# 125gal low tech scruffy-scape (photo heavy)



## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I don't know all the technical names and jargon so forgive me for not using them! lol

My 125gal tank.
It's 6ft long about 2ft deep and 18 or 19inches wide.
Just bought new LED lights for it off of amazon. I have no idea the wattage.. I just know it's brighter, YAY! lol Was just using cheapo t8 single tube lights that came with the tank b/c my t5 lighting burnt out and we were cheap and didn't want to replace them.
This tank has been set up for 8 years and it used to be high tech, but after my tank crashed and burned (mysterious fish death that killed most of my fish) and then not doing research and buying fish that completely annihilated my plants.. I just lost interest in the tank. Having 3 kids and then having to take care of 3 small children also helped to keep my interests elsewhere lol.
I did the bare minimum to keep it going.

Back at it again though!

Plants currently in the tank...
Crypts.... I have NO idea what kind they are (green wendtii probably?). All but one of them came from my 55gallon tank. The other crypt I recently purchased online but can't remember what kind it is.
Amazon swords... regular and compacta
Cabomba
Corkscrew vallis
Jungle vallis (recently purchased online. It had melted to just a single little leaf. It's still small, but finally growing)
Aponogetons? I think... They're from those little pack of bulbs you can get at Petsmart. 3 of them have sprouted. One has thin leaves and another has thicker. I'll try to get photos of them once the water has cleared.

Current Fish...

Barbs (tiger, albino tiger, green, black ruby, red & green glofish)
2 golden panchax killifish (hoping to add about 4 more)
BN plecos (think there are around 8, all regular colored except for 1 albino)

Want some loaches in the tank but still deciding which ones. Leaning towards dojo, but haven't settled on those just yet. Would also love around 4 siamese algae eaters if we could ever find any. It's always chinese algae eaters or otos. /grumble


























I'm terrible at aquascaping so I'll just say that I'm going for a more natural look.... :grin2: lol
Ordered a few more plants for the background that should be here tomorrow. Just really need something that will give some cover at the top for the killifish. A lot of the new stuff will probably be going on to the left side of the tank where all of the crypts are. Don't want to block the light from the swords.

And erm.. what else. I just started dosing with excel.. or well it's called metricide? Saw that it was the same thing as Flourish Excel but a little more concentrated. Cheaper and you get a gallon of it which should last me forever. Battling black beard algae right now. I think it's from the extra water changes and stronger light. Hopefully it gets back under control from the dosing and once the faster growing plants are in the tank.

Substrate is a mix of sand and eco complete. And I have some dry ferts left over from years ago that I'll start using. I just used some today and turned my water yellow from the chelated iron powder. Oops.
Also using flourish root tablets as well.

Ok.. I've rambled on enough. Hopefully I'll have a nice lush planted tank again. I'll keep this updated if the kidlets don't distract me too much :wink2:


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## forrestcook (Jan 25, 2008)

I love tanks like that, following along!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Welp, my plants haven't come in yet /grrrr
And the water is still yellow. It's unsightly but I'm not worried about it.
One of the red glolight barbs isn't looking too hot though. We decided to just add in new barbs to the big tank. Hopefully it won't get the other fish sick b/c of our decision. 
Looking through a lot of journals here.... I wish I had the patience to do some of these aquascapes. So pretty! 
I'm happy with mine though for the most part. It's messy, but that's ok 
I'll update again soon.. hopefully with photos of my new healthy plants in the tank.


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

I would advise against SAE, they don't do much for eating algae, except when they're about an inch long. Then they start eating fish food... and plants. 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Mattb126 said:


> I would advise against SAE, they don't do much for eating algae, except when they're about an inch long. Then they start eating fish food... and plants.



SAE do that? Well poop. I heard they were good for algae. And I know the Chinese ones get a bit aggressive when they get bigger. Hrmm.. oh well. Best to learn that now before getting any  Thanks!


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

lisals said:


> SAE do that? Well poop. I heard they were good for algae. And I know the Chinese ones get a bit aggressive when they get bigger. Hrmm.. oh well. Best to learn that now before getting any  Thanks!


They eat algae for the first 2-3 months, then they're useless lol. Better off with otos and a bristlenose. 

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## forrestcook (Jan 25, 2008)

Mattb126 said:


> They eat algae for the first 2-3 months, then they're useless lol. Better off with otos and a bristlenose.
> 
> Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk




What about flag fish?


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

forrestcook said:


> What about flag fish?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


I don't see why not, they eat algae, and they can hold their own with the barbs. 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. so I FINALLY got my plants in yesterday... 2 days late. I'm sure if they had gotten here when they were supposed to, they would've been in much better shape. Sigh...









I don't think I'll order from this place again. Not that it was really their fault that the shipment was delayed, but this is the 2nd time their jungle val has come in not looking so hot. I'm pretty sure these are dead, but I put them in the tank anyway just to see if they'd come back. I cut off all the dead leaves and put them right up front so I could keep an eye on them.
















Not holding my breath that they'll suddenly start growing lol. I did send a request to get my money back.

Also got this stuff and boy is it ugly and scraggly and gross looking. Myrio? I think that's what it's called.








I left a few of it in the 125 but put most of it in to my 55 gallon. I may transfer it back over as soon as I figure out where to put it.

The ludwigia looked nice though thankfully. A few leaves popped off, but overall they still looked alive at least lol.
I bought ovalis? and dark red... they both look the same to me lol. Oh well. Still nice 

















I also bought some wisteria from Petsmart yesterday. Forgot to get a pic of it.
And we returned the poor dead red glofish barb and bought a few more of them.









As you can see from those pics.. the tank is still pretty yellow and after the water change, the water got pretty cloudy for some reason. I've been dosing with excel and that always seems to make my water cloudy so maybe that's why?
Here's during the water change. You can see just how yellow is was lol.








And from this morning









And finally.. what I'm most happy about right now... my cabomba! This was just a single little scraggly stem in my 55 gallon that had been in that tank for a few years. I moved it over to this tank about a month? ago and once I started dosing this tank w/ some ferts and got in the better lighting.. it has grown a considerable amount.
Love it  It's so pretty.








Within just the last 3 days, it has grown around 5 inches and started to grow more stems.

Sorry for the poor quality photos. I'll try to get better ones next time  Hopefully by then the water will be clear... and not yellow  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh and I bought some anarcharis as well.
Just sort of stuck it in a couple of random spots. Once it starts growing though (if it does, couple of stems looked.. meh).... I may move it more towards the back. We'll see.
I'm really hoping to get my 5 gallon tank set back up somewhere so I can take a good bit of the crypts out. Won't be enough, but it will at least free up some space for some of these stem plants that will hopefully grow nice and tall.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bought more fish. All done stocking the tank. Probably put a little too much in it tbh. They all stay fairly small though so I'm not too worried about it.
We bought odessa & golden barbs. Also 3 dojo loaches and 4 more golden panchax killifish.

No photos yet. Had to turn the white light off b/c the other barbs in the tank were starting to get a bit too nippy with the newcomers.
The dojo loaches have to be in the quarantine tank though. 2 of them have fin rot. Should've looked them over better while we were at the store. Kids were distracting and I was just excited that somewhere actually had them lol. Poor things look miserable, but hopefully they'll perk up in a nice clean 55 gallon all to themselves.
Moved the platys over to the 125 as well.
Now just have to wait for the plants to grow.
Think I may snip off a couple of the new cabomba stems and let them float to give the killifish some cover. 

I set up my 5 gallon in its new spot so I may go to a different petstore tomorrow to get the betta I've been eyeballing. If I do, I'll also check out the plants they have available. Maybe they'll have something that I can float.
Not holding my breath though. 
I'll post pics of the 5 gallon once I'm done cleaning it. Boy is it gross! I'm gonna try to make it purdy though


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your plants seem to be filling in nicely. How much excel are you dosing? And what light fixtures did you go with? Low tech has never been anything but a slow decline for me. At the very least I dose pretty large amounts of metricide. You're not tempted to go pressurized again? 
What does your stock look like? You would need ALOT of barb sized fish to overstock a 125.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Your plants seem to be filling in nicely. How much excel are you dosing? And what light fixtures did you go with? Low tech has never been anything but a slow decline for me. At the very least I dose pretty large amounts of metricide. You're not tempted to go pressurized again?
> What does your stock look like? You would need ALOT of barb sized fish to overstock a 125.


I hope they are! 

I was dosing about 10ml every other day (still trying to get rid of the remaining BBA), but I'm pretty sure it's a little too much to do it on the regular. I'm going to bring it down to just doing 4 or 5ml every day.
Just checked on the tank and it's gone cloudy. Usually does when I overdosed w/ excel before so yeah. After today, I'll be reducing the amount I put in by half or more. We'll see what happens after that 

A little tempted to use pressurized again. I do hate seeing the equipment go to waste since it was expensive lol, but it was a pain to get it filled before (the place we went to wasn't reliable) and it's more of a pain now w/ 3 small children lol. It's just one less thing to worry about now tbh  Easier for me to try out a low tech tank.. although it certainly isn't low maintenance lol.

The light..
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KYELCLC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's the reason why we bought the glofish in the first place. My husband wanted to see if the blue lights would make them glow (and they do  )

I'm mostly just worried about there being enough room for that many fish to have their own space. The barbs are SO active. I think once the stems start to grow, it will give more hiding spots for the not so active/aggressive ones. Right now, everything is out in the open and the tiger barbs are definitely living up to their rep as being nippers... my poor other fish :crying:
The albino tigers are targeting the new golden barbs and the platys. I guess they see the similar colors? and think they're other albinos. They don't bother all of the fish though. I've never seen them pick at the plecos and I've only ever seen them nip at the killifish during feeds.

Specific tank stock (I'm going to be wrong on some of the numbers lol)...

3 albino tiger barbs
7 tiger barbs
4 red glofish tiger barbs
7 green glofish tiger barbs
6 golden panchax killifish
4 or 5 green barbs
5 golden barbs
7 black ruby barbs
5-7 odessa barbs
8 or 9 platys
8 or 9 BN plecos


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> I hope they are!
> 
> I was dosing about 10ml every other day (still trying to get rid of the remaining BBA), but I'm pretty sure it's a little too much to do it on the regular. I'm going to bring it down to just doing 4 or 5ml every day.
> Just checked on the tank and it's gone cloudy. Usually does when I overdosed w/ excel before so yeah. After today, I'll be reducing the amount I put in by half or more. We'll see what happens after that
> ...


Gluteraldehyde is a 5 carbon structure with double bonded oxygens on each end (aldehydes). It reacts with H2O as a very weak acid (source of H+) to form CO2 among other products. It doesn't form a lot of C02 and the reaction is definitely over in a few hours I would think. Aldehydes are very reactive. I dose 35ml of straight glut in my 150 and 25ml in my 75's daily. Whatever you dose I would dose daily to keep available CO2 stable. Like I said aldehydes are very reactive and will bond with pretty much anything. Once my plants attenuate to the glut they normally do very well... with the exception of bolbitus. Its antiviral and antifungal so the less complex plants may not do as well at least to start. Anubias loves glut... I would have no problem dosing 10ml or even 20ml daily in a tank that size... I dose 5 ml in my 11.4 and the growth in that tank is outstanding including mosses.
That's a pretty good stock list! I bet its an entertaining tank.
That light is the one I want for my 150 to go with my other fixture. There is a different one that is like $35 that is RGB that I got and its pretty dim. 
I notice that one has 5 rows of LED's where the ones I was seeing were only 3 rows... so it would be 66% brighter... at $100 that's not bad..


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah... we didn't think it was a bad price considering how much some light fixtures can run up to and for a 6ft long tank... it would've been too much to upgrade them right now if this one hadn't been available.
That's good to know about the excel. I was afraid I was putting too much in. The fish always seemed ok though. I'll start off with 5ml daily and then adjust the amount once the plants start getting a little bigger.
Thanks for the info


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Anyone else's water get cloudy after using excel? B/c it ALWAYS happens in any tank I've ever put it in. Fish don't seem to mind. Just wondering why it happens.

Tank this morning. I uprooted some of the crypts last night. Was going to pop them in to the 5gal, but they floated so nice and stayed in place so I left them in there temporarily for whatever fish at the top.
They seem to like it.... well if you can see through the little piggy photobombing barb fish.

















And some photos of the tank w/ the blue light on. 

















Oh unfortunately, one of the golden barbs died and it looks like 2 of the dojo loaches are dying. Damnit... I hate losing fish  Especially the loaches b/c they really look like they're suffering.

In better news though... I cleaned the 5 gallon tank! WOO!

It was super crusty. I left some water in it b/c there were still trumpet snails in the substrate that I would fish out whenever I saw them on the glass.









And in it's new spot w/ all the stuff I needed to scrub down and clean. Unfortunately the filter was totally dead, but thankfully filters for small tanks don't cost too much. Bought a little $11 one at Walmart today. I do wish they had ones even smaller so the current wouldn't be so strong. I could've gone with a bubble filter, but air pumps are too loud.









I put in a good gross slimy chunk of old filter media from the 55 in to the filter so hopefully there won't be any cycling going on, but I'll keep an eye on things for a little while just to make sure.

It took A LOT of water changes to clean the substrate. So.... GROSS lol
But after many many many gross buckets of brown water... it was clean!
I took out a few of the crypts from the 125 and a stem of the anacharis and wisteria too. Hoping it does well once the new light for the tank comes in.









Bought this light
Clicky clicky For the tank... so with a new light.. I needed a new hood. I bought one from a LFS... that's too big! SIGH!
I can't find any glass hoods for my tank. They're either for something smaller or for a 5.5g tank.
Oh well.. I'm still going to use it anyway.... maybe. Having some glass hang over isn't a huge deal IMO and the light should still be able to sit on it, but I just don't want my kids to mess with it which is the biggest problem.
Just need something on the top so betta won't jump and so my 2yo little water rat of a son doesn't decide he's going to play in it. lol

And here is the betta that I've been eyeballing ever since I saw him 2 weeks ago.
So glad that the store still had him and took care of him long enough for me to finally snatch him up!

















He's a koi type. Instantly fell in love when I saw that he was orange, blue, & white. The red, white, and black ones are gorgeous too, but I thought this lil guy was so unique looking.
He does have some questionable white spots on his head. They don't look like fungal spots or sores thankfully, but I'm not sure if it's just his coloration though. We'll see.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Looking through old tank photos. Sigh.. it was so nice before. Ok so I was still horrible at aquascaping, but it was so lush and overgrown and the fish loved it.

















One day.. it will be lush again. Oh yes.... one day /nods vigorously


OH and I still can't really tell if it's coloration or fungal or what on the betta so I'm using some 2yo all purpose medication on him lol. We'll see if it does anything or if those spots get worse or what. Hopefully they won't and hopefully the meds are still good


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

My water never gets cloudy... Are you using store bough excel or metricide straight? I'm thinking its likely something nitrogen based reacting with the aldehyde. I don't think a reaction with nitrate would produce cloudiness by nitrite may... Do have have any measurable nitrite levels?
NO2 ion is highly reactive where as NO3 is relatively stable... I would be comfortable saying that you have some level of nitrite in your tank which is causing the reaction you are seeing


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> My water never gets cloudy... Are you using store bough excel or metricide straight? I'm thinking its likely something nitrogen based reacting with the aldehyde. I don't think a reaction with nitrate would produce cloudiness by nitrite may... Do have have any measurable nitrite levels?
> NO2 ion is highly reactive where as NO3 is relatively stable... I would be comfortable saying that you have some level of nitrite in your tank which is causing the reaction you are seeing


I usually bought my Excel from Petsmart, but the last stuff I had was from Amazon. The metricide, I just ordered from Amazon and only just started using it. Yep.. straight. Not diluted.
The cloudy water has happened in every tank I've ever put excel in. /shrugs
I did test the big tank. No nitrites and nitrates looked good









But big surprise.... there's an ammonia reading! NOOOOOOOOOOO :crying:









Hoping it's just the tank adjusting to all of the new fish and increase in feedings I've been doing. Sigh... that was unexpected! I did a big water change and will keep an eye on things for a while. This better clear up.
Thankfully most of the fish are acting totally fine and I always use Prime so really hoping that helps to keep my fish safe.
The new golden barbs aren't doing well though and I feel terrible that it's probably my fault. I should've known this was going to happen. SIGH!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sigh.. can't believe there's an ammonia reading in my tank! Grrr. Feel like bonking myself on the head for not being more careful when adding all of those fish all at once. Just got so eager.
Fish won't like it, but they're only getting fed once a day until this gets fixed.

In other news though... found these in my cabinet. I don't remembering buying these at all. lol

















I put 2 of them in the tank just to experiment and the tablets basically disintegrated as soon as I tried to push them in to the substrate lol. I covered the powder up as best as I could 

Also got out an old glass baby bottle to use to make my fert slurry.
Looked like some good ice tea heh









And just a photo of my barbs begging for some food even though I had just fed them an hour before.








Thankfully the barbs have calmed down w/ the nipping of the new tankmates. Still see the albinos chase every once in a while, but everyone seems to be doing much better.
Well.. except for the poor golden barbs  You can see one of them in the corner of the tank. Only one out of the 5 we got is going to survive.

Also... the jungle val that I got that looked terrible may not be as dead as I thought it was. I THINK it's trying to recover. Obviously still struggling but hopefully it does grow. Still not happy with that order.









My betta is doing well. Built himself a bubblenest. Or well.. he tried to. The current from the filter pushed it all along the edges.









Keeping an eye on his water as well. And it looks good so far.









And some more photos of him. My daughter named him Catboy.... after some character from PJ Mask /shrugs. I have no idea lol

























Oh and I was looking over the receipt from the LFS that I bought him from and I was only charged $4 for him. He was supposed to be $14. WOOT! lol I didn't even catch it when I was there. Having a 2 and 4yo running around ya and trying to make sure they don't break anything is a good distraction.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Has the tank been set up this entire time?? When I broke down my other tank just to move it I got a massive ammonia spike that killed seriously $400 in African Cichlids... That was like a week ago. And I just lost one of the 2 Bolivian Rams... I'm afraid now to even plant anymore plants for fear of disturbing the substrate and knocking loose one of the root tabs or something... so I feel your pain. I'm wanting to get more Bolivians and maybe Oto's and some other stuff, but I don't want anymore death on my hands right now

Bump: Has the tank been set up this entire time?? When I broke down my other tank just to move it I got a massive ammonia spike that killed seriously $400 in African Cichlids... That was like a week ago. And I just lost one of the 2 Bolivian Rams... I'm afraid now to even plant anymore plants for fear of disturbing the substrate and knocking loose one of the root tabs or something... so I feel your pain. I'm wanting to get more Bolivians and maybe Oto's and some other stuff, but I don't want anymore death on my hands right now


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yep.. the tank has been set up this entire time. I did a massive water change and cleaned the filter a little a few weeks ago. Nothing major, just shaking the sponges out in some filtered out tank water to loosen up some of the gunk.
That shouldn't have done anything like this.
I think this is just happening b/c we've added too many fish all at once and then I'm going from feeding only a couple times a week to feeding every day. Lots of extra waste to take care of.
Hopefully all of that good bacteria catches up ASAP so I won't have to worry about this and can just go back to worrying about if I'm adding the right nutrients for the plants  lol

I did a 50% water change today. Let everything settle for a few hours and checked ammonia again.. and it didn't go down at all. WTH? We'll see what happens tomorrow I guess. If push comes to shove, I'll get more Prime and maybe something else that might speed this up some.

UGH.. feel like such a n00b right now. Total rookie mistake.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Yep.. the tank has been set up this entire time. I did a massive water change and cleaned the filter a little a few weeks ago. Nothing major, just shaking the sponges out in some filtered out tank water to loosen up some of the gunk.
> That shouldn't have done anything like this.
> I think this is just happening b/c we've added too many fish all at once and then I'm going from feeding only a couple times a week to feeding every day. Lots of extra waste to take care of.
> Hopefully all of that good bacteria catches up ASAP so I won't have to worry about this and can just go back to worrying about if I'm adding the right nutrients for the plants  lol
> ...


Yep... same here... except I also tossed my master test kit in the "not keeping" box a couple days ago without realizing it... So I'm THAT much worse off. This tank has been dry for 18 months, but half of the wood came out of other tanks and I put the biomedia from my African cichlid tank that should have been loaded... I don't know... its very unsettling...
I cant wait to get a pressurized setup going so I can get some plant mass going and stabilize the tank


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Yep... same here... except I also tossed my master test kit in the "not keeping" box a couple days ago without realizing it... So I'm THAT much worse off. This tank has been dry for 18 months, but half of the wood came out of other tanks and I put the biomedia from my African cichlid tank that should have been loaded... I don't know... its very unsettling...
> I cant wait to get a pressurized setup going so I can get some plant mass going and stabilize the tank


I'm sorry you lost all of those fish. That hurt just reading it! That's weird that the media didn't help your tank though. And that sucks about the testing kit too! Those things are not cheap. 
I got lucky and the one I have is still good for another 2 years lol.

Woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep. Will check ammonia again in a bit. I doubt it will have fixed overnight, but a girl can hope! lol
If it's the same... I'll be heading to Petsmart when it opens and buying more Prime and maybe some Tetra Safe Start. I'll have to read up more on it, but it seems some people have had luck using it.

Also going to buy a cross stitch mesh for my 5gal tank. Sure it will let the water evaporate quickly, but I'm not comfortable with an oversized glass top on the tank. That is just an accident waiting to happen w/ my 2yo. I'd use it if my kids were older and listened better lol, but not right now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I swear.., it is one thing after the other.

Betta tank has a slight reading of ammonia now. Will be buying it some safestart too. Was hoping the media from the 55 would be enough but I guess not. It probably helped to put some bacteria in there since there was a small nitrate reading, but I guess it wasn't enough. I dunno. It's never been a problem before, but of course it is now. /grumble
Also, the water was way too warm. Put a thermometer in it and it was going over 97F. What the crap!? Thankfully the betta is acting totally fine, but I did a small water change w/ cooler but still warm water to bring the temp down in the tank. Took the heater out and just... UGH! Hoping it's just the heater and not the filter causing the overheating. But the heater means more money that needs to be spent replacing it. Double SIGH! Why must this hobby cost so much!! lol

In slightly better news... the 125 water is nice and clear and not yellow any longer! lol
The ammonia was also slightly better. Still there, but at a 0.25 reading instead of 0.5. Still going to get safestart for it too.

Also more good news... the last remaining dojo loach looks to be doing much better. Decided to use the lifeguard meds that I have in the tank. Figured there was nothing to lose really. 
Woke up this morning to a much more active fish and he/she looks to be digging around for food. That's a good sign considering it wasn't interested in food yesterday 

I'll get some pics up later today after I get back from the stores.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. back from the store.
Didn't buy any Prime. I have enough for now and with how much everything else was.... just... yeah.. it can wait.

I did buy 3 bottles of the Tetra Safestart. Was hoping that it would be cheaper than what it was listed for on amazon but nope. Same price.
And I only bought 3 b/c of the price but also b/c that I'm hoping that there is enough bacteria already in the tank that only adding this little bit of extra stuff was all it needed to catch up and get the ammonia out of the water.
I put about half a bottle in to the 5 gallon and then the rest in to the 125. FX that it works.

Pics this morning!

The anacharis is finally starting to show some growth I think 
Still wondering what the heck the plant in front of it is. It's some type of aponogeton I think. It came from one of those packs of bulbs you can buy. I was hoping it would be one of those giant ones w/ the crinkly leaves, but nope.. just this weird thing lol. There is one in front of it (left bottom corner) that has broader leaves. Maybe that will be the type that I wanted to begin with 









The sword plants are really looking great too. The one in the back has gotten a ton of new growth and the compacta in front of it is getting a lot of new growth too. I had to snip off a lot of old leaves that were dying, but thankfully it's filling back out nicely.
The ludwigia beside it also seems to be growing now too. Some of it lost some leaves, but I'm not sure if fish are causing it or if it's dying.









And full tank... it still has a long way to go, but it's slowly getting there 
Still looks yellowish, but meh... not a huge deal.









5 gallon tank w/ flash. Can't wait for my light to come in. Bought some cross stitch mesh and just need to cut it to size. The holes are a lot smaller than I thought they were, so hopefully that helps a little w/ evaporation.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

It's coming along nicely!! It will be worth it... once things fill out and the tank is stable and plants are growing... it will be worth it. I may replace one of the fixtures on my 150 with the one you got. I'm thinking that the Marineland one and the Beamswork RGB one are not enough light. Honestly I might just mount 2 23 watt CFL's in the canopy over each of those corners and call it a day. I'm always trying to save a buck by getting the less expensive stuff and then I pay for it... but when I decide to buy a sports car... as a second car.. I can only have the best... 650hp Z06... that was 107k that gets driven once a week and it's so fast there is nowhere short of a race track where you can really get into it..
On the Beamswork you have are they 1w LED'S? One fixture was enough? How is the color rendition? It does not have the RGB LED's correct? I'm thinking of buying one of the high power Current ones with all the modes and RGB's and be done with it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> It's coming along nicely!! It will be worth it... once things fill out and the tank is stable and plants are growing... it will be worth it. I may replace one of the fixtures on my 150 with the one you got. I'm thinking that the Marineland one and the Beamswork RGB one are not enough light. Honestly I might just mount 2 23 watt CFL's in the canopy over each of those corners and call it a day. I'm always trying to save a buck by getting the less expensive stuff and then I pay for it... but when I decide to buy a sports car... as a second car.. I can only have the best... 650hp Z06... that was 107k that gets driven once a week and it's so fast there is nowhere short of a race track where you can really get into it..
> On the Beamswork you have are they 1w LED'S? One fixture was enough? How is the color rendition? It does not have the RGB LED's correct? I'm thinking of buying one of the high power Current ones with all the modes and RGB's and be done with it.


Lol... funny how we try to pinch pennies in some areas, but in others, NOPE! Spend All the Money!!!! lol
I get a bit too enthusiastic when it comes to my hobbies and even though I try to find the cheapest options... I always end up buying a ton of stuff for it so in the end.. saved nothing and have clutter that I need to put away lol. 

Honestly.. I have no idea on any of the technical aspects of the light that I have lol. For my tank.. just the one was enough, but I think maybe if you're wanting to grow high light plants, you might need another or one with stronger lights or if you have a wide tank you'll need 2.
It has blue and white lights, no red or green. 
You should go ahead and buy a good light for your tank since you are wanting it to be high tech right? Might as well splurge (if you have the money of course) to get a good light instead of wishing that you did down the road.
My light does create a subtle rippling effect though. I think that's common w/ LEDs and have heard some folks don't like it. I quite like the look of it though b/c it looks really natural to me.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... so the 5 gal tank ammonia has gone down a little. Photo shows it as yellow, but it has a very slight green tint to it. So YAY for that 









The 125 though is still showing about the same. Expected, but still disappointing.
I put in more Prime last night and this morning.









I set up the new light in the 5gal. It's nice and cute and really brightens it up a considerable amount. It was SO dim before.

New heater, light & the mesh









Measured and cut the mesh. I may have to cut up another sheet of it (have 3). I cut it to fit the rim, but since it's a bit flimsy, it can sag in the middle and in to the water. OR my 2yo can push it down in to the water... which he's already done. Sigh. So yeah.. think I'm going to cut up another one to go over the top like a tupperware lid... and maybe glue 2 together to stiffen it a bit. For now though.. it's not so bad.









5gal before









And after.. not sure why it's dim on the side in the first photo.

























Now I don't have to use the flash to get a decent photo. 

















Also have a lot of dry ferts I need to remember how to dose. I've been guessing which is why the water turned yellow to begin with (from the iron) lol. Will be doing that after I post.
This stuff doesn't go bad does it? I don't even remember how old it is... has to be at least 5 though.









The ludwigia on the left corner of the 125 is the bunch that is losing leaves. Still looks like it's growing so I'm thinking it's the fish breaking the leaves off... maybe.









And finally just a shot in to the tank from the side. Water is a little cloudy. Probably from a bacterial bloom. Oh well.. one of these days I'll have a nice clear non yellow water tank lol. Can't wait for all of the barbs to get to their full size and colors. It's going to be awesome


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... so while looking in to my 125 this morning while I waited for ammonia results... I noticed that the plants w/ their roots floating in the water were dead/dying. Pulled one up and it released a ton of dead root gunk in to the water.
I didn't want to do a water change since you're not supposed to with that safestart stuff, but I had to.
Only did a 20% change though.
The ammonia reading was down to about a 0.25 reading, so that's good at least 
A few more of the stem plants have been uprooted.
I ordered some planted tank tools from amazon.
Clicky
Didn't think the price was too bad and I definitely need something better than clunky giant regular scissors and whatnot for trmming.

I also tested for nitrites and that was still nice and blue. Hopefully with the removal of the rotting plants, that will help the ammonia go down some. No idea if that was the reason or helped contribute to the problem. It certainly wasn't helping.
If we can find some cheap, I want to get more bamboo for it. The one that's in there is growing new roots so it seems to like it lol.

5 gal ammonia readings looked like they still had a really slight tinge of green. Only a very very little. It's so hard to tell under our home lights. I think it's ok though, but I'll be keeping an eye on it for a little while longer just to be sure.


Also watched a video on youtube of an aquascape w/ a cave in it. 
Clicky for the video
How gorgeous is that??
I would love love love to try to do something like this one day. I have no idea how he did it, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. This video is actually the reason why I did finally buy some aquascaping tools lol. 
Maybe in the 5 gallon. I have a 10gal tank too that is empty if I needed something bigger.
We'll see. I'll have to research it a bit more.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Alot of stems will do that when newly added. Also if the light isn't strong enough they will shed the lower leaves. For now I would snip off the dead part and replant the tips. It takes a bit, but once they catch they're really cool to have with the way you can arrange them to create depth. It's funny to me how much difference a water change can make. As to ferts they may loose some potency, but nothing too crazy. Most of them if not all are stabilized with Na, K, or some other positively charged ion.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks! I should be getting my tools today. I may wait to snip them down since the bottom stem part doesn't look dead just yet. But I'll probably do what you suggested and snip them down and replant.

5 gal tank this morning.








Looks just as scraggly as my 125 lol. BUT with the tools.. I'm hoping I can do a little better job at placing the plants. I plan on taking the floating crypts and putting them in to this. Give the betta some better surface area to make his bubble nest.
Really hoping the wisteria and anacharis grow nice and big and bushy. 

The floating bunch.








I may uproot more of the crypts after removing these. Just to give the killifish something up there while we wait for the rest of the plants to grow. We'll see. There are some stems floating as well that have come loose that need to be replanted.

Wisteria is looking nice  Hoping it grows taller but I'll taker bushier too! Such a pretty plant 









Corkscrew Vallis. It's grown some new leaves, but hasn't really gotten any taller since I bought it.
I'm ok with it staying short if that's what it's going to do.









One of the aponogetons. No idea if it's ulvaceus, but I hope so! The thin leafed one behind it is getting taller now too. Probably b/c it's slightly shaded from the uprooted plants.









One of my swords is growing weird. I think I bought this one online. Looks like the leaves that it came with are dying which I'm not worried about, but the new growth just looks odd. Definitely doesn't look the same as my other sword. Not sure what's wrong with it.. if anything.









Single remaining gold barb. Poor thing. It tries to school with the platies and the albino tiger barbs some, but it knows they're not its buddies. We'll get it some buddies soon though. They'll be going in to quarantine first, but it will have buddies again that hopefully won't die. Just gotta get the ammonia situation fixed.









And some of the BN plecos. They get shy when I bring out the camera, but let me get a few photos of them while they searched for food.

























And full tank shot. It's a little cloudy. It clouded up big time yesterday after the water change.
Still getting ammonia readings. Dosed it with Prime today.








I've also been dosing more excel than I said I would. I've been doing about 30ml every day. Sometimes it's a little less, sometimes more.

Have a fire under my butt to make a DIY cave for the tank out of foam and quick dry cement. Like how people make their own tank backgrounds. Seems simple enough and I think I would put it where the majority of the crypts are (left side of the tank). Just need to come up with a design and list of items i need for it. I have an idea of what I want. Not sure how it will look, but won't hurt to give it a try... hopefully lol.
I would have to soak it in a storage bin for who knows how long though. WOuldn't want to kill my fish w/ whatever cement does to water to increase ph.
We'll see what happens though. I think husband is a bit annoyed with all of my DiY projects rofl.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I think we're in the same boat. I still haven't gotten a test kit, but I'm fairly certain I'm having a little cycle too. I did a 60% water change yesterday and then I dosed a cap of Prime today. I was in the process of setting stuff up for another water change and all **** broke loose. Ive done the DIY cement stuff before. It looks really good and isn't very hard. My only question is how are you going to secure it? I used an entire tube of silicone on my back glass and it still broke free a year later. Now I'm using travertine tile to hide the silicone all over the glass. I would silicone rocks together before I did foam again Perhaps make 90% out of it with rocks and then fill in some areas with great stuff and then do the quick cement on that with some sand for texture and then paint. It would likely sink on its own that way and be much less trouble. Man when that background broke loose it sounded like a gun shot!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I think we're in the same boat. I still haven't gotten a test kit, but I'm fairly certain I'm having a little cycle too. I did a 60% water change yesterday and then I dosed a cap of Prime today. I was in the process of setting stuff up for another water change and all **** broke loose. Ive done the DIY cement stuff before. It looks really good and isn't very hard. My only question is how are you going to secure it? I used an entire tube of silicone on my back glass and it still broke free a year later. Now I'm using travertine tile to hide the silicone all over the glass. I would silicone rocks together before I did foam again Perhaps make 90% out of it with rocks and then fill in some areas with great stuff and then do the quick cement on that with some sand for texture and then paint. It would likely sink on its own that way and be much less trouble. Man when that background broke loose it sounded like a gun shot!


I have a big piece of slate that I was planning on gluing everything to. Or trying to at least. Used it for a giant piece of wood that was in the tank before that wouldn't sink. (no photos of it in the tank b/c it was when I didn't really care for the tank). It took a lot of silicone to get the wood to stick and even then when we removed the wood, it came right off the slate lol. I think it would be heavy enough to support what I want to do. We'll see though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bless my husband's heart. He bought me some styrofoam sheets! lol Now to just get some inspiration from google and sketch something up. I have a basic idea of what I'd like to do. No idea if it will even work, but I'm willing to give it a try 

I went to Petco earlier today. Intended on going to Petsmart to pick up the anubias nana that I saw on sale, but decided since I was driving and only had baby boy with me, I'd go to Petco.
Met a really nice employee young guy there that actually knew a thing or 2 about fish. He was more of a cichlids guy though so didn't really understand what I meant when I asked if certain plants in their stem tanks were actual true aquatics. I think he thought I meant if they were real or not.

Anyway.. found a cute little sword called Argentine sword and I also bought a pot of micro sword








The micro sword was only $5. Wish I had known that.. I would've purchased the other pot they had too. Oh well.
The argentine sword came with around 7 separate plants in the container an cost $7. Not a bad deal 
Their plant selection was much MUCH better than my local Petsmart. Sucks b/c this Petco is across town. Sigh!

Anywho... I put 2 of the Argentine's in the 5 gallon and the rest in the 125. No idea where I was putting them so moved some crypts out of the way.









5 gal... I moved some of the crypts in it to the left. Put in 2 of the ones that were floating in the 125 and put the swords on the right. Oh and moved the wisteria to the back. It looks so out of place lol.









And the micro sword. Again.. I had no idea where to put it. I was going to put it dead center, but there are a lot of rocks there that I didn't want to get covered so I put it on the right side in front of the wood.
This stuff was a pain in my butt to get to stay in the substrate!!
I used my new tools and everything and it still sucked! lol
I'm sure I'll see it all floating tomorrow 








I probably should've seperated it and dispersed it a bit more, but it was all tangled up and by the time I got to it. I was done and just wanted it down in to the substrate. It doesn't look bad where it is though and if it does spread, it will look really nice in that area 

My new tools came in today too. Yeah.... I suck at using them. Sure... with more practice and patience I could get better, but it would really help if the tools were a few inches longer or if I could miraculously grow a few inches lol. I have to stand on my tip toes to put anything in to the 125 and then I'm awkwardly trying not to lean up against the glass b/c well.. it's a glass tank w/ 125g of water in it lol. So yeah... my aquascaping skills improved by 0% 

That's all for today! We'll see what tomorrow brings!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Maybe one day I'll actually have a nicely scaped tank that looks amazing, but for now... I'm happy with my scruffy messy as hell set ups 
I do still plan on trying to create a cave though. If it comes out looking how I'm imagining it, then I'll definitely be moving some things around to put it in to the tank.
Sure it would probably be a whole lot easier to find real rocks to use, but I've already proven myself to be a very sloppy scaper and all my luck, I would accidentally hit the glass and shatter my tank lol. The rocks that are already in the tank have been in there for years and I only moved them about an inch or 2 from where they were 

In other news... the ammonia has gone down even more in my 125! WOO! I think it still had a green tint to it, but lighting is so bad in this house that it's really difficult to tell. I lost my little ammonia color card. Not that I really need it. Anything other than yellow = bad! 
I didn't check 5gal yet, but will be doing that a bit later.

The micro sword was thankfully still in place. Added a few more root tablets around it to where I'm hoping it will spread.

The dojo loach seems to be nice and healthy now. Swims all over the tank and eats great. Got it to eat out of my hand yesterday  Bloodworms are just too tempting I guess lol. Really want to get it some buddies, but the only place we found them is good 30 or so minutes away from us and the other 2 they sold us were pretty much halfway dead /grumble.
Also got the tiger barbs and one of the killifish to eat from my hands too. Well.. it's not that surprising with the barbs since they're pretty fierce little eaters and the younger ones are used to my hands being all in the tank now (they peck at me sometimes) Was mostly doing it for the killifish since the barbs devour the bloodworms before they can really get any.
Ordered some food called Repashy. I've seen a couple of videos about it and comments and fish seem to really like it. 
I want to give my fish a decent variety in their diet.

And more photos 

Here's the giant piece of wood that used to be in the tank (on the left side). It's such a pretty piece but was just way too big for the tank. Plus.. even though it was in the tank for around 5? years... it never got waterlogged enough. Crazy.
We bought it from the flea market and paid $20 for it. It's now lawn decor and I'm sure will be termite food soon enough lol.

















The slate that I plan on using for the cave. Need to clean off the silicone that is still stuck to it.









This is another aponogeton. Sorry you can't really see it that well. I've tried taking photos of it at every angle but it blends in with the other plants. Looking at it IRL, it's obvious that it's a different plant from the surrounding ones b/c the coloring is darker, but in photos... it just sort of blends lol. 
The pack of bulbs I bought had around 5? of these bulbs, but only 3 grew and all 3 are different. Pretty cool 









And my 125 in sections 
It's a bit cloudy b/c I was moving a few of the crypts around. Trying to organize the chaos a bit lol.
Right side. Was hoping this side would be taken oven by the jungle vallis, but I'm not sure how well the ones in the back are growing. They're sending off shoots to spread, but aren't growing upwards just yet.
If it doesn't do anything and if my diy project looks nice... maybe I'll make another one for this side of the tank 









Center. Think I'm going to need to scoot the sword compacta up just a little. Once the regular sword behind it gets bigger, it's going to shade the smaller one too much. Debating though. Really don't like moving swords around once they become established.









Left side.... Replanted the remaining floating crypt and got most of the stem plant that was floating. Still have some debris floating up there though. Seeing how much the cabomba has grown, I wanted to get all of that extra stuff out of its way. Feel bad for taking the fish cover away, but they'll be fine without it for a little bit.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... first up...

Tests from this morning.








THe one on the left is betta tank, one on right is 125. IRL they both looked like they have a slight green tint, but in the picture, it only looks like the betta tank has it. Either way, I dosed both tanks w/ some Prime.

5gal this morning. I swear... I can't take a straight tank photo for the life of me. lol








Everything is good in it though. Betta seems really happy and always has a nice bubblenest  It gets spread out a bit b/c the filter is moving the surface a bit more than I like, but it's not too bad. I tried putting some of the crafting mesh in to the filter but it didn't do anything.

Tiny albino BN pleco. It's sibling didn't make it. Probably b/c of the ammonia in the tank. Or it could've been stress too. It was super teeny tiny when we got them both.
Did used to have albinos from mine that mated, but they all died 
Really hoping the plecos will mate again but all I see are big males w/ maybe smaller/younger females. 
Plus I'm not sure about the whole breeding relatives thing since it would either be father and daughter or siblings. Ugh.. feel dirty just typing that out lol.









Blue light tank shot. Just really cool watching the glowing fish swim around. It's going to be even better once they're adult size.









The ludwigia is growing pretty well I think. Has a good bit of new growth  Other than cabomba.. I've always had horrible luck with stem plants so it's nice to see that these are at least doing well 

















The weird sword. It still doesn't look quite right to me. Still looks like the new growth is coming in a bit twisted. Not sure if that's a problem or not?









And I started on the cave last night! YAY! Thankfully hubs had some silicone I could use to start gluing it together. Going to wait to glue it to the slate. I think it will sink. If the slate could make the giant piece of wood that we attached to it sink.. it should make some foam sink.
















I have a lot of carving to do. Thankfully I already have a heat gun to help smooth out edges once I'm ready to use it. Just have to pick a spot to do all of this in so baby boy doesn't eat any of the styrofoam. 
I also found exactly what I wanted to do on google when I searched aquascape caves. I mean it's kind of scary how much it looks like what I was imagining lol.
Clicky for link to the image
Was thinking about those temples in Cambodia? that have those giant trees growing on them with their giant roots draping over their walls. That was the inspiration I wanted to pull from for my project 

Had some unwanted helpers....
The Pipsters was ok. He's all of 3 or 4lbs and sat next to me shaking.... b/c chihuahua...









Rocko on the otherhand got excited that I was sitting on the floor and would not leave me alone! At one point he even got his giant goofy puppy butt on to my lap to get some belly rubs. Thankfully he did finally lose interest so I could work on my project.
























Thankfully our other dog is old and used to all of our BS, so he slept peacefully on the couch. Surprised the cat didn't come bug me too lol.
If the older 2 kids had been home.. my daughter definitely would have used the opportunity to get out of bed continuously. They're coming home today though so I'm sure I'll have photos of her to share soon rofl 

The 125 this morning...









And yep... going to try to get more of the sculpture done today. Have A LOT of really ambitious design aspects to it that I'm hoping will work. FX that it goes well.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your plants are growing quickly! Use as much natural materials as you can making the caves. I used sand, some dried moss, charcoal, and some of the stuff used as substrate for reptiles.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Soooo... I haven't worked on the cave yet, but I did go to the store. 
Went to the new pet store to see what they had. Disappointed  They had a couple of tanks w/ their plant selection and.. meh. Everything was covered in that brown algae stuff. Fish selection was also very minimal and mostly gold fish and cichlids.
Since that was a big disappointment.. decided to go to the close Petsmart to see if they still had the anubias nano on sale and they did.
None of the other on sale items of course, but still one pack of the anubias left.
Looks like a pretty nice bunch  I'm just letting it float in the 125 for now. Plan on attaching it to my cave as soon as that is ready in a few weeks or so.








Was tempted to buy the 2 kuhli loaches they had but decided against it. We want dojos!

Since it was still pretty early, decided to head to a different Petsmart further away to see what their plant selection was like.
They were also sold out on almost all of their sales items. But they had some different plants.
I bought some dwarf hairgrass
















I put over half of the hairgrass in to the 5gal. 
/shrugs..... we'll see how it grows!









And S. repens









Dunno how these will do in my tank, but we'll see. Hopefully it stays alive long enough to go around my cave 

And yep... I dunno how people plant hairgrass so easily. I probably should have made smaller bunches, but I felt like I was already pulling/killing a lot trying to loosen up what I did so planted in big chunks. That stuff was a pain in the butt to put in the substrate!! With a whole lot of cussing.... I finally managed to get it to stay put. Doesn't look pretty, but I don't care! lol


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I saw one guy do the DHG. Literally picked off each one and planted it with tweezers. Took him a couple hours IIRC. I don't know how the DHG will do without CO2, but have you considered dwarf sag? I wish I had some of my old pics, but I literally had a complete lawn in my 75 after about 5 months. I only started with 4 or 5 small plants. I cut a sponsor on here a good deal for it. It super pretty and spreads really well. I tried S Repens in my tank as well. It didn't survive with out CO2. That's not to say yours wont. Good portion on the anubias. The PetSmart by me has portions that are about 1/4 that size and its like $10. I sold a huge plant that was probably 30% larger than a softball to a guy on here. It had taken years, but it was enough to do an almost entire anubias nana scape in a 40B. I love that stuff. No interest in Buces yet?? I had a gorgeous "Buce Island" in my 150 for a time. I was so proud of the growth and health of the plants... then one day they had been mowed down. I'm still trying to get them to recover. Its been a long road. Hopefully when they get into a tank with CO2. There are some gorgeous varieties out there.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Anubias are really pretty plants. I think swords are my favorite though. But how I'm envisioning the cave.. I may buy a few more to decorate it with. We'll see though. I need to consider all of the other plants I already have in the tank. 125 is big, but it feels really small when you want to put so much in to it lol.
I'm not really all that familiar with small carpeting plants tbh. I am pretty sure I've had dwarf sag years ago, but I don't remember how it went, grew.. anything.

Ugh.. I dunno how anyone could have that much patience to do that with the hairgrass. Well.. I guess if it was just their form of comfort/meditation etc lol. That is just not for me. Maybe if I had a long shallow tank, but even then.. you'd see about 5 single hairgrass planted, then you'd see the giant bunch next to it b/c I would've gotten frustrated and impatient  lol
I am worried about the lack of pressurized CO2. I think my lighting is good enough, but the CO2 may be a problem. You know how you can use a syringe to squirt some excel right on to BBA spots? Maybe doing that to the plants would work and give them enough to keep them happy? /shrugs. I might try that. I'll have to look in to it more.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bahh... ammonia in the 5 gal is up. Much greener test results today. Will be doing a water change shortly.
I have been kicking up the gunk in the substrate recently with all of the new plants I've been adding. 
I just need to do water changes all around though. May wait until tomorrow to do the 125. I still need to check ammonia in that one. Fed the tank first and overfed by WAY too much by accident so just letting things settle before testing.

Also spot 'treated' the new hairgrass and repens with some excel. Hoping that doesn't cause it to die or anything. I held the syringe about 3 inches away and squirted them with it. We'll see. I don't know if I will continue doing that or see if just dosing the tank is enough.
I've been reading mixed experiences from folks about hairgrass.
Everyone agrees that pressurized co2 is definitely best and will make them spread super fast, but some folks have had slower success in low tech tanks too. Sooo yeah. I just need some patience right now. If I see the hairgrass starting to spread. I'm going to give it another week after that then do a trim. Read that trimming it close to the substrate helps it spread? or something like that lol. Just that it was a good thing to do.

Now time to find more info on s repens


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pics!

125 test. Still looks green IRL but photo doesn't show it /shrugs









Figured out a way to sink the anubias without having to 'plant' it on anything 









This aponogeton is shooting up 2 stems. It's pretty crazy but this is how tall they grew overnight. 









It lives! The jungle vallis up front is actually growing! lol I still don't know how the stuff in the back is going. Thinking not so well. Oh well. I'll figure out what to put back there to fill it in a bit.
The wisteria is looking nice though 









Not sure what kind of moss it is. It had completely taken over my 125 and 55 gallon tanks. This stuff was everywhere. Tried pulling off as much as possible from the fake log and real wood but some of it still managed to survive my scrubbing. Glad though b/c I'll be using some on my cave now 









Junk! Really need to clean it out. Some of this stuff is at least 8 years old.
My poor co2 set going to waste... for now. May convince hubs down the road to let me start it back up again lol. We'll see what happens.









The other side of the tank cabinet. Crappy lighting and the first tiny little co2 tank that I purchased. Used it at first but soon realized that a tank size that little wasn't enough for my 125.









My noisy fluval fx5 filter. It used to be quite, but for some reason the little magnetic doohicky (impeller?) inside of it started rattling. No idea how to fix it. It works perfectly fine... just noisy. It's not earth shatteringly loud or anything, just a light rattle.









And cave so far. I did a little carving yesterday. Lots of stabbing with my Xacto knife lol. Used up all of the silicone so can't really work on it that much more.
I'm going to hollow out the top of the stump a little more so I can add substrate in it and plant something there. Also need to pick a spot or 2 to make exits. Want to give the fish more than just the cave opening to go in and out of.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning....








Still some ammonia in the 5 gallon and the same looking thing in the 125 as yesterday. Wondering if my eyes are playing tricks on me and it really is yellow like photos show?
I dunno.....
I also checked nitrite in the 125 and thankfully that is still blue.
Tempted to go buy more safestart from Walmart... not that it really did much of anything. (1hr later.. I did go to Walmart and purchased their last 2 bottles. Used one in the 5 gal and will use the other in the 125 after the water change)

One of my adult old tiger barbs didn't eat this morning. That's never a good sign. They are a few years old.. at least 5 b/c I'm pretty sure we had them when my daughter was born. Could just be its time. While I want it to be ok and live longer, would much rather it be old age than it being sick from something a newcomer has brought in with it. I don't think that is the case though since all of the other fish have been acting normal.
It was acting totally fine yesterday and days before though. /shrugs
Doing a water change today so maybe that will perk it up some.
If it's on its way to the big watery rainbow lake/river in the sky... then I hope it doesn't suffer long.

The dojo loach is ready to be moved. But I'm hesitant to do it b/c I'm not sure if the 125 is actually reading 0 ammonia or not. Grrr... stupid lighting and stupid eyeballs! lol I'll keep it in the 55 for a little longer. At least until we get more dojos.
Part of me wants to keep the 55 tank up, but then another part.. the tired mom parts wants one less thing I have to worry about lol. Plus taking it down will free up a really decent chunk of the little breakfast nook area. Would love to have a big built in bench/table for that spot so we can eat as a family there or kids do homework etc. 
I'll get a photo of the tank once I clean it. I didn't do a water change yesterday, but will later today or tomorrow. Really need to scrub the glass down. So much algae!

Pretty photo of the betta. Just thought the colors really popped 








His tank is getting some gross slimy looking algae though. It's not green, but clear. Not sure what it is, but hopefully it clears up on its own. If not... well..... /shrugs

So I did a water change in my 125 just a little bit ago. New problem I have to deal with is a crazy little killifish that seems to enjoy hopping in to the little container that holds the bamboo. Dunno why it got it in to its head to hop in there, but it's fully capable of getting out. 
I actually tilted the basket to get it out. Turned around to check on the hose to start the water change.. turned back around and it was back in the basket. Sigh....








Silly fish...


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## AndrewH (Dec 24, 2007)

Subscribed!

A lot to read, but I'll catchup later this evening.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning.








I think it's safe to say that my 125 is indeed done with it's little mini cycle that it was going through. YAY!!!
The 5gal still has a ways to go, but hopefully the safe start works. If not.. I can always pull out more 55gal media to try to help... although that didn't help when I did it the first time /grumble

Worked more on DiY cave last night. Got silicone everywhere! lol But I made some progress with it.
Made a hole in the back/side









Dug out about 4 inches from the top. Should be plenty of room for some substrate and a root plant up there. I can always dig out a little more if I need to.









And just a view of it from the front. Still have a very long way to go. Would be great if I could work on it during the day but I'm working with some very sharp knives and blades and my kids are too curious and don't always listen lol.








The big ugly thing on the right with the toothpicks sticking out of it. I'm hoping will carve away to a decent looking root/vine. We'll see though. I may have ti incorporate some real wood to get the look I'm hoping for.

Also ordered some more dry fertilizer yesterday. Finally looked up more info on it and found out that I'm missing potassium sulfate. Also ordered more plantex somethingsomething +boran lol. I already have some of that, but won't hurt to get more. Should last me until infinity and beyond!

Since my tank is low tech right now... is dosing only once a week enough? I've been wondering if I should do more,but since my plants aren't growing all crazy fast b/c of pressurized co2.. I figured once a week was enough.

Lemme say though... seeing all of these beautiful setups with amazing growth with pressurized is really making me want to do it again. I'd have to buy a few things, but if I could convince my husband to start refilling the tank.... I think I'd jump back in to it asap lol. Wish I could go get the co2 myself, but I'm not dragging along 3 small children just to pick up a new tank whenever it's needed  Too bad it's not the 80's anymore. My dad used to leave us in the car all the time and no one batted an eye at it  rofl

Oh and forgot to add in full tank shot from this morning 








Not so yellow anymore finally! lol
Think once the plants fill in more.. I'm going to remove the black background. It's a white wall behind it. Just going to be a while before that happens though.
Oh and also the tiger barb I was worried about yesterday did eat some bloodworms last night and seemed to be schooling with the others again instead of hiding.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

5gal tests this morning looked a little better. Not as green and nitrite was still nice and blue. Hoping for that yellow ammonia test soon! In the meantime though.. dosed it with some Prime.

Debating if I want to go to Petsmart this morning to see if they still have those khuli loaches. If they do... I'm buying them. Only thing I'm afraid of are the killifish trying to make a meal of them. I think they're too big, but the killifish do have large mouths. 

Dojo loach is such a cutie! It now associates my hand with food so comes right up to it and starts looking for it's meal. Feels weird but I love it. It's adorable  Need to enjoy it now b/c with the little meal hogs in the other tank, it won't get the opportunity to do it before the other fish eat everything.
May need to start doing a feed at night after the lights are off. Give the plecos and eventually the loach(s) a chance to eat in peace.

I got my bottle of Repashy food in. It's so little for such a hefty price. Will be making some of it today. Hopefully a little goes a long way.

Thankfully it seems folks here are really in to DiY root tablets b/c there was a lot of really good threads I came upon in my search. Not a lot on using osmocote with red clay, but I think I'm going to do that. Just need to get some clay now. I'll let my kids help.... maybe lol. 

Everything is going pretty well though. Some plants keep getting uprooted, but nothing major.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No kuhli loaches... /cry
I sulked for a few minutes in the store and bought more bloodworm cubes lol. Sigh... knew I should've gotten them when I saw them.
Oh well.
I'm hoping to go back to where we got the dojos from this weekend, but that will be up to my husband and if he wants to take a 30+ minute roadtrip over to the fish place. If we do go.. I'm getting me one of their $20 giant sword plants too! Going to put it where I was hoping the jungle vallis would grow, but that stuff isn't doing much of anything.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your tank is looking great! I wish I could help with the ferts questions, but I'm in the same boat. Just dosed all my tanks this morning for the first time. I did 3/4 EI since I'm only using glut I'd it's the first dose. I think the kuhli poach thing was for the best. Nothing worse than watching fish that you wanted to care for and raise die do to mistakes within your control. I'm going to do a 20lb tank which should last forever on my 2 75's so the same size should last a very long time for you! It is just so much easier to do pressurized. You get thing slowly dialed in and plant mass grows and allows all kinds of scaping options as well as propagating to other areas or tanks. I will probably just follow the general practices from all the aces on here. Burr740 and Greggz both have 120 gallon tanks and I'm thinking I'm just base my ferts and dosing on their sound experiences. At least we have models for success.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I really need to start reading more threads here. I've only scratched the surface really.
Hell, I don't even measure the amount I'm dosing with. I know that's so bad lol. I use a teaspoon and I'm dosing about half a teaspoon with most of the ferts and a full tsp with the plantex csmblahblah stuff.
It seems to be ok though b/c in the 125.. plants seem to be growing well and I haven't had any algae pop up /knock on wood. Even the BBA that was a problem had almost completely cleared up. I'm sure the daily dose of excel has helped with that.
Pretty sure I'm using too much fert in the 5gal. I mix it all up in a jar and then put a little in the 5gal and the rest in the 125. Will just do a little less next time and hope the clear weird algae stuff goes away.
Would love to get shrimp for that tank but don't want to spend money on nice shrimp only for them to become an expensive meal for the betta lol.

Right now... I'm kind of trying to figure out how I can do a pretty big overhaul of the tank. I mean nothing too major like switching out the substrate or something crazy like that... just moving some things around to make it purdier 
But I still have to work with what I have so not sure if it's worth it to put all of my fish in that much stress. Maybe I could try doing one little section at a time so I won't disturb the fish too much.
/shrug

Oh and made first batch of the repashy food. Still needs to dry out. I dunno what people are talking about with the smell being horrible. It didn't smell bad at all. I mean it doesn't smell good, but it wasn't some horribly offensive foul odor either. Just sort of.. neutral.
You wanna smell stank.. go open a bottle of fish fertilizer for gardens.... then have your toddler sneak the bottle and open it all over your carpet. Yeah... that happened to me with my daughter. I tried my best to clean it up with our crappy carpet cleaner and the smell still persisted for weeks.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning.... 
Pretty much the same. 0 ammonia in the 125 and a little green in the 5 gallon.
I swear.. what's the point of using mature media if it's not gonna do what it's supposed to /grumble

Anywho.... we went over to the fish shop across town. Looooooong drive. Got to see a 6 car accident that held up traffic. Just minor fender benders b/c people here drive like morons.

They only had one small dojo loach left in their tank. They did have much bigger fat hot dog ones. A regular and around 3 albinos, but they were much more expensive too. We bought the little one... aaaaand... I'm pretty sure something is wrong with its spine. Looked totally fine in the store.. bring it home and noticed it. It seems to move around ok and looks ok otherwise. I fed the other one and its activity seemed to help destress the new one b/c it started scrounging for food too.
Got this pic of them  Newcomer is the one under the other one.








Seeing the fully grown dojos was pretty cool though. My little ones have a long way to go to get to that "hot dog" look lol.

And pic of the grungy 55. Meh. It really didn't look much better when it had all the plants and wood in it. Always had lots of algae.









Also bought a couple of plants... a nice GIANT Oriental sword  It did have a stem on it with sister plants but of course it was broken :\ The little plant on it didn't look like it was in good shape either, but I snipped it off and planted it.








It's a massive plant. Definitely need more substrate too. I was going to put it closer to the filter output but w/ there not being enough substrate, the force from the filter was tipping it over out of the ground.
I had to snip off a chunk of its roots. It was in one of those little black plant baskets and some genius thought it was a good idea to wrap its roots around the basket.
Fully expect some of the leaves to die off. They didn't look totally healthy to begin with, but overall, it's a nice plant 

Also bought an ozelot sword








Not a great photo of it. It's where I wanted the other one to go.

This was the sword that I was wondering about. If the new growth was growing weird.. and I think I was right. THe leaves aren't healthy and are getting holes in them. I think it's lack of the nutrient that I ordered (potassium sulfate). Hope to get that soon.









Ludwigia by the filter intake is growing really well. The stuff on the left side.. not so much. Think I'm going to move that stuff over by the new swords.









Cabomba. A few of the plants are doing well, but not as well as this stuff. It's loving its new home.









Only thing bad though is that it's totally tangled up in this aponogeton's stems. This single plant has put out 3 stems so far and I think it's going to put out another.









Also bought a couple of small rocks  Hubs picked out some kind of shiny types. Those will go in to the 125 eventually.. and I got this little one for my 5gal.








As you can see in the photo.. the hairgrass isn't doing so well. It's doing the same in the 125 too. Hoping it's just normal die off from being in a new submersed environment and will grow back or start looking better.

The s repens in the 5gal is looking really great though 









Wsh the rock was just a little bigger, but this is a good size too. Leaves room for more if I decide to add something else 









And tank shot of the 125. Water got pretty cloudy with how much substrate I had to move around to get the giant sword to stay put. And I apologize for the glare. 








Hoping the new big sword fans out a little more, but if it stays like that, that's fine too  And really hoping the ozelot grows nice and tall too with nice deep colored spots on it.

Now.. just need to get some clay to make some diy root tablets  Also want to get some pool sand too. Just have to figure out where you buy that from


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So.. I woke up this morning. Went to feed 125g tank and...









Bad plecos!! Bad bad plecos!! lol
Look at them.. just shameless. Tsk tsk

















I saw them on the leaves last night. Figured they were just excited to suck off whatever algae that was on the leaves (I couldn't see any). Didn't think much of it.
Oops... lol

They were on the ozelot too but thankfully that one looks unscathed.









Water is still super cloudy. Meh.... I checked ammonia and it's still the same so I'm not worrying about some cloudy water.

5gal ammonia is about the same too so dosed with more Prime.

New dojo loach seems to be ok thankfully. Spine near its tail is still wonky looking (just a little), but it looks like it swims around fine. MAYBE not as well as the other one, but it doesn't look to be in pain or hindered by it at all. I'll be able to get a better look at it once it's not so skittish around me.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Bad Pleco's!! I have a couple in my 150, but never ever again. They eat plants worse than my Peacocks and Haps... Some Syno lucipinnis would look really cool in there. I'm thinking of what I want to do in the tank that Ive got them growing out in once they reach a good size and I move the multipunctatus into the 150.
Havent been bitten by the Rainbow bug yet huh?? That 125 would make an outstanding Rainbow display

Bump: Bad Pleco's!! I have a couple in my 150, but never ever again. They eat plants worse than my Peacocks and Haps... Some Syno lucipinnis would look really cool in there. I'm thinking of what I want to do in the tank that Ive got them growing out in once they reach a good size and I move the multipunctatus into the 150.
Havent been bitten by the Rainbow bug yet huh?? That 125 would make an outstanding Rainbow display


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

We used to have rainbows. We had a couple of different ones. Bosemani, some kind of red colored one and turquoise. Think maybe duller colored ones too that may have been a different type but I can't really remember.
They were nice fish and were getting big too and then BOOM... all dead or dying along with all of the other fish in the tank. 
Hubs and I just wanted something different this time. We're hoping the odessa and black ruby barbs we bought will color up really nice. So far.. they're pretty dull, but they have a lot of growing to do too 

My BN plecos never really ate plants. I don't think they really "ate" these. It's just their rasping while trying to clean the leaves of algae that caused all of the damage. They were little miracle workers when I first put them in to the tank. Other than some BBA, there was also the brown stuff everywhere and a little bit of green. Next morning, (other than the bba) it was ALL gone lol.
Hopefully they got everything off that they wanted and won't damage my plant anymore. That plant was $20... they better not kill it!! lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up.. 125 this morning. Water has finally cleared up a bit. Now for me to do something that will cloud it up again! muahaha lol









Right side of the tank. Really hoping the ozelot gets tall enough to reach to just under the output. Maybe a little taller. 








I put the little sister plant behind the wood on the bottom. I wanted to put it in to the spot that I'm hoping will be its perma spot. Can't see it to keep an eye on it to see if it's actually going to survive or not though. Fingers crossed that it will survive and thrive and become a big beautiful plant 

Middle of the tank.








Still haven't put in the new rocks. Debating if I want to put them in here or just put them in the 5gal. They're all pretty small so it wouldn't be a big deal either way. It's not going to change the whole scruffy dynamic if I do put them in here lol.

Left side....








Since I'm hoping the sister plant will grow in its current spot... I now have to figure out where I want to move the ludwigia that's on the left side. Leaving it for now though. It just isn't growing like I'm hoping.
Heck... I have to figure out where the heck all of the crypts are going when my cave is finally ready. I think.... I'm going to start over though. The one I've posted here is just HUGE and would take up the entire left side. It's way bigger than I intended for it to be. Tank doesn't have huge fish so it doesn't need a HUGE cave for anything lol.
Going to try to salvage what I've done so far, but I have 3 or 4 more styrofoam sheets still.

I made root tablets last night!








Bought the clay at Michaels. Craftsmart natural clay. Says it's non-toxic so I hope this stuff is ok to put in the tank. Mixed it with osmocote plus pellets and just made a bunch of little pebbles.
They're drying in the garage. Checked on them this morning and some still feel a little wet. I'll wait until tomorrow before putting any in the tanks.

I should be getting the ferts I ordered today. Will do a water change tomorrow and then put those and the root tabs in.

Hmm.. what else.. Oh... I've noticed that 2 of the male blue platys are pretty aggressive with eachother. There are only 2 female platys in the tank right now (may get more later, but may not), so maybe that is making the males a little aggressive with eachother?
But these 2 particular ones are always doing a West Side Story show for eachother. Fins all flared out and they circle eachother. I'm sure if either had hands w/ thumbs, they'd be snapping in rhythm too lol.
They'll sometimes nip, but so far neither has done any damage.
Just thought it was interesting. I've kept platys for a while and never saw them act like this before, but I usually had a ton of females too so /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Why... WHY???








Test on the left is 125. Why is it getting ammonia readings again??
Only thing I can think of is the repashy I fed the tank. It got EVERYWHERE and I'm pretty sure the cabomba caught a lot of the granules of it.
Did a water change though so hopefully that's the end of that.

During the water change.. I put in a few of the clay root tabs that I made all around the tank. Was trying to put some in front of the micro sword and I noticed some of it wasn't in the substrate. So I tried to put it back in the substrate which made it all float lol. Took the opportunity to seperate it a bit and make sure it gets replants nice and good.








Hoping now that it's not all clumped together and crowded, it will start to spread.

Also noticed that some of the rocks in the tank were getting algae on them again. Not sure what kind. Could be BBA again or maybe green spot algae. I need to cut down on how many hours a day the light is on. Hope it helps so whatever it is doesn't spread.









Also did a water change in the 5gal. Hadn't planned on it but since the ammonia is going up.. it needed it. My poor fish 
I added a small chunk of filter media from my 55gal. It should help..... SHOULD help :\
So so cloudy... even cloudier after the water change.









And worked on the cave last night. I cut away a ton of it. The "cave" part is much much smaller now. Just need to cut away more of the trunk area.









And more rocks that we bought. My husband picked most of them. I picked the little purple one  
I put that one in to the 5gal and the small one on the upper right in to the 125. Still debating if I want to put them in to the tank. They really don't go with my scruffy natural look lol. 









Now.. just need more substrate. Was going to get some pool filter sand from Home Depot but the only 2 bags they had were busted open. Need to add some to the 5gal and then whatever to the 125. Thinking about just taking all of the substrate out of the 5gal and replacing it with sand. Wouldn't be too difficult to do since it's such a tiny tank.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. so tests this morning were looking much better. 125 was back to 0 ammonia and 5gal wasn't as green as before.
5gal tank is still pretty darn cloudy, but I'm not worried about that. Hopefully the little extra chunk of media I put in to the filter is helping to get it properly cycled already.

Forgot to mention that I've taken out most of the anacharis and myrio from the 125. 
I remember trying to grow anacharis before and it melted completely and the same thing is happening in the 125. There were a couple of stems that still looked like they were trying to grow so I threw those in to the 55 for now. The myrio is just ugly. Straight up fugly plant and SO scraggly and unhealthy looking.
I'm sure if that order had come in when it should have and not 3 days late, then maybe the plants would've looked and done better, but nope. Sigh.... still never buying from them again.

Looking online at different plants and I would love to find an African water fern. I think it would look great in my tank and on my fake cave. Well.. what I'm envisioning looks nice lol. Going to see if any of the local stores have it before looking in to finding it online. It's a bit pricey w/ having to pay $8 for shipping.

Oh I also dosed with my newly gotten potassium sulfate yesterday. That stuff does not mix with water lol. Hopefully a little got in to the 5gal. I'll just have to remember to put it straight in to the tank instead of trying to dissolve it in water first. Not a big deal.

And yep.. that's about it for now. All fish look to be doing pretty good. Plants overall are looking good... except for the hairgrass.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Are you talking about bolbitus? I've got a ton of it that was gorgeous when I got them... and they are slowly wilting... just like the last batch. I'm using fertilizers, glut, good amount of light... and DIY C02 and it's still just wilting. I know people say that it's a low tech plant, but not in my experience. I'm hoping to keep enough alive to get some into the 75 whenni get the pressurized system going.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Are you talking about bolbitus? I've got a ton of it that was gorgeous when I got them... and they are slowly wilting... just like the last batch. I'm using fertilizers, glut, good amount of light... and DIY C02 and it's still just wilting. I know people say that it's a low tech plant, but not in my experience. I'm hoping to keep enough alive to get some into the 75 whenni get the pressurized system going.


Yep! That's the one. That sucks that yours is dying. I wonder what's wrong? Hmm.. do you tanks have a lot of flow? Read that they seem to do really well w/ a good flow going over them and lots of water changes since they're found in rivers? But I've seen videos where people have them in just a regular ole tank too... nothing special and their plant is thriving.
Everything I've read said it's supposed to be an easy plant. But then again everything I've seen said anacharis is supposed to be easy and I've managed to kill that so... there ya go lol. /shrugs

Crap.... Just remembered that I forgot to dose excel today. Woops. One day without it shouldn't do any harm... at least I hope not lol.


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## fresheraqua (Jul 13, 2017)

Nice crypts!
This a fairly new restart of my 75 gal. With my crypts just starting out on far right in 1st photo. Jan. 2015
2nd pic is HEALTHY water lettuce and crypts gaining. Sept. 2015


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Yep! That's the one. That sucks that yours is dying. I wonder what's wrong? Hmm.. do you tanks have a lot of flow? Read that they seem to do really well w/ a good flow going over them and lots of water changes since they're found in rivers? But I've seen videos where people have them in just a regular ole tank too... nothing special and their plant is thriving.
> Everything I've read said it's supposed to be an easy plant. But then again everything I've seen said anacharis is supposed to be easy and I've managed to kill that so... there ya go lol. /shrugs
> 
> Crap.... Just remembered that I forgot to dose excel today. Woops. One day without it shouldn't do any harm... at least I hope not lol.


My 150 has an XP3, an AC70, an AC110, and two AC70 powerheads.... lots of flow everywhere... I just don't get it. There is a large mass literally right on top of the Hagen Mini Elite that I use to diffuse CO2 as well.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

That sucks. Maybe you could try removing some of it and plopping it in to your new tanks? I have no idea what that would even do lol.

fresheraqua- is the stuff floating the lettuce? Wow.. that looks pretty awesome 

I take all the credit for the crypts. I did absolutely nothing for them and just let them grow and spread like crazy so... ALL the credit! rofl 

Tests this morning. Left one is 125 and the other 2 are the 5gal..








Yikes.... the 125 looked green again IRL so I dosed the tank with Prime and gave a double dose in the 5gal. Going to do a water change in it a little later.

Decided to add another chunk of media from the 55gal. Slightly bigger than the last chunk I put in.








Hope it helps.

Well.. I guess the tests answers why the tank has been so cloudy. Definitely a bacteria bloom.









Don't worry little buddy.. I'll get your tank figured out. You've survived in a little cup for at least 2+ weeks in a store. Survive a little longer in my frustrating 5gal!









125 this morning. Looks like the plecos have eaten through a couple more of the new sword's leaves. /grumble
Everything overall looks pretty good though.








I'm gonna have to do something with the cabomba though. It's getting all tangled up. Need to snip off some of the offshoots and replant somewhere.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning








Ammonia in the 5gal looks to be at 0. Nitrite is still high though and 125 is still showing ammonia. SIGH! Going to have to cut back to just one feeding a day again until that resolves.
Seriously, thank goodness for Prime.

And a bunch of plant photos! After adding in the root tabs and the potassium sulfate... I think there's been a good amount of new growth 

This little compacta sword seemed to have stalled in growth for a while, but looks to finally be growing. And the wisteria is growing really well still. Love it!









s repens still not looking too great, but at least it's not dead lol









More swords. One on the left is a compacta and one on the right is the one I moved for the giant one. It's supposed to be just a normal amazon sword. It's looking much better now. Still a little twisted but much healthier.









And even more swords... I do love my sword plants lol.
Amazon and a compact in front of it. Both still looking really nice  
And the ludwigia is growing great too. Need to move that one that's getting stuck on the filter intake.









Plecos are still shredding my new sword plant. It's growing some new leaves thankfully so hopefully whatever damage they do end up doing won't kill the plant....... /grumble
Thankfully the little sister plant is still alive. Looked like it got a new leaf on it too. I did have a photo of it but deleted it by accident. I could take another but.. nah.. lazy.









Ludwigia on the left side looks to be growing much better now.









Hairgrass isn't doing so well though. Boo  Not going to give up on it just yet, but it's not looking too hot.









Corkscrew val thankfully likes its environmen unlike the jungle lol. 
They're finally getting a little height to them... not much, but a little 









5gal. I snipped off a little of the cabomba and stuck it in here. I don't really like it in there and will probably take it out soon. I may try putting some back in to the tank when I change out the substrate. Hopefully doing that won't cause the tank to go through a cycle again though.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Everything is looking really good. How much excel are you doing now? I did some corkscrew vals in my bottom 75 and nothing in there is growing. There's green slime everywhere. How long were yours "stalled" before they started improving? Maybe the bulbs are bad? It's got a 3 bulb t5HO, but the bulbs are well over a year old... I don't know why nothing in that tank is doing well.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Everything is looking really good. How much excel are you doing now? I did some corkscrew vals in my bottom 75 and nothing in there is growing. There's green slime everywhere. How long were yours "stalled" before they started improving? Maybe the bulbs are bad? It's got a 3 bulb t5HO, but the bulbs are well over a year old... I don't know why nothing in that tank is doing well.


Hmm.. I think they've been in the tank for a little over a month now (maybe 6 weeks? give or take). They got new leaves on them fairly quick... maybe within a week, but stayed pretty short and didn't really have the nice corkscrew look to them until just recently. So it took quite a while for them to perk up.

As for the excel (which I forgot to dose again so thanks for the reminder! lol).... I've been doing about 30ml every day. Sometimes it's a little more and around 40 sometimes a little less. I haven't been super stringent.
I wouldn't think the lighting would be the issue. If you're not using any.. maybe some good root tabs would help?


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Hmm.. I think they've been in the tank for a little over a month now (maybe 6 weeks? give or take). They got new leaves on them fairly quick... maybe within a week, but stayed pretty short and didn't really have the nice corkscrew look to them until just recently. So it took quite a while for them to perk up.
> 
> As for the excel (which I forgot to dose again so thanks for the reminder! lol).... I've been doing about 30ml every day. Sometimes it's a little more and around 40 sometimes a little less. I haven't been super stringent.
> I wouldn't think the lighting would be the issue. If you're not using any.. maybe some good root tabs would help?


You know I cut down to 10ml per tank hoping to stretch it out until I got my CO2 system... I'm going to raise it back up and buy another jug. At $20 a gallon it's foolish for me to risk the initial acclimation of the plants. Excel inbound!
I put some osmocote tabs under most of the plants when I put them in, but maybe the additional PFS I added caused the slime and diatom outbreak.


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

As for your fx5 rattling, you can take Vaseline and cover the impeller shaft with it and it should be quiet again

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Mattb126 said:


> As for your fx5 rattling, you can take Vaseline and cover the impeller shaft with it and it should be quiet again


Thanks!
I looked up videos on it after I posted about it here. 
Why I didn't look it up before?..... kids... I'll just blame the kids lol.
I haven't done it yet. Bit of a pain in the butt for me to clean the filter so I don't do it too often. I definitely will give the impeller a good giant glob of vaseline though next time I do clean it


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. unplanned trip on Saturday and unexpected guests yesterday kept me from posting. Had to clean the house as best as I could. Gotta at least pretend that my house is somewhat clean  lol

Anywho...Tests from yesterday...
Left is 125, other 2 are the 5gal..









Tests from this morning... the RIGHT one is the 125.
Just.... WTH????








I don't know what is going on but I wish it would stop already. SIGH!
Hadn't planned on doing a water change today, but.... well.... there ya go :\

After dinner on Friday, we went to a different Home Depot and got a bag of pool filter sand..









Decided that I'd add some to the tank during the water change. Wanted to add a little to the back right of the tank since the new swords back there seemed to need deeper substrate.








I tried my best to put a few of the small black substrate back there w/ some rocks to try to make it blend in better, but it doesn't work lol. Oh well 

It's not glaringly obvious when you're looking in to the tank.









The sand kind of filled in around the wood and created a nice little cave that I think some of the fish will love.









The jungle val that was back there was alive, but certainly not thriving at all. It had a couple of runners, but just looked pathetic and sad. The one that I thought was dead but miraculously wasn't isn't doing all that great either and keeps getting uprooted. I put them all in the front of the tank temporarily just so I can keep an eye on them.









I moved the little sister plant to the back with plenty of root tabs under it. It had grown some new roots so I think it will do just fine in its new spot 









After unplugging the filter... I also added some sand where the intake is and around the ludwigia and the amazon sword next to it. I had to move some small crypts but there was a surprise sword compacta back there that I had forgotten about. Moved it up. It should do better now that it's not shaded.









You can't tell too much that I added sand other than the sword in the back is higher up some. I would add a little sand and gently pull the sword up some. Add a little more, pull up, etc.









Oh and wanted to show close up of the destroyed sword leaf. Pretty sure I saw the culprit hanging out on the plant a couple of times. It's one of the smaller plecos. /shakes fist aggressively at it Get off my plant you gosh darn pleco kid!!









A nice blurry photo of 2 of the killifish lol
The smaller of the 2 is definitely a male (it's behind the big one)... the big one? I'm fairly certain it's female, but it could just be a poorly colored male. If it is female though.. the little male is the only male out of the bunch. It has itself a nice little harem. 









I took the cabomba out of the 5gal and put it back in to this tank. Going to eventually move the ludwigia in the corner so I can move the cabomba to that corner.









Aponogeton. What kind /shrugs Just always think it's kind of neat how different all of them are that came in the same pack.
And one of the killifish saying Hello! Gimme Food!









Since I was already doing a water change and baby boy was down for a nap.. decided to go ahead and do one in the 5gal AND I decided to just keep the substrate in the tank and put sand on top of it...
Before...









And after...still cloudy so you can't see too much lol








I took out the betta, all of the plants, and all of the large rocks. Took out half the water, then added lots of sand. I added about an inch and a half of sand just up at the front of the tank and more at the back lol.
And as I mentioned, I took out the cabomba. It just didn't go well in this tank.
So yeah.. took a bit away from the tank space b/c of the sand, but the betta doesn't seem to mind 

Oh and the root tabs I have left. Plenty left for whatever I need them for.
Going to make more sometime this week so the rest of the clay doesn't go to waste and dry up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning.
Left 2 are the 5gal. Now THAT is a nice yellow ammonia result. Still nitrites but it's getting better it seems. Still upset that I'm having to do a cycle with the poor fish in the tank in the first place though.








My 125 ammonia result is concerning. Just... WTH?? It shouldn't be doing this. Not anymore at least. I'll have to start checking its nitrite levels too b/c I'm sure it's heading in that direction now. Sigh.... So frickin frustrating.
And I'm pretty sure some of the fish are being negatively affected. I've caught some of the barbs hanging out in a corner. One of the green glolight ones is definitely sickly now. I'm not sure if it's eating since there's so much activity when I feed the tank, but I tried looking for it and don't think I saw it.
Going to have to buy a lot more prime it seems. I put in a healthy dose in to the tank. Really hoping it helps 

Here's my 5gal this morning








I definitely put in way too much sand lol, but oh well. It's 5gals and I can always take some out.
But for now, I'm leaving it.
Some of the crypts have been melting some and the s repens have been dying a little too. The wisteria and swords are doing well though at least 

125 this morning








Really happy with the subtle raise of the back plants. It was only just a little but the ozelot isn't as hidden as it was before.

Also worked on the cave some.
Used my heat gun on it to help smooth out some super rough spots. I got a bit too heat gun happy though and melted through a few spots a bit too much. Oops...


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your plants are growing faster than mine! I really like the look. A word of warning. Everytime I add some PFS I get massive algae slime from the silicates. I did a few extra water changes and manually scrubbed the gunk off of the leaves.... all the leaves... took me a good 30 minutes last time. I didn't have anything like that when I added more Floramax and black sand to the top 75. I'm sorry about your cycling troubles, but it seems you've managed to keep everyone alive... that's pretty awesome. Those killi's are gorgeous. I've never had Killi's or Gudgeons, but I will at some point. They are so cool looking

You've done an AWESOME job with that root! Way better than anything I was ever able to do.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks. I'm trying my best to keep the current fish alive, but I don't think that one glolight one is going to make it. It's so scrawny looking. 
I'll be sure to be on the look out for the algae. I've read that about pfs. It's going to suck, but comes with the territory 

Killifish are pretty awesome  Golden panchax are nice, but there are a lot of absolutely stunning killifish out there. If you're ever interested in getting some, definitely look up all the different types. They're super colorful and have amazing fins too.


Ok.. so something is going on with the pH in my tank.
I've had pH problems before when the tank was new. The pH always ended up really low and acidic so the cycling process would stall so I'd have to buffer the water with baking soda.
I actually had to add baking soda in to the tank every week to keep things normal. Seemed to work though.
Didn't think of doing it this time b/c I figured I didn't have to.

Thought to finally check pH again just to see what it was...








The first one is the pH reading I got which is the 7.6 reading on the chart.
I used the High pH solution (the 2nd one) but it wasn't any higher than the 7.6.
That really isn't too bad, but I thought maybe something had raised the pH too quickly which was why the fish were stressed.
Thought maybe it was the sand? Maybe even the root tablets I made (I stirred some up a little yesterday)
So I tested the 5gal as well...That one is the middle. 6.4
Ok then.... lets take a look at the tap water directly... That's the 4th. Maybe around 6.8
And the 5th one is the 55gal that I haven't added anything to. 6.0.. what the tank was before I used baking soda in it.

I ended up doing about a 40% water change b/c the fish hanging out in the corner was concerning me and I really don't want to wake up tomorrow to a tank of dead fish.
Did the water change.. waited around 30min and tested the water again and..








6.0......

I don't understand WTH is going on. You would think it would've at least been a little higher even from just the tap, but nope.
My test kit is still good so that shouldn't be the problem. Maybe I added one too many drops? Going to go do that now to see if that does give different results.
Aaaand it did nothing to change the result.

Just...... what????
I'll test it again tomorrow morning. Give it some time to settle a bit more and go from there.


But then that leads me to my next problem..... if that higher reading was just a fluke and my pH is super low again... do I just leave it? Maybe this is the reason why I'm still getting ammonia b/c the pH is causing the beneficial bacteria to stall or grow super duper slow?
I would prefer not to have to add in baking soda again, but I will if I must.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Something is going on with your water. You can get a water analysis from the water company. I've heard of them doing some pretty funny things with the water, then there is fertilizer run off, any number of things..
I think the easiest solution is getting an RO system and just remineralizing your own. Sucks, but there is definately something going on with your water. You shouldn't have those fluctuations and you should be going back and forth with ammonia readings.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

/shrugs
I have no idea what is going on, but that sounds like a really good possibility.
Thing is though, why didn't the 5gal have the same results? I changed that water out yesterday too. Almost all of it actually and its pH was 6.4 and not the 7.whatever.

I went ahead and added a little bit of baking soda. 
Added 2tsp to the tank and will check pH in a couple of hours and add more if I need to. Then I'll keep an eye on pH to see how often I need to add more baking soda.
I was doing it once a week before, but maybe that wasn't enough.

Already adding a bunch of stuff to the tank... what's one more thing lol. At least this one is cheap though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty..about 2 hours later and pH is up to around 6.4. A little better. I'm gonna wait until tomorrow before adding more. See where pH is at in the morning and then if it's still 6.4, add in 2 more tsp of baking soda. That should be plenty.

I did also check ammonia 2 hours ago and it was 0.25 so thankfully that did go down with the water change. Hopefully raising the pH (if that was the problem) will help to get the BB to do their job.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Camera battery died so can't post photos yet...

Added about 1 1/4tsp more baking soda this morning and will recheck pH in a couple of hours. It was still reading 6.4 and I'd like it a little higher.
Ammonia was still at around 0.25. 

5 gal is still chugging along. Ammonia was at around .5 and nitrites were still high. 
I added 1/4tsp baking soda to it b/c its pH had also gone to a 6.0 reading. Sigh.. this is the same problem I had when I first started. Guess it's going to always be a problem. Oh well... at least it's an easy solution. Just need to figure out how much baking soda to add to the tanks and when I need to add them.

Really really hoping Prime will help to keep my fish healthy while the tanks adjust and hopefully take care of the ammonia & nitrites quickly. I know ammonia becomes more toxic with a higher pH. UGH this is shaving a few years off my life.

In other news.... the newer dojo loach ate out of my hand this morning! YAY! It almost did it last night, but hesitated and the flakes were already falling to the substrate by then anyway. So happy that it's gotten comfortable.
I'm really loving these 2 little loaches. Watching them interact with eachother is so sweet. They seem to really enjoy and get comfort in touching the other one. I want to get 2 or 3 more of them. I bet a nice little group of them is so fun to watch 
Can't wait to get them in to the big tank whenever the ammonia problem is fixed. They're going to love all the plants and wood to swim around in.
I added half a teaspoon of baking soda to the 55gal last night. Will be checking its levels in a little bit just to make sure it isn't going through some weird cycle too. It shouldn't be. The filter is nice and mature and I haven't done anything extreme to the tank so it better not be messing up /grumble

What else what else....

Wanted to add some sort of blue fish to the tank for my daughter (she loves blue), but there doesn't seem to be anything that would fit in with the tank (that we want). Unfortunate, but oh well. I do kinda want to add something else though. What?.... no idea. Can't be anything too small b/c of the killifish and their huge mouths. Has to be fast and just as greedy of an eater as the rest of the fish and can't be fin nippers.
I know tiger barbs always get that rep, but they really do calm themselves down once their pecking order has been established. I haven't seen any of them be majorly aggressive since about 2 or 3 days after the platy were added... and even then it was just chasing w/ non-damaging nips to the body. The most I see any of them do is just chase eachother for a second.
I think we could use more odessa barbs. We only have 5 so a few more of those would be great.
Hmmm we also need more gold barbs.. and rosy barbs are pretty nice and common. Sooooo.. yeah.. ideas ideas!

Can't add anything until the ammonia goes away though. SIGH!


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

If you are continually having such a hard time with your pH getting low, why not use a pH buffering substrate? GH concerns?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bunsen Honeydew said:


> If you are continually having such a hard time with your pH getting low, why not use a pH buffering substrate? GH concerns?


I haven't tested GH or KH. My tests were old so I threw them out and haven't replaced them. Bad me.. I know.
After reading some about crushed coral... I may get a little and add it to the substrate or to the filter. Seems like it will help to keep the pH from crashing and keep things more stable. So thanks for bringing that up 
I'm still reading all about it so we'll see what happens.

pH is up to about 6.8 in the 55gal and 125. Much much better  I may add just a tiny bit more, but if not.. 6.8 is perfectly fine I think.
Now just to keep an eye on both of them to see how long the baking soda lasts.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Something weird happened to the 5gal yesterday.
It's been a little cloudy, but nothing to worry about since it's cycling. But suddenly yesterday afternoon.. the water turned orange.








Thought maybe a root tablet had somehow made its way closer to the surface and was leaching clay in to the water (which still may be the case), but this morning....








Perfectly fine looking water.....
WTH?
I did check the water last night and everything looked normal. Well.. other than the pH being higher b/c dumbdumb (aka me) put in too much baking soda in to a tiny tank.









SO yeah.... /shrugs No idea what caused that. The clay tablets are the only thing I can think of that would've caused this to happen, but I made sure that I pushed them down to the original substrate. Maybe one got caught and came back up some without me realizing it. I dunno.. just weird.
As for its pH. I'm just leaving it for now. I should've known I was putting in too much to begin with, but brain was out of order at the time I guess. Betta seems to be fine though and never showed signs of being stressed. I definitely won't be putting in that much again. 
Plan on doing water changes this weekend so we'll see where it's at then.

Tests for the 125 this morning. Still some ammonia which sucks, but it looks like the pH is holding steady for now.








I'd like to get a stone or something that changes pH in to the tank. Really don't want to mess with my filter right now so I can add in crushed coral, but if I can't find anything else.. that's what I'll do. I'm just so weak and the filter is so heavy /cry

And some extra photos 

This aponogeton has gone crazy with all of the stems. I've lost count how many of them there are. For some reason I thought they only shot up one at a time. How wrong I was....









One of the 2 tigers w/ a messed up mouth. Asked on the forums what could be the cause and broken or dislocated jaw seems to be the best bet. They both eat with no problem though... as you can see from its giant potbelly.









Caught this pleco in the act last night!! Little bastard! Well this is actually one of the larger ones. Thankfully the leaves they seem to want to munch on are the old ones. The ones that I'm sure were grown out of the water.
Haven't seen any damage to the newer leaves.... on this plant at least.









The tiny oriental sword is doing extremely well  Growing new little leaves. I dunno if it will get as large as the mother plant, but I hope so! Half as big would be nice too 








Really enjoying watching this one and the bigger one get new leaves though. It's so pretty that the new leaves are a pinkish color. Very cool.

Cabomba still growing like a weed. I just wanted to show some of it's pretty, subtle purple spots 









And full 125 tank shot









Think I'm going to move the cabomba, ludwigia and some of the crypts this weekend when I do another water change. I may add a little bit of sand to where the cabomba is going too just to help keep it down. I still need to figure out where to put the ludwigia though. Any suggestions would be helpful


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Man are those plants growing fast!! I'm not a cabomba fan, fun if you are going to keep it I would put the ludwigia to either side and keep it trimmed to kind of transition to the lower plants.. I think that would look cool and cohesive. That 30ml of glut daily is treating you very well!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It really has been treating my plants well.... well other than the jungle val.
I'm actually pretty surprised how everything is growing. Happy though... very happy 
The left side is going to have the fake cave decoration in it and it's going to take up a pretty big chunk of that area. Maybe I could move the ludwigia to the back of the tank so it will hopefully grow behind the cave? Trim it and then hope it grows in fuller to fill in the back a bit more. I dunno if that would look good though. We'll see what happens  Still at least a month or so before that cave is going in to the tank.
I plan on covering the cave with cement this weekend. At least that's the plan. Debating if I should glue it on to the slate first or wait until after it's cemented.

I'm going to try to move all of the crypts on the left side towards the larger clump of them near the swords. Really pack them all in there together. I think the fish will really like that if they need to hide out somewhere... especially fry if anything in the tank ever decided to reproduce. Heck, I still have the crypts in the 55gal that will need to be moved in to the 125 eventually. Sheeeeeeeeeesh. Crypts.. crypts everywhere!!! 

Still debating on what plant to put on top of the cave/stump. I cut out a pretty large bowl to add in some substrate. I could move one of the compacta swords... or one of the little Argentine swords or just put a ton of the crypts in to it since I think the cabomba is going to cover the top. I dunno... I'll have to wait to get the decor in to it first and then go from there.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Sounds like a pretty good plan. Personally I don't think you can EVER go wrong with java fern or anubias, especially on top of wood or caves or whatever.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Sounds like a pretty good plan. Personally I don't think you can EVER go wrong with java fern or anubias, especially on top of wood or caves or whatever.


I would like to get some more anubias. MAYBE some of that one african water fern if I can find it, but I'm not a big fan of regular ole java fern. I've never had luck growing it. Leaves would always turn black and the plant would die. 

Get a few more of the anubias nana to go with what I already have... then.. something. /shrugs
Still have lots of time to pick something out 
Also debating if maybe I should add a branch coming off the stump. I dunno if that would look right though...... thinking about it more... nah.
Maybe I'll create a thinner stump to go next to it or something if there is room left on the slate.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> I would like to get some more anubias. MAYBE some of that one african water fern if I can find it, but I'm not a big fan of regular ole java fern. I've never had luck growing it. Leaves would always turn black and the plant would die.
> 
> Get a few more of the anubias nana to go with what I already have... then.. something. /shrugs
> Still have lots of time to pick something out
> ...


I was just thinking about this today. Bolbitus prefers an acidic to neutral pH. The pH in my African tank is probably 7.8 or higher as I use straight crushed coral substrate. I wonder if that's the reason for my failure with bolbitus in that tank. Either way I moved ALL of it to the 75 and we will see very shortly how it goes. CO2 Tank is here tomorrow! 
You may have luck with it given your much lower pH. I'll send you some from my hopefully very successful first thinning!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

That would be awesome. Grow plant! GROW!! lol

Alrighty... tests this morning..
5gal








Sheesh... ok.. now that pH is up a little more... this cycle needs to hurry the hell up already.
Think I'll be doing a small water change today. Wanted to wait until tomorrow, but I don't like seeing ammonia that high.

125 tests








pH decreased just a little bit. Photo makes it look yellow, but there was still a slight green tint to it. Maybe less than .25? Flippin hope so. Tired of this! lol I just want to sit back and enjoy my tanks already without having to worry about mini cycles or in the case of my 5gal.. a full on cycle.
I also added 1/2tsp of baking soda to the tank. Will retest in a couple of hours.

And look! It's my greedy little dojo loach! It would've been a nice photo if I cared to clean the tank... which I don't  lol









125 tank shot








Did a little bit of cleaning up yesterday. Trimmed off some more chewed on leaves. Left a few of them though in hopes of the plecos going back for those instead of new ones.
Can't believe I'm having this problem. Guess the crypt leaves were too flimsy for them when they were in the 55.
Oh also this morning, lots and lots of hairgrass floating along with a snapped stem from one of the aponogeton. Tired of trying to replant so I just took out the floaters. Whatever comes up is staying out. Lesson learned... lesson learned.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Checked pH again and it was up to about 7.0 
Sat to watch the fish a little bit to make sure none of them were acting weird (except for that one poor sickly looking green glolight barb) and got an itch to move the ludwigia... so I did.

Decided to move it with the rest of the ludwigia by the filter intake. I may need to move it if it starts to get sucked on to it.








There wasn't as much as I thought there was over there. Maybe 5? stems so just putting them with the rest didn't really make much of a difference.

I then got the urge to go ahead and move the cabomba and holy crap is there a lot of it! I mean.. I knew there was... but actually moving it..... there's a lot more than I realized and it completely shades the left corner now.








Not sure even the crypts would like it in the shadows... but the fish sure seemed to enjoy it. (or were just looking for food b/c they're greedy little hogs) Should be a nice area for shy fish to hang out in and if there are ever any fry in the tank.. a good spot for them to survive.
I also moved a few of the crypts from the area. Tried moving some of the larger ones away from the stemmy aponogeton. You can really see just how many that single plant has put up. 

I plan on trying to move more of the crypts away from the other 2 aponogetons so you can see them better. Everything is going to be relocated when the cave is ready though... going to be such a pain in the butt but hopefully worth it 










There are a couple stems of the cabomba... that all came from this one single stem. It's grown itself a nice little root system 









And just b/c.... Anubias nana looks nice. Not sure I'll be able to get it off of the food sinking thingamajig though.









The micro sword still looks the same.. I think? I'm not really sure lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So.. bought some crushed coral that I'll be adding to the substrate b/c I don't want to mess with my filter.
Not sure how much to use though. Maybe a cup to start off with and then go from there. Just going to add it to the back where the sand is and stir it up a little bit. I don't really care if it blends in or not. It will eventually.

Also bought 1 powder blue dwarf gourami and 2 fire red gourami. They're in the 55 with the loaches right now. All of them will stay put until the 125 is no longer giving ammonia readings.
Would like to get 1 or 2 more blue gouramis.
I feel a bit bad for putting them in to such a bare tank so I took out a couple of the aquarium decorations collecting dust and stuck them in to the 55 for them. One is a fake cave and the other is an Oriental looking thing that has a little cave thing in it. Not sure if they can fit but the dojos might like it lol.
I' sure all 3 fish are males since they're all pretty vibrant in color. Oh well... in the 125 they should be ok unless they all want the same spots lol.
Hoping the tigers will leave them alone once they are in the tank.
Maybe the reds will get chased at first since they are the same color, but hopefully that will be it. FX.... I'll be adding them at night when the lights are off.
That's not for at least 2 more weeks though. Just depends on what the frickin ammonia does :\


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## mbkemp (Dec 15, 2016)

lisals said:


> Looking through old tank photos. Sigh.. it was so nice before. Ok so I was still horrible at aquascaping, but it was so lush and overgrown and the fish loved it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That's very nice. I really like it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks. Too bad it doesn't look like that now lol.

Alrighty... so water change at noon. Around 40%.
pH was around 7.0 and ammonia was still showing a tint of green.
After water change... and adding around 2 or so cups of crushed coral to the substrate. Ammonia was still the same and pH dropped to about 6.8 give or take. Just a slight difference.

I also checked 5gal this morning and ammonia and nitrites were still up, but pH had crashed back down to 6.0. Added maybe 1/4c or so to the substrate. Haven't rechecked it, but did a 40% water change.

55gal.. I just added in about a half a cup of crushed coral. All 3 gouramis are looking good too. They're all eating which I'll take as a good sign.

What else what else... moved a couple of the ludwigia stems b/c they were getting stuck on the filter intake. Moved the fake log too to help scoot the intake back more. The suction cup that is supposed to hold it to the glass stopped suctioning so it just sort of floats there now lol.

And I think that's about it. Just hoping the coral raises the pH and keeps it steady. I know putting it in to the filter would've been better, but meh.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning...

5 gallon..








Ammonia was 0 for now. pH was still 6 and nitrites are still up there. I added just a tiny pinch of baking soda to the tank to get the pH up just a little bit to help w/ the cycling and while we wait for the coral to do its thing.

5gal is doing something weird this morning though. It's turning orange again. I couldn't get a good photo of it. This photo doesn't show how very very orange it has gotten lol.
Not sure what the heck is causing it but the betta seems to be ok.








With that weirdness going on... I do like the look of the crushed coral mixed in with the sand. It already had a kind of beachy look and the coral just makes it look even beachier. Like sand dunes at the beach 

Decided to check 55gal to see how its pH was doing and it seems to be holding pretty well.









Here's a crappy photo of 2 of the gourami and my reflection. lol









And 125 tests this morning. Still that slight ammonia reading and pH is around 6.8 give or take.









Photos photos photos...

Corkscrew val have gotten a little bit more height on them.








You can see the algae on the rocks next to them. Pretty sure it's spot algae. It's super dark though so I thought it was BBA coming back.

Crypt valley









Ludwigia w/ the coral I messily put down around it. I didn't bother trying to mix it in since it was by the intake. The ludwigia isn't getting stuck on the intake any longer, but it does lean over towards it. Oh well.









Side view of the ozelot w/ coral. I did try to stir it up some, but it didn't work lol.









Ozelot with the wisteria going crazy in front of it. Hopefully the ozelot will put on a little more height.









I do love my swords... 









Sword compacta up front has grown some pretty big leaves recently. I think the root tabs are really really helping 









There's a little crypt that I parked right in between 2 compactas. It was fine at first when they were both scraggly, but now that the swords are growing.. the crypt is getting covered. It's not like the other crypts. Can't remember the kind it was. Leaves are nice and dark and the underside is red? pink? purple? I can't even remember lol.









And finally.. a tank shot 









It's coming along. I do wish there were more taller plants, but hopefully one day that will be the case.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your tank is looking so lush!! Lots of little adjustments, but you are definitely getting it figured out!! I love how dense the crypts are. It looks amazing. I am hoping that mine grow in like that. Did you do root tabs under each one or spaced out?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Your tank is looking so lush!! Lots of little adjustments, but you are definitely getting it figured out!! I love how dense the crypts are. It looks amazing. I am hoping that mine grow in like that. Did you do root tabs under each one or spaced out?


Spaced out. I tried putting them close to the plants, but then a little further away to help the roots spread more. I think I actually need to add more root tabs around the crypts. I know I didn't put a lot on the left side since the big cave is going over there and I didn't want root tabs under it, but I can't really remember if I put in some in the thick of all of near the swords.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests this morning. WIll be nice not starting a post with that lol.

125... pH is holding. I'm still unsure about the ammonia. To me IRL it looks slightly green.. like very very slight, but in the light outside (where I took the pic).. it looks yellow. I dunno.... maybe the crappy lighting inside is making me see green.
Being safe though and continuing testing until I'm 100% sure that it's yellow and staying yellow.









5gal. PH crashed again. Pretty sure it's b/c of the ammonia. Really really wish this frickin tank would cycle already. So tired of worrying about it. /sigh!!
Added 2 small pinches of baking soda to the tank.









Little betta is hanging in there though. They really are tough little fish. Just really hope this unexpected fish-in cycle isn't doing any permanent damage to it. Again.. thank goodness for Prime.
















The tank water cleared up by the evening. It got super duper orange throughout the day. NO idea what is causing it and why it gets worse then slowly fades. There's no orange film on anything in the tank. Don't see any clay leaching in to the water... nada.

The tank is getting some brown 'algae' though which isn't a big surprise.








I'm sure it will be covered in the stuff soon.

And finally 125 tank shot for the day.









I didn't get a chance to work on the cave this weekend like I wanted. I really should have since we were 2 kids down, but laziness and the need to be lazy were overwhelming. Lucky I did water changes  lol
Really need to work on it though. Want to at least get the first thin coating on to it sometime this week. First... debating if I want to trim it down a bit more.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

My tank was inundated with that stuff. After 3 or 4 days my 4 Nerites have pretty much wiped it out on everything except the bolbitus leaves. Those little scooters can really gobble some algae!! Fortunately I don't see much if any on the plants so that's an easy fix.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> My tank was inundated with that stuff. After 3 or 4 days my 4 Nerites have pretty much wiped it out on everything except the bolbitus leaves. Those little scooters can really gobble some algae!! Fortunately I don't see much if any on the plants so that's an easy fix.


I was thinking about getting some snails for the tank, but I dunno. It's always a gamble putting anything with a betta b/c you don't know if they'll attack it or not. Maybe I could just ask someplace for some of their pond snails lol.
I'm really not too worried about algae in the 5gal though. If it happens it happens. It's a tiny tank so doesn't take much effort to clean


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tests....
Decided to test the 55 and all is well in that tank.. well.. not all..








One of the red gouramis isn't doing well. Not sure if it's stress illness or what but it's hiding and as far as I can tell, not eating.
The other 2 are a lot more outgoing and even came up to the water surface when I fed the tank this morning. Hoping it's not sick and it is just shy, but... who knows.

125 tests








pH dropped a little bit. They look similar in the photos, but the 55gal pH is at around 7/6.8 while this one is around 6.4.
I compared the ammonias and.... I'm not going to worry about there being ammonia in this tank anymore unless it's very obviously green. /nodnod

5gal tests... Now THIS is very obviously green.








I'm surprised how much the ammonia has jumped up, but I think it's causing the pH to drop and b/c of the drop it's stalling the BB from doing their thing.
So I added in more baking soda and hoping for the best.

The tank did turn orange again yesterday.
So so orange...
















Thinking it has to do with the pH shifting all the time (that's the only thing I can think of). But why orange?? I could see if there was residue left behind, but there's nothing. It turns orange and then goes back to looking normal again.
Anywho... I cut off more 55gal filter media and stuffed it in to this tank. Gave it a healthy dose of Prime and... I'm just going to leave it for another day. I'm fighting the urge to do a water change b/c I'm HOPING that just leaving it will get the BB and newly added BB to do their frickin job. 
I'm sure I'll end up doing another change though b/c I am not comfortable with the ammonia that high.

More photos! 

Cabomba now...








Cabomba just a month ago








Look at it all single stemmy lol
Hard to believe it's only been a month.

Wisteria is looking so so nice!








The ozelot is also getting some better new growth too. Looks more like proper submerged plant growth now.

And just look at the damage the plecos have done. SIGH...
Was hoping they'd spare some of them but nope. They're all going to have to come off 









They've also been attacking some of the new growth, but I THINK the ones they are eating might not have been submerged. They were at the fish place I bought them from, but from the place THEY got it from may not have grown them submerged. The new new growth that I've gotten so far looks ok still... for now :\








Pretty good shot of some of the fish too. The odessa barbs still haven't colored up and neither have the black ruby. Thinking we may have just gotten unlucky and bought a bunch of females.

Killifish! Difficult fish to take photos of! I dunno why b/c they stay still when they're begging for food lol. Our camera sucks I guess. Doesn't like focusing on them.










That's all for now. We'll see if the 5gal turns orange again today and yeah.. I'm probably going to do a water change in it b/c that ammonia is just too high. Pls pls pls let the new chunk of media do SOMETHING.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Hmm.. that gourami is moving some, but definitely not eating. Fed the tank some bloodworms. Made sure to melt the cube right over where it was hanging out at the bottom of the tank and it didn't even look interested. The other 2 were though. The blue one actually nipped at my fingers some 
I put in 4 tablets of lifeguard. Think it's a general cure type of fish med. It's only a dose for 20gals, but I didn't want to put in a full dose. I dropped the tablets right next to where he was LAYing earlier. So hopefully the stuff helps even if it's not a full dose of the meds.
Will need to go to the store to buy more b/c I only have enough for 2 more days. Not sure if it will help, but I hope so.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So I didn't end up doing a water change in the 5gal yesterday.
I had planned on doing one after eating dinner and baby boy was down for the night, BUT... children had a different idea.
Had an emergency hospital visit. Everyone is fine, but there was a possibility that baby boy or my 2yo son had swallowed a button battery. Bad bad news. We looked high and low for that thing, but couldn't find it, so off to the hospital we went.
Thankfully neither seems to have eaten it, but now I'm left with the task of cleaning this house from top to bottom today trying to find that tiny little battery before one of them do.

So yeah.... a water change didn't happen last night.
I did change it this morning right after taking tests though and good lord...








The middle test.... that is the AMMONIA. Holy crap. How on earth the betta is still active and healthy is a dang miracle.
I did a 90% water change. No way I was doing any less with that much ammonia in the water.
Also noticed while doing the water change that a few more of the crypts have melted back. I'm sure that's not helping with the ammonia being so high.
Going to check water again after I'm done posting just to see where it's at and make sure readings aren't so dang high still.

125 tests this morning and... ah.. yes. Now that is a nice obviously yellow test and the pH is also staying pretty steady for now.
I'll stop posting test photos unless something wonky happens. And with my luck.. that should happen soon.









Ludwigia has grown a considerable amount since adding the sand and moving the few stems over to this spot. I may trim it soon. I don't like trimming, but with how well things are growing, I'm not so hesitant to do it.









Pretty ozelot sword new growth. Loving the different colors 
And see that little fish? Does that look like a weird platy to anyone else? I'm used to them being fatter. A bit more robust looking and this little guy is about the same size as a guppy. He's pretty... kind of a gold shimmery look... just small.









Oh and I was wrong about the baking soda/pH swings causing the orange. No orange yesterday after adding some. /shrugs


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Good for you for keeping up with all of that. I probably would have thrown in the towel by now out of sheer frustration. I see pressurized CO2 in your future. It's only been a couple days but it is so much easier and so much more gratifying. With the larger tanks that we have we don't need Regulators that are as precise IE expensive.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Lol... will only get pressurized if the hubs agrees to get the CO2. If not, then I'm stuck using excel which I'm fine with too 
The plants seem to be pretty happy so far so I'm not pressing the matter with him.

I am however bugging him to let me try out a Walstad tank on our kitchen table. It sounds easy enough.. just takes patience and finding the right plants and lighting. I want to try to put it in front of a window which I know could result in a lot of algae, but I don't mind some trial and error 
Once it's done cycling or whatever it does, I want it to be a shrimp tank.
We'll see though. I think it would look nice where I want it and if I can find a nice looking 5gal glass cube or something then it should look pretty spiff on the table.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Walstad is without a filter as well? I am going to set up a little rimless cube for shrimp, but I'm going to go the old tried and true AC20 and a clip on Beamswork. I had a colony of a couple hundred Fire red Shrimp a couple years ago. It was pretty cool. I would see my larger tanks with the culls and eventually had good size colonies in every tank. What shrimp are you thinking? I could keep CRS or OEBT shrimp alive.


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## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

Any chance the orange bloom is Iron? Are you adding any fertilizers or iron supplements?

Don't be frustrated with your pleco- just pretend you have a Madagascar lace plant! [emoji6]


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Walstad is without a filter as well? I am going to set up a little rimless cube for shrimp, but I'm going to go the old tried and true AC20 and a clip on Beamswork. I had a colony of a couple hundred Fire red Shrimp a couple years ago. It was pretty cool. I would see my larger tanks with the culls and eventually had good size colonies in every tank. What shrimp are you thinking? I could keep CRS or OEBT shrimp alive.



Yep, without a filter. 
Right now I'm trying to find a nice decorative container that's at least 5 gallons, but everything intended for fish is expensive and everything else... meh.
I have an old ugly 10gal that is collecting dust, but didn't want anything that large on the table. Not sure it would hold up under that much weight in the long run anyway.
I have no idea what kind of shrimp. I used to keep cherry shrimp, but I love blue so maybe a blue type. Not sure what they're called, but I've seen videos of them. Seems like there is a lot more available now than when I first kept them so I really need to look in to all the different varieties and what would work in a set up like that 
Would love to get it started up soon though. By the time it's ready for livestock, it should be cool enough to ship whatever I want if I can't find anything locally 
My drag the kids out tomorrow to wally world to see what kind of glass containers they have. :grin2:


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Iron? I add in some ferts. Im not sure if the premix stuff has iron in it. It may, but with how orange it ends up getting and then clearing up without a trace? I added too much iron chelate to my 125 and it just made the water really yellow.. Not orange.
I dunno.. Your guess is as good as mine at this point lol

I do love my little plecos. But they need to cut it out already lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... tests this morning were a little better.
I checked the 5gal last night and ammonia was almost a 0, nitrite was still pretty purple/pink and pH was good. This morning ammonia was back up to around a 2 and other 2 were the same as last night. Geeze.
I'll probably be doing another water change tomorrow with how quickly it's increasing. The BB can flippin hurry up already with this cycling process. 

Poor sick gourami isn't going to make it. I decided to not continue to use meds when it started to lay on its side and not move around. Poor lil fella is just dying slowly. Hopefully will pass soon. Hate to see fish suffer like that.
The other 2 and the loaches are good though and with the 125 seeming to be pretty stable right now. I may move them this weekend.
I'll have to pop some food in the 55gal every once in a while if we're still planning on getting more fish though. DOn't want the BB in there to die off and have a whole other mess on my hands.

That little sickly looking barb in the 125 seems to be doing better... I think. I haven't seen it hiding and I'm pretty sure I've seen it eating with the rest of them. I'll have to sit and really look at them all to make sure there's not a dead one stuck somewhere lol.

And finally for now.... I did go to Walmart this morning to see what they have.
Bought 2 small bags of organic potting soil w/ worm castings in it. I've heard that's good to get. I was going to get a giant bag, but I really don't need that much and I didn't want to embarrass myself while I grunted and got all sweaty trying to take it out of the cart and back in to the cart at check out lol. I've gained some mommy muscles picking my kids up, but apparently not enough to pick up a big bag of dirt 
They also didn't really have the type of container I was looking for. They had a big bowl that is flat on 2 sides, but it was ugly.
They also had a giant bowl vase, but not sure exactly how much water it could hold. Maybe 1.5-2g and the glass didn't feel very thick. It was tempting b/c it was only around $12, but just seemed too fragile to me.
I'll try to convince hubs that we need to go to Hobby Lobby and/or Michaels this weekend to see what kind of vases they have. And maybe even look at Petsmart and Petco. Maybe they'll have something.

In the meantime though! I'm going to do an experiment. We have some glass jars that I think are a gallon. Nothing huge. Going to try the Walstad method 
I'm going to put the jungle vals in to one of them and park it in front of the window.








The table is a gross mess right now lol. But yeah, you get the idea 
Since the jungle val isn't doing well in the 125 anyway.. might as well see how well it does this way 
I may take out some of the crypts from the 55gal too and pop them in there. Or maybe even the hairgrass that hasn't totally died yet lol.
We'll see. If it does well... maybe I could add in a couple of cheap shrimp or some snails or something down the road


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... kids were off watching their tablets and baby boy was crawling around demanding attention or food... or something.. I dunno  lol
Decided to go ahead and set up the jar.

The soil I bought. I think this stuff is ok. Doesn't have manure in it as far as I can tell. Just worm casting.
Bought it at Walmart for $3-4 for a 4lb bag.

















Put in about an inch in to the jar and gently pressed it down a little.









I then mixed crushed coral and PFS together and rinsed it a few times. Didn't want the pH problem my other tanks have and I was a little concerned about the sand not letting the soil "breath" even though I read PFS was ok to use.









Added about an inch









Oh before adding the sand/coral I used this high tech gadget to spritz the soil from the inside of the jar.









Went and fished out most of the hairgrass and the scraggly jungle vallis from the 125g. Also got a cabomba that was on the loose, but didn't end up using it.









The jungle val really was scraggly though. If you've ever had it or seen it before, you know how huge they can get. Check out how scrawny these are.
































They were still alive though so in to the jar they went 

The hairgrass.. I just took apart the clumps and saved the best looking bits and planted them. I threw away a lot of it.

Top view after I was done planting everything. Put the val off to the sides and the hairgrass in front of them.









I then put the jar in to place... well.. where I want the eventual.. hopeful 5 gallon Walstad tank..









BUT thing is is that I can't reach that spot very well... so I moved the jar over to the right side where I can reach it if I need to and so I can keep an eye on it.
If I can find a container this weekend, it (the main one) will be going in the center. I'll have to figure out how to get to it a bit easier, but meh.. I want it there!









Put in some Prime and then proceeded to fill it up using a red solo cup and this awesome cool gadget... aka.. a cup with 2 little holes from the kids water table 

















Took about 10mins off and on to fill it up. Probably would've only taken 5, but I used the time to clean the table off even more lol.
Sigh.. the hairgrass looks so sad, but hoping they'll do ok in here... even though they're not getting CO2 lol









Was going to put the screw top on it loosely, but since the plants in the jar aren't in the best shape, I thought it would need something in it to help out some so I cut off some of this plant. I can't remember what it's called. I just know that a lot of aquarium folks use it in their tanks.
Thankfully I have a pot of the stuff so can just snip some off if I need it 








I do want to either replace or add in duckweed or something to the top.

And yep.... Hoping for some good growth in it, but we'll see. Not starting with the healthiest plants so I may just be growing a jar of algae lol.


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## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

So fun! Can't wait to see how it develops!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Pothos. It's used in alot of planted hobs as a nitrate sponge. Maybe drop a ml of metricide in there each day and see what happens


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pothos.. thank you. 

Nope... not going to add in any sort of fert to the jar or to the main one whenever I get it. Want them to be as low maintenance as possible, so no ferts  Hoping the live stock/shrimp will produce enough to keep the plants healthy.

I do have to get a small heater though. Amazon has quite a few and a good selection so that won't be a problem and I'm not too worried about heating the jar right now since we keep the house at 74 and it's right by a window so it's getting a little bit of whatever warmth seeps through.
A problem I didn't think of....
We keep one of our dogs outside at night and keep a light on for him. Well.. that light is right by the windows and hits the jar (and the 55 for that matter). We have blinds on the windows so I'll have to remember to put them down tonight and hopefully that will be enough to keep the light off the jar.

Plan on going to Petco this morning to see what they have and pick up some plants if anything looks decent. They actually seemed to restock their plants unlike frickin Petsmart that hasn't restocked in over a month now.

And I found a website that has a lot of different shrimp varieties to pick from. 
https://aquaticarts.com/
I want the dream blue, sky blue, and blue rili
The green ones are super pretty too, but would be too difficult to see in a planted tank lol. Hubs really liked those though, so maybe if I can find TWO good containers... we could have one blue and one green. Muahahahaha... any excuse to get more tanks.. I'll pounce on it! rofl
The blue diamond shrimp they have pictures is also so so nice, but SO expensive for just one little shrimp. I guess worth it though if you planned on breeding and selling them 

Hopefully by the time I am ready to order some shrimp, the blues will still be in stock from wherever


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Today has been busy busy.
First up.. tests. 
5gal is still cycling. Ammonia was still high, but not as high as that one time. Did a water change just a little bit ago.
Betta had himself a nice bubblenest that I hated to destroy.








But it had to be done..

Tank has been super cloudy since I've been keeping the pH up.









125 is chugging along. pH and ammonia both look good (woohoo). Going to keep testing ammonia for a couple more days and may move the fish from the 55 Sunday night after the lights go off.
Have a lot of pretty good growth too. Looks like the compact sword on the right along with the wisteria are growing a lot right now. The micro sword has some brown algae on it, but meh. I'm not too worry about that.








Debating if I should leave up one or 2 of the big swords leaves or just snip them all off. Would like for the plant to start focusing on its new growth instead of the destroyed leaves.

I did go to too many stores this morning.
First to Petco where their plant selection was a huge disappointment. I should've known better than to think any store around here would keep their stuff looking nice. 
I did buy 3 tube plants though..








And what do you know... 2 of them (the Asian waterfern) aren't really meant to be submerged. FML! lol I'm too lazy to take them back so I have a plan for them!
While I wait to do what I'm gonna do with it.. it's sitting in the back of the 125 with the pothos (thanks again TheDude!).









The java fern thing that they call crested java fern looks pretty nice though.








It will be part of my fake cave eventually. Hoping to work on that this weekend FINALLY.

I then headed over to Petsmart b/c I'm a sucker for punishment. Yep... no restocked plants and no cheap tanks that would look nice. SIGH!
Said screw it and headed over to Michaels next to look at their vases.
They had the same bowl for $8 more than Walmart. No thanks!
Headed to Hobby Lobby which is thankfully pretty much right next to Michaels to see what they had.
Oh look.... their decorative glassware is 50% off AND they had the same bowl as Michaels and Walmart. Original price was $21something.... uhm.... yeah screw it!
I put one of them on my baby's lap and carried the other while my 2yo son had a meltdown and 4yo was being a normal super hyper 4yo lol.
So yep.. I bought 2 big glass bowls for $21 









While I was cleaning one off b/c baby boy had been eating a chocolate granola bar and decided the bowl needed chocolate all over it... I decided to see about how many gallons it could hold.
And with my oh so scientific method of filling up a plastic iced tea container to it's gallon mark.... I THINK these bowls are about 3 gallons. Maybe a little less. I didn't fill it up anymore after the 2nd gallon and I'm pretty certain a third gallon could've fit.
So yeah... not too shabby. Not the 5 gallons I wanted, but 3 will work 

I got some kids craft foam that I already had and put it under the bowls for better grip.









Then added the soil along with a very generous sprinkling of osmocote +









My daughter wanted to help spray the sides 









I then added in the PFS and crushed coral mixture to both.
With one of them... I want to tie the Asian waterferns to a piece of wood so that their roots are in the water.
The piece of wood was originally in my 5gal tank. I had to lay it on its side so it didn't look like much. I just chunked it outside when I cleaned the tank out.









After a lot of scrubbing to get the dead moss off... it was ready to go in one of the jars. Decided to put it in the right one.








I think that's how I'm going to keep it.
Filled it about half way up just to let things settle.









Also decided to take out a little bit of the moss that's in the 55gal. It's all covered in BBA though so I gave it a quick dunk in a diluted peroxide and water solution. I wasn't sure if moss would survive pure peroxide.
No idea what kind of moss it is. Just know that I've had it for forever. I think it started in my 10gal tank. And then it grew and grew and grew until it was in the 55 and the 5gal and my 125. It was everywhere and I threw away giant clumps of it all the time.








If the BBA dies and the moss still holds up, I'll take more out and tie it down to the wood.

In the other bowl... unless I see something super nice... I'm just going to go with plants. Hmm.. actually thinking about it... If I can find a nice rock.. I'll put a rock in it. One rock bowl, one wood bowl 
For now though... I took out one of the Argentine swords from the 5gal and put it in the center.









And yep... that's it for now 
Whew! That was a lot! lol
Since I'm going to have to order plants.... what kind of plants would everyone get?
I think I'm definitely going to get corkscrew vals b/c I love them and think they would look really nice.
But other than that... /shrugs


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Plants for the bowls? I think mosses and crypts are highly under rated and there are crypts of every type. 
I think I portion of moss growing on some driftwood with some crypts around would look killer
That java fern is windolev. That's what I got the other day. It looks killer once it grows a bit. I wasn't able to keep it alive in my 150 even with metricide. It could be that I wasn't dosing ferts and the pH was too high, but I couldn't keep it alive.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Windolev... gotcha. I just sorta gently stuck it in to the substrate between some rocks. I know you're not really supposed to bury them which is why I'm sure it will be floating tomorrow since I only just stuck it in enough to not float. I just don't want any potential new growth to come in all wonky. Just no where to put it right now since I intended to use it on my cave.

I'm not sure I'm going to put crypts in to the bowls. Only b/c I have so many already and just want to try something different. Plus, even though they're not getting direct sunlight, they're still getting a decent amount so I wanted to see if I could maybe do something that requires higher lighting 
BUT I'm still open to all suggestions and what you described does sound like it would look really really nice 
I am hoping to get some water lettuce and then the corkscrew val, but other than that.. /shrugs.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. I've ordered some plants from ebay 
A few different ones. They were pretty cheap, so if they don't work out in the bowls, then it's not a huge deal. Also plan on trying some of the new plants in the 125 too though so it's gonna be fun to see what does well and what doesn't 
Hopefully I'll get the plants in later next week. I paid for priority shipping so it better get here in a timely manner lol.

Did have an unexpected pleco death this morning.  One of the smaller BN plecs. It's belly looked pretty bloated. Thinking maybe the higher protein foods like blood worms was causing some constipation issues. Dunno what else it could've been.
Most of the others that I saw looked ok. There was another that had a fat little belly, but I did just feed the tank too. Will keep an eye out though.
pH and ammonia looked good though  May go ahead and move the fish from the 55 tonight.

Added some hairgrass and 2 little stalks of the s repens to the wood bowl. They were all floating in the 125 and I didn't feel like replanting them in there so brought them to the bowl lol. Seems as though hairgrass is supposed to do well in a Walstad tank so I'm hoping it perks up. The floating bits actually looked better than the planted stuff did lol. Figures.

I can't tell if there has been any growth in the jar. I'm sure the plants are probably still adjusting. Maybe there will be some noticeable growth soon 

I'll have some photos up later today. Need to go grocery shopping!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pics!
Here's the fern. Surprisingly still down, but now tilted lol.









Micro sword and its brown algae.








I took out a single little rooted sword and stuck it in one of the jars lol. We'll see how it does.

That one red ludwigia (whatever it's called, I can't remember).. is growing so fast! Yay!









s repens looks like it's doing ok now too. Hey.. at least it's not dead. That should be my motto lol









What I'm most excited about though is that the corkscrew val is putting out runners! YAY!









And my filterless bowls and jar...
Night time shot after I put the blinds down. Not that much light gets through so I think this will work.









Table shot. As you can see... the wood bowl is a bit brown/yellow. Guess sitting out in the sun for so long is making the wood leach tannins again.
Not a huge deal.









Took out more of the moss from the 55 and super glued it to the wood.. also took 1 little stem of anarchis and stuck it in the bowl temporarily just to see how it does while I wait for the plants I ordered.









The other jar. This is the one I put the single little micro sword in. Going to keep that in this one and hope it does well with the stuff I ordered.









I think a lot of the stuff I ordered won't be suitable for these, but oh well.. that's what my 125 is for! lol

The jar looks pretty much the same. There may be a little bit of growth, but I'm not sure. I'm sure the plants are still adjusting.

























I bought 2 little heaters on amazon. It's the same Tetra one that I have in my 5gal. 
Decided not to get any kind of rock for the other bowl. Not unless I see something that I MUST have lol. Just don't want to take away room for plants.... like I did in the other bowl lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

You've got me wanting to do a little bowl and a piece of driftwood with some moss wrapped around it and maybe an little anubias nana. I have a perfect spot for it if I could trust the cats to not knock it over like they have every other plant that I place there... but it sure would be pretty to look at when I'm washing dishes or just in the kitchen. Maybe a thin layer of soil, thin sprinkle of osmocote, and then a top layer of black sand... I need to stop checking in here


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## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

The Dude1 said:


> You've got me wanting to do a little bowl and a piece of driftwood with some moss wrapped around it and maybe an little anubias nana. I have a perfect spot for it if I could trust the cats to not knock it over like they have every other plant that I place there... but it sure would be pretty to look at when I'm washing dishes or just in the kitchen. Maybe a thin layer of soil, thin sprinkle of osmocote, and then a top layer of black sand... I need to stop checking in here




I was thinking the same thing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Do eet!! It's super simple and fairly cheap & if it doesn't end up working out, you can use the bowl for decorative rocks or something lol. Cats are a problem though. Thankfully my cat is a super fat lazy butterball with paw pad problems, so we've never had to worry about him jumping on counters. 
If you have a hobby lobby near you, they might have the same sale going on so you can get the same bowl for half off 
With this method though, you need at least an inch for a gravel top layer. Not sure if it's the same for sand. The soil kind of seeps upwards so you'll want a thick enough top layer to keep it from leeching into the water and turning it brown. There was a recent upload on YouTube that explained it.
But yeah.. I say try it out. The more that try it, the better. That way there is more information on what works and what doesn't.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water change in 125 and 5gal this morning. 125 tests were perfect, but unfortunately.. another fish death.
Noticed one of the old albino tigers resting on a plant. I was going to wait to do a water change, but did one asap in hopes of it perking the fishy back up, but nope. It unfortunately died during the water change 

RIP lil fishy








Really hope it was old age and not a disease in the water. 2 fish in 2 days though. Nervous, but hoping it's just coincidence.
I ended up checking nitrates too just to see what they were and they were only between 20-40 before the water change. Not too bad.

During the water change.. I decided to go ahead and remove all of the tall pleco snack sword leaves. Figured there was enough new growth to keep the plant alive. I would've snipped the stem down lower, but there was a pleco hanging out at the base that didn't want to get out of the way lol.








Some of the newer leaves look snacked on too. Sigh... Maybe with the later leaves gone, the plecos will leave the plant alone....... maybe.......hopefully.

I also did my first ludwigia trimming. I was nervous about it, but I did it! Not all of it as you can see in the photo lol.
I did snip my pretty red one though. Sigh. But hopefully the cutting will grow in to a big bushy stem 








I put the clippings mostly in front of the fake wood to try to hide it a little better. I only keep it in the tank b/c the plecos like it. It doesn't look too bad though 
Next trimmings.. I think I'm going to put some in to the betta's tank.

It's slowly but surely coming along 








It's getting 4 new tankmates tonight! Excited and a little nervous. Hoping I don't wake up tomorrow to more sick/dying fish.. or loaches that decided they wanted to take a dry land adventure :\

Bowls and Jar this morning (I know I keep calling the bowls jars... but meh...)

Bowl #1..... still looking about the same.
Both bowls are getting a film on top of them though. Bleh. I think I'll fill them up the rest of the way today.









Bowl #2









And the jar!
Maybe some growth? I should've taken better photos of it at the start lol


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I don't understand how you are getting such good growth in this tank. My 150 has 2 fixtures (Beamswork) very little algae if any, it gets 30ml Metricide daily, weekly water changes and is dosed 50% EI and only has crypts, anubias, and java fern (soon to be removed). Nothing is growing. The new crypts shed all their leaves and the new growth is yellow and stunted. There are never any new leaves on the anubias nana (although I see 2 new leaves on the big anubias). Maybe the cichlids are eating them?? I just don't get it and I'm super frustrated. My tank looks the same today as the day you started yours and yours is a mild jungle. I used osmocote tabs under the crypts... could the crushed coral substrate hinder growth this badly?? I remember you saying you were considering adding crushed coral. Did you yet?
Anyways... looking good!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I don't understand how you are getting such good growth in this tank. My 150 has 2 fixtures (Beamswork) very little algae if any, it gets 30ml Metricide daily, weekly water changes and is dosed 50% EI and only has crypts, anubias, and java fern (soon to be removed). Nothing is growing. The new crypts shed all their leaves and the new growth is yellow and stunted. There are never any new leaves on the anubias nana (although I see 2 new leaves on the big anubias). Maybe the cichlids are eating them?? I just don't get it and I'm super frustrated. My tank looks the same today as the day you started yours and yours is a mild jungle. I used osmocote tabs under the crypts... could the crushed coral substrate hinder growth this badly?? I remember you saying you were considering adding crushed coral. Did you yet?
> Anyways... looking good!!


Well, you gotta remember that all of those, crypts, anubias and java ferns are slow growers too so you won't see a lot of growth in a month.. if at all. It's why I like swords so much. Nice big plant that grows fast enough to notice, but not too fast that you have to worry about it taking over.
With the smaller crypts in my tank.. I don't think I've seen new growth on any of them. The only one that I know definitely has new growth is the brownish/red colored one and even then it's only been 1 or 2 leaves.

Yep, I added the crushed coral already. Most of it is just sitting in the back on top of the PFS I added.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh keep forgetting to mention.
I got my heaters in today. Will be putting those in to the bowls shortly. Think I may just put them on a timer to come on at night for now since it's not that cold in here during the day.

Also did not get the cementing of the cave started yet. Baby boy started getting a fever on Friday and was super clingy all day Saturday. Couldn't get much done. He's better today though, so as soon as DH gets back home, hopefully I can get it started. We'll see though.

Noticed one of the bigger plecos had a big bloated belly. Uuuuuugh pls let this just be a case of greedy fish that will eventually poop. I will pull my hair out if this is the start of another tank die off.
No feedings for the tank tomorrow. Fish will hate it, but they'll get over it. Just hope I won't wake to more dead/dying fish.
Dernit... I wanted to move the fish tonight, but looks like that's going to be put on hold for a couple more days. BAH!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dernit. Poor pleco's stomach is so bloated and ballooned. Wish I could catch it, but it's still very aware of its surroundings. It isn't moving much when it does settle though and it's breathing fast. 
Pretty sure it's the original male. The one that made all the other ones in the tank (minus the albino).
I'm going to be very upset if he dies!
No other fish looks sickly. No bloating or anything and as far as I can tell, the rest are acting pretty normal. 
The tiger barb that died didn't look weird in any way. It definitely wasn't bloated and had no weird marks on it or anything. And as far as I've seen of the other plecos... they look ok. They don't look bloated. But I haven't seen all of them, so I can't be sure there aren't a few hiding away.
FX that he makes it.... but it's not looking good.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sigh.... so the pleco is dead/dying. Probably already dead by now.
It wasn't dead when I got up but still very bloated and its anus was swollen/clear. I was hoping it was poop coming out that was just stuck, but no.. it was its butt.










I did manage to catch him b/c he was a bit more sluggish today. Put him in to a shallow container to see if there was anything I could do. Used a paper towel to prop him on to his side and back to try to massage out whatever was blocking him.








Nothing but a milky substance came out. It may have been fishy sperm b/c it sure didn't look like poop. Not even parasite poop. No blood either. You can see in the photo that there is some red though so he may have had internal bleeding.
But nothing I was doing was working.
I put him back in to the tank.. checked on him again about 30min later and he's on his back w/ his anus destroyed and bloating was almost gone completely. I dunno if maybe some fish pecked at it and made it burst which released everything or if it burst on its own. I watched the tank for a little bit after I put him back in and the fish were ignoring him. With how stretched out his skin was... and there were already parts of it that were peeling away... I'm fairly certain it did burst on its own.
As I was pulling him out, I saw his mouth move. Just checked on him and he's definitely dead now.
Sigh.... well this sucks.
Poor thing.
Pretty sure this was my fault though. Was feeding a lot of blood worms and brine shrimp and I wasn't aware that algae wafers also have A LOT of protein which I was also giving the tank a lot of to make sure the plecos were getting enough... SIGH.
I will definitely cut back on all of that and will be buying some zucchini, cucumbers, etc to feed to them regularly.
Just put in a nice big hunk of cucumber for the tank. Funny enough... I had to tug on the food sinking thing that the anubias was attached to b/c its roots were growing in to the substrate. Did accidentally destroy a pretty new leaf on it, but hopefully it'll be growing more... soon.. ish. I put their roots back in to the substrate as best as I could without covering the rhizome. 

Anywho....RIP Mister Pleco. Hopefully I won't kill any more of you.

In other news...
5gal is still cycling........ I know it can take the nitrite part a LONG time, but dang.... come on now. I've added 3 pretty good chunks of mature media to the filter. You would think that would've helped!
I just hope the tank cycles soon. I know doing water changes delays it, but gotta do them or else the betta is going to be swimming in a used toilet.








Betta is still being his pretty little self though. Hopefully he'll have a nice stable tank soon.

Bowls and Jar...
Added more water to them yesterday. It's a little less than an inch from the top... I think this will be the max level they're at. The kids play at the table pretty often and shake it quite a bit. If they were filled more, water would slosh all over the place.

I also added the heaters last night. They can't suction on to the side, but they sit in them ok.
And as I thought, the temps were fine. The heaters only came on for maybe 5mins before turning back off again.

Tied the 2 Asian ferns to the wood w/ some cotton string... lots of it b/c I'm clumsy and have giant fat fingers that can't do anything delicately lol.

















Top view... water has gone cloudy, but meh.... 
Just really hoping to get more plants in to them later this week.









The other bowl. The new growth has gotten bigger so that's good at least 

















And the jar....










Not a good way to start off the week :\
And nope.. didn't get the cave started. Had mom duties to do and didn't have enough free time to dedicate to doing it.
I'm not in a super rush or anything, but it would be nice to get it done so it can start the whole soaking process.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up...
I moved the fish from the 55 last night. Pain in the butt catching them, but I did. Turned the blue light on in the 125 early so it would give the newcomers some cover and not be so intimidating.
Everything seemed to be fine.
Everything was ok this morning too, until the food ran out and the tiger barbs finally noticed the blue gourami.
Those tiger barbs definitely earned their rep in this instance.
They weren't doing any physical damage. They were nipping, but the stress they were causing the poor gourami would've been a problem very quickly.
The poor gourami before the terror began









I watched it for a bit to see if it was the same as it was before. Was it just a dominance issue? Nope... all of the tigers were hellbent on nipping at it. It might have stopped eventually, but that would've just been too much stress for the gourami.
Thankfully... the gourami was hanging out in the same areas and at the top of the tank so it was pretty easy to catch him and put him back in to the 55gal.
If we still had the receipt, or lived closer to the LFS, I'd see if we could give it back, BUT since we don't and I threw away the receipt... it's here to stay.
I joked with my husband that he needs to build me a new stand for the 55 to go next to the 125 and he may actually be considering it 
That would be great! I was more than happy that it was coming down b/c I want to free up that space in the kitchen area, but putting it next to the 125 would be awesome too 
It does need a new stand... REALLY bad. The tank and stand are about... 25-30 years old. I'm not worried about the tank... just the rickety stand it's on lol.

The other 3 fish have been fine and left alone though.
Thinking b/c the red gourami's coloring is very similar to the platy that are in the tank, the tigers don't see it as something new and different.
And the loaches are being a bit shy right now, but they came out to search for some food when I fed the tank.
Here's the normal one (the first one that I got that survived)

















And I a photo of the tiny crypts that have suddenly decided that they're going to start growing. Really digging their new growth coloring 









And pretty ozelot sword colors. The photo really doesn't do the coloring justice









Tank shot. A bit cloudy.. probably from the cucumber. Perimeters were fine.









The bowls are about the same. The sword is growing so that's a good sign 
Both are getting gross films at the top though. Been trying to scoop it out which kind of works. Need to add a little more water to the wood bowl.

































And not sure if anyone noticed the other smaller glass jar on the table that had dirt and a paper towel in it.
Couple months ago, I found some cabbage looper caterpillars on my tomato plants. Decided it would be fun to try to raise them and let the kids watch.
Only one made it to mothhood. But the surprise was when an unexpected caterpillar showed up in the jar that I hadn't put in there.
A tomato hornworm. (google photos of them)
They're devastating to a tomato plant. They can eat a plant overnight and they grow super fast and BIG.
Decided.. WTH and kept it too and snipped off stems to feed it.
It got to around 5 inches long and fat.
These particular caterpillars bury themselves in soil to cocoon, so I added in some bagged garden soil.
I can't remember how long it took, but it was over a month.
Looked at the jar yesterday and saw that it finally emerged as it's moth self. I THINK it's a hummingbird moth, but not sure. 
Anywho... once it started getting dark, we put it on to the tree out front. Its wings still looked a bit crinkled, but hopefully being outside, it was able to stretch out and do its moth thing.
Photos!


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## Brian Rodgers (Oct 15, 2016)

wow that baby moth is beautiful. It's antennae are so metallic. wowsa


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It was pretty cool. I liked the orange on the body. Wish we had kept it a little longer. Just long enough for its wings to fully spread out, but oh well.

I really hope the plants going in to the bowls (whenever I get them) helps with the film that develops on top b/c it's pretty gross. Went to remove it this morning and it actually flaked. WTH??? Hopefully it's not anything that will harm shrimp when they're eventually put in.

The other larger bn pleco is also bloated. Great :\
I should be getting in the General Cure today. Going to soak food in it and hope it helps the rest of the fish if there is some kind of parasitic problem. My gut is telling me that it's still just a greedy hog/too much protein thing since the larger plecos would always chase away the others from food, but just in case it's not that.... general cure.
Figures.... perimeters are perfect now...... ok now is the perfect time to start dropping dead! :\

Doing another water change in the 5gal today. I know it will cycle eventually, but it is taking its sweet a-- time! SIGH SIGH SIIIIIGH


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SO I got in some plants today from sdwindansea on the forum.
And the plants look fantastic 
Bag of the s rep and anubias... and something else. Looked like a little dark leaf colored crypt? But I'm not sure.









I put the dwarf sag and some of the s rep in to the wood bowl. I did have the anubias in it but moved that to the 125. I want faster growing plants in the bowls. It did look nice though 
















Ew you can see the film on top of the water... bleh!









The s rep in the 125. They're near the other bunch that I have in there.
I didn't even realize what plant it was. They look so much different than what I have. Hopefully they'll be ok in my tank.









Didn't get a photo of the other baggy with the dwarf sag and the erm.... other plants. Not sure the name but they sure are purdy!








I put 2 of these stems in my betta tank.

No idea how any of this will do in my set ups. Hopefully well enough to not die. Obviously they won't grow as well since I'm not using pressurized co2 but not dying is my goal  lol


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

The dark colored leaf thing is a Bucephalandra (superblue velvet). The last picture is Limnophila aromatic. I love the bowls, wish I had the space.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

What kind of light do you have over the s repens?? I had a poor experience growing that in low tech. I may use that as a carpet type thing in my lower 75 since I've got the crypt Parva in the top


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It's whatever that beamswork LED thing was that I ordered off of amazon. I'm sure it's probably low-med level light.
The stuff I already have in the tank actually looks pretty good FINALLY. It doesn't have the big leaves like the new ones I received though. I'd post a photo but DH took the camera 

In other news....
My plecos are just..... I dunno what the heck is going on with them. That one is still bloated, but still alive. I'm just going to leave him alone.
Then I saw another one and it looked to have a white patch on its back. Guessing something fungal? I dunno, but just UGH! WHY???
Soaking cucumbers in general cure and some garlic stuff and will plop those in to the tank.
Think I may take some of the liquid and try squirting it on to the pleco if it's still in the same spot.

Oh and photo of the bent loach.








Forgot to post it yesterday.
It moves around perfectly fine. Maybe not as well as the other one, but it doesn't act sick or anything.
And boy... my substrate really camouflages the loaches! lol They like hanging out on top of some of the plants and at the front of the tank, but when they're not.. it's hard finding them lol.

And finally... I think I may have convinced DH that we need to replace the 55gal. I'm sure it would be fine, but the tank is extremely old and it's going on to a carpeted area and it hasn't been resealed this entire time. If I can weasel a new tank out of him... pfft, I'm going to! rofl It won't be set up until we get a stand though. Need to measure the spot that I want it to go. Muahahahaha
We have a little 30something gallon bowfront tank. It was our first tank actually that's sitting in the attic collecting dust. Surprised he hasn't suggested that we just set that one back up instead. I'm certainly not going to suggest it... /cough


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not happy....
Got in my ebay order today. 
First... all the plants were packed in to the same bag. Wouldn't have been a problem if they had used a box which they did not. Nope.. they sent it in a regular ole mail bag. Nothing but a thin layer of plastic. 
They wrapped it in newspaper and aluminum foil, but that's not going to do much to keep the mail carriers from squishing it and damaging the plants inside.
I'm sure if the plants had been sent in a box instead.. they would've gotten here in great condition.
I dunno WTH this seller was thinking but I'm PO'd.

Thankfully everything looks alive, but a lot of it is warped and damaged. SO much leaf loss and just... UGH.. PISSED.

Baby tears. Doubt it's going to stay in this spot. Just wanted to put it in water.
Oh and notice the anubias on the wood in front of it. Using the small pebbly to keep it down lol.









Put some in to the sword bowl








Need to look up the best way to plant it.

Sword bowl w/ it's corkscrew val that were in horrible condition with lots of melted leaves. It didn't look like it all happened from mailing either. Looked like some of the dead stuff had already been on it.








Oh and the pink plant.... I dunno... I bought... stuff lol. I have the receipt, just too lazy to look it up right now lol.
I don't think I'm going to keep it in this bowl though. May move it to my new tank whenever that gets set up. More on that in a bit.

Wood bowl w/ its new stems and the s reps. Not sure I'm keeping the stems in here either. May move some of the baby tears over here.
















Just a good pic of the dwarf sag 
It's like night and day with the quality of the plants.
The ones that I got from sdwind came from Cali... the ones from ebay came from frickin NC... I'm in SC. Just no dang excuse :\









Horrible photo of the new crypt in the 55gal. It was so twisted and warped. I just stuck it in to the substrate as best as I could.








I think I may move this to the wood bowl.

Jar pics.... you can see some white stuff on the val leaves. Pretty sure there is some growth though 
Not a ton. Gotta remember that I wasn't starting with the healthiest of plants.

















More plants..... whatever this jumbled up mess is supposed to be.








Not its perma location. Just put it somewhere in hopes of it straightening back up.

Oh and difference in my s reps with sdwinds s reps.
Mine is one the left








Guess that shows the difference in using pressurized co2 and excel

This poor stem I stuck in the 55. Look how damaged those leaves are. UGH









And I was trying to get a pic of the jumbled up mess of plants, but as you can see... the tigers were following me begging for food. Just thought it was a funny pic. Looks like a bouquet of barbs lol.









And I THINK I did convince DH to get me a new tank. MUAHAHAHA lol
He's going tomorrow after work since Petco is on his way home.
Unfortunately their dollar per gallon thing is only up to 29g but their larger ones are 50% off so that's not too shabby either. 
So if we do get something new... a lot of these new stems OR a lot of crypts are going in to it to make way for the new stems lol. Well.. whenever it gets set up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Plecos are still kickin. Not better, but not dead. Their bloating doesn't look quite as bad as the one that died. Hopefully they'll pass whatever is blocking them up.
This is the 3rd day of giving them general cure food. Everything I've seen says to treat for a week, so that's what I'm doing.
I added in a few frozen chunks of algae wafers. I know I know... feeding them those is probably what caused this mess to begin with.
There is still some cucumber in their tank and I'll be soaking some over night to give to them tomorrow.

Bettas tank is still cycling and the ammonia and nitrites seem to be going up extremely fast.
Was watching King of DiY video about his poor arrowana and the tub he made it.
Thinking about doing that with one of the tupperware containers and floating it in the 125 and putting the betta in it until the 5 gallon finishes cycling. Just need to find something that will keep it floating.

Excited to see what DH brings home. Hoping he'll find a nice tank at petco lol. We only have 40 inches of space though. I'd rather have a long tank than a tall one or like the current 55, but ya know what.. I'm not going to turn my nose up at any new tank  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty...

Decided to take one of the tupperware containers and attack it with a screwdriver.









It floated ok, but would definitely need something to keep it floating. 








I have 2 empty water bottles in my room. Got them and removed the labels. As I was thinking about what I could use to remove the glue remnants on the bottle.. it occurred to me that I still had mesh leftover.

I had 2 sheets of it left. Perfect 
Folded over one of them









And used the other to make the sides and top.
Sewed the pieces on with thread. It's good to be crafty... or well... have lots of craft stuff b/c you intend on making lots of stuff and then never doing it... sigh lol.

















Used some painting tape stuff to keep it a little more secured and snipped off a few stems of cabomba to give the betta a little something in there.

















I'll have to remove the betta every time I do a water change.. which will be after I'm done giving the fish their 7 days of general cure... so in 4 more days.
That's going to be a pain, but oh well.
Feel much much better getting the betta out of the 5 gallon while it cycles. Just need to make sure to keep the ammonia supply going while it does its thing. Doubt we still have the ammonia I used to cycle my 125 lol. May just add in a few flakes every once in a while.
Alrighty... now with no water changes to slow things down... HOPEFULLY the tank will finish frickin cycling already!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Can breath a small sigh of relief knowing that my betta is in an established tank while his tank finished cycling.
Still ticked off that adding 3 chunks of media did nothing.

He seems to be really interested in the rest of the fish. The plecos, killifish and a few others really like hanging out around his little box lol.

No dead plecos so far. No idea if they're getting better or worse since they hide all the time.
Still soaking a cucumber in garlic, some epsom salt (just a little bit), and general cure.

No new tank.. yet. Petco didn't have any 55 in stock and they don't know if they'll be getting more in tomorrow. We could order one though and pick it up from them if we want which we may have to do. Their sale doesn't end until the 19th though so plenty of time to get that done.
I think we're probably just going to buy a stand to go with it. It would be different if we already had a lot of the tools needed to make one, but we don't. I'm sure hubs wouldn't mind buying them though lol.
But anywho.. it would be cheaper to just buy a stand.
Think he's wanting to get a small fish... maybe something like neon tetras for it. I wouldn't mind some hillstream loaches. I know he likes those too. Would have to make sure it has some algae rocks going somewhere though 

What else..... that one gourami is still alive and I really wish it wasn't Poor thing is suffering and I hate that 

In lighter news...
Moved about 40% of the micro swords to the sword bowl. It's not doing so well in the 125 for some reason and the one I put in to it looks ok so put more in there. Aiming for that one to be a more grassy looking bowl along with the sword. Probably should've gotten a sword compacta for it, but just wanted something a little different which is why I put the argentine one in there. No idea what that one looks like when it gets larger.

Noticed some pearling coming from the wood bowl earlier! So cool!  It was a steady stream of it coming off of the new s reps.
I placed the new crypt in to that bowl along with a tiny one out of the 55. Forgot to dunk them in some metricide so I'm going to have to dose the bowl with it to make sure it doesn't get BBA.

New plants still look beat up to hell and back. Picking out a lot of dead leaves and just ugh. Won't be buying from them again. That's for sure.


EDIT:
Looking up more info on the "Argentine" sword. Seems as though this sword is going to get HUGE. So it's coming out of the bowl. Going to replace it with a sword compacta. Maybe one I already have... or maybe a new one.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Should've posted some photos along with all that text lol..

5gal. Looking so scraggly, but I think I see some new growth starting on the crypts.
If those swords grow as large as I've read.. then I'm going to have to remove the one remaining in this tank and replace it.









I moved one of the sword compactas to the bowl. Was going to move this crypt, but since I was looking to replace the sword in the bowl with a compacta, figured I'd just go ahead and do that.
This is a really pretty crypt though. The color is so dark and the leaves are much broader than the others I have.









Tank shot!
You can see one pleco and lots of leaf litter up by the little mesh box









My bowls and jar 
The table will never be this clean normally, but I had to clean it off to get a nice shot of them 









Jar still isn't showing a lot of growth, but I think there is new growth.








This little val at with the weird brownish spots on it has gotten some new leaves.








And look.. It's snowing in my jar! It's the same stuff that floats on top of the water. Gross but oh well.

Bowl 1 with more micro swords









Its nice new big compacta that should stay at this height which is perfect for the bowl.
Hoping the new val and stem plants will eventually grow better new growth.








Hoping that the image I have in my head is what this bowl will end up looking like. Will be heaven for the shrimp that will call it home 









Bowl 2
I like the look of the wood and I don't mind the tannins... but it does take away a good chunk away from the plants. Oh well.








You can really see the film on top.








Asked about it and was told that it will always be there. It won't be as bad in another couple of months, but there will always be a film on top.
Meh...

And yep... that's about it. Just relaxing right now and boiling some peanuts!








I know anyone that isn't southern is probably thinking "WTF is boiled peanuts??"
It's delicious.. that's what it is!
Simmered in a big pot of salty water until they're tender (some like to keep them a little crunchy, but I like soft). You can add other seasonings too if you want, but salt is enough for me.
Highly recommend folks to try it out for themselves. Freshly made stuff, don't buy the crap in the cans!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

You are crafty! Great breeder box..I think that's a great idea to get the Betta out of there for now. Tank is really filling in nice. I'm curious as to how those bowls fill in. Once I figure out my tank situation I'm going to set up a dedicated shrimp tank. At one point I had hundreds of RCS in a 10 gallon. All my other tanks had large populations as I would drop 10-15 culls at a time in there. Your house is going to be like an aquarium with tanks and water all over


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And it's going to be awesome! lol
Seriously though.. the replacement tank is going by the 125 so all of the tanks, once the old 55 is taken down, will be in the same general area  Still going to be fantastic and so much easier to maintain since everything will be together 

I used to have RCS in a 10gal too and I loved it! It was so cool watching the shrimp swim around and exciting when you get baby shrimp  
Really hoping these bowls are successful so I can have shrimp again  Just have to remain patient while they cycle or do whatever the heck they do 

Right now, we're trying to figure out what we're going to put in to the 55gal.
DH wants to get these long finned BN plecos we saw on a video called green dragons. They look pretty cool. I'm neutral on them myself lol.
If we can get a long tank instead of the square we currently have... I'd love to get some cories too.
And then.. I dunno... something small and peaceful. While I thoroughly enjoy tiger barbs, it's a pain in the butt trying to figure out what fish to put with them lol.
Maybe some kind of rasbora. I dunno... think I'll make a post here to get suggestions


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok.. change of plan!
We were talking last night, trying to figure out the max length we can put in to the spot we're thinking of. Max length would be 40 inches. All of the 55gals I've seen online are at least 48. Too long.
So we just decided to use the little bowfront we had. I thought it was 30something gallons but it's actually 29. It was our first tank and we already have a stand for it and everything.
BUT it's been sitting in out hot attic and I wasn't very careful when I cleaned the tank and messed up the silicone inside of it. 
DH isn't comfortable using it, even if we attempted to reseal it.
So.. yeah.... going to take a shower and head out shortly to Petco and maybe Petsmart to see what they have.
We stayed up late last night and we're pretty sure we've picked out the fish we want for the tank.
Now to actually GET a tank lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Ok.. change of plan!
> We were talking last night, trying to figure out the max length we can put in to the spot we're thinking of. Max length would be 40 inches. All of the 55gals I've seen online are at least 48. Too long.
> So we just decided to use the little bowfront we had. I thought it was 30something gallons but it's actually 29. It was our first tank and we already have a stand for it and everything.
> BUT it's been sitting in out hot attic and I wasn't very careful when I cleaned the tank and messed up the silicone inside of it.
> ...


40 Breeder is perfect for most set up. They've got them for 50% off at Petsmart
And what fish??? You can't leave it like that... I'm thinking of Apisto Borelli and like 30 Cardinals for my lower 75..


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just got back from Petco and unfortunately, they didn't have any of the 40g in stock. They did have a 55 but it's too long 
I asked if they could order one and IF they get one in next Sunday, they should be giving us a call to tell us one way or another.
Hopefully they will get it since their sale ends before they'll get another shipment in and school starts and we're supposed to have some house guests coming.
So.. FX!!!
Told DH that he has a week to build us a stand for one lol.

As for fish... 
The dwarf blue gourami is of course going in to it.
DH really wants these BN plecos called green dragons w/ long fins. They have these super long fins and look pretty neat. I'm not a huge fan, but he's determined to get 1 or 2 of them lol.
We also want some panda cories, neon green & blue rasbora, clown killifish, a couple of hillstream loaches, and green tetras.
We plan on ordering them from Rachel O'leary whenever we're ready to get some. May not be for a while though.
Plan on getting the panda cories asap since Petsmart carries them (if they ever get any in store).
And the plecos from Select Aquatics online.
That seller also has some super cool fish... I can't remember what they're called but they have the coolest coloring to them. San Marco livebearer maybe? Maybe some of those too. We figure, we're already paying a ton for shipping.. pay a bit more fish! lol
We'll see though 
So yeah... we're gonna be spending so... much..... money. UGH! lol
But hopefully it will be a pretty tank with pretty fish 
Would be nice if places around us carried these fish so we wouldn't have to pay a boatload for shipping, but it sucks there in terms of this hobby.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That sounds like a pretty cool tank. I've seen those green dragon Plecos and they are pretty awesome for sure. After a few incidents I now ALWAYS pay for overnight and I find a seller that has as much of my intended stock as possible. Doing it that way actually works out alright. I paid something like $16 a piece for my 7 syno multipunctatus and then I paid about $70 total for 6 syno lucipinnis.... 
I'm going to have to order the Apisto Borelli so I'm thinking I'll get the female Apisto's from the.same person. Unfortunately the guy only sells Apisto's... so I may look if another reputable source has them AND cardinal tetras...


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## mbkemp (Dec 15, 2016)

Check wetspot. They usually have both of those


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

While waiting. I have some mesh leftover and I think I'm going to try to make a moss cave out of it.
Heat it up and see if I can shape it in to a cave then weave in some moss. Will probably have to super glue it to some rocks too so it sinks. Shouldn't be a problem though.

OH! And the light that was on the 29gal still works! WOO! Not sure on brand name or anything but it holds 2 t5 bulbs  It definitely won't be as long as a 40gal, but that's ok. Can just put low light plants on the side or something  
Getting ahead of myself though. Need the tank and stand first. Then we can worry about lighting and all that mess.
I do think I want to just do PFS though and get some kind of mesh bag to put some coral in to the filter. I don't mind the look of it in the sand, but with cories.. I want just a sand substrate for them to sift around in.

Oh and also... if we can find them.. we want celestial pearl danios/galaxy raspbora. Maybe... so many cool fish out there and we wants them all! Too bad we're not rich though... damnit


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Hi I just found your journal. You have some cool projects going. How's the stump you're carving out coming along? I was really interested in that. When its done, what do you use to make it look wood color?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks for taking a look through my ramblings lol.
Unfortunately, I haven't worked on the cave anymore. It will get done eventually, but with 3 small children, it's really difficult finding time to get things done and when I do have free time, I want to do so much and the cave has just been pushed to the back lol.
It's collecting dust next to the tank 








It WILL get done though!
I plan on getting some concrete coloring stuff. Think it's by Quikrete. All I need is black and brown and the coloring stuff isn't that expensive. I was looking to see if there were other things you could use... like spray paint since some seems to be aquarium safe, but might as well just use this stuff since it is only 2 colors  

Bowls and jar first!
So a few days ago... I got in some water lettuce that I bought and.... nope. The heat totally cooked the bag. Smelled like boiled cabbage and swampass when I opened the bag. I think I'm done ordering anything in the summer b/c I'm tired of wasting my money lol.
I thought maybe I could save some of it. Some small pieces still have some roots attached, but yeah.. I think it's safe to say it's all dead.
















I'm going to leave it for a week though. Maybe there is a little life left in some of them, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
SIGH!

The bowls are looking pretty good though. Going to do big water changes in them today.
Pretty sure I spotted some snail eggs on the val in the sword bowl. I don't mind snails, but not sure how well they'll do. We'll see!

































Pearling! I love seeing it  
When I first saw it, thought it was just stuck air coming up from the substrate, but nope. It's so cool! They only get about an hour of direct morning light which is when this happens.









Tiny bubbles









Really wish I had healthier plants to stick in to my bowls since I'm sure putting damaged and stressed plants in to them is going to make their cycle or whatever take much longer which means I have to wait longer to get shrimp. Oh well. Such is life 

125 this morning...








Starting to get more algae. Not sure if it's b/c of the sand or b/c I've been slacking and haven't been adding metricide every morning. I've been doing ti about every other day just b/c I've gotten distracted. Need to get back to doing it daily again.

Anubias nana is growing really well. This particular one has some weird roots coming up out of the substrate. I barely planted them just so they wouldn't float, but they seem to really like it b/c both plants have grown new leaves 

















This aponogeton has some crazy leaves. Enjoying these plants so much that I bought more bulbs while I was at Petco  If they grow, they'll be going in the 40gal.. well.. if we get one.









Baby tears and that erm.. other plant that I can't remember the name of again.
Baby tears haven't died, but haven't gotten back a lot of color either. The other stuff is looking a bit scraggled, but hopefully it will perk back up once it's acclimated to my tank better.









Corkscrew val offshoot grew super fast! It was only just last week when I noticed that there were offshoots and there certainly weren't any plants this big. YAY! 









The micro swords though. There is some new growth to them. Some new offshoots, but they're getting covered in brown algae right now.









Scraggly new stuff. Still getting a lot of loose leaves coming off of these.









Pretty pretty ozelot
Look at those spots! 









Right side of the tank. Look how much the wisteria has grown! Going to have plenty of plants to share with the new tank whenever we get it 









Middle...
Definitely going to take some of the crypts out and put them in the new tank. Free up some space for the stem plants at the back and hopefully add some height to the whole look.









Left side.
Betta is still doing well. Cabomba is still growing like crazy.









I did find a dead platy the other day though. Not sure if it was a male or one of the 2 females. I don't remember seeing any of them stressed. Did see a female being chased by a male, but that's typical behavior. 
It didn't look bloated, but with how things are going.. who the hell knows what went wrong.

I THINK that one larger pleco that was also bloated is better. I keep seeing one of the larger remaining ones out and about and they're not bloated any longer. Really hoping it's the sick one and it managed to pass whatever was blocking it up.
I did see a smaller one slightly bloated this morning that was breathing heavy, but as I've been saying.. I think it's just greedy feeding.
We'll see though. Just hope for no more dead fish.
Which reminds me...

Red gourami is still alive in the 55. It's not hanging out at the bottom any longer, but it's still not eating. Wish I could get it to eat. I'd soak some different anti bacterial meds along w/ parasite stuff if it would just eat something. But nope. Wish I had some clove oil. I'd euthanize it if I did. Poor thing is suffering.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I'm sorry... but I'm done... I look at your posts every morning and I think "why are her plants growing better than mine?? I have CO2!!!" Then I think "where is the algae and why am I getting it ALL OVER!!". I'm sorry but it's just too much for me right now. Maybe we can get back on better terms in the future, but right now I need a break


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I'm sorry... but I'm done... I look at your posts every morning and I think "why are her plants growing better than mine?? I have CO2!!!" Then I think "where is the algae and why am I getting it ALL OVER!!". I'm sorry but it's just too much for me right now. Maybe we can get back on better terms in the future, but right now I need a break


Lol... I'm sure your plants will take off now that you have your co2 set up 

My tank does have A LOT of plants though. Gives the algae a lot of competition for the nutrients in the water. I am getting spot algae though if that makes ya feel better  lol
You can't see it that much in my photos, but it's all over the wood and rocks on the right side of the tank.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> Thanks for taking a look through my ramblings lol.
> Unfortunately, I haven't worked on the cave anymore. It will get done eventually, but with 3 small children, it's really difficult finding time to get things done and when I do have free time, I want to do so much and the cave has just been pushed to the back lol.....


I know what that's like. I have young kids as well. I often plan to do major stuff w/the tanks on days when they're not here haha- just so I can focus better. Because if I make a mistake I kill my fish.

Wow I've never seen water lettuce look so sad. I don't order or ship plants summer or winter, either. Spring and fall are the times. 

Um, I think your aponogeton needs something. The leaf curl looks like a deficiency- I think of calcium? maybe try giving it a root tab. 

That ozelot sword looks really cool. Your tank is looking so lush, from the beginning photos wow, what growth. 

My daughter has a fishbowl in her room she keeps with just some substrate, snails, hornwort and elodea trimmings out of my tanks. It gets indrect light thru a curtained window and top-offs when I do water changes, that's it. I'm surprised it's been going so long and the plants are still growing- it's what gave me the idea I could keep an entire tank like that- and it's working! So far.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh poo.. is it from a deficiency? I was hoping the aponogeton was just how it was supposed to look lol. Oops. I'll definitely put some root tabs under it. I think I skipped over most of this area since a lot of these plants will eventually be moved for the cave.
Thanks for the advice 

Really hope my bowls are as successful as your daughter's  Just hoping they'll be ready for some shrimp before it gets too cold to ship anything.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Hm- well, you might have a different kind than me- I have aponogeton crispus and apono capuronii- but I think the leaves are supposed to be flat regardless, not curled in on themselves. Here's some of mine:
























They're among my favorite plants. I've never tried the dried bulbs in the store- maybe I should and see what I get!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

That's what I grew that one and the other 2 in the tank from. All 3 of them are different from eachother so I have no idea what any of them are supposed to look like... obviously rofl. I'm sure you're right and it's not supposed to be growing like that. Googling up images and I haven't seen any variety that curls like mine are doing.
Just got done putting in some root tabs around them so hopefully it helps 

Thanks so much for the heads up!

What's the purple colored plant in the bottom corner? It's gorgeous!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> ............
> What's the purple colored plant in the bottom corner?............


It's crypt wendtii bronze 'tropica'. It's really kind of an olive green, the undersides and stems are reddish. Looks purple in the photo because I think when I took that pic my LED's were doing their 'sunset' ramp down mode.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks JJ 

So, finally got around to doing a water change in the 125 today. 
It's my daughter's 5th birthday  She wasn't feeling so well this morning, so I had to do mom stuff before fishy stuff 

Took out some of the rocks around the corkscrew val. There was a big white one and then I took out 2 river rocks.









You honestly can't tell that I did anything lol. That's pretty much why I took them out. You couldn't really see them anymore and they were taking up some prime planting ground. Now that the val is sending out runners... I don't want big rocks to get in their way  I put in a few more root tablets in to those areas 
Hopefully we'll be getting the 40gal this weekend so the rocks can go in to that one if we want. I can use one to grow some algae on if we end up getting some hillstream loaches. I'm sure the plecos would enjoy it too.

I'm also going to take out the once big Oriental sword. The BN plecos haven't left it alone and I think it's on its last legs. Hopefully it lasts a little longer so I can pop it in to the new tank when we get it.
That's going to free up a good chunk though so I can put some of the new stems in that spot 
The new ones still aren't doing all that great. I THINK some of them are getting new growth or the new growth they already had looks ok. 
Would not doubt that it's going to take at least a month before those plants get back to looking somewhat less..... ugly. lol

There's a platy not looking so hot. No idea what the heck happened to it, but it has a bunch of tiny white fluffy spots on it. Definitely not ich. Looks like fungal spots like it got nipped or rubbed up against something and got scratched up or something. I haven't seen any fish take interest in it, but I'm also not watching the tank 24/7.
Hopefully the water change will help it out b/c I'm not medicating the tank again.
I'll soak some food in garlic juice/guard, but that's it.

Oh and the water change was pretty easy. Betta was easy to catch since I made the opening to his little cage big enough for a net. He had made himself a nice little bubblenest inside 

Ayway, that's about it for now I think.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Remind me... did you mix PFS and black sand?? It looks really good. I have been thinking about adding some black sand into my lower 75... I just don't like the all white sand look. Yours looks so natural.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Remind me... did you mix PFS and black sand?? It looks really good. I have been thinking about adding some black sand into my lower 75... I just don't like the all white sand look. Yours looks so natural.


The original substrate is a mixture of eco-complete and play sand. We didn't want to spend a ton of money doing all eco-complete in the tank when we first set it up  The larger chunks of the eco-complete seem to always make their way to the top so it does give it a really natural look. That wasn't out intention at all though. We had a separate sandy area w/ a little bit of the eco under it but it eventually just got all mixed up lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just checked the ammonia in the 2 bowls and holy crappola... they're both showing a super peacock green coloring.
I mean.. I guess it's not really surprising. All of the soil along w/ the dead/melting plant material.
Hopefully the super high ammonia doesn't kill the plants in the bowls though. I'll wait until tomorrow to do another water change... or maybe later today. Depends on if I feel up to it.

Only reason I tested them was b/c I was thinking about taking the sick gourami out and medicating him in one of the bowls. Poor thing is still trying to hang on and the blue one is obviously picking on him as territorial fish tend to do.
Poor thing 

That one platy still looks spotty. Eating though so I'll take that as a good sign. Just hope the spots on it clears up.
Also haven't spotted any dead plecos so I'm gonna guess that the bloating thing solved itself. At least I hope so and there's not a rotting fish in the tank.

Went ahead and took out that sword plant and put it in to the 55gal. It was in terrible shape A lot of the new growth has been munched on and I really needed to take off more of the stems from the bigger leaves. There is some small new growth though and lots of nice looking roots.
Really really hoping we'll get a new tank this weekend. 
And if DH won't make me my stand then I'm gonna have to take it in to my own hands and do it. May lose a finger or 2 trying to cut wood, but it will be worth it.. just so long as it's not my thumbs and middle fingers


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Been a busy morning.
Daughter's school had a kindergarten sneak peak type of thing and a small orientation for the parents.
After all of that and while I was out, I went to Petsmart. 
Disappointing as usual.
Just UGH, I want to scream at the owner. Tell them to hire people that actually give a flying turd about their fish tanks. SO many tanks with dead/dying fish in them and there is never anyone in the area. Or they come in and out lightening quick so they don't have to help anyone.

They did have some pretty nice looking fake decoration pieces. Fake spiderwood and other stuff that looked pretty convincing other than the fact that they matched all the other things lol. May be an option if we can't find any real stuff to put in to the 40gal (if we get it).

Just found another dead pleco. SIGH!
It was one of the smaller ones and this one also looked to have had been bloated and it's poor little butt exploded. It's belly also looked very flappy and loose like it had been stretched for a while.
Had no idea. Didn't see any others that were looking ill. It must've been hiding.
I'm not feeding algae wafers anymore. I've been trying out different veggies for them and the only one they seem to like so far is cucumber. Forgot to get zucchini but I'm sure they'll like that too once I remember to get some.
Tried a sweet pepper last night but they barely touched it.
Just ugh.... it would be nice to not have to worry about this anymore :\

What else what else...
So I checked ammonia in the bowls yesterday and as I said.. they were SUPER high.
Checked nitrites too and they were also high, but not as much. So the cycle must have only just recently gotten started.
I did a water change and replaced it with 125g tank water. Just want to see if it helps to cycle a little faster. Doubt it will, but it won't hurt to try 
5g is STILL cycling. Really??? How???? I'm gonna have to look at the filter media. Maybe see if I can add something that might help more bacteria stick or something. I dunno. Just... I wish it would finish. Taking too darn long! lol

And yeah... that's all for now. Won't be much for updates. Have my kids' birthday party on Saturday and hopefully Sunday we'll be picking up the 40g along with things to build the stand for it. I'll take pics and update them if it happens or not.
Going to be spending most of my time cleaning though. So... Much... CLeaning. Have until next Wednesday to make the house look somewhat acceptable b/c we have house guests coming. Ugh.. not looking forward to that but... ya know.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

Can't wait to see your 40G build and pictures. I've been following your thread. Love it.

I've a 20G and its taking whatever spare time i have... and you have so many tanks


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Sorry about your pleco...i guess it's fortunate that you experienced this before you got the green dragon pleco


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Sorry about your pleco...i guess it's fortunate that you experienced this before you got the green dragon pleco


Yeah seriously. I'd be super PO'd if we ended up getting some only for them to get this bloat and die.

NightHedgie- Thanks for reading my ramblings  I don't really have that many. Er well.. I guess with the bowls that's kind of a lot, but hoping those are nice and low low maintenance once the cycle in them ends lol.


No unexpected fish deaths this morning... yet... whatever. SIGH!
Crazy dojo loach though...
I've seen the loach in this spot a couple of times. Guess it just likes it up in the cabomba
Upper Corner (and yes, I know that's a lot of leaf litter. Diifficult to get it all out and it all collects there.)









It's the one with the bent spine








Pretty sure it's sleeping. The first time I spotted it there, I was nervous that it was sick or something so I was moving in to try to move it. Got really close when suddenly it startled and darted off in to the tank.

Also have a deformed killifish too.









It's supposed to be a nice straight back like these








Certainly doesn't stop the little male one from trying to spawn with it though.
Poor fish keep trying to procreate and they have tiger barbs right at their butts eating whatever they drop.
It will be a miracle if any fry survive in this tank. Those tiger barbs are clever and know what spawning looks like.
Whenever they spot the killis at the bottom, they're right behind them. Also pretty sure I've seen the tigers trying to spawn, but they also have the little predators right behind them ready for their eggy snacks.

And a poor quality photo of that one spotty fuzzed platy. It's still eating, but man do I wish I could catch it and treat it. It's not sluggish at all. Acts normal other than flicking off the plants.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... no 40 gallon. Booo 
They didn't even have any 55gals. SIGH!
I ended up calling them b/c I was getting impatient and heard her just ask someone, but sounded like it was someone that would actually know.
Oh well. Disappointed obviously, but it happens.
Just gotta make what we have work.
I still don't trust the 55gal b/c it is so darn old.
I mean.. just look at this stand...








SO nervous! lol
Hubs is annoyed with me b/c I keep bugging him to make a new stand for it. Dude... just do it already and I'll stop asking about!  lol
And yes, that's a baby gate surrounding it. Would you trust it with 3 young kids running around? Heck no!

I also need to clean the heck out of this tank.
I mean I didn't really care before since it was just quarantine, but if it's going to be permanent or at least here until we do get a replacement... then I need to get it looking better.








I started dosing it with metricide a few days ago to kill all of the BBA. Still need to target a few spots around the filter, but it's turning red so it's working 
And that one gourami has finally died. Thank goodness. I would've rather it had lived, but since it was sick and suffering, I'm glad it's finally not suffering any longer.
The powder blue is a happy little guy though. Has the whole tank to himself and make himself a nice bubblenest too lol.
Oh and 2 of the new aponogeton bulbs have started growing  Not sure if the 3rd one will since it looked a little fungus-y or something, but I'll leave it in a little longer.

Fish in the 125 are looking good so far. Just taking that mess day by day lol.
Here's the last remaining larger pleco that was also bloated. Thankfully it's looking ok.








Pic makes it look like it's floating/sick, but it was attached to the glass then shifted a little when it saw me.

Also, the little platy (the yellow/gold one up front) is looking MUCH better. Still has a few white spots on it. You can see some on the tail still, but most of them have disappeared.
I did catch it and the Mickey Mouse one flaring at eachother.








Guess that will happen when there are only 2 females in the tank.

Some new corkscrew val growth! YAY!









The wisteria has just gone crazy. I like the height it has gotten, BUT, it's totally hiding the pretty ozelot behind it. 








Was planning on trimming it anyway to put in the new tank (well now the 55), but still going to be an ongoing problem of it hiding the ozelot. Not sure what to do. Really don't want to uproot the ozelot, but there's nowhere else to put the wisteria.

One of the ludwigia I didn't trim has also suddenly gotten a lot taller. 








I'll also be sharing some of these with the 55 once it's cleaned.

125 tank shot. Yep... betta is still there and doing well.








Woops.. that one is an older shot, but leaving it up to compare with the tank from this morning 









Betta tank looks like a damn mess, but I'm not doing anymore water changes until it is cycled.
I never did water changes when I was fishless cycling and I kept the ammonia up pretty high, so after all this time.. no more. Just going to let the tank do what it needs to do then clean it up when it's done. /nodnod









Also made a little mesh cave. Used my hot gun to help mold it around a rolling pin then used a hairband to keep it in place overnight.
















Hoping to go to the pet store later to get some cories and while there, may get some anubias to attach to the mesh. Maybe some more anubias nana then cover the rest in moss. Will be a natural tunnel for the fish to hide and hang out in 
Also need to remember to super glue some rocks to the bottom of it so it sinks.

My bowls are still cycling. Have done a few water changes in them. Not much to report on though. The crappy plants got crappier and that funky build up is getting worse quicker. I know they'll eventually cycle though so I'm not worried about them 
Well.. I am thinking about removing the wood. Really like the way it looks, it just takes up SO much space that could be used for plants that a filterless tank/bowl needs. Just need to figure out where to put the moss though. I guess I could just put down a little bit of mesh and stick it on to it. Maybe make a teeny tiny mesh tunnel to put in to it for the shrimp


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Tanks are looking great. You can actually make the wisteria into a pseudo carpet in a low tech tank. Just keep it will trimmed and replant the tops. I was doing this in my tank for while and worked great. Once I added CO2 I had to pull them out as they were growing way too quickly for me.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

If I'm looking for some type of carpet, I will definitely keep that in mind 
Right now though, I really love the height. I just put plants in the wrong spots and don't want to move anything so have to live with it lol.

So no cories today. Booo
MAN I hate the local Petsmart. Flippin useless. They had 2 lone little peppered cories and I think 1 green corie.. and that was it. WTH?? At least there weren't a bunch of dead ones in the tanks.

BUT.... we bought a 40gal from them lol. They were also having a sale but not 50% so we ended up paying something like $68 instead of the $50 we would've spent at Petco. Not too much more expensive thankfully 
Just a tank so not sure what we're gonna do about the top, but WOO!! /happydance
We were seriously debating on spending a whopping $400 on a 60something gallon tank and stand combo. It was the same length as the 40gal, just had more height. But... sanity ruled the day. That was a nice tank though  lol

Now.. to just get supplies to make a stand for it and get cories. I'll probably go out later this week to different stores to see if I can find any decent looking ones.
To keep myself busy though, I'll be working on my little mesh tunnel.
Oh and I'm not sure what substrate we're going to use. I thought PFS, but saw someone mention black diamond blasting sand that looks pretty nice and it's cheap.
If I had any sort of upper body strength I'd go to a Tractor Supply and get some, but I don't so gotta rely on DH to get it lol.

Don't expect any wonderful aquascaping though. At least not from me. Maybe DH will try his hand at doing it. He's very meticulous when it comes to certain things so he might actually be really good at it if he cared to do it 

Oh! And I also bought more lily bulbs. Figured I might as well give it a try again while we waited for a tank (this was before we decided to get the 40gal). 
Read someone say they've always had luck sticking the bulbs in a cup of water in a sunny window. Going to look that up a little more and then hope it works.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Is it the 40 breeder? I REALLY like the dimensions of that tank. Do you have lights and filters figured out yet?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Is it the 40 breeder? I REALLY like the dimensions of that tank. Do you have lights and filters figured out yet?



Erm.. I'm not sure what constitutes a breeder tank. It's long and short. I think 38? something inches long and whatever the other measurements are lol. SUPER nice and I'm so happy with it. Nothing wrong with tall tanks, but this is much better for what we want. Lots of planting space and lots of room for small fish to swim 

As for filter.. it's just getting the HOB filter off the 55gal. Aqueon somethingsomething for a 55/75g tank.
Nothing wrong with it other than it's ugly and has hair algae growing all over it. lol
Not sure where it will be positioned in the tank. Middle or at one end to have lots of flow in one area with a calmer section on the other side like the 125.

For the lighting. I'm not sure. I don't think the LEDs that are currently on the 55 are long enough. They can extend a little bit longer, but pretty sure not long enough. And the t5 fixture that was on our 29g is certainly not long enough either. 
Ya know.. it may have been cheaper just to get a combo pack with things we'll probably have to end up purchasing


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Erm.. I'm not sure what constitutes a breeder tank. It's long and short. I think 38? something inches long and whatever the other measurements are lol. SUPER nice and I'm so happy with it. Nothing wrong with tall tanks, but this is much better for what we want. Lots of planting space and lots of room for small fish to swim
> 
> As for filter.. it's just getting the HOB filter off the 55gal. Aqueon somethingsomething for a 55/75g tank.
> Nothing wrong with it other than it's ugly and has hair algae growing all over it. lol
> ...


Yes that's the breeder tank. It's 36+" long and shorter. More floor space. You can't go wrong with the 36" Beamswork FSPEC. In the very near future you are going to reach a point where even metricide expenses are going to exceed the cost of a budget CO2 setup. At least for the 125. I'm pretty happy with the Aquatek regulator I got for about $100. I'm moving it to the 150 as soon as the new one gets here. That's the great part about a big tank. Alot more room for error so the regulator doesn't need to be as precise.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I do really like my beamswork on the 125. I'll have to see what we have, if it's gonna work, and if not... DH is definitely going to give me that "You want to spend MORE money on your fish tanks??" look when I bring up needing to buy another light 
That price isn't too bad though and this is my birthday/Christmas present and pfft.. I'm worth it! 

Yeah... pressurized CO2 would be nice, but I can't get it filled and DH doesn't want to... so gotta work with what I got


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So the light on the 55gal IS in fact long enough. WOOT! The less money that has to be spent, the better since I accidentally dropped our camera /SIGH
It still takes photos just fine.. but the screen on the back of it is screwed up now.
Good job me! :\

Anyway.. that also means the top on the 55 should fit the new one too  Just need to scrub the heck out of it.

That means the lighting is going to be low. Boo. Maybe I could use the t5 one too. We'll see. I'll have to go get it and see if I can do anything with it.

Also... DH wants to use our living room side tables for the tank.
They're solid wood. Not particle board or anything like that. I was nervous about using them since it's 2 separate tables and the tank isn't resting on the legs, but am being reassured by fish folk on facebook that it's ok.









Was suggested that we should put some foam sheets under the tank though just in case anything were to shift and probably to protect the wood.

Just got the t5 light down. It's much too short for the tank like I thought, but it looks like the brackets can be pulled out. they're a bit stuck right now but if I can manage to get them out enough to cover the tank, I could use it to give more light to certain spots of the tank 

So excited to get it going already! Just need to get the substrate for it. 
Think it's just going to be a osmocote, blasting sand, then another layer of osmocote, then sand. Should be perfect /nodnod

In other news.... that mesh tunnel is not going to work with supergluing them to rocks lol. Going to have to add a mesh bottom to it that will be buried so it stays put. Not a big deal thankfully and an easy solution.

Ha oops. Thought I had posted this already.
Ended up going to the Pet Supermarket. Their tanks were actually really nice. Maybe 1 or 2 dead fish, but overall their fish actually looked really healthy. Their anubias were covered in some algae and the anubias in the tinfoil barb tank were reduced down to the rhizome lol, but I mean.. overall.. their tanks looked really well cared for.

They had a few corys. Not a bunch... I bought some though. Not the one we originally were intending though lol.
It was a bit of an impulse buy but I'm glad I got them b/c they're frickin adorable!
I bought 7 tiny little pygmy cory

















I'm never going to find them and be able to net them in the 55gallon  lol
They're SO darn cute... I couldn't resist.
Going to just need to buy about 13+ more to have a nice big group of them in the 40


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Ooh, pygmy cories are so cute! I had some for a short time but my betta acted like he was hunting them so I took them all back to the store next day. I was _so_ disappointed.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Ooh, pygmy cories are so cute! I had some for a short time but my betta acted like he was hunting them so I took them all back to the store next day. I was _so_ disappointed.


Aww that stinks, but you did the right thing to make sure they didn't get attacked. 

So far the gourami has ignored them. He did look like he was going after one when one darted to the surface, but quickly lost interest once he got closer to it.
It's so difficult to see them on the black substrate in the tank.
We've decided to go with just PFS since DH was planning on heading to Home Depot after work anyway. Hoping to get all of it washed and in to the tank and then go from there. Not sure what wood or rocks will be going in but it's gonna be fun setting it all up!
Can't wait to move the fish and take the 55 down.


And in other news... BBA is trying to come back in my 125! Thought it was spot algae, but no.. it's definitely BBA. My fault for not continuing the daily doses of metricide, but I'm back to doing it daily again so hopefully it won't get worse and spread.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

I have a bunch of Cories, about 6 each of Pygmy, Sterbai, Panda and Leopard Cories.. Love them.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

We used to have cories. Different ones, but mostly sterbai(sp?). They really are cute little fish, but these pygmy ones are just.... if there was any possible way, I would want to cuddle with them! ROFL
They're just so darn tiny and adorable!!

Sorry for the poor quality photos from here on out (not that they were awesome before though  lol). Since I broke our camera.. I can't see if the photos I'm taking are good or not so.. here we go! lol

Blurry photo of the gourami and one of the cories (it's the blurry blob in the right corner). Look how much tinier it is compared! SQUEE!








NO idea how I'm going to find the cories in the 55. Seriously.. they blend right in to the substrate.

I also finished the mesh tunnel yesterday. It looks so barren and blank and will for a while, but just gotta give the moss time to grow on it  I may add more once the 55 comes down. There is a small amount stuck on the heater and the corners of the tank.









Just have it floating in the 55 right now.









Oh look... my plecos are now attacking my amazon sword... /grumble









I didn't give them veggies for a couple of days so I guess that meant my sword was a good enough snack until I did :\
That's actually not what this photo was supposed to show. See the 2 small blurry swords behind the cucumbers? Those are Argentine swords and I think I'm going to move them to the 40.








Look how clear some of the fish came out though. Think that big fat one is a black ruby barb. Or it could be a tiger too. Our black rubies unfortunately haven't colored up to that deep dark coloring.

Bowls and Jar are.. meh...
The bamboo in the jar is loving it. It was looking sad when I had it in the back of the 125. Its roots were dying, but now that it has some substrate to grow in to, it's been doing really well. Can't say the plants in the tank are growing well though. Was hoping by now they would've adapted and grown, but nope. 









Bowls aren't looking too hot right now either.

Brown algae is going crazy in the sword bowl. 









Hasn't stopped the plants from pearling though.








You can see some of the plants aren't doing so great. Damaged growth is dying off. Hoping it grows back.

I took the wood out. The moss I didn't use for my tunnel, I just plopped back in to the bowl








Just need to figure out what to put in here now. Maybe will try to let the s rep spread and have it more of a carpet instead of tall plants. The dwarf sag isn't looking too great in here either.
Still the beginning for all of this though so FX things get better lol.

That's about it. DH bought a board to go under the 40g. He wanted to stain it so it wouldn't stand out as much, but I was fine leaving it. He stained it anyway so I have to wait even longer to start setting up everything b/c I can't pick anything up. Or well.. I could, but there's a big big risk of me dropping something lol.
Oh well... I need to focus on cleaning right now anyway. Guests tomorrow and have to make the house somewhat presentable


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Can't post any photos right now since we have guests and my computer is hooked up to the tv. And I can't figure out how the imgur app works bc I'm ancient apparently lol.

Just wanted to update quick that there are now no more fish in the 55gal. Thankfully the cories weren't that difficult to catch.

Filled the 40 half way with fresh water, then filled the rest of the way with 55gal water.
Cleaned off the bba as well as I could and what I couldn't scrub off, I doused in peroxide.

Also bought 10 more pygmy cories. Where I got them restocks on Wednesdays. Didn't know that when we stopped by, so glad we did stop 
Bought every single one they had. Don't think 2 will make it though. Poor little fishy.

Also bought 10 ghost shrimp.... Mostly because they were cheap and shrimp are neat. Wanted to see if the gourami would hunt them too.

It's looking super scraggly in the tank. The piece of wood that I did want to use floats. Booo.
And a lot of the plants are still small and have a lot of growing to do.
I did get some bolbitis in today from someone here (Karackle) and holy smokes, lots of it and it looks amazing.
Hopefully it's all ok, bc it has been super hot and the plants were pretty warm. They looked ok though 

Anywho... That's all for now. Posting from my phone is super annoying. I'll get pics up when I can. Hopefully I'm taking some good ones lol


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## Bradleyv1714 (Jul 25, 2011)

Hey... awesome tank! Wondering how you feel about your beamworks light at this point in time. I have a current freshwater + on my 55 but I was looking at possibly upgrading or getting a cheap addition. I'm going to start injecting co2 and was looking at other things that I needed to do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I really like the beamswork light. The one I have is more considered med light I think, but my plants seem to be growing just fine with it. Really happy with the light, especially at the price we paid for it too









And bad news..... 8 out of the 10 new cories died. SIGH. checked water perimeters and yep... There is a nitrite reading. Flippin son. This better not be another 5gal fiasco.
Sure some of the BB was washed off when I cleaned the actual hardware, but I kept the media in tank water. Didnt even shake it out to clear the gunk off.
Ugh so upset. Poor cories








Dosed the tank with prime and I did buy some stuff that is supposed to help cycle new tanks. Not safestart. Got it bc I was afraid something like this was going to happen.
Hopefully this stuff wasn't a waste of obey and will work.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

Have you tried Prodibio BioDigest? It's liquid concentrated BB that comes in ampules. Works better than the rest of the stuff IMHO. It's not miraculous but it does accelerate the cycle.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not sure I've ever seen that before. No idea if anywhere around me even sells it.

I went ahead and bought some Stability today too.
This is what I have so far..








No idea if either of them are doing anything. 
There's still ammonia in the tank, but no nitrites and there is about 10-20 nitrates. So there's the beneficial stuff in there. Guess it just needs to reestablish on all of the surfaces in the tank.
Nitrate coloring got a little darker after I took the pic









Pics pics pics from the last few days....
Top from the 55 doesn't quite fit. Length is just a little too long and the width.. well..








It's all good though. With doing weekly water changes, it shouldn't be that big of a deal when dealing with evaporation. Might be a problem if we get fish that decide to jump though lol.

Was going to use this piece of wood... but.. it floated and I don't want to spend time trying to get it to sink lol.









Got the rest of the crypts out of the 55 and there was surprisingly a lot of them. They were just all bunched up together so it didn't look like that much was in the tank still.
Most of this came from a rhizome that I thought I had completely destroyed when I pulled the rest of it up. I just left in the tank b/c I was too lazy to pull up the rest and well.. it started growing 









One problem with the filter... the intake is too long and there's no way to adjust it. I had to move a lot of the sand and put rocks under it so it wouldn't rest on it. 








It's working for now but I'm sure sand in the filter will be a problem.

Found 1 dead ghost shrimp this morning. There might be more dead. They're so difficult to see lol. Most of them seem to be doing well though.
One of them even has eggs! Hope they hatch 

















Put in other stuff and it was nice and cloudy. Cleared up pretty quick though.

















Yeah I know.. I'm terrible at aquascaping lol. I just don't have a vision other than.. if it sticks.. that's where it's going 

The wisteria I trimmed from the 125. BIG stems of it. Still surprised how quick it grew.
And one of the super nice bolbitis that I got in the mail 









Side view... you can see a bare rhizome of a bolbitis. I wasn't sure if it would still grow like the crypts did. Put them in anyway so we'll see 









Random photo of one of the cories 
Did find one of the new ones dead this morning. That means there's only one left... maybe.
I think it was just the stress from being shipped then put in to a new tank, then here I come to get them scooped up again and put in to a new tank. I'm sure the mini-cycle didn't help either.
Going to wait until next Saturday before going back. Let whatever they're going to get settle in or die and then get them.









The led light that's on it is too dim. Going to put this one on it too. It won't cover the whole thing, but still should be enough for the plants in it.









Went to a different petstore today that folks said was nice.
Their fish selection was.. meh... average. Same ole same ole stuff. We did pick up some hardscape stuff








We should've gotten more of the rocks, but didn't know how much they were. Oh well.

And what the tank currently looks like. I'll have to get some better shots once there's not as much glare.

















At that petstore, we did get some free floaters  Apparently it's illegal to sell them here.. oops. So they gave us a few of what they had for free 









Plopped most of them in to my bowls and 2 in to the 40
The bowls will be getting big water changes tomorrow. Grossness film covering the tops. Need to check the water parameters too just to see what'ss going on.

















Will also finally be taking the 55 completely down. Can't wait to have that room freed up 

And 125 today. I could've trimmed a lot more wisteria lol. I may still do that 









Also think I'm going to move the java fern to the 40. It's just floating in the 125 right now. The new wood has plenty of spots I can wedge it in.]
Oh and I found that bigger pleco dead today. Looked to have been dead for a day. Thought it was ok, but then started wondering if something was wrong when it wasn't going after the food like the rest of them. Denial got the better of me though and I thought it was ok.
SIGH! Getting tired of dead fish :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just woke not too long ago.
Ammonia has risen to .50 in th 40gal.
Going to do a water change today. This better not be another 5gal fiasco. Going to be super pissed if it is.
I've been double dosing the 40 with Prime and so far so good with the remaining fish and shrimp as far as I can tell.
Also bought some poly filter. Not sure what it will do, if anything, but if it's another surface for more BB to grow on then so be it.
Tired of these tanks being a constant worry! SIGH!!!

Oh and I also forgot. Only needed about a bag and a half of the sand. I put down a thin layer, then added a very generous amount of Osmocote plus, then a thicker layer of sand. Some of it has been pulling up, but it's easy enough to push back under the sand.
Probably going to play around with the plants some more. Clean up the look a bit more now that the new wood is in there.

Found another pleco dead or well.. part of it. Looked like it had probably died when the bigger one did.
It would be fantastic if my fish could stop dying already and my tanks calmed down so they'd be stress relievers instead of inducers :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I should rename this thread to... "I'm going to end up bald b/c I'm going to rip my hair out trying to take care of these tanks"... but I think that would be too long... :\

40gal.. tested water before water change. Ammonia increased, still no nitrites and pH was 6 or below. Awesome. Hopefully the low pH hasn't screwed up anything.
I put in a baggy of crushed coral in the filter that I was hoping would help, but I guess not yet.
I went ahead and put baking soda in to the tank. Probably a little too much but that shouldn't be a problem.

Also put on the other light. I don't like having the 2 lights on the top.. especially since the top isn't completely covered, but it really needs more light. The t5 lights give off a very pink glow, but IMO it doesn't look too bad.









Took out the micro swords from the 125. The corkscrew val has decided to spread that way and I didn't want them to compete for space.
So I stuck the algae covered plants in to the front corners of the 40  They had some new runners so.. not dead at least which is my goal.. ((that I'm failing with fish apparently)








Really like the new rock in the back. Had no idea where to put it. Really wish we had gotten more. Oh welp.








Yep.. I'm leaving in the cheesy decor. The shrimp seemed to really appreciate it.

And tank shot.








I snipped off more wisteria and stuck it with the rest to make it a little fuller.
Don't think I'm going to add anything else.
Was thinking about buying some giant hairgrass for this tank, but I'd rather give the bolbitis and wisteria a chance to fill in the tank along w/ the swords. Once the rooted plants settle in, they should thrive b/c of all the osmocote in the sand.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Be prepared for the inevitable diatom outbreak. I had my hands in the tank 4 times a week brushing off diatoms. It was a pain, but it kept the plants from suffering. It lasted a couple months for me. Tanks are looking good. Hopefully the bolbitus does better for you than for me. It's right in the path of the filter output that gets the CO2 and the output is pushed directly toward it with an AC50 powerhead... I still only have a very small portion of good looking new growth that isn't covered in algae.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I'm expecting it. I know it's inevitable in new tanks. My bowls or well.. one bowl is having an outbreak right now.

Speaking of my bowls...
I did much needed water changes in them. It had been while and ammonia tests today were so green they were blue lol.
Plants in them are looking a bit sad.








I think if I had to do it over again.. I would ditch the soil and just do what I did in my 40gal and mix the osmocote in the sand. Don't have to worry about pulling up dirt and don't have to worry too much if you want to move things around.

Oh well... it's all good. It's all a really good learning experience  Just need to figure out what other plant to put in to this one...









125 is doing its thing. REALLY need to trim the cabomba. I hate throwing it out, but that's what is gonna happen.
Wanted to wait until the betta's tank was done but I dunno what it's doing now.
Tests this morning showed high ammonia still, but 0 nitrites. /shrug
Maybe that means it's almost ready.









This dojo loach is crazy. It LOVES resting in the cabomba and loves resting up against the front of the tank in between the glass and the mesh.
Anywho... thought it was pretty cool how well it camouflaged at the bottom of the tank w/ the pebbles and whatnot 









And the other on the other side of the tank. Think it thought I was getting ready to feed. Still got a nice photo even though I couldn't see what I was taking a photo of 









40gal... ammonia and nitrites this morning.
Did another water change.
So irritating!
Also found a dead shrimp but not too worried about those. They were more of an experiment than anything. Still sucks finding them dead though.
The few that I do see still look ok though.. for now.

















The 2 aponogeton bulbs that sprouted are doing really well.
One of them.
Can't wait to see if they're both the same or different  Really enjoy these plants.









Still waiting for the lily bulbs to do something though. I know it can take a while though. Just hope they're not duds like I always seem to get.









Going to need to buy more Prime. I've been dosing the 40 like crazy with it. 
Also think the bolbitis leaves are dead. They've turned black. I'm sure the extreme heat they were shipped in was the culprit. Hopefully the rhizomes are still ok and will grow new leaves  Going to cut off the leaves tomorrow and hope for the best.








Oh I did put in some cabomba in to the tank. The floating ones I had in with the betta were taking over so I removed 2 stems of it and put them in the 40. Doubt I'll keep them in there, but for now they're ok.

And the 55. I drained as much water as I could out of it. 
Look at the right leg on the stand. That's not a weird camera angle... no.. that leg is actually slanted like that. YIKES! That is a disaster waiting to happen right there.








Really hoping to get the tank and stand out tomorrow. Going to need to scoop out the gross substrate first to lighten it a little.

And yep.. that's it for now I think. Just hoping all of my tanks are ok as usual lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So thanks to some folks here.. learned that the nitrites in the 5gal were too high for the test to read so instead of showing a super purple color, it went from purple to blue.
Did a 90% water change and the nitrite test is working as it should again and still waiting for this stupid tank to cycle already.
Think I'm gonna add more media to the filter. Same with the 40gal one too and see if it helps b/c I'm all out of ideas at this point.

Added some cabomba to the wood bowl. Figured it needed something while I tried figuring out what to put in it. May just leave it. I'm sure shrimp would love all of the fronds to scavenge on and it is a pretty plant.









A nice big area of brown algae that I didn't clean lol. Oh well. Actually surprised it's not worse... especially in the other bowl and jar. Those 2 have no algae in them at all. /shrugs









More excited than I should be that one of the lily bulbs has sprouted!!!!








Really hope the big one will too 

Took the java fern out of the 125 and the little buce that was in the wood bowl and put them in the 40. Just stuck them in the wood where I could.









Added one or 2 more stems of cabomba to the 40. Can't remember if I mentioned it, but also tied the moss to the mesh. No idea if there is some growth or not. Really wish I had kept the giant balls of it that I always threw away before lol.









I cut off all the bolbitis leaves 
They were melting and just dead dead dead. Hope that doesn't mean the rhizomes are too. Will keep an eye on them and if they start getting mushy, well.. I'll have my answer then.









125 is coming along too. Plecos are starting to destroy my other swords though. SIGH!
Thankfully we shouldn't have that problem in the 40. DH changed his mind about wanting the green dragon ones. Well, he still wants them, he just doesn't want to pay that much for them, especially since we're going to have to order all of the other fish we want too and who knows how much the shipping will be.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do you have any of the red sword varieties? I'm thinking of getting one or two with a plant order tonight.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Do you have any of the red sword varieties? I'm thinking of getting one or two with a plant order tonight.


Nope, but I would really like one! If you end up ordering some, tell me where and condition they showed up in 
Going to wait until it cools to order plants though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just got back from Petsmart....
Only meant to buy more PRime and Stability.. ended up spending way too much on other stuff too 
I can never resist their plants...
Bought this one..








Looked it up quick to make sure it was true aquatic and bought it. No idea if it needs high light or what but it's now in the 40 and one of the bowls lol
























I'm sure things will get moved around a few more times. Just wanted to get it in to the water for now really.

Can't tell if the floating plants have multiplied already? Doubt it, but I can hope 









Also bought 2 packs of these. They had them buy one get one half off.









Should've gotten a larger size, but it fits about half way up the intake tube in the 40
Good enough 








Think I'm gonna do the same with the 5gal.

Also bought some of this. It was on sale and this pack said to dump the whole pack in a 40gal. Perfect! Did just that and hope it helps. No nitrites in but ammonia was up to about a 1 or 2.









Love this crypt in the 125. The photo doesn't show just how pretty it is and its color.









Decided to get a photo of some of the black ruby barbs. Dunno if they'll color up more or not. Really hope so.









125 today....


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, your tank is really getting lush! I like those dark olive-green crypts, too (wendtii?) I always admired cardinal plant, but I think it needs high light/C02 so I never tried it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I've read that it needs pretty good lighting. Maybe the ones in the bowl will work out. We'll see about the 40gal ones 

So.. I thought all of the larger plecos were dead. Nope.. or well.. Now they might be b/c I just found another larger one dead. Seriously????? 
So tired of this. Could my fish stop dying already? I got that the bloating killed the first couple, but now... WTH is going on???


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I've got that lobelia cardinalis in my 75. The stuff that's in the pack is immersed grown so it has to adjust. I'll snap a pic of mine, but it's growing kind of weird. The ones oser to the back are growing taller with larger leaves, but the ones closer to the front are growing more dense / compact with smaller leaves. There is alot of light over that area and it's right under the filter output that dissolves the C02. I'm still on the fence about it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No visible dead shrimp or fish today. Forgot to mention that I found 2 dead shrimp yesterday. One was a female carrying eggs  Boo
I know there's at least one more female with eggs left, but who knows if it will survive since the tank isn't frickin cycled.
I swear.... It's the same GD filter. Sure all of the surface bacteria is gone, but damn.. you would think there would've been plenty left in the filter.
So tired of this mess!
Sorry for being a Debby downer. Just frustrated by all of it.

If things don't start changing tomorrow.. I'm going to try to get some of the sludge in the 125 filter to put in to the 5gal and 40gal. UGH I really don't want to b/c it's such a pain picking the filter up, but I'll risk my back. I don't want to lose the fish in the tank and I really want my betta back in his tank too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

There we go .. one dead shrimp this morning. I dunno what I would've done with myself if I didn't have to deal with death first thing...... :\

It was the last female one carrying eggs. I mean... they were just ghost shrimp, but I didn't want them to die 
Decided I am NOT going to take apart the 125 filter to try to get gunk.
I THINK the bacteria is trying to do something. The nitrate is still at a healthy level and the ammonia hasn't risen anymore. SO I'm taking that as a good sign that the bacteria is trying to do what it needs to do.
There was a smidge of nitrite yesterday afternoon, but it was back to 0 again today.
Also reread the stability instructions and oops... I've been double dosing it when I didn't need to. But hey.. I've wasted this much money.. why not some more on stability :\

I need to do a water change on 125 today and I'm going to try scooting the ozelot over some. May take the little oriental sword out and put it in the 40... at least until it starts growing.. or I'll keep it in there.. who knows.
The ozelot definitely needs to be moved though. It's beauty is wasted by the wisteria hiding it.
Pics a little later today if I remember to take any... or well.. if I can get some decent shots with my broken camera.... still can't believe I did that.. SIGH!

Oh I also finally put in some sponge media in to the 40g and 5g filters. Figure it can't hurt. More area for the bacteria to live on the better.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... water is changed.
I wanted to delay it until tomorrow or Saturday, but the gold barb is acting weird so I went ahead and did it.

Moved the ozelot over and I must say... I love it!
















Such a big pretty plant that was totally hidden behind the pretty wisteria lol. 
Need to trim some of the leaves off and it looks like the plecos may be snacking on it too... SIGH, but overall, it's looking good 

Thought this was interesting.
Someone said that you can kinda make wisteria carpet and I think it may be doing that naturally








You can also see root tab that was pulled up when I moved the sword. Oops...

I also trimmed some of the ludwigia. YOu can't tell lol








I replanted some in the 125 and put some in the 40gal.
Look how pretty the underside of the leaves are! Wish the top of the leaves were this vibrant 









Took out most of the baby tears from the 125 and put most of it in the 40 and some in one of the bowls.
It looks pretty scraggly, but that's my theme apparently lol.








Also removed the oriental sword and 1 of the small crypts from the 125 and put them in the 40. No pics. Honestly can't remember where I put the crypt now and the sword I stuck in the back by the filter. It had grown some nice healthy roots though. Hoping that now that it's in a tank with not so many plants to compete with, it will do better.

And finally super crooked photos of the 40 and 125


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Forgot to mention that I did have to clean the glass off the 125 yesterday. Yep... the algae is starting to spread. I can't tell what kind it is though. Might be a combo I'm getting. Brown, BBA and GSA. 
Gold barb is MIA. Not floating, but also not in its usual spots. At least not that I can tell. I'm sure I'll have a floater tomorrow or the next day 

The DIY cave has been put on the back burner. I am only down to 2 kids during the day since my daughter started school for the first time this year, but they're the 2 needy ones so I can't do too much rofl 
Heck.. I still haven't emptied the substrate out of the 55. I WILL be doing that this weekend though. I have an extra bucket out and everything to get it all out and thrown away.

40gal is still showing about 1-2 ammonia, but no nitrites. Not sure what's going on there just hope it fixes itself soon b/c I would really like to get more fish and feel some relief that the fish in the tank are ok.
Couldn't see any shrimp today though so no idea if there are still some alive or not.
Would like to get more of those too b/c shrimp are just so neat and I love watching them.
Fish in there seem to be ok though. The first batch of cories are all acting normal and eating well it seems. The gourami is doing well too I think.

What else what else... think I'm going to move all of the s reps to the 5gal. It is still cycling, but I THINK it's on the last little leg of it. There's barely any ammonia, but nitrites are still high so I think.... I HOPE that this means it is almost done cycling.
Anyway.. going to move the s reps to it b/c the ones in the 125 have lost their bottom leaves and just look all sad, but the ones in the 5gal actually look really healthy. Going to remove a lot of the rocks that are in it and replace with more plants 
I just need to redo the 5gal. It looks SO bad right now. I haven't cleaned the algae off of anything and it's all over the place and the crypts are still looking terrible. It's just not the lush little tank I want for my betta. May take more crypts from the 125 and put them in there. The 125 does need some thinning out a little.

Uuuuuhm.. I think that's about it. Just trying to decide what to do before I go pick up my child from school 

EDIT: OH and I also ordered some calcium nitrate? (think it was nitrate, but could've been sulfate).
Other than the aponogeton that is all curled up, I've been noticing curling going on with some of the other plants as well. Hopefully it helps.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

UGH... so I''ve changed my mind again and I will be opening up the 125 filter. It's such a pain and the carpet is going to get soaked, but... I need to.
I wasn't going to if the ammonia reading in the 40 had even gone down a little, but nope.. it's actually gone up slightly.
Going to take some stuff from the 125 and hope and keep my fingers crossed that it helps.
Also going to add more of the fluval bio media things to the filter b/c it could use some more. I had a whole unopened box of the stuff that is collecting dust in the stand. WIll also probably end up needing to do water change in the 125. The 40 is definitely getting one.

Just sort of building up to doing it all b/c it's such a pain in the butt. Such.... a....... pain.....
This better work!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So it was easier than I thought and my mommy muscles actually didn't struggle too much to pick the filter up 
Well.. ok.. so DH picked it up for me initially, but I was able to pick it up and put it back with no problem. WOO! lol Not as weak as I thought I was  lol
Emptied maybe half a gallon of water out. Didn't need to do all of it since the stuff I wanted was right at the top...









I took about half of them out and put them in to the 40g filter








Most of them are actually in the bottom 

Replaced the ones I took out plus some. Used most of the bag.









Also took some of the water that was drained and poured it in to the 40g filter. Should've waited to do that after the water change. Oh well.

Before water change tests...








The pH looked to have crashed. I'm sure that wasn't helping anything. I was going to wait until tomorrow to do a water change, but after seeing how high nitrates were.. decided to go ahead and do one. Only did about a 20% change.
But it helped get the ammonia down to around a 0.5.









This always happens when I mess with the 125 filter. Always.









Did a small 10% water change, but couple hours later and the tank is mostly clear again 









So yeah.. fingers crossed everyone!!
Hopefully tomorrow, I'll be able to report back that the tank is cycled and I'm on my way to the pet store to pick up some fish! lol Ok so maybe not that soon. I'll give it a couple of days before adding more fish 








Pet Supermarket had some small rasbora/tetra? something that I just can't get over. I can't remember what they're called, but they're small fish with clear bodies, but their eyes are super blue and almost look like they glow.
I've seen videos on them before but wasn't all that impressed, but seeing them in person... LOVE! 
They'll go great with the other fish we want in the tank 

I really want more pygmy cories. Look how cute they are! LOOK HOW CUTE!!!!









There are also 2 shrimp that I can see that are still hanging in there. Looks like a male and 1 female that is holding some eggs. Keep seeing the female hanging out by the filter sponge. Will be getting more of them too b/c shrimp are awesome as I've been saying 









What else....
Took out the s reps from the 125 and put a couple in the 5gal and most in the 40








They'll get more light in this little area so hopefully they'll grow well.

And the gunked up algae covered 5gal.
I'm not sure what to do with the plants in it. Maybe just leave it completely wild looking and let it grow in crazy for the betta lol. We'll see.
Need to check the parameters again.








You can see some of the original substrate made its way to the surface. Not a big deal. It happened when I was doing a water change. Filled it a bit too fast so it stirred everything up. Oh well. About to go try to pick out more of the rocks and maybe take some sand out.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I'm pretty sure the bolbitis has suffered the same fate as the water lettuce. Pretty sure it cooked in transit. It still looked fine when it got to me, but the bag was very warm. It just took a little longer for the damage to become apparent.
The rhizomes aren't mushy... yet, but they certainly don't look healthy anymore 
Noooooo 
Dernit. Just another month or so and I'm ordering more plants. It just stays hot here for so long.... I have no patience when it comes to wanting plants RIGHT NOW! lol

Still need to find somewhere that sells a red sword and something else. Something else red or just anything other than green. Really want the 40gal to have more color than the 125. Think I'm going to need to buy a new light for it though. The t5 fixture is ok, but the back corners and sides are definitely shaded... even with the LED light mostly towards the back. It's just so dim.
Wish I was confident enough to try DIY LED lighting. The LED one has enough room for one or 2 more strips in it, but I don't want to mess with electrical anything.

I knew it was a long shot. Still ammonia and I think some nitrites this morning now too. Guess that's in the right direction, but still not that insta-cycled miracle I was hoping for. Sigh....
I still don't understand why it didn't work. There is a small filter cartridge for a tiny filter in there. 2 giant ones that are actually for the filter in there. I just don't understand why it failed. Even if they're not the best areas for the bacteria to cling to.. there still should've been enough there. It's not like I stocked the tank to the limit with heavy waste producers. I'm not dumping a ton of food in their tank.
Just frustrating. I had a feeling though that something was going to happen since the 5gal failed to cycle when I put in 3 chunks of media from that tank. 

Anywho.. all out of ammonia test drops now. The test seemed to still work with only 3 drops from the 2nd bottle. It just took a little longer to get the result. Will be going out later to get another one.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, DH went to the store for me. Asked him to pick me up some biomax filter emdia too.
The stuff I have is called prefilter and it mostly just used to catch the big pieces of debris. Bacteria still grows on it of course, but not as well as this other stuff called biomax.
He only got me a little box, but good enough 
Going to pop that in to the 125 filter and also going to take more of the gunky filter water and put that in to the 40 and hope it helps.

Ammonia in the 40 is around 0.50-1. Nitrites are just barely there at 0.25 and pH was on the verge of crashing to 6 again. Added more baking soda and about to do all the other filter stuff. What I took out should still help get more beneficial bacteria in to the 40. Just hope it helps enough to get this crap cycled and done with already.
So flippin tired of having to worry about cycling tanks!!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

If it's not cycling issues it's algae LOL.. It's been my observation that it takes more than just filter media.. plants from an established tank and substrate are all necessary for an instant cycle. Even then it's a toss up. If I were to try again I would take all of those things from an established tank and then replace the substrate removed in the established tank with new substrate and new plants. It'll get there. The bolbitus in my tank isn't doing much... maybe a few new fronds, but I'm going to have to cut the old growth off as it's caked in algae. As soon as I get a couple good rhizomes I'll send you some. It seems like bolbitus is either a crazy tank buster... or a total bust. 
I'm waiting until my new regulator and filter are here so I can get C02 into both tanks before I do my next plant purchase and decide on a red sword plant. Then I'm packing both tanks full of anubias and bucephelandra!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Even though it was new substrate being used, you would think since the filter was matured and there was a lot of media in the filter and not a lot of fish that there wouldnt have been any problems. Boy was I wrong! lol

Just got done messing with the filter again. This time I went to the 2nd basket in the fluval and it had more of the media in the center. Not sure it's the same as the prefilter stuff b/c it was shaped a little different. Still had the hole in the middle of the pieces, but they were round instead of a hexagon.
Looking at google, it looks like the stuff in the middle is biomax too. The little box that DH bought me, the little media things are much smaller. So hey.. WOO!
I took some of them out and plopped them in to the 40gal filter. They were nice and brown with stuff so I figured it would help.
Also rubbed off the gunk and took more of the water and put that in to the 40 too (also put some in the 5gal).
This SHOULD help. It BETTER help! lol
Think I'm going to go mess with the 40 a little more. Move one of the anubias nanas over to it and wedge it in to the wood.

Getting some hair algae in the 40g but meh. Algae is the least of my worries right now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dare I hope? Dare I dream?
Just checked the 40g again and ammonia has definitely gone down to a solid 0.5 reading and ntrites have gone up to a 0.5.
Maybe tomorrow tests will show some more progress. Hope so!!!

I did find another dead shrimp though. Pretty sure it was one I saw earlier. Thought it was one just hanging out on the sponge media on the filter, but just noticed it was still there and yep.. dead 
No idea how many are left. Maybe 2? Could be more since they are difficult to see.
Once the tank is cycled though, I'll be getting more and maybe down the road adding some cherry shrimp to the mix  Not sure if the gourami will hunt them or not, but want the plants grown in and the tank filled in a bit more before adding a more expensive shrimp. Give them a chance just in case the gourami does decide it wants some live food lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Whatever fish you have in there will hunt the shrimplets and maybe the adults, but you've got alot of plant mass. I've been trying to decide what kind of shrimp I want to keep, but like you I want some in my community tank... so I think that means neocardinia... I'm going to do carbon Rili shrimp and the ones that don't look as great can provide the foundation for new colonies in my other tanks! I will tell you that getting the shrimp acclimated and thriving is tedious and stressful... it took a good while for my original 20 to adapt and stop dying... but eventually I had a tank full of Sakura grade shrimp and a good colony going in 2 other tanks! I would get them going in one of your bigger bowls. Just keep the water pristine and parameters stable. How big is your biggest bowl?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Whatever fish you have in there will hunt the shrimplets and maybe the adults, but you've got alot of plant mass. I've been trying to decide what kind of shrimp I want to keep, but like you I want some in my community tank... so I think that means neocardinia... I'm going to do carbon Rili shrimp and the ones that don't look as great can provide the foundation for new colonies in my other tanks! I will tell you that getting the shrimp acclimated and thriving is tedious and stressful... it took a good while for my original 20 to adapt and stop dying... but eventually I had a tank full of Sakura grade shrimp and a good colony going in 2 other tanks! I would get them going in one of your bigger bowls. Just keep the water pristine and parameters stable. How big is your biggest bowl?



My bowls are only 3 gallons. I need to do water changes in them more often and check the parameters to see where they're at in the cycle process. I've just been letting them be though... aka I've been a lazy bum and neglecting them lol.
I've had cherry red shrimp before and found them to be pretty easy to keep. They always did extremely well in a 10g tank and bred like crazy.
/nodnod about the fish hunting the baby shrimp. It's why I'd like for the plants to fill in a lot more before buying more expensive ones. Give the baby shrimp and maybe even adult shrimp from being eaten 
Most of the fish we want will remain pretty small.. so other than the gourami maybe.. I think adult shrimp will be safe.
We'll see though. Getting some for the bowls first then moving some of their spawn over could be an option  Just have to wait and see if the bowls are going to work out. Just have to get plants in them that don't come to me half dead or totally dead /grumble


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tested the 40 this morning before waking the kids. Ammonia was down and nitrites were down too. PH was about to crash again so topped the tank with baking soda. (must be the wood in the tank causing the problem)

Tested it again just a little bit ago (about 2hrs after the first time this morning) and the readings were down even more!! Ammonia was barely green! Almost a 0 yellow reading!! And nitrites were down to a 0.25!!!
FINALLY!!!!
Holy crap... I dont want to jinx anything, but it seems like it has finally worked!!
Going to test again in another couple of hours.
Keep your fingers crossed everyone!

I think once the tank has been running a while, I'm going to remove the cartridges that come with the HOB filter and over time replace them with sponges instead. THe media that comes with it is horsecrap that apparently doesn't house the bacteria very well. May buy more biomax too and put that in to the bottom w/ the sponge on top of it. We'll see. This won't happen for at least another month or 2.


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## Bradleyv1714 (Jul 25, 2011)

congrats! Hope the results only get better

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thank you and I hope so too 

Pics!! Been posting walls of text.. it's time for some more of my craptastic photos!  In totally random order b/c I'm feeling lazy and don't want to organize anything!

Tests! The left one is the 40 and right is for the 5.
Both of them will hopefully be fish safe soon. 
Was hoping I'd see more improvement in the 40 one, but oh well... I'll take this.
Maybe I can go get me some more fish later this week. Gosh, I hope so!









Algae all over the sand. Well.. just in this area that gets the most light. I keep stirring it up so it doesn't get too bad.
And look how tiny the cories are! SQUEEE... I love them so much. Specially love the little one chilling on the rock on the left 









That super pretty crypt just keeps getting better and better looking.









Dojo loach being its cute little dojo loach self.









My little helper woke up from his nap. 









One of the lily bulbs... don't think it's any good. Not sure though. It looks like it has some maybe? growth spots on it, but then well.. other parts look like this.









The other one is growing super well though!









Lemme just get a photo of the ozel......









I had to lure them over to the other side of the tank really quick to get this shot...









Added pothos to the 40 and the bowls too. Maybe it will help keep the algae under control.









Roots of one of them in the 125. And look at all that BBA spots on the filter intake. Sigh.... Going to need to spot treat I guess instead of just dumping the excel in the water.









I dunno what happened, but suddenly the sword in the back has grown upwards a ton! Just seems like it happened over night.









5 gallon is looking like a giant mess. Man it looks terrible. I did clean off a lot of the algae on the glass though. Just need to tidy it up once it's ready for the betta. Want him to have a nice cozy little tank since he's been cooped up in his little mesh basket.









Pulled out one of the anubias nana and put it in the wood by the buce. SO much algae all over the place though. Need to get my hands dirty soon and start cleaning all of it off the plants.









The aponogeton bulbs are growing like crazy. Both look to be the same which is fine  You can see in the photo how shaded the back corner where the red stem plants are though. Maybe I can convince DH to let me buy a new light for the tank.









40gallon. Really want a red flame sword. Put it right behind the fake decor. Oh yes... one will be mine.









And the 125


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The ammonia may be at 0 now. Not entirely sure. Could still be inbetween 0-0.25. Nitrite has increased to 0.50 now too. Going to check it once more tonight and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to share even better news 

I did find a dead shrimp though. They keep popping up. This one was all fuzzy though so mustve been dead for at least a day. Poor thing 
Dont worry lil fish and shrimp.... your brethren will have a healthier tank to call their home!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nitrites 0, ammonia 0!!!!!
/Happydance!!!!!!

Now... I should've waited, but..nope!
Off to the petstore I went.
Figured.. they get shipments in Wednesdays... don't want new fish contaminating the ones in their tanks so I gotta go get me some fish NOW!
I'm so damn impatient.

First up.. I bought 5 more pygmy cories. They're definitely a different variety than what is already in the tank. Comparing the 2... the one with all of the spots is part of the original batch that I got.








The store also increased the price by a dollar. I'm sure that's my fault since I went in there 2 weeks in a row and bought all of them lol.
Hopefully these do better since the tank is ok now.

Then... I bought the 3 emerald eyed rasbora they had. Wish they had more and hope they get in more next week. Would love to give them a big school.
They don't look that impressive in photos really, but their eyes seriously seem to glow by themselves.








They're such a tiny fish too so a nice decent size school of them will look great in the tank 

A horribly blurry photo of the 3, but you can see their eyes and how bright they are. It really is beautiful 









Now these were an impulse buy that I may regret getting b/c of the dwarf gourami in the tank already.
I'm hoping that b/c they're so small and b/c there will be other fish in the tank and it's 40g that the dwarf will leave them alone.
I bought 3 sparkling gourami.
They're SO cute and also very pretty when the light hits them just right. Their eyes also glow a greenish blue along with some spots on their bodies. I really liked their personalities in the store b/c they seemed more like bettas.








IF the dwarf gourami starts to mess with them... I'm getting rid of it. Will call around to some of the smaller LFS and see if they'll take it. He's a pretty fish, but I don't want this tank to be terrorized by him if it ends up that way.
So far, he hasn't messed with the shrimp or the cories and he always goes up and down the right side of the tank for some reason.
So FX things work out. Think I'm going to add more wisteria clippings too just to fill things in a bit more right now.

Oh and no more shrimp right now. Their ghost shrimp tank was filled with dead ones. Bleh.. no.


Anywho.. my impatient butt is going to be checking and rechecking water parameters all day to make sure everything looks ok still. I dosed the tank with stability and some more prime just to make sure everything was ok just in case.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

Love your pygmy cories.... i can't get your species over in my part of the world.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

NightHedgie said:


> Love your pygmy cories.... i can't get your species over in my part of the world.


Boo that stinks. I could see aggressive fish being banned in places.. but pygmy cories? Come on now lol

So far so good on water parameters! WOO!
All fish look to be doing ok so far. There was a bigger cory that looked pretty stressed, but hopefully it has settled in.
The gouramis made themselves right at home. They're so darn cute!
The dwarf one ignored them for the most part until the dwarf was begging for some food... a sparkling one came up beside it and was just staring at it. When the dwarf noticed it, he chased it off. Nothing majorly aggressive or anything thankfully.
I think the sparkling ones might look close enough to the new pygmy cories that the dwarf may not go after them. 
One of the emerald eye fish looks a little clamped too. Will check nitrates tomorrow and do a water change if levels are high. If not, will leave it until the weekend to do it.

Oh and in the 125... the gold barb is still alive, but not sure it's eating. Hope it is and I'm just not seeing it. It used to come out with the other fish and eat.
And I did see 2 tigers sparring the other day. It was one of the red glo lights and a regular tiger. They were in a little lip locking match. No damage done thankfully.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

One pygmy cory casualty. It was the bigger one that was looking really stressed yesterday. Poor thing. Definitely going to take it back. I'll wait until tomorrow though since today is their shipment day.
At least now... cant blame it on my water  Parameters this morning were perfect! And all other fish look good as far as I can tell. I only saw 3 of the new cories together, but since I haven't found another corpse.. I'll just assume that the 4th one is alive.
I did find the remnants of a very dead moldy shrimp though. One that looks like it has been dead and decaying for at least 3 or so days. Bleh.
But I also saw a big one scrounging around too so that's good.
I may head to Petsmart tomorrow too. See if they have different shrimp. I can't remember if they only have ghost shrimp or maybe something else too.

Oh i forgot to comment on the rude employee at Pet Supermarket. 
Everything started off fine, but when she was trying to suggest bumblebee gobies to me... i replied that we had them years ago and we just couldnt keep them alive b/c they didn't want to eat anything we tried. That was it. I didnt go off on some long story or explanation b/c I'm actually pretty shy IRL. Before I was even done replying to her, she had already checked out of the conversation and talked over me to to the other employee there and got that employee to help me with getting the fish so she could go check their order for the fish coming in tomorrow. WTF?? She didn't even look at me again either. Just... seriously??
I got the impression that she maybe thought I was an uninformed fish hobbiest or something b/c I had asked her what a certain fish was in their tank (it was a pretty small rainbowfish w/ gorgeous blue eyes) and when I didn't just jump at her suggestion for the gobies.. she got offended.
I dunno... that just rubbed me the wrong way. Don't start up a conversation and then talk over the person and frickin leave before they're even done replying to you :\


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Finally!! I almost always have casualties with smaller non cichlid fish. That's going to be an exciting tank with that big group of pygmy cories. The Furcata Rainbows have gorgeous blue eyes like that and the males look pretty awesome. Unfortunately I lost 7 of 8.. the only remaining one is a female. At $8 a piece I don't think I'm going to invest in another group. I think the C02 didn't agree with them. They were up at the surface, but all the other fish were fine so I didn't pay any attention..


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

If u don't mind me asking. Which method do u use to introduce fish to yr tanks? 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I temp acclimate and then dump fish in to a net and then in to my tank. It's a bit harsh and I'm sure I could do it slowly, but it works... for the most part lol.

Furcata rainbowfish.. that's what this one was. I can't remember what they called it at the store. Just remember it was 11.99 and the only one in the tank. Beautiful little fish and maybe something to keep in mind for the future when we don't have mean ass little tiger barbs in the 125 lol.

Maybe I'll order more cories when we're ready to get more fish. They really are adorable little things. Watched 3 new ones swimming and looking around the tank. Wish I could spot the 4th one. Hopefully it's just hiding somewhere.

Really falling in love with the new gouramis though. They are so darn cute and have that betta type of curiosity to them. Checking out everything and everyone in the tank. The big gourami ignores them until it spots one of them hovering there staring at it lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

%$&*(#!!!!
0.25 nitrite reading in the 40gal.
Only have myself to blame here. Should've let the tank settle for a while before adding fish.
Hopefully this is very very temporary and everything will go back to normal readings.
All the fish looked ok though. Eating and acting normal.
Dosed the tank with Prime and some stability. Will recheck it later.

Found a dead platy in the 125 though. Saw one when I turned the lights on yesterday just hanging out. Thought maybe it was just resting/sleeping still, but I guess not.
I give up trying to figure things out b/c pfft.
It's like the people that treat their fish like crap have them live for years and years while those of us actually trying to give our fish good lives have them die all the darn time.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sorry you've been having ups and downs with your tanks lately... in my experience the nitrites will only get higher before the bacteria colony is established and it goes to zero- then you're safe. Meanwhile do daily water changes to save hurting your fishies.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

lisals said:


> I temp acclimate and then dump fish in to a net and then in to my tank. It's a bit harsh and I'm sure I could do it slowly, but it works... for the most part lol.


My suggestion...Float the bag in the tank (temp acclimate) after 30 mins, open the bag, pour equal amount of tank water into the bag (water acclimate)... float it for another 30 mins.. and then fish them out and into your tank. Better survival rate

:nerd::nerd::nerd:


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

My Pygmy Cories that I can get here









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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

OOO Those are nice looking. They look like peppered cories. 
I'll try water acclimating whatever fish I get next time from the store. Certainly won't hurt to try it out 

Nitrites still in the tank. No ammonia so far and pH is staying steady at least. Going to do a small water change today though. I THINK the fish are ok, but I can't see them all.
I'll update later.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Don't get discouraged. Environmental stability is the most important thing. The people that don't do anything have had their losses in the beginning and the fish that survive have acclimated. I see this in my 150 with my Africans. With these planted tanks we do all kinds of tweaking and introducing new stock / pathogens / bacteria almost daily and it makes for an unstable environment until plant mass establishes and stock has acclimated. It sucks, but it's unavoidable. Remember that many of those fish would not have survived in a natural setting which is why reproduction rates are so high in most fish. There are a near infinite number of genetic and cellular variables in each animal that are the results of adaptations and random variables in gene expression that determine who will be more fit to survive in these settings. I think you're doing a pretty good job and you shouldn't let the unavoidable setbacks deter you.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks.
I'm just super frustrated, but I'm still going to try my best to keep my fish alive and FINALLY have some stress free tanks to enjoy.

Water changes are done. Checked nitrites before I did it and it looked like they had gone down just a little. Could've been wishful thinking, but I really hope so.
Didn't find any little corpses in the tank, but I didn't see all of the new cories at the same time either (did see 2 at least). Hopefully the 2 that I didn't see are ok.
I was going to get a replacement cory for the one that died and maybe a couple of SAEs too to help eat up the algae in the tank (then move them to the 125 eventually). Might still do that whenever the parameters are normal again.


Also did a change in the 125. It's nice having the tanks in the same area. Just go from one right to the other with almost no troubles 
The gold barb has definitely lost weight, but I did see it pecking at the fresh cucumber I put in to the tank. Dunno what is wrong with it, but I hope it survives.

I still need to do some much needed water changes in the bowls and I need to finally add in the sponge to the 5gal and do... something with the plants and such in that tank b/c it looks horrible and I hate the way it looks. It's still not frickin cycled so I'm hoping the addition of the sponge will help. At least just give the bacteria something else to grow on.
Can't believe how long it has been cycling for though. Good grief....
Betta seems to be pretty content in its mesh thing though.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

lisals said:


> OOO Those are nice looking. They look like peppered cories.


Yup, they call them peppered/flower pgymy cories over here.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So that was weird.
Did a water change yesterday. Couple hours later, I checked parameters again and nitrites went up to 0.50.
Was planning on doing another one today since it seemed like nitrites were rising fast, but this morning they were back down to 0.25 again (thankfully).

Not sure why it jumped up so much not too long after the water change.
Anywho, hopefully the lower number this morning means that it will finally be ok like I thought it was earlier this week :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... first up.
I think the 40 is going in the right direction now... again.

Tests last night and this morning are the same. pH keeps wanting to drop a little, but not as quickly as it was doing. Ammonia is 0 and nitrites... I'm not sure. I THINK they're between 0-0.25, but they could just be a 0 too. I'll remain cautious though and say that there is still a readable amount.
BUT they're not going up anymore though so that's a good thing 









The tank is getting covered in algae though. I need to reduce the lighting on it...just being lazy and haven't done it yet.
The fish don't seem to mind it and the dwarf gourami pecks at the green hair stuff.









Can't remember if I mentioned it, but I had to throw away the big lily bulb. It was funky as heck and just wasn't growing 
BUT the other one is growing really well and looks so pretty  Wonder if it will keep this color as it gets bigger or if it will turn green?
Either way, I'm just happy it's growing!









All the fish in the 40 seem to be good though. I still haven't seen all 4 of the new cories together, but I did see 2 today and saw 2 shrimp yesterday. The new gouramis are as cute as can be and already know me and come to the front of the tank whenever I'm there. They're so darn adorable, have the personalities of bettas without the attitutde 

The rasbora have really come out of their shells too even though there are only 3 of them. When I first put them in the tank, all they did was hang out at the back and up near the top, but they've been swimming around more and just looking so cute.
Their eyes really pop when the lighting is dimmer. I tried getting photos of it
















It really is beautiful to see in person and I can't wait to get more of these guys  Hopefully the tank will be ready to get more as soon as the store gets them.

Unfortunately... in the 125, I spotted one of the old tiger barbs pineconing.
I'm pretty sure I caused it too 
I gave the tank frozen mysis shrimp for the first time last night and this morning well...








Little piggy fish literally eating themselves to death.

Pineconing freaks me out and just gives me the willies. I hate seeing the fish suffering but UGH, I can't stand looking at it.
I gave it an epsom salt bath after I caught it. Hopefully it helps, but with how it looks, I think it might be too late.
Unsurprisingly, it is extremely difficult trying to catch fish in a heavily planted tank!

I swear... if it's not one thing.. it's something else.

Anyway. I've never had luck curing a fish once it's reached this point. No well.. I've had luck with a betta before. I caught the dropsy as soon as it started and gave it epsom salt baths and it helped. But with the way this tiger looks.. I don't think there's anything I can do.
Put it in the little tupperware container I saved that I was going to put the betta in to.









In better news... the plants in the 125 are looking great :\
Not sure what happened, but it seems like the swords all just sort of suddenly grew a ton. Maybe they finally found the root tablets that I put in.









And some shots of the fish. The green barbs are so pretty 
They have this velvety, satiny shine to them and it's just so lovely 









The gold barb is starting to come out more again too which I'm really happy about. Doesn't seem to want to eat flake food though. Not sure why it's being so picky. Can definitely tell that it has lost weight. It was a little porker before.









That's all for now. I still haven't done water changes in my bowls. Was going to do it yesterday, but had to help hubs with his shed yesterday and by the time all of that was done, pfft.. I didn't feel like doing anything lol.


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

May I ask what type of rasbora those were with the blue eyes? Thanks a lot

Skye


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> May I ask what type of rasbora those were with the blue eyes? Thanks a lot
> 
> Skye


Emerald Eye Rasbora 

The tiger barb died. Knew it wasn't going to make it when I was doing a 2nd salt bath. It hadn't pooped or gone down in size at all from the first one. Just glad it didn't linger and suffer for too long. Poor thing.
As far as I can tell all of the other fish in the 125 are ok so I'm hoping this was just a case of gluttony mixed with an old fish and it ate itself to death.

Snipped off a few cabomba stems... just b/c. It's going to take a lot of work to trim that giant mass of plants lol. Sheesh. And to think... all of that came from a single little scraggly stem. That stuff is amazing 

Going to just use the dim lights on the 40 today. See if it helps keep the algae under control some. Use both tomorrow, then just the dim one again and so on and so forth.
Might have to move the red stem plants in the back though. They're not doing so well since the tank doesn't have the best lighting. Can always move them back once I do get something better for the tank 

Test results... there's definitely still nitrites. It was at 0.25 today. Dosed with some Prime and just going to leave it and see where it's at tomorrow.
Fish seemed ok for now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... Nitrites were 0... I think. Maybe between 0-0.25. I'm still not sure.
Ammonia also maybe had a slight reading too. I don't think it was totally yellow. May have had a slight tint to it.
I'll test it again in a little bit.
Just to be safe though, I dosed with some stability and prime.
Fish seem to be ok though.
Really hoping that I'll be able to add more fish this weekend if parameters are stable. Well.. and if the store gets in more of the emerald eye rasbora


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok..I tested again a little while ago and I'm pretty sure ammonia and nitrites were 0.
Obviously will be keeping an eye on things and if things stay steady at 0.. then hopefully new fish this weekend! FX!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

So.... what kind of fish?? I am very close to having the top 75 stocked to where I want it... and a pair of Apisto Caucatoides Triple Reds on the way!! And 12 Carbon rili to get my colony going!! Hopefully they all beat the hurricane and I don't lose everything LOL!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> So.... what kind of fish?? I am very close to having the top 75 stocked to where I want it... and a pair of Apisto Caucatoides Triple Reds on the way!! And 12 Carbon rili to get my colony going!! Hopefully they all beat the hurricane and I don't lose everything LOL!!


For now, I'm hoping to get more emerald eye rasbora to add to the 3 in the tank. Which reminds me.. I need to check the water today. Been distracted watching all the stuff on the new hurricane... yikes.

Eventually... I want to get neon green rasbora and I would really like some CPDs too (celestial pearl danios). And I think I'd like to try some colored shrimp in the tank too. Not sure if the dwarf gourami would hunt colored ones or not though so would like the wisteria to grow in a lot more to give shrimp some cover if needed.
Maybe once the tank is definitely stable and the weather is consistently cooler, we'll order the rest of the fish


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sorry for the lack of photos. Just awkward trying to take photos when you can't see what you're taking a pic of lol.

Finally got around to doing water changes in the bowls.
So much algae, but not as much as one would expect being in front of a window. 
Cleaned up as much as I could, but not worried about getting it perfectly clean or anything.
Also tested the water in one of the bowls and still super high ammonia and nitrites.
















Wondering if adding some of the bio pellets from the 125 would help and also give the bacteria just something more to grow on. More surface area couldn't hurt and those things wouldn't stand out too much. Not like a bright blue sponge would. We'll see. I may just add a little bit of sponge.
A lot of the plants aren't doing so great. TOtally my fault for not keeping up with water changes. Will need to do them more often to help the plants thrive instead of getting killed off by the high ammonia.
Good news is that there is growth from the floating plants  Really happy about that.

40gal is coming along. Still lots of algae, but I'm not too concerned with it just yet.








My little blue gourami has been behaving himself thankfully.
I did see 2 of the sparkling gouramis fighting with eachother. No physical damage to either one, but they were really going at it. Then a little while later, they were both happily swimming together. /shrugs

Check out the color of the lily! It's so damn pretty. LOOK AT IT!!!! lol
The lower leaves are turning greener. Oh well...I'm just happy it grew in the first place 
















Guessing the long stem it's growing will be a floating leaf? Can't wait! 

The aponogeton beside is (and one in the back) have grown a tremendous amount too.








Micro swords in front are still meh. I'm sure still adjusting from being moved.
Looks like the wisteria is finally settled in and growing again.


And my 125. Boy it's looking super lush and I am just loving it! Surprisingly did not take as long as I feared it would. I think I'm going to start trimming the cabomba finally. 
I hate trimming and I hate throwing it away. I'd keep an outside tub just for plant trimmings, but I'm lazy so it would end up as a mosquito nursery lol.








I haven't been dozing metricide regularly again either. Just get distracted with taking my daughter to school and then taking care of my 2 boys once I get home. Need to remember to do it in the mornings again. Do not want BBA to grow all crazy again.

Oh and I also tested 40 and the 125. I wanted to compare the nitrite colors. There's definitely still nitrites in the 40. I wasn't sure since the color was bluish, but the 125 color is definitely what a 0 reading should look like. So no fish this weekend. Going to try to calm my impatient butt down and do this right this time so there won't be this problem again.
Thankfully all of the fish are still doing well and the ammonia is definitely a 0 
Now just gotta worry about Hurricane Irma. Looks like we could be seeing it if it turns. Will be keeping my eye on the news for updates on that and remember to do water changes. Give my fish some fresh water just in case we won't be able to for a while.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your tanks are looking fantastic and the growth and colors are gorgeous.. I love the lily!! I wanted so badly to order some plants, but now with the storm I think I'll wait. I'm cutting it close with shrimp and fish... in fact I dont know when the fish will be shipped... I should check on that. 
Are you in Fl?? I'm very much a "prepared" person, but the fish tanks never crossed my mind... I feel a little foolish. I have significant investments in there... oh well... too late now...I REALLY wish I wouldve sprung for the solar powered ancillary system... it would at least power the tanks. Ugh... this is unsettling..


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Your tanks are looking fantastic and the growth and colors are gorgeous.. I love the lily!! I wanted so badly to order some plants, but now with the storm I think I'll wait. I'm cutting it close with shrimp and fish... in fact I dont know when the fish will be shipped... I should check on that.
> Are you in Fl?? I'm very much a "prepared" person, but the fish tanks never crossed my mind... I feel a little foolish. I have significant investments in there... oh well... too late now...I REALLY wish I wouldve sprung for the solar powered ancillary system... it would at least power the tanks. Ugh... this is unsettling..


I'm in SC. Looks like we're probably going to be getting hit by it Monday or Tuesday I think. Hopefully it weakens a considerable amount b/c I also haven't gotten anything prepared for the tanks. All I'm gonna do are big water changes, hope for the best and probably use up the Prime that I have. May buy another bottle of it.
There's just not a need here for generators or anything like that usually so pfft, we don't have one and from what I've heard on the news.. stores are sold out anyway.
I'm concerned for my fish, but /shrugs
Going out tomorrow to pick up some water and other supplies. We have food, water, etc for emergencies already, but more certainly won't hurt.
Just remembered the flooding that happened in the area a couple of years ago. We couldn't use the water for anything other than bathing (and when it first happened, not even then), then we were under a boil water advisory for forever. That was ROUGH b/c my son was still on formula at the time. Washing bottles with bottled water sucks lol.

Anywho... hopefully all of us in this storms path make it out in one piece and our fishy friends remain happy and healthy.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thank goodness for fish groups on facebook.
Someone was asking about battery powered stuff in preparation for the storm and lots of folks started suggested cheap fishing air pumps.
The ones fishermen use for their live bait or I guess to keep their catches alive?

Went to Walmart today and there they were in the fishing section.
Bought 4 battery powered air pumps. 2 larger ones and 2 small ones. 2 for the tanks and then the small ones for the filters.








The larger ones were 7dollars something and the smaller ones were 4something. NOt too bad.
They had more expensive ones, but hopefully these are ok.

I mean it's not the best solution, but it's what I got. Hopefully it will be enough.

After getting more supplies...
Came home to my 125 filter off.
It was cloudy this morning. NOticed it when I was herding my children out the door, but I was busy and distracted so didn't think too much of it.
No idea if the filter was off then. It turns off on its own every once in a while for maintenance or something.. I dunno, but will come back on. I don't think that's what it was doing.
Just ugh... so yeah... now I have that to worry about too.
Will test the water in a little while. Give things a chance to settle.

This was after I got the filter to come back on after unhooking everything.








I unhooked everything, put it up on the chair to potentially drain. My brain wanted to see if it would turn on if I tried it again and WOO! It did.. but OH CRAP it's not hooked up to anything so water splooshed out of the now wide open holes and all over the floor. Awesome lol.

And see how shadowed the left side is? Going to leave it for now until this storm passes. Don't want to remove it and any good bacteria that may be on it. But after the storm has passed and everything is back to normal, I'll start trimming down the cabomba.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Only tested ammonia and it was 0 in the 125. I'll keep rechecking it though just to be sure that it's ok.
Also tested 40gal and... I think the nitrites are 0. It's not that light teal color, but it's also not purple/violet either. It's the same blue color that it turns when you first put the drops in.
THat's what I'm used to seeing. I've never seen the teal color before until I tested my 125 the other day. /shrugs
If it remains that color, I'll just go with that it's a 0 
Since the hurricane is incoming.. obviously not going to be worrying about getting more fish this weekend.
But if everything is ok afterwards... maybe next weekend


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

lisals said:


> Thank goodness for fish groups on facebook.
> Someone was asking about battery powered stuff in preparation for the storm and lots of folks started suggested cheap fishing air pumps.
> The ones fishermen use for their live bait or I guess to keep their catches alive?
> 
> ...


My tank started looking like this. I got a SunSun JUP-21 UV sterilizer from Amazon, now its crystal clear! I highly recomend for $35.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It's usually pretty clear, but I think the filter may have been off for a few hours so it got cloudy and when I got it to turn back on.. well.. all that gunk that I loosened up from moving the filter blew in to the tank lol.
If I ever have a problem with clear water though, I'll def give that a look. Thanks!


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

Hope everything will be OK. Wish u the best. Hmmm your tiger lily is shooting for the sky.... mine sticks flat to the bottom : }


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I had no idea about the battery powered pump... I'm going tomorrow. I wish I had some big sponge filters. I've some big airstones though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

125 water parameters are still ok this morning.

40g though.... looked like a slight ammonia reading. THe nitrite color still looked the same too. Blue but not that teal 0 reading. I dunno /shrugs
Fish seem ok, but I put some prime in to their tank just to be safe.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So thankfully the hurricane shifted so we're not going to get directly hit any longer. Well.. as far as everything has shown, we shouldn't.
Good news for us.. still sucks for those in its path though.

We'll still probably get some strong thunder storms but hopefully that will be it.

40g parameters are off again. Nitrites were 0.25, but ammonia was 0. I dunno anymore. SIGH... 
I was going to get more fish, but thankfully the store didn't have anymore of the rasbora. Waiting another week is definitely a good idea. Give this tank a chance to do whatever the heck it's doing.

Also found the remains of another pleco. Small one and most of it was eaten. Just some of the tail and the head w/ the pectoral fins left of it.
I dunno WTH is going on with that tank anymore. I just don't get it. I neglected the heck out of the 55gal when they were in it. Barely did water changes. There was barely any room for them on the ground because the crypts had spread so much etc etc and they thrived. Move them to a bigger tank that I take care of and BOOM... dead dead dead.

Anyway... pics!

So much algae, but I'm ok with it. I do need to remove it from the anubias and buce though.









The lily is growing like crazy! It's such a pretty plant. Would've been awesome in my 125 or any taller tank but I'm loving it in the 40 too 
























It's like as soon as that one stem reached the surface, it just went crazy and sent up a bunch more super super fast.

40gal looks a bit of a mess. Want to go in and move some things around. Bunch the crypts together a little more so I can move the swords in to better positions.








Really want a red sword plant still and will get one to go where the cabomba currently is.
Good news is that I saw 2 shrimp alive. Pretty sure they're the only 2, but that's something at least.

The plants in the 125 are also going crazy right now. Just seems like overnight they're all growing a ton. /shrugs

















Going to do water changes tomorrow and clean everything up a bit. Hopefully I won't mess anything up, but I'm clumsy so I'm sure I will lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Quick quick...

Water changes today
Also trimmed out a lot of cabomba. No where to put it so in to the trash it went...
Ugh this photo pains me








Pulled out SO much of it. Would've filled a gallon size ziplock bag. Maybe next time if I'm not feeling so lazy, I'll bag it up and send it to someone that wants it.

But good news.. that side of the tank is getting light again! WOO! lol








Few of the cabomba stems were yellow and some of the plants under also sporting some yellow leaves. Hopefully they'll green back up.
Need to stay on top of the cabomba growth so that won't happen again lol.

I'll be trimming the wisteria next water change. It's really bush at the top and just growing insanely fast. Woot! heh









Never knew this about wisteria though.... what I thought was just leaf litter. Broken off leaf bits from the wisteria that I need to clean out... well apparently wisteria will sprout frickin roots from those! WTH?









I found a few of them and planted them. I put this one up front just so I could watch it grow.








I know this is probably old news for some, but it caught me by surprise. just weird that the leaves can sprout roots.

I also trimmed some of the ludwigia. Needed to do more, but meh. Put the trimmings in to the 40.
Overall, 125 is still looking lush but brighter without the giant mass of cabomba 









40gal parameters are still meh. Getting consistent nitrite readings now. SIGH. I just don't know anymore. Tired of it, but just gotta stick with it.
Fish are looking good though. Actually spotted 3 of the new cories and a shrimp today so everything in the tank seems to be doing ok.

Rasbora. Cute lil things have fattened up a little 









Original cories just being adorable.









Lily just keeps getting bigger and prettier!










And I think the 5 gal might be close to being cycled finally. Or well.. maybe. I haven't really been adding fish food to it b/c there's been so much plant melting back. Figured that was enough.
Nitrites are 0 now though, but there is still some ammonia so hopefully my lack of feeding the cycle didn't screw it up and put me back and square one.

Oh and one of the killifish's fins looks to have some fin rot. Not sure what's going on there, but hopefully the water change helped.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Power did go out for about an hour and I got to test out my bubblers. They actually work pretty well. They come with hose and a little airstone and bubbled pretty well. I think the larger one would work perfectly fine for most size tanks.
I got everything almost done. Put some of the 125 media in to panty hoses. Put them in to the tanks w/ the airstones under them in the 40 and 125.
Put the filter back together and was just about to put the airstone in to it when... the power came back on. Sigh...
I mean.. yay for power.. don't get me wrong, but it figures it would cut right back on just as I was done with everything lol.
I just stuck some of the media in to the 40 and plopped both bags in to the filter w/ the media still in it. Also took the opportunity to put in the extra sponge filter pads that I had. Will be good to have just as backup in case I need them for anything.

Tests this morning.... 5gal still showing some ammonia (put in some of the filter water that I drained so maybe that will help)... and the 40gal... not sure. Nitrate wasn't that teal color, but it was blue with no purple to it. /shrugs


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Today is Day 2 with no power... but yes the bubblers were a brilliant discovery... I'm happy you didn't get it too bad


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

The Dude1 said:


> Today is Day 2 with no power... but yes the bubblers were a brilliant discovery... I'm happy you didn't get it too bad


What electric provider do you have?

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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

*I*



Mattb126 said:


> What electric provider do you have?
> 
> Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


Duke... last I heard it was 188k in my area without power. It is so brutally hot... my wife being the angel that she is got 2 huge fans which we positioned right next to us in bed last night. We slept pretty good and had everything powered off the generator. Unfortunately gas is still hard to come by.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... had to buy a new filter. 
Bought a Fluval fx6 off amazon and won't be getting it until Monday.
Hopefully the FX5 will last until then. Woke up to the filter off once again and tank water cloudy. Fish didn't look too happy either.
Tested the water after I got home from taking daughter to school and there was about a 0.5 nitrite reading.
Kicked the filter a couple of times (lightly tapped with my toe more like it since I was barefoot) and that got it back on, but then it kept cutting back off and I'd hav to do it all over again. 
Thankfully this last time it has been staying on, but who knows for how long which is why just bit the bullet and bought a new filter.
Of course this would happen the morning after DH tells me that we need to curb our spending some. Figures :\
Oh... you guys need to stop spending so much money? Well.. time for something expensive to break! /grumble

Also thankfully.. after the filter cut back on and stayed on... tested nitrites again and they were back down to 0. That was pretty fast thank goodness.

Just got done doing a water change too so... yeah. Hopefully everything stays normal until the new filter comes in and that gets set up. If the old one is still running, I think I'm going to set the new one up too and run it in the tank w/ the old one instead of just transferring all of the media over. We all know how well that has worked out for me :\
Would rather run both filters on the tank for at least a little while to try to help seed the new stuff.

Pics!

From when the power went out and then cut back on as soon as I was done with this lol
Figured I might as well take photos of it before taking it back out 

















Poor deformed killifish isn't doing well.








Also saw a fuzzy spot on one of my black ruby barbs. Looks like same stuff that as on the platy a while ago so hopefully it heals up ok.

Trimmed up some of the wisteria. I don't mind it so tall and bushy, but it's blocking light from the swords that are under it. Need to trim back the bushiness just a little bit more.









While the betta was in the cup, decided to try to get a photo of him. He's still as pretty as ever 









Tank is still looking good I think. Needs a bit more cleaning/trimming but overall I'm still happy with everything  Well.. I'd be a little happier without the BBA reappearing, but ya know 









40g is coming along too. Tests this morning looked great. 0 ammonia and nitrites so hopefully it remains that way.
With us needing to cut our spending some though.. probably means we won't be getting new fish any time soon.. or well... fish that would need to be shipped to us 









Think I'm going to cut some of the long stems from the lily too. Not just yet, but soon. It's sending up a bunch of them and they're all so pretty, but the tank already has low light. Don't need the giant lily pads to block more of it.


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## Mattb126 (Nov 13, 2016)

The Dude1 said:


> Duke... last I heard it was 188k in my area without power. It is so brutally hot... my wife being the angel that she is got 2 huge fans which we positioned right next to us in bed last night. We slept pretty good and had everything powered off the generator. Unfortunately gas is still hard to come by.


Duke says power should be back on by Sunday. Teco wasn't messing around and got power back right away. 

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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Mattb126 said:


> Duke says power should be back on by Sunday. Teco wasn't messing around and got power back right away.
> 
> Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


Duke is a model for corruption and misappropriations in government sanctioned monopolies... they billed us up front for a new powerplant... Then backed out and didn't build it and then billed some more so they could subsidize their losses. I pay $450 a month here for my 1500 sq ft home.. my 3800 sq ft home in TN has never seen a bill break $200...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Duke is a model for corruption and misappropriations in government sanctioned monopolies... they billed us up front for a new powerplant... Then backed out and didn't build it and then billed some more so they could subsidize their losses. I pay $450 a month here for my 1500 sq ft home.. my 3800 sq ft home in TN has never seen a bill break $200...


That sounds a whole lot like what we're dealing with right now with our power company. They recently backed out of a new nuclear power plant that was already being built and that they had already spent something like 2? or so billion dollars on already. And I'm sure we'll be seeing our power bill get jacked up even more to cover their losses and there is nothing we can do about it b/c there's no other option.
And some high up dude.. (can't remember what his job was) just retired and got his nice big fat million dollar bonus.
Bunch of frickin crooks man.
Anyway.. even with that being said.. hopefully the SUnday goal will be met.. if not sooner.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Things are chugging along.
No dead fish, but pretty sure the deformed killi isn't going to make it. It's just hanging out beside the betta's mesh and not eating. Poor thing.
Hope it's not a disease in the tank. With how many fish deaths there have been though... it could be. And then that whole time when the water parameters were off... I could see why a disease could've taken hold too since I'm sure the fish immune systems were all probably shot b/c of it.
Sigh. Just have to hope that the rest of them are going to be ok.

Also pretty sure my single albino BN pleco is dead. I think it may have been the remains I last found. Those were pretty pale. I thought it had just been in the tank a while so lost color, but since I haven't seen the albino in a while, it must've been that one. Damnit. 
I think there are 2 or 3 plecos left. I dunno if I'm going to replace them with more. My husband likes plecos, but I like my plants so... yeah. Maybe replace them with some kuhli & dojo loaches instead. Love those wormy little fish!

40g this morning.









Trimmed off most of the long surface lily leaves. They're so pretty though. If the tank had stronger lighting, I would've left a couple of them.
Photo really doesn't do the colors justice.









Tank is still getting attacked by this algae though. I actually tried cleaning some of it out, but it is very difficult and it came back 10 fold it seems lol. If DH agrees to it, I think I want to get some SAEs.. well.. if we can find some that is.








Just depends on the money issue.

Bowls are a big mess too right now. I plan on doing water changes in them this weekend and going to really take time and clean them up. Take out dead plants and whatnot and try to get them looking decent again  Will be doing the same for the 5g too.

















No photo, but speaking of the 5g. It's still showing slight ammonia readings. Going to also clean it up and take out some of the substrate this weekend. Try my best to get it looking pretty and start remembering to add the fish food in the tank so it stays cycled. Hoping it happens quickly so I can move Mr. Bettaface back in to his tank soon.

And the 125. 








Once the algae is cleaned up in the 40 (if we get some SAEs) they'll be going in to the 125 to live out their days.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

/grumble
So just checked 40g water and getting frickin nitrite readings AGAIN. WTH??
I'm so tired of this. Why can't this mess just be done and over with already. WTH am I doing wrong that the mature media isn't working??


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Woot! I got my new filter yesterday 
Thankfully no delays or anything so got it earlier than expected.
Haven't set it up though. Difficult to do when you're taking care of the kidlettes and trying to make sure they don't destroy the house lol.

Might try to get it set up later today, but I have some dinner stuff to start getting prepared along with needing to possibly go shopping and uuuuuuuuuuugh. DH needs to hurry up and finish his shed so I can get some stuff done.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

You aren't messing around! An FX6? That's a pricey piece of equipment!! If it makes you feel better when I was keeping Pleco's it seemed like they always wiggled down to a single pair.. even in a 6 foot tank. They even did it in my 150. They don't do groups when they are adults. I've only seen them fight a couple times, but they are pretty relentless.
I really think those bubblers saved the day. Good find! The ones I got ran from Monday morning 7am to today at 10am. Changed batteries and power came back on at 1230 (thank the good lord).


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yep. I was thinking about making my own filter to save some money, but DH let me get it b/c it's on sale on amazon and my birthday is coming up soon. Gosh I love that man lol 
I still haven't set it up, but hopefully will get it done soon..ish.

I was glued to facebook looking for more info about the hurricane, so I'm glad someone asked about whatever it was and folks answered with those bubblers. I had no idea about them. And even better that they're not that expensive too 
That's awesome that yours lasted so long too! Thank goodness.
They're definitely going to come in handy for future power outages.

And I'm pretty sure the 40 is actually cycled. Maybe not completely stable just yet so there are fluctuations after I feed the tank which is why I keep getting wonky readings. If I test right before feeding the tank or at night, readings are usually great.

I'll get some photos up tomorrow probably. Need to head to the store then a birthday party and try to pretend I'm not a giant fleshy ball of awkward.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

My wife is the same way... 1 in a billion. She likes aquariums because I like them and they calm me down. She likes the sound of the water running. She was excited for me to get the custom regulator. Fortunately not all of my purchases before the outage went poorly. The Apisto's seem happy. I've lost more than half of the shrimp... maybe more. I can count 3 only. They may have made it through the week, but they clearly suffered. This tank has been set up for more than 8 months.... How long has the 40 been running so far?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Erm... how long has it been... a month I think.

Saw one of the shrimp last night and it's definitely dying  Saw it today is roughly the same spot. Thought it was dead so went to pick it up, but it did its freaky shrimp tail whip thing so I dropped it back in. It's still dying, but I'll leave it to die peacefully in the tank.








I know feeder ghost shrimp aren't exactly meant to live long or anything, but it sucks seeing them all die  I think I have one left.

Just thought it was a nice photo of the gourami 
He's actually been pretty great with the other fish. I think I've seen him chase away the sparkling gourami twice now. Usually doesn't even notice them.








The sparkling gourami on the other hand have been showing more aggression.
One of them is definitely a male and has made himself some bubblenests that he thinks he needs to defend. He'll chase away the other sparkling g's and tries to chase away the powder blue one with little success. It was actually pretty funny today. He was really going after the powder blue one.. and blue wasn't even flinching lol. Was doing zero damage to the larger gourami and he couldn't have cared less about the attack on him lol.

Was hoping to add more fish to the tank this past weekend, but with DH working on his shed all day, I didn't want to go b/c that would've meant dragging all the kids with me too. Pfft, nope.
Hopefully this weekend  Well.. that's if the store has the ones I want.
And maybe for Christmas I'll get better lighting for the tank along with my red flame sword I want for it 








Oh wait no... not this weekend unless DH wants to surprise me. I'm getting my bottom wisdom teeth taken out on Friday /cry
Thankfully it's just my bottom ones since it seems my body never developed the top ones? But I'm also getting an implant put in for a back tooth that was pulled last year too. BLEH! Forgot about that for a second there.

125 still chugging along. The BBA hasn't gotten too bad in it. Really need to spot treat a few spots, but have just been lazy about doing it.


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## giwan (Sep 11, 2017)

yeah it's always sad when one of your animals dies, even if it lived a full life. 
your 125 looks amazing btw ;D


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just got back from my dental surgeries. Feeling ok, but in some pain.
Thankfully didn't have any weird youtube worthy reactions to being put to sleep... but I think I did wake up earlier than I should have. They were still doing stuff to my mouth and I don't think they numbed me up as much as they should have on my left side b/c it hurts like an SOB.

But yeah... since I'm gonna be groggy on pain meds.. figured I'd update really quick.
Did a water change in the 40 yesterday since it needed it.
Trimmed up the wisteria and the cabomba some more and tried removing some of the algae.
Still a lot of it though.








Moved the buce to the substrate. Buries its roots and hoping it helps it to grow a bit more. It as being smothered by the algae.









Fish look pretty happy though. At least it's finally cycled now.








Been thinking about the stocking.
With how densely planted it is, maybe just getting more of the emerald eye would be enough? We wanted nano fish for this tank anyway.. but, not sure if there is really enough space to give to another group of a different kind. We'll see.

I do need to trim more of this top stuff though. The aponogetons are shooting up a lot of little plants that could be replanted I think?








Just needs more work but overall it's looking ok.









Oh just wanted to show. This tiny little leaf litter from the wisteria. Just a piece of leaf that broke off. Started growing roots so I planted it just to see what would happen and sure enough.. it's starting to grow! How frickin resilient is this plant? The lighter color leaf is the new growth.









And a bunch of photos of the 125. It's looking pretty nice, but it needs another trimming again. Will do it as soon as I'm feeling better.

































OH did want to point out this sword. It's one of the argentine ones and it's growing a weird leaf. YOu can see the other longer shorter ones,but this one decided to grow a long stem? /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Fish are doing well. I still need to get the 5 gallon situated though. I put a good bit of food in to the filter, but I need to get it cycled and get that betta in to its tank again. Just can't ever remember to consistently put in the food to keep the cycle going.
Will work on that now that I don't have to worry about the 40 any longer.
Still need to set up the FX6 before the fx5 filter craps out on me again lol. Procrastination mixed with small children and laziness..... it's a miracle that I get anything around here done  rofl

Will get some new pics up tomorrow of everything. Need to do water change in 125 and trim down the wisteria a lot. Also need to trim the ludwigia too. A few of the stems have grown like crazy. Actually... a lot of stuff seems to have grown like crazy. Maybe it's the addition of the calcium that I started using. May try to remove some of the crypts for the 5gal. I dunno... we'll see how motivated I'm feeling


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

The growth in there is amazing! It seems like your 125 is growing in faster than either of my high tech 75's.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Before I let laziness get the better of me again.. photos!

I still haven't done a water change in the 125. I have been completely wiped out. Guessing it's my body just needing to rest and heal still? Or maybe it's just old age and having small children lol.

125 is definitely having a growth spurt though. I'm going to put the water change off until the weekend and do a major trimming and spot treat w/ metricide on some of the bushier bba areas.









































I still can't believe how HUGE some of the swords have suddenly gotten. Or at least it seems really sudden lol. And it looks like I have 1 actual compacta sword. The other amazon ones all have grown to giant regular sizes. Wondering if any of them will send up a sister stem. That would be cool.. although I'd have nowhere to put the sister plants lol.
But yeah, going to do a major trimming on the ludwigia, wisteria and the cabomba this weekend. 

40gal is coming along too and needs a trimming as well. Still a ton of algae though.
BUT I just bought more ghost shrimp and 13 more emerald eye rasbora  Pet Supermarket actually does do some special orders.. to an extent. We asked about green neon rasbora too, but they couldn't get those in for us. But hey... at least the 3 rasbora in there now have some buddies 
Most of them looked ok, but I expect a couple of them to kick the bucket.
Tried getting a photo, but it just ended up looking like I was taking a photo of empty plastic bags lol.

Algae!
Going to have to do more low light days and hope that helps.









Cute lil cories!









Going to need to trim more of the lily stems too. Gosh I love that plant 








Think I'm going to take out the cabomba I put in there too. Maybe move a couple of things around, or just let stuff fill in.
The tank definitely needs better lighting and soon. Going to look in to DIY led lighting. I think it's fairly inexpensive, but I'll have to look in to it more. May just be cheaper buying a light instead. The swords in the tank just aren't growing and the few ludwigia stems are looking really sad.

And yeah.. overall things are pretty good. 
Really wish the algae n the 40 would calm itself down some, but I've reduced the lighting on the stronger fixture and as I said, plan on doing more low light days so hopefully that will eventually help.
Still waiting for the 5gal to sort itself out too, but hopefully I'll have that fixed up and looking better this weekend too. 

I'm also eyeballing the cute little albino dojo loaches pet supermarket has. They're a little pricy, especially for the size they're at (smaller than kuhli loaches), but they're so darn cute and I did want to increase my loach numbers. Just not sure if they'd survive at that size in the 125.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Crap in a hand basket....
I think the 40g might be getting BGA. I've dealt with that mess before in various tanks and it's such a PITA. Only thing that worked was blacking the tank out completely for around 3-7 days. Horrible for the plants, but what else can you do really?
I hope I'm wrong and it's just regular ole annoying algae, but it's really looking like BGA on the sand right now.
Going to do water changes tomorrow and try to get some of it out along with moving the filter over a little to create more flow around the tank.

Fish are looking ok, but the cories are definitely avoiding the BGA looking spots. I haven't spotted any of the new shrimp though. I mean.. it's not too surprising since the tank does have a lot of plants. Hopefully there aren't dead bodies hiding.
No idea if any of the fish died. Looks like the majority are ok and it's so awesome watching them all swim around the tank. They're eating like little piglets and get so excited when they see me. Really enjoying my little fish.

So yep... that's all for now 
I'll try to remember to get some before and after pics tomorrow. Plan is to do water changes and some big trimmings... that's the plan, but we'll see what happens lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I had the same problem with the lower 75 with PFS. It just took time and water changes. I wouldn't do anything drastic.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes done yesterday.

Moved the filter over in the 40. Saw a shrimp alive back there when I went to suck up some of the gunk. I haven't seen any dead shrimp bodies anywhere so hopefully all of the news ones are back there chilling.

Before the water change and trimming.









And after. Sorry for the glare

















I scooped out the top layer of the sand that had most of the algae on it. It's already coming back. Still not sure if it's BGA, but it sure looked like it. Didn't have that weird smell it has though so/ shrugs. Also put in some ludwigia trimmings from the 125 and trimmed the floating lily leaves. OH and I moved most of the moneywort to the back where the filter intake was. The tank is pure chaos right now lol. It's very wild looking, but I really like it that way too 

Big change in the 125 too and BIG trimming.
Terrible before photo that I took.









And afters...

















































Took out about 90% of the cabomba that was in there. I'd feel bad about it, but I know in about 2 weeks, that much will have grown back again lol.
Going to try to keep it more controlled though b/c I put a lot of the ludwigia trimmings in the back left corner. I trimmed A LOT of ludwigia off and there just wasn't anywhere else to put it. Oh and figured out that it looked like the ludwigia grew so much b/c some of it had been uprooted lol. Oops. Oh well.
Also removed some leaves from some of the swords. Something is eating my swords. Lots of damaged leaves. Doesn't look like the normal pleco rasping spots. Looks like actual bitten off spots. /shrugs 
Also trimmed the wisteria down a good bit. Probably could've done more, but I'll wait to do more next water change. Let some of it reach the water surface, but keep the majority of it lower.

Still always amazed at just how easy wisteria is to grow. Seriously folks.. if you want a plant that is easy, grows super fast and looks awesome? Get some wisteria!!
Seriously... even the leaf litter from this place will grow roots if left in the water.
Thee are just 2 pieces of crappy looking wisteria leaf litter that is growing roots!!
Like pieces of leaf that you wouldn't even think twice about removing...









The bigger dying part is the broken off piece while the smaller leaves are the new growth


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

There's really not much to report on once things become a bit more stable lol.
Saw the tail end of a shrimp shell this morning. Just the shell.. no meat in it. SO hoping that it just molted and didn't die and get eaten.
I still haven't seen any of the shrimp which is weird. I know they like hanging on the sponge filter area, but figured I'd at least see a couple of them roaming around. Hope they're ok.

Things are ok though. The BGA looking stuff hasn't completely returned but there are still worrying spots. The hair algae has reduced a considerable amount though which I'm really happy about. Dunno if it's b/c of the water change or b/c I've been doing a lot more low light days and reducing the amount of time the stronger light has been on.

Still debating on what to do with the 5gal. Honestly have not been testing it every day like I should be doing. I really need to do it b/c I'm tired of my betta being stuck in his little mesh cage. I'll have to start making it a habit to test that tank from now on until it's stable and ready for him again


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Something is going on with my 125. 
Guessing it's the filter just slowly but surely dying finally. And nope.. my lazy ass still hasn't set up the fx6 yet. BUT I'll be doing that today.

Water in the tank is cloudy and there is brown debris all over the plants. Not brown algae... but it looks like I fed the tank too much (I haven't) and the extra food is gunking up on everything. SO yeah....
Little later today, I'll be doing a water change and setting up the filter finally. I've wasted too much time already and don't want my fish to suffer. THey all look ok, but since it appears the filter isn't working right, I'm sure I'll start seeing signs of sickness in them soon enough.

40g is doing well. The hair algae is under control and the BGA stuff is staying under control for the most part. Need to scoop out what I can though. Still haven't seen any of the shrimp. /shrugs
Fish in that tank are doing well though.

I'll have some photos to post once I get everything situated


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Brown debris- maybe it's diatoms?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Brown debris- maybe it's diatoms?


It doesn't look like it. It's all over the place, but most noticeable on the plants. I'll have to get some photos of it.
It could be though /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... story photos time 

First up.. the easy one.
40g is looking pretty good. Still some BGA problems, but overall I think it looks wild and nice. I really like the colors in this tank. Like a calm pastel.
























I do plan on redoing things though as soon as I get better lighting for it. Clean it up a little 

The 125 this morning. Doesn't look that cloudy in the photo, but it is irl.









Some of the "stuff" all over the val
















If you've ever disturbed your filter and released a lot of its gunk in to the tank.. that's what this stuff looked like.

Finally got my lazy butt to set up the FX6.
I put one of the hose holding things in the tank and it scared the hell out of me when the plastic thing snapped back out and hit the tank glass.








Horrible photo, but see the part that hooks back up? That snaps back towards the glass to keep it secure. But it's hard ass plastic smacking the crap out of GLASS. I only put one on the tank b.c I just didn't want to risk it with the 2nd one. I'm sure it's fine to do it, but nope. It hits the glass too hard IMO. They could've easily used a sofeter grippier plastic for the little parts that rest against the glass so it's not hard hitting hard.
Hoping that the hose thingy from the fx5 fits the hose from the new one.

The hosing is all over the top of the tank and looks like a giant mess, but meh.. it works for now 









And yep.. after hooking everything up etc... got it running and we'll see how it goes. It's so quiet though that I had to get close to it and feel it to make sure it was on lol. Going to be nice having a filter that doesn't make that clacking impeller sound.

Just a shot of the fish room... aka the messy area that's supposed to be the dining room


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

How is the flow? I had similar problems a few weeks ago. Ended up adding another powerhead. I would think an FX6 would have some pretty good flow though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> How is the flow? I had similar problems a few weeks ago. Ended up adding another powerhead. I would think an FX6 would have some pretty good flow though


It's ok. Not too strong but it's definitely more than what the fx5 was putting out. I have the output positioned to blow about midpoint. I had it more towards the surface, but it was spraying water out of the tank. Oops 
I'm sure I'll have to readjust it when I take the fx5 out... whenever that may be.

Water changes today. Still a lot of debris all over everything and water is still cloudy, but not a huge deal. Fish seem to be doing ok.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It's definitely BGA. 
BLEH! I hate this stuff. Such a pain getting rid of when you don't want to use antibiotics.

Looked up a little info on it and people say you can use peroxide so that's what I did. Spot treated the really bad areas with some peroxide. I'm delaying the water change in the 40 until tomorrow. Hoping that tomorrow, most of the BGA will be gone.
In the meantime... lets take a look at the ugly BGA!

Actually not sure if it's BGA on the wood or if it's BBA. Either way, it got a squirt of HP on it.









Since I'm sick, I didn't feel like messing with the lighting too much so left the brighter light on during the day instead of mostly doing lower light. The BGA sure did love that..









Horrible photo, but one of the big river rocks in the tank is covered it in.









Fish are ok though. At least for now. Going to be checking on them all day to make sure the HP dosing didn't screw with them.
The rasbora were freaking out a bit so took the opportunity to get a photo 









About to do a water change in the 125. Day late, but this cold is kicking my butt right now. 
Tank is looking ok though. I haven't been dosing with metricide. Haven't in a while, but will be starting that back up soon.

























And that's about it for now  Hopefully I'll have some good news tomorrow about the BGA along with a nice BGA free tank lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just sitting here thinking about the future of my tanks.
DH and I have discussed it before about wanting rainbowfish again once the tigers are gone. Make the 125 a bit more smaller fish friendly lol. Maybe even some shrimp too. BUt of course this won't happen for years down the road unless something horrible happens and there's another tank wipe.
BUT then I've been thinking... maybe get some small bichirs. Been watching some videos on them and they're just so cool looking. Love how prehistoric they look.
Who knows though... years from now.. maybe I wont even want my fish tanks any longer lol. 

But anyway...
Fish in the 40 all seem to be ok so far which I'm happy about. Every video I watched about using HP had a ton of warnings about using too much of it etc. So hopefully they'll all remain ok and the BGA will be gone.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Woops.... didn't even think about the filter bacteria when I dosed the peroxide. Hopefully I didn't do too much damage to it.
After reading more up on it and seeing that all the bga is still there this morning... decided to whip out my long expired packet of maracyn. I'll have to get more tomorrow, but there's just too much of the stuff in the tank now to spot treat. It's all over the wood and various plants and the substrate. Vacuumed out a lot of the sand that it was attached to when I did a water change. So much so that it clogged the hose. Another woops lol
I didn't want to go the antibiotic route, but with a planted tank.. that seems like the best option. SIGH. Hopefully only half dosing will do the job.

Was hoping since I moved the filter over that the BGA wouldn't spread, but I guess it had already taken hold enough to grow. Oh well..... gotta wait and see what happens now.

Did see that my once big oriental sword is dying. That sucks. Probably not getting enough light. Maybe I should move it to its own container where it will get a lot of light. Hmmm.. think I may do that for that one and its little offshoot.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So DH bought me some erythromycin yesterday and I started treatment with it today. Only half dosing though. I would do a full dose if the BGA had been worse, but I got a lot of it out with the water change. 
Stuff is expensive though so hopefully this works to get rid of the stuff.

Fish look ok. The cories hang out in the back of the tank which I'm bummed about. Seems like they started doing that once the BGA took hold, but could be b/c of the new water flow in the area now too.
I haven't seen a shrimp so I think I'll just assume they're all dead. Oh well.

125 looks good and both filters are still kickin. Not sure how long to keep both set up. Maybe another month? Definitely going to transfer all of the ceramic pellets. The giant sponges will go to waste but oh well. Just not looking forward to having to do all of that work in the future lol.

And yeah.. things have been chugging along. I've been dosing metricide again (although I did forget to do it this morning... oops), so we'll see how plant growth goes again. It seemed to have done fine when I stopped it so it will be interesting to see how it goes with it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not sure what's going on with my 125 right now. Fed them some frozen brine shrimp and blood worms this morning.
Was just looking around the tank after making sure the dojos got their share and noticed one of the killifish has a damaged tail fin. Nothing major and could've easily have happened by accident. 
But then I noticed one of the green barbs has a HUGE wound on its side. Looks almost like it got stuck to the filter intake and couldn't get free. But the intake isn't THAT strong to have done this kind of damage to it.
Scales are missing off of it and there's a big red mark underneath. I'm sure it will die b/c well.. I don't have anywhere to put it to isolate it.
Going to do a water change, but have to wait for the temp to warm up a little since I have to use the faucet outside.
Couldn't see any other injuries, but who knows if there may be more.
Hopefully this isn't anything other than some freak accident that happened.
Doesn't look to be from fighting or anything like that, but maybe it got slightly injured somehow and the others took advantage of it and did more?
I dunno. Sucks though bc it was one of the bigger prettier green barbs  
It's still kickin but I doubt it will be for long.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, water changes done and...
Found a dead pygmy cory  Looked like it had been dead for maybe a day or so b/c it was fuzzy. Was one of the first ones that I got with all the speckles on it. 
Checked water after I found it and everything was ok. Maybe the meds just didn't agree with it. I dunno, but it made me sad to find it 

There's still a little bit of BGA in the sand, but most of it is gone. Need to continue doing the meds until it's completely gone.
Algae in the tank is still pretty bad but not horrendous.
Really should have stuck with lower light plants for the tank for now b/c the higher requiring ones aren't doing well.
FInally took out the oriental swords and I'm pretty sure the larger one is dead. Roots are all rotten and well.. no leaves. There was a tiny sliver of green left on it though so just in case it is somehow alive.. I replanted it in a jar with its little sister plant. That one was still alive, but not doing well.
Put them in a jar with some of the media from the old 55 and some osmocote. 
Jar is in our sunroom. It doesn't get a ton of direct sunlight. About as much as the table does that the bowls are on.








We'll see how that goes.

The 125 isnt doing too well either and I think it's b/c I started dosing with metricide again. Think I may have been adding too much of it and it's really done a number on the plants.
The vallis has started to shed leaves and turn yellow 









And not pictured.. the swords have some damage to their leaves as well. Like thinning spots on them that I thought was spot algae at first.
Overall the plants are still doing fairly well though, but I think I'm going to stop using the metricide for a while. Maybe only spot treat if BBA pops up.

These Argentine swords are weird though. Was not expecting them to grow like this.








They're the ones popping up the long stem w/ the small leaf at the top.
Really didn't know what to expect with this plant, just saw it at Petco and thought it looked nice in its plastic tube lol.

This crypt is SUPER nice and has a produced a small little plant beside it. I keep saying it, but I really need to move it away from the sword a little. There's just no room in the tank.









The injured green barb. It's swimming with the others and none of them are messing with it at all. So I don't think it got in to a fight. Maybe it got stuck somewhere and scraped itself to get out? No idea, but I hope it's gonna be ok.









The wound looks terrible though and it keeps going in to a nose down position. I'm sure it can't feel great. Poor thing 








Left the gourami cropped in since it looks so nice. Dunno what they're called but it's 2 thin little antenna little er things have definitely been nipped to short, but other than that, it's super healthy and doing well in the tank 

Tank looks ok though. Lots of leaf litter that I think the metricide caused.
Hopefully the plants will perk back up now that I stopped using it (for now). And hopefully that little injured fish gets better. It looks terrible, but it was eating still.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Green barb is still doing ok it seems. Eating and coming out. Its wound still looks bad, but it hasn't gotten worse yet at least.
Still wondering what the heck happened to it.

Also wondering when I'll have the energy to clean up the 125 a bit. And clean up as in a major trimming and reorganizing. The ludwigia is just growing too fast for the spot it's in. I like the area it's in, it's just that it grows so fast and ends up blocking the light from the swords. Would've been better on the other side of the swords so it could grow over the crypts. Oh well..
Thinking I'm going to take out a lot of the crypts too. They've just grown super thick and just need some breathing room I think. Put them in to the 40gal where they'll be in a low light setting.
Put more in to the 5gal too which I still need to redo and get that cycle started back up but I'm forgetful and lazy  lol
We'll see what happens. Hopefully I'll have something done sooner rather than later


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It never ends....
Could I just get some worry free tanks already please??

Found the killifish with the mildly nipped tail dead this morning. Looked totally fine other than that tail fin which was literally just a tiny little chunk that was off the tail. Nothing major.
Also spotted a platy acting really sickly and looking very sick. Thin and has a weird spot on its head. Managed to scoop it out very easily and put it in some fresh water in a bucket. It probably won't survive the day.

That green barb looks great though. Still has its wound, but it's not all red and angry looking anymore and not fuzzy or anything. There's a part of it where the scales are popping up, but other than that, it looks like it's healing and the barb is acting normal too. So thank goodness for that.

Now if all the other fish could stop frickin getting sick and dying.. that would be great :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... 
platy did die. Just took a day longer than I thought. Ended up putting it in to the tupperware container that I poked with holes and floated in the 125.

Green barb is still looking great.

That one gold barb that is still hanging in there won't be for long. It's slowly wasting away. It tried eating a little but, but it's getting paler and skinnier. Wish it was easy to catch fish b/c if I could, I'd force feed it medicated food or something to try to help it. Poor thing 

Just waiting to see what happens and hope none of the other fish get sick.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

You are having the same luck as I have had. We expect that once equilibrium is reached that we will have pretty fish that live long healthy lives... starting about 2 weeks ago fish started dropping flies. My pair of Apisto Caucatoides in the top tank. First the female had a wound or something and a couple days later was dead. Then the male stopped eating. He died a few days later. Then I lost like 25 Cardinals and maybe 5 Rummynose that I had been trying to build up in the lower 75. It's so bad that I don't even want to do a water change. I'm afraid to even look at the tanks at this point.
Any further thoughts on the Rainbows? I'm thinking of moving EVERYONE out of the lower 75 and doing a school of Gertrude Rainbows and having it like a massive breeding project. 
I may also build up the Furcata school in the top tank since the Emporer tetras don't group at all. There's probably like 25 or 28 in there, but you'll rarely see more than 11-12. 
Interesting about the Corys too. I've got 9 Pandas in my top tank and they pretty much hang out in pairs mostly and spend alot of time at the back of the tank in the dense planting
The plants are looking awesome at least!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

UGH, I'm sorry about your fish and that you're having problems too. 
Ugh this hobby sometimes. 
I'm not going to add more fish to anything until the ones I have stop dying for at least a few months. Not that I had plans to add anything any time soon anyway.
Maybe the rainbows with the tetras would bring them out more? Give it a shot and see if it helps to make them a little less shy?

Found one of the "newer" cories dead today. Freshly dead.
I dunno what's going on but just.... tired of it really.
I do need to do water changes, but not changing the water a couple of days, even a week past shouldn't be harming anything.

Haven't taken photos or posted pics. I'll try to get some stuff up tomorrow if I think about it.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I think I am slowly coming out of it. No deaths in 4 days now. I really think that the stress and poor conditions some of these fish experience many times takes a good amount of time to manifest itself. It reminds me of Rosalind Franklin. She was an expert x ray chromatographer that played a huge role in the discovery of the structure of DNA. She spent so many years being exposed to x rays that she died at like 35?? Looking at her pictures when the damage had already been done you would never know anything was wrong with her, but the cancer was slowly killing her. The damage had been done. I think this is what many hobbyists encounter. You have no way of knowing what many of these fish have endured prior to your purchase unless you buy from a hobbyist. You very rarely hear of people losing lots of fish that they pick up at auctions or from other hobbyists, yet a lot of the tetras that are farm raised have anticipated death rates of 35% or more. I don't think its anything you are doing.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

A bit late... but.... kids.... lol

Found another newer cory dead today. Sigh.... I'll do a water change tomorrow or Sunday. Need to remove the wood so I can really get in there and suck up all the gunk. WIll probably have to wait until Sunday since we have plans on Sat.

Tank overall just looks.... dirty lol. I really need to take out all of the higher light plants and replace them with more lower light ones. Have plenty of crypts to spread the low light love around. I can worry about higher light stuff once I actually get a high light fixture for it 









He's just looking handsome 









Horrible photo, but this is the oriental sword I took out of the 40g. The leaves have darkened up a little since I moved it, but it needs a lot more time to bounce back. Not worried about it. It's all by itself and has a lot of root pellets in with it. May add in a few dry ferts every couple of weeks and do water changes... meh.. not sure.









5 gal. I know.. it looks awful. I have a talent for that it seems.
I still haven't gotten back in to the groove of doing tests to make sure it's cycled.
Surprisingly though... the plants in this tank are growing pretty darn well. 
When I don't have children screaming in my ear.. one of these days, I'll clean it back up and get the betta back in to it.
Going to have to make another top for it though. The mesh one I had was good, but not sturdy enough. It eventually started drooping in to the water.









125 is looking good for the most part I think. Need to replant some ludwigia that has come up and pull up one of the aponogetons with yellowing leaves, but overall, it looks nice  Very overgrown lol, but with the small amount of fish in it and their size, I think that's ok. They're all small enough to get through the plants and enjoy it all I think... although the tigers have started to hang out under the betta cage. You can see them in the photo. They started doing it after I added the new filter... I think. I really can't remember if they were doing it before that and I just didn't notice /shrugs.









Going to really try to dedicate this coming week to cleaning up the tanks. Freeing some space in the 125 by taking out some of the crypts and moving those to the 40.
I also really need to take care of my bowls too. They are algae growers right now. I don't even know if the plants in them are still alive and kicking b/c there is so much algae in them lol. The bamboo coming out of the jar is doing well though


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> The vallis has started to shed leaves and turn yellow
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what are these fish- they look like female odessa barbs, or are they checker barbs... ?

sorry to hear about your fish troubles lately. I have one looks like it's getting cancer or something on its nose. But wow, your 125 is lush!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> what are these fish- they look like female odessa barbs, or are they checker barbs... ?
> 
> sorry to hear about your fish troubles lately. I have one looks like it's getting cancer or something on its nose. But wow, your 125 is lush!


They're odessa barbs. No idea if they're female or male yet b/c they only just started to get some color to them. 
Ugh, that sucks about your fish  Hate it when they get sick b/c it's so difficult to treat them and get them better.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Welp... I almost killed my betta, but ended up killing a green glolight tiger barb instead.

So... I haven't been feeling well, but needed to do water changes.
Started the one in the 40g. Found the remains of another cory. No idea what kind it is b/c it was only a little bit of the head and tail left of it.
Removed the wood and really tried to clean up the tank without needing to remove all of the water. Still a lot of mulm on the bottom in parts, but overall, I got a lot of it.
Also removed a few of the ludwigia and put it back in to the 125 and put in a few more crypts in to the 40. I also trimmed back the wisteria some.
Still looks like a giant mess, but better.
Water change was about 70%. Hopefully whatever was making the cories sick got flushed out with the water.
Saw no shrimp so just assuming they're all dead.

Then I moved on to the 125. I usually scoop out the betta in to a cup asap but nope. Got distracted b/c I had to use the bathroom and came back to the water about 2 inches below the betta's cage. Thought he was dead, but thankfully he's ok.
Continued on with the water change while getting distracted by my kids. Finally noticed that the water level wasn't going down. So I moved the hose a little and see something go through the hose and then get stuck..... it was a glolight tiger barb. Already long dead by that point.
Just... WTF??
I saw a couple of tiger barbs going in to the water change tube, but they got right back out. It was a little weird, but the suction isn't very strong so healthy fish should be able to get back out no problem.
No flippin idea what the hell this stupid fish thought it was doing, but it ended up getting itself crushed to the tubing size and then slowly pushed out with the water change. Stupid poor fish. Now it rests with the front yard mulch.

Trimmed the wisteria in that tank as well along with replanting a lot of ludwigia. Also trimmed some damaged sword leaves and some of the too tall argentine sword leaves.

Sigh... not a good start to this week :\


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Welp... I almost killed my betta, but ended up killing a green glolight tiger barb instead.
> 
> So... I haven't been feeling well, but needed to do water changes.
> Started the one in the 40g. Found the remains of another cory. No idea what kind it is b/c it was only a little bit of the head and tail left of it.
> ...


That brings back memories!!! I've been trying to decide what schools of tetras I want for my bottom tank. One of the members suggested blood fins and found a thread of mine where my 75 gallon used to include about 25 blood fins. I knew that they died off slowly but couldn't remember the exact cause. Now reading that I remember. They would swim up into the water change tube constantly. I had to put mesh over the tip and actually physically hold it in there the entire time and dodge them otherwise they would Kamikaze right into the tube.
I think you should treat your 40 gallon with paragard. Something is killing those fish. Cory's are very very hardy. There is something in there. If not, paragard will not harm healthy fish. There are others. General cure is really popular as is the Maracyn 1 and 2. It's not all that bad. I have been treating my tank since Thursday and I'm going to run it for 14 days


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> Welp... I almost killed my betta, but ended up killing a green glolight tiger barb instead............


I had a betta leap out of his watery home onto the dry, carpeted floor one time. I don't know how long he was there before I found him- long enough the fins were dried and a bit stiff. I thought he was dead but saw movement put him back and did a lot of water changes and he lived. They're kinda tough.

Lost a barb once that way myself. It got sucked into the hose before I saw it. Had cherry barbs and shrimps go thru without much damage- well, usually a shrimp got tore apart by the force. But the barb was wedged- I felt so horrible when I saw it stuck in there, unable to move, staring at me with its eye. All I could do was let it get pulled through and then euthanize quickly.

Never had another one get close enough, but I'm more careful now, too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I just made a batch of repashy to try it out on the fish again. I think I will make a medicated batch to give to the 40gal... maybe the 125 too since I've had a couple of weird things going on with it and that gold barb is very very slowly wasting away. Maybe if I can get meds in it it will get better.

Still not feeling the best, but I'm gonna try to clean up the 5gal tomorrow and finally get back to finishing its cycle. I'm sure it's probably fine and cycled with how much gunk is on the bottom of the substrate, but I'll add some food then check water.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> I just made a batch of repashy to try it out on the fish again. I think I will make a medicated batch to give to the 40gal... maybe the 125 too since I've had a couple of weird things going on with it and that gold barb is very very slowly wasting away. Maybe if I can get meds in it it will get better.
> 
> Still not feeling the best, but I'm gonna try to clean up the 5gal tomorrow and finally get back to finishing its cycle. I'm sure it's probably fine and cycled with how much gunk is on the bottom of the substrate, but I'll add some food then check water.


The possibilities are pretty imposing... parasites and lingering bacterial infections... I have 1 Celebes that is either deformed or maybe the runt of the litter and really skinny and terrible looking. It only takes one.. then a fish nibbles at that corpse and now we have another host.. it adds a whole new dimension to the hobby and I don't think it's positive. I've lost at least 50% of the tetras I've purchased in the last month. I also lost 1 male and 4 female apisto caucatoides... I spent about $100 on those 4 fish alone. Literally hundreds of dollars in tetras that didn't make it. There are some good videos in my journal that ChrisX posted about what some of the more knowledgeable hobbyist due to treat new stock. 
Did you ever get that Red Flame sword or Melon sword you were talking about? I ordered some large anubias and a Red Flame sword. Should be here Wed.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> The possibilities are pretty imposing... parasites and lingering bacterial infections... I have 1 Celebes that is either deformed or maybe the runt of the litter and really skinny and terrible looking. It only takes one.. then a fish nibbles at that corpse and now we have another host.. it adds a whole new dimension to the hobby and I don't think it's positive. I've lost at least 50% of the tetras I've purchased in the last month. I also lost 1 male and 4 female apisto caucatoides... I spent about $100 on those 4 fish alone. Literally hundreds of dollars in tetras that didn't make it. There are some good videos in my journal that ChrisX posted about what some of the more knowledgeable hobbyist due to treat new stock.
> Did you ever get that Red Flame sword or Melon sword you were talking about? I ordered some large anubias and a Red Flame sword. Should be here Wed.


Nope.. haven't ordered any new plants. Probably should before it gets too cold.
There's just nowhere to put anything new right now. 
Where did you order yours from?

Ugh, that really sucks about your fish. I saw that you mentioned you had lost some tetras, but didn't see all of the others.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Haven't posted in a while so I figured I should.

Haven't done much b/c we've been dealing with some sick kids. Started off with my daughter getting a stomach bug. Thankfully no one else got it.
Then my middle son started fussing and turns out he has a double ear infection.
And then earlier this week my lower back decided to remind me that I'm old and out of shape and I had some really awful muscle spasms.
Thankfully I'm about 95% fine now, but boy was that not fun and it's fair to say that I haven't been worrying about my fish tanks other than feeding them.


Anywho.... 40gal!
Still a giant mess and I need to get in there and do a good vac on the sand. Lots of mulm just sitting in spots and it's gross.
Noticed that the cories were spending a lot of time on the lily leaves. Looked like one had a fuzzy bit behind a pectoral fin so I decided to half dose with the meds I used for the BGA. The cories have started moving a little more, but it's worrying me that they're not active.
Also looks like there's BGA trying to grow back on the rocks in the tank. SIGH!
But hey.. close to Christmas time so maybe I'll finally get a better light for the tank 









My jar sword is looking pretty sad. It does have a new leaf, but it's not doing so well. I put it by the bowls so hopefully it gets more light. Will put in some dry ferts too after I post all of this.









Bought myself a red flame sword finally. Wasn't expecting the weather to be this cold so quick here so thought I had time to get one. Decided to just do it while I was thinking about it one day. Looked around and didn't see a lot of options so just ordered one from amazon. Think it was just under $10 and free shipping, so not too bad. And it came in pretty good shape too 








I just had to put it in a random spot in the 125 until I figure out what to do with it.. or whenever I get the better light for the 40 and it stops trying to get invaded by BGA.

Oinkchop fish were all hanging out under the betta cage, so decided to take a horrible photo of them. Some of them are in focus at least lol.
As you can see though..... looks like there is a massive wall of plants behind them. 








This is on the left side and I swear it doesn't look that lush in person. It's still a lot of plants, but not quite as thick as the pic suggests lol. Or maybe it is and I'm just in denial lol.

The plants are doing well though. Spotted some duckweed in the 125. Must've hitched a ride with some of the floating plants that I got a while ago and just now started to finally get a hold. Thankfully the flow in the 125 is strong enough to keep it in check. Once I get more of it.. which shouldn't be too long, I'll add some to the 40. The gouramis will love it 

I have the same plans that I've been planning for a while now. I am sick AGAIN b/c my children are destructive cute little germ bags, but not sick enough that I can't do anything lol. We'll see if anything gets done though!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I ordered my red flame sword through Amazon too. Same place I bought some bolbitus and anubias before and they sent nice stuff. My sword is growing really fast. I'll get some pics, but the background ruins it. Hopefully I can cover that mess up soon.
Still losing some fish here and there, but that's to be expected when dealing with Neons and Cardinals. I'm still treating two tanks.... very expensive. I QT'd about 12 Neons (unheated tank) for a week and lost 1 or 2. Then transferred them to the 75 which is heated and I lost 2 overnight... apparently these fish are no joke with acclimation. I'm just accepting now. Check out the Kamaka Rainbows I got last night... they are CRAZY!! I added 10 Neons into QT last night, but I'm going to do another 10 or 15 today I think. I wish I had a larger qt so I could just get a 100 and be done. It's a pain.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Finally getting around to doing some water changes.
Our home is a merry-go-round of disease right now. One of us gets sick and passes it along. They get better but end up getting sick again from whoever got sick last b/c my children all want to drink out of the same cups.
Good times.
I'm also sick with some throaty coughing fits thing that is annoying as crud that I've given to my 2 boys... so yeah... it's been a great time here  lol

Anywho.... 

First up.. 40g. No dead fish that I can see and it looks like the cories are a little more active.









The moss is growing well. Mixed in with some hair algae, but it's ok  Looks really messy, but that's the story of my life 









125 is chugging along. Plant growth is mixed since I stopped the metricide. Some of the plants are really growing like crazy, like the swords, while the stem ones have slowed way down.









I trimmed a lot of the damaged sword leaves and removed a few of the crypts from the from of the giant bunch. You can't tell though lol. The argentine swords have grown a ton since the last water change. Growing a lot more of the tall stemmed leaves.









The red flame sword is looking ok. Moved it to the spot where I removed the crypts so it can get more light hopefully.
And to the side where it's a little blurry and dark... that's the thick forest of crypts. Good hiding spot for shy fish if any of them needed it 









Right side. Sorry for the skewed image. Room is being used for Christmas junk so I can't take a straight on shot right now 
While I was waiting for the tank to fill back up, noticed a couple of the black ruby barbs trying to spawn on the wisteria. Doubt I'll see any fry since I'm sure they would get eaten up quick, but it was cool to know that they're trying.









Left side. Replanted some of the ludwigia that keeps getting uprooted and trimmed back some cabomba.









I also did some much needed maintenance on my bowls. Started on it last night actually by removing a lot of the algae. Most of it was green hair algae, but in one bowl, I think it has a little bit of BGA too. Not a lot though.
I put the crypts that I took from the 125 in to the bowl in the image. Most of the larger plants had died, so it needed more.








That's also the jar with my struggling little oriental sword. Snipped off a few of its leaves so I'm hoping that helps it to grow some healthier ones.
And I didn't fill up the bowl all the way b/c I've decided that I'm going to tear them both down and start over.
I'm sure a dirted tank is all fine and dandy, but I don't have the patience for water changes. I add water too quick and that ends up stirring the substrate up enough that the dirt underneath gets everywhere.
Not sure when I'll get to it, but I'm going to throw out the substrate that's in them now and replace with either some of the old stuff from the 55 (that yes... is still up b/c lazy!) or sand and mix osmocote in with it all.
Don't have the funds to get shrimp right now anyway, so having to wait again isn't a big deal. Plus I want the bowls to have healthy plant growth which they definitely did not.
Debating if I should try to do sponge filters for both of them from a single little air pump. Air pumps are just so darn noisy even when they're supposed to be quiet. We'll see what happens and what I'm willing to try out. Also not really sure I want to put any animal in to the bowls. Maybe some pond snails or something, but not sure about shrimp. May just keep them as decorative aquatic plant bowls 
Again we'll see what happens! Just want to get them cleaned up and sorted how I want.

And finally.. just a shot of the jar that started the whole walstad method experiment! lol It's still looking good. A bit brown in color, but the pothos and bamboo in it are loving it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yikes... 
Noticed last night that one of the red glofish tiger barb's mouth is messed up.
Took at look today when I was feeding and it is really messed up. Noticed that it wasn't going after the food and it's mouth is stuck open and it also looks like something happened to part of its gill flap.
It got messed up. THought that maybe it had gotten in to a fight with one of the others and that was the reason for the messed up mouth, but the gill part... no clue.
There really aren't many places to get stuck in the tank unless they purposefully tried to wedge themselves under a piece of wood.... 
No idea what the heck happened but I'm not holding out hope that it's going to recover. Unlike the green barb that had that big wound on it.. this red one just looks jacked up and with it not eating either. I don't see it surviving. Poor thing.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok... fish is interested in food, but it can't eat. Looks like it can move its mouth a little bit, but it's still stuck open. Not sure it will live. I know fish can go a while without food, but hopefully it will be able to eat something soon.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Ok... fish is interested in food, but it can't eat. Looks like it can move its mouth a little bit, but it's still stuck open. Not sure it will live. I know fish can go a while without food, but hopefully it will be able to eat something soon.


Can you tell if it's injury or disease? Mouth rot is pretty nasty and secondary infections could affect the gills given the proximity? I've had some very aggressive fish... much more so than tiger barbs and I've never witnessed anything like you're describing. Lost eyes, chunks from the side, entire tails bitten off and some slight oral damage, but that's in fish that are not only much larger than tiger barbs, but much more highly developed jaws. There are numerous bacterial infections that can cause massive necrosis. 
I'm sorry. This has got to be wearing on you. My issues have FINALLY come to an end and my tanks are reaching homeostasis. I'm focusing on breeding some of the smaller Rainbows. 
Are the new leaves on your flame sword green? All the new leaves mine has developed are like fire engine red. I'm thinking about a pretty heavy rescape so that I can "feature" it by surrounding it with green crypts instead of the bronze / copper becketti surrounding it now. It doesn't stand out as much... maybe swap it with the regular sword?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Can you tell if it's injury or disease? Mouth rot is pretty nasty and secondary infections could affect the gills given the proximity? I've had some very aggressive fish... much more so than tiger barbs and I've never witnessed anything like you're describing. Lost eyes, chunks from the side, entire tails bitten off and some slight oral damage, but that's in fish that are not only much larger than tiger barbs, but much more highly developed jaws. There are numerous bacterial infections that can cause massive necrosis.
> I'm sorry. This has got to be wearing on you. My issues have FINALLY come to an end and my tanks are reaching homeostasis. I'm focusing on breeding some of the smaller Rainbows.
> Are the new leaves on your flame sword green? All the new leaves mine has developed are like fire engine red. I'm thinking about a pretty heavy rescape so that I can "feature" it by surrounding it with green crypts instead of the bronze / copper becketti surrounding it now. It doesn't stand out as much... maybe swap it with the regular sword?


I don't see anything that would indicate disease. No fuzzy patches, no weird diseased looking spots. Its mouth is just in a stuck open position and gill on one side is definitely messed up. Looks like the top part is kind of curled? but it looks like part of it is missing. Thing is.. pectoral fin is totally fine and all the scales on that side look ok too so... I dunno.
I have no idea what the heck happened or what continues to happen to my fish. As I said.. as far as I can tell, there's nothing in the tank that they should be getting caught in that caused this damage unless the fish are actively trying to wedge themselves under some wood or something. I doubt it's fighting too since they just don't seem to do much damage the few times I've seen them really go at it before. Guess I could see maybe them dislocating their mouth, but I dunno.. this fish just looks like something bigger happened to it.

It didn't eat again today. Looks like it still wants to, but it just can't. Poor thing. Will be doing water change tomorrow afternoon.

Anywho....
That sounds like a great idea for a new aquascape.. or rescaping  I can just picture a big beautiful red sword surrounded by smaller green crypts 
I think my sword is still in adjustment phase right now. It wasn't really planted down well and the last time I did a water change along with removing some plants, I kept uprooting it.
Looks like the little new growth is a red color, but most of the leaves are brownish.
One reason why I want to redo the bowls is so I can remove more crypts to make more room for the flame sword


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up....

The barb...
You can see that other than the mouth and the weird gill, nothing else looks wrong with it.









Close up look at the weird spots...








I dunno... /shrugs

In better news though... look at this crypt! Ignore the algae 








Man, I love this plant. Leaves are big and gorgeous! Photo really doesn't do justice on how lovely it is.

And the 125... decided not to crop it to show the happy pothos in the back.








Still needs a lot of trimming down, but I'm working on it slowly... very slowly.

40g still looking like a giant jumbled mess lol. I love it, but I do want to straighten it up b/c I think I want more cories. Need to give them larger areas of sand to hang out.









And my pretty gourami. I know, they all look the same really, but he is such a pretty blue and hasn't caused any problems with the other fish at all 









So... last night.... kids were in bed early, hubs was packing his suitcase for his trip and I had free time to do whatever I wanted.
So I decided to clean out one of the bowls. Super simple. Just took out the sword and the micro swords. Plopped those in to the other bowl temporarily and then took out the water and scooped out as much of the substrate as possible.
Easy peasy, took less than 10min.
I take the bowl outside to spray the rest of the substrate out. Everything is going fine until..... until I grabbed it wrong and it broke. :crying:
I should've known it was going to happen though. The bowls aren't meant to be used this way and the glass is very thin.
Still though... BAH!
B/c of that... I'm taking the other bowl down too. My 2 slightly older kids are great about not messing with stuff, but I have a 17mo that is a walking disaster movie and it would only be a matter of time before he decided to mess with the bowls.
It's my own fault for not thinking things through lol.

Good thing though is that I have an empty 5gal hex tank that I'm going to replace the bowls with. Sure, it's not very decorative, but at least it's actually made to hold all of this fishy stuff. Already warned DH that I was getting it out of the attic. Think he's just happy I didn't want to buy anything else 








I have all the equipment for it still.. although I'm not sure if the filter still works for it, but I'm still sticking with my plan of doing a low maintenance set up. And hey.. at least with this.. I could add the light hood to it if I feel like the plants need more lighting  Right now I'm going to take the top rim off and just rely on the sun. See how that goes. I'll get photos as I set it up 

Poor jar sword is still struggling. It's going to take a while for it to bounce back. But it's in a slightly better spot now to get some sun and it has grown a new leaf. Hopefully in another month or 2, it will look nice and lush 









The other jar. I know it looks dirty (and it is), but I like how it looks. Looks... natural... and the bamboo and pothos obviously are very happy in it. 










So yeah... I should've known better about the bowls, but Oh well...... lesson learned! Seems to be a common theme in this hobby. You just have to experiment and hope you don't soak your floors or kill your fish lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Wow... that barb... I couldn't even guess about that. Tanks are looking super lush. Your husband is pretty cool about all of that. I made room for a little spec 3 in the exercise room next to the 2 75 gallon tanks. Pretty much just reorganized some stuff so no more crowding.. and my wife is NOT HAPPY. I'm going to literally have to sneak to buy it and set it up and hope she doesn't notice. I literally told her all I wanted for Christmas was the $60 tank and she was furious and we don't have money issues...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And it's set up. Took a little longer since I had to keep my smallest from grabbing everything, but it really didn't take too long. Yay for small tanks! lol

After cleaning out the remaining bowl, I moved the 5g hex (it's plastic if you couldn't tell) in to place and put about 1.5inches of substrate and osmocote.
There are some pretty big scratches on some of the sides, but meh.. just turned those towards the jars so you can't see them.









Added a couple inches of treated water, put in the heater.
I put the higher light needing plants closer to the window. Think I'm going to move the sword towards the middle more.









And put all of the crypts in the back.
A lot of their leaves were starting to melt and I expect more to happen. Not really worried too much about it. Just going to be a mess to clean up.
Just hoping they'll straighten up once they've acclimated.









Also took a small scoop of the duckweed from the 125. Would like to try this instead of the pothos... just for now 
Would love to get some guppy grass, but doubt I ever will since it's apparently illegal to sell plants like that here. Sigh...









And yeah.. that's about it 
There were a surprising number of plants still chugging along in the bowls. 
Current plants...
duckweed
Sword compacta... at least I think that's what it is.
Micro swords... surprising amount..
dwarf hairgrass... honestly was really shocked to find any of it alive and it's actually in really good condition too. Had a lot of gunk all over it, but it was still nice and green.
crypts... wendtii green maybe? I can't remember for the life of me what kind I have.
2 very sad looking dwarf sags that I put over by the heater.
and I think it's either s reps or ludwigia clippings... or both. I'm not sure

Now to wait and see if the plants will do a bit better. I'm going to try my best to keep up the maintenance on it so it's not over run with algae and gunk again. I want my shrimp dangit! lol
Plus I just like being successful at growing things 


Now to tackle my other 5 gal.... the betta tank... dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuun

Bump:


The Dude1 said:


> Wow... that barb... I couldn't even guess about that. Tanks are looking super lush. Your husband is pretty cool about all of that. I made room for a little spec 3 in the exercise room next to the 2 75 gallon tanks. Pretty much just reorganized some stuff so no more crowding.. and my wife is NOT HAPPY. I'm going to literally have to sneak to buy it and set it up and hope she doesn't notice. I literally told her all I wanted for Christmas was the $60 tank and she was furious and we don't have money issues...


Lol while my husband is supportive, he's not that happy about the 5gal hex making a reappearance. Once he learned that I wasn't wanting to buy anything, he said something like "How about just NOT setting up another one?" Pfft... but he knows that's not gonna happen  Figured I'd tell him what I was planning on doing instead of it being a surprise when he got back home :wink2:


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Woot! Started cleaning out the betta's 5g finally. I'll have photos up once I'm done.

Ordered a light for my 40g too  Only $35. Not sure why I was thinking it was $50+... or maybe it used to be and the price went down... I dunno. 
Either way.. WOO! I can't wait to get it and have some better lights on that tank! Could move the flame sword over and not have to worry about the plant getting all sad and depressed b/c it's not getting enough light like my jar sword did.
We'll see though 
It's another beamswork. Figured the one on my 125 is growing those plants so well so one on the 40 will be good too.. FX.

And yep.. that's all for now!

EDIT: Hmm.... just realized that I'm going to need to add in a food source for the cycle to start in the 5g no filter tank. Without that soil substrate, this is just a regular ole tank that needs ammonia.
Well poop.....
Think I have some old panty hose somewhere lol. Think I'm going to take a couple of the ceramic filter things and put those in to a baggy w/ some fish food. See if that works. Not sure if the bacteria will live though since there's no water movement. Geeze... why does this have to be so complicated??


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, worked more on the betta 5g tank.

Started on it last night and took out everything that was getting tossed. 
First up though.. photo of the tank after I had cleaned off a lot of the algae on the glass. Yeesh.. it was a giant mess.









Lots and lots of hair algae (the gunk on the bottom) and wisteria that was growing out of the water.









Once the water cleared and after removing a few more crypts. There may have been a ton of gross hair algae, but the crypts sure as heck seemed to love it in this lil tank bc they multiplied like crazy.









Waited until this morning to keep going.
Removed a few more plants and rocks/decoration.
Decided I liked the hill of crypts on the left so I'm leaving it alone. 









No current pic b/c the tank is very cloudy right now, but it will need a couple more water changes before I get all of the gunk off the substrate. Lots of it was hiding in the little crypt jungle.








There was also still some hairgrass still alive that I tried to blindly replant, but I'm sure I'll suck them all up when I'm cleaning it.

Replanted some of the crypts that I took out over on the left and in the back of the tank, but I put a lot of them in to the no filter 5g along with a few of the other plants that I think might do better in that one.









And bonus bad photo of my cute little dojo loaches. Love these crazy little hot dogs!
I'm definitely getting more of them. I'll pay the $12 or $13 each that the petstore wants for the albino ones. Don't care.. I NEED more! They're so cute and silly and I really want to see a big group of them in my tank


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got in my new light yesterday 
It's actually not as bright as I thought it was going to be, but it will be good enough. Not high light, but not low light.
Leaving the lower light one on too and turning the lights off for a couple of hours mid day to see if it helps to keep algae under control.
Now that there is better lighting, I think I'm going to move jar sword back in to the tank. I need to straighten the tank out though so I'll aim for doing that this weekend. Maybe start on it sooner if my kids don't drive me crazy lol.

Also decided to buy a filter that was mentioned in a thread I started in the low tech section for the 5g hex. Seems most think that there needs to be some water movement and someone suggested a small filter I could put on the tank.
It was only $10 so I went ahead and bought it. It's also supposed to be very quiet too, so we'll see if it is.
I was thinking about doing a sponge filter since those are small, but I just have no luck with getting quiet air pumps. Even the ones that say they're quiet usually aren't to me. I hate that buzzing sound and the tank is right beside the living room so it would drive me insane if I heard it.
Not exactly no filter like I wanted, but hey.. plans change  At least this way though, I won't have to worry so much about possibly killing expensive shrimp and I could stock it with a little more since there will be a filter.

That barb is still alive. It has interest in eating but it can't. Feel so bad for it and I hope it gets better on its own b/c I can't do anything for it really.

Will get some photos up soon


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Got in my new light yesterday
> It's actually not as bright as I thought it was going to be, but it will be good enough. Not high light, but not low light.
> Leaving the lower light one on too and turning the lights off for a couple of hours mid day to see if it helps to keep algae under control.
> Now that there is better lighting, I think I'm going to move jar sword back in to the tank. I need to straighten the tank out though so I'll aim for doing that this weekend. Maybe start on it sooner if my kids don't drive me crazy lol.
> ...


The Beamswork lights are nice. Easily my favorite. I've got the $35 one as a viewing light on one of my 75's. Then I've got a DHL and an FSPEC on my 150. It's hard to tell how much light they put out though. Which filter? The Hagen mini Elite is great and it's like $10. I used for for a diffuser for DIY C02. Or an AC20... there are alot of good ones out there now. 
I just set up a Spec 3 and it's way more difficult than setting up a large tank. Alot less room. I I just ordered a heater that I'm hoping will fit in the back compartment and not take up what little space I have in the actual tank.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Filter is AZOO Mignon Filter 60. I was afraid it was going to be a bit big for the hex since the sides are small, but nope. Perfect small size filter for it 








I read reviews on it though and lots of folks were replacing the little sponges it comes with with ceramic rings and a different sponge, so that's what I did too since they were cheap.
Put in some fish food in the filter and now, just waiting. Not in any hurry. As I said.. unless a local store orders the shrimp I want, we won't have the money to get them online for a while, so there's no rush to get the tank cycled fast.
Ill have to resist wanting to put another betta in to it though.

I am having a problem with the floating plants dying though. They were dying before I put the filter in and I'm not sure why.








Really sucks b/c it's not like I can just buy more from the store. Bah!

I should've done water changes sooner b/c it's getting colder here now. I've been lazy and wanting to wait until this weekend to do them. Now with the weather being colder, I'll have to change out less water. Oh well...
Here are some random photos 

40 algae jungle. That hair algae is a pain but also kind of pretty too. The big gourami eats some of it.
And look at my little lamp eyes  The new light really makes their eyes shine.









My red flame sword not looking so red. Actually looks a lot like my big hidden ozelot sword. Maybe I should add a little iron during next water change.









More 40g...
I'd like the plants to be clumped a bit more so if I do get regular size cories, they'll have more open space.









And the 5g. This was right before I started messing with it today. Did another water change to try to get a lot of the gunk up. Still has a lot in it though.
I also checked water parameters and it was all good. Well.. nitrates were high, but hopefully the water change took care of that.
B/c of that... Mr. Bettaface went back in to his tank once things settled  I'll get some photos of him once the cloudiness goes.









He looked pretty happy though. Exploring around and checking out his old/new digs 
Debating on if I want to remove his little cage from the 125 though. The dojo loaches love resting between it and the glass and I love watching them there.
Sure the cage thing is really unsightly but pfft, it's just me and my family looking at it anyway and they're all used to it lol. Think I'll keep it in for a little while longer.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

About to do water changes. Still cold so can't change as much as I normally do, but that's ok.
Need to do them though.
Found a dead platy? in the 125. No idea what happened to it. Smelled like it had been dead for a day or so.. bleh.
I dunno.... didn't notice any of them acting weird /shrugs

Anywho.. some photos..

Betta is doing well. His tank is getting a lot of algae, but he is ok which is all I care about.
Bad photo b/c of the dirty glass, but you can still see how pretty he is 

























40g still has a lot of algae, but it has decreased since I started the new timer schedule for it. It's looking nice though 









My little lamp-eyed rasbora w/ one of the sparkling gourami. I always try to get pics of the gouramis b/c they come right up to the front of the tank to look at me, but the camera never wants to focus on them.









5g hex seems to be ok. The floating stuff has all pretty much died. No idea...
And there is some melting going on with the crypts, which is to be expected.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Problem after problem after problem.
I've found 3 more dead fish.
2 tigers and 1 odessa barb. I think the other fish that I thought was a platy was actually an odessa.
Going to start treatment tonight with general cure and that antibacterial stuff I used to treat the BGA since that's what I have on hand. Need more of it though. Soaking some frozen food in the meds now. Hopefully it will be enough to treat the fish.
Sigh.... 
Some good news.. the injured red glowfish tiger seems to be eating. Watched it some yesterday after feeding and saw it spit out a flake, so it seems to be able to suck some in. It's mouth is still funky, but it's getting better... at least getting better until whatever is killing them gets to it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Found a one of the small platy dead. Definitely a platy this time b/c there aren't any other fish that size in the tank.
Gave the tank soaked medicated food last night and again this morning. A bit too close together, but meh.
Hopefully this keeps the remaining fish alive. Still need to buy more antibacterial stuff.

In other news... got a new phone so took some photos with it 

125 & 40g. Not sure why they're showing so yellow in the photos, but oh well.

















5g hex is coming along. Need to add more water and fish food.









My jar. Bamboo looks so happy in it 









I need to clean the betta 5g. When I do I'll try to get some photos of the betta


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## StevieD (Jun 17, 2017)

Love the plant but I am not sure the dog is impressed.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Someone asked for some plant IDs in the 125.. so here we go. I've let the BBA get out of hand... sigh. Please excuse the algae. Need to take care of it.

Floating plants that should be in the substrate is ludwigia. I think it's a mix of repens and ovalis
There's also some cabomba. Not sure if it's a special kind but it has a purplish tint to it.









These long stem-y swords were labelled as Argentine Swords at petco. The big sword to the right is just a regular amazon sword with a sword compacta in front of it.









This one is a crypt. Not entirely sure what kind it is. Ordered it from Jacobsaquarium, but I do not remember which type I purchased.









The big plant in the back with the spots that you can't really see is an Ozelot sword. The stuff to the right is water wisteria.









The stem-y one in this photo is an aponogeton. No idea what kind it is. I bought one of those bulb packs from Petsmart and grew it from that.
And the frilly stuff around it is the cabomba









Mini jungle of Crypt Wendtii green and the plant on the bottom of the pic is supposed to be a red flame sword, but it's looking more like the ozelot.









Corkscrew vallis, amazon sword to the left behind it and a sword compacta on the right. I'm not sure what the 2 little stems are on the bottom left.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Did water changes today finally.

Betta 5g is a damn mess. SO much hair algae that grabs on to all of the gunk floating around.
I do need to adjust the light time on it though. Hopefully once I do that the algae problem will calm down some.









Betta is doing good though 
So glad that I can actually see my pretty little fish again 
And I must say... I am really loving the camera on my new phone. It's nice to have a decent camera AND be able to see what I'm taking a photo of again rofl









Lots of hair algae in the 40g again. I think the reduced light time helped to slow the growth, but not get rid of it. Not sure what to do to help. I took off another hour in the morning so we'll see if that does anything.
This is during its day time lights out period









125... A couple of the tigers are acting strange. Still eating, but not active like they normally are. Had to go to Petsmart today to buy more meds and more bloodworms so I can give the fish a full treatment of it. Hopefully it's working.
During the water change... I think I'm going to remove one of the swords to put in to the 40g. One of the big swords.








I would actually want to take out 2, but the 40 isn't large enough for these enormous plants. If I didn't have to drag along the kids, I would send one to someone, but... meh.. work with what you can.


This is one I would want to move, but it's probably going to stay where it is. I think it's a compacta, but pfft.. with how huge it is... I dunno. We'll see. The vallis needs more room to grow and more lighting.









There are 2 here in the center behind the val.








One is a regular amazon sword and the other is compacta. Think it's the one on the right.
I'd want to move these so I could actually see the ozelot in the back.

But I'm pretty sure, the one that will be moved is the compacta that is right in between the crypt and the amazon.








You can't even tell that there is a separate sword from the big one. The big one is just too big and the crypt needs some room.

DH is off next week, so if I can, I want to dedicate one of those days to rescaping the 40g and moving the sword. We'll see what happens though. It may have to wait for a weekend or just a day I have the energy to do it


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I haven't been able to do the big rescape in the 40g yet. Time was spent with family and being super lazy and it was awesome lol.
And now I have strep throat and feel like crap b/c of it.
I'll get it done though. May do a little bit at a time so I don't freak the fish out too much. I really only need to move some things from the far right side. Make room for the sword. I also want to move the filter over just a little bit more.
Maybe I should start a new thread. 
New year.. new thread?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Started a new thread.........
Check it out for continued updates on my messy tanks 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1225850-my-messy-low-tech-tanks-photo-heavy.html


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