Aquascaper 600

Thanks everyone Sorry I'd missed these comments - still in tap water for now. My RO unit has sprung a leak this morning which is a bit annoying. Managed to turn it off will have to work it out this weekend.



Had the water change tonight - left it a little longer than I'd have liked about 10-12 days the bank holiday threw it out. Trimmed the Rotala H'ra on the left and replanted some stems on the right. At some point I think I'm going to need to cut the H'ra on the left right down as its going to bush out too much. I think I want to let the Limnophilla over grow again before I do that though so the left side does not look too bare (visually and for the fish).

Wills

Mix a bit of R/O water with the tap water each time you do a water change and slowly lower the pH, GH and KH over a month or more.

Sudden changes in water chemistry can harm the fish and other inhabitants, so introduce small amounts of the R/O water slowly over time.

eg' Do a 50% water change twice a week using water that consists of 10-20% R/O water and the rest that is dechlorinated tap water. Do that 5 or 6 times and then use 30% R/O water and 70% dechlorinated tap water 5 or 6 times. Then increase it to 40% R/O water and 60% dechlorinated tap water. Continue until you have the tank water's chemistry where you want it.

Colin_T said:

Mix a bit of R/O water with the tap water each time you do a water change and slowly lower the pH, GH and KH over a month or more.

Sudden changes in water chemistry can harm the fish and other inhabitants, so introduce small amounts of the R/O water slowly over time.

eg' Do a 50% water change twice a week using water that consists of 10-20% R/O water and the rest that is dechlorinated tap water. Do that 5 or 6 times and then use 30% R/O water and 70% dechlorinated tap water 5 or 6 times. Then increase it to 40% R/O water and 60% dechlorinated tap water. Continue until you have the tank water's chemistry where you want it.

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Thanks Colin great advice

Been a bit ill so missed some maintenance think I've done a few changes since the last post but no pics. This is from tonight though. Might be taking a trip to an LFS this weekend so might have more exciting updates soon.

I've missed a bit of a milestone in this journal - I finally added the inhabitants this tank was planned around from day 1 a pair of Carinotetraodon irrubesco - Red Eye Red Tail Puffers, a male and a female.

Really happy with how the first week has gone my snail population is in decline and they have very fat bellies, the female is more active than the male but both have been out and about most days. They have taken some frozen blood worm and seemed interested in the Gobies pellets.

They are both pretty skitish whenever I put my hand or tools in the tank. I discovered it first when I put the tweezers in to get a bit of algae out that was floating about and again when I put my fingers in to feed them. I've done the first water change with them in tonight and it went well - I lowered the water level before I got started with removing copious amounts of green hair algae and it went without any drama and I saw the female back out patroling afterwards.





And as a bonus I managed to get a good photo of one of my Gobies, these guys change colours really fast from a neon blue stripe down their body to a golden stripe and sometimes like this where its just on the face but thought it was a good shot anyway Not sure which Stiphodon they are its either S.Atropurpureus or S.Semoni, I think they are probably Semoni but hoping they are Atropurpureus - an indicator is that as adults Atros get mottled spots in their fins and Semoni have clear fins I had thought they had clear fins but can see on the tail in this photo a bit of spotting??



And for completion this is the tank after tonights maintenance Not been quite as thorough as I like (to avoid spooking the puffers too much) but its not in a bad place. A positive I've had recently is that the Gobies seem to be eating the Staghorn Algae and it seems to be very much in retreat! I don't think they are actually eating the algae but things living in it.



Wills

Such unique fish!

I've been away for a week so left my tank in my families hands with small amounts of food and 2ml of ferts every other day. They did their best and the importnat thing is the fish are all ok but I came home to an absolute algae pit so have had to have a bit of a hack back.

Can see some areas I want to make some changes to I think the front right corner would work well with some properly planted Limnophila stems and front planted with some red crypts. In the hacking back of the green hair algae I pulled out a big chunk of Fissidens moss which is a shame and now I have a big blank area on a dull rock so will look to find something else to fill this space.







Wills

Love this tank, everything about it has been so well thought out.

itiwhetu said:

Love this tank, everything about it has been so well thought out.

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Thanks I've been really enjoying this tank. The journal is really useful too - thought from my most recent pics there was something a bit off and I've realised the big H'ra bush on the left is too tall at the moment, it looks better when the green at the back is tallest. Will probably trim next week.

Wills

Big trim tonight, noticed some of the plants were looking a bit rough and on closer inspection they were covered with a fine thread algae, which is different to the other one I've been ripping out in handfulls.

I hadnt noticed but it looks like my Co2 canister has run out so time to order a new one. Also orderd some new plants, I had to really hack my limnophila down so ordered 3 more pots of that, some more red crypts and some christmas moss to replace the flame and fissidens I had in a few places.

You can see on the left wall my algae patch I'm leaving on purpose for my Stiphodons, they dont seem to be touching it too much, so might leave it up this week as an experiment and if its no different I'll scrape it off, there is plenty on the rocks and they are feeding well on pellets so I'm not worried.

Also cleaned out my filter a lot tonight, my nitrates were going up where as usually before a water change I find they go down. Probably to do with the fact there are fish in here now but figured it was worth a clean, when I first set the tank up I put filter floss in the top bucket and I've never changed it (to my shame!) so pulled that out and put in some bio rings I had. Figured it was better to use the space rather than leave it empty.

Quite a big session tonight really so off to bed now lol.

Wills

Quite the trim indeed! Looking forward to seeing it growing back bigger and healthier!

What sort of co2 setup you running atm and how often you finding it needs changing?

Wells said:

Quite the trim indeed! Looking forward to seeing it growing back bigger and healthier!

What sort of co2 setup you running atm and how often you finding it needs changing?

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It’s a 2kg fire extinguisher and a Co2 art regulator with an in tank diffuser. A tank usually last me about three months but I think this one has lasted a bit longer as I’ve dropped my bps.

Hmmm things are not going well... my next cylinder is due on Monday but I wont be able to make the swap until next weekend. Algae has really taken over... my carpet has a lot of staghorn in it, leaves have green dust and the green thread I've been fighting for a while is in there too. Hoping when the Co2 is going again I get enough healthy plant growth to fix some of the issue but my carpet may have had it...

Went to one of my good LFS today and found they had a tank full of ramshorn snails, I've got a bunch of for my puffers and hoping they will help a little with the algae too over the next week. Some of them are pretty big so stand a chance of developing a colony in there too which would be good. I just got a mix of colours but really dont like the pink ones.... they look really out of place lol. The blues are nice though if they work I'll try and breed the blues on a longer term plan.

Spotted one of my Gobies coloured up nicely, photo not doing full justice as he was super blue and black in the tank. Tank shot is a worts and all at the moment I'll do my water change tomorrow night and give it a good clean up. I have some new plants ready to go in some sections when the new cylinder is here but I might order a few more tissue cultures just to help the carpet recover.





Interestingly comparing to last week I have had some plant growth which is good as I didnt think I had done this week... will be interesting to see what it looks like after some maintenance.

Wills

Not updated this for a while, few things to mention

On the whole the fish are doing great, puffers do fight a little bit but it seems to have died down a bit. I have lost one of my Stiphodons, 4 of the 5 have done great and are getting big but one of them just never grew, was a bit of a weak swimmer and never coloured up and sadly found it dead.

Plant wise, having a bit of a mare, my last post above mentions that I needed a new cylinder. I got the cylinder but now having issues getting the gas into the tank, I can see the bubbles going through the bubble counter but just not getting into the diffuser... I've ordered a new non return valve and some new tubing as I think that may be the issue, I've got a new diffuser as well (acutally a spare from before) and think thats worth a try too.

Annoyingly I ordered quite a few new plants for when I was planning to get the Co2 back in and in the delays I've lost a lot before I was able to plant them and some of those I planted are failing. Been a bit frustrating really and not really known what to do, sometimes I've just kept the lights off and not been adding ferts so yeah not been a great place for the plants but good for the fish.

With that in mind I took a trip to my fav shop today, had a bit of a shopping list in mind. I'd like a couple more Gobies, ideally 2 more female puffers and I wanted a school of small rasboras to complete the tank.

They had the puffers in stock which was great but only selling in pairs, I was offered a trio but I just thought is adding an other male a good idea? And I decided no, still think its the right choice too. Few Goby species in stock but not the ones I want (mentioned before I wasnt sure which species I had Atropurpeus or Semoni - actually think I have Atropurpeus which is the true Neon Blues so happy here). Rasboras, I had the choice of Kubutai (Greens), Copper Harlequins, Strawberry and Chillis. The latter three were really tiny, basically looked like fry of larger fish but I know they would get bigger but the stars of the day where the Kubutai so came away with a group of 12 and really happy with them.

In the tank now, they are sitting a bit high in the tank but hoping they will settle down a bit lower in the water column. Oh I added a couple of little rocks to the stack on the right I quite like it on the photo but not sure in real life, might bed in a bit if I get some moss on there?





Wills

Tanks looking great. Some moss on that rock pile I think would suit the aesthetic of the tank.