Toast's dirt 20g long, update 7-20, cory fry! (56k)

[deleted_user_13]

toasted how high do you have your lights setting off the top of the tank? im starting pretty much the same set up

[toastedtoast]

Sorry, it's been a few days since I've checked this thread.

@MdubbU: Currently they're about 6" above the water. I've tried putting them a little closer to see how it looks, but the shadows between lights became obvious below 4" or so.

@CiscoKid, I'm really not sure. You're using bulbs with twice the power of mine, so assuming the light is well distributed I would imagine that two is fine--but I can't offer much more then a guess on that.

Since my last post, there are a couple additions to the tank; I'll start with the intentional one. I've added some taiwan moss on the wood, and while it would be nice to have enough to cover the entire thing I think this is a good start. The moss changes the look of the tank quite a bit and makes it look way better IMO.


There's also been a small outbreak of a green branching algae a couple of mm long from my anubias, and also a couple of them on the glass.


As soon as I pulled out the camera my pygmy cories started pretending to eat it, but as soon as I look away they're not interested. I'm thinking of grabbing a few amano shrimp and seeing if they'll help clean it up.

[Hilde]

Perhaps a siesta period of 2 hrs would help. A siesta period is good for allowing more CO2 from the substrate to build-up in the water, helping the plants during the second half of the photoperiod.
Diana Walstad

[i'm a ninja]

The algae looks a lot like little, green, hydra to me

[Heartnet]

That's definitely not algae.

That's hydra. Albeit a bit green.

[toastedtoast]

Re: Hydras, thanks for the ID! Looking at them again with that in mind I'm sure you're right.

Since I'm not raising fry in this tank or using live food atm I should be able to simply ignore them, right? Once I know they're unlikely to grow to the point of choking out plants they're actually kinda neat to look at.

[kwheeler91]

Hydra for sure.

[freph]

Pygmy corys! Tank looks great. I really like the grass meadow/forest (it is to the corys, haha) you have going on in there. Good job!

[toastedtoast]

Thanks Freph!
I'm really liking the lilaeopsis a lot, but I wonder if I should add something to the back left corner. maybe some more vals--I dunno it just looks bare.

Most of the photos I've posted have been a few days out of date but here's one I just took.



I've added some T. hengeli and a black background. I'm not sure I'm sold on the black yet, but I'll leave it for a while and see if it grows on me.
it certainly makes the plants/fish look better, but any snails on the front glass really stick out like a sore thumb against black, and strangely enough the green eheim tubing seems more visible then it did on white.

edit: just realized that I forgot to mention the transition from DIY to pressurized co2 a couple weeks ago so I'll update the first post to reflect the change in setup.

[toastedtoast]

It's been a about a month since my last post in this thread, so I thought I'd give a quick update.

As I've added fish, they've either eaten or out-competed the hydra that was infesting the tank last time I posted. There are some left, but even specifically looking for them I can only spot 5 or 6--which is a level that doesn't bother me at all.

On the negative side, I've had a bit of a staghorn(?) outbreak and it's taking a lot of work to keep it from infesting everything. I've raised the lights a bit and increased CO2 but I haven't had a lot of success in slowing growth. In this photo it looks pretty green, but I think that's just the color of the moss showing through. When I pull it out it's pretty gray.


I did a bunch of water testing today, and my nitrate was way down from the usual level; somewhere between 5 and 0ppm. I haven't increased my dosing level since my plant mass has doubled, so I wonder if that's part of the issue.

One of my rasboras kept getting in the way as I was trying to photograph the algae, so here's a snapshot. Of course when the camera appears the best-coloured ones are nowhere to be found, but what can you do?

[Jeff.:P:.]

nICE RASBORA PIC!

[Hilde]

Originally Posted by toastedtoast

I've had a bit of a staghorn(?)

I did water testing and my nitrate was way down. Between 5 and 0ppm.

Perhaps KNO3 (potassium nitrate) would help. For when my nitrates were that low I had chronic problems with BBA (black brush algae). Good source for that is dry and seachem nitrogen, which is cheapest at LNT.com

[toastedtoast]

I came home from work today and my pygmy cories were laying eggs! I waited for them to stop and then took a couple photos

you can see an egg stuck to the hygro stem here



there are a bunch on the plants and a few scattered around on the glass as well

[toastedtoast]

I moved most of the eggs to my (empty) 10g planted tank where I thought they would be free from predation. Turns out that was a pretty bad plan, as without fish that tank had become a haven for ostracods.

Here's a photo of a minutes-old fry getting munched, you can see another ostracod incoming to join in the fun


I think I'm going to move all my rasboras back into this tank to clear out the pests and let the pygmies do their thing in the 20L

[fishboy199413]

I love this tank great job. I think I am going to something like this with my 20 gallon. Also whats up with the tank we need an update please. (: