[xenxes]

Have you tried using floating plants? I haven't had any problems with suicidal fish. Had a shrimp jump out once when I kept it with a betta, stupid idea.

 

[Chizpa305]

Have you tried using floating plants?

Mhhh I don't know. That could be another solution. I like the floating plants in your Marina tank. The leaves look sexy from up top, though not a big fan of how the roots look from under the water surface. Well not a bad idea. Thanks for that

I bought the Diandra (back middle plant) to create some color contrast as it is supposed to turn reddish or at least pinkish. But it is completely green. I am giving it some iron supplement, but no luck with the red color yet. Is there something else that can enhance the red coloration apart from the iron?

 

[Chizpa305]

ccc

 

[JMex]

Glad to see another stripped chi on here. I really like that super sloped substrate and it looks like your plants are growing in good. You could try floating plants just for a month or so to get the fish to think they can't jump out then take them out if you don't want to do the lid. I did that when my betta first started trying to jump and he hasn't even tried since.

 

[Chizpa305]

Thanks for the feedback JMex. It is nice to know that we both have the same tank. We can learn from each other a thing or two through our own experiences.

Update:
- Bad News!!! I've been having some unfortunate problems in the tank. Ammonia levels have riced killing two fish so far. Apparently I introduced too many fish in a short period of time. I am trying to handle the situation by doing daily 30% WC, and reducing the feeding significantly. Hopefully the fish can hang on until the bacteria colony catches up with waste breakdown.

- I ordered a water test kit to help me detect problems in the tank before it is too late.

- On other bad news,... Algae... Green dust algae to be specific, is spreading through the glass walls and making the tank look like a public toilet. I was reading an article online about how to handle this type of algae. It is very simple actually. I just have to... well... do nothing. Yes!! The article said that it is best not to disturb the algae for a period of three weeks. after that, I read, it starts to die out by itself and disappear for good. But if I try to scrape it before this period of time, it will repeat its life cycle and I would have to wait again. I'll try to be patient and wait.

 

[JMex]

Thanks for the feedback JMex. It is nice to know that we both have the same tank. We can learn from each other a thing or two through our own experiences.

Update:
- Bad News!!! I've been having some unfortunate problems in the tank. Ammonia levels have riced killing two fish so far. Apparently I introduced too many fish in a short period of time. I am trying to handle the situation by doing daily 30% WC, and reducing the feeding significantly. Hopefully the fish can hang on until the bacteria colony catches up with waste breakdown.

- I ordered a water test kit to help me detect problems in the tank before it is too late.

- On other bad news,... Algae... Green dust algae to be specific, is spreading through the glass walls and making the tank look like a public toilet. I was reading an article online about how to handle this type of algae. It is very simple actually. I just have to... well... do nothing. Yes!! The article said that it is best not to disturb the algae for a period of three weeks. after that, I read, it starts to die out by itself and disappear for good. But if I try to scrape it before this period of time, it will repeat its life cycle and I would have to wait again. I'll try to be patient and wait.

Sorry to hear about your fish. Hopefully the rest survive the mini cycle. You could try snails to keep the algae from getting too crazy gross. I had a nerite snail when I got GDA and the snail pretty much took care of it.

 

[Chizpa305]

Update:

- Ok so I finally finished the lid. Here are some pictures for you to see. The end result exactly looks just as I planned it.
This is the rough piece of plexiglass that I bought.

This is the finished work.

Don't forget share your opinion. Thank you.

 

[Chizpa305]

I trimmed some of the plants today and took these pictures after. The HC Cuba is spreading nicely through the substrate and in a few more weeks it will hopefully cover the entire right slope.
As you can see I'm getting some algae on the glass but I will try to get some Nerite Snails to help clean it up. Also, I'll add some carbon to the filter because no mater how many WC I do, the water keeps coming out a little yellow.
I saw some tiny baby shrimps this morning, they are very hard to see. Let's see if some survive to adulthood.

In the near future, I'm going to paint the background in black. I know I should have done it before setting the tank, but that phase is already over by now.

Let me know what do you think. Thanks.

 

[JMex]

That HC is looking very good! I wish mine would grow in that well. If you want the shrimps to survive you should put a prefilter sponge on your intake or they will just get sucked up and eaten by your filter.

 

[Red_Wall]

Tank is looking good! I really like it so far. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it gets all grown in.

 

[philemon716]

A bit off-topic, but would you be willing to sell me some of your aureas?

 

[Chizpa305]

That HC is looking very good! I wish mine would grow in that well. If you want the shrimps to survive you should put a prefilter sponge on your intake or they will just get sucked up and eaten by your filter.

JMex: I followed your advice and placed a little piece of sponge inside the tip of the outflow tube. It's not like I want every single one to survive, but just to keep the shrimp generations flowing.

Tank is looking good! I really like it so far. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it gets all grown in.

Thanks Red, I appreciate the positive feedback :biggrin: keep it up. I'm glad you like it!

A bit off-topic, but would you be willing to sell me some of your aureas?

Philemon: I would be glad to, but unfortunately the cutting I made yesterday were discarded right after, But if you want, once the plant grows back again I'll let you know. If you can, send me a PM with the plants you have. Maybe we can exchange.

 

[Chizpa305]

Here is an update:
- I already painted the background glass in black. Let me know what do you think. Does it look better now or before??

- I've noticed that the Didiplis Diandra (the tall one in the middle) grows a lot faster than its neighbor. For this reason I will be changing the Diandra to the corner and the Aurea to the middle once they both grow tall enough.

- I see the baby shrimps everywhere. they are getting a little larger and redder. The fish swim near them but don't seem to care.

- Algae is slowly dissapearing! If this rate keeps like that I'll have no algae in no time.

 

[2in10]

Looking good, I have always liked a dark background to make the plants and fish stand out.

 

[Mablisboa]

Love it... I have the same tank, but i'm still trying to work around the light stock ... Lets see for how much longer :/ lol... Mine just finish cycling 4 days ago and i was having some algae problems too... Went to my lfs and got me some Otos ( Otocinclus sp.) they cleaned my whole tank in 3 house... They are pretty awesome and it only grow to about 1" so is perfect for our tank. I'm thinking on getting some shrimps for it today too. My neon tetras are not eating very good... they don't come to the surface and the flakes end up sinking any tricks for feeding the tetras??

 

[Mablisboa]

Oh BTW... Love the black background!!

 

[Chizpa305]

Looking good, I have always liked a dark background to make the plants and fish stand out.

Thanks 2in10. yeah the black background does help to bring out the color on the plants, and at the same time it helps to hide some cables and things behind the glass.

Love it... I have the same tank, but i'm still trying to work around the light stock ... Lets see for how much longer :/ lol... Mine just finish cycling 4 days ago and i was having some algae problems too... Went to my lfs and got me some Otos ( Otocinclus sp.) they cleaned my whole tank in 3 house... They are pretty awesome and it only grow to about 1" so is perfect for our tank. I'm thinking on getting some shrimps for it today too. My neon tetras are not eating very good... they don't come to the surface and the flakes end up sinking any tricks for feeding the tetras??

Hey Mablisboa, my neons were shy at the beginning. They are naturally afraid of the light so they would not go to the surface. However what I did is I left them without any food for two entire days. after that I just dropped a very small amount of flakes on the surface and at that point they started to loose the fear and come up. Nowadays they are not scared of anything they would go right away to the surface and eat whatever I give them. Try that and see what happens.

 

[alfalfa]

I love your tank. I did something very similar my wife's Chi. A couple of more things you can do to totally deChi it:

• The white logo in the front is a sticker. It comes off a lot easier than you might think.
• That black filter mount thing on the back is held on by a piece of adhesive foam. It will come off with a little bit of effort. You just need something long and flat to slice through the foam. A hotwire would probably work great.

 

[Mablisboa]

Thanks 2in10. yeah the black background does help to bring out the color on the plants, and at the same time it helps to hide some cables and things behind the glass.



Hey Mablisboa, my neons were shy at the beginning. They are naturally afraid of the light so they would not go to the surface. However what I did is I left them without any food for two entire days. after that I just dropped a very small amount of flakes on the surface and at that point they started to loose the fear and come up. Nowadays they are not scared of anything they would go right away to the surface and eat whatever I give them. Try that and see what happens.

Thanks.. I'll deff try that

 

[Chizpa305]

I love your tank. I did something very similar my wife's Chi. A couple of more things you can do to totally deChi it:

• The white logo in the front is a sticker. It comes off a lot easier than you might think.
• That black filter mount thing on the back is held on by a piece of adhesive foam. It will come off with a little bit of effort. You just need something long and flat to slice through the foam. A hotwire would probably work great.

Haha, I liked the expression 'To DeChi it' Classic!! Lol. I'll remove the white sticker in the front, but I'll leave the filter holder piece because I don't know if I'll need it in the future. The good thing is that since I painted the background with black, that piece is hardly noticeable (That was one of the reasons why I painted it in the first place).