My 10 Gallon Journal

[A3M0N]

My soda bottle co2 experiment ran until today, so roughly 3-4 days. Not really enough time to tell if it did any good, but it was just a proof to myself that it would work. I refilled the bottle this afternoon, but with twice as much yeast this time. I know it'll run out quicker, but it is producing a good bit more co2, 2.25 bubbles per second after 30 mins of sealing the bottle. I kinda like this DIY bottle setup, but I'm planning to get a real diffuser from Amazon, and I should probably get a drop checker too just to be sure I'm not poisoning my fish! I am curious about the citric acid and baking soda method, it seems a little less messy and more precise. 

I'm not sure what's going on with the streaks in the paint on the back glass. It's black acrylic paint that was rolled on. It's not wet, and it's not peeling up. I guess if it continues I can scrape it off and put on some window film/tint. 

Anyway, here's a shot after a water change and some clean up. I got a terra cotta pot I'm planning to make into a better cave, I may cut out the bottom of it so they can swim through it. Do fish get bored like dogs? 

Edited August 30, 2022 by A3M0N

[A3M0N]

So my second co2 experiment worked better, the only thing I changed was the amount of yeast. I doubled it, and I was getting 2.25 bubbles per second, but it only lasted a single day! I started my 3rd experiment on Friday night, kept everything the same but made my sugar water mixture with gelatin. The idea is to make the yeast work harder and last longer, but co2 production stalled out overnight. I added another 0.5 tsp of yeast and it's working again, but very slowly. 

Anyway, I tested the water and no issues, so I won't change it. I've been changing it each week regardless of how it tests, but I'm going to wait a week and test it again. Even though co2 has been inconsistent, here is a weekly comparison of the water quality. 

 

But what is this on my plants? It's not hair algae, it doesn't wipe off. It's connected to the leaf, if I pull on it, the entire plant pulls. Any ideas? 

 

[Guppysnail]

How fun to do diy experiment projects. 
That is the start of a filament type string algae from being close to the light. Mine gets that. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Blackbeard algae. Responds well to algaecides like Easy Carbon. The blackish filaments will turn a purplish color. In the end, you will have to look at the underlying cause - too many nutrients and not enough plant mass would be where I would start - get some fast growing floaters and stems to soak up the extra nutrients. You can then remove the floaters when your plant mass can take up all the nutrients. Examples - rotala, ludwigia, bacopa, cabomba, hygrophila etc. 

[rockfisher]

@A3M0N I was using the homemade yeast CO2 but I was getting yeast groth in the tank at times. I broke down and bought the $15 kit for the bottles and use citric acid and baking soda.  Here is the setup and I like it and it lasts for up to 2 months, but mine is abou 4 to 6 depending on the tank and size. This one is on a 20 gallon. They have all kinds of kits I’m sure You looked if you made your own. I don’t think the the type of kit you buy I bought the least expensive one that had a pressure relief valve bei exploded a bottle with the yeast. You can for it with any of the homemade recipes if you aren’t careful. I’m sure you know that that was more for people inspired by your journal to made there own. It’s fun and great if you have kids for science fair.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by rockfisher

[A3M0N]

Thanks y'all! Can you fight the filament algae the same way? Have you seen Easy Carbon hurt vallisneria too bad? I've been wanting to add more plants, I guess it's time! I'm already holding off on the root tabs this month, hopefully that will help balance it out. I'm also thinking of cutting out the blue light altogether and only running the white light at 50%, but I really like the dim/blueish look! But I can revisit that once everything is balanced out. 

Hm, I didn't think about yeast growing in the tank. I had the algae growing and brown spots on my vals before the co2 experiments, that's partially why I started playing with the idea. I'll have to look into this more. I'm really trying to keep the costs low, and I enjoy DIY projects. 

I'm also playing with some ideas for filtration with more flow, but don't want to spend a lot. I don't hate hang on the back filters, but I already have an air pump and don't want to waste it. I was looking at Hamburg Matten filters, or something like this: https://youtu.be/2Y8ZaBLMfU4

 

[A3M0N]

Ok, the algae is definitely getting worse. But I did make a little filter change/upgrade. A 1/2in PVC pipe fits right down into the sponge filter housing with the cap removed, but the air stone just fits into the tube, so I left it out for fear of blocking the air. Anyway, so now the uplift tube goes all the way up to the top, the water level is just about in the middle of the 90 degree elbow opening. The fish started swimming around more almost immediately! I'm sure a good bit of their reaction is just because its different, but maybe they were bored with such still water? 

[A3M0N]

Two things to add today. First, I made a PVC stand for my light. I just didn't love the way it sits on the lid, so I used some leftover 3/4 PVC from other projects. Spray painted black with Krylon Fusion, and hung it with some hanging plant chain. I'll likely have to increase the power a bit because its now about 8in above the lid. I'm also working on a grid to direct the light down and not let it spill everywhere. 

Next, I went ahead and dosed with hydrogen peroxide. Turned off the filter, poured 10ml above the plants and give it a little swirl. Waited 15mins then changed the water. I'll post a picture in a week to see any (hopefully good) changes. I'm shopping for plants to add to the tank as well. 

I forgot to take a picture before I changed the water today, but this one is from last night after I finished the light stand. 

[Guppysnail]

This may help you out. It kills bba immediately is easy and safe. I enjoy following your journal. 

 

[A3M0N]

@Guppysnail whoa! I've seen the thread but just kinda figured it was too over my head as a newbie. Thanks so much! I'm going to be removing the plants to install my DIY filter next week(ish), I think I'll do this at the same time. 

And thanks for following my journal. I'm really enjoying the process. I'm a fan of DIY, so it's been really hands on learning for me. After my filter install, I have a terra cotta pot to split in half to make a couple of caves. I've also been thinking about making a couple of PVC tunnels. But getting some new plants probably need to be higher up on the list. 

Edited September 10, 2022 by A3M0N

[Guppysnail]

The science portion is a bit to digest. In reality it’s simple. Remove plants and place in seltzer that’s just been opened. Place in the dark for 9 hours. I weight my plants with kitchen utensils so they stay submerged. After 9 hours plop plants directly in tank. No need to even rinse. Bba will turn red in a bit that means it’s dead. 
It does kill all snails pest bacteria etc. as well. Great instead of long plant qt. 

[Robi]

On 8/28/2022 at 6:54 AM, A3M0N said:

My vallisneria isn't looking the best. It's still alive, and has already creeped and started two more plants, but none of it is a tall and green as it was. I turned my light brightness up a bit, but then I saw an uptick in hair algae. 

So as of now my light is at half power, both white and blue lights, and running for eight hours per day. It was at 10 hours. 

Also, more for fun and I like to make things than for any other reason, and to see if it would help my plants, I made a very small diy co2 system. It's made from two 16oz soda bottles, air tubing, and an air stone. It probably won't run very long, but I just wanted to see if it would work and it does. I may upgrade to that gallon bottle next if it makes a big difference. 

I still need to change the water this week. I'll do that this evening probably. 

i like the zip ties idea to hold the diy co2 as a solid single unit 🙂

[A3M0N]

@Robi lol, thanks! I realized it wasn't a great idea when I had to change the yeast solution. I had to separate them so I could pour out the old and shake up the new mixture. 

[A3M0N]

I got up this morning and the algae was red! I still plan to do a round of RR when I change out my filter though. I figure if I can make sure the algae is all gone and give my plants a boost at the same time, why not?! 

I realized I made a measuring mistake on my filter, so I'll get that corrected this week. I have sponges coming in this week for that project. I just bought replacement sponges for my current sponge filter so I will continue to run the current sponge with a new one along side. I have a "real" co2 diffuser coming in as well, although the bamboo chopstick is doing surprisingly well at the moment. I do need to change my sugar/yeast though, it is slowing down a good bit. 

[Guppysnail]

It is so weirdly gratifying to see dead red algae 🤣

[A3M0N]

I bought some cheaper tropical flakes to see if the fish wanted a variety, I fed them this morning and watched every one of them spit the flakes right back out. I crushed them up first too, now they're all sitting on the bottom. Hopefully the snail will clean some of it up. So, it seems they like the nano pellets over the flakes. I've been interested to see if they would like some brine shrimp like once a week or so, but that'll be a project for another time. 

The "real" diffuser came in today! Yeah, it definitely works better than my DIY attempts. Worth the $10. I mixed up another batch of yeast/sugar and it is pumping out some nice small bubbles. This should be my last batch in the 20oz soda bottle, the small experiments seem to have worked pretty well. I'll move up to a quart size bottle and see how long that lasts. 

[A3M0N]

I feel like I'm spamming my own journal thread! I've posted something everyday this week so far, but I've been doing one small task a day.

Anyway, here is a picture of my DIY filter I've mentioned several times. It's made from 1/2in PVC and painted with Krylon Fusion. On the right is the lift tube and discharge, it's just about an inch below the rim of the tank. On the left is the intake. It'll have two, 2x2in sponges stacked, one of which will be from my current sponge filter so I can keep all my nice bacteria. I'll also have several more spare sponges, I don't plan to add any other tanks right now, but I guess I never really know when have a spare seasoned sponge will be useful. The tee in between is only there for support. I plan to put it at a slight angle, so the lift tube will be in the far corner, but the intake will be set off from the back a bit. It'll be air powered, because I already have a pump and had the PVC around from previous projects, and I'm on a budget. 

The idea is the intake being on the far side of the aquarium from the discharge will create more flow than my standard sponge filter. My fish seem happier already with just the lift tube modification I made, I hope this makes them even more playful. Their food seems to be distributed better too with more surface flow. 

I was inspired by Aqua Shed's video: https://youtu.be/2Y8ZaBLMfU4. I didn't use his under gravel idea though, I didn't think my blasting sand substrate would play nice with an under gravel system. 

The sponges should come in tomorrow afternoon, and the Krylon Fusion will have been curing for a week on Thurs. So hopefully I'll get it all installed on Thurs or Fri. 

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 9/12/2022 at 12:21 PM, A3M0N said:

I bought some cheaper tropical flakes to see if the fish wanted a variety, I fed them this morning and watched every one of them spit the flakes right back out. I crushed them up first too, now they're all sitting on the bottom

This happens. Then you figure out which they like best and just rotate those few. I've heard some people have used their unused flakes in the garden so they don't go entirely to waste. I'd probably churn them in with some dirt and not just throw them on top so as not to attract unwanted characters. 

[A3M0N]

Alright, got my filter installed today. Everything went pretty good! Last night I took my few plants out and put them to soak in seltzer water at about 7:30, and put them back in around 9:30 this morning. The algae is definitely brown, and hopefully dead. I pulled some off by had before putting them back into the tank, but I hope the snail will eat some now that its dead. I took everything out to put the filter in, made a huge mess in the water! So I ended up changing more water than I usually would just to get the mess out. It took a while to clear up again, but it's getting better. There are some bubbles on the glass, not too worried that right now. 

The valliseria aren't huge, but they are growing. I started with two, and now there are five! 

The filter seems to be working well! Next I'll work on getting some plants in there and some fertilizer. I've been looking into the estimative index method. 

[Guppysnail]

Looks like you are moving right along. On the tips of my Val where my snails seldom go I had to just sort of wait for the dead algae to dissolve on its own. If it doesn’t you can snip the tips so new algae doesn’t use the dead algae as a nutrient source. 

[A3M0N]

I picked up a small bundle of ludwigia repens at a "big box" pet store yesterday.  It got soaked in seltzer water, reverse respiration, over night then planted this morning. The employee was nice and looked for the biggest bundle in the tank and I came out with four stems. One ended up breaking while getting them into the soak, but I planted both ends so hopefully both pieces recover! Next I plan to get a foreground carpet attempted with something like micro sword or dwarf sagittaria. 

I'm continuing to keep away from any fertilizer this month, I hope that's not a huge mistake. I said when I started this little aquarium that it was going to be a simple project just to have for fun... well it's still very much fun but getting further from simple every week. I'm thinking of trying estimative index fertilizing using this kit: https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/estimative-index-ei-aquarium-nutrients-package-bags.html. It seems like it will last for quite some time, and going off the suggestions on their page not too difficult. Let me know if this is a dumb way for me to go about this. 

I'm going to start adding my test results to my weekly updates, maybe y'all can teach me about why they change and what it could mean. As far as this week's test, I changed my filter and cleaned up the vallisneria with reverse respiration earlier in the week, that came along with a messy substrate disturbance and a large water change. After that large change I dosed it with API Quick Start just in case I messed with the bacteria colony too much. Then I added the ludwigia this morning and tested the water several hours later. I didn't change the water based on the test. 

Using API test strips: 
GH: 120
KH: 80
pH: 6.5 
Nitrite: 0 
Nitrate: 0 

[Guppysnail]

When rooting terrestrial houseplants stems and clippings grow roots much quicker using plain water. They grow roots slower and not as reliably for me if I add fertilizer. I find this to be true of aquatic plants also. They send roots rapidly in search of nutrients. 

[A3M0N]

On 9/17/2022 at 3:09 PM, Guppysnail said:

When rooting terrestrial houseplants stems and clippings grow roots much quicker using plain water. They grow roots slower and not as reliably for me if I add fertilizer. I find this to be true of aquatic plants also. They send roots rapidly in search of nutrients. 

I was looking at your update today, is that why you put you plant clippings in your quarantine tank? 

[Guppysnail]

On 9/17/2022 at 6:41 PM, A3M0N said:

I was looking at your update today, is that why you put you plant clippings in your quarantine tank? 

Yes. My plant clipping tank used to sit in front of a window with gobs of pothos clippings shrimp and snails. It’s the only tank I could achieve zero usually max 10 nitrate. Clippings both emergent and submerged sprout roots quicker there than my other tanks that range 25-40 nitrate. 

I should add my tap is awful 25-30 nitrate so I use bottle water in vases on my windowsill when rooting houseplants 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Guppysnail

[A3M0N]

On 9/17/2022 at 6:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

It’s the only tank I could achieve zero usually max 10 nitrate. 

I should add my tap is awful 25-30 nitrate so I use bottle water in vases on my windowsill when rooting houseplants 

Well, I guess its good mine tested at 0 nitrate today! Haha!