Stan's freshwater 240 gallon extravaganza. Trials and tribulations of a sunlit aquarium

Started up my old (1985 est.) 240 gallon after a decade empty in July 2018. Algae,blue green..dead plants,Hydrogen Peroxide as last resort caused a near total meltdown of large and small plants. I told LFS guy and he said Iron..all the plants guys tell him iron. Well,in late November I started and ..it cause explosive growth in some plants and growth in the rest. Along with Syngonium roots after trying pre iron Alocasia African Mask,Tradescantia,Lemon grass even. Hypoestes also did well..then flowered and died back. With iron treatments...Syngonium is all I need now..its huge and deep green.
Now that days are longer and sunny? lights that go on at 8:30 am go off at 1pm as sun lights up the whole tank until 4pm or so...lights go back on until 6pm..the day is over for the lights. More to say on the history later.
As it looks today...

Wish I could talk the wife into having a big tank like yours. Love the plants, looks very nice. What types of fish do you have?

Thanks!. Largest fish are Rainbows..M.bozemanii and the New Guinea with M.lacustris. After that I went for fish I had kept for years and enjoyed. Clown Loach, a pair of Angels that I lucky enough did get a make and female out of two bought. They remind me of my 5 gallon metaframe days.The Crescent tails Mollies look great and work for their food going over the plants. I do feed all Tetra color flakes and granules,microwave cooked shrimp and sometimes beefheart. Plus,I found that the $3 can of Wardley shrimp pellets is a fantastic bargain. All the fish like it. Its so cheap for so much..and must taste good.

I still feed my corys Wardley shrimp pellets, they seem to love it, your right it is a bargin and they fill the can right to the top.

I

Retired Viking said:

I still feed my corys Wardley shrimp pellets, they seem to love it, your right it is a bargin and they fill the can right to the top.

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I also feed them wardley shrimp pellet, but recently to encourage them to lay eggs, I switched over to hikari

CryptFan said:

I

I also feed them wardley shrimp pellet, but recently to encourage them to lay eggs, I switched over to hikari

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Are you using Hikari micro pellets? If so how do they compare?

Retired Viking said:

Are you using Hikari micro pellets? If so how do they compare?

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Hikari sinking wafers, they take longer to break down then wardley, but I assume they are a lot heigher nutrition, they also don’t dirty the tank as fast

I tried tetra algae wafers and the only thing in the tank that liked them was my nerite snails. I tried them the other day at one end of my tank and 6 out of 7 snails were there in about 2 hours. It's a 55 gallon tank so they must really like them to travel that far but my fish have no interest I will check my LFS and see if they have that. Thanks

These ones are not algae wafers, I’m pretty sure they are omnivore pellets

Same here Vike..nothing likes the green wafers. Never again...a waste of money. It has no smell to it either..so cant have much protein or do much for the fish.
Today I got my "Super Red L. repens. Post photos of it tomorrow..dang me for not taking photos out of the package. My camera can't handle the window or the thick acrylic glass. I swear if you saw that tank in person..it's like the fish are in air ,especially since I do a big water change on Sundays..after the wiping down and all that settles..Monday is best day of all for pure clarity.
One other new thing. I bought about 3 maybe 4 weeks ago a Nymphaea sp that in the dark OTHER LFS (not my regular guy.still better than a petco right?.).tank that had very small but pale pink leaves. Since it wasn't looking like a great plant he sold it to me for $6.
Its now turning out to be a beautiful red leafed Tiger Lotus. Ironic that last year I ordered a "Red" tiger lotus ..and I got a purple leafed one. It too had died back after the hydrogen peroxide and now under Seachem iron looks pretty good..but purple. NOW ,I have the red I wanted.

Retired Viking said:

Wish I could talk the wife into having a big tank like yours. Love the plants, looks very nice. What types of fish do you have?

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The following link has information on rainbowfish if you are interested in them.

Colin_T said:

The following link has information on rainbowfish if you are interested in them.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

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Thanks

My newest plant add is Ludwigia Super Red Mini. What's ridiculous is sellers offer it as L. repens 'Super Red'. L. palustris 'Super Red' and even L.natans..blah blah. The aquarium plant industry is so...amateurish despite that connoisseurs spend more on an aquarium of plants then they do on their own yard plants. Just the fact latin names are not used in discussions...makes people guess what you have. btw,this plant is said to turn red with no Co2.
So,in conclusion..ha. The plant hauled out for a better photo.

Really nice tank

Retired Viking said:

I tried tetra algae wafers and the only thing in the tank that liked them was my nerite snails. I tried them the other day at one end of my tank and 6 out of 7 snails were there in about 2 hours. It's a 55 gallon tank so they must really like them to travel that far but my fish have no interest I will check my LFS and see if they have that. Thanks

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My fish wont eat the algae wafers but my dog loves them.... lol