# 75g D. Walstad inspired Natural Planted Tank !56k! [12/21/11]



## ryan-fishtanktv (Nov 16, 2010)

nice tank! its gonna look sweet when your done 
check this out it might help
http://www.fishtanktv.com/dirt-in-fishtank/dirt-convert-3-congrats-david-looking-good-man/


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## kharma (Sep 20, 2010)

You could use pool filter sand, It is nice and cheap  I use it on my walstad tank


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## Jane of Upton (Apr 2, 2006)

Hi,

Did you just fill it to prove its water tight, right? 

I have the Miracle Grow organic soil under three Walstad type tanks I'm running now. I'd strongly suggest you DO take the time to pick out the larger bits of wood - its WELL worth the effort, otherwise they will rise to the surface over time, and bring a little "pool" of soil up with them. Plus, I've had less initial coloring of the water with tannins upon setup when I've put it through a coarse sift for wood chunks first. 

I got hold of some black 3M Color Quartz sand for the above tanks, but I've used pool filter sand on earlier tanks, as well. Check out the color when its wet... it can look a lot lighter when wet when you've got lights over it. I called a few pool places, and asked what color their filter sand was when wet. Sure, I got a lot of "what the..?" pauses, but after I explained, I got the answers. It saved me a lot of potentially wasted drive time. If you do use pool filter sand, go with a little less depth, since it does compact over time, more than a slightly larger gravel. I've got the 5-lb sample size of some Baylee's Fishies "sand" on the way, to see what the grain size is like. 

This is very exciting. I'm subscribing to your thread, since I'm hoping to setup a larger El Natural tank over the winter. The largest one I ran was 30g, and I currently have two 20H's going and a bunch of 10's.

I can't wait to see how those Hagen dual T5HOs look - the design looks very nice. This looks like its going to be a great project!

-Jane


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

*75g D. Walstad inspired Natural Planted Tank. (First batch of fish recieved!)*

Got a lot done today. Painted the back of the tank black, rehinged the glass lids and scraped a bunch of deposits off. Added sand and soil, and filled the tank with water.

I need lights for my hagen glo. but I dont have the money right now. I also need another filter. I also need to shift the tank and stand over a foot or so, I completely forgot to do that.. 










Sand perimeter









Soil









Final layer









Filled (Nothing was rinsed before putting it in the tank)


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Tank is up and running! roud:

Draining.. Oooh T5HO.. bright =]










Planting



















Filled up, eheim 2213 transfered over, koralia one running for flow, everything set and good to go.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Day three of being set up, and the plants LOVE the T5HO bulbs.

Here's a quick picture of the ludwigia repens, compare to the colour in the post above which was grown under CFL bulbs before being placed into this tank. The colour is beautiful, and this picture doesn't do it justice.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

plants plants plants plants plants yay

parameters after not even a week: (started out with .5ppm ammonia straight from the tap)
ammonia barely registers, nitrite also barely registers or is 0ppm, and nitrate is 5-15ppm

Cabomba, Crypts, and an unknown?









Alternanthera reinicki









Anubias caladifolia









Pygmy chain sword









Hydrophila? + Val




































Full tank shot =]


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Full tank shot 11/29/10! Ooh reds. Tank is ready for fish and has been for a while! 0ppm ammonia, tap water runs at ~.5ppm ammonia. Have not really been testing. Sorry for image quality :frown:

no CO2 =]










Closer, a little more yellow in real life.. Current occupant, my mom's betta.


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## celine (Nov 19, 2010)

wow, that looks amazing! very nice! i love the christmas decorations too


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## oaksw12 (Nov 15, 2010)

That's some amazing growth on the front of the stand, and in only 8 days too! :icon_lol:

Like the tank though, the red / green complementary color scheme is definitely a good balance.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

oaksw12 said:


> That's some amazing growth on the front of the stand, and in only 8 days too! :icon_lol:
> 
> Like the tank though, the red / green complementary color scheme is definitely a good balance.


:icon_lol:

Thanks for the comments! =] Decorations were my mom's idea haha.

This tank is turning out well, Soon I'm going to need to trim! The vals seem to be kinda melting?


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Update! 

FISH! Got my corydoras hastatus, 3 golden oto's for algae cleanup, and the 6 synodontis petricola. Apisto's did not come, and will be waiting until jan to pickup the tetras.
12/24









compare to:

11/29



























Seem to be having a nutrient defeciency where the tips of the limnophilia grow in very tiny and almost like a nitrogen deficiency? ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrates are 0.. I dose some NPK and seachem flourish when I see this.
I'm kinda thinking these might be synodontis lucippinis?
input anybody?


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

The tank looks good. I'm not sure about your new cat though. Any good pics of the golden otos? IME the 2 T5HO bulbs put you in the med-high light category, which is why you have so much BBA in the tank. Unfortunately it will probably only get worse unless you reduce your lighting intensity somehow or add C02.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Congrats on the start up. Lotta light driving your set up as already posted. 
The key (imo) on a raw top soil sub start up is to go plants, plants and more plants. I planted every inch I could starting out and added floaters as well for the first year. The soil is going to give you CO2 for about three months in a good amount as the bacteria builds and chews though the organics in the soil layer then things slow down a bit was my experience. I planned to add hard scape later after the soil settled in but never saw the need after the plants filled in.

nice tank, patience and it will fill in before you know it


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Nice tank but holy smokes, please shrink your images down, or choose is smaller image size; around 1000px width would be great.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> Nice tank but holy smokes, please shrink your images down, or choose is smaller image size; around 1000px width would be great.


Easily done. All pictures are around 1000px wide now =]

Thanks for the comments. And I'm realizing it's too much light now! I may find some way to suspend the lights. Or raise them up somehow

I now have an eheim 2075 running on this tank that I bought new today. It has some purigen in it.. I wasn't sure how much to put in the bag! Maybe 1/5th of the 250mL can is what I put in.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

tuffgong said:


> The tank looks good. I'm not sure about your new cat though. Any good pics of the golden otos? IME the 2 T5HO bulbs put you in the med-high light category, which is why you have so much BBA in the tank. Unfortunately it will probably only get worse unless you reduce your lighting intensity somehow or add C02.


As you asked, here's a decent pic I got of one of them (below) 
For cutting down the light, would using a window screen material work? Even doubled up maybe.. It's a disappointment that my fixture did not come with all of the mounting hardware hagen glo's come with, but the seller never told me it didn't have the extendable legs + clamps because it came from a fluval osaka tank. It does have the hanging tabs though.. which seem rather flimsy and made of plastic! :eek5:




wkndracer said:


> Congrats on the start up. Lotta light driving your set up as already posted.
> The key (imo) on a raw top soil sub start up is to go plants, plants and more plants. I planted every inch I could starting out and added floaters as well for the first year. The soil is going to give you CO2 for about three months in a good amount as the bacteria builds and chews though the organics in the soil layer then things slow down a bit was my experience. I planned to add hard scape later after the soil settled in but never saw the need after the plants filled in.
> 
> nice tank, patience and it will fill in before you know it


Thanks! 
I've read up to a year for the soil to remain viable for the plants then after that things really start to taper off. I do plan on lowering the light as I stated above. Something I definitely have noticed is that around the plants like vals, swords, ludwigia repens, and crypts, basically all the plants with large root systems is that there is no hydrogen sulfide bubbles forming. Vals are spreading throughout my tank now, I must have like 7 new plants forming already ranging from a few feet long to little babies


and finally, the pictures!

Golden oto









Corydoras hastatus and Siamese Algae Eater









SAE









Cory's









2 SAEs and cory hastatus shoaling together :icon_smil 
Sometimes the oto's will get in on this and they all shoal and act like one big family LOL.









Are these guys true SAE? I'm pretty certain that they are.


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

ridethespiral said:


> Golden oto


Thanks for the great pic! I finished QT of 7 oto's about a month ago and 3 of them have the same yellow/golden coloring. Very interesting...

Many of us have suffered from High Light Disease at some point or another. Hoppy posted a great thread about using window screen to reduce light intensity. If you search the Lighting section I'm sure it will come up.

Your tank still looks great. Once you get the lighting sorted you will be a happy camper!


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I really like their colour and skin/scale texture when viewing them from up close. These guys are eating, pooping machines! 

Both the oto's and the SAE have obtained an appetite for the NLS sinking h2o stable wafers and are looking fat right now! lmao.

There's a possibility that the petricola's may have been mating or trying to I think.. Since about 2 weeks after I got them, I've seen them 'attack' and 'wrestle' each other. It's nuts! Sand and debris goes flying when it happens at which point the one will swim away, and then a few moments later dart right back and do it again! Could this be them just playing, or is it them spawning? I'm not sure. :/


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

I don't know about being viable for only a year though. Flooded my tank on 4/30/09 and only recently did I notice the crypts thinning a bit. (need to post an update LOL) But I wouldn't say the soil was out of gas.










Same label as on the bag of dirt your using.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Wow. Your tank is stunning! How many gallons is it 90? Does it have a journal? 
You said that the soil should give 'good' CO2 levels for about 3 months, but even after then everything grows fine I see, lasting well over a year. Is it basically just the time period with the best growth in a NPT?

oh the questions hah


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

LOL thanks but no 90 it's a hand me down old 55g
(your tank is a diamond too buddy.)
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/86457-55-gallon-low-tech-soil-sub.html


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

It looks so tall in that picture. Deceiving.

I'd say my tank it's well on it's way. I'm quite happy with the results so far and it looks better every day.

Have not done a water change since receiving my fish, and the water is pristine. 0ppm NH4, NO2, NO3.
The purigen I added is magical and my water has never been this clear  the 2075 sure helps with that though lol


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> You said that the soil should give 'good' CO2 levels for about 3 months, but even after then everything grows fine I see, lasting well over a year. Is it basically just the time period with the best growth in a NPT?
> oh the questions hah


Growth stays great throughout (imo) just less excitement after it stops gassing.
After a year it became the easiest tank in the house to maintain.
I feed the fish daily because they are all young. Add RO water to replace evaporation as needed. Adding 15-30ml of CSM+B (w/a Fe kicker added) weekly (if I remember) Trim the plants when the fish run out of room to swim LMAO

That's about it for the tank routine on this one.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Got sumps, HOB and canisters on my other tanks but the dirt tank lives with only a sponge equipped power head,,, that's it ever, just the PH and a heater and the heater is set to 65°F 
Detailed the thread to hold all the water parameters as the tank settled in as most here are high light junkies myself included starting out. After I had over ten tanks flooded in house I got over the whole "gotta have high tech" thing and just keep two that way. :smile:


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Every week or so, I poke and prod around the substrate to release these bubbles. They STINK lol. It's mostly up at the front and in the open areas that this buildup occurs. This is what you're talking about when you say gassing right? I'm using sand though which holds some of it in where as I saw you had gravel. 

Wish I made the choice of gravel so the mulm would end up sinking down into the soil despite the sand looking really good. This is basically why I bought the eheim 2075 and am running the 2213 and a koralia one at the moment to remove all of the detritus build up. I've read that Diana even recommends using some form of mechanical filtering. All nutrients still end up dissolving into the water, and you can keep water even cleaner.

As far as ferts go, I dosed rootmedic micro a few times, which also contains a high level of iron, about a month before getting my fish. Coincidence or not, algae started going crazy. I've read tons and tons on how iron can be the limiting factor on algae growth. I now dose NPK + Seachem Flourish once a week or so, whenever it seems like the plants have been stunted(too much light or not enough bioload?!), and top up with tap water (adds back minerals plants use! helps keeps water stable by not allowing it to become too soft.. apparently) Algae seems to be decreasing at the same light level but I'm going to reduce it asap by using some screen and see how the plants/algae react.

Do you have a link to your tank's thread? I never really bothered taking readings often other than the first month lol.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I've had trouble with adding additional iron and hair algae. Could never prove it to be a cause and effect, but there was definitely a correlation. Have fun with the gassing of those pockets. I tore down a tank with sand because of that issue.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Ah, lets hope I do not have to tear down this tank for that reason. The layer of sand is pretty thin in most spots and I plan on getting an army of Malaysian trumpet snails.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> Every week or so, I poke and prod around the substrate to release these bubbles. They STINK lol. It's mostly up at the front and in the open areas that this buildup occurs. This is what you're talking about when you say gassing right? I'm using sand though which holds some of it in where as I saw you had gravel.
> 
> Wish I made the choice of gravel so the mulm would end up sinking down into the soil despite the sand looking really good. This is basically why I bought the eheim 2075 and am running the 2213 and a koralia one at the moment to remove all of the detritus build up. I've read that Diana even recommends using some form of mechanical filtering. All nutrients still end up dissolving into the water, and you can keep water even cleaner.
> 
> ...


Planting every square inch eliminates most of this build up and no hardscape was in my very first post to your string. Over on APC they have a whole section "El Natural" but since Diana stopped baby sitting it things have changed. Used to be NPT threads now there are ferts, bugs, all kinds of strings in it and it's polluted. Mine went as close as anything I read over there to perfect once I quit getting in a hurry. IMO better, less doodah doodah then any other thread (more reported details too)

I bridged my plants starting out with water column dosing but stopped early on too (Diana scolded me:help. Had to maintain a floater blanket for ages before eliminating them completely within the last 6 months. When I cleared too much surface area before then algae would start. Yet this tank has never been an algae bomb just minor burps of it. 



sewingalot said:


> I've had trouble with adding additional iron and hair algae. Could never prove it to be a cause and effect, but there was definitely a correlation. Have fun with the gassing of those pockets. I tore down a tank with sand because of that issue.


The hair algae & Fe doodah doodah I can definitely agree with a correlation but only in certain tanks. Some get ugly and others I keep it doesn't bother a thing. D. Walstad believed in limiting Fe and posted as such in my APC thread. Plant mass / type has a lot to do with it (imo).

May have just pulled the pin too soon :icon_roll (on the sand) but it's not the best choice. (imo/experience) But a Flourite/pool sand mix is the base for over 1/2 my tanks.



ridethespiral said:


> Ah, lets hope I do not have to tear down this tank for that reason. The layer of sand is pretty thin in most spots and I plan on getting an army of Malaysian trumpet snails.


GEEZ! this reads like a whoops WHAT NOW:icon_eek: post what happened after 5am???? You are jumping to conclusions regarding my little posts and your wrong. 
Answers, answers,

Posted a link to it in a reply early on last night right after you asked if there was a journal. 

I posted the CURRENT routine for the tank in my reply. I have 2 almost parallel threads one here and one over on APC for that tank. Reason being Diana Walstad was active as a moderator over there at the time yet most of my web buddies are here:tongue:

No gravel in my tank but original Flourite as a capping material. Gravel is too big and the dirt drifts out around it forever. Posted to a I hate dirt response not that long ago where the OP used river gravel type capping material.

If you put Malaysian trumpet snails in a new (fresh) soil tank the gas will kill them. I used (LFS termed) feeder / grass / glass / ghost shrimp for test pilots early on. I guess you need to read my thread now. This would be why I tested and posted all that detail. AND don't panic! While soil burps continued to a lesser scale for the entire first year it only had bad indigestion for about a month. After the eruption I relieved the pockets poking with plant tweezers.

If your sand cap is as thin as you think it's easy enough to add well rinsed Flourite a plastic cup at a time and the sand will mix breaking up over time.
Posting this reply I'M SURE I missed a dozen points of information but OP your tank is off to a great start.roud:


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## robxc80 (Aug 4, 2009)

nice. i cant wait to see how it looks when everything grows in. i'm very curious about your soil mix. i might try to attempt that soon as well.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

wkndracer: I LOL'd a little bit at the snail bit in red :icon_lol:
I went through your thread and it was one of the main threads I read before even getting my tank. Basically my plans are to hang my light another 12" or so above the tank to light the tank more evenly, and reduce the intensity waay down. The sand layer is definitely very thin, and after today's moving things around, the sand and dirt in some areas got pretty mixed together. Flourite seems like a good idea 


Unfortunatly I lost 4 of the petricola's yesterday morning, from what I think was the heat the water reached. Had the temp up to get rid of a few spots of ich they came with. Unfortunatly my ebo jager went up to 31 degrees Celcius when being set at 30C... I literally went to bed after seeing them alive using a led flashlight to waking up 4 hours later and checking on them, and 4 were dead. I plan on replacing them for sure!


Also I did a ton of rescaping. One of the swords, most if not all crypts + replanted runners which were mature enough, shifted both of the alternanthera reineckii over and together. Moved the Anubias barteri "Caladiifolia" up closer to the front of the tank, the thing is a beast! I need a rock that I could tie this thing down on and make it look appealing. The local I got it from, said he got it from someone, who also got it from someone... etc, and is years and years old. Vals are starting to turn into a forest from the runners! 

Tank looks wayyyy better with all of the lower light plants moved closer to the front, trimmed about 4 stems of limnophilia and replanted. My sister stole the camera, and my motorola milestone sucks at taking pictures of the insides of large rectangles of water and glass haha.

Pics tomorrow when the water is completely clear and I actually have a camera capable of taking some worthy pictures. Really want to buy a nice one one day.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Pics 

Entire setup. I want doors but at the same time I like seeing the equipment!
w/flash








w/o flash









Crop. I really love Google Picasa! (dare you to google it!  )










for comparison, before:


> Full tank shot 12/24/10


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Looking good roud:


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Plants seem to be doing great after getting over wanting to see my tank all the time :icon_twis and are now on a strict 8hr photo period. Seems that keeping the lights on for only an hour while I'm up before going to work on the weekend and having it on for another hour or so when I get back home while having the lights back to the 8hrs mon-fri.

I started off with 3 vals, planted one on each side and one in the middle. The one in the middle is going CRAZY, one to the left of it has barely done anything, and the one on the right is doing almost as good as the middle one. A runner has almost reached the very front of the tank, and is rooting next to the microsword up front. One week and it will hit the front LOL.










Random plant I found after going crazy moving around plants... Cannot figure out what it is since it doesn't look like anything else and is still tiny!









Almost no algae! =] only one random corydoras hasborus death (out of 25 I don't consider that alarming) since my bad bad mistake of suffocating my petricolas and losing 4..... Getting another batch of fish at the end of the month or beginning of February. Excited!

Two SAEs I bought when around 2-3cm long and are growing like beasts! They've grown since this picture.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Finally got around to installing brackets to hang the lights!


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

The tank is looking REALLY good. congrats on things settling in. Keeping to a schedule is hard but the best thing to do. I'm over 8hrs. on my injected systems and play algae wars because of it. Nice job on the lighting brackets too. (are they shelf supports?)

Thought I'd just mention that I think the one on the left looks a little low,,,, JUST KIDDING! (I really miss my friend







trallen44)


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks HAHA! but I double checked and checked that the shelving brackets (you got me ) were exactly the same height from the top of the tank. It's the camera I swear 

Cheap, easy, and looks good  The tank is exploding with growth (sure to slow down now) but will start looking even better I'm sure!


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Found a new use for the extra light from the T5HO 

(time for a trim!)









The orchid on the right was bought almost exactly a year ago for my gf on valentines day, I thought it looked pretty cool haha. It stayed in bloom for 3 1/2 months and I hope this lighting will kick it into blooming again. They get colder at night, then the light warms them up a little bit when it's on. The other orchid is being saved.. LOL


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## LICfish (Oct 9, 2010)

Your tank is looking great. And so is the orchid. I never managed to keep orchid alive.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks 
Since the year has gone by, all it has done is grown a single, almost 5cm long leaf.. It grows so slow.

It got weak a few times because I stopped watering it, but I'm pretty sure it's over watering that kills them the fastest.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

plants growing like weeds. even with the light raised


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## Larry Grenier (Apr 19, 2005)

Very nice... I expecially like the "Ampeg". I only have a "Crate" next to mine.


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## Eddie80 (Oct 29, 2010)

Nice aquarium and good to see a fellow musician as well! I dig the Tool poster  Above my aquariums i have Soulfly, Slipknot, Hypocrisy, The Haunted and In Flames posters 

I also have my amp and guitar there.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks! Both are my pride and joy now. 

offtopic:
The amp isn't anything serious at 100w, but it sounds nice as it includes a tube preamp. Many of my friends use crate lol

and my weapon of choice:


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Received my 2nd batch of fish. The cardinal tetras are not doing well, and I've lost over half since Saturday.. 4 Bolivian red rams, 6 petricola to bring the count up to 8 once again after my mistake. and now, like 9 cardinal tetras  damnit.

here is a pic of my favorite little oto buddy! hehe










and now.. the new fish  don't have pics of the petricolas, they hang out at the back lol and are fast. 

Red rams (still young and not very colourful! can't wait till they grow up)


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Tank looks like it's doing really great!roud:


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Uncropped and untouched









Cropped and edited. Cardinals and young rams visible 










I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME TAKE A DECENT PICTURE NOW THAT I HAVE RAISED MY LIGHTS


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

LMAO







I had/have the same issue with a couple of tanks due to the lighting. Use a shade to block the light above the tank (it helps).

















HTH


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I'm going to have to from now on when I take pictures!


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

I've been reading journals on here for days as I am about to start my own. Mine will be similar to yours, so I'm glad to have confirmation on that my soil will work. I too will be using organic potting mix topped with play sand. I have a question though, do you use root tabs or any supplements in your soil? It comes fairly inert does it not? I purchased some root tabs with my light fixture as well as some Flourish excel to kick start things. 

BTW Nice LTD and ampeg. I too am a bassist. I don't meet enough musician/fishkeepers.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

bpb there is PLENTY of nutrients in the soil so it's far from inert.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I finally got around to removing the mess of plants my tank became. I left very little limnophila because it grows way too much. Relocated vals more to the back. Lighting has been increased to 10hrs to give the orchids I have ontop of the tank more light 

As for additional fertilizers, I dumped in 10mL of seachem flourish about a week ago just to see what would happen and things look a bit better. Don't want to dose the rootmedic npk+fe macros I have just in case it screws up the balance. Last water change I did was 10g when I filled up a smaller tank for the cardinals with the water from the main tank. Nitrate is only around 5ppm.. The test turns out pretty light










eventually I would like more small foreground plants. I don't know why but all the pygmy cory's hide in the lava rock I have


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

So is this a true Walstad tank, no water changes? I've always questioned the 6 month water change thing.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

what kind of limnophila do you have?


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Tank looks really good.
If the cory will use the opening up front more it would be nice but the tank looks great. (made me look back to see how long its been wet)


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

psalm18.2 said:


> So is this a true Walstad tank, no water changes? I've always questioned the 6 month water change thing.


initially I did water changes as the soil decomposed. Last time I did a large water change was a couple months though. I only top it up, and changed about 10g when I moved my cardinals to another tank a week or two ago. I have German red rams and Golden oto's which are doing perfectly fine. I'm now seeing how far it can go without any water changes as I feel everything has balanced out now 


Not sure what kind of limnophila I have. Got it from a local and that's all he told me it was. 

The soil no longer bubbles up much, and I'm wondering if I should get some trumpet snails now.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

due for an update?


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Long due update indeed! Been very busy lately. This is the perfect tank for me haha.

Before: [04/11/11]









After: [06/29/11]


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Awesome testament to *The Fraternity of Dirt

*Thanx for the pics, tank looks great!
How high did you end up leaving the light over the tank?


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks!! I'm glad it fell into place the way it did. If I ever get a nice piece of wood I could imagine it being 200% better

I left the light hanging 30cm above the tank. Grows my two orchids nicely as well  10hrs a day and there's only slight algae visible here and there but hardly noticable

I really love it now that all the fish have settled in and the petricolas are starting to come out and the rams aren't as timid when people get closer to view the tank.. This tank makes me proud


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## gene4christ (Oct 25, 2008)

Truly a lovely tank ! Hmmm no water changes ? I have kept Aquariums for 40+ years and I have never been a fan of water changes except in an emergence after all crazy things do happen but that being said 10% or so yearly should suffice because you can make necessary adjustments when you top off the water column at least it works for me roud::biggrin:


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


>


This is really nice.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

No water changes other than the few 20% ones here and there because I got paranoid. It's been well over a few months though and no deaths so I assume things are good 

The two female rams I put in got bullied to death by the dominant ram in the tank I think. He looks like a devil with his red eyes.

I would like to move the vals on the left to the back of the tank so they don't occupy so much of the front as well as move the tiger lily somewhere else since it has grown so huge. Maybe place it behind the amazon sword. Idk.


Here's a few more pics from that same day. Just didn't have time to go through em all.

The pygmy chain sword started out as a single tiny pretty small plant. 
I found the plant to the right of it floating after doing a rescape. It is unidentified and unknown :icon_ques


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## phorty (Aug 2, 2010)

very nice!


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## celine (Nov 19, 2010)

omg i love your tank!!! and i'm seriously jealous of your lack of water changes...>.<


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks! :fish:


This is what got me addicted to this hobby:










All of the plants there are in my tank right now, the one amazon sword has leaves nearly two feet long now


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> :fish:This is what got me addicted to this hobby:


(pic not quoted in from above)
awesome transformation from blue poo to a 'realistic' looking environment in your glass box. This tank is in my top 10 favorite tank threads.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Haha Blue poo!

I'm thinking I need some emersed plants of some sort. And I could spread out some of the crypts so there is more plants in the middle. They've all started to send out runners and are growing fast! (well if you can call it that haha)

I've gotten too used to not doing anything to the tank that I don't even want to stick my arms in it haha


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

This isn't the greatest picture but all I've got to work with is my cellphone's camera..

Had two petricolas die and a bulb burn out.. Decided to get two new bulbs altogether. One wave point 6500k and 12,000k
Much brighter and seems like the bulbs are of much higher quality


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

very nice!

haha blue poo.

have you stretched out your vals to see how long they are?


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Wow! What a transformatiom. I like how you have the open space in the center.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks 

The open space is the fight pit for the rams hahaha. They've claimed it as their arena

Last time I stretched the vals out was 4 months or more and they were 4ft long. Theyre blocking all the damn light im not too fond of them anymore

sent from my desire hd


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

leave a couple inches above tank height and trimming the ends off you can break the cover yet keep the filled look. they left my tanks for the same reason, just blanketing the tank yet the tall growth has such a cool look.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful look, very lush with the Vals


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)




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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Bwahahaha better buy shoes for those fish as the plants are gonna push 'em right outta the tank.


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

wow! very nice. the plants look great. and haha wknd.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Gorgeous jungle you have


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Fooling around with the canon rebel xs I just got for cheap. This thing is going to take me a while to master (in other words, excuse the slightly out of focus shots  )


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## ibmikmaq (Aug 19, 2011)

I love the catfish! Although you won't be able to add any small fish to your tank now but there are still so many more species you can choose from! Aquascape looks great can't wait to see the mature!


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Why wouldn't I be able to add smaller fish? The petricolas' mouths are not that large

And thanks! The tank has been wet nearly a year now


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Looking good, I think you will be fine adding small fish to the tank.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I don't have plans on adding fish anytime soon 

Everything seems stable and good right now and I'd rather not disturb anything haha. I do want about 4-6 more petricolas, and maybe try go for some pygmy cories again. Seriously don't know where my ~20 pygmy corys went.. thinking most of them were snacks when I ran out of NLS


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Cameras are confusing.... all my pictures come out dark or blurry haha. Getting better




















edit!


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

I love that last picture. Great job focusing there.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks! He was quite timid of the camera hahaha, I'm glad I pulled it off though.


With a quick bit of magic it looks almost exactly as I see it:
Full size 1.7mB: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-23XPXtXp_AQ/ToEGrx3kTiI/AAAAAAAAJKk/7VRsxCNGygo/s0/IMG_0244.JPG


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Good pics, after you take a few hundred to thousand you will really start improving. Read the owners manual and get yourself a tripod. Also look online for info on your camera you may find some useful tips on taking the best pics with your camera.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

The biggest problem is that it's pretty dark in the tank. Maybe I'll chop up those vals today mwahah. I'm always scared I'll find a dead fish in them though LOL

And I need a good tripod now! I've figured out how to work the fstop iso and shutter speed combinations along with the use of the histogram, but getting a decent exposure is requiring 1/6sec shutter speed and 1600 iso with f/3.5. It's making for some crappy pictures. But I'm getting better after hundreds of pictures

maybe I'm missing something here.. it was a long time since I took photo in grade 10 and we didn't use DSLR's haha..


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

hahaha tank shots are almost always take 100 and lucky to like 10. 
The little open beach is shrinking, the fish will need machete's soon


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I took the fishes' equivalent of a machete to the shroud of vals at the top :icon_twis


the dust is settling :hihi:


along with it came the massive emersed moneywort which was no longer even rooted in the tank! It was simply floating/growing on top of the lids



?????
Some of my fish are flashing after doing this....
?????


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Before:












Chopped up!











leave my food alone :icon_twis :angryfire


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

haha my wife and son complain when i trim like that.
they expect a crew-cut every time. (they aren't allowed in the tank with scissors) LOL


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Haha! I wish my mom and sister were that eager to get their hands into the tank. I'm the only one that maintains it or ends up standing there staring for an hour :hihi:

Even then, I really don't like putting my arms in the tank anymore. With the use of soaps and stuff it worries me


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Nice clean up


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> I really don't like putting my arms in the tank anymore. With the use of soaps and stuff it worries me


Agreed, unless I'm 'shop' dirty I just soap wash once then water only scrub all the way past the elbow between tanks because I'll be poking in the sub before I'm done LOL

Still REALLY liking your setup.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

I love these rams. And the sneaky synodontis peaking wondering where that delicious smell is coming from











I'm glad you appreciate my tank! It has certainly come a long way


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

it certainly has come along way.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> I'm glad you appreciate my tank! It has certainly come a long way





nonconductive said:


> it certainly has come along way.


Yup! liked this one since you started the thread.
The only blue poo now is fish poo LOL


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Really love your tank! Looks like your struck a balance. I have a dirt tank also, about 2 or months wet. Have a question concerning your water. Do you have soft or hard water? Cuz when I first set up my tank I didn't realize that I had soft water. And I think my plants are suffering cuz of it. Do you dose to keep your gh up? I just put a little mesh bag of crushed coral in my filter to provide some much needed minerals to my plants. And I also ordered a dry fert combo pack. Maybe it will help the plants rebound. Not everything is dying but some plants just won't grow. 

The Vals are losing leaves and not producing runners. The bacopa started melting it's lower leaves. The rotala is just there. Not really doing anything. The only plants that's surviving is the dwarf sag and java moss on the wood. the java fern I just put in. Appreciate the help. Thx for the inspiration. Pic is below.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

coral will raise and buffer KH but whats missing for the plants to notice more are the calcium's and magnesium that make up your GH
Old school add plain old TUMs and Mg is Epsom Salt. :smile:

you can look around or TB or others will suggest levels but the basic I have in print is:
To increase Ca and Mg
1.5g CaSO4
1.0g MgSO4
Ca:Mg = 4:1


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

wkndracer said:


> coral will raise and buffer KH but whats missing for the plants to notice more are the calcium's and magnesium that make up your GH
> Old school add plain old TUMs and Mg is Epsom Salt. :smile:
> 
> you can look around or TB or others will suggest levels but the basic I have in print is:
> ...


Got it. Thanks dude. Glad I ordered that fert pack. In the mean time I can try what you said. 

Ok , no more hijack. Back to talking about this sweet tank.


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Haha, ya think it's that great eh?

That makes me smile  Now I'm at the point where I want to do more to the tank but I can't! Ah! Guess I'll just feed and take more pictures hahaha

Oh and my water is pH 7.8 with DkH 11-12, so it's not very soft by any means.

PS:

wkdnracer, would you mind linking me to some of your tank journals?


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## Gold Finger (Oct 13, 2011)

Cool tank Spiral. I have pretty much the same setup but have only planted one species so far. I'm a plant newb and was wondering if you might be able to advise me a bit. My PH is over 8 and my water is quite hard, partly because I have a lot of crushed oyster shell in my substrate (dirt and fluorite sand). I also have low light and no heat (goldfish) and need fast growth to keep up with the waste production. I only have mini twister vals so far which I know won't grow fast. I will plant a lot of val spiralis for nitrogen exporting purposes. I want to plant elodea and or cabomba too, but I don't really understand the two plants despite having researched them. My questions are, will they do well and grow fast in my parameters and are they hard to deal with? I can't figure out how you are supposed to trim them


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

ridethespiral said:


> wkndracer, would you mind linking me to some of your tank journals?


I will if you'll update with current pics of this awesome tank :wink:


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

cropped + exposure turned down to reduce some of the glare. 










not so cropped










here's a quick (and pretty crappy picture) for now. I'll take a nice picture in a day or two when I get around to ripping out some plants and get rid of the duckweed) I'll block the light to avoid the glare too


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Ok, now you better link me to your tank logs wkndracer! 


I did a lot of work before taking shots today. Got rid of much of the overgrowth, found out that my amazon sword had a shoot with TWELVE baby plants growing, so I had to find room for twelve amazon swords.... Got rid of all the duckweed, and BAM, beautiful once again.

It took ~400 shots to get this one which I'm still not satisfied. LOL. Spent about 30 mins in total. I used my music stand as a tripod :woot:


```
ISO	100
Exposure	1/2 sec
Aperture	3.5
Focal Length	18mm
```










Click on link for massive resolution picture 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2ODe1g7OmBI/TvJ5llmi8CI/AAAAAAAAJQE/2GYFL6x3t2U/s0/IMG_1162.JPG


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

Some serious updates are in need 

Will take pictures shortly! I seem to have lost my tiger lily though I do have another teeny tiny one from when it shot out a runner. I need to plant it somewhere it gets more light.

One of my rams is not looking so great =[


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## ridethespiral (Aug 5, 2010)

So over a year later, my tank isn't looking so great. I've sort of just left it to do its own thing over the past year. It has been a stressful year and my tank just wasn't my first priority.

I've decided to change this, and did some maintenance the other day only to find broken equipment (quite discouraging!). The valve on my Eheim 2075 broke and I cannot remove the quick disconnect from the pump head. Also, the magnet in one of my Hydor Koralia Evolution 1050's shattered inside the motor. I've sent pictures and information to both companies and am awaiting their reply. Thankfully, the Eheim still works since the valve is stuck almost completely open and I did clean it out. It was so dirty after six months haha. I also seem to have bad luck with my Hagen fixture burning out the back bulb very fast. I'm not sure if it's the fixture or just the bulbs, but it's rather annoying. The back bulb is ready to give out and is very dim. Trying to find a place that sells 4ft T5HO bulbs that are not $40 a piece (*cough*bigals*cough*)










As for the fish, it seems that I've lost about half my tetra's over the years. The petricolas are still kicking.. I don't have an exact count on how many there are but I'm guessing at least 5 of the 6 are left. Rams are gone, peppered cory disappeared.. The two siamese algae eaters are still givin'er, and I think the golden oto's are all still alive. I know I saw two out of three oto's the other day. Most of the deaths I blame on myself for lack of feeding at times. At least the tetras.. I imagine they can't survive as long without food as the larger fish.

Now the plants.. They are kind of ugly right now and a little sparse. I think all of the nutrients in the soil are pretty much depleted. I still had about 20 root tabs from Root Medic that I bought when I still had my Beta in its 10 gallon tank. I placed most of them into the dirt to hopefully rejuvinate it a bit. I'll give it a few weeks to see how that goes. I measured nitrates the other day before changing half of the water, and it read about 20ppm which is odd. I've only been feeding the fish every second day now, and I'm positive I haven't been overfeeding so I find it odd that nitrates were so high. I guess I really don't have much water column feeders. pH hasn't even budged from the tap water pH of 7.7 we have, which is great for 6 months without a water change. 

I think I'm going to have to stock up on some more fish soon.. The petricolas are a lot less timid now and actually explore quite a bit which is really nice. They used to hide in the lava rock every time someone would come near the tank. Now I can stick my face right against the glass and stare at them 

Cheers.


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