• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Stig of the Sump

Notable things since adding fish 9 days ago:
- Algae makes an appearance. Just a little bit of BBA and some staghorn in the moss. Also some GSA on front glass. Have reduced light period to 8 hrs from 10hrs (I knew I was chancing it).
- Total cherry shrimp genocide. Only those that got sucked into the sump survive. Happily they are thriving down there.
- Amanos are ok, but keeping a very very low profile during lights on.
- Snails also appear radically reduced in number, if not also genocide.
- Feeding fast fish and slow fish together is tricky. Pearl Danios are quick and voracious.
- Big water changes are a PITA on a bigger tank. 10% weekly from now on, not 30% monthly.

In terms of plants, everything appears to be growing, although in the low light right hand side this is painfully slow. New or additional light is now on the list. In the sump the Peace Lilly is flowering.

Over and out.
 
Tank and fish looking great mate!Ive just started gather stuff for my tank and have take inspiration from yours. Will make a journal up soon and see how it goes! I'm in two minds about lighting my sump, I do have a light for when I had a refugium on the marine tank... Certainly taking note of your plants!
Matt.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Here’s a bit of a proper progress update:

Generally it’s going OK, but not perfect – although with no C02 and a marine light I shouldn’t complain.

Things that seem to be thriving are the Sagittaria, E. Tenellus, and Marislea Hirsuta. All of the crypts have stopped melting and started growing, but the light is so limited where most of them are planted that growth is very slow and very small (although perfectly healthy). The anubias are fine, but have been shifted out of the direct light as they were getting algaefied.

The E. Ocelot Green Leopard is throwing out leaves but is staying very short, about 20cm. I assume this is again because of low light, I had hoped it would be 50cm! The Ranunculus Innundatus is growing, and staying quite short. But it’s not very vigorous. I thought this was a gamble though, so I’m quite happy it’s not just died. The hygrophila Araguaia is doing not too bad, growing, but without the lovely copper/purple colour, again I presume due to low light.

The Weeping Moss is growing quite well, but where it’s under bright light it’s getting a quite a bit of staghorn algae. As long as it doesn’t overwhelm it I’ll live with that

The main fails are the Lilaeopsis, especially the Brasiliensis which is pretty much shrivelling away and being colonised by horrid black hair algae.

At the surface I’ve added a Ficus Pumila which looks quite cool.

Down in the sump there’s now a large shrimp refugee colony living in the filter sponges. I’ve also spotted some Mayfly larvae down there which is nice. The plants are doing fine apart from the Echinodrus Barrthii, which is producing new leaves but doesn’t seem happy.

The big root is also picking up some black hair algae on the thinnest branches, especially where there is still bark on the root. Nowt too much though. And there’s still odd fungus growing elsewhere on the root.

Having given the existing light a fair crack of the whip, I’ve decided to add a little more light to get a more even spread across the tank. Because I’m a cheap skate I’ve done that by buying a fairly tatty 2nd hand Aquaray strip off ebay for £10, again its marine white. I’m awaiting an adapter before installing, I’ll be treading carefully as it will change things quite a bit, but also half the tank is practically dark so…

In terms of fish… I’ve had one Danio suicide but the A. Thomassi have settled in and now have their own love triangle/family feud thing happening. There’s one fairly clear pair developed who occupy the right side of the tank, but there’s another male who’s challenging. Two seem to be whipping boys/girls for the rest.

So, no disasters, but we’re not settled yet.
 
So I fitted the new light. Now I have one end of the tank that is really quite bright, and one end that is not really any brighter than it was before (the 'new' LEDs are a lot dimmer). But I'm using double the power.

I'm king of the false economy.

We'll see what happens.
 
Afternoon! How's the tank doing? I'll make a journal today maybe haha! Your sump looks a lot nicer than mine that's for sure!
Matt.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
People always tell me I have a nice sump.

As for the tank, its doing ok, but not perfect. I haven't really nailed the lighting. I'm getting some black furry algae on some of the plants that aren't growing well and need to do some trimming to get rid.

And I've had a couple of suicides...
 
Quick update... the tank is doing OK, not great but OK. I've not got the lighting quite right so i'm still getting fuzzy black algae growing on some plants. However my wee experiment of growing things emersed on wood sticking out the tank is working quite well.

I have some weeping moss growing out the water, i've also stuck on a bit of moss that i think fell off our roof. Into that ive pushed in some bits of rannunculus that detached itself from the substrate, some Monte Carlo and i've tied on the Ficus Pumila. I'me quite pleased with how it's working out.

WP_20170428_19_08_29_Pro[1].jpg
 
Two months from the last update and i thought it was about time...

Things are progressing slowly. The algae problems (black fuzzy coating leaves, looks awful) have pretty much gone, save on old leaves. The culprit was, i'm fairly certain, dirty filter media. I had been running with the idea of the mattenfilter, but i think, in my tank at least, that the idea of a year between filter cleaning is a little far fetched.

Growth is slow, as one might expect, and new leaves on plants (espc. Aponegeton Crispuhs) are smaller than older pre-my-tank leaves. I'm considering adding some root tabs to give the plants a bit of support. The tank remains Co2 free and zero ferts
just now though.

For some reason the Hygrophila Araguaia started melting, after 5 months of steady, if unspectacular growth. We'll see if/how it recovers.

The emersed experiment on the wood poking above the water surface is a success. I have weeping moss, random moss that fell off my house, Ficus Pumila, Monte Carlo and Ranunculas Inundatus all growing very well. The RI sent out runners through the whole tank that i've had to trim away.

Down in the sump, i added an extra Peace Lilly, and now also have a sweet geranium cutting stuck in some filter foam to see if it will grow.

Fauna wise my Danios were a poor & hasty choice for an open top tank, i now have 12 from the original 18. The cichlids are doing well, although have suddenly become very shy. The female Amano is berried, which she hadn't been for months, so i think that speaks to water quality improvement post filter clean.

Lighting wise i'd like a new one, but can't really justify the cost at the moment.

So here are some pics. WP_20170626_19_32_05_Pro[1].jpg WP_20170626_19_29_15_Pro[1].jpg WP_20170626_07_03_05_Pro[1].jpg
 
Thanks. I have the same tank as you and the light in my sump died a few days ago so I need to get a cheap replacement before the plants die.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
love the natural look , and the use of a sump , had a tmc reef years ago which was hard work , currently on the prowl for one to plant with the sump ,

awesome job so far
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top