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My real ADA 60pxd, Scapers tank 55 and UNS60f hobby return.

I did, bearing in mind its 95ish litres I figured more of a community than the typical 20 tetras would be more interesting though I have to admit, even then I'm likely being "ambitious" on stocking levels.
I had but it's hard to get unless I'm more patient. inpaichthys kerri is on my list too but sizing varies wildly with some saying 6cm and others 3.5. the dwarf blue tetra also almost made the list. The more unusual the tetra the more sweet talking of my fish dealer man or patient I need to be.
What I was thinking of was a less showy fish, something small and twinkly almost. The kind of fish you imagine would be catching the light in a sparkling brook.

Vietnamese Mountain Minnows? Small šŸ‘sparkly šŸ‘ adorable šŸ‘ā€¦ā€¦expensive šŸ™

A really beautiful fish thatā€™s not too in your face but is prettier and prettier the closer you look. šŸ˜Š
 
Vietnamese Mountain Minnows? Small šŸ‘sparkly šŸ‘ adorable šŸ‘ā€¦ā€¦expensive šŸ™

A really beautiful fish thatā€™s not too in your face but is prettier and prettier the closer you look. šŸ˜Š
Ahhh I mean. Itā€™s all relative when it comes to cost. Some fish are worth much more than they cost. And other fish are discusā€™ and we leave those for doctors and dentists.

Theyā€™re a handsome fish, though I do agree. Iā€™ll have a chat with my fish man. šŸ¤”
 
While you are at it donā€™t forget to mention the Hummingbird Tetra. Trochilocharax ornatus. Beautiful and subtle, no? Probably hard to find..

Or Rasbora Kubotai. Those are generally available. Looking forward to see your final choice šŸ™‚.
 
Ahhh kubotai are a beautiful fish but they are extremely flighty.

Even the net full of endler fry in with them trick to get them to chill out didnā€™t work.
 
Letā€™s add to the list of things of things I intended then didnā€™t do:
South Americaā€™s theme - buys oceanian fish.

Ended up taking a liking to some pseudomugil and came home with ā€œa numberā€ of them.

Arenā€™t sure on the sp. There was nothing on the tank but I suspect itā€™s Gertrude.
 
Weekly update incoming:
Things arenā€™t so good in the wild world of sports this week.
In the bigā€™un, since starting to use the new light, Iā€™ve had a massive increase in staghorn growth to the point Iā€™m losing a pint of moss a week just trying to keep things under check. I cut out as many old, slow growing leaves as I can but it seems largely uphill.
That said, in my experience, staghorn shows up when there is light and organics, within a couple of months it runs out of fuel and passes. However, with the change in lights and the large amount of wood I think things should stabilise in a couple of months if I just keep plodding on. I suspect by then Iā€™ll have no moss left though.
Iā€™ve had luck killing it with excel in the past so Iā€™m dosing 5ml daily but it doesnā€™t really seem to be doing anything.
Maybe a blackout or h2o2 treatment is needed.

The flatā€™un also went all wobbly the last 10days. I missed a water change, tinkered with the co2 and cleaned the filter which was clogging and induced a massive diatoms bloom which turned the tank into a brown sludge fest.
I have now added shrimps and nerites to combat that.
My plan had been to get the hc and hairgrass to be basically grown in, what with shrimps propensity to unplant and nerites burying themselves but the plants were just not doing much to outrun the diatoms, so in they went.

And wouldnā€™t you believe it, the shrimp promptly unplanted half the hc.
While their buddies the nerites decided the bottom pane had the best dinner on it and did their best land shark impression to unplant a further third.
Insult to injury, the massive amano I put in decided the best show of indigence was to throw itself out of the tank and into the window sill with the cactusā€™.
Iā€™m sure youā€™ll agree, a less than suitable amano habitat.
Also staghorn is attacking my moss in this tank too.

The farm has gone a bit wobbly too. I removed 1/2 of the stems to try some new rotalas (colorata, giaos, Laos) all of which didnā€™t make it through the transition. The results being I have had a staghorn bloom, a thread algae bloom and diatoms. Only 1 of which Iā€™ve managed to get under control.
I ended up topping the 55 and putting in a handful of stems just to fill it back up.

Things in the 55 are pretty good really, just need to get in there and thin all of the moss and put a bit of shape back in the rear.
Iā€™ve got a small amount of rhizo that has attached itself to the tiny bits of coral moss so Iā€™ll have to h2o2 that.

Having all this moss floating around Iā€™ve been chucking it in my quarantine tank.
So, hereā€™s what Iā€™m thinking, I have 3female and 1 male tucano. And some very large female green neons that are in said tank. Maybe I should try and make some more?

Anyone who knows their onions with breeding can chime in and advise, Iā€™ve never had too much luck with tetras.
 
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If I could nuke this goddamm staghorn, itā€™s starting to look like the picture in my head. Nearly.
 
It is a holiday today in Denmark and that means one of two things, either Iā€™m ill or it is slattinā€™ it down.
This time itā€™s just moist outside so Iā€™m indoors gettinā€™ wet.

All that preamble down means time for the weekly updates and things Iā€™m annoyed by.

The flat un has rounded a corner and if I can stop my nerites unplanting the hc will be getting itā€™s first trimming within a week or two, mainly just go get things to be nice and tidy.
I did a h2o2 attack on the staghorn which is wrecking my moss and that with some luck will give me some breathing room to get it going in the right direction.

The 55 needs itā€™s first trim and replant and Iā€™m already thinking of what will come next. Not that Iā€™m unhappy with the scape, just that the hidden foreground is a total pita to clean and it needs gravel vacuuming and magneting weekly and I just arenā€™t built the right way to get in there to do it.

The farm is reaching the end of its useful life I fear. The plants that are in there Iā€™m not so interested in and I donā€™t think thereā€™s that much I want to try that will get on with my liquid rock water. Also staghorn and sickly growth is ruining my enjoyment of this one.
Iā€™m sure itā€™s down to nutrient management ie. I havenā€™t managed to get the nutrient levels right.

The fat un is looking extremely sad and if it wasnā€™t my showcase long term tank I would be shutting the suckah down and starting again.

The problem is this. Staghorn is overwhelming all the slow growers and ripping it out daily is just disturbing the plants, making them come unstuck or pulling them out of the substrate making the whole thing a losing battle.
I spend between an half and an hour on this tank daily working my way through the tank ripping out staghorn and nipping out old damaged growth and itā€™s just not making any difference the damn stuff grows so fast you can hear it.

Iā€™m not exactly sure what Iā€™m meant to do to get ahead on this one, I did an excel/h202 treatment back to back and it barely touched the sides. It killed maybe 10% of it the rest changed colour then went back to normal.

I do two 50%waterchanges a week. I dose 8ml of tropica specialized and 2ml of aquasabi eisen trace daily.
Co2 comes on before lights 2.5 hours and if we trust teat kits is stable enough I canā€™t tell the difference in colour shade.
Lights are on for 7hours including the ramping up and down which take circa an hour.

The drastic choice I think might be to buy another light that I can figure out how to control. This one has a great looking light but if I canā€™t deal with how powerful it isā€¦

Answers on a postcard. Best suggestion I will post you some mystery goodies.

In the meantime Iā€™m going to order allllll the algaecides.
 
The one in which I remove 5l of plants and dare the algae to stay at bay.
I suspect Iā€™ve been a bit brutal but that first cut was 5cm lower than I intended and like all people who have tried to cut their own hair knows, yā€™all gonā€™stuffed it and thereā€™s no turning back.
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In regards to the bigā€™un. The keen eyes may notice something has changed.
As part of pushing it back towards what I had in mind I added more crypts to bulk up the plantings that sadly staghorn infestation destroyed.

Iā€™ve also resolved to a new plan of attack, I think the best way to beat the staghorn is going to be a black out. As such, Iā€™ll keep attacking it with glut and when my ph tester calibration stuff turns up Iā€™ll do a co2 profile and then a black out. Just being able to see what Iā€™m doing is going to be a boon.

Other than that everything is just trucking along.
I think trying to get the farm stable again will be good practice so a hard reset can go as my winter plan. Letā€™s see what comes.
 
Had a visitor, they brought a camera.
 

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