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

[Stan510]

I was going to drop in at the local petclub where they have plants cheap. But,my last visit and $2.99 each for three plants?..its mostly been turned into Rainbowfish and Roseline barb. Small Rainbows hardly notice plants,but let me tell you,as they get to 4" and over? They Hoover any plant that suits them. Gone is the Rotala,the Pearl weed ( I liked it so much too,darn),and even Bacopa..that last is shocking since Bacopa is not a fine leaved plant.
Plants they dont touch are the Java plants..moss and fern,Bolbitis,Crypts,Vallisneria ( for some reason)..Lily...either Tiger Lotus or Brown..never bothered.
Ludwigia ovata is ignored.
Its a guessing game..all it is. I would just avoid very small leafed plants..after that maybe stick with other versions of what I have..Red Crypts and relatives like Lagendora. Sword plants are fine.
Yes,I don't think anybody ever told you large Rainbows have a strong vegetarian side..they do love cooked veggies. Raw aquarium plants now..

 

[Stan510]

My new routine is making water changes at no less than two weeks and even then I cut the amount from 40% to 25% or so. My use of erythromycin to rid the tank of all slime algae has saved the hobby interest for me. Other changes like the bigger pump and running a powerhead with vortex running full bore have made this tank not just go longer with no water changes...but plants are greener than ever,growing faster than ever. My Bolbitis is starting to look like high tech grown...ok,not quite that perfect or large,but getting there.
I think I've hit the wall for awhile adding fish and plants. Just let what I have spread and grow..move things around a bit to give the Rainbows more room.

 

[mcordelia]

Yay! I love it when people talk about how the hobby changes and evolves for them

 

[FFGuest6357]

Here's another food tip. If you don't feed live food then cooked shrimps are next best..but I found if I take the frozen at say three at a time to last me three days,I microwave them until they lose all gooeyness and become crumbly.

Are you talking about regular food for people shrimp here?

 

[Stan510]

Thanks Cordelia!
Yes,people shrimp. I take usual sized ones (3) and from frozen put them in for a minute in the microwave. Peels shells. If they are the larger shrimps,2 can last even longer than three of the average sized FWIW.
I today after 15 days of no water change..changed since I knew I needed to wipe the inside glass,trim off dead leaves,trim down the Star Grass- a plant that was looking bad for a few weeks and then the cyano was removed,it took off again- I wanted to clean the big inside filter. So,might as well make a 25% water change. But,I can tell you,it was a close call. Plants are thriving,water was clear. No need for ferts or iron. I almost tried to go for three weeks.
One final thing I wanted to get in. Its been weeks since adding fish. In fact I'm now nervous to add any more as everybody is healthy,growing, and any new infection from a sick fish would go like wildfire. I think I will stick with the cards I got. For now.

 

[mcordelia]

I think that's a good move! At the end of the day, if you always keep adding more fish you will eventually run out of room better save that room for when you have something you reeeeally want on your mind, instead of just "meh adding some more fish"

 

[mcordelia]

Oh and, maybe consider a small quarantine tank for new fish moving forward. You don't want to bring bad bugs into your wonderful setup. Craigslist has 20's for sale for ~30 a pop and they usually come with everything. Toss some plant trimmings in from the 240, wait a week or two, and then add fish into qt. You should have enough just in trimmings to set up a silent cycle.

 

[Stan510]

I've been thinking of that for awhile setting up the quarantine tank. I have an old 25-30 gallon long Acrylic tank. Lightweight and must still hold water. Not sure how many of my old tanks I have stored can say the same thing.
Also- most of the Rainbows are not fully grown. Looking at the ones that are,is keeping me away from LFS and adding. When you have Rainbows that look to be 6" and getting deeper bodied...PLUS,Cordelia,I notice that my usual feeding amount has increased. So,facts like that I can't ignore.
And it looks really good. I'm actually having for the first time more Java moss than I know what to do with. So,extra that was trimmed is in a jar for now.

 

[Stan510]

Do fish like to play?
This baby red Ancistrus is on a bucking C.balansae leaf only inches from the 1,200 gph filter pump and 600 gph powerhead with vortex running,and he's just having a great time being whipped up and down,left and right. I've seen him and one of the Panda gara's side by side and the Ancistrus superior riding bronc skills won.
I wish this was a video because it's perfect for that..a fish having a great time.

 

[FFGuest6357]

Yes,people shrimp. I take usual sized ones (3) and from frozen put them in for a minute in the microwave. Peels shells. If they are the larger shrimps,2 can last even longer than three of the average sized FWIW.

first of all, I don’t know the science behind cooking with a microwave.

to be honest, I have a little bit of information on how they work but only from limited research and mostly heresay.

there are 3 things my family uses a microwave for... reheating coffee (my wife exclusively), cooking microwave popcorn, and re-heating canned corn.

I don’t trust this machine passed that.

As a former chef, I know that shrimp can be a delicate food to prepare, and I would like to offer up a different approach to cooking them.

bring a small pot or pan to a simmer and drop the shrimp in, simmer until they are cooked through. Take the shrimp out and place them into an ice bath to cool them down quickly to stop the cooking.

once cooled they can easily be shredded to an appropriate size.

again, this is only my opinion, but I think that cooking shrimp, from frozen in a microwave, is going to ruin a lot of the nutritional value...

I don’t trust microwaves.

 

[Stan510]

It takes some fiddling trial and error. Not to over or undercook. Under is a gooey shrimp not able to be broken up..usually still gray colored shell. Over cooked, shrinks them too much and the meat feels solid. In between is what you want..apricot/peach colored shrimp and texture that you shred by hand after removing the shells.
One funny thing? I just found that the tail where the meat gets hard to remove? Toss it into the aquarium if you have loaches. They are able to extract the meat just like they were doing in some snail. They even seem to enjoy working at it.

 

[Stan510]

As the 2 year old gd says..about presents "I love it!"

 

[Stan510]

After a years absence and after I thought she had died,my female Ancistrus showed herself again. Last year my sailfin Pleco had taken to attacking her in the 240 gallon. That Sailfin was about 8" from the 2" when i added it. But at the larger size she chased the Ancistrus.. I was sure months she was long gone. I had to trade away the Sailfin as it also became a serial plant uprooter.
Then,I added the RED Ancistrus a few short weeks ago. Low and Behold,she's happy and tame and I'm seeing more of her by the day. Lately I've added more Clown Loaches and want to add more Roseline barbs..I see that going more of less species makes a happier clientele of fish.

 

[Stan510]

Some updates. I removed the walmart shop light I tinted because I decided that days are plenty long enough that I could replace it with my 30 watt LED Yescom light with 156 LED. Guess what? The Walmart 48" 30 watt...was brighter. But the fish light of course gives a better color rendition. I notice that the sun was doing more than the yescom light. So I removed it there ..it was blocking more light from the window than it itself was making!
So,its now better color end to end..with 30% less artificial light.
I also sold Java Moss that is really growing fast now..more than I can find places for it. Fish stores love Java moss..when other plants not so easy to get rid of. You could bring in a bucket of the stuff and get a ton of credit. I got a pound (or so)of Hikari pellets for the handful of Moss.
I also raised my mountain by placing it on a squarish lava rock that you don't see as Bolbitis also is really growing..not Co2,pro aquascaper perfect..some algae on some fronds..but its thick with a dozens of leaves and so much larger than the strand it was in Jan 2020 when I bought it. It's looking like a good sized fern houseplant. Now making water changes a bit more often to keep algae at a low point.
I added Alternanthera reineckii roseafolia..another go. My first try lasted near a year. So worth a second shot as the tank is more plant friendly than ever.
Sometimes things just evolve.
What do you know? I like the shoplight better...with my tinting than the yescom's too blue and not as bright light. Wow,I never saw that coming. In fact if I thinned my tinting..it would be much brighter than the yescoms output...but I would again be back to no color. Just leave it alone as it gets Anubias to bloom and Bolbitis to expand.
See? on paper yescom should be way ahead. In real life the $22 dollar walmart shop light does plants much better.

 

[Stan510]

Updated rockwork. The local rockery sells it for a low,low price.