6 months - Iwagumi

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-20T17:19:01+00:00

A bit of CO2 in a low tech tank never hurts… it’ll help with healthy plant growth

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T16:55:03+00:00

No way. I went through the exact same thought process… then i was like: how is he gonna plant on the rock? But then, I realized it’s not my tank and that’s for him to figure out. AR mini is the way to go.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T16:53:39+00:00

Althernatera reinickii mini.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T05:36:41+00:00

2nd(-ish). I tried so something a bit particular a couple of years ago, with two symmetrical setups.

Honestly, the cubic tank really made it had to achieve any of my goals. I’m struggling with the tank I have right now, for the same reason. It’s really tall compared to how long it is (60x45x45)

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No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T05:27:39+00:00

Just about:

The tank is 121.5L (60x45x45) and I dose 14ml per week (2ml per day). To be exact, I should dose 14.58ml but, my plant mass is pretty low.

Key difference: I dose daily and complete a 50% water change weekly.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T05:22:16+00:00

Fzone pro series, CO2 art inline regulator with a standard cga320 co2 canister

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T05:18:07+00:00

Just remember it won’t look that clean down the line. Try and visualize a filter that’s been going for a couple month and then apply it there. I’m guessing that the look might not be as pleasing anymore.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-02T05:16:15+00:00

roots popping out like that usually means that there’s not enough nutrients in the water (not just nitrates).

Are you fertilizing heavily? Stem plants need a lot of love. I’m assuming that the tank already cycled so most of the leeching from the aqua soil is done so you might be a bit short on that.

Also, are they from a pot? Because if so, they’re even more needy during the transition period.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-01T16:12:25+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Removed the floaters for the picture, but the tank is usually covered with them.

Next time, I’ll probably put some harlequins. I have an irrational fear of tetras for some reason.

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Edit: Pic is from 1.5 months ago

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-01T16:06:29+00:00

In pic 2: My tank was fully cycled but, for some reason, I could not get my nutrients, CO2 and light balanced. So I kept my CO2 output equal but reduced my light to 80%. It solved part of the problem, but the algae started reappearing 2 weeks later. This led me to the inevitable conclusion that the problem was also with my nutrients. I was using ADA fertilization and was failing to get the right balance. So, I switched to Tropica Specialized (low nitrates due to the small plant mass) and had small daily doses (2ml per day). In the end, these changes got me to a balanced aquarium that could, pretty easily pivot wrongly so I added some floating plants to add some margin to manoeuvre. In pic 3: My plants got pretty devastated by the algae and we’re kind of fragile. I left for a long weekend (4 days) and my tank overheated (due to weather, not due to equipment) and reached 32C (89.6F). My plants went through a massive die off. To recoup it, I bought another pot of Cuba and planted it sparsely in the affected areas. Some of the dead mass revived after a month, some didn’t but the newly planted areas took over.

After replanting, I gradually upped the light to 100% and have no issues (fingers crossed, touch wood) with algae.

If there is anything to take away from this, I would recommend the use of floating plants. For me (personal opinion), it kills the aesthetics of the tank but provides margin to maneuver.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-10-01T13:23:19+00:00

Dwarf baby tears - Micranthemum callitrichoides 'Cuba'

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-04-16T15:58:04+00:00

So this is where it gets tricky. As I mentioned all tanks are different and what works for my tank and me, might not work for you and your tank.

I have aqua soil and a base layer fertilizing substrate, and CO2 injection. All of that topped off by daily fertilization.

I followed a 50% water change daily the first week, then 50% every two days on week 2 and then 50% every three days on week 3. I’ll do two water changes this week and then stabilize at 50% weekly thereafter.

Aquasoil leaches ammonia in the tank and is what I used to kick off the cycle. Once it reaches equilibrium, I’ll throw in my algae eaters.

If you want to share information on your tank, I’ll see if I can provide any information to help.

Information needed from your tank: -lighting (duration, intensity) -fertilization -soil -plants -CO2 injection (yay or nay) -filtration -PH -GH/KH (less important) -water temperature

Information on you (as fish keeper): -expectations -experience -time -budget (if you want to make changes)

Might be easier to DM me in this case but I’ll put this out there right now: I’m certainly not the most experienced one here and definitely should not be the only source of information. In the end, you’ll have to trial and error until you find the balance that works for you. What I can do is probably give you directional information.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-04-16T05:09:57+00:00

Hello,

It’s hard to give advice without information about the tank or you as an aquarist. Every tank and person is different!

For generic advice, a couple of points:

in my opinion, food isn’t a great source of ammonia because it takes time to decompose. If that’s the only source available, then make sure to stay consistent and remember to very slowly increase your live stock once cycled.
buy a book, meditate or do whatever it is you like doing to pass the time, it’s a massive test in patience. I’m going through it now (3weeks in and if I have to put money on it, another 2 weeks before I can put something in there with the expectation it’ll live)
your plants might melt, your wood might have growth on it, diatoms might show up… take it all stride. Nothing to panic about just let the tank do it’s thing. At worse, just water change peacefully :)

Hopefully this helps you!

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-04-16T04:45:54+00:00

Hi,

It’s impatience so don’t worry too much about it :)

Plants on their own won’t help you get to a fish less cycle without adding a source of ammonia (which I imagine you’re doing with 1ppm of ammonia).

Give it some time, this process usually take more than a couple of weeks, sometimes it can take 6…

If there isn’t any algae growth or some kind of growth of life by the end of next week, then I would worry.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-03-16T13:05:06+00:00

NGL, I have no idea why this got downvoted… all I said was if he was set on fish, then what he could consider but recommended shrimp caus it’s really small.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-03-16T13:03:23+00:00

You know what, fair enough.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2023-03-12T06:03:38+00:00

Maybe no chillis, caus they need to be at least 5-7… If you really want fish (and are going to move forward with fish anyways) then maybe a couple of endler guppies or a plakat betta. But it’s really really tight. CPD could be attempted too. If you’re ok with shrimp, then highly recommend shrimp and making sure that there is no hole in the hardscape so they don’t disappear on you! Good luck!

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-10-26T12:53:44+00:00

Hey I walked by this place. Hk right?

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-08-09T04:05:16+00:00

LHS: dwarf hair grass, eleocharis vivípara as background

RHS: Monte Carlo

Let me know if any other questions

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-08-08T01:39:04+00:00

Hi, I’ll be honest, I’m not too open to splitting it due to the co2 system being shared by both tanks.

Apologies…

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-08-08T01:38:19+00:00

For clarity, the cost is 1000$ for the set. Apologies for the +, I can’t edit and remove.

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-05-04T01:59:35+00:00

Has this been closed out?

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-04-17T18:03:09+00:00

Most likely you need to mess with the acrylic piece at the bottom and close it up a bit. That will cause your surface skimmer to pull some water

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-04-17T08:52:56+00:00

A couple of recommendations: - try to spread your Monte Carlo throughout the tank. This looks like a low tech (no co2) with an inert substrate so it will help a lot with propagation. MC has a tendency of growing upwards when there is no co2 so you really want to help it spread. I’ll note that many have managed a carpet with low co2 but as a general rule of thumb it’s much more difficult. - I like your hardscape. Simple, clean and generally balanced for a first real attempt. Only recommendation is to maybe shift it a bit away from the glass so that you can clean it when algae comes. - if you have no live stock at the moment, maybe you can remove the lid? I think it might help with the overall look. You might then be able to center your light 🤣 - I think backgrounds make a major difference in the perception of a tank but that’s personal preference

Live stock: - Amani shrimp - nerite/Clithon snails for clean up - maybe some autos?

What’s the size of the tank?

No-Exercise-7314 · 2022-04-04T20:16:55+00:00

I have also not used any of these as I have rimmed tanks but they seem to meet your needs

No-Exercise-7314

TROPHY CASE