stepping back but it’s a logical step for how busy he is), so I ended up with some of his plants and fish this weekend to give them new homes. This big mother plant Echinodorus Opacus “Rataj” with three advantageous babies sprouting off the bottom is probably the neatest and rarest thing. I have a few Echi Opacus Iguazu 2009 already, one of which is just to the left of this Rataj, and I’m curious to see if the Rataj ends up laying flat like the Iguazu’s now that it’s in more direct light. My understanding is that Rataj looks almost identical to Iguazu but stays a bit smaller (even though my Iguazu’s are currently smaller just because I got them as babies) I’m in love with Opacus swords, not quite sure why but they’re just such a beautiful green and the way they lay flat is a curiosity. I also adopted a couple of Panda Garras from the same friend and uploaded my first ever video to YouTube of one of them settling in to the tank - they seem to like resting on the hydrocotyle verticillata leaves 😄 Lastly, I did a big trim & replant on my 40g Green Dragon breeding tank this weekend, added a few new plants, and had some cool Endlers from Lucas Bretz arrive yesterday which were added. Don’t remember what they are because I ordered them a while ago and we waited to ship them because of the cold weather, but they’re a cool metallic blue strain plus a nice red strain. They’re not cooperative for photos but managed to get a pic of the red male I also finally got around to adding a co2 line to this tank - it’s a very very small amount of co2 for the time being because it’s all easy plants, but I’d like to farm some of the low tech stems in here a little faster to have more to sell locally - and eventually finance a second rack to consolidate more of my tanks and start building out a more legit fish room. It’s in now way a show-stopper in terms of looks but the Greens are still happily breeding, and I’m pretty happy with this rack as a whole 🙂 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 I think each tank is a showstopper! Super cool plant additions! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Beautiful tanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 Panda Garras are my new favorite thing and I’m gonna need about 87 more 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 I’m gonna need some of those Crypts! Those are fire! 🔥 🔥 🔥 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 When folks ask if they “need” a expensive light to grow plants I’ll be linking to this post 😆 well done @Dark River Aquatics 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 @Patrick_GGo for it! It’s one of those cheap fixtures from Walmart with a piece of wood & zip ties securing it over the tank, and a 60w 5000k LED bulb 😂 super yellow & weird color rendition but the plants do just fine @Odd DuckArent the cool?! They’re Crypt Nurii Pink Line, I got them from a friend down in Massachusetts a little while ago and absolutely love them. Slow growing, and not as full/bushy as other crypts but they’ve made a decent number of babies and I just added a couple to the little cube tank 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 8:28 PM, Dark River Aquatics said: @Patrick_GGo for it! It’s one of those cheap fixtures from Walmart with a piece of wood & zip ties securing it over the tank, and a 60w 5000k LED bulb 😂 super yellow & weird color rendition but the plants do just fine @Odd DuckArent the cool?! They’re Crypt Nurii Pink Line, I got them from a friend down in Massachusetts a little while ago and absolutely love them. Slow growing, and not as full/bushy as other crypts but they’ve made a decent number of babies and I just added a couple to the little cube tank That’s going to be my next search! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 10:09 PM, Odd Duck said: That’s going to be my next search! Do it up! I’m not 100% sure on the ID because I haven’t been able to find any others like it, but that’s what they were sold to me as - and Chantz Cramer has a few as well and confirmed the name last time I was down there so that’s what I’m going with until someone steers me differently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 9:28 PM, Dark River Aquatics said: Do it up! I’m not 100% sure on the ID because I haven’t been able to find any others like it, but that’s what they were sold to me as - and Chantz Cramer has a few as well and confirmed the name last time I was down there so that’s what I’m going with until someone steers me differently I’ve heard of pink line before, but not seen a decent picture of one or seen one for sale. I’ll keep searching, for sure, along with jacobsenii, is on my list of “gets”. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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