Hello everyone! I thought I would start a little journal about my low tech 20 gallon tall today. I have a lot to catch up on so this first post will be fairly lengthy. Hope you enjoy and sorry for the low quality pictures.
I started my tank by designing a 3d foam and cement backgound for it. I got the idea HERE.
As a tip to anyone who wants to build this type of background, do not let the cement dry completely. If you keep the cement wet it will continue to cure for a longer period of time and it will not crack or become brittle. I used a little spray bottle full of water to keep my background from drying. I sprayed until the day I filled the tank with water.
Once the background was mounted and the silicone used to mount it had 24 hours to dry, I added Seachem flourite and natural black sand. Then I filled the tank with water and started running the air pump for circulation.
After about 3 days of testing the water's hardness and pH and performing 50% water changes with a mixture of store bought distilled water and tap water, I was finally able bring the two perameters into line so that I could plants.
So far, I have picked out Java fern and Anubias barteri as my tank lights are currently being shipped to me and these make great low tech tank plants. For the time being, the Java fern is planted shallowly in the sand. Later I will move it to the decoration shown in the first pic. I'm going to try to attach it so it seems to emerge from the decoration.
I have cycled the tank for a week now with plants and I have added 5 pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi) yesterday.
I would post a full tank picture, but I woke up to my tank having a nice bacterial bloom this morning. So, without a light and the water being cloudy, all you would see is a giant glare. Oh well, maybe in the next few days I will be able to mount my new Marineland Double Bright LED fixture and take some full tank pics.
Untill then,
Peace
EDIT: The fish in the far left of the picture is a pencilfish, the others are white cloud mountain minnows. There were two pencilfish and three WCMMs.
The water in Lexington is pretty hard, huh. I should have cycled just a bit long the day after I put the fish in I had a massive bacteria bloom. It seems that no harm was done though. All of the fish are happy and I was never able to detect any nitrites or nitrates ( I was testing morning and evening yesterday and today). Also, the bloom has completely cleared up today. BTW, keithy, feel free to repeat the background if you would like. I would be more than happy to provide you with any advice you may need.
Thanks for all the love, alipper and GMY!
BTW thank goodness no one has called me out on the fish pic! I actually have 3 white cloud mountain minnows and 2 pencilfish :icon_eek:. I can't believe that I didn't notice at the pet store. The WCMM are raising hell while the pencilfish are laying low at the moment. I will have to get somemore pencilfish so they can feel more comfortable I guess.
Today I added 2 jungle val, java moss, and a new piece of driftwood. Full tank pics to come sometime next week when I get my tank light.
Adam's Low Tech 20 Gallon Tall *Sad Update* Help needed!
Over the weekend I added two small hornwort plants and 5 red cherry shrimp. All of the plants added to the tank so far are recovering from their previous locations. They are returning to their healthy green color. The shrimp seem to be doing well, they are scattered about the tank and constanly "working". One shrimp has even molted.
However (and this is a huge however), the fish have taken a turn for the worse. I don't know if it was from any of the new stuff I have added to the tank but it seems some form of illness has struck. When I checked on my tank Monday morning my two pencil fish seemed very lethargic. And, one of the WCMMs was at the top of the tank "gasping". I immediately tested the tank water. Nothing out of the norm. I don't have a quarantine tank so I decided to do a water change. Maybe this was a bad choice as the fish were already stressed out. I'm not sure. By the time if finished the water change the WCMM was dead :icon_sad:. So I removed it from the tank and fed the others. BTW the whole time the other two WCMMs were acting perfectly normal. Their fins were extended, they were investigating, etc. :confused1:
So, I came back to my tank Monday afternoon and one of the pencilfish is MIA :icon_eek:. I searched the tank and found nothing. The other pencilfish was seeming to "come around" he was swiming closely with the others. I fed the fish and went to bed.
I checked my tank this morning, Tuesday. the three fish are all lethargic and their tails seem to droop. Another one of the WCMMs is at the top of the tank "gasping". Again I do a water change and by the time I'm done, this fish is dead too. I also find my missing pencilfish behind the filter inlet, DEAD . (I have some fluval prefilter foam guarding against fish or shrimp being sucked in) (I had a bad plecostomus experince several years ago).
I have no idea what is happening to my fish! Is this a result of an incomplete tank cycle? Did I introduce bad bacteria to my tank via plants, shrimp, or possibly the new driftwood? Any help or ideas would be great. What should I do for the remaining two fish? What do I need to do to get the tank back on track? Will my plants and shrimp be OK?
adam,
Sorry about your loss. you may be able to get better help from the "fish" subforum, but my hunch is that the tank is still cycling. The plants will be ok. You may want to do a water change every 2-3 days. provide more oxygen by pumping air will also help.
Another thing to try is to get the "startup bacteria" in a bottle. I remembered someone mentioned that that thing works. I am a little skeptical myself though.
As you can see, I have only one fish left. I still count all five red cherry shrimp and they seem to be behaving normally. They are swimming around, then settling in one spot for about 5-10 min, and picking at the tank. Do shrimp show stress? What should I watch for with them?
I cycled the tank for a week with plants from two different LFSs (Java fern and Anubia nana). These plants came from established tanks in those stores. During the entire cycle I had the bubbler and the filter running.
Test results from my tank about 1 hr after today's water change.
Also, my tap water is testing ~1.0 ppm Ammonia after adding Tetra Aquasafe Plus to it and waiting 10 min.
Is my tap water driving my ammonia levels up, as tested? The image above shows ammonia around 1.0 ppm in the tank after a water change. Earlier today, before the water change, I posted 0.5 ppm of ammonia in the tank.
Also, is the nitrate level 0 ppm or is it between 0 ppm and 5 ppm?
The Tetra product you're using can cause a false reading immediately after using it. The water from your tank actually is what you want to test.
Nitrate is between 0-5. Tough to tell.
Since there are very few members from Kentucky - and Lexington specifically - you may want to call around to local fish shops to see if you can buy a cycled sponge filter. Then you could run it in your tank with an air pump until your other filter is populated with bacteria.
I have plans to clean my filter out during the week between christmas and new year. Will be able to provide you with some old filter media if you want. PM me if you're interersted, but be warned that it won't be pretty.
I have been changing the water in my tank daily and it seems to be relieving the New Tank Syndrome symptoms :biggrin:. Now to just get through the rest of this cycle so I can start changing the water at a more reasonable pace, like once a weeks or so...
In other news, my red cherry shrimp are growing like crazy! they are nearly twice the size of when I originally purchased them.
Do you guys like how the iPhone bring everything but the shrimp into focus? :icon_twis
*Bonus pic* FTS from today...
Any suggestions on adding plants or changing the layout? I'm thinking about moving the middle-decoration-aztecthingamabob more to the right and adding something like another anubias.
I am still counting 5 shrimp and I still have 1 WCMM, though I think the nitrogen cycle was pretty hard on the latter.
On 12/24/2012 I added Cyptocoryne wendtii green and water wisteria.
12/26/2012 I moved some of the java moss that has been growing on the drift wood on the right side of my tank to the drift wood on the left.
Also, I had a huge spike of nitrites on the 23rd and 24th despite daily water changes, > 5 ppm. However, today the spike was much lower, <1 ppm. :biggrin: I am also detecting more nitrates, ~5 ppm.
Pics of the new plants to come soon...probably tomorrow.
looking good adam. Have you considered foreground carpet or mid to background stems? Having 2 or 3 layers of plants make scape looks a lot more pleasant.
Thanks Keith! What kind of stems/carpet do you recommend? I already have the water wisteria in there. I think I have six or so. If you had the chance to replant/rearrange everything that is already in my tank what layout would you do?
TBH I have just been experimenting. I buy plants and just throw them in. I really have no clue about laying out plants, especially in a tank with a 3d background.
Adam,
If I were you, I would also do what you're doing now, which is experiment first. What I would probably do it see if things would grow under your current light, ferts regime and etc. Once you get things to grow, then I would think about better aquascaping. Personally, I think your background would look good with java fern, anubias nana or bolbitis. These are low light plants but would do well in high light and co2 conditions too. As for stems, I would go a little minimal look. A. Reineckii would be a good choice for low light. Carpet that with maybe gloss/marsilea minuta or S. Repens. But that's just me.
I think your tank may still be going through the cycling process .... where you see spikes in amonia every now and then. That would be my guess. Have you tested your water lately?
Nutrients should not affect your shrimp.
About curling leaves, give it some more time before making changes. But adding ferts should be ok. It may be as simple as plants trying to adapt to new environment/light/water conditions.
Hopefully, Jake could chime in more about cycling and why the leaves are curling. Right Jake ?
I have a couple of questions today. I noticed that the leaves of my plants were starting to curl, so I did some research and determined that this was probably due to nutrient deficiencies. Maybe it's a calcium deficiency, but I doubt it. The background in my tank is made from cement which contains loads of CaCO3. Also, I have fluorite substrate. So, I purchased a bottle of Seachem flourish comprehensive. Yesterday I added only half a dose ~1 ml. Tomorrow I plan to add another half-dose and then do a water change on Friday. I'm trying to avoid any sudden changes in water chemistry. Next week I will start adding full doses.
My question is how long should it take for the plant leaves to start uncurling? Also, my jungle val has been laying over rather than standing up and it had small holes/tears on some of its leaves. Will the flourish comp help with this as well? I trimmed off the parts with holes and the leaves that were laying over badly. Was this the right thing to do?
Another question. I had a dead shrimp in my tank this morning. What could have done this? Low nutrient levels that are also affecting the plants?
Additional info:
My tank run from 74 F to 77 F.
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate ~20 ppm
I add half of an algae wafer (Hikari brand) at night and remove it in the morning. Usually not much of it is eaten. Sometimes there will be one shrimp on it.
Curling leaves on my wisteria
Crypts leaves are curling, but there is also a ton of new growth. :icon_conf
Another pic of the crypt growth and curling. BTW does anyone else's anubias push itself WAY out of the substrate?
Thanks for the advice Keith! I will check into the plants you suggested. I will probably wait until I am ready to plant the 10 gal before I purchase anymore though.
In regards to the shrimp mystery, I think it might have been a failed molt and that is why I question the level of nutrients in my tank. See the pic below.
That's not just a white exoskeleton that's nearly whole shrimp that turned white. When I pulled it out of the tank the other side of it still had its red color. Also, I have been testing my water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every other day. I have not seen anything other than about 20 ppm nitrate.
I have very little experience with shrimps and cannot tell you for sure.
How are your plants and other livestocks doing?
Once you get your plants to grow, we can probably trade or something. I know you don't have much for now, maybe I can ROAK you some in the near future. Its nice to share plants so we have different species available at all times.
on a related note, don't bury the anubias rhizome.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Planted Tank Forum
3.5M posts
130.6K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Aquatic tank owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about flora, fauna, health, housing, filters, care, classifieds, and more!