# 30g low tech Journal: LLLLOOOONNNNNG overdue update, with PICS!



## Karackle

so (sorry still no pics) but i did do a little research and i think I have Crypt Lutea (it looks like Wendtii but the leaves are "waffly"?) if that comes in a red or have red stems. Pics later 

And the bulb is a t12 color max 24" which i think is only 20watts? Any ideas where this puts me in terms of lighting? Loooowww right?


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## mizu-chan

Hey can't wait to see this tank. Sound like you have pretty much everything worked out. :biggrin:
As for the lighting... 20W over a 30g is very low light. That's like .67W/g. I don't know what you can grow in there except java moss, java fern, and other plants of that nature. If you have Crypt Lutea then I'm pretty sure those are moderate light.
But I'm not an expert so anyone who needs to correct me feel free. :hihi:


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## Karackle

Well, whatever the plants are that I think might be crypt lutea have been living in this tank and flourishing, but I definitely am going to need more light (despite the fact that everything grows like weeds in my 20g with a measly .75wpg ) But I bought a glass canopy to switch out the hood for to get more ambient light in the tank, but *mizu-chan* i think I'm going to take a page out of your book and do some clip-on lights with CF bulbs until I can afford a bigger strip-light. The one that came with it is only 24" long and the bulb doesn't even span the whole length so the edges of the tank are definitely in shadow.....I did find some nice wood and stones in my friends yard though. 

I promise updates with pictures after I eat dinner and as I go with the 'scaping  If my friend hasn't dropped my camera back off by the time dinner is over, i'll snap the first few shots with my cell phone


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## mizu-chan

Cool cool. I'll be waiting then 
But yeah go ahead with the lighting. I'm actually extremely happy with it. Since I upgraded to those bulbs yesterday I can defiantly see a difference in height of my plants just from today.


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## Karackle

Ok here (finally) are a couple pics before i get to work  
(please excuse the floating and unplaced plants that i stuck in there while i was eating dinner, and the piece of airline tubing that's being used to drip acclimate my pygmy cories ) 



















As you can see it needs a background (which i got today) and more hardscape are the big things. Clearly it needs more light and plants as well. Don't have the extra lights yet, but I did pick up a glass canopy to hopefully let some extra ambient light in for the time being. 

Off to do some of that all now! Will post updated pics soon!


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## mizu-chan

Looking great :thumbsup:
I really love that big rock. A few more of the same kind would look really nice.
Love how dark your substrate is too. 
Subscribed! I want to see this tank progress and become freakin' awesome. :hihi:


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## Karackle

chugging along here, got some moss tied onto my driftwood and more hardscape in place so i thought i'd post a couple pictures


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## Karackle

Thanks *mizu-chan*! I love the large rock too, not sure where my friend's mom got it from, but if I can find one similar i would love to add another


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## SeaSerpant

Are you going to put moss on that rock, i think that'd look nice.


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## Tex Gal

Did you test the rock to make sure it didn't have any lime? It needs to be an inert rock so it won't change your pH. It looks like the white rock laying down is limestone. 

You're off to a good start. You just need more plants......


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## Karackle

Another quick update, rearranged the plants that were already in there and planted the new ones. Just need to add the black background and put on the glass canopy and then I think i'm done for tonight. Here's what it looks like so far: 



















Also, I have this nice piece of slate that I was thinking I could use, but I'm not sure if it would look good anywhere, thoughts? Here's the piece: 



















will reply to comments when i make my last post of the evening, want to keep going here


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## Karackle

ok this is all I can do for tonight, i think it's coming along ok. Definitely needs some more light and something in the left corner I think....maybe not when it grows in, but I think so. 

Ok FTshots



















Left (from straight ahead)









Center (from straight ahead)









Right (from straight ahead)









And from a slightly above angle (more they way you'd see it looking at the tank) 

Left









Right









Enjoy! Any and all comments, suggestions etc. etc. are more than welcome.

I couldn't get a good shot of the cories (6 pygmy cories are the only inhabitants thus far) but i'll keep trying 

Ok now I will read / re-read the comments made thus far and comment momentarily


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## Karackle

mizu-chan - thanks, yeah i'm digging the substrate too! I wanted to try black this time, it's about 50/50 eco-complete and black aquarium gravel  

SeaSerpent - I've been flipping back and forth on the moss idea on the large rock, on the one hand I think it would look lovely, on the other hand, it'd cover up the lovely caves and crevices in the rock so i haven't decided, don't have the extra moss at the moment (it went to the DW that i definitely wanted moss covered ) so i'll think about it.

Tex Gal - The rocks are inert, the tall one lace rock, large one laying down is slate and the rest are also inert though i'm not sure what they are, no worries!  And thanks for the compliment, definitely still needs some more plants though!


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## Karackle

My cories were simply ZOOMING around the tank this morning! They must be loving all the space to swim after being cooped up in a small QT tank for weeks. But a few of them stayed still long enough for me to get a couple semi-decent shots. Not great, but what's a girl to do? 



















Enjoy!


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## mizu-chan

Ahh they are so cute 
About how big are yours?


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## SeaSerpant

I like your cories  what kind are they? You could also just put moss on the top of the rock and pull all the moss that creeps onto the caves.


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## Karackle

Mizu-chan - yeah, i think they're flipping adorable little things. They're tiny, i'd say about 1/2 inch

SeaSerpant - Thanks! They are pygmy cories (corydoras pygmaeus) and they're TINY i love them. Yes, I was thinking about putting moss on top, i think it could look cool, moss "curtains" in front of some of the little caves could be neat too if i get the right kind of moss that would "drape" that way.


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## Karackle

I updated the first post with all the tank parameters.

I need help with stocking options. Here's what I am thinking:

- Pygmy cories (already in there)
- Sparkling gouramies (2? 3? how do these do in groups?)
- Ember Tetras (~15?)
- Phoenix rasboras (boraras merah)
and/or
Chili rasboras (boraras brigittae)
- few otos 
- 1-2 Bamboo shrimp 

Thoughts on the stocking? 

Will the 2 rasbora speices school together? If so I'm thinking like 7-8 of each, if not then 15 of one of them

How will the bamboo shrimp do with that stocking? I know they require a bit of special care, I researched them quite a bit before but didn't have a good place for them to hang out near a current in my 20g, but I have a nice piece of driftwood right near the filter outflow in this tank so i'm thinking it could work. Will they push my bioload over the limit though? 

Any and all input, comments, suggestions, concerns, etc. will be appreciated! Thanks!!!


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## Karackle

Any aquascaping thoughts for me? Or anything else? 

I called around and one of my LFS has a couple sparkling gouramies so they're on hold for me and I'm picking them up today!


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## Karackle

Well there was some miscommunication and I only got 1 Sparkling Gourami, but it sounds like they're peaceful enough that being in a heavily planted tank I should be ok adding more later. If it becomes a problem I'll put them in the 5.5g, but from what I've researched, they'll flare at each other but don't attack the way most other labyrinth fish do. 

I also got me a bamboo shrimp! The guy at the store picked me out the prettiest one  Within 5 minutes of going in the tank, he was still sitting on the underside of a branch of driftwood, but he had his fans out sifting the water for food :-D

They were hiding a little but the bamboo shrimp cooperated for a picture....at least better than the sparkler  Enjoy!

Bamboo shrimp: 


















Gourami (not the greatest pictures, had to use the flash, but better than nothing ):


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## mizu-chan

Great picture of the bamboo shrimp! Your little gourami looks so shy. 
Have you decided what schooling fish you're putting in? I really love Chili rasboras but thats just me. Great progress so far!


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## Karackle

Thanks! The bamboo shrimp is really fun to watch. He's much different than anyone i've had in my tanks. The gourami is definitely shy, but I think once I get some school fish they'll act like dither fish and coax him out, i hope. Once i get a couple more of them in that might help a little too. For the schooling fish I think I'm going to go with like 15 ember tetras and either 15 chili or 15 phoenix rasboras, or possibly 8 of each.


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## mizu-chan

It would look really cool if you mixed the 8 and 8. Lots of variety and movement.


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## Karackle

That's what I was thinking too, especially if they school together. If the chances are that they won't school together, i don't know if it'll be enough of each?


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## mizu-chan

Yeah. I think they only need about 7 to school.


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## Karackle

Yeah, I'm liking the idea of getting both kinds I think. 

Well my bamboo shrimp continues to wander about the aquarium doing his thing. I've got some fry food that i mix with water and squirt into the filter outflow to make sure there's enough food for him in the tank since it's rather new, but he seems to like going around picking things out of the moss and things too. 

The gourami was out and about this morning while I was getting ready to go to work, so it looks like s/he'd getting a little bolder which is good! I hoping the addition of schoolers will help bring the little guy (or girl) out even more! 

Haven't added anything else to the tank yet, but hte Wisteria has already grown about an inch, it's in a would-be dark corner of the tank, but it gets some sun coming in from the window next to the tank. All the plants so far look happy and healthy, and the baby crypts seem to be growing. The larger crypts haven't melted yet, but have actually perked up nicely. I was expecting meltage in the new environment, but haven't seen it yet. Hopefully they'll continue to adjust without melting.


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## Karackle

Just wanted to post a quick mostly pictorial update of the tank, I managed to get some great shots of the shrimpy-do (that's what i've taken to calling him :hihi: :tongue 

Hanging out: 


















Feeding (fans out) with flash:


















without flash:









Managed to snap a couple decent cory pics:









Hiding under the ledge facing the back of the tank made by the large piece of slate in the front of the tank:









And I my little gourami is getting slowly less shy, managed to get 2 blurry ones that show his sparkly colors:


















And one pretty clear one that doesn't show the sparkles as much:









Enjoy!


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## Karackle

And just another quick note, the silent cycle I was aiming for has been going well so far. I've had barely readable amounts of ammonia and nitrIte occasionally, but so far nothing over 0.25 (the lowest number readable by the liquid test kits) which i've only seen every other day or so IF that.


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## chase127

if you want a good tight school be sure to add a predator. maybe a pair of rams or angels. it seems every one is going nano fish :hihi:


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## mizu-chan

I'm am really in love with that Bamboo Shrimp you have. It's so cool, plus the pics are great :thumbsup:
And your Cories are so small and cute. I went everywhere looking for these guys, but I think I'm going to order some off aqua-bid or something. 

All of your inhabitants are so nice.


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## chase127

mizu-chan said:


> I'm am really in love with that Bamboo Shrimp you have. It's so cool, plus the pics are great :thumbsup:
> And your Cories are so small and cute. I went everywhere looking for these guys, but I think I'm going to order some off aqua-bid or something.
> 
> All of your inhabitants are so nice.


www.boxlotfish.com has some for pretty cheap(55 cents each i think??). idk how much shipping to texas is but its $7 for floridians  they also have a bunch of other cool fish too.


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## Karackle

Yeah i'm totally in love with the bamboo shrimp, he's really interesting to watch, i love it!!! And he's so cute too! I'm actually rather in love with all of the fish in the tank as well. The cories are adorable and so full of life, they zoom all over the tank, SO much more active in the 30g than in their ~3g QT tank! And I love the sparkling gourami, I'm so glad he's out and about more. He's a gorgeous little critter, i haven't gotten a picture that does him justice yet, i'll keep trying! Thanks for the compliments! 

*edit* I'd be careful with boxlotfish.com, lauraleellbp didn't have much luck with the corydoras hastatus she ordered from them, they sent her habrosus not hastatus and they all died within 24h i think (she wrote about it in her 90g journal) so I'd be careful with them. She got more Otos than she ordered and most of them were healthy though so i guess that place is a toss up. But yeah it took me a while to find these guys, found them labeled as Hastatus at one of my LPS that i don't usually go to because it's a bit farther away. I discovered they were actually Corydoras pygmaeus, but I was happy either way, they're still teeny tiny cories!  heehee


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## chase127

i never knew how that order of hers turned out. i think i zoned off in the middle of her thread...  

so are what miracle plants are you gona put in here that survive less than 1WPG LOL? you do so much with stock fixtures!


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## Karackle

hahaha well thanks, i appreciate that, it's a lot of luck i think! :icon_roll:tongue::icon_eek::fish: Everything I grow in my 20g is grown in less than 1wpg! I do plan on getting more light for this tank as soon as I can though because the ends are quite dark. For the moment though, the right side of the tank gets some supplemental sunlight (very indirectly) from the window it's next to, and the left side is getting light from the spiral CF in a desk lamp I set up for the Betta QT tank so we'll see what happens! So far the Wisteria behind the large rock has already grown, the moss actually already seems to be branching out slightly, and the cabomba, anubias, "filligree frill" and crypt species are looking good, not melting yet, and a bit of root growth from the stems. Sow we'll see what happens!


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## Karackle

Chris127 - sorry, i missed your post earlier about adding a predator. Someone else (in this thread) suggested getting Rams too. My water might be too basic for them, and I'm not sure how i'll be in terms of Bio-load once I get everyone I want in there though? However, GBRs are quite beautiful fish, so maybe. But i'm not sure how the gouramies would get along with them?


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## Karackle

Quick update: everyone seems to be doing well still, the gourami is out and about a lot more, sometimes he even plays in the bubble wall! Shrimpy-do continues to wander around doin' his thing too  

Some pictures for your enjoyment (or mine?....either way )

Cories:

Can you find the cory?









he's hiding :hihi:









under the rock ledge:









And I finally got a decent picture of Mr. Gourami:


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## Karackle

Almost forgot new FTS (i don't think much has changed but it's harder to tell when you stare at it every day )


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## mizu-chan

Great update! Tank is looking really nice. Moss seems to be thickening really nicely on your DW.
I think I love this journal so much because you always update with nice pictures, and something new almost every other day.


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## Karackle

Mizu-Chan: Thanks! Yeah, I'm actually really happy with how the moss is growing in, i think it helped that I pulled loose moss off of the DW in my 20g, so it was already starting to do it's growing thing!  The Cabomba and wisteria have also grown a couple inches, both are hard to see in these pictures, espeically the Wisteria which is hiding behind the rock, so i'm happy about that as well  

And thanks for the compliment on the journal Mizu-chan! I'm a bit excited about this tank if you couldn't tell! It's the first one i've really thought a lot about in advance, first one with more than just aquarium gravel as the substrate and all of that good stuff!  And i'm a little bit obsessed with the fauna in the tank :hihi: the gourami is gorgeous and cute, the cories are _adorable_ and the shrimp is just really frickin cool!!! So i'm a little camera happy with this journal :hihi:


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## Karackle

Ok, I've been looking at my tank and aside from needing more plants (and not knowing what all of those will be) I think I need more hardscape and ideas for plants. There are three specific areas that look quite empty to me, i've made a picture showing where i think I need more stuff and I would love any input on what I should put there and/or rearrange. I just received some more plants specifically: 
"Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' - few stems
Hygrophila difformis wisteria - couple stems
Asian Ambulia - bunch of these
Java moss (I think) - clump (about the size of a golf ball)"
from the trading forward thread so I have those I can add to the tank as well. 

ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks!


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## Nicholas89

I would take all of your branching pieces of wood and bundle them together so they look like they are coming from the same structure. (Tie them together, silicon, something)

I would then probably move the branching bundle directly to the left of the large rock, towards the back. Then fill in some of the area with smaller rocks, preferably more lack rock (or whatever that large one is). 

Then stick all of the crypts from the left side of the tank around the rocks and wood structure, towards the front of it. 

Then take all of your stem plants and plant them in and around the back of the wood, and move your sword from the center to the right corner, behind the large rock, but more towards the front of it then in the center. 

Now it's 1/3rd aquascaped.  

Hope that may have helped.


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## Karackle

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely keep them in mind when I rescape!

Please keep the suggestions coming!

THANKS!


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## lauraleellbp

You ever read through the blog at www.aquatic-eden.com? Some really nice scaping tips in that one. :thumbsup:


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## Karackle

No I've never seen that, thanks I'll definitely take a look at it!


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## Karackle

So I was reading about the "golden rule" of aquascaping (and most art forms) where the focal point is at the 1:1.6 ratio spot and I'm thinking about all my tanks and I think that's about where I gravitate to what is pleasing to my eye....my DW pieces in both other tanks are right around that point and my rock/DW formation is right around there too in this tank. Now I'm curious how close I really am to that point, I'll have to measure when I get home! 

Anyway.....there's some good tips in there, but I could still use so more tips based on the pictures if anyone has any!  Thanks!


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## skoorbza

I might add 2 more sm/med lace rocks to the front left of the large rock. That would encroach a bit into the blank central area, but would still allow swim room. I think a plant here would hide this beautiful stone. For the back left corner, shift the crypt (I think it is) to allow for a feathery plant (cabomba?) behind a sword. Go for contrasting foliage colors.

I think that would assist the balance w/o a rescape.


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## Karackle

skoorbza - thanks for the suggestions! I don't have a sword, but did you mean simply shift the crypts (yes that's what they are) forward and put cabomba (or other feathey plant) behind them? I think I will definitely try to find some more lace rock as well. I have a few more pieces of wood I found and I want to rearrange the piece that is sort of sticking into nowhere, but the rest should be quite doable without a major rescape, i think you're right. 

Thanks!


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## skoorbza

Mmm. I had meant for you to acquire a sword wink: ), but the crypts might grow into the job nicely, with no need for added expense.

Keep us updated!! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

hahaha oooohhhh I see......i think i'm a little confused as to what you meant then.:icon_redf :tongue: I might consider a sword, I have that giant anubias in there at the moment that could probably sub in for one for now? Or go somewhere else. I don't know. It might not take over the tank as quickly as a sword either (from what i hear they grow BIG and FAST) anubias might also stand up to my ridiculously low lighting a little better. :hihi: but i don't know....i'll definitely keep updated either way

I've been extremely busy this week....found some more rocks and a couple pieces of DW that I want to add, still need some more lace rock i think but i haven't had a chance to get to the LFS that i think has it....sigh....

My ember tetras and Boraras brigittae should be arriving tomorrow or friday so I want to get the scaping done sooner rather than later :biggrin: 

hopefully I'll have some picture-type updates a bit later!


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Karackle said:


>


Yellow would look good with a piece of branching Manzanita DW.

Red maybe Dwarf Sag? That will spread quickly and make a nice grassy look.

Turquoise more plants. Maybe Rotala Rotundifolia or another stem plant?

Nice looking tankroud: Still like the bubble curtain?


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## Karackle

Zoo - thanks for the suggestions and compliment! Will dwarf sag grow in really low light? A grassy looking plant would be awesome, and yeah I was thinking of some stem plant in the turqoise area too. i love the look of the rock so i don't want to cover too much of it though, but i guess i could just keep it trimmed short :thumbsup: 

Well I didn't get as much done last night as I wanted to, but I added some branches to the straight piece of DW (took longer than planned) and added moss to cover the joints and branches. So here are some pictures of that (sorry they're a bit blurry): 




























Right side of the tank: 









An (almost) FTS:









I also found a few more rocks yesterday that I think I'll incorporate with some small branches of Manzanita (thanks for that suggestion Zoo, I like it!) I have in the back left corner

rocks soaking in dechlorinator after a good scrubbing and soak in bleach:









And I saw these two guys hanging out in the corner and had to take a picture, they're so cute! :hihi: 

My gourami and one of the pygmy cories are buddies apparently! :biggrin::









Any more input/suggestions is more than welcome!


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## Karackle

Oh Also, Zoo - yeah i love my bubble walls! When you're not adding CO2 I think they really help, it's one of the few explanations I can think of as to why I get such good growth in such low light in my tanks? And I like the look! 

That said, this one is a little out of control, the pump is a bit strong, i think i need to add a nozzle and turn it down a bit


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Yes Dwarf Sag will grow in low light, though it may not stay as "dwarf" as expected There's also E. Tennelus or Lilaeopsis brasiliensis.


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## Karackle

Well I just got back from my LFS with some Dwarf Sag that's rather tall (thanks for the suggestion Zoo, I think it'll look good in that spot even if it IS tall....I can always switch it out for the e. tennellus that's in my 5g which has it's longer leaves dying off and the new growth is shorter...so either way i'll end up with some grassy looking plant in that huge empty foreground area, and probably a bit more lace rock (thanks for the suggestion Skoorbza) with the "grass" planted around it. 

I also got an Amazon Sword (again thanks for the suggestion Skoorbza, i figured I'd try it! :biggrin: :hihi I think i'll move the large Anubias to my 20g which is in need of something and try the Amazon! 

I also got some more moss.....it was labeled "Willow moss" but looks fairly similar to the Java moss I've gotten from members on this forum, whereas the Java Moss at my LFS looks totally different....so....i have no idea what it is :icon_lol: and now I can't decide where to put it. I was originally thinking I'd put it on the large slate-looking rock in front of the DW, but now I'm wondering if that would be too much moss all in one area? Let me know what you think! 

Ok I'm off to crack open a beer (one of my top three favorite planting tools :hihi: [and don't worry, yes I'm legal to drink, I'm 25 ]) Scrub some lace rock and git to gittin' :biggrin: 

Will post some updates later!


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## Karackle

ok got my lace rock cleaned, thought i'd post pics while i ate a bite of dinner  

Here they all are: 









And individual shots:

Biggest/most interesting:


















next largest/most interesting:









the small one:









and the last 2 which aren't very interesting:









so I'm thinking I'll put the more interesting rocks, at least the 2 largest ones in front of the BIG lace rock with some dwarf Sag mixed in. Then I think i'll put some moss on the less interesting ones and put them, and maybe the smaller interesting one, in the back corner with a bright green stem plant and the bronze wendtii around them. Then I'm thinking I'll put the Sword in the center of the "V" that the DW makes with some of the purple cabomba behind it or on either side of it. and then some other stems to the left of the large piece of lace rock. I think I'll put some moss on the top of the large piece of lace rock too. Well, that's how it looks good in my head anyway. We'll see how it looks in real life


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## skoorbza

Sounds lovely; looking forward to seeing it!


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## Karackle

Well I'm really starting to like how this is coming together! I ended up not using any DW in the left back corner...I'm going to wait and see how the Asian ambulia and crypts grow in and then decide if I need it, I think with the rocks I won't need it. I took a bunch of the beautiful bronze/red crypts that were in the corner and scattered them around the tank more to mix in some color. I also incorporated some Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' for a bit of a different color, with it's lighter green and rose highlights I think it'll add a nice touch when it grows in, I put some on the left between the Asian ambulia and the Purple cabomba and some on the right in front of the "filligree frill" (still need to find out just what that is) and behind the dwarf sag. 

Here's a quick FTS and a left and a right....i'm going to put a little more moss on the DW and cut the dead leaves off my Wisteria and then replant that behind the large rock where the fishies love to hide in it and then I'll post (hahaha when I first tried to type "post" i wrote "plant"...:hihi better pictures! 

FTS: 









Left:









Right:









enjoy!


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## Karackle

I'm really happy with how the tank came out! I may have gone a LITTLE over-board on wrapping the DW in moss but I think I kinda like it :hihi: 

I did make one error though - i left the wisteria out of water longer than I should have waiting to get dead leaves trimmed off
:iamwithst ...I hope it bounces back! I had really healthy portions from my own tanks and from what I got from the trading forward thread, lots of well-rooted portions so my hopes are high that it will bounce back. Here's hoping anyway! 

ANYWAY here are some pictures (i turned off the bubble wall for pictures so the plants stand out better)!

Left side:









Center:









Right Side:









Close-up left corner:








_there're some holes in a couple of the leaves, but they've been there since i put the plants in and they haven't melted so I figure I can leave them?_

Close-up right side in front of large piece of lace rock:









And of course, Full Tank Shot:









Let me know what you think! I know I said I like it, but I'm open to criticism (constructive please) suggestions comments questions etc. etc. etc. All feedback welcome (as long as you're nice about it! :hihi::icon_wink )

*edit* please note....I know the ends are dark, during the day the right side gets some indirect sunlight and the left side gets light from the Spiral CF desk lamp that provides light for my Betta. I DO plan on upgrading the lighting though....I'll have the $ to afford the proper length strip-light soon so i've been lax about getting clip-lights because then what will i do with them? though....if i get a new strip-light what will i do with this one? LOL....well i'll figure it all out...


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## melonz

Looking good! Can't wait to see everything fill in! Good job with the scape


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## Karackle

melonz - Thanks so much! And thanks again for the plants, they added some much needed different shades of color and were just the finishing touch I think i needed!


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Karackle said:


> Oh Also, Zoo - yeah i love my bubble walls! When you're not adding CO2 I think they really help, it's one of the few explanations I can think of as to why I get such good growth in such low light in my tanks? And I like the look!
> 
> That said, this one is a little out of control, the pump is a bit strong, i think i need to add a nozzle and turn it down a bit





Karackle said:


> ANYWAY here are some pictures (i turned off the bubble wall for pictures so the plants stand out better)!


I forgot to mention, you should have gotten an adjustable gang valve when you were at the LFS


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## Karackle

*Fish Arrived!*

WAHOO! MY FISH ARRIVED TODAY! 

I got my 15 boraras brigittae and 15 ember tetras today! And BOY ARE THEY *TINY!* I'm so happy, they were well packed and no DOAs! (thanks *milalic!* One of them got a little bit stuck in the bag while I was dumping them into the container for drip-acclimation, so I hope he's ok! Anyway they're a bit pale right now so i'm not even sure who's who :hihi: but they're currently drip-acclimating! YAY! :biggrin: 

Here's some pictures: 

Well packed with a foam lined box in breather bags and newspaper padding:









Group one (i think these are the embers)









Group two (therefore i think these are the B. brigittae)








_I stuck a bottle cap under this container (little hard to see) so you get an idea of how teeny these guys are_

And Drip acclimating








_the 2 containers are in a 5g bucket for overflow, and where I'll put them all once they've gotten used to the water some and I've siphoned out some of the plant material that's in there (the debris is plants, not poop)

Also, that's a dime in the container for another size reference!
_ 
Also, I've started using those "in line" airline gang valves for drip acclimating, I was using the "tie a knot" method, but this is much easier! And it's cheap!


----------



## Karackle

Well, over 3 hours later, i added the little guys to my tank, they are tiny babies and right now they're quite pale, but I had to take pictures! They're all schooling together at the moment! The sparkling gourami and pygmy cories are completely unsure what to make of the intruders, the bamboo shrimp is just doing his thing, oblivious :hihi: 

They were zooming around too fast not to use a flash so they're not the best pictures but here you go: 



























In this last one you can see the Gourami and one of the Cories in the middle of the school


----------



## Karackle

Oh also, I decided not to QT these guys because my only tank (barely) big enough for them is my 5g that has 3 Ottos and is planted and I thought it might be impossible to get them back out, there's not too many other fish in the tank so it's a calculated risk....i'd either be putting the Otos or the 30g inhabitants "at risk" and this way there's one less move.

In other news (I forgot to mention this earlier) my Gourami is coming out MUCH more now and he even recognizes that when I come over to the tank he might be getting food! He came out from his hiding area when I walked over to the tank this evening he came out to greet me at the glass and when I knelt down he swam to the bottom and followed me up to the top when I stood back up! :hihi: heehee! he's so cute!


----------



## Karackle

Wow! They've only been in the tank ~20 mins and they're already starting to color up nicely! Both species are truly stunning little fish! The embers are much redder/pinker than I thought they would be, they match the brigittae really well!  I'll give them a bit longer to adjust and then feed them, i'm sure they're hungry! 

*edit* an hour after they've been in the tank I gave them baby brine shrimp and they went just NUTS for it!


----------



## skoorbza

So glad your fishies made it safely! Hooray!

Your 'scape is looking nice. I would like to be forthright, tho, and there is something... I usually like to give clear and specific feedback for people to ignore wink: ), but... hm.

It's almost like it's too busy? My eyes don't have a place to settle. Is the focal point the driftwood? The group of flat stones? The lace rock formation? The large central plant? Beautiful elements, all.

Hm.

There is a great possibility that when the foliage has grown in, a natural focal point will emerge. Very possible. I can't specify a change right now... But there's something....

This is one reason I stare at my tiny tank for hours. Looking for the piece that doesn't fit.

Really nice job, and I'm sure that my eyes will settle just fine when the tank itself is more settled!! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHAHAHA ok....my fishies are having identity crises :hihi: So I was staring at my new fish (like ya do) and at first for a while they were all hanging out in the left corner, then I fed them and they all ate, and then bellies full, the Embers decided to go exploring as a group. So I'm watching them swim across the tank and I notice one little Rasbora that decided to tag along with the group, silly little thing. Then I was looking at the left corner and the rasboras were mostly hiding behind the plants in that corner, but there was one little ember swimming around in front of them looking confused. After a while, the embers went back over to the left corner. I came back into the room a little while later and the embers were out exploring again, still with 1 rasbora tagging along, and there were about 3 embers that stayed behind with the rasboras. I came back in again a little later and the embers were out exploring some more, this time with about 3 rasboras in tow. Silly fishies. They're so tiny and similarly colored they don't know who to hang with! Well...most of them get it right....some of them are confused. or perhaps there's a couple braver rasboras, and a couple more shy embers :icon_lol: Who knows, but they're certainly fun to watch!!! :biggrin:

*Skoorbza* Thanks! I'm glad they made it safely too! Thanks for the compliment, thanks for the critique though too, I do actually agree with you. I think the DW was a better focal point before I did the rescape....I'm thinking actually that adding moss to the ends of it made it blend more and stand out less. Perhaps that's the problem? I was hoping putting the sword in the center would help pull the focus to that part of the tank....perhaps your right that it just needs to all fill in some more. I think I'll let it grow for a while and see what happens....if it's growing in nicely but the focal point is still not clear (or worse becomes LESS clear) I'll think about rescaping then  ....speaking of rescaping....that reminds me i have to go replant a piece of cabomba...thanks for the reminder! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

woah! just had a scare! One of the little guys got stuck in the filter intake....there's like a double intake prefilter thing and he went up the first part and got stuck at the second one, when i pulled the pieces apart he swam free quite easily so i hoping hoping he'll be ok! Just rigged up an unsightly fix, i figure as long as it works, they're babies and i'll be able to take it off eventually. Might get something a little better looking for the time being...we'll see...


----------



## Karackle

Well, my fish are coloring up quite nicely! I wanted to take some pictures to show how pretty these guys are but my camera batteries died before I could get a good shot and I didn't have time to hunt down more. I did manage to get a couple shots that show the color of the B. brigittae quite well even though they're blurry so I thought I would post those. 

Enjoy!



















I'll try to get some better shots of them and some shots of the ember tetras this evening when the batteries have charged!


----------



## Chrisinator

I love your fishy!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! They're cool little guys!


----------



## dooboogoo

Nice! great coloring on your brigittae! I'm excited to get mine from planetinverts.com. I have 6, but only a couple are bright red, so I got a few more. Maybe they'll color up when they have a larger group to swim with.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! I'm really pleased with how they're coloring up, I have some pale ones as well but I'm thinking those are the females, and some are in between colored, i'm thinking they're either younger (they are a little smaller) and/or that they are the sub-dominant males.


----------



## stephm

Where did you order the fish from, my LFS *sucks* so I will probably have to order in everything!


----------



## dooboogoo

Karackle said:


> Thanks! I'm really pleased with how they're coloring up, I have some pale ones as well but I'm thinking those are the females, and some are in between colored, i'm thinking they're either younger (they are a little smaller) and/or that they are the sub-dominant males.


That makes sense. The paler ones in mine look a little rounder too.


----------



## Karackle

stephm - I got them from Milalic on this forum actually you can find out more about his available fish here  and PM him if you want any. They came really fast and in good condition! *edit* i only got the B. Brigittae and ember tetras from him, i got the rest of the fish from my LFS

dooboogoo - yeah, I haven't noticed them rounder yet, but they're really young still so they may not be mature enough yet to look that different :tongue:


----------



## skoorbza

Beautiful fish! Nice choice!


----------



## dooboogoo

Yeah, I've had mine for about 2 months when anubiasdesign had them in stock. I think mine from planet inverts are coming in tomorrow or thursday.


----------



## Karackle

skoorbza - thanks so much! yeah i'm really happy with them! 

dooboogoo - so you decided to get more huh? awesome, i'd love to know how they compare color and size-wise! 

Tank update: 

My fishies are continuing to do well, the Gourami has made friend with the Ember tetras...he hangs out in the middle of their school. Adding the 30 little fish has really made him come out of hiding, i guess he just needed some dither fish. He's always checking out what I'm doing when I come up to the tank. I love him. His great little personality is making me have second thought about adding any more Sparkling Gouramis to the tank though. I don't want them to get territorial with each other and ruin his fun little personality. I'd love some suggestions on this! 
Who else should I add to the tank? Anyone? Or am I sort of at capacity once I add Otos for algae cleanup? Or should I add someone else for clean-up crew?
Also, I'm pretty sure my tank is nicely cycled as I've yet to see an ammonia spike since adding the Chili rasboras (boraras brigittae) and the ember tetras, so that's good.  

I'm borrowing the really nice camera from work today so I'll hopefully get some good pictures of the fish posted later!


----------



## Karackle

Here's a bunch of pictures I took, some with my camera, some with the one from work. Enjoy!!!  

Fishies:


----------



## Karackle

And my shrimpy who just molted so I'm guessing that means he's happy  









What kind of snail is this?


----------



## dooboogoo

That snail looks like a pond snail. Awesome pics! I just put my chili rasboras in the tank and the original ones in my tank are already less shy! Aside from being paler and skinnier cuz of shipping, they're about the same size, if not smaller. :thumbsup:


----------



## Chrisinator

I love your Chili Rasboras...they are freakin' awesome! Your Gourami looks really cool! I wish I can keep some of those...I need a bigger tank.  Keep up the awesome work!


----------



## dooboogoo

Yeah...how do u get such clear shots? Mine are always moving and as soon as I get close with the camera, they freak out and hide in the plants before I can even take one.


----------



## Karackle

dooboogoo - thanks! The pictures I posted last night starting from the close-up of the single ember tetra through the picture of the Bamboo Shrimp were taken with a Canon Rebel XT that I borrowed from work. Most on auto-focus on the macro setting (a picture of a flower), some manual focus. All the rest of my pictures in this and my other journals were taken, believe it or not, just with my Nikon CoolPix 3.2 The close-ups were taken on the macro setting. The pictures taken with that camera are all auto-focus as it does not have a manual setting. For the close-ups of the fast moving little guys I use a flash, doesn't always bring out their truest color though. 
Also, thanks for the snail ID! He's got specks of gold in him, he's quite a pretty thing actually. And I'm glad to hear your Chili's are less shy! That's great, seems like they really do best in large school so I guess it's good you got more! How does their color compare?

Chrisinator - Thanks so much! Depending on what else you have in the tank, a Sparkling Gourami could definitely be kept in a planted 10g tank, they're really small! The close-up of him is larger than life, they only get to be an inch or so, maybe a little more. They're REALLY neat little fish! They seem to do best with "dither fish" though, he's rarely hiding out now that i have the schooling fish in there, he's out and about all the time now.


----------



## Chrisinator

> Chrisinator - Thanks so much! Depending on what else you have in the tank, a Sparkling Gourami could definitely be kept in a planted 10g tank, they're really small! The close-up of him is larger than life, they only get to be an inch or so, maybe a little more. They're REALLY neat little fish! They seem to do best with "dither fish" though, he's rarely hiding out now that i have the schooling fish in there, he's out and about all the time now.


I have platies, neons, and cories..and maybe a betta (that might throw things off)


----------



## Karackle

Betta could be a problem because they're both Labyrinth fish, i think the Platies would be ok, though they'd be a lot bigger than him so I'm not sure, I don't know quite enough about sparkling gouramis. I think they'd be fine with the neons and the cories though, I used to have mine in a community tank with Neon and glolight tetras, guppies and actually I think a couple platies (or maybe mollies) so maybe a sparkling gourami would do ok in your tank. I guess it would also depend on how much filtration you have, don't want to overload your bioload :tongue:


----------



## Chrisinator

Thanks! I really like your Gourami though!


----------



## dooboogoo

Hey Karackle! Yeah, my chili's are definitely starting to color up a lot more. It'll be a bit before they fatten up even though I feed them 2-3 times a day! I tried to use the flash today, but the colors look really washed out...maybe because the white wall behind them is affecting the color and white balance. I'll have to get a black background sometime. Really nice gourami too!


----------



## Karackle

Chrisinator - thanks! Yeah he's awesome. SO much personality, sort of the way Bettas have distinct personalities and come to recognize you. Awesome fish. 

dooboogoo - yeah, the flash can definitely wash them out, I saw your post (and I think I commented?) in your thread, you've got some pretty good shots! Black background might help, not too sure. And thanks! Yeah, I love my gourami, packs a lot of color and personailty into a tiny fish!


----------



## Karackle

Oh I almost forgot

So I know they don't really fit into my tiny sized fish theme, but I have 3 old zebra danios in my 20gH tank, I'm wondering if you guys think they'd be happier in my 30g which has a lot more horizontal swimming space? A whole foot more to be exact. Well, I'm sure they WOULD be happier, I guess the real question is would they bother my tiny fish and my clawless (therefore defenseless) filter feeding bamboo shrimp? I'd love thoughts on this! Thanks!


----------



## hungtran10

I love your ember tetras. They are very cute! Please post more pics of them.

thanks

- Hung


----------



## lauraleellbp

I think the danios would most likely ignore the shrimp and would be fine in the 30gal.

I also would like some new pics!


----------



## Karackle

HungTran - thanks! Yeah I think they're great and really cute too! 

LauraLee- I was thinking along the same line about the danios, but wanted a second opinion, so thanks! Only thing I'm not sure about are the baby RCS that I got with some plants I ordered, but I could always let them grow a bit in my 5.5g first and then move them over to the 30 once they're not so snack-sized 

I'll post more ember pictures (if I can get them) and updated tank shots soon I promise! I know i'm overdue for an update, but I started taking classes this semester on top of my full-time job and applying for grad schools so I've been busy (not to mention I'm not ENTIRELY sure where my camera is....eek!) But I will try to take and post updated pics tonight or tomorrow!


----------



## Karackle

Pictures to come tonight I promise! I have some Endler's coming in this week, I think I'll either put the males in this tank and the females in my 20g or stick the 3 zebra danios in this tank and all the endlers in the 20g. We'lll have to see, either way, this tank will be getting a small number of new inhabitants this week. 

And keep an eye out, we finally got my boyfriends 55g up and running, so we'll be starting a thread for that soon too! :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

Oh, and I still need to decide if I want to leave just the 1 sparkling gourami who seems to enjoy schooling with the ember tetras and who comes to say hi to me when I come over to the tank, or if I should get him some friends of his own kind? Not sure if it's too late because he thinks he owns the whole tank or not either? I'd love thoughts and advice and opinions on this! Thanks!


----------



## dooboogoo

No pics yet?

Good luck with the endlers, they're very interesting fish. Just a warning though, if the males and the females have ever shared the same water ever, the females are probably all pregnant. So unless you were careful to never expose them to each other, the females in the 20g are going to be dropping fry like crazy for a few months. 

Not sure about the sparkling gourami, but I think it would be really cool watching a few of them in the tank. They look really nice!


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha no sorry, I am totally failing at pictures...I took some quick pics last night before running over to my boyfriend's place and planned on uploading them there but forgot my card reader! So I planned on doing it today during lunch break because I have a cord that I think fits my camera but forgot the camera! I will have time to take better pictures and load them tonight. 

Yes I know about Endlers and their baby making, that's actually why I plan on putting them in the 20g...the other fish in there should take care of the over-population problems that could occur...it worked quite well when I had guppies in there...


----------



## Karackle

Quick update, please excuse the airline tubing in the pictures, in the process of drip-acclimating the new endler's (which are gorgeous, pics of them as soon as I can get them ) Also please excuse the floating plants, I'll get better pics once the fish are in their new homes and the new plants are planted  

FTSs:


















Bamboo shrimp being shrimpy-do:









Embers (pardon the weird reflection):









woohoo! proliferation! :biggrin:









Plants are showing nice red color!: 









color shows better in this pic of the embers though (again pardon the reflection):









And the other new member of the tank (he was labeled "butterfly pleco" anyone know what he really is?):


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## lauraleellbp

The fish in the last pic is a Hillstream loach. 

Looking awesome, karakle! :icon_mrgr


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## SeaSerpant

Tank looks great. And.. oh my... that's one weird fish.


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## Karackle

I figured it out, hillstream loach  He's cool no matter what he is :biggrin:

*edit* Hahahaha ninja'd! I was looking it up while you all were writing back! Heeheehee 

And thanks for the compliments! I'm really pleased with how it's growing in! I need to do some rearranging though, the Asian ambulia is not standing up well to the filter current so I'll probably put it behind the large rock with the wisteria and either move some of the wisteria to where the ambulia is, or put something else there, or leave just the crypts, they are getting pretty large. Anyway, I'll post some more pics once I get it all rearranged! :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

Oh and just as a teaser, pics of what we've got so far in my boyfriend's tank....the blurry one shows more of the tank so I included it, please pardon the blurriness


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## dooboogoo

Lol, that hillstream loach looks like it should be in a saltwater tank.

Great start on your bf's tank!


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## Karackle

hahahaha I agree, he definitely looks like a saltwater fish! That's kinda why I like him :tongue: i love rays and skates....so he's a good, much cheaper, substitute :hihi: 

and thanks! We've been working hard on his tank! We'll start a separate thread on it this weekend, but I had the pics so I thought I'd post them


----------



## Karackle

I tried to get some pictures of the pretty endlers, most of them are blurry but show the colors well  There's also some (also blurry) ones of the Ember tetras and the B. brigittae. 




































and a very blurry one of the Bamboo shrimp, but it shows how nice and red he's getting! 









FTS









left side









center









right side









Enjoy! And as always, any questions/comments/suggestions etc. etc. are more than welcome!!! :biggrin:


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## dooboogoo

Ooh, nice peacocks. I used to have some of those, but I gave them away to my LFS (I had about 50 of those guys swimming around in my 10g. WAY too much! lol. Are there just males in there or is there a female or two?


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! Yeah I'd seen pictures but was shocked at how truly fluorescent they were when they arrived! At the moment it's all males in there, 2 male guppies in my 5.5g and all the females (about 5 endlers and 1 guppy) in the 20g. I want to try some breeding, but I want to make sure I know who the parents are, especially because I'm interested in possibly trying to make hybrids, so I'm letting the females drop their fry first. So for now, everyone stays separated.


----------



## dooboogoo

Cool, try to keep a pure strain though. That way, you can always add one of those guys to the mix if they get a little "too" guppy-ish, lol. Try looking at endersr.us. I haven't been there for a while, but I found it when I was researching info on endlers. It's a pretty good forum with tons of info and stuff about line breeding them. Have fun!


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha yeah definitely, the female guppy is distinctly different looking than the female endlers as she has an iridescent whitish-blue lyre tail so no worrying about mixing the ladies up, and of course the males are quite distinct, so at least the adults will stay pure :hihi: Thanks for the site, i'll have to take a look at it!  Not sure how much time I'll have to really take the breeding seriously, but I thought it could be fun to try!


----------



## dooboogoo

No prob, I think you'd need a few more tanks for serious breeding...lol. Hopefully you'll get a cool looking fish!


----------



## Karackle

Hahahah yeah I'm sure I would! If the fish are looking cool and I think there'd be interest, a 10g w/hood is pretty cheap, but for now, I'll just see what I get! I hope I get something cool too!


----------



## Karackle

Well the good news is, I found one of the RCS I put in my tank hanging out in the moss on top of the rock and he's nice and red! I'm assuming this means that they other ones are hiding in the moss somewhere too!  The bad news is that I couldn't for the life of me get a picture of him even on my macro setting! I'll keep trying and I'll keep hunting for the others


----------



## Basilisk

Karackle said:


> FTSs:


Nice tank.

Suggestion: rotate the branch in the center, the one sort of bridging, and leave it pointing the other side, maybe at a lower angle than it is right now so it flows nicely with the other branch. Not much of a teardown. That leaves you with free middle space. You can wait for the background there to thicken, and maybe carpet the foreground, if you like. When you remove the swordplant (assuming you would at some point), the freed space won't be so wooden framed.

Cheers.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks for the compliment! And thanks for the suggestion, it's a little tricky to pull that off because if you see the little piece of wood on the bottom left poking out from behind the slate, that's actually the same piece of wood as the arched piece which make rotating that piece tricky, it's something to think about though, thanks


----------



## Karackle

So I was messing around with my tanks and i noticed this smart tricky little guy hanging onto the filter outflow picking food off the surface of the water


----------



## ZooTycoonMaster

Careful, make sure he doesn't climb out of the tank:hihi:

My Endlers are always too fast for me to photograph:hihi:

The tank's improving nicelyroud:


----------



## Karackle

Thanks for the compliment! :biggrin:

Heeheehee I don't think he'll jump, i keep him pretty well fed :tongue: 

Yeah, they're impossible to get good pictures of! If I actually want to get better pictures, I'll probably have to put them in a much smaller container, I'll probably be doing some of that if I get cool results from the hybrids project


----------



## Karackle

Oh I just realized I totally forgot to post a couple pics!!!

It looks like some of the moss I got was not Java but Flame (correct me if I'm wrong) but whatever it is, it looks AWESOME and has grown A LOT:










:biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

Well, not much new to report here but I thought I'd give a quick update. The tank continues to do well in general. The "filligree frill" is not looking so hot but I don't think it quite goes with the rest of the layout anyway, I think I might put it in the 5.5g or just ditch it. And then I will move the cabomba and some of the Asian Ambulia to it's spot and get them out of the shade of the Sword. 

The Lyretail guppy that I put in the 30g died last night which was sad, I looked in the tank and he was floating, but I'd sworn I'd seen him swimming minutes earlier so I watched for a minute and all of a sudden he swam down from the top and looked perfectly normal, and then floated back to the top. Has anyone ever seen this? I ended up euthanizing the poor guy and then of course I did immediate tests. 

I found everything to be normal. The ammonia was JUST barely green (somewhere between the yellow zero and the pale green of .25, closer to the 0 end) which isn't too surprising since I added a couple fish. NitrIte was 0, NitrAte was about 10, pH was 7.6. The guppy that got a chunk taken out of his tail by the Betta is doing just fine. You can't even tell his tail was spilt in 2 down to the very base just a few days ago. I'm going to chalk it up to a fluke for now, the Lyretail did come from Petsmart. But other than the fact that he was floating, he looked completely healthy! Weird. Everyone else looks quite happy and healthy though. I will, of course, keep an eye out for strange signs.


----------



## Hilde

The picture of the tank at post *107*  has a blue hue. Is that how it actually looks? If so, what gives it a blue hue?


----------



## Karackle

Hilde - no, it's not really that blue, it looks bluer because of the light adjustment setting that I use on my camera sometimes, i set the white balance to "flourescent" for those pictures, which gives it a blue hue, it could have something to do with the color temperature of the light too.


----------



## Karackle

Well, I still can't find the cause of the guppy's death the other evening. I retested the water, everything looks normal, better even than last time I checked it. 

Amm: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 10-15
pH: 7.4 (i used the high range pH test kit this time and got a more accurate reading)

Everyone else looks happy and healthy, so I'll just keep keeping an eye on everyone.


----------



## Hilde

Karackle I had similar deaths in my tank when I came back from vacation. I never figured it out either. Possible stress on some bacteria in the tank I guess. Some had the clamped fins. Have you noticed that?  I changed the water but still had some die. Found adding a 1/2tsp of salt and the stress coat helped.


----------



## Karackle

Hilde - Thanks for the input, I have not noticed any clamped fins on the guppy that didn't make it OR on anyone else in the tank, so far everyone else looks healthy, maybe I'll add a little extra stress coat with a water change for them and just continue keeping an eye on things and hope everyone else stays happy and healthy!


----------



## Karackle

Just a quick update on the 30g, all of a sudden today 4 of the 5 RCS I put in the tank as itty bitty clear babies a few weeks ago are bright red and out and about walking around and half an inch or more long! So at least 4 made it, my guess would be all 5 did!!! :biggrin: i'm so excited! I tried to snap some pictures of them, none came out too well but here's the best I could do  





































And a couple updated full tank shots  



























Enjoy!  And as always, comments etc. are more than welcome!


----------



## Karackle

Well, I'm starting to get a little bit of algae so I headed to my LFS today to get some Otos to top off my stocking. I was going to get 6, but they had "algae cleaning shrimp" so I ended up getting 3 of each. 

I also ended up with 1 Celestial Pearl Danio (CPD) I KNOW they are schoolers, but they only had 1 left, they were pretty expensive but I felt so bad for the 1 little guy in there by himself, I figured he'd probably be happier with my nano fish than alone in a large tank at the store with some Honey Gouramis. 

OK so what kind of shrimp are these "algae cleaning shrimp"? Rainbow shrimp? 


















The 2 larger ones are quite blue tinted, the littler one is much more clear









The sad lonely CPD 









he's very pale at the moment, probably from fear and the fact that I drip acclimate in a white bucket









And a shot of everyone drip acclimating, includes the fat happy Otos  









closer of the Otos


----------



## Karackle

My bamboo shrimp molted again! He must be a very happy little bugger! I'm so glad he's doing well!!! And ever since I noticed the RCS out and about the other day I've been seeing them everywhere, and 2 of them are BRIGHT red!  So now there's shrimp everywhere of various sizes! :biggrin: and of course a million tiny fish everywhere too :tongue:

I feel bad for the little CPD though....poor thing. But he's been schooling with the embers :hihi: so hopefully he's a little happier than he was in a tank with a few honey gouramies and some bamboo shrimp.


----------



## lauraleellbp

The shrimp in the acclimation pics are Amanos.

The bright red cherries are usually females. Sounds like you'd better keep an eye out for some "saddles" showing up on the females soon... :thumbsup:


----------



## Karackle

Are they Amanos? Cool! Heehee I didn't want to get my hopes up that I'd actually gotten shrimp that WILL eat algae (you never know no matter how good the fish store is when they're simply labeled "algae cleaning shrimp" :tongue heehee 

I guess I'll definitely have to keep a close eye out for saddles! And look up pictures of what I'm supposed to be looking for! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Just wanted to post a few updated pictures, tank continues to do well! 
I added some red Foxtail to fill in the background to the right of the Sword: 









And some moss to the large flat piece of slate in front of the DW (please excuse the large clump stuck between the rock and the glass...i'm holding it for my boy :tongue:









and just because i realized how cool it looks but have never posted it before, pics from the sides

Left: 









Right:


















And a close up of the flame moss growing on the DW, I can't believe how much and how fast it's grown! I love it!  : 









and of course, a FTS (though a crappy one, sorry!):


----------



## Karackle

AAAAAND 

A couple close-ups of my saddled RCS! I ALSO have a berried RCS but I couldn't find her when I was taking pictures, but I'm so excited!!! :biggrin: :hihi:


----------



## mizu-chan

Wow, tank looks amazing! That fame moss has really taken off. Congrats on the saddled and berried cherries 
I'm also really digging those side shots. :thumbsup:


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Mizu! Yeah, I can't _believe_ how much the flame moss has grown! I love the stuff it looks so cool! Flame moss is what I tied to my large piece of slate, when it starts growing in I'm thinking it'll be a really cool little field area for the shrimp! And thanks! I'm gonna be a shrimp momma! heeheehee


----------



## Karackle

So I was sitting watching my tank this evening, like you do, and I saw my berried RCs shuffling her eggs around, she's SUPER preggo now, she can barely keep all the eggs tucked up under her swimmers and it was REALLY COOL watching her shuffle them around! I didn't get any pics of the shuffling in action, but I did manage to snap some great pictures of her!  Enjoy! 

Super preggo RCS: 




































And some of the boys (i think.....other than the preggo female in one of the shots of course :tongue:


















And a picture I thought was really cool, someone shed their shell standing in the plants and it stayed there perfectly positioned so I took a quick pic of it :hihi:









And my bamboo shrimp feeding in his favorite spot, it's hard to tell because I needed to use the flash, but he's super red! :









Look how few legs he's using to hang onto the leaf!:









And some random other fishy shots that came out well

A nice Endler shot









And my Brigittae are really bright now...this one is far from the brightest, I'm thinking it's a female because there's definitely 2 distinct classes of these little guys, some are REALLY bright with very distinct red tips on their fins and the rest look more like this one.....I'm thinking males vs. females? Anyone know if the males and females look different?


----------



## Karackle

Was watching the tank again this morning and it's just so cool watching the female hang out and readjust her eggs...i don't know why it fascinates me so much :redface::hihi:
How long does it usually take until i have shrimplets instead of a mama shrimp full of eggs? I'm very excited about this :tongue:


----------



## Karackle

Well it's been a few weeks since I posted updated pics. Given the absurdly low amount of light, I gotta say I'm amazed at how fast things are growing, the crypts have grown tremendously (most people say crypts grow slowly...this has not been my experience in any of my tanks! :tongue and the moss is unbelievable! 

Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures, enjoy!  

FTS:


















Left: 









Middle:









Right:









side view of the flame moss (compare to the shot from nearly the same angle taken just under three weeks ago to see how much it's grown! :biggrin :









And another FTS from a slightly above angle, more the way you'd see it if you were standing looking at it


----------



## Karackle

And some of the animals were posing nicely so I snapped a couple of shots: 

Mr. Sparkler was feeling particularly photogenic, too bad my camera was focussing on the plant instead of the fish....grrrr.....anyway, here's the best i could do:









Amano shrimp, i'm impressed how well this one came out, check out the purple eyes!









Oto chillin' on the lace rock:









Bamboo shrimp feeding (i know i've posted a lot of similar photos but i just think it looks so cool!):









decent Endler shot:









Best shot I could get of my lonely CPD, good shot of the plants behind him though :tongue:









And a couple shots of one of my male guppies that came out quite well! 

With an Endler buddy:


----------



## Karackle

random sidenote.....I haven't seen any shrimplets wandering around, so I don't know if they got eaten or are REALLY good at hiding....given how small the parents were when i got them, i'm thinking they might just be really good at hiding....at least I hope some of them are!!!


----------



## Karackle

I looked all over my tank for a long time and I really don't see any baby shrimp! How tiny are they when they first hatch? Is it possible they're really just "invisible" in the moss? how long does it take for the eggs to turn into shrimplets?


----------



## creAtive

that looks like a shrimp play ground! the darkness gives it a unique look. 
look'n good


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## Karackle

hahaha yeah, the shrimp love all the moss! And none of the fish in there are too big to bother them. I never realized how much fun shrimp are until I started keeping them in this tank! Now i love them!!! heeheehee

and thanks! I kind of like the look of the darkness too, but I need to get more light in there I think so the ends of the tank can grow as well as the front! Though during the day the right end gets indirect sunlight from the window right next to it and the left side gets some light from the CFL bulb that's over the guppy baby tank, so so far things are actually growing even in the dark ends! :hihi:


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## creAtive

I had problems growing things on the sides of my tank too, because the tank was 24" long and I had 13" lights... so I added a spiral CF on each side of the 13"-ers. Im still testing my wiring tho.. dont want any fires, or unnecessary heat 

you can check it out here ( its still in the works )
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals-photo-album/75581-30gal-xhigh-tank-rescape-journal-update.html


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## connordude27

subscribed this is a cool tank i really like the bamboo shrimp


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## CL

The tank is doing great!


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## Karackle

CreAtive - Thanks! I'll have to take a look at your thread, I have the same problem with a 24" light on a 36" tank, I think now that it's winter and there's so much less light i might use a desk lamp on that end and leave the other light up once I take down the guppy tank. Until I can get a 36" strip. 

Connordude - wow! thanks! it's exciting to have someone tell me they're subscribing! Thanks for the compliment and yeah, i love the bamboo shrimp too 

clwatkins - thanks! i appreciate the compliment! That cube in your signature is awesome too by the way! *edit* i meant the tank in your avatar - which tank is that, i just looked through the ones in your sig and didn't see it?


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## lauraleellbp

Looks awesome, Karackle! :fish:


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## Karackle

Thanks LauraLee, I really appreciate that!


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## ZooTycoonMaster

WOW it really grew, didn't it? Your Endler's have soooo much color compared to mine...I'm starting to think mine are hybrids:hihi:

And that Flame Moss:eek5:

Looks like a perfect tankroud:


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## Karackle

Thanks Zoo!!! Yeah it's really grown in a ton, and I can't believe the growth on the flame moss since the last set of pics ~3 weeks earlier!!! Not bad for ~.75wpg eh? :hihi: lol 
I don't know if it's perfect but I certainly appreciate the compliment! :biggrin::redface: I like it and I'm quite proud of it if truth be told. Now I just need to get my 5.5g back into shape and i'll be happy, it has lots of growth but no scape. ah well. now that my 30 is doing well, i can re-focus on the 5, that's the whole game right? get one the way you like it, work on another, realize you're bored with the old ones and start again!  :icon_lol:

As for the endler's they do have stunning color, i'm often blown away by their brightness when I'm looking at the tank. I have nothing to compare them to though, they're the only endler's i've seen other than in pictures, so I don't know if they're bright even for endlers or if they're standard. I am going to breed some hybrids so i'll let you know if they just look like pale endlers though! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Was playing with the camera last night and took a few pics so I thought I'd post them 

Some plant shots first
Flame moss is starting to grow in on the flat rock: 









Look how pretty the red on the underside of my Crypts is!  : 









And a cool angled up shot of the right side of the tank: 









And some Red Cherry Shrimpy pics
The ladies: 


















SUPER berried female: 


















Best shot I've gotten of a male:









Magical male standing on the glass (this shot probably would have been good if my glass wasn't in serious need of cleaning.....how embarassing!): 









Enjoy!  As always any feedback is more than welcome! 

ALSO 

QUESTION: 
Do I have room for a few more CPDs in this tank? I only have one and I want to get him friends. Should I put them in here or in my 5.5g with my betta? 

I'd love input! 

as always, thanks in advance!


----------



## Complexity

Wonderful growth! It's looking lush with all the plants. Your RCS are amazingly red! Where did you get them? Mine aren't anywhere near that pretty.

You've made me want some bamboo shrimp now. So far, I've skipped them in favor of my amanos (I just counted, I have 55 amanos in my 75g!), but a few bamboo shrimp would be really cool in the tank. Yours are red? Is that normal? I always thought they were brown.

Your tank is really coming along. :smile:


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## revernance

Wow, I've always been a big fan of sparkling gouramis! 
And very cute little shrimpies 

Are you planning on posting your flame moss on SNS soon ? :smile:


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## Karackle

Vicki - Thanks! It is finally starting to look lush which I'm really excited about, so thanks!  Thanks, yeah I'm surprised at how red they are too to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be that red! The females are far brighter than the males, but they're all lovely! I got them right here in the SnS from Revernance  (thanks again!) oddly enough since he posted just below you! weird coincidence! heeheehee :biggrin: Also, I *highly* suggest bamboo shrimp, they're *really* neat little critters! heehee :hihi: Yeah, they get nice and red when they're happy and well fed  The brown ones in the pet stores tend not to be as happy/well fed, though my guy certainly doesn't appear to be lacking for food, he's always sitting in the current fans open but some days he is browner than others. I've noticed he seems to get particularly bright red for a week or so before he molts (sheds?). Can you tell I like him? :hihi: from what i've read if your tank is well established, you shouldn't need to specially feed the bamboos, but I tend to put a little bit of fry food once or twice a week (like hikari first bites, any of the powdery kinds....i actually have a mix of different fry foods and algae powder, i could send you some if you wanted) he'll also pop down off his feeding posts and pick at algae wafers occasionally :tongue: well i've babbled enough about my little friend :icon_lol: 

reverance - Thanks for the kind words! Sparkling gouramis are great little fish, i enjoy them as well! :hihi: Glad you think the little shrimp are cute  thank you again for them, they're doing great! :biggrin: Haha I'll probably be posting some flame moss in the SnS pretty soon, but not _just_ yet, it is getting time for a trim but the first trim will get dumped into my guppy rearing tank because most of what was in there was being held for my boy, so that went to his tank the other day. Next trim though!  Want me to let you know before I post it that it's available


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## Karackle

hahahaha i just realized I use a lot of smilies in my posts!!


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## ZooTycoonMaster

13, if you don't count the one in your signature

Very nice!roud: What camera do you use, and what settings?

EDIT: Forgot to ask, how do you find a moment when your Endler's are still enough for you to take a picture? Mine just run away when they see the camera:hihi:


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## Complexity

13 smilies? I'd say you're feeling pretty happy at the moment! :hihi: And with good reason. :smile:

Thanks for the info on the coloration of the Bamboo shrimp. I never knew any of that! While my tank isn't matured at this point, I think the jump start with the bacteria should work pretty fast so by the time I get around to getting Bamboo shrimp, my tank should be ready. I can already envision the shrimp standing on my driftwood right in front of my two spray bars, eating their little hearts out! While the Amanos will scoot them about as they clean the driftwood the Bamboos are standing on! That ought to be a funny sight!

My are you a bad influence on me. First, I'm wanting to breed my guppies again, and now I can't wait for bamboo shrimp! Please tell me you won't convince me to get anything real expensive, okay? :icon_lol:


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## Karackle

Hahahaha I know I like the smilies, but I think that last post that made me realize it was a record breaker! :tongue: 

Thanks for the compliment! I use a Nikon Coolpix 5200, couple years old now. I use the fluorescent white balance setting with no flash or the "dusk" setting for the FT shots, I put the camera on something stable (i have a system set up with a stool, a 5g bucket and some 2x4s....i lack a tripod :hihi focus the shot, put the camera on the timer, hit the button and then step back so i don't bump it. For the close-ups I use my macro setting (i think that's what it's called...the one that's usually depicted as a flower). If it's a close-up of a plant, i'll turn off the flash and set it up like I do with the full tank shots. If it's a fish, i usually put the flash on or else it gets blurry because they move too fast! hahaha And then I'm mostly patient, sometimes I have to sit for a while and snap a load of shots before i get one or two good ones. The shrimp are easier, they sit still better.....most of the time  Sitting for a while with the camera up and ready sometimes helps because the fish get used to see you there so you don't scare them by moving too much. 

Hope that helps!


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## Karackle

Vicki - yeah, definitely in a good mood....tanks are doing well plus it's the weekend!  And I find that it's easier to tell someone's tone if you throw in a certain smiley, especially with all the fun ones now! But 13 was a bit excessive! heehee :hihi: (<-- that's my favorite one) Anyway, yeah, I did a lot of reading before I got the bamboo shrimp, I wanted to make sure they'd be happy in my tank, and i'm glad it was helpful to someone else as well! The tank doesn't need to be established in terms of cycling as much as there being enough floating debris for them to eat, but supplementing with fry powder food seems to work really well, frozen baby brine shrimp and/or daphnia seem to go over well too. And they'll pick out little particles when you feed the other fish, and pick out any bits of algae wafer/bottom feeder food that float into the water as well, so they're not too picky. I've backed off on the supplementing as my tank has gotten more established and I see him sitting in front of the filter or hanging upside down over the bubble wall all the time. 

Sorry to be a bad influence! :redface: But you don't have to worry about me influencing you into anything really expensive, I don't have the $$ for anything really expensive, the bamboo and my order of B. brigittae and ember tetras was a serious indulgence! and I'm waffling on my CPD decision because they're price is pretty steep for my wallet (and I'm not sure which tank they would do best in) but i had to buy the one because he was all alone with bigger fish, and now I feel bad that he's all alone, but at least he has fish his own size to school with, and he does hang out with the embers ...hahahaha ANYWAY like I said, you don't have to worry about me influencing you to get anything more expensive than a bamboo shrimp


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## Complexity

Yeah, yeah... that's what they all say. But then, when you least expect it, they getcha with some newfangled thing that you just _have_ to have! :hihi:

I'm sure my tank has enough food hanging around to feed some bamboos. I regularly feed things like frozen baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia, and a whole host of small foods. I've even used a pestle to grind foods up really fine. I mix these smaller foods in with larger foods so there's always a variety. I figure this way all of the fish get fed one way or the other.

I've even stared using pepper mills to grind up larger foods, such as algae wafers that the amanos love to carry off! This way, with 55 amanos, each can find a small piece of algae wafer to pick up and run off with. They just love to do that! And this then leaves a full size algae wafer for my pleco.

Oh, the things we do for our fish and inverts! :icon_lol:


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## Karackle

Hahahahaha well then I'll TRY not to get anything cool and expensive......for both our sakes! :hihi:

Wow, it surely does sound like they'd find plenty to eat in your tank! I might have to try that peppermill idea! I have 6 pigmy cories, 3 otos, 3 amanos and some RCS that enjoy picking at algae wafers, that sounds like a great way to make sure it's evenly distributed! Thanks for the tip! And on another note, where do you find a mortar and pestal? My roomate has a GIGANTIC one that he uses for cooking, but where would you find a nice small, fish food grinding sized one if you don't mind me asking?


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## Complexity

There's a store close by called World Market that sells a lot of kitchen gadgets. I just happened to stumble into the tiny mortar and pestle and knew it was a perfect size for grinding up fish food.

They don't show it on their website, but the very same mortar and pestle is available on AquariumPlants.com.

http://www.aquariumplants.com/3_Diameter_Ceramic_Mortar_Pestle_p/fert763.htm

Of course, the inside of the mortar and head of the pestle is roughened up so the fish food doesn't go flying all the time. And it grinds things up really well. It's cheap, too!


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## Complexity

Well, so much for the cheap part. I hadn't noticed the price AquariumPlants.com wants for it. I think I paid something like $5 for mine.

I found another place with either the same or a similar one for a much better price. The only question is how much the shipping might be.

http://wirewhiskonline.com/Mortar-a...froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

If nothing else, this gives you some idea of what to look for in the stores.

As far as grinders go, I buy the cheapest I can find. I just bought two more that I found at Walgreens. They were $3 for a salt and pepper mill. Now that _is_ cheap!


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## Complexity

Here's another really small one that's pretty cheap:

http://wirewhiskonline.com/White-Porcelain-Mortar-Pestle-2.5-Inch/M/B000IKBJA2.htm


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## Karackle

Wow, thanks! I guess I'll have to start keeping a close eye out, $3 for the salt and pepper grinder definitely IS cheap! Maybe i'll have to run to Walgreens....heehee. Those are definitely good prices on the mortar and pestal, but shipping almost doubles it so I'll be keeping an eye out, but they're definitely good options! Thanks for looking that up for me!


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## Complexity

No problem. Googles does all the work. 

I'm sure you'll run across something locally that will do the job.


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## Karackle

:hihi: i hope so!!!


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## revernance

Karackle said:


> Wow, thanks! I guess I'll have to start keeping a close eye out, $3 for the salt and pepper grinder definitely IS cheap! Maybe i'll have to run to Walgreens....heehee. Those are definitely good prices on the mortar and pestal, but shipping almost doubles it so I'll be keeping an eye out, but they're definitely good options! Thanks for looking that up for me!



Salt and Pepper? Sounds like someone wants to cook up some shrimp cocktail? jk :biggrin:

I got a picture of one of the mom missing her kids:


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## Complexity

Wow, is she pretty! I wouldn't mind having some of her babies myself. :hihi:


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## rpayer

Would my Rams make short work of any shrimp I put in my tank?


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## Karackle

Rev - hahaha no no don't worry, no shrimp cocktail!  that's a great pic! she's so pretty! I wonder how she's related to my guys and gals  heehee

Vicki - they're well worth it IMO! very fair price, really well packaged and gorgeous shrimp! 

rpayer - The RCS are tiny so my guess would be yes, but I've never had rams before so I couldn't say for sure.


----------



## Complexity

I'm already asking about them in PMs. He said he sold you the RCS, not the bamboo, and your RCS are outstanding! I wouldn't mind having a few... or a full colony of them! :hihi:


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## Karackle

Heeheehee awesome! Yeah I only got the RCS from him, the bamboo I actually got at my LFS, they have them in quite frequently and they're really healthy looking! If I recall they're usually $12.99 but I got mine on sale for $9.99. So they're not super cheap, but it could be worse, and anyway it was worth it in my opinion because he's a really interesting little critter and a great addition to the tank! I wish I had a good spot for a bamboo shrimp to feed in my 20g so I could put one in there too! :hihi:


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## Complexity

See? There you go. Getting me all interested in something that's going to be expensive!

I was imaging 6 Bamboo shrimp in my 75g. But at $13 each? OUCH!

It's all your fault. :hihi:


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## Karackle

hahahaha oh no! Yeah....i didn't think about that...it didn't seem so bad because I only wanted 1! You might be able to find them for less, my LFS is really good so I go there, but they're sometimes on the steep side price-wise. I've seen them elsewhere regularly priced at $9.99 i think. A little better than $13 :tongue: SORRY!


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## Complexity

LOL! No problem. I'll get my revenge soon enough. 

Actually, I've been able to cut some price deals with a particular LFS since I buy most of my stuff there. So next time I'm making a large buy, I'll sneak in some bamboo shrimp into the deal.


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## Karackle

hahaha sounds like an excellent plan! It's definitely nice to have that kind of relationship with a store that you trust too!  

And I guess i'll have to start watching my back for that revenge.....EEP! :eek5:


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## Complexity

Your back is safe with me. 

I want to get some more torpedo barbs, and you know how much they cost. Plus, I want to trade in my lone Pelvicachromis for a bonded pair which will cost me. And then I'd like to increase the number of Cardinal Tetras I have. And then I'm thinking of adding a couple of accent fish just to make it all more interesting. So, yeah, by the time I add it all up, I usually get a discount. :smile:


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## Karackle

Hahahaha glad to hear my back is safe!  

And yes, it sounds like you've got quite a few dollars you're planning to spend on fish anyway, heck after all that perhaps they'll just throw in the bamboo shrimp as a thank you for shopping with them! :hihi: LOL Definitely good to be a good customer at a good store, ends up working out best for all!


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## Complexity

Well, in today's financial climate, I doubt I'll get free bamboo shrimp, but you never know!

It is nice to have a good LFS close by. They are the ones I had move my tank, and I have to say I like the owner even more after that. He's a really nice guy.


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## Karackle

Hahahaha no probably not free, that's just wishful thinking  but a discount on the total is good too!  

Glad to here you like them even more after the move too, definitely a good thing it didn't go the other way!


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## Complexity

Yeah, when you work with someone instead of simply buying stuff from them, you get a better feel for who they are. It makes me even that much happier to buy from him.


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## Karackle

Yeah, that's definitely true, i'm glad it worked out so well!


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## demonbreedr16

I did one time get 1 Harlequin Rasbora for free because hwen I sked for 7 (2.99 ea.), there was ONE left and I COULDN'T leave him...it would have been cruel. 

How are you liking your Sparkling Gourami? I'm thinking about thing one for my 29G along with ONE bamboo shrimp(5$ for me I think?)


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## Karackle

Nice, yeah, that's how i ended up with one CPD in my tank, i saw him alone and couldn't leave him in there. I didn't get him for free though unfortunately. 

I love the sparkling gourami, he is an AWESOME little fish! And the bamboo shrimp are great. only $5 for you?! wow....i do live in the state of NY, not the city, but things are still pricey here. You're lucky, mine cost $9.99 on sale!


----------



## Karackle

Just a small update, the foxtail along the back wall of the tank is not doing well, the tops look great but the bottoms just don't get enough light. I'm going to lop off the healthy bits and throw them in another tank. I've got some sunset hygro coming from LauraLeellbp that is doing really well in her low light tanks so I'm thinking I'll try that along the back wall in this tank and see what happens. 

I NEED to upgrade my lighting, the sunlight coming in my window is not enough anymore for the right end of the tank and I've lost a lot of plants in the back corner. It's time to cough up the cash for light that actually spans the whole tank. Or ask for it for Chrismukah (or a gift certificate to the fish store)  

I will post pics when I get the hygro planted


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## Complexity

I bet the sunset hygro will do well in the low light. I ended up throwing some in my 5g tank that just has a standard 8w fluorescent light, and the darn stuff is growing in there!

Looking forward to the new pics!


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## Karackle

Oh yay! That's good to hear, definitely gives me hope that it will do well! I have some something that is pink but i can't remember what it is called. It looks quite similar, I know the subspecies is "rosanervig" (or something similar) but I can't remember if it's sunset hygro. It's beautiful and it is growing, slowly but surely so I was hoping the sunset hygro would do ok and now i have hope that it will! I think it will add a nice color contrast to the back of the tank against the black background too. 

I'll get pics as soon as I get the package and put them in the tank! I'll be using your method of planting *Vicki* "oh, here's an empty spot" like you said in another thread, I read that and I liked it because that's how I 'scape too!  :hihi:


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## MOsborne05

Your tank is looking great, especially with less than 1wpg! I just purchased the same tank to replace my 45 gallon, and was debating whether I wanted to get the 36" light or the 30" one, which is $40 cheaper. I think your tank looks awesome with the shorter light, because it gives the tank more depth. I think I'll go with the 30" now.

What kind of bulbs do you have on the tank?


----------



## Karackle

MOsborne - Thanks so much! I'm constantly surprised at what will grow for me in my tanks with less than 1wpg  and I really appreciate the positive feedback! 

I have a 24" light and it's definitely too short, but I think a 30" light would do fine as long as the bulb spans the whole length of the fixture (if it's a 30" fixture with a 24" bulb I don't recommend it unless you plan to supplement the light on the ends) But a 30" i think would give enough light on the ends. The bulb is just a regular T8 fluorescent, single bulb. Not sure on the K value.


----------



## MOsborne05

It is a 24" bulb, and I didn't think about that! I already ordered it, so I'll have to make do for now. I think yours looks pretty cool with the 24" one though! I'll just have to keep the plants towards the middle, and maybe just some crypts or anubias on the sides


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## Complexity

Karackle said:


> I have some something that is pink but i can't remember what it is called. It looks quite similar, I know the subspecies is "rosanervig" (or something similar) but I can't remember if it's sunset hygro.


Yes, 'rosanervig' is Sunset Hygro. So it's already doing well in your tank!



> I'll be using your method of planting *Vicki* "oh, here's an empty spot" like you said in another thread, I read that and I liked it because that's how I 'scape too!  :hihi:


LOL! I think that's how a lot of scapes are done, at least when it comes to plant placement. The good thing is as the plants grow out, if we aren't happy with the original spot we used for a plant, we can always move it.

When I was much more active with my regular gardening, I used to have a saying as to what qualifies a person as a true gardener.


You have to kill at least 5 easy to grow plants; 3 due to loving them too much and 2 from neglect.
You have to put taller plants in front of shorter ones, requiring that you move them after they've grown in.
You have to come home with plants that you had never heard of before, never intended to buy and have no clue if they can grow in your yard.
You have to come home with plants that you have no place to put in the garden, but that doesn't stop you from bringing them home anyway.
You have to mix at least 2 plants that completely clash with each other, repeating this no less than 3 times with 2 of those times being with the very same plants at different times because you forgot what happened the first time around.
You have to attempt to grow a minimum of 3 teeny-tiny pieces of plants with complete hope that they'll root and grow into huge bushes.
You have to have at least one of those teeny-tiny plants actually survive.
You have to collect no less than 25 varieties of different plants without rhyme or reason other than you "just like them" and "had to have them".
Your response to plants dying is one of "Yea! A spot where I can plant something new!" while simultaneously grieving over the plant that died.
And, finally, you have to spend a large part of your day looking at your plants, looking at other people's plants, talking about plants, thinking about plants, and never, ever having enough plants no matter how many you collect.

Please notice what's first on the list. It is most crucial. No gardener, aquatic or otherwise, can claim to be a true gardener if they do not first kill some plants. And not just any plants. You have to kill plants that everyone else says are easy to grow and virtually indestructible, but somehow you managed to kill them all the same. It's part of the requirements for us all.

:biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

MOsborne - Yeah, crypts still grow on the ends (i don't have anubias in this tank but i'd imagine they would grow as well) I bet having a longer light fixture with reflectors in it might help spread slightly more light to the ends too. I'm mostly having trouble getting plants to grow behind the big rock on the right because the rock blocks the light coming out of the fixture itself so that corner is VERY dark, otherwise I do find the tank is relatively well lit, and I agree, it does have a cool look! I think you might have convinced me to get a 30" replacement!  

Vicki - i love it! I think it's so true. It's sort of that way with the whole fish-keeping thing isn't it? It's unfortunate but I think we all do similar things with the fish themselves don't we? A few fish down (sadly) due to cycling issues in the beginning, instead of clashing in color, they clash in aggression level or adult size to tank size, when we lose fish to old age or something it's sad but it opens up the opportunity to try a new "less noob" fish. And don't worry, I've certainly killed the impossible to kill plants. I'm having good luck with sunset hygrow in my <1wpg tank but somehow i managed to kill java fern!!! That was back when I was first starting out, but i don't know, it didn't like me, it turned all brown. I also managed to kill Wisteria which is next to impossible as well. :tongue: On the other hand, everyone says crypts grow slowly but they absolutely FLOURISH in my ridiculously low light tanks! So i think i'm well on my way with your list, what do you think? :hihi:

I'm hoping LauraLee's package comes today so I can post some good updated tank shots here and in my breeding thread  And I'll be posting my 5g TOTAL rescape tonight as well...it's been a big tanks week for me. Now I just need to upgrade my gecko's house and the light in my 30g and then I'm good to go, taking a break from buying and adding too much and sticking with maintenance :biggrin: :tongue:


----------



## Complexity

Killed Java Fern and Wisteria? Yup, you're a true aquatic gardener! :hihi:

For the record, I've killed the very same plants. :tongue:

Wow, you have been going tank crazy! And then you're going to do just maintenance? I don't believe it! LOL! You'll be itching to try something new or rearrange something. It's impossible to resist the urge!

Looking forward to more pics!


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## Karackle

Hahaha yup, killed wisteria and java fern, glad to hear I'm not the only one :tongue: 

I know I've been going tank crazy, that's why i need to stop, i have no $$ hahaha but while I will stop buying for a while i think once i get my light, you are probably right, i will not be able to stop rearranging occasionally :hihi: 

Will get pics up as soon as I get the new plants planted


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## gamexeater

Very inspirational thread for me, i actually just restarted my 29g and planted it with some trimmings from my 10g planted on friday. I found out that i only had a 20w fluorescent tube on it which is about what you have in terms of wpg (about 0.7wpg). Ya...i thought that it would be insufficient to grow plants in but reading through this thread inspired me to go through with it. Thanks a lot karackle  and btw awesome tank, i love how the dark corners of the tank adds depth and contrast to the bright parts in the middle. Awesomeness!!! xD Keep up the updates!! more pics please!!!


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## Karackle

Gamexeater - thanks so much! Wow, I'm glad it's been inspirational for you, that's a huge compliment and I'm glad it helped  My 20g is also less than 1wpg, so I've had a lot of luck getting plants to grow and I am sure you will too! 

I will be posting more pictures later after I do a bit of rearranging and adding some new plants i just got


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## gamexeater

Out of curiousity, what's the photoperiod for you 30g tank?  I'm a bit unsure as to how long to keep the lights on, my tank is in the basement so there isn't any light other than room lights and the tank lights.


----------



## Karackle

My photo-period is about 12-14 hours, really long, yes, but probably the key to plant survival in my really low light tank :tongue: The photo-period in my 20g (also less than 1wpg) is 12 hours. The variation in the 30g is due to the fact that the light in that tank doesn't respond to a timer so I turn it on manually when I get up and off when I go to bed, the 20g is on a timer so it has a more regular photoperiod


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## Karackle

well, I finally got a chance last night to get the Sunset hygro and pennywort from LauraLee planted, but I forgot to bring my camera to work! I was going to post the pics during lunch. I will do it as soon as I get home from work!


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## Complexity

So another day to wait. I'm looking forward to the new pics!


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## gamexeater

By any chance do you have to press and hold the button for your light to turn on?
Can't wait for the new pics!!


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## Karackle

Complexity said:


> So another day to wait. I'm looking forward to the new pics!


And here they are! :biggrin: I posted new shots of my 5.5g too  

Ok so I apologize, some of these pics are really a lot blurrier than I realized when I took them, so after I post these I will try to get some new shots with a steadier camera now that the plants have straightened out slightly in the tank with the lights on today  

lauraleellbp sent me some new plants (LOTS of sunset hygro, guppy grass and pennywort). The guppy grass is for my 10g breeding tank but I wanted to put the Sunset Hygro in my 30g tank. 

New plants floating in the 10g: 









before rescaping:









The asian ambulia and foxtail in the center were not doing well, in my super low light tank they were shading themselves too much on the bottoms, so I pulled them out and put the ambulia in my 5.5 and the foxtail floating in the 10g.



















I moved the taller pieces of my 'Rosanervig' and the sunset hygro to the spot that the ambulia / foxtail had been, and I put the pennywort behind the DW on the left and just behind the large rock on the right where it is still in the light:


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## Karackle

And now I will try to get some better pictures of the rescaping :biggrin:


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## Karackle

OK some more shots using a stable surface and the timer button for clearer pictures  first the FTShots




























And some close-ups of the various new additions 





































Pretty colors!


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## Complexity

Looks good! I'm liking the darker substrate in this tank. The pennywort should do well for you. It gets even prettier as the leaves level out to face to light.

I thought the 'Rosanervig' was the same thing as Sunset Hygro? Are they different?

You have a nice grouping of plants with high contrast in leaves and colors. I'm looking forward to seeing the plants grow in.


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## Complexity

Just saw the last set of pics. I love the color in the sunset hygro! It's such a pretty pink.

I think it will really come together as the plants grow in. Right now, the moss covered stems are appearing somewhat dominant, but that should change with more plant growth filling in around them.

What is the thing on the left side that goes down at an angle?


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## emmanuelchavez

I'm gonna go steal that amazing sunset hygro!!! 



Complexity said:


> I thought the 'Rosanervig' was the same thing as Sunset Hygro? Are they different?


There's 2 that I know of. Regular polysperma, which is light-green/yellowish, and Rosanervig, which is the pink/red variety.


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## Karackle

Vicki - I believe you are right, 'rosanervig' and sunset hygro are the same, but the leaves on the stems I had before look a little different, but it could be simply because they came from different people / tanks. 

I'm excited about how pink the sunset hygro is, I think it adds a nice contrast, I'm excited to see it grow in, hopefully I'll get a nice sized patch of it there and hopefully it will start dominating the moss covered wood (i agree, it's a bit too dominant at the moment)

Thanks for the compliments, I tried to get some good leaf shape and color contrast in this tank, I hope it grows in how I see it in my mind, now I just need to get a longer light so I can get a nice forest of something (probably wisteria (hyrgo difformis) behind the rock on the right. 

I believe the thing on the left coming down at an angle that you are talking about is the airline tubing to my bubble wall? If not then I'm not sure what you mean?


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## lauraleellbp

Looking good! :thumbsup:

I think this tank lacks a good focal point ATM, but that will probably change as the plants grow in.


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## Complexity

You'll be able to tell us if the 'rosanervig' and sunset are one in the same as you watch how they "both" grow in your tank.

I think the thing I'm noticing is probably the airline tube. I wonder if there's any way you can make it less noticeable? What about using black tubing? Or even moving it so it's completely vertical (to match the bubbles) instead of at an angle? It might be just the way the light is hitting it in the pics, but it seems somewhat distracting to the overall scape.


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## Karackle

emmanuel - it's beautiful isn't it? If it grows out of control I'll post some in the SnS so keep an eye out  some of it came in a plant package I got a while ago and some of it came recently in a package from Lauraleellbp  I'm impressed it's looking so good in my tank with it's stunningly low light :tongue: thanks again for the compliment


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## Karackle

LauraLee - The sword between the branches serves as a better focal point in person than in the pictures, but I agree it could be better. I'll see what happens as the new additions (thanks again!) grow in before making anymore changes though because I agree, that sometimes makes all the difference. Thanks!  

Vicki - I'll definitely keep an eye on "both" as they grow in my tank and see how they look! Either way, I think I'll be very happy with all of it :hihi: And I've never noticed the line of the airline tubing, maybe it's something to do with how the light hits it in the picture, or perhaps the air pump got moved and is pulling the line tight at the moment, i think when i set up the tank i had it running more along the bottom and then up the corner....i'll look into it  I'm not sure black tubing exists or I would use that instead. When I get a light that spans the full length of the tank I hope to get some taller, bushier plants growing on that side which should help cover it up too.  I think the moss on the branch in front of it was probably covering it up some too before I trimmed the moss


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## Karackle

Just thought a few quick pictures, plants are growing well, I think the sunset hygro has already grown some, or perhaps it's just straightened out, either way, it's looking great! I think it was just the thing I needed in that spot. So far the only difference between the Hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig' i had already in the tank and he sunset hygro from LauraLee seems to be that the 'rosanervig' has whiter veins, but that could just be a variation due to slight differences in the original plant. They seem to be pretty close otherwise. I've taken pictures of the 2 from the top to try and illustrate what I mean. But first 

FTS:









Closer up of the Sunset hygro and pennywort from LauraLee:


















Sunset hygro:









Sunset hygro from LauraLee, top view:


















Hygro polysperma 'rosanervig' I had before, you can see the whiter, more distinct veins:


















Enjoy!!! 

Also, I apologize for the picture quality om some of the shots, I think maybe my lens was a little dirty or I had something on the wrong setting.


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## Complexity

Interesting difference. Any chance the color variation has to do with one plant being established and growing while the other has just gone through a move?

Let's keep a close eye on the two so we can see how they grow over time.


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## Karackle

Will do! The color variation of red vs green is definitely due to lighting, the 'rosanervig' in my 5.5g (same batch as in the 30) is much pinker, but the white lines on that have always been white, they were when i got them and have stayed that way, i remember thinking how different it looked when I first got it. I will keep an eye on the new sunset hygro though as it gets established and see what happens. 

Either way, both are gorgeous!


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## gamexeater

Great progress!! What's that plant that appears to be growing upward on your arced moss covered dw? It's the plant to the left of the second picture.


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## Karackle

Thanks! I THINK you are probably referring to the flame moss? If not let me know and i'd be happy to try and figure out which other plant you might be referring to


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## Karackle

for no real reason other than boredom and I just finished cleaning the glass on all my tanks, I decided to snap a couple quick pics of the Pennywort now that it has turned it's leaves up to the light and is looking really nice!  

Enjoy! 



























(sorry they're a bit overexposed....they reflect a lot of light :tongue


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## gamexeater

Ya, i thought it looked like some moss but it looked a bit strange cause it was growing so straight up like that. Great looking pennywort, looks very healthy.


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## lauraleellbp

Yeah, I can never get good shots of Pennywort for exactly the same reason. I'm sure that if I had a non-automated camera and a clue what I was doing it would be a different story LOL

The tank is really filling in well!  Can't wait to see what it looks like a month from now... I've already had to trim the Hygro in my own 10gal and it was only in there a month!


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## Karackle

gamexeater said:


> Ya, i thought it looked like some moss but it looked a bit strange cause it was growing so straight up like that. Great looking pennywort, looks very healthy.


Yeah, flame moss grows up like that, it's awesome and beautiful!  There is a branch that sticks up from the arched branch that the flame moss is tied to as well, so that might give it more of a sticking straight up look 

And thanks, yeah it's doing really well, I'm excited! 



lauraleellbp said:


> Yeah, I can never get good shots of Pennywort for exactly the same reason. I'm sure that if I had a non-automated camera and a clue what I was doing it would be a different story LOL


Hahaha exactly! I gotta agree, I don't think I'd know what to do to make it look better even if I did have a non-automatic camera, ah well! heehee



lauraleellbp said:


> The tank is really filling in well!  Can't wait to see what it looks like a month from now... I've already had to trim the Hygro in my own 10gal and it was only in there a month!


Thanks! I'm really happy with how it's looking, the sunset hygro you sent me really made a difference in the tank, it looks much better now! So thank you again! I can't believe you had to trim it that soon, that makes me even more excited to see it fill in!!! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Oh man, I'm really upset. I've lost a bunch of b. brigittae. 

I was peeking in my tank before turning off the lights last night and my BRIGHT red RCS female caught my attention and it got me thinking I had yet to see any babies. So I started looking around the tank and I found some tenny tiny babies hiding in the moss! :biggrin: the more i looked, the more RCS of different sizes i saw, some bigger babies were hiding in the stems of the sword, and there were a few teeny babies in the moss. So i am VERY happy about that. 

But as I was looking around the tank I realized I didn't see as many brigittae as i should. So I began looking for them and was having trouble finding them, but I did see a few, though less than I should have. 

And that's when I noticed the guard / prefilter on my HOB that I'd rigged up had fallen off! Sure enough I saw 1 little brigittae that didn't make it stuck in at the juncture :icon_cry: (there's a second slotted prefilter thing there). So I proceeded to pull apart the filter. To my surprise, there was 1 brigittae swimming around in there! As well as about 6 baby shrimp. So i got everyone back into the aquarium and re-guarded the filter (i'll pick up a reall sponge prefilter as soon as I can). 

The weird thing is, that only accounts for 2 missing brigittae, there were no signs of other brigittae that had not made it through the impeller, i rinsed the filter media all out a couple of days ago and didn't notice any signs of dead fish then either or I would have noticed this a couple days ago. Unless they were hiding REALLY well last night, I'm not sure where the rest of the fish are. I searched high and low in the tank for bodies. 

This is kind of a gross thought, but I'm wondering if there were more that didn't make it and that's how the shrimp and 1 who did make it were surviving in the filter? Though I'd imagine there was plenty of other debris for them to feed on. 

Needless to say, I've very upset about this, it's made marginally better by the discovery that my RCS are in fact sucessfully breeding and at least a small portion of the babies are making it. 

But I always feel just awful when I lose fish. I feel like I'm a terrible fish momma. I wish I'd noticed that the guard had fallen off sooner! bummer.

IN happier news, the plants and the rest of the tank / fish are doing well, the guppies (or at least on of them) are proud fathers, but they don't know that, the moms and babies are in a nursery tank :tongue:


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## Karackle

Man fish tanks are relaxing aren't they? I've had a really crappy couple of weeks for various reasons, and I find just staring into my tanks, especially this one and my guppy/endler nursery SO relaxing...even working on the tanks is such a great stress reliever. No wonder I don't mind spending $ on them! :hihi:


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## Karackle

Well, the good news is I don't seem to have lost anymore B. brigittae, i've been monitoring their numbers. 

The bad news is my bamboo shrimp jumped! I couldn't find him yesterday, but I figured he was just hiding well like he does sometimes, but then this morning I was looking ALL over the the tank and didn't see him anywhere, I figured I'd look under the tank even though there's really no place for him to get out, and there he was, all dried up  I was NOT expecting to find him under there, the back of the tank is really well covered, unless he climbed up and out via the airline for the bubble wall which runs right next to the cord for the heater. Poor shrimp  I feel so bad! And he was my favorite critter in the whole tank. I'll have to get another one, but it just won't be the same. sigh. the kicker is that a lot of stuff I'd read about them before getting one said they're hard to keep happy and they usually only live a few months, but he was doing so well! I was confident he'd live a while. But then.....suicide dive. Bummer.


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## gamexeater

I'm sorry to hear about the missing brigittaes and the bamboo shrimp. It seems to me that the bamboo shrimp has lived a good life. But on a better note, congratulations on the cherry shrimp babies!  I'd also have to agree with the relaxing effect of watching your tank and all its inhbaitants interacting.


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## Karackle

Thanks for the condolences, I do think the bamboo shrimp was happy while he was in there, i hope so anyway! 

And thanks for the congratulations too! I'd started to think that I had too many fish in the tank for any babies to survive, I'm happy to see I was wrong!  

I definitely find it so relaxing AND fascinating to watch my tanks


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## Down_Shift

Karackle said:


> Well, the good news is I don't seem to have lost anymore B. brigittae, i've been monitoring their numbers.
> 
> The bad news is my bamboo shrimp jumped! I couldn't find him yesterday, but I figured he was just hiding well like he does sometimes, but then this morning I was looking ALL over the the tank and didn't see him anywhere, I figured I'd look under the tank even though there's really no place for him to get out, and there he was, all dried up  I was NOT expecting to find him under there, the back of the tank is really well covered, unless he climbed up and out via the airline for the bubble wall which runs right next to the cord for the heater. Poor shrimp  I feel so bad! And he was my favorite critter in the whole tank. I'll have to get another one, but it just won't be the same. sigh. the kicker is that a lot of stuff I'd read about them before getting one said they're hard to keep happy and they usually only live a few months, but he was doing so well! I was confident he'd live a while. But then.....suicide dive. Bummer.



Wow man sorry for the Bamboo =( I know you liked him alot! My buddy has problems with his shrimp climbing out from the back of his heater.. there are alot of them everywhere around room!


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## Karackle

Thanks, yeah I miss him, he was a cool shrimp. I'll have to get another one I think. I'm thinking that he did climb out the heater cord trying to get as close to the outflow as he could or something like that. Bummer. 

In happier news, I went away for a week, and other than it needing a water change / top off I came home to a nice clean, happy, healthy tank. The fish were hungry and ate well last night! I think my roommate might have forgotten to turn the lights on one or two days (the switch needs to be held down for the light to turn on so I can't use a timer on this tank) because some of hte stems are growing towards the windows (sunlight) but everything still looks healthy, so I imagine it was only a day or two of no light, and I'm sure they'll straighten out now with the lights on


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## Complexity

I'm so sorry to hear about your B. brigittaes. Try to not feel too bad because either we're both bad fish mommies or it's just the nature of having such small fish.

I sucked up half of my B. brigittaes on the first day I got them. I didn't realize the filter I was using could suck them up, and by the time I realized it, half were dead.

Now, I have very few left. Some have disappeared in my 5g with my RCS and other Borasas. I think I just lost heart in them after having so much trouble with their color and all.

I guess the best news is that the remaining ones are doing well in my 5g now. Some are even a beautiful red!

I'm doubly sorry to hear about your shrimp! I know you really loved him.


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## infinite07

Sorry to hear about the shrimp.


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## Karackle

Vicki - Thanks for the condolences and the for letting me know I'm not the only one! I can't decide if I want to replace them, they're beautiful fish, but they're so small and they always hid in the back right corner of the tank behind the crypt forest there, so I had to search to see them, I do feel bad there's only 3 in there now as I know they like to school, but they seem to hang out with the ember tetras, and I actually see the 3 more now than when I had a lot! Perhaps because the embers are out and about more. I don't know what to do! I definitely need to get a few more CPDs so the one guy in there can be happy, but I don't know about the brigittae. Hmm....

And thanks, I did love my shrimpy! Sometimes I forget and then look for him in the tank and then get sad again. Sigh. I need to replace him soon, bamboo shrimp are just such a cool addition to a tank! VERY fun to watch.

Infinite - thanks for the condolences


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## infinite07

No problem. It appears to be you loved him to much. Try to get the one that resembles him the most.


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## Karackle

Again, thanks! I did love him, he was such an awesome little critter to watch, and I've heard they're hard to keep, but he was so happy....until he jumped. Sigh. 

Anyway, yes, the plan is certainly to get one that looks very similar! :tongue:


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## Karackle

Just wanted to post a couple pictures that I took tonight  

FTS 









My really pretty sunset hygro! 









And my pennywort growing happily all the way to the surface  The other stem likes to uproot a lot, a piece of it is still planted but short growing behind the lace rock, the other piece is currently floating in the top corner waiting for me to replant it :tongue:


----------



## Karackle

Here are a few updated tank shots I took this evening. The pennywort and sunset hygro are doing REALLY well! The one stem of pennywort behind the DW is growing across the surface! I do believe it's time to trim and replant it! Some of the other (larger) stem I planted stayed down, but a piece of it just kept coming up, so I moved that piece to my guppy/endler hybrid breeding project tank to float and grow some longer roots for a while and I'll let the small piece do its thing. So far it has stayed rooted :thumbsup: 

Anyway, pictures! 

FTSs


















Some plant close-ups

Sunset hygro and foxtail:



























Pennywort:









Crypt forest getting very lush! 









'grass' (i forget what plant this is :tongue: and crypts getting full:









And my tank is getting FULL of RCS!!!! So here are some shots of the lil buggers:


















And an RCS pic that got some of my embers and remaining b. brigittae in it: 









As always, enjoy! And any questions/comments/concerns etc. are more than welcome!!! :biggrin:

In slightly sadder news, I don't think my sparkling gourami is doing well, he's looking a little thin, I might try feeding some garlic in case it's worms, but no one else is looking thin and he's seemed to be getting skinnier for a while. Not sure what to do. Any thoughts would be more than welcome!


----------



## Karackle

I got a new bamboo shrimp today, I still miss the old one, but it's nice to see a large shrimp with his fans out and filtering in the tank again! 

No pictures yet, I'll try to get some tomorrow though


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## lauraleellbp

The plants are really starting to fill in and look nice! I like the Sunset hygro in there. :thumbsup:

I wonder if anyone has ever tried feeding plankton to bamboo shrimp? I know you have to be super-careful not to overfeed, but I suspect that bamboo shrimp probably starve to death in most of our tanks...


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## Karackle

Thanks! It's definitely starting to fill in the way I imagined  And I really like the sunset hygro in there too, thank you again SO much for it!!!  

As for the bamboo shrimp, the other one was doing really well until he jumped. I read a lot about them before getting the first one and basically what I found out was that as long as they've got their fans up and filtering, generally they have enough food. If they are foraging in the gravel then it generally means they don't have enough in the water column. And the happier they are, the redder they are, and mine was always nice and red. So I don't think he was starving, but then he did jump so who knows. BUT because I was worried about the starving to death issue, I've always supplemented that tank with a variety of artificial plankton powders / powdered food for raising fry that i have mixed together. Baby brine shrimp are also small enough for them to eat and I bring those home live from work occasionally and have some frozen, I also feed frozen daphnia occasionally and i used to see him picking out pieces of that. So I THINK there was enough little foods in there, i hope so at least!


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## Karackle

Well, I finally got some more CPDs to keep my lonely guy company, they were on sale at my LFS, the first guy I got there was really expensive because I think they'd been selling them for $11-13.00/pair, more recently they had them for $8.99/pair and they were on sale fro $6.99/pair which I thought was a pretty reasonable price so I picked up 6 more for a nice little school of 7! :biggrin: they're acclimating now, I'll try to get pictures of them and my new bamboo shrimp in a bit!


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## @[email protected]

cant wait to see them.
they are a great little fish.


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## demonbreedr16

Can't wait too see the new fish!! It's turned into a very cool tank!!:thumbsup:


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## Karackle

Marko - yeah they're really cool, the new 6 found the old guy right away, they're definitely smaller than him though :tongue: I can't wait to see how they act as a group instead of just the lonely one I'd had  

Demon - thanks! I'm really happy with how this tank has come out too, it's the first tank i really started as a planted tank from scratch when I knew what I was doing, so it's been a very enjoyable project for me that I've put a lot of time into! It's nice to get positive feedback! 

I tried snapping some photos but didn't have much luck, I'll try again tomorrow and post what I get that is half-decent!


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Wow your sunset hygro is looking much better than mine! Lol mine's in the back and growing at an angle...it also has some algae on it

Looking forward to the CPD pictures!roud:


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## Karackle

ZTM - Thanks, I'm really please with how the sunset hygro is growing too! I'm sorry to hear yours isn't doing well, it's so hard to know what plants will do well in what tanks. I have VERY low light tanks and the batch of hygro I got that is growing really well came from here LauraLeellbp who also has low light tanks, but I also have a small batch of sunset hygro that came from a high light tank, and while it IS growing, it's growing MUCH more sloooooowly. I'm thinking it's not liking the adjustment, but that the stuff that came from low light is quite happy. But like i said, it's always hard to know....i have sunset hygro growing really well, but I can't keep java fern alive in my tanks.....go figure!

Hopefully I'll get some pics of the CPDs and the new bamboo shrimp today after work!


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## Karackle

Okie doke, well, I was unable to get a good, or really ANY, shots of the new bamboo shrimp, he was not in a good photo-op spot, but I did manage to get a few pictures of some of my bright red RCS and a couple half decent shots of the CPDs. Enjoy!  

Pretty pretty RCS:


















A pretty picture of my sunset hygro that I snapped accidentally when the camera focussed on the plant instead of the shrimp I was trying to take a picture of :tongue::









And some CPD pictures....the first one is really dark (accidentally had the flash on) but it's the only really none-blurry CPD shot, one in focus on the left, 2 more on the right...they like each other  









a slightly grainy close-up of the CPD in focus









And a few more, not so much in focus, but show the colors better  




































And one kinda cool picture of the embers schooling in the plants









enjoy! :biggrin:


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## thief

O man that is cool.

Also I am a noob when it comes to plants but that hygro looks sweet loving the red and veins going through it! I never new that it matters what kind of lighting your plants came from.

Also I plan to start a breeding colony of CPD hopfully in a couple months in my 2 10g's. Let me know how they treat you though. I love them so much they are like mini trout just more colorful!

Good luck with everything.


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## Karackle

Thank you so much for the compliment! I really appreciate it coming from someone with such gorgeous tank(s)!!!  

I'm honestly not entirely sure whether it matters what tank a plant comes from, I know some plants do need to adjust to the different light levels though, it's been long enough that they all should theoretically be equally adjusted to my low light levels, so it could also have to do with the particular strain / original parent plant, unless the high light ones just need a looooooonnnng time to adjust to low light :tongue:

So far I LOVE my CPDs, they do seem to be great little fish!!! That's really cool that you want to start a breeding colony of them! I'd love to hear more about that, please let me know if you start a thread about it so I can keep up with your progress!!!


----------



## Phoenix-cry

Sweet! They are so cute! I have seven CDP as well and they ar just so much fun. I'm hoping to have fry soon!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! They are definitely adorable, they're a great addition to the community tank, especially with all of my other nano-fish in there :hihi: I'd love to get more in there eventually, but I'm pretty fully stocked at the moment :tongue: I took a look at your thread, nice tank!


----------



## demonbreedr16

Soooo what's your stocking for this tank right now??


----------



## Karackle

Well I need to update my signature minorly, but it's pretty much that plus the 6 new CPDs and I had to euthanize the sparkling gourami. 

So we have: 15 ember tetras, 7 CPDs, 3-5 b. brigittae, 5 male endlers, 5 zebra danios, 2 male guppies, 6 pygmy cories, 3 otos, 3 amano shrimp, 1 bamboo shrimp, a whole bunch of RCS and a ramshorn snail plague (incidentally, the snail plague has started to subside as the RCS population has increased....I've also scaled back the feeding slightly)


----------



## demonbreedr16

What happend to the Sparkling Gourami? I'm sorry you had to Euthanize him...that's always rough. I once had to do that to a red capped oranda.


----------



## Karackle

He was getting progressively thinner and thinner....sort of looked like worms, but no one else appears to be effected, and I didn't want him to pass away in the tank and have the other fish cannibalize him and THEN get worms or whatever was effecting him. He seemed to be suffering too, so I figured it was better to end it. Poor little guy. I do miss him, he was so beautiful!


----------



## Karackle

Well it's snowing a fair bit here in the Albany area today which means it's really quiet at work since a lot of people haven't come in, so I'm bored! So I thought I would do something "productive" and post a time course of tank pictures to see how it has progressed! Should be neat for me to see as well!  Enjoy! 

August at the end of day 1 setup: 









Late August: 









September: 








_lighting-wise, i think this is the coolest shot I've ever gotten of a tank_

October: 









November: 









December, before minor rescape: 









December, after minor rescape:









And January:









And just for the more dramatic Effect: 

August: 









January:


----------



## @[email protected]

if you suspect parasitic nematodes, i suggest you feed peas or do something like that, since the other fish are probably affected, and just arent showing symptoms yet.
i let mine progress really far, and i lost all my fish.


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## Karackle

@[email protected] - Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not familiar with those, I'll look it up. Sounds like the cure is pretty benign so no reason not to try it, i imagine there are no harmful effects of peas, so it's not like medicating for no cause which can hurt them. 

However, he's been progressively getting thinner for quite a while, I thought the other fish just weren't letting him eat, so I started making sure he was eating well at feedings and keeping an eye on everyone else, if it was something they all had, i suspect I'd see signs in at least some of the other fish.

*EDIT* So I did some searching on the forum, best I came up with is a kind of nematode (worm) that is parasitic, lives inside the fish on organs, but aside from manual removal, can not be gotten rid of as it is not actually IN the intestines (peas would therefore not help so there may not have been anything you could have done ). But I know there are also worms that that do live in the intestines that garlic helps get rid of (and perhaps peas as well?) But I don't see any other thin fish, it could be something else that caused him to get thin so I'll definitely keep an eye on the tank, but hopefully getting him out before it he passed will prevent the other fish from suffering as well.


----------



## itstony

ive been reading thruout the pages and what a nice progress its been. the moss on the wood have spreaded nicely .. but i think bunching more plants together would look fantastic in the corners or so .imo lol


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## Karackle

itstony - thank you so much! It's always nice to hear positive feedback, means I must be doing at least something right!  I totally agree with you, I want to get plants into the corners, but other than the bronze crypts wendtii and some moss in the left corner, not much grows in the corners because the light that came with the tank is only 24" and the tank is 36" so as soon as I get my act together and get a 36" light for the tank, I plan to get some taller plants in the corner, I especially want to fill in the space behind the rock on the right with some wisteria (hygrophila difformis) or something similar to fill that side out more.


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## demonbreedr16

Just out of curiosity, are you going to replace the Gourami?


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## Karackle

Um I actually haven't decided on that yet, may I ask why you were wondering?


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## demonbreedr16

He was very colorful from the pics (the blurry ones) so I thought another would be cool. I sometimes replace fish with the same or change completely. 

Just so you know, I'm using your tank for inspiration for my 29gal! I LOVE the moss on the driftwood throughout the tank. I bet it's even prettier in real life!


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## itstony

i have the same problem too cept i have a 10gal tank thats 22" but the light is near 17 or 18" which is a pain for one corner so i put more plants on one of the corner only where the light shines. btw what type of light are you running on the tank right now ? just curious


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## Karackle

demonbreedr - Yeah, he was definitely beautiful and colorful, I may replace him, but if I do I will probably wait until I get a longer light and can get a nice bush of something going in the corners of the tank for hiding places, they're quite calm generally, so I worry that without lots of places to hide the zebra danios might intimidate them too much. I may be removing some of the zebras from the tank though too. So we'll see if and when that happens  

itstony - yeah it's definitely a pain when stuff won't grow in the corners, throws off the balance of the tank aesthetically I think. I just have a regular old fluorescent tube light on this tank. It's 22" and 20w. I can't wait to get a 36" light though so i can put this light on my 20g and give that one a few more watts of light, and get more light to those corners too. At least on that tank the fixture spans the width of the tank, the tank is 24" but the bulb is only 18", but since the fixture is 24" the sides get some light coming off the reflector.


----------



## Karackle

Well I did a little bit of moving stuff around the other day so I thought I'd post a few pictures. It's not a whole lot different, I moved around the sunset hygro so that the tall stems are now in the back and the shorter ones are in front. I trimmed the pennywort so that there is some now on each side of the DW and I moved the piece that was already there slightly so it's in front of the DW (not sure if I like it there, let me know what you think). And I removed the last piece of foxtail from next to the amazon.

Before: 


















After (in a few different color modes):



























Sorry about the picture quality, not my best. I think my camera is on its last leg. Unless I am in macro mode, the pictures don't seem to be coming out that clear anymore.


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## Karackle

Oh also, a sunset hygro update (i'll try to add photos to go with this later) The sunset hygro stems that I received from Lauralee LLBP are the tall ones in the back of the tank to the right of the sword. These have grown much, much faster and with longer, broader leaves than the other hygro stems in the tank (in front of the sword) that were shipped to me as hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig'. thee 2 are theoretically the same thing, but the veins on the 'rosanervig' are much whiter and the tops of the leaves are quite pink whereas the sunset hygro leaves are redder with pinkish veins. As already mentioned, the leaves of the sunset are longer and broader than the 'rosanervig' which has small delicate looking leaves. 

I imagine they are simply different varieties of the same species, but it is very interesting watch the progress as they grow


----------



## Complexity

Looking good! I'm sorry about your gourami, but I'm happy to hear you got a new bamboo shrimp! I still want one for my tank, but I've been holding off adding anything new for now.

Your Hygro looks really nice. I want to see the pics of the two different kinds you seem to have. I'm wondering if it's a variance based on the ferts and lighting? I know I have all different colors of veins and leaves on the same plant, but I also have some that I swear are different. So I don't know.


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## fastfreddie

Karackle, 
I love how mysterious this tank looks. I know you are looking for a longer light, but I think the dark areas really make cool photos. I also really enjoy timeline posts like the ones you did from August to now, so thanks for that. 

Keep up the good work!


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## darkcrisis

I gotta say that your tank looks awesome! I just started my first planted tank (55gal) and your timeline has given me alot of hope. I can't beleive how good the plants look. Do you ever fertilize?


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## demosthenes

the tank looks great! however, i don't think anyone has brought up your airstone yet. plants thrive on CO2 and produce O2, so you adding in extra O2 may help your fish a little bit, it hurts your plants. They should look a lot better if you turn off your airstone. Plus, the plants should produce enough O2 for your fish to be healthy anyway, so its unnecessary. 

don't get me wrong though, the tank certainly does look great! i like your choices of fish, too. your endlers are beautiful! and the bamboo shrimp is really cool, too. I used to have one and i thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever


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## itstony

yikes! i have mine on alot..ima shut it off now..lol.. and the tanks going great!


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## Karackle

Wow, I missed all the comments on here until just now somehow!!! Sorry about that!

*Vicki* - Thanks, the gourami passing was definitely sad, but it's very nice having a bamboo shrimp in the tank again! I've been meaning to get pictures of the individual plants, they're in the same tank so I don't think it's a dosing thing....but they came from different tanks originally (from 2 different people) so it could be a how they were raised vs. adapting to my tank? Each plant definitely has different colored leaves on it, but I swear the plants look different from each other, 2 distinct "varieties" in my 30g. I was hoping to snap the pics with my new camera, but I haven't gotten it yet, so I'll see what I can get with my camera.  

*FastFreddie* - Thank you so much for the compliments, I really appreciate that! I like the look of the tank in pictures too, but I would love to get some growth in the corners, especially behind the large piece of lace rock....I'm thinking of just getting 2 clip lights to fill out those corners during the day and I can shut them off to maintain the mysterious look at night / when i take pictures  :hihi:

*darkcrisis* - Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that it has inspired you, I'm so glad! I fertilize occasionally when I remember to :tongue: mostly I rely on the eco-complete and the fish to do the fertilizing though. I look forward to seeing how your tank progresses, I'm going to take a look to see if you have a journal thread!

*demosthenes* - thank you, yes actually, people have mentioned my bubble walls before (i have them in all of my display tanks :tongue but actually, the bubble wall really only causes a CO2 off-gassing problem if you are injecting CO2 into the tank and therefore trying to achieve a tank CO2 level that is higher than the atmospheric level. I do not inject CO2, so the surface agitation actually helps replace the CO2 that the plants use by keeping the water at approximately equilibrium with the atmosphere. 
Thank you for the compliments though too! I was so surprised at how bright the colors were, they really add great color to the tank! And yes, bamboo shrimp are extremely cool, they're a fantastic addition to any tank!!! :biggrin:

*itstony* - thanks for the compliment! As for the airstones, see my above post  There are a lot of people who run airstones in their low tech planted tanks, I wouldn't worry too much about leaving it on unless you are injecting CO2


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## Complexity

How do the hygros look now? Are they beginning to look the same or are they still very different?

I honestly think it's the same plant as my hygro 'Sunset' has looked very different, depending on the tank's environment. I even had split some into two groups, thinking they were different plants. Put one group on each side of my 29g. Then they grew, and they eventually proved to be the very same plant.


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## Pinto

Wow what a difference. Plant seem very healthy.


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## Karackle

Vicki - Once the smaller leaved "different" looking hygros finally grew to the middle of the tank, they shot up to the top VERY quickly and now that they are closer to the lights, the top leaves are broadening and the two plants are indeed starting to look similar, I'll try to get some pictures, but it may have to wait until I get back from vacation. I will try to take pictures today and tomorrow though so that I have them and can post over vacation if I have internet access :tongue:

Pinto - thanks so much, the compliment is very much appreciated! 

All in all this tank is doing quite well, I removed all but one of the zebra danios (i couldn't catch him) and have been contemplating snatching one female back out of the 20g to keep him company. The CPDs have settled in and colred up very nicely, they're often found hanging out with the Ember Tetras and b. brigittae, the 3 remaining b. briggitae have actually coolred up VERY nicely recently for reasons I don't understand, I thought they were a schooling fish and now that there is only 3 they looks the brightest they've been. Fish work in mysterious ways! And the new bamboo shrimp has settled in nicely as well. 

The only bad thing is that with the exception of a clump of small leaves at the bottom, the sword has started taking a turn for the worse. I think it is time to pull it, any suggestions what I should put in its place?


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## Complexity

Your hygro is doing the same thing as mine. The whole plant is highly variable, but I'm not sure what determines the colors. I'd say light, but the ones I planted in my DARK 5g tank are also red! That tank is an eclipse style (so the filter blocks the light from the back half of the tank) with just a basic 8w bulb. And the hygro is red! So it can't be the light! I don't fertilize that tank either, but I did add fert tabs so maybe that's it?

How about a red tiger lotus in the place of the sword?


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## Karackle

I'm back! Ok, I know, i suck, i totally failed at getting pictures the other week, I was just too busy getting ready to leave, and I ended up not bringing my computer thinking I might not have internet for it (turns out there WAS wireless in the lobby and i could have had internet access on my computer when...grrr ...ah well) but I am back now. I have no pictures at the moment, but I will try to get at least one or two tonight, and then lots tomorrow night for posting on Friday, I will have LOTS of time Friday to post and hang out on here (finally) and read and read and read everyone else's updates!!! 

I will, however, post the updates on this tank, just without pics for now. So this tank, I admit, is kind of a mess at the moment. The Sunset hygro is growing VERY tall and all over the tank! The plants are in really good shape, which means they are in MUCH need of a trim and the whole tank looks a mess. The melting leaves on the sword don't make it look any better. But I'd rather have healthy plants even if the tank looks a mess than plants that aren't growing, so no complaints on the hygro front, only at myself for not having the time to properly manage the tank. 

Anyway, the sword has a whole bunch of very short new leaves at it's base, so I think I am going to pull it, cut all of the old growth off so the whole thing is JUST short little leaves and move it somewhere else in the tank. I will cut Hygro stems in half and line the whole back wall with them I think, but I do want to put something where the sword was to try and re-creat a focal point of sorts behind the V of the drift wood. 

*Vicki*- I think a red tiger lotus would probably look really good in that spot, but don't forget my tank is VERY low light, would it grow? if so i'll be looking in the SnS for that! I think then I'd want something greener than the hygro to go behind and/or to the sides of the lotus to make it pop more. Maybe even something as simple as green crypt wendtii which doesn't need as much light so that even if it gets a bit shaded, it still works. And yes, hygro is crazy, i am still shocked at how much pink and red I get from those stems in my very low light tank! I love it. I don't really fertilize much either, i bank on the fish and the eco-complete mostly to do it for me. I do throw roots tabs under the root feeders occasionally for an added boost, and a little shot of excel with water changes, but that's about it. What a happy plant  Speaking of root tabs...i need to get more, do you have a kind you would suggest? I bought a box of some random brand last time and they seemed to work well, but i thought I would take suggestions since I didn't really know what I was doing then. Also, more tabs for less $ would be preferable, I picked the ones i got because there were lots for about $5 instead of 8 flourish tabs for $10 (or whatever the high price on those is). 

I NEED to find a light I can afford that fits the length of this tank. I know that it looks cool in pictures having the ends dark, but when the tank is lit up and it's daylight and the ends aren't in darkness, they look SO bare! the left side is covered in Crypt wendtii Bronze / red so it looks less bare, but there is no height or color variation, and the spot behind the tall piece of lace rock is just empty. I'd love to get a little forest of some kind of stem going in there because when there was hyrgo difformis (wisteria) some of the fish loved to hide back there, which admittedly, made them harder to see from the front of the tank, but that end of the tank faces my bed, so i could lie in bed and watch the fish that were back there, almost like having another tank :tongue:

Fish are all doing well, I lost both of the male guppies the other day, their tails were stripped down to nothing, I was sad for the loss, especially the red one, I was going put him in the endler/guppy breeding tank and just leave him there because his colors would have been beautiful mixed with the endlers, and it's always sad to lose fish. Everyone else is looking REALLY good at the moment though, so I'll be happy for the good things. CPDs have settled in very nicely, they've all got nice bright red fins and dark bodies, embers are great, the three little b. briggitae are still VERY brightly colored, the bamboo shrimp hangs out on the DW sifting whatever he sifts from the current from the filter. There are SO many RCS in the tank now it's unbelievable, i love it! The Amanos have gotten huge. 

So other than needing a mini makeover and water change, this tank is doing quite well i think 

Sorry for the novel, stay tuned for pics!


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## Karackle

Ok, as promised, PICTURES! 

There's only a couple for today, but I wanted to post something! 

As you can see the tank is in serious need of some trimming and rearranging. The sword needs to have its large dead leaves cut off and the rest of the plant with small leaves planted elsewhere, and the sunset hygro clearly needs to be cut into smaller portions and replanted in the back. 

Sorry about the less than great pictures, still trying to get a handle on the new camera. 

FTS:









left side:









center (you can really see the sword in need of help and the overgrown sunset hygro in this one):









and Right side:









I'd love rearranging suggestions! 

enjoy!


----------



## Karackle

Well, I don't have any new pictures or updates, as luck woiuld have it, my life got in the way and I ran out of time for rescaping / trimming 

However, I am still looking for suggestions on how to reorganize the plants in here so please feel free to comment! As always, thanks in advance!


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## sewingalot

Looking good. I like the first shot the best. The water reflection is cool. Try trimming off some of the bad stems of the sword, it won't have to spend a lot of energy on them that way and will bounce back quicker. I did that with my amazon and it would shoot out a ton of leaves after a major trim of bad leaves.


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## Karackle

Thanks! That's not a bad idea, I will try that!  

it has lots of nice little leaves at the base so I think I will move it forward in the tank for now and see how that goes, if it gets too big, back to the back it will go :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Just a minor update, I finally found got a new light for this tank! Well sort of, they didn't have any in stock at the LFS but they ordered one for me!  It was $36 for a 30" light and $52 for a 36" light, so i decided the 6 extra inches weren't worth 50% more $$ but now there will only be 3" of darkness on each end of the tank instead of 6" and given how well the tank is doing anyway, i think this will work. It will be long enough to get light on the back side of the lace rock so i can (finally!) grow something back there. :biggrin: Also, i can probably cheat the light slightly to the right for growing purposes to get more light back there if I need to for 2 reasons, 1) the crypts on the left have been growing really well with 6" of darkness anyway and 2) i have a clip light i can put on my desk to add more light to that end of the tank if I need it, so I am really excited about this light, I wish they'd had it in stock, as they say "the waiting is the hardest part" 

Stay tuned for preliminary trim updates, i'm going to try to do some rearranging tomorrow


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## sewingalot

I am looking forward to the updates! Congratulations on the lights. Yeah!!!!


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## Karackle

heehee thanks!!! I'm looking forward to the update too :hihi: i'm SO Excited to see what my tank looks like when more than 2/3 of it is lit!


----------



## Karackle

So I was trying to snap a picture of my fat happy Oto last night when I lost my balance while squatting and managed to push a random button on my camera and I inadvertantly figured out how to change my shutterspeed! woohoo! 

So i figured I'd snap the oto as well as some other fish! :biggrin: These are the best shots I got, I still need to mess with setting so they're not so dark and/or add more light next time, but I think they still came out pretty ok! 

Enjoy! 

Happy chubby otos:


















Embers, white clouds and boraras briggitae: 




































Celestial Pearl Danios:


















and a picture showing the nice pink in my Sunset Hygro....it's quite a bit more fuchsia than it's showing here, but this shows it better than i've gotten it to show in previous pictures 









Enjoy!


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## Complexity

Very pretty! You're getting good with your camera. Maybe you should fall down more often? :hihi:


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## demonbreedr16

Looking GREAT!!

Do you still have the Purple Emporer Tetra(from you 10gal Journal) and did you move him in here like you planned?

BTW: How many White Clouds do you have?


----------



## Karackle

DemonBreedr - Thanks! Emperor tetra? I've never had Emperors in this tank....OH! I was quarantining him for my boyfriend back when there were just a few endlers in the 10g because he'd gotten picked on and I was hoping to nurse him back to health somewhere he wouldn't get picked on, unfortunately he did not make it, the damage was too severe, but I don't recall ever having plans to put him in my tank. I have 3 white clouds that love to hang out with my 15 ember tetras. Haha. silly fish! 

Vicki - thanks! well it was only an almost fall, it was the catching myself that made me push the button, but still i agree, if only all accidents were lucky like that!


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## organic sideburns

i love that oto. how many do u have? im thinking about getting 2 or 3 for my 46 gal. i want to add to my peaceful community.


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## sewingalot

I love your CPDs! How in the world do you get pictures of them without blur? Such crisp photos, too. Your otos look so fat and happy.


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## Karackle

organic sideburns - heehee thanks! yeah the otos are happy little things I think  I have 3 in this tank, i went with 3 Otos and 3 amanos for algae clean-up crew, RCS and pygmy cories for general clean up  

sara - thanks! I was happy about the CPD shot too, I finally got a good shot of them! I lost my balance and started tipping over while squatting to take a picture of the oto and when i caught myself I pressed a button on the camera and i figured out how to change the shutter speed. So i put it on the shortest and turned off the flash so the colors wouldn't get washed out the way they do with the flash  it was a very lucky almost fall


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## sewingalot

You should fall more often! I tried falling, but it didn't work for me. Still blurry....:hihi:


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## Karackle

Hahahaha i know right?! sorry it didn't work for you though! :tongue: :hihi:


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## sewingalot

The dogs had a good laugh.


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## Karackle

hahahahaha that is definitely true!!!


----------



## Karackle

I finally got a chance to do some trimming and replanting in this tank last night. I will try to get pictures tonight or over the weekend, I wanted to wait until the bent over piece of sunset hygro had a chance to stretch back toward the light  

The tank is basically a sunset hygro forest now, I moved the sword to the left side of the tank and filled in the bare spot with sunset hygro from other areas of the tank. I move a piece of the pennywort (or is it moneywort?) that had gotten really long to behind the large rock, split the other strand in half and took a strand that had been growing in my guppy tank and put them around the branch of DW in the back of the tank. I am still waiting on my new light and some plants to fill in the back right corner behind the lace rock. 

Anyway, it will make more sense with pictures. :tongue:


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## sewingalot

*cough, cough* Where are the pictures? It is Saturday (technically). I love this tank, it's of my favorite of yours. How are the CPDs?


----------



## Karackle

:icon_redf oops! I didn't have time before I headed to a concert this evening and I just got home! I will get pictures up Sunday at the latest. 

Thanks for the compliments too! I really appreciate it!  

The CPDs are doing very well, they are not shy at all in my tank, they are VERY active!


----------



## sewingalot

Okay. I'll give you a break. This time, lol. I finally got some pictures of my CPDs up in a new journal tanks to you and your fall. :hihi: I am glad to hear the CPDs are doing so well. Are yours orangish red or plain red? Mine are more orange than red.


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## Karackle

Hahaha ok thanks! Glad you got the pictures, and I'm glad my fall was helpful to you :hihi: I love your CPD tank!  

I will definitely get pictures tomorrow, I have been really busy the past two days, but tomorrow is my day to clean and play with my fish tanks, so I promise I'll have pictures and updates by tomorrow night!


----------



## Karackle

Ok, updates! As promised....ok a little later than promised, technically it's monday but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's sunday night to me :tongue: 

Here are two full tank shots to show the rescape as well as the NEW LIGHT! It doesn't look as much brighter in the pictures than it does in real life even though i took the pics on the same settings. But I didn't crop it to just the tank like I normally do so you can see how much light is getting thrown back onto the wall, i think that helps to show the difference. 

FTS with the old light: 









FTS with the new light: 









clearly the bulbs are also different color temperatures but you get the idea (i think) :hihi:

Also, they are posted in another thread as well, but here's a couple pictures of playing with XMas tree lights as moonlights. I rearranged the bulbs on loooonnng multicolored strands for a section of blue and a section of red. I want to make moonlights using XMas tree lights, but i couldn't find any when I went shopping today. I'll look around again tomorrow. But this gives you an idea. I'll have to use more blue lights than red lights as clearly the blue isn't quite bright enough. 

eerie red:









mellow blue:









Enjoy!


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## honor

nice tank, haha the bubbles.


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## sewingalot

Wow, those lights really show off the reds in your tank now. I like the new additions! And the christmas tree red lights are kind of cool in a horror movie sort of way, lol! I actually love it. You're fish look happy in the new lighting as well. I bet the sunset will really take off now.


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## Karackle

honor - thanks! hey...what's so funny about my bubbles?! 

Sara - I know! I'm so excited about how the red stand out now, i didn't realize how greeeen that other light was! And the intensity of the light doesn't show up in the pictures, but the difference between the T12 and the T8 is VERY apparent in real life. The bulb is actually only a couple inches longer (it's 24", I was told it would be 30" in a 30" hood...grrrr...but the previous light was a really weird length, either 20 or 21" i think in a 26" hood....not the standard 24" hood i was thinking it was) but the spread of the light is MUCH greater! It really gets behind that large lace rock now, I think I might actually be able to grow something back there now! :biggrin: I'll probably cheat the light to that side of the tank for growing purposes slightly too. And thanks! Yeah i really like the red lights too. I'll be curious to see if i can see any behavioral differences in the blue vs. the red light. it should be fun watching the fish at night.  I hope I can find XMas lights soon!


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## sewingalot

I was pleasantly surprised to see the reds. No joke, I didn't even realized you had any, lol. Now that you have all that light, you should take some of this blyxa off my hands. :hihi: I think L. Sessiflora could look great behind the lace rock. I now this sounds strange, but I think it is prettier in low light because of the length between the nodes gets longer. Look at Big Lots for xmas lights. There are a ton around here. Wait - is there a Big Lots in your area. In addition to the fish behavior, I will be curious to know how the plants react (if at all) to the different colors. I want to try this out now.


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## Karackle

Thanks! Yeah the reds show up MUCH more, the picture doesn't even do it justice since it's a little washed out. Hmm....sessiflora might look really good back there, maybe i'll try it!  

I think I do have a big lots down the street, i'll check that out thanks for the suggestion!  It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction by the plants, I hadn't thought of that. The light should be dim enough that they won't "notice" but you never know. I've never heard of anything odd happening with plants due to moonlights....hmmm......I'm excited to try it, now i just need to find xmas lights!


----------



## honor

Karackle said:


> honor - thanks! hey...what's so funny about my bubbles?!


surprised plants grow so well in such an aerated tank.


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## Karackle

Honor - actually in a non-CO2 injected low tech tank, the aeration helps a lot because it helps keep the levels of CO2 and oxygen in the tank at equilibrium with the air so I actually get more CO2 in the tank with the bubble walls than if I didn't have them since I am not adding CO2 to the system through any other means.


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## Karackle

ARGH! I took pictures of the tank last night that show the reds even better and some closer up pictures, i edited them and planned to post them today, but I forgot to upload them to my photobucket before I went to bed! And I really could have used something to do at work today :tongue: :hihi: 

Ok, so stay tuned, pictures to come right after work.


----------



## Karackle

Okie dokie, here are pictures of the tank! Tried to show the red a little better 

FTSs (different settings first shows the overall look better, second shows the reds better....i think :tongue


















Closer ups plant shots (L, C, R): 



























And some RCS and an oto (otto?) shots  

















this one also shows the red in the sunset hygro well ​









Enjoy!


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## sewingalot

That sunset hygro is amazing. It is already showing more red after the new light addition! I found a great seller on eBay for led christmas lights. He has 100% positive feedback. Actually, my hubby found the guy after I told him about looking for christmas lights.  Thought you would like the link.

I never thought about adding a bubble wall to the tank after plants. I actually had one I took out because I thought it would be a bad idea. Now that I see your plants are doing so well, I want to hook mine back up.


----------



## Karackle

Sara - thanks! You know I think you are right about the sunset hygro, I thought it was just looking more red because of the different color temp of the lights, but when the lights went out last night it still looked more red, so I'm thinking it likes the new lights! 

Thanks for the LED xmas light link I'll have to check it out *edit* I checked it out, great prices! But I don't think I quite need 12m worth of lights? I was only look for 36 inches! :icon_lol: but maybe if I can get my friend to help me with the project, she can show me how to cut them apart so I can make more than one!  

As for the bubble wall, i have one in all 3 of my display tanks, I like the look and I think it helps the plants, as long as you're not adding CO2. If you are adding CO2 (i can't remember if you do or not, i'll peek at your thread) then bubble walls will outgas a lot of it and work against you, if you're super low tech like me, then the aeration helps keep the CO2 (and O2) levels up due to equilibrium with the air and whatnot. But in a CO2 tank, the goal is to get the CO2 level much higher than what is in the air so you want to reduce surface agitation to keep the CO2 in the water. Ok that's my science lesson for the day, sorry if you already knew it!


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## sewingalot

That sunset hygro is going to look awesome in a few days. Oh, yeah, the lights are 12 m! I thought it was inches, lol. I thought it was cool that they are sealed and completely waterproof!

Actually, I didn't know about the aeration and co2/o2 levels in a low tech tank. So, thanks for the lesson! The smaller tanks have no co2. I wonder if George could handle a current created by the bubble wall.


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## Karackle

I know, I'm excited to see how the sunset hygro progresses! Hahaha yeah, I thought it was inches at first too, then i realized it was meters! hahaha. oh well, thanks for the link anyway, those would have been good!  

Well then I am glad the science lesson was helpful! :hihi: I have a bubble wall in my 5g betta tank and not only does he not mind the current, he likes to play in it!  He also doesn't seem to mind the added flow from the filter upgrade. Nothing is blowing around in there, just good flow, but he's able to chill out pretty motionless (like Bettas on occasion like to do ) pretty much anywhere in the tank.


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## sewingalot

I was actually going to add mine to George's tank this evening when I realized I took my air pump to work! Haha, looks like I am going shopping next payday. Talk about feeling foolish, I got the tubing and wall set up, and when I looked for the pump...... :hihi:

This has to be one of the most fascinating tanks out here. I like that you are so creative. By the way, your sword is looking great. It really grew fast. I see good looking leaves in there.


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> I was actually going to add mine to George's tank this evening when I realized I took my air pump to work! Haha, looks like I am going shopping next payday. Talk about feeling foolish, I got the tubing and wall set up, and when I looked for the pump...... :hihi:


Hahaha i hate it when I do stuff like that, and I definitely have! Does this mean you have a tank at work? What size is it? Where is the journal? :hihi: I might have an extra pump lying around, probably not too big but if your tank isn't too big either i'll check if I have something that'll work for you, i'd be happy to send it to you! PM me 



sewingalot said:


> This has to be one of the most fascinating tanks out here. I like that you are so creative. By the way, your sword is looking great. It really grew fast. I see good looking leaves in there.


Sara thank you so much, that is the best compliment i've gotten! It's really nice to hear that, I always just think my tank is just ok but i love it anyway, so it's nice to hear that someone else thinks it looks good! The sword is looking good but I'm not sure that there's all that much new growth, those were the healthy low growing leaves that were hidden behind the DW  ... i think :hihi: *edit* looking at the first set of pics i posted with the new light vs the newest set, you might be right about it having grown!


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## sewingalot

Will definitely pm you for the pump, thanks. Since you mentioned it, here is my work tank. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/yourtanks.php?do=view&id=1241 It needs work according to the poor rating, lol. But hey, Larry likes it.

I think your tank is banging! You are welcome for the words, I truly mean them.  I think you are always your worst critic, so you are the last person who should judge. After all, I hate most of my tanks, lol! That sword has definitely grown! Have you decided on any root tabs yet? It looks like you have been fertilizing it, or the lights are doing a great job!


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> I think your tank is banging!


:hihi: Well thanks so much, it is truly appreciated!!! and i love your word choice! :icon_lol: 

You know, I haven't chosen root tabs yet EEK! :icon_eek: I was actually thinking about that the other day, I really need to get some because I'm worried with the new lights and faster growth i'll run into problems if I don't get something soon. I might have to pick up some jobes to get me started! I worry a little about algae with them, I've heard that can be a problem, have you experienced this? Do they dissolve while you're trying to get them in place? I found a place that has the same fert tabs that GLA sells but for 1/2 the price (and GLA is out of stock) so i thought about trying those as well. The substrate is only half eco-complete so i worry about it having enough nutrients in it, though nothing in my tank grows all THAT fast (compared to high light i mean) :tongue:

Onto the tank update!

Another FTS not much has changed but it's fun to post FTS regularly anyway :tongue:










And some fauna pictures

Cool picture of the bamboo shrimp and one of my B. brigittae:









another brigittae shot









And for those who have been following my guppy/endler thread, I moved some of the possible male hybrids that just looked like endlers into this tank and as I was lying in bed staring at the tank yesterday i noticed that one of the endler-looking males had a longer than average tale for an endler male, then i noticed he was a bit bigger than the other males, and then i noticed that his dorsal fin is larger and more colorful than male endlers usually have SO i _think_ this guy is definitely a hybrid and showing it!  There's another male in there with similar, but not as obvious, characteristics but i didn't get a shot of him. I wish I had gotten a better picture of this guy as well as one with another endler in the same shot to better illustrate the differences, but c'est la vie! I'll keep trying  

Ok enough chit chat, you just want to see the pictures! :hihi: here they are:


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## Karackle

I know this tank is way overdue for an update, I got some new plants from SewingAlot (thanks again! ) that went in here but i planted them very haphazardly and plan to do a bit of a rescape this evening, so stay tuned and I will post the updated pictures when I have finished the rescape!


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## sewingalot

About time! :hihi:


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Are you ok? I was looking forward to seeing your tank's progress but then I noticed you haven't logged on since the 8th


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## bherren1

Started reading your journal today...first thought that went through my head when I read you fish list on page one was....."three french hens, two turtle doves...AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE!!! It must be close to Christmas in July. Nice job though:thumbsup:


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## Karackle

Hi, sorry I have been AWOL, I had a lot of family events leading up to my brothers wedding which meant a lot of weekend away which meant all of the pesky things like laundry, dishes and general house cleaning etc. that I usually do on weekends had to be done during the week on top of grad school advisor / job hunting has left me no time for tank updates or plantedtank.net-ing. I can't promise anything for this weekend, but i REALLY will try to get updates posted next week, possibly sunday, but i'm not sure. Stay tuned, I will get some updates SOON! 

bherren - hahah yes, lots of fishies! And thanks!


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## sewingalot

Glad to see you are still around! Congratulations to your brother and new wife! Good luck on the job hunting/grad advisor. It has been lonely without you on the board. I am happy to hear you are moving in with your boyfriend - especially a fellow fish lover!


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> Glad to see you are still around! Congratulations to your brother and new wife! Good luck on the job hunting/grad advisor. It has been lonely without you on the board. I am happy to hear you are moving in with your boyfriend - especially a fellow fish lover!


Thanks Sewingalot! I'm really excited to move, though I am nervous that I will have trouble keeping my fish and plants alive in the process! There are some good threads on here about moving larger tanks that I will be searching for when the time comes!

Ok ok I know you're really here for updates so here they are! Just a couple pics to show the state of the tank (which I am ashamed to say is a slightly neglected one). There are some new additions (Thank you Sewingalot!) some of which are still trying to grow into pretty plants (unfortunately it took me a little while to get some of these planted and they suffered slightly but are making good comebacks). There is money or pennywort and something else I am not sure of the name of behind the rock (finally something is growing back there! YAY!) And a few others scattered throughout the tank (wow sorry, that is way less than informative, it's really late though and i'm just trying to get to the pictures :hihi

OK here it is: 

Full Tank Shots - please excuse the blurry pictures, I didn't take the time to set up the tripod because I wanted to snap some quick pictures and get them posted ASAP. Also, I know...i seriously need to top of my water! 



















Behind the large lace rock, a space that refused to grow anything with the old light, and now look! I'd still like something with fuller leaves back here, I think it would look awesome if it was full of lush Wisteria or Ambulia, but i am just glad to have any foliage filling in that space. Incidentally, what is the plant closest to the glass (at the bottom there?) 










And the new growth on my Sunset hygro is coming in a gorgeous dark pink with these new lights. I'm LOVING it! 










And just for fun, the tank at work! It's a 10g tank stocked with 8 male guppies and a few RCS. My coworker wanted the blue gravel. It's actuall half blue half brown so after the first gravel cleaning it will be a bit darker. It needs a little work, I know, but it is brand new and needs time to settle in and grow too. I need to get root tabs for it also. The filter is mature from one of the tanks I took down and the plants are from my tanks and some that I got from Sewingalot (thanks again!). 










Enjoy and thanks for looking! As always, comments, questions, advice, all welcome!


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## sewingalot

That sunset hygro is amazing! And it looks like you finally got some plants to work in the corner, hehe.... Looks like lindernia roundfolia (the plant in the corner). I like the new look! Good luck with the move.


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## lauraleellbp

Wow that has all filled in so nicely, Kara! Great work! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> That sunset hygro is amazing! And it looks like you finally got some plants to work in the corner, hehe.... Looks like lindernia roundfolia (the plant in the corner). I like the new look! Good luck with the move.


Thanks, I am SO PLEASED with the way the sunset hygro is growing in too!!! And I just got fert tabs that I need to put in, unfortunately I burned my right forearm pretty badly cooking ribs for July 4th (they came out awesome, it was all worth it) but that means I can only get in the tanks with my left hand at the moment so I'm a bit clumsy, won't be doing as much of the maintenance as I need to for a couple weeks. But I think i can manage to get the fert tabs under everything. 

And yes, I FINALLY found some things that will grow in that corner! Some nice Pennywort back there and the lindernia that you sent me are growing so far. YAY! I'd still like to try some Wisteria or Watersprite back there though. 

I'll try to get some better pictures this week. Or maybe I shouldn't, because then you could tell it's a mess! :hihi:



lauraleellbp said:


> Wow that has all filled in so nicely, Kara! Great work! :biggrin:


Thanks! and thanks again for the sunset hygro, I just LOVE IT!!! :biggrin:

It has filled in a lot which I am happy with, but I need to get in there and pull out a bunch of java moss that is trying to carpet the bottom of the tank, and i need to thin out that mass of taiwan moss. I think I need to re-tie the flame moss to the DW too and let it start again because it's getting scraggly. 

All in good time. 

And worse comes to worst, It'll get done when I move in less than 2 months. :hihi:


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## sewingalot

So I guess I should also thank laura for the hygro. :hihi: You are supposed to cook the ribs, not your arm. If it didn't hurt so bad, I would laugh at you.  I think you should take a picture of the jungle. You've seen mine at its worst.


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## Karackle

Hahaha I know, I got confused and put my arm in the wrong place instead of the ribs! OOPS! :hihi: It actually only hurt for the first few hours, which is why I didn't think it was all that bad...until 3 days later when it started swelling a LOT...stupid high pain tolerance of mine, I don't know when I'm badly injured! Haha oh well, it's healing quickly now. 

Anyway, I dug in to the tank with just my left arm last night (let me tell you, that was a challenge!) and rearranged a little bit, pulled out a bunch of "carpeting" moss, tamed the moss in the front of the tank a little and put in some fertilizer tabs. 

I will try to get pictures tonight. The jungle pictures are posted above, the mess hides itself well in pictures :tongue: :icon_lol:

I'll snap a shot of my office tank too and post that this evening for kicks 


And yes, thank Laura for the hygro :biggrin:


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## fastfreddie

That pennywort looks awesome back there. I don't know why more people don't use that plant. I'm gonna have to get some.


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## Karackle

Thanks! I like it  it was getting so long that I was able to snip off some pieces last night and replant them behind the rock so hopefully that will fill in nicely soon!


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## sewingalot

And where are those pictures???


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## Karackle

oops! sorry! been away a lot again :icon_redf: :redface:

I'll try to get some pictures up tonight. Did a bunch of rearranging and took out some DW.


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## sewingalot

Looking forward to the updates. I'll be looking for them tomorrow.


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## Karackle

UH-OH! I forgot tonight was my night to do Pet Therapy with my Cody pup and then i had errands to do and then I took myself out for dinner and a movie :tongue: 

Will try try try to post pictures tomorrow but both the dogs have their yearly check-up tomorrow and then Cody is going to be assessed to see if he is ready to pass the Canine Good Citizen test, so I might be lacking for time. But I will do my best! You might need to look for the updates on the rather late side


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## Karackle

Wow, so I EPICALLY failed at those updates! I'm so sorry! I was wrapped up in getting ready for the move and the like. 

So we've moved into the temporary place, and gotten a little settled in. I will post pictures of the tank's current incarnation tomorrow!


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## Karackle

Well, these are crappy pictures, I'll try to get more once it's dark out, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find my tripod right now though, so they may all be a little bit blurry (we're temporarily living with my boyfriend's mom so most of our stuff is still in boxes til the final move)

Anyway, keep in mind this is a temporary incarnation of the tank, it definitely needs some hardscape, I'm thinking a large piece DW on the right side, but until my job starts and I'm making a paycheck, I won't be buying too much in the way of hardscape or plants. 

Oh, and there's no background at the moment, which REALLY makes the tank look strange (IMVHO) 

Ok here she is: 



















As you can see, I moved the stone slightly more towards the center and now i can actually grow plants behind it...WOOHOO!  

The fish and plants are all healthy, it's just not my best aquascape


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## lauraleellbp

Glad you and all the "kids" made the move OK!

Hope you land a job soon and can get going on the fun stuff again! :icon_mrgr


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## Karackle

Hahaha thanks! Yep, the fish, the dogs, the gecko, the boyfriend, his fish and I all made the trip in one piece! 

Thank you, I have actually already found a job, just waiting for the background check to clear so I can get my start date...crossing my fingers that it happens SOON! 

Can't wait to move and get the tank re-set with new hardscape, WOOHOO! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

Plants are looking great. Good idea to move over the rock to make more light for the corner. It's great seeing you back on the boards.


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## Karackle

Thanks! I'm happy with rock further away from the corner so some plants can grow behind it, I'll definitely keep it in a similar location when I move and do a real re-scape, of course depending on how the other new hardscape fits in, the exact position will likely be tweaked  

And thank you, it's really nice BEING back on here! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Got some more pictures! The full tank shots are quite a bit blurry, i tried to find my tripod amidst all the boxes, but was unsuccessful. Also, I'm not sure why the pics are so dark....probably because i didn't have all the lights out. But i also got some plant / fish / shrimp close-ups in my tank that came out pretty well  

First up is my boyfriend's 60g tank, there's some algae in the moss, but not as much as there appears to be in this picture, the colors are quite a bit off because i had to do a lot of tweaking to make it so the inside of the tank was visible :tongue: 

Anyway, here it is: 


















A FTS of my 30 (i did a little rearranging yesterday, you can see one of the sunset hygros uprooted and lodged itself upside down in the left corner :tongue ah well. 










Some close-ups of the sunset hygro, it's such a lovely pink now! 




































I'm not sure what kind of sword this is, but I got it from SewingAlot (THANKS!) you can see the deep red new growth, it's gorgeous! 









A few shrimpy shots:


















And a few fishy shots: 

couple bad shots of 2 of my remaining 3 B. briggittae, they're hardy little buggers though! 


















And my ember tetras, they like hanging out in the wisteria  


















Enjoy!


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## sewingalot

Both tanks look great. I wish I could get the patience to tie down some moss, it looks fantastic. The sword is a Red Ozelot Sword. I believe it came from boltp777, which originally got it from ZooTycoonMaster. You can actually see it in his tank. I loved the sword, but the pleco kept eating it.


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## Karackle

thanks! the patience with growing moss comes more from the waiting for it to grow than from the tying it down :hihi: tying it down doesn't take too long actually, i definitely recommend it, but i don't recommend java moss, it takes over the whole tank. :tongue:

thanks for the sword ID too! I'll have to go search other tanks for it  It IS gorgeous, it's finally starting to recover / adjust to my loooowww light!


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## funkyfish

The tanks look good, I can't imagine moving with tanks :icon_eek:
Love the moss in the first tank I need to add more moss to my 10g once I move out my cherry barbs, I think I might do a big rescape  Just need to figure out what plants to get instead of some that I have there now.


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## Karackle

Thanks! Yeah, it was definitely difficult moving with the tanks, that's why we ended up moving with only the 2 tanks, i shut down my 5 and 10 and gave my 20 to my friend before we moved. Can't wait to make the final move into the new place to set the 5 and 10 back up! 

Yeah, the moss grew in REALLY well in that tanks! I need to steal some for mine  

Rescapes are always fun!!! good luck with that!


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## funkyfish

I can only imagine, I know we will be moving one day and even tho is far away it still makes me nervous lol 

what kind of moss is it? 

Thanks I love rescaping but I need to dedicate a whole day to it and aslo need to figure out what I want replace watersprite and ludwigia with... decisions decisions LOL


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## demonbreedr16

Hi Karackle!

Tank looks great and I'm happy to see that the 30 survived the move! Your BF's 60 looks really cool too!

I'm gonna be moving soon too...soooooooo I'm happy I'm down to just 2 tanks. It makes life sooooo much easier! Knowing me, as soo as I get re-established...they'll all be set back up and in greater numbers! LOL

kENNY


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## Karackle

funkyfish - yeah, it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be actually, i was really nervous about it too. We just pulled all of our plants and hardscape and put them in 5g buckets, then netted out the fish/shrimp into 5g buckets. Then we drained all the water, we moved my bf's tank with the gravel in it (not an easy task on a 60g, wow was that heavy!) but i scooped the gravel out of mine into another 5g bucket making the 30 much easier to lift! And voila, moved the tanks!  
The moss on the left is flame moss (making a super cool looking "tree") and the moss on the right is XMas or Taiwan i think. 
I'm a big fan of Sunset Hygro, and if you have enough light, cabomba is a really cool plant too. I'm also a fan of wisteria, but since you want to get rid of watersprite and they're similar, i assume you wouldn't want to use that :tongue: 

Demon - Thanks! I was so happy everything survived the move too! Yeah, he did a good job on his scape, i think he'll probably keep it looking similar when we move again in a couple weeks (we're temporarily at his mom's til we close on the house). I'm not too happy with my scape, I think i need some DW in there somewhere, but as long as the fish and plants stay healthy until we move, i'm not gonna fuss about it. 

Yeah, moving with fewer tanks made it SO much better. I don't think i could have done it with all my other tanks since we're living here temporarily too. But the 5 and 10 are just waiting to get set up again! and the 20 went to my friend. I can't wait to set up the 5 and 10. I'm already scheming in my brain what i want to do with them! :hihi:


----------



## funkyfish

Thats not so bad but still sounds like a lot of work. 
Oh so that's a flame moss, I got some in my 14g breeder tank and Taiwan moss and some Java moss  I am also be making a tree for my 14g I got this cool manzanita tree looking piece but I am not sure which moss would be best for a tree.... 
Does sunset hygro gets aerial roots? I'm so tired of aerial roots. How tall does it grow? It's a 10g tank so I do not have much space. And is wisteria exactly like whater sprite or theyt have different growth? I like cabomba but I am not sure if I want it in my 10g, I have 2.8wpg so I think it good enough but isn't it does better with pressurised CO2? I have DIY CO2.. 

Sorry for all the questions  

Thanks


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha well it was a lot less work than I thought it would be anyway!

Yeah, that's flame moss that's been growing in for a looonng time  As for a tree with manzanita, if you can get your hands on it, i'd think fissidens would be a good option, otherwise flame could look pretty cool!  Sunset does get some aerial roots, but they don't bother me at all, the leaves grow close together so they're not as noticeable as with some, but i don't have a problem with aerial roots anyway, so I guess that's a personal preference. Though in my experience, pretty much any tall stem plant that makes for good background is gonna get some aerial roots. wisteria is a different plant than watersprite, but it has a similar look. check it out on the forum's plant page. I had cabomba in my 2.5wpg 5g tank and it did just fine, it got a TEENY bit leggy, but not like when i tried it in my lower light tanks. I don't use CO2 of any kind either, so i'm sure DIY would work even better.

good luck!


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## funkyfish

Thanks for all your help :icon_mrgr :thumbsup:

I already have manzanita tree it's a very cool one with lots of small branches I will try some flame moss but I hope I will find some fissidents I want to make a moss wall with it too


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## sewingalot

funkyfish said:


> Thanks for all your help :icon_mrgr :thumbsup:
> 
> I already have manzanita tree it's a very cool one with lots of small branches I will try some flame moss but I hope I will find some fissidents I want to make a moss wall with it too


Kara's great for all the help she is willing to give on the forum. Now you know why I like her so much.


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## funkyfish

sewingalot said:


> Kara's great for all the help she is willing to give on the forum. Now you know why I like her so much.


 
You guys are both great  Thanks


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> Kara's great for all the help she is willing to give on the forum. Now you know why I like her so much.


:redface: aww shucks, you're making me blush! And thanks, that's so sweet!  You are extremely helpful yourself though, which is why I like you so much too! :biggrin: 



funkyfish said:


> You guys are both great  Thanks


Thanks! Glad you found the info useful, it's my pleasure! 



funkyfish said:


> Thanks for all your help
> 
> I already have manzanita tree it's a very cool one with lots of small branches I will try some flame moss but I hope I will find some fissidents I want to make a moss wall with it too


Yeah, i think fissidens would look great on lots of small manzanita branches, and it would make a beautiful moss wall as well.


----------



## Karackle

No new pictures (i'll try to get them as soon as I can find my camera battery charger) but the sunset hygro, and to a lesser extent the hygro difformis, have taken over this tank! I'll definitely be selling some aftre the move! For now i'm letting the jungle thrive so that i can use the excess plant mass to aid in cycling when i move the tank  

Pics when i can get them 

Move is closing in, can't wait to set the 5 & 10 back up too! OH BOY! :biggrin: :bounce:


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## sewingalot

About time.  I look forward to the updates. I keep thinking you have moved already. Good luck with the new home!


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## Karackle

I WISH we had moved already! Getting house ready to move into (painting and carpeting and whatnot) has taken lots longer than we thought it would! SOON though!!!


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## lauraleellbp

I hate moving!

It's exciting too, though. Congrats on the new place!!


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## Karackle

Yeah the getting in there part is a pain in the buttsky! 

But it'll be very exciting once we get in there!!! :bounce: Thanks!!!


----------



## sewingalot

Moving always seem to take a lot longer. How does the new carpet look?


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## Karackle

Oh, the carpet people are driving us nuts, they have not come yet!!! And now they are saying "hopefully" we'll be able to get it installed the first week of december when they originally told us last friday wouldn't be a problem!!!:icon_eek::icon_evil:angryfire :frown: is it so much to ask that we want to move into the place?!?! 

I just want to be 8.5 miles from work instead of 50 and get to see my dogs and tanks and gecko for more than an hour a day!!! UGH! 

Anyway....so this means more delays for getting the other tanks up and running and this one looking pretty....sigh....


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## lauraleellbp

I'd be on the phone asking them what discount they give for installation delays. IME some vendors will push just as far as you'll let them push, and if you push back, they'll all of a sudden "find" that they have the time.


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## Karackle

Yeah, I think that is basically what Ian did because they are coming on Tuesday after thanksgiving (they don't do installations on Mondays). And then movers that weekend and we're in!


----------



## sewingalot

That really blows about the carpet guys! 50 miles is one long commute! I wouldn't be able to handle that for long. Hey, have a great Turkey day!


----------



## Karackle

Haha yeah I'm tolerating it less and less well, that's for sure!!! But supposedly they're calling today with an estimated time that they will be showing up tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed for me!  

Had a great turkey-day, hope everyone else did too!!!! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Turkey day was great. A little borring, but great! I still haven't finished cleaning up all the dishes.  Yeah! They are coming tomorrow!!!!!!! Then you can move in.


----------



## lauraleellbp

Dishes? We do all paper and aluminum, always! Too many people otherwise- we'd be doing dishes for the next century LOL


----------



## sewingalot

lauraleellbp said:


> Dishes? We do all paper and aluminum, always! Too many people otherwise- we'd be doing dishes for the next century LOL


OMG, I am doing this! Kara, see what happens to your thread when you mention Turkey? :flick:


----------



## lauraleellbp

Yeah, then you use the paper plates to get the fire going that you roast marshmallows over. And throw the aluminum in the recycling. It's perfect.

(It's OK Sara, we gotta keep Kara's thread busy while they're busy carpeting and she's busy packing- we're women, we multi-task ROFL)


----------



## sewingalot

LOL, good to see that you are recycling! MMMM....Marshmallows. Now I am hungry again. Kara! What color carpet are you getting? Lime green with purple walls?


----------



## demonbreedr16

LOL, I'm sure her B/F would object. :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

CARPETS ARE IN!!! No Sara, i'm sorry to say, they're not lime green  but I now I wish they were :icon_lol: The carpet in the bedroom is a great dark silvery grey color with the tiniest hint of purple in it (or perhaps it's just a cool grey) and it ties the purple wall and grey walls together BEAUTIFULLY! We LOVE it! It's nice and plush and squishy too which is great for bare feet, especially in winter! :icon_bigg 

The basement is a grey berber but what we didn't realize is that it's a warm grey and the dark grey wall and stair trim is a cool grey, so next to each other it kind of looks like the carpet is a tannish color and/or that the walls are blueish. It's a beautiful carpet but I admit the color is not as perfect as the bedroom, but it's ok because we're pretty sure we want a brown or tan couch, so the carpet should pull it all together really well. 

The mattress was delivered but when I started putting together the bedframe I realized I'd forgotten the center bar, :angryfire so we couldn't finish putting together the bed. Ah well. We'll do it tomorrow. And continue bringing small loads in our cars this week and have the movers (coming to pick up the furniture we're unable to move ourselves) take the rest of it this weekend! WAHOO!!!! :bounce: We'll probably move the tanks ourselves this weekend too! :bounce: :biggrin:roud::fish::bounce::fish1::flick::icon_mrgr :bounce:



sewingalot said:


> OMG, I am doing this! Kara, see what happens to your thread when you mention Turkey? :flick:


Hahaha no problem! Because it IS an excellent idea!!!  



lauraleellbp said:


> Yeah, then you use the paper plates to get the fire going that you roast marshmallows over. And throw the aluminum in the recycling. It's perfect.
> 
> (It's OK Sara, we gotta keep Kara's thread busy while they're busy carpeting and she's busy packing- we're women, we multi-task ROFL)


That DOES sound perfect! And I definitely appreciate the business in the thread, totally true that we women not only CAN multitask, sometimes I think we MUST!  :tongue:



sewingalot said:


> LOL, good to see that you are recycling! MMMM....Marshmallows. Now I am hungry again. Kara! What color carpet are you getting? Lime green with purple walls?


Funny you should say this actually....did I ever mention that we do in fact have a dark purple accent wall in the bedroom? :icon_lol:



demonbreedr16 said:


> LOL, I'm sure her B/F would object. :hihi:


HahahahahHAHAHA yes, yes he would certainly object! (Though the purple wall WAS his idea) but I think he'd have a heart attack if i'd even mentioned lime green as a joke! hahaha :icon_lol:


----------



## lauraleellbp

Can't wait to see pics!

Best of luck finishing off the big move!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! I have a feeling we'll need all the luck we can get :tongue: :hihi: 

I'll definitely post pics of any befores I have and the afters I take as we go! Just need to find the time....:icon_lol:


----------



## sewingalot

You're almost in the house! That is fantastic. It sounds great, you'll have to take pictures of the new place. I bet it is lovely with the new carpet and paint. It'll look even better with some paint and such.


----------



## Karackle

Heehee thanks! We're VERY excited! Looks like we'll be getting movers this weekend (met with the owner of a local company today to get an estimate) and we finished putting the bed together and got the mattress in! 

We'll break down the fish tanks tomorrow or friday and get them up and running again soon! 

I'll be sure to get pics of my hygro JUNGLE before I break it down and pic of the new place and new setups as soon as I can!  

I'm SO excited! It was starting to feel like we'd never move!!! YAY for <20miles round trip to work instead of ~100!!!!!


----------



## demonbreedr16

Very excited for you Kara! My parents are fixing up the house & I'll soon have tanks EVERYWHERE again, instead of just 5...really bunched. lol


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! Hahaha only 5, how sad!  Once I have all my tanks up and running I think I'll be at a 4 :hihi: Unfortunately, I just don't have the $$ for more than that, but I can't wait to get the other 2 up and running again and the 30 and the 60 back in shape! Actually, the 60 currently looks the best it ever has (other than a few plants being a little overgrow) so it'll be a bit sad to tear it down again, but the 30 needs a lot of help to look nice again, so i'm excited for that! It only needs help in the aesthetics department, it's nice and healthy, probably SUPER healthy because i've just let the sunset hygro and hygro difformis TAKE OVER so that I have extra plants for the rescape and for the 5 & 10 :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Add your guy's together and you have how many I have set up at the moment! I am looking forward to seeing your tanks being setup again! This is going to be so nice in the new house! I feel like I am moving, too!


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha that is a LOT of tanks! I love it!  

And thanks! I'm very excited too, hahaha i think i need to apologize to you that i'm making you feel like your moving, I hope it isn't stressful :eek5: :hihi: but i'm glad I have someone else to share it with too :icon_lol:

SO i need to decide what kind of DW to put in the tank this time, I'm thinking a nice large piece of mopani, any thoughts? 

And what is the word on "grapewood" or whatever it is that they sell for terrariums? I have a GORGEOUS piece that doesn't fit in my gecko's terrarium but would look fantastic in my fish tank...is this a bad plan though? i've looked it up a little without a solid answer....


----------



## lauraleellbp

Grapewood is really soft and tends to decompose really quickly in a tank. :thumbsdow


----------



## Karackle

*tada! moved!*



lauraleellbp said:


> Grapewood is really soft and tends to decompose really quickly in a tank. :thumbsdow


Blah, that's what i was afraid the consensus was. Ah well, I'll have to get a bigger terrarium for it one day  

Anyway, the tank has been MOVED! :bounce: and we're all moved in to the new house!!! Of course it's a jungle of boxes and crap, but we'll get it sorted through eventually.... 

But on to more important matters!  

Well, the b/f started taking down his tank before I could blink so unfortunately I didn't get a shot of his tank before it was broken down, but I DID manage to snap a picture of his anubias that flowered (i apologize for the crappy quality, i had to use my phone for the pictures so it was bound ot be crappy anyway, plus all the churned up debris....well....you know how it goes):









Here is a picture of the tank just before I broke it down for the move (again sorry for the crappy quality, i couldn't find my camera so this is from my phone, but it gives you an idea of the jungle):









So then I pulled out the hardscape and plants, scooped out all of the fish, scooped out the gravel and transferred everything to the new place!

Then of course I had to reverse the process, replace gravel, place hardscape, place plants, add fish. Sorry I don't have pictures of the tear down and rebuild, I was rather tired after completing the entire move this weekend. 

Well anyway, here is the result! 

various FTS:



























Left side: 









Center:









Right side:









And a couple of close-up shots of the tops of my Wisteria, it turned slightly red where it was growing really close to the light which I thought was interesting sp I figured I'd photo-document it  


















I'm sorry about the glare, I will try to get better pictures tonight with no lights on, hopefully the plants will have straightened out some too :tongue: 

So I think I want to get a nice large piece of DW for the left side and I want to get some crypt spiralis and/or balansae in this tank as well to give some height with a different texture and color than the hygros provide. When I get the DW i'm thinking I'll switch it up and but the grass-like crypts behind the rock, and the hygros on the left. 

We shall see once I get the DW and see how it looks. I think I'm also going to try my hand at Java ferns again. Or perhaps some tiny anubias species. I'd love to get something growing in the great "caves" in the rocks I think. Could add a cool dimension  

Anyway, it's a work in progress!

All questions, comments, criticisms etc. etc. are always welcome!

Thanks!


----------



## Coltonorr

Sweet 
so can we assume the move went well? Plants fish etc.
No broken tanks or other snags? Please don't tell me it all went down without a hitch!
I'll be jealous...


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha well there was one small hitch, one of the covers on the 60g snapped at the hinge point for the lifting part of the cover, but it was nothing a little superglue couldn't fix! 

Last time we moved my AC filter got cracked and had to be replaced. So, not COMPLETELY hitchless moves  But they did go rather smoothly. Except for the part where we realized the floor was MASSIVELY uneven in the original spot we picked out for the tank, it was tilted WAY forward, so we had to rearrange the furniture and tank around the jungle-maze of boxes and whatnot. :tongue: Ah well....all in a days work (during a move that is )


----------



## fastfreddie

Glad the move went well! I think you should add some anubias nana and java fern, as a house warming gift....from yourself to yourself.


----------



## Karackle

fastfreddie said:


> Glad the move went well! I think you should add some anubias nana and java fern, as a house warming gift....from yourself to yourself.


Thanks! And that isn't a bad idea, I might just have to do that


----------



## lauraleellbp

YAY! I'm so glad you're finally in! :bounce:

How's the new carpet? LOL


----------



## Karackle

heeheehee thanks!!! Carpets look GREAT! And there are none under the tanks so we didn't have to worry about that!  

Gonna see about getting some gravel and things to set the 10g up tonight too!


----------



## sewingalot

Smart to get the fish tanks in areas without carpet! I am looking forward to seeing the fish tanks getting back up. Those are some awesome pictures. You have a knack for the sunset hygro! The plants are on the way. I hope they make it in this weather! It's still a great picture just because we are able to see anubias flowering. I've never seen one flower in person. It looks great. Now that you are moved in, neglect everything until you get all your tanks back up and pictures taken.


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> Now that you are moved in, neglect everything until you get all your tanks back up and pictures taken.


Hahahaha well that's what I'd LIKE to do, but I think the boy might kill me if I do!!!! But I'll get them up and running in between unpacking as soon as I can! :biggrin: 

Yeah, sunset hygro seems to love my tanks, I don't know what it is! But i've had a hard time with java fern in the past, go figure! It grows well in the b/f's 60g though so I'm excited to try it again!


----------



## funkyfish

Congrats on the move YAY! 
Can't wait to see your tank all grown in


----------



## Karackle

funkyfish said:


> Congrats on the move YAY!
> Can't wait to see your tank all grown in


Thanks! And me neither!!! :hihi:

ok updates (sorry no pics though)

The Good News: 
Tank seems to be doing well so far. The plants are already showing some signs of new growth and the fishies seem to be doing well too! 

The Bad News: 
I need to move the tank :icon_frow It just doesn't work where we set it up, it doesn't look quite right on the wall we put it on and it doesn't leave good spots for the other furniture. So i'll be draining it again once day soon to move. 

The Good in the Bad: 
I want to move some of the fish from the 30 into one of the smaller tanks, so this will give me a chance to catch the fish again and separate out the ones I want to move. Should also make it easier to redo the hardscape, so I'll be sure to get my new DW before moving the tank. 

And then I just have to decide which fish to move into which of my smaller tanks. *edit* would love thoughts on this! http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...shuffling-fish-between-tanks-suggestions.html


----------



## lauraleellbp

You might be able to use some shims to level the tank in one of the other spots if the floor isn't THAT unlevel.


----------



## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> You might be able to use some shims to level the tank in one of the other spots if the floor isn't THAT unlevel.


Haha yeah the first place we tried the floor was SUPER unlevel so we moved it to a different wall, I think the place we want to move it to now (which incidentally was the place we originally intended to put it, ugh) is more level. I hope! :confused1:


----------



## sewingalot

You want to know what I think? I think you just like moving tanks! :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> You want to know what I think? I think you just like moving tanks! :biggrin:


Hahahahaha well i am a little bit :eek5:


----------



## sewingalot

Hehehe. I think you are just trying to stall on setting up the other tanks.....


----------



## Karackle

Hahahaha NO WAY! I can't WAIT to get them set up!!! Just gotta get the stuff that's been taken out of boxes and haphazardly placed on the desks out of the way! :tongue:

We get internet this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to post some new pictures of all of the tanks! :biggrin:

Also, would love opinions on which fish from the 30 to put in which of the small tanks http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...shuffling-fish-between-tanks-suggestions.html

And then I have to decide what to restock the 30 with....i'm thinking maybe some threadfin, celebese or gertrudae rainbows?


----------



## sewingalot

My vote is for gertrudae rainbows!


----------



## Karackle

They're the ones I'm leaning towards at the moment  

Have to also decide which fish are leaving the 30g and therefore how many new fish to get from the tank


----------



## funkyfish

sewingalot said:


> My vote is for gertrudae rainbows!


I agree definetly gertrudae rainbows!


----------



## Karackle

Heehee well that's 2 votes for gertrudae!  Furcata rainbows are nice too, but lots harder to find. InvertzFactory has gertrudae, pygmy cories and otos, all of which I'd like to get, so I'm thinking I'll go with gertrudae and order from them, I got my Ember Tetras and Boraras Brigittae from them and they were in excellent health and very well shipped 

Anyway, just thought I'd post a couple pictures. Sorry, they're all a bit blurry from not use a tripod, i just decided to snap a few real quick the AM before work :tongue: Again, I apologize for hte glare, I promise I will try to get some shots at night soon! And please excuse the plants floating everywhere, a bunch of them I got from SewingAlot (thanks Sara!) yesterday and didn't have time to plant them and some are mine floating to be sent out next week and some for my other tanks 

Anway, pics!

FTS:


















Right:









Center:









Left:









Right:









Left:









My Helpers:


----------



## demonbreedr16

Haha, Kara! I got my plants today too! Only most of mine went into my 10. 

Cute dogs BTW!!!


----------



## Karackle

hahaha sweet! Yeah I only have the 30 set up at the moment of my tanks (the boy has his 60 be he ain't getting any of MY plants! :hihi but i plan to set up the 5 and 10 this weekend! 

And thanks, they're my babies! Cody on the left and Leo on the right :biggrin: they were looking at me like "mom, shouldn't you be going to work not photographing boxes of water?" so I just had to snap a pic! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Ok yet ANOTHER thought regarding the stocking

I'm wondering if the embers (who used to be out and about quite a bit) are just nervous now because of the 3 White clouds, 4 endler males and 1 guppy males that are all a little crazy. But as I read it, the rainbows I'm looking into (gertrudae and i might have found a local source for furcatas (thanks m22)) are quite docile. 

What if I keep with my original "tiny fish" theme for this tank and move the 8 previously mentioned crazies to the 10g and add the small docile rainbows into this tank WITH the embers and CPDs? Or would a 10 be too small for white clouds? 

All thoughts welcome!


----------



## fastfreddie

You have a lot of planting to do, and your little helpers have very short arms so I doubt they can help much. 

They probably help like my helper does..... by standing right under your feet when you are carrying heavy buckets and trying to be careful. 


Looking forward to the planted pics.


----------



## Karackle

fastfreddie said:


> They probably help like my helper does..... by standing right under your feet when you are carrying heavy buckets and trying to be careful.


That is EXACTLY true....and they like to tag team so at least one of them is ALWAYS under my feet!!! 




fastfreddie said:


> Looking forward to the planted pics.


Thanks! me too! :hihi:


----------



## fastfreddie

Hahaha, mine likes to drop tennis balls into my buckets, and run off with my filter pads.


----------



## Karackle

fastfreddie said:


> Hahaha, mine likes to drop tennis balls into my buckets, and run off with my filter pads.


hahaha yeah, they like to run off with stuff too, but not drop balls in the buckets....hahahaha pesky little critters!


----------



## demonbreedr16

LOL, my dog is OK, it's the cats that annoy me! Having 9 trying to run in/out of the door is fun! It usually ends up in a soaked...me. lol

I don't think a 10 would be too small for WCMM's BTW.


----------



## sewingalot

Maybe you could use a moss ball for catch! :hihi: Tank is looking good. I am glad to see the new water parameters didn't effect you. You're welcome for the plants! I hope you enjoy them!


----------



## funkyfish

Don't you just love the four legged helpers  My cat is the one always trying to kill me and my dog is just stares into the bucket, I think she likes her reflection..... Well she also likes fish food apparently I don't know what got into her but after getting a hold of my flake food she ate all my fish food this week, including all food I got from visionquest and my NLS food, shrimp food :icon_eek: :angryfire
Can't blame her though my fault that I didn't move it were she can't get it...

The tank looks great!


----------



## Karackle

demon - wow, 9 cats trying to escape, sounds like fun to me! :hihi: and thanks for the input on the white clouds, moving them to the 10 is the official plan now and keeping the 30 a "nano-fish" only tank! :biggrin: 

sara - thanks! and yeah it's been hugely beneficial not having major parameter fluctuations! And yes I definitely love the plants, keep an eye out, I'm heading out to run some errands soon which includes picking up any supplies I'm missing to set the 10 back up and maybe some DW for the 30, though I'm actually kind of liking the current hardscape, so we'll see.  Either way, you should be seeing your plants planted (instead of floating) in both tanks soon! :biggrin:

funky - thanks! and yeah, I learned the hard way that my dogs like fish food too apparently, after the initial incident i had to start keeping the food on a higher shelf! :tongue:

Got the tank moved earlier today, heading out to do those errands now and then I'll sort out the hardscape, replant and post updates!


----------



## Karackle

Quick update, got the tank moved, the "non-nano-fish" out (well i guess male endlers are kind of "nano" sized, but they're a little too crazy for the other docile inhabitants). I didn't get new DW but I rearranged the rocks slightly and planted around them. I'm floating the leftover plants and moss in the 10g where the white clouds, guppy and endlers now live  As usually happens with these projects, it got WAY later than planned so I didn't quite get to planting the 10, I also have no hardscape for it yet so that makes it challenging :tongue: I made the bonehead mistake of not doing my petstore shopping first, I was at the malls and target which close much later on sundays than normal stores do. OOPS! So i have a few last things to get for the 10. 

Anyway, I did take pics but I will post them tomorrow.


----------



## Karackle

As promised, pictures of the new setup. Again, my apologies for blurriness, got too late to set up the tripod, but at least there's no glare from the sunny window this time  

FTS: 


















Right Side (hygros behind the rock):









Center (Ambulia and the 2 others from Sara that I am blanking on the names of what she sad she'd send me are in the center to get the most light, you can also see that there is some pennywort sticking out from behind the rock): 









Left (the darker corner, mostly crypts, moss and some java ferns courtesy of Sara (thanks again!) and a bit more sunset hygro towards the light):









Close-up of the back center plants: 









Close-up of the little java fern I stuck in the rock crevice, I hope it grows there, I think it would look really cool! ) :









I'll probably bring my lamp down that has 5 gooseneck lamps on it to shed some extra light on this tank for a photoshoot soon so it's easier to see what's happening in there  

I think that's all for now, I'll post a link to the 10g thread once I get that going too


----------



## Karackle

Also, yes, I know, I need to replace the blue airline tubing with clear and will do that as soon as I pick some up :tongue:


----------



## Karackle

Update! 

I got some more plants from LauraLeeLLBP (thanks!) most of them went into my 10g but I put a few of the Crypt undulata in this tank, it's a nice bright green color so I thought I'd use some to brighten up my dark left corner and in the front of the tank, I think it will look nice mixed in with the C. wendtii. She also sent some BRIGHT pink Cabomba furcata, I don't know if it will grow in this tank but I planted it front and center to give it the best light I could. I know it will probably need to be moved if it does well in this tank otherwise it will be growing in front of my other plants, but as i said, I wanted to give it as much light as I could to see what happens  

Anyway, pictures!

FTS, plants have straightened out some since the last pictures and i think have even started growing some  









Right side:









Right center:









Left center:









Left side:









and the BRIGHT pink C. furcata (i thought it deserved a close-up ) :









Looking at these pictures I realize I need to switch the places of the large Java fern and the C. undulata in the back left corner so that the fern is behind the crypt so it's not blocking it :tongue: 

As usual, all comments, questions, suggestions, concerns, critiques, compliments etc. etc. etc. are welcome


----------



## Karackle

Wow it occurs to me I need to start adding extra light when i photograph this tank! camera does weird things with the center looking SO bright and the sides looking like they're in darkness....it's really not THAT dramatic of an effect in real life or i wouldn't be able to grow ANYTHING in the back corners! :tongue: I also need to get a new background on there.


----------



## lauraleellbp

They all just get better and better as time passes, Kara!

I think moving may have actually been "good" for your 'scapes!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Laura Lee, I realy appreciate that! I'm actually pretty excited to see how this one turns out once it's had some more time to grow in  The move may have been good for the scape, but not for my back :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Welllll the crypts are doing their melting thing (no surprise) BUT they are also already growing new leaves! Even, actually ESPECIALLY, the ones I just put in from LauraLee! So that's good!  

Ok, that's really my only update for now :tongue: I hope to be updating with new livestock this week though :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

PICTURE TIME! 

I got home tonight and was staring at the tank and decided to get some close-ups of some of the plants and inhabitants (those that would cooperate anyway ) 

First up, FLORA:

Well, it looks like most of the Cabomba furcata stems aren't doing too well, but one of them is showing new growth! (and so far it's staying pink!) We'll see if that stays that way, but for now, it makes me happy!



















As I mentioned in my previous post, the crypts are melting but also putting out new growth! woohoo!  



























_sorry for the blurry pics....they looked better on my camera :tongue: I'll_

Getting some nice new growth on the sunset hygro










Could someone help me ID this plant? I keep forgetting to PM Sara (Sewingalot) about it :redface:









_looking for an ID on the plant front and center here, not the sessiflora or the hygro _


----------



## lauraleellbp

Your mystery plant looks like Lysimachia/Creeping Jenny.

And the Cabomba was in bad shape when you got it (I should know LOL), so don't feel bad if it doesn't do well.


----------



## Karackle

Next up, FAUNA:

RCS:


















_she is SUPER berried!_

Embers and CPDs (they're friends )



























Pygmy Cories:


















Boraras brigittae:









Obligatory FTSs. I was playing with the settings to get a good picture, without the corners looking like they are in total darkness. my conclusion? I REALLY need to put more lights on the tank for pics AND I need to set up a stable surface and use the timer setting to get none-blurry shots :tongue: 



























enjoy and thanks for looking!


----------



## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> Your mystery plant looks like Lysimachia/Creeping Jenny.
> 
> And the Cabomba was in bad shape when you got it (I should know LOL), so don't feel bad if it doesn't do well.


Creeping Jenny....that sounds familiar, I think maybe Sara does have that in her tanks, thanks! 

And yeah, I wasn't expecting such a brightly pink plant to do well in my super low light, so I was just excited to see any growth happening! It's more than I expected! :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Sorry, been away a while. Hope you had great holidays! The mystery plant is Lindernia rotundifolia sp 'variegated' if it looks similar to a watermelon rind (white etching). It is very easy to grow, I have it in my low tech tanks and it does very well. The tank is looking great, Kara. have you decided on the fish yet?


----------



## Karackle

It does look like a watermelon rind! Thanks for the plant ID! :biggrin: And it IS growing quite well, I love it!  Thanks for the compliment, I'm happy with how it's growing in so far, can't wait til it grows out a bit more and I can see what needs to be rearranged. I rearranged the crypts and java fern in the dark left corner today while, i'll try to get pics tomorrow (though it doesn't look all that different :hihi and i've been meaning to get those FTSs with extra lights on the tank too  

I think I'm going to go with gertrudae rainbows....might have to wait until birthday $ rolls in in mid-jan though because my car pretty much bit the dust so I'll be making car payments soon which will dwindle my expendable income down to $not.alot :tongue:


----------



## sewingalot

Your welcome. I am looking forward to the gertrudae rainbows. That red shrimp with the strip on her back is beautiful! I love when they get the stripes. Makes look light a racecar. 

$ucks about the car. I had to do that a few years back and it really hurt making that monthly payment.


----------



## Karackle

I was looking forward to the gertrudae rainbows too but I'm not sure i can afford them because of the car, at least not for a while...sigh...most likely I'll just be keeping the current stocking and trying to put a few dollars a month aside until i can afford the fish or something....we'll see. Thanks for the sympathy on the car payments though


----------



## demonbreedr16

Kara instead of Gertrudae Rainbowfish [which can be a bit plain] what about Threadfin Rainbows?

I have 2 in my 10gal and they are awesome! The male is in spawning color and displaying mode. 


















and the female who will become a bit more colorful over time:


----------



## Karackle

demon - thanks, yeah i had considered threadfins but, gorgeous as they are, I decided they were a little too large to fit in with my nano-fish theme :hihi: Unless they're significantly cheaper than the others, maybe i'll be able to afford them a lot sooner :tongue: we shall see....by the way, great pictures you snapped too! LOVE the one of the male displaying!

Anyway, just a quick picture update, I found my tripod so I was playing with it and some settings :biggrin: enjoy! 

Tried adding extra light....looks a little weird because of the different color temps :tongue:









Regular FTS for comparison: 









Smaller areas left to right sliding the strip light across the tank:




































enjoy! and as always, all feedback is welcome roud:


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> That red shrimp with the strip on her back is beautiful! I love when they get the stripes. Makes look light a racecar.


Just realized I never responded to this, thanks! Yeah I think I got really lucky with my RCS stock, my females are ULTRA red and I agree, very pretty looking with the race car stripe! 

I've been noticing lots of babies in the tank too recently, so they are starting to repopulate after the moves, even more so then I noticed in the temporary setup, I'll take it as a good sign of the tank's overall health! :biggrin:


----------



## Hilde

Perhaps you can find some Rainbow fish on Aqua Bid with free shipping in the spring. You have to buy more than a few fish on Aqua Bid but the price for numbers is usually good.


----------



## sewingalot

Is that the sword I gave you a while back in the front left side or is that from Laura? Either way, it is beautiful!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks for the heads up Hilde! Unfortunately I won't be buying large quantities, but it's definitely worth checking out just in case! 

Sara - Yep! That is the one you gave me! I was worried about it making it because of the low light, but it has an incredible roots system and beautiful color! I think it's adapted to the low light by only putting out small leaves or something. Either way, I love it! So thanks again because it certainly is beautiful! :biggrin:


----------



## JennaH

+1 on the Lindernia rotundifolia sp 'variegated' i have some in my 10 gal and it does great!


----------



## Hilde

Sometimes they have 6 in the auction. Due problems with shipment, for I didn't put my apartment number on Aqua Bid, I got 12 Neon Rainbows for $32. Took half to an auction.

This is a very interesting thread. I had swords in my 29 gallon tank with 2 20 watt bulbs. The leaves turned yellow and it died. The bulbs were 1 Phillips daylight and a plant grow bulb from Wall-mart. 

From everything I read I think the spectrum's is more important than the wattage. Does the tank still get some natural light? I read that you got a new light but can't find where you stated what it is. Is it a T5NO?


----------



## Karackle

JennaH said:


> +1 on the Lindernia rotundifolia sp 'variegated' i have some in my 10 gal and it does great!


Yeah thanks! It's doing really well in both of my tanks, I'm excited about it! Unfortunately the asian ambulia isn't doing as well as i'd hoped in this tank, though it's doing very well in the 10g. Perhaps it just needs that little bit of extra light that i have in the 10, perhaps it just needs to adapt to the lower lighting. We shall see  



Hilde said:


> Sometimes they have 6 in the auction. Due problems with shipment, for I didn't put my apartment number on Aqua Bid, I got 12 Neon Rainbows for $32. Took half to an auction.


Again, thanks for the tip! I'll definitely look into it! 



Hilde said:


> This is a very interesting thread. I had swords in my 29 gallon tank with 2 20 watt bulbs. The leaves turned yellow and it died. The bulbs were 1 Phillips daylight and a plant grow bulb from Wall-mart.
> 
> From everything I read I think the spectrum's is more important than the wattage. Does the tank still get some natural light? I read that you got a new light but can't find where you stated what it is. Is it a T5NO?


I actually didn't have a lot of luck with the amazon sword that used to be in here, but so far I've been surprised (pleasantly of course) at how this one is fairing. I can only hope the trend continues! :biggrin: 

The bulb is a standard T8 that came with my 30" strip light.


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> The bulb is a standard T8 that came with my 30" strip light.


What is the brand and kelvin rating of the bulb?

Where is the asian ambulia?

I am thinking that the addition of seachem tabs would help plants like the asian ambulia adapt to your parameters.


----------



## sewingalot

It's actually amazing how well the sword recovered after my pleco got ahold of it. Are you using any root fertilizers for it? You just have a knack for swords, don't you?


----------



## lauraleellbp

What type of sword is it, Sara? It's lovely.


----------



## sewingalot

It was given to me as Ocelot var red. It's really quite stunning. The young leaves come in red with speckles and as the leaves age, they are green with red speckles.


----------



## lauraleellbp

*sigh* so many swords, such limited space for all of them...


----------



## Karackle

Hilde - i'll have to check on the bulb specs for you, the lights are on right now but if you want to do some researching online it's the perfecto 30" strip light and it's the bulb that came with it. The asian ambulia (limnophila sessiflora) is the green "fluffy" plant in the back center of the tank, it's a stem so it's not a heavy root feeder, but I could definitely try root tabs when I can get my hands on some. 

Sara and LauraLee - There actually are not currently fert tabs under it, I've been meaning to pick some up but kept forgetting and / o r $ was too low. I'd like to get some under a lot of my plants and definitely in the 10g. It truly is a beautiful sword! I'll try to snap some close-ups of it soon. :biggrin: Also, even without the fert tabs, the crypts you sent me Laura Lee are throwing up new leaves every day, it's amazing! I NEED to get fert tabs under them! :tongue:


----------



## Karackle

As promised, pics of the sword and amazing amounts of growth on the crypts, enjoy! 

Sword:


















Crypts - if you look closely you'll notice what looks like a grass kind of plant just behind the crypts' stems, these are actually @ least 2 crypt plantlets growing off of runners! They are HAPPY in this tank! Again, if you look closely you might notice the little bud on the java fern to the left of the crypts


----------



## Karackle

Hilde - My bulb is aparently only 17w! I had no idea I was running so little light over this tank, for some reason I thought it was 24w! HOW do I grow ANYTHING in here?! hahahaha i'm baffled. It's an AGA 17w bulb that comes standard with the strip light i bought. It doesn't have a k rating on it, just says "aquarium bulb" so I'm off to do some more googling for ya to find out what that means k-rating-wise! 

*edit* after a bit of googling I THINK it is an 8000k bulb, or "aquarium spectrum."


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> after a bit of googling I THINK it is an 8000k bulb, or "aquarium spectrum."


I was expecting to be higher consider the growth of your plants. You must be getting some natural sun light too.


----------



## Karackle

I actually don't think it gets too much sunlight, it is across the room from a large window, but it's a window that doesn't get any direct sunlight and we have the blinds closed all day so I think if it's getting any it's _very_ minimal. The plants also grow up towards the light, not forward toward the window. It was not getting any sunlight in either of it's previous spots either so I don't know what it is. I do think a lot of my low light success is attributed to 3 main things though. 1) my photoperiod is over 12 hours, 2) i slightly overstock my tanks, and 3) the aeration from my bubble walls (i believe this helps maintain the CO2 at atmospheric levels instead of below if the I had minimal surface agitation / aeration). Those are my best guesses anyway


----------



## sewingalot

I personally think they grow so much because they feel the love you give them.  That sword looks great. I am going to make some DIY root tabs this weekend. I'll send you some if you like. PM me if you do. The crypts are looking fantastic!


----------



## Karackle

heeheehee well i like to think it's the love I give them too actually, but I wasn't sure anyone else would believe me :hihi: 

Thanks, I can't believe how fast the crypts are throwing out new leaves! And that sword is a beaut, if it ever throws off plantlets I can send one back to you if you want it  

ooooh homemade root tabs?! VERY cool! How do you make those? DIY thread?


----------



## sewingalot

Yep, diy. I made a smaller portion of them when I first started they worked great. No algae blooms at all and the sword plant loved them. Actually, when I pulled him up, you could tell where the root tabs were based on the amount of roots in that area. 

The crypts are fantastic. I couldn't get them to grow for me until I finally learned to leave them alone like everyone kept telling me. Sometimes, I am stubborn, lol.


----------



## Karackle

Very cool! I'm glad they work so well! Sounds like a fun project to :hihi: If I had a scale i'd try it myself one day!  Maybe I'll get even more growth out of the sword too with the extra ferts!  I don't know if the crypts can grow any faster, but I'll certainly give them some extra nourishment too!  And yes, crypts definitely do best when just left alone...unless it's to put some root tabs under them  I don't even remove melted leaves anymore unless they are fully detached, otherwise, I let the cleanup crew deal with it. :tongue:


----------



## lauraleellbp

sewingalot said:


> Yep, diy. I made a smaller portion of them when I first started they worked great. No algae blooms at all and the sword plant loved them. Actually, when I pulled him up, you could tell where the root tabs were based on the amount of roots in that area.
> 
> The crypts are fantastic. I couldn't get them to grow for me until I finally learned to leave them alone like everyone kept telling me. Sometimes, I am stubborn, lol.


You should make enough and sell them, Sara!


----------



## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> You should make enough and sell them, Sara!


And TADA you've got a business! :biggrin: or at least something to keep you occupied / make you a few dollars!


----------



## Karackle

I just realized I forgot to come back yesterday and post the FTS that i forgot to post :hihi:

so here they are, enjoy!


----------



## lauraleellbp

You're getting great growth on those stems! I can't believe they're already ready to trim down and replant...


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! I am continually STUNNED at how fast the sunset hygro grows in this tank, it's unreal. Just about ready to trim which means I can send you some if you still want it!


----------



## lauraleellbp

I'm in no rush at all, so send it whenever you get around to it!

It's actually all going to go in the new 12gal Eclipse I just bought but hasn't even arrived yet... LOL So if you want to trim and replant and wait till you need to trim again, I'm totally ok with that.


----------



## Karackle

hahaha fair enough! As you can tell, they grow fast, so whenever you're ready for them I should have some to give you :biggrin: I'll wait til you receive the tank and at least though so you have somewheres to put them! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

So i was sort of daydreaming at work today (my current assignment is rather boring) and I was thinking that this tank might look cool with a nice Betta, maybe a crowntail, as a sort of centerpiece fish....but do you think that a betta would go after my teeny fish? I have a large enough shrimp population established that I'm not too worried about him picking off a few babies here and there, but i worry about the itty bitty fish, particularly the remaining 2 boraras. 

Would love any input on this! Thanks!


----------



## demonbreedr16

Wow! That looks great Kara!

Sadly, no fish suggestions though...I'm still working on that in my own tanks. lol

Oh, my betta in the 10gal is leaving GUPPY fry alone, so I think you should be OK with adding a betta in here. Plenty of hiding places, etc. for the smaller fish.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks for the compliment! :biggrin: 

And that's good to know about the betta and guppy fry! Thanks!


----------



## lauraleellbp

I kept a betta when I was a kid to feed my guppy fry to... (he loved them, and I was overrun with fry!) so I think it really depends on the betta in question.


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha good point, good point! I guess I could try it and just move him to my 5.5g if it doesn't work out because I haven't set that up yet. I was thinking about trying out a Dwarf Puffer in there, but I do love my bettas! I feel like my fish "collection" is incomplete without at least 1 betta somewhere :hihi: I could see how the betta does in here, and if it doesn't work move him to my 5.5, if it does more, then I could get the DP, otherwise, no DP for me. 

And yes, I used to use my zebra danios as guppy fry control. Dunno why i never thought about using the betta....oops! :hihi: 

hmmm....i wonder.....well that thought is for my 10g thread....so i'm off to put it there! :icon_lol:


----------



## Karackle

I'm also now considering going for a female betta in this tank, less tastey looking fins.....still worried about the brigittae though...


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> :hihi:You know, I haven't chosen root tabs yet EEK! :icon_eek: I was actually thinking about that the other day, I really need to get some because I'm worried with the new lights and faster growth i'll run into problems.


I read that someone whom used the jobe ferts had a problem with green water after moving plants. Also with house plant ferts you need to check the source of nitrogen. If there is a lot of uria nitrogen that can affect some of the fauna. I got some pond ferts, 50 for $5, from an individual at night, whom makes indoor ponds; thus didn't read label until I got home. It says it has 1.5 % urea nitrogen. Possible that a little urea nitrogen won't affect some fauna. After ponds tend to contain gold fish.


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> I have 3 old zebra danios in my 20gH tank, I'm wondering if you guys think they'd be happier in my 30g which has a lot more horizontal swimming space? Well, I'm sure they WOULD be happier, I guess the real question is would they bother my tiny fish and my clawless (therefore defenseless) filter feeding bamboo shrimp?


Do they swim in a continuous pattern in the 20gh? Did you move the danios?

This makes me think of my Neon Rainbows in my 29 gallon. The info on the net says that the tank is the minimum size for them. Some tell they me that they need to be in a bigger tank. They seem to be comfortable in it. Two weeks ago I put them in a 10 gallon to redo the 29 gallon. They don't swim much now. In conclusion if the Dainos are swimming here and there they have adapted to the size of the tank.



Karackle said:


> I'm also now considering going for a female betta in this tank, less tastey looking fins.....still worried about the brigittae though...


I have a male Betta in my 29 gallon tank. He is the second male Betta I have had. First one was aggressive and made the other fish hide so I took him to a LFS. He did not go back into a small cup. Next year a got another one. Second one is not aggressive. I decided on this one for he backed away from me when I stared him in his small bowl. Perhaps this will help you to find a docal female. Or perhaps you can find a female Betta at a LFS that is kept with other fish, thus socialized.

Read that you got a new light. So you went from a T12 to a T8? 
Did you check out the T5NO on Big Als?


----------



## Karackle

Hilde said:


> Do they swim in a continuous pattern in the 20gh? Did you move the danios?
> 
> This makes me think of my Neon Rainbows in my 29 gallon. The info on the net says that the tank is the minimum size for them. Some tell they me that they need to be in a bigger tank. They seem to be comfortable in it. Two weeks ago I put them in a 10 gallon to redo the 29 gallon. They don't swim much now. In conclusion if the Dainos are swimming here and there they have adapted to the size of the tank.


I did end up moving the danios but I eventually moved them back to the 20 because they were too active and made all of my other fish hide all the time. They went to my friend with the rest of the 20g tank setup when I moved. 



Hilde said:


> I have a male Betta in my 29 gallon tank. He is the second male Betta I have had. First one was aggressive and made the other fish hide so I took him to a LFS. He did not go back into a small cup. Next year a got another one. Second one is not aggressive. I decided on this one for he backed away from me when I stared him in his small bowl. Perhaps this will help you to find a docal female. Or perhaps you can find a female Betta at a LFS that is kept with other fish, thus socialized.


Thanks for the info! I actually found a gorgeous male betta today that I had to have :hihi: If he doesn't work out he'll go in the 10g and I'll try a female that I am confident will work out either in the 30 or the 10. 



Hilde said:


> Read that you got a new light. So you went from a T12 to a T8?
> Did you check out the T5NO on Big Als?


That's right, I upgraded slightly to T8. I didn't look into T5 but now that i've realized just how little light i have, i may look into those if i decide to get a new fixture. I'll definitely check out big als first, thanks!


----------



## Karackle

UPDATE! 

I'm impatient and I saw a gorgeous half moon betta and I had to have him. He immediately tried to go after some of the larger RCS so i'll have to keep a close eye on everything. So far no one has bothered his fins but i'll keep an eye out for that too of course. If he continues trying to go after small things, I'll try him in the 10g. If that doesn't work either, I'll put him in the 5. I'll likely try a female next in the 30 if this guy doesn't work out since they do tend to be slightly less agressive. If she goes after the little ones too, I'll put her in the 10 where there is no one small enough to pick on and forget about the idea of a betta in this tank 

But anyway, pictures of the newest addition: 

Without flash: 


























_Stalking a snail_









_A close up of his cool eyes (well one of them)_










With flash:




































I tried to get a few shots that showed his various colors, and there are a couple that show off the beautiful leopard pattern on his dorsal fin


----------



## lauraleellbp

Oh he's gorgeous, Kara! Where did you find him?

You need to hold up a mirror to the tank and get pics of him flaring- I bet that's spectacular!

(ps- did you see I got some pygmy cories for my 29gal? :icon_mrgr)


----------



## Karackle

And A few other shots I snapped: 

RCS









This might be my brightest red RCS:








_w/o flash_









_w/ flash_

Fishies:









I still can't believe how fast these crypts are growing:


















Enjoy!


----------



## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> Oh he's gorgeous, Kara! Where did you find him?
> 
> You need to hold up a mirror to the tank and get pics of him flaring- I bet that's spectacular!
> 
> (ps- did you see I got some pygmy cories for my 29gal? :icon_mrgr)


Thanks! I got him at a LFS here in NJ where F22 from here on the forum works (or that he owns? manages? something :tongue 

I'll definitely see if I can get a mirror there for him to flare at, it is definitely something to see!  

Heeheehee i was just going to look at your 29 thread after I posted here, YAY for pygmy cories! I love them!


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> Thanks for the info! I actually found a gorgeous male betta today that I had to have :hihi:
> 
> That's right, I upgraded slightly to T8. I didn't look into T5.


Does it have just 1 bulb? Well, T8 can work, depending on your plants. In fact Trallen44 just has one 32 watt 10,000 K bulb T8 by Zoo Med. watt over is 55 gallon tank.

There are T5 NO and T5 HO. After researching for next upgrade for my tank. Found that the T5 NO is for non- Co2 injection and T5 HO for Co2 injected. 



Karackle said:


> UPDATE!
> I'm impatient and I saw a gorgeous half moon betta and I had to have him. He immediately tried to go after some of the larger RCS


A Betta with shrimp!! Oh my!! I have read that Betta love to eat shrimp.


----------



## lauraleellbp

Do you have root tabs under the Crypts yet, Kara? Unless it's just the lighting, some of those new leaves are looking a little yellow. (Or perhaps it's some of the old leaves melting?)


----------



## Karackle

Hilde - yep just 1 bulb, only 17w, and I definitely get good growth so i'm really in no hurry to get more light, and i certainly don't want to end up anywhere close to the high light realm :tongue: but I would like to get a bulb that spans more than 33% of the tank eventually so I have more options with the corners. 

LauraLee - I don't have root tabs under them yet, I tried to pick some up today when i got the betta but they didn't have any. Sara (sewingalot) is going to send me some of her homemade ones, but i figured if i could get something under a few of the plants in the meantime, especially in the 10g actually, it would be good. However, the lighting is a little weird, i just ran down and took a look at them and in real life they don't look nearly so yellow. The ones that look the most yellow in those pictures though are the older leaves, so it could be that they're on their way to melting


----------



## F22

kara, i got root tabs comin on friday if you need them i can hold them for you...
btw nice betta..

haha


----------



## Karackle

Hey thanks for the offer! I should have the ones from Sara by then but if I don't I'll be sure to let you know, thanks again! 

And thanks, i got him from a pretty sweet local store


----------



## F22

haha thanks... btw is that a hyla marmorata in your avatar?


----------



## Karackle

um...maybe? It's a picture of a frog that I took in Ecuador. I just think the colors are pretty and that he has a cute little face so i figured i'd post up something a little different for a change :tongue:

and you're welcome


----------



## Hilde

lauraleellbp said:


> I kept a betta when I was a kid to feed my guppy fry to... (he loved them, and I was overrun with fry!) so I think it really depends on the betta in question.


I once had a male Betta in a 20 gallon long with many Guppys'. He swam on the bottom and left them alone. So I guess 50/50 chance he will okay with shrimp. Probably keep your numbers down.


Karackle said:


> Hilde - yep just 1 bulb, only 17w, and I definitely get good growth. I would like to get a bulb that spans more than 33% of the tank eventually.


I have similar situation. Have 2 24in T8 and 22 in PC over my 29-G tank which is 30 in long. Staged the T8s so that there is only a 2 inches on the sides a bit dimmer. The PC is in the middle. Perhaps you can do something like that with your T8.


----------



## F22

i think it is, i used to have a huge group of them. They call them bird poop frogs because of the white blotch color on the backs...


----------



## Karackle

Here is the original shot that i used for my avatar and 2 others of the same frog, are the bird poop frogs from Ecuador?




























I just thought he was cute and beautifullly colored, wish i could have taken him home with me! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Hilde said:


> I once had a male Betta in a 20 gallon long with many Guppys'. He swam on the bottom and left them alone. So I guess 50/50 chance he will okay with shrimp. Probably keep your numbers down.


Yeah, i'm not to fussed about him taking out a few shrimp, just worried about the itty bitty fish that are in the tank



Hilde said:


> I have similar situation. Have 2 24in T8 and 22 in PC over my 29-G tank which is 30 in long. Staged the T8s so that there is only a 2 inches on the sides a bit dimmer. The PC is in the middle. Perhaps you can do something like that with your T8.


This is bizarre....this part of your post didn't show up until i hit the "quote" button to respond to the guppy part....

But anyway my tank is 36" with a 30" fixture that only has a 24" bulb...which is not what i was told it would have, i was told the bulb would be the length of the fixture so i'm irked about that, but more at myself for not researching better....I'm thinking about doing something similar to what you have done, I'm thinking of either getting a second light that spans the full length of my tank and putting that one across the back and using the shorter one across the front, or just getting a second 30" fixture and pushing one all the way to the left and one all the way to the right, the sides would still be dimmer than the center, but at least getting some light. It's all going to have to wait until i can save up a bunch though....unless i get an extra generous birthday gift from my grandmother this week :hihi:


----------



## lauraleellbp

The Coralife 30" fixtures are the only ones I know of that actually have 30" bulbs... and one of their T5NO fixtures I think would be perfect for your tank.


----------



## Karackle

heeheehee thanks for the info! I'll be sure to keep that in mind! :biggrin:


----------



## demonbreedr16

That's a pretty betta, Kara! 

I'm thinking about getting a new CT [from a friend who will breed them soon] to replace Pumpkin in my 10gal so he can get started back breeding...it's all a bit confusing! lol


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! 

Crown tails are quite pretty  I decided against one because their tails are a bit too tempting for other fish to nibble on :tongue:


----------



## sewingalot

To echo everyone else, I love the betta! Your root tabs are ready! Pm me, Kara.


----------



## Karackle

Heeheehee thanks! He IS handsome isn't he? :icon_mrgr

:bounce: yay for root tabs! my plants will be so happy! thanks again! :bounce:

In other news, while I was home in MA getting this 

















my mom let it slip that my grammy might be giving me a generous monetary birthday gift this week, and i know JUST what i'll be using it for....hello invertzfactory order! Grammy is buying me my new fishies for my birthday this year! :hihi: I'm pumped! I'll get my rainbows and some more cories :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Sweet car and you're getting fish, too! What more could a gal want? By the way, the root tabs are in the mail. You should get them in a couple days. So far, so good on this end. I actually think my dwarf sags are looking better.


----------



## lauraleellbp

Woohoo- look at you!! roud:


----------



## Karackle

Sara and Laura - Thanks! :biggrin: I'm really excited about the car! (but not the payments :hihi And I'm totally excited about the fish. I figure whatever I get from Grammy, I'll use it towards fish even if it's just enough to cover them because you know what? I really want those fish and that will make me happy which will make her happy knowing I used it for something I WANT and didn't just put it towards bills, because that's the whole point of a birthday present right? :icon_mrgr Something you WANT as opposed to something you need? (unless it's one of those few things that overlap, like a pair of winter boots or a nice coffee maker ) :hihi:

So I'm pumped, I should have this tank fully stocked on the soon side! :bounce:


----------



## funkyfish

sewingalot said:


> I personally think they grow so much because they feel the love you give them.  That sword looks great. I am going to make some DIY root tabs this weekend. I'll send you some if you like. PM me if you do. The crypts are looking fantastic!


Hey Sara! long time no see hope your holidays went well  

And this is cool a cool idea I never knew you can make DIY root tabs! How do you make DYI root tabs? I wanna try making some because my crypts could use some


----------



## funkyfish

Hey Karackle! Congrats on the car! And your new betta is gorgeos... Love it


----------



## Hilde

A few days ago I saw a tank about 30 gallon with a male Betta and shrimp. So what happens depends on his attitude. How is the male Betta doing with shrimp house mates?


----------



## sewingalot

You should totally buy what you WANT, not need. I've bought what I need instead of want on my birthdays and it sucks. Go rainbows! Hi, Funky, great holidays here, I hope the same was for you. Here's the link on the fert tabs that I used. I have also read in my search people used Osmocote in clay, but I am too chicken to try that method.


----------



## Karackle

*Funky* - thanks!  He has actually colored up a bit more now that he's settling in so I'll try to get more pics of him soon! (It won't be tonight though because I'm off to actually pick up the car! :bounce 
*
Hilde* - Thanks for letting me know, that's good to hear! Yeah it definitely seems to depend on the personality of the individual Betta. It's funny you should ask how he's doing because that's what i came here to post!  Thanks for asking! :biggrin:

*Sara *- I know, i've used birthday $ for things I need before too, and not only does it suck for me, it sucks because I can't be like "hey grammy check out this awesome thing you bought me!" So I agree! GO RAINBOWS! and GO PYGMY CORIES! woohoo! :hihi: :icon_mrgr :bounce::fish:

On to the small update!  

Mr. Betta (that is what i name all of my bettas, i was more creative with this stuff when I was a kid :hihi is doing quite well so far! :icon_bigg I still see him stalking shrimp, but the brigittae are still there and I looked at them quite closely (they and the betta are the only ones not afraid of me smooshing my face up to the tank) and didn't see any damage or anything on them, so it appears the betta hasn't tried to eat them. Also, i inspected Mr. Betta's fins quite closely and saw no sign of damage there either. So far so good! roud: I might be able to get a dwarf puffer for my 5g after all! I'll definitely hold off on that for a while yet because I want to see how the Betta does for a while longer and I don't know what will happen when I round out the stocking on thank, maybe there will be an issue with the rainbows or something. 

But anyway, like I said, so far, so good, so I'm happy! roud:


----------



## boltp777

do u still have that air pump running? if so that depletes the co2 out of the water. air pumps barely provide any oxygen in the water their more for looks than anything


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## Karackle

boltp777 said:


> do u still have that air pump running? if so that depletes the co2 out of the water. air pumps barely provide any oxygen in the water their more for looks than anything


Yes I do, and actually, no offense, but your statement is not entirely correct. In a system *without* CO2 injection the bubble wall does not deplete CO2, in fact it helps add CO2 by maintaining the levels in the tank at atmospheric CO2 levels. The plants are probably doing more to add oxygen during the day than the bubble wall, but at night when both plants and fish are consuming oxygen, the bubble wall will again help keep the tank at atmospheric levels of oxygen. In short, the bubble wall helps keep the amount of dissolved gasses in the aquarium at equilibrium with the air. :thumbsup:


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## Karackle

Well I got my homemade root tabs from Sara (Sewingalot) yesterday (it's like she planned it as a birthday present! :hihi and they look great! They're much harder than I was expecting! They didn't dissolve at all while I was placing them in the tank, i didn't linger with them in the water, but even still, i've had store bought root tabs do a bit of dissolving even if I knew right where I was putting them. So I really like these! I started out with just 2, one under the Crypt undulata that is growing incredible fast, and 1 under the sword. I'll see how the tank does for a few days and as long as all look well, I'll add a few more under some of the other crypts and "grasses" (i should really get some close-ups of my "grasses" so i can get some help IDing them :hihi. 

That's all for now!


----------



## F22

how the betta?
still alive i'm assuming?


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## Karackle

F22 said:


> how the betta?
> still alive i'm assuming?


Oh! I should have updated about him too! 

Yes he is alive and doing very well, he has colored up a bit since adjusting to the tank, and so far he seems to be getting along with his tank mates! :icon_mrgr

I'll try to get some pictures tonight, between picking up the car and my birthday I didn't get a chance last night or weds to get more pics. Thanks for asking!


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## lauraleellbp

Happy Birthday!!!!


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## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> Happy Birthday!!!!


Thank you very much!!!! :biggrin:


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## boltp777

Karackle said:


> Yes I do, and actually, no offense, but your statement is not entirely correct. In a system *without* CO2 injection the bubble wall does not deplete CO2, in fact it helps add CO2 by maintaining the levels in the tank at atmospheric CO2 levels. The plants are probably doing more to add oxygen during the day than the bubble wall, but at night when both plants and fish are consuming oxygen, the bubble wall will again help keep the tank at atmospheric levels of oxygen. In short, the bubble wall helps keep the amount of dissolved gasses in the aquarium at equilibrium with the air. :thumbsup:


where is your proof of this all articles i have read are completely against what your saying?


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## lauraleellbp

boltp777 said:


> where is your proof of this all articles i have read are completely against what your saying?


What articles have you read that say otherwise?

In a non-CO2-injected planted tank, during the day the plants will be absorbing as much CO2 as they can, which will drop the CO2 levels in the tank lower than the levels in the air. The CO2 in the air will then dissolve into the tank through osmosis, and therefore the more surface area exposed to air (ie, surface agitiation) the better.


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## Karackle

It's basic science. Gasses dissolve in water, the more agitation you have, the easier it is for gasses to dissolve. Gasses want to be at equilibrium like anything else. 

With a CO2 injected tank where the goal is to maintain the levels of CO2 significantly _above_ the levels in the air, you are absolutely right, the bubble wall (and anything else that increases surface agitation) would be totally counter productive, you'd lose most, if not all, of your CO2 to the surrounding air.

I'm not sure what articles you've been reading, but I would guess they are talking about not using airstones / bubble walls on a CO2 injected tank.


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## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> What articles have you read that say otherwise?


I'm curious about this too.



lauraleellbp said:


> In a non-CO2-injected planted tank, during the day the plants will be absorbing as much CO2 as they can, which will drop the CO2 levels in the tank lower than the levels in the air. The CO2 in the air will then dissolve into the tank through osmosis, and therefore the more surface area exposed to air (ie, surface agitiation) the better.


Exactly right! 

This is also why many people using CO2 injection _will_ run an airstone _at night_ because CO2 injected tanks tend to have very heavy plant growth and at night the plants AND the fish are now using up oxygen dropping the levels below those in the surrounding air, so the air stone helps keep the water oxygenated at night.


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## boltp777

lol yeah that was my point the bubbles are counter productice my bad i think i confused everyone.


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## Karackle

they are counter-productive to CO2 addition ONLY in a CO2 injected tank, which this is not. :thumbsup:


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## sewingalot

Anyway, back on topic of the new fish....if you get a dwarf puffer, please oh please take some of my snails for the guy! I actually have a 'nano cup' of snails that I don't have the heart to kill. I literally have a few 32 oz plastic cups with java moss sitting in the window I fill up with fresh water and toss in my snails when I find them in plant clippings. :hihi:

By the way, the diy root tabs seem to be working great for my crypts! There is new growth and the melting finally stopped. Yeah. Let me know how they work for you.


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## Karackle

Heeheehee I'll be sure to let you know about the puffer and i'll definitely take the snails if I get one!  That may not happen for a little while though, I have to make sure Mr. Betta here is actually settled, and I need to round out the stocking before I can assess that. Thanks for the snail offer though! That's great!  

So I got my Grammy BDay card today which means I should be able to order the fishies in the next few days! WOOHOO!

I'm glad to hear the root tabs are already helping your crypts *Sara*! I'll have to go take a better look at mine and get back to you if I see any change, though it might be a little early for that, it's only been 2 days afterall :hihi: But of course I'll keep you posted! Thanks again for those! :biggrin:


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## F22

kara, what kinda fish you gonna get?


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## Karackle

Oh I forgot to mention that! HAHAHA oops. 

I'm planning to go with 6-8 Gertrudae rainbows, 6-8 more pygmy cories (in the hopes that if the school is bigger I'll see the adorable lil buggers more often) and probably another oto or 2. 

I also have to decide whether to get more b. brigittae....they seem totally at ease in the tank hanging out with the ember tetras and doing their own thing, as I've mentioned they are the least afraid of me walking by the tank (except for the shrimp :hihi I know they are schoolers, but I'm a little afraid of losing them all again if the prefilter falls off again. So I have to decide on that.


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## lauraleellbp

Karackle said:


> I'm a little afraid of losing them all again if the prefilter falls off again.


I just scrolled back 3 pages trying to see what you're using for a prefilter and... it's blocked by a leaf so I can't see it! LOL

You might try the Zoomed 501 mechanical sponge, though- IME those fit nice and snug over most filter intakes. Plus, they're black, predrilled, and only like $5.


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## Karackle

Hahahaha yeah it is blocked by a big ol' leaf now isn't it? lol when I had the issue befire I was using something I rigged up myself and like an idiot i forgot that rubber bands will fail after a while in the water! :frown::icon_redf I now have this setup on the tank: 



















I got the clear piece from work when I was a lab tech in a fish facility. This one is on pretty tight so I'm not toooooo worried, but you never know. Thanks for the zoomed 501 mechanical sponge suggestion though, I'll keep that in mind. And it would probably look better than what i have now if that leaf decided to move and not block it anymore :hihi:


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## lauraleellbp

That's a pretty nifty DIY!


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## Karackle

heeheehee thanks! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Ok tank update time!!! 

I did a little rearranging in this tank during the water change  

The Hygro difformis wasn't doing as well in the right corner but the pennywort (or is it moneywort?) was doing well so I swapped the places of the penny wort and the hygro difformis. I also moved the sunset hygro that was to the left of the tank and added it to the bunch behind the rock, i also topped the stems that were already there and replanted them. I trimmed the one piece of lindernia that had gotten really tall (because it had started out the tallest) and planted that back into the bunch. The original stems of asian ambulia aren't doing so hot themselves, but they've grown a bunch of new off shoots that are doing really well, I think it just needed a little time to adjust to the lower lights in this tank  I was going to move the long narrow leaf java fern to the back right corner behind the pennywort but it seems to like where it is because it already attached it's roots really well to the front of the lace rock :hihi: 

Anyway, pictures! 

Full tank shots (with a few different settings, i still can't decide which setting i like best :tongue 




































Right Side: 









Center:









Left Side (back focus): 









Left side (front focus):









And an area I always forget to take a close-up of, the area in front of the lace rock:









And a close-up of the pennywort forest:









Mr. Betta wasn't cooperating for a photoshoot very well today, but i managed to get 2 decent shots but they're with the flash since he was swimming around a good bit :tongue: At least he's happy! And he's one of those rareish Bettas that enjoys playing in currents instead of avoiding them :icon_mrgr so that's fun to watch! Anyway, here he is:


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## lauraleellbp

I like setting #2 from the top best.

And Moneywort = Bacopa monieri, Pennywort = Hydrocoytle leucocephala.

Good to know that the betta is getting along just fine with the B. brigittae... I may just try mine in the 12gal with a betta, too.

You still need to get your betta to flare in a mirror for his photoshoot, I'm dying to see a pic with him flaring! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Thanks for the settings input! I think I like that the best too, and I think it's the closest to what the tank actually looks like. And thank you for the moneywort / pennywort clarification, so then I have Pennywort. Good to know! :biggrin: 

Yeah so far they are all doing just fine. of course I have plenty of shrimp that stay still longer for him to stock, so maybe that helps. But my shrimp populations seems unaffected thus far and he eats a lot at feeding time, so he's clearly not stuffed full of anything else!  

I will try to get a mirror in there today for a photoshoot! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

I like setting 1 and 2, I am leaning toward 2. For some reason, the others have a yellow hue to me. IDK, it could be my laptop, though. Should I start giving you a hard time about that blue tubing needing to be replaced again? :hihi:


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## Karackle

No settings #3 and 4 are definitely tinged yellow. It's not your computer  

I know, i KNOW i need to fix the blue tubing. the frustrating part is that I have many feet of clear tubing SOMEWHERE but can't find it. I guess I should bite the bullet and just buy more! :tongue: 

Also, I've been in contact with the good people at InvertzFactory, I'm just waiting to hear back about the posibility of quantity discounts and then I'll place my order and I should be getting my fish soon!!! :bounce:


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## Karackle

Quick update!  

Ever since adding the root tabs the plants, especially the root feeders (not surprisingly) are doing REALLY well! The crypts are shooting off new leaves every day and the sword which has been in sort of a stasis for a while has sent up at least 2 new leaves! :biggrin: 

The Ambulia has also settled in to its new lighting conditions quite nicely and is now thriving. 

The wisteria has all of a sudden decided it does not like this tank and keeps uprooting. We'll see how that plays out. 

Anyway, PICTURES!  

FTS: 









Thriving Crypts: 


















Sword:


















Happy ambulia:









And the Pennywort corner, I rearranged a little again and put the narrow leaf Java in this corner:


















Laura Lee, I tried to get a flaring Betta pic for you but he didn't flare, he was just interested in checking out the "other" betta :hihi: I will try again with a smaller mirror that I can put right up close to the glass, I was using a large mirror but the feet of the tank stick out slightly so it was leaning at an angle, I guess the "other" betta wasn't close enough to induce territorial behavior :tongue: I'll keep trying!


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## lauraleellbp

It's really starting to fill in nicely! I can't believe you just trimmed all your stems and how tall they all are already.

You're going to have a whole Crypt jungle in there before much longer...

And I'll just have to wait for my flaring betta pic, I suppose... :tongue: :hihi:


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## Karackle

Wow, I didn't even realize how much the stems had grown until you mentioned that and I looked at the previous pics! :hihi: The Ambulia is really taking off now that it's adapted to its new conditions. 

And yes, I do believe I WILL have a crypt jungle before too long!!! And that's just how I want it!  

I'll keep working on that betta pic for you, I promise!


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## Karackle

Fish have been ordered! WOOHOO!!!!


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## sewingalot

Glad to hear the root tabs are working out for you! The sags and crypts I have seem to like them as well. Just let me know when you need some more, I'll gladly make some up for you. By the way, congratulations on getting the fish soon!!


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## Karackle

heeheehee thanks again! the plants LOVE them, yay for happy plants! :biggrin: 

I'm super excited about my fishies too! woohoo!!!


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## JennaH

tank is looking great! your betta is so handsome  i'm excited for the flaring pic too haha


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## Karackle

Jenna - Thanks! Uh-oh, now the pressure is REALLY on for that flaring pic! :hihi:

Well my Wisteria was refusing to stay planted in its new spot and not doing so hot, but I replanted before the most recent round of pics and it's thrown out a bunch of new leaves just in the couple of days since then, so I think it's recovering finally!


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## Karackle

My fish order shipped! Should be here in the next day or two!!!

I've got 8 pygmy cories (Corydoras pygmaeus), 6 gertrudae rainbows (Pseudomugil gertrudae), and 4 Chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) on the way! WOOT!!!!


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## sewingalot

Sweeeeeeet!


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## Karackle

YAY! heehee I am PUMPED! They didn't have any B. brigittae left, so he substituted with B. micros and said they'd still school with other boraras and were quite rare so I'm excited to see them! I'm just glad my remaining couple of brigittae will have some company of their own size! Not that everything else in the tank isn't tiny, but, they are much smaller than anyone else, they are dwarfed by some of the larger female RCS whereas the embers and CPDs are about the same size :hihi:


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## F22

Nice. Post pics as soon as they get to you!


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## Karackle

I will of course!!! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Well according to USPS tracking the fish arrived at the NJ distribution center, which is minutes from my house, late last night so they should arrive today! I'll be leaving work early today so they don't sit on the stoop too long  YAY!


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## Karackle

Fish are here!!! :biggrin: 

Only 1 DOA, unfortunately, one of the Male rainbows, but Pedro always sends an extra so i still have 6  They are TINY! :hihi: I've got 9 pygmy cories and he sent actually 2 extra borars micros, so I have 6 of them to school with the 2 brigittae. So I am happy!  

I can't decide whether to QT or not. I definitely have seeded filter media I could use to QT in the 5g which I may do for the rainbows because they don't look quite as good as the others. I'll have to see how they're looking after a bit of time. They are currently drip acclimating with a heater to help keep the temps up a little. 

Pics to come!


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## F22

i would qt. only because if something does happen, it suuuuuuucks to treat in a planted system...


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## Karackle

Well that is very true. I've contacted Pedro to find out whether the fish had just come in or if they've had them a while, his response will probably influence my final decision, I do currently have the extra tank though, so it might be worth it just to just QT them.....which i hate.....sometimes i think i'm too impatient for this hobby :tongue: :icon_redf


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## F22

i know the feeling.. I add fish wayyyyyy too quickly.


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## Karackle

Well, i found out that they've been through their QT at Invertz and been with them there for 3 months or more, so i may just keep them isolated for a couple of days in case any are too traumatized to survive, but otherwise, I think they'll go in without a proper, regular QT.


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## Karackle

Hahaha yeah, i tend to do the same, and so far i've been lucky which makes me nervous that one day my luck will run out!


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## Karackle

Fish are in the tank, they seem happy so far!!! :biggrin: 

I put the pics on the computer but i'm exhausted, will upload to photobucket and post tomorrow!


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## F22

lame! you shoulda posted them!


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## Triv

Those extra 3 clicks woulda did ya in eh..


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## Karackle

Hahaha well it's a lot more than 3 clicks! Gotta copy and paste each photo not to mention the time it takes for all of them to upload! lol. It woulda been another 30mins to an hour! :hihi:

But anyway, here they are! 

First in my drip acclimation setup (w/ heater and bubbles to circulate the water so it would heat evenly):


----------



## Karackle

And in the tank: 




























This little cory decided he liked getting a bubble massage









Stalking, Betta style


















Also, I am LOVING the new batch of pygmy cories, they are out and about and swimming all over the place! Hopefully they will entice the others to do the same!  They are so flipping cute! And I did NOT realize how much my older ones have grown until seeing them next to these babies! heehee My brigittae are very happy, they were schooling with the micros this morning and the micros had already colored up quite a bit before lights out last night. The Rainbows are a bit more skittish, they're up in the top corners of the tank, they are VERY small though, I'm assuming that means they are quite young, so hopefully they'll come out of their shells more soon enough. 

All in all I am very happy! :biggrin: 

More pics to come that I took this morning before and a couple after lights on. The card reader w/ card in it fell out of my pocket in the car this morning though and i forgot to grab it before getting out, oops :tongue: :icon_redf


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## Karackle

Found the memory card on my lunch break  Just had a chance to get the pictures uploaded!  

So I took these this morning, most of them before the lights went on. I was trying to get pictures of the rainbows, these were the best I could get:




























New Boraras (Pedro said they were micros, I'm thinking maybe maculatus though? either way they school with the brigittae and are pretty so I'm happy ) :



















Happy playful cories (sorry about the blur):









"you can't seeeee meeeee"









And finally, the Betta was posing for me so I took some pictures with and without flash, now, let me just say, Laura Lee I'm really sorry, I've tried to get him to flare at his reflection but he's just not interested! He'll check out the reflection and then sort of just swim away. So this is the best I've gotten so far, I WILL keep trying though!  

Chillin' on a java fern leaf









Displaying for me









"maybe if i hide behind this pipe she'll leave me alone"


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## Triv

ooo, never seen a betta with the "snake" or "Leopard" pattern.


----------



## Karackle

heehee yeah, he's pretty awesome  I have actually seen that patter before, but never this pronounced.


----------



## sewingalot

That is a beautiful betta! I wonder if F22 ships bettas....  Congratulations on the micro-fish. They are great lookers. You acclimate in style. They get a heated jacuzzi!


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## F22

i can ship ya some betta! haha


----------



## Karackle

Heeheehee thanks!!! Well i figured the heating pads in the box had all but run out so they were a bit cold plus i don't keep my house super warm, so I figured I'd give them a little heat so there would be less of a temp change when i put them in the tank :tongue: Usually i just drip acclimate into a bucket :hihi: 

The fish are settling in nicely, when i got home from work yesterday even the rainbows were venturing out of their corner and one of the males had colored up quite a bit, his dorsal / anal / tail spots were starting to show and the tips of his teeny pectoral fins are turning yellow  The brigittae are happy to have buddies other than each other and the embers  and the pygmy cories continue to swim all around! And not just on the bottom! I hope they continue this behavior and don't learn from the older 6 to hide all the time because they're SO CUTE! :hihi:

And yes, thank you, the more settled the betta gets, the more color he gets, it's kind of hard to see but he's now starting to get some red on the outer edges of his tail. I'm glad he's getting along with the tiny fish because I enjoy having him in the living room display tank! :biggrin: Thanks again F22!!


----------



## F22

wow, really puttin in some work, tank looks killer... nice fish!


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## Karackle

Thanks!


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## Karackle

Just wanted to write a quick update, the fish continue to do well, the cories are still out and about which is great, I love seeing them swim around! The Boraras have colored up quite a bit, they're not as bright as the brigittae but they definitely have nice color though! And the Pseudomugil gertrudae (gertrudes/gertrudae rainbows) have colored up too, they're getting yellow on their pectoral fin tips and lots of their signature spots! They're also getting much more adventurous and swimming around the tank more, I am very pleased! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Glad to hear about the fish doing so well. How are the root tabs doing? Wanna know something funny? I can't find mine. :hihi: I know they are around here somewhere. Any chance of getting pictures?


----------



## F22

Wow glad you are having such good luck!

I too would like to see pictures!

Btw I got titanium dragon betta if you want one!


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## lauraleellbp

Hey looking good! I love all the new fish. And that betta is still to die for, even if he sticks his nose up at modeling for us lowly humans...

Your fans demand pics!! :bounce: :icon_mrgr


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## Karackle

Hahahaha well I guess I need to get some new pics!!! 

Sara - Thanks! The roots tabs are working quite well! I'm sorry to hear yours are missing though! Want me to mail you back some? :hihi: How are the ones in your tank doing though? 

F22 - Thanks! I don't know what a titanium dragon betta is but they sound awesome! I'm not sure I have room for one though  I tried googling them but couldn't find a specific pic of a titanium dragon betta. They sound cool enough that I might have to pull out the 5.5g  I was sort of saving it for a dwarf puffer....but maybe not.....:hihi: 

Laura - Hahaha yes, sorry, he does refuse to model for us lowly humans, but I think i've snapped a few decent pics :tongue: The red edge on his tail is becoming more and more obvious so i'll try to get pics of that  

All the fish are continuing to do well, and I'll try to get those pics tonight! I'd do it right now but there's too much glare from the large window across from the tank during the day. So stay tuned!!! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Can't wait for the pictures. No need to send me any. The crypts are doing fantastic. Absolutely no melting or holes since adding the fert tabs. I'm not fertilizing otherwise.


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## Karackle

Sorry guys, EPIC fail on my part getting those pictures......I got totally distracted saturday night with cooking dinner with the boy and watching new movies from our shopping trip (mostly it was the new movies that distracted me :icon_redf:....actually it wasn't movies, it was the show Burn Notice we picked up on DVD, GREAT show by the way). And last night I was distracted by a combination of cleaning up my room of some stuff that i just hadn't gotten to since moving in and reading some journal articles to prep for my grad school interviews this Friday. 

I will try my best to get pics tonight!!! 

Sara - my crypts and sword and most of the plants actually have been doing unbelievably well since adding the fert tabs so thank you again! They're amazing! The crypts and sword have thrown out tons of new leaves that all look healthy! It's amazing!  :bounce:


----------



## Karackle

Well, last night got busy (more reading up on the professors I'll be interviewing with) but I DID have time to snap a few pictures this morning before it was bright enough to cause too much glare. There are a few that I tried to snap during the day time the other day as well but they DO have some serious glare, but I figured I'd include them anyway. 

Please pardon the blurriness, I wanted to get a few pictures up for the purposes of updating but I was running a little late for work already :tongue: so I didn't have time to set up the tripod  

First, the ones with the terrible glare :



























Close-up series of the tank Left to Right:













































Crypts and Amazon doing AMAZING with the root tabs! 


















And of course, FTS - the colors are wonky because I had to make the exposure time very short to get a non-blurry photo and then use iPhoto to correct for the darkness....but at least this gives an idea for the amount of growth in the tank 









So that's the quick update! As you can see i've got some trimming and topping off to do, I'll try to get that done tonight and then take some more pictures


----------



## lauraleellbp

The Embers look really pretty in there.

The plants are filling in nicely!

The stems are definitely working to get up close to the light... if you ever do decide to put a little more light over this tank they'd probably fill in better, but they still look nice!


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## F22

Lookin good.


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## sewingalot

That crypt is doing amazingly well! I am glad to see they are working well for you, too. The penny wort is gorgeous. Great shots of the tank even with the glare.


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## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> The Embers look really pretty in there.
> 
> The plants are filling in nicely!


Thanks! Yes I LOVE the embers, their bright coral color stands out very nicely against the green plants. :biggrin: and thanks! I'm pretty happy with how things are filling in 



lauraleellbp said:


> The stems are definitely working to get up close to the light... if you ever do decide to put a little more light over this tank they'd probably fill in better, but they still look nice!


Yes, they are definitely craning their necks to get to the light, I would love to add another t8 strip to this tank to bring me up to just about 1wpg :hihi: but then I might actually have to worry about algae!  I've actually also been thinking about making this more of a crypts and ferns only tank to see how that fills in. But I haven't made any decisions yet and won't be changing anything for a while.....gotta save up for a new computer first and then start saving for tank adjustment  In the mean time, I'll work with what I have! :biggrin:



F22 said:


> Lookin good.


Thanks!!! 



sewingalot said:


> That crypt is doing amazingly well! I am glad to see they are working well for you, too. The penny wort is gorgeous. Great shots of the tank even with the glare.


Yeah the crypt is growing unbelievably fast, I almost have enough to separate and replant sections without it looking sparse! I'm very happy with it!  

And thanks, I'm enjoying the pennywort too, it's not doing as well now that I've stashed in the corner, but I think if I trim back the sunset hygro that will help the pennywort get more light. I might have to move it to a more central locations though. We'll see


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## Karackle

Ok, it's been WAY too long since I've updated (and since I've been on the forums! yikes!) I've been super busy recently. Unfortunately, I lost my job, oddly i've found this has lead to much less use of the computer in my attempts to keep busy while feeling useful and of course job hunting. I miss it on here though so i'll try better to make time to stop in a few times a week!  

ANYWAY here is a whole slew of pics of the tank! Enjoy!!!  

Full tank shots: 




































And some close-ups of all parts of the tank


----------



## lauraleellbp

I'd been wondering where you disappeared to! lol

So sorry to hear about your job. :icon_frow Best of luck finding a new one!

On the bright side- the plants are looking good! And look at all those shrimp! :hihi:


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## sewingalot

The tanks are looking great. That sword has grown a lot since your last update. I am glad you are back on the forums, it's lonely without you. I think poor Laura needs a break from me, lol. 

I am really sorry to hear about your losing the job. I completely understand. You'll find a much nicer one soon! Try not to be such a stranger.


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## lauraleellbp

sewingalot said:


> I think poor Laura needs a break from me, lol.


Oh W/E!!

BTW - how's that pretty betta boy of yours, Kara?


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## Karackle

Thanks ladies! I'm sure Laura's not getting sick of you! HAHHA

But I will definitely try to be much less of a stranger. I'm on a new kick where I don't sleep as late so I have more time to play on the computer and still have time to be productive!  My lower back has been bothering me for a while and my YMCA has a yoga class at 9:15 am 3 days a week, so I'm using that as motivation to wake up. I went this morning and my back already feels looser. SWEET! 

But I digress! Sara, yes, the sword is growing REALLY well ever since you sent me those home-made fert tabs! It's probably about time to put a new one under there! 

And yes Laura, TONS of shrimp, it's probably about time to sell (or more likely RAOK) a few! :hihi: 

Thank you both on the job condolences, I'm hoping to find a new one soon! I'm also still hoping to be starting grad school in the fall, so the longer it takes to find a job, the trickier it could be! Blargh!


----------



## F22

Sorry bout the job! Hopefully you find something new soon.


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## Karackle

Thanks! I hope so too!!!


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## Karackle

Well I've been way to neglectful of my tanks and the forums in my quest to not get depressed by sitting around the house all day since it would be so easy to get sucked into the computer and become a fat lazy couch potato! :tongue: therefore I've been trying to keep myself out of the house and busy as much as possible. But that is a poor excuse. 

This tank is not looking so hot, I will take pictures of the sad state of the tank to be true in my documentation of the tank. But as soon as I have the funds I plan to remove most of the stems from this tank and switch to a mostly crypts tank.  More later when I have the pictures!


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## sewingalot

I want to see some pictures! Did you find a job yet? I am looking again at the moment. Glad that you didn't let yourself become a fat lazy slob like I did. :hihi: By the way, when you want some crypts, send me a pm. I'll trade you for some jewelry.


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## Karackle

I will get some pictures tonight once the sun goes down if I can, otherwise definitely tomorrow! I have not found a job yet, but I start grad school on Sept 1 and I got a very generous stipend as part of my fellowship that will pay almost as much as a regular salary, and I get regular bi-weekly paychecks too. Until then I think I might post flyers if anyone needs a dog-walker or pet-sitter for the summer to supplement my unemployment  And maybe I'll try to sell some jewelry again. Speaking of which, I sent you a PM as soon as I read your post before I even posted back! :hihi: Maybe I should post in the SnS that I'll trade jewelry for crypts if I need a lot! :hihi: 

I spent a lot of time on the computer / watching TV when I first lost my job but quickly started getting depressed as I had done when I was waiting for my new job to start last fall, so I became strict with myself and I walk to the library in town just about every day (not that I need something there every day, but it's a good destination )


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## sewingalot

Lol, I replied back to you. Maybe I should start bartering quilts for plants, too. I wonder if Kyle would smack me.  I am glad you are out of your depression and the stipend will help a lot. Pet sitting would be cool. I'm trying to find ways to make money as well and I am thinking about trying to see custom made embroidered stuff at the flea market. 

I missed you! Don't be such a stranger. I'll have to send you my email address or something to stay in touch.


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## Hilde

I find going for walks and reading the bible the best things to do keep negative thoughts away, which lead to depression.

I see some of the leaves on the Wisteria have a lifeless look and starting to curl. This is a symptom of Potassium deficiency. I think dosing with Potassium Sulphate would help. Can be bought at aquarium fertilizer for $3. Shipping is about $6.


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## Karackle

Sara - Quilts for plants, I like it! I made my first "quilt" ever this month, I probably didn't do it the "right" way, but it came out looking something like a quilt. I made it for my new nephew Jake, he was born May 8th, just in time for Mother's Day  My brother liked it so much he said "so are you gonna make one for Jake too?" :hihi: But i digress. There IS a trade section you know, it doesn't say you HAVE to trade plants for plants or other aquarium stuff....does it? :tongue: I don't _think_ you'd get slapped.......:hihi:

Hilde - thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, I am really terrible at remembering to dose my tanks, as a result, I usually get unbelievable growth from my sunset hygro for a while and then it dies off....actually at my boyfriend's mom's house when we lived there it did AMAZINGLY well...perhaps there was potassium in her water that I was doing water changes with. Or perhaps the tank was getting more (or less?) sunlight from windows. I'm not sure. But either way, the stems are not doing well in this tank in my new place, whatever the reason. I'm not doing much differently than I used to so I'm not sure of the cause. But I think I am going to switch this to a more-low-light-friendly kinds of plants tank, i.e. crypts, anubias and javas. Thank you for the advice though, it's something I'll keep in mind if I choose to keep my 10g as a stems tank. And yes, walking does wonders! I listen to books on tape (er....iPod :hihi while I'm walking and it's a great escape. I listen to the fantasy series that I've read in the past (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings etc.) and it's just great! It's nice listening to books I've read before because if my mind wanders or something catches my eye in the window of a shop, I don't have to keep rewinding to catch what I missed either


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## sewingalot

I totally want to see this quilt picture. I suck at sewing, everything comes out crooked, but the end result is pretty decent. And Jake would probably appreciate your quilt more than anyone.  Wishbone totally loves to hide under one of my ratty ones.

By the way, where are your pictures for document sake?


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## Karackle

Hahah yeah I'll have to try to get a picture next time I visit my brother and sister-in-law. I'm terrible at sewing straight.....luckily for the parts where the stitches show I used a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine which covers it pretty well :hihi: 

ANYWAY tanks....

I apologize for the delay, it gets dark so late that by the time it gets dark the boy has come home and we eat dinner and then watch TV and then I totally forget :tongue: oops! So I finally just closed the blinds and did the best I could. They're pretty crappy because I didn't have a good spot to set up a tripod because we are getting our couches finally (YAY! :bounce tomorrow and there are 2 bicycles in front of the tank at the moment. BUT I did the best I could. 

This first one is absurdly blurry but it looks sort of cool and it does sort of show how empty the center is:








(this is an edit, originally posted a pic of my 10g, oops!)

I turned down the exposure so this one is less blurry, but much darker:









As you can see the Right side:









and left side (sorry for the blur):









Are pretty lush because they're mostly filled with low light plants, but the center:









with mostly stems is totally bare. except for the little sword which is doing pretty well. 

So that's the sad state of my tank. 

BUT Sara (sewingalot) is sending me some crypts / anubias / javas so I intend to make this a truly low light, slow growing tank


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## sewingalot

Sword is very pretty. You weren't kidding that they were bare. :hihi: I tell you, I am have the hardest time growing sunset hygro! I don't know what it is, but it just melts like a crypt if I uproot it. 

Speaking of plants, I put all the plants in quarantine tonight for shipment on Monday. Hopefully, the crypts won't completely melt on you when first planted like they always do when I plant them. I'm not shipping on Saturday after the last plants I shipped out took 4 days to go across two states!


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## Dan the Man

Nice Tank...


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## Karackle

Thanks Sara! I'm so excited to get the plants! I used to be able to grow sunset hygro really well despite my extreme low light, but I guess either my tanks were more overcrowded then (more fish poop = more fertilizer) or there's something different in the water chemistry here and the plants aren't getting the same nutrients. And since I'm awful at remembering to fertilize.......well.....you can see how well stems do then :tongue: oops. 

But anyway yeah I'm really excited to get the plants from you because we finally got our couches :bounce: and in the living room, this tank is right across the room from the larger couch, so it has to look nice if we have people over!!! (also when I start school there is no TV in that room so I have a feeling I'll do a lot of studying on that couch so the tank needs to look nice for me to look at when I need to let my brain wander for a few minutes :hihi

Thanks Dan. It used to be a lot nicer but thanks anyway  And I hope to whip it back to shape next week as soon as I get the plants from Sara (sewingalot)


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## Karackle

OOPS! I just realized the first picture I posted yesterday was the wrong one....that's the 10g! I've corrected the problem above.


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## sewingalot

Lol, I didn't even catch that. I have now successfully disinfected your plants and they are patiently waiting for me to ship them on Monday in a tank that is no longer fishless. I think they are lonely. A few of the crypts are starting to show a little melt. Be warned. :biggrin:


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## ZooTycoonMaster

Hey Karackle, glad to see you're back!

I think you should add some Marsilea species in the front to make a carpet. Those are low light plants, and it'll make a great addition


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## Hilde

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> I think you should add some Marsilea species in the front to make a carpet. Those are low light plants, and it'll make a great addition


They are low light but need a lot of potassium like the sunset plant. Easiest plants for your tank are the ferns, anubias, crypts, aponpogeton, and echinodorus. What are your new plants? 

I think adding API Tabs, (Iron sulfate, Nitrogen, Potassium carb, Potassium sulfate), will help the plants you have that need ferts.


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## Karackle

Thanks Sara! A little crypt melt is totally to be expected, not worries! Thanks for disinfecting, that was so nice of you! Crypts seems to do well in my tanks, could be it's because the only fertilizing I remember to do is stuff a bunch of root tabs in the tanks every so often :tongue: Speaking of which, all of my heavy root feeders seem to be THRIVING since putting the root tabs you made me in the tanks, so thank you again for those! :biggrin:

ZooTycoon - thanks! Glad to be back! You know I've tried marsliea before and I've never had much luck with it, it didn't die necessarily, but didn't flourish. My tanks are absurdly low light and tech and I think I'm just not destined to be a person with carpeted tanks, at least not right now. But thanks for the suggestion! 

Hilde - Thanks for the plant suggestions, those are basically the ones I'm going for  Sara (sewingalot) is sending me a bunch of crypts and java ferns and anubias I think. Whatever she has excess of, Sara, you'll have to chime in on that question :hihi: And I actually do use root tabs which is I think why my crypts and other heavy root feeders are so happy even though my stems are less than thrilled.  Thanks for the suggestion though!


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## sewingalot

Can't tell you the names of the crypts. You'll have brown ones, green ones, reddish ones, long ones, baby ones. :hihi: Maybe once you have them, you'll recognize them immediately. I quit trying to identify crypts long ago. I know there will be some anubias and java fern needle leaf. Glad the root tabs are working. If you need more, let me know. I pulled up one of the crypts and it had grown roots through the clay.


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## Karackle

Hahahahaha that sounds good to me! I'm not too fussed on the exact types of plants in my tanks, does that make me a bad planted tanker? :redface: :hihi:

I mean I mostly know what I have because i've asked for or wanted this or that plant specifically, but when people send me extras that I can't identify I don't usually spend too much time trying to figure it out :icon_redf so green ones brown ones tall ones short ones, that's good enough for me :icon_lol:

If you haven't mailed the package yet and have more root tabs that you want to throw in, I'll make you an extra piece of jewelry  That's pretty awesome that the roots were growing straight through the clay! I love it!


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## lauraleellbp

sewingalot said:


> I quit trying to identify crypts long ago.


Ditto. Back when I was trying to ID a few of my own crypts I read through some LONGGGGGGGGG threads with some serious crypt experts chiming in to ID some crypts shown in pics and came to the conclusion that if even the experts couldn't agree, with all the hybrids that around in the hobby now I don't have a glimmer of a chance! :hihi:


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## Karackle

Hahaha totally a good point Lauralee!!!


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## sewingalot

Honestly, I forgot the names of many plants I have. Plus, the ones I do know I can't pronounce. I just enjoy them and give them names I like. For instance, scrubby brush plant. Lol. Glad to hear I am not alone in this one.

Kara, as you know the root tabs are on there way. I don't need anything extra. I am just about to make a new batch just to get rid of the last bit of clay I have. I was thinking about RAOKing some on the S&S. 

You'll see the clay on some of the roots of the crypts that I was to afraid to pick off. I didn't want to stress them more. There may be a bit of algae that you may want to look out for. The PP may not have gotten all of it, and I had some of these plants in a tank I accidentally left the lights on over a weekend.


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## Karackle

Hahaha I'm glad I'm not the only one then too!!! Scrubby brush plant, I dig it!  

Thanks again for the root tabs!  And no worries about any algae, my tanks are so low light it's not too huge of a problem for me :hihi: I say that now but actually my 30g is having a bit of an algae problem....I think it's just due to the fact that so many of my stems have died off and the algae is now winning the ever present planted tank battle for nutrients.


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## sewingalot

Most of the plants seems algae free and I think I am always over reacting to a small amount, as you know. The PP and the darkness should really help get rid of the rest. It was really hot, so I put in a cold pack. It's reusable, so recycle, recycle! I expect pictures if they make it in this heat.


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## Karackle

Awesome, thank you so much!!! I will most definitely recycle! :biggrin: and you're right, the darkness should do away with any remaining algae, but I'll keep an eye out all same  I hope they make it in the heat too! And provided they do, I shall be posting many a picture soon! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

If they don't make it in this heat, take pictures of plastic plants to keep me from crying over my babies.


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> If they don't make it in this heat, take pictures of plastic plants to keep me from crying over my babies.


Deal!  :hihi: :tongue:

Oh and just in case, I'm waiting until the mail gets here every day before I leave the house :hihi:


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## sewingalot

Good idea if the heat is anything like it is here. Of course, living next to so much water makes it so humid and fools you to think it's hotter.


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## Karackle

Hahaha yes, it is very humid here as well, but that just makes it feel like it's 100º+ on these 90º days we've been having :tongue: so I'll definitely make sure I'm home around mail time until they get here!


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## Karackle

:bounce: WOOHOO! :bounce: MY plants from Sara (sewingalot) arrived just now!!! And a HUGE thank you to you Sara for the generous shipment! 

I now have tons of needle leaf Java fern and a variety of crypts and some anubias to plant. I have some plans in my head, we'll see how it goes!  I'll take pictures as I go :thumbsup:

Can't wait to start planting! :bounce:


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## sewingalot

Glad they arrived safely, Kara. And here I thought I might have not sent enough. :hihi:


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## Karackle

hahaha you definitely sent plenty! at least I'm pretty sure you did, it sure seems like it! But I'll let you know once I get them planted :hihi: 

The boy came home early tonight so I didn't get a chance to play in my tanks. I'll do it tomorrow though for sure! :biggrin:


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## Karackle

(the beginning part of this is duplicated in my 10g thread)

Well, I didn't get as far as I would have liked to get today, partly because there are many more plants than i at first realized, partly because the tying java ferns and anubias to rocks took longer than planned and partly because the boy came home early again. 

BUT this is what I have so far  

My setup for tying plants to rocks (along with some NCIS to watch on tv ) :









TONS of needle leaf java fern:









Lovely anubias (2 shots of the same 2 plants):


















Some stray pieces of moss plucked from the bottom of my tanks and hiding in other places that i may or may not use:









And of course rocks to tie it all down to:









I tied an anbuias to the nice piece of lace rock their that I pulled from my 30g to put in the 10g. For the rest I found (and then of course scrubbed etc.) smaller rocks to weigh down pieces of java fern that I want plant "in" the substrate. 

I took the large clump of needle leaf java, spread it out and tied small rocks along the length of it and that is what I planted in the 30g in the large bare spot where stems used to be:



















The rest of the plants that will go in here are still floating either in this tank or in the 10g. 

So it's not much, but that's all for now. I'll post more as I plant more


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## F22

nice tank


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## sewingalot

Told you there were a lot of java.  Wow, those anubias 'petite' look like they are in sad shape. I didn't realize how much they've been chewed on. Personally, I'd ditch the moss. Once it gets in your tank, it never goes away. It's a lot like duck weed. How tall is a 30 gallon? That needle leaf looks so tiny in comparison to it's former home in the 20 gallon. I like the layout of it.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks *F22*! It's not quite where I want it yet, but it's certainly looking better already. This is the only true display tank in our house, it's in the living room, so I gotta whip it back into better shape, but now that I have all these awesome plants, it shouldn't be too difficult! :biggrin:

*Sara*(Sewingalot) - Yeah there's tons of java! I spread it out a lot so maybe that's why it looks so much smaller? But I also think that a regular 20g is about 12" tall whereas the 30g is about 16" tall. I think. They're also curled over and around a bit from shipping and then floating for a day, I'll take more pics once everything is planted and by then they should have straightened out a bit more too. The 30g is also about a foot longer than a 20g i think. My huge lace rock tends to make everything else look smaller too I think :tongue: 

The anubias are actually in pretty good shape, only a couple chewed on leaves, not to worry! Besides, anubias are pretty hardy, they'll bounce back! :biggrin:

I think I'll probably end up ditching the moss, I don't really have enough of it to tie to anything that would look good even though I did pull quite a bit of christmas (or similar) moss stragglers out of this tank. 

And thanks! It took quite a while to get it all lined up and keep it like that while I tied several rocks along the bottom. I was going to take a picture before putting it in the tank, but it took so long to get it done I really needed to get the plants back in the water. Ah well. Can't do everything!


----------



## Karackle

I am almost done with the rescape in this tank I think, but when i went to collect a few more plants that were floating in the 10g to plant in this tank, I realized the 10g was overheated and I needed to deal with that and move the floating plants to the 30g. So I took a few pictures of what I've done so far. Please forgive the poor quality, I had to do some after-the-fact editing because the mass of floating plants was blocking what little light there normally is on the left end of the tank. 

I moved some of the crypts from the back left corner of the tank (where they couldn't really be seen because they are C. wendtii bronze) in front of the needle leaf java fern in the center of the tank where they are more visible:


















I put some of the needle leaf java fern in front of the filter intake to replace the C. wendtii bronze I moved (this picture is actually at a really bad angle to see the new java fern....oops!)









I removed the sunset hygro and planted a very long, tall, narrow crypt (spiralis or balansae or similar) behind the lace rock and i shifted around the pennywort and put some of that behind the rock as well

















(the little fish sillouhette in the moss is an elusive pygmy cory :hihi

The area in front of the lace rock has grown in nicely, I made no changes:









I plan to do a little more rearranging and add a few more plant to the right side of the tank once I sort out what plants are in the floating mass and then I will let it grow in 

Full tank shots (again, pardon the DARK left corner):


















And a couple (bad) fish pictures for good measure:

















actually you can see the long narrow crypt leaves here too. 

I will post more pictures when i get the rest planted and when everything has straightened out and settled in


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## Karackle

Well grad school has been keeping me ULTRA busy, but I just finished my second round of exams and I finally had a spare moment to play with my tanks and get some pictures! 

So here they are

FTS first



























Something you might notice is that since I last posted, moss has tried to TAKE OVER my tank. I actually think it looks pretty good because it fills up the tank, HIGHLY unfortunately, it blocked all the light from my crypt spiralis and I lost most of it due to failure to notice this earlier from being busy with school. I rescued what I could today and moved it to the far right corner. We'll see what happens. 

Left side:









Middle:



























I posted 2 shots of the right side of the middle because the light was making the picture over exposed by the moss so i figured between the 2 pics it gives a decent idea of how the tank looks there :tongue: 

Right Side:









Close-ups:




































I just added this anubias here, it was sort of doing its own thing not really attached to anything for a while but I was trying to fill in this corner a little, and there was a perfect little notch on this rock for an anubias :hihi: 

So I'm thinking, since I've had endless issues with filling the right side of this tank, that I might move the large piece of lace rock with moss over to the right and use the few smaller plants that are in the right corner to fill in the gap that will be left between the needle java ferns and the rock if I go that route. If I DO decide to go with that rescape, it will have to wait until winter break though :tongue: 

Anyway, that's the update for now. Feel free to ask questions, comment, critique and / or give me any scaping suggestions  

This is an ULTRA low-tech tank, I rely on the fish for water column fertilization and I supplement the root feeders with root tabs (homemade by Sewingalot, they're AMAZING!) 

As for the fish, my embers continue to do well, in fact, i believe I still have all 15 (i tried counting today when I fed) that I started with when this tank was new. I also think I have most of my boraras, CPDs and pygmy cories, but they all like to hide so it's hard to tell exactly how many there are. The Betta is doing well too, his fins are getting nibbled though so I might have to move him to the 10g or set up the 5g as a really low tech moss and crypts tank for him over winter break. And of course there are lots of RCS and my Otto is still the giant of the tank :icon_lol:

I think that's all for now. I probably won't get a lot (if any) more pictures posted between now and winter break, but I'll try to at least check in on the forum a few times a week (ss long as it isn't an exam week). I miss it here! 

As always, thanks for looking!


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## sewingalot

Holy moss hill! Glad to see the sword is still alive! So the root tabs are working out for you, huh? I love when I uproot plants and find roots attached.  Glad to see your tanks are still chugging along. I can't believe you actually let yourself take a break in order to take pictures for us.


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## Karackle

Holy moss hill indeed! :hihi: I didn't een really realize it until recently :tongue: and then all of a sudden I was like "woah! Moss!" heeheehee and you are most welcome, glad you enjoyed the pictures, I enjoyed taking them and getting my hands in the tank for the first time in a long time!

And yes, the root tabs are working REALLY well, I love them! Thanks again!


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## lauraleellbp

The Embers look great in there. That little sword from Sara is really colored up, too. roud:


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## fastfreddie

Nice moss farm! Good luck with exams! Don't think I have posted on TPT in months, but had to chime in and say hello. Better check in on the suga shack too which I see is now sugafree.


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## sewingalot

The Fredster and Kara on TPT today! I feel like it's my birthday. :biggrin: :bounce:


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## Karackle

Thanks LauraLee, yeah I've been incredibly pleased with the embers in this tank from the day I put them in this tank! They're a great addition and a really nice color contrast with all the greens  And yes, that little sword stays low to the ground, but it continues to throw out nice leaves with really pretty color! :tongue: love it!

Thanks Freddie! I feel so honored! :hihi: And thanks for the compliments on the moss farm! :biggrin:

Sara, it's a good day indeed!!! :icon_lol:


----------



## Karackle

I've been thinking more about a potential rescape and I'd love and and all input on my thought of moving the large piece of lace rock to the far right side of the tank to maybe (hopefully) finally get this tank so that it doesn't have empty spots (i've had trouble getting plants to grow in that right corner, even java ferns) 

Thanks in advance!


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> I've been thinking more about a potential rescape. Thought of moving the large piece of lace rock to the far right side of the tank. i've had trouble getting plants to grow in that right corner, even java ferns.


You've got shadows on both sides. I would move the light to one side and put the rocks in the dark area.


----------



## Karackle

This is a much more recent picture without a bunch of floating plants blocking the lights  










as you can see, the ends are really not as dark as they look in the picture you referenced roud: But moving the rock to the far right is what I am thinking of doing. I'd love more thoughts on it! 

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup:


----------



## Karackle

So lots of pics and a major rescape are coming soon. I removed basically all of the moss from this tank and it looks SUPER bare now. But I think with a little rearranging followed by some patience, it should bounce back soon. Check out my 10g thread to see the monster wad of moss I pulled out of this tank!

In other news, I picked up 2 new otos for this tank yesterday, there is a lot of Algae and one poor Oto who was trying his best to eat it all :tongue: 

Anyway, all of a sudden with a small group, all 3 were out and about. The new ones are nice large, healthy otos so I have no clue which is the old chap and which are the new. But I snapped a couple quick pics for your viewing pleasure. 

These 2 were chilling with each other









And this guy was just a little further on down the front


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## chilled_fire

^^^ nice looking tank !
Question, in your first post i see you have more than 40 fish in the 30g tank isnt the fish per gallon ratio overloaded here ? 
I am asking this cause my 29g has total 24 fish and was planning to add a few cloud minnows but wondering if its an overkill.


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## Karackle

chilled_fire said:


> ^^^ nice looking tank !


Thanks! It's not looking so great now that I pulled all the moss out, but I'm hoping to get it looking good again soon :hihi:



chilled_fire said:


> Question, in your first post i see you have more than 40 fish in the 30g tank isnt the fish per gallon ratio overloaded here ?
> I am asking this cause my 29g has total 24 fish and was planning to add a few cloud minnows but wondering if its an overkill.


Well the "inch per gallon" "rule" is a VERY basic guideline, but you have to keep in mind that you'd never put, say, a 10 inch fish in a 10g tank etc or even 2 5 inch fish in 1 10g tank, you know? Also, plants help absorb the fish waste by using it as fertilizer so you can usually get away with a few more fish in well planted tank than you could in a non-planted tank of the same size. 

All of that being said, my tank, honestly, could probably hold a few more fish because i'm not joking when I say the otos are the biggest fish in the tank. Everyone else maxes out around .5-.75 inches. I intentionally went with nano fish because I wanted a lot of fish. 

So for your tank, without knowing how heavily it's planted and what else you have in there, it's hard to give advice on adding more or not.


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## lauraleellbp

It's all starting to grow out and get jungly in there again! Nice! :icon_smil


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## Karackle

lauraleellbp said:


> It's all starting to grow out and get jungly in there again! Nice! :icon_smil


LOL well it WAS.....and then I pulled out all the moss for the 5g I just set up :hihi: 

But without the moss shading everything I'm hoping the needle leaf java and some of the others will start growing tall again roud:

Thanks for the compliment though! :biggrin:


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## chilled_fire

Karackle said:


> Well the "inch per gallon" "rule" is a VERY basic guideline, but you have to keep in mind that you'd never put, say, a 10 inch fish in a 10g tank etc or even 2 5 inch fish in 1 10g tank, you know? Also, plants help absorb the fish waste by using it as fertilizer so you can usually get away with a few more fish in well planted tank than you could in a non-planted tank of the same size.
> 
> All of that being said, my tank, honestly, could probably hold a few more fish because i'm not joking when I say the otos are the biggest fish in the tank. Everyone else maxes out around .5-.75 inches. I intentionally went with nano fish because I wanted a lot of fish.
> 
> So for your tank, without knowing how heavily it's planted and what else you have in there, it's hard to give advice on adding more or not.


I understand what your saying , My tank jounal is here 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...live-pics.html

and I have following fish :
12 Rasboras
5 Otos
3 SAE's
8-10 RCS
3 Amano shrimp.


----------



## Karackle

Hmm that link didn't work but I'll find your thread and comment there roud:


----------



## sewingalot

Karackle said:


> there is a lot of Algae and one poor Oto who was trying his best to eat it all :tongue:


My guys is this little chubby fellow was the first oto you were talking about. Look at that belly! :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHAHA I think that is an excellent point Sara!!!


----------



## sewingalot

Haha, I meant _my guess_, not _my guys_. LOL. That's what I would look like after being alone in a house full of food with no companions.


----------



## chilled_fire

Karackle said:


> Hmm that link didn't work but I'll find your thread and comment there roud:


Thank you !


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha Sara I knew what you meant! 

Chilled - no problem! 

So I didn't get a chance to do anything else to this tank last night but I'll try to do it tonight!  And then I'll post pictures!


----------



## Karackle

Well I still haven't had a chance to rescape in here yet, but I took a couple quick pictures to show how bare it is without the moss. 



















Rescape and more pictures coming soon.


----------



## sewingalot

Fantastic! You finally got some clear tubing.  I like the scape. You should make it a crypt tank.


----------



## Karackle

At this point it's pretty much crypts and java ferns. There are a few strands of the tall crypt you sent me a while back (i forget if it's balansae or spiralis) that are runty but alive behind the rock, I'm hoping without the shade from the moss those will bounce back for the right side of the tank and the needle leaf javas will bounce back now that they are also not shaded. I lost a lot of the tall leaves but there is tons of short new growth that I am hoping reaches for the sky :thumbsup: I have to rearrange a few things and then I'll post more pics (though it may not look any different :hihi

And yes apparently I did finally switch the tubing....I don't remember doing that but I did notice it yesterday :icon_lol:


----------



## sewingalot

Crypt balansae. It should bounce back just fine.


----------



## Karackle

I think so. When I do the rescape I'll add some fresh root tabs and I think it'll make a nice comeback. If I could grow a crypt spiralis jungle in the old 20g (with 15w T8 light) I think I should be able to get the Balansae going in here :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

I'm thinking about getting another new light for this tank, I'd like an actual 36" light instead of the 30" one i bought when I was too impatient to wait for a 36" to be ordered. It's definitely more light than the 24" T12 the tank came with, if I decide I can swing the cash, this light (in the 36") would keep me in the low light range right? 
http://www.petco.com/product/7394/A...Cat=LN_Shopping_FishSupplies_HoodsandLighting


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> http://www.petco.com/product/7394/A...Cat=LN_Shopping_FishSupplies_HoodsandLighting


It doesn't say if it is T8 or T12. A Coralife T5 light strip would be better.


----------



## lauraleellbp

+1 for the Coralife roud:


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha you guys are gonna laugh at me but I think that's too much light for me :hihi:

Well maybe not....I'll think about it 

So I was at PetCo and they had some new healthy looking plants on sale so I grabbed a crypt and a huge bunch of pennywort. Even on sale they were overpriced, but this tank needed some new plants :tongue: 

Unfortunately my hands are so dry they're red and almost rash-like so I've had to douse them in lotion all night so I haven't been able to get my hands in the tank for rescape. I'm really frustrated because I finally had time tonight too. Grrrrr


----------



## sewingalot

Karackle said:


> Hahaha you guys are gonna laugh at me but I think that's too much light for me :hihi:
> 
> Well maybe not....I'll think about it
> 
> So I was at PetCo and they had some new healthy looking plants on sale so I grabbed a crypt and a huge bunch of pennywort. Even on sale they were overpriced, but this tank needed some new plants :tongue:
> 
> Unfortunately my hands are so dry they're red and almost rash-like so I've had to douse them in lotion all night so I haven't been able to get my hands in the tank for rescape. I'm really frustrated because I finally had time tonight too. Grrrrr


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! 

Couldn't resist. As much as I hate to hear about your hands being like that, I am relieved to hear I am not alone in this problem. The gas heat in our house dries out my skin so bad in the winter. :angryfire


----------



## Karackle

hahahaha thanks Sara!  :hihi:

Oh yeah. My hands are BAD! This is the worst I've had them, I think it's a combination of the gas heat, a few long days in a row in the lab with gloves on most of the day and walking Cody for an our 2 nights in a row without gloves on that was the "magically evil" combination that really did me in. BLAH! The back of my hands are still all red, I might have legitimately developped a rash from the dryness! GRRRR!!! Ah well, I'll try to get my hands in the tank tonight anyway :hihi: But if I don't have time, I will DEFINITELY have lots of time on Sunday while Ian is watching football roud:


----------



## Betta Maniac

Karackle said:


> Unfortunately my hands are so dry they're red and almost rash-like so I've had to douse them in lotion all night so I haven't been able to get my hands in the tank for rescape. I'm really frustrated because I finally had time tonight too. Grrrrr


Bag Balm. If you haven't tried it already, it's totally my "go to" for this kind of thing and you can get it any Walgreen's-type store.


----------



## Karackle

Betta Maniac said:


> Bag Balm. If you haven't tried it already, it's totally my "go to" for this kind of thing and you can get it any Walgreen's-type store.


Thanks for the tip! I pass a Walgreens on my way home, I'll pick some up and try it out, I do think I need something more than regular lotion for this dryness!


----------



## sewingalot

Bag balm sounds gross. :hihi:

Do they still use this for cows?


----------



## Karackle

Hahahaha it does a little bit, but I'm desperate so if it's gonna help, I'm all for trying it! :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Something even more disgusting. I look for urea based hand lotions after being told to by a dermatologist. I keep thinking it's synthetic pee.


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHAHAHA awesome. I'll have to look for that too :confused1:


----------



## sewingalot

Apparently, the dry skin needs to be removed to actually 'fix' the issue. Urea is great for that. Gotta love how I am spamming both of your journals. Luckily for you, I am about to get off TPT for the day. :biggrin:


----------



## Hilde

Karackle said:


> Unfortunately my hands are so dry they're red and almost rash-like so I've had to douse them in lotion all night so I haven't been able to get my hands in the tank for rescape.


Aloe vera gell would work better. Tis what helped me when hands were so dry the skin started to crack and bleed.


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> Apparently, the dry skin needs to be removed to actually 'fix' the issue. Urea is great for that. Gotta love how I am spamming both of your journals. Luckily for you, I am about to get off TPT for the day. :biggrin:


Hahahaha fair enough. And don't worry, I enjoy the spamming of my threads, it makes my otherwise monotonous task for today more interesting when I have things to comment back on :hihi:



Hilde said:


> Aloe vera gell would work better. Tis what helped me when hands were so dry the skin started to crack and bleed.


Thanks for the suggestion, I've actually found Aloe Gel to be a bit drying, though good for cooling sunburns. But I think lotion with aloe in it isn't a bad idea


----------



## sewingalot

Nothing to see here. Just a spam post. LOL. Seriously, I'm going to stop now. Talk to you later. :flick:


----------



## Karackle

Hahahahaha i like it!  maybe I'll do a few male guppies in THIS tank (instead of the 10g) once the plants fill in more....


----------



## sewingalot

I'd say put the guppies in this tank and leave the others for the WCM


----------



## Karackle

Well I did some rescaping in this tank, but that included moving the large lava rock which stirred up LOTS of mulm. I did a 50% water change too so there was a lot of mulm stirred up. I will get pictures once it settles 

And while it does that, I'm off to post a mega thread about the 5 and 10g tanks :hihi:

I have lost some fish in this tank, parameters check out ok, I think these things just happen sometimes. Maybe I'll add some guppies to fill the tank back out. Or maybe some endler's livebearers. Maybe both. Or maybe something else. LOL I don't know....suggestions?


----------



## problemman

What do we have right now?


----------



## Karackle

I still have most (if not all) of the 15 embers, I'm probably down to about 5 of the CPDs, 3-5 of the boraras (they're really good at hiding), got the 3 otos, and I have no idea how many of the pygmy cories are left, they are IMPOSSIBLE to find, but I do see them swimming around every now and then, let's call it 7. Some of these are guesses but should be approximately correct. 

To make it easier to read that is:

12-15 Ember Tetras
5 Celestial Pearl Danios
3-5 boraras species 
~7 pygmy cories
3 otos
RCS
Snails


----------



## demonbreedr16

How do you think a school or cardinal tetras would do in here with the guppies you were thinking and those other fish? They are pretty!


----------



## problemman

Don't do guppies....blah and I think maybe some g reen neons would look great stay smaller then the cardinals


----------



## sewingalot

Endlers!


----------



## Karackle

demon - Hmmm I've never kept cardinals before so I don't know, they might be too big to really do a school of them in this tank though unfortunately. 

Problemman - Green neons could be cool for another school, I've heard good things. I'll have to look into how big they get. I know guppies are common, but I happen to think males are gorgeous. 

Sara - I'm thinking endlers might fit the size scheme better, but they just don't have those pretty tails! I could get more of them than guppies though. So we'll see


----------



## problemman

He's only get an inch I believe


----------



## Karackle

i'm assuming u meant "they"? :hihi:


----------



## problemman

Yes I'm sick of this swype thing on my droid! Ugh but its much faster


----------



## Karackle

hahaha i turned swype off....it made so many typos it was actually slower for me than just typing it because it guesses a few words you might be trying to type, so I use that feature instead and have found it much more efficient.


----------



## problemman

Noted!


----------



## Karackle

you should give it a try, see how it goes!


----------



## Karackle

What about harlequin rasboras in this tank? I really like the way the coral color of the ember tetras and boraros contrasts against the plants and harlequins are a similar color. Thoughts?


----------



## problemman

Love then fish go for it!


----------



## Karackle

i like this game.....by then did you mean them? or those? lol

I'm thinking that might be the option, plus a few endlers livebearers (males).


----------



## Karackle

Well I definitely need to do another light gravel vac and water change as well as a bit more reorganizing of the plants, but I took some pictures (all FTshots with various settings) of the tank just to give an idea how it looks. So the big change is that I moved the large lace rock all the way to the right and rearranged some of the smaller pieces of lace rock. In all likelihood, the pennywort won't survive long term, but it's good filler for now and will hopefully do some nutrient hogging that all of that moss is no longer accomplishing roud: 

Anyway, pictures!





































Sorry that some of them are a bit blurry, once i'm completely done rescaping I'll get some better pictures complete with close-ups


----------



## Karackle

Oh also, I tried to do a count when I fed today and I think my estimates of who is left are approximately correct, but it's really hard to count a bunch of tiny fish that are the same color :tongue: I think the actual count is slightly lower but pretty close to my guess from last night. So let's use these number (a possible _slight_ overestimate) as a guide for deciding how many of what fish I'll add. 

12 ember tetras
7 pygmy cories (i still have no idea on these, they're unbelievably good at hiding)
4 CPDs
4 boraras species
2 Otos (sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, I lost one of the new otos)

So if I go with Harlequin Rasboras, how many do we think I could put in here? I know that seems like a lot of fish, but keep in mind, other than the otos, they're all about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a neon.


----------



## problemman

You think that's alot!? Ha! Go with 10 atleast


----------



## Karackle

Well a lot of people gett hung up on the inch per gallon rule. and when you add up the number of fish.....I don't think it's a lot....but someone might? LOL


----------



## problemman

It only applies to heavy bodied fish.tetras you can stock 2-3 pet gallon


----------



## Karackle

lol oh trust me **I** am aware of that :icon_lol: These fish aren't even an inch long ANYWAY, but when I was "fully stocked" I had something like 50 fish in here :hihi: Again, all nano fish so for something a bit larger like harlequin rasboras i'd have to scale back slightly, so I figured I'd get some input roud:


----------



## Karackle

Well I lost 2 ember tetras today....I checked the tank parameters the other day after all of the changes, but I'll have to check again when I wake up tomorrow. I have had them for over 2 years so it could simply be that they're getting old, or that the stress of all the changes was too much for them now that they're older. The new Oto, in fact the new one and the old one have been chasing each other around the tank :hihi: is still doing well, which is usually a good sign of good tank health overall so....I don't know....

Anyway as I said, I'll check the parameters as soon as I wake up tomorrow and post them when I get a chance (I would have done it tonight but we spent 5+ hours shopping and then prepping / cooking for my birthday party tomorrow and I didnt get a chance)....and then tomorrow IS the party so results MAY not get posted til Sun.....I hate losing fish for unknown reasons....


----------



## problemman

That really sucks! Well maybe fir your birthday you will get more


----------



## sewingalot

And why am I not invited to this party?!?  It could be old age, or maybe the new fish carried in something they were susceptible to? Kind of like how the flu is more dangerous for the elderly?


----------



## Karackle

Oh you guys are both definitely invited if you think you can make it here by 6 :hihi: 

Brad - I was hoping to get the harlequin rasboras out of the boy for my birthday, but he'd already got me my presents by the time I thought of it, shoot! 

Sara - that's definitely a good point, it's one of those things where they didn't look sick or wrong, except that they were, well, dead....so it could be either because there are no obvious signs of disease. I'll check the parameters and then maybe just do a water change for good measure.


----------



## Karackle

Ok so here are the results from the water parameter check, everything looks a-ok so I'm guessing it was related to their age, either they didn't deal well with the drastic change from a ton of moss to no moss in their environment, or susceptibility to "minor" disease from the new otos or simply that they were old. 

Results:
Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 10
pH: prob 7.5 (it tested at the high level for the regular pH test which is 7.6 and at the lowest for the high range pH test which is 7.4). 
KH: 4
GH: 14 (this is a bit higher than I realized, but they've been living in this tank, or rather with this water, for over a year so I find it hard to believe that would all of a sudden do them in)


----------



## Karackle

Took some random pics today, enjoy!

Left corner - the crypts and java ferns are competing with each other, i'm noticing reduced growth in the crypts so I think I'll move them









Right side - a better picture of the rearrangement of the rocks  









Shrimpies


















Ember tetras (no more deaths yet....knock on wood)









And a couple decent shots of one of the few remaining boraras that was hanging out by the front glass 


















enjoy and thanks for looking! and as always, feel free to post questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, funny stories, weird remarks or whatever floats your boat :biggrin: :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

It's been a while since I've posted here! Not too much has changed and this tank is looking a bit "threadbare" but Sara just sent me about a gazillion new plants that arrived yesterday so stay tuned for an updated scape! 

(I will have time to plant some time after my exam tomorrow )


----------



## sewingalot

I can't believe I'm not subscribed to this journal. Kara, I am glad you are giving my old plants a good home. :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

Hahahahaha that's ok, I wasn't subscribed to one of yours for a while :hihi: And yes, they will have a good home! :biggrin: roud:


----------



## sewingalot

Aren't you supposed to be studying?


----------



## Karackle

Done! (with the exam) And now I have like a day or two to relax, plant the MASSIVE number of plants from Sara and then get started on the first paper of the semester. How nice for us they made it due 2 weeks after the exam. lol :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Good job!!!!!! Now we expect pictures before the paper, lol.


----------



## Karackle

LOL thanks! you'll get them! UNFORTUNATELY there is going to be an unforseen delay......i felt totally fine this morning but by the time I left lab (which was late in and of itself unfortunately) I was feeling pretty lousy and now I am definitely spiking a fever  

On the plus side....if I still feel like poop in the morning and don't go to school, I might have a chance to do some planting if I get a burst of energy thanks to some advil reducing my fever :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

I hate that you are feeling ill! That really stinks. At least it waiting until you were finished with the test, right?


----------



## problemman

Kara I want freaking updates!


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> I hate that you are feeling ill! That really stinks. At least it waiting until you were finished with the test, right?


I hate it too! lol and thanks for the sympathy  I think my body has probably been fighting it off BECAUSE of the test (or the stress associate with it) and then as soon as I relaxed, it hit me light a freight train! I'm just glad the body is capable of those kinds of things because i would have failed if i'd taken the test feeling like this! 



problemman said:


> Kara I want freaking updates!


I know, I know! I'm hoping that now that I'm up and I showered and i'm going to make some tea that I'll be feeling up to fiddling with the tank  But I did only get out of bed at 2:45 because I feel so crappy, so no promises, lol!


----------



## problemman

Welcome to my life everyday lol


----------



## Karackle

lol.....i find it hard to believe you spike a fever of 100 every day :hihi:


----------



## problemman

Your right I don't I just always feel like hell. Lol


----------



## Karackle

lol awww that sucks! But I don't actually believe you because you get WAY to excited about new fish and plants and scapes and tanks to feel like hell ALL the time  :hihi:

And sorry....no updates, I feel asleep on the couch for a couple hours there :tongue: I only have 1 class from 1-2 tomorrow, I'm hoping that getting to sleep in for another day will make me feel better enough to do some planting tomorrow when I get home though roud:


----------



## demonbreedr16

Ooo...I can't wait for some freakin' updates, either! I'm sure you're gonna bring this tank back to it's full potential! :hihi: But I'm sorry you don't feel well...I hope you feel better soon!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Demon! I hope I feel better soon too because I have a TON of plants from Sara that are calling my name to be planted! :hihi: 

And then I'll get some pictures up of course for everyone! roud:


----------



## MaStErFiShKeEps

Post some pictures. Everytime you post I keep thinking you got some pictures... Slowly losing interest..


----------



## Karackle

Finally got all the new plants in! There's lots of photos to go through and edit, but I got the "before" shots uploaded so I figured I'd go ahead and post them  The water level is really low because I took out some water to make planting easier, so I could keep the plants "hydrated" in a container while I separated them and decided where to put everything, and because I needed to do a water change anyway :tongue:

FTS:









Right side:









Center:









Left Side:









close-up center:









and a few teaser shots of the HUGE number of plants I have to find homes for :biggrin::


----------



## Karackle

here are some pictures of the new look, the water is a little murky and the plants need to perk up a bit from there few days of floating so I'll get some more pics in a few days, but in the meantime, here we go:

A few FTS:



























And a series of closer up shots panning from right to left:













































And a couple close-ups of the right side, Sara sent me a nice long piece of DW covered in moss so I propped it on the lace rock, if nothing else the part near the lights should do well  And I like the shrimpies crawling all over 


















A HUGE thank you to Sara (sewingalot) for all of the lovely plants, I barely had room to fit everything but I THINK I managed to find a home for everyone between the 3 tanks 

As always, all questions, comments, encouragements, concerns, critiques, etc. etc. etc. are more than welcome roud:

Enjoy and thanks for looking!


----------



## Karackle

Guys I have to say I'm a little disappointed, everyone's begging for updates and I finally post some and.....nothing? :hihi: (just kidding, I do realize it's Friday night )


----------



## chad320

Youre right, only us lamos are on TPT late on a Friday night. Nice tank! It will make a good jungle. These kind of tanks take alot of patience so hurry up and keep us updated would ya. lol. I say get more crypts


----------



## sewingalot

:bounce: Loving it! The bolbitis is PERFECT in this tank. Don't worry if you loose leaves. It just sat there melting away for the first month and then it started unfurling leaves right before I sent it to you. 

You should really be thanking the members who were generous with me to begin with, mainly Wasser and Brad and others that I know I am forgetting (sorry guys!). And I can now tell Cardinal Tetra who got the plant that I couldn't find, lol. I thought it melted over night. I am relieved to see it happily residing with you.

I'll post more later, but I am running late now. I've gotta pack up plants for the PO and head out to my moms in an hour and I haven't even gotten dressed, lol. I'm hopeless.

I <3 it, Kara - yeah, I am going to use the heart thing relentlessly now that I know what it means.


----------



## problemman

Looking good kara!


----------



## Karackle

thanks Chad, Sara and Brad!!! 

Chad - thanks! actually between the bolbitis and the lace rock, some of those long leaves belong to a form of crypt (spiralis maybe?) so I'm hoping that will fill in nicely there! roud: 

Sara - Thanks, yes I am LOVING the bolbitis in here! I can see there are some "older" leaves and some shiny new ones, and a stem just starting to unfurl, we'll see how it does. Ian loves the new look, espeically the bolbitis, he says it makes it look like an ancient jungle from the dinosaur days :hihi: Oops! which plant went to me that cardinal tetra was supposed to get? I might have to harvest and send it out in a few months if cardinal still wants it :tongue: 

I hope you got all of your stuff done yesterday!


----------



## sewingalot

Actually, Cardinal sent it to me. :hihi: It's in one of your other tanks. Please don't send anything back. I can't handle any more plants! LOL. Glad Ian likes it. That was Earl's favorite tank. He sulked for a day over my tearing it down. I'll show him your tanks when he starts getting sad.


----------



## Karackle

Hahahaha oh ok then! In that case, I won't send anything back! :hihi: and yes, if Earl ever gets sad over the tank, let me know and I'll send along more pics than he ever wanted to see, maybe even a video if he's lucky


----------



## nonconductive

nice. looking forward to it filling in!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Noncon! I can't wait to see it filled in either! :hihi:


----------



## .Mko.

love the bolbitis! =) i wanna get some for my tank haha


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Mko! This is my first time having bolbitis in the tank and I really like it too! I hope it does well in here! if it flourishes I'll be happy to send you some if you haven't found any yet! :biggrin:


----------



## .Mko.

haha reeally? thanks that would be awesome. It is such a beautiful plant


----------



## Karackle

No problem! I have super low light though so it might take a while for it to grow in enough that I have some to donate, so if you want it soon you might want to keep your eye out for it elsewhere


----------



## sewingalot

nonconductive said:


> nice. looking forward to it filling in!





Karackle said:


> Thanks Noncon! I can't wait to see it filled in either! :hihi:


Me neither! We'll probably have to wait like six years for her to even put up that background.  Kara do you need more plants? I can send you probably twice that amount.


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHA if you have more of the really tall crypts or bolbitis I'll take them :hihi: because I think those long-leafed stem plants (not sure what they're called) are dying already  and I need tall plants to fill the background. But you don't really have to send me anything else, I'll let the bolbitis and crypts fill themselves in :biggrin: 

I know, I DO need to get a background on this tank.....that involves getting one first and I never remember to do that :hihi:

Why do you have so many more plants? did you take down another tank?

Also, I took some more pics tonight, I'm working on editing them currently, I'll post them soon


----------



## Karackle

it's PICTURE TIME! Are you pumped? (wow i'm hyper tonight) 

Anyway....so i did a teeny bit of rearranging when I was putting in root tabs the other day but then i had to let the dust settle as it were, I stirred up a lot of gunk and old root tabs and whatnot when i was digging around. So I took some pics today 

A few FTS:


















left side:









right side:









closer up shots panning left to right




































some new growth in the wisteria already









and this little guy has started to unfurl, you couldn't see any leaf definition when i first put it in the tank, began to sprout for Sara and seems to like my tank enough to continue  









and i was walking by the tank and noticed it's looking pretty cool from the side these days so i snapped a shot (this tank is against a wall that divides 2 rooms and this end is the one you can see when walking through)









enjoy and thanks for looking!


----------



## sewingalot

_You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out.._...your pictures remind me of that cause of the panning shots, lol. I am liking the look. Seems like you are better at pulling this off than I was. Good thing I sent you the plants.

The hygro completely melted on me when I first put it in the tank but came back. I am going to be tearing down the 10 and have some plants in it, but my 55 is growing and it'll probably need another trim soon.

You know what, I don't like you. That wisteria pouted on me for ever and just started to grow out before I sent it your way. Now it's growing for you! That's just....well good, but sad. Happy to see the bolbitis is sprouting a new leaflet for you. If it wouldn't have become an algae magnet in my higher light tank I may have kept a piece. Oh, and love the new Algae signature. :hihi:

Looks good, Kara.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks for the compliments!

I know, me and my panning shots. But it's because i feel like my tank is hard to see in the FTS because the darn ends are so dark! So I move the light from side to side to try and give a better view of it :hihi:

Ok good (i'm assuming the hygro is the long leaved stem-like one that's melting on me now?) hopefully that bodes well for it in my tank :tongue: And I'm really glad the bolbitis seems to be doing well so far because i'm definitely LOVING the look of it!

Also, please don't hate me! Wisteria REALLY likes to grow REALLY well for me for like 2 months and then just sort of poop out on me 

As for my new sig, it just seemed like the right thing to do :hihi:


----------



## demonbreedr16

Your tank is looking so cool! I love the Congo Ferns!

I was just thinking back how you had sunset hygros in here and how they brightened up the tank...Are they something you'd try again?


----------



## Karackle

woah, Demon, I'm sorry I missed this post! Thank you for the compliment!  

I tried sunset hygros when I first moved here but they didn't take they way they did previously. I think it's partly because my stock has gotten much lower so there's not as much "fertilizer" for stem plants now, when I had extra fish in the tank after the first move the sunset flourished (the tank may have also been getting extra light from the window, though i'm not 100% sure) so I'm thinking there might be a correlation, or they just liked the water better. I might try the sunset again though when I have the funds to get some more fish in here again  I might also see how the tank looks as it grows in because Sara sent me some nice long leaved crypts which are a lighter color as is the wisteria, so if that takes off it should lighten things up.

Let's see.....I came here to post something else though.....what was it? Oh yeah. That new bolbitis leaf is continuing to unfurl and I spotted another new sprout hiding behind the much older leaves :biggrin: The crypt melt appears to have stopped, and I think the long leaved one has some new growth roud:

I've also noticed now that the tank has more plant cover the fish are out and about more, which is a definite bonus! :bounce:


----------



## sewingalot

Yay! A new leaf, Kara! If I weren't soooo sick from yesterday's party, I'd write you a poem in celebration. Lucky for you. :hihi: Glad to hear the fish are doing better with all the plant cover. You just about wiped me out of crypts. LOL.


----------



## Karackle

i'm sorry you're in pain from the party, I totally forgive you for not writing a poem, that's a legitimate excuse  you can save the poem for when I post the picture of the new leaves if it strikes your fancy, but if the mood isn't right, I won't be offended if your response is not in verse :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Haha, thanks. You'd think I'd know better than to drink on an empty stomach, lol. Hope you have fun at your party tonight. And as far as that poem.....given your track record on how often you post pictures, it'll be epic. :hihi: <---Look the code works, here. 

Glad to see the crypts have stopped melting. I don't know how you do it. I go through like 6 months of melting before they finally start to acclimate for me.


----------



## Karackle

haha oh shoot! I hate making the empty stomach mistake! And thanks, yes we did have a good time last night  

My track record huh? Does that mean I don't post often? :hihi: (yes, it does work here :tongue Looking forward to the epic poem though!

And yeah, I don't know why crypts seem to like my tanks so much, but they certainly do seem to stop melting pretty quickly and making the turn around. Although, new growth doesn't necessarily mean that the older leaves won't continue to melt on me :hihi:


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## sewingalot

Congratulations on getting your work finished. (And yes, your track record stinks, but I still <3 you cause I know that you are in school and all) :hihi: I Put a sole crypt in my 55 gallon a few nights ago and woke up with see through leaves. I don't know how you do it.

Nite Kara! I am actually going to attempt to


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## Karackle

the next day?! woah they melt fast on you! Weird. Especially because I've now lived in 3 different places.....maybe we have something in our northern water that you don't there in WV.....maybe crypts just like pollution :hihi: 

And now that my paper is done (YAY! :bounce I can get those promised pics of the new leaves! WOOT! But not tonight, now i need some  myself  hope you got some  too!


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## sewingalot

:hihi: Not the next day, it did sound like that, didn't it? Within a week I'd say the crypts were melting. I don't know, Kara. I think I've got you beat on pollution. Know how I drink a lot of water trying to be healthy? :icon_eek:

I look forward to it! You know me and my pictures, lol. (Did I ever tell you that when I was a kid, my mom was married to this guy (briefly) that burned all of our family photos? Luckily, the baby books were on the shelf and he forgot those. I think that's when I started taking a lot of pictures, to make up for lost time. LOL)

Hey, congratulations on a job well done. That paper had to be boring. I know how hard it was for you to do this time around. Let me know how you do on it. I am so proud of you. :biggrin:

Oh, and I did get  !!! I feel like a million bucks! Hope you did the same.


----------



## Karackle

:icon_eek: that article is a bit frightening! Is it that bad where you are? Maybe y'all should start drinking only bottled water!!! 

And within week is about when my crypts start melting too, but they bounce back pretty quick.....maybe I was wrong, maybe they don't like pollution 

Again I find myself needing to use this icon :icon_eek: today in regards to the picture burning! Who does that?! :angryfire but I can definitely see how it would make you want to take lots of pics!!! So glad he missed the baby album though! 

But yes, I will try to get those pics taken and posted tonight  I have NO homework I have to do tonight, WOOHOO!!! :bounce: And thanks for the congrats, I'll be sure to keep you posted on the grade :tongue:

Glad to hear you got some !!! Being well rested will definitely make a person feel great! I got some sleep too, but probably not as much as I needed....that's what I plan to do this weekend :hihi:


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## sewingalot

It's just as bad if not worse here because of the Ohio River being our main source (oops that article had more pages and it got a little political toward the end, so I removed it). Or maybe they like your pollution better? Or maybe they just like you better (probably the case).

People do strange things sometimes, who knows? I am just glad there were some left. And my most valued picture is still around (me and papa), so I am grateful. Life is weird like that. I guess it goes to show every little thing can shape us, huh? 

Yay for pictures! I'll have to start thinking of that epic poem. But I am having a hard time with thinking good thoughts today. :hihi:

And double yay! on no homework tonight.

Kara - I am starting to see why my post count is so high, lol. 

How are the other plants doing?


----------



## nonconductive

hmmm... so thats the underlying cause of your picture fixation.


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## sewingalot

Probably, LMAO! So give me more pictures, non-c! Please?


----------



## problemman

Looking good kara! I just got more bolbitis the other day. Do addicted to it!


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## Karackle

Sara - Hmmm....i don't know, i guess they must just like me! :tongue: And i'm glad your fave pic is still with you  Every little thing certainly does shape us!

I am starting to see how you got your post count so high too :hihi:

and you better get that poem ready because i'm about to go snap those photos!  

NonC - so that's Sara's excuse, but I just simply like pics  

Brad - Thanks! I'm loving the bolbitis too! It looks so....primordial? is that a word? lol

Ok everyone, keep your eye out for an update. I was about to snap pictures / trim some leaves but when i came up to get the tank scissors & tweezers i noticed my betta has ich! :icon_eek: so i got a bit sidetracked. But the water temp is rising now, so i'm going to go play in the 30g while i wait to turn the heater up another notch  

Check back soon! roud:


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## sewingalot

Noooooooooooo! What is it with sick fish all the sudden? I had to put a fish down to ammonia poisoning, both Chaos and nonconductive's having mysterious fish death and now your girl has ick. I am so sad. 

Kara, here goes another post count, lol. I wonder if I can bribe Kyle to reset it for me? :hihi:


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## Karackle

I don't know! It's bad luck week for fish!  (but it's my boy not my girl :hihi 

Nah don't reset the post count, it lets people know how knowledgeable you are :biggrin:

Anyway, here are pics as promised! 

This is the leaf that was juuuuuusssst starting to unfurl in the last post with pictures (3/15 - 8 days ago):









A tiny new guy just poking up:









if you look closely you can see some new growth in the background:









and then i removed the old growth leaves that were starting to melt a little:









and i realized there were at least THREE baby leaves back there:


















And check out the new growth on this guy (i forget already which plant this is, i think a hygro?) the stem I had was much too tall for this tank, so I cut it in half and this half was totally leafless when I planted it and it's got some good growth already! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

Ha! Mr. betta is a boy and I knew that, lol. Sorry Mr. Betta Freckles. Oh, wow! That bolbitis is growing fast for you. 

By the way, post count *≠* intelligence. However, post count *=* talkative. :hihi: Speaking of which, I'm writing you that epic poem, I promise! I'm excited about the new growth. And I think that is hygro aug....something. I don't remember, lol.


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## Karackle

i think you got it over the melting phase for me, i can send you back some if you want it  but i'm not sending it all back because i've fallen in love with it :hihi:

Also, Mr. Betta forgives you  

ok talkative AND smart / experienced with tanks roud:


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## sewingalot

Mr. Betta Freckles is a very forgiving BOY.  Kara, you are too much of a friend to coddle me like that, lol. But I'll let myself believe it for a while. :hihi: Haha, maybe it was so happy to get away from me it's showing you why not to send the plant back? Seriously, I love the plant, but I am done getting more plants. Except two that I've been wanting for a while again - red root floater and polygonum k. I am glad you love it! It does fit your tank very well.


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## Karackle

:hihi: yes he is extremely forgiving! I'm not coddling you, I would never, which is why you SHOULD let yourself believe! :biggrin: 

I had red root floater before (for the old guppy/endler breeding project tank) but it never got the pretty roots for me  I hope it does for you!!! On the other hand, the floater that you sent me (i forget what it's called again already) has some pretty nice looking roots! I'm loving it :biggrin:

I had the camera out earlier so I thought I would just a quick FTS shot :tongue: enjoy!


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## Karackle

Just thought I would post some pics of Ian's 60g for fun

I should have topped it off beforehand, but oh well :hihi: 

FTS:









I like to call this part of the tank the Javanubias forest :hihi::


















One of the few pieces of sunset hygro that's still alive decided to make a friend:









And a little plant colony on the filter intake :icon_lol::









We thought all of the moss had died off after the move (the DW in this tank used to be COVERED and basically buried in moss!) but it looks like a few pieces survived and have started slowly growing again!  


















This cory was staying PERFECTLY still so I tried to get a pic, but my dumb camera refused to focus correctly grrrr :angryfire: but i tried:


















If you look close you can see the fins and part of the body of our long-finned albino blue eyed bushy nose pleco (that's a mouthful!):








_i'll keep an eye out for a better pic of him_

And I took these just for Sara and my fellow algae lovers :hihi: I apologize for the blurriness, again, my camera was not doing a good job focussing tonight:


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## sewingalot

Ummmm.....Kara. The algae scraper is for cleaning the glass not growing algae. :hihi: I love the BBA! I can't wait to get some from you. I started cleaning the glass today for paint on the algae tank. LOL

That cory is really cute. How close are you to the glass? If you get too close with some cameras, it knocks the focus out of whack. Still a good picture, though.

Ian's tank is gorgeous. I'm totally digging the name _Javanubias _forest. :biggrin:

The bolbitis is looking fabulous. That reminds me. I promised you a poem on that. :tongue: I'll get right on that.


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## Karackle

Hahahaha oh that's what that white thing is for?! ALGAE SCRAPING?! I thought it was just a weird decoration destined for algae coverage :hihi: 

Yeah his cories are pretty awesome. 2 julii and 2 albino somethings....or maybe it's 3 of each. I forget. They hide really well. :tongue:

And thanks, yeah his tank is pretty awesome. Needs a little TLC to make those corners more lush, the Javanubias forest (love it too!) would have continues spreading I think if not for the DW sort of corralling it. 

Ad thank you thank, I'm still loving the bolbitis. It actually PEARLS for me! I mean sort of. it develops bubbles under the leaves which is awesome. I'll try to get a picture soon


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## sewingalot

I actually like that the Javanubis forest is in the center like and there is blank space on both sides. It's like a little island.  That is pearling for the bolbitis. I'd love to see it! I only say it pearl once and that was fake pearling. :hihi:

I love the cories! I would totally hug them if it wouldn't squish them.

Oh, and I almost forgot.

Kara, you are now the growing queen of bolbitis
What you didn't know was it was to give you collectoritis
I heard the only possible cure
Is to lure
Someone else to take your place.
Finding room, finding space,
will now be your torch race.


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## Karackle

heeheehee my bolbitis poem! LOVE IT! I think I might just go see what it's doing now and try to get a pic :hihi: 

And yes, I see what you mean about the javanubias forest looking like a little island there, maybe we will leave it, this tank has been doing really well without our help, so maybe it's actually BETTER to just let it be :hihi:


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## Karackle

Here are a few new pics, I went to take pics of the pearling bolbitis and of course took a couple extras :hihi:

Pearling bolbitis:

















the other leaves are pearling too, but this one is just facing the perfect direction for a picture

And this beauty was just sitting out on top of the leaf I was taking pictures of so I had to snap some shots of her  


























As I was looking at her, I started looking around the tank for another female to take a pic of for comparison, but I didn't see any. So then I started looking all around the tank. Weirdly, I only saw ONE other RCS, a male. I'm wonder if I should scoop these 2 and stick them in the 10g with the other RCS that are breeding in there. I don't know where the other RCS disappeared to, I suppose I might have lost them all....but I don't know why that would have happened.....

Anyway, and one of the fat happy otos was posing for me so I snapped a couple of him too:


















enjoy! and thanks for looking


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## pandjpudge

that is one RED cherry!


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## Karackle

hahaha yes she is, and I didn't toy with the colors at ALL when editing the pictures! 

She's so red, she opaque instead of semi-translucent which makes it hard to see whether she is berried. I THINK she is based on her shape, but hard to tell for sure.


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## sewingalot

Okay, this isn't fair. You have pearling in a low tech tank and I'm lucky if I see pearling some days. :hihi: Are you sure that isn't a lobster instead of a shrimp, Kara?  Looks like the hygro angustifolia is really doing well for you, too. Your oto put on too much blush, haha! LOVE the updated pictures! Thanks, Kara.

And yes, you should leave Javanubias forest as an island. It's cool. :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Well I WOULD suggest it's pearling because that side of the tank gets some indirect natural sunlight......but i took these pics at night :tongue: Maybe it's because it's the happy new leaf?

Yeah the hygro angustifolia is growing in quite well, I'm very happy! Funnily enough, the wisteria has all but stopped growing after the initial burst of new growth. It's not dying, but it's certainly not throwing out the kind of new growth it was when I first put it in. I think I need to cut off the older leaves....or is it better to lop off the top of the stem like I did with the one that has been throwing out new leaves like mad?

And Sara, Ian agrees with you, he likes the "island" look too roud:


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## sewingalot

Tell Ian great minds think alike. 

I kept a stem of the hygro. I put it in the 55, it's so pretty. It's one of those old school plants that aren't used enough. I am starting to move toward the uncommon common plants. 

Show off, lol. I think that bolbitis just likes you and is happy.  As far as the wisteria, that plant hated me. It did the same thing. It was just starting to grow for me when I sent it to you. I'd wait it out a bit longer, or trim off the bottom a bit to aggravate it into send roots out.


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## Karackle

heehee I'll let him know! roud:

The hygro is definitely really pretty! The stem that was just a stick is throwing out new leaves left and right, but the older stems haven't started throwing out any new leaves, should I trim them? If so, should I just trim off the old leaves? or trim it down to just sticks? I'll definitely leave the wisteria alone for a bit while it acclimates to lower light and nutrients, as long as it's not dying, it's ok, if it doesn't do ANYTHING in another couple weeks, I'll trim it to see if that kicks it into growth. 

I like that idea of uncommon common plants :hihi: I'm like that with fish, a lot of people don't give some of the most common fish due credit in my opinion, guppies and neons might be common, but they are popular for a reason, they happen to be really pretty!  

Ad for the bolbitis, I guess it just likes my tank! LOL


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## sewingalot

The stick plant (another hygro, but I don't know which one yet), I'd leave as long as you can stand looking at it. It's just getting started and it looks like it needs more time to develop some substantial pieces worth planting.

I think that is why I really like platties. No one gives them the credit they deserve.


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## Karackle

I'll just continue to let everything do it's thing for a bit longer :tongue:

heehee yes! Lots of fishies out there that are seen so often, people seem to have forgotten WHY they got popular in the first place: because they're pretty! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

Kara, I'm thinking you need to stop taking pictures of the bolbitis. I'm growing quite envious of you. :eek5: By the way, good job with the story of non-c! *high-five* I think he's hiding from us. :hihi:


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## Karackle

Hahahaha sorry to make you jealous! :hihi: I told you I'd send some back if you want  

And yeah, we totally rocked that story! :biggrin: good work to you too! *high-five*! It does appear that he's hiding doesn't it? :icon_lol:


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## sewingalot

NOOOOO! You can't send me back any plants! I am finally getting rid of my collectoritis! I'll gladly stay jealous.  Haha, he wasn't hiding; nonc was taking pictures for us! We really do rock! :hihi: By the way, I totally thought up a new idea for the future if he starts slack in the picture taking.


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## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> NOOOOO! You can't send me back any plants! I am finally getting rid of my collectoritis! I'll gladly stay jealous.


Hahahaha ok, fair enough! I won't induce more collectoritis  



sewingalot said:


> Haha, he wasn't hiding; nonc was taking pictures for us! We really do rock! :hihi:


Yes he was and yes we do! :biggrin:



sewingalot said:


> By the way, I totally thought up a new idea for the future if he starts slack in the picture taking.


HAHAHAHA I KNEW IT!!! I knew you weren't tapped out! roud: can't wait to hear the new idea :bounce:


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## sewingalot

Speaking of collectoritis, did you decide on getting that pea puffer? They were little cute fish! I was really worried I couldn't think of anything, but now I have two ideas.  Not as brilliant as our last one, but definitely amusing! (At least it will be for us, lol)


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## Karackle

I asked in the fish forum and the consensus is that they're definitely not community tank friendly fish, so I'm going to have to wait until I can set up another 5g tank. I wish I could get one of the cuties now, but alas, it's not meant to be right now. 

Glad to hear we have options for our next project, can't wait to hear what they are :biggrin:


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## Karackle

Just a quick update (sorry no pics!) the tank is looking good, my bioload is getting low as fish slowly die off of old age (tank parameters and everything are looking really good, no signs of disease and they are tiny fish that i've had for over 3 years so I'm chalking it up to old age). And the tank has the most plant mass it's had in a LONG time which, as we planted tankers know, makes for a nice healthy tank, so I think old age is the most likely culprit. 

THEREFORE i'm looking for some ideas for new stocking options. I'm thinking harlequin rasboras but i haven't decided yet for sure, so i'm open to any and all thoughts! 

I'll try to get pics up ASAP because the tank is really filling in, can't believe how much the bolbitis and hygro have grown!


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## sewingalot

CPDs! Only because I love them and I refuse to buy more. Harlequins sound nice, but I am not sold on them only because I've seen a ton of tanks with them and it seems over done. Probably is old age from what you are explaining about the fish. Looking forward to the pictures. I am glad to hear the plants are growing well for you!


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## Karackle

I would definitely love to just load up the tank with CPDs, I just wish they weren't so bloody expensive! I'm a poor grad student :hihi: I would definitely like to get at least a few more in here, but they're little and it's a 30g, so I need something else as well (unless you know where I can get like 40 CPDs for $20 :icon_lol

I know a lot of people have Harlequins, but I do like that coral color. I could go with more embers, but they are also a bit $$ for me right now (i was working when i first stocked this tank and had a bit more expendable income :tongue). My tanks are very green because of the low light which is why I really like the contrast of the coral colored fish which is why I thought of the Harlequins, but I am certainly open to other suggestions! I think the plants will do even better if I get this tank more heavily stocked, I have a couple extra dollars at the moment thanks to tax returns, so hit me with your ideas and maybe we can come up with a stocking plan! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

Haha, if I could find 40 CPDs for $20, I'd give them another shot. LMAO! Poor college girl that will be a rich college scientist grad in the near future. Know what is funny? I was thinking about the Harlequins and googled them on youtube and now I am thinking that is a good choice. :hihi: Especially after seeing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_zhPVztvBw&feature=related They just scream KARA! LOL. (We are obsessed with smileys when talking with each other, and lols and hahas! :tongue

These are cute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xslp8kkVk6E


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## Gotcha38

I've wanted some Harlequins since I started seeing pictures like this.


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## Karackle

Cool Videos Sara, and totally cool picture Gotcha!  

Sara - I think I like the regular Harlequins better, they have a bit more color, but coppers definitely have a certain charm  

So right now I'm thinking of getting some more CPDs and a bunch of Harlequins. I've been jonesing for some guppies recently too, but I'm not sure if I want to deal with the breeding right now :tongue:

I'm still open to suggestions though since I probably won't be able to get to the fish store for a bit longer


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## sewingalot

Want some extraordinary common hybrid guppies? I have a bunch of babies/semi adults I'm trying to get rid of lately. Help! And I recently got some endlers (in a seperate tank) juvies that I can share with you once they breed.

Yeah, I like the plainer type fish. I don't like fish to be prettier than me. Haha.


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## Karackle

heehee I think I might just take you up on that, but only if they are extraordinary, ordinary, common guppies :hihi: And I'll probably take you up on a few of those endlers once they start breeding too roud: This tank could definitely use some more bioload!


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## sewingalot

Muhahahaha! I am invading your house with collectoritis, BBA and guppies now! I'll get some supplies gathered up. I'll even clean out my filters for babies. :hihi:


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## TwoStrokeKing

U have came a long way! nice tank!!


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## Karackle

Hahaha it's true Sara, but it's ok, I like me some guppies  YAY! 

Thanks TwoStroke! 

Sorry there are still no pics.....i was planning to take them tonight, but then we noticed that there was water in our basement......we think the basin that our washer drains into overflowed. UGH! so that was super fun to clean up.....we had to put up all of the rubber mat "tiles" because the water was under them. By the time we finished cleaning it up, the lights were off and i was too frustrated anyway. Pics to come soon though, I promise!

Also, Ian discovered a new fish store, he drove by it and it looked promising so I went over to check it out today and potentially pick up some fish, but it turns out it's basically an all salt water fish store. Sigh. I was hoping it could be my LFS because I still haven't found a good one. I went to another pet store (non chain) to check out their stock, I saw some harlequins that looked good, there was one tank of juvies and one tank that had about 6 adults and the adults definitely have lovely color, so I think I'm sold on these guys. I didn't pick any up though because this place sort of over crowds their tanks and isn't good about pulling the dead fish out. My local petco has a REALLY clean fish section, and I think i'd almost be more comfortable getting fish there, or just as comfortable at either place. I think I might need to go back to my old thread from when I first moved to NJ and just make the drive to one of the places that's sort of far away. I miss my old LFS so much!


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## sewingalot

I wish we had a good pet store. We used to have a decent one, but the fabulous fish guy left and the new people do not take care of the fish. Luckily, I have people on this site I can get livestock from, but I miss being able to go and look at fish....Hope you find a good source locally soon.


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## Karackle

Yeah, I miss the LFS that was by me when I live in NY, they took AMAZING care of their fish, asked you about what kind of tank you were putting the fish in you requested, what other fish were in there etc. etc. Everyone was super knowledgeable. And I got to know a few of the people that worked there full time and it was always just so nice going in there. And they had so many nice tanks it was like going to the aquarium :hihi: The other awesome thing was that they QT'd all the fish before putting them in the display / sell tanks so I could bring fish home and put them straight in my tank without having to worry at ALL. Sigh. Generally speaking, they had good prices too. But even for the few fish that were slightly more expensive (like otos) it was worth it, because I knew I was getting otos that were more likely to survive because they'd already been quarantined (which is probably why they cost more, because the store had lost 50% during QT) 

ANYWAY......I hope I find a good LFS soon too! 

I'd like to get like 6 harlequins to put in QT in the 5g to keep the cycle going in there, they should be ready to move over to this tank a little after I get the Guppies from Sara. I don't want to stock too quickly because because the bioload in this tank is SO LOW at this point, that I need to stock slowly to let the beneficial bacteria catch up. 

Anyway.....that's the plan at the moment. I do also want to get some more CPDs in here so I'll work on that too.


----------



## Karackle

Just a couple of quick pictures, I'll get more (and better ones) soon, I had just done a water changes and didn't get the tripod out, so I apologize that some of them are blurry :tongue: 

Anyway, enjoy! 

FTS the bolbitis, hygro and tall crypt (i forget what kind it is again lol) are filling in really nicely!!!:









and closer shots from left to right of the tank:



























thanks for looking and as always, all questions, comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome! roud:


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## sewingalot

That hygro is growing great for you. And here you were worried.  I am super jealous of the bolbitis. The dern thing gave me a few puny looking leaves and it is doing fantastic for you. Tank looks good and low tech.  I like it. I am now seeing why you have a hard time getting good pictures. Ever since I turned off the one set of lights (and later broke them, lol) I can't get a decent shot. You actually do a good job. Any tips? Haha.

The fish and shrimp are on there way! I am hoping they arrive safe and sound. Oh, and I think I put in five bags, so be sure to dig around in the box for them all. I was actually at the post office before they opened. He said they should get there Wednesday so let's hope they do and are still alive. I'm soooooooooo nervous.


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## Karackle

I'm sure everything will be fine! That is perfect because I have my first final weds and it ends at 4 so I should be home right around when the mail arrives!  Thanks again! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! 

And thanks, yes, getting pics is TRICKY, i definitely need to get the correct length light on this tank though, i think that will help me with my dark edges (and get something to finally grow in that right corner!). BUT what I usually do it put them camera on a tripod (or on a stack of boxes :hihi so i can have a longer exposure time and still get a clear picture. I set the white balance to fluorescent which works on this camera, but on my old camera it was either the "dusk" or "dawn" setting that gave me the best shots, so play around with those too. That's my best advice. I did NOT use a tripod this time which is why the pics are blurry :tongue:

Yeah I actually can't believe how quickly the bolbitis is growing! there's one piece of rhizome that isn't attached to the wood and it is pushing the plant forward a bit, I had planned to tied it back down to correct that, but now i'm thinking the plant is growing so well I might just cut it off and put it in Ian's 60g! :biggrin: I also can't believe how well the hygro is doing! I love it! It is actually growing so well it's blocking the tall crypt from being seen! LOL I'm going to have to do some rearranging so the crypt is visible also! :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Haha, it is. I didn't even notice the crypt before that. That would be a good idea to put a piece of that in Ian's tank. Then you can spread the plant around for more growth.  I am sick to my stomach worrying about those poor fish and shrimp, lol. I <3 my fishies so much it's funny at times. I won't even sell the shrimp in the S&S because I am picky on who gets any of them. I want to know you are a good fish keeper first. :biggrin:

Anywho, thanks for the camera advice. I practiced a bit and it seems to help somewhat. I think it's going to take some time.


----------



## Karackle

MY FISH AND SHRIMP ARRIVED FROM SARA TODAY! WOOHOO! :bounce: 

Everyone arrived happy and healthy!  The guppies, endlers and yellow shrimp are AWESOME! i'm so excited! :biggrin: 

I had orginally planned to put the shrimp in the 5g, but I did a water parameter check before starting the acclimation and found that there were some issues (see that thread for details) so i decided to put the shrimp in this tank. 

Anyway, of course I took a bunch of pictures, so here they are! :hihi: 

First up, the acclimation tank:









All the fish gathered in this corner:


















and all the shrimp gathered in this corner in the floating plants (you can see a few if you look closely):









The SUPER pregnant female guppy (i'm glad to say the trip didn't stress her into dropping her babies early):









This little guy adventured away from the group and I was able to get a couple shots of him: 


















Oh yeah and Sara sent me a TON of this Hydrocotyle (or however you spell that :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

And a few pics of the fish and shrimp in their new home:









I ended up moving this lady to the 10g because the male was pestering her and I decided she didn't need the added stress, she is living with the WCMMs temporarily roud:




































Of course, I came home from my walk a couple hours later and found one red shrimp in the tank, I had moved them to my 10g and have been keeping an eye out for more in case i decided to put the shrimp in the 30g instead of the 5g.......silly shrimpies! I plucked him out and moved him to the 10g with his red buddies, but once i get the 5g stabilized, I'll pull a couple of the yellows back out and move them to the 5g to keep the populations separate, but i'll leave a few in the 30g too in case there are more reds and see what happens :hihi: 

And a couple pics of the Hydrocotyle in the 30g, this is only a small portion about it, about a 1/3, the rest is in the 5g and 10g tanks, as I unraveled the ball of plants I realized there was a TON! :biggrin: roud: 

Wrapped some around the wood:


















Stuck some in the corner by the filter but apparently forgot to take a pictures (will remedy that soon) and I let some float:









And just for fun, this ember "got in the way" of taking pics of the guppies, but it's a good ember pic so I figured I'd post it too  :









I think that's all for now, enjoy and thanks for looking! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

I'M SO HAPPY THEY ARRIVED ALIVE AND HEALTHY; I'M SHOUTING IT FROM THE ROOFTOP!

That is crazy funny how they segregated themselves into the corners like that. Except for the lone brave shrimp. We'll say he was the peacemaker. Overall, they have always left the shrimp alone so you should be fine keeping them together as long as you don't forget to feed the gobbleguts.

I am glad you could home them. And you know what? I think I just figured it out. My bettas are acting so weird because they are almost alone in the tank. I bet they are feeling vulnerable. Awwww. Poor fish.

Shhhhh.....don't tell Chad about the hydrocotyle sibthorpioides. He'll get sad that I sent it all to you.  I like the halo of plants on the driftwood, lol. Unraveled huh? I told you it was a lot. :hihi:

Hope you enjoy them! They look happy in their new home. Just think in a year you'll be cursing me for the guppies. :biggrin:

I am glad to see that the shrimp is still berried. She is probably less than a week from dropping the babies. 

By the way, this is great! So many pictures from you and non-c! I think I need to go and edit that comment out of my journal to just say 'Amy.'


----------



## Karackle

I'm very happy too!!! :biggrin: Hahaha yeah I was chuckling at the goofballs hiding in their corners, I guess it made them more comfortable, except for the one adventurer :hihi: I am glad I could give them a home too, I probably will be cursing you for guppies in a year, but for now, I love them  (actually I plan to get some zebra danios to help keep the population at bay, and there's plenty of room in the 60g for more fish, so it might be more like 2 years until I'm cursing you :icon_lol

Poor Bettas! they don't have friends anymore! Well I guess you better just get them so new friends soon! 

Hahaha oops, sorry Chad, I stole it all  And yes there was a TON, it's awesome, it will help restore balance in the 5 and fill in some areas in the 10 and 30 perfect! And i'm trying it in a few places in the 30, but I think it will do well wrapped around that piece of DW because it will get extra light there. That was part of the thinking behind placing it there, the other part was that I think it look cool roud:

Good eye on that berried shrimp! She was just the only one wandering around for me to take a picture of, everyone else was hiding :tongue: But yes, she is still berried, thanks for sending me a berried lady, that was very nice of you!!! I'll have to keep an eye on the filter for babies, i have mesh over the filter to prevent the little fish from getting sucked in, but newly dropped shrimp are SO TINY....that reminds me....i should check the filter in the 10g and get a prefilter on there.....

HAHAHAHA yeah that's right! I don't deserve to be in the no pics category :hihi:

Oh and in case you see this thread AquaStudent, the stocking in here now is I'm down to 3 CPDs, 3 boraras, and 5 or so ember tetras, and now I have about 10 guppies that Sara sent me, a fully adult male and female, a few juvies and a few babies, 3 endlers and 10 or so yellow shrimp roud: It's nice to see so many fish swimming in the tank again!!! And I think I'm going to get a few more CPDs and a couple zebra danios (for population control) in a couple weeks once the biofilter catches up with the new fish


----------



## sewingalot

Glad you are mucho happy, Kara. And I am so relieved they are alive and well. I don't think I am good at shipping things. It stresses me out too much. LOL. Only for friends will I go through the pain of shipping live animals for now. :hihi:

Oh, and guess what? I was cleaning out my filter last night and found a guppy fry. LOL. I can't win. 

Can't wait to see the FTS!


----------



## chad320

THIEF!!! :hihi: At least now I know who has it  I will be pestering you for some once it starts to annoy you in your tanks. 

Everything looks good. Hopefully you are better at those shrimp than Sara or I were. I am the worst. And they are supposed to be an "Easy" shrimp. I cant wait to see this fill in some more. Are you needing/wanting anything else before I send out the moss Monday?


----------



## Karackle

Sara, thanks! I am definitely mucho happy.....and confused because I thought I already replied to this post! :hihi: You should feel better about shipping things now that you've done it successfully a few times roud:

Hahahaha oh no! more guppies! :hihi: you need some zebrafish or bettas or something to help with population control  

Chad - hahaha yes, I take the blame, I'm the thief :hihi: I'd be happy to send you some when (if) it starts taking over my tanks, and I'm sorry I didn't see your post before today, but I don't think I needed anything else, but thanks for the offer  Thanks again for the moss though, I can't wait to get it! :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

Totally forgot to mention last night that I came home from a long weekend away visiting the fam and everyone looks happy, healthy and swimming a lot! Saw a saddled female yellow shrimpie too!  (I supposed it's possible that's the berried female but I think she looks a bit smaller than the berried girl.....hard to say without seeing them next to each other though roud


----------



## sewingalot

Probably a different shrimp. The female that was berried wasn't ready to drop eggs any time soon and the younger females were starting to saddle up when I sent them to you. Glad everyone is doing well! Thanks again for taking those guppies. The sole survivor guppy in the filter didn't make it and neither did the remain cherries during the move. Stupid me didn't think to separate them and they became fish food.


----------



## Karackle

Oh no! not fish food! Sorry to hear it! Well if you ever want any extraordinary, not ordinary common guppies back, just let me know! Same for shrimpies, my RCS seem to be doing well in the 10  And I'm happy to have rehomed them! 

And I agree, I doubt it's mama that I saw, which makes me happy that I have another saddled lady! :biggrin: 

I hit a snafu with getting those pics I promised......we were trying to fix some plumbing under the sink....the p-trap popped off right when we were trying to run the dishwasher before leaving on Friday......thanks goodness we noticed it before walking out the door and could shut off the dishwasher! But that meant that I was trying to fix it instead of taking pics tonight after getting home late and taking my walk......but I have a few weeks off of classes and studying so I should have time at some point this week, if not tomorrow to get the promised pics!


----------



## sewingalot

Hahaha, what is it with you and plumbing this year? It sucks, but it's kind of funny, too. Poor thing. 

That is too cool on the shrimp saddling up already. They must like you. 

Glad the RCS are enjoying their new home. Speaking of which, did you find anymore in the 30 gallon? And how are the parameters on the 5?


----------



## Karackle

sewingalot said:


> Hahaha, what is it with you and plumbing this year? It sucks, but it's kind of funny, too. Poor thing.


Hahahaha it IS kinda funny, and now I got the sink fixed, so that's good. Can finally run the dishwasher and then reload it with the dishes that have been piling up since we got back :hihi: 



sewingalot said:


> That is too cool on the shrimp saddling up already. They must like you.
> 
> Glad the RCS are enjoying their new home. Speaking of which, did you find anymore in the 30 gallon? And how are the parameters on the 5?


I'm so excited, the shrimp are looking good! And I think they're settling in because each time I've peeked in the tank today I've spotted at least 3 of them at once instead of having to search the tank for just 1, I'm hoping the fact that they're out of hiding means they're happy! :biggrin: 

And no, I haven't seen any more RCS in here yet so I'm hoping it stays that way since it's looking like I won't be able to move them to the 5g any time too soon.


----------



## Karackle

Pictures as promised!!! (Sara has been putting me to shame, so these are for you! )

FTS:









Slightly closer ups from left to right:



























And some close-ups:



























And check out these roots! :biggrin: :


















I'll try to get more with a tripod this weekend and get some less blurry shots  Also I have my old camera for a bit (i had passed it on to my mom when I got my new camera, forgot my new camera when i went home for my nephew's first birthday, took pics with the old camera and had to bring it home with me to load them on the computer :hihi Anyway, I think it might take better pics than the new camera so I'm going to try to set up the tripod and get pics with each camera and let you guys decide


----------



## sewingalot

Great pictures, Kara! I can't believe the roots on that floater, it's outstanding.  You should take pictures with the old camera and let us judge, yes. Plus, that means mowr (Amy's word) pictures!!! :bounce:

I can't believe the growth on the bolbitis. I am seriously getting angry jealous, lol. Stupid plant loves you more just like those lousy crypts. :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! Glad you like the pictures  I can't believe the growth on those roots either OR the bolbitis! I'm loving it all!!! :biggrin: so thank you again VERY much Sara for my plants!!! And I moved the hygro over so you can see the tall crypt in the FTS and in the 3rd picture pretty well now! (remind me what kind of crypt it is?) 

And yes, "mowr" pictures will be soon to follow for the good old "which camera is bette debate" :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Shh. You aren't supposed to thank people for plants. It's bad luck.  Crypt balanese maybe.


----------



## Karackle

hahahaha it is not bad luck!!! LOL whenever I thank you for plants you send me they seem to do well actually, now that I think about it :hihi: I don't think it's balansae because the leaves seem a bit too narrow and not so "waffly" or "puckered" or however you want to describe the balansae texture :tongue: but i'm not sure that it's spiralis either :hihi: whatever, it's a tall, pretty crypt and that's good enough for me :tongue:


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## sewingalot

Call it crypt sp 'long legs.' :hihi: Our neighbor gave me a money tree once and I thanked her. She gasped and said they thing would probably die now. It did. Case solved. (Of course if I would have watered it......)


----------



## Karackle

hahahaha long legs! love it!!! :hihi:

well i've never heard that before! i hope all the plants you gave me don't die now! They seem to be doing very well so far though so let's just hope it keeps up!


----------



## Karackle

BATTLE OF THE CAMERAS! 

So here we go, old vs. new. Tell me what camera you think takes better pictures (i'm labeling them A and B and not telling you which is which so you're not biased ) *edit* it's ok to say one is better for this shot and the other is better for that shot 

First up, FTShots at roughly the same exposure at 3 different settings 

"sunset" setting, Camera A:









Camera B:









"sunrise" setting, Camera A:









Camera B: 









normal setting, flourescent white balance, Camera A:









Camera B:









And some roughly the same close-ups of shrimp: 

Camera A:









Camera B:









Camera A:









Camera B:









Camera A:









Camera B:









With flash Camera A:









Camera B:









And of plants:

Camera A:









Camera B:


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## chad320

Camera A on the sunrise setting for sure!!!


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## Karackle

Thanks for the input Chad!

Also, i think camera A takes the better no flash macro shots, albeit with a blue hue


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## sewingalot

Camera A based on this picture:










In this one you see the actual depth of the rock and the colors on the rock (algae?) much better. Looks more vibrant overall. I am thinking "A" for most except flash which gives the rocks a blue hue.

And since I gave you the plants and now what they look like in real life, this is very lifelike:


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## Karackle

Camera A seems to be the consensus. I think I have to agree because I actually think this picture shows the tank more the way I see it: 








meaning, when I look at the tank, the ends of it don't look like they are in shadow, and I think this is the only shot that really relates that. It's a bit overexposed though, so I'll have to use the "normal" setting with the fluorescent white balance setting but turn down the exposure time and see if it still looks better.


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## sewingalot

You didn't tell us which camera A is (although I already know. ). Now that I am looking at the 30, I don't know if I like the idea of the vesuivus in front of the rock. Maybe in front of the bolbitis?


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## Karackle

I was waiting to see if anyone else wanted to chime in before telling which camera is which :hihi: 

And I agree with you, I was looking at the pics too and think it wouldn't work in front of the rock, there is already java fern in front of the bolbitis, but you can't see it, maybe i'll move some of it to in front of the hygro to hide the leggy part at the bottom and try some vesuvius in front of the bolbitis. we'll see we'll see.


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## sewingalot

Hiding naked legs are good. It's a sensible choice to make. :hihi:


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## Karackle

hahahahaha only sometimes :hihi:


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## nonconductive

chad320 said:


> Camera A on the sunrise setting for sure!!!


definately


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## matty26

Camera a for sure!


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## Karackle

that's 2 more for camera A, i'm starting to see a trend here :hihi:


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## sewingalot

So what do you like better Kara? Camera A or B?


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## Karackle

I think I'm in agreement with everyone on Camera A.......and it's the old camera. Alas, newer is NOT always better. While I think the new camera DOES take better pictures of people, and does take good macro shots in bright light (i got some great shots of flowers last spring) for low light, landscapes and fish tanks, the old camera is the clear winner. I might conveniently "forget" to bring this camera back home for my mom next time I visit.....and the time after that....and after that......:hihi:

I found some baby guppies in this tank today, I think one of the younger females dropped a small clutch? batch? group? of babies, so that's good, i'm glad the fish are happy!

Also, I always see at least 3-6 yellow shrimp every time i check in on the tank, so that's very exciting too, I'm glad they're happy! I've got at least 5 saddled females and 1 male (they were all out and about yesterday) so that's also very exciting! AND i've seen evidence of at least 2 molts which means they are definitely happy! :biggrin: YAY! My tanks are healthy again!!! :bounce:


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## Karackle

Just a quick update (I'll get pictures soon) but I pulled a bit of bolbitis from this tank to put in the 60g and things are looking better now, there was part of the rhizome not attached to the DW and it was growing upward so it was pushing everything forward, so i clipped it and stuck it in the 60g  

The hydtrocotyle is still doing well, so that's good too!  

Also there are definitely some guppy babies in here, so I need to get those zebrafish soon! :hihi:


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## Karackle

Shrimp update: 

I saw FOUR berried females today, one saddled lady and 2 males (they were all out and about at the same time, so the count is accurate) so I've VERY excited!!! :biggrin: I think that means they're happy :hihi: :bounce:

I'll get pics tonight or some time this weekend!


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## Karackle

I needed a little study break (even though i just started :hihi so as promised, I took some shrimp pics  Enjoy!

Saddled female:









Berried female:









Male:









Male, berried female and oto:









And they're sort of hard to see and a bit blurry, but I tried to get some pictures of baby guppies:








can you spot the baby? :tongue:









sorry this one is epically blurry, those tiny buggers move FAST

I'll get some FTS in the next couple of days when I need a study break


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## sewingalot

Nice shot of the berried female and saddled girl! They are looking great. I see they finally colored back up for you. They must be happy. Aren't they gorgeous? Yay for guppie fry that aren't in my tank. LOL. Although, the endlers in the 10 gallon are growing up and I am suspecting that I'll be having plenty of fry to contend with soon enough. 

The bolbitis is looking really good, Kara. That's awesome that you could add some to the 60 gallon. When you get FTS, you should grab one of Ian's tank as well (hint).


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## Karackle

Thanks! I got those pics with the old camera roud: That's just one of the many berried ladies! :bounce: I'm gonna have to check the filter soon for trapped babies :hihi: Yes, they've definitely colored up a lot, I love them!!! Between all the berried females, the bright yellow color and the molts I've seen, I suspect they are happy too :hihi:

HAHAHAHA yeah, the endlers are growing up, I suspect I'll be up to my eyeballs in baby livebearers soon enough, even with the danios in there for population control LOL (not to mention that's ~2 weeks away after a good QT and that's plenty of time for more fry to get dropped :icon_lol:

And thanks on the bolbitis, yeah it's looking awesome! I LOVE it!!! I will definitely get some FTS of the 60g too to document the changes we made and so you all can see it how nice it looks now that the light is so much brighter after cleaning a film of algae off the glass in the hood :redface: :tongue: :icon_lol:


----------



## Karackle

Well, I finally got some new pics, but I didn't realize they were so crappy until I got them onto the computer, but I'll post them anyway  

FTS:









Closer up:



























Check out the pretty color in my Hygro where it's close to the light:


















And some pics of the yellows, this male's got the racing stripe on his back:









saddled female:









And the boraras and embers were looking particularly bright and beautiful today, so I tried to get some pics...this one is blurry but shows the color of the boraras well:









And this is one with a flash, shows him a little better (and his blurry ember buddy) but not as colorful:









Thanks for looking!


----------



## fastfreddie

Those little guys are cute! They are much easier to spot in the tank than most shrimp.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Freddie!!! Though I'm sorry, I'm not sure if you mean the yellow shrimp or the pink fish :hihi: either way, thanks! And either way, I agree! The yellow shrimp are out and about a LOT and the coral colored fish stand out really nicely against all of my green plants  roud:


----------



## sewingalot

Now you are seeing why I love yellow shrimp the most, not only do they have fantastic racing stripes, but they are very active shrimp in comparison to the others. I think they are less noticeable to the fish being so light colored as in comparison to reds.

Edit: The tank looks very pretty!


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## Karackle

Yes indeed, I do love the yellow shrimpies! Maybe that is why they are out and about more often, less to be afraid of from the fish than the bright red ones that stand out. And they definitely do get fantastic racing stripes! :biggrin:

And thanks! I'm liking the tank too, but the left side needs to grow in a little more though


----------



## Karackle

Just a quick update, either the Zebra Danios are doing a good job with population control, or they are just making the babies go into hiding because when i look in the tank, there seems to be far fewer recently dropped guppy fry, in fact, I haven't seen any recently. But only time will tell if they are just hiding in the java fern / bolbitis roots


----------



## sewingalot

Well, that is funny. You have a thousand danio fry and not one guppy. :hihi: Bet you weren't expecting that one, huh?


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## Karackle

hahahahaha no i certainly wasnt!!!


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## Karackle

Well it's been a long time since I updated this thread, but I've got about a zillion new pics for you all  No FTS because I got distracted taking pics of the plants that are growing semi-emersed and the shrimp that are hanging out on them  Once i get the top off completed I will get some FTS, but these will have to do for now  

The hydrocotyle from Sara, unfortunately didn't do well, but the other hydrocotyle I have in there, the Pennywort has taken off recently, so those shots are up first. A lot of it is growing on top of the water with some floaters and things. 































































And this guy is making a bid for freedom:


----------



## Karackle

The shrimp are loving the growth by the surface, which is adorable and let me get some good shrimp pics for once! 

















































































And this one little guppy has managed to hide from the bigger fish by hanging out on top of the pennywort leaves 









And he made friends with the shrimp :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

And I managed to get a few decent pics of shrimp on the substrate, they're friends with one of the guppies and boraras apparently :icon_lol:








































































Enjoy! :biggrin:


----------



## nonconductive

wooah all those pics! shrimp are looking nice and healthy!


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## Karackle

heeheehee LOTS of photos indeed! I hope that makes up for my extreme lack of photos for a month :biggrin:

and yes, the shrimp seem to be doing really well! I love them :biggrin: I've seen lots of berried females, but no babies yet. That certainly doesn't mean they're not in there somewhere, there are a LOT of Java Fern and Bolbitis roots to hide in :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Fantastic! And that yellow shrimp is such a camera hog. So adorable! Thanks for all the pictures, Kara!


----------



## Karackle

Heeheehee yeah there are a couple camera hog shrimples in this tank, but that one that was hanging out on the leaf at the top of the water the whole time I was taking pics was the biggest hog of them all :hihi: 

Glad you enjoyed the pictures!


----------



## MyMonkey

Wow! Just reviewed the entire thread. Great tank. Love the progress updates and photos. Good work.


----------



## Lil' Swimz$

Your yellow shrimp are really yellow! Pretty!


----------



## sewingalot

Lil' Swimz$ said:


> Your yellow shrimp are really yellow! Pretty!


Hehehehe. Thanks. I bred them to be super yellow.  Kara just got to reap the benefits. I call them "Neon Yellow" shrimp. We are going to start charging twice the amount of regular yellows, just like those "fire red" cherries now. :biggrin:


----------



## Karackle

MyMonkey - thank you so much! I appreciate that  

Lil' Swim - thanks! I can't take the credit on that though, all of the adults in my tank came from Sewingalot, she must be the one with the magic touch  

Sara - before my RCS mysteriously started dying, I was TOTALLY thinking about doing just that, because mine were some seriously BRIGHT RED lil buggers :hihi:......oh but I forgot, the other reason i didn't was that they are STILL RCS and STILL SUPER EASY TO BREED :icon_lol: LOL


----------



## Lil' Swimz$

sewingalot said:


> Hehehehe. Thanks. I bred them to be super yellow.  Kara just got to reap the benefits. I call them "Neon Yellow" shrimp. We are going to start charging twice the amount of regular yellows, just like those "fire red" cherries now. :biggrin:


Call them: Electric yellow shrimp. $5 a pop


----------



## defiesexistence

Karackle said:


>


Beautiful pennywort!!! I should pick some up. What's the trefoil floater in the middle left?


----------



## Karackle

Lil' Swimz$ said:


> Call them: Electric yellow shrimp. $5 a pop


HAHAHAHA brilliant!



defiesexistence said:


> Beautiful pennywort!!! I should pick some up. What's the trefoil floater in the middle left?


Thanks! I love the way it's looking, it's finally taking off, I think it's enjoy the "fertilizer" provided by the increased bioload from the guppies and the zebrafish :biggrin: If it continues to grow well, I'd be happy to send you some 


In other news, I have to tell you guys how proud of myself I am because i fixed the light on our 60g tank! It crapped out a few weeks ago (don't worry, I didn't leave the tank dark, we set up one of these lights, stolen from our living room, to point in all directions around the tank :hihi and after trying a new bulb and a new starter, I got some advice on here and figured it must be the ballast. So instead of buying a new ballast, I bought one of these lights from Home Depot, gutted the tank light, took note of which wires connected to what, and then reconnected them to the new light so that it would be connected to the plug and switch already built into the fixture. I also noticed that the new light (with a little finagling) would fit behind reflector, so I used tin snips to make the holes for the light connector pieces a little bigger and then put it all back together so it still has a reflector! :biggrin: The other bonus is that the new light holds a T8 bulb instead of the T10 that it came with, so it's just a little bit brighter, on top of that, it's a new bulb instead of a who-knows-how-old bulb....i don't think T10s are even made anymore! :icon_lol: so the tank looks a lot brighter now! And now we get our living room light back :icon_lol:

I forgot to take pics during the process, but I'll get some pictures of how bright there tank looks now and to see if I can get some pics of the fixture to see if I can explain it better  roud:


----------



## orchidman

how did i miss this thread!


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## sewingalot

I am so proud of you, Kara! I told you if I could do it, you'd be fine! I can't wait to see pictures. You should take the light off and flip it over to show how it looks all complete. Congrats!

And LMAO on your spidey lamp to illuminate things in the meantime.


----------



## nonconductive

and you didnt even injure yourself!


----------



## Karackle

orchid - hahaha I don't know! :tongue:

Sara - thanks! And thanks for encouraging me to do it and explaining to me that if i just made sure to match the right colored wire back up, I'd be fine (which is what I did but you can't imagine my surprise when it turned on the first time I tried it! :hihi And yes, I plan to flip over the light to take a picture of the finished product, i even thought about taking it back apart (not the wiring just unscrewing the reflector) so I could show everything, but it took a bit of jiggling and shoving to line the holes back up to screw everything back in place, so I don't think I will do that :tongue:

NonC - that was the best part! I thought for sure I would injure myself somewhere along the lines, but I think I managed to come away unscathed, just dirty from years of collected dust and salt buildup on the light fixture that I had sitting in my lap while I was playing with it :hihi:

ALSO today is PAYDAY so I am going to pick up a light for the 30g on my way home from lab.


----------



## Karackle

Oh! *DefiesExistence*, I'm sorry, I never answered your question! I believe what I've got floating there is a mix of duckweed (small leaves) and salvinia minima (larger leaves) but someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Here's a closer picture of the floaters:


----------



## sewingalot

Given to me as mini frogbit or giant duckweed. It's great but as annoying as regular old duckweed. Love the salvina minima. 

I am very proud of you! I knew you could do it! Congratulations. Are you buying a light to make or just a new aquarium light?


----------



## Karackle

Yeah I really like the salvinia minima, i love the fuzzy leaves  

And thanks so much! I was really proud of myself too, I'll have to get those pictures this weekend  

And no, not building a light for the 30g, I bought a 36" strip for the tank to light up those dark ends / corners :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

Hahaha, that's like 12" of more light. What are you going to do, wear sunglasses when you go in the room now?  I'll have to get a piece of the salvinia minima in the future. I accidentally got rid of it all.


----------



## Karackle

Hahaha yeah, the light is BLINDING, I need 3 pairs of sunglasses! :hihi: 

Anyway, I took some pictures! I took these at the same setting before and after with the new light, though I have to apologize, I took them in a bit of a rush late last night, so they're quite blurry, but the point is to show the difference in the lights, and I think that's clear enough  

Before light (no photo enhancement): 









before light (with enhancement in iPhoto):









NEW LIGHT! (no enhancement):









NEW LIGHT (enhanced):









So the only issue I have is that the light it came with washes out all the reds, it's the wrong color temp, so I'll probably pop into HD and pick up a different bulb that will bring out the reds more, but otherwise I'm SO happy that the ends aren't in darkness and hopefully now I can get some plants to grow behind the lace rock and in front of the filter like I've always imagined!!!! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

The lagoon effect is gone! :hihi: You know what would look great in this tank now? A baby ozelot sword. 

Looks much better! I like it without the enhancement. Can't wait to see a bulb replacement. I was at Lowes today and saw some T8 and T10 plant bulbs and thought of you. Too bad Wonka-vision never came to fruition. LOL.


----------



## Karackle

It's crazy isn't it? You can see the whole tank! LOL :hihi: 

Yeah, I figure a replacement bulb from HD or Lowes is only a few dollars, so I should be able to swing that as soon as I have time to get back out  

I honestly didn't even do much enhancing on the second pic with the new light, I think it just looks worse because it's so blurry :icon_lol:


----------



## sewingalot

Hahaha, it could be the blur. I'm just so thrilled that you got the one light installed and bought a new one for this tank.


----------



## Karackle

heeheehee i'm thinking at least part of it is the blur :tongue: 

And thanks! I'm thrilled too! I'm going to do some rescaping today I think now that I can take advantage of the edges!  I'll take some better pics with the tripod too, before and after of course


----------



## Karackle

While I was waiting for my coffee to brew, I thought I would set up the tripod and snap a few better shots of the tank with its new light, a few turned into a lot :hihi: Enjoy!  

FTS with just new light:


















And since it's so green, I decided I would also plug in the old light to try and bring out the reds more, so here are some FTS with both lights on:



























And I figured I'd get a few closer up pictures across the tank, so these will count as the "before" shots for the rescape, so from left to right here they are (I decided to take these after i had already removed the old light, so they're quite green):


















Incidentally, what's the best way to get rid of hair algae? Does H2O2 work? or do I need to find excel?



























And Check out the pennywort taking over! 


















So that's all for now, I'll post more later when I've rescaped


----------



## sewingalot

If it is clado, yes H2o2 works wonders. But I would turn off all filters, air bubbles and slowly pull out the majority of it, carefully place it in a baggie and ship it to me.  You want to take it out with no movement so that it doesn't break off and spread everywhere, then you can treat the area, or do a massive water change. Remove more as you see it show back up. Looks like good ole' blanket weed to me. It means you have a healthy tank. 

Second shot is absolutely fabulous! I love it. What are your plans now that you can grow on the sides?


----------



## Karackle

How awesome is it that a healthy tank means algae woes? :hihi: Unfortunately, I hadn't read your reply when I was rescaping and I pulled out the algae (whatever kind it is) without shutting off the filter or bubble wall, d'oh! :iamwithst I definitely didn't get rid of ALL of it (in fact, I intentionally left a little so i could send it to you Sara :hihi so I will make sure to turn off all water flow sources when I gather your sample and then get rid of the rest of it followed by an H2O2 treatment too roud: Thanks for your input! 

As for your question about what I will do, let me show you pictures of what I HAVE done so far :biggrin: I may do a MAJOR rescape but for now, here's what I have  

I pulled a little bit of the E. vesuvius out of the 10g to see how it does in this tank, as well as these other little bit of grassy plants, we'll see how it goes  









I pulled the piece of DW from Sara (unfortunately, the moss didn't make it, but I still like how the piece of wood looks resting on the lace rock) along with all of the hydrocotyle (97% pennywort):









I cleaned off the wood a little and then wrapped the hydrocotyle around the wood, leaving a few loose pieces at the top end of the DW: 


















I propped the lace rock back up a little bit (it has slowly tipped toward the back over time with my digging around in the substrate near it ) and then put the pennywort wrapped DW behind the lace rock, I also moved the crypts balansae (or spiralis, i forget again :hihi back there as well now that there is light so it won't be competing with the large hygro anymore, it had good roots, but only a few leaves, so we'll see how it does, i'm hoping well! If the pennywort starts taking over and shading it out, I might actually move the hydrocotyle elsewhere and try to get just the tall crypt to grow behind the lace rock, a tall "grassy" looking plant is sort of what I always picture growing up from behind the rock  


















I cut a couple of the hygro stems in half and planted them back in the substrate, and the tops near the lights have a nice pink color:


















I planted the grass here to extend the "field" that was already in the works :biggrin::









And I moved a crypt and the hygro difformis over to this corner, I think the difformis grows too fast for the low level of nutrients in the water in this tank (or the other hygro is just using them all up :hihi but I figured since it still had health roots and a few green leaves, I'd see how it did out of the shade of the bolbitis and other hygro:









I put the E. vesuvius on the left side of the tank to see if it will grow up and cover the filter intake some more, I also rearranged the crypts a bit on this side of the tank:


















And a bunch of FTS on different settings and with both cameras:













































And from a little farther away:


















thanks for looking and enjoy! :biggrin:


----------



## sewingalot

The rescape is killer! I can't get over how much brighter this tank is. I think I need some sunglasses, now. :hihi: Love that the bolbitis is doing so well and that e vesuivius squiggly swirly plant is super healthy looking! Great job, Kara.


----------



## Karackle

Hahahaha well in the pics it's even brighter because I'm using the old light along with the new light so things don't look QUITE so green :hihi: But it's DEFINITELY brighter just with the one light, I love it! Actually, I turn down the exposure time when I take pictures so that the lighter plants don't get as overexposed, so the pictures are only slightly brighter than it actually looks  

And thanks! It's a very minor rescape, but we'll see how I like it as it grows in  And yes, the E. swirlytwisty is doing quite well, it's so funny though because it looks so short in this tank but it's overly tall in the 10g :hihi:


----------



## defiesexistence

Karackle said:


> Oh! *DefiesExistence*, I'm sorry, I never answered your question! I believe what I've got floating there is a mix of duckweed (small leaves) and salvinia minima (larger leaves) but someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Here's a closer picture of the floaters:


No crumb! Duckweed is my favorite plant (no joke), I've got some in my tank, and I wasn't even able to recognize it. Geez. I brought some local plants back from a trip I thought were super cool natives, one is apparently duckweed, and I killed the pogostemon (we don't have any in the local pond). So. Thanks for answering my question!

And your tank no longer looks gloomy! I love the picture of the hygro stems the most. You are setting a picture-posting example, keep it up, along with your hatred of pink. Let me know when you want to go to department stores and set fire to all the pink frilly nonsense.


----------



## JRMott

defiesexistence said:


> No crumb! Duckweed is my favorite plant (no joke), I've got some in my tank, and I wasn't even able to recognize it.


I don't mind duckweed. I used to have a lot but scooped as much of it out as I could and did a replant of my tank. I haven't seen any duckweed in over a month now, though it'll probably show up now that I'm talking about it.

Not sure why it's gone really, I heard it's nearly impossible to eradicate.


----------



## chad320

Wow Kara, that light makes a HUGE difference. I hope your algae stays away. Did you have to lower your photoperiod to get them used to it? The whole tank looks great! BTW, I think the 5th pic in the last series of pics turned out fantastic!!! Id keep using that setup if you can get closeups that good with it (hint, hint )


----------



## Karackle

defies - hahaha well it is a little yellow, I think the pennywort and salvinia are stealing its nutrients :hihi: I actually like the look of a tank covered in duckweed, but I keep my tanks so low light that I have to be careful about floaters taking over. When I was breeding guppies and i had about a million of them in a 10g tank, i had the surface covered in duckweed to soak up the nitrogen waste and it definitely looked cool! I love the way it looks covering a pond too roud: And thanks! Yes, I'm very excited that the tank no longer looks like it's in perpetual darkness in pictures :hihi: Also, how do you know that I have a hatred of pink?! Aare you stalking me? :icon_lol: Weird thing is, a little pink in my tank looks pretty, anything else, I'm not a huge fan :tongue: 

JRMott - Eradication of duckweed is hit or miss for me, i've successfully rid a tank of it on the first try before, and I've mysteriously return in others.

Chad - thanks! I love the difference the light makes, though I really need to change the bulb, the tank isn't dark, but now it's so green it looks like a swamp :hihi: I actually did not reduce my photoperiod, maybe I should to stave off algae until things fill in a bit more. As for the 5th picture, do you mean the 5th FTS in my last post with pictures? Because I agree, that one looks good, now if I can remember which settings were used (i THINK it's my old camera on normal settings with a lowered exposure). Unfortunately, the settings that work well on the point-n-shoot for FTShots are completely different than the ones that work well for macro shots :tongue: But I will try to get some more close-ups soon roud:


----------



## defiesexistence

Karackle said:


> defies - hahaha well it is a little yellow, I think the pennywort and salvinia are stealing its nutrients :hihi: I actually like the look of a tank covered in duckweed, but I keep my tanks so low light that I have to be careful about floaters taking over. When I was breeding guppies and i had about a million of them in a 10g tank, i had the surface covered in duckweed to soak up the nitrogen waste and it definitely looked cool! I love the way it looks covering a pond too roud: And thanks! Yes, I'm very excited that the tank no longer looks like it's in perpetual darkness in pictures :hihi: Also, how do you know that I have a hatred of pink?! Aare you stalking me? :icon_lol: Weird thing is, a little pink in my tank looks pretty, anything else, I'm not a huge fan :tongue:


The poor duckweed!!! I'd offer to rescue it, but my fish would eat it, though I thoroughly scold them. I love the dappled 'sunlight' effect floaters make on the bottom of the tank.

Err. Yes. :icon_neut:hihi: Kidding, actually Sarah mentioned it in another thread, think it might have been Orchidman's 10g journal, and I thought, HEY! I'm not completely crazy, only halfway. Pink plants are nice. Pink anything else, thou shalt perish.


----------



## Karackle

Hahahaha well if it ends up doing well and you want some to feed your fish, let me know  Yes, the sunlight effect can look very cool, I don't really have bright enough lights to even get that effect though :icon_lol:

HAHAHAHA well yes, I do hate pink, so any time you want to go destroy some pink stuff (but not plants), let me know!


----------



## chad320

Hey, hey, hey!!! There will be no destroying pink stuff around here! Our team is just regrouping :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

muahahahaha DESTROY ALL THE PINK THINGS!!!!! :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

your wearing a pink silly band..... what shape is it??


----------



## hydrophyte

I like this little setup.


----------



## firefiend

beautiful tank!


----------



## Karackle

Orchid - hahaha DARN! you caught me! That one was a gift, I work in a research lab, it's an antibody-producing rabbit that my friend got at a conference. The other 3 are a combination of gifts and finds of my choosing, a shark, a dolphin and a dinosaur, unfortunately, the skull and crossbones broke recently  

Hydrophyte and FireFiend - thank you do much! I really appreciate the kind words and encouragement!


----------



## orchidman

i did! -1 point for you!

i always break them. my wrists are pudgy ROFL


----------



## Karackle

Oh man, the skull and crossbones was awesome, but it was SO tiny!


----------



## orchidman

the recycle one is HUGE


----------



## Karackle

what does the recycle one even look like? The pirate ship one is huge too  I want a ninja one. Do those exist? LOL


----------



## orchidman

lol! the ninja you cant see... unless your asian like me  *rhymes


----------



## Karackle

hahaha nice one! :tongue:


----------



## TankZen

Looking nice!


----------



## Karackle

Thanks TanZen!


----------



## nonconductive

looks awesome kara.

i will pretend i didnt read about your hatred for pink, since them is fightin words.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks Damon! 

I don't know what hatred you might be talking about, I would never want to start any fights


----------



## defiesexistence

Karackle said:


> muahahahaha DESTROY ALL THE PINK THINGS!!!!! :hihi:


So we wage war against the PP brigade?


----------



## nonconductive

defiesexistence said:


> So we wage war against the PP brigade?


you're an aweso lady?

prepare for defeat!


----------



## nonconductive

for someone who is anti pink, i sure spyed a pink bracelet on your arm? do i smell a traitor?


----------



## defiesexistence

Aweso?

I just cleaned out all my pink panties, threw them in the trash and spit on them. This _is _war, and one you will undoubtedly lose :icon_mrgr


----------



## nonconductive

lol. harsh!

yes your team is down to aweso. everytime we win you lose a letter. (some think you're down to just "ladies")



defiesexistence said:


> Aweso?
> 
> I just cleaned out all my pink panties, threw them in the trash and spit on them. This _is _war, and one you will undoubtedly lose :icon_mrgr


----------



## defiesexistence

Harsh, yes, but when it comes to pink, so we are. Nor is Kara traitor, but it was an antibody producing rabbit, which is for the win, no matter if it's pink or not in my book.

But what happens when the Awesos win, with awesome trash talking? Do you lose a letter, so now it would just be 'P'?


----------



## orchidman

:bounce:


defiesexistence said:


> So we wage war against the PP brigade?


whats this blasphemy??!!??  after all of your meals i planned! after all the PMs we had! after all the random chatting about things none of us remember? does that mean nothing to you??!?!! :'( im hurt.. severely



nonconductive said:


> you're an aweso lady?
> 
> prepare for defeat!


she better... thats a sucker punch..errr... gut 



nonconductive said:


> for someone who is anti pink, i sure spyed a pink bracelet on your arm? do i smell a traitor?


sure do! i asked her about it, she made up some excuse about it being a gift.... HA!



defiesexistence said:


> Harsh, yes, but when it comes to pink, so we are. Nor is Kara traitor, but it was an antibody producing rabbit, which is for the win, no matter if it's pink or not in my book.
> 
> But what happens when the Awesos win, with awesome trash talking? Do you lose a letter, so now it would just be 'P'?


you think you can win from trash talking! psh!


----------



## nonconductive

defiesexistence said:


> Harsh, yes, but when it comes to pink, so we are. Nor is Kara traitor, but it was an antibody producing rabbit, which is for the win, no matter if it's pink or not in my book.
> 
> But what happens when the Awesos win, with awesome trash talking? Do you lose a letter, so now it would just be 'P'?


no not just P. Pink Pants? but we will never lose a letter because we're just that good. though i see your team is growing in numbers.



orchidman said:


> :bounce:
> 
> whats this blasphemy??!!??  after all of your meals i planned! after all the PMs we had! after all the random chatting about things none of us remember? does that mean nothing to you??!?!! :'( im hurt.. severely
> 
> 
> 
> she better... thats a sucker punch..errr... gut
> 
> 
> 
> sure do! i asked her about it, she made up some excuse about it being a gift.... HA!
> 
> 
> 
> you think you can win from trash talking! psh!


lol bob.

were you cohorting with the enemy?

kara's going to come back and be like what the heck?

i love how this spilled onto all of our journals. now to find defie's thread.


----------



## orchidman

nonconductive said:


> no not just P. Pink Pants? but we will never lose a letter because we're just that good. though i see your team is growing in numbers.
> 
> 
> 
> lol bob.
> 
> were you cohorting with the enemy?
> 
> kara's going to come back and be like what the heck?
> 
> i love how this spilled onto all of our journals. now to find defie's thread.


:icon_mad: not cohorting, she wanst an enemy then. but ive been stabbed in the back and kicked in the "gut" thanks defie, or should i tell them your real name??!!???

gonna find her journal now. ill link yall to it


----------



## sewingalot

Wait, who's on what team? Kara's going to love her journal when she comes back from vacation.


----------



## nonconductive

defie's on your some ladies.


----------



## sewingalot

It's some ladies now? LMAO!


----------



## nonconductive

you lost 3 letters while you were away. keep up girl!


----------



## sewingalot

By the looks of it, I won't be a girl by the time the week's over. :hihi: I wonder how Kara is liking Cape Cod?


----------



## nonconductive

hopefully she's enjoying herself


----------



## orchidman

sewingalot said:


> It's some ladies now? LMAO!


thats what you get for crappy AC!



sewingalot said:


> By the looks of it, I won't be a girl by the time the week's over. :hihi: I wonder how Kara is liking Cape Cod?


she is probably happy to be away from some ladies! probably missing us PP ppl though!


----------



## sewingalot

Them's fightin' words, Bobette. :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

bobette? never gotten that one before! *dripping with sarcasm*

no they arent fighting words. at least not a real fight. because you know we will win!


----------



## orchidman

like i said... its a vacation from me ladies! lol so thats what happends after me ladies is gone. you become ewingalot!


----------



## defiesexistence

...I just laughed so hard, I bugled. Yeah, how _is_ finding my journal going?

Bobertette, you probably don't remember my name. I do appreciate your cohortation, and preventing me from starvation by indecisiveness and lack of innovation. Mail me Viet food. I _will_ check to see if it's poisoned. (Poison Hemlock is the way to go, if you're gonna. First it immobilizes. Then it slowly kills. Then torture me by throwing pink sequins on me. It will burn when it comes into contact with my skin. Jeez. I have to plan out my own death by sequin for ya'll.) Bobertette, we _may_ be enemies, but we are fellow foodies, which counts for more than gut-punching. We can exchange noms down by the battlefield, my organic gluten-free pumpkin waffles for whatever Viet food.

We cannot win by trash talk, but amuse ourselves while we idly fend off your pitiable blows. But Kara should come back while I am gone. Sara, you are on your own, but I know you can handle it. Hope some blood is drawn. Pink pansy blood. Thou shalt not in an infinite eon win. :flick: I have to abandon the lot of you now. Be back at an indefinite time. (I'm hungry. What should I eat? There's no more pie!)


----------



## nonconductive

defiesexistence said:


> my organic gluten-free pumpkin waffles


have you been looking in our kitchen cabinets?


----------



## defiesexistence

^No, why would I look in a P cabinet other than to poison the contents? I picked some squash from our urban backyard and made 'em from scratch.


----------



## nonconductive

lol.... sounds like something my wife would bring home from Whole Foods.

urban backyard? what city?

would just like to know for future reference so i can burn your garden and throw panties in your trees


----------



## defiesexistence

What an expensive place. Worth the gelato, and sushi, but....

Northern Suburbia, far away from you.

Our heritage squash from last year will sprout out of our compost at a freaky rate and strangle you, then bury you and the panties at its base to feed itself, and catch more PP brigade.


----------



## orchidman

defiesexistence said:


> ...I just laughed so hard, I bugled. Yeah, how _is_ finding my journal going?
> 
> Bobertette, you probably don't remember my name. I do appreciate your cohortation, and preventing me from starvation by indecisiveness and lack of innovation. Mail me Viet food. I _will_ check to see if it's poisoned. (Poison Hemlock is the way to go, if you're gonna. First it immobilizes. Then it slowly kills. Then torture me by throwing pink sequins on me. It will burn when it comes into contact with my skin. Jeez. I have to plan out my own death by sequin for ya'll.) Bobertette, we _may_ be enemies, but we are fellow foodies, which counts for more than gut-punching. We can exchange noms down by the battlefield, my organic gluten-free pumpkin waffles for whatever Viet food.
> 
> We cannot win by trash talk, but amuse ourselves while we idly fend off your pitiable blows. But Kara should come back while I am gone. Sara, you are on your own, but I know you can handle it. Hope some blood is drawn. Pink pansy blood. Thou shalt not in an infinite eon win. :flick: I have to abandon the lot of you now. Be back at an indefinite time. (I'm hungry. What should I eat? There's no more pie!)


you bugled... nice

yeah.. NO! never. all that was once is no more! WE MAY HAVE BEEN FOODIE FRIENDS BEFORE BUT THAT APPARENTLY MEANS NOTHING TO YOU! :icon_evil

death my sequins.. nice


i would tell you what to eat, but not anymore! starve to death!!! by the way, im having spaghetti with homemade sauce 



nonconductive said:


> lol.... sounds like something my wife would bring home from Whole Foods.
> 
> urban backyard? what city?
> 
> would just like to know for future reference so i can burn your garden and throw panties in your trees


yeah! thats the kind of food she eats. healthy gluten free cardboard!


----------



## nonconductive

man you 2 are vicious! lol

hey bob what city is she from since she's tooooo skeeered to tell the PP?


Whole Foods is expensive, thats why i call it Whole Paycheck. they have alot of good stuff, and alot of BAD stuff.

oh yea and i will cut your squash vine with my sequin razor then smother it in a giant panty while i plant jewels in the ground to sprout panty trees next year.


----------



## orchidman

nonconductive said:


> man you 2 are vicious! lol


you would be too if you got stabbed in the back and kicked in the...err.. _gut_

by the way defie, i know your name. but you still have a little bit of respect from me. enough for me not to tell the whole interwebs your name, unless you say its okay


----------



## defiesexistence

Like an elk, if you must know.

It means something to me! I still haven't eaten, and now, I am starving. (begins to wither away) Spaghetti is for people who can't cook. I bet you don't even boil the noodles in brine until they are _al dente_.

You wouldn't be calling GF food cardboard if you would exchange food with meee. I'm not GF, but reduced G.

Now I reeally have to go. Vacuum!

I'm impressed you remember. No, Bobertette does not know where I live.

Gut shots are too painful. I only gave you a head wound, which is why you can't remember where I hit you. Concussed!

Going, going, gone.


----------



## orchidman

defie... or should i say *NAME REMOVED * i know where you live! i just need to go read my old PMs

whatever! GF food is GF and cardboardy either way! unless its rice. 

i agree plain old spaghetti is for those who can cook. but my spaghetti is good, made the sauce from scratch. but you wouldnt know! you cant have spaghetti.


----------



## CKJ

Really love the tank! I'm gonna have to get me some pennywort again. Mine all died off. lol


----------



## sewingalot

Kara, my dear. I actually have an important tank related question for you!

The rock on the right side of the tank:









Do you know what kind it is? And did you put any weight support under it? I am wanting to do a rock scape and am not finding much luck. And then I remembered your journal and really like that piece of stone.


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHA What the heck is everyone talking about? Capes and squirrel stews?! Wow I guess I missed out on all the fun while I was away! :tongue: I think it might be time for a poem when I have a few extra minutes after doing some more catching up! :hihi: For the record though, WHITE is the presence of all color, black is the absence of all color (in lighting....it's rather the opposite in paint mixing). And also, capes are awesome. 

BUT 

In tank related news....

Sara, that is a large piece of Lace Rock (i think) and no there is nothing under it (should there be?) It could be lava rock.....but then again, those might actually be the same thing under different names? I know I added the small pieces later and they are the same rock but I can't remember if they were called lace or lava.....but it's one of the two (or one in the same).

Also, I'm pleased to report that after a week away I seem to have all of my fish (possibly/probably minus a few baby guppies) and it doesn't look like I have too much algae despite not changing the light cycle but adding a lot more watts. I'll report back on the algae part when I get a chance to take a better look at the tank tonight though :tongue: Also, the plants seem to be doing well so far too! :biggrin:


----------



## orchidman

welcome home kara!


----------



## Karackle

orchidman said:


> welcome home kara!


Hahahahaha thanks Orchid!!!


----------



## sewingalot

Karackle said:


> In tank related news....
> 
> Sara, that is a large piece of Lace Rock (i think) and no there is nothing under it (should there be?) It could be lava rock.....but then again, those might actually be the same thing under different names? I know I added the small pieces later and they are the same rock but I can't remember if they were called lace or lava.....but it's one of the two (or one in the same).


Some put egg crate to support weight, but I think overstock posted this rad video a while back where a guy put a crapload of rocks in a 10 gallon and then stood on it to show the strength, lol.

Lace rock sounds about right. I used to have one just like it but whiter, but same holes. Does it mess with your ph? The one I had made the ph like HIGH (over 9, lol).



> Also, I'm pleased to report that after a week away I seem to have all of my fish (possibly/probably minus a few baby guppies) and it doesn't look like I have too much algae despite not changing the light cycle but adding a lot more watts. I'll report back on the algae part when I get a chance to take a better look at the tank tonight though :tongue: Also, the plants seem to be doing well so far too! :biggrin:



Yay! I am glad to hear this. 

By the way, I hope you like that sword I sent you. Just wait to you see the pictures of what uprooting it did to my tank. :icon_mrgr


----------



## Karackle

Oh, yeah no i didn't put anything under, it had been in the tank for years (this tank was a hand-me-down) without anything under it and I figure tanks are designed to withstand a lot of weight so I just left it. It does not mess with my pH as far as I can tell, it _might_ help keep it more basic because that tank is stabilized at the highest pH of all 3 tanks, it's not 9, but I do need to use a high range pH kit to test it because it's like 8.2 or something. I think I also remember someone telling me that eco-complete buffers pH up too though, is that correct? And i can't remember if I have crushed coral in this filter, I actually think this might be the only tank I didn't need to put it in back before I moved, so perhaps the rock does help? I never thought about that LOL :hihi: Ok, so the real answer to your question is that i have no idea but the pH does seem to be more and higher in this tank than the others. 

Also, the rock isn't really white, it wasn't new when I got it, but the pieces of rock I got to match it were also not white and they were new. They were more grey in color. 

And I'm happy to say that aside from some GDA on the glass, there don't seem to be too many algae problems in the tank! I need to get some root tabs under some of the crypts i moved around, but other than that, things are looking pretty good so far! I still need to get that new bulb, but I'm flat broke until my paycheck in 2 weeks (it's always bad when my car payment and car insurance payment fall in the same paycheck, top that with license renewal fee this week and I've got a slim few dollars for the next 2 weeks! the good news is that means a lot more "extra" $ in the next paycheck because no big payments have to come out of it :hihi 

And yes, given the size of those roots, I imagine your tank looked like hot cocoa after uprooting that monster plant! :icon_lol: can't wait to see the pics! :tongue:


----------



## orchidman

no problem, but you can call me Bob


----------



## nonconductive

kara, eco complete will raise PH/KH. i fought with it for over a year before getting rid of it.


----------



## Karackle

Yeah, but Orchid fits better with you being on the Pink Panties team, soooo......you're stuck with it :hihi: 

NonC - thanks for the info! so I was remembering correctly about eco-complete then, so I'd guess it's my eco not my lace rock then that helps buffer up the pH (which is actually a good thing with my water). I suppose it could be a little of both. Either way. The tank has a stable pH thanks to something in it :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

what are you trying to say?

yellow green pink or purple ukulele?


----------



## Karackle

Only that Orchid seems more like a PP team member name than "Bob" which I'm fairly certain isn't your real name anyway :tongue:


----------



## nonconductive

lace rock will do it too!

bob she's saying that since you like pretty flowers it only makes sense that you would wear women's undies.


----------



## orchidman

wow! thanks alot kara... that hurt! i get enough ppl in real life thinking that way about my orchids. i dont need virtually bullying too. even if its teasing  lol. im just messin with ya


----------



## nonconductive

bob did you know theres more native orchid species in IN than HI?


----------



## orchidman

i did know that! actually. lol! you cant best me when it comes to facts nobody cares about!

you should send me your angels D so they leave your beloved discus alone


----------



## Karackle

NonC - that pretty much sums it up :hihi: Just joshin' with ya OrchidBob! 

Lace rock, lava rock, eco complete, whatever the heck is buffering up the pH, in my case, it's a good thing so I ain't complainin'  :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

:hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

You guys are too cute. :hihi:

Kara! I just got your text message on getting the plants. Yay that they survived the trip!!!


----------



## Karackle

Sara, we did get the plants and they look great! The MONSTER sword is floating in the 60g and the babies and crypts are floating in the 30g. I plan to get them planted today and will be sure to take pics of the progress! The 30g might be in for a major rescape  

I took some pics before the plant arrival but didn't have a chance to post them, so here are a couple of update shots. You might be able to make out that the glass looks a little hard to see through in some places due to some GDA/GSA, but mostly, the tank is doing well!  I took a lot more pictures but I wasn't using my tripod and had apparently had too much caffeine so most of them came out blurry so I only ended up with 2 FTS. 

Here they are: 









funky angle:









Enjoy and thanks for looking!


----------



## sewingalot

Oh! I LOVE THE FUNKY ANGLE picture!!! It's exceptionally clear and true to colors (I know as I owned most of those plants, lol). These are my favorite pictures, too! I can't wait to see more. 

Glad the plants made it alive. I would have been sad if they arrived mush (that's happened to me a few times in all the years, and it depressed me for days). Can't wait to see the update!


----------



## Karackle

Yeah it's funny, I don't know why the funky angle picture came out so clear or truer to color given i took it on the same setting as some of the other pictures (not the other FTS i posted here, ones that were too blurry to post LOL :hihi But the colors looked better. I'll have to take more pictures that way :biggrin:

Yep, all the plants looked great, I'll definitely post pictures once I get them planted roud:


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## 2in10

Beautiful shots and tank, love the volcano


----------



## Karackle

Thanks a lot 2in10!  Heehee I like that you called it a volcano! it does sort of look like a volcano doesn't it? 

I've got some updates on the 60g, the MONSTER sword that Sara sent to us arrived last week but we didn't get a chance to plant it until today, and of course, I took lots of pictures!  

60g before:









clearer shot from a funky angle because I rested the camera on the washing machine: 









With floating monster sword:









Clearer shots from the funky resting-on-the-washer angle :tongue::


















With the sword: 



























Close-up of the spot for the sword before:









After:









And some pics of the monster sword (with my foot and then my dog for size comparison):



























MASSIVE SWORD:









MASSIVE ROOTS!:


















Roots got a trim to make planting possible :tongue::









We trimmed off a few of the outer / older leaves:









We tried planting it that way but it was still too massive and we were afraid it would shade out the other plants AND its own new growth, so i went into the tank with the scissors and trimmed a few more of the outer leaves off:








And now the pretty new red growth can be seen  

Enjoy! And stay tuned for a 30g rescape with the baby swords and crypts that Sara also sent me! 

THANK YOU FOR THE PLANTS SARA! :biggrin:


----------



## 2in10

Beautiful shots, that is a beast of a Sword.

I actually had what looked like a volcano on the first rendition of it. I had a large plastic log that I glued to the back of the tank and attached Brazilian Pennywort to it inside the top so it looked like the log was erupting like a volcano.


----------



## sewingalot

Cute foot, Kara. :biggrin: Haha, _love _this shot:









After a hair cut and peeling of some of the leaves, it looks like it fits nicely in that area. Hopefully it grows slower for you in the tank or you'll be hating me in a couple months, lol. Did you like my frankenbag/box?  LOL.

That does look like a volcano! Too cool, I like the angle even better now. Hey - MAYBE it _is _lava rock. *inserts corny laughter*


----------



## Karackle

Thanks 2in10! Very cool about your volcano too, sounds like it was a pretty cool look! 

Sara - LOVED the frankbox and frankenbag! HAHAHA hey man, whatever works! I almost used one of the boxes to send you back some stuff, but it wasn't quite the right size :tongue: Instead i cut it apart and made a folder to send my cousin the TRex / Godzilla / butterflies / rainbow picture along with the other 2 pieces of art I made her to prevent them from getting too bent in the mail. Yay.  And yes, after a bit of a hair cut, the sword fits perfectly in that corner. I hope it grows a little bit slower too though :hihi: otherwise, we'll just have to actually trim things in that tank once in a while :icon_lol:

heehee and thanks, I liked that picture too, and I'm glad you think my foot is cute since you were stuck looking at it in that picture :hihi: :tongue:


----------



## sewingalot

I'll have to remember to asks for a picture of unicorns, kittens and chocolate bars. :hihi: Glad to see you recycled the box. Is that a tank I see at the bottom of that stand sitting empty? Looks like you need to set up a new gecko tank!


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHA yes, yes it is an empty tank. It is a 55g without a rim. We picked it up from Craigslist forever ago, got it home, realized the center brace was cracked, removed it so we could order a replacement part, but then Ian found another tank on craigslist with stand and supplies and just got that one, but wouldn't you know it the center brace was cracked on that too. Crack but not missing, so some epoxy and plexi glass to put it back together did the trick....for a while. We planned to sell the the 50g but that was 3 yrs ago and it hasn't happened yet. LOL! I've tried to convince Ian to let me turn it into a non-fish tank for something but he says no  I would be more upset but the only spot we have for it is under the 60g and there's no space to get hands in there for maintenance / lid / lights so.....we'll probably be replacing the 60g tank and stand soon(ish) because i'm getting nervous about pushing our luck with a cracked center brace (though to be fair, the glass on the 60g is thick enough that I see less bowing on the 60g than the 30g). Anyway though the POINT is that if I can finagle it, I'd like to get a stand with more space to get fixture / lids / hands in above the old tank so I can make it into something cool :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

WOW!!! that sword could eat your dog!!! LOL!!!

what is your team name down to now?


----------



## sewingalot

Team? Oh, that was so last week, Bob. We stopped playing. 

Kara, I love how you tell me the whole back story as you know that's what I really wanted to know, didn't you?  Ian is probably smart to say know, looking at how much we all hoard in this hobby. I currently have more empty tanks than I do filled. I'm happy to see we are alike in this.

Oh, and did I mention how much I love my presents? Algae samples and stuff to use for my microscope!!!! YOU ARE A DOLL!


----------



## orchidman

what???  im tearing up. i cant believe when i tried to make internet peace, you all wouldnt have it but as soon as i leave-BAM!- no teams and all is peaceful!


----------



## Karackle

HAHA OrchidBob, the sword TRIED to eat my dog, but I wrestled into the tank before it could :hihi: 

Oh yeah, teams were so last week because the Awesome Ladies got so far ahead Pink Panties never had a chance to catch up :hihi: Things were always peaceful as the whole thing was all in good fun anyway  

Sara - glad you liked your presents! YAY! :biggrin: can't wait to see pics of my algaes!!!


----------



## sewingalot

LOL on the dog eating sword plant! Kara, I'll get your pictures to you via email soon and you can post them on here if you like. How's that sound?

Oh, I just found the most adorable pink and yellow polka-dot fabric for your quilt. :hihi:


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHA pink and yellow polka dots! PERFECT! And that sounds good on the pictures of algae  

Also, I forgot to comment on part of your previous post, but yes, I do know how much you love backstories  And yes, he probably IS smart to say no, but that won't stop me from trying :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

Karackle said:


> HAHA OrchidBob, the sword TRIED to eat my dog, but I wrestled into the tank before it could :hihi:
> 
> Oh yeah, teams were so last week because the Awesome Ladies got so far ahead Pink Panties never had a chance to catch up :hihi: Things were always peaceful as the whole thing was all in good fun anyway
> 
> Sara - glad you liked your presents! YAY! :biggrin: can't wait to see pics of my algaes!!!


LOL! i never knew swords were carnivorous

wow. im getting so many different stories! lol! what happened really?



sewingalot said:


> LOL on the dog eating sword plant! Kara, I'll get your pictures to you via email soon and you can post them on here if you like. How's that sound?
> 
> Oh, I just found the most adorable pink and yellow polka-dot fabric for your quilt. :hihi:


i want pink panties on mine!


----------



## sewingalot

Nothing really happened, Bob. I was just joshing around with you. The teams are still here, we've all been kind of quiet without you around to cheer us on. :hihi:


----------



## orchidman

aww  well i still think we should have interweb peace...


----------



## Karackle

LOL there was always interweb peace! Awesome ladies are still awesome, pink panties are still pink. 

Yes, yes, it's a new species of carnivorous sword that preys on small dogs if it is out of water, but will thrive on regular old fertilizer when submerged :hihi:


----------



## Bahugo

Karackle said:


> LOL there was always interweb peace! Awesome ladies are still awesome, pink panties are still pink.
> 
> Yes, yes, it's a new species of carnivorous sword that preys on small dogs if it is out of water, but will thrive on regular old fertilizer when submerged :hihi:


So you think, the next lame-jaws-rip-off movie they will make is going to be titled: "*Sara's Swords! IN 3D!!!!"* some drunk college kids (because every movie has to have the drunk college kids getting hurt right?) will be swimming in a lake where sara's sword plant was somehow transplanted too and at first they will be grasped by the algae, then slowly but with a firm grasp, pulled into the sword plant! All that will remain is their bathing suit. (cause that's how they always know somebody is gone in those movies, right?) 

Ok, my lame joke is over! 

I like the positioning of the sword! It fills in that corner nicely!


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHA Bahugo, that made me laugh because it's so true! drunken college or highschool students disappearing completely but their bathing suit floating to the surface untouched. Perfect. 

And thanks! I think the sword looks nice in that corner, I'll have to get more pics now that the tank is settled back in.


----------



## orchidman

Bahugo said:


> So you think, the next lame-jaws-rip-off movie they will make is going to be titled: "*Sara's Swords! IN 3D!!!!"* some drunk college kids (because every movie has to have the drunk college kids getting hurt right?) will be swimming in a lake where sara's sword plant was somehow transplanted too and at first they will be grasped by the algae, then slowly but with a firm grasp, pulled into the sword plant! All that will remain is their bathing suit. (cause that's how they always know somebody is gone in those movies, right?)
> 
> Ok, my lame joke is over!
> 
> I like the positioning of the sword! It fills in that corner nicely!


and thats exactly why you cant send noxious weeds across borders!


----------



## defiesexistence

The War has been won, -by us- but it was peaceful, in that fact that there was sniping niether of squirrels nor orchids. This is just recovery for you guys so your race doesn't die out too quickly.

Kara, your sword is bigger than Rat Dog! (our dog, your dog is cuter than he!) The food chain of the brackish shark lake thing would go like humans<sharks<swords, swords snacking on stupid tourists after the sharks have all been exhausted.

If you are really worried about the 60g, what would you do if you were going to fix it? Or could you partially drain it and use it as a plant/algae farm?


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## orchidman

no. we won. its true


----------



## wkndracer

OK,,,, I came looking for a photo update on the thread because SOMEBODY posted in another thread they were going to update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*WE WANT PICTURES!*


----------



## orchidman

agreed


----------



## nonconductive

yea where are these pics that i heard about


----------



## Karackle

SORRY FOR THE DELAY!!!! 

i did TAKE the pictures last night, and edited them, but then it got really late. And then I had 0 time today to upload them til now. So here they are  

I still haven't had a chance to rescape the 30g, and it needs a glass scraping and a water top off, but I DID get some
PICTURES!!!! :biggrin: 

So without anymore delay, here they are, enjoy!!!

FTS:









Close-ups:


















from above: 









floaters:


















and be sure to check out my 5 & 10g thread for better pics of those tanks


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## zachary908

Nice pictures, Kara! The tank looks good.


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## orchidman

looks good! its growing in!


----------



## wkndracer

awesome! love a natural looking setting on a tank
great pics thanks for updating!


----------



## nonconductive

nice pics! (for a woman) :hihi:


----------



## 2in10

Very nice looking tank.


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## Karackle

Hahahaha *Non-C* THANKS! but....i've also got a few choice words I could use to respond to that, but I'll refrain seeing how this is a family friendly forum :hihi: but they have generally to do with how if you keep talking like that you might find my steel-toed boot in a very uncomfortable spot :icon_lol: 

Thanks *Wkndracer*! I also really enjoy the "natural" / jungle look, I'm glad someone else likes it too! I've got some non-floater plants floating in the tank at the moment and I want to do a rescape to take better advantage of the fact that I now have a light that spans the tank and i will be able to grow plants behind the rock as I've always wanted too. But I will maintain the natural look (i hope). The jungle look sort of happens because my plants are so slow growing that I don't need to trim much and then all of a sudden WOAH my tanks are jungles :hihi: but that's how i like it!

*Orchidbob, 2in10, Zachary* Thanks for the compliments!!!! I do like how it's filling in, but I still plan on messing with it :hihi: 

Also, I REALLY need to get a new bulb......the tank constantly has the appearance that I'm viewing it through a floating carpet of green slime or algae or like i've got a mild but persistent outbreak of greenwater. Yuck.


----------



## orchidman

messing with it? what are you doing to it?


if you do that to D, he might have to be moved to the awesome ladies... for..err.. technical difficulties! haha


----------



## Karackle

i just want to rearrange some stuff and plant the floating plants, i've always wanted to have plants growing up from behind the lava rock, and now that I have a light that spans the full length of the tank and can light behind the rock, I want to take advantage of it and plant some stuff back there roud:


----------



## orchidman

cool!


----------



## sewingalot

Great update, Kara! You are supposed to email updates, lol. I am renaming this tank Volcano mountain. :hihi: Love the pictures. Thanks, thanks. Only suggestion is to top your tank, silly.


----------



## Karackle

Thanks! OOPS! I did completely forget to do that didn't I? and yes, I know, I'm bad about topping off this tank....it's the only one that is not convenient to refill so I get a bit lazy sometimes, i must admit :hihi:


----------



## sewingalot

Same with me in the 15 gallon. I actually had to put 5 gallons in the tank yesterday, lol. I think you did it on purpose to make me miss your tank enough to lurk online.


----------



## lauraleellbp

New pics? It's been a month! :biggrin:


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## sewingalot

Good point! Kara, stop working on your posters long enough to post pictures!


----------



## Karackle

HAHAHAHAHA A MONTH?! Holy moly how time flies! I will try to get some pictures today. Maybe I will finally get the rescape done today too. We'll see. But I'll try to at least get pics because snce the last ones I haphazardly stuffed roots into gravel to try to get the leaves all pointing in the same direction again after a couple weeks of floating :hihi:

Sara, yes, you caught me, I did it on purpose so you would come comment :icon_lol:


----------



## Karackle

Ok, it's not much, but I have a few pictures  First up is the 30g (please notice that the tank is full this time :hihi The tank needs some serious TLC, this is just all of the plants Sara sent me a while bag stuffed into the gravel at random, I need to seriously do a rescape though. You may notice a few of the leaves are bent over, some of the plants had floated up and I replanted them just before shooting the pics. I pulled a bunch of hair algae clumps out of the tank as well (i need to do an H2O2 treatment). 

I took more than 1 picture, but they all came out crappy unfortunately, so here's the only decent shot I got: 









I did manage to get quite a few good shots of the 60g though. Ever since replacing the bulb, the sunset hygro has gone CRAZY! 



























Moss has filled back in on this log:









The huge sword from Sara needs some root tabs, the older growth leaves aren't doing too well, but the plants can't be too unhappy given this baby:









Unfortunately, the bolbitis I put in the tank either didn't do well, or it just couldn't grow faster than the algae, oops! :redface::icon_redf


----------



## sewingalot

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Look at that algae hair do! I love it! That's pretty much my experience with bolbitis, lol. The 30 is looking good, as usual. But the 60 is doing well!  I see it's filled in quite a bit! Yeah for the baby sword. The root-tabs are finished, just waiting for them to dry now.


----------



## Karackle

so far the bolbitis is NOT looking like that in the 30g which is great! But I guess it doesn't like the 60g as much :hihi: Ah well....at least it's flourishing in one of the tanks! :biggrin: and let's face it, the 30g needed it more than the 60g so it's ok. Yes, the 60g has filled in quite nicely recently, i think the plants are loving the new bulb. Thanks on the 30g, it's quite full of plants for sure, but it's a disaster too :hihi: they're all just shoved in pell mell :icon_lol:

Yay for root tabs! :biggrin: your root tabs are wonderful! roud:


----------



## chad320

Wow, your tanks have come along good! If it makes you feel any better, my bolbitus is the only thing in my 65g that gets algae. Even the glass doesnt but this plant seeems to be a magnet for it. Hows the new light working out for you, good still? Its been almost a month since an update again...*cough* New picture time!!!!


----------



## Karackle

I will try to get some new pics up in this thread soon, especially because in the 3 weeks since the last set the sunset hygro has grown SIGNIFICANTLY it's crazy. The hygro is LOVING the new light on the 60g tank. And thanks Chad, I'm not really sad about the BBA on the bolbitis in the 60g, but it's growing nicely in the 30g with little or no algae on it, so I'll take it roud: 

The 30g still needs its rescape (the 10g took priority after the H2O2 incident) but maybe i'll snap a quick pic anyway :tongue:


----------



## Karackle

Wow, wow, wow it's been about 6 months since I updated my journals! Bad Kara, BAD KARA!!!! I've been really busy with school actually, but it's summer now, which means a _little_ more free time. Especially Weds nights when the fiancé (oh! I got engaged in my absence, LOL) is bowling. Anyway, I actually have some pictures I took when I (*finally*rescaped the tank a few weeks (months?) ago that I never got around to posting. So I'll post those and along with some more recent ones. 

This tank is going through a bit of a change because twice in the past 2 months the filter started leaking from where the pump attaches to the main filter unit. I cleaned it out, ran it in the sink over a container to catch any drips while I went out to dinner and a movie, came home, everything looked fine so I put it back on the tank, kept a close eye on it and didn't see any problems after a couple weeks so I chalked it up to it getting knocked slightly out of place when I cleaned the filter (which I'd done a few days before noticing the leak). Fast forward to a couple days ago, we had some flooding in the basement that turned out to be coming from the 2-5 gallons of water that had leaked out of the filter again....YIKES. It was dripping straight through the hardwood floor and ceiling and into the basement, luckily into the laundry room side of the basement, not the carpeted den side! 

SO i was telling Sara (sewingalot) about my filter disaster and she suggested using a powerhead to drive a sponge filter, that way everything is internal so if the filter fails, no leaks, no more damage to the hardwood. So I decided I would try that. Bought my powerhead and coarse sponge to attach, got home, the intake and outlet attachments were not in the box. 

So that's where I'm at. I need to exchange that on my way home from work and then I'll use the tubes from the aquaclear to force the sponge to the bottom of the tank to maximize water flow (pulled up from the bottom, spit out at the top) and also to make it easier to hit the sponge behind the lace rock  

So that's the story so far. Pictures to come soon (I hope).

*edit* I'll try to get some pics of the 60g too it's an epic jungle in there these days!


----------



## Complexity

Hey Karackle, 6 months hiatus is nothing. I was just informed last night that I hadn't updated my journals in 3 years! :icon_lol: I was also busy with school. I've finished my bachelors degree and have taken all the grad courses I can take until I get into a professional program at a grad school (which accepts applications only once a year). So I finally have some time to play with my tanks again. Yay!

What's the brand of filter that's leaking? I'm assuming it's a canister filter, right? Have you lubricated the o-rings lately? I have found that my canisters will sometimes leak if the o-rings get dry, but they work perfectly again as soon as I lubricate them. Everyone says not to use vasiline so I finally got Super Lube. It's not expensive, and just one tube has lasted forever.

Also, if you have the space, you might want to put your canisters in a dishpan like this. I found some black ones at Walmart for just a couple of bucks. It not only catches leaky water, but it makes it easier to detect that there is a leak since you can see it more easily when it's pooled up in the dishpan.

Looking forward to seeing your new pics! I'm redoing my 75g tanks and have a new 90g tank, as well. Once they get a little further along, I'll try to take pics of them, too. :smile:


----------



## Karackle

Vicki! HI! Hahaha I actually saw that post, I'm still subscribed to your thread  I was going to (and probably still will) comment on it :hihi: Congratulations on the bachelor's and grad courses!!! That's so great!!! Grad school is DEFINITELY keeping me busy, but with no classes, I do tend to have a LITTLE more time in the summer, though lab work is getting heavier now that I'm getting into the meat of my thesis research. But I try to maintain the tanks as best I can, I just don't have as much time to post anymore  

I actually do not have a canister filter, I totally forgot to mention that, it's actually an AquaClear HOB filter that was dripping from where the pump twists into the body of the filter. Thanks for the suggestions though! I probably could rig some kind of drip tray anyway, that's a good idea. I'm going to try out the sponge filtration system for now, Sara (Sewingalot) has been having really good luck using the same system on her 55g, but if it doesn't seem to be working well for my tank, I'll think about setting up a drip tray for the AquaClear. 

I look forward to seeing your pictures as well, sounds like you're doing a MAJOR overhaul! I hope you remembered to take "before" pictures


----------



## Complexity

I hear you about not having time to post while taking classes. I had to walk away from certain forums completely because I tended to enjoy them a little _too_ much, letting time get away from me. So I learned to just leave the forums while studying. How much longer do you have before you graduate, and are you working towards a masters or doctorate?

I don't use HOB filters so I'm not much help after all. Perhaps there's an o-ring somewhere on the HOB filter that needs a lube job? :tongue:


----------



## sewingalot

Congratulations on the engagement!!! (For the fiftieth time of saying so, I'm just so excited!)

Looking forward to the pictures and to hear how you like the internal power sponge filter.  I have nothing to say as I already talked to you about all the other stuff. So: :tongue::bounce:


----------



## Karackle

Vicki - It could be the rubber gasket where the pump attaches to the filter that needs some lube....but for fear of the floors, I don't think the fiancé would let me try fixing it again  I am in a PhD program and I have at least 2 years left, possibly (probably) closer to 3 as the thesis is all research based. And yes, I hear ya on walking away from the forums else the eat up all your time leaving none for studying! :hihi:

Sara - Thanks! I will try to get pictures up today, we were away this weekend or I would have done it then :tongue: My brilliant plan to use the AquaClear tubing failed due to incompatible sizes so for the moment the sponge is just stuck on the pump itself, but I am liking it so far I think. I left the little filter in there as well for the moment for added circulation, but I think I'm going to stick it in the 5g to see if I can get it to clean up the muck in that tank, which needs an overhaul....too much letting it dry out, got some brown moss in there  Ian has plenty in his tank for me to pilfer though


----------



## Karackle

As promised, some PICTURES! 

First, here is the tank 3 months ago....I was doing a minor rescape, these are "before" pictures but I never got a chance to take "after" pictures because Ian came home while I was in the middle of my rescape and proposed to me.....so I got a bit distracted  

Sorry for the poor quality, I wasn't using a tripod. 

Full tank shots:



























I pulled out an entire cup FULL of......I am blanking on the name of this plant









Hygro something or other trying to make a bid for freedom from the tank:



























Crypts doing well:









And then I did some rearranging and then got a bit distracted. But I moved the hygro over to the right behind the lace rock and did some other minor rearranging I think.

Pictures from today in the next post


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## Karackle

And here are some pictures I took today. The tank needs some TLC but I've been trying to get the filter sorted out first and then I will deal with the aesthetics  I've also got a small cut on my right thumb so I was trying to use only my left hand as much as possible, but that's not real manageable for scaping  

Anyway, some FTS: 
(again please excuse the poor image quality, it got late so I was trying to be quick so I didn't bother with the tripod)








_please excuse the sponge floating in the middle, it was the prefilter on the HOB but the shrimp were loving it so I've been leaving it in for now_










Some of the crypts are showing signs of needing new root tabs (of which I have plenty and AWESOME ones thanks to Sara): 









But some of the crypts are looking quite happy (though I'll probably refresh the root tabs while I'm in there): 


















As you can see, the bolbitis is flourishing in this tank as is the hygro and the crypts, the java ferns have done better, but some are doing well. I've also got some hair algae issues though that I need to sort out. I MIGHT scoop out all the fish I can find and do a complete overhaul on this tank because there are TONS of snail shells everywhere, the plants could use a hydrogen peroxide dunk and not that I don't have the HOB filter I'm thinking I want to reconfigure the whole shebang. But we'll see. 

Right now I'm running 2 filters, a small in tank filter, actually, it's the old version of this exo terra filter, and a powerhead attached to a coarse sponge as a DIY sponge filter of sorts. I'll probably nix the exo terra eventually, but not until I've got the sponge filter set up the way I want it. I want the sponge at the bottom of the tank 1) so i can hide it behind the lace rock and 2) to increase water circulation by pulling water from the bottom of the tank and shooting it out at the top. I was hoping to use the tubes from the aquaclear filter but they didn't fit (probably would have if I'd paid $35 for the aquaclear powerhead but I went with the $15 PetCo brand one). I found some clear flexible tubing at Home Depot that would work, but I could only find it in a 10 foot bundle for $8.00....since I need less than a foot, I passed, but tried to use a piece of the tubing off my gravel vac....diameter was too small. Alas, that is why you can see the sponge is still attached directly to the powerhead intake. I'm going to hit Lowes tomorrow to see if they have the right tubing in a shorter length, and/or go back to HD when it's not 5 minutes to closing to see if someone will sell me 1-2 feet instead of all 10. 

Let's see, what else.....I think I only have a few fish left in this tank, I haven't seen any of my coral colored fish of late. I think I'm down to just 2-3 zebra danios, 5 or so young guppies, 1 or 2 otos and a few female yellow shrimp. However, I have 2 white (but not albino) zebra danios and 2 gorgeous male guppies in QT along with 4 otos. I haven't decided how to split up the otos if they all survive (so far, so good, bought them on Weds....fingers crossed I didn't just jinx it) but the zebras and the guppies are definitely going in this tank. I also bought 7 Beckford's Pencilfish today and I'm not sure if they'll go in this tank or go in the 10g once all of the quarantining is done. 

Anyway, that's a lot of updates for now. I will try to get better pictures with the tripod soon, and certainly once I've rescaped :biggrin: 

Thanks for reading (especially if you made it this far)! As always, questions, comments, concerns, suggestions etc. etc. etc. are always welcome!


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## sewingalot

Salvinia minima is the floater in question. I must say that it stinks you can grow that bolbitis. When I gave it to you it had like one half dead leaf and one almost growing one. Haha. Kara saver of crypts and bolbitis. Speaking of crypts, I have a few I'm going to send you soon to nurse back to health. :hihi:

I bet with that lace rock, you've got plenty of good bacteria left in your tank. Don't they sometimes use lace rock in filters just to home nitrifiying bacterias?  Oh and check, check, 1.2.3...check, check. Oh wait, that's a sponge! :tongue: 

Have you thought about trying some vals in this tank? They could be cool since that hygro is kind of giving that effect.  Great updates, Kara!


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## 2in10

Nice update, congrats on the engagement.


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## Karackle

2in10 - thanks and THANKS! :biggrin: 

Sara - Why can't I ever remember Salvinia minima? Is there a common name for it? Maybe i'll just start calling it "not duckweed" :tongue: 

HAHAHAHA it does look lik there is a mic in the tank :hihi: 

As for the bolbitis, it must just love LLLLOOOOOWWWW light high (or medium) neglect tanks  the first piece that I put in Ian's tank didn't do too well, but then one day I was down there and there was a huge new leaf. So who knows. I don't know what's happening in there now though, it's SO overgrown it's quite the jungle. But Ian likes it that way, so that is how it will stay. Though I am probably going to steal some moss from the tank when I redo the moss wall and cave in the 5g :hihi: I'll have to get pics up of the 60g soon. 

Sara, there probably are plenty of good bacteria in the lace rock, you're right, I bet people did (and do) use lace rock in their filters instead of the ceramic filter media. So I went to Lowes yesterday and they did ideed cell tubing by the foot from larger spools instead of just in 10' lengths. Of course, being the silly head that I am, I forgot to grab the attachment part from the filter before leaving for work, but I grabbed a length of tube I'm pretty sure is right anyway. I was EXHAUSTED when I got home and after I forced myself to take a walk, I was pooped, I ate dinner and then sat on the couch the rest of the night :redface: So I will try finishing the filter the way I want it again tonight. I might also leave the small internal filter in this tank because I can put finer filter media in it, so it might be good for polishing the water slightly, especially when I'm digging around getting things resettled  

So far the fish are still looking good in their QT, eating well, swimming around a lot and looking healthy. As much as I stared and searched, I could only find 3 otos last night, but there are a lot of plants and driftwood for the 4th one to be hiding in. I'm going to assume that he was hiding because I saw no signs of a dead fish. I'll check again tonight. Either way, this tank should have a few new inhabitants soon (and with the guppy addition, probably many more additions relatively soon after that as well )


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## Complexity

I think I see green before my eyes! :icon_lol: Tank is looking good! I can never find all my otos in my tanks. They are masters at hiding (well, they don't really hide, but I just can't figure out which leaf they're on, around, under at each moment).

What fish do you have in the QT? Anything other than guppies? Take pics once they're in the tank. I had guppies long ago and really loved them. They always made me think they were the butterflies of the tank!


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## Karackle

Hahahaha Yeah *Vicki,* a little TOO much green....I REALLY need to replace that bulb! LOL I kept meaning to replace the "way too green" bulb that came with the fixture but never quite got around to it......a stop at Lowe's might be in order :tongue: 

And yes, Otos do manage to blend right in and "hide" even if they're not really hiding, just eating the yummy algae off the undersides of leaves :hihi: 

I have the 2 male guppies and 2 white zebra danios in QT that are definitely going to go into this tank once they are done with quarantine. If all 4 otos survive I will probably put a couple of them in this tank and leave a couple in the 10g. I also have 1 male betta in QT that will stay either in the 10 or the 5g. I have 7 beckford's pencilfish currently in QT that I was thinking I would put in this tank, but now I'm thinking I will try them in the 10g with the betta. There is also 1 lonely CPD in QT with the pencilfish, he's about the same size as they are and he was all alone, I figured he'd be happier hanging out with the pencilfish (I read they're good dither fish) than with 2 huge (by comparison) corys. So far, he has actually been hanging out quite close to the pencilfish. I'll try to get more CPDs, but at $3.50 a piece on a budget, i might have to buy them 1 or 2 at a time :tongue:

I love that description of guppies as tank butterflies, they really are gorgeous fish. I think they're underrated because they're thought of as "beginner fish" but for me, I think they are gorgeous, plus with a few females in the tank I can populate my tank for free  But the zebra danios help keep the population in check roud:


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## Karackle

Quick update, I found some tubing of the correct size to connect everything together to get the sponge to the bottom of the tank. The tubing was curved from being on a spool, so I ended up using a small piece of it to attach a tube from the old aquaclear to the intake on the powerhead. The aquaclear tube was too loose in the sponge, so I cut off a small piece of my old, finer pored prefilter and shoved it inside to make a nice tight seal. I think this should work, we shall see. 

Anyway, a few pictures: 

Setup (with sponge pulled down to show the aquaclear tube):









And with the sponge pushed up into place:









Side view in the tank:









And from the front:









It's not perfectly hidden, but once I rearrange a bit the plants and/or lace rock should cover up most of it roud: 

For now, the little filter will remain in the tank. The "powerhead" portion of it is quite powerful, but the filter portion just isn't large enough for this tank, it does have the advantage of an easy-to-refill little cartridge I can put filter floss in for some water "polishing" so if I can find a good place for it, I might just leave it in. We'll see. 

So far so good on the QT for the fish destined for this tank too roud: It's been a week, so I'm pleased!


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## Karackle

I noticed that some of the fish in my QT looked like they might have worms and it reminded me that I haven't wormed my tanks in a long time, so I went ahead and hit them all with some anti-parasitic meds. I'm not sure any of the fish had worms, but I did see at least one unhappy looking worm "swimming" across the tank. Probably just a detritus worm as it was right after I put the meds in, but still, I hope that means it will help if there are worms roud: 

I'm planning to rescape this tank and add the guppies and zebras tomorrow so stay tuned roud:


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## Karackle

I moved the guppies and zebras over to this tank today and snapped a few fish pictures  

Guppies (none of the pictures really do justice to the range of colors on either fish or the iridescence, but it gives an idea ) :




































And my super fat, super happy oto:



























When I first put the fish in the tank, there was no sign of the leopard zebra danio and I started getting nervous that for some reason the dewormer had done him in, but when I walked by later he was out and about frolicking with his new friends :biggrin: I thought for sure the male guppies would start right in schooling with, or rather harassing, the juvenile ladies, but it was really funny because the 4 fish that had been in QT together have still been hanging out :hihi: though now the danios are more interested in each other. The guppies, especially the new males, and all 3 danios also LOVE playing in the currents generated by the 2 filters. I've walked by and 3-5 of them are in a line swimming against the current :hihi: 

Now that it's dark, I'll try to get some full tank shots, but first I have to do some trimming of doggy fur so we'll see how long that takes :tongue:

For zebra danio pics, please see my 5 & 10g thread.


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## Complexity

Love the otos! He (she?) is obviously very happy in your tank! :biggrin:

The guppies are pretty. If my fish didn't bite the tails off them, I'd get more for my tanks. Guess I'll have to enjoy my guppy love vicariously through your tank! LOL!


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## 2in10

Beautiful guppies, wow you seem to back with a vengeance.


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## Karackle

Vicki - thanks!!! I will make sure to post the occasional guppy pic just for you then  And yes, that Oto has been in this tank for a while s/he definitely seems happy to me! :biggrin: I'm actually not even sure if I want to put other otos in this tank and mess with his/her mojo :tongue: 

2in10 - thanks! I like them too  And they're even prettier in real life  And yes, it's nice to have a bit of extra time now that it's summer and I don't have to worry about getting homework done, though lab is getting busier now, but hopefully I'll be able to keep updating here anyway


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## Karackle

I have some more pictures! 

First, FTS with the (newer) light I am currently using but still need to get a new bulb for:









Next, FTS with the old light also running: 








I couldn't believe how much more color the old light (of a different color temp) brought out! I definitely need to change the bulb! 

Also, I want to light the tank more evenly without adding more light, I was wondering what people thought about the idea of swapping the glass canopy pieces so the wider one was attached to the plastic piece and the narrow one was out in front so I could put the light over the center of the tank more than towards the back? 

(please pardon the extreme calcium and salt buildup that I will be cleaning as soon as I am done medicating and I rescape the tank) but here is a picture of how the glass canopy is now, i know putting the narrow strip in front will make cleaning / trimming / rescaping difficult, but I often take the canopy off or move it backwards for that stuff anyway. I'd love thoughts on this idea!


















Also, this is kind gross, kinda sad, but also (I think) really cool, I accidentally pulled the shell off a snail while I was removing him from the filter I was about to clean, the lil bugger is still alive! I don't imagine he will be for long once one of the fish decides it remembers how tastey escargot is, but I had to get some pictures! 


















I gave the second dose of meds today after a 25% water change (as per the instructions), so I will do another 25% in 2 days, and then I will probably rescape this weekend  

So stay tuned :biggrin:


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## 2in10

I think replacing the glass with plexi on top will give you a lot more light and a better color rendition from the bulb. You may not need a second bulb if you make the change.


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## Karackle

Oh I'm not planning to go plexi on this tank, just swap around the wide piece of glass and the narrow piece of glass so that the narrow piece is in front and will be the part I open for feeding and such, and the wide piece will be more centered so the light can be more centered. I am too low tech to go with a second light (except for getting better pictures) :hihi: I also desperately need to change the color temperature by replacing my current bulb, it's so horribly green!


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## sewingalot

Nice filter modding there. Can I send you one of mine to do the same? Seriously, you just made it possible for me to switch out my crappy power head for my good one. 

GUPPIES!!! Those are some awesome looking guppies. I know there is totally a controversy on this, but wouldn't it be awesome to breed them with endlers? I bet you'd get some gnarly (do people still say this?) hybrids!

That is too cool that that snail was still alive. When I accidentally do that, the yellow shrimp just flock to them. It's kind of gross. Actually, they recently found out they can gang up and flip the pond snails over and eat them alive. Yuck.

Have to laugh at your calcium build up. I see the same thing on my 10 gallon and just walk away to avoid cleaning it. :hihi:

Can't believe you can still grow that bolbitis. Totally not fair. And I second the light. It'll look much better with the older style. I actually thought you had a green water bloom for a minute. :icon_redf


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## Karackle

BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHA GREEN WATER!!! It does look like that doesn't it!? I seriously need a new bulb in the "right" color temp :hihi: 

And thanks on the filter mods  I was proud of myself for "frankensteining" that together :hihi: My only complaint is that the tubing is already not-so-clear but once it's hidden by algae and plants, it won't be an issue I don't think. 

Yeah, I was very pleased with the guppies, they were ALL really pretty so I just told the guy to grab me 2 colorful ones that preferably looked a little different from each other. I think he chose well  I actually had a guppy / endler breeding project going on at one point and some of the hybrids were AWESOME. I definitely wouldn't mind getting some endler males in the tank to mix it up and see what happens. The females I have in the tank already are from you Sara that I think have some of the WT genes mixed in too, so those babies ought to be pretty as well. 

Yeah...so for the snail....later that night (or maybe the next day) I definitely saw one of the shrimpers chowing on it....ah well. 

I cleaned [STRIKE]all[/STRIKE] as much as I could of the calcium buildup off of the glass and swapped around the glass pieces so the light is sitting over the center of the tank now and it really makes a difference. Once I get the new bulb, it should look much better. (Oh, and once I rescape it too :hihi 

I LOVE my bolbitis forest, I would say I'm sorry it didn't grow for you, but then I wouldn't have inherited it for my tank :hihi: I can send you some back though if you want to try it again


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## sewingalot

Haha, I was about to say "Send me some green water!" I've still been unsuccessful in getting green water, lol. Every other algae I am GREAT at growing. :hihi:

I love your bolbitis forest. But after having that exact same plant for months with two single leaves one sickly and one just starting to sprout, I'll decline. I'll just look at your pictures for happiness. :biggrin:

Not being able to clean off calcium build up is why two out of the three tanks I have setup is now topless. That and I sat on a lid on cleaning day a while back and that was painful. Lol!

If you do decide to hybridize them, let me know! And I totally agree on the two chosen. Nice contrast.


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## Karackle

hahahahaha sorry, no can do on the green water samples, that's just my horrible lighting  

I will do my best to keep the bolbitis going so you can enjoy the pictures :hihi:

Yeah, calcium buildup is a pain to get off, especially that llllaaasssst little bit :angryfire :hihi:

I will have to find endlers first, but they are really pretty, so maybe if I find some I'll toss in a few endler males :biggrin:


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## orchidman

LOOOVVVEEEE the guppies!!!!!!


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## Karackle

Thanks Orchid!!! (and i agree, Sara IS awesome :hihi I love the guppies too!!! I might actually want to get a few more, but I guess I'll see if these guys repopulate the tank at all first


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## Karackle

Well, unfortunately, for some reason, a few days after putting the new fish in this tank I lost one of the new zebra danios but the 2 guppies and remaining zebra danio continue to do well. I am hoping to get around to rescaping this tank this weekend, but that will depend on how long it takes me to redo the 5 and 10g and get those plants swapped around :hihi:


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## Complexity

I'm sorry to hear about the zebra danio. I hope your other fish continue to do okay. Looking forward to seeing the rescape when you get it done!


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## Karackle

Thanks Vicki, I was bummed about the fish loss, but so far everyone else looks good, so hopefully it will stay that way!

I'm looking forward to getting the rescape done myself, I didn't quite get to it this weekend, but I did redo the 5 and 10g tanks


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## sewingalot

Sorry about the danio. Are the others okay? Was this a tank bred one? How is the rescape on this tank. And Happy 4th of July!!


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## Karackle

Thanks  No this was one of the new white ones, so far the other one and the guppies are doing well though  

Thanks, Happy 4th to you and everyone too!!!


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## sewingalot

So sad on the new danio. Was that the one that was hiding earlier? Maybe he was sick before and the stress in bringing him home did him in. Do you think you'll breed these guys? If so I'm stepping in line right under the "Next" sign. :hihi:

Hope you had a great fireworks day!


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## Karackle

OH! And I just realized I didn't answer the important question, scaping is not going LOL I'm hoping to get it done this weekend.


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## Karackle

I think I might have 2 females, I thought the "blue leopard" one was a boy, but I'm thinking now it might be a girl. If I get a male I might consider trying to breed them, I don't really have a tank to raise the babies in unless the betta does ok in the 10g though. So I guess we'll see  

It's possible that the one that died was sick and the combination of getting used to 2 new tanks was too much even though she seemed to be doing well in the 10g. Ah well, I may have lost 1 danio, but miraculously, I still have the 4 otos I came home with the same day, so I suppose I'll take it roud:


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## sewingalot

Yay for the otos, boo for the danio. If you do get the room you totally should. It would be so cute to watch them grow up!


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## Karackle

raising fry is definitely fun! Especially when you can raise them all together in one tank  

Sorry folks, I epically failed to rescape this tank this weekend. Had to work saturday morning and then we were at Ian's mom's house for dinner and to introduce our dogs to their new dogs before the new guys got too protective of their new home. Yesterday I slept in WAY late and then ran around to clothing stores in search of a new bathing suit for our beach vacation next week and to several craft and dollar stores on a mission to find things to make decoration for the wedding and then of course I wanted to experiment with options. 

I'm thinking I'll do it this Wednesday while Ian is at bowling league


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## Karackle

I finally did a rescape, it's just a minor one because I didn't want to do a full remove-the-fish-tear-out-all-the-plants-and-hardscape-full-overhaul a few days before I'm away for a week. Also, I thought I could probably get the tank approximately how I want it without going through that whole ordeal. I managed to manually remove a lot of the algae that I wanted to dip the plants to get rid of too and I might try spot-treating with H2O2 or excel (if i can find some) if it comes back. 

Here are some before pics:


















And with the extra light on: 









Check out the roots on the hygro!: 









So, I shifted the bolbitis over to the left, cut the hygro into a few smaller pieces and planted it behind the lace rock. I also pulled up some of the hygro roots from the front right and replanted them behind / to the right of the lace rock to try and get it to stay in that area to hide the new filter system. I also propped up the lace rock so it's sitting higher in the tank. I shifted some of the smaller ferns and "grass guys" (don't know the actual plant name) around and spread them out a little in the front-center-right of the tank. Finally, there was a small piece of DW that I had propped behind the lace rock coming up over the top of it that had some moss on it, I pulled that out from behind the lace rock, tucked one end under the bolbitis roots and rested it on the lace rock. The moss sort of fell off but there's some left so it might grow back. 

Anyway, here are a few (quite murky) after pics: 


















I mostly accomplished what I wanted (neatening up the look of the tank and hiding the equipment)....the small internal filter in the front is still showing, but i haven't decided yet whether I want to keep it in the tank. 

If i DO choose to keep the small internal filter (which i think I will)....any suggestions where to put it? I was thinking on the far left side of the tank, but I didn't want to cause circulation issues if it's shooting back toward the powerhead-sponge filter.....could I point it toward the front of the tank? Any other suggestions I haven't thought of are welcome! 

I'll post more tomorrow once the water clears


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## Karackle

And I got some pictures of the 60g tank for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a FTS because our old TV is in the way (waiting to be picked up by our friend) but I got some semi-FTS side shots  

Left side:









Center: 









Right side:









And the bolbitis that i put in here (which died (i thought) completely originally) is doing REALLY well:








it's the bright but dark green leaves at the top....so tall it's bent over. I actually can't believe the difference in color in the bolbitis in this tank vs. the 30g even though it's growing and spread like wildfire in both tanks!  Very interesting.


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## sewingalot

Yay for pictures! I'm digging the new scape a lot. Can't wait until the water settles. Smart to wait on the major overhaul until you are home to keep an eye on those water parameters. How are the tanks doing as far as fish? Are they all still doing well? I hope!

Nice on the 60! That is so neat how the bolbitis leaves look completely different in this tank. That is really cool. I wonder why that is? 

On the filter, pointing it to to the front on the left side could actually improve the flow, I think. I did that before and it had a whirpool affect. Pretty awesome, really. Had to remove it as the shrimp were flying around in circles. :hihi:


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## Karackle

Thanks! I am liking it so far too  I topped off the water and took some more pictures after the dust settled, but I forgot to bring my camera to work to upload them :redface: so that update will have to wait :tongue:

As far as the fish go, everyone seems to be doing well still. The female guppies were quite fat and seem to have gotten less very fat but I haven't seen any fry yet, so the zebrafish might be doing their job too well. Maybe when I get back from vacation (gone for a week) I'll try the betta in the 10g and if he does ok I'll get a few more guppies to QT in the 5g. 

Yeah I have no idea why the bolbitis looks so different, I don't think it's particularly faster growing in one tank or the other, but it does seem to be the only plant in the 60g without algae on it, which is odd, while the bolbitis in the 30g does seem to get some algae on it. Who knows. But the plant is taking over both tanks! :hihi: (also sorry about the crappy quality of the 60g pics, I didn't realize they were THAT bad)

As for the whirlpool effect, that's sort of what I was thinking might happen. I'll try it out and see how the fish do roud: (once i get back)

Speaking of vacation.........any thoughts on feeding while away? I don't have a "fish sitter".....should i get those feeder pyramid things or just assume there's enough algae and critters in the tank to keep everyone happy for a week?


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## Karackle

Holy bananas batman, I can't believe it's been a MONTH since I posted.....seriously, it feels like maybe a week. The past month has been a bit of a whirlwind. I was away a week doing wedding planning stuff and sitting on the beach, then I was back at work for 2 weeks working crazy long hours trying to get something productive done before I left for another week to go take care of my mom because she had her hip replaced. 

Well I figured I'd have a lot of time to post clear pics of the rescape while she was sleeping, but of course, due to some mixup on the account, the internet was out at my parents house most of the week and when it was working, no joke, it was about as fast as dial up. Don't worry though, it was about the speed of 56k, luckily not 28 or 14. Woohoo. Oy. :help:

Anyway, I HAVE a bunch of pictures and I am hoping to get them posted today or tonight. 

In the mean time, the quick update is that all of the fish are doing well and the plants are filling in their new 'scape quite nicely. I'll get more pics soon. The floaters are SERIOUSLY liking the new filtration system I think because they are WAY overcrowding the surface. I need to do some serious scooping! 

Anyone need some salvinia minima?


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## Complexity

Looking forward to seeing the new pics tonight! :smile:


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## Karackle

Ok, since I gave the update already, let's get right to the boatload of pictures  

Some FTS before topping off: 



























And after top-off playing with some camera settings (I REALLY need to start keeping track of which setting I use for which picture when I do this because some pictures clearly look better than others but I can't remember which was what. OOPS :help:




































and one almost FTS focusing on the bolbitis:


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## Karackle

And some close-ups:































































this guy was floating for a LONG time...he needs some time to stretch out back toward the "sun":


















Floaters:


















And a quick fish shot:









The tank has grown in a bit since these pictures were taken so I am going to try to get some new pictures and post them soon, but I can't promise it will be tonight


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## Karackle

Some more pictures! 

Before I get to pretty FTS of how the tank is growing in, here are some before and after pictures of clearing out the Salvinia minima that is now growing like wildfire without the HOB filter to interfere with it's growth. So here are 2 "before clearing out the salvinia" pictures followed by 2 "after" pictures taken with the exact same settings (2 separate settings) to show how much difference in lighting there is.

Before


















After


















And this is why:













































And then I removed this (this is PACKED in, not just placed in the cup)


















slightly more manageable








I actually removed a little more after this picture too 

Then I topped off the tank, [STRIKE]placed some root tabs[/STRIKE] added some of Sara's super awesome homemade root tabs under the heavier root feeders, waited for the dust to settle and took some more shots



























This is the crypt that was all curled in on itself in the previous set of images (I think) next to another one that had been floating that now needs to reach for the sun









Bolbitis









And a few more shots


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## Complexity

Wow, what a difference after you took out the floaters! They were blocking off all the light! The plants are definitely happy in your tank. The Bolbitis looks amazing! I think that's the nicest looking Bolbitis I have seen!


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## Karackle

Vicki - I know! It's crazy right? I'll definitely have to keep an eye on how dense the floaters are getting, I knew they were blocking a lot of light, but didn't realize just HOW MUCH light until seeing those pictures! 

And thanks! The bolbitis does really well in this tank and in our 60g for some reason, though I've heard before that's not always the case. It's so funny how different tanks that seem to outwardly have the exact same setups can grow such different plants isn't it? Before I moved, I could never get Java fern to grow, now it grows quite well for me. Only difference I can see is the local water. And the fish stocked.


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## Complexity

Yeah, I've given up on growing java fern. It just does not like my water. Anubias, however, is an interesting plant. I have found it to grow poorly in some tanks (literally dying out), just sit in other tanks and attract BBA, while growing in other tanks. I cannot say why; although, it seems to be happier in older tanks. Maybe it has something to do with the tank being really, really established. Or maybe the lack of ferts. I don't know. But based on my luck with both of these, I never gave bolbitis a try for fear I'd kill most of it.

That was a massive amount of floaters you pulled out of that tank. You could almost go into business selling just floaters with the amount of growth you're getting!


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## 2in10

Great update, the Bolbitus is awesome.


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## Karackle

Vicki - yeah, I HAD given up on Java Fern, but then we moved and I stole a little bit from Ian's tank (he for some reason could always grow it, I guess the water in his apartment 15 minutes south of mine was just different enough that it was happy) and tried it in my tank and VOILA all of a sudden, it grew! I agree on anubias, and I think it does have something to do with a well established tank, maybe it likes the kind of nutrients that the mulm provides or something like that. If you ever want to try bolbitis, let me know, I have a lot now :hihi:

And YES I removed probably about a pound of floating plant matter!!! Maybe I should try to sell it :hihi: 

2in10 - thanks so much!!!


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## Complexity

I may take you up on the bulbitis for my 29g tanks. I've always wanted to try it. Let me know when you're ready to part with some.

Heck, yeah, I'd sell some of the floaters. Or at the very least RAOK them. There are lots of people who would love to have such healthy plants!


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## Karackle

I would say I can part with a bit of bolbitis right away, but it would probably be better to wait until the weather cools down a little more first. But if you want to risk it now, let me know, I can always send more  

And yeah, I'm more of a RAOKer for sure, next time it starts getting thick, I'll probably do that, good idea roud: I should have done it this time but I didn't know where to keep it and I wanted it out of this tank :hihi:


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## Complexity

Later is fine. I'm in no hurry. Just PM me whenever you have extra that you'd like to part with. By all means, don't let go of any unless you have more than you can use in your tank.

I understand what you mean by wanting it out of the tank. I used to have a really hard time tossing perfectly good plant trimmings (some of which are huge) when I knew I could sell or RAOK them. But I often just don't have the time to mess with it. Since my mind isn't thinking that way, I tend to do my trimmings more on a spur of the moment basis just before a water change. That's when I realize that the plants are way overgrown and need to be trimmed back so I trim them on the spot. Selling and RAOKing requires more planning than I'm able to do right now, especially since I came up with the brilliant plan of having not one, but two large high tech tanks!


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## Karackle

Well I definitely have plenty of bolbitis right now, but I'll hold off on sending it to you for a little to a) let the weather cool off a bit and 2) juuusssst in case it decides to get angry and die off because I moved the whole thing slightly to the left while rescaping :hihi: 

And yes, I'm totally with you on the whole "oh wow this tank really needs trimming better do it now while I have a free moment....oh man....now i have all these healthy plants I don't really want to throw out but where the heck would I put them while I wait to see if someone wants to accept a RAOK?" thing. That's pretty much exactly the thought process I went through when I pulled out the floaters. Ah well. Maybe next time I'll notice it sooner. But probably not....I don't really plan either :hihi: 

TWO high tech tanks now?! I'll have to check out the journal on that!!! (I assume it's the 75g linked in your sig?)


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## Complexity

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's trimming is basically a spur of the moment thing! :smile:

Yeah, one of the two high tech tanks is the 75g like before, but my 90g is also a high tech planted tank now. The two tanks have pretty much the same setup only the 90g is taller. I have no idea what I was thinking when I came up with the idea to have two large high tech tanks going, especially given my *lack* of trimming plans! LOL!


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## Karackle

Woops! Life got a little busy again! 

Hahahaha no Vicki, you are definitely NOT the only one that does trimming on a spur of the moment basis....there are at least 2 of us :hihi: 

2 huge high tech tanks, I can't even imagine!!! too much work for me! :tongue: I am amazed by those of you that pull it off though! :biggrin: 

Few more weeks and it should remain cool enough for shipping!


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## Karackle

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a year since I last posted here. It was a very busy year though, between school, working for my fellowship, and planning my wedding I have had a lot going on! This tank is doing well despite being mostly neglected other than the occasional pulling out of some algae (the green hairy / string kind) and removing the excess of floaters, I have mostly just let it be. The bolbitis continues to try and take over and the crypts and javas are doing very well. 

Today I did a bit of an overhaul because I broke down my 10g tank, we needed the space to move some shelves from our desk there to make room on the desk for our new desktop computer. I regret to say I totally forgot to take pictures before the overhaul. 

I removed as many of the floaters as I could, and took out some of the bolbitis that had creeped to the front of the tank. I then put my Java fern covered driftwood pieces from the 10g tank into this one, along with the large anubias that nestles nicely in the U of the DW. I also transplanted a few of the crypts into this tank. 

This tank now has the 7 pencilfish and 1 CPD from the 10g as inhabitants along with the 2 zebra danios, guppies and oto or 2 that were already inhabitants.

I will pull out the new camera and take some pictures once the dust settles and post them up. :icon_wink


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## Karackle

Here are the pictures, as promised! Enjoy!!! 

Full tank shots: 













































From the short ends: 



























And some close-ups of the plants added from the 10g: 




































And some other close-ups:


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## Karackle

Was accidentally in a video mode that allows taking still images while filming and ended up with some video footage of the tanks. Figured I might as well post it :hihi:


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## Karackle

Ok I have some more 30g updates AND pictures. 

My tank glass was a MESS and getting in the way of taking good pictures



























So I bought a magnetic algae scraper when I was getting a few other supplies I needed and got to work, I think it looks a bit better (also windexed the front glass)









And was able to get some better fish shots. Wanted to get some better ones of my 2 pretty adult male guppies (better shots of the pink and yellow one anyway, to showcase his colors better) and they were conveniently hanging out with the pretties girl I have too 













































hey why you keep putting that camera in our faces?









And the one CPD is comfortable enough with "his school" of pencilfish that he is already out and about and I tried to get a pictures, but this was the best I could manage









As for the other supplies I needed, when I was cleaning the tank I noticed my secondary small internal filter was not working, when I went to find the clog in the impeller I noticed the whole body of the motor was deformed. Yikes. Needless to say, I needed a new one. By sheer coincidence, I ended up with an almost identical one. I only use this filter for added circulation in the tank. 

New filter



























Looks familiar









Since it was the same filter (though probably 7 model years newer :tongue I saved the carbon in case I ever decide to use it and put the emptied carbon container turned filter floss holder I had been using in the filter instead. 

And it went in the tank









but it's well hidden by the Bolbitis forest









And a clearer picture of the DW covered in Java ferns I transplanted here from the 10g yesterday 









Enjoy, and thanks for looking!


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## Karackle

Unfortunately, one of the pencil's didn't make it through the tank transfer, though it is the one I had noticed had a bit of a sunken belly anyway, so I think he would have passed soon anyway. 

It did make me realize it had been a long time since I dewormed the tank so I went ahead and did that and hopefully everyone else stays healthy. 

I can't believe how often I see the little CPD in this tank! He swims with the guppies and the pencils. It's pretty awesome. I am going to try to get better pictures of him.


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## Karackle

Just a quick update, so far all the rest of the fish seem to have adjusted well to their new home. All 6 pencils and the CPD are still doing well. 

I also noticed there are a TON of baby guppies right now, and they are all a bit bigger than the "just dropped" stage. I hope a few of them survive, and at least one or two are males that get to adulthood. I need some more color in this tank. 

My current stocking is: 

2 zebra danios (population control)
6 Beckford's pencilfish
1 Celestial Pearl Danio (CPD)
5 adult guppies (2 male, 3 female) 
Handful of sub-adult guppies 
10-20 baby guppies (I counted 10, I assume there are at least 2 for every 1 I saw :hihi

I would love to get some more CPDs for this tank and some shrimp. I am thinking some Amanos and a Bamboo shrimp.

I am pretty understocked but heavily planted so I would love opinions on stocking possibilities (are my stocking ideas good? would you suggest something else? etc.)


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## Karackle

Uh oh, I think I have a bully in my tank. 

So I have always enjoyed just watching my fish tanks from time to time as one might watch a TV. At my old apartment, my roommate used to think I was weird because she would come home at lunch time and find me there sitting in a chair in front of my fish tank eating a sandwich sometimes. Over the past few years, I have barely managed to keep my tanks running smoothly (luckily for super low tech tanks, they mostly take care of themselves). More recently, I have been working from home a lot to finish my masters thesis, and have had some time to get the tanks cleaned up a bit. I have also been very stressed out between trying to finish up my thesis and find a job and apply to another graduate program (a part time one). So, I have been making time to pull up a chair and just watch the fish, because I have always found that very relaxing. 

Anyway, the point is, I noticed I have a bully in my tank. I think. I have 2 zebra danios in my tank to help with guppy population control. I have been noticing that the male likes to chase all of the fish. Relentlessly. He will pursue them round and round the tank. Mostly he chases the female zebra danio, probably trying to mate with her. That doesn't bother me. But he also chases the female guppies a lot (I assume because they look very much like the leopard print female zebra danio). Sometimes they look rather stressed after a bout of chasing. Occasionally, I see him chase one of the male guppies, and a couple times I saw him chase the Beckford's Pencilfish (newer members of the tank, they got moved here last week when I broked down the 10g). 

Should I move him? I can put him in my husband's 60g tank. Currently the only inhabitants are 3-5 black neon tetras, 2 albino blue-eyed bushy nosed plecos and 2 amano shrimp. He (we) will be restocking the tank soon with some kind of black and white fish. He will either go with some kind of tetra again, or possibly some black and white Mollies and / or Platies. If he goes with the livebearers, we will probably put a few zebra danios in the tank for population control anyway. Anyway, sorry I digress, the 60g stocking is not really the issue here. :tongue: 

Should I move the bully zebra danio to the 60g, or is some chasing relatively harmless?


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## Karackle

Update time! The tank is doing well, the Beckford's Pencilfish and the CPD have adjusted very well to their new home. I removed the Zebra danios to the 60g tank. They are doing very well in the 60g tank and I see everyone in the 30g tank out and about much more often now. So I think it was the right decision. 

I rearranged the DW with the Java ferns on it that I moved to this tank from the 10g but I am not sure I love it still. Let me know what you think! 

Pictures:


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## raptor87

whats the plant in the back with the red leaves? can you get it locally?


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## du3ce

looks like pinnafitida


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## Karackle

Actually, I hate to break it to you, but it's just Bolbitis with some algae on it that looks red with my second light on that has a pink hue to it, I use it for pictures because it brings out the color of the fish, but it makes that algae look at reddish for whatever reason.


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## Karackle

Yikes! Well it's been almost 2 years since i updated this thread. I find I have a little more time these days, so I am trying to get back into the forums, and I certainly have a little more time to be more active with tank upkeep. This tank has just been (mostly) left to grow and do it's own thing since my last update. I still need to rescape and I am HOPING to have time to do that this weekend (assuming my HW doesn't take up my whole 2 days off (Sun & Mon)...stupid grad school). 

So we broke down our 60g tank, I only mention this because you will see a LARGE rhizome with a couple leaves from an Anubias Barterii that I salvaged from that tank (the rest of the plants were sold). It also means the remaining mean zebra danio moved back into this tank. But that was temporary, there were still bullying issues and he now resides in my 5g tank. I also have 2 amanos and 1 black neon tetra in this tank now from the 60g. Anyway, here are some updates shots of the tank as a record before rescaping (at least slightly). The large A. Barterii may or may not stay in this tank, right now, I'm just trying to keep it alive  

Anyway, pictures! 

Full tank shots (playing with settings on my new camera but I think these all basically look the same?):



























Left side: 









Center (anyone know what species of Anubias I have here?): 









Right side (with Anubias Barterii):









Fish:








(please excuse the blur)










Amanos (settling in nicely to their new digs):



























And a snail eating? on the surface of the water :


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## Karackle

Well I managed to get the rescape done today! That's the good news, the bad news is the tank is still pretty murky, I snapped a quick shot of the murk, will post more later once the dust settles  Enjoy!


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## Karackle

Whoops! meant to post this back in October

Here's the tank with cleared water 









I realized that it was about darn time I got a new background for this tank (the tape on the edges indicates at some point in time there WAS a background on this tank, but darned if I know when or where it disappeared)! So I headed out to the pet store to pick up a background (and new suction cups for the heater). Came home with a background, suction cups, 2 amano shrimp, and this: 


















I have never used one of these tube plants before, I have no idea what species of Anubias this is, I also know sometimes these tube things contain plants that are NOT aquatic but this does seem to be some form of Anubias and as far as I know they're all aquatic? I hope?, but I liked the elongated leaves, and the front right corner of this tank needed something (that said, I realize the leaf shape may changed because I'm pretty sure these are grown emersed, so we shall see).

So I got home, tied the anubias to a rock (after rinsing it off)









and set up the shrimp to drip acclimate









Then I repropped up the large rock (I had apparently just knocked the "prop rock" out of place), put the plants I had knocked out of place back where I wanted them, and then I went to get my root tabs. I couldn't find them at first, but then I found a whole baggy full with the stuff for the 60g, woohoo! (These are DIY root tabs made for me by a friend and they are awesome) So then I placed those in the gravel 









WELL then I went to put the background on and realized I should have done that FIRST since I wanted to decide between the blue and the black BUT replanting / propping the rock / root-tabbing stirred up some dust again, duh. Oops, not enough coffee I guess. It wasn't nearly as murky this time so I did my best. Was pretty sure I would end up using the black, so I tried the blue first 









and then the black, and settled on the black. 









By this point, the Amanos were in mostly tank water, so I scooped them out and put them in the tank. They seemed pretty happy right away:


















They're much smaller than the oooollllld guys I have in there already, here's a comparison shot (for whatever reason it looks like the big one is much closer to the front of the tank, he's not, they were almost right next to each other, he's just much bigger )









Those are the updates for now! Will get some better shots with the good camera once the water clears again


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## Karackle

Well, I removed some Bolbitis on Monday after work. Not as much as I probably need to, but I took out the runner growing up the front glass, the one coming over my lava rock, and I removed a little from the front to make some more space and available light for the crypts. I really love the look of the bolbitis, but I think I still need to thin it out some to make room for other plants, especially on the left side of the tank. The Javas and Anubias are holding their own on the right side, but mainly I think that's because the hardscape is keeping the bolbitis at bay over there....sort of. I am wondering if I should get some more lava rocks and make sort of a baricade to keep the bolbitis in the back after I think it some. But that's going to be part of a larger rescape that I don't currently have time for and probably won't until the summer. For now, I thinned it a little. 

Here are a few full (or almost full) tank shots I took before the thinning : 



































And a couple of murky ones I took after



























And a couple quick iPhone shots I took last night of the cleared tank: 


















Edit: Forgot to post how much bolbitis I took out: 


















Bump: That was a long post, so I figured I would leave the FTS to their own post, and post some close-ups in a separate post.

Old-man black neon in his spot (he was NOT happy with me when I thinned out the bolbitis and it effected his little territory)









Some happy fish



























Fishies out and about after I messed with their environment


















Old-man black neon sharing his space with one of the old-man shrimp









Happy shrimp (though probably not so happy with me using the flash in the first one, oops)


















Peek-a-boo


















Munching on all the detritus after I uprooted the plants, all the shrimp were running around but this was the only good picture I managed to snap









Oh, and also, happy plants! These bolbitis are always pearling


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## Coasty

Hey super long journal! Lol, can you post the equipment you're using, lights, filter, and anything else you do as far as ferts? Sorry I didn't feel like looking through all 106 pages haha. But you're tank looks amazing


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## Karackle

Hey Coasty, thanks! I appreciate the compliment  

All of the equipment information is in the very first post if you just go to the first page, I keep that updated (mostly) when I change anything. I just double-checked and it's all up-to-date. :thumbsup: I can appreciate not wanting to read through the whole thing, I have been part of this forum for a LONG time, and was very active the first 5 years or so, so the journal is quite long :fish:

As for fertilizer, I just rely on root-tabs and fish poop. :hihi: My tanks are all super low maintenance.


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## Coasty

Very low tech and yet it looks so lush! Are you happy with the black background? I just finished setting up my 46 gallon, you can check it out here, 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...m.html#/forumsite/20495/topics/1014697?page=1

I spray painted the back of mine black as well and I'm not sure if I like it.. But your's looks amazing! I guess I just have to wait for my plants to grow in :/


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## Karackle

I like a black background, yes, because it sort of disappears. I will go check our your tank soon, but my guess is you will like it better once the plants grow in, as you mentioned  Edit: I think you linked me to the wrong thread by accident, I'll see if I can find your journal, but if not, feel free to post it back here for me and I'll take a look!

And yes, the tank is lush now, but the growth was (is) slow, it took a while to get this full of plants, that's the draw back of the super low tech, but it works for me. I don't have time for the maintenance of a high tech, dosed tank. But the plants are healthy which keeps the water quality good which keeps the fish happy and healthy and that's really what I care about, I got into planted tanks to make a more natural habitat for my fish


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## AquaAurora

What do you do with the removed bolbitis? Also what is your tank's pH?


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## EndlerGame

Nice looking tank!

I bought a tube of that exact same Anubias species you got a few wees ago and was wondering what it what is. How's yours growing? Ever figure out anything about it? Looking at pictures, it seems similar to Anubias frazeri or A. afzelli, but it would be nice if they would just put the name on the container...oh well.

Anywho...cool tank, plants and fish look great. I love a group of healthy pencilfish, some truly underrated species. Also loving the bolbitis...that's one of the lower light species I haven't yet had access to.


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## Karackle

AquaAurora said:


> What do you do with the removed bolbitis? Also what is your tank's pH?


RAOKed it on my local forum for planted tank hobbyists, would have done the same here but I was surprised I got a lot of interest over there. Next time I trim, I'll come here first and RAOK it for the cost of shipping most likely  



EndlerGame said:


> Nice looking tank!


Thank you very much!



EndlerGame said:


> I bought a tube of that exact same Anubias species you got a few wees ago and was wondering what it what is. How's yours growing? Ever figure out anything about it? Looking at pictures, it seems similar to Anubias frazeri or A. afzelli, but it would be nice if they would just put the name on the container...oh well.


Yes I got some opinions on what it probably is, unfortunately, I do not remember and can't find the thread I asked in! Sorry! LOL :hihi: I will keep searching though and see if I can figure it out  It has not died, but it isn't really growing yet, there might be one new leaf just finally peaking out. So it might take a while for it to settle in and grow new leaves, but as long as it's not obviously dying, I'd just be patient with it  



EndlerGame said:


> Anywho...cool tank, plants and fish look great. I love a group of healthy pencilfish, some truly underrated species. Also loving the bolbitis...that's one of the lower light species I haven't yet had access to.


Yes the pencilfish are awesome, I'm a little overstocked at the moment or I would increase the size of the school of the pencils and the espeis because I love them both! And thanks on the bolbitis, it's a great plant, I think it looks cool and it grows well in low light / low tech conditions. Keep your eye on the RAOKs cuz I'll probably post my bolbitis on there next time I trim it!


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## Jamo33

Thats an awesome looking jungle!
I have a tank set up very similar to this and I love the jungle effect, however your's is in much better condition than mine!


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## Karackle

Jamo33 - Thanks! It took a long time for it to become this jungle-like, but I am loving it now, I am a big fan of the jungle look myself  

EndlerGame - I think it is an Anubias Frazeri based on a comment in my local forum, but I am not sure I ever got multiple opinions on it


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## Karackle

This tank continues to do quite well! Bolbitis is already filling back in and it's probably time for another trim, but so far it doesn't seem to be shading out the crypts at all, so that's good. I'm thinking of moving the very large crypt from the 5g to this tank to fill in a little more space at the front as well, but we'll see. 

Really the only new thing is that I finally rigged up a different way to hold my powerhead in place, it's not super pretty, but in my opinion it's better than the big white suction cups I had before that started out clear and turned stiff and white in a matter of days or weeks! 
(NOTE: will add these pics soon, photobucket isn't letting me upload right now....that site has really gone downhill)

Though I did notice my lava rock seems to have tipped to the side because I don't think I used to be able to see the powerhead quite so well, so I'll have to get in there and fix that too. 
(NOTE: will add this pic soon, photobucket isn't letting me upload right now....that site has really gone downhill)

So here are a few FTS as well as the left / middle / right side



























Left









Middle









Right









And here are some fish pictures  Got some decent ones of the pencilfish, my old man black neon, espeis, and guppies (including my albino? juvenile, and some of the pink & yellow tailed not-so-little-anyore "babies")


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