Finally tearing down ugly 57g, building new 36g to replace it!

[Jitsz]

That is absolutely something I'd have overlooked and done I hope your plants make it ok!

It will be a little while before I get a few plants again, awaiting on a new tank to arrive in the next few weeks so will be grabbing some substrate and could possibly find room for a surprise one though until that's ready if they're back in stock between now and then. I'm sure the weather will be back to normal in no time at all

 

[Colin_T]

@Colin_T would sticking root tabs under the bulb not give them enough nutrients to replenish what they use up?

If you have a couple of root tabs under each bulb and replace them every month they should be ok, but Aponogetons are greedy and need lots of nutrients otherwise they waste away.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

If you have a couple of root tabs under each bulb and replace them every month they should be ok, but Aponogetons are greedy and need lots of nutrients otherwise they waste away.

Awesome, thank you! I definitely am forgetful about replacing root tabs, but with swords and crypts, it's not so urgent you know.

Where I live there are a couple of inches on top soil before you hit rich red clay. I'm contemplating potting it with a clay layer etc, but haven't done that before, and the tank itself is only a 15g, so not a lot of room for pots, you know? So haven't decided yet, might depend on the size of the bulb that arrives... but if I end up planting it straight into the tank substrate and going with the root tabs, I can set alerts to remind me to replace them. I buy good quality root tabs too, like the Seachem ones.

I'm seeing signs of new growth on most of the plants I added to this tank, so I'm happy about that! Fingers crossed the ones in the new one survive being posted during a heatwave...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

That is absolutely something I'd have overlooked and done I hope your plants make it ok!

It will be a little while before I get a few plants again, awaiting on a new tank to arrive in the next few weeks so will be grabbing some substrate and could possibly find room for a surprise one though until that's ready if they're back in stock between now and then. I'm sure the weather will be back to normal in no time at all

They seem to update their stocking late Sunday/early Monday I believe, so worth checking then, and ordering straight away if there's an more unusual plant you really want (like my crinum, those are harder to get hold of and sell out fast), provided the heatwave has passed by the time your new tank is ready to plant up!

Hope you start a build journal for your new tank! I like following other journals as well

 

[Colin_T]

Aponogetons need 4-5 inches of substrate, which you won't have in many tanks so pot it up.

GROWING PLANTS IN POTS.
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.

 

[Jitsz]

They seem to update their stocking late Sunday/early Monday I believe, so worth checking then, and ordering straight away if there's an more unusual plant you really want (like my crinum, those are harder to get hold of and sell out fast), provided the heatwave has passed by the time your new tank is ready to plant up!

Hope you start a build journal for your new tank! I like following other journals as well

I definitely will once the first few bits arrive! Ahh that's handy to know, thanks! I will have to remember to check back on those days closer to the time

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

That is absolutely something I'd have overlooked and done I hope your plants make it ok!

It will be a little while before I get a few plants again, awaiting on a new tank to arrive in the next few weeks so will be grabbing some substrate and could possibly find room for a surprise one though until that's ready if they're back in stock between now and then. I'm sure the weather will be back to normal in no time at all

I got super lucky! The plants were packaged well (as they always have been from pro-shrimp) and they all looked great when they arrived! Even though they arrived the day the heatwave finally broke, lol! I was really nervous and felt like an idiot for ordering them when the worst of the heat was on, but I think since they're potted plants from a good source, that helped!

I had a disaster order once from a cheap amazon supplier (again during summer heat, because apparently I don't learn lessons quickly) where it was all stem cuttings, and were a rotting mess when they arrived. I got a refund, but it was hassle and annoying. Definitely worth spending a bit more to get quality, and ideally, ordering when it's not especially hot or cold! lol

The black background looks much better I think, adds more visual depth

Interested to see what your lucky dip plant is, I'm always tempted by that

I laughed so hard when I saw what the lucky dip plant was! It's an Echinodorus "rose"...

Which is a lovely sword! But it also happens to be the exact species of sword I just removed from my tanks because it outgrew even the 57g pretty quickly! It's now in a huge tub of water in the back garden which is slowly evaporating, as I'm hoping to convert it back to it's emersed form since it's too big for any of my remaining tanks! Oh the irony that they happened to send me the exact same plant!

But still, I got several years of enjoyment out of it, and this one is small enough (and still in emersed form, so leaves are converting now to it's submersed form) that I should be able to use it for a few years too I don't mind, especially for a quid!


The mystery crypt is still a mystery, sadly. The label just says "mixed crypt, brown". But it looks healthy, and the other crypt I ordered is a lighter green, so the contrast should be nice.

 

[Jitsz]

Glad they all arrived ok! I agree, they do a good job ensuring safe delivery. Sounds like a nightmare regarding the Amazon plants.. thankfully never had a problem getting issues with Amazon orders resolved though it seems to be becoming increasingly more difficult each time haha.

What are the chances of that I really love the look of emersed plants, do those swords require a lot of humidity or would the humidity provided from the tank be enough? It's something I'd like to give a go but I think I'll take small steps.

Ahh that's a shame I'm glad it will provide a nice bit of contrast at least. I've not ordered any plants still mostly due to the weather. Did get some aquasoil and some essentials but thankfully the lucky dip was still out of stock. I can always find some essentials I need to order once they're back in stock weather permitting Once the new tank is here I will get a journal going. I do have most of the basics here now, tank hopefully won't be much longer now

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Lost one of my two male bronze cories And it's my fault.

Tank has been stable for a while, so I've got a bit complacent I guess? This 34g was due for a water change this weekend, but today I was focusing on the 16g pygmy tank which was a bit of a mess, so I spent a long time cleaning, cleaning filters, fussing with plants etc. Finished mucking about with it at like, 6pm, went to sit down with a coffee and looked over at the 34g, and saw bronze cory spinning, then laying on his side.
Panicked - they'd all looked okay this morning when I fed them, so I took water samples for testing and added some Prime, just in case, before doing the water tests, and put the spinning cory in a breeder box. Did the tests and ammonia and nitrites were high.
I had added two pretty large cory tablets in there this morning... I usually use one, but there are 16 (now 15) cories, two plecos and a bunch of shrimp in there, along with the tetra and livebearers, so I didn't think it would be a problem. But I'm suspecting it was that. That they didn't finish all the food, and it released ammonia in there all day without enough fast growing plants to help.

Rushed through a 60% water change, moved all the wood and stone out to give the substrate a good clean and to search for any dead fish. Went into a full panic attack while doing it, so was struggling to carry buckets while struggling to breathe, and feeling worried for my fish. By the time I removed 60% of the water and returned with a bucket of new water, the cory had died
I found a couple of dead shrimp, and that a load of roots on an amazon sword had rotted, but otherwise, can't see signs of any dead fish, will do a headcount in a minute.

Moved a big bunch of hornwort in there and have refilled the tank now - how long should I give the water to mingle before I do another water test?

 

[Rocky998]

I'm so sorry that happened @AdoraBelle Dearheart!

I'm sure things will even out and get better! You're a good fishkeeper but things happen. All part of the hobby when we try to take in a "wild" animal

 

[Colin_T]

Wait an hour before testing the water again.

The more water you change at one time, the more you dilute any water quality issues. A 75-90% water change will do more than a 50%, which will do more than a 25% water change.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Wait an hour before testing the water again.

The more water you change at one time, the more you dilute any water quality issues. A 75-90% water change will do more than a 50%, which will do more than a 25% water change.

Thank you! Testing now. I can only do a max of 60% on this tank because of the filter/heater etc, so I did 60%, testing now since it's been about an hour, will do another 60% change if there's still any ammonia or nitrites!

 

[Oblio]

Thank you! Testing now. I can only do a max of 60% on this tank because of the filter/heater etc, so I did 60%, testing now since it's been about an hour, will do another 60% change if there's still any ammonia or nitrites!

Can you not unplug them and do a larger WC?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Test results:
Ammonia - yellow, maybe a very slight green tinge, but hardly? If there is, it's very low.
Nitrites - too high. Much better, but 0.5ppm instead of the purple it was before.
Nitrates - 40ppm, so nitrates are also higher than they usually are between weekly changes. Makes me suspect that it's been building slowly this week and since no one was showing signs and the tank has been fine since I set it up, I've only been testing before weekly changes, not mid-week.

Fish headcount - all seem okay, only one I haven't seen is one of the three glowlights, but he's also a good hider, so it's possible that that one died (the tetra are elderly) and it's building for a day or two, and shrimp ate the remains, then the food this morning tipped it over the edge perhaps? or might have just been the food.

Doing another 60-70% change now.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Can you not unplug them and do a larger WC?

I could, but it's a canister filter which is tricky to restart and bacteria start to die off quickly in there if it's off, and I was thinking I wanted it going so it could help process the ammonia and stuff. Usually 60% weekly has been okay, there was definitely something, like a dead fish or my overfeeding, that pushed it over the edge.