Griznatch Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Looking good! I have a hard time with Java ferns as well. I love the tuft of moss on top of what looks like a skull 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 It's a fake rock cave. It's really awesome it sets flush with the glass I have a peace of black paper over the other side. Gives some of the fish a nice place we to hide. At night I sometimes lift the paper and the Cory's will all be in there sleeping. I hope the moss will cover the hole thing eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted November 13, 2021 Author Share Posted November 13, 2021 (edited) Week 18 of course after been sick it fills like a month has passed. Fish are.doing.great. Plants some good so.e not so much. The java fern and one Anubias Nangi not so much other than the algae the others are do good. Water parameters are from after the Water change Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 pH 7.6 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0 Edited November 13, 2021 by Kevin F. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 On 11/13/2021 at 4:26 PM, Kevin F. said: Week 18 of course after been sick it fills like a month has passed. Fish are.doing.great. Plants some good so.e not so much. The java fern and one Anubias Nangi not so much other than the algae the others are do good. Water parameters are from after the Water change Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 pH 7.6 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0 looks great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 On 11/13/2021 at 4:26 PM, Kevin F. said: Week 18 of course after been sick it fills like a month has passed. Fish are.doing.great. Plants some good so.e not so much. The java fern and one Anubias Nangi not so much other than the algae the others are do good. Water parameters are from after the Water change Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 pH 7.6 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0 Looking good! Looks like things are growing in nicely! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 Week 19. Week started off sad. One of the two zebra danios with a bent spine passed. All other fish are happy and eating well. Plants are doing good. My wife came home Tuesday with two tissue cultures a pearl weed and some scarlet temple (she just loves that plant). I dialed the lights back last week and the algae is starting to get under control. I put my settings up tell me what y'all thank? Water tested good, first number is before water change second one is after. Nitrate 10/25 Nitrite 0/0 Hardness 300/300 Buffer 80/120 pH 7.2 /7.2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 On 11/20/2021 at 5:26 PM, Kevin F. said: Week 19. Week started off sad. One of the two zebra danios with a bent spine passed. All other fish are happy and eating well. Plants are doing good. My wife came home Tuesday with two tissue cultures a pearl weed and some scarlet temple (she just loves that plant). I dialed the lights back last week and the algae is starting to get under control. I put my settings up tell me what y'all thank? Water tested good, first number is before water change second one is after. Nitrate 10/25 Nitrite 0/0 Hardness 300/300 Buffer 80/120 pH 7.2 /7.2 Here's my settings on a sand-capped dirt substrate tank, currently plants are the only filtration. Since it's holiday, I'm not breaking out the gear for photography of the tank, so please excuse my reflection and dim lighting. Without extra lighting, the photos just don't do the tank justice. It's high in tannins, and grows plants beautifully! I just trimmed back most of the plants and took out almost 50% of the floating plants (a weekly chore that feeds the turtle). This tank has zero algae, except on the back wall that I introduced intentionally for filtration purposes. This is not cleaned yet, simply trimmed. It's a 10 gallon with dirt, sand, about a dozen endlers, Malaysia trumpet snails, pond snails, and red-gold ramshorns. Here's the light I have on it And here's where I planted some of the red plants I just trimmed back As you can see, I use a *lot* of red light, and for the longest time period. I have 7 hours of pitch dark at night, and another 3 hours mid day. A little over a month ago (I think? Not turning on the computer today to check records) I only had 4 hours of lights on, 5 hours dark, and 4 hours on, at max of 80% to stop the algae I had intentionally started in the back, from taking over the tank😬 Lighting (ime) can be a fabulous tool, and like most fabulous tools, has a steep learning curve. My advice is watch your plants. Watch the algae. Watch your fish. They talk to us, if we slow down and listen. Be patient. And try to only change one thing, and observe for 2 weeks... which is why I keep a spreadsheet with photos, because I am officially old enough that time exists as now... and not now🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 Week 20. Just got gome so no water change today. Fish are doing good, plants are looking better. The pink flamingo got another leaf and so.e of the other plants have really started responding to the better lights. If I'd gotten the fluval 3.0 from the start we'd look completely different at five months. Make sure you get good lighting from the start don't try to be cheap. Now the the algae has calmed down I'm going to try and increase the lights 10% on the first peak. @Torrey thanks for the info. The settings do have quite the learning curve. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 @Kevin F.I’d agree in the lighting especially with higher demand plants. At this point nearly 20 weeks anything you’d do differently? Still like the 125 or do you think a different size or gallonage would have been a better choice? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 @Beardedbillygoat1975 Yes there are two things I wish I had done from the start. Being a 125 it really needs a good light to get to the bottom. Really wish I had just got the better light from the start. Second is I really should of put down a layer of laterite clay, or something similar under my substrate. The root tabs work great. I thank the first layer would of increased longterm growth. As far as size of tank. No, this tank is setting in my dinning room. Really needed to be a large tank to fit the room. I've kept smaller planted tanks before from 10 to 55 gallon. I've had my best results from 20 gallon tanks. I've just always wanted a large planted tank. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoore Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 I'm really enjoying this thread. Thanks for sharing your info, guys! 😃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 On 11/29/2021 at 9:38 AM, Kevin F. said: Being a 125 it really needs a good light to get to the bottom. I have been using submersible LED lights to get the reddest leaves on my plants. Even with a strong light above the tank, only the top 3 to 6 pairs of leaves will get red... yet if you hide a submersible LED light behind a hardscape piece, you can have the reddest plant ever, even without CO2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted December 5, 2021 Author Share Posted December 5, 2021 Week 21. No big changes this week, well expect o e of the fish has decided to eat a Nana petite. Don't know who or why but they chewed it all the way to the nub. The Pogostemon Stella's has some smaller plants growing up from the bottom. Overall I'm happy with the way everything is going. Love setting here in the evening sipping coffee and watching the tank. Water this week looks good. First number is before water change second one is after. Nitrate 10 / 25 Nitrite 0 / 0 Hardness 300 / 300 Buffer 80 / 80 pH 7.2/ 7.2 Chlorine 0 / 0 Ammonia 0 / 0 Pictures are a little cloudy, they were taken just after water change. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 I love this thread! That is quite a journey with the 125G. It's beautiful! The rocks on the left are really, really cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted December 6, 2021 Author Share Posted December 6, 2021 @MinanoraThe rocks are actually a hollow plastic piece I've had forever. Here's a picture from the side of the tank. Normally I have a small piece of black paper the size for the rock to make it a cave for fish to hide in. I was really hoping the moss would cover it, but the Denison barbs keep picking at it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 The plants are filling in nicely! 😍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 @Kevin F. Plastic rocks or not. Still looks super cool there. It's a perfect hide. Not too big, not too small and the fact that it is plastic, and set up like that... it's even more awesome in my opinion because you can move the bla check inside there to see if someone has passed away and gone in there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 Week 22. Great week. Everything stayed the same. Plants growing algae retreating and fish look great. Really weird thank is the water parameters are exactly the same as last week. I got a early Christmas present from the wife, a python and J hook. I don't know how I ever lived without the Jhook. I didn't have to worry about it flopping out of the tank while I refilled it. Great product. Water test first number is before water change second one is after. Nitrate 10 / 25 Nitrite 0 /0 Hardness 300 / 300 Buffer 80 / 80 pH 7.2/ 7.2 Chlorine 0 / 0 Ammonia 0 / 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Tank is beautiful! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted December 20, 2021 Author Share Posted December 20, 2021 Week 23. I added another dose of fertilizer on Thursday this week. If I don't see an increase in algae, I'll turn the lights up another 10%. Fish are fat and happy. Plants are looking good. The corkscrew val and the Pogostemon Stella's have really started to take off. I didn't get to do a water change today. Had a wonderful day at church, kids singing, long lunch and relaxing with friends. The water tested just fine so I thank I might let it go and get back on the Saturday schedule, like I started. Water test. Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 pH 7.2 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0 Hope everything has a wonderful week and a Merry Christmas!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 Week 24. Merry Christmas everyone. Had a great week no algae increase after the light increase. Some of the plants even look better. The emperor 400 threw up after the water change and really clouded up the water. I am having a little problem with this filter, so I may have to replace it in the near future. I'm debating with myself on eather another 110 on a sponge on a power head. One of the danios with a bent spine passed Saturday. He really never grew like the others and the older he got the more his spine kinked up. There is one more in there that has a curved spine but it has grown with the others. Still on the same fertilizer schedule 12 pumps 9f easy green and 12 of easy iron. First dose on water change and second on Wednesday. Water parameters Nitrate 50 / 25 Nitrite 0/0 Hardness 300 / 300 Buffer 80 / 120 pH 7.2/ 7.2 Chlorine 0/0 Ammonia 0/0 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 @Kevin F.Tank is looking really good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin F. Posted January 2, 2022 Author Share Posted January 2, 2022 Week 25. Tank is doing good. The smallest zebra danio that never got any bigger died. Going to wait and see how the week goes before doing any other changes to lighting or dosing. I did see a plant pearling yesterday and was so mesmerized by it I didn't get a video. Hopefully it will do it again and I can document it. The rest of the fish are doing good great the harlequin rasboras have fou d a shadow area near the top of the tank and have started spending time there in the evening just hovering in it together. No water change today test was good. Water Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 pH 7.2 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0 Praying everyone is having a great new year. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Interesting. My Harlequins like dark corners too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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