Show Off Your Tank!

shi24137 said:

Ty Ruskull, that really means a lot to me, the ribbons haven't shown any sign of rotting yet, I think it may be bc I raised the filter a bit to get a waterfall effect which in turn is oxygenating the water, I've had them for over 2 weeks now. The anubias isn't fully into the ground, I took the roots and buried them only, It's actually gotten greener since I changed the substrate. the only plant that isn't doing good is my ozelot plant, it seems to be losing a lot of leaves lately, I'm guessing from being moved around? I've added this stuff called "Flourish" by Seachem and it seems to be helping a little bit. Also my Ph is a little high and I can't seem to get it down, it's 7.8. I thought the gravel had raised my Ph so I changed to sand and it hasn't come down at all....I've been waiting for my LFS to get some kind of grass in so I can put it in the back and let it grow up the back, I found a piece if driftwood in my yard, I have a river behind my house, need to soak it and scrub it, I would like to find one that is a little longer to go across the tank, what kinds of wood are ok to put in my tank?

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As far as I know, anything but pine is okay. I have 1.8 acres of yard including a creek where I found 4 pretty cool pieces of driftwood which I'm soaking in my garage. They've been soaking now for 3 weeks b ut the water is still brownish so they aren't going in my tank yet.

Seachem Flourish is a great product. They make a liquid that you add to the water & tabs that you push into the substrate. Some plants get nourishment from the roots & some feed from the tips, or so the story goes anyway.

Sword type plants are supposed to have the top of the root ball exposed in the water, similar to the rhizome of the Anubias.

My pH is always 7.6 straight from the tap. I have driftwood in all my tanks, which is supposed to naturally lower pH, I've seen the tanks read as low as 7.2 with the wood.

I would recommend getting some driftwood that's been drilled to have a plant already potted in it. I bought (2) Anubias plants this way & I love the fact that I can move them around to clean or just because I want them somewhere else. I got mine at PetCo. PetSmart has similar plants already in the wood but they tend to put semi-aquatics instead of true aquarium plants.

My 28L Betta tank. Nowhere near as good as some of the ones on here, but I am thinking of replacing those silk plants with live ones and wood

The Hygro has grown quite a lot since this pic the other day, though as I only bought it a week ago. Since then, I'd say it had grown roughly 6cm, sure is a fast grower!

Yea, I have almost 3 acres of land and half of it is wooded. Ty for the advice, I need to uncover the ozelot a little bit. My ph from the tap is 6.4 which is why I don't understand why it is soooo high! Any ideas why that is? So I should soak the wood for 3 weeks? Good thing I have 2 bathtubs, lol. The wood I found looks as if it came right out of the water, nice and smooth just a little dirt on it. Should I tie the anubias to the wood or try and get the roots into the the sand a little? I've never had anubias before, right now I have the rhizome on top of the sand and the roots are in the sand, is it good like that or should I just be better off to tie it to some wood? They're only 2 little pieces, was thinking of putting one on each side of the tank? Any ideas of where to place the wood are welcome!!!!!

pablothebetta said:

Ruskull said:

My son's 20 gallon high:

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What's that green plant on the left? It looks really nice

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Thank you. Those are Dwarf Amazon Swords I believe. I just spread them out a bit & I'll post some pics soon. I also added an Argentine Sword that I planted in a piece of driftwood.

shi24137 said:

Yea, I have almost 3 acres of land and half of it is wooded. Ty for the advice, I need to uncover the ozelot a little bit. My ph from the tap is 6.4 which is why I don't understand why it is soooo high! Any ideas why that is? So I should soak the wood for 3 weeks? Good thing I have 2 bathtubs, lol. The wood I found looks as if it came right out of the water, nice and smooth just a little dirt on it. Should I tie the anubias to the wood or try and get the roots into the the sand a little? I've never had anubias before, right now I have the rhizome on top of the sand and the roots are in the sand, is it good like that or should I just be better off to tie it to some wood? They're only 2 little pieces, was thinking of putting one on each side of the tank? Any ideas of where to place the wood are welcome!!!!!

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You don't necessarily have to soak the wood for 3 weeks. If it's just come out of the water I'd think all you need to do is scrub it down, then soak it in the tub (dechlor the water) to make sure any other gunk comes off. Soaking the wood for a long time is meant for dry wood to help it stay submerged and to release the tannins.

You can actually Super Glue the anubia to the wood, just make sure the Super Glue is cyanoacrylate, which most is. Or use a rubber band, twine, string. I don't recommend fishing line because sometimes it can come loose and fish can get caught in it. I use Super Glue for all my plants that need to be attached. The roots don't need to be in the sand.

Can you post photos of the wood? That would help us help you place it.

And if you use fishing line, tie is TIGHT! I already had to pull the wood out of my tank to fish it lol

And if you find more than one awesome piece of wood, mail some to me

shi24137 said:

Yea, I have almost 3 acres of land and half of it is wooded. Ty for the advice, I need to uncover the ozelot a little bit. My ph from the tap is 6.4 which is why I don't understand why it is soooo high! Any ideas why that is? So I should soak the wood for 3 weeks? Good thing I have 2 bathtubs, lol. The wood I found looks as if it came right out of the water, nice and smooth just a little dirt on it. Should I tie the anubias to the wood or try and get the roots into the the sand a little? I've never had anubias before, right now I have the rhizome on top of the sand and the roots are in the sand, is it good like that or should I just be better off to tie it to some wood? They're only 2 little pieces, was thinking of putting one on each side of the tank? Any ideas of where to place the wood are welcome!!!!!

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As far as I know Anubias can grow with the roots slightly into the soil, or not at all. The big mistake most people, including myself, make is planting it like a regular plant. The roots can't feed or breath right so the plant dies.

I have no idea why you're getting high pH when your tap is so low. I tried using API pH Down to lower it and the poster Eaglesaquarium said it's best not to artificially lower it because the fluctuation is worse than the slightly higher than normal reading of 7.6. It makes sense so I just don't mess with it.

so what in sam hill could be making my Ph so high??? I don't get it, I'll try to get some pics of the wood tomorrow. And I'm too scared to use the Ph lower stuff, I've heard it will most likely kill your fish. Hopefully it will lower over time now that I've got plants and a new substrate, and hopefully the wood will help too. Otherwise IDK what else to do to try and lower it.

You could try some peat balls to being it down. Much easier on the tank as it works slowly and gently.

This Old Spouse said:

You could try some peat balls to being it down. Much easier on the tank as it works slowly and gently.

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I've seen peat inserts for filters too. For the life of me I can't remember where though or I'd get some. The average pH for the fish I already have is 7.1.

I think once you get driftwood in there and the plants settle down your pH might be fine. And remember that keeping your pH steady is more important than keeping it low.

Now let's see some mroe aquariums!!

I adjusted a few plants in my son's 10 gallon:

Where is that blue light coming from???

Man of fish said:

Where is that blue light coming from???

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maybe camera flash ???

I bought a new background for the 10 gallon and added another driftwood chunk with a temporary ribbon plant: