Grace's Garden - A RTBS Planted Tank

[Guppysnail]

Do you think the cory have spawned and little miss maybe gobbled them up on her nocturnal adventures?

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/30/2023 at 5:01 PM, Guppysnail said:

Do you think the cory have spawned and little miss maybe gobbled them up on her nocturnal adventures?

Nope! Just the kids in the big tank right now.  Parents are in the 29G off to the side right now. 

[nabokovfan87]

It's time to get to work on fixing some stuff in the side tank, the 29G spare tank to the right of this one.  It's got the adult corydoras in there and I think it's time for them to go back to their buddies and check out the new plants.  I have to seriously figure out why the tank looks so messy (gunky, dirty, filthy) and what is going on with the filtration that is causing issues.  In essence that tank is meant to be for plants and for Riddick to have a good life in.  It's her tank.

It just looks a mess and I actually don't enjoy being around it. 

In other, more uplifting news....

Because of the new plants (Thank you again AFNB!), Grace has been out and about and swimming around and through them.  she was actually "cleaning off" one of the sword leaves on the left there and that's when I sat up and starter to try to get a photo of her doing her thing.  This is the best we got, but I am sure she'll be out and about more often. 

As far as inspiration for my tanks, it's pretty clear what I wish things looked like for me.  It's meant to be a lot of stems, a lot of height, and a lot of places for the fish to swim around and swim through.  All of my barbs, my cypranidae fish all seem to love that aspect. They would do races or something and just go darting around and have fun with the layout.  I miss that.  I saw hints of that with Grace today and that was wonderful.

The old setup, attempt 1 for me for a planted tank.



This is the goal.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Why not give Aponogeton bulbs a try? They do great in deeper tanks.

On 9/1/2023 at 9:47 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

the goal.

 

 

Your old setup looks dope. I never could get stem plants to work for me…

Also your tank looks great now! I love those swords.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/1/2023 at 7:17 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Why not give Aponogeton bulbs a try? They do great in deeper tanks.

I veeeeeery much want to give so many plants a try. That one is on the list, recently learned it's a bulb. Red tiger lotus is another one. (Or something like mosaic plant)

On 9/1/2023 at 7:17 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Your old setup looks dope. I never could get stem plants to work for me…

Well, that was mostly just planting. Great for a photo, but long term I had a lot to learn! All that red went away. I've tried that same plant 10x or something silly and it's never done well for me. The front one is Bacopa, awesome plant, but you can see the stalks all dead and I had no idea what topping was.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/1/2023 at 6:47 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

@xXInkedPhoenixX do you think that the otos would lay on the the underside of the swords potentially?  I have 2 big females, 1 male.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 9/2/2023 at 11:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

otos would lay on the the underside of the swords potentially?

Yes absolutely!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/2/2023 at 12:41 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

learn! All that red went away. I've tried that same plant 10x or something silly and it's never done well for me. The front one is Bacopa, awesome plant, but you can see the stalks all dead and I had no idea what topping was

The exact same thing happened to me with red ludwigia. I did top it- well, the snails chewed the melty stem and the tops would float to the surface, so they “helped” remind me the plants were ill. Then I would put the tops in the sand, and they’d do “just ok” for a while, then would look leggy and bad again, get leggy again, the cycle repeated.. ultimately I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to keep tending to.
 

The moneywort in the jar, however, has been very happy and has even learned to grow around the light, and has recently flowered as well (unexpected!).

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

It feels like it's been quite a while since I've sat and typed about the tank as opposed to my usual self-guided meditation on this tank.  I just got done doing the most minor amount of work and I think it's time for a slightly vulnerable review of this tank and how it's been going.

I think the most honest thing I can say here is that I'm seriously unhappy about this tank right now.  There is a variety of reasons for this and there is a lot of good going on, but if I sit back and I look at the tank itself, each time I walk away I cannot help but think to myself, "I wish it was better."

As a hobbyist I thing that is a very easy mindset for us all to get stuck in.  I feel like each time we do get a moment to work on the tank, we push ourselves just a little bit to get the work done, but once it's done there is also this switch that goes off and I want to immediately go elsewhere to relax.   The water is cloudy, the filter needs to work, and it's a hot mess.  At other times, the tank might feel so neglected that you just don't want to be around it as often.  I try to skew the line there and I put energy every day into focusing on the tank, finding something that makes me happy, and noticing things I need to work on.  Let's discuss some of those thoughts.

First, I do need more plants.  I need to feel better about how the plants are doing and I need to feel a lot better about how I am handling the algae issues.  I have spot treated a lot of areas on the tank.  I've taken out the filter and dipped it.  I've removed the plants and RR'd them.  I've taking out equipment, hardscape, rocks, and glasswork and I've treated all of those surfaces in the past couple of weeks.  I've tried to be more mindful of cleaning lids, scraping glass, and making sure I am paying attention to what the plants are doing. 

It brings me joy when I wake up and see the intense shades of bright green indicating new growth.  What is the struggle here for me is that I really would've loved to see the S.Repens and all of the other plants at 2-4x the size they are now.  I've had so many issues with algae, CO2, water parameters, and circulation that it feels like I have had to start over, or that my own failures to dial the knobs in well has led to those failures in plant growth.  I do see new growth.  I also know that I should've had more growth.  All of the moss just died on me.  It fell off.  It's a tragic reminder of how fragile the balance of plants can be in some tanks.  I miss having my epiphytes and my fast growing plants in one system.  I have them separated in two tanks right now because of those constant struggles to dial in all of the parameters.  Thankfully, I have learned a lot through all of those failures.

Feeding the fish has been another major struggle.  I sat today for a good 30-60 minutes and I watched the tank eat food.  I saw Grace out and she was cruising for food along with the other corydoras.  I've been trying new food, but I realize now I made poor food selections in the past when I moved away from certain ingredients.  While the fish do enjoy the food I have, I also need to keep in mind and feed more of the proteins for the fish I keep.  I need to understand what the fish need so that when I do run into issues... like no breeding... that I can go ahead and respond appropriately. 

Another major issue I have been having with the tank right now is my filtration.  about two weeks ago I went to clean the prefilter sponge, pump intake, and that area of the filter and there was silicone debris from the mods that was floating all over the place.  After I cleaned all of that up, I ended up having to use what resources I had on hand (super glue) and seal those gaps.  Thankfully it worked, but I wish I didn't have to constantly plug holes for a filter that just doesn't work for my setup.  This past week I went to pull out the media basket and the chunk of plastic I had glued to fill the holes fell apart on me.  Here we go again with the superglue and I got that repaired.  Ultimately I can't run two HoBs right now because I just don't have them.  I absolutely would like to because I know that balances out the flow.  If I run a single HoB on the tank it ends up being far too strong of a flow in one segment of the tank.  This pushes me into that category again of wanting to figure out, go get a canister filter and get it working in this setup.  I really need to think long and hard about figuring out that puzzle and make the best choice for the tank, long term.

Finally... algae and plants. This isn't the same thing as above, but this is moreso about how I tried something and potentially that led to issues for me.  I don't think I have ever heard of anyone else who has BBA growing on individual pieces of substrate.  I looked at the tank this past week with the filtration off and it was pretty frustrating to see a lot BBA over the surface of the substrate.  Not on plants, not on hardscape, just all over the ground like it's a pile of weeds.  This past weekend I spent a day watching the tank while I dosed the tank with hydrogen peroxide to try and alleviate some of the issues.  I will need to do this more and it's not as much of an issue as you'd think to do so, but it's just a new technique and a new process.  We'll see if it helps, we'll see how it goes, and we will have to find out other methods if this one doesn't work out. 

In the long terms, my goals are:
1.  Get the corydoras to actually be happy with the tank. 
2.  Get the mid and upper sections of the water filled out a little better.
3.  Get enough hardscape to make the tank look the way I want. 
4.  Make maintenance a little easier, but improve the overall life support system on the tank with some redundancies like air stones.

In the short term, my goals are:
1.  I want to get a plant order in, add in some new stems.
2.  I want to try to get a pleco in the tank to help clean the glass.
3.  I want to try to add some sort of barbs if I can.
4.  Get rid of the Tidal and fix circulation for good.

Tonight, I went ahead and added some root tabs to the tank.  I probably used ~25 or so of them and my hope is that helps perk up the plants and give them a nice push forward.  I don't think the idea of adding the soil substrate alone is enough or can be used in place of root tabs.   I think in the end you just need both.  I'll keep an eye on the tank and see what I see, but for right now... for this moment... this is where things are for me.

Thanks for reading!  I appreciate it.  I appreciate the second set of eyes, the advice, the encouragement, and the shared joy through all those moments in the hobby.  It feels good to have that community even if I don't have things like a LFS or a local club. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by nabokovfan87
typo

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@nabokovfan87 the addition of your sword plants adds such a charm to your tank. I love them.

before:

after:

It may seem like a small change, but it looks good! It has improved! (And look how cool that red tail looks in front of the green plant)

I remember when I was watching a bunch of Father Fish videos. He made one about preventing algae. And the secret is to have A LOT OF plants. The plants will suck up the nutrients that the algae wants. Now, you may have also forgotten.. you can cheat. You can add fake plants. Get some good ones, realistic, and it will fill in the tank and no one will know. They won’t melt. Then fill in around those with live plants that you can afford. Maybe some Aponogeton or Vallisneria? They seem to do well in deep tanks.

Recently my Java fern turned to mush. It was doing great for a year and a half, then one day, blehhh.. that was after a bacterial bloom where I did water changes on 3 consecutive days and ran carbon (for just 2 days) to try to clarify things. It didn’t like that situation at all. Melted and made a huge mess all over the tank. 😐

Java fern:

 

When that died and had to be removed, the fish felt exposed. I could tell they were confused and very nervous. There are plants on the side, but they prefer the middle. So I added this:

They love it and went into it right away. Their whole demeanor changed. The Small Scape YouTuber adds fake plants into her tanks as well. There is one at big box sold as a mat that looks like Anubias nana petite. She cuts it up and attaches it to driftwood. 

As far as the filter, hey, you tried stuff. You like to brainstorm and experiment, and we like to follow along. So it didn’t work long term. So what? You gave it a shot.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” -Thomas H. Palmer

”Do, or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda

 

[nabokovfan87]

Grace being beautiful this morning.

[Guppysnail]

Totally fake plant but a darn nice one. I think it looks nice. Though I know you as tank owner will always see only the missing fern and fake replacement. 
 

GRACE 😍😍😍

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/28/2023 at 5:11 PM, Guppysnail said:

Totally fake plant but a darn nice one. I think it looks nice. Though I know you as tank owner will always see only the missing fern and fake replacement

Thanks! I don’t mind it actually! Less trimming to do. Haha

[nabokovfan87]

Well... One step in the process to potentially being able to have a proper planted tank again.  I got this for my birthday and I am just hoping that I picked out things that will do well for me.

Also, I seriously hope I like the pinsettes and I can use them well.  Buce will go in the shrimp tank, but the rest is for Grace's little Garden.

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by nabokovfan87
swapped out the photo with KH and light need notes.

[nabokovfan87]

Plants will show up anywhere in the next ~3-5 weeks whenever they arrive at the seller.  I'm excited for it.  I didn't realize, but I did make a mistake.  I had intended to get the variegated form of AR (Rosanervig), but it's fine if I can get pretty much any of them to grow.  Apart from that, it will end up being my first time trying all of these different species of plants.

I ended up being a bit delayed on cleaning things out this week.  I turned off the filter to feed, forgot to set the timer, and then ended up realizing this many hours later.  It happens, but the result of that was a bit of a stressed water change this afternoon as the CO2 turned off.  I got all of that sorted and I ended up flooding the floor twice just from being unfocused. 

Riddick is in with the shrimp permanently now.  She still has the cataracts and she's doing really good though.  I am working on how to feed her.  I go to the tank and she has an open spot where I feed her.  She comes to the front and it's great to see this behavior. 

I am undecided, but I think I may have to pull all the plants and then proceed to re-plant everything with proper placement.  I am undecided on whether I blend things in, work around what I have in place or if there's a long term visual look with what I have already that I'd be happy with.  Time will tell and I have a little bit to mull it over.

All that being said, it's nice being down to two tanks.  I have half the parts I need for the susswassertang/moss wall and I just need to determine the final setup before I order the grid parts.

Here's to continued success, hoping for the best, and trying to keep improving everything.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Hang in there my dude. Those swords will get MASSIVE if you just give them root tabs and time. The sword of mine that yours came off was the first aquatic plant I ever bought over 3 years ago. Started in a 10 gallon. Moved to the 29 and sat in the corner FOREVER basically untended (never trimmed leaves, just gave it root tabs and let it do its thing) until it completely took over the tank. Then I moved it to the 55 and it has continued to take over that tank. Just takes time. 
 

Keep that in mind as you move things around. The three Swords you have could easily cover that entire back wall assuming they take hold and you give them enough time. 
 

When it comes to the filtration, I would consider a canister. Feels weird to say that considering I just set mine up like 2 weeks ago, but with the right size and a spray bar it could be the only filtration you need (probably). I tend to run a sponge and then something else, but the canister could be the answer you’re looking for. No more mods, no more silicone degradation, no more super glue (and then more super glue), etc. The upfront cost can be a lot, but it comes with a 3 year warranty out of the box, and paperwork to add on 2 years for free when you register it with Fluval (assuming you got a Fluval). Do you plan to have the tank (even if not in the same form as right now) 5 years from now? Spread the cost out over 5 years, or 60 months, and suddenly the cost isn’t so bad. Especially if you can get some PetSmart coupons that stack or something like that. Just something to consider. 
 

As you know from reading my journal (thanks for always showing up in there!) the couple small changes I’ve recently made have me super hype again! Trimmed some plants, added some filtration, moved some things around, and now I’m all excited again. 
 

Hang tough my dude, and don’t forget to celebrate the parts of the tank you DO like! It’s easy to get hung up on the things you wish were “better”, but even the fact that we can keep these boxes of water with fish and plants in our house and create these underwater worlds is insane. Just stop and think about that for a second.
 

Grace looks INCREDIBLE against those swords. Your black Cory’s make me jealous. There’s plenty of things that I can pick out of your tank that make me envious of it. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/5/2023 at 7:33 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Hang tough my dude, and don’t forget to celebrate the parts of the tank you DO like! It’s easy to get hung up on the things you wish were “better”, but even the fact that we can keep these boxes of water with fish and plants in our house and create these underwater worlds is insane. Just stop and think about that for a second.

Just today.... I woke up and was waiting like a kid on christmas for the tank light to pop on.  I get to see it nearly every morning and right when it dings on the fish instantly do their thing.  It's like the signals at traffic go off and all of a sudden the tank is alive and kicking.  I definitely cherish the tank.  It's monumentally better than some of the other things I've had in the past couple of years.  I found a box of paperwork this week.  In that box, I found my first tank purchase receipt since I've actually been getting back into the hobby.  It's one of those things where I wish I could "know" when that was just for the sake of gauging how long it's been...  Right next to it was one of my first co-op orders that I was able to make after learning a little bit more about the hobby. (Date on the big box store receipt is Aug 2018)



I purposefully try to spend time every week enjoying the tank.  It's been something I have done ever since I can remember.  Usually right before bed or right before waking.  I wish I could sprinkle magic dust to feed the fish some days, but eventually I do get up and feed them all.  I have had a limited time in the hobby, always learning, always finding interesting bits of knowledge to digest, and most of all I am finding the depth of meaning behind the glass box.  I have a really solid movie recommendation for the movie club whenever it's my turn next that I'll have to tag you on.  It speaks to exactly what you're saying and it's such a journey from A to B.

I can't say I do it too often, but one of the other big thought experiments for me is where am I at, where do I want to be, and how can I get a bit closer to that.  Essentially, it's all about trying to make things better, find the little things, and work on them day to day.  When things in life get a bit too hectic, it's really nice to have that place for the repetition, focus, and the meditation space to enjoy it.

 

 

On 10/5/2023 at 7:33 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Grace looks INCREDIBLE against those swords. Your black Cory’s make me jealous. There’s plenty of things that I can pick out of your tank that make me envious of it. 

Extremely kind of you to say!  She's such a wonderful fish and has a great personality.  I don't mind at all having the tank just for her and whomever she allows! 🙂

I ordered more parts for the background this morning using a partial refund on an item and I'll have to get to work on it.  I'm excited for "the big day" when it's a whole new tank and I get to see exactly what works and what doesn't long term.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:19 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

it's such a journey from A to B.

Absolutely. Also gotta remember to enjoy the ride! 
 

I could critique my tanks all day. I have way too much BBA in the Angel tank, but it’s mostly to the right wall, and the back wall towards the right. I could drive myself crazy trying to get rid of it, or I could just make sure it doesn’t get to a point where I can’t take it. When things hit the “I can’t take it point”, that’s just my little additional project on the next maintenance session. The wood in the 29 blackwater tank could be waaaaaaay better, but I also think the branches would just fall how they would in nature. The Pea Puffer tank could be waaaaay more visually appealing with more plants, but I also hate wasting resources on trying new plants that I don’t know if they’ll like my water or not. My cube wasn’t intended to be a giant Pearl Weed jungle, but that’s the plant that does the best in that tank. My Pygmy Cory tank has waaaaay too much Water Lettuce, but I love the long-hanging roots and the Anubius in there are pristine and without a spec of algae. The 20 long blackwater tank was so dark because of tannins, but also because of debris that you couldn’t even see the back! It wasn’t until I freed up an internal filter and could add it to that tank that I’m moving in the right direction. The 20 high only has fish on the bottom. None of my tanks are “perfect” but neither is nature and I kind of love the imperfections. They’re all different problems, and it forces me to learn so much and do different things even though all these tanks get the same water, the same maintenance routine, and the same amount of fertilizer. The journey might be more important than the destination, and you can’t reach the destination without the journey. 
 

I guess for me, it’s probably a little different as I have 14 tanks. I have to space out the time I have to work on things over those 14 tanks instead of 2 of them. Definitely makes me prioritize what needs to be done, but also kind of forces me to just let nature take her course and appreciate things not being “perfect”. 
 

Keep working it my guy; you’ll get to where you want it to be! Just be patient with yourself, remember that every hurdle is just and opportunity to learn, and remember it takes time 🙂 

Edited October 6, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I forgot to add that the 29 blackwater tank had hydra all over the left wall that I didn’t even know about until the other day. With the amount that’s there, it’s been there for a while and I didn’t even notice. Probably didn’t help that the tank was super cloudy for a while. It’s all part of the journey!

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:27 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I forgot to add that the 29 blackwater tank had hydra all over the left wall that I didn’t even know about until the other day. With the amount that’s there, it’s been there for a while and I didn’t even notice. Probably didn’t help that the tank was super cloudy for a while. It’s all part of the journey!

Time for some no planaria! 🙂

There is always those little tasks we want to do, even big projects.  I think Zenzo has been waiting to move a room full of tanks for a little while now and it's something where I am definitely anxiously awaiting for that day to see the shift and change for his tanks and what he does with them.

I watched a George Farmer video from the day before where he spent a solid 2-3 hours removing algae and using some pretty nice methods to try to handle it.  There's always so much to do!  Step 1 is definitely to enjoy.  Step 2 is to feed the fish.  Step infinity is definitely to figure out how to get rid of the BBA. 😂

[nabokovfan87]

Today is day 1/step 1 in the process of "will it work correctly or improve the situation?" testing.  The goal is to note behavior, drop checker status, and see how the fish do with regards to feeding easy and ability.

Tidal is removed and the new stuff is on. Spraybar and all the equipment is shuffled around and I've got to seriously consider placement of everything at this point.  I already am pretty mystified by some product design choices and I'll end up writing about all of that separately.

I'm not sure what the "best option" is for the setup, but right now I just needed to make sure water was moving and that everything was working properly.  I'll run some tests today as well.

Right after I got things swapped over I had a shrimp that had passed. It was very likely due to getting accidentally crushed when the inlet was moved into place and I tried to install the prefilter sponge. 😞

I am hoping all the changes lead to much better stability and QoL for the animals and plants, that's always the goal. Fingers crossed.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Aw RIP little shrimp. Sounds like the wheels are in motion with the new plan @nabokovfan87.

On 10/6/2023 at 12:27 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

had hydra all over the left wall

I have had hydra. Green. Looked like algae. It was never a problem for me, not even with shrimps.

[nabokovfan87]

Lost another one. Water test time....

Testing Results: 10/07/2023

Temp: 74.0

Nitrate: 25

Nitrite: 0

GH: 12 deg

KH: 4 deg

 

.....so the "not rinsing the media" probably released some hardness. I'll keep an eye on it.  Looks to be a slight GH bump and I don't want to mess with the shrimp too harshly.

PROJECT #2!

Huge shout-out to @mountaintoppufferkeeper for making a little dream of mine come true. Today is the day!

Update: sewing susswassertang to quilting mesh is fine.... as long as you are good at tying knots with susswassertang fingers and everything is a bit damp. 😞  Second one I just did it the "other way" using the zip ties and two sheets.  They are both in the tank now, I didn't manage a third, but we'll see how they do.

Edited October 8, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 10/7/2023 at 9:14 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I have had hydra. Green. Looked like algae. It was never a problem for me, not even with shrimps.

This is probably the fourth time I’ve had it? Sounds about right anyways. 
 

I’ve gotten rid of it with meds in the past, but don’t really see myself taking that route this time. Shrimp in the tank are crushing it so it’s whatever. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/7/2023 at 7:25 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Nitrite: 25

Oh man, your tank cycle crashed. Hopefully old media still in bucket? Can you swap back to that? Did you get the bottled bacteria added in?

Is any ammonia present?

Edited October 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea