Grace's Garden - A RTBS Planted Tank

[nabokovfan87]

Minor update on the tank today.  Moss is growing in nicely.  There are some spots I need to fix, but generally its looking better post trim.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/27/2023 at 6:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Moss

It is lovely. What is the other plant? Anubias nana petite?

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What is the other plant? Anubias nana petite?

Yep! I have 3-4 on that piece of wood recovering right now.  They are still fighting this algae.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/28/2023 at 12:24 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yep! I have 3-4 on that piece of wood recovering right now.  They are still fighting this algae.

I love those. I have some in my shrimp tank.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/28/2023 at 5:23 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I love those. I have some in my shrimp tank.

Me too. I have the nana in my shrimp tank. The nana petite in the big one.

[nabokovfan87]

Dipping the Hygro Pinnatifida for the next few days.  This is the reference and the method:

That statement at the bottom, it makes a lot of sense!

Quote

Regular dosing is 5ml per every 40 litres (10 US gallon)

The first day you dbl dose Excel (10ml/40 Liter)
The second day you make a complete water change in the bucket
The third day you repeat the dosing (10ml/40Liter)
Let the plants soak for another 24 hours and you are good to go

First treatment weakens the BBA, second dosing really kills it.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/29/2023 at 10:47 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Dipping the Hygro Pinnatifida for the next few days. 

It's a little difficult to see the scope of the algae but you can see some pretty good coverage on the leaves there.  Those would be "old growth" and hopefully if/once I pull those leaves that this algae tends to love to pester.  It attaches and just grows until I decide to remove it.  CO2 is pretty much set, I'm stabilizing the nutrients by adjusting the GH, KH, and fertilizer as need be.

Here's just my day to day admiration of the amanos.  Moss looks great, the female looks happy, and it's just wonderful to see them do their thing.


In other spots of the tank you can see the rocks, anubias, and S. Repens getting caked in the algae. 

The amanos are doing what they can!  It's a balance between starving the amanos to encourage them to eat algae and feeding the corydoras correctly so they can fully grow and develop.

And she's always there saying hey....  Just the morning check in and she's always looking like she's got something to tell me about how she's doing. 


Once the swordtails are out of the breeder boxes (fry with shrimp) then I can take all that moss and try to add it somewhere.  It's not a pain, but it's the type of thing where I need to get more plants in the tank to fight back this algae.

Hopefully things are going well for everyone.  Have a good day!

[nabokovfan87]

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The algae is not too bad, really. The tank looks beautiful.  Is this a softer water tank due to the cories?  Do the amanos require soft water?

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/5/2023 at 5:58 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The algae is not too bad, really. The tank looks beautiful.  Is this a softer water tank due to the cories?  Do the amanos require soft water?

well... its slowly becoming softer, but I try to keep a decent amount of hardness in there.  Testing yesterday, KH/GH were both at 5 degrees.  Soil is absorbing some of the GH and has been absorbing the KH. 

In normal circumstances, with corydoras, they have had GH from 300-500 (it's down to 100 now at the tap) and they have had KH in the range of 80-200 (it's down to 40-80 now in the tap).  Amanos do not require soft water at all.  They will do well in a variety of ranges.

 

Quote

 

• Temperature: 64° - 80° F (17.8° - 26.6° C), the middle of this range is ideal
• pH: 6.5 - 7.9
• dGH: 6 - 15
• dKH: 1 - 7 
• TDS: 100 - 400

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

I still need to run a second round of testing for the GH adjustments I've been making.

Tonight I pulled all of the anubias and I have proceeded to treat that with the algaecide. It will take 3 days and then I will likely move this to either the Neo tank or give the amanos one last shot to keep it clean or algae.

The initial tubs where I had all my plants when transferring them, I probably lost about 2/3 of those plants. The anubias took a hit and I do have some varieties trying to recover. The pieces in the main tank are my last bits of the nana petite that need to bounce back so I can utilize them for a future aquascape. I have big plans for the anubias whenever it decides that it's ready for the task.

The big tank is having algae issues, but I realized today that the anubias sitting in the flow isn't helping.  It would be nice if the HoB had a digital adjustment on the pump (not a dial but an actual hardware adjustment) that I can dial in remotely and monitor performance. Test.

The goal being, I need to get more plants to help diffuse flow. The Hygro is planted and I am monitoring how the shrimp recover it and handle the algae. I am monitoring how much I am feeding to reduce the organics as well as just how much I am limiting the plants with CO2, GH, and ferts.

I need to find something local. A place to get stems and maybe trade some fish or shrimp for some plants.  Hopefully I hear something soon regarding that or am able to track down a replacement.

I need to run an errand to double check that, but time will tell if and when that happens. Maybe I can find some myaca or something that works well enough for what I want in this tank.

I need to hang the light as well to ensure the spread is right as well as the intensity. For now, it's fine, but I just don't trust the ceiling to hold the hooks in place. Sadly.

Might be the project for this week.

24 hours old: spawned on 5/8/2023:

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/7/2023 at 1:23 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Tonight I pulled all of the anubias and I have proceeded to treat that with the algaecide. It will take 3 days and then I will likely move this to either the Neo tank or give the amanos one last shot to keep it clean or algae.

This is following the 3 full days of treatment.  I am unsure why but the BBA didn't change at all in this time period.  The only difference being that the Hygro was treated in a bucket with an airstone.  That airstone is now tumbling the corydoras eggs, so the anubias was treated via specimen container without air.  Following two full 24 hour treatments, the BBA doesn't have any indication that it was stressed or dying back in any form.  I changed the water, added more of the algecide and we'll check on things in 24 hours again. 

The anubias will likely makes it way to the low demand tank.  I am also going to take the rock that has the moss and trim it in the same way I did the wood.  I will then try to propagate that out.  I don't have a ton of superglue left (about half of a "half-tube") and I don't think it'll get me too far.  We'll see.

Moss on the wood is looking great though.  I did see the S.Repens brightening up and looking like it's growing in again.  I will need to trim it and propogate that out as soon as humanly possible to try to get more plant load going.  The bottoms of all the stems look stressed and covered in the algae.  BBA on the black substrate hides algae well!  Increasing the GH though, thankfully, seems to have helped perk back up the S.Repens. 

I am also considering adding one of the ferns just to see how it does in a low-light shady spot in the higher nutrient tank.

[nabokovfan87]

First step was to go ahead and fix the light today.  I messed with the attachment furthest from this camera in the photo below first, couldn't get any improvement and so I just went ahead and repositioned the hole.  Another option would've been to leave it "loose" so that the fittings up top auto-leveled themselves, but it's fixed and I'm content with that.



I went ahead and cleaned all the prefilters and looked down to see the corydoras searching for their afternoon snack.  We had another storm today following the one yesterday and my hope is that the starkly cold water change (very minimal as it was) would be enough to trigger some sort of a spawning behavior.  They got some vibrabites, bloodworms, and some pretty high protein foods this week to help encourage that.  Time will tell.

The Staurogyne Repens is still working through the algae issues.  The anubias on the wood has been pulled and is now in the shrimp tank for recovery and lower demand lighting.  The shadow from the black trim on the lids is no longer awkward when viewing the tank now because it's straightened.   My hope is that this all develops, I can trim the plants and re-plant them here shortly and encourage that fast, new growth. 

In the unmodded tidal on the right side of the tank I had 2 massive bags of old aquaclear media.  I ended up tossing the smaller biomax pellets and putting the ring style biomax into the media bag for the sake of keeping it clean.  Just a preference thing and this helps to keep the filter from bypassing without having too much in there.  In terms of biological, I still have 2x the amount of media need be compared to normal in the filters and I am letting the HOBs do their thing.  I know bypass will happen and there's no real way for me to stop it.  I've done what I can.... so to speak.

The Hygrophila Pinnatifida is in the substrate now, trying to get it to push all across the back of the tank and "carpet out".  I wouldn't mind that one bit and it would definitely be a unique look with a moss background or simply the contrast on the stark black background.

Edit:  I also fixed the CO2 diffuser.  I might make a note of this in future cleanings just to mentally remind myself the cadence for how often to bleach dip it.

Edited May 22, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Grace 😍

Ever try Polyfil? Kaveman Aquatics says it keeps the water crystal clear; no floating stuff in the water column.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/21/2023 at 6:34 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ever try Polyfil? Kaveman Aquatics says it keeps the water crystal clear; no floating stuff in the water column.

Are you seeing something I'm not seeing!?  I actually added some today on the right HoB.  I use it from time to time, but not regularly.  I have a very fine foam I like to use in it's place.  The water is pretty crystal clear to my eye in person.  Any clouding sort of things is either the bubbles from the filter or it's just because I added in some buffer.

 

On 5/4/2023 at 10:58 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

For reference.... pretty clear!

The stuff up top is just breakfast and the CO2 diffuser.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Are you seeing something I'm not seeing!

🤣 I’m just making conversation. It has nothing to do with your tank. I’m looking for a better foam myself. I have roll of white/green pond floss that I cut to size for my HOB, but I don’t think it polishes as well as I’d like, so I was thinking about polyfil, unless you can recommend a foam. Polyfil is pretty cheap though.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/24/2023 at 6:27 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

🤣 I’m just making conversation. It has nothing to do with your tank.

Oh I thought you were noticing something, that's all. 😩

On 5/24/2023 at 6:27 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I’m looking for a better foam myself. I have roll of white/green pond floss that I cut to size for my HOB, but I don’t think it polishes as well as I’d like, so I was thinking about polyfil, unless you can recommend a foam. Polyfil is pretty cheap though.

There is a thing called "pond foams" from the EU that comes in a pack with sets. It's a blue, black, green one on Amazon.

I actually would point you to swiss tropicals foam just because the Amazon route, the stuff I have works extremely well, but it's slightly not thick enough. .85" instead of 1" thick type of thing.

On swiss you can get a good size for whatever you need in whatever style you want. 

For once in a while use, polyfil is absolutely fine.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/24/2023 at 10:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

point you to swiss tropicals

I’m seeing Poret foam on there. Is that the stuff?

& what about the bumpy stuff? That’s different still.

For reference, this is the one I’ve been using.

On 5/24/2023 at 10:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

For once in a while use, polyfil

Why not regularly? It just needs to be changed too often? Not worth it?

I’m sorry I hijacked your shark thread. You can DM so the thread stays on track.

Grace pic needed here ⬇️

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2023 at 2:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Grace pic needed here ⬇️

Reminds me of trying to wrestle an alligator or something.

 

This is her, "I was trying to sleep Pappa and they came into my house" face

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

It never ceases to amaze me how red her tail is. I have some red tailed friends too. They are 10-ish years old.

 

[Lennie]

On 5/25/2023 at 8:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Reminds me of trying to wrestle an alligator or something.

 

This is her, "I was trying to sleep Pappa and they came into my house" face

🤍🤍🤍

She is a cutipie

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

You took a pic of the light the other day, it was from the side of the tank, and even in that photo, BRIGHT red tail.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:36 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

You took a pic of the light the other day, it was from the side of the tank, and even in that photo, BRIGHT red tail.

She definitely feels she can hide well.  Under the pink/red LEDs it glows a bit and is easy to see. It's a very intense orange in person. Red-orange is probably the right term for it.

She sort of glides very slowly over things, prowling like a tiger in the canopy in the jungle. Then she darts and she is fast! One little flick of the tail and she goes across the whole tank.

[nabokovfan87]

It seems it's water change day.... 💪

[nabokovfan87]

I ran every test I can.  A note on testing, anything that says "with strip" is not really accurate in my eyes at this point.

Test Results: 5/28/2023
Nitrate: 25 ppm (from strip)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (from strip)
PH: 6.8 (from strip)
Phosphate: 0.25 ppm  <-- Maybe I need to feed more!
GH: 10 degress (179 ppm)
KH: 3 degrees (54 ppm)
Temp: 73.8 degrees

I went ahead and did the water change and maintenance.  The GH I added just a little (tap is low) and the KH I did add a little bit of buffer.  I don't want to boost it too quickly because it does impact PH.  The goal is to have a GH:KH ratio of 2:1.  I dosed in the Iron and Easy Green as usual.

One of the big Amano females releasing her eggs into the current:

Male shrimp is standing by waiting for her to molt.

 

This is what I tend to wake up to for a few days after trimming plants.  the S.Repens leaves are just from the corydoras having some snacks in the plants.



I also added the female swordtails to the big tank.  @Minanora

This was done mostly because of new information, but it was ultimately just to reduce some aggression with the males and to expand the activity in the tank.  There are 4 females, 2 males.  In Riddick's tank I have the two culls, 1 male, 1 female.  So we have 2 separate colonies going.

Here is the photo of the male who lost his sword.  It looks like the black finnage color is moving up his tail! It's a little disturbing, but I will keep an eye out and work on getting a better photo.  He is the "prized male" of the herd and was given the opportunity to breed with all of the females prior to moving them into the 75G.

The wonderful, amazing, and delightful corydoras herd.  The adults are over on the other side of the tank napping with Grace.

 

The only plants I am really keeping an eye on is the Hygro Pinnatifida, which is sprouting new plants and propagating out.  The S.Repens does seem to be a little pale.  I'll keep an eye on nutrients, but adding the fish should help with nitrates.  Adding in the GH is also a good benefit as well.



Then I tried to get a photo of Grace.  As always she's elusive....

Eventually she drifted into the light for me.

And one swipe of the tail and she was gone!

Little Riddick is enjoying her moss trimmings.  She's doing great.  Looks healthy, but still has the eye shine.  Other than that, she's doing great.

Sidenote:

Yesterday I trimmed the moss on the rock so it's shorter length now. I also did a little trim on the wood and then went ahead and used the last of my glue to attach moss to the bare spots on the wood. There was one section that had broken off in the current, but one entire section the amanos had picked the wood clean.  Not their fault, it's really hard to keep this stuff stuck to the wood. I run some pretty high flow and it's something I am being more conscious about.  So far everything is going ok, just keeping an eye on growth and any indications of issues.

Edited May 29, 2023 by nabokovfan87