hypnogogia
Member
LoveLy looking tank.
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There’s wood in there somewhere... (Dennerle scaper 35)
- Thread starter aec34
- Start date
aec34
Member
Thanks - I’m really chuffed with it 🙂
Has the tank they were in ever been treated for planaria or with any non-snail-friendly medication?
I have experience with substrates seemingly turning permanently inhospitable to snails after that. Killed a batch of poor nerites before I figured it out
Tank looks amazing btw 😍
DTM61
Member
Love it, stunning tank. My 35l went up and down the stairs a few times last year due to builders too, and the 90l 😬.
KirstyF
Member
That is super packed and looking great. You’ll have plenty spare for the 60P when you get it going. 👍
aec34
Member
Thanks all! I’m so pleased with how well it’s coming along - a massive haul of bargain buce has helped 🙂 Closer inspection reveals some plants I thought had totally died off are actually still growing, e.g. my Sagittaria subulata.
Ah that’s really interesting on treatments hanging around. I did treat it with fenbendazole at the beginning of September, but assumed with big weekly water changes, and a colony of thriving shrimp, it was all fine for snails. I’ve also got limpets, which seem pretty bombproof. Hmmm.Has the tank they were in ever been treated for planaria or with any non-snail-friendly medication?
I have experience with substrates seemingly turning permanently inhospitable to snails after that. Killed a batch of poor nerites before I figured it out
Tank looks amazing btw 😍
aec34
Member
Tank is 6 months old. I’ve just taken some buces out to find the substrate again, and it still needs a good prune. Sessiliflora and ceratopteris going crazy.
Shrimp breeding merrily, and happily munching their way through my softer floating plants (little swine). Trying to feed them a bit more 😬
Shrimp breeding merrily, and happily munching their way through my softer floating plants (little swine). Trying to feed them a bit more 😬
aec34
Member
Shrimp continue to breed away, so thinning out their numbers means giving some away > swapping for new plants > shoe-horning even more in!
New additions are some modest twigs/bits of bark with fissidens and another with small buce rhizomes, a lovely little crypt flamingo, some pogostemon helferi and blyxa japonica. Will the last two very recent additions grow? It’s worth a try. At the moment they look fab, and I love the textures. (Thank you Plant Friends 👍.)
Nothing momentous otherwise. Light on 7 hours per day, ‘some’ liquid all in one feed every other days or when I remember, and weekly 10ish litre WC. Sponge clean about every 4-6 weeks, glass occasionally gets the toothbrush treatment, and floaters thinned when I can’t see in. Importantly, the tank has survived (with its cover on intermittently) the vast amount of building and plaster dust of major building work. I did lose a fish last week, but I think this might have been a coincidence. Let the jungle grow on to be harvested in due time for the New Tank.
New additions are some modest twigs/bits of bark with fissidens and another with small buce rhizomes, a lovely little crypt flamingo, some pogostemon helferi and blyxa japonica. Will the last two very recent additions grow? It’s worth a try. At the moment they look fab, and I love the textures. (Thank you Plant Friends 👍.)
Nothing momentous otherwise. Light on 7 hours per day, ‘some’ liquid all in one feed every other days or when I remember, and weekly 10ish litre WC. Sponge clean about every 4-6 weeks, glass occasionally gets the toothbrush treatment, and floaters thinned when I can’t see in. Importantly, the tank has survived (with its cover on intermittently) the vast amount of building and plaster dust of major building work. I did lose a fish last week, but I think this might have been a coincidence. Let the jungle grow on to be harvested in due time for the New Tank.
aec34
Member
aec34
Member
Ok team, I need a bit of help; I think from reading around about BBA that coincidentally I might be a bit low in Magnesium. Some of my bigger crypts are looking a bit sad especially their older leaves, and apparently they like Mg? (Though having said that, on moving a small fancy one today it turns out it’s produced two babies, so it can’t be that bad.)
I think part of the problem with the algae at least is flow since now the tank is so full. I also need to do a good clean.
I’m currently feeding with a couple of ml of Aquascaper every couple of days, but moving soon to TNC complete when the bottle’s empty.
If I add Epsom salts, how much is recommended? The tank is 35l, but less soil and hardscape probably more like 25l-ish. There are shrimp and a few ember tetras.
I think part of the problem with the algae at least is flow since now the tank is so full. I also need to do a good clean.
I’m currently feeding with a couple of ml of Aquascaper every couple of days, but moving soon to TNC complete when the bottle’s empty.
If I add Epsom salts, how much is recommended? The tank is 35l, but less soil and hardscape probably more like 25l-ish. There are shrimp and a few ember tetras.
aec34
Member
Still contemplating Magnesium. I can’t face getting into the EI fert calculator, and reading around the Mg numbers there are high anyway: can someone do some quick arithmetic as guidance for me? (Looks hopefully at @dw1305 …)
I think the answer is probably ‘stick a tiny, tiny pinch in once a week and see what happens’, but I don’t want to overdose and harm the creatures.
Hi all,
If you go for 10 ppm (mg / L (10^-6)) Mg the arithmetic is:
Perfect, but probably a big pinch, (rather than a tiny one).
Easy with "Epsom Salts" <"MgSO4.7H20">, because it is ~10% magnesium (Mg). Magnesium has a RAM of 24.3 and the RMM of MgSO4.7H2O is 246, so 24.3/246 is near enough 10%
If you go for 10 ppm (mg / L (10^-6)) Mg the arithmetic is:
- Your tank is 35 litres and
- you need 350 mg of Mg (35 * 10).
- MgSO4.7H2O is 10 ppm magnesium, so you need 3500 (350 * 10) mg of MgSO4.7H2O in your tank and
- 3500 mg is 3.5 g (10^-3 for a kilogram and water has a density of 1) and
- 3.5 g is 3/4 of a teaspoon.
aec34
Member
Amazing, thanks so much Darrel. Let’s see if it makes a difference.
aec34
Member
Actually cleaned the glass, and it makes such a difference! Also cleaned the heater, trimmed (= hacked back) stems, and culled a load of floaters. Moved a couple of buces which were right under the light and getting v BBA’d. So much Java fern growing at the back 😳
Pogostemon sprouting from the base, and random nymphoides already made the surface. (The two fancy crypts moved in little planters to the other tank also seem to be doing ok.) Epsom salts on the way in the post.
Embers seem much happier than they were 2 weeks ago, when they went through a really shy phase. Lots more baby shrimp…
Pogostemon sprouting from the base, and random nymphoides already made the surface. (The two fancy crypts moved in little planters to the other tank also seem to be doing ok.) Epsom salts on the way in the post.
Embers seem much happier than they were 2 weeks ago, when they went through a really shy phase. Lots more baby shrimp…
aec34
Member
I’ve been weekly dosing half a teaspoon of Epsom salts and a squirt of iron, and the crypts definitely look perkier. Yay!
It’s getting pretty overgrown but now the ‘big tank’ is just about in sight - I’ll be taking this one apart for plants so mostly just letting it go, with minimal trimming. Really looking forward to seeing just how big some of them have got. The Sagittaria subulata has almost done a total lap of the glass with its runners.
It’s getting pretty overgrown but now the ‘big tank’ is just about in sight - I’ll be taking this one apart for plants so mostly just letting it go, with minimal trimming. Really looking forward to seeing just how big some of them have got. The Sagittaria subulata has almost done a total lap of the glass with its runners.
aec34
Member
Not really relevant to the tank, but I just have to express my excitement somewhere that I’m hoping to make it to Wildwoods next Sunday - waaaahhhh!!
Find the shoehorn…
Find the shoehorn…
aec34
Member
Two incidental observations:
1. The small but growing amount of BBA I had, mainly in the higher flow and higher light area of the tank is pretty much gone. The only real change has been that I’ve upped the Mg and Fe, though I’m totally willing to believe I’ve done other things to the tank subconsciously which mean no real correlation here.
2. The TDS is really high, as in 400. I tested my tap water (both upstairs and downstairs) and this is also now at a much higher TDS than earlier this year so I think at least partially the cause. Does tap water TDS vary seasonally (is this to do with higher temperatures)? I don’t test regularly or chase numbers, just observe. Fish and inverts are all fine.
1. The small but growing amount of BBA I had, mainly in the higher flow and higher light area of the tank is pretty much gone. The only real change has been that I’ve upped the Mg and Fe, though I’m totally willing to believe I’ve done other things to the tank subconsciously which mean no real correlation here.
2. The TDS is really high, as in 400. I tested my tap water (both upstairs and downstairs) and this is also now at a much higher TDS than earlier this year so I think at least partially the cause. Does tap water TDS vary seasonally (is this to do with higher temperatures)? I don’t test regularly or chase numbers, just observe. Fish and inverts are all fine.
ScareCrow
Member
It can do, generally it's variation in the source that causes the change in TDS. Factors like the catchment area, whether it's riverine or aquifer will influence the TDS seasonally. You should be able to check the source on your water companies website.
If the TDS suddenly increases it's worth checking the water company website for any work they might be doing on the network. After carrying out work they will often add higher than normal amounts of chlorine/chloramine. Often it'll have quite strong smell and sometimes the water will be cloudy. I've not known it cause problems with people that have freshwater tanks and use tap water conditioner although I'm sure it has. I have however seen people with marine tanks, using RO filters have entire tanks wiped out and RO membranes and pre-filters wrecked when the water companies do this.
aec34
Member
Went to Wildwoods (luckily on foot given the number of garden centres). Of course I came back with plants….
I said I would allow myself anything unusual so now have:
- random floating plant. Think the fella said it was a water poppy, and I didn’t catch the Latin name.
I definitely don’t need to buy anything else when I set up the new tank.
I said I would allow myself anything unusual so now have:
- a Madagascar lace plant (from MA, but inspired by Wildwoods). I’m not overly optimistic it’ll do well, but worth a go. Have stuck it in the brightest part of the tank.
- an in vitro pot of homalomena sekadau south. Never heard of this (exciting!) but emergency internet searching said it’s like an anubias/buce, and I can grow them fine so it came home with me (below, and front of pic above). I’ve got about 8 plants from one pot so everyone might be getting one before too long.
- random floating plant. Think the fella said it was a water poppy, and I didn’t catch the Latin name.
I definitely don’t need to buy anything else when I set up the new tank.
Hi all,
Cheers Darrel
It is Hygrorhyza aristata, an aquatic grass and a <"turned up to eleven"> plant.
Cheers Darrel
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