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Post by childofiam on Jan 8, 2016 15:42:31 GMT -5
These are not very good pictures because I took them with my iPhone. I will be providing better photos in the near future. Richard
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Post by childofiam on Jan 8, 2016 15:50:48 GMT -5
This is for introducing fish to my tank and I also use it to slowly drip Ferts and Buffers to the water. My Cory families stress if just pour the ferts in.
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Post by childofiam on Jan 8, 2016 21:57:03 GMT -5
Several Months back I had a Black Beard Algae explosion covering all plants and substrate. Couldn't get rid of it. Now, that said... It was my fault because I brought a plant into my tank from a local retaining pond. I learned from this and will never do it again! Underneath my gravel was Organic Canadian peat moss and when I began to remove some of the plants I found that the peat moss had become rancid, thus a mass of rotten egg smelling peat went through out the tank, so I decided to clean it all out and go with a sand substrate that is 1/2 in to 1 in deep through out the tank. After emptying the Tank I scrubbed it out with peroxide, the new setup has been going for about three months now and not a spot of algae but some diadems have been hoping up on some of my plants. I boiled the drift wood in a 5 gal pot to kill off any algae. I also added some new pieces and decided to stick with slow growing plants. I like the Nubia and Java ferns so I have decided to collect all of the different species of them. There are a lot of Nubia plants. Just received a Anubia Gracilis Barteri which is the largest Nubia in the species, growing to 18 in with heart shaped leaves, so the Anubia dealer said. It is winter here in Indiana and I will have to wait till spring to order more plants from the dealer. I have had little luck with Petsmart plants. I also have two species of Lillie's, They don't go to the surface because they need direct sunlight to do that, but they keep a good supply of leaves that make a nice bushy set of leaves for my friends to play around. I plan to purchase a Vecton 2: V2 200 8 Watt UV sterilizer soon and then will add new lights. I will move all the Nubia and Java ferns to the left side of the tank and put a "AquaGro 600 Ultima: 12 watt GroBeam" light on that side and then have the Lillie's on the right side under a "GroBeam 600 DUO Twin Ultima ND (Double)". I hope this will be enough light for them to reach the surface. to provide lowlight below. Anyway this is my plan to achieve over the winter months...
Richard
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Post by coco on Jan 9, 2016 9:42:51 GMT -5
I have that Anubias. I started out with two small plants that fit in the palm of my hand. Got them at my LFS. They grew to the top of my 55 gallon, and the leaves were sticking out of the water. Giant heart shape leaves big as my entire hand. When ever I cleaned the hoods, I had to push the leaves back down to get the hood on right. I started to break the plants into smaller ones, and got them growing. Before I knew it, my tank was completely covered with the Anubias. I started to regulary trim the plants down, because there was no place for my fish to swim. I gave a bunch away too. I still have 3 large Anubias in my tank, but have more variety of plants now. I like the different colors and textures of different plants. But that Anubias is a great plant. My Angelfish love to lay eggs on the leaves.
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Post by Carl on Jan 9, 2016 11:39:22 GMT -5
This is for introducing fish to my tank and I also use it to slowly drip Ferts and Buffers to the water. My Cory families stress if just pour the ferts in. View AttachmentThis is a very innovative idea IMO with a useful dual purpose. Adding ferts with sensitive fish such as Corys can sometimes be problematic, so this is a good solution that doubles for fish introductions and maybe baths too BTW, your picture look great, in particular the second from the top shows off your fish well. I also like your simple but balanced decoration scheme. IMO, not every tank need be a jungle as is so often popular of late Carl
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Post by coco on Jan 9, 2016 11:44:16 GMT -5
I never knew that ferts bothered corys? I just use Seachem flourish and excel. Nothing crazy. Does that mixture irritate them?
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Post by childofiam on Jan 9, 2016 12:32:34 GMT -5
I never knew that ferts bothered corys? I just use Seachem flourish and excel. Nothing crazy. Does that mixture irritate them? Flourish is a base fert, Excel is liquid carbon, I use Excel when I run out of CO2 which is why I am using it now. It is the other Ferts that irritate them. Some times Phosphorus and Potassium fall on the same day and I notice that the cory's are irritated with the combo. I find it better to introduce ferts by dripping in front of the water flow over a couple hours so there are no heavy concentrated pools of ferts to swim through. I dose 6.3g Flourish 1 time a week on Thursday, Iron 7.5 g every other day Potassium 12g every other day opposite of Iron days Trace 20g every 3 days Phosphorus 10g every 7 days Stability 20g once a month and until I drive 30 miles to get my CO2 tank exchanged; 7.5g of Excel daily Richard
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Post by childofiam on Jan 9, 2016 12:40:54 GMT -5
This is for introducing fish to my tank and I also use it to slowly drip Ferts and Buffers to the water. My Cory families stress if just pour the ferts in. This is a very innovative idea IMO with a useful dual purpose. Adding ferts with sensitive fish such as Corys can sometimes be problematic, so this is a good solution that doubles for fish introductions and maybe baths too BTW, your picture look great, in particular the second from the top shows off your fish well. I also like your simple but balanced decoration scheme. IMO, not every tank need be a jungle as is so often popular of late Carl Thanks Carl... My Tigers like the open water very much to play in plus I can see through out the whole tank for problems. In my personal life I can't stand clutter and so less clutter is better. I notices that when there is a lot of heavy plant life in nature, like around pond banks, the fish will swim through paths in the heavy growth but prefer the open water. Richard
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Post by childofiam on Jan 9, 2016 12:47:44 GMT -5
I have that Anubias. I started out with two small plants that fit in the palm of my hand. Got them at my LFS. They grew to the top of my 55 gallon, and the leaves were sticking out of the water. Giant heart shape leaves big as my entire hand. When ever I cleaned the hoods, I had to push the leaves back down to get the hood on right. I started to break the plants into smaller ones, and got them growing. Before I knew it, my tank was completely covered with the Anubias. I started to regulary trim the plants down, because there was no place for my fish to swim. I gave a bunch away too. I still have 3 large Anubias in my tank, but have more variety of plants now. I like the different colors and textures of different plants. But that Anubias is a great plant. My Angelfish love to lay eggs on the leaves. Thank you for this information. I have one Nubia that is a little stressed because it came through the mail during cold weather back in December. I was reading just last night that Anubia's will grow with their leaves out of the water. I was thinking about putting it in a small glass and change the water every day with tank water to help it. Any Ideas about this? Richard
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jan 9, 2016 13:09:47 GMT -5
Some heavy dosing! Good for those plants. Sounds like you need an auto doser, just a little all the time.
Great shots!
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Post by coco on Jan 9, 2016 13:22:25 GMT -5
I don't think you would want all the leaves sticking out of the water, I would think they would dry out. Not positive about that, maybe Carl would have a different opinion. Remember that even when you have leaves sticking out of the water in your tank, with the hood on, it keeps those leaves nice and moist. You could place that Anubias on the tank wall up high so the leaves are just breaching the surface if you wanted. I have two ways of doing this. You can use a suction cup meant to hold heaters, and push the trunk of the plant and/or some stems into it, then suction cup it to the glass. Or, you can take two airline suction cups, and a piece of airline hose. Cut the airline hose to 4-6 inches, depending on desired length, and press it into the two such cups and stick that on the glass. Then you can place the trunk of that plant behind the airline hose to hold it in position. That's what I did with my first two Anubias. They grew like wildfire. And I don't have fancy lights either. Just regular basic LED's. That way you can place your plants at whatever hight you desire.
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Post by Carl on Jan 10, 2016 11:02:16 GMT -5
Thanks Carl... My Tigers like the open water very much to play in plus I can see through out the whole tank for problems. In my personal life I can't stand clutter and so less clutter is better. I notices that when there is a lot of heavy plant life in nature, like around pond banks, the fish will swim through paths in the heavy growth but prefer the open water. Richard I definitely agree with how fish will swim in areas of low plant growth unless they are sick or stressed, which is why I disagree with the popular trend/fad of wall to wall plants and over boosting of lights, nutrients, etc. Carl
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Post by Carl on Jan 10, 2016 11:11:45 GMT -5
I don't think you would want all the leaves sticking out of the water, I would think they would dry out. Not positive about that, maybe Carl would have a different opinion. Remember that even when you have leaves sticking out of the water in your tank, with the hood on, it keeps those leaves nice and moist. You could place that Anubias on the tank wall up high so the leaves are just breaching the surface if you wanted. I have two ways of doing this. You can use a suction cup meant to hold heaters, and push the trunk of the plant and/or some stems into it, then suction cup it to the glass. Or, you can take two airline suction cups, and a piece of airline hose. Cut the airline hose to 4-6 inches, depending on desired length, and press it into the two such cups and stick that on the glass. Then you can place the trunk of that plant behind the airline hose to hold it in position. That's what I did with my first two Anubias. They grew like wildfire. And I don't have fancy lights either. Just regular basic LED's. That way you can place your plants at whatever hight you desire. I am not an expert on Anubias, however I have had many an aquarium with these plants, partly because these are a very undemanding plant. I have never intentionally planted Anubias with their leaves out of the water, but I have had some plants grow to the point their leaves are out of the water at some point. As for lighting, i am of the opinion to get the best ligths you can, just less of them for a low to medium light tank. This way you can always add more, plus the lifespan is much higher and you get a better natural light with there is some evidence may benefit fish too (as per Redox) Carl
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Post by childofiam on Jan 10, 2016 19:23:44 GMT -5
Well... thats do an experiment. I will mount a Anubia as coco suggested with suction cups and see what happens. What do you all think... should I start a new thread or just continue here?
Also... Should I cut back on the Ferts? I am dosing what is recommended by the Seachem label, should I cut the dose amount because of the type of plants I have?
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Post by coco on Jan 10, 2016 19:35:33 GMT -5
Start a new thread, and we will follow the growth of your Anubias. Ar far as your ferts go, I am not an expert on that. I just use the basic flourish and excel. I would think with those ferts your plants would grow like crazy. BTW.......your Tiger Barbs are very pretty.
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Post by Carl on Jan 10, 2016 20:49:03 GMT -5
Well... thats do an experiment. I will mount a Anubia as coco suggested with suction cups and see what happens. What do you all think... should I start a new thread or just continue here? Also... Should I cut back on the Ferts? I am dosing what is recommended by the Seachem label, should I cut the dose amount because of the type of plants I have? I would adjust as needed. Try 75% and see how the plants do. I have found that there is no once size fits all formula for most aspects of aquarium chemistry, and this includes ferts for plants as natural wastes from fish which of course come from use of quality fish foods is a source of ferts too. This is why my articles at times might seem vague, but I do not want to give the false impression that there is an exact does of buffers, ferts, minerals, etc that fits all aquariums. In my aquarium maintenance days, I found the sweet spot with each individual aquarium and then added additives as per these "sweet spots". Back to ferts, many persons have kept very lush planted aquariums with no more than basic SeaChem ferts & minerals as Coco noted as well as relying on waste from fish. Carl
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Post by childofiam on Jan 11, 2016 17:26:42 GMT -5
Well... thats do an experiment. I will mount a Anubia as coco suggested with suction cups and see what happens. What do you all think... should I start a new thread or just continue here? Also... Should I cut back on the Ferts? I am dosing what is recommended by the Seachem label, should I cut the dose amount because of the type of plants I have? I would adjust as needed. Try 75% and see how the plants do. I have found that there is no once size fits all formula for most aspects of aquarium chemistry, and this includes ferts for plants as natural wastes from fish which of course come from use of quality fish foods is a source of ferts too. This is why my articles at times might seem vague, but I do not want to give the false impression that there is an exact does of buffers, ferts, minerals, etc that fits all aquariums. In my aquarium maintenance days, I found the sweet spot with each individual aquarium and then added additives as per these "sweet spots". Back to ferts, many persons have kept very lush planted aquariums with no more than basic SeaChem ferts & minerals as Coco noted as well as relying on waste from fish. Carl What do I look for to find the "sweet spot" ? I will also back off on the ferts to see what happens.
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Post by childofiam on Jan 11, 2016 17:33:17 GMT -5
Well... thats do an experiment. I will mount a Anubia as coco suggested with suction cups and see what happens. What do you all think... should I start a new thread or just continue here? Also... Should I cut back on the Ferts? I am dosing what is recommended by the Seachem label, should I cut the dose amount because of the type of plants I have? Well I tried to have a Nubia's leaves out of the water as coco shared with the suction cups... the result was the leaves rolled up and began to wilt in about 30 minutes. So this now shows me that Anubis can not live outside of the emerged state.
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Post by Carl on Jan 11, 2016 18:23:48 GMT -5
What do I look for to find the "sweet spot" ? I will also back off on the ferts to see what happens. What ever amount, whether it be more or less that maintains the plant growth and water parameters you are looking for. As a chemistry example; if one 1/4 teaspoon of buffer was needed to maintain a target KH every week I would visit a clients aquarium, this is what I would add. If adding 1/8 teaspoon allowed the KH to drop between visits, this told me I needed more Carl
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Post by coco on Jan 11, 2016 21:53:40 GMT -5
Richard, you can still mount the Anubias on the tank wall, just lower the plant so it is mostly covered. I have giant leaves growing out of the water, but they are still wet because they are under the hood. 90% of the plant is still under water. Your plant is probably still too little.
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