Bush whackers

My jungle tank got a bit of a trim today to make room for some different plants that a very generous member @LordHappy offered to send me. There was a mass exodus of duckweed as well. I probably threw out a Cool Whip tub worth of the stuff. I also learned that I have a bunch of baby guppies that were hiding amongst the hornwort.

That duckweed really took over, the tank looks sort of empty compare to the jungle you had.

Retired Viking said:

That duckweed really took over, the tank looks sort of empty compare to the jungle you had.

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Somehow, I used to kill that stuff. Then about two months ago, I noticed a couple pieces growing behind my filter. Then they exploded. Every week I would throw out handfuls. My wife and I cleaned out as much as we could yesterday.

It's very empty, but the tank was in need of a deep clean. There was mulm all around the base of the plants and behind the hardscape that I couldn't get to with weekly maintenance, so it was time. The tank was a mess, but otherwise, fairly healthy. With all the plants, nitrates barely even registered on my API test despite having a pretty heavy bioload. Something was out of whack here recently, though. I got a pretty decent black beard algae bloom out of nowhere. I nuked all my hardscape and affected plant roots with 3% hydrogen peroxide. The worst affected pieces I left out and only put the two pieces of mopani back in. Give it a couple weeks. It'll be overgrown again.

Flipping heck that is one big clean out.

I can't be the only one who read "cool whip" in Stewie Griffin's voice love how I can't decided whether I like the before or the after more, nice tank!

EllRog said:

I can't be the only one who read "cool whip" in Stewie Griffin's voice love how I can't decided whether I like the before or the after more, nice tank!

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And it goes great with hhhhhwhiskey, right?

I've never been happy with the aesthetics of this tank except when I first started it (which my old convicts felt the need to destroy it by shredding every last plant). I'm not a good aquascaper, but least it's healthy. I've never lost a fish.

Flushable Pets said:

And it goes great with hhhhhwhiskey, right?

I've never been happy with the aesthetics of this tank except when I first started it (which my old convicts felt the need to destroy it by shredding every last plant). I'm not a good aquascaper, but least it's healthy. I've never lost a fish.

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Yeah thats a lovely set up! I'm useless at scaping, every tank ends up as an out of control, jungle tank lol

EllRog said:

Yeah thats a lovely set up! I'm useless at scaping, every tank ends up as an out of control, jungle tank lol

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Same. I've thought about just letting it go and then putting an X-Wing in it and it could be a Dagoba swamp tank.

Flushable Pets said:

Same. I've thought about just letting it go and then putting an X-Wing in it and it could be a Dagoba swamp tank.

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That would be sooo sick! Could even do the little darkside cave at the back for bottom dwellers to take cover in and Yoda's hut! This is a scape I want to see now and I'm not usually one for themed tanks

That would be cool, maybe an Imperial Walker too, they have them for tanks. I was tempted to buy a Star Gate but I already of a Castle theme tank. The funny thing is that when I had the castle in my 55 gallon tank with my tetras they were having fry and now with my more natural sunk forest theme they have had no fry and are not even chasing each other around the tank anymore.

Happy day...that's a badass tank! I love the Dagoba swamp look of the roots hanging down. What kind of foul brew is to the left of the tank in the suspiciously leering bottle? And what is the plant with the pink and green leaves? Do you have light above it? I saw a YT where a guy took coconut fiber and wrapped it around a small ball of soil. He stuck a plant in it and then hung it on the side of his fish tank, maybe half submerged. It looked great. I saw a post a bit ago where someone used lego to build embankments, so Lego Star Wars would look neat for a little bit until the algae kicked in.

In thinking about weird things in tanks that failed for me, I tried crystals in a zebra danio tank once and that just did not work out. Later it was pointed out that the type of crystal I used, n-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-2-amine, was water soluble and caused some weird reactions in the fish. They were very, very agitated, wouldn't eat and after 4 days, took a long nap. They were rather surly after an emergency water change, and if you've never seen bad-tempered danios before, believe me when I say you are better off without the experience.

@LordHappy The pink and green guy is Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen). Pretty plant, ugly roots. I do have a light above it. It's hanging from the ceiling with fishing line, so unless you look close, it looks like it's hovering. I have another light laid across the egg crate lid. It's ghetto, but it works. The other plants are pothos, syngonium and spathiphyllum.

If you think about it, Legos might be one of the best decorations to have if you're worried about algae. They would be easy to remove and clean and you have near infinite possibilities designing your aquascape. I like the Lego Super Mario Bros aquascapes. Not something I am likely to have myself, but still full of win.

Regarding the danios... Really, man? I wonder how many people will get that.

To be honest I kinda like the overgrown jungle look a lot more than the super manicured scapes.

Kyle E. said:

To be honest I kinda like the overgrown jungle look a lot more than the super manicured scapes.

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Me too. I just cleaned things up to make room for new plants and the driftwood all had BBA on it that I don't want in my tank. It all got a nice 3% hydrogen peroxide bath. I put a couple pieces back in, but I don't know what all will go back in until I start working on the new scape.

Flushable Pets said:

@LordHappy The pink and green guy is Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen). Pretty plant, ugly roots. I do have a light above it. It's hanging from the ceiling with fishing line, so unless you look close, it looks like it's hovering. I have another light laid across the egg crate lid. It's ghetto, but it works. The other plants are pothos, syngonium and spathiphyllum.

If you think about it, Legos might be one of the best decorations to have if you're worried about algae. They would be easy to remove and clean and you have near infinite possibilities designing your aquascape. I like the Lego Super Mario Bros aquascapes. Not something I am likely to have myself, but still full of win.

Regarding the danios... Really, man? I wonder how many people will get that.

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You'd really have to be curious enough to Google it, and then one would see why it fits with the danio personality

There is an elegance to using mono for lighting.

I have your package ready....its a bit different. There's definitely java fern and red root floaters plus some sort of floater with these fuzzy, superhydrophilic leaves. I'm also sending blue and purple mystery snail babies. My MTS seem to be in a down cycle right now and none have been visible for days, but they will be back with a vengeance in a month or so. I tried to not include any duckweed...but that stuff is the very definition of pernicious. I'll send it priority mail tomorrow and maybe it will arrive on Friday. I have sent these plants to Netherlands...wait...no, I mean, I heard of a guy down at the pub who said he sent them to Netherlands and that it took 11 days and they arrived intact, if a bit weak, so surely a trip Ohio should work. One can't really trust random guys down at the pub, so who knows. Will send you tracking info so we can share the joy of when the tracking ends in the Opa-lacka swamp.