Grace's Garden - A RTBS Planted Tank

[nabokovfan87]

If you ever want a fun challenge... try to get your RTBS to sit still.  I had a bit of fun watching Grace this morning.  Very coy and very majestic.  She looks like she grew a little!

Slightly funny how small she is (camera trick) compared to the amano being gigantic in the back!

[nabokovfan87]

Some good news and some bad news....

Good news, the susswassertang wall is GROWING IN!  I see life.  One of the plants I have been trying for years to grow well is doing just that. 

Bad news,  I did the big water change last week. This was the "lazy week" and just add in ferts and clean the prefilter stuff.  Nitrates seemed high, and that means I need to keep an eye out on this.  Plant load isn't high enough and I treated for BBA as well.

Good news, media I needed was miss-marked, nearly 50% off from normal price due to clearance type of pricing.  Fingers crossed it gets here and isn't used or some weird issue like that.

Bad news, my male sword is indeed suffering the same affliction as my other swords and is losing his tail.  He has a thread of it left. You can see the cancer slowly spreading up the base of the tail where the sword used to be.  It's extremely disheartening.

The tank looks ok. I am really enjoying the plants and all of the things going on.  the BBA is always infuriating and it's to be expected.  I did a bit of cleaning things up and I'll end up doing more of this to make space and improve the work flow of everything I have going on.  I may be able to get some fish due to a donation from a friend to the human fund, late birthday stuff, but I am still needing to get glasses.  I haven't had any for ~years and have been wearing an old pair.  It'll be night to be able to get the right prescription again when that happens.  Still working on things.... always something.

Needless to say, focus on the enjoyment of those tanks around you and let's have keep that heavy on the heart and mind for this upcoming month (November).  It's getting cooler here and there's weather things going on.  Get prepared if need be!

[Pokey]

I’m sorry to hear about your swordtail. ☹️ How do fish get cancer when they’re so well taken care of? (good food & environment) Maybe from their genetics?

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/29/2023 at 9:52 AM, Pokey said:

I’m sorry to hear about your swordtail. ☹️ How do fish get cancer when they’re so well taken care of? (good food & environment) Maybe from their genetics?

Yeah. it's a swordtail thing for sure due to genetics.  These fish are essentially crossbreed with another type of platy and I'm sure all of that plays a role.  Made in Europe (berlin black swordtail) and then we get them here and breed them for many generations, exposing bad genes.  That's one of the tough parts about rarer fish, having enough genetic diversity and swapping fish to keep that going.

 

[nabokovfan87]

More big things happening this week!

Just got done tearing apart the filter and replacing the media. I checked the sponges and the "ability" of the filter to actually filter things with the sponge. My guy tells me that this filter needs a pretty big overhaul on the design of a few aspects.

Sponge is this dirty after what seems like a month of use. I see a lot of bypass.

This is the media, top tray. I see a lot of the stuff passing through several layers of the tray, or bypassing the trays altogether and going right through the lid.  I can't say why, but whenever I had the media in the tidal it was never this way. I would love it if I could find appropriately sized media bags (from seachem style fine mesh) that fit rectangularly shaped voids.

The trays aren't a mess to clean, but it's just not a situation where it's as easy as it could be to keep the media clean as I'd like.

 

Following that check on everything I added in some substrat pro that I got on sale due to clearance. It was like 50-60% off or so. Pretty nice to find it and be able to swap stuff out.

I chucked the rings after I saw them and there are two types in there.  One is the packet that comes from the aquaclear 110 and those seems to be fine, working well enough, but not great. Not nearly as good at matrix works for me.  The other ones are the default rings that come with the base canister from fluvial. By comparison, visually, at least 60-75% less bacteria visually just from the way the different surfaces are compared to one another. One is rough and has voids, the other is flat, smooth, and pretty lackluster when it comes to performance from that brief test.

I also emailed the place that I purchased plants from, it's been 1 month with no information and I basically scolded them for not communicating anything. Their response was that "soon" they will order in the tissue cultures and see what shows up and go from there. It's not something I plan to go through again, but it's a small shop with TCs that I basically cannot get from anywhere else. Fingers crossed it all works out.

Checked nitrates on the fishroom as well.

40 in the big tank, perfectly fine. It's all fertilizer and my inability to feed normally, lol.

10 in the shrimp tank, again, all ferts and today is water change day for that tank anyways.

We'll keep an eye on things, I added some clarifying and made sure all the systems are working as should be.  It's getting there..... Moss wall photos next.

Working on the shrimp tank next!

Edited October 31, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Guppysnail]

Just a suggestion as it looks like you are not getting the max mechanical filtration you could be. The ability for max mechanical and biofiltration all in one is a joy with the 07 series.
 

At one point I was trying out the matrix, ceramic rings, dinitrate etc. 

Even in my pleco breeding tank severely overstocked with babies and mass breeding Corydora and breeding CPD my top tray never got 1/10th that dirty. If the top tray is that dirty tons are passing back into your tank. 
 

Try at least a thin layer of 20 ppi sponge under your media in the bottom tray and a thin layer of 30 under the media and black sponges in the rest of the compartments. 
 

The sponges get very yucky but at least it doesn’t go back into the tank and keeps that top tray functioning optimally. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/31/2023 at 5:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

Try at least a thin layer of 20 ppi sponge under your media in the bottom tray and a thin layer of 30 under the media and black sponges in the rest of the compartments. 
 

The sponges get very yucky but at least it doesn’t go back into the tank and keeps that top tray functioning optimally. 

It's there, that default stuff that comes with the filter in the 2nd from the bottom tray. I also have additional pond foam that's very fine I can use to add to the red foam holder and try to keep the intake contained a bit better to that one side. I can sketch it out, but essentially..... There is no hard wall seperating the tray from the foams, the trays themselves are designed to act as the wall.

The lid on the trays should fit tightly against the pump and stop anything from really going into that top media tray as well.

The bottom tray is filled with ceramic "mech" style prefilter settling media which Should help to separate out the big chunks. If that doesn't do anything then I'll end up removing that and having foam there, no big deal.

Next tray up is the fine foam that comes with the filter. If I was running a fine pad, it would go there as well.

Then I have 2 media trays, more than enough biological for the entire tank even heavily stocked.

The prefilter on the intake also takes a good bit of the load, hopefully keeping shrimp and plants out of the filter.

[nabokovfan87]

Near midnight water change done. Dolphins game is in.... 6 hours so that'll be fun.  Dosed the tank and hoping to see all the things keep doing well. I pulled some plant debris and checked in on the substrate. Pulled small spoonfuls of BBA infected flourite dark.

We'll see how it goes, but I know it's critical for me to keep up with the water changes and checking on the BBA.

The good thing, it's cold enough now that there's less of an issue of bugs flying through the window.

[nabokovfan87]

Grace has been seemingly transitioning to long autumn walks and gently strolling around the garden.  The word that came to mind watching her was that she was being a bit whispy today.  She normally naps right below the strainer intake sponge and her chunky wood hide.  I can only think it's a reaction to being able to sit in the flow and just have a bit of a space that isn't right under the light anymore.  She glides out of her little hole and she was just in the tank, open space today.  No aggression and she was not chasing fish at all.  She grazed on a rock, the algae on the substrate, and then went across the front glass.  She met up with my male swordtail and they had a casual hello this morning.  A little fin wave and she glided around the side of the tank.  She wasn't just doing rounds as she normally does, but she was exploring and relaxing out and about.  I take it as her small way of telling me shes happy and content today.  She's relaxed and doing just fine.

No word in sight on plants still, but we do have a "side tank" intended to be there for only plants (and maybe a Riddick).   I imagine when it's over 2 months on the plant order and no progress I will just request a refund and start that process.  It's a bit ridiculous.  I hope I can find a deep discount on some contrasoil for the tank during black friday and that will greatly help me to get things going whenever plants do arrive from whichever source. 

A bit of cleaning and just fixing things around the tank today.  I am moving piles from one spot to the next and pretending it's progress.... it seems. 😂

Enjoy your tanks, be sure to relax a little today, feed some good flake food and just watch the fish do their thing. Have a good week everyone.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 11/12/2023 at 3:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I imagine when it's over 2 months on the plant order and no progress I will just request a refund and start that process.  It's a bit ridiculous.

Your patience is much longer than mine. After 2 weeks I would’ve been asking for a refund lol. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:48 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Your patience is much longer than mine. After 2 weeks I would’ve been asking for a refund lol. 

Me too! But, this was a preorder of rare plants and I'd been eyeballing them for practically a year and never listed in stock.  That led to me thinking that the only way to ever get them was to "preorder" and play the shenanigans game.  Timeline for the order was ~4-5 weeks, but I just need to have good communication and I'm a pretty forgiving customer.

We'll see.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

That’s wild. I would rather a company not list them at all, so as to not get my hopes up, than keep them listed out of stock or have you “preorder” them when they have no clue when they’ll have them. 
 

If they allowed pre orders when they had them in stock, knew the amount they had, and just wanted to convert them or grow them a bit before passing to the customer that would be a totally different thing. At least in my book. Seems shady to take your money, tell you 4-5 weeks, and then 8+ weeks later still have your money but you have no product. Just my $0.02. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/13/2023 at 6:45 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

At least in my book. Seems shady to take your money, tell you 4-5 weeks, and then 8+ weeks later still have your money but you have no product. Just my $0.02. 

Very much agreed.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/31/2023 at 7:41 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I see a lot of bypass.

Ugh, yes.  I am struggling with bypass as well.  I will put a new floss pad, and it's great, then by day 3 it's bypassing.  (I keep the coarse & the ceramics in there always - just giving them a tank water rinse weekly).  What I've been doing is turning the floss pad counterclockwise each time (so the top of the floss pad would then be on the left), and that buys me another couple days.  @Bentley Pascoe mentioned bypass as part of the HOB filter sucks video, and I would agree. When you want to do a custom loadout, as most of us do, you welcome bypass.  Boooo...  I still want to try the bumpy sponge too though.  Perhaps I can get some more runtime out of that before bypass rears its ugly head; I just have to find the right porosity or whatnot so I can get some good, reliable flow through it.  For me, bypass is probably more annoying than for some folks, because I do keep a dropped waterline for the mystery snails and hence the splashy noise level ramps up.  It's either than or one of the air pumps walked itself into something and I can literally hear it through the wall. Can't win!  🤣

On 11/12/2023 at 5:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Grace has been seemingly transitioning to long autumn walks and gently strolling around the garden.

Aww, love it. 😍

On 11/12/2023 at 5:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

we do have a "side tank" intended to be there for only plants

"Only plants"... mm hmm... sure.  We will see about that!  😉

On 11/12/2023 at 5:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I imagine when it's over 2 months on the plant order and no progress I will just request a refund

Maybe this is a sign.  Probably getting fishes is faster than these plants.  Just sayin.

Also your sword plants are looking so epic.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/17/2023 at 6:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Only plants"... mm hmm... sure.  We will see about that!  😉

You right, you right. It might be Riddick's tank if she has issues getting food from the shrimp.

On 11/17/2023 at 6:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Maybe this is a sign.  Probably getting fishes is faster than these plants.  Just sayin.

Indeed! But I already broke down that 29G tank (that was cycled).

On 11/17/2023 at 6:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Boooo...  I still want to try the bumpy sponge too though.  Perhaps I can get some more runtime out of that before bypass rears its ugly head; I just have to find the right porosity or whatnot so I can get some good, reliable flow through it.  For me, bypass is probably more annoying than for some folks, because I do keep a dropped waterline for the mystery snails and hence the splashy noise level ramps up.  It's either than or one of the air pumps walked itself into something and I can literally hear it through the wall. Can't win!  🤣

Kind of funny how there's only ever one pack they sell to people on Amazon and not really individual sheets either. It's just the 3 types, pond foams, all 11x17.  You'd figure someone would try to get in on the action one of these days.  What filter are you having bypass with?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed with @Chick-In-Of-TheSea that the Swords are coming along nicely! Love to see it my dude. So glad they made it through the mail well and have started to take hold. They look great!

[H20CultureLabs]

Looking great! That moss in particular is looking fantastic. Nice job. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/17/2023 at 4:41 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Agreed with @Chick-In-Of-TheSea that the Swords are coming along nicely!

I seriously think I need to "zoom in" and show the things I see in more detail, but I just have no idea if they've grown at all!  I work up thismorning and I read @Chick-In-Of-TheSea 's comment and I had an idea spark into mind.  I think that will be the plan for the plants in future (scape location) and I'm excited to see them whenever that happens. 

I'll have to go back and see if I have photos of when I first got them!  I guess it's just my own concern with the S.Repens and trying to make sure every details is as best as can be....  I hope the swords are doing well!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Here you go @nabokovfan87, I made it easy for you.

Plants acquired 8/29/23

 

11/12/23

Nice & green & healthy.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Nice & green & healthy.

Indeed. Lots of progress from when I ripped them out of my tank, shipped them through the mail, you RR’d them, and planted them. Making progress my dude. They look great 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Nice & green & healthy.

I was looking at em today. I'm excited for future plans. One day it'll be a garden!

[nabokovfan87]

Well shoot....

Went to feed the tank today and one of my amano females, legitimately been alive for near a decade, had passed and it was clear she got stuck failing to molt.  Given that everything is happening in both tanks now, another female shrimp lost in that tank, that means that it's gotta be related to the GH drop as well as whatever is going on with the water company and their seasonal cleaning.  The big water change happened 2 weeks ago on the big tank and I haven't normally been dosing in GH because testing indicated it was not required.  I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do and how to proceed, but mulling everything over the past couple of days and then waking up to the issue this morning has given me the following ideas:

1.  Adding carbon where I can.  Going to add some to the big tank today.
2.  Limit water changes to 30% as opposed to 50% that I normally do. 
3.  Both tanks are already on bi-weekly water changes, fert dose has been dialed in, but there is a general issue with the water before it hits my bucket.
4.  Make sure that the water temp matches as best as possible, especially in the Neocaridina setup.
5.  One a week, give the amanos some shrimp food, but it's pretty likely they just ignore it.  They generally don't even go after food at all.

There's some other stuff for the Neocaridina shrimp, but that'll be in the other journal when I have time to check things.

I will go ahead and check the filter, check on the tank, test GH/KH again, and see where I'm at.  I'll run a test on the tap as well and let's just hope it's a rogue thing.  I can't explain or believe why all the minerals in SoCal water has basically gone towards RO, apart from water being brought in from elsewhere.  It's just the norm for me.  Heck, pretty soon we might be doing caridina out of the tap. (kidding, but that's how dramatic the shift has been).

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I’ve always wondered if my water could do Caridina out of the tap. Im tempted to try it, but that would mean another tank. 
 

If I could do Caridina out of the tap that would mean I could do both out of the tap and potentially both in one tank which would just blow peoples minds lol

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/19/2023 at 4:15 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

If I could do Caridina out of the tap that would mean I could do both out of the tap and potentially both in one tank which would just blow peoples minds lol

Crazily enough, there's a lot of people that do it.  One of the main things is that one will thrive, the other can struggle, but it is totally possible.  Tap is *always* a risk and that's why so many people use the RO+Buffers to remove it as a variable.  Yeah, major breeding setup, you're talking a lot of money in buffers.... which is why you see that whole "no water changes needed" pop up.  (Chicken meet egg)

I have someone I would LOVE to get some caridina shrimp from and theirs are amazing, homegrown and basically custom pattern after years of breeding efforts.  Really cool stuff. 

Either way.... I feel like GH is going to fight me all the time.  I need to get some more Seiryu! 😂

[nabokovfan87]

@Guppysnail Some good news at least. MEDIA WAS CLEAN!!!!

Sponges look like they are doing some work now. Prefilter is a champ.  Fluval needs to add a fillet on their strainer (actually makes the part cheaper and not break and safer for fish)

Previous Layout:
Medium Sponge "cartridge" -> Mech tray -> Fine foam tray -> Media trays

New Layout:
Medium Sponge "cartridge" -> Mech tray -> Fine foam tray with carbon -> Media Trays -> Phosphate pads

It's not a major thing to have the phosphate in there, but it's in there for a month or so to make certain the media stays clean.

I cleaned all that stuff, added ferts for the week, then I'll go ahead and test tomorrow after I know all of the GH is dissolved.