Tonalscape
Member
Experienced very many of these things myself! You are learning fast...
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Absolute Beginner’s Descent into Madness with a Superfish Scaper 90L
- Thread starter Poppins
- Start date
Thanks @l3oxer.inc.
Just to clarify, MA Morden are not the shop I've been referring to as my LFS in the journal. Mordern is actually a bit of a trek for me but I wanted to look at the two possible tanks in the flesh. I'm jealous if it's your local, they have a great selection of fish, well labelled and seemingly well looked after.
"My LFS" I have been refraining from naming, just in case anything in my journal as could be perceived as criticism (which wouldn't be nice or fair as they have generally been pretty good and very helpful).
I think the bladder snails came from the latter, as the red tiger lotus with the egg sac on it came from there (also I saw a couple in the plant tank on my next visit). But I guess it's possible the bladder snails came from MA, and the egg sac I saw was for the ramshorns which turned up later.
Thank you so much!
Day 35 :
So the Superfish 200 hang on back filter had been annoying me. Aside from the previously mentioned tendency to form a crater in the substrate it had all sorts of inconveniences.
So, seeing as I had another filter in there anyway, I turned it off and anxiously kept an eye on those test results for a few days. Before turning it off, I was reading no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates. After turning it off … just the same. Phew.
So I removed it, cleaned it out, and packed it away again.
But before I did so I took this picture …
A snail had obviously found its way into the inlet pipe, and hoovered up all that brown gunk in a couple of days. Because the intake valve was in its minimum flow position, it couldn't find its way into the top horizontal part ... this photo was a little while after I opened it up to let it through. Munch munch munch went the hungry snail.
I also gave the remaining brown gunk a curious sniff because I'm like that. It smelled dirty, but in a good way. Gardeners and walkers (and presumably curious fish-keepers) will know what I mean.
So the Superfish 200 hang on back filter had been annoying me. Aside from the previously mentioned tendency to form a crater in the substrate it had all sorts of inconveniences.
- It have to be re-primed after every water change (and would probably burn itself out if it lost power for a bit without me realising)
- It was then a complete pain to get air bubbles out of the inlet pipe, I’d have to tinker about with the flow whilst baffling the output with my hand to stop that crater getting any bigger.
- It would tend to rattle noisily for a day or so every time it was restarted. When you’re doing water changes every week (or more frequently) this is a massive pain (the tank is in a reading/TV watching area).
- It had built up an ugly layer of brown gunk through the inlet pipe. Whether beneficial bacteria or brown algae, this made me wonder why the hell they had made it translucent (so do those of you with fancy glass lily pipes have to scrub them out every couple of weeks or what?).
- Worst of all, a month in I had got to the point where (according to the manual) I should start replacing the cartridges. For the Aqua 100 internal filter, I could bypass this wasteful operation by simply opening the cartridge and cleaning it out. For the super fish, there were three cartridges to be replaced once a month, but not all at the same time (so in theory I should be replacing one about every 10 days!), and the foams in thse cartridges were held prisoner inside plastic cages with those annoying plastic clips where you have to try and press them all in simultaneously and inevitably end up with a flathead screwdriver jabbing into the palm of your hand.
So, seeing as I had another filter in there anyway, I turned it off and anxiously kept an eye on those test results for a few days. Before turning it off, I was reading no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates. After turning it off … just the same. Phew.
So I removed it, cleaned it out, and packed it away again.
But before I did so I took this picture …
A snail had obviously found its way into the inlet pipe, and hoovered up all that brown gunk in a couple of days. Because the intake valve was in its minimum flow position, it couldn't find its way into the top horizontal part ... this photo was a little while after I opened it up to let it through. Munch munch munch went the hungry snail.
I also gave the remaining brown gunk a curious sniff because I'm like that. It smelled dirty, but in a good way. Gardeners and walkers (and presumably curious fish-keepers) will know what I mean.
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DAY 36 :
My son is generally pretty good with not mistreating the tank or its inhabitants, in fact, every time someone new would come to visit he'd say "Come, I want to show you a surprise, but YOU MUSTN'T BANG ON THE GLASS" (spoiler alert mate). His friends are pretty good too. His friend's younger siblings ...
NOT SO MUCH.
That handprint is on the inside of the glass. What are you trying to do kid? Pull the side of the tank off?
Anyway, it was around this time that I discovered that, while guppies love mosquito larvae, they're not so keen on mosquito pupae. Put those in your tank, and there's a good chance you'll see mosquitos climb out of your tank and start flying around 😱. Hopefully, you'll see them before your cohabitants spot them and ban you from bringing mosquito larvae into the house.
<Splat>
"What was that?"
"Nothing"
"Why did you just slap the wall?"
"NO REASON"
My son is generally pretty good with not mistreating the tank or its inhabitants, in fact, every time someone new would come to visit he'd say "Come, I want to show you a surprise, but YOU MUSTN'T BANG ON THE GLASS" (spoiler alert mate). His friends are pretty good too. His friend's younger siblings ...
NOT SO MUCH.
That handprint is on the inside of the glass. What are you trying to do kid? Pull the side of the tank off?
Anyway, it was around this time that I discovered that, while guppies love mosquito larvae, they're not so keen on mosquito pupae. Put those in your tank, and there's a good chance you'll see mosquitos climb out of your tank and start flying around 😱. Hopefully, you'll see them before your cohabitants spot them and ban you from bringing mosquito larvae into the house.
<Splat>
"What was that?"
"Nothing"
"Why did you just slap the wall?"
"NO REASON"
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Day 40 :
Looking much better with out the hang on back hanging on the side, and the plants are pretty well established now.
Like I said in the Day 1 post, I look back at at the first pictures of this “planted” tank now and laugh at how impressed we were with it at the time. Obviously some plants have been added since day one (the anubias, the thin leaved java fern hiding at the back and the probably-altermanthera-rosaefolia), but a lot of this is just growth.
The Limnophila whicheveritis had been cut, propagated, and cut again. The Elodea somethingorother's, getting long and languid. I unfurled one to prune it and was shocked at how long it had got. I have got to the point where I am beginning to throw some stems away post pruning because I'm running out of footprint where I want floor to ceiling plants. The anubias are growing … slowly of course, java fern possibly growing even slower, well, it hasn’t died anyway. The mystery melting stem plant (likely some kind of rotala) has recovered from its "episode", no longer super red, but still offers a bit of a colour contrast to all those greens. After another week or two it should be long enough that I can cut and replant a good length of healthy growth, and throw away the old zombified lower section. As for the water lettuce …
I am now regularly pulling some out and throwing it away. Whereas I initially used the big floating ring to contain the floaters, I now use it to keep an area clear (the area I blast with the filter outflow, the agitation wouldn’t be good for the floaters, and the floaters wouldn’t be good for the agitation). Only problem is there was nowhere left to add food (unless I fancied giving the guppies a whirlpool workout alongside their breakfast), so now I have a smaller floating ring for a feeding spot.
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all reading zero. Hmmm…. that latter one might be a problem. Or, in terms that the test-averse might appreciate more, this is now a reasonably heavily planted tank with very light fish stocking, those plants are probably not going to be getting enough nitrogen unless I add some myself. What’s that on the bottle of fertilisers that came with the tank? “FloraGrow does not contain nitrates or phosphates, so that algae growth will not be stimulated”. Hmmm… that might also be a problem. I'm loathe to chuck a bottle that’s not even half used, but I might start alternating doses with something like TNC Complete.
Looking much better with out the hang on back hanging on the side, and the plants are pretty well established now.
Like I said in the Day 1 post, I look back at at the first pictures of this “planted” tank now and laugh at how impressed we were with it at the time. Obviously some plants have been added since day one (the anubias, the thin leaved java fern hiding at the back and the probably-altermanthera-rosaefolia), but a lot of this is just growth.
The Limnophila whicheveritis had been cut, propagated, and cut again. The Elodea somethingorother's, getting long and languid. I unfurled one to prune it and was shocked at how long it had got. I have got to the point where I am beginning to throw some stems away post pruning because I'm running out of footprint where I want floor to ceiling plants. The anubias are growing … slowly of course, java fern possibly growing even slower, well, it hasn’t died anyway. The mystery melting stem plant (likely some kind of rotala) has recovered from its "episode", no longer super red, but still offers a bit of a colour contrast to all those greens. After another week or two it should be long enough that I can cut and replant a good length of healthy growth, and throw away the old zombified lower section. As for the water lettuce …
I am now regularly pulling some out and throwing it away. Whereas I initially used the big floating ring to contain the floaters, I now use it to keep an area clear (the area I blast with the filter outflow, the agitation wouldn’t be good for the floaters, and the floaters wouldn’t be good for the agitation). Only problem is there was nowhere left to add food (unless I fancied giving the guppies a whirlpool workout alongside their breakfast), so now I have a smaller floating ring for a feeding spot.
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all reading zero. Hmmm…. that latter one might be a problem. Or, in terms that the test-averse might appreciate more, this is now a reasonably heavily planted tank with very light fish stocking, those plants are probably not going to be getting enough nitrogen unless I add some myself. What’s that on the bottle of fertilisers that came with the tank? “FloraGrow does not contain nitrates or phosphates, so that algae growth will not be stimulated”. Hmmm… that might also be a problem. I'm loathe to chuck a bottle that’s not even half used, but I might start alternating doses with something like TNC Complete.
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Lovely journal so far aha😍
And yes ah TNC Complete, the best value liquid fert you could get for sure. I have been trying hard to get TNC Complete in Ireland since last year but no luck (my ferts are almost running out so I need to buy some, currently I use Masterline and Tropica ferts), found out this week that it was possible to get that in Ireland before Brexit but not anymore.... (something to do with the UK distribution licence thingy). Black friday is coming up so it is a good time to stock up these consumables!
And yes ah TNC Complete, the best value liquid fert you could get for sure. I have been trying hard to get TNC Complete in Ireland since last year but no luck (my ferts are almost running out so I need to buy some, currently I use Masterline and Tropica ferts), found out this week that it was possible to get that in Ireland before Brexit but not anymore.... (something to do with the UK distribution licence thingy). Black friday is coming up so it is a good time to stock up these consumables!
PARAGUAY
Member
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
It is a good sign it is growing well. but you will need to control it. How much coverage you have is going to depend on how intense the light is. You want "net curtain", not "black-out lining" .
If you use it again, just don't use the cartridges and fill it up with sponge etc.
cheers Darrel
Scaperinc
Member
Ahh ok my bad .
Tbh most shops are the same because they are non specialised aquascaping shops.
I wish we had a shops like horizon aquatics, aquarium gardens or greenaqua in london.
MA morden do have great selection of fish , their plant holding tank used to be disgusting. Seen it in better shape last visit but i am just too afraid to buy plants there now .
Scaperinc
Member
😆😆🤣🤣
My 2 year old literally every day, she tells me to pick her up and give the net so she can dunk it in the water.
Because of her my green neon tetras never come out anymore 🙄
I have thoroughly enjoyed the use of entertaining descriptive within this journal.
And you have years of interesting ways in which the Client will explore and enjoy this journey into fishkeeping.
Just mind that the Client is not allowed to experiment with what they can eat - you will find all sorts that a child will think fish can eat quickly. And also the use of fish to dispose of evidence for their many many adventures from experience.
And you have years of interesting ways in which the Client will explore and enjoy this journey into fishkeeping.
Just mind that the Client is not allowed to experiment with what they can eat - you will find all sorts that a child will think fish can eat quickly. And also the use of fish to dispose of evidence for their many many adventures from experience.
Thank you!
Ah thanks, good tip ... I have a few small hardware upgrades in mind (more powerful or additional heater, etc) so will keep an eye out.
Wait till she starts wanting to help with the pruning (😬🙈😱) ... never mind the fish, that terrifies me !
Yeah, Google reviews are the worst ... I was checking out a shop the other day and there was a one star review on their page for what was obviously a completely different business that was presumably next door.
In this case it's also because they are actually a pretty good shop, they have patiently answered my many many questions and their plants and fish all look in pretty good condition to me (aside from the bladder snails, which seems pretty endemic in many shop's plant tank) and the fish they sold me are still thriving. But of course at this stage in my journal I am noting the things that went wrong more than the things which went right. I was mostly not naming them because I thought someone might get up in arms about them recommending fish in cycling, but perhaps that is still a lot more common than many experts would like. As for their claim that the "Seriyu stone" wouldn't affect the chemistry of the water, well, to be fair that is probably pretty true of most Londoners if they don't have a substrate that is already messing with their water.
Thank you! I've enjoyed writing it and I hope to be able to keep it up, though things will begin to slow down now as I approach "the middle" (i.e. when I stop putting things in it unless I have to) ... also, I probably ought to do some "real" work at some point!
Oh groan, thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to check in the tank if vegetables start disappearing off his plate without the usual fuss!
Not necessarily, I am pretty good at confusing people with my ramblings!
Have you tried the Aquatic Design Centre in Balham (presumably in your neck of the woods)? Getting ahead of my journal entries here, but took a trip there last week and was impressed at the variety. I can't say I was looking out for them (being already "infected"), so there may have been snails in their plant tank (I certainly noticed fish and shrimp in there which would be reassuring to anyone worrying about pesticides), but they have a selection of Tropica TC plants too.
Thanks Darrel, I had already purchased the water lettuce before coming across this forum, but your posts have definitely given me added appreciation of them in my tank, and have inspired me to diversify them a bit since this picture (details in a forthcoming entry).
The light is rated at 269µmol/m²/s, I don't know my PARs from my elbow, but I get the impression that is pretty bright as the tank/light is aimed at high tech aquascapers. I had been keeping the intensity quite low (using an S2Pro timer/dimmer) but have recently cranked it up on the assumption that a huge chunk is now getting used up at the surface (and in fact, one of the stems looks like it might be suffering from not enough light). But I'll and keep their numbers down (I quite enjoy thinning them actually).
Yeah, I was considering this early on ... but annoyingly the water flow goes from side to side along the top of the filter (the design of the cartridges forces the water down and out and back up again), so I probably would have had to bodge some kind of internal pipework to get it to work effectively with custom media (and without increasing the risk of it overflowing and flooding the sitting room). I am not great with DIY, so that, combined with the other problems I had with it, put and end to that idea.
Day 42 :
Having read through the UKAPS thread on shops in the South East, I decided to make a pilgrimage to the Aquatic Design Centre in Balham. Not for new livestock at this stage, but for something short to plant at the front of the tank. Wow, what a store! Great selection of plants and fish, it would definitely be my new local fish shop, if only it were actually, well, local (it’s about an hour on the tube, so not terrible, but not ideal, especially if transporting fish). Very helpful salesman talked through some options and I settled for some Helanthium tenellum “green” (aka pygmy chain sword.)
Having, by this stage, read many many of @dw1305's excellent posts on the duckweed/frogbit index, I was looking to mix up that floating monoculture a bit. The salesman kindly made me up a selection pack of mixed floaters (Some Amazon Frogbit, some Red Root Floaters, some "Salvinia" (not entirely sure which) and some Indian fern/water sprite.
The water sprite and the red root floater both seem to be not very good at actually floating (or being red). At least, not compared to the salvinia and water lettuce (which, thanks presumably to their hairs, have an amazing weeble-wobble power to land upright as well as stay afloat). I spend a lot of time in the next few days carefully lifting them out and trying to get them to stay on top of the others. Obviously I had to remove a lot of the water lettuce to make room for them, but I think I may need to remove more just to give these frustratingly immersed "floaters" a better chance.
I had, by this stage, done a fair bit more worrying about that substrate, “too deep, too gappy, I’m just counting down to a hydrogen sulphide holocaust at this stage aren’t I?” thought my overthinking brain to itself. So after a bit of chat to the salesman about their pros and cons, he kindly gathered me a free handful of Malaysian Trumpet Snails too to keep that substrate stirred up. Great service all round.
Guppy checking out one of his brand new tankmates (before it burrowed underground until "nightfall")
Funny how I have gone from sheer hatred of snails (gardener, allotment keeper) to loving them … well, loving some of them.
Having read through the UKAPS thread on shops in the South East, I decided to make a pilgrimage to the Aquatic Design Centre in Balham. Not for new livestock at this stage, but for something short to plant at the front of the tank. Wow, what a store! Great selection of plants and fish, it would definitely be my new local fish shop, if only it were actually, well, local (it’s about an hour on the tube, so not terrible, but not ideal, especially if transporting fish). Very helpful salesman talked through some options and I settled for some Helanthium tenellum “green” (aka pygmy chain sword.)
Having, by this stage, read many many of @dw1305's excellent posts on the duckweed/frogbit index, I was looking to mix up that floating monoculture a bit. The salesman kindly made me up a selection pack of mixed floaters (Some Amazon Frogbit, some Red Root Floaters, some "Salvinia" (not entirely sure which) and some Indian fern/water sprite.
The water sprite and the red root floater both seem to be not very good at actually floating (or being red). At least, not compared to the salvinia and water lettuce (which, thanks presumably to their hairs, have an amazing weeble-wobble power to land upright as well as stay afloat). I spend a lot of time in the next few days carefully lifting them out and trying to get them to stay on top of the others. Obviously I had to remove a lot of the water lettuce to make room for them, but I think I may need to remove more just to give these frustratingly immersed "floaters" a better chance.
I had, by this stage, done a fair bit more worrying about that substrate, “too deep, too gappy, I’m just counting down to a hydrogen sulphide holocaust at this stage aren’t I?” thought my overthinking brain to itself. So after a bit of chat to the salesman about their pros and cons, he kindly gathered me a free handful of Malaysian Trumpet Snails too to keep that substrate stirred up. Great service all round.
Guppy checking out one of his brand new tankmates (before it burrowed underground until "nightfall")
Funny how I have gone from sheer hatred of snails (gardener, allotment keeper) to loving them … well, loving some of them.
Scaperinc
Member
I did actually few months ago , bought some 1-2 grow tropica plants and soil , Some of their tanks had huge BBA infestation , never seen anything like it.
