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A Tale of Two Roma's

Thanks, I'll take the natural look compliment any day of the week ☺️

Still grappling with the phone camera mate but sometimes a half decent shot materialises.
Can't believe your taking these shots with a phone camera... what phone is that? It obviously helps a lot that your running at relatively high light... The very few shots I've posted of my low-light tanks I had to use my real camera (Canon EOS 5DSR) as my iPhone 13 just wont cut it (probably why I rarely post FTS :) ) .

Cheers,
Michael
 
Most of the pictures in this journal have been taken with a Samsung a51, the more recent ones with an a52, a fairly basic phone in the grand scheme of things.

Lighting wise.. no death ray devices on these tanks, total wattage on each tank is circa 60w, best guesstimate on open substrate par would be 40 ~ 50 par, and as you can see there are area's that have insane amounts of overshadowing, in these gloomy corners, 20 par perhaps?
 
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Lighting wise.. no death ray devices on these tanks, total wattage on each tank is circa 60w, best guesstimate on open substrate par would be 40 ~ 50 par, and as you can see there are area's that have insane amounts of overshadowing, in these gloomy corners, 20 par perhaps?
Compared to my tanks (especially my densely grown shrimp tank) it looks like Klingon Space Laser levels :lol: ... it just looks brighter than it actually is... I have no idea about my PAR levels... barely double digits. I am continuously astounded by the fact that some of my plants are able to "grow in the dark" ;)
Cheers,
Michael
 
I’ve just read through this whole thread and it was worth it. Fish , critters and plants are all beautiful. I also have the same tap water supply ( seemingly at least in a none stalker-ish way ) i think quite a few plants enjoy the softer water.

Thanks for a very entertaining read 😁
 
Remember kids, when pinching out leaves try not to leave any of the old stalk behind, it's an haven for algae. 🙄
Please excuse the photo bombing otocinclus 😀

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Cheers @MichaelJ
I do own a pair, but old age makes makes me lazy. (reminder to self, stop being lazy 😄)
I hear you mate... I was supposed to do my WC's today (actually yesterday...), but the tanks looks great and its Sunday so I decided to just chill with some Crosby, Stills and Nash music and sip a good pour of bourbon and just watch the tanks! ... Being keenly aware that I might be anthropomorphizing, I somehow I think the fish and shrimps like my choice...

Cheers,
Michael
 
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming

So why not tweak the co2.
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Ph at this point was 5.87, fish were fine, but needs dialing back a bit 🤶

Anubias pic .
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Shrimp in the hole
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Botanicals.
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Blyxa japonica.
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Ma and pa corydoras.
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Managed to tweak the co2 again and now at 5.97, hopefully this is a bit more fish friendly. Still a 1.1 drop so will need monitoring.

Finishing work a little earlier (to check the co2) allowed me to sit in front of the tank and watch the fish for an hour. I was rewarded with this cute sight.

One of the little guys enjoying a Hikari wafer.
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Unfortunately the wafer has attracted somebody else's attention!
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What's the poor Parotocinclus going to do... Aww they decided to share the wafer.

Little and large.
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Cheerio.
 
Jingle bells Jingle bells... I'm going away...
Soooo... thought I'd better do an update.
Crap pic, but this is what I see.
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Final fts of the year.
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2022 has been a blast, 2023 will see one of the tanks thinned and a bit more creativity added.

Daughter will be watching the tanks, she's more than capable, but food prepared in advance.
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Have a wonderful Christmas guys and gals, I'll leave you with some FISH and plant pics.
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Namaste 🙏
 
Update that's not an update, but might be educational?
Currently on my winter holiday away from the freezing temps, well they were below zero when I left.. now have this.
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Reason why it's possibly educational ls this.

rhodolith-algae-popularly-known-popcorn-260nw-1810874029.jpg

Red algae, or rather Rhodoliths.
You can't see it from the picture but the beach is full of it.
Being a nerd I googled it; result was red algae.... 😳 considered nuking it with glutaraldehyde.. lol we live, and we learn. All hail the calcareous algae.

For people with my level of understanding.

For the more advanced.

 
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Currently on my winter holiday away from the freezing temps, well they were below zero when I left.. now have this.

No white Christmas!? :(

We are hosting Christmas this year... this how our yard looks right now here in Minnesota - currently -23 C / -6 F. Our lake is frozen over (Doh!) - probably two feet of Ice right now. Time for some ice fishing soon :lol:

WinterMN.jpg


Merry Christmas to you and yours! :)

Cheers,
Michael
 
Short non glamorous update.

Christmas holiday abroad and then a chest infection resulted in the tanks getting neglected for 3 weeks. Prior to going away I had a small amount of bba that I suspect was being caused by the tanks being ridiculously overgrown, 3 weeks of no mantainance, slip shody ferts dosing and no water changes.... boom...
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My daughter was feeding the fish whilst away but wasn't adding any algae wafers or the occasional courgette, the Ancistrus took umbrage and decided she'd find alternative fare.
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Full tank shots after removing a total of 5L of plants from each tank and much needed 60% water change, still overgrown, still work to do.
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Note the drop checker colour far right in the last pic, this is the result of removing to much plant mass in one go and not tweaking the gas, also suspect the undernourished plants couldn't utilise the excess co2 that was present.

The fix? Manually remove as much of the bba as I can, spot dose the hardscape and anything I can't remove. Increased water changes for a few weeks and regular trimming sessions to try and thin out the plants to restore some flow, hopefully that will banish the bba.
I've also increased the ferts by 20% across the board, rational is the plants stores may well be depleted and need topping up, just enough might not cut it atm so excess is the goal.

Will the fix work? Time will tell.

Toodle pip.
 
Christmas holiday abroad and then a chest infection resulted in the tanks getting neglected for 3 weeks. Prior to going away I had a small amount of bba that I suspect was being caused by the tanks being ridiculously overgrown, 3 weeks of no mantainance, slip shody ferts dosing and no water changes.... boom...

This is what happens when you choose to bask in the sun! 🌞;)

The fix? Manually remove as much of the bba as I can, spot dose the hardscape and anything I can't remove. Increased water changes for a few weeks and regular trimming sessions to try and thin out the plants to restore some flow, hopefully that will banish the bba.
I've also increased the ferts by 20% across the board, rational is the plants stores may well be depleted and need topping up, just enough might not cut it atm so excess is the goal.

Sounds just about the advice you would give to someone showing up on the forum with a similar situation! 👍

John, you'll have those tanks back in tip top shape in no time! BBA is nasty though... will follow!

Cheers,
Michael
 
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