Jane of Upton
New Member
LOL, your elaboration about the "fish hotel" actually being a flophouse was made me snarfle my coffee...... 😆
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AS600 - Jade
- Thread starter Fiske
- Start date
Myrtle
Member
I've just read through this and had a few chuckles too!
Way too lax on the updates here, but there's not much to mention. Have been slacking with maintenance/ferts so have a bit of green algae on glass. I will look into it now it's winter, and I am not in the garden shooting macros of bugs all day long🤣 (yeah, I needed another expensive hobby like a hole in the head, and now I have it (the hobby, not the holey head)).
Lost most (all?) of the Cories over summer, but I guess I still have most of my neons, at least afai can see when I feed them. Wife did some hulahooping next to the tank, and they've been in hiding ever since😅
Most plants are still doing fine, the Aponogetons are in worst shape... guess they dislike the lean (read: no) ferts. Ferns are massive, crypts and buces ok.
Still have plans for moving the tank to another room that is more quiet but it is sort of connected to a lot of other stuff that needs to be done, so I'm obsessively procrastinating. Any major tank shuffle are probably postponed to some time next year.
Will throw some pics up soon-ish, but don't hold your breath 😵
Lost most (all?) of the Cories over summer, but I guess I still have most of my neons, at least afai can see when I feed them. Wife did some hulahooping next to the tank, and they've been in hiding ever since😅
Most plants are still doing fine, the Aponogetons are in worst shape... guess they dislike the lean (read: no) ferts. Ferns are massive, crypts and buces ok.
Still have plans for moving the tank to another room that is more quiet but it is sort of connected to a lot of other stuff that needs to be done, so I'm obsessively procrastinating. Any major tank shuffle are probably postponed to some time next year.
Will throw some pics up soon-ish, but don't hold your breath 😵
Myrtle
Member
That's what my summer usually consists of! I love identifying all the insects and then spend too much time trying to enter them into iRecord!
Jane of Upton
New Member
You mentioned you've had issues with C. albida, and you think it may be that your water is too hard for it; was it the "regular" albida, or the albida 'brown' variant you've tried? I've been lusting after the C. albida 'brown' based on pictures and YouTube videos from European aquascapers (can't find any sources here in the US) but started to realize I've not seen any representations of mature stands of it on any of the forums. Is it known to be one that prefers soft water? I had not come across that interesting tidbit (yet).
Also, in the previous iteration of your tank, there is a lovely group of very reddish crypts on the left side - are those C. wendtii 'red'/'bronze' or the C. wendtii 'Tropica' variant? Beautifully grown, regardless!
And is the Aponogeton crispus the large bright green one in the center of the tank, or the plant to the left, with the upright lance shaped leaves and undulate leaf margins? That bright green one looks similar to an A. undulatus I grew years ago, which became a huge monster, and completely filled a 20g tank to the point I could no longer see the fish, and the tank just looked like a rectangular green blob from across the room. I didn't realize crispus has that size potential - wow!
Also, in the previous iteration of your tank, there is a lovely group of very reddish crypts on the left side - are those C. wendtii 'red'/'bronze' or the C. wendtii 'Tropica' variant? Beautifully grown, regardless!
And is the Aponogeton crispus the large bright green one in the center of the tank, or the plant to the left, with the upright lance shaped leaves and undulate leaf margins? That bright green one looks similar to an A. undulatus I grew years ago, which became a huge monster, and completely filled a 20g tank to the point I could no longer see the fish, and the tank just looked like a rectangular green blob from across the room. I didn't realize crispus has that size potential - wow!
It is C. albida 'Brown'. Absolutely beautiful plant that I'm absolutely unable to grow apparently. I've a handful of failed attempts behind me. The soft water thing is mostly just a need to blame something, in reality I've no idea. My predilection for stuff like C. crispatula, Aponogeton etc has a tendency to leave the lower half of my tank in grotty darkness, which doesn't help. Only thing that survives that is Buces and Anubias. And riccardia apparently, it still looks quite ok, afai can see, although not growing much.
The wendtii are 'Tropica', IIRC. The original plants are 5-6 years old.
Yeah, the light green undulate leaves in the middle are Aponogetons, and yeah they did take over everything. I've cut them back massively and the lack of ferts lately was not to their liking so they are just a shadow of their former glory.
I really need to either do the tank move/slight rescape, or a massive clean/maintenance session. Still trying to decide which it is.
Jane of Upton
New Member
Thanks for the quick reply! Also - a correction- it was A. ulvaceous I'd had completely fill a tank (I'm always trying to call it undulatus - the undulating leaves made a huge impression on me, as the large folds were the favorite hammocks for the yo-yo loaches).
Oh, I hope you'll just do a maintenance - I really like this layout with the wood branches making nooks and crannies in the lower part of the tank - it keeps the eye moving with all the areas to explore! And that is REALLY neat to see the fully mature C. 'Tropica' - your group is stunning.
I've had the C. crispatula types running all over, too - those that come to the front get their rhizomes snipped off back to the "tall stuff area" and go to my local club auctions (pre-Covid) or to the LFS as trade-ins. I've toyed with the idea of planting them in a short segment of just-buried horizontal pipe, to try to corral them in, but haven't actually done it yet. I've wondered if they need to get a certain distance away from the mother plant before they pop up to grow leaves, and if they could be "tricked" into just encircling an open-bottom corral of sorts, and make a dense stand. My envisioning along this line usually don't work as planned, (the plants rarely comply) but are fun to dink around with.
Oh, I hope you'll just do a maintenance - I really like this layout with the wood branches making nooks and crannies in the lower part of the tank - it keeps the eye moving with all the areas to explore! And that is REALLY neat to see the fully mature C. 'Tropica' - your group is stunning.
I've had the C. crispatula types running all over, too - those that come to the front get their rhizomes snipped off back to the "tall stuff area" and go to my local club auctions (pre-Covid) or to the LFS as trade-ins. I've toyed with the idea of planting them in a short segment of just-buried horizontal pipe, to try to corral them in, but haven't actually done it yet. I've wondered if they need to get a certain distance away from the mother plant before they pop up to grow leaves, and if they could be "tricked" into just encircling an open-bottom corral of sorts, and make a dense stand. My envisioning along this line usually don't work as planned, (the plants rarely comply) but are fun to dink around with.
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Jane of Upton
New Member
Also, I think your Buce and Anubias look great; though they might grow a bit more slowly in the shade of other plants, I think they're less prone to algae or other issues when they're not "pushed". The swaths of the dark Buce are a really nice composition in your tank.
I'm beginning to believe that some of the C. wendtii varieties really DO need a few years to settle in. I've had 'Green Gecko' just kind of puttering along in a 10g tank I've been threatening to tear down for at least two years now (but then I get sidetracked). This past summer it's expanded into the forefront, where it gets a bit more light, and it has really come in to its own; the leaves are a little wider and slightly hammered, and I'm suddenly completely smitten with it. The "earlier" plants are still there, and look fine, but they look more like the "typical" photos I've seen online - just a "nice" crypt. But this recent growth is really lovely. Now I'm letting it just keep growing to see what it does, and I've been surprised that some runners have moved into shadier areas again, but are retaining this subtly different, but far more beautiful (in my opinion) leaf form. This is making me think that it is not just the difference in light, but some maturity related quality.
I'm beginning to believe that some of the C. wendtii varieties really DO need a few years to settle in. I've had 'Green Gecko' just kind of puttering along in a 10g tank I've been threatening to tear down for at least two years now (but then I get sidetracked). This past summer it's expanded into the forefront, where it gets a bit more light, and it has really come in to its own; the leaves are a little wider and slightly hammered, and I'm suddenly completely smitten with it. The "earlier" plants are still there, and look fine, but they look more like the "typical" photos I've seen online - just a "nice" crypt. But this recent growth is really lovely. Now I'm letting it just keep growing to see what it does, and I've been surprised that some runners have moved into shadier areas again, but are retaining this subtly different, but far more beautiful (in my opinion) leaf form. This is making me think that it is not just the difference in light, but some maturity related quality.
If I do a move/rescape I have an idea that will keep the general layout as is. That's all I'm going to say for now.
A massive maintenance/clean session is in the cards though.
Tbh, my wendtii has had better days, it's a bit grubby these days....
BOOM!
Yeah.
Craptastic phone pic for now, but that large maintenance/slight change I mentioned?
Well, it turned out to be more or less a full rescape.
The general thing running through my head these couple of months was 'less work'. So running a hi-tech CO2, fert heavy and light intense tank wasn't that. So as low tech as possible, but keeping light and filtration.
And having neons is justification for going blackwaterish junglestream/compost heap.
Unfortunately, the tint doesn't come through in the picture, but it's a nice cidery yellow now, and I'm still adding botanicals at a more relaxed rate than I did the first few days.
Speaking of compost heap, that's where a lot of the plants ended, lot of them in really bad shape after months of neglect, but I did keep some rhizomes of the aforementioned wendtii, a few of my willisii, some aponogeton bulbs, a few of the less common buces and an anubias that had easily doubled in size.
New plants are Echinodorus 'reni' and a Nymphea I hope will do some floating leaves.
Removing a metric ton of rocks means there's probably a larger amount of water, and I'm thinking of expanding the current population a bit.
Still have an oto left, and around 18-19 neons. So I've lost a few of those, and I guess half of the losses were jumpers, sadly 2 of those were after the rescape, I guess the circulation pump I used were to powerful and stressed them out. Trying to sort a less powerful pump out, apparently if your tank is less than 100 liters you can have trickle or tsunami...
Also, no more suction cups!
I absolutely HATE THAT CRAP!
Acrylic holders for in and outlet, magnet for circulation pump (I use a small Tunze temporary replacement right now, with suction cups, but soooooon...). No heater, until the industry gets slammed with a heavy suction cup tariff, and moves on from the 1950s.
Anyway, wip and all, but happy with the end result and looking forward to the slacking...
Yeah.
Craptastic phone pic for now, but that large maintenance/slight change I mentioned?
Well, it turned out to be more or less a full rescape.
The general thing running through my head these couple of months was 'less work'. So running a hi-tech CO2, fert heavy and light intense tank wasn't that. So as low tech as possible, but keeping light and filtration.
And having neons is justification for going blackwaterish junglestream/compost heap.
Unfortunately, the tint doesn't come through in the picture, but it's a nice cidery yellow now, and I'm still adding botanicals at a more relaxed rate than I did the first few days.
Speaking of compost heap, that's where a lot of the plants ended, lot of them in really bad shape after months of neglect, but I did keep some rhizomes of the aforementioned wendtii, a few of my willisii, some aponogeton bulbs, a few of the less common buces and an anubias that had easily doubled in size.
New plants are Echinodorus 'reni' and a Nymphea I hope will do some floating leaves.
Removing a metric ton of rocks means there's probably a larger amount of water, and I'm thinking of expanding the current population a bit.
Still have an oto left, and around 18-19 neons. So I've lost a few of those, and I guess half of the losses were jumpers, sadly 2 of those were after the rescape, I guess the circulation pump I used were to powerful and stressed them out. Trying to sort a less powerful pump out, apparently if your tank is less than 100 liters you can have trickle or tsunami...
Also, no more suction cups!
I absolutely HATE THAT CRAP!
Acrylic holders for in and outlet, magnet for circulation pump (I use a small Tunze temporary replacement right now, with suction cups, but soooooon...). No heater, until the industry gets slammed with a heavy suction cup tariff, and moves on from the 1950s.
Anyway, wip and all, but happy with the end result and looking forward to the slacking...
Some people apparently have a different definition of 'nano' than I have. Don't get me wrong, these are great pumps. But the claim that these are suitable for a 40 L tank is ridiculous.
I'm back to the 300 L/h micro pump, which is a wee bit to weak. I'd love something at around 500-700 L/h, with a magnet holder.
It seems that's a big no-no.
There's a third Tunze, the 6040. Magnet holder and can be dialed down to 200 L/h. It maxes at 4500 L though, which means if it accidentally runs at full power, I get a floor wash for free :/
which just happened with the 6055. Although a Nord Sea storm in a 90 L tank was fun for 1/100th a second, I'd rather not explore that further.
So, it seems I'm SOL....
I'm back to the 300 L/h micro pump, which is a wee bit to weak. I'd love something at around 500-700 L/h, with a magnet holder.
It seems that's a big no-no.
There's a third Tunze, the 6040. Magnet holder and can be dialed down to 200 L/h. It maxes at 4500 L though, which means if it accidentally runs at full power, I get a floor wash for free :/
which just happened with the 6055. Although a Nord Sea storm in a 90 L tank was fun for 1/100th a second, I'd rather not explore that further.
So, it seems I'm SOL....
Depending on how 'spendy' you want to get, take a look at Aqua Illuminations Nero 3.
seedoubleyou
Member
Jebao SLW-10
They may even do a 5.
Both very cheap. Pretty similar in appearance to the Nero pumps and as they’re sine wave, they’re very quiet.
They may even do a 5.
Both very cheap. Pretty similar in appearance to the Nero pumps and as they’re sine wave, they’re very quiet.
seedoubleyou
Member
The newer models for 2023 are now called ALW and you can get the ALW 5 from EBay.
Could you not get a small aquarium glass magnet cleaner (unbranded Amazon type) remove the cleaning pads and permanently mount a small pump onto that? You could fit a 3D printed random flow nozzle onto it as well and have a tiny compact magnet mounted wavemaker to your exact specification.
The AI (and possibly the Jebao too) can be turned down to virtually zero, and have a gentle and wide dispersion pattern. Failing that a DIY solution as @Tim1343 suggest will be your only option.
Yeah, I'll probably mount the small Tunze 106s I have on one of the magnet holders from the larger pumps. Seems to be an easy job with some plastic strips (famous last words...).
I'm not too keen on app controlled stuff, too often it is a recipe for trouble down the road.
None of those pumps btw mention what the lowest capacity is, although I suspected it was as low as you say.
Then it all comes down to control scheme. Any variable pump where operating the control unit, correctly or incorrectly, can result in it running at full power is a recipe for water damage.
As mentioned above, I'll just be running the 106s for now.
In reality, though; I was mostly expressing my astonishment over how certain tropes persist in the industry. Like, the idea that a circulation pump needs to have at least a four digit output, but 5 is better. Or that plastic suction cups are the magic solution to fastening stuff. Or that the more magic compartments, nooks and crannies you can stuff into a bucket filter, the better.
Anyway, I have a 45 L tank stuffed with terrarium plants. Once they go out, I will fill it up with 40 liters of water, run the 6015 in it (outside), record a video of it and send it to Tunze and ask them wtf they were thinking... I could even do the same with the 6055, operating it correctly(!), and ask them if that is something their insurance covers, because mine sure as hell would balk at that.
Just slapping 'nano' on something, doesn't make it that...
seedoubleyou
Member
I think you’re completely over playing this mate.
Just find a pump that suits your needs and use it. There are many out there, a few have been recommended already.
It comes across as though you’re looking for this magic solution that unfortunately doesn’t exist in this hobby.
Best of luck to you.
Just find a pump that suits your needs and use it. There are many out there, a few have been recommended already.
It comes across as though you’re looking for this magic solution that unfortunately doesn’t exist in this hobby.
Best of luck to you.
