Upgrading to 112l

Byron · Jun 28, 2023

Coming along nicely. Floating plants are what I would get first, Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, Frogbit, some stem plants left floating work well (Pennywort for example). These are a huge benefit.

For the background, nothing shiny. A dull matte finish, like black construction paper is best, it makes the space seem larger, it showcases colours of fish and plants, and the back almost disappears. And it is not reflective so it does not stress fish--reflective services can, and the glass is all you want doing this, not something shiny behind it.

Lcc86 · Jun 28, 2023

Thanks @Byron, I'm waiting on some elodea densa at the moment, seems to be taking forever to arrive. My aponogeton crispus is sprouting from the bulb already and has shot up a couple of cms within the last few days. Once the elodea densa arrives I'll see how it does and then potentially order some of your suggestions. I'm not great with plants so just trying to keep it simple for now! I know it'll take time for it to look a little less.... barren lol.

I was thinking I've got some brown parcel paper somewhere, I may just put a couple of layers of that on the back and keep it really simple, or if I can find some black construction paper that would do too. I did look at some aquarium backgrounds but wasn't a huge fan of most of the ones I found.

Lcc86 · Jun 29, 2023

Finally got a photo of one of my little guys (and the tail of another!). Excuse the algae on the tight hand side, I didn't want to scrub old decor before transferring it over as wanted to keep any beneficial bacteria.

Byron · Jun 29, 2023

Lcc86 said:
Finally got a photo of one of my little guys (and the tail of another!). Excuse the algae on the tight hand side, I didn't want to scrub old decor before transferring it over as wanted to keep any beneficial bacteria.

Not scrubbing decor to preserve bacteria is wise. But the green on the decor on the right side looks in the photo as if it might be cyanobacteria, not algae. Is is sort of slimy, and will it easily come off with your fingertips? If yes, remove all you can, you can take it out and do it under the tap. Cyano like problem algae takes advantages, and this is a new tank that does not have an established biological system, plus the conditions in the smaller tank were likely high in organics which caused it.

Geet yourself some substantial floating plants ASAP, this will help by reducing the light and using nutrients rapidly.

Lcc86 · Jun 29, 2023

Byron said:
Not scrubbing decor to preserve bacteria is wise. But the green on the decor on the right side looks in the photo as if it might be cyanobacteria, not algae. Is is sort of slimy, and will it easily come off with your fingertips? If yes, remove all you can, you can take it out and do it under the tap. Cyano like problem algae takes advantages, and this is a new tank that does not have an established biological system, plus the conditions in the smaller tank were likely high in organics which caused it.

Geet yourself some substantial floating plants ASAP, this will help by reducing the light and using nutrients rapidly.

Yes am going to give it a good clean tomorrow now that the tank itself is doing well. My elodea densa is finally on its way too, taken forever!

Lcc86 · Jul 7, 2023

I've bought 5 panda corys and 2 julii cories to go with the 3 I already have. Thought it would be easier to have 2 different types so that I can keep track of them a bit more easily (made sense in my head anyway!).

One panda unfortunately jumped out of the bag and into the main tank while I was letting the water acclimatise, I left it once I had noticed as it seemed quite happy rooting around but when I checked an hour or so later it had died so not sure if the shock had killed it. The others are all doing fine, they are much braver than my full grown ones and are pretty active. Hoping for no more losses.

Have also ordered more plants as I've decided I want more coverage to go for a more natural look. Things look much the same atm so I haven't taken any new pictures.

Lcc86 · Jul 8, 2023

New filter added today. Mine was rated for 300litres but is barely working at a trickle, added a Tigerlily silent 4-in-1 rated for 500litres. Will be keeping the old filter running until the new one is cycled in. Also have an air pump running on the opposite end of the tank to the filter. Not sure if floating plants are going to work now as there is some surface disturbance but I'll see when my elodea densa arrives (meant to be 48 hour delivery but is taking over a week, will probably be dead by the time it eventually gets here!).

The adult corys are still very shy, not sure if this is a consequence of me having them in an unsuitable environment for such a long time. Hoping the new plant cover will make them feel safer.

Byron · Jul 8, 2023

Lcc86 said:
New filter added today. Mine was rated for 300litres but is barely working at a trickle, added a Tigerlily silent 4-in-1 rated for 500litres. Will be keeping the old filter running until the new one is cycled in. Also have an air pump running on the opposite end of the tank to the filter. Not sure if floating plants are going to work now as there is some surface disturbance but I'll see when my elodea densa arrives (meant to be 48 hour delivery but is taking over a week, will probably be dead by the time it eventually gets here!).

The adult corys are still very shy, not sure if this is a consequence of me having them in an unsuitable environment for such a long time. Hoping the new plant cover will make them feel safer.

It sounds like you have much too powerful a filter. Floating plants for the fish being considered is mandatory, because it makes a huge difference in their stress level. The filter depends upon the fish (the flow needs to be suited) to again allow them to be calm. I had tanks of 20g, 29g, 33g, 40g. Each had a dual sponge filter.

In the 40g when I moved my cories in, I got a Aqueon Silent Flow internal filter, it is basically a sponge but with a small motor so you can have stronger water current than a basic sponge. Mine was rated for 10g, which was just right in the 40g. The reason I went to this was because of the CO2 build-up during darkness. This is perfectly normal, but the cories in the early morning were respirating too rapidly, and it turned out to be the CO2. Having the intrnal filter meant the water was moved more than without, and the exchange of gasses at the surface due to the surface disturbance was all that was needed. Cories were fine after that.

Here's a video of the surface disturbance in the 40g, which was full of plants including floaters across the entire surface. [Never done this video thing before, hope it works.]

Lcc86 · Jul 8, 2023

Byron said:
It sounds like you have much too powerful a filter. Floating plants for the fish being considered is mandatory, because it makes a huge difference in their stress level. The filter depends upon the fish (the flow needs to be suited) to again allow them to be calm. I had tanks of 20g, 29g, 33g, 40g. Each had a dual sponge filter.

In the 40g when I moved my cories in, I got a Aqueon Silent Flow internal filter, it is basically a sponge but with a small motor so you can have stronger water current than a basic sponge. Mine was rated for 10g, which was just right in the 40g. The reason I went to this was because of the CO2 build-up during darkness. This is perfectly normal, but the cories in the early morning were respirating too rapidly, and it turned out to be the CO2. Having the intrnal filter meant the water was moved more than without, and the exchange of gasses at the surface due to the surface disturbance was all that was needed. Cories were fine after that.

Here's a video of the surface disturbance in the 40g, which was full of plants including floaters across the entire surface. [Never done this video thing before, hope it works.]

Yeah I'm struggling to find a balance, the original one is barely working (not sure why as it should and it isn't old but even cleaning doesn't help). I have some attachments with the new one so I think I'll have a play and see how they adjust the flow or if I need to come up with an alternative.

Also I'm not sure if I've worded my previous post properly, the filter is rated for 500l per hour which I'd calculated should be pretty much spot on for my aquarium size.

Can't get the video to work BTW, says its private

Byron · Jul 8, 2023

Lcc86 said:
Can't get the video to work BTW, says its private

I don't know how to fix this. It is not private at my end, and I have sent video links to others that were able to see them. This happens on TFF (not suggesting it is a fault of TFF, just that I spend time here and see this now and then). Some times I cannot see a video linked, but others can. And vice versa.

Lcc86 · Jul 9, 2023

Byron said:
I don't know how to fix this. It is not private at my end, and I have sent video links to others that were able to see them. This happens on TFF (not suggesting it is a fault of TFF, just that I spend time here and see this now and then). Some times I cannot see a video linked, but others can. And vice versa.

I wish I was savvy enough to suggest a fix but I don't even know how to upload a video to YouTube in the first place!

Lcc86 · Jul 9, 2023

As I'm not sure how to do the whole YouTube thing I've taken a pic to give an idea of my surface water movement, not the greatest way of doing it but I would describe it as a small but consistent ripple.

Ps scrubbed the cyanobacteria off but it's starting to return so I think more aggressive action is needed. More plants are going in tomorrow when I do a water change and then I will leave lights off for 3 days.

Byron · Jul 9, 2023

Lcc86 said:
As I'm not sure how to do the whole YouTube thing I've taken a pic to give an idea of my surface water movement, not the greatest way of doing it but I would describe it as a small but consistent ripple.

Ps scrubbed the cyanobacteria off but it's starting to return so I think more aggressive action is needed. More plants are going in tomorrow when I do a water change and then I will leave lights off for 3 days.

Can't tell much from the photo. As for cyanobacteria, you must get the source fixed, and that is organics/nutrients. Lightchas to be balanced, but blackouts are like bandaids. Light is obviously important, and more floating plants will help here, as they use nutrients rapidly and shade the lower tak.

Lcc86 · Jul 9, 2023

Byron said:
Can't tell much from the photo. As for cyanobacteria, you must get the source fixed, and that is organics/nutrients. Lightchas to be balanced, but blackouts are like bandaids. Light is obviously important, and more floating plants will help here, as they use nutrients rapidly and shade the lower tak.

Thanks, can you recommend any other easy to care for floating plants? My elodea densa hasn't shown up so am guessing it's lost, will get some more as that's always worked well in my tanks, but anything else similar? (Except duckweed!).

Byron · Jul 9, 2023

Lcc86 said:
Thanks, can you recommend any other easy to care for floating plants? My elodea densa hasn't shown up so am guessing it's lost, will get some more as that's always worked well in my tanks, but anything else similar? (Except duckweed!).

Duckweed has its uses, I had it in one tank deliberately. But more substantial plants are needed to provide shade. Water Sprite is #1, and Water Lettuce and Amazon Frogbit. Some stem plants do the job nicely, Pennywort left floating was good for me.

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Upgrading to 112l

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