I'm going to try to start a journal and keep it maintained. I do have a couple short ones floating around from a few that I've started but never been good at maintaining them. I just got back into the hobby this year and quickly my house has become over run with tanks and "projects" so this is going to be a thread that I want to cover everything going on in my house.
My ten gallon is a low tech tank with MGOCPM with a play sand bottom. It's powered with one single cfl 16 watt spiral, AC 30, and a 50 watt heater. This tank is getting 6 hours of light a day and 1/3rd the amount of EI dosing per week. This started as a dwarf puffer tank but due to the feeding requirements I opted to exchange em for community fish.
Current Livestock List
8 endlers/guppies
4 juli Cory cats
4 ottos
4 nerite snails
Current Plant List
Dwarf sag
Vals
Crypt wenti (green gecko, bronze, Florida sunset)
Crypt lutea
Kleiner sword
Dwarf water lettuce
Hydrocoytle Japan
Here's the tanks progression for the first few months its been around
the endlers have been fun but are proving to be hard to photograph. some of you guys must have some serious patience or know how to adjust camera setting better cause about 1 in 100 of my shots came out while following these fish around the tank
here's one of my cory cats, ive always had trouble keeping them in the past but this time im really trying to make sure they get plenty of good food and good water conditions. as a side note, i had a problem keeping the bottom stirred before getting these guys but they are keeping things tidy!
Very nice!
I love my cories, they are so adorable.
Show us the dbp shrimp tank! Im considering buying one myself, i have a 20 long cycling right now for some dark blue velvet and am thinking of doing some yellow neos in a dbp 3 gallon long.
This 2 dollar pet smart betta bought by my son with his own money was the catalyst for getting me back into planted tanks this time around. This bowl has been one of the most enjoyable things to make and its shape and size has been fun to work with.
its MGOCPM capped with flora-max substrate, no filter, and a tiny marina betta heater hid behind the driftwood. it was originally lit by a desk lamp and a cfl spiral bulb but the lamp was changed out to a deep blue professional solar flare lamp instead. This bowl is getting 6 hours of light. I'm considering a drop of excel every day.
Current Livestock list
1 Betta
a few ramshorn snails
Current Plant List
micro sword
hydrocotyle japan
bacopa
alternanthera reineckii (petco tissue culture)
I wish you would put the Betta in a 10g. He could probably go in the tank with the shrimp. Try it first with a few shrimp. He looks like a mild tempered Betta so I think it would work.
The 10 G after its first scape followed the golden ration. Thus more appeasing. Rah hop shows how it is easily applied
I wish you would put the Betta in a 10g. He could probably go in the tank with the shrimp. Try it first with a few shrimp. He looks like a mild tempered Betta so I think it would work.
the 3 gallon has been a consideration but mixing him with the shrimp wont work due to the 50 babies im currently raising in there, unless i relocate the shrimp
For the last 3 months we have been a foster home for 2 chocolate labs puppies. I'm happy to say that we placed them in some great homes. This weekend we picked up our newest foster, a border collie mix named bandit.
He's 5 months old and lived a truly rough life. Given up by his owners at a young age he lived most of his life in a cage and tied up to a water heater. He's really shy and smart and the few short days we've had him he's really starting to come around.
That's crusty the crested gecko and he's my wife's new pet. He's pretty chill and we like him a lot too.
Thanks dprais1 for the dwl it was good to meet you and trade a few plants. I got enough to throw a few good handfuls in the 10 and the 20 gallon.
Fish planet was un-boxing their plants today when I walked in and was able to pick a crypt bunch before they even got them unpacked. I'll have a lot more green wendti for you next time.
So I'm currently dosing 2 of my 4 tanks with dry ferts. My 10 gallon is low tech and I'm doing 1/3 the recommended EI dose. That means just adding macro and micro just once a week.
The 20 gallon high tech is getting the full blown EI.
The schedule looks something like this
I'm so new to all this so I don't exactly know what I'm adding and for what purpose. I'm just following the directions laid out by others. I will say the dry ferts with the combination of dirt has given me some plant growing confidence. I've failed terribly with plants the first go around so I'm feeling so much more confident this time around.
Big question here-
My dry fert package came with k2so4 and iron chelate. Neither one I've even touched. What is the potential benefit or risks of adding these into the tanks?
What trace are you using? Does it contain iron? If it does have adequate iron you can skip the iron chelate, if it doesn't you should mix iron chelate into your dosing.
A deep blue profession tank, azoo palm filter, petco black sand, single bright led
This tank has had some ups and some downs. It's been hit hard with planeria and hydra and was remedied with de-wormer. It's substrate was changed from Eco to black sand halfway through it life. It's also been a challenge with finding the right plants because it as tall as a pop can.
ham, love the 20 long. I'm setting one up myself and was thinking about going the dirt capped with eco complete route. Which type of eco complete did you use, and is it separated by mesh at all (I've seen that recommended)? What's the depth you used for each?
Has it given you any trouble? I've done the Miracle Gro Organic soil capped with PFS and it got messy at times. That's my main issue since I'm a pretty finicky planter and like to move things around. Just wondering if it's been a pain in terms of messiness, obviously it's doing very well in terms of growth which is why I'd like to see what you did to make it successful.
Lord knows im the same way with moving things around. Just when Im happy with the looks i switch it all around. Even the wife gets pissed "why cant you stop messing around and just let things grow. Thats my new goal is to just let the plants do their thing
i did about 1 to 1.5 inches of the miracle grow with 1.5 - 2 inches of plain old eco black packed in the water. soil/miracle grow will always take a bit of finesse but my plants all grow with it. I dont think ill ever not use dirt unless i throw down the $$$ for aqua soil.
ive had more issues with mess in my 10 gallon with play sand. its so compact that the air pockets build up and when those push through it can leave some dirt on top. the eco is a larger grain so it doesn't trap any nasty air pockets.
im not familiar with using mesh so just normal cap over the top of the MG
ham, love the 20 long. I'm setting one up myself and was thinking about going the dirt capped with eco complete route. Which type of eco complete did you use, and is it separated by mesh at all (I've seen that recommended)? What's the depth you used for each?
Has it given you any trouble? I've done the Miracle Gro Organic soil capped with PFS and it got messy at times. That's my main issue since I'm a pretty finicky planter and like to move things around. Just wondering if it's been a pain in terms of messiness, obviously it's doing very well in terms of growth which is why I'd like to see what you did to make it successful.
i think glosso is next on my list, though i just bought some staurogyne repens, kinda expensive but that certainly is a plant ive never seen locally and wanna try to grow that out too. i also really want the stargrass to take over
Thanks for answering my questions! I'm thinking of ordering the eco complete on Drs F&S but they have a coarse and a fine grade for the black. I like the fine grade from a looks standpoint, but not sure if either would be a better cap than the other?
Thanks for answering my questions! I'm thinking of ordering the eco complete on Drs F&S but they have a coarse and a fine grade for the black. I like the fine grade from a looks standpoint, but not sure if either would be a better cap than the other?
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