JJs journey to mastering freshwater aquariums

[Schuyler]

That trees are always so tempting. They look cool but then you look at the price...

But then again it would be cool to get some nice Phoenix Moss on the with a long dry start and it would look awesome

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:06 AM, JJenna said:

My lfs store had a few of these little beauties on the shelf for a princely sum of $90 US. If I ever do a tank teardown I will consider this with moss growing on it. 

I don't know if you've seen my tank (link in signature), but I generally prefer the look of the log or bigger branch with moss on it. Might be cheaper. My first real planted tank had a chunk of mopani with moss and it was epic. Right now I have a piece of ghostwood.

I have seen people make buce trees, really unique. You can also do it with stems or other epiphytes like anubias nana petite and others. Really unique options depending on what kind of leaf structure you're looking for.

[JJenna]

On 11/24/2022 at 2:02 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

 Really unique options depending on what kind of leaf structure you're looking for.

I agree, especially after seeing that post on the winter is coming tank posted in the forums recently (sorry can't recall who)

[JJenna]

11/26/22

Feeling somewhat defeated today as I see signs of my vision deficits affecting my ability to discern the color gradients for GH using the Co-op multi strips. As I have a water softener and a R/O system the readings started low and I just did a low-tech approach to increasing hardness levels by adding a wonder shell. I used less than the recommended amount as I don't want to start chasing the values unnecessarily. I put in 1 1/3 oz block in the tank (the recommended amount for 40 gals is 2 1/4 oz) and after a week, the values were unchanged. I then used recommended dose of Equilibrium without any change in values. I ramped up my reading of the Co-op blogs and decided to add crushed coral in a media bag. I only used 1 pound to see if I could continue to increase GH slowly rather than have a spike. One week later, no change in GH. I had my daughter read the test strip and she reads it as 300 ppm while to me it still looks low. I'm going to order an API GH-specific test kit to see if I can discern the values better. My daughter affirms that my readings on the other values are spot on. The snails, shrimp, and otocinclus are very active and show no signs of distress. 

I've removed the crushed coral and will do some small water changes over a couple of days. I'm thinking 5% each day so as not to shock the tank and have my daughter read the test strips for me. We tested the water at all sources to see if the problem was there. Straight tap 0 ppm, straight R/O tap 0 ppm, 125 gal turtle tank 75 ppm (daughter uses cuttlebone in that tank). I also could just switch to putting cichlids in the tank and call it a day!

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by JJenna
Left out info

[JJenna]

Received my API GH&KH test kit yesterday. Much easier for me to discern the color change using the API kit. I see that my GH is dropping after doing 2 small water changes in the past week (a total of 10 gals). GH on the ACO test strip was off the scale and with API it's now reading in the hard range (13). KH on the ACO strip shows a low 40ppm while on API it shows a High at 10 dkh. API has an expiry of 2025 while the ACO strips do not so I don't know if I have some outdated test strips. I'm going to use my daughter's Master Kit and see what the difference in the values are. Nitrates are 10.

Otos and inverts are active in the tank doing their thing. The snails devour the algae wafers. It's funny to see 4 of them all piled on the wafer. I only do that every other day so they don't get used to not working for their keep. Goldie has calmed down a lot and is leaving the girls alone. 

Not much change in my hair algae but it's not getting worse. I added a 3" riser to the LED light. For now, I'll keep gathering it with the toothbrush and may add some more plants to see if I can choke it out. 

I had a target of 12/1/22 to start adding fish but I'm going to wait a bit longer to get parameters in range. This week I plan to root tab my stem plants and trim dying leaves. I find myself sitting in front of the tank for longer periods just enjoying the motion of the inhabitants.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:39 AM, JJenna said:

Feeling somewhat defeated today as I see signs of my vision deficits affecting my ability to discern the color gradients for GH using the Co-op multi strips.

I use a colorblind tool to try to determine them when I run into issues. 🙂

On 11/26/2022 at 7:39 AM, JJenna said:

I ramped up my reading of the Co-op blogs and decided to add crushed coral in a media bag. I only used 1 pound to see if I could continue to increase GH slowly rather than have a spike. One week later, no change in GH.

Coral would affect KH, shouldn't change GH.  😞 Equilibrium should give you higher GH.  It's not the type of thing you can easily overdose, it's more about if the things in the tank want high GH.  What is standard dose? and you'd mentioned you didn't see any changes.  How long did you wait to test? (typically I think it says something like 1 hour up to 24 hours to see results?) 

When I started dosing my tank I used a 5G bucket with an airstone to run some tests and then scaled it up to the volume in the tank.

On 11/30/2022 at 8:35 AM, JJenna said:

Received my API GH&KH test kit yesterday. Much easier for me to discern the color change using the API kit. I see that my GH is dropping after doing 2 small water changes in the past week (a total of 10 gals). GH on the ACO test strip was off the scale and with API it's now reading in the hard range (13). KH on the ACO strip shows a low 40ppm while on API it shows a High at 10 dkh. API has an expiry of 2025 while the ACO strips do not so I don't know if I have some outdated test strips. I'm going to use my daughter's Master Kit and see what the difference in the values are. Nitrates are 10.

Great plan. Looking forward to seeing the results!

[JJenna]

On 11/30/2022 at 4:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I use a colorblind tool to try to determine them when I run into issues.

Can you make a recommendation? To me the ACO strips are only 2 colors for GH, blue and purple, the remainder of the parameters are easy for me to see differences in the colors. 

 

On 11/30/2022 at 4:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Coral would affect KH, shouldn't change GH.

Co-op blog post stated, "If you wish to raise pH, KH, and GH and harden your water, our first choice is to add crushed coral" I went from 0 hardness to liquid rock over the course of doing the 3 different treatments (1/2 dose wonder shell, Equilibrium, crushed coral) over the course of 3 weeks. It was like an overnight change as I was checking parameters weekly. Don't know if I needed to wait for a longer period before doing each treatment. 

Appreciate your feedback, I'll get there someday. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 3:10 PM, JJenna said:

Can you make a recommendation? To me the ACO strips are only 2 colors for GH, blue and purple, the remainder of the parameters are easy for me to see differences in the colors. 

share a pic of the strip next time you have one and then I'll run it through.  Essentially "which one" meaning which filter depends on the color and your eyes to try to discern what you're seeing.

https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/

I tend to use these columns.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 3:10 PM, JJenna said:

Appreciate your feedback, I'll get there someday. 

Here's the article I use to share the guidance.

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

 

Quote

When you add a natural source of minerals, it tends to release multiple types of ions, which then affects multiple types of water parameters. For example, limestone contains a high percentage of calcium carbonate, which contains both calcium and carbonate ions and therefore raises both GH and KH. If you want to increase only GH but not KH, you must increase the specific ions for GH (calcium and magnesium) without including ions that affect KH (carbonates and bicarbonates). In fact, African cichlid keepers often buy or create specific salt mixes to individually raise KH or GH.

In the example you mentioned. I am guessing....

GH: Equilibrium and wondershell increased it
KH: Crushed coral (potentially also wondershell) increased it

[JJenna]

On 11/30/2022 at 6:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Here's the article I use to share the guidance.

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

Great minds think alike! That was the article I was referencing. 

[JJenna]

My tank is looking good. The swords are not growing as fast as I thought they should be. I will add more root tabs to see if that makes a difference. I also did the same for them as I would for my houseplants. I trim all the dead material out so the plant does not waste resources trying to revive those leaves. I'm looking at different plants to fill in the background of my tank. I have my light centered on the back of the tank and want something with a little more color. 

Tank parameters are looking good and stable and I've started to firm up what I wanted to add for a community tank. At the top of my list is endlers. One of my lfs only has them all in a community tank, while the other lfs sells specific types and offers combinations. I'm partial to the Staeck Endlers but 2nd store does not think they will have any until the new year. So I'll save some room for them later. My 2nd lfs store (Aquatic Arts) is an online store but I can alert them that I'll come and pick up my order. They are cheaper than the other lfs. I haven't reached a point where I'm picking and choosing fish from a tank and I've been happy with what they have given me.

It has taken a lot of reading to make sure that I'm stocking for all levels and that all of the fish as a whole will work well in the community. Still thinking about a Centerpiece and I have some that I like, but not sure how they would do. I put 3 Hillstream Loaches in and they are friendly Lil buggers. I named them Larry, Curly, and Moe. Today I had 2 climb up my arm while I was putting some Soilent Green in the tank. Maybe they were planning their escape! One of the Amanos is fanning eggs, but I know there is little chance that they would survive and I'm not set up to start breeding. I have what I'm assuming are pest snails in the tank. They are tiny black snails that are only 1-2 cm. I have been picking them out and putting them in the big tank for Squirt. 

I appreciate all the advice everyone has given me, it has made me more confident about what to do!