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OnlyGenusCaps

Fish Crazy
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Hello. I am new here. This seems like the place to announce that.

I've been around aquaria for years. Worked in an LFS in the past. Currently, I am an ecologist/botanist. I have had aquariums on and off for much of my life, but the most recent effort has only been about 3 years. Loads has changed making me feel new to it all again. I'm still in the overthinking everything stage, where I research things believing that will guarantee success, and then realize pitfalls I'd not anticipated. I feel like this is a stage with any hobby.

I have a 42gal with a quite oversized wet/dry sump. It contains n-class Endler's and cherry shrimp, among many plants, some rocks, and a bit of bogwood. I only reworked it this summer after a plumbing issue (lesson learned: doesn't pay to balance the overflow and the return pump precisely when designing the system because when you need a new pump it won't push exactly the same amount of water, even if it is the same brand). However, I'm already thinking of how I'd like to change it to have a bit of a different community.

I'm also planning on doing a bit of a larger tank. About 250-300gal. For a few mbuna. I've always liked them, but never had the space to devote to them in a way that I felt was appropriate. I'd feel good about a tank that size for them. I'm sure I'll learn some hard lessons on that tank too. But that is why I wanted to join a forum. Post plans and perhaps get useful input before I flood the house.

I came here in part because there is a science discussion board, and I liked that this places allowed the "Unpopular Opinions" thread (I may head over there next), which remained civil. Makes the place seem like it has space for rigor and viewpoint diversity while remaining cordial. Few places can make that claim these days. I look forward to my interactions here.
 
Hello. I am new here. This seems like the place to announce that.

I've been around aquaria for years. Worked in an LFS in the past. Currently, I am an ecologist/botanist. I have had aquariums on and off for much of my life, but the most recent effort has only been about 3 years. Loads has changed making me feel new to it all again. I'm still in the overthinking everything stage, where I research things believing that will guarantee success, and then realize pitfalls I'd not anticipated. I feel like this is a stage with any hobby.

I have a 42gal with a quite oversized wet/dry sump. It contains n-class Endler's and cherry shrimp, among many plants, some rocks, and a bit of bogwood. I only reworked it this summer after a plumbing issue (lesson learned: doesn't pay to balance the overflow and the return pump precisely when designing the system because when you need a new pump it won't push exactly the same amount of water, even if it is the same brand). However, I'm already thinking of how I'd like to change it to have a bit of a different community.

I'm also planning on doing a bit of a larger tank. About 250-300gal. For a few mbuna. I've always liked them, but never had the space to devote to them in a way that I felt was appropriate. I'd feel good about a tank that size for them. I'm sure I'll learn some hard lessons on that tank too. But that is why I wanted to join a forum. Post plans and perhaps get useful input before I flood the house.

I came here in part because there is a science discussion board, and I liked that this places allowed the "Unpopular Opinions" thread (I may head over there next), which remained civil. Makes the place seem like it has space for rigor and viewpoint diversity while remaining cordial. Few places can make that claim these days. I look forward to my interactions here.
welcome!! any pics?
 
Thanks for the kind welcomes, all!

I do have a photo of my aggressively mediocre planted tank. Okay, mediocre might be a little too kind. I apologize about the glare in the photo - it's snowing here today and hard to find an angle where that wasn't obvious on a bowfront. The plants have grown fairly uniformly with the tallest rocks so agt the moment there is not the type of height diversity I'd like. And really the plants aren't growing all that well. My giant sump and low bioload have contributed to my water having essentially no N available the the plants, and I have nearly no P right now either. The algae seems to find a way to scrape some out of the water column though. I don't mind the green stuff, but the black type annoys me. I mowed down the foreground plants to remove some of it. I figure once I fix the underlying problem, it'll stop being so pernicious. I've added root tabs in hopes of getting the rooted plants to start growing a bit more, while not dosing the water column where the algae can easily reach the new nutrients. We'll see. It's all a learning process.

42 gal recovery.jpg
 
Thanks for the kind welcomes, all!

I do have a photo of my aggressively mediocre planted tank. Okay, mediocre might be a little too kind. I apologize about the glare in the photo - it's snowing here today and hard to find an angle where that wasn't obvious on a bowfront. The plants have grown fairly uniformly with the tallest rocks so agt the moment there is not the type of height diversity I'd like. And really the plants aren't growing all that well. My giant sump and low bioload have contributed to my water having essentially no N available the the plants, and I have nearly no P right now either. The algae seems to find a way to scrape some out of the water column though. I don't mind the green stuff, but the black type annoys me. I mowed down the foreground plants to remove some of it. I figure once I fix the underlying problem, it'll stop being so pernicious. I've added root tabs in hopes of getting the rooted plants to start growing a bit more, while not dosing the water column where the algae can easily reach the new nutrients. We'll see. It's all a learning process.

View attachment 126760
you might want to get some otos or something, looks like thre is a lot of algar, the plants will thrive if the algae is gone a little
 
Thanks for your thoughts. If I decide to go the route of an algae eater that certainly seems like one to consider. For now, like I mentioned I'm pretty comfortable with the green algae in there. I'm taking the approach of trying to figure out the root cause favoring the algae over the plants. Just takes time. In the meantime, I'm sure the little "pest" snails will reproduce to use the resource. And the shrimp seem to enjoy it, as do the Endler's.
 
I had a few nerites in there the first round. I agree they were significant algae consumers, however; I found their egg laying to be intolerable. It is an acrylic aquarium and I am still removing traces of their nuisance eggs. At this stage, I'm planning on avoiding them. I do appreciate the suggestion!
 
Maybe. I guess my first thoughts are that they are filter feeders and because of my giant sump and 6-7x/hr turnover my water is sparkling. And I mean spar-kel-ing! The second thing is that, at least the species I am familiar with, are quite small but do move around, so I'd be worried they'd get sucked down into the sump, never to return. I'm still hoping healthier plants will be the answer. I probably need to get some faster growing ones in there, but also get the substrate nutrients up, which I am working on. I'm not in a panic. But, I al already excited that folks have jumped right in with kind offers of advice. This is a great place!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum :fish::hi: :fish:some nerite snails may help to. I have them and have little to no algae in my tanks. I like the rocks:good:
 
Thanks for the kind welcome! Great as they are at eating algae, you couldn't pay me to put nerite snails back in that tank.

Rocks are from a local yard. Great selection and low cost. Can't beat it.
 

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