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Stan's freshwater 240 gallon extravaganza. Trials and tribulations of a sunlit aquarium

Java Moss stick filling in . Wish I had bought them all now. It and star grass bring a lushness together. So,I took more cuttings of SG and now planted it even in the less well lit areas...let it grow slower,its ok.
I had taken more photos..too much glare,so try again tonight I want to show that I put a Nepenthes(pitcher plant) on the big tank. It grew well outdoors here in the bay area,but hardly made those red pitchers. So,now with much more warmth I want to get pitchers.
Also a photo of Sword plant pups and water lilly pads intertwined. Different.
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Behind the Java moss on that other branch? Christmas Moss...much slower and hates a current..so I have it here now. But,I guess Christmas moss has to go on the list of mosses that can be grown with no Co2.
 
Sun going down a few more. You can see from when I started this journal how much star grass has grown..changing the look of the tank really. Now,I want to see how far I can grow it to the ends of the aquarium. Plus Syngonium is now gigantic with roots to match. The roots fine feeder hairs you wont see. The Rainbows eat them. Those little white hairs must be tasty.
Nepenthes on the tank to the right. Hopefully I can update this summer with photos of pitchers dangling red and comical from the tips of leaves.

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Stan510 said:
Sun going down a few more. You can see from when I started this journal how much star grass has grown..changing the look of the tank really. Now,I want to see how far I can grow it to the ends of the aquarium. Plus Syngonium is now gigantic with roots to match. The roots fine feeder hairs you wont see. The Rainbows eat them. Those little white hairs must be tasty.
Nepenthes on the tank to the right. Hopefully I can update this summer with photos of pitchers dangling red and comical from the tips of leaves.

View attachment 102643View attachment 102644View attachment 102645
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Its beautiful :)
 
Thank you Juice!
I think I should look for another potted plant to be to the right of the Nepenthes. A palm maybe.
 
This is the longest I've gone,17 days now. Plants and fish seem fine. It has an internal bio filter I made..When I make water changes I also drain the water from the filter area to clean it up. So,no water changes means its a bit clogged even if flow looks the same.
Lighting is 2, 40 watt aquarium bulbs and one 35 watt 4' 156 LED. Those go on about 9am and off at 7pm. That light is more to show colors and to keep every plant twisting to the window.
If I had the aquarium in a dark room? It would take six shop lights with 12, 40 watt bulbs to grow plants. OR at least two 4' Fluval LED's and those run about $160-170 each. SO near $400 in lighting. My light shop was $12 and the bulbs are $20 each. The Yescom LED fixture was $47 last year. For its brightness it's a good deal. I notice that they are not making the 48" anymore. So no point in touting it. I would guess finnex makes a good budget light. I seem to read good things about them.
But,anyways,the point is..sunlight saves me a big energy bill or expensive fixtures.
 
Some of most forgiving plants are star grass,Bacopa,Java moss and fern. Anubias shocked me..they are tough as nails. This last year was my first try and so far its been slow but very good growth. A.coffeefolia,A.nana and A.petite.
Ludwigia Super Mini is also very good but not something dominant in size.
Alternanthera reineckii...slow but very good.
All never an atom of pressurized Co2. I wish!
 
I broke down and made a 30% water change for the first time in 17 days. 30% was the least I've done in 2 years. Seemed about right. Let me tell you..when you get a Syngonium really going,and the other water plants- especially Star Grass- both sucking out the bad stuff? It really takes pressure off the bacteria in the bio filter. I was surprised at how the dirt in it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I drained tank water from it and squeezed the media..and out went brown water...but not that REALLY brown to black stuff an overloaded filter has from days of yore. My yore,lol.
Once again,I pledge not to add anything larger than the Rainbows. Keep it light, and active fish good looking to the eye. No multi dollar catfish that will hide all day either. Those days are gone too.
 
Yeah agreed Stan i'm mainly running with small Crycpts and using Pava as my carpet which grows short and slow with very low light, echinodorius ozelots red, rose and super reds, some Hygrophilia, cabomba, anubias (my petite gold is looking good...not so petite any more though, and the variegated version looks spot on) Rotala Rotundfolia, bucephalandra which flowers every week and one i've not used before but is amazing Lagenandra Meeboldii Red. A real centre piece plant and it grows swiftly! Again no C02 in sight but I was starting to see the plants slow a bit last week so i had to bump up the ferts dosing and turned down the surface disturbance to try to increase the CO2 in the tank before lights on.

I did have a look for some star grass as i have grown it before and done well with it! Alas with COVID 19 going on I had no luck, all sold out.
 
Some other pledges from this day on- No fish that do best on live food. No fish that are slow eaters. Try to avoid very small fish with short lifespans since they are also most susceptible to disease and infecting usually hardy fish. No specialed fish unless its scraping algae. No more Hatchet Fish,Ropefish,Butterfly ( freshwater) fish...things that leap and crawl out every chance they get.
If anything,Maybe a couple more Clown Loaches in the near future to be company for the one in there now.
 
Stopped in the LFS and picked 5 new Giant Danios $3.50 each. I'm REALLY avoiding complicated fish. I want fish that are happy to be in an aquarium now. No sulkers,no timid fish. Rainbows are great in two years I've only lost two. One jumped out...I suspect the grand daughter was having fun spooking the fish..caught her but had no idea that out of view was a large Boesemani on the ground. Ugh. Last year I lost a very young M.lacustris that had got itself wedged between a rock and the side aquarium panel. No losses from diseases. THAT'S what I'm going for now. Danio's love a big tank..so maybe Zebra or Pearls next time.
Fish that are playful make for interesting viewing..happy tank as they also tend to be non aggressive. Some barbs are like that also. I have those three Roseline barbs and they have been ideal aquarium fish..always on the move,they play..seen them go round and round a driftwood nose to tail...just fish play.
Happy fish,happy tank. Happy caretaker. Me.
 
Stan510 said:
Stopped in the LFS and picked 5 new Giant Danios $3.50 each. I'm REALLY avoiding complicated fish. I want fish that are happy to be in an aquarium now. No sulkers,no timid fish. Rainbows are great in two years I've only lost two. One jumped out...I suspect the grand daughter was having fun spooking the fish..caught her but had no idea that out of view was a large Boesemani on the ground. Ugh. Last year I lost a very young M.lacustris that had got itself wedged between a rock and the side aquarium panel. No losses from diseases. THAT'S what I'm going for now. Danio's love a big tank..so maybe Zebra or Pearls next time.
Fish that are playful make for interesting viewing..happy tank as they also tend to be non aggressive. Some barbs are like that also. I have those three Roseline barbs and they have been ideal aquarium fish..always on the move,they play..seen them go round and round a driftwood nose to tail...just fish play.
Happy fish,happy tank. Happy caretaker. Me.
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This may seem odd for a small fish but celestial pearl danios were small and hard as nails for me. Never had any die from disease and they bred like wildfire a big shoal looks amazing and they display all the time and the mating dances are really impressive.
 
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