# 20 Gallon Foray Into High Tech - algae wars (decommissioned)



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Alrighty. So, here's how it started vs how it's going. Not good. Total algae takeover... every kind, including cyano. I attribute this mostly to CO2 inconsistencies... the needle valve on the Aquatek mini will not stay set no matter how much I fiddle with it. CO2 comes on 2 hrs before the lights and it's probably close to 3bps right now. Drop checker is solidly lime green, nearing yellow by the end of the day, pH drop is at least 1.0 but I only have a liquid kit right now and 7.0-7.6 is impossible to tell apart. Thing is... plant growth is terrible. Like real bad. Everything's covered in fuzzy brown algae, BBA all over the hardscape, twisted growth, lower leaves are dying, etc. the only thing growing decently well is the AR mini. I'll post some plant pics shortly to help with a diagnosis.

I have a few lines of thought, and I'm not really sure I'm chasing the right trail.

- My CO2 is insufficient. This makes the most sense, symptomatically... but I've checked and tweaked and checked some more... bought a better diffuser, a skimmer so I could really crank it...
- My water sucks for the plants I've chosen. It's hard and high KH. Leaning towards no here, because even the easy growers like guppy grass that thrive in my other tanks are struggling in here. They get overtaken by the brown crap and melt from the bottom up.
- My light is insufficient. This makes the least sense... I know light is really the limiting factor in growth, so assuming ferts and CO2 are there, insufficient light should just mean slower and more leggy growth and not algae, right?

The other thing - because my plant growth is garbage, I have a really bad organic waste problem. I do water changes twice a week with a turkey baster, but I'd have to do like three consecutive 100% water changes to get it all cleaned up. I'm sure that's not helping, but I'm not sure what else to do about it.

If you've read this far, thank you...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

FTS from today. As you can see from the second picture, my ludwigia palustris and the rotala next to it are seriously struggling. It looks much worse than the last FTS and my CO2 has been consistently higher since then. The AR mini seems to be reaching sideways for the light... that is the corner the floaters usually accumulate in, so it's a little dim. I'm wondering if I should remove the rest of the floaters and/or increase the intensity of my light... maybe both.

Last pic is the whole corner... my other stock Nuvo 20 hillstream and my betta's 5.5g on my desk


----------



## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I'm not algae expert (except at growing it lol), but i wanted to say that your scape looks really good. I like the two level thing and the path (reminds me of the Knights that Say Nee). 

That Rotala is pretty toast though, probably best to remove anything that's all covered. I don't think it'll come back, maybe time to just top it and throw the affected bits out, maybe better to have tiny healthier plants than ones that are spending energy trying to recover and not growing. How long has this tank been up and running?

Also: a quick question about your betta, what are you using to filter? I've got a little five gallon w/ an aquaclear (it doesn't have the nice dimensions that your's does though) and I worry that it would be too much flow for a betta, but I'd sort of love one. What do you think?


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Reginald2 said:


> I'm not algae expert (except at growing it lol), but i wanted to say that your scape looks really good. I like the two level thing and the path (reminds me of the Knights that Say Nee).
> 
> That Rotala is pretty toast though, probably best to remove anything that's all covered. I don't think it'll come back, maybe time to just top it and throw the affected bits out, maybe better to have tiny healthier plants than ones that are spending energy trying to recover and not growing. How long has this tank been up and running?
> 
> Also: a quick question about your betta, what are you using to filter? I've got a little five gallon w/ an aquaclear (it doesn't have the nice dimensions that your's does though) and I worry that it would be too much flow for a betta, but I'd sort of love one. What do you think?


Thanks!! I plan on doing some major maintenance some time after Christmas and I do think I'll take the sad stems out. The tank is 4 months old now.

I have the TOM internal filter in there. It's perfect! I have seen people make flow baffles for the Aquaclears out of soda bottles, have you seen that yet?


----------



## mboley (Jan 26, 2018)

Who knows what problems that potting soil is causing; that organic waste you mentioned may be coming from that. I would start over with a new active substrate.Just being a 20 gallon tank it wont cost that much. Landen soil is less expensive than ADA and works well. 

You have both slow and fast growing plants, mixing high light and low light with Annubius and stem plants. Also you dont have a lot of plants; planting heavier will help with algae. Your scape looks more geared toward swords, crypts, annubius, and moss, so you wont need the high light to grow the stems, and less light will help with the algae too.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

mboley said:


> Who knows what problems that potting soil is causing; that organic waste you mentioned may be coming from that. I would start over with a new active substrate.Just being a 20 gallon tank it wont cost that much. Landen soil is less expensive than ADA and works well.
> 
> You have both slow and fast growing plants, mixing high light and low light with Annubius and stem plants. Also you dont have a lot of plants; planting heavier will help with algae. Your scape looks more geared toward swords, crypts, annubius, and moss, so you wont need the high light to grow the stems, and less light will help with the algae too.


Thanks for the advice 

The soil is aged, it was pulled out of a 2 year old tank. I don't think it's causing problems- but my substrate has shifted and there are definitely some areas where the cap isn't as deep as I'd like. I do think that is letting some organics sift through to the top but it's mostly just bark.

It's more densely planted than it looks - you can kind of see in the most recent picture, but there's a huge wad of rotala and l.aromatica in the back right corner that I cut back hoping it would grow in a little more bushy. There's nowhere left to plant anything haha. It looks awful and something definitely needs to change, though. I don't know if my plants would survive the transition of a rescape... that's where I'm a little hung up. I've kind of run out of money on this project. There's a lot of directions I could take this tank in, but I'm not sure which to go.

I'm gonna do maintenance tonight. I'll post a pic and perhaps ponder some more on that.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Major maintenance tonight. Really cut back everything that wasn't thriving. Took all the hardscape out that I could and sprayed it down with H2O2. I see it in moments like this and think it could bounce back... but it'll probably be covered in algae in a week lol.



I think I could fit some more stems in the back there, behind the blyxa on the left. I have some myriophyllum roraima which has always done really well for me, so maybe that. Hmm.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Think I'm gonna lose one of my male threadfins. He wasn't looking too hot yesterday, and today he's looking even worse. Just listless, floating around the top. I don't think there's anything I can do for him now. I started this tank with 11 emerald eyes and 6 threadfins... I woke up to my CO2 wide open and half my fish dead a while back. The pic with the battery bubbler farther up the thread - that was the aftermath. This boy might've just not fully recovered from that. Sad.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Just a quick update. Looking meh at the moment. Still lots of algae. Gonna pull the wood out and spray it down with H2O2 again next time I do maintenance. Plants are surviving at best. I need a new regulator, the Aquatek Mini will NOT stay set and I have nearly gassed my fish twice now. Problem is I have three paintball tanks already and would rather keep using them to save costs if I can. Hmm.


----------



## hlca (Nov 13, 2020)

How much are you fertilizing? I've found in my tank that it doesn't really need ferts with the aquasoil and Power Sand. I've also been decreasing my lighting. I'm fighting some hair algae at the moment.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Like 2 squirts of Thrive a week? Pretty light. Just enough to keep my nitrates around 20.

I'm still unsure about my lighting. My red root floaters have exploded and cover a good portion of the tank now, but my stems are still losing leaves from the bottom up. I think they aren't getting enough light, but there's still cyano growing on the sand. I might try something to get them to shade the front of the tank rather than the back. A corral made of airline tubing with some suction cups maybe? I would take them out all together if the rainbows didn't love them


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Big maintenance yesterday. Tank looks... okay? My l. aromatica is mostly dead  There are a few tiny pieces I'm trying to save in the seaweed clip on the left. Cyano is still an issue, as is BBA on the hardscape. Plants finally seem to be growing without much algae, though. I'm really pleased with the hardiness of the blyxa japonica considering the state of the tank. I corralled the red roots to the front of the tank with airline tubing but I'm not sure I like how it looks. I was hoping it would shade the front of the tank to stop cyano growing on the sand, but I don't think it will. 

Overall I'm feeling good about it. I need to buy more plants still, though I did add some bolbitis on the lower right that's hard to see right now.


----------



## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

If its really cyno then treating with erythromycin will murder the heck out of it. That's what I've done in the past with great success.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I don't want to risk antibiotics harming any bacterial balance I've got going on. I think I'm getting closer to getting this tank to a healthy place, so I'm being cautious.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

L. aromatica kicked the bucket, none left at all 
Cyano is still plagueing me, but I have another problem. One of my male threadfin rainbows starts gasping as soon as CO2 starts getting to adequate levels. I'm wondering if it's time to move them into the community tank since they've always been a little more sensitive to the CO2 than the eyespot rasboras. Argh. I hate this Aquatek mini...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Oh, and that plant I thought was bolbitis is hygro pinnatifida haha. I hope it thrives, it's a cool plant.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

EDIT: It did not


----------



## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Jaguar said:


> I don't want to risk antibiotics harming any bacterial balance I've got going on. I think I'm getting closer to getting this tank to a healthy place, so I'm being cautious.


Chemiclean is the best for cyano IMO. You can get it at Petco in the saltwater section. It murdered all my cyano and I haven't seen it since.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

So I have heard, but I don't really trust proprietary medications/treatments (looking at you, Seachem)
I don't have a working pH meter but here's a liquid test of gas in and gas off tank water.








I dunno that anything can be concluded from a liquid test, but it satisfies my curiosities.

I don't think this male threadfin will be around for much longer... he just looks sickly in general.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

After maintenance tonight. It looked like absolute crap earlier, so it cleaned up pretty well. The threadfin died, as I expected. I went to Petco for some plants and they were throwing them all away because they were "dead", so I took them - many had green tops and the old emersed growth was melting. So, I added rotala indica, rotala wallichii, and bacopa. Hacked down the alternanthera, which grows like a weed despite the crappy conditons. 

It's a good thing I bought a 20lb bag of sand because I have to add a cup back every time I do maintenance.

I moved the light down and back. I'm hoping that will shade the front of the tank a bit. The cyano is still such a pain...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Btw, the tank is 6 months old now! Bout time to be done with this algae...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm feeling pretty good about it this time around, so here's some pics from unique angles and with a better camera.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

And a week later it's back to slime territory











I feel like tearing it down and starting over, I hate having to deep clean it twice a week so it doesn't look horrific. Maybe I should stick to low tech.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Welp. Crispy rasbora on the floor this morning. I also didn't know rotala walichii was a notoriously difficult plant, so out that comes. Tank looks like CRAP, even after a cleaning yesterday. I pulled out the powerhead and polishing pad and went at it with a turkey baster. Got a lot of organics out, but thread algae and cyano are all over the place again. Crazy how it can go from looking good to this in a week.










It's been 6 months, I'm ready to be done with this tank.


----------



## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

I feel you, I've been on an algae battle with my first foray back into low tech... I'm just wondering if you have any ambient light that might be messing with your tank. It also sounds like your cap might be leaking. I'd check your phos levels too and copper. I'm assuming you're using tap water and in a high tech with active soil there's sometimes where elements in your tap water can throw things off pretty badly. I hope things get better for you.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

No ambient light. I've been meaning to do more tests on my tap water, my city doesn't tell me much. I will get on that soon.

I've been gone for over a week, had a family emergency and I didn't have time to do anything but throw BlueGreen Slime Stain Remover in this tank before I left. It definitely killed the cyano, but my CO2 ran out and it's now Easter weekend and nothing is open. I think I'll do a blackout for a few days until I can get them filled.

The last two 20oz tanks only lasted like 6 weeks each. I don't know what normal is, but that seems very bad.


----------



## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

Small bottles do tend to last around 6 months for moderate use. I'd suggest checking online water supply records _most_ municipalities have yearly or every 2 year testing records posted. Some don't though. You can always spring for home tests or an electronic checker if you're from a place that doesn't record their water tests and test the water straight out of the tap.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

6 weeks! They only lasted 6 weeks haha. I'm not sure what happened there, the 24oz lasted 4+ months.

My water co doesn't post any results for things like Ca/Mg/Po4. Pretty useless. I think I'll at least pick up a phosphate test for curiosity's sake.

CO2 got filled today, tank will get set back up tomorrow. We had some intense home reno/remediation going on so they've all been neglected. I at least left the lights off so it shouldn't be an algae disaster. And... the cyano is still gone! We'll see if it stays that way.


----------



## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

I've never used small bottles. Lol I had giant bottles from when it had my indoor grow room and I still have 2 "free" refills. I'm going to be starting a set up that comes with a 24oz so I'm interested in seeing how long it lasts. Always good when you get rid of cyano- that stuff is a pain!! Hope your renovation went well!!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Haha, good luck with it! I really like how small the paintball setups are, but its terrible needle valve is at least half the reason my tank sucks. The other half is probably my tap water.

Thank you!!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

FTS today  Not bad for a week with no CO2 and 4 days with no light. The blyxa melted a bit and all the stems are bent, but everything is alive and there is no cyano!!! I'm really glad I went with meds after all, I don't think this tank would have survived the week without it.
CO2 is back up; one of the 20oz tanks won't open (pin is stuck I think) so I'll have to deal with that.
At some point in the last month, I topped off the cap with Black Diamond. That has helped a lot with all the bark and crap that kept floating through to the top of the substrate.

Fingers crossed for continued success.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Pic with the better camera 
Next is addressing its hillstream sister tank...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Tank hit another low point. I let it go. I was going to tear it down and sell it, but...









I picked up Ecology of the Planted Aquarium again. I learned some things. Mostly that CO2 injection with alkaline water is a royal pain in the butt and I should have just done RO. So I did.










Doing small water changes with RO daily and dialing back my CO2 little by little. I'll update in, say, a month.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

3 months, and... whole lot of the same. I should have known, but switching to RO water did not solve any of my problems. My plants still seem to be suffering from carbon deficiency. Algae is still there, but minimal, for now. Plant growth just sucks... the tank looks low tech, like I don't inject CO2 at all. I don't get it. Oh well...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Big trim, took around 8 huge leaves from the java fern hedge. Also swapped the glass skimmer intake for the classic intake and put an Eheim Skim 350 in there. The skimmer pipe was cool but far too bulky and the tank needed a little more flow in the back, so I think this arrangement will be better. Not sure how it will work out with the floaters, but we'll see.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Needle valve came unset again. 2 threadfins and a rasbora jumped. 

I think my diffuser is crap - lots of large bubbles escaping the top. Wasting a lot of CO2 for just a 20 gallon.

My pH pen says I'm achieving a drop of 1.5pH over my photoperiod, reaching the lowest point about 30 mins after the lights come on and staying stable there until it turns off again. I can't get it to calibrate properly, so maybe that data is useless. 

So do I buy another diffuser? A new needle valve for my regulator? A new pH pen? Do I watch my plants die and my fish jump out while I wait to see if _that_ fixes things?

I do like the Skim 350 a lot - much more than the skim lily pipe. And my dwarf lotus has resurfaced - the last photo it was in was from 6 months ago.

I just don't really know what to do. Keep doing water changes and removing the cyano, I guess.


----------



## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

At this point it might be worth it to get a nice 2-stage regulator. I had one of those aquateks and I just didn't like it much. The needle valve is waaay too sensitive, it makes it hard to be precise. A nicer regulator would at least give you peace of mind about keeping your fish safe. You could probably get a CGA-320 tank plus regulator for pretty cheap if you factor in what you could make from selling the paintball setup.

It seems you've been focused on the CO2 for a while now. Maybe that just isn't the issue. The other two "pillars" are fertilization and light. Have you tried raising the ferts? Increasing the lights?

Overall I think you have a very nice tank. You seem to be pretty hard on yourself, but you should be proud of it. It's clear you take good care of it, the glassware and hardscape are always clean and the Java fern is very healthy. Q

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I appreciate the advice. I didn't consider reselling the paintball setup, as dumb as that sounds. I guess there's nothing really wrong with it - this seems to be normal for the needle valves on the Aquatek Mini.

I've been dosing the ferts more regularly than the past and it hasn't seemed to make much difference. I know in very high tech tanks people might fertilize daily, but my nitrates hover between 20-40 and I do have some potting soil under there so I've kinda written that one off.

I did increase my light intensity yesterday. I figure the algae can't get much worse. An interesting phenomena is the leaves of the crypt spiralis near the Skim 350's output are VERY red. I guess they're getting much better CO2 flow there now!

And thank you for the kind words - I try to have my hands in this tank every day, even if it's a small thing like cleaning the glass or trimming some plants. I have to figure this out eventually...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I used 12% H2O2 to kill the algae on the hardscape. I got a little reckless and a lot of it got into the tank. The inhabitants are fine but the water turned very cloudy and brown - and most of the cyano is now gone. Hmm...

I'm going to hack up my hardscape tonight. I poorly planned this tank with the short length of the light being directly over the slowest growing plants. I'll hack off that big wood chunk and all the ferns and try to get some more rotala in the back there. I just wanted to grab one last pic before I go make a mess of it.

I also want to switch out my eyespots to something less skittish. I'm down to 8 - 2 have jumped in the last few nights


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

And here's how it turned out. Not too different, but cutting the big knob off the back cleared up a good 3" of space for more fast growing stems.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Good progress. Cautiously optimistic at this point.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

It's looking so good!! No algae, clean healthy growth on all the plants... look how dense and low the hydrocotyle is growing compared to past pictures! 

We may have finally had a breakthrough


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I got a new ceramic ring for my diffuser and it's putting out a much finer mist now. Look at all those pearling rotala tips


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

It's been a week since I've done any serious maintenance and it looks SO GOOD. 

I could cry, it's been an entire year of fighting with this tank. 
I don't want to claim victory yet, but I'm really excited for the future!

I can't attribute it to any one thing. I think what really helped was more light. Cutting back light can slow down algae, but at what cost if it's slowing down your plants too?

Tonight I'm gonna savor doing a water change and "normal" maintenance like trimming plants and scrubbing a few spots off the glass.


----------



## Fishstery (Jan 24, 2018)

Just wondering....did you ever get that phosphate test? I've batted cyano in all of my tanks since I moved into my current house 2 years ago. I had issues in low tech and high tech. Finally did a phosphate test when I set up my first co2 injected tank and couldn't figure out why all in one ferts seemed to make cyano way worse, and why no matter how many water changes I did it never would go away. I found out that my tap water has 2ppm of phosphate already present, then I was dosing extra in the all in one fert. I scoured the internet for information on phosphate and its relation to algae. I learned that low phosphate is bad because it can cause green spot. Too much isn't a bad thing and plants need it to thrive. However on a UK forum I came across an interesting tidbit of info that a lot of people seemed to agree on. High phosphate and low nitrogen would cause cyano outbreaks. The proper ratio is 1:10 phosphate to nitrate. If you have 2ppm phosphate, then you need to up nitrate to 20ppm. So, I stopped dosing all in one ferts and bought a micro only fert, a separate nitrogen only fert, and separate potassium. When I stopped dosing phosphate in an all in one, and was able to tweak and up the nitrogen separately, the cyano disappeared and plagues every other tank I have but my high tech. Just some food for thought, but seriously I would test your tap and see what your phosphate level is. If the phosphate is high, you're replenishing it every time you do a WC and then depending on your ferts you're adding even more. The other change that may or may not have helped, is some other hobbyists suggested that cyano doesn't like high flow too much. The tank is a long footprint so it was hard to get good flow from the beginning, and my stock were stream fish so I decided going high flow couldn't hurt. Bought a wavemaker the same time I figured out the phosphate issue, so maybe upping your flow might also benefit your setup.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm using mostly RO in this tank now, so I no longer think it's phosphate related.
It's funny - if you dig through my post history, part of winning the battle with cyano in my 60-P almost 10 years ago was dosing P. I was very scared of it - but like you said, plants do need it to grow.

I think the cyano is on its way out now.

Walstad theorizes that some algae problems are iron related -


> Iron may limit algal growth in aquariums, if only because so many other nutrients (e.g., N and P) are so plentiful. Also, iron is the one nutrient that is required in fairly large quantities while being the least available in oxygenated water. Thus, I sometimes have problems with algae after setting up a tank with garden soil, because considerable iron is released into the water during the first two months (see page 131). Only after the soil has ‘settled down’, does the iron release stop and algal problems diminish.


That may or may not be the case in my tank. It has been much longer than 2 months 
It's kind of amazing that even though aquariums are a closed system, they're very complicated, and we really don't know that much about them!


----------



## Fishstery (Jan 24, 2018)

Jaguar said:


> I'm using mostly RO in this tank now, so I no longer think it's phosphate related.
> It's funny - if you dig through my post history, part of winning the battle with cyano in my 60-P almost 10 years ago was dosing P. I was very scared of it - but like you said, plants do need it to grow.
> 
> I think the cyano is on its way out now.
> ...


I'm glad that you got it all figured out and can just enjoy your tank again! Nothing sucks more than taking the time to set up something beautiful just to struggle with algae and be frustrated looking at it. It's so interesting with algae, it's never a simple fix-all, it seems one thing might work for someone's specific setup but spell disaster for another. I guess that's the interesting nature of this hobby. I have all but given in to cyano in my low tech tank. I'm tired of fighting the long fight with it. Eventually once my current fish are gone I think I will just tear everything out and rescape it for a spotted congo puffer and try more preventive measures to avoid cyano from the beginning. It's annoying because this tank that I've always battled cyano in was completely torn out last year, I literally pulled everything out but the substrate, scrubbed all the algae off of my driftwood and power washed it in my driveway, cleaned all my plants off, fixed some flow issues and still within 3 months the cyano was back. It takes on a purple hue in this tank too which I find odd, I've seen red/purple/blue and green cyano in my tanks before. It's gotta be something funky in my tap. Green slime remover is ineffective. 

Anyways, I hope the algae doesn't come back in your tank. It's a nice setup


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I was amazed at how the H2O2 overdose affected it - I've heard of the "one two punch" algae removal with a full tank peroxide treatment, but never gave it much thought. It may work well on cyano, or it may have been a coincidence and my tank was turning the corner regardless.

I wish you success with the cyano. It's been a tank ending problem for me too.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

So much healthy rotala growth - wonder what species actually survived. I guess I'll find out once it grows in more.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Not much to report! Switched back to the skim pipe to minimize the hardware in there - it's not exactly a big tank 
Added more pygmy cories and removed a large dragon stone from the front to open up more plant space. I moved the crypts to the shaded areas under the wood and planted hygro pinnatifida where they were.

That really fine rotala in the back - that's the rotala walichii! A few pieces survived


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Growing a wee bit of green spot algae, but nothing a quick scrub can't fix 
The growth on the staurogyne just in the last 3 days is exciting!
I'm about to be away for a week - it'll be interesting to see how that ends.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

After 8 days of no maintenance but topoffs! Some hair algae and quite overgrown, but far from bad.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Trimmed back the rotala and hit the algae with some H2O2 - looking good 

Definitely had at least 2 kinds of rotala survive. I think one is the h'ra - it's got a red stem and seems to want to lay down. That's nice - definitely need some more color in there.
Rotala Walichii is doing very well in the back left. 

Here is 14 days of growth in the staurogyne repens -









I'm going to replant the hygro pinnatifida on the wood soon now that it's adjusted and growing a little more upright. 
My assassin snails seem to have kicked the bucket - there are a few ramshorns starting to lay eggs everywhere.
I have at least 11 pygmy corys left - meaning most, if not all of them, survived!

I want to change up the sand river too, with some gravel like ADA's aqua gravel.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I love the red sunset in the evenings. I wish I could get better pics of the tank, but I've only got cheap cell phone cameras.

I had to actually trim and replant a piece of s.repens. First time ever. I've only ever trimmed it because it was dying or covered in algae. The little things about having a normal tank feel good after all this time


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Moved the tank into my bedroom, which has been very nice!



























Some green bushy/thread algae popping up, but not too bad. The tank feels 'dirty'. I don't have enough flow, but I also hate having more hardware in there. I have been thinking about upgrading the filter, but anything higher than the Filtosmart 100 (~160 gph) uses higher ID pipes - meaning I'd have to buy new ones.

So yeah. Debating putting the Skim 350 back, or a circulation powerhead. IDK.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

The Eheim disconnects are ridiculous with an inline diffuser...










I'm gonna pick up an Oase Filtosmart thermo 100 - cheap, gets the heater out of the tank, and gives me another ~40 gph without having to switch my pipes and diffuser. Even if I still have to run the Skim 350... that'll be fine.

Refilled my CO2 last weekend, so 20 + 20 + 24oz last me ~ 8 months.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Took the sand river out of the back. Got so overgrown you couldn't see it anyway


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Back to the regular intake and Skim 350. No floaters. Fish must object, because a rasbora jumped out last night 

The heater in the Filtosmart is not getting enough circulation to warm the tank when assembled according to the manual. 
I'm not sure whether to try and modify it or just send it back and get a Hydor for my Eheim. Sad though, it seemed like it was going to be the perfect solution.


----------



## Frtynoob (Oct 19, 2021)

mboley said:


> Who knows what problems that potting soil is causing; that organic waste you mentioned may be coming from that. I would start over with a new active substrate.Just being a 20 gallon tank it wont cost that much. Landen soil is less expensive than ADA and works well.
> 
> You have both slow and fast growing plants, mixing high light and low light with Annubius and stem plants. Also you dont have a lot of plants; planting heavier will help with algae. Your scape looks more geared toward swords, crypts, annubius, and moss, so you wont need the high light to grow the stems, and less light will help with the algae too.


Organic potting or dirt are very okay, you would have to just clean the organic parts like the roots and stuff. You could see my last post on day 1-45 journal


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

1 month since my last update... basically been stable since. I think it's safe to say I won the war.  

I let it get a bit overgrown which shaded some plants too much, but it's back on track now.
I've got the Filtosmart to where it's keeping the tank about 4 degrees above room temp, making it 77.5 during the day, which is fine with me.
I hate the hygro pinnatifida, but it sure is pretty!


----------



## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

Jaguar said:


> I hate the hygro pinnatifida, but it sure is pretty!


A damnable weed, that one!

This tank looks really really good. It looks to me like a cross-section of the best part of a real lake. Like something you could really stumble upon in real life. It's so hard to make a contrived thing look natural... really feels like you've done that here. I love it.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

EmotionalFescue said:


> A damnable weed, that one!
> 
> This tank looks really really good. It looks to me like a cross-section of the best part of a real lake. Like something you could really stumble upon in real life. It's so hard to make a contrived thing look natural... really feels like you've done that here. I love it.


It really is the worst - if I made a plant alignment chart it would be chaotic evil for sure.

And thank you so much! I've embraced the algae on the rocks and wood. I think it helps with that grown in natural ecosystem feel.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Tweaked things a little - removed a lot of blyxa. It's a gorgeous and hardy plant, but it really gets too big for a hardscaped 17 gallon tank!
I'm really enjoying having the tank in the bedroom, even if it means my nightstand constantly being covered in fish stuff.

I feel like plant growth is 75% of what it should be.

Is my CO2 fluctuations from having to reset the crappy needle valve every day? Is buying an undersized light coming back to bite me in the butt? Would get better reds with the low pH iron in the high tech Thrive? Is 4GH too low?


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Hehehehe
So happy to not have to spend 10 minutes every morning fussing with the needle valve!!!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

So far the NV55 isn't staying set either. Slowly reducing bubble count every day. It's much easier to reset than the old one, but I'm still waking up at night stressing about checking on it. Sigh.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Here's where it's at now. I added 2 kuhli loaches (want more), and some super red ludwigia (for the 3rd time). I got sick of the hygro pinnatifida and took all of it off but that one piece. It's clear I don't have enough light because I mowed that rotala in the back 22 days ago and it's just now grown back to the surface again. I've been supplementing with my lamp there but it's an ugly solution. I might grab a Chihiros WRGB2 since I've really enjoyed this light - too bad it's too small.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Well, my needle valve has smartened up and is staying set now, so I decided it's time for some other upgrades


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Well, it's quite huge compared to the old light. It weighs like 10x more lol. Really nice construction and I love the mounts without the clamp screws.










It's really not as much brighter as I was expecting, though. I mean I supposedly just went from 35w 1800lm to 67w 4500lm... but... I know lighting and especially LEDs can be deceptive. I guess we'll see how the plants respond.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I screwed up and both cleaned the impeller in the Skim 350 and turned up its flow at the same time... that resulted in it offgassing my CO2 faster than I was injecting it and an explosion of hair algae on the hardscape lol. It's corrected now and the plants are much more happy. 

I like the green fuzz on the wood, not so much on the rocks... I wonder sometimes if I should just take all the dragon stone out and have a low carpet in the front there.


----------



## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

I sure do love this tank! It continues to look fantastic...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Thank you! It's coming together... and everything is turning red! The red crypt spiralis is so cool! The algae on the hardscape bugs me, but the plants are sure going nuts. That anubias like 6" under the light there doesn't even have a hint of algae on it. I'm really looking forward to some of the stuff on the right side growing in more.


----------



## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

I agree that the tank is evolving so nicely! I'd keep things stable for a while before deciding to take out the stones and see if things improve on their own.


----------



## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

I bet a little bit of hydrogen peroxide would take care of the algae on your rocks. I like it sans carpet, the open space makes you appreciate the planted areas more. It's a very well-balanced aquascape.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

I'd be interested in seeing how much the WRGB2 improves your plants. I started with one for my 5 gallon, which might've been overkill, but my plants have mostly been thriving with it. Except my Stauro, that's been struggling since day 1. Seeing how fast yours bounced back after winning against algae has given me hope though. Your tank looks great, congrats!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Almost overnight, my ludwigia palustris is full of pinholes! Might be time to increase that CO2 flow.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Slowly kicking some of the algae with H2O2, I think.
I still wish I had a bit better flow...I wonder if I should go back to the skimmer pipe and the Sunsun powerhead. Last time I had that config was here... but I don't think it was the most useful blowing that CO2 around the dwarf lily and java ferns. I wonder if I should put it on the left... or... I don't know.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I hate this plant!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I accidentally let the CO2 run a little lean for a few days and ruined my progress on the BBA. Oh well. Quick photo, not cleaned up or anything, just to keep track of growth. Needs a trim badly.

Moved my in/outflow to the right side and eliminated the Skim 350 all together. I was so fixated on flow... haha... it's fine. 
Added more kuhlis and a few more emerald eye rasboras too 










Rotala walichii, you can see the new tips since I corrected my CO2 again are much healthier.


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

Your Ludwigia looks really good in that last photo. Was it the CO2 flow that was causing it to have the pinholes before?


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

geraldk said:


> Your Ludwigia looks really good in that last photo. Was it the CO2 flow that was causing it to have the pinholes before?


I think so. I really underestimated how much I'd have to increase my CO2 flow with the new light (almost 50%). As you noticed, it's much healthier looking now - bigger, flatter leaves and more upright growth.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Do I have rotala nanjenshan and not true wallichii? That makes me feel better about it not looking nearly as nice everyone else's!


----------



## CGY_Betta_Guy (Jul 26, 2010)

yeah that rotala on the left behind your ludwigia palustris doesnt look to be wallichii


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

CGY_Betta_Guy said:


> yeah that rotala on the left behind your ludwigia palustris doesnt look to be wallichii


It came in a pot from Petco labeled rotala wallichii but I see nanjenshan is sometimes sold as 'green wallichii'. I thought it wasn't getting enough light or CO2 or something so I've been pulling my hair out a bit. Thanks.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I used up some Aquarium Co-Op root tabs I had laying around in this tank. My nitrates were a bit high even after a WC, so I laid off dosing ferts for a few days. Now my staurogyne has completely melted, releasing a ton of decaying leaves all over my tank. Gah.


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

Oh no! I thought root tabs were supposed to be the super safe way to go about fertilising...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

geraldk said:


> Oh no! I thought root tabs were supposed to be the super safe way to go about fertilising...


I have no idea why they would have caused that, especially since those particular root tabs are just mineralized topsoil... but that's the only thing I've changed lately. I don't think not dosing ferts for 4-5 days would cause them to completely melt like that, right? Staurogyne is so dramatic


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

I thought the Aquarium Co-op root tabs were like pills with Osmocote inside? I am probably the last person to ask advice on Staurogyne, I nearly killed my 6 stems. Yours were doing so well though, that's a bummer


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I think they'll bounce back - they've already got little green leaf tips poking out. The hard part is getting the organic waste under control so I don't lose all my older growth to algae. 3 days and my glass is almost opaque from the green dust algae. I did clean my filter though - it was gross. I am going to shove a bag of carbon in there tomorrow.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I bought a better Hanna pH pen. Hopefully it gives me a better idea of my CO2 situation.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Crappy pics incoming, water is cloudy and I have a cheap cell phone

I would do anything for these guys. I love them. They live in the pennywort bush, I can see them shaking around in there throughout the day.









I also love when everyone comes out in the evenings to get some wafer










I've had some ups and downs in the last little while but the tank's on the rebound. I'm sure it'll be back to normal in a week or two.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Looks like crapola but the ups and downs are part of the hobby. Recalibrated the Hanna and the pH of a completely degassed sample was 7.8 and midday in tank it was 6.3. Pretty big drop, I could tell my fish were starting to get irritated, so I'm just a hair too high on the CO2 I think.










7 days of s. repens recovery, same spot.


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

Wow, that Stauro recovery is crazy! Mine is so slow compared to yours so I've just added some more root tabs after seeing your post haha


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

geraldk said:


> Wow, that Stauro recovery is crazy! Mine is so slow compared to yours so I've just added some more root tabs after seeing your post haha


It's an infuriatingly slow grower! It's really easy to lose the old growth to algae, too, since they grow so dense and shade themselves out. It really needs to be aggressively trimmed.  On the plus side, that density makes it look like you barely trimmed it at all. I hope the root tabs give yours a boost! I really don't think they made mine melt. I might have gotten H2O2 on them and it started a chain reaction.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

This tank is such a wild ride from the start!!! But beautiful throughout, even when getting its butt kicked by algae.

What happened to your AR? It was doing so good for so long, and it usually seems finicky for people.

Why do you hate pinnatifida so much? I wish I could keep it but doubt it would survive my hacky low tech vibe.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> What happened to your AR? It was doing so good for so long, and it usually seems finicky for people.


Ugh, it really was doing well. It melted and died when I started using RO though. I went from 13 KH/GH to about 3KH/GH. Even the roots just turned to mush, I couldn't save it.



LidijaPN said:


> Why do you hate pinnatifida so much? I wish I could keep it but doubt it would survive my hacky low tech vibe.


It's beautiful but has a terrible personality haha. It not only gets BIG (like 10" long leaves) if left untrimmed, but it has sticky roots and sends out all these terrible runners from the sides that crawl all over and get entangled in everything. I do have some doing well in my low tech dumpster tank though, so maybe give it a try!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm trying to get my misc tanks and culture containers under control. I set this one up for scuds but couldn't find many in the lake. Ghost shrimp it is.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Calibrated the meter to 4 and 7 and now offgassed pH is 7.5 and 6.2 with lights on. Checked every hour all day, no fluctuations. This was at ~2.6 bps.
My needle valve is being a PITA again. Has needed adjusted daily. Infuriating...

Tank is doing... okay. Still getting a lot of soft green algae and BBA. Even with 2-3x weekly water changes and cleaning. My glass and pipes are green in ~24h after cleaning.











Green scum ring around the waterline of the tank.


----------



## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

Tank looks great, in spite of your troubles. Algae sure has a way of keeping us on our toes!


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

I agree, I love the look of the tank!!! That log crinkly crypt with tendrils floating along the surface is goalz for me. 

I keep toying with the idea of trying pinnatifida but I’m also a little worried.. don’t love the sound of sticky runners hahah... maybe I install it on its own branch/ wood chunk so it is removable and editable, so to speak.


----------



## CGY_Betta_Guy (Jul 26, 2010)

me three! Looks great, well manicured but still enough wildness to it.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

What’s the mega-long orangey crypty thing tentacling across your water surface? Doesn’t look like photos I can google up of either of your listed crypts...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> What’s the mega-long orangey crypty thing tentacling across your water surface? Doesn’t look like photos I can google up of either of your listed crypts...


Crypt spiralis, it's some variety of c. crispatula I think. It's lime green and less wavy in low tech, but still one of my favorite plants.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Jaguar said:


> Crypt spiralis, it's some variety of c. crispatula I think. It's lime green and less wavy in low tech, but still one of my favorite plants.


Yes, whenever and wherever I see crypt crispatula in some form I get little stars in my eyes!!! How slowly does it grow? I want to get it but haven’t had luck locally so far..... but such a cool crypt.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> Yes, whenever and wherever I see crypt crispatula in some form I get little stars in my eyes!!! How slowly does it grow? I want to get it but haven’t had luck locally so far..... but such a cool crypt.


Pretty slow, but once it gets established, it really goes nuts. It likes to send runners as far as it can, so, like, all the way across the tank and up the glass.










There's a shot of how the same plant looks in the low tech tank I split it from.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Jaguar said:


> Pretty slow, but once it gets established, it really goes nuts. It likes to send runners as far as it can, so, like, all the way across the tank and up the glass.
> 
> View attachment 1039550
> 
> ...


Oh - my - GOSH!! I love him!!!!! Great looking tank!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Back to normal. ^_^

Green algae bloom has subsided. Carbon really helped with that.

I switched the position of the foreground plants. The hydrocotyle bush was pretty much floating and started crawling everywhere making a mess. I might take it out entirely - it isn't exactly the look I was going for in this tank. I've been thinking of doing some kind of grassy foreground plant like eleocharis instead. 

Have some BBA on the left stones to deal with, but it's no big deal. It's really receded on the wood and my moss has happily taken its place.

I'm quite pleased that I've brought this tank back from algae hell successfully once again!


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Your lotus is da bomb


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

Oooh, your Stauro is looking good as well! When you say carbon helped with your green algae, was it just getting consistent CO2 down or were you dosing Excel and smashing it?

Careful with eleocharis! Mine spread all over my tank, it gets aggressive with runners when it gets established and it's messy to clean when you trim with tiny needles floating everywhere. I recently had to cull it back from taking over my carpet but I still like bushes of it in areas, it can look really handsome.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

These silly noodles keep uprooting the staurogyne, but I forgive them because they are ADORABLE











LidijaPN said:


> Your lotus is da bomb


So much for dwarf eh?



geraldk said:


> Oooh, your Stauro is looking good as well! When you say carbon helped with your green algae, was it just getting consistent CO2 down or were you dosing Excel and smashing it?


It helped adsorb much of the organic sludge from the stauro melt. I tried Seachem HyperSorb too, but it didn't seem to do much. The CO2 inconsistencies certainly didn't help things... I did tighten and recheck all the joints on the regulator yesterday so hopefully it stops drifting all over the place.



geraldk said:


> Careful with eleocharis! Mine spread all over my tank, it gets aggressive with runners when it gets established and it's messy to clean when you trim with tiny needles floating everywhere. I recently had to cull it back from taking over my carpet but I still like bushes of it in areas, it can look really handsome.


That... sounds terrible LOL
I wonder what would be a good low maintenance foreground. Crypt parva? I really want something with fine leaves, to complement the blyxa.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

It's overgrown but it looks great. Trimmed tonight and it's off to the LFS tomorrow to pick up some new plants!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

This little idiot is Jumpy. Last night was the THIRD time I had to pick her up off the floor and put her back in the tank. I was sitting in bed reading and heard a little _plop_ next to me. I was going to ignore it but my cat was going crazy... she is really trying her hardest to become a fish flake.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

I like how you’re publicly shaming Jumpy to make her reconsider her actions. Maybe you could drop the water level a bit for her? 

What species is Jumpy? I’m a little concerned about my lampeyes because killis are known jumpers but honestly they don’t even seem to go near the surface.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> I like how you’re publicly shaming Jumpy to make her reconsider her actions. Maybe you could drop the water level a bit for her?
> 
> What species is Jumpy? I’m a little concerned about my lampeyes because killis are known jumpers but honestly they don’t even seem to go near the surface.


The water was pretty low - I just topped the tank off today. I am really considering a glass or polycarbonate lid. I don't like how they look, but I don't like waking up to crispy fish at my feet, either.

She is an emerald eye rasbora, and they've been pretty bad for jumping. I've lost probably 8 of them over the last year. Though the second time she jumped she was just too excited about eating...


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Jaguar said:


> The water was pretty low - I just topped the tank off today. I am really considering a glass or polycarbonate lid. I don't like how they look, but I don't like waking up to crispy fish at my feet, either.
> 
> She is an emerald eye rasbora, and they've been pretty bad for jumping. I've lost probably 8 of them over the last year. Though the second time she jumped she was just too excited about eating...


Oh man, 8!! Yeah visually lids aren’t amazing but they do have their advantages...


----------



## ddiomede (Feb 21, 2011)

Tank looks good despite the troubles you've been battling. Based on everything I've read, algae issues can be attributed to inconsistent CO2 and/or out of whack ferts.

Anyhow just came to give a recommendation on how to prevent jumpers from jumping out of the tank.

I kept reef tanks for the last 10 years before breaking down my last one to move in July/August last year. The one thing I've seen in the reef world that I don't see much of in freshwater planted tanks are mesh tops.

Everyone I knew and myself included used mesh screen tops for our tanks. In a nutshell it's a clear mesh with roughly 1/4" squares....looks like a net kind of. You use a window screen frame and basically build a custom sized window screen. I lost my connection to a guy who had way overbought screen so he was selling it to folks but found that Bulk Reef Supply has the mesh, as well as screen kits. I haven't checked how much their screen kits cost compared to one of the big box hardware stores, but it's an option to keep fish from going kamikaze. Whenever I'd do a FTS I'd just pull the screen off.

Forgot to add: it doesn't impact your lighting. A local reef keeper brought over his PAR meter so that I could place corals according to their lighting needs and we decided to test how much the screen tops affect PAR. In a nutshell it didn't.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

ddiomede said:


> Tank looks good despite the troubles you've been battling. Based on everything I've read, algae issues can be attributed to inconsistent CO2 and/or out of whack ferts.
> 
> Anyhow just came to give a recommendation on how to prevent jumpers from jumping out of the tank.
> 
> ...


I’ve been seriously considering a screen myself but my problem is everyone in my tank is so tiny.... I’d need mosquito net almost.

Great solution for reasonable-size fish tho.


----------



## ddiomede (Feb 21, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> I’ve been seriously considering a screen myself but my problem is everyone in my tank is so tiny.... I’d need mosquito net almost.
> 
> Great solution for reasonable-size fish tho.


Netting should be available in a bunch of different sizes. It's usually sold under "bird netting". I personally think it would be the equivalent to getting a hole in one in golf for a fish to avoid hitting the next and making it through, but it's possible.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

ddiomede said:


> Netting should be available in a bunch of different sizes. It's usually sold under "bird netting". I personally think it would be the equivalent to getting a hole in one in golf for a fish to avoid hitting the next and making it through, but it's possible.


Haha sure but my fish are like 3mm across... and the shrimp could possibly just crawl through


----------



## ddiomede (Feb 21, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> Haha sure but my fish are like 3mm across... and the shrimp could possibly just crawl through


I guarantee there's netting available with holes small enough to keep your fish and snails from making it out. Insect netting is another option but it would likely reduce PAR. At least I assume it would.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

ddiomede said:


> I guarantee there's netting available with holes small enough to keep your fish and snails from making it out. Insect netting is another option but it would likely reduce PAR. At least I assume it would.


Yeah insect netting feels too tight. My snails don’t go anywhere weirdly. But I did have a shrimp escape and I do have killifish and one pseudomugil, both are known as possible jumpers.... I haven’t seen them even approach the surface so far but better safe than sorry I guess.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

ddiomede said:


> Everyone I knew and myself included used mesh screen tops for our tanks. In a nutshell it's a clear mesh with roughly 1/4" squares....looks like a net kind of. You use a window screen frame and basically build a custom sized window screen. I lost my connection to a guy who had way overbought screen so he was selling it to folks but found that Bulk Reef Supply has the mesh, as well as screen kits. I haven't checked how much their screen kits cost compared to one of the big box hardware stores, but it's an option to keep fish from going kamikaze. Whenever I'd do a FTS I'd just pull the screen off.


My other Nuvo 20 has a screen frame lid - you can sorta see it in my post on page 6. I don't mind it on that tank, but I want something more sleek on this one. I do agree that they are underrated in freshwater though!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Took a piece of wood out. Big trim too - really hacked back the rotalas. Pulled a lot of stems right out so it will hopefully grow back less dense. Still struggling with BBA on the dragon stone, but that's become normal for this tank. I did end up replacing the hygrocotyle with micro sword.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I feel like with how much time I've invested in this tank, I should like it more. I'm really unhappy with how the layout has turned out. It's pretty far from my original vision. I'm really grateful for everything I've learned, and it's really nice to have it "figured out". I think I'm gonna tear it down and rescape it soon. We'll see.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I priced out Aquasoil and some alternatives and yeah, no. Buceplant wants $18 for a pot of trident java fern. I'm not putting that kind of money into this tank. I did rip everything up yesterday though and make an enormous mess. Ask me in a week if I regret everything.


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

If you're not happy with your tank, might as well change it up! You've gained a whole lot of knowledge and it's been over a year since you set it up. Your Stauro has come back from the dead so many times, I hope it finds a place in the new setup.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

geraldk said:


> You've gained a whole lot of knowledge and it's been over a year since you set it up.


August will be this tank's 2nd birthday! 










I still don't love it, but I think it looks better. I'll probably change up the left side a bit, but I'm much happier with the right side now.


----------



## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

I like it! I think you recaptured some of that natural feeling.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

I love this tank honestly.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

This community 40 breeder is where the trimmings from this tank have gone. No CO2, no ferts, inert substrate, fluorescent lighting, next to no maintenance other than topoffs... maybe once a monthly water changes... the exact same plants, thriving. Makes me wonder why I even bother sometimes


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

I’m starting to think that in many plant situations less might be more.


----------



## geraldk (12 mo ago)

I'm super interested if your Ludwigia manages to stay red in that 40 breeder. I'm considering a low-tech nano and wondering how my Ludwigia trimmings would do in it. Also, hooray, you kept the Stauro


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

So...same old, really. I expected a big algae breakout from pulling up all that soil, but it's been fine. I'll probably take a break from updates since things are just growing in now and not much is going on.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Could I please see some closeups of different sections of the tank? You’ve got some really interesting stuff going on there!


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Meh. I really don't know what to do with this tank any more.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

What’s making you unhappy about it? Do you have a vision of the sort of scape you’d want? Maybe try to make it a biotope/ breeding tank for a particular species you’re interested in?


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

LidijaPN said:


> What’s making you unhappy about it? Do you have a vision of the sort of scape you’d want? Maybe try to make it a biotope/ breeding tank for a particular species you’re interested in?


The BBA, honestly. I dropped my lights by 15% and doused it in peroxide for 5 days in a row and it's back already. I think I have to throw in the towel and admit the soil might be causing some organics issues in the water and it just won't work with the kind of high light/exposed hardscape thing I've got going on.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Does the one-two punch work for bba? Can you drop lights further?


----------



## deemw (10 mo ago)

Have you got any SAE?

Sent from my SM-A315F using Tapatalk


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I went couch cushion diving and found some spare cash to redo this tank  Stay tuned.
Only thing I'm hung up on is the stocking! I might move my rasboras to the community tank and either kidnap my cherry barbs from the other Nuvo 20 or get a real fancy betta and let it have the run of the tank.


----------



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Betta tanks are awesome ♥♥♥


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Here's my betta 
I don't want him in the 20 though. I'm also considering taking the embers from the community tank rather than the cherry barbs.


----------



## Chucker (Apr 9, 2011)

Super cool betta. Reminds me a bit of a red-hued coelacanth.


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

So it begins 
I have to figure out what I'm going to do with my fish in the meantime...


----------



## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Well... the easy part is done with 
Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this journey for the past year and a half. I'm very excited to take everything I've learned and apply it going forward. I'll be making a new thread within the next few days.


----------

