oldpunk's 50g low tech journal(56K)

[oldpunk78]

thanks phil!! that koi is the tank bully. he's great though. seems like he's always hanging out with my while i'm at mt desk. i've had him since he was the size of a quarter. i'm hoping i get some koi/marble fry

[oldpunk78]

i think the medication i used for the diseased fish fried my plants. either that or i just can't figure out this low tech thing.

the evidence:




about a 1/3 of the plant mass looked like that. all the bolbitis is dead. most of the crypts melted down to nothing, and a lot of the ferns turned black. i've never heard of deficiencies causing things to go bad that fast so i'm pretty sure that wasn't it. one thing i was told might be the culprit was excel. does excel kill java ferns? idk...

on a more positive note i got a chance to rescape. for some reason i feel like i have a hard time coming up with anything but a mound so i forced myself to try something different. oh, i almost forgot to note that the diatoms mysteriously disappeared at the same time plants started dying off. hmmm...

the result:


that's all i've got for now.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi oldpunk78,

Sorry to hear about the "melt down" disaster. I dose Excel (Glutaraldehyde) at 2X daily dose regularly in my tanks and have never had a problem with any plants except the Vals. My Java Ferns, Bolbitus, crypts, and stem plants seem to be unaffected.

[oldpunk78]

i'm pretty sure that the excel wasn't a problem. at first i thought i didn't have enough light, then i thought maybe i was under dosing. after a lot of thought i really think it was the lack of a water change after some pretty heavy medicating. i don't know what i was thinking. oh well. at least the fish made it. i just hope everything is done dieing for now.

it was weird. at first i noticed a couple of leaves on the crypts melting, no biggie, they just do that sometimes. then it was more leaves. i got a little worried and started poking around and found a whole bunch leaves decaying inside the mound hidden by other plants. then i started tearing into the scape i was really proud of to find i was left with 1/3 of what was in there.

ph 7.8 (was 8)
dgh 7 (was 6)
dkh 8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0 - just started dosing more - 1/4 tsp 2x weekly
phosphorous 1/16 tsp 2x weekly
flourish 3 ml 2x weekly
excel 3 ml daily
2x21w t5no 9 hrs.

with exception of the disappearing diatoms there is almost zero algae. just a little gsa on the tank.

[lauraleellbp]

Welcome to Crypt melt. You probably sneezed 2 weeks ago when the moon was over the left corner of your house at precisely 11:24pm.

Though IDK about the Bolbitus... how's your water flow in the tank?

Maybe the Bolbitus took a dive for whatever reason, and the slight water parameter change started a Crypt chain reaction?

[oldpunk78]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Welcome to Crypt melt. You probably sneezed 2 weeks ago when the moon was over the left corner of your house at precisely 11:24pm.

Though IDK about the Bolbitus... how's your water flow in the tank?

Maybe the Bolbitus took a dive for whatever reason, and the slight water parameter change started a Crypt chain reaction?

flow rate: 10x per hour

bolbitis lol - i thought it grew best when you neglected it.

[oldpunk78]

i decided to try more wood. i ran out of plants though. here's a bad pic:



...off to browse the sns, hahaha.

i need to paint that out flow nozzle.

[Trallen44]

Looking good. I have had plants melt and die off some too. I just give them time and they end up coming back and growing even better than they were the first time. That is part of the ease of a low tech tank. If something isn't right for the plant, they die back or melt but then come back stronger and better suited for their placement in the tank.

[oldpunk78]

Originally Posted by Trallen44

Looking good. I have had plants melt and die off some too. I just give them time and they end up coming back and growing even better than they were the first time. That is part of the ease of a low tech tank. If something isn't right for the plant, they die back or melt but then come back stronger and better suited for their placement in the tank.

that is something i hadn't really considered. 90% of my plants came from high light co2 enriched tanks.

when are we going to get an update of your 55?

[Trallen44]

Updated. How is your 29 doing?

[oldpunk78]

Originally Posted by Trallen44

Updated. How is your 29 doing?

well... i kinda tore it down. it's in the reconstruction phase now. i got tired of looking at the same stuff. this time i'm going to use a lighter colored substrate and some different dw. after the Spirogyra finally went away it just got boring lol.