Grace's Garden - A RTBS Planted Tank

[nabokovfan87]

Grace the shark, sharkie, as she is affectionately called is my Red-Tailed Black Shark (sharkminnow to be precise).  I couldn't tell you how long she's been cruising around in my tanks, but she is indeed part of the family as it were.  She sticks her head out to say hello when I check on her each morning.  She is protective of her fry, well her panda and corydoras pals.  She likes cover, she enjoys caves, but hopefully she is happy with my efforts right now.  I've spent a lot of time interacting with her, the family has, and it's one of the most cherished fish I own. 

Expected lifespan is 6-10 years and I do think we are on the other side of 6 right now.  She's older now and I do want her to be comfortable and to have a setup where she isn't stressed in the slightest.  The entire reason for the tank to be purchased was for her.  She was in it for a few years prior to the move, but it's been sitting in the hallway for a little while.  Thankfully it is indeed back up and running. 

This was years ago...

I had picked out a nice piece of wood, ordered it and waited excitedly for it to arrive.  The box never showed up, USPS lost it.  Around here it is something that happens too often.  The owner sent out a replacement, which wasn't what I had picked out, but I was really happy with the results.  That initial piece of wood, years ago, was purchased with the intent to go into this tank in some form as we have the setup below.  Being able to put that piece into place, to see how it looks and play around with the orientation a little bit has been something I have waited for. 

I do with it had a bit of a cave for her.  Some more Seiryu stone or something that she can use as a tunnel.

I am waiting on some plants to make it and I'm really hoping that I can get them to grow!  I am planning to cover some walls on the tank with more of this moss and I do plan to get some of my slower growing plants going as well that are in tanks elsewhere.  There are some plants to improve things for her, but.... I am basically working with limited/no budget for this.

As such, there are some breeding projects in the works.  Black Schultzei Corydoras and the Neocaridina shrimp being the big two.  Plants being the third.  The goal of getting things going happened in the prior tank.  First, get the corydoras to spawn and learn how to get them to spawn.  Second being, getting plants to grow again and feeling a bit more confident in working with plants.  I learned a lot in that ~2 years with the tank and it's been the type of experience where it's been compounded by meeting much smarter hobbyists here on the forums who can offer their insight. 

I hope by the end of this journal I have a tank I am satisfied with.  That's the mission statement here.



Below I'll attach some shots from the tank and things that caught my eye today trying to get a tank shot.  I find myself always admiring these little things. Stuck staring and admiring the beauty when they do find their way into my perspective.

For @A3M0N here is the revised / updated spraybar install.  One full pipe length, one marineland prefilter (cut to size) and one 'typical' pumphead shooting across the length of the tank.

Let's get to it.....

Edit: Previous Journal

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Guppysnail]

I love to see when folks design a tank specific to what the fish would like rather than some scape idea they have in mind. I’m sure she will be delighted. I’m very convinced fish can tell when you really put love into building their home. 🤗

[nabokovfan87]

I finished up all of the maintenance today.  I messed around with the spraybar pump (source of noise) and tried to add some lubricant to the bushing on the impeller shaft.  I'm tempted to buy the new pump from ACO, but I kind of want to know what the impeller housing all that looks like.  This one I have now is gated (1/4-turn) but it's the exact orientation that causes the pump to not fit the way I need it to.  (Suction cups are facing the wrong way, open water)

Anyways, I cleaned out the filters, watched the fish do their thing and got all the maintenance done.  12 buckets of water hauling, 1 hour of work.  The filter was fixed, heater moved, I moved around the wood and what not, siphoned and took my time.  I cleaned the CO2 diffuser to ensure finer bubbles, and then went ahead and filled the tank back up.  Substrate is easy to siphon, which means the cap is thick enough.  I did notice some junk on it, but it's the first real siphon on this tank.  I'll keep an eye on it, force myself to keep on top of it moving forward.

There is some key knowledge in there I hadn't had before.  I am thankful I found it. 

The S. Repens seems to be back to the "doing well" stage, but I'm still unsure.  I cleaned out the drop checker and found this video from George Farmer.  It seems to make a lot of sense as to what tool to use to check the CO2, especially given all the acidic things going on in my water.  I feel like I could dump a lot in there and still never see a change on the drop checker.

The Hygro Pinnatifida is GROWING!  I have an offshoot.  That's the first time since I've owned the plant it's happened for me.  I am really, really hoping that plant takes off and I can propagate enough of it out to cover a good section.  I really enjoy the look of it.  Once I have enough growing, I do want to try to plant it again and feed it from the roots.  I'll try to grab some photos in the light.  The plant is a lot closer to the light and the lighting is stronger now, which is benefiting to some semblance of difference in the plant.  I also found out on Corvus' stream that he was having issues keeping the tank too clean and not enough nitrates in the tank for the plant to feed on.  I need to keep an eye on that.


The only other item of note is the anubias in the front, still keeping an eye on the BBA on the roots and the amanos ignoring it for the time being.  Moss is recovering, slight adjustment of the wood/light seems to have perked it up.  any day now I need to trim, chop up the moss, propagate it out again.  There are some dead spots from the last planting, so we'll see how easy it is to trim when the time comes. 

First, the moss that perked up, second (left side) is some of the moss that has been shaded out a little too much.


I'll test things in the morning and post the results below.

Edited April 10, 2023 by nabokovfan87
added photos

[A3M0N]

On 4/10/2023 at 2:00 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I messed around with the spraybar pump (source of noise) and tried to add some lubricant to the bushing on the impeller shaft.

Are you still using the Sicce pump you recommended to me? You have it setup as an inline pump, like mine right? Check to make sure the o-ring is still in place. When I swapped the inlet to inline the o-ring slipped out of place and I didn't catch it. It jammed up the impeller and stopped it from spinning. Maybe it's stuck on yours and just making a noise but not stopping it from spinning? Just an idea. 

[jwcarlson]

@nabokovfan87 I hope your Hygro Pinnatifida does better than mine.  It was doing so well for like a month and then I blinked and it was all gone. 😄

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/10/2023 at 1:23 PM, A3M0N said:

Are you still using the Sicce pump you recommended to me? You have it setup as an inline pump, like mine right?

I fixed the noise. It was just a little weird with how the intake strainer fits over the impeller. It's actually part of the shaft and housing.

The one before was...

29G --> Sicce Syncra Nano: 110 GPH

75G --> Aquatop (older) Pump: 168 GPH

It works for about 3 foot length of the tank as far as pushing the CO2 around, but in terms of circulation it works well and the setup is fine.

On 4/10/2023 at 1:23 PM, A3M0N said:

Check to make sure the o-ring is still in place. When I swapped the inlet to inline the o-ring slipped out of place and I didn't catch it. It jammed up the impeller and stopped it from spinning. Maybe it's stuck on yours and just making a noise but not stopping it from spinning? Just an idea. 

I'll have to check the other Tidal again. I did find out the Tidal pumps are the exact same design as the syncra pumps from sicce with minor changes. Same housing, base plate from the nano actually will slide into and mount the tidal pump. The tidal 55 pump is almost identical to the syncra nano is size and shape.

The O ring is only supposed to be installed in one setup mode, the one with the spraybar.  It fits right and was kind of a hassle to remove the first time when I was playing with things.

Good idea though! For now the syncra is all bagged up and might be used elsewhere one day.

On 4/10/2023 at 2:14 PM, jwcarlson said:

@nabokovfan87 I hope your Hygro Pinnatifida does better than mine.  It was doing so well for like a month and then I blinked and it was all gone. 😄

Yeah.... It's temperamental right!

[jwcarlson]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah.... It's temperamental right!

I have no idea.  I get plants and they seem to do pretty good for a month or so and then it's like they realize "this guy STINKS!" and then they die.  😄

[nabokovfan87]

Went to check on the fish tonight after the long day...

Someone bumped the filter intake tube into the substrate.  All the fish looked freaked out and Grace was swimming around very upset at things.

I emailed Seachem, I have a few months left of warranty, so hopefully I can get a replacement.  I don't know if this is a material vs. time issue or what caused it to fatigue.  😞

I'm going to end up spending some time watching her swim tonight just to make sure shes ok.  I am willing to bet it's nothing more than the black swordtails annoying her and she gave chase and caught it with her tail. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The Hygro is very nice. You put a lot of TLC into your tanks, and it shows. Read somewhere that BBA is encouraged by a CO2 level that is off. If your BBA is under control you’ve got it tuned in well.

[nabokovfan87]

I did the normal maintenance on the tank with addition to trimming moss last night. I always struggle to get the moss on the wood well enough, yes, it's ugly, I know.... but I also struggle to trim it well enough when I need to.  My hope is that I can get a bit more practice trimming the moss and encouraging it to grow.  I need to find some moss tape/thread whenever I get the ability to get those things.  Needless to say, I have some moss to reattach and it's about enough to do a pretty good size project with it.  These photos are after I had gone back and filled in some dead spots.  I need to fill in a bit more, but for now it was about finishing the trim and getting the plants wet again.

I did not trim the large rock yesterday, you can see the pretty awesome growth there in the middle left of center.  It's a big frond of the moss that is just going nuts.  Great to see.

This is the "trim".  Again, I need to get some practice using the tools I have and gaining a bit of technique to better care for the plants.  Part of the goal is to get plants in the tank and growing, but to also gain a bit more knowledge with them, especially maintenance and care techniques.

For those reading along, I can easily take a day and scrape off the glue.  For not it's not practical to do this, but if I ever need to "save" this piece of wood, it would not be ruined by the use and application of the glue.  I have a big stump I just removed all of the glue off.  It may find it's way into this tank shortly.  For now, it's simply a piece of wood again with all the plants and glue removed.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

MD Fish tanks takes the spool of thread around the wood & moss a bunch of times. That kinda what I did with the Walstad jar moss. I used one dab of glue to secure the end of the thread. I tried to put that toward the bottom where it would be hidden by other plants or substrate. I believe the key is to use less glue if possible to get the appearance to look more natural. I also used green thread.

Your rock looks awesome and the driftwood will look great once the moss grows a bit. 

 

[nabokovfan87]

The only problem with thread (as opposed to the mesh) is the need to cut the moss to encourage it to grow out.  I cut it down to 1/4" bits and then attach that.  In person I'm barely using any glue, but the contrast on the wood makes it look like a lot.  They have this tape you wrap the wood in, then you tie it and the moss attaches to the tape.  It's soooooooooooooo much easier to trim when the moss attaches to the hardscape (usually dry start method).   I had it happen in the older iteration of the 75G and it was so nice!  I've been trying to get this stuff to wrap and do the same thing, but it's feisty. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/18/2023 at 3:29 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

The only problem with thread (as opposed to the mesh) is the need to cut the moss to encourage it to grow out.  I cut it down to 1/4" bits and then attach that.  In person I'm barely using any glue, but the contrast on the wood makes it look like a lot.  They have this tape you wrap the wood in, then you tie it and the moss attaches to the tape.  It's soooooooooooooo much easier to trim when the moss attaches to the hardscape (usually dry start method).   I had it happen in the older iteration of the 75G and it was so nice!  I've been trying to get this stuff to wrap and do the same thing, but it's feisty. 

Interesting!

I just use whatever pieces of moss I bought, in whatever shapes/sizes they are (I am not a professional). 😅

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/19/2023 at 9:49 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Interesting!

I just use whatever pieces of moss I bought, in whatever shapes/sizes they are (I am not a professional). 😅

It's just how I learned how to handle moss from early on to get it to do its thing. Application is a big difference in how it's prepped, but I've had decent success when I do make sure to chop it up / propagate it out.  Now.... If only I could get some Sußwassertang and get it to grow.

 

One of the things I want to do is learn to make it look more natural. ^^

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I see where you are going with this.. but I did ask the shrimp about the haphazard moss application and he gave it 2 claws up.

This one I glued.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I wish subwassertang was sold locally here.  I wouldn't mind trying those methods out

Edited April 20, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:12 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I wish subwassertang was sold locally here.  I wouldn't mind trying those methods out

Every time I order it I get glitter. 😞

It's so hard to get a good portion, snail free, etc.

There is a place that sells it attached, I've been waiting probably a year or two for them to put it back into stock.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I got my portion from a shrimp dealer on Etsy, totally snail free. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/20/2023 at 3:56 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

There is a place that sells it attached

Hey.. actually! I think I saw it on Harryshrimpstore (Etsy) this week!

On 4/20/2023 at 4:20 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I got my portion from a shrimp dealer on Etsy, totally snail free. 

Maybe that’s where you saw it too.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea yep, that's the one. I recommend if you've not done business before with them. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:00 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea yep, that's the one. I recommend if you've not done business before with them. 

I did get a little kit from them before! It had 3 cholla wood & 5 catappa leaves combo pack.

@TeeJay likes Harryshrimpstore too.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I have an abudance of Subbwassertang in my tanks now because of the small bunch I got from them. However it has snails cause they are in tanks with snails. 😁

I effectively infected it. hehe

[nabokovfan87]

Sometimes you just need to sit in front of the tank and watch a bunch of corydoras whittle a big ol' piece of repashy down to nothing....

I spent a bit of time checking on everything, dosed in a little bit of ferts mid-week to see how the plants respond to the added nutrients availability.  I made up some repashy to see if I can get these guys to spawn again.  I have moss in the bin still and need to figure out if/where I can plant it.  One of the amanos was (hopefully) helping eat the BBA off the anubias.  If I wake up tomorrow and some of it is gone I will be very relieved.  I trimmed roots and a bad section of rhizome off this past week, and now we have another one that has some BBA all over it again.

Just trying to be diligent, spend time caring and more detailed with my care.

Grace was having fun tonight pushing the corydoras out of her spot.  they were all in line to eat and she was doing laps trying to understand what all the commotion was. 🙂

[nabokovfan87]

Algae is back. We all expected that to happen. I modified the direction of the spraybar. It was blowing right into the Hygro and that was causing too much algae to show up there. I'll spot treat it and go from there.

Amanos being feisty (egg release day).

 

[nabokovfan87]

Maintenance done on the tank for the week.

I ran a test to check on nitrates and it looks like for the time being I am going to be doing a full dose every 3-4 days with the fertilizers.  This could be due to the soil in the tank absorbing or it could simply be due to the plants using the nutrients.  the tank has a "generally small" bioload but it is fully stocked.  The plants can take their time to grow and the CO2 is doing it's thing.  The amanos are cleaning the BBA and I just need to keep an eye on plants to push it back, spot treat when need be and gain that skill to do so. 

I modified the placement of the spraybar this week.  I positioned it into the glass at an angle above the diffuser as opposed to across the tank.  This keeps the bubbles low and I have been seeing better spread across the length of the tank.  Previously the Hygro was getting direct flow from the co2 and the spraybar, but this time it's much less intense for the plant itself.  I hope this helps to combat the BBA.  As such I have monitored the fish and they seen to have adapted to the flow.  It gives them a bit of a dead spot to help swim, which I know is another benefit.  The corydoras sit in the flow opposite the rock and rest, very much like a river species doing their thing.

Both tanks definitely could use some GH.  Any tips on how fast to increase this would be helpful.  That could be a means for the algae to take hold and some of the deficiencies I have seen.  I am thankful to have that stuff on hand when it arrives.  (Thanks Aquarium Co-Op for carrying it!):

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by nabokovfan87