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VelociBacon posted:So I think my cycling has... stalled? These are all 24hrs apart: Cycling takes time. Just patience really, get some used filter sponge from someone else to throw in yours will help
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Oct 30, 2018 17:16
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Okay cool, thanks for the help as always guys. I don't know anybody else with an aquarium! I'll keep checking the ammonia daily.
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Oct 30, 2018 17:27
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VelociBacon posted:Okay cool, thanks for the help as always guys. I don't know anybody else with an aquarium! I'll keep checking the ammonia daily. Check Facebook for local aquarium groups. I have a couple and it's also a really good way to get good deals on fish/plants
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Oct 30, 2018 17:29
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w00tmonger posted:Check Facebook for local aquarium groups. I have a couple and it's also a really good way to get good deals on fish/plants I'm not on facebook and I don't really want to meet anyone random from online! I'll ask around at work maybe.
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Oct 30, 2018 17:29
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Sorry for the double post but it's an update of a different variety. I got a little sick of the dying/yellowing/browning plants in the tank that are half rotting and not showing any signs of improvement. I decided to go to the local shop and get a bunch more plants to partially replace what I had in there - I felt like I barely had any plants in there, what was in there wasn't healthy and that I wasn't able to compete with the algae. I went with two Anubias and two Amazon Swords. I realized that the amazons are actually possibly a little big for my tank - poo poo. I cut one bunching of them down to height but I suspect this will kill them (they were 3" taller than my tank anyhow). I feel like these large surface-area plants should help with the algae. I'm using a timer and giving the plants 8 hours of light a day. I also picked up Seachem Equilibrium to fix my zero-GH problem and some Seachem Iron as well. I'm now going to be weekly dosing N/P/Fe as well as seachem flourish. Because I did a big water change with this I ended up re-adding bacteria and ammonia again. Going to leave it alone in terms of bacteria for now and see what the ammonia does. Going to test the GH as well fairly shortly to see where the equilibrium put it. Pics!   So are those too-tall swords just going to be hosed/blocking out the light for everything else? Is there a way to safely shorten them without killing them? Any other suggestions? What I'm reading online says that these plants both enjoy 10-12 hours of light/day. I did see some lovely fish at the shop... once this tank is cycled I think I'll probably get something again. VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Oct 31, 2018 |
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Oct 31, 2018 00:52
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It might work having huge swords soaking up the light and shading the anubias, as a slow growing plant anubias is an algae magnet if it gets too much light on it. They don't need a lot of intensity of light. You can plant anubias in the substrate but you need to make sure the rhizome isn't covered, that's the bit the leaves and roots emerge from, like a horizontal stem. It'll likely rot if buried, so you just make sure it's sitting at the surface and getting light, with just the roots tucked in the substrate. I've never had much luck with sword plants, my original two big ones are just starting to put out unstunted leaves and I think it took a long time for them to convert from emersed growth to submerged. You might see the same depending on how yours were propagated, the bigger leaves might go brown and fall off while smaller ones emerge from the middle of the plant. Just remove any leaves that go brown or soggy and make sure you keep up with root tabs for them as I think they feed more from the roots than the leaves (but most plants will take nutrients both ways). In my experience the best way to fight algae is faster growing stem plants, they're easier to trim (I have no idea if you can trim a sword) and they use up nutrients faster. I'd recommend ludwigia repens and hygrophila polysperma as being suitable for a back corner of a small tank, or you can put them in the middle or front if you keep them trimmed lower, and hygrophila at least even works as a floating plant. Rotala rotundifolia is another classic easy stem plant, for a thicket of vertical stems with smaller leaves. Right now you probably don't have room and your plant choices will probably mean you need to do less frequent plant maintenance once you get the conditions right. Really you just have to wait and see which of the plants you have do well. You might get a really nice green thick tank with not a lot of open water and there are plenty of nanofish that enjoy that kind of environment, shrimp too probably.
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Nov 1, 2018 04:38
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Stoca Zola posted:It might work having huge swords soaking up the light and shading the anubias, as a slow growing plant anubias is an algae magnet if it gets too much light on it. They don't need a lot of intensity of light. You can plant anubias in the substrate but you need to make sure the rhizome isn't covered, that's the bit the leaves and roots emerge from, like a horizontal stem. It'll likely rot if buried, so you just make sure it's sitting at the surface and getting light, with just the roots tucked in the substrate. I've never had much luck with sword plants, my original two big ones are just starting to put out unstunted leaves and I think it took a long time for them to convert from emersed growth to submerged. You might see the same depending on how yours were propagated, the bigger leaves might go brown and fall off while smaller ones emerge from the middle of the plant. Just remove any leaves that go brown or soggy and make sure you keep up with root tabs for them as I think they feed more from the roots than the leaves (but most plants will take nutrients both ways). Huh I thought the leaves would have great surface area for algae fighting. Great info! I had buried those stems so I'll make sure I exposé the top of them.
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Nov 1, 2018 05:11
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Anubias definitely can have problems with algae! edited to add link I forgot http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_3/fwalgae.html
Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 09:56
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That looks like the stuff that is and was all over my stem plants.
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Nov 1, 2018 15:37
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Stoca Zola posted:Anubias definitely can have problems with algae! edited to add link I forgot http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_3/fwalgae.html The anubias in our tanks have that problem as well, and right now they're the tallest plants we've got. The fish like picking the algae off, so sometimes it's not so bad, but there's one that's really hard to clean it off of without ruining now. It's a shame we had to through out the old sword plant. I didn't even think about using it that way. We tried floating plants as well, but those always end up blocking up the filter. Veloci, I notice you have a fair bit of wood in that tank? As far as placing the anubias goes, you could always attach them to that. They grow well that way and can look really nice. e: Sorry, just spewed up a ton of text. Basically, I'm not super convinced the filter is doing the trick for the goldfish, and I knew I'd have to replace it anyway. I'm planning to get an external filter (looking at the Fluval FX4) but I was wondering if anyone had advice or any recommendations on that front too. I've not really touched an external before and my mind is making them seem way more complex than they probably are? CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Nov 2, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 20:54
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w00tmonger posted:Cycling takes time. Just patience really, get some used filter sponge from someone else to throw in yours will help Yeah, you're lookin' at atleast a week before some small change takes place. Patience is the game here. Been neglecting the tanks a bit with all the overtime lately. Finally trimmed back the water lettuce, took out the big originals and left the new growth, cut back the vals and trimmed some of the x-mas moss. I think my shrimp population crashed at some point as it's really hard to spot anything but a few big ones. The betta tank isn't doing too well either, I don't think there's enough light and/or filtration, so if the shrimp pop is as bad as I think he may just join the others in the big tank. Still debating on when I do if I'll try to reset the small tank for him or go another route.
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Nov 3, 2018 10:15
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You're going to put a male Betta with your other fish? I'm about 3 or 4 days from when I added the new plants and ammonia is dropping only about 2ppm per day in a 5g tank (I think I brought some significant amount of bacteria in on the plants). No sign of the stringy algae I used to have thankfully. I'm doing 10 hours of light a day in three periods. Staying the course! The tank will be fully cycled once all ammonia is removed within 24hr window right?
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Nov 3, 2018 19:28
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VelociBacon posted:You're going to put a male Betta with your other fish? A yup. Bunch of tetras who spent the day schooling near him to see what the gently caress he was. They've all settled down and returned to business as usual while the betta swirls around through the lettuce roots and plays in a hollow under some moss
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Nov 4, 2018 12:02
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I have a male betta in a floater with pleco fry. They seem fine with him and he ignores them. But I've had others who tried to kill everything in sight, so YMMV. Goons, help me out. I'm in an aquarium club and we do box trades with other clubs. So a girl in our club was packing one box; I donated a pair of blackblue moscow guppies, several plecos, lots of shrimp, and some cichlid fry. She would house the fish for a few days before the box was shipped. She asked me if she could have the guppies because they were so amazingly awesome and pretty and she really liked them. I told her no, adult breeding pair goes in the box, I can bring her some fry next meeting. Box goes out. She texts me a day later to say the box arrived safely, just a few DOAs that weren't from me, oh! And she forgot to put the guppies in because she forgot and was busy. Okay, fine, I can buy that, when boxing about 50 bags. I've forgotten fish too. But that pair alone was not put in the box. Here is where something should have happened: she should have asked if I wanted them back, if she could buy them from me, or she wanted me to pick them back at the meeting. Nothing happened. I forgot for a week or so (she had texted me at work during a rush) until I asked her if the guppies had dropped any fry (she could keep those), and she sighed and said it had been a rough day and she lost the female. Not as in dead. As in the purestrain guppy female 'somehow' ended up in her guppy tank of mixed strain guppies. So she threw the male in there too. Does this just seem like she is loving horrible at stealing this pair? It was my last adult pair and it could all be honest mistakes but at this point I am loving furious.
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Nov 4, 2018 16:57
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She sounds like a flake who set out to, and succeeded in, stealing those guppies. Her big mistake was in asking for them, if she'd said nothing no one would have known. But some people not only get off on stealing, they get a kick out of rubbing in that they've done it and having people do or say nothing about it due to "decorum". The fact that she asked for them, then tested your reaction by owning up to "forgetting" them, and then pushed it further by "losing" them seems to me like she is one of those people. I would guess it's not the first time she's done it and that she keeps getting away with it and will keep doing it. No reasonable person would have turned down an offer for fry. I don't know what your options are though; my experiences with (non fish) club life have been that everyone is hopeless and no one wants to be properly responsible for anything and everyone is conflict-avoidant.
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Nov 4, 2018 18:00
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I agree, her biggest mistake was saying she forgot to put them in the box in the first place, because it's not as if I was going to double check and contact the Receiving Club if the Guppies got there or not. I have no problems with conflicts, and overall we do have conflict in the group sometimes, but I think in the best interest of not exploding this any further than has to, I'm just not going to give her any more fish for box trades. The real question is, do I bring this up with the president of the club or not.
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Nov 4, 2018 18:49
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I think it's worth mentioning. It happened on an inter-club activity, so to me, it's not just between you and her.
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Nov 4, 2018 19:04
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Cowslips Warren posted:I agree, her biggest mistake was saying she forgot to put them in the box in the first place, because it's not as if I was going to double check and contact the Receiving Club if the Guppies got there or not. I have no problems with conflicts, and overall we do have conflict in the group sometimes, but I think in the best interest of not exploding this any further than has to, I'm just not going to give her any more fish for box trades. It could be that she has done this to others as well, and you just haven't heard about it. Definitely best to quietly report it imo.
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Nov 5, 2018 12:58
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Cowslips Warren posted:I agree, her biggest mistake was saying she forgot to put them in the box in the first place, because it's not as if I was going to double check and contact the Receiving Club if the Guppies got there or not. I have no problems with conflicts, and overall we do have conflict in the group sometimes, but I think in the best interest of not exploding this any further than has to, I'm just not going to give her any more fish for box trades. I would, because this can happen again if you keep silent.
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Nov 5, 2018 13:00
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So, considering getting a couple shrimp and a few snails for my 5.3g planted tank. I was thinking I'd get 3 nerites (my research online shows there are three main species so this way they don't try to breed) and maybe 2 amano shrimp. Does anyone have any feedback on this? I've heard that amanos like bigger tanks but those people are also buying 20 at a time so I don't think it'd be a problem. The tank seems to be fully cycled now (maybe?), when I add ammonia to around 4ppm it's down to around 1ppm by the next day. Would three snails and a couple shrimp be enough to generate a little ammonia and keep the bacteria alive and keep the tank cycled? Thanks again!
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Nov 7, 2018 03:43
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They'll keep some amount of bacterial alive, but yeah they're pretty clean. Dont worry about nerites breeding out of control, both them and the amano shrimp require brackish water for part of their juvenile lifecycle.
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Nov 7, 2018 03:49
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Synthbuttrange posted:They'll keep some amount of bacterial alive, but yeah they're pretty clean. Dont worry about nerites breeding out of control, both them and the amano shrimp require brackish water for part of their juvenile lifecycle. Yeah I figured as much but I thought if I get nerites of the same species they'll still put eggs around the tank.
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Nov 7, 2018 07:38
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VelociBacon posted:So, considering getting a couple shrimp and a few snails for my 5.3g planted tank.
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Nov 7, 2018 16:40
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w00tmonger posted:Probably only want 1 nerite for a tank that size but otherwise should be fine. Nerites are pretty good at about 1 per 5 gallons I believe. Shrimp are great, but make sure the water parameters are super cycled/stable as they're more likely to be sensitive to that sort of stuff I'm controlling my GH manually with equilibrium, my pH is 6.5-7.0, temps are around 22C constantly. I'm not sure what else to optimize. I feel like I've got way more surface area in the tank than an average 5g, what's the reasoning behind only having one per _g? I can't imagine they'd feel crowded.
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Nov 7, 2018 17:30
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VelociBacon posted:So, considering getting a couple shrimp and a few snails for my 5.3g planted tank. If I remember right Nerites don't breed in freshwater, it needs to be brackish. But they will egg dump everywhere as they live out their lives, so expect trails of white dots
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Nov 7, 2018 19:23
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Trails of white dots, probably eggs stuck in cracks in any rocks they can find. They're nice snails, but those eggs can be a real pain even if they never hatch.
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Nov 7, 2018 20:05
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VelociBacon posted:I'm controlling my GH manually with equilibrium, my pH is 6.5-7.0, temps are around 22C constantly. I'm not sure what else to optimize. I feel like I've got way more surface area in the tank than an average 5g, what's the reasoning behind only having one per _g? I can't imagine they'd feel crowded. The gallon limit is a surface area/bioload thing if I remember. Can't recall specifics past that
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Nov 7, 2018 20:22
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My nerites lay a lot of eggs but the eggs also seem to disappear at a good clip as well - I've seen my Corys trying to munch on them before so maybe they're helping out.
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Nov 8, 2018 15:21
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They do eventually disappear with time, maybe a few weeks. I let my tank run mostly wild when it comes to natures reproduction miracles and they disappeared with time.
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Nov 8, 2018 20:47
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So I want to get a Fluval Spec V, and start a lowish tech planted tank. I am thinking a single dwarf puffer or a male betta. Will a single pea puffer be happy in that tank?
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Nov 9, 2018 00:14
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Aerofallosov posted:So I want to get a Fluval Spec V, and start a lowish tech planted tank. Do a Betta. I love the gently caress out of all my puffers but I think you'll get more entertainment from a dumb Betta and maybe some cherry shrimp if he is chill with them
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Nov 9, 2018 00:23
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Aerofallosov posted:So I want to get a Fluval Spec V, and start a lowish tech planted tank. Sorry I can't remember if this is your first tank but if so, remember to get the tank + plants first and let it cycle with some ammonium + starter bacteria before adding the betta.
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Nov 9, 2018 00:29
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The first generation of Fluval Spec Vs had a fairly strong filter flow which often required modification to avoid blowing a betta around too much, I don't know if the new version is much different. There's a website which I think is spec-tanks.com that has a ton of info about things you can do to modify the tank which might be of interest to you.
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Nov 9, 2018 02:26
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The store only carries new ones, which have a lower/adjustable flow for the filter. And thank you for the advice, I've had many tanks on and off over the years. My plan was fishless cycle+ammonia+safe start bacteria and bumming some from my sister's established tank. I just love puffers, so it's a hard call. 
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Nov 9, 2018 03:14
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My algae is back, but thankfully my ammonia still drops from 4-5ppm to about 0.5 over 24hrs so I'm going to call this tank cycled and get two Amano and a nerite. Maybe a shortish shrub like low tech plant as well if I can find one.
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Nov 9, 2018 04:07
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No! I found a snail in my goldfish tank! How mobile are these fuckers? Is it possible one traveled from one tank to another even if that would require a couple of feet of no water? My precious goldfish... do your thing and dig and eat any babies you find!
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Nov 10, 2018 00:52
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Trust me, those things will be gone in no time. I can't say I've ever had to worry about snails in my goldfish tank.
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Nov 10, 2018 01:14
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That's definitely my hope considering the goldfish will eat anything. I imagine any big snails might be too much for them but they spend half their time foraging around the gravel and rocks and plants so hopefully they just find anything hiding and eat before it gets too big. I'm still finding the tetra tank infestation kind of cute even though its now become a daily chore to pick a couple of dozen snails out but I don't think it will stay cute in a second tank. I've actually been half debating moving one of the bigger goldfish to the tetra tank on a short term basis as a hired gun...
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Nov 10, 2018 01:43
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Assasin snail time?
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Nov 10, 2018 02:00
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Definitely something I've been reading more about and trying to figure out the best way of approaching since none of my local places are terribly well stocked or informed on stuff like that. Like I said, the infestation is still kind of "cute" to me and its actually starting to clear up the algae problem in the tank quite a bit. But its probably gonna get old soon.
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Nov 10, 2018 02:09
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