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Egan Yardley posted:somehow duckweed found it's way into my aquarium and it is propagating faster than any plant I've ever seen. I netted a bunch out that weighed 3.3 lbs on Monday and today the surface is covered again. I have the same issue. If I leave for a few days the entire surface of the tank is covered by the time I get back. It's a real nuisance.
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Aug 8, 2014 06:47
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What do you mean by working? The other plants are growing just fine, I think it's just that the tank is pretty small so there's not a lot of surface area. I think this picture was a day after I cleaned out a ton of duckweed. I think everything else is pretty drat established.  edit: corrected the color a bit. DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Aug 8, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 06:56
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Egan that tank is awesome! Orange: To be fair, everything grows like crazy in that little tank. My main concern with the duckweed (aside from not really liking how it looks) is that it will stop or slow gas exchange at the surface and make life more difficult for the fish. Although they reproduce at such a breakneck pace that if there was an issue I'd just have to wait a few weeks for the population to rebound.
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Aug 8, 2014 16:08
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Actually, maybe I can pick your brain since you have a big tank. My sister's tank is very tall, and she's looking for plants that will grow vertically more than horizontal, and preferably a few feet tall My tank is tiny so I'm no real help.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:24
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I hope it's OK to ask algae questions... I'm mostly a saltwater person, so forgive me if this is hideously ignorant. I keep a small (10g) planted tank that more or less takes care of itself until recently. I had to travel for business for about 3 weeks and had a neighbor feeding my tank, and I think she ridiculously overfed it. When I got back the tank was almost solid algae, this crazy stringy stick poo poo that was super difficult to clean off. Most of my fish (a few endlers) were stuck in the algae matts and dead. I ended up pruning my plants way, way back in order to try and salvage the tank, but there are still stubborn traces of the algae sticking around and I think it's starting to come back. Plus my tank is now naked and depressing. I'm down to 2 endlers, and I'm tempted to simply give them away or put them in a quarantine tank and blast the tank with a huge amount of CO2 to try and bring the plants back, but I'm not sure that's the right approach. I'm not particularly good at this but I managed to reach a nice stable equilibrium before and I'm desperate to try and get back there after all this. Any suggestions?   
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Dec 1, 2016 04:31
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Stoca Zola posted:I'm sorry for your nightmare algae heartbreak disaster, that must have been loving awful to come home to. Were your lights on timers or did something go out of whack there? I've only ever seen that stringy bullshit murder algae in full sun or when I first put a brighter light on a small tank and accidentally left it turned on for too long each day. I got rid of the algae by blacking out the lighting and manually removing as much as I could, then getting a timer set up. That tank has never really been the same though. Maybe you should rip everything out, salvage what you can (maybe bleach dip any of your good plants) and redo the planting as if it's a new tank? Shouldn't take too long for a 10g and it will feel better and look better than having sad mangled plants that remind you of the mess you had. Thanks. It was rough. The lights were on timers, but I'll try dialing back the interval until things recover. Coming from saltwater I automatically think more light = good, but that's not the case in freshwater at all. I may take your suggestion and use this as a chance to start more or less fresh, if I do I'll take pics and post them.
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Dec 4, 2016 00:42
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I'm hoping I can get some help IDing my plants. When I was starting out I just bought plants that looked nice without any regard for the names, but now that I've had everything a few years I feel like an idiot for not writing names down. I labeled the plants I know, but there are 2 I'm really curious about.  Unknown plant #1 is my favorite: it grows like crazy, and the feathery leaves add a lot of cool texture. I have to constantly prune it down. Unknown plant #2 grows straight up, and has pairs of leaves that alternate their orientation 90 degrees between pairs. And, since I'm taking pictures of the tank I can't resist trying to get shots of fish, so here are a couple of my pretty endler males (no clue if they have guppy blood in them, but probably):  
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Feb 1, 2018 06:34
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Stoca Zola posted:Super fast growing? Grows from a central rosette? Does it create lots of baby plantlets? Could be watersprite/indian water fern. I have some of those but they were floating plants, and I haven't seen how the ones I've planted in the substrate have grown yet. I think you're right! And yes, it grows incredibly fast. I've thrown so much of this stuff out it's a bit ridiculous. Stoca Zola posted:That one is definitely some kind of hygrophila, maybe polysperma? I have some kind of like that and they get a pinkish tinge when they get closer to the light, mine were sold as hygrophila pisces. I love the way the leaf veins look. I don't get pinkish tinge or really visible veins, but the shape matches. Thank you very much for the help! Stoca Zola posted:Are you really growing some pothos submerged? How well does it do? Usually you see people hanging it out of the tanks It's not completely submerged, and it's very new (just a couple days) so I don't really know how it's doing yet. I like it when stuff grows out of the tank though, so hopefully it'll do well. The watersprite will grow out of the tank too, but then it either burns or smushes against the lights, and the remaining plant inside the tank looks like a bunch of stems. Now I don't let it get more than 1" or so above the water line. Stoca Zola posted:Nice fish, I really like the lyre shaped tail as it is fancy without impeding the fish's ability to swim too much. Do you find your endlers look more irridescent if you light them from the side? I'm not sure if my guppies have any endler in them but their colouring is very similar to your fish. I've never tried lighting from the side. They definitely look different at different times of day though. It's amazing how much guppies have changed since I was a kid, there are some really beautiful ones and I never saw the heavy coloration on the bodies (rather than just on the tail) 20 years ago. I do wonder if that's a product of mixing in Endlers, or maybe just changing tastes. I like the smaller tails too, and the Endlers are a bit smaller than guppies in general. I wish I could put some birth control in the water though, my tank is small and there are a billion fry...
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Feb 1, 2018 18:26
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Stoca Zola posted:I just shine a torch or the flash of my phone at my guys after lights out, and they go from pale with orange and black to purple blue and green. The iridescence is there the whole time but it can't be seen until the light hits it from the side. There are a lot of fish that change color at night, are you sure this isn't what's happening? I'll take a look at my Endlers tonight, but there's enough cover in the tank that I might not be able to see much.
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Feb 1, 2018 21:38
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w00tmonger posted:Anyone have opinions on c02 regulators? Trying to find a solid option for my 55g that won't be too expensive importing into Canada. Seen gla recommended but it sounds like that'll be 350+CAD once it gets here. You can DIY it with a welding regulator instead of buying something made for aquariums but under $200 is going to be hard to do. I suspect a decent regulator will cost you around that much, even used. Then you'll need a CO2 tank. Things you need: - A regulator that'll get you down below 1 bar or so - A needle valve for adjusting the flow - A solenoid you can stick on a timer (optional, I suppose, but your plants don't photosynthesize with the lights off, so why waste CO2?) - A bubble counter so you can track flow rate - Some sort of check valve to avoid water flowing back into the reg (some bubble counters do double duty)
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Feb 8, 2018 08:11
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w00tmonger posted:Should I have an intake sponge on my sunsun 302 canister filter? Have some extra foam from the canister and I'm not sure how necessary it is. I do plan on putting a bunch of shrimp in my 55g with it I started putting a sponge on my intake a while back, and I sure have a lot more Endler fry than I normally do. I'm going to have to start giving more away or start making tiny fish sticks.
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Feb 17, 2018 02:07
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President Evil posted:I currently have two tanks (15L & 30L) in my office here at work which I keep ghost shrimp in and after coming in this morning, after the weekend, several of my shrimp are dead. A fan to encourage evaporation along the top might help
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Feb 19, 2018 01:41
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Stoca Zola posted:I don't know about terrestrial ferns but does water sprite work emersed?as yet. I've grown it a few inches above the surface. An inch or so is okay, but then it started to dry out if it was still underneath the lights. Routing outside the lights worked for 3-4", and would probably work for more.
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May 4, 2018 01:41
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Cowslips Warren posted:I want to do a false marine tank. 29 gallons. Has a few dojo loaches, panda garras, and bettas. Now to get the decor set just perfect. What's a false marine tank?
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Aug 20, 2018 05:25
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Fish Noise posted:
With a very blue light, I'm guessing :-P
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Aug 21, 2018 19:38
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Oh so lake cichlids
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I have a 10g tank with Endlers. I absolutely love the fish, but I have no idea what to do with all the babies. I've given them away to all my friends who will take them, and I even converted some to salt water for my reef tank (it worked, but that tank has way too much current and they were eventually eaten by coral). I've thought about introducing a predator, but it's a small and extremely heavily planted tank so I'm not sure what would fit. I hate to start culling them, but I'm getting to that point. Anybody have any suggestions? (If you're in the SF bay area and want Endlers, hit me up!)
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Oct 4, 2018 20:33
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Enos Cabell posted:There is no way I could keep fish if it felt like losing a dog or cat when one died. I'm sad when any fish dies, and I'll surely be super bummed for a few days when say my alpha frontosa or moray eel pass, but I'm a sobbing bawling wreck when it comes time to say goodbye to a dog or cat. I've yet to shed tears over a fish. It's interesting. I grew up around animals (mostly small birds), so putting down injured or defective animals was always normal for me and I never really saw them as pets like it'd think of a dog. But now that I keep fish tanks I find myself emotionally invested in the overall health of the tank, if not individual fish (I did literally post about culling excess fish on this page). I lost most of the coral in my reef tank during a long vacation, and when I walked in and saw the devastation I literally broke down. Over coral. Something that has all the personality of a potted plant. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in short, emotions are a land of contrasts.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:57
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Mocking Bird posted:Don’t tempt me, I have zero fish tanks at the moment but I have a 5 gallon spec in my closet I’ve been thinking of setting up again Know what would look awesome in that tank? A cloud of Endlers. Soon you'll be giving them away too. It's like some sort of fishy STD! Facebook Aunt posted:Do you deliberately separate and save the babies? When I had guppies I found that once I stopped moving the moms to breeder boxes the problem took care of itself. Most of the fry would get eaten, but a very few would successfully hide out for a few weeks until they didn't look like food anymore. Fish are hella into cannibalism. No, I don't. Endlers are a lot less prone to that than guppies are, but maybe if I dial back the food....
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Oct 5, 2018 04:12
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VelociBacon posted:Alright dipped my strip as they say. Is there a thread favorite test kit?
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Oct 13, 2018 06:49
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I upgraded my 10 gallon planted tank to a 35 hex, and I made a giant mess of it. I put the soil in, and then poured the water and soul from the old tank in on top. The result is crazy cloudy water that's not clearing up, even 10-12 hours later. Do I need to start doing big water changes? I put a bit of Seachem clarity in it, after some googling, but it seems like it only helped a little. 
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Mar 17, 2019 01:16
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STAC Goat posted:Yeah, I made that mistake when I was setting up my 5G and it just wouldn't clear up/settle. I just gave up and changed all the water after a couple of days of waiting. But I didn't have any treatment going on besides the filter taken off an established tank so it didn't cost me anything to just start over and do it properly. Yeah, that's definitely what'd I'd have done if it was my old 10 gallon, but 35 is too much to do a couple 90% water changes, especially since I'm using RO
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Mar 17, 2019 02:34
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Cloudy tank update: almost clear! It actually looked even better than this, but I planted it and stirred things back up a little. Edit: it's clear! Now I need to figure out what I want in it... 
DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Mar 19, 2019 |
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Mar 18, 2019 04:33
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Stoca Zola posted:they're neons which are super inbred these days I really like neons, but I've heard this is the case. Is there any way to get better stock? I have delusions about breeding them...
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Apr 4, 2019 21:56
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ChickenMedium posted:That's cardinal tetras I believe cardinals are being breed in captivity now too
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Apr 4, 2019 23:46
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Stoca Zola posted:It's definitely possible with the right conditions. This guy Mark in the UK has various videos about his breeding projects. He's done cardinals as well as neons. His videos are what inspired me, actually :-) I'm planning on trying glowlights and celestial pearl danios first, before trying neons. They look much easier.
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Apr 5, 2019 07:15
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Pretty crazy progress. I think I've got too much light on the tank and can't dim the LED any more so I'm shortening the photoperiod. Are there any issues with having the lights on for only 3-4 hours per day? There is some ambient light during the day, but maybe I should put a night light... The roots on one of the pothos also started to rot. I trimmed it back and re-planted it, but I don't really understand why it rotted in the first place  A week or so later 
DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Apr 6, 2019 |
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Apr 6, 2019 08:23
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:That setup is gorgeous. Thank you :-) I've never done a hex before and was a bit apprehensive, but I love it so far. Enos Cabell posted:Beautiful tank! Is that a Kessil light? Running CO2? Yes and yes! You can see the CO2 on the left side. I wanted a light with the umph to get to the bottom of the deep tank, and I've used kessils on my sw tank for years. I've got it turned all the way down and it's still crazy bright. I'm used to t5s for fw, and this is a lot more light DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Apr 6, 2019 |
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Apr 6, 2019 17:26
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I want to start feeding more live food. Do people ever feed baby brine shrimp? I have in saltwater tanks, but I'm really worried about adding any incidental salt water to my planted tank. I have a microworm culture going, maybe that + flakes is good enough
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May 10, 2019 03:48
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Enos Cabell posted:Anyone else itt doing high tech planted with pressurized co2? I'm using pressurized CO2. What makes a tank high tech? 
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May 16, 2019 19:56
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w00tmonger posted:I think just pressurized CO2. Maybe with a regulator/timer programmed up technically? Thanks! The wood is starting to get some algae growth but otherwise I'm really happy with it. I really wasn't sure about the hex, but I like it. The regulator is a welding regulator off eBay with a solenoid and needle valve cobbled on. It works, but doesn't feel super high tech :-P DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 22:54 on May 16, 2019 |
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May 16, 2019 22:33
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Stoca Zola posted:I'm interested enough in salt water tanks even though I don't plan to ever keep one myself (too poor), I'd like to see SW posts here. I was following the other thread and was sad to see it die. I'm certainly interested in keeping a brackish tank one day and there might be a bit of cross over? I keep a salt and a fresh tank, I'd happily post about the SW tank here if that's kosher. The major differences (in my personal experience) are in nutrient management. In a planted fw tank you want to maintain a balance between light, nutrients, and CO2 if you're doing that. The tropical rivers and lakes we're emulating have a lot of nutrients in the water. In a reef tank you want very high light levels, and much lower overall nutrient levels for coral to survive. Tropical reefs are quite low nutrient. If you're only keeping fish I don't think they're so different. Fish are hardier than plants and corals. For your brackish tank you wouldn't be keeping coral, so it'd be closer to a freshwater tank than a reef one in my opinion.
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Jun 5, 2019 18:32
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Does anyone run a canister filter? If so, do you have a favorite media? I'm using what came with my ehiem but I'm betting that there's room for improvement
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Jun 5, 2019 20:30
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eSporks posted:Can anyone recommend an outlet timer? I've bought a few now and none of them work reliably. I ended up switching to a wemo plug so I can control tank lights with my phone, and because they're silent. Outlet timers I've used have made a clicking noise that's noticable in a quiet room.
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Jun 6, 2019 16:38
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w00tmonger posted:What's the failstate on the wemo plugs if the power goes out? I've considered going this route I think they found the wifi again, but defaulted to off. I'll check when I get home.
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Jun 6, 2019 18:57
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If you are going to use seachem matrix filter media be sure to rinse it even though the instructions don't mention it. The dust gets suspended in the water very easily. My tank still looks like I poured a gallon of milk into it 8 hours later. That can't be good for the fish...
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Jun 13, 2019 16:29
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papa horny michael posted:I haven't had a problem using cheap polycarbonate sheets from home depot for tank lids. I'm in New Mexico, so running lidless isn't an option with how dry and dusty it is here. It was quite easy to cut, and you can probably get one of the employees to show you, and let you mess up some pieces in store. I've bought glass and had it cut to size at Lowe's
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Jun 13, 2019 18:11
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What're you planning on doing in terms of finish for the stand?
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Jun 14, 2019 02:33
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Stoca Zola posted:Get some filter floss into your mechanical filtration layer and let it get nice and brown and sticky with bacteria, it'll pull those fine particulates out sooner or later. Or if you can't wait, Seachem sell a glue-like product called Clarity which will glue all the particulates into filterable lumps. You pretty much need to toss out your filter floss after using that though. Still milky 24 hours later  I hit it with clarity but I don't see a change.
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Jun 14, 2019 02:51
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Stoca Zola posted:Could be a bacterial bloom if Clarity doesn't touch it but it seems odd that that would happen straight away after adding Matrix. It happened instantly, so I don't think that's it Stoca Zola posted:You don't have a thin film on your glass or anything like that do you?  Nope
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Jun 14, 2019 05:13
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DeadlyMuffin posted:It happened instantly, so I don't think that's it Clarity doesn't work, and a glass full of tank water still didn't settle out after 8 hours. Maybe it is a bacteria bloom causing the cloudiness. I did replace about half of the (very old and I'm sure well colonized) filter media with new stuff. Maybe I forced a re-cycle. Hopefully I don't wipe out my fish... It happened *quick* though.
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Jun 15, 2019 02:42
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