Have been considering switching the substrate in the 55G community tank to black for some time (ok years), but have always balked at the effort involved. I already have "black" sand in my nano and recently used the leftover to setup this tank. I am really pleased with the look but the 2 tanks with dark substrate are in my home office where nobody gets to see them and the community tank is on display in the living room.
I will start over the weekend. Here is the before pic
I have recently stopped adding tannins to the tank. That goes in cycles, some months I do and some months I don't
. I have also let the frogbit go pretty wild and am loving the look. The fish seem to be enjoying the environment but it does mean that I am not getting enough flow on the surface to clear the oily deposits or food that gets caught up in the roots, so I will be replacing the canister with a HOB. I have been really impressed with the Seachem Tidal I used in the other tank so have bought the bigger version. It also suits my general laziness when it comes to cleaning. Yes I know cleaning a canister is not hard but rinsing sponges is much easier and I only plan to have sponge in it. I also replaced the powerhead I removed with a stronger unit. It only runs 20 minutes every 4 hours during the light period.
My only maintenance at present is a weekly 75% water change and plant thinning. I do the canister quarterly (it has a sponge pre-filter and I rinse the sponges with every w/c). I am going to lose the pre-filter and simply rinse the HOB sponges weekly.
Here is the frogbit from above
I will start over the weekend. Here is the before pic
I have recently stopped adding tannins to the tank. That goes in cycles, some months I do and some months I don't
. I have also let the frogbit go pretty wild and am loving the look. The fish seem to be enjoying the environment but it does mean that I am not getting enough flow on the surface to clear the oily deposits or food that gets caught up in the roots, so I will be replacing the canister with a HOB. I have been really impressed with the Seachem Tidal I used in the other tank so have bought the bigger version. It also suits my general laziness when it comes to cleaning. Yes I know cleaning a canister is not hard but rinsing sponges is much easier and I only plan to have sponge in it. I also replaced the powerhead I removed with a stronger unit. It only runs 20 minutes every 4 hours during the light period.My only maintenance at present is a weekly 75% water change and plant thinning. I do the canister quarterly (it has a sponge pre-filter and I rinse the sponges with every w/c). I am going to lose the pre-filter and simply rinse the HOB sponges weekly.
Here is the frogbit from above
