Streetwise Indoor Aquariums

[Streetwise]

Try a bulkie roll or bagel. On a slightly more serious note, there is something special about hair algae on Mopani wood if you can contain it. I dislike hair algae when combined with floating plants or moss to create velcro, but I like it when it is rooted and independent.

[Isaac M]

Thats brilliant, I need to try the bagel 😂 but yeah, what I have done is use a marimo moss ball to try to mimic hair algae a bit but it does not flow like hair algae does. It looks really good in your aquarium! 

[Streetwise]

I should be clear that there was no plan. That bow is in different room than my other glass tanks, and it got a ton of window light in addition to my schedule. I used to have to get in there periodically with a pair of skewers to spin off the excess strings of hair algae, and scrape the back glass. I tried many different filters, and flow levels. Eventually, I ended up with a pair of nano sponge filters. The plants were enough for filtration, but I wanted to move water, and my shrimp love sponges so much.

I got 85% blackout curtains to control the window light, and I also added a spare symmetrical HoB, to help submerge any spare duckweed and catch it in the medium pre-filter.

This is the only tank I have with hair algae like this, so I don't have a recipe.

 

[Isaac M]

Yeah it is interesting to me how some people have been able to grow hair algae on surfaces but not the plants. I imagine someone will come out with the recipe eventually

[Streetwise]

I just moved my female betta from a 3.5 to my community 16 bow, because she needed more space. I hope she gets along with her new tank mates! I will take a photo tomorrow.

[Streetwise]

She is thriving and getting along. Her previous tank was a healthy home, but it was getting hard to keep up with the water top-offs from evaporation. It might become another shrimp tank.

I have never moved a fish with lights-out, but maybe it was a good idea.

[Patrick_G]

She’s a looker! 
Are those Danios with her? 

[Streetwise]

This tank has Bloodfin tetras, Glow-fin tetras, Otoclinclus, Siamese algae eaters, and yellow Neocaridina shrimp, plus bladder snails and Ramshorn snails. It might also have Pygmy Corydoras.

Cheers!

[FrozenFins]

Was wondering what those blood fin tetras were!

Wow great betta! Do you like the female bettas over the male bettas? I was reading through some of your older posts in this thread and I saw that the betta before this was also a female.

[Patrick_G]

Two thumbs up for the Bloodfins. They look nice in the blackwater tank.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Streetwise]

I have not yet tried male Bettas. I thought the females were under-appreciated, so I was drawn to them.

The Bloodfin tetras are probably my current favorite tetras, but I might be getting some new inhabitants soon, so I am moving some fish around to prepare.

I will probably be moving all of the White Clouds from my parents’ tank to my cousins’ pond next, to open up a seasoned tank.

[Streetwise]

Someday I will show that this Betta is blue.

[Hobbit]

Your scape in that bow front is just perfect.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Killer nano tank! Agree on hair algae. Sometimes you just have to accept it. 

[Streetwise]

I need to top-off these windowsill shrimp tanks. The middle tank is just a wet houseplant for now.

[FrozenFins]

My favorite part is that your not using any lights, only sun light. I assume your tank is very balanced considering the fact its not a green water mess. If I had space by a window I might do an aquarium there. Awesome tanks! Super fascinating!

[Streetwise]

@James Black, I ran these 2.5 gallon tanks with lights and various filters for a while, as I was learning. After running no-tech outdoor tubs, and dealing with ambient light for indoor tanks, I decided that my tech was taking up too much room in these small aquariums.

They are on the northern side of my apartment, so the light is mellow.

[Streetwise]

To beat the heat, I had to clean some sponges, increase flow, remove duckweed, remove a light, and remove lids. I did add some mulm to a 2.5 to get it ready for shrimp. For my optional HoBs, it seems that the prefilter for each catches about four times as much as the filter sponges. I don't really need them for filtering, but I am glad to have them moving water during this heat. I just squeezed out the prefilter sponges right into the tank water in photos 1 and 3. In photo two, I added mulm water. The other three are just shots of the 2.5 shrimp tanks with no changes.

[Streetwise]

Some messes clean-up faster than others!

I stirred the Askoll 20 a bit more!

[Trish]

On 5/20/2021 at 6:20 PM, Streetwise said:

I seem to have posted many photos without fish, so I fed first this time:

Great looking egg McMuffin.. think I'll go make one!   

[Streetwise]

I gave away all the Rubber Plants that I was growing out. Here are some of my smaller tanks. 1.25, 3 x 2.5, 7.5 gallons.

[Isaac M]

@Streetwise wow I love the footprint of the 2.5s, I envision an organic soil aquarium with large amazon swords growing leaves out of the water and driftwood sticking out the top. But maybe that is just my mts creeping up 😂 anyways, I love the tanks! I love the way the crypts are sticking out of the surface. 

[Streetwise]

@Isaac M, I had taller wood, but eventually duckweed removal became more important than emergent wood.

[Isaac M]

@Streetwise I completely understand, I am having trouble getting into some of my aquariums nowadays, the nice thing about organic soil aquariums is you do not need to get in there very often! Duckweed is a different story though 😂

[Streetwise]