Hey all and welcome to my diary!
My 54 litre freshwater aquarium at the time of starting the diary on the 28th November 2024.
Recent changes:
My aquarium is now 4 years old and it has recently recovered from a long infestation of algae so I'm finally getting it back into the positive things in my life, and very much so! The cleaned up tank looked so nice that I started putting effort to it once more.
During the past 2 weeks I've bought 2 more interesting plants, Leopard Vallisneria and Tiger Lotus (I had only very few hardy plants left) and increased the lighting time to 7-8h for the new plants to thrive. I also started using fertlizers again, and am now testing out Tropica Premium Nutrition by doing weekly water tests at a local aquarium dealer. I would like to hear your experiences with that one. Nearly all plants have appeared with new tiny leaves just recently. I was also missing algae eaters, so now nearly a week ago I bought 5 Otos, sold as Macrotocinclus affinis (previously known as Otocinclus affinis).
The arrival day of Otos. 22th November 2024. Plant leaves have some surface film for them to eat.
My newest reason for joy is that the Otos started finally eating, on the 6th day after arriving (other than plant mucus), so I'm happy not to lose any of them! I made them spirulina-meat-jelly from unaccepted fish foods and rubbed it on a wooden sushi stick. It's mimicking Repashy Soilent Green with its idea and content and commercial 'crab sticks' from its appearance. I had already started to get worried about the survivability of Otos in my tank, so I'm extremely happy about this recent change!
Otos eating spirulina-meat-jelly for the second day on the 28th November 2024.
Reagents of the home made spirulina-meat-jelly: unaccepted tetra foods and spirulina tablets which fell apart too fast in the aquarium. Extra jelly bits went to the freezer.
What is left is to figure out what to feed my green neon tetras, since they haven't accepted freeze dried Brine shrimp, frozen Daphnias nor micro pellets and are spitting out many flake foods. But the good news is that they are active and healthy and have been for years so they must get enough food somehow.
Clear water by Seachem Purigen and brighter and dimmer areas due to the changes in the led on the 27'th November 2024.
Last Monday after water change I also finally started using Seachem Purigen 50ml, which I'm also very glad about since the sunken wood started colouring my aquarium water. Also what is to be noted is that some of the led bulbs in my led slight have dimmed a bit and few burned out completely: making the tank partly a bit dimmer but I've taken a very great liking to both the bright and dimmer areas and find it quite attractive. It also enables me to have the light on longer times without worrying about a possible algae issue.
Aquarium details:
I have a 4 years old freshwater aquarium, which brand and model is Eheim Aquastar 54 litre LED. I've upgraded the filter to an oversized EHEIM biopower 160 litre filter with mechanical filter media, Eheim Substrat Pro and Seachem Purigen (50 ml) in it, finished with a surface flow pipe for a smooth natural like water exit. Light is Eheim classicLED Daylight 7,7 W with 7-8h light per day and Eheim thermocontrol 50 W heater.
Hardscape:
I have black gravel in the front and sides and coarse sand in the back where most of the plants are. Sunken wood, decorative stone features and many medium sized smooth stones of different colours.
Water treatment:
Tetra AquaSafe 5ml/10 litres and fertilizers are Tropica Premium Nutrition 2ml (1 pump) /50 litres 3 times a week (every other day) and root tablets are JBL ProFlora Ferropol Root. No added CO2, no aeration since there is a sufficient surface flow with this filter.
Water parameters:
Tested last Monday the 25th November at an aquarium service centre and store. Temperature: 24 Celsius pH: 7.1 GHd: 4 KHd: 3 NO2: 0 NO3: 15 PO4: 0.2 Fe: 0.2 K: 7 Mg: 2 CO2: 7.2 Conductivity: 210 (I'm still in a process of increasing fertilization by adding the weekly dose split up to 3 doses which is given every other day. I also tested more foods recently which increased PO4. I performed a 34% water change later on that day.)
Plants:
From the left, Tiger Lotus, Cryptocoryne, Leopard Vallisneria, Amazon sword plant and 2 moss balls in the shadow at the right.
Animals:
About 17 green neon tetras, 5 Macrotocinclus affinis (Otos), a few bumblebee snails and 1 Amano shrimp.
Routines:
Daily monitoring the status of the aquarium and feeding tetras with flake food and otos with a jelly which is mimicking the idea of Repashy Soilent Green, which is unavailable in Finland. Currently doing weekly 20-30% water changes by hoovering the bottom of the tank which removes leftover fish foods and debris. I also clean the filter media in the removed aquarium water in order to preserve the beneficial bacteria and scrub the front glass, leaving other glasses to grow surface film for Otos.
Green neon tetras happily shoaling last Sunday. (Poor quality of the video is due to the video being taken further away, not to interrupt the fish.)
Recent changes:
My aquarium is now 4 years old and it has recently recovered from a long infestation of algae so I'm finally getting it back into the positive things in my life, and very much so! The cleaned up tank looked so nice that I started putting effort to it once more.
During the past 2 weeks I've bought 2 more interesting plants, Leopard Vallisneria and Tiger Lotus (I had only very few hardy plants left) and increased the lighting time to 7-8h for the new plants to thrive. I also started using fertlizers again, and am now testing out Tropica Premium Nutrition by doing weekly water tests at a local aquarium dealer. I would like to hear your experiences with that one. Nearly all plants have appeared with new tiny leaves just recently. I was also missing algae eaters, so now nearly a week ago I bought 5 Otos, sold as Macrotocinclus affinis (previously known as Otocinclus affinis).
The arrival day of Otos. 22th November 2024. Plant leaves have some surface film for them to eat.
My newest reason for joy is that the Otos started finally eating, on the 6th day after arriving (other than plant mucus), so I'm happy not to lose any of them! I made them spirulina-meat-jelly from unaccepted fish foods and rubbed it on a wooden sushi stick. It's mimicking Repashy Soilent Green with its idea and content and commercial 'crab sticks' from its appearance. I had already started to get worried about the survivability of Otos in my tank, so I'm extremely happy about this recent change!
Otos eating spirulina-meat-jelly for the second day on the 28th November 2024.
Reagents of the home made spirulina-meat-jelly: unaccepted tetra foods and spirulina tablets which fell apart too fast in the aquarium. Extra jelly bits went to the freezer.
What is left is to figure out what to feed my green neon tetras, since they haven't accepted freeze dried Brine shrimp, frozen Daphnias nor micro pellets and are spitting out many flake foods. But the good news is that they are active and healthy and have been for years so they must get enough food somehow.
Clear water by Seachem Purigen and brighter and dimmer areas due to the changes in the led on the 27'th November 2024.
Last Monday after water change I also finally started using Seachem Purigen 50ml, which I'm also very glad about since the sunken wood started colouring my aquarium water. Also what is to be noted is that some of the led bulbs in my led slight have dimmed a bit and few burned out completely: making the tank partly a bit dimmer but I've taken a very great liking to both the bright and dimmer areas and find it quite attractive. It also enables me to have the light on longer times without worrying about a possible algae issue.
Aquarium details:
I have a 4 years old freshwater aquarium, which brand and model is Eheim Aquastar 54 litre LED. I've upgraded the filter to an oversized EHEIM biopower 160 litre filter with mechanical filter media, Eheim Substrat Pro and Seachem Purigen (50 ml) in it, finished with a surface flow pipe for a smooth natural like water exit. Light is Eheim classicLED Daylight 7,7 W with 7-8h light per day and Eheim thermocontrol 50 W heater.
Hardscape:
I have black gravel in the front and sides and coarse sand in the back where most of the plants are. Sunken wood, decorative stone features and many medium sized smooth stones of different colours.
Water treatment:
Tetra AquaSafe 5ml/10 litres and fertilizers are Tropica Premium Nutrition 2ml (1 pump) /50 litres 3 times a week (every other day) and root tablets are JBL ProFlora Ferropol Root. No added CO2, no aeration since there is a sufficient surface flow with this filter.
Water parameters:
Tested last Monday the 25th November at an aquarium service centre and store. Temperature: 24 Celsius pH: 7.1 GHd: 4 KHd: 3 NO2: 0 NO3: 15 PO4: 0.2 Fe: 0.2 K: 7 Mg: 2 CO2: 7.2 Conductivity: 210 (I'm still in a process of increasing fertilization by adding the weekly dose split up to 3 doses which is given every other day. I also tested more foods recently which increased PO4. I performed a 34% water change later on that day.)
Plants:
From the left, Tiger Lotus, Cryptocoryne, Leopard Vallisneria, Amazon sword plant and 2 moss balls in the shadow at the right.
Animals:
About 17 green neon tetras, 5 Macrotocinclus affinis (Otos), a few bumblebee snails and 1 Amano shrimp.
Routines:
Daily monitoring the status of the aquarium and feeding tetras with flake food and otos with a jelly which is mimicking the idea of Repashy Soilent Green, which is unavailable in Finland. Currently doing weekly 20-30% water changes by hoovering the bottom of the tank which removes leftover fish foods and debris. I also clean the filter media in the removed aquarium water in order to preserve the beneficial bacteria and scrub the front glass, leaving other glasses to grow surface film for Otos.
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