moving day: plants

All set out on the table by the door- but these are not going to new homes as in the past, they're going to my new home!

Plants in a box:

Closeup two of my favorites right now: poinsettia and arrowhead.

I'm still figuring out where these are best sited for light exposure, but for now they seem to be doing well.

a small memento

of our special day- the flowers were fading fast but I picked out my favorites, the peach lilies and orchids, and put them together in a vase

also temporarily grouped together the wonderful succulents that were part of our bouquets

I do hope the florist isn't offended I took apart the arrangements she made- I knew they weren't going to last and wanted to keep a few pieces around a little longer to admire.

clear hinge

The one thing I don't like so far about this new LED on Oliver's tank is the glare across the top of the tank, and the visible blue, red, white spots (they look annoyingly "christmas tree" -like, but my fiancee actually thinks this is a cool effect!)

With the newer light it's also really noticeable how much of a shadow the black plastic hinge casts across the tank. Such a small tank, it puts nearly a third of it significantly lower light. I happened across this idea on a fish forum and tried it- use silicone sealant to make a colorless hinge.

Mine's not quite even, and the surface I worked on wasn't completely flat like I thought, so the glass panes do not lie exactly level.

But it is not noticebale when on top of the tank, and it is very strong. Upside is already the light looks better, my java fern seems to be visibly growing! and I like being able to look down into the aquarium more clearly. Downside is that it won't prop open by itself, the hinge is fairly stiff and have to hold back panel down with one finger when lifting open the front. Also it is a lot narrower than the plastic hinge (which I've kept on hand) so now there's a small gap at the back of the tank. I folded over some packing tape on itself to cover that.

For a few days while the silicone was curing I kept the tank covered with a sheet of plastic wrap. I did notice that this gave an overall softer look to things, not quite so sparkling bright. Less glare off the sides and not so annoying the "christmas light" appearance on top of the tank either. Hm. Makes me think that if it turns out this light is too much for my low tech setup, I could bump it down a notch by replacing the glass with polycarbonate... (been reading about this on fish forums too- it cuts the light admittance down by 20 or 30%, but I might actually need that I do want it to stay low-tech)

It's a subtle difference, hard to get a photo showing that but you can kind of see it compared here:

I know that all might sound counterproductive- I took the hinge off because I wanted more light, and then might switch to plastic because I want less light? Really its that I want an even spread of light- not a strip of shadow across the front (you can't see it in the photos but can tell where it is when looking up from below, or when seeing how the light falls on the dark fish himself).

porportions

on my poinsettia near-perfect right now, size of emerging leaves to stems. Of course it will keep growing but I always like it at this middle stage when growing back.

better

Ammonia levels improved in the 20gal with partial wc each day- yesterday it was definitely below 0.25, today 0. Still haven't seen Sammy though. I set the fish trap and caught four kuhli loaches and three cherry barb (turns out they can squeeze through the kuhli doorway- but once in they panic and just want to get out, don't eat the food). Pretty likely now that Sam is gone...

Continuing to do small partial wc every other day on the tenner. Oliver's eyes are clearing up.

I got the heater in the forty to adjust- set at 77° now. Saw that the bits of java fern in there have a few tiny baby leaves, and trumpet snails had climbed up to munch on them! I'd dropped some plant cuttings into the tank to feed the biofilter and snails (pieces I broke off while rubbing algae from apono leaves) but most of it stuck to the filter intake and the snails haven't been able to get there yet. So of course they are hungry- rest of the tank is naked still. I plucked the leaf debris off the intake and stuck it into the substrate instead, planting a dead plant bit! It worked- already the snails are congregating on that. Tomorrow I'll bring them some sinking food.

nicotiana

getting ready to bloom!

still more setup work

with the forty gallon aquarium. I've got the new glass lid and light strip on there. This canopy has fairly thick glass- I think even if the cat jumped up there he wouldn't break it. It took two tries to get the LED light programmed. I have it set to have a gradual two hour sunrise, then colored set of lights for an hour, then six hours full lights (all the colors and whites) three hours of dusk (just colored lights again), two hours sunset (gradual fade out) and then three hours moonlights (blue). Eight hours darkness. Not sure if this is what's best for the plants, but I'll just have to see and then tweak it.

The one downside so far is the heater- thermostat doesn't seem to be working properly? If I have it unplugged, the water drops to room temperature (about 70°). Plug in the heater it goes up to eighty. This is fine for the fishes and okay for the snails, but I did try to turn the heater down a notch and no change. I'll try adjust it further but if it still doesn't drop have to assume it's faulty.

I was surprised and glad to find today that it appears to have cycled already. Of course, the filter still had media from previous owner. I'd had the tank sitting with nothing actually running for several days, but I guess it kept moist and the room was warm enough the bacteria didn't die. It tested at 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 20 Nitrates today. That's cycled! The pH is holding steady too at 7.6.

So I brought over some plants and snails. The trumpet snails immediately started digging down into the substrate- a few found their way over to the anubias and a bit of caught watersprite on base of the root piece.

All my floating watersprite and a few small java ferns that had been drifting loose around the tank- now tied onto the fake root piece where they look very small and inconsequential. The watersprite has put out tons of fine, white root hairs so I think it is finding nutrients in the water.

Also a small anubias I took out of Oliver's tank.

It's a start.

crap looks like a mini-cycle

is going on in my 20gal. Shortly after writing that last post I had time to test the water- it was 0.25 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 30 Nitrate. I did a 40% water change. The fishes and snails still look fine, still no sign of Sammy.

Maybe he died and caused an ammonia spike. Or something else happened and hurt my biofilter. The tank doesn't smell right. It doesn't have that nice, musty odor. Smells sterile. A little better after this wc. Did I accidentally forget to treat a 2 gallon bucket of refill water? or what else could have happened...

If it doesn't look like this tank will stabilize soon, I might move the fishes over to the new tank sooner than planned... but they'd be okay there because see the next post!

confounded

What's going wrong with this tank still. I guess it doesn't matter as I'm taking it down in a few weeks, but I do want everyone (plants, fish and snails) to still be healthy when I move them over. At the same time, I don't want to keep tweaking stuff and risk it get worse in the meantime. It still looks overall too brown/yellow. I think part of that was putting in root tabs clouded the water some- I added piece of carbon media to the filter and it cleared up quick. Good sign is that shortly after adding the root tabs, I saw new apono and java fern leaves,

the crypts have new foliage uncurling, the vallisneria has five baby offshoots now.

Guess its my same old failing- not giving the plants enough. Hopefully that will be much better in the new, bigger tank with proper nutrient-holding substrate. On the one hand I'm worried that I've done something wrong with this tank, what are my chances of getting it right with the next one? but maybe it will be smoother since I'm trying to do it right this time from the start.

Bad news is there's still algae coating the leaves as fast as I can rub it off or cut out dying stuff. Seems to have gotten browner overnight again. I don't plan to touch the rotala yet, its hit the ceiling again but when its time to restart I will plant, cut down to the ground, cut nice tops off just above browning foliage, replant them and discard all the middle that is dying or algae-covered.

Worse news is that I seem to have lost a fish. One of my striped kuhli loaches. I always thought I might get up one day to find the smallest one had died- Snakey Fish looks awful skinny lately. Opposite of what I'd expected, I think it's Sammy gone missing. I haven't seen him in three days now. When I drop in food the kuhlis always come scurrying out at the scent to search for tidbits. But lately only four appear.

I've noticed behavior difference in the two types of kuhlis. My black ones Sid and Moe always seem bolder, more robust- during the day they're usually hanging out in the front area of the tank or going up and down the sides. The striped kuhlis tend to be more shy. At night I see them climbing around up in the rotala stalks, which is fun to see. Do they just like being up there, or are they so hungry poking around for micro-organisms and algae? Used to be if I looked in after dark, I could see three striped kuhlis climbing around in the rotala. Now only two. I'm really despondent about that. I searched everywhere for the missing one- even inside the filter housing in case somehow he got into it. No sign of him.

stress

New LED light on my tenner.

A very simple one that basically just goes on/off, none of the light variation programming options like more sophisticated versions. I didn't want that because those seem too strong for my low-tech with low-light plants. Even so it's a lot brighter than the cfl I was using. Makes me notice all kinds of little flaws in the glass, specks of things. Oliver's colors bold.

The plants vivid.

But also made me see that his eyes are gone cloudy.

Poor water quality? Nope I tested it- no ammonia, no nitrite, pH good at 7.6, nitrates 20 (to be expected, I dosed ferts yesterday). So the water is clean and biofilter working fine, I guess its just stress from the move. Maybe from the new lights- he tends to hang out in the front of the tank where its shaded from the lid hinge. I have been doing small partial wc (half gallon) every other day, just siphoning off some settled debris on the broad leaves. Fed him some garlic-soaked food too. His eyes seem a little clearer today.

Fun picture of the oldest trumpet snail under anubias side-by-side with Mavis. (Who actually laid eggs on the trumpt snail's shell!) Igh, you can see water spots on the glass.

more setup work

on the forty. Although the tank stand seems to distribute and hold weight fine, I noticed it sways side-to-side if nudged. The backing board is very flimsy and not connected to the top shelf of the tank at all, with an open back in the center behind the door (probably designed this way to accomodate a canister filter). It makes me uneasy, I know any kind of stress can cause seals or glass to eventually give way, and it could also cause more vibrations when people walk by, stressing the fish? So bought a sheet of 1/4" plywood cut to fit, fastened with wood screws to all perpendicular panels, top and bottom horizontals. Very sturdy now. I couldn't make it sway when I tried. I'm satisfied peace of mind with that. Had to empty and move the tank to do all this of course, and then level once again. I used wider shims this time and that went better too.

Also bought a second bag of safe-t-sorb. The depth of substrate just didn't look like enough for the size of the tank. It was barely 1.5" and even though the gravel bed in 20 I'm going to bring over is 2-3", it will be a lot shallower spread out in here. As before I sifted the dust and fine particles out of the STS bag, reducing volume by half. The job went a lot easier this time, as I found a plastic sieve (kid's beach toy) with holes just the right size to sort to the particles size I want. Best done outside on a windy day that carries the dust away from you. Can see the particle difference here.

Soaked the STS in a bucket of water with ferts and baking soda again. I used just 3 gallons of water, and looked at how much baking soda it took last time to get the STS to stop lowering pH. Dissolved in 5TB of baking soda and ferts according to the chart that tells me how much to use for EI dosing in a low-tech 40 gallon. Two doses is 1/8 tsp K2S04, 1/4 tsp KN03 and 1/16tsp KH2P04. I did not soak it nearly as long this time, just 24 hours. For the first half of the day could see bubbles rising, actually hear the substrate shifting around in there as it absorbed water and settled. Like something alive, like watching yeast froth to life in a bowl of water... Next day rinsed the STS (what a pain) and added into the tank before it was filled up once more. Cloudy of course. Wait a day now.

Looking at it again I think  the back-to-front slope is a bit steep, but will adjust that when I add the rest of the plants.

yep

I was right- the second african violet is pink.

twenty oops

Something has gone awry in my twenty gallon. I did notice I've had to clean algae off broad leaves the past maintenance day, and this morning realized the tank overall is looking awfully yellow. Not bright green as before. And the watersprite in corners is faltering, not growing crazily like it used to.

So I think and look back at my record here: what changed? Dosing less KN03 was probably an error- and recently I had increased the photoperiod from 8.5 to 9 hrs as well (my tenner is doing so well on 9 hours, but every tank is different). And I've turned off the air pump- going to move the sponge filter over to help seed the 40gal. I didn't think that would make a big difference to the plants, but maybe it has. As soon as I realized the algae was taking over, I checked the nitrates- it was lower than I usually see near end of the week, just 10ppm. I don't know why I still automatically think: too much waste! nitrates! and cut back on things when I see algae, when instead I should think: hungry plants! and give them something. That's what experience is telling me, at least.

So I did. Cut out a bunch of algae-coated leaves: crypts, apono, watersprite. Put the light timer back on 8 hrs where it was before, and dosed small amount micros just because I felt I had to do something although tomorrow is day scheduled for water change and ferts dosing.

Feeling inept again, that I'd adjusted things the wrong way. But at least I noticed before it got too bad- overall my crypts still look nice.

Edit to add: I think the bubbling sponge filter is beneficial in the case of my tank. There's lots of conflicting opinions about this on the fish forums, due to how surface agitation changes the oxygen and carbon monoxide content/exchange in the water, which I don't completely understand. But I turned the airline back on a few hours ago, and noticed a change in the fishes behavior. The barbs for some time now have been hanging around near the water surface, blipping up and down, as if feeding even when there's no food on offer- I did not really recognize that they were probably gasping for extra oxygen. Now I think about it they've been doing this more or less for two weeks, since I turned off the air. Now they're moving about lower areas of the tank looking more at ease.

I guess I won't be moving that sponge filter over to the forty. Instead might take portion of the filter media out of the HOB (it does have three media panels in it and I've been thinking of replacing with squarish sponge media anyway) and seeding the new tank with that... could even just cut a piece off one of the media panels...

moving Oliver

My betta fish had his moving day!

I transported the plants, driftwood, snails and fish in clean five-gallon buckets, (only half full to not slop over, and I drove about 20mph the whole way with my hazards on haha- but it really is a short distance)

also took more tank water in the smaller two-gallon bucket. Set it all up again in the new place, returned to the tank the water from the smaller bucket and from the plant bucket. Replaced the driftwood plants. Then started running filter and filled the tank with new water. It was very cloudy at first. Couldn't even see stuff in the rear of the tank to reposition.

After half an hour still cloudy so I lightly rinsed out the sponge filter- it was overloaded with silt.

It wasn't really clear again until this morning:

I'm not used to how water comes out of the tap in the bathroom over here, so it was a bit too warm at first. Floated some ice cubes in baggie in the tank for a while, then it was safe to move Oliver in. I had transported him in a bucket with his skull for some security and I think that was a good idea- he did keep hiding in it.

The water from Oliver's bucket got dumped (stress = extra ammonia, don't want that in the tank). He was moving around the tank again fairly soon, but very nervous of the camera so I didn't get any pictures of him in here. Left the light off for rest of the day. Might replace it with a proper aquarium light- there's no real good way to situate the desk lamp I'd been using here...

Trumpet snails were out and about-

Now in about two weeks I will move the twenty's contents and inhabitants over into my new forty- when things are settled down here.