AllFishNoBrakes’ Journal

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I was going to post the following in the general discussions part of the forum, and then I realized that it could be controversial, and that’s the last thing I want to do. I just think water parameters, testing, and how it can all be generally confusion, frustrating, and annoying, and do they even really matter that much at all is probably best just to be out here in my journal. 
 

If you make it through this rant, first and foremost that’s awesome, and thanks for reading it. Assuming somebody does read it, I’m curious what you think about testing/testing methods/if or how the results and the research that goes with it is confusing/frustrating/annoying. 
 

How’s everyone doing on this fine Saturday evening?

I’d like to preface this by saying that I’ve been in the hobby for 4 years, with 14 tanks, and I consider myself pretty detailed and scientific. I’ve been described as “granular” and “pedantic” at times. I like science, I like experiments, I like to learn, and I like to understand things in a detailed manner. I’m not trying to toot my own horn or anything, I’m just trying to say that I should love the concept of water parameters, testing, documenting and detailing those results, etc. Yet, I find it to be kind of difficult or at least more difficult than I personally believe it should be, a little confusing at times, slightly annoying, and I completely understand how people in general just wouldn’t get it or get lost when discussing it.
 

I also want to say that I think testing your tank and understanding your tank are extremely important. My first year or maybe even year and a half I would start every Wednesday by testing all 14 tanks. I would record that data in my phone, and then after cleaning all that up I would then do maintenance on those 14 tanks. Over time though, everything balanced out, I developed a routine, and now I hardly test my tanks. I focus on consistency, I’ve been doing the same maintenance routines for 4 years, and if or when I do test I go “yup, exactly as it’s been for the past 3 years”. If I noticed something was off, though, I would immediately test parameters and look for an outlier. 
 

Now, let’s start to get into the reasons that I personally believe that parameters, testing, and ultimately understanding those tests can be difficult/frustrating/confusing/annoying. 
 

First and foremost, it’s that different types of tests don’t verify against each other. At least not for me. My test strips results are pretty different from my liquid test kit results. So, which one is right? Personally, I believe that the liquid reagent tests are more accurate. Do I have known solutions to test against? No. However, in my opinion, I am able to more closely discern between smaller numbers, and that makes me at least feel like they’re more accurate. I’ll post pictures from the testing I did tonight, but when a test strip shows 0 nitrate, and the liquid test shows somewhere between 5 and 20, and it’s definitely not 0, that makes me believe that the liquid tests are more accurate. 

ACO test strips scale

The strip test I did tonight. Apologies it’s a little blurry, but for my own ramble here I think it’s representative enough to demonstrate what I’m talking about. Per this test strip my nitrate reading is 0.

API liquid reagent test result. In person, this looked like 10 to me. From the pic it looks maybe more like 20. The only thing I know for sure is that it’s not 0 like the strip indicates, and it’s not 40 or higher. And this also proves how difficult it can be to discern between the colors on these tests in general. Hardly ever do colors match the scale exactly, except for 0’s.

This tank has live plants, and it also has a 20’ Pothos vine coming out of it. It’s a 20 gallon tank that has been established for 4 years, gets fed daily, and it’s my only tank that gets fertilized twice per week. 4ml on Wednesday after a water change, and then another 2ml on Saturday. That Pothos vine loves the nutrients, and obviously it’s nowhere near 40ppm. All that is to say that it should have nitrates in it. Throughout the week, this tank gets a 3x dose of Easy Green, yet has 0 algae. It’s obviously supporting the plants in the tank as well as the monster Pothos vine. All that is to say, the liquid test showing it has nitrates leads me to believe that the liquid test is more accurate.

Regardless if you use liquid or strip tests for your parameters, you have to follow the instructions exactly as they are written. My very first tank was a 10 gallon aquaponics tank. Being the newbie that I was, I didn’t thoroughly read the instructions in the master test kit for each test. I thought, “I can read the bottle and put in the drops. Give this bad boy a shake, and then wait 5 minutes. No problem, I got this. How hard can it be, right?” This was fine for everything. Everything except for nitrates. I was doing the test daily while it cycled, and then weekly once it had completed the cycle. I saw the ammonia be green, then go to 0. The nitrite go from purple to blue. I knew things were happening, and I was confirming it with the timeline and changing colors. However, nitrate remained at 0. I thought it was a little strange, but I also made it make sense in my head. “Well, I have live plants in the tank. I also have veggies, flowers and other things growing out of the top. I know I’m giving my tank nitrates in the form of fertilizer, and I know the cycle is happening. It must just be super balanced so that everything the fish are creating and everything I’m adding in Easy Green is just being used by all these plants”. Right? WRONG. I wasn’t shaking the nitrate bottles for 30 seconds, vigorously, and I most definitely wasn’t shaking the test tube for 60 seconds vigorously. Add that to the fact that I was only topping off the tank as I thought I had 0 nitrates, so when I finally did the test like I was supposed to and it turned deep red almost immediately I wasn’t thrilled. Definitely leaned my lesson with that one. Even test strips you should follow them exactly as they’re written. If it says to gently swirl for 3 seconds, wait a minute, and keep the test strip flat so the water and pads don’t spread and mix together, then you should do that to get as accurate of a test as possible. For things that seem so simple there are several ways to mess up all of them. And that leads to confusion, frustration, and hard lessons you have to learn which aren’t the most fun when you’re just trying to give your fish and plants a healthy environment. 
 

I also find that general information when you look it up is conflicting. One article will say that a certain value is soft. Another will say it’s on the low end of the “moderately hard” scale. I don’t care or really need to know if I’m at the “low end of the moderately hard scale”. Isn’t that just the same as soft? Isn’t “the high end of soft” and “the low end of moderately hard” just the same thing? And isn’t that just the same thing as soft? As with anything, information can be conflicting, so which one do you trust? 

I also think that gh and kh, and the dreaded tds can be confusing and conflicting. Conversion charts can be confusing or have too little information. The conversion chart on the API gh and kh chart seems like it lacks information to me. #of drops, then degrees dkh, and then ppm gh/kh just seems like it’s lacking to me. Which #drops? Is that gh or kh? Do I add them together? Do I not? Should I just convert to ppm and then look that up? What’s the multiplication factor to take these number of drops and get ppm? It just seems like it’s so much more difficult than I think it should be.

In that same vein, you can have multiple different units of measurement, but they mean the same thing. Multiply by 17.14 to get ppm for gh and kh. Should I look at gpg? What’s the conversion for that? Does that unit even make sense in the aquarium world? It just gets convoluted and confusing and I can understand why it’s frustrating to people. And then maybe gh and kh when you do the conversion mathematically is higher than your tds meter says. But tds should be everything in the water and not just gh and kh. One more round of confusion, and then you can go ahead and close out my tab. Thanks. 

I also believe that people have opinions, or the things they think they know, and then they tell other people that it’s a truth. Things like high pH means you have hard water. Lower pH means you have soft water. To the best of my knowledge and understanding, these things are not absolute truths. You have have acidic water that is hard. You can have alkaline water that is soft. And of course you can have hard, alkaline water, just like you can have soft, acidic water. Water structure is different all over the world, so such a broad generalization just doesn’t make sense to me  

Let’s talk about the pH test I did. Test strip shows super low, like maybe even 6.4. But then the pad has a darker color in the center of the pad. Does that mean anything? Should I add a .2 because it started to maybe change to the next color? Again, just doesn’t make it any easier. For the liquid it shows maybe a 7.2? Is that as dark as the 7.6? Maybe I’ll just call it in between as I’m not sure. Then you test on the high pH and get 7.4. So, it must’ve been 7.4 on the low test. So maybe it is in fact between the 7.2 and the 7.6. And then you realize that the lowest end of the high pH test is a 7.4, so if it was below that it wouldn’t actually show up. So is it a 6 point something like the test strip shows, or is it a 7 point something like the liquid test shows? Just keep piling on the questions, confusion, and not perfectly matching colors, please.

All this leads me to what I actually know about my water. Or what I think I know about my water. I think that my water is on the softer side, with a pH that might be a little bit below 7, and I think it has some buffer but not a ton. I feel pretty confident in saying that my water IS NOT super hard, with a high pH, and tons of buffer. This is mostly backed up by the strips, liquid tests, and my tds meter. I can tell you that gh and kh were 5 drops each on the API liquid test, which I think is 89ppm per. So, according to the test strip that puts me in the middle for gh (not really soft, but not really hard). My KH is also at 89ppm according to the liquid test, but the strip is nowhere near that. Not even close to being that dark green. But I know I have enough buffer to not run out, and that’s all you really need. According to the gpg chart and article, I’m at 5 gpg, which is actually pretty consistent with what I’ve know to be true growing up in this area my whole life. We don’t get really any hard water stains in the shower, bathrooms, toilets, kitchen, my tank lids, etc, but dishes can definitely be spotty at times, so maybe that’s correct and true? So, in the end, I don’t know a whole lot. Or at least I feel like I should know more based on all the testing methods and how much information is generally available on the internet. 

My final point is, does any of this even matter? Do certain pieces matter more than others? Are parameters kind of like whose line is it anywhere where it’s all made up and the points don’t matter? Are test kits just a giant marketing ploy to make money off things that don’t count for anything? No, absolutely not. I think testing your water is important and absolutely vital to your success in your hobby. I just personally believe that ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are probably more important than the others. Especially when you’re new to the hobby, cycling tanks, trying to balance your tanks, etc. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are essential to any tank. Over the past 4 years I’ve found those parameters to be the most important and the most impactful. In fact, outside of test strips (which show pretty different results than the liquid kit) I’ve only tested pH a handful of times in the past 4 years. With a strip it’s basically impossible to not look at the result. With the liquid test you just don’t pull it out and use it, lol. Real easy to skip over when you just don’t do it. Ammonia and nitrite are super important to ensuring a non-toxic environment for your fish, and nitrates are important for plants, maintenance, balancing your tank, and developing your routine for water changes. pH, gh, and kh combined have had way less of an impact on my hobby than ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Of course there are times where those other numbers could be more important. If I was trying to breed a fish that required a low pH and 0 gh or kh of course those numbers and tests would be important if I want to breed that fish that has those requirements.  If I wanted to keep African Cichlids I would be way more concerned with pH and would have to alter my water to create the environment they need. I’ve been successful with neocaridina’s, but if I wanted to try some caridina’s pH and kH would be way more important to me. At least until I proved that my substrate was doing what it needed to, I developed my routine, and my shrimp were thriving and breeding. 
 

I think both types of testing methods have their place. The liquid tests, in my opinion, give me a more precise result, even if the colors are hard to read at times. That 0 ammonia and 0.25, 0.50, and 1ppm all look different, and that 0ppm could be the difference between your tank being cycled and finally ready for fish, or you should give it another few days to be sure. 0’s for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all look different than if they’re not 0.
The strips are a quicker way to go “yup, looks the same as last time, which tells me the tank is still cruising right along and at this moment I don’t see any outliers or things to be worried about”

In the end, I could probably talk about this for forever, but I think that’s where I’m at. Water parameters and test results are vital, but that doesn’t make them any less confusing, any less frustrating, or any less difficult than I personally believe them to be. At this current moment, testing my tanks just confirms what I know. That they’re pretty much the same as they have been for the last 3 years and my environments are continuing to thrive and do well. 
 

If you made it through all of that, let me know what you think. What do you agree with, what did I completely botch, and what am I missing? Do you have any tips or tricks to make it easier?

Cheers, friends. 

[beastie]

I really cant comment on most of what you wrote, but the fact the testing results are so diferent, someties the age of the test also plays a role, the results are hard to interpret, test brands play a role,... That is why I stopped testing. Why go through the meticulus labor and then not be sure if what you meassured is correct

For example, my water company says my pH is 7,9, but when I test with a drop test, I get 7, maybe 7,2 some tanks even lower. Is the test wrong? the water company? 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@beastie Exactly. I think they’re mostly arbitrary numbers that don’t really matter much. Outside of very specific circumstances, pH doesn’t really matter to me. As long as I have enough kH I’m good. I’m not keeping hard water fish, so no real need to worry about gH. 
 

Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates have been more impactful to my hobby than any of the other metrics. 

[EricksonAquatics]

I’m in the same boat with nearly everything you said - mostly about it being so dang annoying!

Usually I don’t have a problem with the strips versus liquid kit when testing ammonia and nitrite. I stick with the liquid test kit to do those because it definitely seems more accurate and is easier to read.

Nitrate, however, has caused me so much trouble.

On this Co Op strip Nitrate seems to be right around 25 (looks that way in person, at least).

When I go to test with the liquid API kit, I get this:

Like, what the heck??!? In person it seems impossible to tell if it’s 40 or 80. I’m assuming it’s 40 because this tank gets dosed Easy Green 3x dose once a week, sometimes twice, but with a crap ton of floating plants. 

I also get this when checking pH - doesn’t match up with the test strip at all.

The two things that do seem to match up on the strip and the liquid kit are my GH (20ppm - yes, I’ve been slacking on dosing Equilibrium) and KH (140ish ppm). Basically, I’ve got super soft water with super high pH which doesn’t really make sense to me, but I’m not very good with science. I thought usually high pH = high GH and vice versa, but maybe that’s not always the case.

At this point I kinda just go along my merry way water changing once a week and dosing with the strips to make sure anything isn’t completely off, same as you. I’ve kinda just decided, hey - it’s an ecosystem. I dose the fertilizer and put the light on a timer - nature takes care of the rest. If plants are dying or anything is crazy out of whack, then I evaluate. Doesn’t make testing water any less annoying!

I apologize for the long response… that didn’t need to be that long, lol

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@EricksonAquatics no need to apologize for the response! I actually really appreciate it. 
 

I take a similar approach. Testing, regardless of type of test, just confirms that nothing is out whack or is completely outside of what I’m expecting. Other than that, it doesn’t really matter much to me. 
 

Also gotta say that I’m not sure I’ve ever registered nitrates on the Coop test strip. Yet I’ll always register it on the liquid test. 🤷‍♂️

Edited July 21 by AllFishNoBrakes

[EricksonAquatics]

On 7/21/2024 at 3:24 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I’ve ever registered nitrates on the Coop test strip. Yet I’ll always register it on the liquid test. 🤷‍♂️

So weird. Especially since it’s not like the amount on nitrate you have is undetectable. I can see if it’s at like 1-5ppm and the test strip can’t pick it up when the liquid test can. But 10-20ppm? Weird that it doesn’t show on the strip!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/21/2024 at 4:14 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

Weird that it doesn’t show on the strip!

Per the liquid text, my grow out tank is somewhere in the 40-80ppm range. Which makes sense to me. Lots of fish getting fed lots of food. The ACO strip doesn’t pick that up either. 
 

It’s just so annoying and confusing. If I was only using the strip, and only changing water when it “told” me to, I’d never be changing water. Seems like a disaster when my water is on the softer side, with very little buffer. 
 

Now, I know my tanks can skip a week of water changes here and there. I go on vacation and everything is fine. But I know if I didn’t change water for months, my kH would deplete, which would crash my pH, and I know the little bit of minerals I do have would be used up and non-existent. Seems like a recipe for disaster. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Apparently my Angels in the community tank spawned yesterday, too. Something must’ve been in the air! Wild when things line up like that. 
 

Here you can see the non-fertilized eggs starting to fungus. And this is why we use methylene blue when we’re hatching the eggs. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/20/2024 at 7:05 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Speaking of fish foods, my Spirulina is now gone, and my Krill is almost empty too. Which means it’s time to re up on fish food! I’ll definitely be ordering more Krill and Spirulina, and I remember Cory saying he brought in some new foods. Has anybody tried the Xtreme black soldier fly flake yet? Definitely interested in trying that one out, and I’d also love to hear your opinion if you’ve tried it already. 

Might have a screaming deal for you.... I was considering it, but 95% of the food would go to waste for me and my 1 tank.  I'll send a DM over.

Congratulations on the future vacation and mad props for the dedication and patience to get there.  Enjoy it and cherish those moments.  They will last a lifetime.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

If you make it through this rant, first and foremost that’s awesome, and thanks for reading it. Assuming somebody does read it, I’m curious what you think about testing/testing methods/if or how the results and the research that goes with it is confusing/frustrating/annoying. 

Alright... There's a LOT going on here and let's break down a few of the fine details.  This is simply my outside observations and going along your journey with testing results:
 

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

First and foremost, it’s that different types of tests don’t verify against each other. At least not for me.

YEP!  There is actually confusion between so many test kits because one might test for one thing and the other claims to test for another, but it's not quite the same thing.  Or, you could simply be working with a scenario of something contaminates one test and the other is more reliable longer term.  (Like wet fingertips or moisture in the air and test strips vs. liquid test kits stored properly)

 

 

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

ACO test strips scale

The strip test I did tonight. Apologies it’s a little blurry, but for my own ramble here I think it’s representative enough to demonstrate what I’m talking about. Per this test strip my nitrate reading is 0.

The strip goes from 0->10, the liquid is a bit more sensitive in the end.  The scale might be a bit difficult to see, but the actual method for viewing the result is where a lot of confusion comes from.  what angle are you supposed to view the results? From the Side? From the top down? What kind of light works best, sunlight?


And then you have that... is the test tube cleaned or skewing results question.

There's all these little tricks that people do, one of them might be having a specific light/area where they view the results.  Another thing might be using the tank itself to rinse the tube a few times and remove any remnants that might be in there.  It also might not matter at all and the main thing is to ensure the chemical itself is removed and the glass is just thoroughly rinsed.

Needless to say, I understand what you're putting down, it's frustrating to read tests. This is why those color meters are of such high utility and value, especially for anyone who normally has difficulty or an eye issue that makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors.
 

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

In that same vein, you can have multiple different units of measurement, but they mean the same thing. Multiply by 17.14 to get ppm for gh and kh. Should I look at gpg? What’s the conversion for that? Does that unit even make sense in the aquarium world?

I found this a while ago, very helpful.

https://www.waterhardness.net/calculator/show?calculator[waterhardness]=60&calculator[unit]=ppm&calculator[_token]=3748fa42abee1fea37daf54a5.mCn5bUQbHfm8FUevhI03rZBx1tMxD0Hc7ii5JrSD22g.83CgKRdIX7_ZZTHl4MpAzP4u5udcUDmd32HqFpnmsh7iQ48iCk1RsP55MA

 

In terms of the other issue of what actually is hard or soft water.... Do you mean GH or KH? 🙂 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

 

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm





I blame it on my dyslexia, but I hear someone out loud talk "carbonate hardness" and I can't tell you whether it's GH or KH for the life of me.  It's jumbled up in there and I have to just have a test that says GH or KH so I know.  I absolutely know which is which, but it's one of the audio conversion things I guess.  I also have never, ever been able to tell you what numbers are odd or even.  I just cannot get it to stick in my mind.

General Hardness (GH) vs. Carbonate Hardness (KH) vs. Alkalinity (pH)

 

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

My final point is, does any of this even matter? Do certain pieces matter more than others? Are parameters kind of like whose line is it anywhere where it’s all made up and the points don’t matter? Are test kits just a giant marketing ploy to make money off things that don’t count for anything? No, absolutely not. I think testing your water is important and absolutely vital to your success in your hobby. I just personally believe that ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are probably more important than the others. Especially when you’re new to the hobby, cycling tanks, trying to balance your tanks, etc. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are essential to any tank. Over the past 4 years I’ve found those parameters to be the most important and the most impactful. In fact, outside of test strips (which show pretty different results than the liquid kit) I’ve only tested pH a handful of times in the past 4 years. With a strip it’s basically impossible to not look at the result. With the liquid test you just don’t pull it out and use it, lol. Real easy to skip over when you just don’t do it. Ammonia and nitrite are super important to ensuring a non-toxic environment for your fish, and nitrates are important for plants, maintenance, balancing your tank, and developing your routine for water changes. pH, gh, and kh combined have had way less of an impact on my hobby than ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Of course there are times where those other numbers could be more important. If I was trying to breed a fish that required a low pH and 0 gh or kh of course those numbers and tests would be important if I want to breed that fish that has those requirements.  If I wanted to keep African Cichlids I would be way more concerned with pH and would have to alter my water to create the environment they need. I’ve been successful with neocaridina’s, but if I wanted to try some caridina’s pH and kH would be way more important to me. At least until I proved that my substrate was doing what it needed to, I developed my routine, and my shrimp were thriving and breeding. 

This is where I differ.  I basically over-filter, ensure proper maintenance. I might test nitrate if I have some sort of a plant growth issue.  I test GH/KH only. Nitrate when I need to, Phosphate occasionally when I run into algae issues, but if I ever see ammonia, I use a strip I trust, and nitrite really just doesn't matter as much to me as water changes would.  If I see nitrate above a certain value I'm draining 80% of the tank.  If I see ammonia, 80% of the tank gets changed.  There's these automatic things I just have grown accustomed to. 

I honestly think that we as hobbyists gain so much value by testing out tap water more than people ever realize.  DON'T FORGET THAT TOO!  It does change over time.

On 7/20/2024 at 10:40 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Let’s talk about the pH test I did. Test strip shows super low, like maybe even 6.4. But then the pad has a darker color in the center of the pad. Does that mean anything? Should I add a .2 because it started to maybe change to the next color? Again, just doesn’t make it any easier. For the liquid it shows maybe a 7.2? Is that as dark as the 7.6? Maybe I’ll just call it in between as I’m not sure. Then you test on the high pH and get 7.4. So, it must’ve been 7.4 on the low test. So maybe it is in fact between the 7.2 and the 7.6. And then you realize that the lowest end of the high pH test is a 7.4, so if it was below that it wouldn’t actually show up. So is it a 6 point something like the test strip shows, or is it a 7 point something like the liquid test shows? Just keep piling on the questions, confusion, and not perfectly matching colors, please.

YEP!  You almost always end up testing both... and if you're in the 7.0-7.5 range, good luck.  Then you use a strip and it's all one shade to me.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

What up skaters?

It’s been a fun week so far. Worked from home on Monday, and then went to A Day To Remember at Red Rocks. They put on a great show! I was instantly reminded how much I hate General Admission, though. We’ve seen some great shows this year! Tool, Blink 182, A Day To Remember, and then we have Sum 41 at Red Rocks in September. We’ll see if anything else pops up, but I think that might close out the year. I was really hoping Slipknot would roll through for the 25th anniversary tour, but, sadly, they’re not coming through Colorado. Oh well. 
 

For the tanks, we put in some work today. We cleaned out about half the air collars, cleaned some sponge filters, and cleared out a ton of plants from 2 different tanks. The Pea Puffer tank was so full of PSO you couldn’t even see in there. The 20 high was stuffed with Amazon Sword leaves and was totally dark. They’re bright and shiny now, though!

 

ACO package incoming tomorrow. I’m excited to have some new plants! I hope they take hold so I can spread them around the tanks. Especially the Dwarf Chain Sword. I would love to rip out some Val and replace it with chain sword. Stoked to play with some Buce, too. 
 

Cheers, homies. I got a new phone this week, too, so I’m excited to continue documenting the tanks with hopefully even better pictures. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

ACO package came in today. Mostly really pleased with it. Except for the Dwarf Chain Sword. It came in roooooooough. 
 

I emailed Candi and team, and informed them that I’m well aware that you’re basically paying for the roots, but I also know this is not up to their standard and that they meticulously track these kinds of things. Candi got back to me immediately, and informed me that it was the emersed leaves that melted in shipping. She told me to go ahead and trim off all the melted leaves, plant it, give it some root tabs, and give it some time. I told her I was fine with that, and I basically just wanted to document it in case it doesn’t bounce back in a couple of weeks. I planted it, threw down some root tabs, and we’ll see what happens. It’s in a tank with co2 and all other plants thriving, so we’ll see. 
 

The crypt and the 2 Buce came in pretty nice, though. Got those planted, too. 
 

Both of these Buce ended up in the 20 long. 
 

These 2 pieces of Buce ended up in the 29 blackwater tank. 

Threw the Crypt in the 29 as well. 
 

Last piece of Buce went into the Pea Puffer tank. 
 

In removing the Crypt from the rock wool, 2 tiny pieces came off. So I planted them in the 10 gallon in my room. 
 

Excited to have these new plants and fingers crossed they take hold. Really hoping that Dwarf Chain Sword bounces back. We’ll see. 
 

Easy Potassium came in, so I’ll start to dose some of that next week. 
 

Stoked to have some new foods to try as well!

 

I hope you’re having all the fun with your tanks. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 7/25/2024 at 7:13 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Stoked to have some new foods to try as well!

ooh, what foods did you get?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/25/2024 at 5:23 PM, GoofyGarra said:

ooh, what foods did you get?

I got the Xtreme Wrigglers and the Xtreme So-Fly Flake. 
 

Initial tests are good. Most fish were hyped on both the flake and wrigglers. Breeding pair of Panda Angels just seemed kinda like “whatever” to the so-fly flake. Seemed like they were just like, “cool, bro. Where’s my Krill?”. All other fish gobbled it down, though. 
 

Wrigglers seem nice. They seem smaller/thinner than the Hikari version, and that’s a good thing. A big fish can always eat small food, but a small fish can’t eat big food. Most of my fish are conditioned to very small foods, like crushed up flake (not powdered, but definitely crushed up) and nano pellets. My full grown Angels love the nano pellets. 
 

So-Fly Flake got mixed in with my own Community Crave blend. I essentially make my own, with a higher concentration of the Krill flake. So now it’s Krill, Spirulina, and So-Fly. What do we call it? Community So-Fly? So-Fly Crave? Craveable So-Fly? Who knows, but initial feeding of the new blend went well!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

And we’re back! Had a productive day today. I cleaned every single air collar, and cleaned 95% of the sponge filters. Also pulled out the internal filters and cleaned the spray bars. I cleaned all the media in the HOB’s, and cleaned the intake sponges, too. Just went crazy and cleaned it all! My girlfriend ripped a bunch of Java Moss out of the aquaponics tank, and I ripped a bunch of Amazon Swords out of the Angelfish tank. A ton of work, but it feels good to get it done. Life is about to get wild as we open our next restaurant to the public on Friday. Non stop over here in AllFishNoBrakes world!

I snapped a bunch of pictures that I wanted to share:

We have some small shrimp in the Pea Puffer tank! I can’t say I’m shocked with how stuffed full this tank was with PSO, but I’m still kind of surprised at the same time. Was fun to see a few of them together while I was working on this tank today. 
 

A bit of a detail shot on the cube. I always show it from the front with the Pearl Weed Jungle. This is the right front corner, taken from the side. You can see some Dwarf Hairgrass, a Crypt, and the Amanos. 
 

New Crypts seem to be hanging on in the 10 gallon in the bedroom. I really hope they hang tight. Crypts and Ferns have always been labeled as “easy”, but they’ve never really done well for me. I just want a nice crinkly Crypt!

Buce in the 20L hanging tough so far. At least this one is…

The big piece of the Crypt in the 29. Again, things are looking positive. We’ll see! On a sour note, the Dwarf Chain Sword has nothing left. Hopefully the roots are good and it will spring back, but I’m not holding my breath. 
 

I’ve tried several Ferns, and every time they’ve just melted away. Converting this to a blackwater tank, I’ve had one single Fern that actually grew and has done decent. Here’s my first little baby Fern! I’ve seen this several times, but like their parents they usually just melt away. The main Fern has another baby growing, so I’m hopeful we can spread the ferns around in the future. 
 

Little piece of Buce hanging on. This is the only one that is doing okay. The one in the 20L basically just melted away. Same goes for the Pea Puffer Buce. Oh well, that’s why I split it up and put it in a few different places. 
 

I saw another member here on the forum explaining how they take pictures of their tanks that are closer to what you see with your eyes. On an iPhone, you can tap the screen to bring up the little focus box, and then you can change the exposure if you tap and hold to the right of the focus box, and then scroll up or down. I thought that was pretty cool and decided to try it out. It’s been documented many times in this journal that sometimes this blackwater tank looks almost clear with no tint, and then the next picture looks pretty dark due to the angle. This is a pretty decent representation of what I see with my eyes for this tank. I also put some leaves and acorn caps in here today, so I’m sure it’ll darken up tomorrow. 
 

I did the same exposure thing with the Pea Puffer tank. This is much closer to what I actually see vs. all the other pictures I’ve posted of this tank. I like this little exposure change, and I’ll probably continue to do that with pictures moving forward. I want to show you and document what I actually see, instead of “well, that’s just how the picture turned out”. 
 

Feels good to have the filtration cleaned up, and to have all the air collars working like brand new. From here, I need to work on cleaning up the aquaponics tank and I need to survive yet another restaurant opening, lol. 
 

Next time you take a picture of your tank, try the exposure thing with your iPhone! It’s one of those things that I wish I would’ve known a long time ago! Cheers, friends. 

Edited August 1 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

This exposure adjustment has been fun. I’ve always stated that my blackwater tanks are even darker the second day after adding tannins, which makes sense. But, I’ve never been able to capture it. Now I can!

Here’s the picture of the tank I posted on Wednesday:

 

And here’s the picture I took on Thursday:

I love it. I’m considering buying some bulk botanicals again. I’ve really fallen in love with sweet gum pods, and acorn caps. If anybody is interested in some other botanicals on the low, let me know! I could put together a little care package just for the price of shipping. If you’re interested in trying out Blackwater, or playing with tannins, I’m down to send off some things that work well, but simply aren’t my favorite. Let me know!

Edited August 4 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I posted this in general discussion, but I’m curious what you guys think that generally interact with me here in my journal:

 

I’ve had my 20 gallon long for about 4 years now, and it’s been through a couple iterations. It started as a shrimp only tank where I bred and sold hundreds and hundreds of Cherry Shrimp. About a year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to try a Blackwater tank, so most of the shrimp came out, and a ton of botanicals and tannins went in. I loved it so much I decided the 29 next to it should also be a blackwater tank!

I’ve really enjoyed this blackwater tank, but I’ve started to think it might be time for something new. Here’s a picture of the tank right this second:

Currently the tank has a group of Chili Rasboras, Green Neon Tetras, a bunch of CPO’s, Cherry Shrimp, and Ramshorn Snails. Spiderwood, Cholla wood, a few different varieties of Anubias, and a giant 20’ long Pothos vine growing out of it hence the roots in the back. 

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, and I’m curious what you would do if you had a 20 long that you were setting up? I’m 99.999% sure I want to change substrate. This tank started with black sand for the shrimp, and I learned very quickly that I simply don’t like sand, lol. That being said, I don’t hate it enough to have ever put in the work to remove it. But, if I’m going to “tear this down” I’m definitely changing the substrate.
 

The Chili’s can go to a tank in my bedroom with Pygmy Cory’s. I would probably turn that tank into a blackwater tank with the Chili’s and the Pygmy’s to scratch the blackwater itch. The Green Neons can go to the 29 blackwater tank next door. They would look incredible in that tank. The CPO’s would be split between my Pea Puffer tank, and probably into my 55 gallon Angelfish tank. Shrimp and snails can stay or really be moved to almost any other tank.
 

 Here’s what I’ve thought about doing so far:

-Replace sand with gravel, root tabs under the substrate, and throw down some Crypts and other plants. Crypts never really have done well for me, but I got one from ACO about 2 weeks ago and seems to be converting and hanging tough. I would love to see this tank full of Crypts, and I’m even considering adding co2 to this tank. I already run co2 on a couple other tanks, so adding it here isn’t new territory.

          -If I were to completely redo the tank, I’m not sure what I’d stock it with. Rams have eluded me a couple of times now, and I’d really love to be successful with them. I also can’t help but think that the Pothos vine could help scrub the water and potentially I could be more successful with the Rams than I have been in the past. I’m aware Rams need a hot tank, and that would mean plants are limited, so co2 doesn’t really make sense in that situation. I’d also love to have tank mates with the Rams, but there’s not a ton of fish (at least to my knowledge) that can handle the temps, and still do well in a 20 long with the Rams. Sterbai Cory’s come to mind, but they get bigger than I would personally feel comfortable putting into a 20 long. Maybe some Tetras, but I’ve had a lot of Tetra species at this point.

          -Keep it as a blackwater tank, and maybe run some Apistos. Again, I know they like it hotter, so I feel plants and tank mates are somewhat limited.

          -Something entirely different that I haven’t even thought of yet. The idea of moving some of these fish around to rejuvenate some other tanks and having a blank slate to play with is very intriguing. I also don’t know what I would do with all these Anubias (I mean, I’ll throw them in other tanks, but I’m not like “oh, this one would be perfect here and that one would be perfect over there!).

So ya, that’s where I’m at. Rams are super intriguing, but I’m not sure I can run plants, co2, and tank mates with them like I would want to. Apistos would be fun, but it’s kind of the same boat as the Rams. A garden of Crypts sounds awesome, but I don’t know what fish I would put with them.

If you had a 20 long, what would you do with it? Maybe you had a 20 long in your past, or one currently, that you just can’t get enough of? I’m curious to hear what you guys think.

Cheers!

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/3/2024 at 10:14 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

If you’re interested in trying out Blackwater, or playing with tannins, I’m down to send off some things that work well, but simply aren’t my favorite. Let me know!

Always down, but hopefully there is someone out there who's never used them before and is hoping to try something fun in their tank for the first time!  I want to try a "stick tank" where the substrate is just a later of small branches and leaves.  I saw the idea off tannin aquatic and it's something I think would be fun to put into practice with shrimp or certain very nano fish.


 

 

On 8/5/2024 at 9:14 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, and I’m curious what you would do if you had a 20 long that you were setting up?

Ram Tank (preferably 1, just due to not having space) and I would use it as a cull tank for a shrimp to get an "interesting colony" going.  I also want to get some of those nano corydoras... looking it up... Corydoras pygmaeus / Pygmy cory.

Option 2: African butterfly fish tank (courtesy of the dave)
 

 

On 8/5/2024 at 9:14 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I’m aware Rams need a hot tank, and that would mean plants are limited, so co2 doesn’t really make sense in that situation.

But there's those bolivian rams.... 🙂 

[Woowala]

African butterflies would be cool.  One of those fish I've always loved but never had. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 8/8/2024 at 12:22 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Always down,

You know I am, too! I almost tagged you in the post, but I was like, “nah, they’ll read it and be in touch if they want some” lol. Holla if you wanna see what I have and if you’re interested!

On 8/8/2024 at 12:22 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I want to try a "stick tank"

Would be super fun! Can you imagine the nightmare it would be trying to remove any kind of livestock from that tank? 😂😂😂. Looks super rad though. Maybe that will be the next next iteration of the 20 long. Would be tough for me to not throw at least 1 Anubius or rhizome in there somewhere, lol. 
 

On 8/8/2024 at 12:22 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Ram Tank (preferably 1, just due to not having space)

You know me, I’d want a pair 😈. A pair to play with raising fry, and something at the top. Rams and Pencilfish… Apistos and Pencils… I’m not sure yet. Borellii and Pencils with a co2 crypt and Anubias garden? Idk, sounds pretty fun. Everything is staying as is until I decide what I wanna do for sure. 
 

On 8/8/2024 at 12:22 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Option 2: African butterfly fish tank (courtesy of the dave)

Could be super fun. I need to look into them. When I’ve seen them at the LFS I’ve always been like, “that thing looks rad, but it never moves”. I like watching movement in my tanks. 
 

On 8/8/2024 at 12:22 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

But there's those bolivian rams.... 🙂 

Already have the Bolivians in the 20 high above this 20 long, lol. Black Rams are what I would really wanna be successful with considering I’ve failed twice with them. German Blue sounds super fun, but, I really don’t wanna limit myself with a fish that prefers water at like 84-86. Borellii being able to go lower 70’s is starting to make a lot of sense!

On 8/8/2024 at 12:49 AM, Woowala said:

African butterflies would be cool.  One of those fish I've always loved but never had. 

For sure! I need to look into them more. As I mentioned above, they look rad when I’ve seen them, but they also just… sit there, which isn’t my most favorite thing. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

What’s up, Nerms?

I completed maintenance between yesterday and today. No big notes, simple water changes is all. 
 

I’ve still really been thinking about redoing the 20 long, and by proxy, the 10 gallon in my room. 
 

Cory announced their lights will no longer be produced, so I went ahead and picked up a 20” and a 30”. Shout out to me getting 1/2 my bonus from the fair, a refund from some other silly thing, and my new store bonus check to pay for the lights. Also picked up a Buce Black Pearl, and a plant mystery pack. Candi was nice enough to provide a gift card for the purchase price of the Dwarf Chain Sword that didn’t bounce back, so I put that towards the order as well. 
 

I’ve been thinking hard about a Crypt and Anubias garden, with co2, a pair of Apisto Borellii, and something else for the top of that tank. Perhaps Pencilfish. I left it up to the plant mystery pack, and what do ya know… 3 different Crypts ended up in the pack. 1 Wendtii Green, 1 Tropica, and 1 Spiralis. I guess the universe, or at least ACO would also like me to have that combo. 
 

I’ve been looking at paintball co2 kits, and I think I’m gonna go with a 24oz tank. I’ve already found a local store to fill it when needed, already have diffusers and the drop checker. So get the tank, fill the tank, and get the regulator for the tank. Already have the internal filter as well to keep those bubbles in suspension. 
 

I hit up the LFS to see if they could bring in a pair of Borellii for me. Depending on what substrate they have at the store, I’ll use my store credit on that, too. 
 

That means the 10 gallon in the room will become a blackwater tank, and that’s totally cool with me. Stoked to see what the ACO light does for a blackwater environment. 
 

It’s getting exciting around here my friends. I hope you’re enjoying your tanks as well. 

[EricksonAquatics]

On 8/8/2024 at 7:03 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Cory announced their lights will no longer be produced

WHAT 👀

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS

On 8/8/2024 at 7:03 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Crypt and Anubias garden, with co2, a pair of Apisto Borellii, and something else for the top of that tank. Perhaps Pencilfish.

Can’t wait to see this tanks rebirth! It sounds epic already!!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 8/8/2024 at 10:08 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

WHAT 👀

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS

On 8/8/2024 at 7:03 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

He talked about it in the latest livestream. The manufacturer is no longer going to manufacture aquarium lights. 
 

I’ve had a 48” on my 55 Angel tank since they came out. Figured I might as well get it while the getting is good, so I picked a couple up. 
 

On 8/8/2024 at 10:08 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

Can’t wait to see this tanks rebirth! It sounds epic already!!

Thanks! I’m still planning it out in my head, but that’s honestly half the fun. I imagine a garden of Crypts in the back with Anubias to the front. Now, I just need to find those pesky Borellii… Hopefully the LFS I work with can bring some in so I can use my credit on them. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/8/2024 at 9:28 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Would be super fun! Can you imagine the nightmare it would be trying to remove any kind of livestock from that tank? 😂😂😂. Looks super rad though. Maybe that will be the next next iteration of the 20 long. Would be tough for me to not throw at least 1 Anubius or rhizome in there somewhere, lol. 

I wish I could find the photo I had originally found but trying to find it was just a bit messy.  I imagine  a tank like that would be special with badis badis or something. Gobies. Etc.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Well, friends, it looks like a pair of Apisto Borellii is going to be easier for the LFS than I thought!

A pair of Borellii, and a Crypt and Anubias garden here we come. Bought a 20oz co2 paintball canister and a paintball co2 regulator. Simply need to fill the canister and hook it up. 
 

Plants come in tomorrow, I believe, and lights will be here on Thursday. 
 

Guess I gotta start making plans to tear this tank apart and redo it! Time to find some substrate…