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My current tanks(pic heavy)

Hi
The puffer tank ticking along nicely as usual.After temp increase while treating ich my bucephalandras desided to melt on me but seeing new growth so in about 6 month should be in good nick again.lol
Here is a quick video in it and the other tank after adding some more old scool Cryptocorines and Pogostemon stellata wich I got from a forum member.These are grown with ungergravel filter but boy the healthiest crypts I have seen in the last 15 years.


And the other tank


Regards Konsa
 
I love the 2nd tank konsa. You have done a really good job on that.
Cheers Lee
Thank U Lee.
There is a bit of growing in to be done and I need to reduce the stock as is becoming difficult to manage with all the food going in.
On the plus side Mum and Dad are now on hold as the new baby batch was due a week ago.
Regards Konsa
 
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Hi all
Its time for update on my current tank situation. Atm I have only 2 tanks running. Both budget friendly ;)
My 100l ish Fluval tank and the small Betta duo.
The fluval was rescaped about an year ago after I gave the Brishardi colony to someone with 9 ft tank and the puffers were moved into that.
Here is a pic of the initial setup
20200404_183709.jpg


20200404_183706.jpg

Substrate: moler clay(Sanicat Pink) in back and fine glavel(coarse sand) in front,maple leaf rock and redmoor roots.
Lights:2 T8 18w 6500k.
Filter:JBL CrtistalProfi 1500 plus surface skimmer.
Ferts :Aquarium plant food recipe dosed 15ml a day with macro and micro dosed on alternate days. I have added a little Fe DPTA and Fe EDDHa to micro mix. Curently dosing Easycarbo and Cana Rhyzotonic too.
Livestock:
3 SAP Puffers
5 Amano shrimp (thinking to add few more)
4 Corries
Various snails
Plants.
Buce Brownie Purple
Buce Alamanda V3 (not doing great in this tank)
Buce Needle leaf (not doing much in here )
Anubias pettite
Microsorum Narrow leaf
Microsorum pettite
Pogostemon stellatus "Octopus "/Pogostemon Quadrifolius (great fast growing stem for low tech)
Bolbitis
Various Cryptocoryne sp
Dwarf water lettuce
Salvinia natans
.......

Last year has been a little difficult for me and my tanks suffered a lot of neglect. Luckily the plants and huge filter kept the fish in good health.
Here is pic of it before it went down hill.
20211124_121606.jpg

Do not have the horror pics but most ferns are gone and had thick BBA on all hardscape and most plants.Did a major trim to the bone on everything apart from Buces and anubias pettite (trimmed them only lightly)and after few weeks of good maintenance, regular ferts and a little easycarbo the BBA is mainly gone and plants are bouncing back to health.
There are few new plants in that were sent to me from forum members (@John q ,@Onoma1, @aec34 and @dw1305 many thanks to you all)some have quickly melted but there are few that are holding their ground and looks like will take hold.
Particularly exited about the Mini Bolbitis from dw1305 ,Microsorum Narrow leaf and one stem of Potamogeton gayi(I think) from John q.
For some reason I am not able to grow the true weeds like Hygrophila difformis, Hygrophila Siamensis B53,Ceratopteris thalictroides and the likes in this tank.
Here is how it looks now.
20211231_234331.jpg
20211231_234331.jpg

The fish managed to mix the substrate due to the clay being light weight. There is a bit of growing in to do but at least is going in the right direction atm.Tbh I am quite surprised how well managed to turn it arround.
The Betta duo was beyond saving.Shrimps died off.Various algae on everything so only option was a complete restart. With a bit of help from family managed to do it 2 weeks ish ago.
Substrate :Tropica aquasoil
Hardscape : Dragon stone
Lights: Arcadia strech led 30cm(not sure atm if it is 11w or 13w)
Plants:Monte carlo
Eleocharis mini
Riccardia
Cryptocoryne albida brown
Dwarf water lettuce
Some stems floating to aid the new start
Ferts.
Aquarium plant food plus extra Fe DPTA and EDDHA
Easycarbo
Canna Rhyzotonic
Fiter:Matured build in filter in back.
Daily water changes
Livestock. It will be shrimp and snails only tank but waiting on plants to grow in so they dont level the substrate.
Few pics.
Hardcape.
20211206_191808.jpg
20211206_191813.jpg

After planting

20211208_121001.jpg

Massive melt one week in.

20211214_143042.jpg
20211214_143055.jpg

It wiped 80% of the plants :(
I may have overshot with plant choice or tissue culture plants are not happy in the new aquasoil but will see.
Now the melt seems to have stopped and whatever is left in is not doing much yet
Diatoms are moving in slowly.
I do have 2 CO2 sets but rather not use them if I can get away with it ;)
Thanks for reading
Regards Konstantin
 
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Hi all
Thought will post a little update on the small tank.
Started to see a little new growth on Monte carlo and almost negligible growth on Eleocharis mini.
Im happy with that as tank is low tech.Added stems seem to help vastly as no algae on hardscape yet.There are Diatoms here and there but Im happy to ride them out.
Added some bladder snails( Physella acuta I believe),limpets and some Californian black worms.The limpets and snails were freebie from my LFS that were a bit puzzled when I asked for them and didn't wan to charge me anything but each to their own I guess.With the current growth rates it looks like won't be adding shrimp in the next few months or my sloped substrate will be flat as a pancake.
Crappy phone pic from today.
20220117_150016.jpg

Later will do maintenance on the big tank and post few pics of it too.
Thanks for reading.
Regards Konstantin
 
Hi all
As promised a quick post trim pic of today.
20220118_171005.jpg

The tank is doing relatively well atm.
I still get a few bits of BBA on some Bolbitis leaves that are towards the middle of the tank and right underneath the lights.
3 of my Aponogeton crispus red bulbs are sprouting leaves finally but not getting very red as still quite low.Will see how that goes oncecthey reach the top.
Added 6 more Amano shrimp last week to see if they will make any difference. Was hard to find large Amanos for sale as majority are only 1-2 cm.Luckily went to my local P@H for few bits and they were doing maintenance on their tanks and saw few large ish berried females as the decor was out of the tank.It was a good find and the puffers will enjoy eating the larvae once released 😉
Thinking about adding 10 cherry barbs to the tank to see if the puffers will feel more confident.
Its a shame they are so scatty fish(Probably trimming their teeth every few months doesn't help either)
Regards Konstantin
 
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Hi all
A little update on the small tank.
Removed the stems as most were not doing much while floating and will rely on the floating plants alone to support the maturing of the tank along with the very,very slow growth of the Monte carlo and still non existing growth of the Eleocharis mini.Thinking if the Eleocharis mini fails low tech I may try Eleocharis parvula as it seems more easy.I don't really want it to spread to a full carpet just few tufts among the Monte carlo as an accent. Added 2 stems of Hygrophila araguaia too and waiting for some Fissidens moss and Utricularia gibba(Thanks @lazybones51 ).I had a few millimetres piece of Riccardia that found in my large tank and that seems to be growing well too.When introduced the Californian black worms didn't think about their ability to shift substrate.lol.Some of the monte carlo was covered with aquasoil arround the slopes and the gaps between the stones that were not plucked with floss were seeping the soil below but I flossed them and covered back with soil so all good now.
The bad news for the week is that I saw some Planaria in the tank.Posibble introduction is the black worm culture.Luckily I have a litter of foster puppies and had Panacur at my house so did a round of treatment.Not sure if that will wipe the Californian black worms too but will report on the subject later.
Tomorrow is maintenance day and will pop few pics of both tanks.
Regards Konstantin
 
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Hi all,

It should be fine, fenbendazole doesn't effect molluscs or annelids at the doses that kill Planaria and Hydra.

cheers Darrel
Thanks Darrel.
Thats reassuring. Really like to have them in the tank.I used oral solution that has 10% Fenbendazole per 1ml.I only dosed about 0.3-0.4ml in my 22ish liters tank. Hopefully that dose will do the trick as didn't want to go heavily on it because of the worms.


Regards Konstantin
 
Hi all
Luckily in the small tank the Californian black worms seem alive and unaffected from the Panacur treatment 24h later.Hopefully the Planaria are dead tho.Will keep an eye out to see if I can spot any.
As promised two crappy and short post maintenance videos of the tanks linked below.



Regards Konstantin
 
Hi all,
Hopefully the Planaria are dead tho.Will keep an eye out to see if I can spot any.
You may see some on the glass over the next few days. It works really quickly on Hydra, but with Planaria they become less and less active over several days and often just end up immobile on the glass. I assume they are also immobile elsewhere, but nowhere near as obvious.

cheers Darrel
 
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Hi all
Thanks to @lazybones51 the tank is all mossed up with Fissidens.Tucked in some in the cracks of the stones without glueing and left some free floating to find itself spots to settle.
Overall Im happy with how things progress but it is a slow game without CO2.Im adding some Easycarbo atm but may wean it off in future.Minimal algae on the hardscape with some green algae showing(possibly GSA)in one spot but will brush it off(With a bit of Easycarbo)on next waterchange when hardscape is exposed.Monte carlo seems to gain momentum in certain spots which is great news.Also removed the retainers for the Floaters as dimming the light too much arround the edges of the tank.It seems a lot better and they are not bashed too much in the flow.
Couple of quick phone shots below.
20220203_121748.jpg
20220203_121737.jpg

Regards Konstantin
 
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Hi all
A little post maintenance update.
The large tank is doing relatively well.
Not much happening being low tech but there is some growth present.
Couple of weeks ago stopped dosing the Easycarbo as the Buces in the tank didn't like it and started throwing leaves, some roots melted too earlier while was spot treating the mass of BBA I had.While the product it helped me to hit the BBA when needed I don't see point or benefit to continue dosing it as far as growth is concerned in the tank.
While hardscape is clean now there is still minor BBA present on the Bolbitis high in middle of the tank where the light is stronger .There seem to be some black patches on leaves here and there too.Maybe I let it dry too much during water change or CO2 deficiency I don't know.
Gave the filter a big clean as was over 6 months since last I touched it.This time was a bit more mulm in it.Maybe need to refresh my prefilter sponges as they are quite old and seem to let a bit more muck in the filter.
My 2 old Ottos finally passed from old age over few weeks of each other.
I decided not to get more atm.Tank is lacking algae they can eat and the puffers diet is not compatible with their needs.Tried to target feed them while they were in but with the Amanos in the tank that was a mare.
There are few new plants in(Trident and Narrow ferns)thanks to @jolt100. Couldn't be bothered to glue them so just tucked them in between hardscape and other plants and will let them fight it off between them to see which will make it.Tank is finally getting the wild jungle look I like so happy days.
Here are is how it looks now.
20220222_130409.jpg

Will post update on the little tank later too.
Thanks for reading.
Regards Konstantin
 
Tank looks lush mate, you're obviously doing something right.
Agree with you on the easycarb, has its uses for spot dosing bba but isn't something I feel comfortable dosing daily.
 
Hi
Tbh I have dosed the tank for 4 weeks with quite large doses in the first week.It is massive help to battle BBA but haven't seen any massive growth response from the plants and the Buces didn't like it at all.I am confident that If I hadn't stopped all buces would have been lost as there was some rhizome die off too.It definitely should be used with caution and its far from a miracle algae cure as can do a lot of damage if missused.
Regards Konstantin
 
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Hi all
As promised a little update on the little nano too.
As per other tank not much happening here too.
Unlike the improvement on the large tank here the diatoms are in full swing .The good news is there is plenty of food and the limpets and snails are breeding like rabbits.Added one Horned Nerite snail from the big tank to help me with diatoms near substrate level on the glass as can't really wipe them off without disturbing the Monte carlo with the sponge and the little snails cant make a dent on it.If that doesn't cut it will get a razor scraper.
Monte carlo is still putting new growth but older leaves get diatom film on them.Not much I can do about that atm.Hope the snails sort it out once the population gets big enough. There was melt in one of the Hygrophila araguaia locations on the left near the intake.The substrate there traps a lot of muck and root growth wasn't the best.The other 2 locations are doing well for now with minimal growth and no algae yet.Thinking if that location fails will try more Cryptocoryne albida brown there.The Eleocharis mini is yet to show some growth too.There was few yellow leaves here and there but good news is its relatively algae free.
The Riccardia that was a single 2-3mm segment is now pushing 2cm spread so there is hope for it still. The newly added Fissidens moss seems to put some new growth and is already attaching to hardscape will give it few more weeks and start trimming it a little to keep it in check.Its a small tank and its easy for the mosses to get out of control.Due to my laziness to trim as needed and admiration of its good growth the Riccardia overtook my hardscape completely in my previous scape in this tank.
There is some minimal green algae on hardscape but nothing bothering me yet.
Had to trim most of the Utricularia gibba and discard it as had some BBA in it while living in the high flow area.Not sure if there is chance for it to bounce back but not to bothered of it doesn't as tank never meant to have Fissidens in it so happy days ;)
Thats more or less for now.
Quick phone pics from today.
20220222_165642.jpg
20220222_165649.jpg

Thanks for reading.
Regards Konstantin
 
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