# Nano Cube Reboot



## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

Sounds good. Sparkling gouramis are really cool, I found mine to be quite territorial and pretty aggressive. Very cool fish though!


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

andrewss said:


> Sounds good. Sparkling gouramis are really cool, I found mine to be quite territorial and pretty aggressive. Very cool fish though!


Sparkling gourami are beautiful, but yeah they do tend to beat each other up sometimes. I have seen them chasing each other a little but nothing too crazy so far... 

I added 3 ricefish and a few more plants to the tank yesterday but since the covid-19 situation in Singapore is escalating a fair bit so I went out to get a few more fish today since I'll want to stay at home as much as possible from now on. I picked up 2 more ricefish, 3 corydoras habrosus and an amano shrimp (locally they're known as yamato shrimp for whatever reason). So including the sparkling gourami pair, I think I'm more or less fully stocked at this point. I am considering 2 more corydoras habrosus but we will see how the tank and its inhabitants fair in the next month or so. Anyway, pictures.



Here's a close up of the tank. I think the anubias will be fine in there. I did manage to get fully submersed bucephalandra as well but I have a feeling they will melt a fair bit in the days to come since they were only just introduced to the tank. The rotala in the back still need a bit of time before it fills out. I decided to do just 1 type of stem plant this time. I also put some crypts in the back which on hindsight seems pretty stupid since I can't even see them from the front. I might have to replace them with more rotala in a few weeks but we'll see. The wood probably isn't waterlogged yet so I just have a couple of rocks weighing them down for now. I'll think about what to do with the java fern once the rocks are out of there. 



A little corydoras habrosus. Didn't realise how tiny they were until I got them in the tank. I have a feeling that feeding them is going to be a real pain in the ass. I picked up some Hikari sinking wafers for bottom feeders today, might give them a try in a couple of days.

Thank you for reading!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

Nice! Habrosus are pretty small looking there wow! I am considering them for my tank, still not sure though. I like at least that they act more cory like than the other dwarf cory types.


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## irishspy (Oct 22, 2007)

Really pretty set up. Maybe the habrosus would do well with a Repashy gel food, such as "Bottom Feeder."


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

andrewss said:


> Nice! Habrosus are pretty small looking there wow! I am considering them for my tank, still not sure though. I like at least that they act more cory like than the other dwarf cory types.





irishspy said:


> Really pretty set up. Maybe the habrosus would do well with a Repashy gel food, such as "Bottom Feeder."


Thank you both!

Unfortunately Repashy isn't easily available where i'm from but i'll try it if I can get my hands on some. For now I have these micro pellets that I feed my other fish, these also sink readily so i'll drop a pinch in every night for them to forage for.


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I love the habrosus. I have 6 in one tank with dwarf pencilfish and WCMM and 2 in another with some hastatus cories that are even smaller. When purchased mine were quite small, but they will grow a bit - females larger than males. They can eat a lot of foods. I feed crushed flakes, bug bites and frozen daphnia or cyclops, frozen baby brine shrimp. I've also fed crushed up freeze dried blood worms.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

SueD said:


> I love the habrosus. I have 6 in one tank with dwarf pencilfish and WCMM and 2 in another with some hastatus cories that are even smaller. When purchased mine were quite small, but they will grow a bit - females larger than males. They can eat a lot of foods. I feed crushed flakes, bug bites and frozen daphnia or cyclops, frozen baby brine shrimp. I've also fed crushed up freeze dried blood worms.


Thank you for the suggestions on food! 

I have never fed flake before but I think I might try getting a small bottle of flake from omega one or new life spectrum. For now I'm just letting a good number of pellets hit the bottom so that the cories have food to eat, although I think I'll probably have to feed them after lights out from now on. I also feed the cories in my other tank after lights out so that the other fish don't go stealing their food.

The corydoras habrosus are adorable, I will probably add two more in the coming weeks.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

So the lone amano died which is a huge bummer, only had him for like 4 days. Everyone else looks fine. Just so happened that I'm working from home today so I noticed its rotting body from the side. 

The amano is pretty big so I thought it would be fairly safe against the sparklers but frankly I wouldn't put it past them to nip the guy to death. Sigh! I was planning on doing just one amano for algae control but looks like I might have to reconsider. Maybe I'll do a horned nerite instead or try again.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Yamato Shrimp is an old trade name, I grinned when you mentioned that. This is how I referred to these for a long time. 

Looks like the new scape is going to be nice. Going to be adding a background?

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Yamato Shrimp is an old trade name, I grinned when you mentioned that. This is how I referred to these for a long time.
> 
> Looks like the new scape is going to be nice. Going to be adding a background?
> 
> Gary


Hello Gary, glad you commented here as well. I should have mentioned in my other journal that I've torn down that scape. 

Didn't know they used to be known as Yamato shrimp, that's interesting. I think most here know them as Yamatos. Hell I've only ever seen them called Yamatos in the shops here. 

I don't know about the background. It probably would look better with one wouldn't it. Guess it will have to be black though so that the filter intake isn't so visible...

I notice that the crypts i've planted in the back behind the wood aren't visible from the front at all, I probably should have given plant selection and placement a bit more thought. I think I'll get some other kind of tall stem plant and replace the crypts with those. I could probably plant the parva in the sand at least. Do you have any suggestions on what stems I could try? Something that would do well in a low light, no CO2 environment.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Depends on what type of Crypts you planted back there. Some can grow quite tall and in time, will be plenty visible.

Smaller Crypts obviously should be placed in front. I've never had any luck with Crypts in sand. They are heavy root feeders and Sand provides little or no nutrients.

Gary


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## Jasoncor (May 19, 2018)

Looking real nice! That’s literally almost the same hardscape setup I did in my cube. You have good taste lol. Can’t wait to see it grown in.


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## irishspy (Oct 22, 2007)

chicken.nublet said:


> ...but I think I might try getting a small bottle of flake from omega one or new life spectrum.


FWIW, I've been using Omega One as my staple food for years and the fish do great on it. Haven't tried New Life, but I've heard good things about it.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Jasoncor said:


> Looking real nice! That’s literally almost the same hardscape setup I did in my cube. You have good taste lol. Can’t wait to see it grown in.


Thank you! I can't wait for it to grow in myself lol.



irishspy said:


> FWIW, I've been using Omega One as my staple food for years and the fish do great on it. Haven't tried New Life, but I've heard good things about it.


Thanks irishspy, i'll see if I can get some in the next couple of weeks.

Thought I might do a little update. Here's the latest picture of the tank.



The tank is now very heavily stocked, and a considerable amount of algae has started to appear on the glass and on some of the anubias. For the most part the plants look like they are doing ok.

I bought a horned nerite recently to help with algae control since the amano died. I am partial to horned nerites just because they are smaller than other nerites but I did not realise how small it was until after I added it to the tank. I ended up moving one of my existing horned nerites to this tank. Hopefully they eat the algae (slightly) faster than the algae can grow.

The anubias and bucephalandra are doing fine as expected...


The rotala looks like they are doing ok too. They have lost some of their lower leaves but I guess that's to be expected in a low light environment...



Currently stocking is as follows

2 sparkling gourami
5 oryzias latipes (i think. Definitely not oryzias woworae in any case)
5 corydoras habrosus
2 horned nerites

I am also considering adding some neocaridina but probably not something flashy like red cherries because they gourami would probably make quick work of them but eh, we'll see how things go in the next couple of weeks.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Nice, does not even look like there is water in that tank from the first photo!

Gary


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

chicken.nublet said:


> The tank is now very heavily stocked, and a considerable amount of algae has started to appear on the glass and on some of the anubias. For the most part the plants look like they are doing ok.
> 
> 
> I am also considering adding some neocaridina but probably not something flashy like red cherries because they gourami would probably make quick work of them but eh, we'll see how things go in the next couple of weeks.


If you are still looking for plant suggestions and want to stay with crypts you could get crypt balansae which is grass like and tall. If looking for other lowish light stems then there is ludwigia which grows pretty easily if available locally. Limnophila Sessilifolia is likely available to you as well and grows in low light. 

Really like the ricefish. Are they platinum variety? My ricefish were fry when I got them at around 1.5cm long and had no color. They developed color as they grew. By the time they were around 2 - 2.5 cm long they had turned orange. 

I wouldn't give up on the amanos after just one death. That shrimp could have been sick when you got him. If not, then look towards your water parameters. TDS, and GH are the likely culprits though if you heat your tank over 80 degrees that can also be an issue.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Nice, does not even look like there is water in that tank from the first photo!
> 
> Gary





minorhero said:


> If you are still looking for plant suggestions and want to stay with crypts you could get crypt balansae which is grass like and tall. If looking for other lowish light stems then there is ludwigia which grows pretty easily if available locally. Limnophila Sessilifolia is likely available to you as well and grows in low light.
> 
> Really like the ricefish. Are they platinum variety? My ricefish were fry when I got them at around 1.5cm long and had no color. They developed color as they grew. By the time they were around 2 - 2.5 cm long they had turned orange.
> 
> I wouldn't give up on the amanos after just one death. That shrimp could have been sick when you got him. If not, then look towards your water parameters. TDS, and GH are the likely culprits though if you heat your tank over 80 degrees that can also be an issue.


Thank you both. 

Unfortunately the back is pretty much fully planted, not really much space left back there. I wish I had planted Limnophila Sessilifolia instead of the Rotala though, would probably look better...

Only plants left that I want more of are anubias and bucephalandra clumps. As I was looking at the tank today I did see a few more areas where I can stuff more clumps into. Once I remove the rocks weighing down the wood I could probably add even more. Hopefully I can find some anubias pangolino but those will probably be stupid expensive.

I also stupidly decide to move some of the anubias and bucephalandra around only to find that i liked the original placement better but try as I might I could not get them back where they were exactly. I spent quite a bit of time trying to put them back where they were, hopefully all that prodding won't kill them... 
@minorhero, im not so sure what variety these are. I'm not even sure if they're medaka actually but they sure look like them!

Not sure if I want to get another amano, i only got one because they are supposed to be really good at keeping algae in check but I don't really like how big they back. If I do get shrimp I will probably look into neocaridina.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Not much to update but thought I'd update anyway. The wood has sunken so I've decided to remove the rocks weighing them down. The nerites have done a number on the brown algae that was appearing on the glass. There's still quite a bit of algae but hopefully those will disappear as the tank matures and the snails get to them. Only thing left that I want to do is add a couple more anubias and bucephalandra and see if I can get my hands on some neocaridina. Not sure when I'll get to do that though since the Singapore government has implemented measures requiring all business considered non-essential to close. While pet stores will still be open the store I wanted to get shrimp from will not be selling any livestock so I guess that will have to wait... But I'll see if I can get any plants online. Stay safe everyone!

Pictures



And smol corydoras


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Got some plants in yesterday so did an unplanned water change and added them. Here's a picture of the tank



Basically just picked up a small clump of bucephalandra belindae... thankfully it's quite dense so it sank quite readily. I just have it sitting on the wood, doesn't seem like it will need much to secure it. I'm happy with where the tank is at the moment, but im looking into getting CO2 and shrimp.



Now for some bad news. Because of work I haven't really taken the time to count the fish recently. After I was done with my water change and putting the plants in I fed the fish and it seems like I'm missing 1 ricefish and 1 corydoras, which really sucks. Didn't see any bodies in or around the tank either. I hope that they are not stuck under the hardscape and I really don't think I want to tear everything out to find them. There is plenty of space between the pieces of wood so I don't think they would get stuck or anything but it's a bit concerning. 

We'll see how the rest of the fish fare... In the mean time I have to get back to work D:

EDIT: So quick update, had a bit of downtime so I decided to look for the missing fish by removing the wood... and of course I didn't find any trace of them. I've put the wood back in but of course I dislodged all of the epiphyes when I removed them in the first place. I've put them back but I just couldn't get them exactly where they were originally... I am quite dissatisfied now but I guess al I can do is resist putting my hands in the water again until my next scheduled water change since I don't want to stress the plants too much by constantly moving them.

So basically, removing the wood was futile since there were not fish stuck underneath at all and now my plants aren't exactly where I want them to be. Maybe by the time I do my next water change I'll be happy with where they are now, we'll see.


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## irishspy (Oct 22, 2007)

I'm really loving this tank. I want to do one centered around anubias and bucephalandra.

Just out of curiosity, did you test ammonia once you discovered the fish missing? A small reading would indicate what was left of them was in there, somewhere... :icon_eek:


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

irishspy said:


> I'm really loving this tank. I want to do one centered around anubias and bucephalandra.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, did you test ammonia once you discovered the fish missing? A small reading would indicate what was left of them was in there, somewhere... :icon_eek:


Thanks irishspy, hopefully this scape will last longer than the previous disaster. 

Thanks for the suggestion, it didn't even occur to me to test for ammonia... basic fishkeeping fail! I went ahead to test it once I read your post... strangely, the reading came up zero. No bodies under the wood either. No shrimp to eat them and i'm not sure if nerites eat dead fish or not. I guess i'll never find out what happened to them.

In other news, I decided to pull the trigger on a regulator from CO2 Art (the cheaper one). There does not seem to be any stock available locally so I decided to order one directly from them. Not sure if DHL will encounter any difficulties with shipping but I guess we'll see.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Snails and/or Shrimp will never pass up a free meal. Most likely your Snails took care of the corpse. 

I may be snail, I cannot pass up a free meal either.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Snails and/or Shrimp will never pass up a free meal. Most likely your Snails took care of the corpse.
> 
> I may be snail, I cannot pass up a free meal either.
> 
> Gary


Oooo, didn't know nerites would show interest in fish.

Anyway more bad news, the stems have been looking quite sad recently and I've noticed some BGA growing on the leaves as well. I've trimmed whatever affect stems I can see. They have been looking quite poorly even though I was under the impression that most rotala would do fine withou CO2. I think I might try increasing the brightness just a little tomorrow and dosing slightly more ferts to see if that does anything for them while I wait for my CO2 things t get here.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Hmmm making things brighter may be reverse of what you want to do. I learned this lesson with Office Space II. I awaited for my CO2 items to arrive, by then I had major algae issues. Lesson learned. Never to be repeated.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Hmmm making things brighter may be reverse of what you want to do. I learned this lesson with Office Space II. I awaited for my CO2 items to arrive, by then I had major algae issues. Lesson learned. Never to be repeated.
> 
> Gary



Lights are fairly dim right now but yeah you're probably right. Probably a better idea to wait for my CO2 and have it set up for awhile before I turn up the brightness.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Yes that would be a better idea. How long before you assemble your CO2 system? What type of dosing are you planning? 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Yes that would be a better idea. How long before you assemble your CO2 system? What type of dosing are you planning?
> 
> Gary


Haha honestly I don't know, CO2 Art hasn't shipped my order... it may be a while before I can set it up.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Frequent water changes as well then. You need to keep things balanced just right in the plants favor while outcompeting algae. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Frequent water changes as well then. You need to keep things balanced just right in the plants favor while outcompeting algae.
> 
> Gary


I have been doing 50% a once week actually. Maybe twice a week for awhile?


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

If you have Shrimp, I would do smaller more frequent changes. I have stopped losing Shrimp now that I do this.

Gary


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Looking good - I was wondering about your tanks the other day!

Sorry to hear about your betta's fins, any idea on what set it off and are you treating? And just to check that it's definitely fin rot and not damage or self trimming?

Love the new stock too! I've always wanted to try ricefish but they're pretty much impossible to source in the UK for some reason. Similar issue for horned nerites, but I did find some online the other day and they're much better at algae control than standard nerites imo, and I do miss my old ones, so may have to take the plunge...

The majority of my crypts have been great in sand, but they do get root tabs and liquid ferts. Not sure what's readily available for you, but TNC's range is fab if you do plan to keep the crypts. That said, C Parva has always been the slowest grower for me.

Re: neocaridina, once your plants grow in you might have enough cover for a colony to get going? I get enough shrimplets surviving in my main tank (despite the Badis Badis & Honey Gouramis) that I've still got a decent colony of adults going, but then again, I wouldn't put in anything expensive. Probably not an option with lockdown/circuit breaker just now, but is there a chance of you getting some mixed culls off another hobbyist? The larger the better, both in size and number.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> If you have Shrimp, I would do smaller more frequent changes. I have stopped losing Shrimp now that I do this.
> 
> Gary





Thelongsnail said:


> Looking good - I was wondering about your tanks the other day!
> 
> Sorry to hear about your betta's fins, any idea on what set it off and are you treating? And just to check that it's definitely fin rot and not damage or self trimming?
> 
> ...


Thank you both, no shrimp in there at the moment and yes with our circuit breaker thing going on now I won't be able to get shrimp at the moment. I might do a quick water change later after I finish with work... 

I'm quite glad to be in this hobby especially since ornamental fish are fairly easy to get in Singapore and most of them are super cheap, although to be honest I've never really noticed rice fish in the shops here before (although tbh I probably haven't been paying attention). Are certain ornamental fish difficult to get in Scotland? 

@Thelongsnail, the betta has been doing much better since I moved him to the other tank actually. I think it was definitely fin rot, i neglected the tank for one week and when I went to finally change the water I noticed some pretty ragged fins with a little bit of red on the edge. But it has stopped now and his tail seems to be growing back. He has always had a good appetite even with the fin rot though so I think that helps a lot with his healing. Here's a recent picture of him



CO2 Art has yet to ship my order, which i'm a little upset about... but perfectly understandable given the current situation so can't blame them. The stems are suffering a fair bit though and I have been cutting them back quite a bit whenever I spot BGA on them. I have a feeling they might not recover, even after I finally manage to set up CO2. Might have to consider getting a new bunch of stems when my order arrives.


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Glad he's doing better now, he's looking well in the photo! Gorgeous colouration, I love a good dragonscale.

The only places I have to compare to Scotland when it comes to purchasing fish are England and Taiwan, so I couldn't say. The only things that really influence availability of stock in the UK are popularity and a few species being banned as they could become an invasive species if introduced into the wild. Apple snails, most crayfish, and a number of native American species are among this number, but it's hardly limiting on the whole. I think people just aren't as bothered about ricefish and horned nerites here, whereas I saw them a lot for sale in Taipei. I *think* horned nerites are a native species there too, so they're very common. Taiwan is much closer to a lot of the large fish farms too of course, and importation taxes/regulations are different, so there was a much nicer (and cheaper!) selection of bettas for example - bettas I bought over there for ~£2-£10 would sell for £20-£40 over here, and were much better quality than my current one, who was £13 if I remember correctly. Cherry shrimp are a big one too, high quality reds were less than £1 each from my local market, whereas they're £3+ each here (unless bought from a hobbyist).

Sorry to hear about your CO2 and the stems. Do you use it on your larger tank? I'm afraid I've completely forgotten!

Oh and I know I'm a total shill for crypts but some C Wendtii would look great in the back left corner...

Edited to add: Glowlight & dyed fish are also banned over here, but neither are anything I've ever wanted anyway really.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Thelongsnail said:


> Glad he's doing better now, he's looking well in the photo! Gorgeous colouration, I love a good dragonscale.
> 
> The only places I have to compare to Scotland when it comes to purchasing fish are England and Taiwan, so I couldn't say. The only things that really influence availability of stock in the UK are popularity and a few species being banned as they could become an invasive species if introduced into the wild. Apple snails, most crayfish, and a number of native American species are among this number, but it's hardly limiting on the whole. I think people just aren't as bothered about ricefish and horned nerites here, whereas I saw them a lot for sale in Taipei. I *think* horned nerites are a native species there too, so they're very common. Taiwan is much closer to a lot of the large fish farms too of course, and importation taxes/regulations are different, so there was a much nicer (and cheaper!) selection of bettas for example - bettas I bought over there for ~£2-£10 would sell for £20-£40 over here, and were much better quality than my current one, who was £13 if I remember correctly. Cherry shrimp are a big one too, high quality reds were less than £1 each from my local market, whereas they're £3+ each here (unless bought from a hobbyist).
> 
> ...


Yeah, ornamental fish in Asia are pretty cheap and there's so much variety.

I have some crypts back there but the wood is blocking in. I have been considering reducing the sandy area in the back and planting more crypts there though, I'll get round to it eventually. 

No CO2 on the larger tank!


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update! Not much to update on the tank itself to be honest. Anubias, bucephalandra and java fern still doing fine as usual. The stems look absolutely terrible. BUT! 



My regulator arrived today! I also managed to get all the rest of my CO2 stuff in, so I went ahead to set it up today.



I'm using the small Neo Diffuser and decided to spend some money on a brand new aluminium cylinder from ISTA. It was a lot easier to set up than I expected. Since it's such a tiny tank, i'm just running at just 4 bubbles every 10 seconds and getting a nice, steady stream of CO2 bubbles with about 30 PSI. I've only had the thing set up for 2 hours and it should shut off fairly soon since I only got the regulator fairly late in the day but that's fine. 

I also decided to try a different fertiliser for this tank. 



Hopefully with this fertiliser and the CO2 the stems will recover quickly. I'm hoping to see some nice new growth by next week. However I still see blue green algae on some of the plants in the back and I would hate to have to resort to using antibiotics or chemiclean or something so I might just take everything out from the back and replant it all. We'll see!

I also just realised that I forgot to get a check valve... CO2 Art's bubble counter does come with an inbuilt check valve but I think I better get a second one asap.

EDIT: After staring at the tank a bit more, I decided I might be better off pulling out the plants in the back next weekend and starting over... I'm already enquiring with one of the local shops on what's in stock, seems like i'll be able to get what I want so that's nice. In the meantime I seriously hope the BGA doesn't start to take over.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Depending on how bad things are, SOMETIMES it is easier to start over, but if you can give a bit more elbow grease, you can manage to recover.

The CO2 and ferts will help, but add some giant duckweed (Amazon Frogbit) to the tank as well. These are great nutrient sponges and help with outcompeting algae until you get things into balance.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Depending on how bad things are, SOMETIMES it is easier to start over, but if you can give a bit more elbow grease, you can manage to recover.
> 
> The CO2 and ferts will help, but add some giant duckweed (Amazon Frogbit) to the tank as well. These are great nutrient sponges and help with outcompeting algae until you get things into balance.
> 
> Gary


Mmm unfortunately where i'm from all fish stores have to close their physical stores and only a handful are offering delivery, and even then most only have tissue culture pots available. I didn't even think of getting floaters but I'm not sure I'll be able to get some and in any case, I already ripped out some of the stems that basically lost all their leaves and already looked too far gone. I did find a pretty good store that farms all their stems in their tanks though, so I think instead of ripping up what's left, here's what i'll do this weekend... by then the CO2 would have been running for a week and I'll also be using the new fertiliser so by then we should see some recovery.

I'll remove the wood temporarily so that I can take a good look at the plants in the back. If any stems are covered in algae, I'll trim the affected parts off. 
There is some algae on the bucephalandra and anubias, so i'll manually remove as much of it as I can. I'll probably uproot the crypts, but I want to keep them so i'll probably wipe the leaves down and replant them. I'll also want to reduce the sandy area in the back left corner and plant more crypts there since I should be able to get my hands on some crypt spiralis tiger and more crypt parva, so i'll remove the sand and add some aquasoil back there (using the Tropica stuff). Since I uprooted some of the very poorly looking stems, I'll probably get new stems and plant them in the bare spots. 

I'm also wondering if I should put the CO2 diffuser somewhere else, maybe in the back closer to the stems since that's where I need them the most. I know you usually put the diffuser directly opposite the outflow but hardly any bubbles are being pushed to the stems.

EDIT: Also observed the following things today... I think I understand why I need a second check valve, I'll probably want to install it closer to the diffuser. When no CO2 is being pushed into the tube, of course water got into the tube and today morning when the CO2 started up again it noticed that it took a really long time for the CO2 to push the water out to get to the diffuser. In the end I only got CO2 bubbles in the tank about half an hour before the lights turned on, which I guess is not ideal. Also, the tube is probably too long (lol). Fortunately the bubble counter has an integrated check valve... and since the solenoid powered on today, doesn't seem like any damage has been caused. I'll get a check valve asap but in the meantime I guess i'll have to remove the diffuser every night when the solenoid powers off.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Sounds like you have a large task on your hand. 

Personally I am stubborn so I would opt for Elbow grease. 

I am curious as why you are getting back siphon on your diffuser. It may be the length. I do not get that (or ever have) with my current setup. I have a nice Brass Check Valve (Rhinox) that I use. In fact, it is due for replacement. Once a year is a good frequency.

Do not use plastic diffusers, I find that the CO2 will kill them quite quickly. Check out the Rhinox Brass ones.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Sounds like you have a large task on your hand.
> 
> Personally I am stubborn so I would opt for Elbow grease.
> 
> ...


Haha, i'm looking forward to it actually.

I'm also not sure why back flow is happening. I do think the tube is too long, but not sure if that would affect back flow?

EDIT: Ok i think the tubing is definitely way too long... it takes a long time for CO2 to start up when the solenoid is on, and one hour after the solenoid turns off I still see CO2 bubbles being dispersed from the diffuser. Looks like the line is so long that there's still quite a bit of CO2 in the tube after the solenoid shuts off. For now, i guess i'll tinker with the timer a bit and see what works but eventually I'll cut the tube and shorten it a little.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

What type of Check Valve do you have?

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> What type of Check Valve do you have?
> 
> Gary


https://www.co2art.eu/collections/b...2-bubble-counter-for-solenoids-and-regulators

This is what i'm using, it came with the regulator. No other check valves other than this one, although I think I'll end up getting one.

EDIT: Good news and bad news (mostly bad news)

I can see the start of new growth coming from the stems and they look pretty good. It's not much, but I guess they will reach a decent size in a couple of days.

Now bad news. Earlier today I was fiddling with the CO2 a bit, still trying to get it dialed in, and I think I let too much CO2 into the tank at once, while the lights were still turned off. I removed the tube from the bubble counter to stop the CO2 getting in but I think I was too late, about an hour later after the lights turned on I saw 1 ricefish laying motionless on the sand, gills not moving, no signs of life... so basically I managed to kill one of my fish with too much CO2. 

Right now i'm down to just 2 ricefish, 1 gone and body was never found, 1 I found stuck to the filter intake one morning and then 1 more from CO2 poisoning. Everyone else is fine, but I now realise that I really ought to be more careful with the CO2... 

Also, BGA is still there, saw a bit of it on the sand earlier today. I've gone ahead to siphon the affected areas... Pretty sure it's the poor plant health which is causing this, so I really hope to get my plants sorted out as soon as possible (ideally this weekend) and hopefully it will go away.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Yes, CO2 at high levels will wipe out any fauna you have in the tank. The plants though, will appreciate it.

Do you have a tank where you can relocate your fauna while you rework the tank? This might be helpful in reducing stress.

You need another check valve. Get a package of Rhinox if you can. Well worth the money.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Yes, CO2 at high levels will wipe out any fauna you have in the tank. The plants though, will appreciate it.
> 
> Do you have a tank where you can relocate your fauna while you rework the tank? This might be helpful in reducing stress.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I really hate losing fish... I decided to reduce the bubble rate on the counter for now, seeing as there aren't that many plants in the tank at the moment I probably don't even need that much CO2. I've also changed the timer for now so that CO2 starts only 1 hour before the lights turn on and shuts off 1 and a half hour before the lights turn off. I think I'll see how long it takes for CO2 to get to the diffuser tomorrow and adjust the start times from there. I'll also get round to taking a pH reading tomorow before the lights turn on (should have done this from the start).

I do have another tank actually but I don't think I'll be putting the fish in there, catching them will be a huge pain in the ass. I'll probably put the fish in a big bucket before I tear out stuff. 

I ordered a bunch of plants from two shops and one of them will be throwing in a cheapo check valve for free! I think I'll use that for now and then go out and get a better one once we're allowed to go out again lol. For now, can't wait for my plants to get here and also for the weekend to get here so that I actually have time to work on the tank... They will probably get here just in time for the weekend.

Fish wise, I'll probably get some more ricefish to replace the ones I've lost... but since I've been losing the ricefish at a fairly alarming rate, I don't actually know if the ones I currently have will make it till the end of the circuit breaker. Maybe the water I have isn't that great for them or something. If I do lose them, I guess i'll get 1 or 2 more sparkling gourami to make a group of them.

EDIT: I thought i might as well document a few things I observed while using the CO2 Art regulator. Even after the solenoid closes, CO2 bubbles still come out from the diffuser. Might be normal if its just CO2 leftover from the tube but I noticed that I still get bubbles coming from the bubble counter, although at a very slow rate. This continued to happen almost 1 hour after the solenoid shut off.

The solenoid is definitely closing fully. I tested by unplugging the CO2 tubing from the bubble counter (don't want to gas the fish again) and left the needle valve almost completely open. I got a load of bubbles, but the moment the I turn of the power and the solenoid shuts, the bubbles stop almost immediately. 

I'm not sure why this is the case but it seems that it takes a really long time for the CO2 to stop at the low rate i'm dosing, but if I leave the needle valve open a bit more, the bubbles stop pretty much immediately when the solenoid closes. At least I know the solenoid isn't faulty or anything... but I guess it means I have to time the solenoid to power off probably 2 hours before the lights switch off. Ah well, I guess i'll get the hang of it eventually.


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

Unless I am just having difficulty finding it, it doesn't look like you have a CO2 drop checker. That'd be really helpful to monitor CO2 levels and dial in your BPS.

As much trouble as it sounds like it's causing I really like this tank and I'm rooting for you! I also selfishly favor Gary's elbow grease sentiment.


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

Crazygar said:


> If you have Shrimp, I would do smaller more frequent changes. I have stopped losing Shrimp now that I do this.
> 
> Gary


Definitely, shrimp are much more sensitive to water parameter changes. I stopped losing shrimp after I started using RODI and dialing in GH and KH. RODI basically required that water off-gas instead of coming straight from tap, so pH changes in tank are less drastic. 

I'm already in the groove with RODI but I suspect it's not necessary to avoid these swings, just doing smaller changes should suffice.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

cubecrew said:


> Unless I am just having difficulty finding it, it doesn't look like you have a CO2 drop checker. That'd be really helpful to monitor CO2 levels and dial in your BPS.
> 
> As much trouble as it sounds like it's causing I really like this tank and I'm rooting for you! I also selfishly favor Gary's elbow grease sentiment.


Oh right, I don't have a drop checker. I should probably get one...


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Happy labour day everyone! It has been a long and exhausting week for me, really glad its a public holiday today.

My plant order got here earlier than expected so I did my big clean up and replanting earlier than I planned. Kept most of the crypts, but the most of the stems looked like they were covered in BGA and they also lost almost all their leaves so I got rid of the lot. 

I picked up some rotala rotundifolia 'red' and a crypt spiralis tiger (which was much bigger than I expected). Took a fairly long time to plant everything and put the hardscape back in. I don't really have the best planting technique and it is a fairly small tank so I had quite a bit of trouble replanting the crypts. I've always found crypts awkward to plant, you can't plant them too deep and whenever I plant a crypt too close to another one I end up uprooting them both when I remove the tweezers. The crypt spiralis in particular was really frustrating to plant and I ended up breaking off a few of its beautiful leaves by accident, but I managed to get it to stay planted eventually...

I still have a bit of bare substrate in the back where I have the crypt spiralis but I am did order a few more crypts which should get here either today or tomorrow so those I will plant those there during a water change. I ordered tissue culture though so I do hope they adapt without to the tank without issue. Seeing as tissue culture plants are quite small I hope I have an easier time planting them than with full grown crypts lol.

Also glad to report that all the fish I have left are doing fine at the moment! I'm down to just 2 ricefish but they appear to be well, the 4 corydoras are doing well and my 2 sparkling gourami that I hardly ever see are also doing well. 

The main thing for me now is to try and keep the plants I have now healthy, which I hope will be easier this time... I have a light which isn't outrageously bright, installed CO2 (and have it a level where the fish don't seem too stressed out), and I'm trying out a different fertiliser which has had pretty good reviews so I'm hoping that as long as I change out the water and siphon the detritus regularly the tank won't turn into a mess again. I do still have to pick up a drop checker though. I know it might not be the best way to measure CO2 levels but its the easiest option for me right now since the tank's pH is already pretty darn low. Anyway, pics! 



The crypt spiralis. It's a pretty [censored][censored][censored][censored]e picture but it is an awesome plant. Hopefully keeping such a large crypt in such a tiny tank won't cause any issues.


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

Looks great, well done! Have you thought about putting vinyl or some other background on? This would really bring the focus in on the scape. 

I used craft paper just leaning against the back just to try it out and it actually worked out really well until I got some cheap blackout vinyl. 


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

cubecrew said:


> Looks great, well done! Have you thought about putting vinyl or some other background on? This would really bring the focus in on the scape.
> 
> I used craft paper just leaning against the back just to try it out and it actually worked out really well until I got some cheap blackout vinyl.
> 
> ...


Thanks! But it's still early, we'll have to see what happens in a couple of weeks from now before I know whether I've actually done well or [censored][censored][censored][censored]ed it up.

Heh, Gary asked the same thing about the background. I did think of getting one of those frosted glass looking backgrounds but I think the intake would really stand out against that... so I guess my only option is black. I'll get round to it... eventually hahaha.

I did actually tape some black craft paper on the back of my other tank like you did and I agree, it works really well.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Some bad news. Lost another ricefish. I really do not know why I keep losing them. I don't think this one is due to CO2, I did lose two of them for unknown reasons even before I got my CO2 set up... just came back from grocery shopping to see another one stuck to the intake.

I'm down to just 1 ricefish right now. The rest of the fish (corydoras and sparklers) are doing fine. I went ahead to do my tests, got 0 on ammonia and nitrite and about 10 to 20 on nitrates so quite sure the cycle hasn't crashed. 

I guess all I can do is hope my last ricefish survives? I'll see what happens in the next couple of days but hopefully no more casualties.

EDIT: Decided to do just tiny bit of maintenance on this tank and made a small change as well. Saw a bit of crypt melt so i trimmed the melting leaves and got them out of the tank because I figure leaving them in the tank until my next maintenance session would probably be a bad idea. Also decided to reduce the water levels a bit, hopefully this will provide better circulation and more O2 in the water. I see a tiny bit of what I think is BGA but I think i'll see if it goes away on its own... if it does get out of hand I managed to pick up some chemiclean, hoping I won't have to resort to using that.

Next couple of things for me to do will be to monitor plant and fish health, fertilise regularly, and then 30% to 40% water change once a week on the weekends. I should also stop being overly obssessed with tank cleanliness, I replaced water quite a few times yesterday to remove bits of BGA and uneaten food which the cories would probably have finished anyway, and that (along with me adding a bit of fresh aquasoil) probably contributed to the crypt melt. I guess I just made too many changes to a biologically immature tank when I should have just been patient about it.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Thought i'd do a small update. 

Stems seem to have grown a fair bit since planting them last Wednesday. 



I also ordererd a few more plants recently which I stuck into the tank on Saturday night. Got some emersed hygrophila pinnatifida which I'm hoping will convert without too much of a headache. It looks like it is just starting to put out roots underwater so that's nice. I still ave a few stems of this stuff somewhere else, not so close to the light but not shaded either, hopefully those don't melt on me



In order news, can still see some BGA. Not very obvious but there is some on the sand and on part of the side of the tank, which I literally just wiped yesterday. I'm not going to stick my hands in the tank until my next weekly water change, from there I think I should be able to tell whether I've got the BGA in control. If it does spread I have chemiclean on hand





Finally the crypts I replanted are not really doing anything. Crypt spiralis has mercifully not melted. The tissue culture crypts have begun to melt though but still hoping they adapt without too much issue.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

I am a firm believer that most of the Tissue Cultured plants do their best when you dry start a tank. 

Submerged growth, they are already adapted to underwater, so it's just a small melt as they adjust to their new surroundings.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> I am a firm believer that most of the Tissue Cultured plants do their best when you dry start a tank.
> 
> Submerged growth, they are already adapted to underwater, so it's just a small melt as they adjust to their new surroundings.
> 
> Gary


Yeah, based on what's happening I'm not very confident the tissue culture will make it. The ones I decided to keep aren't doing that great either. I might have to look into replacing them with other submerged crypts or stems that down grow too tall if melt down to nothing. I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks!


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Quick update.

Plants appear to be growing fine, but the BGA has not subsided. In fact it appears to be spreading. I've only replanted it a week ago so I'm guessing it's still unbalanced or something. I've gone ahead to dose the Chemiclean as directed before the BGA gets out of hand and will do a nice big water change this weekend before considering what to do next.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

My friend, you are attempting too many things and not letting any results form. When I battled with my Green Water, I did one change and let it ride for the month, if that failed I tried something else. 

The key is do your change (one) and let it go for a month. Constantly changing parameters in your tank is just going to constantly fuel problems.

"Nothing ever good happens fast in this hobby".

Try manual removal, smaller more frequent water changes, reduced photoperiod for a month. Nothing is going to happen in a couple of days or a week. This hobby is about patience. Read my entire Journal and you will see how I overcame Green Water. Took me 2 months.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> My friend, you are attempting too many things and not letting any results form. When I battled with my Green Water, I did one change and let it ride for the month, if that failed I tried something else.
> 
> The key is do your change (one) and let it go for a month. Constantly changing parameters in your tank is just going to constantly fuel problems.
> 
> ...


Thank you Gary, I see your point. Yeah, I am really too impatient for this hobby... I've gone ahead to reduce photoperiod by 1 hour and have adjusted the CO2 timer as well. I'll also do two smaller water changes a week manually removing the BGA during each water change instead of one big weekly water change like you just suggested until things eventually improve. Other than the Chemiclean and these other changes I promise won't do anything else in the mean time. 

I'm surprised you had to battle green water in office space II, it is such a beautiful and clean looking tank. I do wish I had half as much patience as you!


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

The key is starve the algae and feed the higher plants. Removal (constant), smaller more frequent water changes will go a long way to help this.

Patience, I have volumes, but even at times, it can be irritating. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update!

Haven't seen BGA in a while, probably the chemiclean. Hopefully it doesn't return.

I do have other kinds of algae to contend with. I'd like to get some shrimp but shops aren't allowed to sell livestock at the moment. I also don't have any Excel or h2o2 on hand at the moment (I threw my last bottle of Excel away after it sat on my shelves for months; I kinda wish I didn't lol). For now I have a horned nerite in there and I moved the amano from my bigger tank to the cube. The bigger community tank has been comparatively algae-free and stable for a long time now even without the amano so that tank will be fine... although just 1 amano probably won't be enough to really keep the algae in check. I guess I'll pick up some Excel this weekend and use it for spot treatment. 

I've been doing regular water changes and will probably increase the frequency to 3 small-ish water changes a week for now, since I'm working from home and all. Fish are being fed every alternate day. The sparkling gourami are getting slightly braver everyday although feeding them is still a huge pain in the ass.

The stems seem to be growing well. Some have grown pretty darn tall so I've had to trim and replant them. I also replaced some of the bottoms. I'll probably trim the tall ones again on Saturday and replant them. After that I guess I'll let the whole lot grow out before I start trimming and shaping it.

Anyway, pictures



The amano (locally known as yamato lol). Seems to have cleaned part of the wood quite nicely.



The stems. The relatively short ones are the ones I replanted. 

Cheers!


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

nice amano

the stems seem to be growing well

so do you plan to get more rice fish in the future?


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

monkeyruler90 said:


> nice amano
> 
> the stems seem to be growing well
> 
> so do you plan to get more rice fish in the future?


Hiya, thanks for commenting

Yeah I'll probably get 1 or 2 more rice fish but we'll see how it goes.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

For now, work on the tank and concern yourself with Livestock after you have things going good. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> For now, work on the tank and concern yourself with Livestock after you have things going good.
> 
> Gary


Thanks Gary... I couldn't get any livestock now even if I wanted to so that's fine hahaha. For now the goal is a biologically stable tank with a decent mass of healthy plants.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

There you go then, your hand has been forced!

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Small update. Tank looks alright but still waiting for the back to fill out. Some of the stems are obviously taller than the rest. A bit of an eyesore but I'm gonna let those continue to grow before I trim them and see if I can can replace some of the more poorly looking bottoms. After that I guess I'll let the whole lot grow to a decent height before I trim them and replant some of the tops. I guess it's going to take a few rounds of growing and trimming before I can get a nice dense bush of rotala.

I also made one other change last week that I forgot to document here. I took out mostof the crypts on the bottom left and planted some monte carlo and pogostemon helferi tissue culture (from Oriental Aquarium) instead. I've noticed that lots of shops here have recently begun to stock tissue cultures from Oriental alongside the usual offerings from Tropica but it's nice to have options, especially since Oriental are actually based in Singapore. I do wish I could find more information about Oriental, the only thing I know about them is that they are a big name in the aquatic plant trade. I also see a lot of tissue cultures sold here under the name Aquatic Farmer but there's even less information about them than Oriental, lol. Not sure if any hobbyists overseas have ever come across these tissue cultures?

Definitely overestimated the amount of plants you get from one TC cup... I had to get rid of most of it because I was planting over such a tiny area. However I'm happy to report that the TC plants appear to be adapting well. Some of the pogostemon helferi melted quite badly but most of them have hung on and are starting to put out new growth. Still tiny though. The monte carlo is starting to spread as well, so that's nice. 

Anyway, FTS first



Managed to get a picture of one of the sparklers. They come out every so often but I don't get to see them at all most of the time.



Here's how the stems look like at the moment




Monte carlo. There's some algae on it but other than that I guess it looks ok.



Pogostemon helferi. The tiny one on the bottom melted pretty badly but it is showing new growth.



Crypt spiralis tiger. It is putting out new leaves with beautiful patterns and colours but they are still pretty small. I guess they will get bigger over time.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

No pictures but thought I'd update.

The tank is not doing great. I noticed last week that I've been getting a lot of this brown filamentous algae. Most of it is growing on the bottom part of the stems and I have quite a bit on the crypts and monte carlo. Have a fair amount of it growing on the pre-filter as well.

My last water change I decided to stir up the soil with a little pipette while siphoning but I guess I must have overdone it and ended up kicking too much waste into the water column. In any case I've gone ahead to manually remove as much as I could and replaced some of the deteriorating stem bottoms with the new growth that have adjusted to my tank. Did a big water change after that and have also reduced the lighting intensity and photoperiod a fair bit. I will probably also reduce the dosing since the tank is just not balanced yet and I don't want there to be too many nutrients in the tank for the plants to use up. 

Unfortunately shops in Singapore will not be able to sell any livestock until further notice so no hope of getting shrimp soon. I don't want to sound like I expect the algae to magically disappear once I get shrimp but I'm fairly certain it will make algae management easier... As of now I have just one nerite and one amano shrimp, which is probably not enough to make a dent in the algae. I'll probably be doing small water changes every other day for now while removing algae and other detritus for a couple of weeks.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Called Elbow Grease and yes, eventually subside and with the help of the Shrimp make a major dent. What do you have in the tank for fast growing plants?

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Called Elbow Grease and yes, eventually subside and with the help of the Shrimp make a major dent. What do you have in the tank for fast growing plants?
> 
> Gary


Just some rotala rotundifolia at the moment.


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

Brown diatoms hit me early and according to folks here is normal for new tanks. 

What are your water parameters like?


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Quite literally every tank gets hit with Brown Diatoms to start. My water params?

pH 6.67 lights on, 7.70 lights off, Temp 76F. I know you may be surprised, but I don't check for anything else. I eyeball the works.

If something looks off I research (or dip into my memory) why and correct the problem. Since I started using RO, RO/DI water, most of my algae issues have gone away. I did have a bit of a small outbreak but that was caused by a lot of mulm collecting in the hairgrass.

Gary


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

Crazygar said:


> Quite literally every tank gets hit with Brown Diatoms to start. My water params?
> 
> pH 6.67 lights on, 7.70 lights off, Temp 76F. I know you may be surprised, but I don't check for anything else. I eyeball the works.
> 
> ...



I was asking OP, trying to help dial into issue. 

Though worth noting I have had very similar (but limited) experience with RO/DI as well. At the very least it removes a good bit of variables from the algae equation. 


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

cubecrew said:


> I was asking OP, trying to help dial into issue.
> 
> Though worth noting I have had very similar (but limited) experience with RO/DI as well. At the very least it removes a good bit of variables from the algae equation.
> 
> ...





Crazygar said:


> Quite literally every tank gets hit with Brown Diatoms to start. My water params?
> 
> pH 6.67 lights on, 7.70 lights off, Temp 76F. I know you may be surprised, but I don't check for anything else. I eyeball the works.
> 
> ...





cubecrew said:


> Brown diatoms hit me early and according to folks here is normal for new tanks.
> 
> What are your water parameters like?
> 
> ...


Thank you both your comments and for trying to help! Wish my cube could look half as good as your cubes.

The brown, wispy stuff does look a lot like diatoms. Even though I set up the tank in late March I did end up replanting most of it at the start of this month and added fresh aqua soil to parts of the tank, so the tank is stil in its very early stages and probably going through some things, although I hope I manage to find the balance sooner rather than later.

As far as the water goes, I managed to test pH earlier today before the lights turn on and the CO2 kicks in. Tested kH and gH just now, probably 4 hours after the CO2 started. I'm not sure if I should test the kH and gH before the CO2 starts. Anyway, pH was 6.4 earlier today before the lights turned on. It's been about 3 hours since then, pH tests as 6, although API's kits only go down to 6 so it could be lower than that. pH of the tap water is 7.6 though. 

No appreciable kH and gH in the water at all. I'm using JBL's kits and I understand that I'm supposed to add drops of the stuff until the water changes colour from blue to yellow and red to green or something like that. The water doesn't even change colour since for the kH test I get yellow on the first drop and for the gH I get green on the first drop. I kH and gH on the tap water and got similar results. The water is really soft where I'm from. In any case there's aqua soil in 

I also have a TDS meter, although i'm not very certain how accurate it is. Tap water tests at 53ppm. Water in this cube tested at 70ppm.

As far as lighting and CO2 goes... I've reduced the photoperiod and intensity quite a bit. Right now i'm set it up so that the lights come on at 2pm and ramp up over an hour to hit 35% brightness. Then from 8pm it ramps down over an hour and shuts off at 9pm. I have the solenoid timed so that it opens at about 1230pm, it then takes a bit of time for the CO2 to go through the tubing but I get a steady stream of bubbles in the tank by 1pm. The solenoid then closes at 730pm since it takes a bit of time for all the CO2 in the tube to get into the tank. If and when the algae does start to die down i'll probably start adjusting the timers and brightness bit by bit. I still haven't gotten round to getting a drop checker, I should probably get on that soon.

As far dosing goes, I've been trying out APT Complete since I've heard a lot of good things about it since it was released. The one I have comes with a pump which I was told it dispenses about 1.5ml per pump. I've just gone and measured it myself and it dispenses more like 2ml. Maybe I've been dosing way too much of this stuff for the volume of water and amount of plants in the tank. I was dosing 3 times a week but now that I've reduced the lighting somewhat, I'll probably be dosing just twice a week.

EDIT: Since the tap water is so soft, would it be a good idea to pick up something that can boost GH? I'd like to leave KH alone as much as possible since the aqua soil will reduce KH to 0 anyway.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

chicken.nublet said:


> As far as the water goes, I managed to test pH earlier today before the lights turn on and the CO2 kicks in. Tested kH and gH just now, probably 4 hours after the CO2 started. I'm not sure if I should test the kH and gH before the CO2 starts. Anyway, pH was 6.4 earlier today before the lights turned on. It's been about 3 hours since then, pH tests as 6, although API's kits only go down to 6 so it could be lower than that. pH of the tap water is 7.6 though.
> 
> As far as lighting and CO2 goes... I've reduced the photoperiod and intensity quite a bit. Right now i'm set it up so that the lights come on at 2pm and ramp up over an hour to hit 35% brightness. Then from 8pm it ramps down over an hour and shuts off at 9pm. I have the solenoid timed so that it opens at about 1230pm, it then takes a bit of time for the CO2 to go through the tubing but I get a steady stream of bubbles in the tank by 1pm. The solenoid then closes at 730pm since it takes a bit of time for all the CO2 in the tube to get into the tank. If and when the algae does start to die down i'll probably start adjusting the timers and brightness bit by bit. I still haven't gotten round to getting a drop checker, I should probably get on that soon.


So your water was pH 6.4 BEFORE lights on and your tap water is 7.6? Check the date on those API Test kits, your water should be closer to your tap water without CO2 injection. Mine is usually 7.60 roughly before lights on and 6.70 something after. I test at 8am and 8pm. 

8am, CO2 has been off for 11 hours, 8pm CO2 has been on for 7 hours. Invest in a pH pen. It's amazing how easier and more accurate of a reading you get.

Your CO2 should travel pretty fast through the tube to your diffuser. Mine turns on a 1pm and a minute or so later bubbles are coming out already. What is your operating pressure and what type of diffuser?

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> So your water was pH 6.4 BEFORE lights on and your tap water is 7.6? Check the date on those API Test kits, your water should be closer to your tap water without CO2 injection. Mine is usually 7.60 roughly before lights on and 6.70 something after. I test at 8am and 8pm.
> 
> 8am, CO2 has been off for 11 hours, 8pm CO2 has been on for 7 hours. Invest in a pH pen. It's amazing how easier and more accurate of a reading you get.
> 
> ...


I got the kits about 3 years ago so I suppose they might be off. I'll think about getting a pH pen in the future.

The working pressure is set at 30 psi and i'm using the NEO diffuser, this one: http://aquario.co.kr/neoDiffuser/?ckattempt=1 

I'm using this regulator, just in case https://www.co2art.eu/collections/c...dual-stage-regulator-with-integrated-solenoid

It does take a bit of time for the CO2 to reach the diffuser for me but I thought it might be the length of the tubing.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

If they are test kits with a reagent then yes, chances are you need new ones. 

Have you considered shortening the length of tubing?

Gary


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## cubecrew (Feb 15, 2020)

My understanding is that the wood will reduce pH. 

Additionally, water out of the tap may off gas over time, eventually settling at a lower ph. Mine comes out around 8.5 then settles close to 7. Is your reading directly out of tap?


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> If they are test kits with a reagent then yes, chances are you need new ones.
> 
> Have you considered shortening the length of tubing?
> 
> Gary





cubecrew said:


> My understanding is that the wood will reduce pH.
> 
> Additionally, water out of the tap may off gas over time, eventually settling at a lower ph. Mine comes out around 8.5 then settles close to 7. Is your reading directly out of tap?
> 
> ...


Thanks both!
@Crazygar - yes I did consider shortening the tubes at one point but in the end just couldn't be bothered. Do you think I should though? It takes longer for the CO2 to reach the diffuser but I can just set the solenoid the open earlier to account for that. If it does make a difference though then I'll go ahead and shorten it the next time I do a water change.
@cubecrew - yes, the tap water reading was directly out of the tap. Might make more sense for me let some of it sit overnight before I test the pH.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

chicken.nublet said:


> Thank you both your comments and for trying to help! Wish my cube could look half as good as your cubes.
> 
> The brown, wispy stuff does look a lot like diatoms. Even though I set up the tank in late March I did end up replanting most of it at the start of this month and added fresh aqua soil to parts of the tank, so the tank is stil in its very early stages and probably going through some things, although I hope I manage to find the balance sooner rather than later.
> 
> ...


Singapore has very soft water from what I've heard, same as we have in my area. The pH from the tap may be high, but with no buffering capacity due to 0 kH that's gonna drop as soon as it hits your tank. For reference, my tap water is around pH 8 but my degassed tank water is 6.2-6.4. The good thing is low KH isn't really an issue for plants and fish, you can essentially ignore your kH and to a certain extent your pH.

Low kH does mean that it's very hard to measure your CO2 levels through the kh-pH relationship as liquid test kits have trouble measuring very low pH. Your water will have a pH around 5.2 at 30 ppm CO2, which is out of the working range of many liquid pH test solutions. The easiest way to go is with a drop checker. 

Definitely get some GH booster though. The all in one fertilizers don't contain nearly enough calcium for healthy plant growth, and are probably short on magnesium as well. I don't know about K levels on APT Complete but it probably wouldn't hurt to have a little extra as well. I aim for 4 GH. 

Related to stirring up dirt... If it's causing an algae bloom to disturb the surface of the substrate that means you should be doing it more often, not less. I clean the substrate with either a gravel vac or turkey baster every time I do a water change. You have to pick up all those algae spores and mulm in there or the slightest imbalance will cause an algae bloom.



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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

As for CO2, I have mine going on one hour before lights on. It should not take more than a few minutes to see some CO2 bubbles out of your diffuser. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> Singapore has very soft water from what I've heard, same as we have in my area. The pH from the tap may be high, but with no buffering capacity due to 0 kH that's gonna drop as soon as it hits your tank. For reference, my tap water is around pH 8 but my degassed tank water is 6.2-6.4. The good thing is low KH isn't really an issue for plants and fish, you can essentially ignore your kH and to a certain extent your pH.
> 
> Low kH does mean that it's very hard to measure your CO2 levels through the kh-pH relationship as liquid test kits have trouble measuring very low pH. Your water will have a pH around 5.2 at 30 ppm CO2, which is out of the working range of many liquid pH test solutions. The easiest way to go is with a drop checker.
> 
> ...





Crazygar said:


> As for CO2, I have mine going on one hour before lights on. It should not take more than a few minutes to see some CO2 bubbles out of your diffuser.
> 
> Gary


Thank you both for the help!

@gjcarew - yeah, water in Singapore is really soft! I'll get myself a drop checker ASAP, probably the one from CO2 Art. I gather than positioning the drop checker closer to the substrate is the best position for it but I'm not really sure if there's space in there for one. I'll have to think about where to put it. 

I think I'll also start stirring up the soil with a pipette and siphoning it up each water change. I don't have a turkey baster but a pipette is essentially the same thing anyways. 

Having to mess with the GH every water change sounds like a major pain but I did bring it up in the first place. Shooting for 4 dGH as a start sounds like a pretty good plan. APT Complete probably doesn't have a whole lot of calcium or magnesium in it and my tap water definitely won't have enough... The most easily available product here is probably Seachem Equilibrium, but I'm not sure if it's any good. It also has potassium in it since you mentioned it. Just for reference, 1ml of APT per 2L of water is supposed to add 4ppm of K. I really have no idea what is an optimum ppm to shoot for, which is why I'm using an AIO fert in the first place but I'm wondering if there's an alternative to Equilibrium that doesn't have quite so much potassium in it. If Equilibrium is as good a product as any other than I'll probably just get that.

Also, do I add the booster directly into the tank after I'm done with my water change? I'll kind of have to do it by trial and error but since water straight out the tap has nearly 0 GH i could probably just add the appropriate amount into the tank. I reckon after taking into account all the stuff in the tank that the actual volume of water in there is 23L or so.

@Crazygar - I'll take a note of how long it takes the CO2 to hit the diffuser tomorrow. The last time I took note of this was quite a while back, but I recall that it took nearly 30 minutes. But then again I wasn't watching the diffuser the whole time. I think I'm using nearly 2m of tubing as well and the cylinder is actually located just below the tank so I could probably shorten the tube a fair bit.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Drop checkers are fairly approximate anyways, I don't think where you put it is super significant. 

I use Equilibrium as well (at least until this bottle runs out). It's really not hard-- just figure out how much you need and put that in at every water change. I do a half tsp per 10 gallons (sorry for the freedom units - 2.5 mL per 40 L) of water changed, and just dump it in there after the water change. I think it's helped. I haven't done any side by side comparisons to isolate it as a factor but I've had less stunting and less algae issues (probably due to less stunting) since I started remineralizing with Equilibrium. 

Based on your dosing you are probably adding about 12 ppm K throughout the week- I don't think there would be any issues adding additional K. That's on the light side.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> Drop checkers are fairly approximate anyways, I don't think where you put it is super significant.
> 
> I use Equilibrium as well (at least until this bottle runs out). It's really not hard-- just figure out how much you need and put that in at every water change. I do a half tsp per 10 gallons (sorry for the freedom units - 2.5 mL per 40 L) of water changed, and just dump it in there after the water change. I think it's helped. I haven't done any side by side comparisons to isolate it as a factor but I've had less stunting and less algae issues (probably due to less stunting) since I started remineralizing with Equilibrium.
> 
> Based on your dosing you are probably adding about 12 ppm K throughout the week- I don't think there would be any issues adding additional K. That's on the light side.


Sure, I might as well give Equilibrium a shot since Seachem is available almost everywhere. Were you thinking of trying out a different product after you finish your current bottle?


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Well the Equilibrium lasts forever so there's no reason not to get it again. I have thought of mixing my own since I'm using all DIY ferts otherwise. 

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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> Well the Equilibrium lasts forever so there's no reason not to get it again. I have thought of mixing my own since I'm using all DIY ferts otherwise.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


Oh, that's actually not a bad idea, I might try doing that too. I think I have some epsom salt lying around which is basically magnesium sulphate right? I could probably get some potassium sulphate and calcium sulphate too. 

Although I might just end up getting Equilibrium anyway lol. We'll see what happens.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> As for CO2, I have mine going on one hour before lights on. It should not take more than a few minutes to see some CO2 bubbles out of your diffuser.
> 
> Gary


I paid attention today to my CO2 system today since it's been a pretty slow day at work so far. It did take nearly half an hour for the CO2 to hit the diffuser. I have the solenoid on one and a half hours before so CO2 gets to the tank 1 hour before the lights turn on.

Might not be ideal so I'll go ahead and shorten the CO2 tubes soon and have the solenoid open later. I'm using unnecessarily long tubing for the CO2 hahaha, here's the current situation with the tubes


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Easy solution is a check valve closer to the edge of the tank. They are super cheap

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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Use the Rhinox (Brass ones), as the plastic ones, CO2 just destroys quickly.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> Easy solution is a check valve closer to the edge of the tank. They are super cheap
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk





Crazygar said:


> Use the Rhinox (Brass ones), as the plastic ones, CO2 just destroys quickly.
> 
> Gary


Thanks both. Yeah I'm using a cheap check valve closer to the tank. It is a plastic one unfortunately, one of the LFS here gave it to me for free when I ordered some stuff recently. I'll look into getting a proper one soon. I'm actually thinking of visiting my usual store to get some Equilibrium and a drop checker tomorrow so i'll see if they have any decent check valves while i'm there.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update! I did a large water change yesterday and siphoned as much algae as I could. There was still quite a bit of the brown gunky looking algae yesterday plaguing my plants but for some reason the tank is looking uncharacteristically clean today. I'm not sure why but hopefully I can keep this going. 

Other than the water change and siphoning yesterday I also added a couple more plants. Went out to get some more rotala varieties from the local store. I picked up this interesting rotala variety from them probably two weeks ago that grows really red and they also appears to be doing a lot better than the regular rotala rotundifolia in my tank for some reason so I went ahead to grab a couple more. Also picked up this lovely green rotala with rather fine leaves. They labelled it as rotala 'Bangladesh' but I guess it's a rotala mexicana cultivar after looking it up online. 

I also decided to remove the monte carlo since it started to do very poorly and planted staurogyne repens in its place. I'm also happy to report that the pogostemon helferi seem to be doing well. They are still small but have grown quite a bit since I last posted a picture of them.

But anyway, here's a full tank shot. The stems look really short but I did trim them not too long ago.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Thought I would share a picture of how the pogostemon helferi is looking at the moment:



They are still pretty small but a far cry from how they originally looked a couple of weeks back:


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

At least they are green and growing. To me, that is a success.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> At least they are green and growing. To me, that is a success.
> 
> Gary


Absolutely. Hopefully I will be able to propagate some soon.

Also, thank you for all the help and advice you have given me! Really appreciate it.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Thanks and no problem. Us Nano people have to stick together. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Midweek update just because. Picture first



The tank still looks fairly clean (by my standards at least lol) which is great. Just last week there were tons of fuzzy brown algae, which I'm guessing is rhizoclonium, all over the plants and especially on the stems. No matter how much I removed them they would all come back by the next day. I haven't seem any sign of that happening since Sunday, which is great. Still a little too early to celebrate but we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

I did change some things recently, so something must have worked. I moved the HOB to the center, moved the CO2 diffuser to the right and started dosing Equilibrium to increase GH. Perhaps moving the HOB to the center improved the flow, or perhaps the plants finally had access to calcium and magnesium that they sorely needed. In any case, I hope this will be the end of my rhizoclonium problem. I have also been doing small water changes almost every day, if not every other day. This time I'll try leaving the tank alone until the weekend and see if remains this clean.

I really like the rotala mexicana so I regret not getting another pot while I was at the store but I guess I could always trim and propagate once I get more growth out of the ones I do have. I might have to remove some of the regular rotundifolia to make space in a couple of weeks. 

The crypt spiralis has produced quite a fair bit of new leaves as well. I lost a couple of leaves when planting it (because I have crap planting technique), but it seems to be doing very well. Here's a picture of the crypts. 



The other crypts in there are not doing much though and they aren't exactly very nice to look at either. I might replace them with some other crypts eventually. I'm also thinking of trying hygrophila pinnatifida again, but not sure if it might be too much for this tank. I did also think about replacing the java fern on the right with bolbitis, but that would probably get too big for this tank eventually.

I do have other algae in there on the bucephalandra and anubias, a bit on BBA on the wood as well, but not really enough to bother me as much as the rhizo. I'll be spot treating the BBA with excel each water change for awhile though.

As always, thanks for reading!


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

There are smaller versions of Java Fern available now: https://buceplant.com/products/microsorum-pteropus-narrow-mini

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> There are smaller versions of Java Fern available now: https://buceplant.com/products/microsorum-pteropus-narrow-mini
> 
> Gary


Thanks but I dont think Buceplant can ship plants to Singapore. But perhaps I'll keep a look out for some trident fern, might fit the tank better than what's in there now.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Most likely not, but you can always look for these plants locally. I just posted that to show that 'mini' versions are possible in the hobby. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update!

Had to get some documents from the office yesterday but I decided to pick up some plants first since one of the local shops received a shipment from Tropica recently. I have a pretty nice view from my office so I thought I'd take a picture of what I picked up there:



In any case, here's a picture of the tank in its current state



The tank is doing surprisingly well. Changing out the java fern for the trident variety was probably a good idea, I get a much better view of the stems in the background. Also rearranged the bucephalandra on the right to reveal more of the back as well. Added a couple of plants I wanted to try. I have an anubias pinto in my low tech tank that lost its variegation. It did grow some little shoots so I decided to try putting a tiny one in this tank to see if it might grow variegated leaves again.

The bucephalandra and anubias are alright, but not really as healthy as I would like. There is some algae on them, which I don't mind that much, but there has been slight melting as well. It probably has to do with where they're positioned. I've also not attached them to anything, so they sometimes float off when I'm siphoning around them, so I always end up having to stuff them back where I want them. I think they hate being handled so often so I'm trying to be careful not to disturb them too much.

The stems seem to be doing great. It's basically rotala salad in the background.



As I mentioned before I seem to have two varieties of rotala rotundifolia which should be fairly obvious from the picture. The ones that are orange are doing kind of ok, but don't look as robust as the red ones. I planted the orange ones first, and when I first acquired them they had nice big leaves and thick stems. Unfortunately the new growth had pretty poor form; the stems were thin and the leaves became tiny. The red ones are definitely different from the orange ones and have done very well since I acquired them. 

I also decided to try some macrandra green as well. Did think of getting the red ones instead but I guess there's already enough red in the tank.



I'm not sure how the tank will look if and when the macrandra grows in but I do like this plant a fair bit. Hopefully it won't look too bad.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Coming along nicely! I prefer the new look, keep the plants trimmed to maintain this look and you have a winner! 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Coming along nicely! I prefer the new look, keep the plants trimmed to maintain this look and you have a winner!
> 
> Gary


Thank you Gary, this would not have been possible without your guidance. Really appreciated your post telling me to stop changing so many things at once. I will not soon forget that nothing good ever happens fast in this hobby. I would prefer considerably more height in the back to hide at least some of the filter though but I suspect I will be trimming fairly regularly from here on now that the tank has finally started going. 

Also have to thank @cubecrew and @gjcarew, their posts helped me figure some things out, especially @gjcarew's comment on dosing Equilibrium. 

Now that I look back at older pictures it was probably a lack of calcium and poor CO2 levels that lead to the new growth being so weak and unhealthy. Granted, I did replace a fair number of the weaker stems with new plants, but I retained most of the original stems and they have started to put out much healthier and more compact looking growth shortly after I started adding Equilibrium and bumped up the CO2. 

It is still very early days for this tank. It's been set up since April but has only really begun to do well from last week. Still a couple of problems in the tank as well. But with regular maintenance I'm sure things can only get better. 

Next thing to do is to finally get some more livestock. I think stores will soon be allowed to start selling fish and inverts again so I'll definitely be acquiring some dwarf shrimp. @Zoidburg did suggest I try tigers so that's what I'll be looking into, probably in three weeks after the tank has had more time to mature and after the plants have grown denser (they wouldn't stand a chance with 2 sparkling gourami in the tank otherwise). I'd also like to get a few more mid to top dwelling fish because the tank looks very empty with just 2 sparkling gourami. Not sure if I will do rice fish again but we'll see.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

I'm glad the equilibrium is working out!

Just an FYI when I've had sparkling gourami with shrimp none of the babies survived. Sparkling gouramis are proficient little predators.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Patience is a the biggest asset in this hobby, you have reached it. One step at a time and your current tank is a testament to your past struggles. Keep going looking forward to seeing this grow out!

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> I'm glad the equilibrium is working out!
> 
> Just an FYI when I've had sparkling gourami with shrimp none of the babies survived. Sparkling gouramis are proficient little predators.


Yeah, I was expecting that to be the case... I'll take my chances but mmm I don't really expect very good survival rates with those fish in the tank. I'll probably won't add the shrimp until I get more plant mass back there. Will probably not get anything too expensive or flashy either. Something that won't stand out too much would be ideal. Currently I am considering Tangerine Tigers, but i'm not sure how much they go for here in Singapore so we'll see.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Small update. Just wanted to post some pics of the rotala macrandra green and pogostemon helferi. Both seem be be doing well.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Nothing much to update but thought I'd post some pics anyway.

19th June. 



Added some brevibora exilis. I got 5 in total but 1 of them disappeared overnight. I found another one on the floor the next day. I don't think they like this tank very much so I'll be returning the 3 I have left this weekend. Stems have grown noticeably taller since the last update. Most of the rotala were hacked down during maintenance the next day. The nicer tops were replanted.

24th June.



Rotala macrandra green has grown noticeably since the last picture. Will probably need trimming next week. I'm not sure whether I should uproot and throw the bottoms, their leaves are quite big so maybe not a good idea to let it get too bushy. I did cut one of the stems before and it has thrown out a side shoot. Maybe I'll try replacing some of the rotala bangladesh with the macrandra green tops, I really like this plant so would be nice to have more of them. Rotala bangladesh seems to be doing ok. They don't seem to branch from where I trim though, I notice that they somehow prefer to throw out side shoots a few nodes below where I trim. Just went ahead to trim the bare tops that aren't growing any side shoots yesterday. Can't wait for the whole lot to grow back in again.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

If you can, try keeping all the Red Stemmed plants together. When looking at the tank your eyes will immediately focus on this, having it spread out is working but it can really change the look by making a focal point. 

Either way, love this tank, very neat in appearance. 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> If you can, try keeping all the Red Stemmed plants together. When looking at the tank your eyes will immediately focus on this, having it spread out is working but it can really change the look by making a focal point.
> 
> Either way, love this tank, very neat in appearance.
> 
> Gary


Cheers Gary, it took quite a bit of work to get it to this stage and i'm not out of the woods just yet... 

Currently i have all the red stems in the back and on the front left. I might eventually replace all of the regular rotundifolia with the red ones once I have enough cuttings as the regular ones were doing quite poorly for awhile. But they seems to be coming back so we'll see. Having that different shade of red would probably make for a more interesting tank. 

The green stems will stay contained in the front and on the right but I do have to decide if I want to keep the rotala bangladesh or replace it all with macrandra green. I do prefer the macrandra green and has been growing really fast but i'm worried the relatively larger leaves will shade everything below it. That probably is less of a problem with the bangladesh considering how fine their leaves are. We'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. 

I have a lava rock back there that's propping up the wood, so annoyingly I can't plant anything there. Fortunately it doesn't look like there's an obviously empty area from the front so that's not too bad.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Red Plant readjustment will go a long way. I would not change too much, just some minor tweaks. You have it, just need to fine tune some things.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

A huge setback this weekend.

After returning the brevibora yesterday I picked up 5 sundadanio axelrodi thinking they would be perfect for my tank. I realised too late how delicate these things are. 2 of them died shortly after I added the group to the tank. The remaining 3 died overnight. I managed to locate and remove all the bodies (or what was left of them). 

I did think they would do well in this tank. The water is soft and acidic which should be what they like, and the tank is a good size for them. I don't know if these were already in bad shape or something, but this is pretty much the worst thing a fish keeper could experience. As beautiful as these fish are, I don't think I will ever touch them again.

The original inhabitants seem to be doing well so far at least. 

I did a big water change after removing the remains and stared at the tank for a bit. I've decided to on a few things:

1. I will be replacing all the rotala bangladesh with macrandra green, probably during my next maintenance session. The macrandra green has been growing well in this tank, and they are stunning plants. A couple of clippings from my existing ones together with a new pot should be enough. Fortunately the plant store isn't that far away from my office so I can get some after work on Friday.

2. I will eventually get rid of the rotala rotundifolia and replace them all with the red ones. I really don't know why these are so much redder than the regular ones, might be a cultivar of some kind. The shop calls them rotala "blood red". Whatever they are, they grow bigger and quicker than the rotundifolia, and are very red. I won't need to buy new stems because I'll have more than enough clippings for replanting in two weeks, which is nice.

3. After I'm done with the rotala and they have grown in more, i'll start looking into dwarf shrimp. Probably in 2 to 3 weeks. I've more or less decided on tangerine tigers, but we'll see.

4. For fish, I'll go for something like boraras merah, brigittae or maculatus. I really should have gotten them instead of the brevibora and sundadanio in the first place.

5. That said, I'm not actually going to get new fish until I finally set up a "quarantine tank". I don't quarantine my purchases which is really stupid. However I do intend to eventually set up a second cube next to this one. After cycling that one, I'll use it to quarantine the fish before I introduce them to this one. I'll probably start getting stuff for the second cube by the end of the year. It does mean it will be months before I add fish to this tank... but rushing out to buy fish just because shops are allowed to start selling them again was a dumb move which I'm not looking to repeat.

So I guess that's my short term and long term plan for now.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Sorry to hear about your fish. It is disheartening for any serious fishkeeper to lose stock, and so quickly.

Boraras brigittae have always been my favorite (obviously). You can also get away with quite a bit in the tank without over stocking it.

QT'ing is a great idea. Especially into already established tanks. Medications are not plant safe (even though they state they are) and I would never risk losing my Aquascape due to something I could have prevented.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Sorry to hear about your fish. It is disheartening for any serious fishkeeper to lose stock, and so quickly.
> 
> Boraras brigittae have always been my favorite (obviously). You can also get away with quite a bit in the tank without over stocking it.
> 
> ...


Yeah, after losing so many fish in such a short time i'm not going to rush it again. I'd like to keep this scape long term so a couple of months for fish isn't too bad. And the sparkling gourami and corydoras habrosus are already lovely to watch. I'll try my hand at keeping shrimp in here for now instead and hope the gourami don't kill all of them. If the gourami eat all of them then... I guess I could always get more amanos lol.

I think i'm going to start buying stuff for the new tank once we get to October or November so that by middle of December it's cycled. That established tank will serve as my quarantine for this tank.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

I have an extra Fluval EBI/FLORA tank which I use. Simply rinse before using, setup, cycle (I use media from the main tank, hanging a sponge in the main tank to seed helps) and the use. Once done, tear down, bleach clean, rinse and put away.

Make sure you use nets/etc only for the QT and not the main.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> I have an extra Fluval EBI/FLORA tank which I use. Simply rinse before using, setup, cycle (I use media from the main tank, hanging a sponge in the main tank to seed helps) and the use. Once done, tear down, bleach clean, rinse and put away.
> 
> Make sure you use nets/etc only for the QT and not the main.
> 
> Gary


Thanks Gary.

Have some more bad news to report. Just got back home from work and noticed that my sparkling gourami do not seem to be doing well. It's probably something the sundadanio brought with them. One of them appear to be particularly weak. I usually skip feeding every other day but I decided to give them food. Fortunately they were well enough to eat. 

Decided to do an unplanned water change, seemed like a good idea since the gourami are clearly sick. They went into hiding shortly after that.

I've had these sparklers for about a year and I've grown very attached to them. It would really suck it I were to lose them but I probably deserve it. I'll be working from home tomorrow, so will be keeping an eye on them. I have some metro from Seachem on hand but that's about it... I have to work from home tomorrow but I might try and get a bottle of praziquantel or API General Cure tomorrow. There is a fish store that is pretty close to where I'm staying, not my favourite shop but it will work for last minute purchases like this.

Corydoras habrosus are active as always but will be monitoring them as well.

UPDATE: One of the gourami has died. The other appears to be fine, but will be difficult to observe it considering how shy they are. Corydoras appear to be doing fine as well. Will be monitoring the fish for the next couple of weeks. Probably will not be buying new fish for several months. Perhaps some shrimp in 2 weeks.

UPDATE 2: the remaining gourami has become painfully shy. I guess the loss of its tank mate has affected it quite badly. I can see that he's still alive and healthy. It's only the first day but if he continues behaving like this then I guess he just waste away eventually. 

Rehoming probably won't be an option because I just lost fish so who knows what the survivor has got and frankly netting him is nigh impossible unless I remove all the hardscape. Getting more conspecifics isn't an option at the moment because I won't be able to QT it. I guess we'll see what happens in the next couple of days.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Ouch and sosry to hear that. Yes, the perils of not using a QT Tank method for new arrivals. 

I have wiped out entire tanks before i learned that QT Tanks are a vital necessity for future enjoyment of not only our tanks but the hobby as a whole (many people get disheartened due to the massive fish deaths and just give up),

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Ouch and sosry to hear that. Yes, the perils of not using a QT Tank method for new arrivals.
> 
> I have wiped out entire tanks before i learned that QT Tanks are a vital necessity for future enjoyment of not only our tanks but the hobby as a whole (many people get disheartened due to the massive fish deaths and just give up),
> 
> Gary


Sigh, I've been keeping fish for 2 years so I really should have learned about the importance of a QT by now. I think I might have gotten lucky in the past. 

The remaining sparkler doesn't seem to be very happy at the moment. Even though they used to bicker quite a bit I think it's probably wondering where his tank mate has gone. Unfortunately a new tank really isn't on the cards for me right now so not quite sure what to do. Hopefully he gets used to being alone soon.

The corydoras and amano shrimp seem fine at least.

I think I'll get some rotala macrandra green this Friday and plant them over the weekend. Will probably trim and replant my own macrandra greens as well. I trimmed one last weekend and it is putting out 2 new side shoots where I cut it, so it looks like hacking them back and replanting the tops won't hurt them much. Perhaps macrandra green is less finicky than the regular red ones.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Most recent pic



Things seem to be doing ok for the most part.

Staurogyne repens seems to be struggling suddenly and pogostemon helferi looks little overcrowded. Planning to slightly redo this part of the tank. This weekend, will be pulling up the whole lot, getting rid of the s. repens and replanting the pogostemon helferi so that they have more room to grow. 

Pic of the pogostemon and staurogyne


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update!

I decided to remove the s repens and pogostemon helferi on Wednesday instead of waiting for the weekend. Unfortunately I don't think they liked being moved very much, two of the smaller ones melted into mush. The rest seem to be fine fortunately. Trimmed and replanted most of the rotala as well. Here's a pic of the tank today.



I guess it the stems will take 1 to 2 weeks to grow back. Hopefully they grow back in nice and lush.

Also recently ordered a plant rack that arrived this week. Spent yesterday evening setting it up outside my flat and moving the houseplants. Still a work in progress.



I'm not really a huge houseplant guy. My brother recently started showing an interest in houseplants and he ended up getting a couple, which led to us getting the rack. I started with just the zamioculcas zamiifolia and the philodendron hederaceum a while back. The philodendrons are frankly not doing great, especially the Brasil. The one on the bottom right appears to be dying. I suspect that I might have been watering them too much. Hopefully they'll do better outside and with less water.

The most interesting (and expensive) plant on the rack right now is the alocasia 'stingray', which I bought just yesterday. It is super cute so... I hope it doesn't die lol.



Cheers!


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

I love the plant rack! I've had philodendron hederaceum for a while (we call it heart leaf philodendron here). It was growing with the roots in a fish tank for a while, and it didn't really do anything but it also didn't die. It only really took off this summer when I started to let the potting mix dry out.

One things philodendrons LOVE is to climb. I've attached a picture that shows my philodendron hederaceum var. "Micans" after I staked up one shoot. It just took off and has been putting out at least one new leaf per week since then.









Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

gjcarew said:


> I love the plant rack! I've had philodendron hederaceum for a while (we call it heart leaf philodendron here). It was growing with the roots in a fish tank for a while, and it didn't really do anything but it also didn't die. It only really took off this summer when I started to let the potting mix dry out.
> 
> One things philodendrons LOVE is to climb. I've attached a picture that shows my philodendron hederaceum var. "Micans" after I staked up one shoot. It just took off and has been putting out at least one new leaf per week since then.
> 
> ...


Thank you! Your philodendron and wandering jew (is that wandering jew?) look beautiful.

I really like this philodendron in particular so I hope it comes back to life. My Micans is doing ok but definitely could be better. The Brasils are just barely holding on (heck, they might already be dead for all I know).

Every time I see a philodendron hederaceum at the nursery or shop I just really want to get it, especially the Micans variety, but there is always a chance that my current ones suddenly start growing well again so I always hold back. It's so hard to resist though.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Thought I'd share an update. Here's the latest pic of the tank



Recently getting pretty frustrated with the anubias and bucephalandra on the front, especially the ones on the right. I haven't used any glue or anything on this scape and it's worked out well for the most part but the plants on the bottom right have been floating off quite often a lot. The plants there aren't doing very well either, I think they might be under a fair bit of stress since I've had to constantly re-arrange them recently. I think it's probably to do with my poor scaping technique. Perhaps the lava rock on the front is just too big, so there isn't really much space for me to wedge the plants in, plus it's all bits and pieces of plant. I think I might have to look for a smaller lava rock and maybe just replace the whole lot there with 1 large clump of bucephalandra just to make things easier.

BUT overall, it could be worse!

Also forgot to share that I added 15 little shrimp a couple of weeks ago, although truth be told pretty sure I've lost a quite a few of them already. I got neocaridina snowballs. Here's a picture of one of them little guys.



And finally just a pic of rotala macrandra green pearling like crazy



Cheers!


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Very nice. when I originally started with my Buce, I glued them onto the Branches, I have had no issues since. The trimmings, I simply place within the cluster and they attach quite quickly.

Tank is looking nice!

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Very nice. when I originally started with my Buce, I glued them onto the Branches, I have had no issues since. The trimmings, I simply place within the cluster and they attach quite quickly.
> 
> Tank is looking nice!
> 
> Gary


Thanks Gary.

Have to think about how to make the plants more secure there. Glue is an option but I am afraid I'll make a huge mess of it. Personally I am considering just wedging even more plants in there so that they just hold each other down. Guess we'll see what happens hahaha.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

That will work as well. Usually the wedging method works with greater density so you are on the right track.

Just a little dab of glue at the base will work. Apply a bit of pressure for a minute (at this moment, your nose gets itchy and most likely you have to use the restroom) and voila! 

The stories I can tell about myself and adhesives... 

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update! Here's a pic of the tank today



It looks like there is a lot of CO2 in the tank, i'm not sure if it's too much but the fish and shrimp don't seem to be affected at all so I probably won't mess with the regulator from here. 

I bought a few more bucephalandra to fill in the bottom right. With the amount of plants in there I don't think they will be floating off so soon. It is a huge pain the ass rearranging them when they float off so I won't be touching those plants except to trim. Hopefully I won't dislodge them by accident when I do that.

I also got a couple stems of ludwigia ovalis pink awhile back. They aren't very pink in my tank, but still pretty.



I notice that the rotala are definitely not as red as when I first acquired them. I don't mind it that much, but perhaps I should cut back on ferts if I want them to go red again. Might start adjusting the dosing next week and see what happens for a while.

Some GSA, staghorn and bba here and there, mostly on the bucephalandra. I hate trimming their beautiful leaves but I guess it has to be done :/

Thanks for reading!


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## irishspy (Oct 22, 2007)

Looks pretty, in my opinion. Regarding red plants, there was an interesting video recently you might find useful:


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## Sean09 (Jan 3, 2018)

Looking good! I think that it will look even better when the background plants grow in. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but what are those little cube things on the left?


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Sean09 said:


> Looking good! I think that it will look even better when the background plants grow in. Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but what are those little cube things on the left?


I think those are for shrimp to hide in. I don't really have them in there for any particular reason though, the shrimp hardly use them. My brother likes them so I leave them in there. They've been there for a while so removing them from the tank makes it look weird for some reason lol.



irishspy said:


> Looks pretty, in my opinion. Regarding red plants, there was an interesting video recently you might find useful:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x61UHETAcMA


Thanks for sharing that, will watch it once the work day ends.

But I'm guessing that I could probably get the deeper reds and pinks by increasing the intensity of the red bulbs and dosing less nitrates. The fertiliser I'm currently using comes with a version that has no nitrates in it, so I could get a bottle of that and try dosing both, but I'll have to think about whether I really want to spend the money. At the moment my plants aren't very red at all. Even the rotala that started off a very lovely red have grown more orange over time. But i'm pretty happy as long as they are healthy and relatively algae free.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

That was a good video, worth checking out. Modified my spectra last night.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Short update, not a very good one.

Lost a corydoras just now. Noticed that it was lying upside down completely motionless on the front, entire body was pale as a sheet. Swam erratically when I moved it to a separate bucket then lay on its side completely still. Didn't see any breathing or movement after that.

There was a corydoras that jumped, probably two weeks ago. It was rescued pretty quickly and returned to the tank, but I have a feeling that the jump was probably what caused this. 

Everything else is doing fine, thankfully.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

I believe that Corydoras is on the way out. You may want to consider euthanizing it and making the end quick.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> I believe that Corydoras is on the way out. You may want to consider euthanizing it and making the end quick.
> 
> Gary


Yeah, I did euthanize it... was a fairly easy decision. Sucks to lose fish though.

Something similar happened in my low tech 2 ft tank when I randomly lost one of my corydoras sterbai. It was completely fine before I went out, but found it stuck to the filter intake when I got home. 

I guess fish can sometimes die for almost no reason at all.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Yes it does. Sadly, that it something we have all faced in the past and will as long we are in the hobby. Still a drag though.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Weekly maintenance done. Not much, just cleaned the glass and light trimming.

I didn't realise how weak the rotala macrandra bottoms were getting. Uprooted a couple and kept the healthy tops. I'll have to let the rest grow out a bit more before I can uproot and cut the bottoms. 

The tank has been feeling really empty recently. There aren't a lot of livestock in here at all. The lone sparkling gourami's behaviour has really changed since it lost its companion and feeding him has become a huge pain. I think I might have to get 1 or 2 more sparklers soon...

Anyway, latest picture of the tank. Not much has changed since the previous picture though.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

It does look a little empty in there. Remember to QT all new fish BEFORE putting them into the main tank. It's a pain but saves a whole lot of heartache down the road.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> It does look a little empty in there. Remember to QT all new fish BEFORE putting them into the main tank. It's a pain but saves a whole lot of heartache down the road.
> 
> Gary


Sigh, I still don't have another tank to quarantine in. I could keep new fish in a bucket, but i'll have to get a new sponge filter and air pump for that. 

Maybe i'll see if any local fish keepers would be willing to quarantine fish for me hahaha.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

That's not actually a bad idea. I am sure you know many fish keepers in the area. Better to error on the side of caution than have a tank extinction event.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> That's not actually a bad idea. I am sure you know many fish keepers in the area. Better to error on the side of caution than have a tank extinction event.
> 
> Gary


Yeah, I managed to get a nano tank and internal filter for cheap from a local fish keeper here. I'll probably set it up and QT some fish this weekend!


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

It is an extra hassle but one that is totally worth it.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Current situation



Things are ok. Rotala will need a trim very soon.

The bottoms of the rotala macrandra green are starting to deteriorate again. I just trimmed them but I'll probably let them run wild for 2 to 3 weeks and then uproot the whole lot and keep just some of the healthy tops.

In other news, finally have the quarantine tank set up. Two sparkling gourami are in fish jail atm, here they are:



Only have them for a week, they have coloured up somewhat but are still very dull. Some damage on their ventral fins as well, one of them seem to be missing a ventral fin entirely but it should grow back eventually if it's not a genetic defect. Other than that, they seem pretty healthy and are eating very well. The gourami in the cube has claimed a small area of the tank under the driftwood as its own and has started to attack the corydoras when they get too close. Not really something that I wanted to see. I'm hoping that when the two new gourami get added to the tank the corydoras will be left alone.

Thinking of getting a couple more corydoras habrosus for the cube, so the qt will be running for awhile longer after I get these gourami out. After that I'll probably get myself a nice nano tank and set up a low tech! Looking forward to that, I might finally have something to house some boraras brigittae in.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Tank is evolving rather nicely!

Gourami, for being nice fish, are semi-aggressive. More conspecifics should keep their attention on only themselves as opposed to your Corydoras. For stock, what do you have in your display tank (including amount)?

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Tank is evolving rather nicely!
> 
> Gourami, for being nice fish, are semi-aggressive. More conspecifics should keep their attention on only themselves as opposed to your Corydoras. For stock, what do you have in your display tank (including amount)?
> 
> Gary


Thank you Gary! Bucephalandra are covered in algae though :/ 

Currently there is 1 sparkling gourami and 3 corydoras habrosus. So eventually there will be 3 sparkling gourami in total. I hope they leave the corydoras alone and bicker amongst themselves. Decided on 3 rather than just 2 as I noticed when my original pair were still both alive that the more dominant 1 would terrorise the other whenever it got too close. Thinking that 3 would spread the aggression out a bit. 

For the corydoras, thinking of adding 2 more habrosus in there eventually so 5 in total. Not sure if that will be quite a heavy bioload though.

EDIT: Gotta say I'm glad I got the quarantine tank. Have been thinking of increasing my group of ember tetras and getting more corydoras in my low tech for a while now.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Treat Algae like a weed, remove it when you can. Spot dosing with Excel (algae dependent) can sometimes halt it's progress as well.

QT is the best method, now you understand why. Good job.

Fish wise, I think you need to boost the schools of C.hasbrosus. Being a small group at least 5 would be preferable. Get two more. Remember to QT your new fish.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Treat Algae like a weed, remove it when you can. Spot dosing with Excel (algae dependent) can sometimes halt it's progress as well.
> 
> QT is the best method, now you understand why. Good job.
> 
> ...


I have a bit of BBA which Excel will help with! Not sure what to do about green spot algae other than removing the affect leaves though.

Definitely going to get 2 more corydoras habrosus after the sparklers finish their QT.


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Small update on the tank. Removed the ludwigia ovalis since it wasn't doing great in my tank and planted rotala cuttings in its place. I really should trim and shape the rotala but just can't bear to do it.

Pogostemon helferi which was doing so well has slowly started to die off. Only left with 1 plant. I think I might remove it and try planting blyxa japonica in its place. Will probably need to add a bit more aquasoil to the back corner first.

Also, just noticed that I actually still have some BGA in the tank, which is a huge bummer. I think it's actually in the sand, so i'll probably siphon up most of it during my next water change.

And a picture of the tank today to end this post off:


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

BGA hates water movement. Increase flow in that area, and it should disappear and not return. Of course, remove what you can

Still a wonderful little tank and keep those updates coming...

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Hello all! Thought I'd share an update on what I did to the tank over the weekend. 

Picked up some blyxa japonica from the aquatic plant store close to my office last Friday after work. It's a pretty popular store for aquascapers and aquatic plant keepers in Singapore, pretty glad it's within walking distance from where I work. Removed the last pogostemon helferi and added a couple handfuls of fresh aquasoil to replenish it a little since I typically end up siphoning some of it during water changes by accident. Also figured that I would have an easier time planting with a deeper bed of aquasoil. Hoping I won't get too much of an ammonia spike since it is a fully cycled tank.

The blyxa had some pretty crazy roots so I cut them back to make planting a little more manageable. I bought three plants but there were a bunch of sideshoots on each plant so I tried dividing them. Could probably have gotten lots of plantlets if I had gone further but I decided to plant them instead after dividing 2 additional plants. They have been in there for about two days now and I really hope that they don't die on me. I don't really have very high light on this tank but I'm hoping it's bright enough for them. @Crazygar, what can I do to get my blyxa to look like yours?

Right now I think the rotala needs a lot of work... I'll probably let them go wild for 1 or 2 weeks before hacking them back, try to shape it a little and replant the cuttings.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot to post a picture! 



Cheers!


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Light, CO2, nutrients and water flow. Your Blyxa will thrive in those conditions. Be patient, at first it seems to have an adaption period but once this is complete and the conditions are right, you will be offloading daughter plants to friends, family, neighbors down the street.

Where you are planting your Blyxa, is is deep enough for a good root system to take hold? Very important.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Crazygar said:


> Light, CO2, nutrients and water flow. Your Blyxa will thrive in those conditions. Be patient, at first it seems to have an adaption period but once this is complete and the conditions are right, you will be offloading daughter plants to friends, family, neighbors down the street.
> 
> Where you are planting your Blyxa, is is deep enough for a good root system to take hold? Very important.
> 
> Gary


Thanks Gary. A closer look at where I've planted them:





Hopefully that's deep enough for them.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

Looks good, just let them be and give them some time to adapt.

Gary


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

Update! Been awhile

All doing largely ok. BBA here and there which I treat with Excel every so often. I have some on the filter intake sponge though, not so sure what to do about that.

Blyxa doing fine since planting which is nice. Gave the rotala a fairly large trim not too long ago and have to wait for it to grow back. Saw a bit of algae on the glass today which I wiped away, thinking that nutrient uptake slowed down a little because of the trim.

One of my sparklers got pretty beat up recently so I put the breeder box in the tank and isolated him. I'll keep him in there until his fins heal fully, thinking I might leave him there until he grows a little bigger too so that he won't get beat up again.

Bought two corydoras habrosus two weeks ago which are in quarantine at the moment. Noticed one of my existing ones swimming weird so I moved that one to quarantine at the same time as the new ones. Today though noticed the original one basically lying upside down and moving occasionally. Figured it was time so I euthanised it with some clove oil. Sucks to lose fish but I have gotten used to it by now... anyone who keeps fish should expect to lose some every now and then.

Anyway, here's a recent picture after the trim:



Hoping it will grow back nicely in two weeks.


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