# Johnson18's Blackwater ADA 90p



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

This tank has been in the planning stages for almost a year. I have been slowly acquiring the necessary items and think I've finally got what I need. The biggest thing that has changed is the tank size. All of my planning has been for a 40 gallon breeder, but yesterday got the opportunity to purchase a first generation ADA 90p for quite cheap. I will be picking the new tank up today. There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about this tank in the posts on my rack journal.

Important Preliminary details, with a few thoughts or concerns added as I go-

*Tank:* ADA 90p, 48 gallons, 90cm x 45cm x 45cm or 36" x 18" x 18" depending on your country of origin so you don't have to google the conversion, like I do all the time. Math sucks.

*Filter:* I had planned to use an Eheim 2215, but now I'm not sure if this isn't too small for the new tank. I know the 2215 has enough media surface area for the 90p, jusdt not sure if I will need more flow.
Considering an Eheim skim350 surface skimmer. If you have one how much

*Heater:* Just realized I don't have one, there will be one. I almost always go with in oversized heater.

*Lighting:* I've not really decided on this yet, but it will almost certainly end up being one of my existing lights. If I decide I need more light, I will probably end up buying a cheap LED that isn't really a plant light but will add some brightness to the dark tannin-stained water. With that being said, my options are a 30" Coralife dual lamp T5HO, 24" dual lamp T5HO, or two 18" BuildMyLED. Honestly I probably will add a non-planted LED that I can run for a longer photoperiod than the plant light since this tank won't be super planted.

I was leaning toward the 30" T5HO, but I think Coralife was the only company to build a 30" T5HO and then not very many of them! The bulb availability freaking sucks. The fixture currently has two 6700K bulbs in it, but I'm not sure these are still available, as last time I looked, I think the 10,000K was offered. I definitely don't want to use 10,000K bulbs on this tank!

I will probably start with one of the lights I already own and then switch them around to see what I like best.

*Substrate:* Sand, most likely pool filter sand as I have a 50lb bag that has barely been touched. I was talking to the owner of my LFS recently and he mentioned having seen people having issues with high phosphates in tanks with PFS as the substrate. I haven't searched for info on this, anyone have any experience with it?

*Hardscape:* Manzanita, and lots of it! The goal will be to create a large number of line of sight breaks and areas allowing fish to be able to hide from each other easily. The larger number of female Apistos that I may be aiming for means that the number of sight breaks will be dramatically increased.
The tank will also include several of the small terra cotta/clay caves and "huts"

*Plants:* The plan is to go with relatively easy low light species of plants, though not specific to a certain area, region or even continent. Swords, crypts, val, and dwarf sag are all likely species along with a few Hydrocotyle species, and a number of floaters. Star Grass may be an option as well. I'm trying to stick with root feeders as I don't plan on any real dosing. The tank will not be heavily planted, I would expect that it will end up being moderately planted.

Current Plants as of 11/2/17:
Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'
Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'
Echinodorus peruensis
Echinodorus sp. ‘Xingu’
Echinodorus uruguayensis 'Red'
Helanthium quadricostatus
Helanthium tenellum ‘red’
Heteranthera zosterfolia
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Leopard Val
Red root Floaters
Dwarf Sag

*Livestock:* I've been through a couple livestock plans for this tank but have pretty much narrowed it down. The most recent list came after the previous list was cut down to help support better odds of successful breeding for the Apistogramma species. This discussion is in my tank rack journal. I'm not sure the new, larger tank size is enough to really warrant an increase back to the original list. I will post both of them as I am still open to thoughts and suggestions.

So my original plan for stocking the 40b was:

2 pairs of Apistogramma urteagai

~25 Nannostomus trifasciatus - Three-lined Pencilfish

~15 Carnegiella strigata - Marbled Hatchetfish

2-3 L066 Hypancistrus sp. - King Tiger or Scribbled pleco


Now I think it is going to be closer to this:

2 males & 4-6 females of Apisto. urteagai

~25 or less Nannostomus trifasciatus - Three-lined Pencilfish

Along with one of the following options:

2-3L066 Hypancistrus sp. - King Tiger or Scribbled pleco- preferably a M/F combo
OR
10-15 Otocinclus

I'm sure most of you are not familiar with Apistogramma urteagai as it is a fairly uncommon Apisto species. A. urteagai is in the A.-regani-Group, resticulosa -Complex. Which from what I can find means that the males should be opportunistically polygamous. Species within this complex are small, <2.25inches for a max size. There are quite a few pictures of the fish I have currently in the previous linked rack journal, which can also be found in my signature. This Apistogramma will be the main focus of this aquarium. At this point, I'm willing to minamize the number of other inhabitants in order to make the Apistos happy and increase the chance they spawn. It is entirely possible that I change that in the future and just go for an nice heavily stocked blackwater community tank. As I stated in a recent post, I'm not trying to be an Apisto breeder, beyond as just a hobbyist but I enjoy seeing how the Apistos act throughout the spawning and raising fry stages. It would just be a bonus if I end up with a few fish to sell or trade with friends and other hobbyists.

Pics will be up as soon as I pick up the tank,


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Saving this post for prudent information and junk, bc that's what all the cool kids do, or some stupid ish. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


EDIT: I figured out what I need to put in this post... The details of how the tank has ACTUALLY been set up.

*Here are the tank setup details as of 11/21/2017*

*Tank:* ADA 90p, 48 gallons, 90cm x 45cm x 45cm or 36" x 18" x 18" 

*Filter:* Eheim 2215, as well as an Eheim Skim350 surface skimmer

*Heater:* Fluval(?) 300W, will be replaced by a Hydor 300w inline at some point

*Lighting:* Flexi-M 36" dual lamp T5HO, Giesemann Powerchrome Aquaflora & Midday bulbs

*Substrate:* ADA Amazonia capped with Pool Filter Sand

*Hardscape:* Manzanita, and lots of it! 
As well as two Cobalt Aquatics Apisto Huts and two Cichlid Huts.
Wide variety of Aquatic Botanicals: seed pods, leaves, stems and such. Mostly from Tannin Aquatics.

*Plants:* 
Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'
Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'
Echinodorus peruensis 
Echinodorus sp. ‘Xingu’
Echinodorus uruguayensis 'Red' 
Helanthium quadricostatus
Helanthium tenellum ‘red’
Heteranthera zosterfolia
Hydrocotyle leucocephala 
Leopard Val
Red root Floaters

The Apisto/Cichlid Huts are covered in peacock moss but have been hidden from view. 


*Livestock:* 
_Otocinclus _ x 15 - not 100% on the species, I'll have to take a better look
_Caridina multidentata _ x 2 - Amano Shrimp

*This is the current plan for the rest.*

2 males & 4 females of Apistogramma urteagai - I currently have these fish in a different tank.

12 Nannostomus mortenthaleri- Red Coral (or Red Arc) Pencilfish - These have been ordered from Arizona Nature Aquatics

10 marbled hatchetfish


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's ADA 90p Blackwater Apistogramma Tank*

Well, for some reason Tapatalk won't let me edit the first post. Actually, it doesn't show me anything but the last comment about the pics, which I added as an edit moments after the original post. Since the second post is saved for some unknown specific junk, I'll post pics here. Followed by some more random build and scaping thoughts.










So I didn't go pick up the tank today. No worries, I'll pick it up in the next couple days. My back has been killing me all day, it wasn't worth it to push myself to go pick up the tank. 

Here are some pictures for those that may not be familiar with the fish I'm wanting to keep.

Apistogramma urteagai - A-35









Nannostomus trifasciatus- Three Lined Pencilfish

I've currently got one, yes just one, of these, it is in with my Dwarf Pencilfish. I've had quite a bit of time to watch it & I can't wait to have a bunch of them! 










This is NOT my image, used from google. My single fish looks just like this though. 

L066










Also not my image.

So for "aquatic botanicals" I have a whole bunch of stuff from Tannin Aquatics, 50 XL Indian Almond Leaves I just received, small IAL I buy from my Killifish club & alder cones I buy from the Killi club as well. I will have to constantly refresh my supply of these as the items begin to breakdown in the tank. 

I also have a whole bunch of dried palm fronds and seed pods. These come from my Mediterranean Fan Palm in the back yard. I posted a thread about them a while back. 



















I'm still not sure how and where I want to use these. They are of the size that they could become overly dominant quite quickly in a tank of this size. I may have to end up sending them to the guys with the 75g blackwater tanks. 

Thoughts on Wood:
I thought I had some pictures of the manzanita from when I collected it off a friend's property. It will take some time to fit it all in the tank. Currently, there is one of the three pieces sitting in the 40B in my garage & it takes up at least 2/3, if not 3/4, of the tank. The other two pieces are sitting elsewhere. I'm hoping to go back down to my friend's house to collect a few more pieces for several other tanks but I'd also like some smaller pieces to work with for this tank. 

I will probably tie the pieces together with fishing line or zip ties so that all the pieces stay in their desired locations. I may even consider using some of the light diffusing milk crate stuff to attach the wood to under the substrate to better keep the wood in place no matter what happens. 

Plants:
The more I think about plants the more I want to that the plants I use are able to grow well in decent substrate and proper nutrients. I guess what I'm thinking about here is using either a plant substrate or soil such as MGOPM in certain areas of the tank. This would allow me to create areas where the plants would do well. I think might be nice as it works to ensure that the vals in the back or the dwarf Sag on the edges of the front do well without having to take years to fill in an area in low light, low nutrients. It is still just an idea. What do you think?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Picked up the tank yesterday! It looks pretty good, needs another wash. Thank you to Ben at Arizona Nature Aquatics for hooking me up with his ADA display tank from the old store location. I still can't believe I picked this tank up for what I did. I'm gonna spend more picking up a couple more 20's at the $1/gal sale for my rack. Ben was just glad that the tank was going to someone stoked to use it rather than to someone who was going to flip it for more money. 

Unfortunately, it's still sitting in the back of my car, where he loaded it for me. I messed up my back pretty bad this weekend working. I've basically done nothing but stretching and ice all week, plus see my PT. I'll try to get some pics after I finish a biochemistry exam this morning, which will be the second class I've been to all week. The first was a biotechnology exam. I am not even going to try to get work done on this tank this weekend. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Rogozhin75 (Aug 15, 2017)

johnson18 said:


> Picked up the tank yesterday! It looks pretty good, needs another wash. Thank you to Ben at Arizona Nature Aquatics for hooking me up with his ADA display tank from the old store location. I still can't believe I picked this tank up for what I did. I'm gonna spend more picking up a couple more 20's at the $1/gal sale for my rack. Ben was just glad that the tank was going to someone stoked to use it rather than to someone who was going to flip it for more money.
> 
> Unfortunately, it's still sitting in the back of my car, where he loaded it for me. I messed up my back pretty bad this weekend working. I've basically done nothing but stretching and ice all week, plus see my PT. I'll try to get some pics after I finish a biochemistry exam this morning, which will be the second class I've been to all week. The first was a biotechnology exam. I am not even going to try to get work done on this tank this weekend.
> 
> ...


pics?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Since I can't move the tank by myself right now, you get pics in the back of my messy ass vehicle. 




























Like I said, it needs another bath. But overall is in decent shape.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## sevendust111 (Jul 15, 2014)

I would definitely go bigger than the 2215. I have one on my 24g cube and I still use a nano powerhead for co2 dispersion. Maybe get the 2217?


----------



## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

I am in Phoenix 1/month for work- looks like I should plan a trip down to Tucson to see Arizona Nature Aquatics.


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

sevendust111 said:


> I would definitely go bigger than the 2215. I have one on my 24g cube and I still use a nano powerhead for co2 dispersion. Maybe get the 2217?


I’d have to agree with this. I have the 2217 on Mt 40 an it’s perfect, before I added a reactor I actually had to throttle it back a bit.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Picked up an Eheim Skim 350 and a heater at the auction today, both for this tank. Along with the second trio of Apistogramma urteagai. 

I was given an Eheim 2213 for free by another member. I might look at how I can switch around filters now to free something else up. Honestly, I just can't afford to pick up another 2217 right now. I've always over filtered my tanks so it is odd to be trying to scramble to put something together. I may consider swapping the impeller of the 2215 out for a 2217 impeller to boost the flow slightly. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Well key me know when you have an excess of palm fronds.


----------



## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

I've got a 2215 running on my 45 for the last 9 months/year and its' been no problem as regards filtration/flow . I don't have it overstocked with fish , though . Also it's a low tech tank , don't know how much a reactor would slow things down .


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

someoldguy said:


> I've got a 2215 running on my 45 for the last 9 months/year and its' been no problem as regards filtration/flow . I don't have it overstocked with fish , though . Also it's a low tech tank , don't know how much a reactor would slow things down .




Thank you for this info!! I'm not planning anything here but low tech. So definitely no reactor! I'm guessing that in the long run, this tank will be more on the side of moderate to low stocking levels versus heavily stocked. I'll probably leave out the plecos. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Where are we on this??


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Where are we on this??




Well, the tank is at least out of my car and sitting on a dolly in the garage. lol.

I see my pain doc today, hopefully we can come up with some better options for my pain management. It would be nice to be able to do the stuff want to do, such as set up this tank or work on my 55, along with the stuff I NEED to do like school and work. Due to my pain levels I just had to drop 7 units, which puts me at only taking 10. I guess now that I've done that I'll definitely have some free time if we get my pain under control. 

I have decided that I will be using the Eheim 2215, and Eheim Skim350. The 2215 has been running on my 55 as a second filter for more than a year, so I don't expect a super long cycle. The cycle will be increased some as I have decided that I will be using a small amount potting soil in specific areas, such as the back and sides, in order to get good growth of some plants like vals & swords. 

I've been reading more about the biotopes of the streams and oxbow lakes in the Rio Madre de Dios area of Peru, where Apistogramma urteagai are from. While I DO NOT plan to have this be a biotope(bc matching fish sounds tedious, & I want pencils not Tetras), it actually kind of fits what I want to do with this tank. 

https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/exploring-freshwater-fish-habitats-in-the-rainforest-of-peru/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I will be doing my best to get this tank started over the weekend. I'm getting a bunch of plants from a friend & just placed another order with @Bartohog (who is my go to plant supplier!) which will mostly go into this tank. 

I have decided to shoot for something similar to the oxbow lake biotope described in the link posted above. I will be planting leopard Val all across the back of the tank. Moving forward along each side will be a mix of swords, mostly E. parvoflorus & Echinodorus/Helanthium quadricostatus(I've seen both names, can't find which is the proper one.) The swords will fade into maybe some dwarf sag or Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. I may lightly plant across the front of the tank but I don't plan to place dirt under the soil as I will on the back & sides of the tank. I will also have some stargrass available as well as a little Hydrocotyle leucocephala to use in the tank. 

I fully plan to still use botanicals. I've got a wide variety of seed pods, leaves, cones, and such. I will also be using a number of "Apisto huts" in a couple different sizes. I'll probably cover them in whatever moss I have extra of at the time, probably peacock or Java. 









I've still gotta come up with a cheap yoga mat to chop up for the tank to sit on. I have a decent idea as where to get one.

The Apistos are really starting to look great. Putting on some decent size too. I'll do my best to get some new pics during meal time today. I thought I had some but they're all a few weeks old at least.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I'm excited to see this set up. I am going for another round of nerve blocks on Monday. I refuse to kill myself popping those pain pills, but the nerve blocks don't last long.


----------



## Slushbob (Dec 12, 2016)

This is great! Im doing a 60p Apisto tank!


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Slushbob said:


> This is great! Im doing a 60p Apisto tank!




I've got a brand new Mr. Aqua 60p that I need to set up. It will almost certainly house Apistos as well. Although, it will not be blackwater. The 20 gallon high tanks that I recently grabbed will be used for Apisto breeding/fry raising. They will mostly be a lot of leaf litter and not much in the way of plants. I look forward to seeing your 60p!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> I'm excited to see this set up. I am going for another round of nerve blocks on Monday. I refuse to kill myself popping those pain pills, but the nerve blocks don't last long.




Hope the nerve block works for you. I usually had more luck with the nerve block than the epidural injections. I hate having to take, and rely on pain meds. For me it is between pain meds, or not being able to get out of bed, sit upright in a chair, and basically be able to participate in my own life. I've done multiple epidurals, nerve blocks, been going to physical therapy for 4 years straight, pain management, and a major(L3-L5) back surgery. We've definitely tried it all, and now increasing to stronger meds is the option I've been left with. The goal is to be able to continue to build the muscle back up post surgery. I'm in my early 30s, I definitely don't wanna be on this [censored][censored][censored][censored] the rest of my life. Best of luck to you with your own back issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Picked up the last of everything I need today, besides some final plants. Got a bag of miracle grow potting soil, $6 yoga mats from TJ Maxx to cut as a tank mat, and a friend gave me a hydor inline heater that he doesn’t need anymore which will work great for this tank. 

I also got this......









Most of it is leopard val, although there are also several larger Crypt wendtii & balansae. The Crypts are going into different tanks. I’m gonna be growing some of them out to give back to my buddy when his 192 gets built. 

I also stopped by and gave my LFS some leopard val and larger balansae. I picked up some Echinodorus xingu while I was there. The sides will taper down from tall to short as it comes forward- Xingu, parvoflorus, quadricostatus. With the front being a light planting of Helanthium tenellum.

I’ve still gotta move the 10g that has all my Apistos in it down from one end of the rack to the other so I can place this tank. I’m planning to get started on everything tonight, get the tank in place the hardscape, the dirt around the edges and the sand cap, & then probably begin planting tomorrow. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Ur


johnson18 said:


> Hope the nerve block works for you. I usually had more luck with the nerve block than the epidural injections. I hate having to take, and rely on pain meds. For me it is between pain meds, or not being able to get out of bed, sit upright in a chair, and basically be able to participate in my own life. I've done multiple epidurals, nerve blocks, been going to physical therapy for 4 years straight, pain management, and a major(L3-L5) back surgery. We've definitely tried it all, and now increasing to stronger meds is the option I've been left with. The goal is to be able to continue to build the muscle back up post surgery. I'm in my early 30s, I definitely don't wanna be on this [censored][censored][censored][censored] the rest of my life. Best of luck to you with your own back issues.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Keep at it. The tanks and fish really gave me an outlet during the worst of my years. I had my cervical fusion in 2013 and laminectomy in 2014. It was a long road back, but I tried to stay at it day by day. There were some stumbles along the way. I was a national level heavyweight bodybuilder when I got hurt so the amount of muscle I had played a big part in recovery for me. My competition days are over, but no one looking at me today would think I went through what I went through or had the limitations that I do.. or any limitations for that matter.
Focus on the things you enjoy and accept that some things aren't going to go as you would like them.
Snap some pics of the rack when you get a chance. I've been thinking of doing a rack with some 20's. I've got some space next to the rack with the 2 75's. This is going to be a great tank. Still doing pencilfish?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I might need to work on this piece of manzanita. I can’t seem to make it fit in the tank. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]











More to come later...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's going to look killer. Trim it up and secure them together and that is going to look tremendous. The fish are going to love it


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Here is the latest arrangement of the manzanita. I’m still struggling with the right side as I don’t want it so empty but that’s all the wood I’ve got. 










This is similar but I liked it less...










I know that the large piece on the bottom right(it’s the end I broke off of the long branch sitting on the tank in the pic posted earlier.) doesn’t quite go with the rest of the flow/same direction. I’m actually using it to hold a couple other pieces in place, as well as creating a little cave and a line of sight break from several angles honestly, it will probably stay along the bottom towards the back. I figure that once the leaf little and seed pods go in, and the water is tannin stained, it won’t be seen much. Whereas now it definitely draws your attention away bc it is a larger diameter. Much of the wood towards the bottom back right will also be hidden by sand. 

I tried to make the end piece come down from the top right corner like the other branch. I absolutely hated it. I snapped a pic as I was dismantling it to start over. Here it is just for fun. 










I’ve definitely got to try a couple other arrangements though. I’ll if you can see it in the pics, but I’ve got the thirds both side to side and top to bottom marked on the front glass in pink dry erase marker. 

Once I find the layout that I’m happy with and want to go with, I will zip tie the whole thing together. I figure between the zip ties and being covered in sand, it is less likely to be able to easily float. I’ll take precautions and weigh it down though. 

All of the plants for this tank have been collected from friends, purchased, traded for, and ordered. Now I’ve gotta get it all set up before the plants die a sad death in a bucket. I’ll post the plant list later today. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I like this one much better! I tried to imagine that a branch-tree has fallen over right into my tank. 










With light, although that’s my BML Custom XB on 100%. This tank will not ever have that much on it, nor will it have this light, but it was easily accessed. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's ADA 90p Blackwater Apistogramma Tank*

I got the wood zip tied together, and the substrate is in. After spending an hour sifting through Miracle Gro to remove the wood chips and perlite, I realized I only had about a quarter of what I needed. I said, “F this!l, then I pulled out a bag of ADA Amazonia. I decided to use a little more than I had originally planned. I figured that even if I didn’t plant the whole tank, it might help buffer the pH a bit lower. There’s about 3/4 of a 9L bag in the tank. The Amazonia is covered with pool filter sand. I think I may want it a little thicker in spots, like across the back and a couple spots in the middle. I will take care of that later today. 














































Here is a list of the plants currently planed for this tank:
Helanthium tenellum ‘red’
Helanthium quadricostatus
Echinodorus sp. ‘Xingu’
Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'
Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'
Heteranthera zosterfolia
Leopard Val
Red root Floaters
Hydrocotyle leucocephala 
Dwarf Sag

Plus an Echinodorus giving to me as “ a chain sword” - I’ve got two, I’ll try to get a picture of them. 

I know I’ve stated this before but I only plan to plant the sides and back, leaving the rest of the tank for leaf little and seed pods. 

I’ve already got a whole box of goodies from Tannin Aquatics that I will be busting out soon to prep things for when I flood this

What I still haven’t decided on is a light to use. It will probably start out with a 30” dual bulb T5HO, which will be upgraded before too long as the bulb selection is horrible. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Ive said it before... that's going to really look awesome! I cant wait to see it settled and stocked.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's ADA 90p Blackwater Apistogramma Tank*

Thanks Dude! I seriously appreciate the input. 

I stopped by Arizona Nature Aquatics to discuss a few things with Ben. While going through some things about the tank set up, we got on the topic of lights. Up until now I’ve been undecided on what light to use. I’ve got an old 30” T4HO but the bulb selection blows. Another option was using the 24” T5HO that’s currently over my 10g rock scape. He mentioned that he would have some lights available at their up coming “garage sale,” where ANA is selling a ton of older products, mostly new but some are lightly used. Since I’ll be out of town this weekend for a Killifish/tropical fish show in San Diego, he let me go ahead and pick up a light. I bought a new, but older 36” Flexi-M dual lamp T5HO. I grabbed a couple new bulbs for it, both Giesemann, a Midday & an Aquaflora. So now I’ve got a light. 

I also decided to grab a couple more plants, mostly so I can use less Leopard Val as it’s totally not even from South America. 
Here’s what I got:
Echinodorus sp. ‘Xingu’ x 2
Echinodorus peruensis x 2 
Echinodorus uruguayensis Red 

I’m headed home now to start some planting!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I think this is now considered an actual tank journal, rather than some thread I spend too much time writing random BS!










We have water, plants & aquatic botanicals!

Now I just gotta move over the filter & junk. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The tank is almost fully planted now. The plants from @Bartohog arrived yesterday & went in yesterday evening. Other than that I’ve got a little dwarf sag that is coming from a friend in Phoenix which I will get over the weekend. Although, if I could find more Echinodorus/Helanthium quadricostatus I would probably skip the dwarf sag completely, or perhaps pull the leopard val and replace it with dwarf sag. I know where my friend got the sag for me & if it is similar to what I got a month ago it’s at least 8-12” tall.

I’ve got some pods and leaves in the tank. Of course they had no interest in sinking, so I got a little creative and hung them on the branches underwater. This will help the get waterlogged while keeping them out of the way of the skimmer. Things are already so much darker than they were Tuesday night when I first filled the tank.

I haven’t done any tests, I figure I’ve got some time before the Aquasoil stops leeching, although I guess it is possible that the filter will help process that stuff quicker. I’m in no real rush though. I want to give the plants time to start growing & the botanicals time to begin breaking down or grow some microorganisms. I’ve been cultivating microorganisms in a couple 5 gallon buckets for almost a month now at least. I may see if I can pull some out with a pipette into a small container and then dump them out into the tank. I’d like to encourage the growth of some of the microorganisms & small crustaceans before I add any fish. Perhaps these would help provide food for any fry that may be produced in the tank. 

Now that the tank is planted and getting dark, I think I’m more excited than I was to start, which is amazing since I was pretty excited to start with. I can’t wait to see some Apistos in there with a school of pencilfish cruising through the branches. Gonna be so awesome. 

Okay, I’ll get to the pics already! 

Echinodorus uruguayensis 









Echinodorus peruensis 









Echinodorus xingu 









The Echinodorus parviflorus ‘Tropica’









So the back right all the way over to about halfway across the tank is Leopard Val, then the E. peruensis are the plants you can see along the back furthest to the left. 



















Then we had to go get more water...









It was a slow process. 









And we needed more water









This round of water was a bit different as I pulled 15 gallons of water out of my 55 to put in the 90p and immediately replaced it with the RO we had just picked up. 

By this point Stone was just posted up in the front entry way, waiting to go get more water. 









Unfortunately for him, the tank was full.


















The Echinodorus xingu went behind the E. parviflorus. There are about 8 of them in a triangular shape. 










The last thing I did was tie a bunch of moss onto this hut, I left it up front as I wasn’t real sure where I wanted it to go. I will be added a few more of these into the tank, but not until I can get the Seiryu stone that is holding done the manzanita out of the way. Until then I’m not worried about where seed pods are as long as the don’t sink directly onto a plant. Last night I did move the little hut back behind the big sword.










By yesterday morning the water had definitely started to darken up.










I took the time to add a bunch more aquatic botanicals yesterday. I got a little creative in when it came to submerging them underwater when they wouldn’t sink...




























Since I’m right at the 20 pic limit for Tapatalk, here is a fts before I added bartohog’s plants, & a shot of the rack as it is really coming along!



















The rest of the pics will be posted in another post, so if it’s not up yet come check it out later!





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's ADA 90p Blackwater Apistogramma Tank*

When the plants from Thomas arrived I got them all planted fairly quickly. Although, the first thing my dumb ass self did was to empty the ziplock baggie full of Red Root Floaters. This would’ve been okay except I then spent the rest of the time I was planting picking them off my arms every time they came out of the water to grab more plants. [emoji23][emoji849]














































The Swords in the corner were given to be as a “Pygmy chain sword” no clue what they are. The folks I got it from had them all over one tank, this was about as large as they got.










Some of the H. quadricostatus





































Behind the xingu is a large group of Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius’ which also runs part way across the back glass to the E. peruensis.










I’ve got a few more Vesuvius in Phoenix with the dwarf sag that I will use to add to this group.



















The center of the front has a small group of H. tenellum ‘red’. Not sure how well it will grow in this tank, but I thought I’d give it a try. I’m not trying to have some super think carpet.














































The green Eheim pipe will be removed I’ve got a set of glass lily pipes, I just didn’t feel like messing with them when I was moving the filter from the 55. I’ve also got an inline heater but I’m not going to install it until the filter gets moved to the bottom shelf. So the in tank heater will be removed at some point too. The filter is currently sitting next to the tank on the right side. It was easier than moving the emersed 55 on the bottom shelf so I could access the area I want to put the filter. 

The water is even darker this morning! You can barely see through the tank from front the back. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's like Apisto heaven! Good job


----------



## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

johnson18 said:


> Then we had to go get more water...


Johnson18 love the Pit.....handsome boy.....here is mine.


----------



## skanderson (Jul 25, 2010)

very nice set up. made me need to go shopping for some of the E. Xingu.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> That's like Apisto heaven! Good job




I’m looking forward to seeing how mine like living here! I’ve still gotta add more hiding spots. I’ve already added a ton of different pods, but until they all sink I haven’t tried to arrange them. Actually most of that stuff is piled into the center area. Only thing I did was make sure that they didn’t or wouldn’t drop onto any of the plants. Once everything has sunk I will be spreading the pods throughout the tank, under the wood, in the middle of the taller plants, & everywhere else. I’ve tried to set up some of the plants so they will help create breaks in the line of sight. Hopefully it works, because I’ve got 6 Apistos 2 male, and 4 females ready to go into this tank. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

skanderson said:


> very nice set up. made me need to go shopping for some of the E. Xingu.




I had noticed the E. Xingu in a couple of tanks at my LFS but never paid it much attention until I started looking for more swords for this build. I’m excited to see them continues to grow. I hope they are successful enough to create a nice grouping there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do you have all the fish in other tanks already or do you still need to get some? I know you had some trouble with Pencils.

Bump:


johnson18 said:


> I’m looking forward to seeing how mine like living here! I’ve still gotta add more hiding spots. I’ve already added a ton of different pods, but until they all sink I haven’t tried to arrange them. Actually most of that stuff is piled into the center area. Only thing I did was make sure that they didn’t or wouldn’t drop onto any of the plants. Once everything has sunk I will be spreading the pods throughout the tank, under the wood, in the middle of the taller plants, & everywhere else. I’ve tried to set up some of the plants so they will help create breaks in the line of sight. Hopefully it works, because I’ve got 6 Apistos 2 male, and 4 females ready to go into this tank.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


When I redid my lower 75 I placed all the wood and heavy planting to one side with a nice little open patch at one end maybe for some Botia Loaches or Sterbai Corys. The larger male Caucatoides literally pinned the other one to the far back corner hiding under what little bit of spiralis is there. He was brutal. I added a small cichlid stone and now the other guy darts back into that and the chasing stops.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

@The Dude1
I only ever had the Apistos for this tank, along with one of the three-lined pencils. I lost one of the males a month or so ago out of my two pairs of Apistos. About three weeks ago I got the opportunity to buy a trio of one male & two females for relatively cheap. So now I’ve got two male and four female Apistogramma urteagai. The tank where I lost most of the fish, all but four dwarf pencils and one Nannostomus trifasciatus, wasn’t the tank these Apistos are in. In that tank almost everything died so it wasn’t really a problem with the pencils specifically. Actually, the pencils faired better than most of the other species in the tank.


----------



## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

This is going to be an awesome set up! Keep an eye on how deeply you plant your swords- most of them like to have the entire base (above the roots) out of the substrate. Plant them too deeply and they can rot at the base.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I finally got around to a water change on this tank. It was a little on the dark side. Only had 5g of water... still can’t see a damn thing. I’ll grab another 15g of ro water today & see if that lightens it up at all.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

This tank is getting to where you can finally see some of the plants and wood. I haven’t done any sort of water tests since i figured the Amazonia would be leeching everything Amazonia leeches. Since the filter’s been running more than a year on a different tank, I’m guessing things are going well on the cycle front. I’d planned on a water change Monday but had the joy of spending the last few days in the hospital after going into anaphylaxis in the early hours of Monday morning. The tank still needs to have a big WC done & the aquatic botanicals spread out through the tank. 



















I’ve got several of the “Apisto Huts” that I️ purchased all over San Diego a couple weeks ago. The plan is to cover them all with Peacock moss. While I️ know that moss doesn’t fit with the theme of the tank, I’ve found my fish seem to use these as caves more often if they’re moss covered. Since I’ve already attached moss to all of the zip ties that hold the wood together, I’m pretty sure it’s all good.

At the local aquarium club meeting Sunday I️ won $70 worth of gift certificates to Arizona Nature Aquatics with my 55g in the Home Show. That means I’ve got a big portion of the pencilfish that will go into this tank paid for! Definitely stoked about that! 

Sunday at the ANA yard sale i picked up some nice SS pipes, I️ haven’t decided if I️ will use them in this tank, or use the glass lily pipes I’ve got. Also picked up a second CO2 rig, so I’m thinking about moving the dual set up that is on my 55g into the room with my rack. Not sure this tank would be one that would get CO2 but it would be an option that would definitely help the swords!

Most of the seed pods and leaves I️ got from Tannin Aquatics over the last year. Everything looks great still, with one exception, both bags of Magnolia leaves have grown some nice fuzzy mold all over inside the bag. Haven’t decided if I️ should use them or shoot TA an email about it & see what they say. My guess is that the leaves just weren’t actually dry when they were packaged. Any thoughts? Here are some pictures of them...






























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

Have you worked with peacock moss before, if so, when you trim it, do you remove what you’re trimming out of the tank first and than rinse and place back into the tank? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Dang that water got REALLY dark!
Is that just from the Leaves, wood, botanicals etc?


----------



## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

Looks great, I know you have been at this for a while, so nice to see it up! Keep an eye on that Val in the dirt, it can easily take over your entire tank in no time. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## hivemindhermit (Oct 19, 2017)

I doubt the mould is a problem. Mould spores are everywhere, so they'll already be in your tank. You could boil the leaves to kill off the stuff that's started growing on them, I suppose?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Chlorophile said:


> Dang that water got REALLY dark!
> 
> Is that just from the Leaves, wood, botanicals etc?




Correct. That is just the manzanita, leaves and other botanicals like the seed pods. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

Man, that got DARK.

I have a spare 55 that is destined for a mild blackwater setup at some point. I'm thinking of doing some Chanda glassfish and maybe some green neon tetras to start. You've got me looking to pencilfish now.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

DigityDog70 said:


> Have you worked with peacock moss before, if so, when you trim it, do you remove what you’re trimming out of the tank first and than rinse and place back into the tank?




The clay huts are the only thing I’ve ever used the peacock moss on where it’s actually attached. I normally just let it grow. I’ve got a huge amount of Peacock moss in my 55, normally I only trim it in mass for a separate tank, friend, or local auction. I try not to take hardscape out of the tank once it it running. 



DigityDog70 said:


> Looks great, I know you have been at this for a while, so nice to see it up! Keep an eye on that Val in the dirt, it can easily take over your entire tank in no time.



Thank you, DD! You know I’ve been working toward this for a while, I’m also happy to see it actually running. I tried to use only a small amount of the Val. It if gots out of hand, I will removed it all. 

I decided at the last minute to use ADA Amazonia rather than dirt. Probably going to one of the smartest move I’ve made on this tank. This way I can take plants out without stressing quite as much about disturbing the sand cap. I still need to add a little more sand in areas. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

hivemindhermit said:


> I doubt the mould is a problem. Mould spores are everywhere, so they'll already be in your tank. You could boil the leaves to kill off the stuff that's started growing on them, I suppose?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk




That’s pretty much what I’ve been thinking. Hit the leaves with a quick boil & go on. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Lingwendil said:


> Man, that got DARK.
> 
> I have a spare 55 that is destined for a mild blackwater setup at some point. I'm thinking of doing some Chanda glassfish and maybe some green neon tetras to start. You've got me looking to pencilfish now.




Green Neons are a beautiful species! I do love my pencilfish, though! I’m thinking that since I’ve got a large portion of the fish for this tank taken care of by the LFS gift certificates, I may order a small group of either purple or red pencilfish for another tank. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

johnson18 said:


> [QUOTE
> I decided at the last minute to use ADA Amazonia rather than dirt. Probably going to one of the smartest moves I’ve made on this tank. This way I can take plants out without stressing quite as much about disturbing the sand cap. I still need to add a little more sand in areas.


Phew! Very wise decision indeed in my opinion. I have seen to many people use Val because it grows so well and then it becomes a weed. I was asking about the moss because I have recently gained a whole new perspective on mosses. As you well know I would imagine, mosses tend to "sink" and not float to the top so that one can easily scoop it up after trimming it. The result is utter chaos. I noticed in burr740's tanks that is an approach taken when the moss comes out of the tank, trimmed and then replaced so as to avoid the aforementioned. 

Just looking out for you as I still have the thorn in my side. Spent an entire day nearly not too long ago on a tank because of various moss trees that I had to relocate to a "moss only tank" and to say that I was frustrated would be putting in lightly. Not one of my better days in the hobby and a lesson learned. 

Cheers,
DD


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

johnson18 said:


> Green Neons are a beautiful species! I do love my pencilfish, though! I’m thinking that since I’ve got a large portion of the fish for this tank taken care of by the LFS gift certificates, I may order a small group of either purple or red pencilfish for another tank.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


A smaller school of coral red pencilfish would be KILLER... they may upstage the apisto's though. Are green Neons any hardier than regular or cardinals? I'm getting frustrated. I lost 3 today... and I added the 10 from QT last night... I don't think I lost a single one in the unheated QT tank. Both tanks are still being treated with Paragaurd. I've got 10 in QT now and I'll add another 10 or 15 tomorrow... but I need that tank for raising Celebes eggs soon so the constant influx of Neons needs to stop. It's just the Neons and before them the cardinals. It may be more reasonable to pack the tank full of Celebes.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> A smaller school of coral red pencilfish would be KILLER... they may upstage the apisto's though. Are green Neons any hardier than regular or cardinals? I'm getting frustrated. I lost 3 today... and I added the 10 from QT last night... I don't think I lost a single one in the unheated QT tank. Both tanks are still being treated with Paragaurd. I've got 10 in QT now and I'll add another 10 or 15 tomorrow... but I need that tank for raising Celebes eggs soon so the constant influx of Neons needs to stop. It's just the Neons and before them the cardinals. It may be more reasonable to pack the tank full of Celebes.




I’ve never had Green Neons, my LFS always has them in stock. They are absolutely gorgeous fish! When I was watching the Golden Pencilfish before I got the first group of them for the 55, they were in with the Green Neons. I spent a good hour watching them. If I were gonna go with tetras for a tank, it would be the Green Neons or the Rainbow Tetras. Although, probably only for a fairly dark tank. 

How long are you leaving your Neons in the QT? Any time I’m running a qt, I’d suggest no less than a two weeks, with three weeks being about right. 

I will probably do this with the new pencilfish for this tank. Honestly, since nothing is in the tank yet, I’ll probably just put them in the actual tank where I will leave them alone for about a month before finally adding the Apistos. I’ve never had an issue with fish from my LFS but I don’t want to risk the A. urteagai since they’re not a common species of Apisto. 

I’d love a small school of Coral Red Pencilfish but they won’t be going into this tank. If I get a school they will probably go into one of the 20s that I’ve got for the rack. 



On a separate note, I did big WC yesterday adding about 25 gallons after removing 15g in combination with the evaporation. During this I was able to remove all(I think!) of the rock that I had used to hold down the manzanita when I first flooded the tank. Most of the plants are looking surprisingly well, especially considering how dark the water has been since the third day. 

I will spend some time over the next week spreading out the seed pods and leaves. Currently, they’re mostly in a large pile under the manzanita in the center of the tank. They ended up there as I didn’t want them sinking onto any of the plants. 

I’m thinking that I will let my LFS know to go ahead and order the Nannostomus trifasciatus when they’re next available. Since these fish are wild caught, and relatively uncommon in the hobby, they are not always available for them to order. I figure it might take a few weeks to get them in which is fine with me. This will give the tank more time to mature. 

There are already a variety of small animals living in the tank. I’ve seen a couple of different worms, ramshorn and pond snails(I’ll be crushing the pond snails as I find them), a number of different tiny crustaceans(?), and hydra. I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen hydra in one of my tanks. I wiped/smashed most of them from the glass with my finger. I’m not too worried about it at this point. To me all these are just signs that a healthy little ecosystem is developing. 

Since I’ve still got a few weeks before I add any livestock I decided to humor myself and try something a little different. I wanted to see what would happen if I introduced a population of daphnia to the tank. So last night I dumped in a pack of 50 daphnia pulex eggs. I’ve got a couple buckets of daphnia going that are living outside at the moment. I fed way too heavily last week with slimy greens from the fridge & they were starting to smell. When I looked a couple days ago they were almost back to clear. When the daphnia populations in my buckets are looking good again, I may toss a net full into the tank as well. This may not do anything but fatten up the first wave of fish to arrive in the tank. I just figure that I went as well work to build the ecosystem as much as possible prior to introducing fish. 

Now, what you’ve probably scrolled passed all my rambling for, the pictures!









































































Looks like the stargrass is enjoying the neglect.


















































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## hivemindhermit (Oct 19, 2017)

johnson18 said:


> Since I’ve still got a few weeks before I add any livestock I decided to humor myself and try something a little different. I wanted to see what would happen if I introduced a population of daphnia to the tank. So last night I dumped in a pack of 50 daphnia pulex eggs. I’ve got a couple buckets of daphnia going that are living outside at the moment. I fed way too heavily last week with slimy greens from the fridge & they were starting to smell. When I looked a couple days ago they were almost back to clear. When the daphnia populations in my buckets are looking good again, I may toss a net full into the tank as well. This may not do anything but fatten up the first wave of fish to arrive in the tank. I just figure that I went as well work to build the ecosystem as much as possible prior to introducing fish.


Love this kind of thinking, I'm doing much the same with my tanks! Hoping that with enough crevices to hide in, at least some of the microfauna might survive the introduction of fish. xD

Your tank looks really beautiful so far! Excited to see how it develops.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That water is dark. It's going to look awesome when it's got a bunch of fish swimming around checking out the nooks and crannies.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Thanks y’all, I’m glad you like how the tank is looking. 

The water isn’t really as dark as it looks in many of those pics. If you notice, you can see the white wall behind the tank as well some of the hardware. Probably doesn’t help that I took the pictures at night, with all other lights in the room off in order to reduce any glare or reflection. 

Here’s a shot from the daytime, not a great one but it might give you a better idea of how dark the tank actually is. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

30 Nannostomus trifasciatus have been ordered from Ben at ANA. Super excited about these Pencils

I might add a few (~5) Otocinclus in the next few days. Ultimately, I’d like to have around 15 of them but I’d like to let the tank mature further before reaching that group size. I’m also trying to build up the bioload slowly. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I updated the second post of this thread to reflect the current set up of this tank, with all the equipment and such that I ended up using. I will be keeping that post up to date as to any changes in equipment, plants, fish, etc. 

I was picking up Amano shrimp for a couple other tanks today and ended up tossing two into this tank. Not sure I know how to have a tank without Amanos... They may get pulled at a later date, but who knows if I'll actually ever be able to catch them in there!

The Apistos are looking amazing! I will try to get some pictures of them some time soon. Might be a little difficult since they're in a 10g that is completely packed with plants. I'm definitely loving my choice of fish for this tank. I seriously can't wait to see them in this tank!


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Added 15 Otocinclus today. I stopped by Petsmart after work to see if they had any heaters on sale. They didn’t, but the fish were 50% off. I got the Otos for $1.44 each. Even better was that they all looked healthy as hell! I was amazed to see that. I typically don’t buy fish from any of my local Petsmarts or Petcos as they never really look that good. They’re gonna get an quarantine in the form of an isolation. I figure that since it’ll be a couple weeks before any of the pencils arrive that will give me time to make sure these are healthy. I’ll have to make sure these get fed too. 



















The plants are doing great! Everything is taking off at an amazing rate of growth. Not a huge surprise seeing as the light is on close to 12 hours a day! I never run that long of a photoperiod, especially on a new tank. I think the water has been dark enough that the light levels in the tanks aren’t super high. 










I was amazed to see that the Helanthium tenellum ‘red’ is already putting out runners and new plants are popping up. I never expected it to spread much at all & certainly not this quickly! 




















So the sun was shining in the window this afternoon & into the tank. Normally I’ve got a table full of plants in front of the window but today it’s been moved to allow room for cleaning. Made for a beautiful view of the tank!




















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Score!! If I'm being completely honest I had hoped to see this huge group of pencilfish or green Neons though. I wish I would've known that about Petsmart. Ive got a couple local that get some nice fish in regularly... they just aren't as nice as the LFS and are usually double the price. I had originally thought of adding a massive group to the lower 75... but then I saw Panda Loaches today... I don't know anything about them and I dont want to take home expensive fish and not have them thrive. At $16 a piece only a real enthusiast would buy them and I want to make sure they are a good fit. I'm very curious as to how many survive. Even with the best possible care they endure alot before getting to our tanks. Sometimes they succumb months later. Seems like about 3 months is the make or break point in my experience


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Patience, my friend. The Pencilfish will be here soon enough. I'm quite excited about getting the pencils into this tank. The Otos are a huge start though! I love it! There are enough of the Otos that they are schooling. It's definitely badass to see them all swimming about together, or taking over a whole section of a branch when they decide to settle down. I just got lucky on the fish at Petsmart, had no clue prior to walking in. I'm not much of a Black Friday shopper... I will be surprised if more than 10 of the otos don't die over the next week. 

I'm not familiar with Panda Loaches, that price is a tough sell though. Similar to the Coral Red or Purple Pencilfish! lol.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Otos have all survived so far, amazingly! I’m not sure I’ve ever had a batch of Otos where I didn’t lose at least one or two in the first couple days. I know it’s only been a few days. I probably just jinxed myself causing them all to die before the lights come on today. That wouldn’t be a surprise as that’s how Otos work! lol. I’m happy that I chose to go with a decent size group. Watching them all move around the tank together as a school is awesome! 










Went to the LFS for their Small Business Saturday sale and picked up a number of things. One of things I brought home was a stem of Ludwigia sedoides from his pond out back. I decided to put it in this tank as I would be able to plant it into new aquasoil, directly under the light. I’m not sure this will actually be enough light for this plant to survive long term. It’s worth a shot though as L. sedoides is an absolutely stunning plant!

The stem was actually about three inches short of hitting the surface when I planted it. The first day the plant had reoriented itself so all of its leaves were facing the light. By last night it had already reached the surface! I’m amazed by the growth of this thing in only two days in the tank! This tank does loose a lot of water from evaporation, but not inches per day...

Saturday evening after planting


















Sunday


















Monday evening




































The overall growth rate in this tank is astounding to me. I’m currently seeing faster growth from many things in here than I do in my 55g with CO2! Although, I purposely try to keep that tank growing slowly. The helanthium tenellum ‘red’ that I posted pics of a few days ago already has twice as many new plants popping up. The largest E. sp. ‘Xingu’ has a new runner starting that is already like four inches long! 










One plant I haven’t shown much of is the Echinodorus uruguayensis it’s put out several new leaves in the month the tank has been running. I expect this to be the largest sword in the tank, pretty much taking over the right side. 










The Echinodorus peruensis have been one of the slower growers in the tank. Much of which is due to their location along the back wall where they receive less light than on the sides of front. As the tank has cleared up their increased growth rate is quite apparent, plus I can actually see them all!  They can be seen across the back in these pics, but are difficult to get a good shot of.



















The Red Root Floaters have done well. I’ve enjoyed watching them put out new leaves. They did not like the super blackwater that was the tank for the first couple weeks. Many lost some of their leaves. They’re now recovering and those bright red roots are becoming more and more noticeable in tank shots, as a nice contrast to the bright green of the Hydrocotyle leucocephala. 




























The Apistogramma urteagai for this tank are starting to look quite beautiful! They’ve got a nice blue sheen to their fins, which I can’t seem to capture. I’ve got some pictures of them in the 10g tank where they’ve been for several months. I can’t wait to see them in this tank!





























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## hivemindhermit (Oct 19, 2017)

Looks amazing! 

What are you feeding the otos? I read somewhere that some otos can be tricky to get to eat anything but algae, what's your experience? 

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Thanks @hivemindhermit! Otos can definitely be a little difficult, especially if you don’t have a mature tank with plenty of algae and other microscopic growth for them to munch on. 

In this tank, I’ve seen them grazing on some of the growth on leaves which are decaying. If this actually provides them any nutrients or not, I do not know. I’m sure it isn’t as nutrient rich as their normal algae diet. 

I’ve thrown in a few spirulina flakes per day, not sure if they’re being eaten or if the snail population is going to explode more than it already has. I’ll probably try some zucchini in the next few days. We’ll see how that goes. 

What I’ve been trying to do is get a little algae growth in the tank. I’m running a 12 hour photoperiod which is huge in relation to the amount of plant mass in the tank. So far I’ve yet to see anything besides the small diatom bloom about a week and a half into having the tank running. I’m surprised there’s not even any visible gda! That doesn’t necessarily mean there is none present in the tank, but certainly not enough to sustain a school of 15 Otos! The main side effect of the 12hr photoperiod that I’ve seen is the quick rate of plant growth. I’m certainly not going to complain about that though. 

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get them to eat something!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## hivemindhermit (Oct 19, 2017)

The article I read suggested growing algae on rocks or ceramic and putting them in your tank for otos to graze. They simply put the rocks in a jar with tank water in a sunny window and let nature do its thing. Seemed smart, so I'm doing that to make sure I have plenty for whenever I get my otos.  

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I do have one of the ceramic cichlid huts that has no moss on it. That thing grows algae quite well. I totally forgot that was in there. I did find one oto dead yesterday morning. Still surprised that it is the only one so far. 

The Ludwigia sedoides leaves are starting to turn more red/pink. I believe it is on its second set of new leaves since it was introduced into the tank. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Still no luck on the pencilfish. We can get like 12 other species, but not the one I want. The wait continues.... 

I did add 9 marble hatchetfish last night. Not sure if they’ll stay here in the long term but damn they look good. There was originally talk of a small group of like 15 in this tank with the pencils, but the consensus was that would end up being too many fish for the Apistos to successfully breed. Since these fish can be a little jumpy, I left my water level a little lower than usual. Plus I added some new leaves to the tank without soaking them first so that they’ll float a day or two & provide extra shade.






































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do the hatchetfish normally school like that?? That looks really cool. The idea of fish jumping is too stressful for me, but they do look cool!


----------



## mbkemp (Dec 15, 2016)

I really like the idea of hatchets as dither in black water. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The hatchets are great schoolers. I'm pretty sure a group of like 20-30 of them would be absolutely beautiful. So far I've lost two, not sure why. I'm sure they'll be replaced. The thing I like about the hatchetfish as dithers is that they are totally top water fish. Every once in a while I will see one in the middle of the water column, but it is rare. They would not be much of a threat towards fry.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I’ll post a full update later today once I’m home from petsitting. I took a video of the Otocinclus in the tank schooling along the glass on one corner. It’s nothing special as I filmed it on my iPhone. But I thought it was awesome to see, sooo.... here it is! I’ve uploaded it to YouTube. If you like this let me know, I’d like to post videos more often.  https://youtu.be/sgn163-XrSE


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Added some more aquatic botanicals, along with some small(<3”) broken manzanita stems after a huge water change yesterday. Sometime last week I planted a full pot(maybe a bit more since I had 3 pots) of emersed grown microsword, lilaeopsis brasiliensis. While I planted a little out in the area where it will get decent light and grow well, much of it is planted in areas where it will grow alright but not spread. I wanted to create a sparse look in the tank, something more realistic than a full lush carpet. 


















































































































































I know some of these certainly aren’t the best pictures but I figured it would show a good representation of the tank’s current condition. 

I have borrowed a buddy’s PAR meter, I’ve not really used it to measure anything yet. I did bust it out the other day to measure the amount of light the Ludwigia sedioides was receiving. Directly under(~2-3” below) the light, right where the plant is on the surface of the water, the measurement was 350. That’s a ton of light. Hopefully it is actually enough to grow that plant. Might be why my red root floaters are doing so well too! 

The more time I spend working on this tank, the more I grow to really enjoy this style of tank. I’m happy to have the majority of the gear sorted out to set up a couple more blackwater systems in the 20 gallon high aquariums that I’ve got waiting to be set up! Those tanks will be chronicled in my rack thread. 

Here is a full tank shot I just posted to Instagram. Jwillmon if you wanna check it out on there. 









Let me know what you think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Those look look fantastic. The amount and way you have the manzanita placed looks perfect. Does that stuff sink right away? I love the red root floaters. I would really like to replace the hornwort in the Gertrude tank with it, but I hear it wastes away in most people's tanks. Does it stay that cohesive? How fast does it proliferate? I want to do something different in my Gertude tank and I've got some amazing hard wood and roots from our trip to Ashville that I collected in some waterfalls and creeks. I was thinking about wrapping HC japan or maybe some of that Pilo moss?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I didn’t presoak my manzanita. It was super dry when I set up the tank, so I weighed it down with stones before flooding the tank. Thanks for the comments on the layout. I’m just glad it looks alright to people beyond just me. 

I’ve had no issues with the red root floaters. They just grow & grow. It’s not a super fast reproduction compared to many floating plants(Salvinia minima, duckweed, riccia), but it has done well. Hydrocotyle sp. japan is an easy plant. I’ve used it in a bunch of different tanks. I’ve always got some around to use when I want it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Send some of your water.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nlewis said:


> Send some of your water.




Don’t know how I missed this one! You’re welcome to all the water from this tank you want.  It would be cheaper to tint your own, even if your buying the stuff through Tannin! 

Here’s are a couple super bad pics, but if I had waiting until all the lights were off in the room you wouldn’t see anything!




















I’ve been super impressed with the growth of this plant. It has increased in size quite a bit since adding it to the tank! Since I relocated it the other day back to directly under the light, the pink area in the middle has gotten way more intense. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

What is that?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Ludwigia sedioides, or the mosaic plant. It’s typically a pond plant and usually quite difficult to maintain long term in the aquarium setting. We’ll see how it does in this tank. When the tank is topped off it is sitting at a PAR of just under 350(347) for almost 12hr a day. Luckily for me the tannins help cut those light levels down for the rest of the tank. 










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That is a gorgeous plant. Does it develop leaves only at the surface??


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> That is a gorgeous plant. Does it develop leaves only at the surface??




Yes, it is a bare stem & roots below the surface. If the stem is shorter that the water level there will be leaves, but most of the growth will be vertical to get to the surface. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## d33pVI (Oct 28, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> Ludwigia sedioides, or the mosaic plant. It’s typically a pond plant and usually quite difficult to maintain long term in the aquarium setting.


Must. Have. Where did you get yours?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

d33pVI said:


> Must. Have. Where did you get yours?




I got mine from Ben at Arizona Nature Aquatics. It’s not a plant I’ve seen often in the hobby, since it can be a struggle inside. Plus, they usually are not cheap. Ben might be willing to ship one, though he usually doesn’t sell the ones he has. Take a look around through some of the regular plant guys on here, like @Bartohog and see if anyone has some. If not I know a few people in Arizona that have been keeping it, I can always reach out to them. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Bartohog said:


> It's normally kept as a pond plant, if you have trouble finding it check pond plant online stores. Not sure that it ships well but that is just a guess as i know someone that ordered it and most didn't survive. Think it's also seasonal
> Thomas


Thanks for the info, Thomas! I would agree that places selling pond plants might be the best bet. They are definitely a seasonal plant, which will not be available in the cooler times of the year from such vendors. I checked with a buddy who has access to a wholesale vendor for pond plants(along with a bunch of other aquatic plants) and he confirmed this as well, unavailable during the fall and winter through his vendor. My particular plant had been kept outside all summer in a pond here in Tucson.


----------



## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Tank is looking great!


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Just found that there is a new side shoot off my Ludwigia sedioides! Pretty stoked by this! Honestly, if it continues to do well I might pull the red root floaters and let the mosaic take over. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Took some decent pics a couple weeks ago. I guess I’ll throw a couple up here now. lol. 



































































































































































I added three assassin snail this morning. The pond snails are getting out of hand. 

I ordered 12 Nannostomus mortenthaleri from Peru yesterday. Worked out a pretty good deal on them, less than $10ea. I’d like to double that number but I didn’t want to add them all at once. Definitely stoked about these fish! Should be here Wednesday. 

I’m going to clear the surface of the red root floaters to give the Ludwigia sedioides room to grow. If I need to I can add a smaller portion of the rrf back later. 




















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Did the pencilfish come in?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Did the pencilfish come in?




No. There was an error on the wholesaler’s stock list. The list showed the species but when we ordered they weren’t there. No worries, I totally understand things like that happen. We’ve been watching the availability for the past couple weeks & have had no luck getting either of the two desired species, N. trifasciatus or N. mortenthaleri. After a little more research and discussion, I’ve ordered 12 wild caught Nannostomus rubracaudatus from Peru. I’m hopeful that there are no further issues & the fish arrive the middle of next week. Unless there are serious aggression issues I probably won’t add anymore to this school. 

I will continue to add a few Marbled Hatchetfish at a time until I reach a school of 10-12. Watching these fish school together is incredible. 

I’m looking forward to getting the Apistos moved into this tank. They are absolutely gorgeous, lots of blues & red. I can’t believe how beautiful these fish have turned out being! They don’t hardly look anything like the images on google of Apistogramma urteagai which don’t reflect the true beauty of the species. I’ll try to some good pictures of them soon.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do you keep a lid on this tank?? How are you preventing the hatchets from jumping? Even with 98% of the top covered I lost like 75% of my Gertrudes to jumping... hatchets are worse I've heard...


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

No lid, haven’t had any issues with the hatchets jumping. When I first introduce them I try to have the water level a couple inches below the top of the glass. After a week or so I top the tank off normally. I have never had any issues with the Gertrude’s either. The majority of my tanks aren’t covered & I don’t think I’ve ever lost a fish. I had an Amano shrimp climb out once but nothing else. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

johnson18 said:


> No lid, haven’t had any issues with the hatchets jumping. When I first introduce them I try to have the water level a couple inches below the top of the glass. After a week or so I top the tank off normally. I have never had any issues with the Gertrude’s either. The majority of my tanks aren’t covered & I don’t think I’ve ever lost a fish. I had an Amano shrimp climb out once but nothing else.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I've been thinking hard about a school of hatchets for my 150. Can you share some pics of them like in an FTS?? I keep the top of the water above the rim of the tank and then the canopy on top of that. Are they like absolute top of the waterline or within a couple inches?? Marbled hatchets are the ones to go with?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> I've been thinking hard about a school of hatchets for my 150. Can you share some pics of them like in an FTS?? I keep the top of the water above the rim of the tank and then the canopy on top of that. Are they like absolute top of the waterline or within a couple inches?? Marbled hatchets are the ones to go with?




Damn, a big school of Marbled Hatchetfish cruising around the 150 would look badass! I don’t have any fts with them in it. Honestly, the school just isn’t big enough yet. I’ll see what I can do to get some shots though. So in my tank, which you have to remember has a lot of coverage in the form of a large number of branches, I see them utilizing the upper half of the tank. Often swimming down through some of the gaps in the wood hardscape. If they are just chilling they’re almost always just under the surface. Whereas if they are moving across the tank front to back or side to side, they will typically be a couple inches under the surface. Without having a massive amount of wood at the surface of your 150 it’s hard to tell how comfortable they would be. Of course I’m guessing you’d have at least 20-30 which might help make up for the lack of immediate hiding. Strength in numbers is always a good thing for these tiny little schooling/shoaling species. 










I know I said that I haven’t had an issue with fish jumping but just last night I was working in my emersed tank on the bottom of the opposite side & found a crispy Hatchetfish next to it. That would explain the numbers I’ve currently got in the tank. I added six fish last week to the three I had, one died the first day & one was missing. I figured it had died in the tank and I just didn’t find it. Nope, guess not. I did do a water change the day I put them in so the water level wasn’t as low as I would’ve liked it to be. You can bet your ass that I will be dropping it prior to the arrival of the Purple Pencilfish!! I got them for a good price but I don’t want to have to replace them even at that price! 

I also propagated the Ludwigia sedioides last night. With one of the side branches. It was a fairly short cutting but that’s what I had to work with & that side shoot HAD to be removed anyway. That left 4 clusters on the main branch, so I’ve got more if it doesn’t do well. 










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Well, the act of getting these pencils has seriously become a running joke between myself and the owner of the LFS. The Wholesaler emailed him yesterday saying that the N. rubracaudatus didn’t look 100% and could they pull them from his order. I laughed when he told me this. Funny thing was his email to them was basically the same as my response to him. We will keep trying. 

I really don’t want to switch up again. At this point I would take any of the three species we’ve been trying to get. I think the only other pencils I’d be willing to go for would be Nannostomus espei. There’s no way I can afford those. Plus their coloration & patterning is far too similar to the Marbled Hatchetfish. I don’t need two different species with creamish-gold & blackish-brown stripes. 

I’m sure I could get a good price on more hatchets but idk if I wanna add 12 more right now. I guess if the pencils end up being a total bust I could increase the school of hatchets by 24 and have 30 of them in the tank which would look awesome! For now I think waiting a couple more weeks is the plan. It’s approaching the end of the availability for the season for many of the Pencilfish. If nothing occurs soon a will either bump the school size up on the Marbled Hatchetfish or divide the school of Dwarf Pencilfish in my 20L in half(there are 30) and move one half into this tank until the fall. 

We’ll see what happens, & I keep you updated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Man... you're on Mission Impossible with those!! They are obviously rare so it will be worth it when you get them. How many were you going to order? Given the difficulty getting them I would for sure buy 5 more than you want. An inadequate school of a schooling fish is one of the hardest things for me to deal with.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Man... you're on Mission Impossible with those!! They are obviously rare so it will be worth it when you get them. How many were you going to order? Given the difficulty getting them I would for sure buy 5 more than you want. An inadequate school of a schooling fish is one of the hardest things for me to deal with.


Who knew it was going to be so difficult??! If only I had been willing to get a species other than the N. trifasciatus earlier maybe these others would have been more accessible. I was only planning to get 12 purples, as I definitely cannot afford 24 at the moment. My concern with 12 is that it won't be enough to really spread out the male-male aggression, which I have read is worse with these than any of the others. Most of what I've seen says to go with a group of 10 or more if you can. 12 is the minimum I can order. If it is a couple more weeks before I can get them, I might be able to afford 24. If the N. mortenthaleri become available in the next few weeks, I will go with 24. Although, that might mean I need to relocate the hatchets as I'm, only running an Eheim 2215 and a sponge filter on this tank. I'm tempted to see if I can get a 2217 and move the 2215 back to my 55 which could really use the extra filtration.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

johnson18 said:


> Who knew it was going to be so difficult??! If only I had been willing to get a species other than the N. trifasciatus earlier maybe these others would have been more accessible. I was only planning to get 12 purples, as I definitely cannot afford 24 at the moment. My concern with 12 is that it won't be enough to really spread out the male-male aggression, which I have read is worse with these than any of the others. Most of what I've seen says to go with a group of 10 or more if you can. 12 is the minimum I can order. If it is a couple more weeks before I can get them, I might be able to afford 24. If the N. mortenthaleri become available in the next few weeks, I will go with 24. Although, that might mean I need to relocate the hatchets as I'm, only running an Eheim 2215 and a sponge filter on this tank. I'm tempted to see if I can get a 2217 and move the 2215 back to my 55 which could really use the extra filtration.


Oh wow... I didn't realize it was THOSE... those are gorgeous. I can understand the effort. Those are worth holding out for...


----------



## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

I haven't read through your entire journal I'm sorry but love your setup and the pics are awesome. 

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Oh wow... I didn't realize it was THOSE... those are gorgeous. I can understand the effort. Those are worth holding out for...


LOL! The N. trifasciatus, or the Purples(N. rubracaudatus)? The Three-Lined Pencilfish (N. trifasciatus) are the ones I've held out for the longest. I decided that was what I wanted before I'd even set the tank up, back in August or September. At the time they'd been available, but the week before I was ready to add fish they disappeared from the list. We tried to get them from the middle of November through first or second week of this month. At that point I switched to the Coral Red & from there the Purples this last week. I've got a single N. trifasciatus in with the N. marginatus school in my 20L. It was a lone fish left from some fish shipped in that the wholesaler was struggling to properly identify. The fish had been taken to someone who is super good with pencil IDs and this one was left in the shop. I asked about it and was given the fish. Within a couple weeks, I knew what I wanted in this tank! At this point, I'm not sure any of the fish will show up in the remainder of this season. I could be totally wrong though! I am certainly not worried about it either way.

Bump:


iamaloner said:


> I haven't read through your entire journal I'm sorry but love your setup and the pics are awesome.
> 
> Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk


Thanks, I appreciate the compliment!! There definitely is a lot to read! Your dog is adorable, btw.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

johnson18 said:


> LOL! The N. trifasciatus, or the Purples(N. rubracaudatus)? The Three-Lined Pencilfish (N. trifasciatus) are the ones I've held out for the longest. I decided that was what I wanted before I'd even set the tank up, back in August or September. At the time they'd been available, but the week before I was ready to add fish they disappeared from the list. We tried to get them from the middle of November through first or second week of this month. At that point I switched to the Coral Red & from there the Purples this last week. I've got a single N. trifasciatus in with the N. marginatus school in my 20L. It was a lone fish left from some fish shipped in that the wholesaler was struggling to properly identify. The fish had been taken to someone who is super good with pencil IDs and this one was left in the shop. I asked about it and was given the fish. Within a couple weeks, I knew what I wanted in this tank! At this point, I'm not sure any of the fish will show up in the remainder of this season. I could be totally wrong though! I am certainly not worried about it either way.
> 
> Bump:
> 
> Thanks, I appreciate the compliment!! There definitely is a lot to read! Your dog is adorable, btw.


The purple and the Coral Red have been on my short list of "will have one day, but cant afford now". Lamp eye congo tetras is the other. One day...


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> The purple and the Coral Red have been on my short list of "will have one day, but cant afford now". Lamp eye congo tetras is the other. One day...


Ha, for real! I can only afford them now bc I've got like $90 in gift certificates. That's even getting a decent deal on them before the GCs. These are the last fish I'm going to hopefully need for a while, so what the hell? Might as well go with what I want. Plants on the other hand, I've got a lot of plants to buy.

Oh, the new stem of Ludwigia sedioides reached the top in three days, one of those I only had the lights on for like two hours of the day.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I thought I mentioned this a few days ago, but I guess I didn’t. I’ve been struggling for about a week and a half now with small spots of Cyanobacteria(blue-green algae) mostly up near the surface of the water. I started when I let the water get a bit low before a water change due to evaporation. Some of the floating plants & others near the surface got hung up on the wood & partially out of water. Since noticing it I’ve done several water changes, heavy duty excel dosing(including spot dosing), cutting chunks of plants out, & reducing light. This is the first time I’ve ever really had bga in a tank. Haven’t had much time to research the stuff so I just chop it out. The plants will grow back.

Here are a few shots I took a few minutes ago, before hacking it all out and throwing the affected plants away. 





























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Buy this, it’ll be cleared up in a day or two.


----------



## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

johnson18 said:


> I thought I mentioned this a few days ago, but I guess I didn’t. I’ve been struggling for about a week and a half now with small spots of Cyanobacteria(blue-green algae) mostly up near the surface of the water. I started when I let the water get a bit low before a water change due to evaporation. Some of the floating plants & others near the surface got hung up on the wood & partially out of water. Since noticing it I’ve done several water changes, heavy duty excel dosing(including spot dosing), cutting chunks of plants out, & reducing light. This is the first time I’ve ever really had bga in a tank. Haven’t had much time to research the stuff so I just chop it out. The plants will grow back.
> 
> Here are a few shots I took a few minutes ago, before hacking it all out and throwing the affected plants away.
> 
> ...


Here's a great starting point.























Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nlewis said:


> Buy this, it’ll be cleared up in a day or two.


Thanks, Nlewis! I'll have to check into it. I'm guessing it's plant, fish and invert safe? Snails? Have you had luck with it before? 




iamaloner said:


> Here's a great starting point.


Thanks for all the background info, Loner! This really hits home the real point of fighting an algae. Yes, you can do all sorts of things to "fight" an algae, but if you don't approach the issue that is causing the algae in the first place you are going about it all wrong. I've seen these images before. I need to run some water tests to really determine what actually needs to be altered within the aquarium to fix the underlying problem.

I was just listening to some of the older episodes of The Aquascaping Podcast. One of the short episodes that came up was one where Shawn discusses why they don't talk about algae. If you focus on the algae, you aren't focusing on the important part which is properly growing your plants. I have to fully agree with that sentiment.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Something I have thought about that I really need to work on in this tank is the configuration of the filter intake and outflow! I have been waiting to make the final adjustments until I got my canister relocated from next to the tank to under it. This hasn't happened. This weekend I will try to replace the intake/outflow with either the glass or stainless steel pipes. I will also move them so they are right next to each other which should help the flow. The Eheim skimmer can be moved to help flow as well. Maybe I can throw one of my Rio powerheads into the tank if needed. Those are just one of the things I keep spares around all the time, both 50 & 90s. Increasing the flow is something that I believe will really help cut down on the BGA, and algae in general. If I need to spot treat some areas with hydrogen peroxide, I will go ahead and do that. 

Another area of the tank that needs to be worked on is the photoperiod. Honestly, this tank has been running a 12 hour photoperiod from the beginning. This goes against EVERYTHING I've learn over my time in this hobby. Every other tank I've got, along with every thing I preach to others is constantly saying, run a short photoperiod!!! Most of my tanks have light on from 5-7 hours MAX! The only time I run a longer photoperiod is on my plant only emersed tanks. While I don't want to cut the photoperiod back quite as short as most of my tanks. Part of the reason for this is that I do want some natural growth on the wood hardscape. This is a blackwater tank, I want it to be a natural looking tank.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

250mg of any penicillin based antibiotic will wipe it out forever in 10 days. Then you would have to reintroduce the bacteria via new plants for it to every crop up again. All bacteria have cell membranes of peptidoglycan. Azithromycin, Erythromycin, Penicillin, kanamycin.... and on and on. Don't bother with the other stuff. Everyone (unfortunately) has left over antibiotics


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> Thanks, Nlewis! I'll have to check into it. I'm guessing it's plant, fish and invert safe? Snails? Have you had luck with it before?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, that was my hand in the picture lol. I used it a few months back when BGA reared it’s ugly head in one of my 20’s. I dosed it one time. The following day 90% of it was gone and the day after that it was totally wiped out. Never had it since.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's Blackwater ADA 90p - Ugh, BGA!*

I’d like to use antibiotics as a last option. The nuclear choice. I’ve started with a couple big water changes per week. Spot dosing & removal of any plant material I find it on. I’ve also started dosing Thrive, & will be doing this 3x per week. This should help bump up the nitrates. With these big water changes I will be actually remineralizing my water with some stuff I’ve got for shrimp keeping. I just want enough kh/gh to avoid pH swings. I’m already finding less BGA on plants throughout the tank. At this point, it is mostly on the roots of the Hydrocotyle and a few RRF. 

I’ve not had a chance to rearrange the filter in/out, but will be as soon as I get passed the Biochem exam I’m procrastinating my review by typing this. lol. 

I’ve started using this tank as a plant nursery tank while I figure out what I want to do with certain species or set up a different emersed tank, etc. So far I’ve got a couple Crypts(‘Flamingo’ & usteriana), a medium size(for this species) Aponogeton boivinianus, a few stem plants such as micranthemum umbrosum, & bacopa lanigera- which I only bid on bc I’d never seen it. These plants are floating in the back right corner by the driftwood that rises out of the water there. There’s also a couple huge softballs of Christmas Moss that is what I’ve kinda got the Crypts stuffed into. Oh, there’s a couple nice pieces of Bucephalandra ‘Jade’ stuck in the manzanita. 

A few random shots.

RRF blooming










Ludwigia sedioides 










The Aponogeton 










The nursery area with an Anubias sp. ‘nangi’





































Buce. ‘Jade’





















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

I wish you luck with the BGA, I myself am battling it, started out with blackouts, huge water changes, increased excel dosing, spot treatments, manual removal, increased plant mass, upped fertilizer, decreased light, increased flow etc etc 

I am ahead of it... but it's always there, always taunting me. It randomly spikes back, and I'm sick of looking at it / attempting to control it with cultural controls, but I'm at a loss and just plain tired of dealing with it in this manner. So I finally broke down and Chemiclean is being shipped as we speak. 


Just my experience with cyano.... It's not fun stuff! best wishes.


----------



## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

Man, that ludwigia is rad! This tank is a wonderful setup. Definitely doing something similar with my 55 once I set it up.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your nursery tank looks better than my "display" tanks. Are you dosing EI what about Ca, Mg, Fe?? I think I need to increase dosing in all of my tanks and at least one is deficient in Ca, Mg, and Fe. Something interferes with something... calcium and iron? So dose Ca and Mg with macro's and micro's and Fe next day?


----------



## Sean09 (Jan 3, 2018)

Wow the tank is gorgeous. Love blackwater setups

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Lingwendil said:


> Man, that ludwigia is rad! This tank is a wonderful setup. Definitely doing something similar with my 55 once I set it up.


Thanks! I'm glad it has been doing so well. I'd love to have it cover the entire surface of this tank.



Sean09 said:


> Wow the tank is gorgeous. Love blackwater setups


Thanks, Sean! This is my first official blackwater tank but I have loved blackwater tanks for many years!



The Dude1 said:


> Your nursery tank looks better than my "display" tanks. Are you dosing EI what about Ca, Mg, Fe?? I think I need to increase dosing in all of my tanks and at least one is deficient in Ca, Mg, and Fe. Something interferes with something... calcium and iron? So dose Ca and Mg with macro's and micro's and Fe next day?


Troy, This definitely isn't my nursery tank, though I do have a little nursery area going on. I haven't been dosing EI. I recently started dosing Colin's(NilocG) Thrive since I won a couple bottles at the semiannual raffle meeting of the Arizona Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts meeting. Colin has always been a great support of the local clubs. I need to get CO2 hooked up to this tank, but can't afford a tank at the moment. Gotta wait for my tax return to pick one up, or maybe go in on fewer plant import orders. lol, yeah right. I also need to get this tank on it's own timer so the photoperiod is more adjustable. I'm going to be moving over about half of my school of Dwarf Pencilfish from my 20L to this tank. If you're still considering the Beckfords, just do it! I love them. You know about me and pencils though.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

johnson18 said:


> Thanks! I'm glad it has been doing so well. I'd love to have it cover the entire surface of this tank.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I want the Pencils bad... it's just every time I buy a group of fish they are n3ver able to get more in.. I'm going to set up some 20 longs for plants and different tetras... so right now I'm just buying what I think I might want and putting them in the 150 and then making a selection. Beckfords are pretty high up there as are Lemons, and Neons. Problem is I've only found 2 Beckfords and 1 Lemon tetra.
Now I've got 12 green fire tetras
10 Green tetras
65 Neons
25 Pristilla
35 Glowlight tetras
20 Black phantom
6 Sparkling gourami's 
And all the cats...its a lively tank though! Which of those would you go with?? 1 huge group? 2 big groups? 3 big groups?? As the plants grow and I are hardscape they are claiming territory's. 
Honestly I'm tempted to keep going the way I have been going. I've never spent so much time staring at a tank.


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

The Dude1 said:


> I want the Pencils bad... it's just every time I buy a group of fish they are n3ver able to get more in.. I'm going to set up some 20 longs for plants and different tetras... so right now I'm just buying what I think I might want and putting them in the 150 and then making a selection. Beckfords are pretty high up there as are Lemons, and Neons. Problem is I've only found 2 Beckfords and 1 Lemon tetra.
> Now I've got 12 green fire tetras
> 10 Green tetras
> 65 Neons
> ...


Groups of 10, get to ordering. 
https://tanninaquatics.com/collecti...sh-nanostomus-beckfordi-group-of-10-specimens


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Nlewis said:


> Groups of 10, get to ordering.
> https://tanninaquatics.com/collecti...sh-nanostomus-beckfordi-group-of-10-specimens


Whoa!! Line-bred red variants!! Ok... I need to siphon some money. Dropped about $250 on fish and a C02 tank refill this week. The little Spec 3 is packed with moss and ready for eggs!


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Whoa!! Line-bred red variants!! Ok... I need to siphon some money. Dropped about $250 on fish and a C02 tank refill this week. The little Spec 3 is packed with moss and ready for eggs!




Beckfords are one of the few pencils that is commonly available as tank raised fish. In my experience, once they’re happy & comfortable, they’re already red AF! I look forward to seeing them in your tank! It is starting to look quite good! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

So did you decide not to get the new pencilfish at all? The purple and coral reds are killer looking, but a school is big money.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*Johnson18's Blackwater ADA 90p - Ugh, BGA!*

The stargrass and Hydrocotyle leucocephala have created like a 2-4” thick mat on the surface the tank in the front left quarter of the tank. It’s crazy how much the flow of reduced by it. I need to hack it down & replant all the stargrass but part of me just wants to get rid of all the stargrass completely. 





































While I enjoy the stargrass, it is more work than I would like to put into the trimming portion of my time spent on this tank. 

I’ve been adding a lot more leaf litter to this tank on a regular basis. Mostly because I enjoy the look of it. As well as trying to decide how to arrange it throughout the tank to best suite my vision. The nice thing about the leaf litter is that it will need to be replaced in a month or so and I get to play with it all again. The roots of the Ludwigia sedioides have grown throughout the substrate and have begun to pop up in different areas. It definitely adds to the feel of the tank. I’m sure it will deplete the substrate quickly though. I think once it warms up I will give it all back to Ben at Arizona Nature Aquatics to let him grow it throughout the summer. 




























I’ve pulled most of the plants out that I’d been growing out a little in this tank. The Crypt. ‘flamingo’ and these Echinodorus aflame have all been planted and put into the emersed tanks. 










I ordered another 12 of the wild caught Colombian Marbled Hatchetfish. I may get another bag in time. The few in the tank just need a larger school. 










After months of waiting and a couple failed attempts to get other species, the Nannostomus trifasciatus are finally back on the list of fish available through my LFS’s wholesaler, though they are not yet ready to be shipped out. I’ve asked that he order me 24 to 36 of them. Depending on what he can get. I’m pleased that these Pencilfish are finally available again. I won’t be getting excited about them until I’ve got confirmation that they’ll be on the LFS shipment for me. 

Overall I’m happy with the way things are looking for this tank. It is staying nice and dark. Which I know will become a challenge at some point, as others have dealt with such as NLewis. I’ll try to get some new pictures soon. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Snapped a few more pics tonight, while it was semi dark in the surrounding room. There were still a couple tank lights on, which are always a pain in the ass when taking tank pictures. 

Please take a minute to check out my thoughts are the bottom of this post full of pics. It’s about fun aquascaping stuff! 









































































The reality of the darkness- the tint & the shading of the plant mass...
































































So, I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a few changes to this tank, in order to make it eligible to submit in the biotope category of the AGA or IAPLC aquascaping contests. I’m obviously not a pro aquascaper, & I’m wanting to see what it’s like to go through the whole process. 

I’ve gone through and looked at several years worth of biotope entries and read the judges remarks on these tanks. I think I would need to do a few things, but having never even considered this before the last couple months I am sure there’s plenty I’m overlooking. If you’ve got experience with this, even in a different category, please consider shooting me a message, writing a response or hitting me up on Facebook. Maybe @burr740 ? It would be nice to hear from others who have gone through the process.

I’ve tried to find as much info as possible about my specific biotope though internet searches, resources like Monga Bay, and even scientific literature about plants and fish to see what else was listed. 

Here are my thoughts:

1. HARDSCAPE/LAYOUT: I believe I would need to perhaps make some changes to the hardscape since it has been previously published so many places- here, Facebook, & instagram. Do I need to make drastic layout changes for this? Prior to entering, there are a few spots I’d like to tweak in the hardscape anyways. 

2. PLANT SELECTIONS: Are my current selections from areas too far apart to consider them as a part of a biotope? I’ve tried to keep things fairly close together, but that’s difficult to do without ending up with a single species of sword. Everything I’ve read about the area I’ve tried to recreate just lists things like “various Echinodorus species.” Well, how the hell do I turn that into sword species from one specific river system in Peru? 

I would obviously want to avoid man-made species. Which means I’d have to pull the E. parviflorus that is the Tropica cultivar. Although, this cultivar is considered to be quite similar to the wild species, but as a specific cultivar, is it totally out of the question? 

Some plants I know I would have to ditch for a contest, like the bits of moss I’ve used to cover areas where branches have been put together zip ties. I believe these features could be hidden with plants for a picture anyways. 

I’m not sure the Stargrass would be something I could leave in for a contest. It is specifically from Brazil, not Peru, nor is it listed in the species found within the river system I’m focused on recreating as a biotope. 

Red Root Floaters are a bit more ambiguous as being listed endemic to waterways from Brazil to Mexico on some websites while other day Brazil or South America. 

This seems to be the most difficult section of a biotope. It is also the area that seems to cause the most disqualifications. 

4. LIVESTOCK: While this seems like it could be quite difficult for some, I seem to focus on a lot of natural looking fish. I’m not a fan of many of the line bred variants available today. 

As such, my stocking of this tank has been built around one of the wild type Apistogramma species which I’ve got F2 fish. 

Otocinclus, and Marbled Hatchetfish can all be found in this region with relative ease.

The problem is that I’ve be shooting for the Nannostomus trifasciatus, and although it is from Peru, the species is not found in the area. The tetras in this region have absolutely no appeal to me at all. Head and Tail Light Tetras seem to be the main fish suggested. They just don’t do it for me. There are Dwarf Pencilfish, Nannostomus marginatus, found in the river system in question. Even though the N. trifasciatus literally JUST became available after FOUR months of searching, do I ditch them for the N. marginatus. I would of course still get the pencils I want for this tank. I just happen to have the same size school of dwarfs in another tank. I could swap them all for a month or two as I got things prepped to tank the pictures, & then switch them back once I’m happy with my images and they’ve been submitted. 

Next is having a small group of Apistos(2m, 4f), ~15 Marbled Hatchetfish, 25 Dwarf Pencilfish(or Three Lined pencils), & 10-15 Otocinclus too many fish &/OR too many fish species? Many of the comments about stocking seemed to focus on too many species of fish. That you’d never see all these fish in the same space in nature. Often this seemed to be when the tank would have three groups of dithers at 10ea, a pair of Apistos, a pair of checkerboards and a pair of killifish. I know that’s an extreme example, but would the honestly be too many fish/fish species?

5. TIMELINE: Do I currently have enough time to realistically do this? Honestly though? I’m not talking about completely tearing the tank down to rebuild. I mean to just make a few tweaks. What do you think? I believe this is an area where the experience of having submitted to this big contests. Also, is it worth it?! Seriously, is all of this worth my time and energy? 

6. WTF AM I FORGETTING?!
Lol. I know I’ve got more thoughts and concerns about this that is like to bring to the table. Any words of wisdom? Advice? What do you think? Is it doable? Worth the time and effort? Did you have fun entering your own tank? Would you do it again?!

I’ll update this as more things come to mind. 

Anywho, here’s a super dark FTS!











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Think its a great idea to enter a competition. Having that goal in mind forces you to pay more attention along the way to, well everything really.

As far as going through the process I really dont have any words of wisdom. Get it as good as you can and take a bunch of pictures. 

One regret I had last year is submitting the pictures too early. The deadline was like the 17th and I didnt want to wait until the very last minute. So around the 12th or 13th I'd meticulously pruned and manicured every single leaf and whatnot, decided it was ready, took the final pics and submitted the entry.

Then a few days later when the deadline rolled around everything had grown a little bit and really poofed up better. I remember going in there the morning of the 17th and thinking damn that looks good, much better than the other day! So I wish I'd waited closer to the last minute because you never know when a better shot is going to come around.

This year I'll take the final pics and then wait a few days to see if it gets to looking better before actually submitting the entry.

Of course all this assumes you'll be close to the deadline having it ready, which I was last year, and not two or three months early.

Your biotope obviously isnt going to move as fast as a high light Dutch tank, just something to think about.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

burr740 said:


> Think its a great idea to enter a competition. Having that goal in mind forces you to pay more attention along the way to, well everything really.
> 
> As far as going through the process I really dont have any words of wisdom. Get it as good as you can and take a bunch of pictures.
> 
> ...



Thanks Joe! That's actually some great insight. You're definitely correct that one must be quite aware of the timing, when to trim, and the time it takes for that growth to bounce back from that latest hack job(well, in my case! lol). 

My tank needs a lot of growth to get it to where I would like it to be for an entry as something along the lines of an oxbow lake or clearing along a blackwater forest stream. I think it means that I need to keep the surface, and Hydrocotyle, cleared a bit more to let the plants on the substrate level fill in a bit more. So I doubt I will be ready to submit 2 or 3 months early. 

I agree, even from the short time I've been considering going this route, that it forces you to pay much closer attention to the details. Not necessarily even the details on how I trim it things week, or don't trim, but a much more broad picture while at the same time being incredible detail oriented on a small scale. I've focused much more on, "how can I grow and develop this tank to make it look like a specific area within a small region I've chosen to represent?" I feel like with the biotope equally important is the other side of that coin with, "Does my story match what my tank has grown into being?" You can't say that your tank is a biotope of a normal, heavily shaded blackwater stream if its full of plants. 

I've constantly been trying to do more research on the area I have chosen to represent, but I've kind of run out of resources. I guess at some point I just have to step back and roll with what I've got. The whole reason I chose the specific region is because that's where my Apistos are from. I didn't start out with the goal of making a biotope. I wanted to build a blackwater tank that would make my fish comfortable enough to breed in the tank. The more I researched the habitat of these specific Apistos, I realized that they're often found in an area that fit with my ultimate vision for the tank. 

The localities that the plants are endemic to is still one of my main concerns. I guess without visiting this region I will never know exactly with Echinodorus species live in this one specific spot. I guess as long as I don't stray too far from the region I will be alright. I know @Phil Edwards has been a judge in the past, maybe I can reach out to him to inquire on this topic. At this point the only person I know(or at least have contact with through Instagram) who has entered a biotope, was disqualified for this exact reason. His tank had some plants in it that were definitely not even from the same continent though. I'm mostly concerned with, some of my swords might be from one country over and that much farther down stream along the river system that my goal system drains into. 


On a different note, I'm planning to pick up a small group of a smaller Rineloricaria sp. that I'd like to put them into this tank, we will see though.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I was looking at some tanks from the 2017 AGA. I noticed the biotypes normally had between 1 and 3 species total.. I think it's a very cool idea, but I would probably exclude anything that **might** disqualify you if you can't get a definitive answer. Your tank is already pretty killer. With a vision and some effort I think you could really make something awesome.


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

I predict an S-ton of research in your future.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> I was looking at some tanks from the 2017 AGA. I noticed the biotypes normally had between 1 and 3 species total.. I think it's a very cool idea, but I would probably exclude anything that **might** disqualify you if you can't get a definitive answer. Your tank is already pretty killer. With a vision and some effort I think you could really make something awesome.




Oh yeah, I agree that I won’t be taking any chances with things that I’m not sure on. I prefer my tanks stocked with more of fewer species rather than only a few fish of 17 different species anyway so I don’t think overdoing it will be an issue. Just like the fact a few of my other tanks have one type of Apisto, 25-30 pencilfish of one species, along with some Otocinclus. Actually, that pretty much describes most of my tanks though the don’t all have quite so many pencils in them. 

I’m still doing my homework on this whole biotope idea, like @Nlewis said, I’ve got a sh*t ton of research to do. I’ve done a lot already, but now it’s time to focus on info relating to the contest itself. I’ll see what I can find as far as blogs and podcasts. I’m sure there are some of both out there, 





Nlewis said:


> I predict an S-ton of research in your future.




You’re correct my friend. Although, I didn’t post this as soon as first thought of it. I’ve been doing my homework on this for almost two months. I’ve got much of the research on the biotope I plan to focus on. While I still haven’t decided on some of the details for my tank, I feel like much of the difficult research is complete. I guess that the good things about being a scientist, I’ve had to do so much research that doing research has become surprisingly simple. You just have to know how to use the resources you have. [emoji57] 

How do you think the tank is looking? I’ve been working to add botanicals lately. Thoughts? 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do you have a Professor that did their PhD research in or around that region? I've had 2 professors in the last 2 years who did their research in the Amazon Basin. Of course, I don't know how specific and defined the biotype has to be. Both of my Professors research was microbiological. The only "biologist" I've had did his research in the Galapagos. If it were me my first choice would be those enthusiastic geniuses.... they will talk the ear off of anyone that will listen about their research... it's three times as bad if they were published... your in College dude.. you'll never be around smarter people more willing to share their knowledge again. The Science department at USF is massive, but mostly revolves around oncology research at Moffit (what I do). If you give me the specific area you are looking at I'll see if I can find someone. I can't even begin to guess how many PhD scientists are involved with this university...


----------



## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Heya,

You're asking all the right questions and are clearly putting a lot of thought into this. I'm more than happy to help, but before I start getting into the nitty-gritty, I've got a couple questions.

1. Why do you want to compete? If so, what is/are your goal(s)?

2. This is YOUR tank and you get to look at it every day. What would you want to see day in and day out; the tank as it is or a tank that you're specifically grooming for a biotope contest?

3. What makes you happy about the tank as it is? What do you not like about it as it is?


I'm going to be intermittently available over the next few days so please be patient.

Cheers,
Phil


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> Oh yeah, I agree that I won’t be taking any chances with things that I’m not sure on. I prefer my tanks stocked with more of fewer species rather than only a few fish of 17 different species anyway so I don’t think overdoing it will be an issue. Just like the fact a few of my other tanks have one type of Apisto, 25-30 pencilfish of one species, along with some Otocinclus. Actually, that pretty much describes most of my tanks though the don’t all have quite so many pencils in them.
> 
> I’m still doing my homework on this whole biotope idea, like @Nlewis said, I’ve got a sh*t ton of research to do. I’ve done a lot already, but now it’s time to focus on info relating to the contest itself. I’ll see what I can find as far as blogs and podcasts. I’m sure there are some of both out there,
> 
> ...


I’m digging it and I’m still need some of your water. What’s the bushy plant in the 3rd pic from the top of the page?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nlewis said:


> I’m digging it and I’m still need some of your water. What’s the bushy plant in the 3rd pic from the top of the page?




Are you talking about the plant I’ve circled? It is Echinodorus Xingu, or a little one on a runner. I’ve trimmed it now and planted it. Definitely a cool sword though. The rest of the plant in that pic is the mat of stargrass on the surface of the water. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> Are you talking about the plant I’ve circled? It is Echinodorus Xingu, or a little one on a runner. I’ve trimmed it now and planted it. Definitely a cool sword though. The rest of the plant in that pic is the mat of stargrass on the surface of the water.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I don’t see anything circled. Third pic in post 122, the big plant in the center up against the glass.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nlewis said:


> I don’t see anything circled. Third pic in post 122, the big plant in the center up against the glass.




Lol. I guess it would help if I actually posted the edited pic... that is a Echinodorus Xingu or I’ve seen it as E. xinguensis too, but that is from Buce Plants, I wouldn’t trust anything they do or say. Lol. It’s a cool sword that got nice thin leaves, which give it a grassy look that I think will work well with the look I’m going for. I’ve been thinking about getting a few more to go along the back of the tank. 

Since there are a few Leopard Vals shoved in the back right corner I think they’ll need to be replaced. As well as the sword that I’d originally planted all across the back, which hasn’t done well due to it staying surprisingly short. Being so short, I guess it hasn’t done poorly, it just isn’t what I had hoped. I haven’t given much thought yet as to what to plant along the back wall. Part of that is not being sure how to proceed with the plants in the tank and how they will work with my vision for a biotope. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Did a 50% wc this morning in prep for the new hatchets arrival. Well, I took out ~20g and only put back maybe 16-17g left it low to try and avoid any jumping deaths. Funny that it’s actually darker now than it was before the wc. I had two 5g containers packed full of leaves and such. I add the water & then refilled the onto the botanicals to start the process again. 










I also removed a little of the mulm from botanicals completely broken down. Basically only from the front. This is the first time I’ve done this. 

Dropping the water level makes it quite apparent just how much live plant mass is currently in the tank. Lol. Anyone need some stargrass? [emoji23] 





























Fish



















Grabbing the group of L10A today too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Picked up 12 wild caught Colombian Marbled Hatchetfish and six Rineloricaria sp. L010A Red Lizard whiptail catfish yesterday evening. 




























I haven’t counted this morning but I took some precautions to try and reduce and possible jumpers of the hatchets. Hopefully they will all still be in the tank in a few days. I did glance this morning and they are not quite as stressed as last night. I’m going to leave the tank alone for a couple days other than staying on top of my dose of metracide which is doing well against the last remaining bit of bga. 




























I don’t expect to see much of this group other than catching little glimpses here and there. I’m excited to see how these beautiful fish do though. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Those are awesome. I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of your journals is the natural environments you create in addition to the uncommon fauna selections. Those catfish are killer looking. I saw something similar in the LFS yesterday. They called it some kind of loach... very similar looking.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Thanks Troy! I’m still in awe of these cats! They don’t get huge either like 4-5”. Apparently, they aren’t hard to breed either, though I’ve got no plans to actively attempt to do so. 

I’m amazed by the Hydrocotyle mat in the above photos. Just the way the bags went into the tank led to that mat, which is normally across the top to spread down like that. [emoji7]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

After much waiting(4mo) and several subsequent attempts at other species, I finally got some of the Pencilfish that I originally wanted for this tank. I just added 24 Nannostomus trifasciatus! Super stoked for these pencils. I also went ahead and added 12 more of the Colombian Marbled Hatchetfish. I’ve continued to let the stargrass and Hydrocotyle grow into a huge mat at the surface, though I did sell off two quart bags of the red root floaters over the weekend. It has been spread out to try and prevent any jumpers. 



















I’ll attempt fish pics tomorrow. Once these fish are settled in I’ll probably do a big trim.

The Apistos are finally gonna be added next!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

All the new fish are looking good, though I lost one hatchet. I never see more than a few at a time. It’s kinda crazy how little I see considering there are 30 Colombian Marbled Hatchetfish, 24 Three-lined Pencilfish. I’m fairly certain that there have been no jumpers either. 























































Tomorrow is water change day. I’ve got 10 gallons of ro water that have been soaking with leaves and such. In another 5 gallon bucket of ro that I dumped a ton of manzanita twigs and and small branches. I’m excited to give this a more realistic look to the substrate. The water isn’t too dark right now, tho I know the WC will make it darker. I’ve gotta throw in a few more random leaves tomorrow. I’m going to have to order a few more things from Tannin soon, along with a few things from separate vendors like bulk alder cone as well as xl Indian almond leaves 

Today I snagged a little manzanita from a friend’s property in Southern AZ. I want to use part of it to tweak and enhance the scape of this tank. The rest will be used in various projects. I put it all into the 120g just to get it out of the way. 




























Here are a few more shots from today. The water is still lowered in an attempt to keep potential jumpers in the tank. These plants are going nuts!





































The mat of plants is at least as thick as my hand is wide, in some places thicker.



















The Otocinclus in this tank are insanely fat! 










I’m super pleased to know that the L10A Red Lizard Cats are super active within the tank. I see them all over the tank, there are usually two in the mat of Hydrocotyle leucocephala. I was concerned that after releasing them I’d rarely see them, I’m glad that I’m wrong. If you look closely, they can be seen in multiple other pictures.




















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Finally moved the A urteagai to the 90p yesterday. Apparently, over the last week or two they’ve bred in the 10g. In doing so they killed all of the killies. I got 2m3f pulled yesterday & found the last female today, though Ive yet to net her. I was amazed by the coloring of hw male when I pulled them out. Seriously, WOW!! Here’s a crappy picture, plus a pic of the last time I saw him “looking good”.




















I’m excited to have (almost) all of the fish into this tank now! It’s a bummer they killed all of my Aphyosemion sp. ‘COFE 2010-23’, hopefully there are fry or eggs still in there as there was a ton of fry in the 10g, Apisto included. The only fish left over there are a pair of dwarf panda guppies. 


I ripped all of the stargrass out, well as much as I could. I’m still finding stragglers starting to regrow. I’d like to completely get rid of it. As Phil Edwards said in a different conversation, this might be a good time to reassess my contest goals now that the mixed mat is gone, and I agree. I’ll be keeping y’all posted on that as well. Here are a couple more random pics. Oh the tank is back to being a nursery tank but for Bucephalandra this time around. 
































































This Echinodorus opacus ‘Iguazu 2009’ went into a different tanks... but deserves a picture. 









A huge bonus for this post, even beyond the Iguazu 2009 sword, is this Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum, that was blooming last night. Definitely a life goal to be in the right place at the right time to catch one of these blooming. So badass!!












Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Ha, I thought that last photo looked familiar. My BIL was there yesterday, too.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That sucks about the Killi's. I've been finding myself more and more interested in them. Mainly the super crazy colorful ones. Would you recommend any for a community tank? Blue Gularis or gardneri?


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Does this even count as a blackwater tank anymore?! I bout killed myself racing a tri about a month ago, the tank has seen no maintenance besides adding water sometimes. The surface growth is crazy. I’m amazed there are still plants growing below this...





























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## f-fish (Jul 18, 2009)

very nice ... well it is way more "natural" and what is in a name if you re rewarded with such lush growth .... clearly the plants know best. 

Later Ferdie


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I submitted an entry to the biotope category... we’ll see. Here’s a teaser shot.










lol, jk. Tank has been hella dark lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> I submitted an entry to the biotope category... we’ll see. Here’s a teaser shot.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Are the floaters blocking the light that bad?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I thought I'd updated this last year after redoing this tank from blackwater to just a regular planted tank. Apparently not, which isn't a surprise at all. The blackwater setup started suffering in mid 2018 after my body shutting down from rhabdomyolysis following a triathlon landed me in an icu for most of a week and taking about 9 months before I was functioning close to normal again. In early 2020, when my tanks were slowly recovering, a new back injury left me barely able to walk leading to surgery in April(2nd since 2017). The recovery process has been slow, I'm still limited in what I can do physically and no where near to my recovery level prior to the injury. Needless to say, my tanks have suffered as maintenance is exhausting and painful. Things are getting better though. ANYWAY, back to the 90p!

Last summer/fall, with help from a family member, I cleaned up this tank as best as I could. I left the hardscape but removed everything else, with the major exception of changing the substrate which was way more work than I could handle, then tossed in plants from my other tanks. The result was a simple low tech planted tank. The plants have done decent, some would do better with co2, and regular ferts, etc. 

The tank has become a huge pain in the ass with algae, some of which co2/ferts would help with but the substrate from the blackwater setup isn't helping. I think the substrate has become the major issue in the tank. When the tank was a blackwater tank the substrate rarely got cleaned. Botanicals went in, broke down and stayed. There was never a problem during that time. Now, there is a lovely mix of that crap added throughout the substrate continuing to break down. Not only is it impossible to keep the substrate looking anything but disgusting, I get patches of BGA showing up above and below the surface. When cleaning it up there's almost always a clump of old botanicals where it occurs. I'm tired of dealing with it. 

Regular maintenance for the 5 filled tanks and 4 emersed tanks I still have running(down from like 25ish in 2018) has me stretched way beyond my current physical capabilities. Some like my 55 are suffering more than others(like this tank) but I've decided to focus my energy into one or two tanks and break the rest down for now. I've still got about 20 tanks, so storing a few more empty shouldn't be a problem. My current plan is to break down my 55 after 10 years, along with a 10 & 5.5, leaving the 90p and probably my 20 long. I may redo the 10 and breakdown the 20 instead, not 100% sure yet. 

In order for me to consolidate tanks successfully, I will need to break this one down and replace the substrate. I plan to rescape it while I am at it, because I'll never fit in even a portion of the plants from the other tanks if I don't. While doing this I will be moving the Eheim 2217, and CO2 system from my 55 to this tank and adding it to the 2215 currently running. I have always felt like the tank is under filtered. I will probably use the 2217 as the main filter and move the CO2 reactor (cerges) to the 2215. My current plan is to continue using the t5ho fixture that has been on this tank. If I do breakdown my 20l I may consider switching to the BML fixture that is over that tank. I'll have to play with the par meter if it comes to that. I am not sure what substrate I am going to use. There are a couple options that I already have on hand ADA Amazonia, BDBS, or pool filter sand. I am planning to run it as a high tech tank but not necessarily super high par depending on what all goes into it. 50% wc and maintenance on the 90p weekly still seems better than working on close to 140-150 gallons worth of tanks. I'm already doing weekly maintenance, it just rotates from tank to tank. 

The new aquascape will be in the nature aquarium style, using manzanita and maybe seiryu stone in a triangle layout. I am drawing a number of new layouts before I decide on something I like and start working on it with dry hardscape materials. I don't have any plans to pack it full of stems or anything super fast growing. There will be a decent mix of plants, including a few stems though.

The plants currently in the tank are NLJF, Bolbitis, anubias barteri/nana/nana petite, dwarf lily, fissidens fontanus, dwarf sag, Crypt. x willisii 'lucens', C. affinis 'metallic red', C. spiralis 'tiger', Hygrophila 'araguaia', Rotala macrandra, a little of both Hydrocotyle tripartita & verticillata, and some hygro pinnatifida I just added. It isn't heavily planted though as I just started with what I could spare from other tanks. I'll probably consider added Ludwigia acurata from the plants I don't already own. 

There are a few plants that will probably get moved over to increase current amounts like the anubias, a couple ferns(including some 'narrow k' and other less commons), C. x willisii & affinis 'met. red'. Different plants that I would like to work into the new scape from other tanks are Marsilea minuta & hirsuta, C. cordata, a lagenandra sp I don't remember right now, some buce, some moss and a few others. If the 20 comes down, there will be a bunch of C. parva, a few C. nurii varieties. I know not all of my plants will fit into this one tank. I've got probably 4ft worth of A. barteri var. barteri rhizome and at least that much nana & nana petite combined, an Anubias hastifolia, and more crypt species that will get moved to emersed. Hell, even of all the species mentioned that I would like to move into this tank, I'm not sure I will use all of them. 

As far as fish go, I have gotten rid of most everything. This tank currently has two otos, and a 1.5ish year old male Apisto urteagai that I didn't realize was still in the tank when I sold the others. The 55 has <15 random guppies, and a spotted hoplo cat. The 20 has lime green endlers. I don't plan on moving any of them into this tank and will probably rehome the lone apisto as well. Not entirely sure what I want to stock in this tank. Maybe just shrimp and otos or a school of pygmy corys. Maybe one of the tiger shrimp varieties. We'll see. Although, that may help decide substrate choice. I'm okay having to shuffle fish to cycle this tank after rescaping.

There is obviously still a lot to figure out before I start rescaping & breaking down tanks. I thought this would let me get some thoughts written down and begin to formulate a better plan.


----------



## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Holy smokes, rhabdo sound like an absolute nightmare. Sometimes it's for the best to scale up and scale down your tanks based on what you're able to hand at the time.

I don't know what part of the country you're in but tub ponds are super easy and very rewarding. Might be worth looking into if you get an itch for more tanks.


----------



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

gjcarew said:


> Holy smokes, rhabdo sound like an absolute nightmare. Sometimes it's for the best to scale up and scale down your tanks based on what you're able to hand at the time.
> 
> I don't know what part of the country you're in but tub ponds are super easy and very rewarding. Might be worth looking into if you get an itch for more tanks.


 Definitely do not recommend. ha. 

I'm in Tucson, AZ, tub ponds have to be in the shade and fairly large in order to not make fish stew.


----------

