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Welcome back tetratech

I thought you left the site because you saw me coming back in

Anyway, NowherMan6 - I am with you on the overrated issue of ph requirements for fishies. But, I am a little more skeptical on wild caught fish, and from that link that I provided above - this is what your fishies are, wild caught. I don't think that even a 3 hour adjustment via drippings would make a big difference when compared to generations of a low ph environment. Maybe only the strongest can handle it. Just a thought.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

That's a good point about them being wild caught... however, aren't cardinals and neons both wild caught as well? I remember reading somewhere that since they occur in such large numbers and since they're difficult to rbeed in captivity, most are just imported wild anyway. That would explain their sensitivity as well, but does show that simulans isn't in that boat by itself.

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Back in the saddle!

Pretty sure cardinals are wild-caught, I don't think most neons are. I agree with the PH thing. I'll put that under "slooooow moves". Most things adjust over a long period of time.

I know it's probably not feasible to have a UV on your nano, but I do believe the UV "destresses" the water for sensitive fish by destroying pathogens that might infect senstive fish during acclimation, especially if the stress causes their immune systems to be compromised.

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So yeah...CRS and Kribs doesn't seem to work....I put in about 9 or 10 to the 40G this morning and the female krib made one a snack already. I wasn't very happy!

I tryed to make sure they were well feed before I added the shrimp but it didn't seem to work. Hopefully most will make it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Time for an update, it's been a couple weeks.

I really wish I had more to say about this tank but it's been so damn easy there's not much to write about. Algae is limited to 5 tiny tufts of BBA on certain parts of the DW which I could easily remove if I felt they were a big deal. That's it. No more green spot, no green thread, no brown stuff. The Amanos take care of everything.

Since the last post where I had 4 green neons, one mor ekicked the bucket. But the three remaining have been fine for weeks now so I think they're good. I haven't seen any green neons in stock at the LFS so they're going to be it for now.

One thing to say about the p. simulans is this: It is said that certain fish, types of gourami and hatchets for example, need some sort of subdued lightign to flourish. For the most part I've found that to be rubbish, I've had gourami before and they were all over the place, no matter the lighting. But these p. simulans are extremely shy with the lights on. They just hang out under plant cover, only shooting out to grab some food if I feed them. Then when the tank lights go off they come out to play. There's still lights from my bedroom on, so everything in the tank is visible, but when the brights go off they come out and swim all over. For this reason I may eventually move them to my bigger tank when that gets settled in, because the lighting over that won't be as bright and strong.

Here are a few pics:

In the first you'll notice I started removing some of the HC. It was growing fine, but not spreading as well as I hoped, and a lot of it was being forced out by the Blyxa right under the DW on the right hand side, which has become very bushy. I think I'm going to add some more petite nana to the left sidew where the HC used to be, to have the nana "crawl" down the DW onto the substrate, or to give that impression.

In addition I trimmed off many of the older leaves of the NL fern as new growth seems to be coming in quickly. That's why it seems thinned out back there. Very lovely plant, probably my favorite at the moment



And here are some shots of the simulans, I added both of these to the Profile section of FP(hence the "contributer award" ), but none of them made the cut as the main picture. Better keep trying, I guess

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Back in the saddle!

AH...feed that thing. It looks like it's starving

Tank looks good, too bad about the HC, I really liked it over there. It's a different color/shape from everything else and looked good.

I submitted my first pictures over a year ago, and never got a contributer award until I created a profile. I don't know when Adam changed that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

AH...feed that thing. It looks like it's starving

Yeah, it's the tetra "Fish Starve Diet"

Tank looks great, that blyxa is really beautiful.
Is the blyxa showing any other colors?

Fish pics are great as well. I want an SLR.........

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Fish pics are great as well. I want an SLR.........

Agreed, I can't justify getting a new camera. I had a dream(nightmare?) last night that I spent $400 on something...I woke up screaming. I guess that's stretching, I did wake up rather worried though.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

AH...feed that thing. It looks like it's starving

That's actually an optical illusion. Yes, he was small there, but a piece of HC gives the impression that he has a concave stomache and he really doesn't. Besides, I feed them every other day or so, and before they were added I used to get a ton of copepods and some planaria and now they're all gone. Fish find a way to eat things, I'm sure there's a ton of stuff in there for them to peck on.

Yeah, it's the tetra "Fish Starve Diet"

Thanks for the compliments, both. You can't tell in the pics because of the WB, but the ends of the Blyxa are getting a tiny bit reddish. Maybe some added micros would help, but I'm not gonna push things right now.

Tetra, Sony and Pentax just released new DSLRs with anti-shake mechanisms built into the camera bodies. For half the cost of a new saltwater set-up one of those babies can be yours. Canon also came out with a new offering, but on Canon SLRs IS is only available in lenses, and I knwo youre used to having it in the camera itself. Then again, Canon has the best high ISO performance decisively. Your call, but Christmas is only 100(ish) days away...

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Here's an update for Matty, to calm his fears that I'm starving my fish:

Here's one fat SOB:



and here's another fat SOB poking around in the substrate:



Feel better now?

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That is a fatty. Glad you're feeding them. stay off the tetra starvation diet....it's no good . Nice pics nowher.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Notice, though, the green/ yellow color cast that I mentioned in your log. No matter what the camera can't handle the aquarium lighting.

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Nice fish pictures NowherMan6,

So I see that this thread is also infested with camera talk . I don't know, but mine does balance the color rather well, I usually never correct colors before posting the pictures. I find that the only time I have a greenish tint is when my 5000K lights are on.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Just a little touch up for color balance:



Attached Image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Looks good Matty.

I know how to perform color cast removal in photoshop, that's not the issue. My personal issue is, I think a DSLR should be able to handle white balance right out of the camera as well as its competition does... and at least as well as a P&S

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Back in the saddle!

You use the manual white balance settings?

Really I think it's just a minor yelow tint. Not one that jusmps out at you, like those glosso shots I took while the cameraa was still in the mode for my salt tank . It's probably because the lights are yellow. Most 6500K bulbs are. I think the fact I use one 6500K and one 10000K helps a bit.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well, it's been about a month or so, just wanted to post an update shot. The only major change that has happened is I've suffered a bit of a BBA outbreak on the hardscape. You can see it in patches on both DW pieces. It hasn't moved to plants at all, but I'm keeping a close eye out. I think I need to be mroe consistent with the excel dosing, I've been on and off with it lately.

Anyway, these were taken after a decent trimming of old NL fern leaves. Man does that plant grow fast for a fern! And that's to say nothing of the blyxa field. Enjoy...



p.s. extra credit to anyone who finds the one green neon in the picture

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Looks really good. I wish my Blyxa looked like that. I guess the really intense lighting helps and the aquasoil doesn't hurt either.

BBA is really the one algae that is tough to completely eliminate. Even in the cleanest tanks there is still a buildup of organics in the substrate, filter when compared to when the tank was started, probably enough to let some of this stuff develop.

I found one amano shrimp in the pic, but not the neon.

BTW where did you order the aquasoil from (ADG?)




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I think it looks very nice, Some BBA on some wood is not a problem in my eyes, you could take the tweezers and pick it off (that's what I do sometimes).

Ah, and for the blind people, that was easy:

Attached Image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks guys

Interesting thing about the Blyxa, for the past few weeks I've only been running 13 Watts on this tank, as one of the bulbs burned out. Growth has slowed down, but the Blyxa has retained its full appearance.

Interestingly, the BBA started when the bulb burned out. Could it have been the resulting CO2 fluctuation that caused the BBA growth spurt? Less light = slowed plant growth = less nutrient absorbtion = change in level of CO2 in WC.

Yes, the aquasoil is from ADG, as is the powersand special beneath it.


Good eye as always, LF. Those guys blend in well from above, just that little speck of green showing...

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Back in the saddle!

That looks great nowherman. I'm still trying not to catch the nano (or pico in tetratechs case) bug. You guys sure make it hard. They sure look to be a lot of fun. I'll just try and get the tank I have under control for now .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm still trying not to catch the nano (or pico in tetratechs case) bug. You guys sure make it hard.

Gladly, whenever I bring up the topic of a new nano tank to my wife I get:



Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks Matty,

When I say this tank is just about zero work, I mean that. Topping off water, little water changes every two weeks or so. Excel every day or so, ferts at water changes, or whenever I feel like it. Picking out shrimp shells when you see them and pruning once a month or so. Cleaning the filter every month. Takes up maybe two hours per month, and that's being generous. No work whatsoever.

Although to be honest I'm going to have to prune that Blyxa soon, the leaves are pressing up against the front glass pretty badly now. But even that's not a lot of work for the on estem plant in there.

So in short... Join us... join us... join us...


LF, I can't believe your wife lets you have a 125, a 40 and two 20's... but no little 4G for the bedroom?? That's not fair!

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Oh I've thought about it Nowherman .

And I think LF's wife is quite generous....but yeah, what's another 4 gallons? Might be the straw that broke the camel's back.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Although to be honest I'm going to have to prune that Blyxa soon, the leaves are pressing up against the front glass pretty badly now.

Any chance of taking a blxya group out and doing a Glosso or HC foreground. Probably not since your enjoying your almost maintenance free tank.



My Scapes

Space is at such a premium in this tank, the glosso or HC would get squeezed out. Remember, I started this tank out with an HC foreground, but it grew into the blyxa too much and vice versa, it looked too cluttered.

Plus I think I'd have to set up a sort of boundary bewteen the two groups, the HC and the blyxa... and with so little floorspace it would be very difficult to pull off. For now I'm just going to cut back on the blyxa.

And as you said, I'm very much enjoying the maintainence free part of this tank!

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Back in the saddle!

what's another 4 gallons? Might be the straw that broke the camel's back

Pretty much so, but I don't know who you are calling a camel, my wife or me?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well, I promised an update and here it is. In keeping with the spirit of showing our tanks with all their blemishes, here's my formerly healthy, vibrant 4G.


This is the tank as recently as late January. Still pretty thick with java fern and blyxa. The blyxa had gone through an excel melt but came back well enough. BBA was running wild at this point:




Now this is the tank last night. At some point in the past few weeks the blyxa just exploded into about a hundred baby plants, which floated up to the surface. I guess this is just the way the plant reproduces, but it's not very good for maintaining a scape. I also trimmed out the fern a lot, but BBA is still a major issue - notice the shag carpeting on the DW. All inhabitants are still alive and well, so I'm doing something right.



As you can see, it's in need of a MAJOR overhaul. I personally feel that with this much BBA on the DW, it's not worth the scrubbing and bleaching it would take to get it all off. I've been soaking a better piece of DW for some time now, and it's ready for action. I've also been growing out HC. In the new version I'm not going to use the javas - I'll hold onto them to use in the 65 where they'll fit in better, they're much too large for this tank. I also won't be using blyxa japonica in the new set-up.

The anubias will be used, along with an HC carpet and probably some rotala with maybe a bit of pearlgrass as well. Sticking to small or fine leaves. DIY CO2 will also be added, as I'm finding CO2 to be a necessity for growing HC.

And finally, I don't think I posted this anywhere, but this is a shot of one of the amanos I took with a used macro lens I picked up for my new DSLR... Oh yeah, by they way, I joined LF, tetra and matty on the Canon side of things. For the past few months I've been replacing all the Minolta equipment I sold off, so I was pretty immersed in that world for a bit.



So that's it, any comments welcome... and hopefully this will be a good start getting me back into the flow.

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Back in the saddle!

I should pull a wings and say "thanks for showing pictures."

However I'd like to ask what you were dosing, how much, and what you thought the reason for the major BBA outbreak was. Hopefully you can nail it this time around. It was a beautiful scape even in jan. when the BBA was taking over. I agree that it needs a bit of work now though, and sometime overhauls can be the easiest way to do that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

So the Blyxa melted from too much excel, probably in an attempt to rid the tank of the dreaded BBA. I think with high light and no co2 it's even harder to control BBA once the tank matures and the organic level continues to grow. I'm wondering if Seachem's Purigen would help in your situation since it's suppose to remove organics from the WC. In a co2 based tank, supposely steady and high levels of co2 will help control it and you won't get plant melting. How long are you lights on? I have personally found that reducing the light period is a tremendous help with controlling BBA. On my 72g when I started having some BBA issues I reduced the overall light to 9 hours and my burst to 3.5 hours (previously 10 hours and 5 hours) and I honestly don't see much BBA anymore.

I would personally clean the wood with a stiff brush, like a bathroom brush, add purigen to the filter and reduce your lights and see what happens.

I've gotten alot of feedback on Blyxa from many advanced planted folk and they say it's a funny plant. Some it grows like a weed for others can't get it to do much. My tank has high light, co2, etc, etc. and it barely grows and is completely green. When the plant was going gangbusters in your tank it must have had an immense root system. Is that all gone from the melt. I know your not dosing much with the AS in there, it's too soon for the AS to loose its nutrients isn't it, although it is recommended to increase ferts with the stuff as the tank ages.

Nice shrimp shot Canon

My Scapes

However I'd like to ask what you were dosing, how much, and what you thought the reason for the major BBA outbreak was. Hopefully you can nail it this time around.

Because of the lack of CO2 dosing was not heavy at all. I would change the water about every 3 weeks, and when I did I added equilibrium, KNO3, K2SO4 and a tiny bit of excel. That's about it.

So the Blyxa melted from too much excel, probably in an attempt to rid the tank of the dreaded BBA. I think with high light and no co2 it's even harder to control BBA once the tank matures and the organic level continues to grow. In a co2 based tank, supposely steady and high levels of co2 will help control it and you won't get plant melting. How long are you lights on? I have personally found that reducing the light period is a tremendous help with controlling BBA. On my 72g when I started having some BBA issues I reduced the overall light to 9 hours and my burst to 3.5 hours (previously 10 hours and 5 hours) and I honestly don't see much BBA anymore.

In my case I think it was the maturation of the tank (organic build up) plus the low water level, which led to the loss of whatever CO2 was in the water to begin with. The BBA grows thickest right at the mouth of the filter outflow, I think it likes the current. The high light and ~10hr per day light duration, plus low, variable CO2 combined to create a 'perfect storm' of sorts for BBA growth.

When the plant was going gangbusters in your tank it must have had an immense root system. Is that all gone from the melt.

It did have a huge root system, but now, as you can see in the picture, most of the stems are hanging on by a thread, so I assume it is mostly gone. When I redo everything I'll dig around some more and see exactly what happened.

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Back in the saddle!

In my case I think it was the maturation of the tank (organic build up) plus the low water level, which led to the loss of whatever CO2 was in the water to begin with. The BBA grows thickest right at the mouth of the filter outflow, I think it likes the current. The high light and ~10hr per day light duration, plus low, variable CO2 combined to create a 'perfect storm' of sorts for BBA growth.

That's one issue with these nanos, is that one usually doesn't have a light that has two separate bulbs. Personally I think a 7hr lighting schedule is good for all things involved, but obviously you have the tank to look at so it would depend on your "lifestyle". If one could run the lights for 9 to 10, but do the typical "burst" for just a few hours that would probably give you the best of both, but you'd have to have a light that would allow you to do that, but also look good.

BTW - Where you happy with the AS? Will you use it again?


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That's one issue with these nanos, is that one usually doesn't have a light that has two separate bulbs. Personally I think a 7hr lighting schedule is good for all things involved, but obviously you have the tank to look at so it would depend on your "lifestyle". If one could run the lights for 9 to 10, but do the typical "burst" for just a few hours that would probably give you the best of both, but you'd have to have a light that would allow you to do that, but also look good.

I'm definitely going to try to cut back on the lighting. A 7hr burst from the PC bulbs, plus whatever sunlight filters through the room before and after should work.


As for the AS: absolutely, 100% yes, I will use it again. What I'd do differently, however, is use less Power Sand. It's very peat-y, has lots of organics in it - and when you pull anything up, all that gets released into the WC. I made the mistake of using a thin layer over the entire bottom - I really think you need only a small section of the middle maybe, or none at all for such a small tank. But as for the AS itself, not only did the Blyxa thrive in it, but the anubias and java ferns have very large root complexes growing in it as well.

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As for the AS: absolutely, 100% yes, I will use it again. What I'd do differently, however, is use less Power Sand. It's very peat-y, has lots of organics in it - and when you pull anything up, all that gets released into the WC. I made the mistake of using a thin layer over the entire bottom - I really think you need only a small section of the middle maybe, or none at all for such a small tank. But as for the AS itself, not only did the Blyxa thrive in it, but the anubias and java ferns have very large root complexes growing in it as well.

Yeah, I'll give it a try. I'm debating on whether I should bother with a powersand and the tourmaline. I was thinking of just dusting the bottom with some peat and mulm.


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I'd go for the tourmaline, I'm going to try it in the 65 anyway. I'm a big believer in the power of the placebo - even if it's bunk, as long as I BELIEVE it's legit, I'll see the effects of it

Bacter100 and that clear super stuff are worth it as well, IMO. The Power Sand special includes both of them. For a larger tank, I think Power Sand special with tourmaline is a good combo - for a smaller tank, skip the PS.

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See NowherMan6,

If you would have been at the club meetings you would have heard that current causes BBA and that Power Sand should be used in minimal quantities

Today is another meeting, BTW.

Otherwise, your tank shows the challenges of a small tank over time, and you were the only one of us (besides Bensaf) who had a small tank for a while (tetratech changes his small ones all the time, ). I doub't that there was much you could have done differently, I guess these sized tanks are a lot of trial and error.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If you would have been at the club meetings you would have heard that current causes BBA and that Power Sand should be used in minimal quantities

With a name like Nowher you can't expect to be at all the meetings or even one. Any further info on the current causes BBA thing? I haven't found anything really consistent with that.

My Scapes