Newman's 10 Gallon Journal

[OrangeCones]

LOL neon blue glowing silicone.

Orange, youre lucky...i had to pay a bit more for my plants. what plants did you order that it came out so cheap? or did you buy from a friend...

I got:

Limnophila sessiliflora " Ambulia"
Rotala rotundifolia ( indica)
Hygrophilia polysperma var."Sunset"
Hygrophilia sp “Bold”
Ludwigia repens
Ludwigia repens x Ludwigia arcuata
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Mayaca fluviatilis
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Cryptocoryne Wendtii or Walkerii var. "Lutea"
Bolbitis heudelotii "African Fern "
Ceratopteris pteridioides (submersed form)
Microsorium pteropus
Marsilea sp. Possible ID is minuta, hirsuta or drummondii species
Saggitaria subulata “Dwarf Sag”
Taxiphyllum barbieri - Java Moss
Taxiphyllum sp. "Peacock"
Taxiphyllum sp. “Flame Moss”
Riccia fluitans

And got this from a fellow hobbyist.

 

[Newman]

GAH
all that for 15 bucks...this is why i need afriend who likes planted fishtanks as much as i do *thumbsdow

Most of the HC has melted btw. looks depressing. lol
Water is crystal clear since i added the ecco yesterday.

 

[kenny1tothe6]

Yo,

That could be me! LOL

I'm not sure when my tanks will be ready though! I keeping buying and buying plants and they keeping growing, so soon [I hope], I'll be able to send you some.

I suffer from Multiple Plant Syndrome, but that doesn't stop me from keeping & loving my fish!

 

[Newman]

Hehe, i suck at trimming cabomba. but w/e floating peices i have that survived, ill be able to send once they grow a bit more. Maybe i can part with some dwarf sag, cuz apparently that has already started to grow like crazy. i mean it grew about 2 inches in 3 days (some of the leaves) after being trimmed =/

cant say the same for HC. i might resort to buying some more pots of submerged HC from my LFS...

 

[blamejames]

i am proud to say that i have a TON of new growth! i am looking at upwards to 12 new offshoots of java fern and 4 crypt spiralis and some amazon swords SOOOO stoked!

 

[kenny1tothe6]

Hehe, i suck at trimming cabomba. but w/e floating peices i have that survived, ill be able to send once they grow a bit more. Maybe i can part with some dwarf sag, cuz apparently that has already started to grow like crazy. i mean it grew about 2 inches in 3 days (some of the leaves) after being trimmed =/

cant say the same for HC. i might resort to buying some more pots of submerged HC from my LFS...

I've been needing some Combomba for my 10 since that tank is going through a change from fake to live and I like that plant...My 10 is going for a Dwarf Puffer tho. It'll have some other creatures tho. Of course the Dwarf Sag, I want to get to carpet in my 29 [well, in patches, not the full 30"x12"].

Eh, I'm dreaming again! LOL

 

[Newman]

i am proud to say that i have a TON of new growth! i am looking at upwards to 12 new offshoots of java fern and 4 crypt spiralis and some amazon swords SOOOO stoked!

I find java fern very easy to grow. you just thow it into a tank with good light, and youll have offspring very soon. I have around 10 baby ferns growing on the one fern that i bought for my 40 gal. In a month, i was able to remove two of the baby plants that have grown about 4 inches in lenth. still have tons left on the mother plant.

you know whats funny? all of my anubias have died or are in the process. them being planted in the shade is pure bull, they need access to real light.

UPDATE:
The HC is a' dyin.
The dwarf sag is growin.
the white worms have hidden in the gravel or something cuz i cant see them anymore.
The ammonia is reading 3ppm

 

[blamejames]

Really my anubia that i got is growing like a weed under direct light of course

 

[JRB__]

Looking good Newman! Chuck up a few more recent pics

 

[emmanuelchavez]

...
you know whats funny? all of my anubias have died or are in the process. them being planted in the shade is pure bull, they need access to real light....

I threw some extra anubias and java ferns in a 5g tank with no light, except a bit of ambient light for a couple of months. They continued to put out new leaves and grow during that time frame. It's probably a nutrient deficiency. The rhizome isn't buried in the substrate, is it?

 

[Newman]

No the rhizomes were not. and its surely not a nutrient defeciency as ive been dosing the full line of flourish products, and still have tons of algae growing on the glass. I just dont get this anubias. my pH is 7.6 most of the time, and GH is 470ppm. (26 dGH) and KH is 8 dKH could that have something to do with it?

Anyway back to this tank. well, 95% of all the HC died, and i had to remove it as it was rotting pretty bad including the roots. the other 5% that still looked green i planted. I'll buy two pots of "submersed" HC next Friday when my LFS gets it. i can never tell if its submersed or not but it usually sits in their tanks for weeks without any rotting.

I trimmed all of the dwarf sag to about 3", ironically in the past day it has grwon 3" in length so i had to trim it down lower. dont know if itll recover though.

white worms are gone but the glass is littered with daphnia.

will throw up a few pics once the sag regrows a bit so that my tank doesnt look too hideous

 

[Newman]

well its gonna look hedious from now on cuz i have just about every alage species known to man growing in here. hair, brown, green, you name it, i got it

I wonder if i should add some Rosy barbs to get rid of the hair algae...or will they start eating the HC?

latest pic:

 

[kenny1tothe6]

Ugh, atleast you don't have Blue/Green & Black Beard Algae!

And........cherry barbs don't eat algae........that's rosy barbs. I have/had both and that's my own experience.

 

[Newman]

yeah thats what i meant, rosy. theyre both red >_<
should i add two? or do you think theyll eat the HC?

 

[epond83]

do you have any otos in there? they are great for algae. How long are your lights on a day? Could be too much and or not enough CO2

 

[Newman]

the CO2 is on all the time. i have em on for 8 hours a day. i started with 4 hours a day and moved it up progressively. Yea i know its too much but im afraid the HC wont grow.

I have 7 otos in my 40 gal. i plan on moving a few over here as soon as the tank cycles, but im still getting the nitrite spike. been adding ammonia every week...

I also plan on using peat moss to magic me up some really soft water (my tap is basically liquid rock) we'll see how that goes.

I cant really up the CO2 since its DIY but its constantly bubling at a fast pace.

Maybe i should do a black out for 4 days? or should i just wait till it cycles and add two rosy barbs and my 2 otos?

 

[epond83]

durration won't help plants out much if the inesity isn't there, however i think your intensity should be about right, and 8 isn't bad, any longer and you might have more problems.

Is the wisteria blocking light to the HC? The HC has high light requirements cause it is so short in the tank, pus needs a decent amount of light.

How long has the wisteria been in there? I had some and it went crazy and grew really fast with it in there i would think it should out compete the aglae, you are getting good diffusion on the CO2 and have a decent bubble rate?

I probably wouldn't worry too much until everything is cycled cause right now your parameters and going up and down. Once everything settles to normal levels ideally the plants will out compete the algae.

Good luck with the peat, my water comes out beyound what my pH test goes up to, i think it's around 7.7 or 7.8 and is also very hard. Why is it that you want to lower your pH?

 

[Newman]

1. I put the wisteria in there 1 day ago to do just that- outcompete the algae. i made sure the wisteria didnt block any light from the HC. as you can see i have no HC planted yet in the far right corner, where the wisteria shades. Ill plant that corner up this friday.

2. I have 4.8 wpg and thats with 2x24 watt T5HO with HO reflectors. i think therefore i may be over 5wpg.

3. my CO2 rate is at 3 bps. and ill estimate diffusion to be 95% (most micro bubbles dont make it to the surface)

4.I want to lower my pH because im planning on adding 3 discus to this tank...just kidding. its going to house some neon tetra, pygmy cories, an oto and some cherry shrimp. i think theyll enjoy the tea stained water, and the lower pH. heck they might even breed.

My tap pH (after being aged) is 7.6 , the KH is about 9 and the GH is 27 dGH (thats way over 400ppms)
Ill experiment with the peat filtering (im gonna filter the water ouside of the tank, and add the soft water at water changes.

 

[Newman]

As a correction from the previous post, my focus is not to really bring the pH down, its to bring the high GH down and a little of the KH.

adding peat water to the tank actually raised my pH, KH, and certainly GH, for what reasons, i do not understand.
I've given up on peat, and instead have added some distilled water in combo with some tap water and put a peice of driftwood in the tank. the driftwood is not actually part of the scape, and thats why it wont likely be seen in actual photos of this tank. its just there to release tannins.

I also removed the wisteria.

 

[Newman]

well as a result of the RO water + tap water mix im left with:

6.4 pH
3 dKH
7 dGH

Thats good enough for tetra i'd say?
I was plannin on placing my chrry shrimp and an oto or two into this tank. from what ive read they like soft water...

BUT
Ive also wanted to place my swordtail fry here. since the pH and KG/GH is so low i dont think theyll be comfortable in such soft water. they could even get sick *SICK* I think ill keep them in the main 40 gal, and only move the cherry shrimp and oto for now.

Ill let you know how it all goes. BTW i need a hair algae eating fish...cuz the water changes and nutriet/GH reduction didnt do anything. Would rosy barbs be too big for the tank? what other fish than a SAE eats hair algae?