75 Low Tech

[aseradyn]

I finally have my new "big tank" set up in my living room

I used the stand from my old 120 gallon tank. The stand has an open frame top, so I cut a piece of furniture-grade plywood to fit (actually, it's slightly larger), finished it with polyurethane, and laid it on top. The new 75 gallon tank looks great on it!

The substrate is 100 lbs of pool filter sand. After planting, I inserted fertilizer pellets around the rooting plants.

Main light is a Finnex Planted 24/7. By itself, my estimate (based on a lux meter and a conversion I saw on plantedtank.net) is that at max it delivers about 25 PAR to the substrate directly below, which is low. Most of the day it isn't even that high, and it falls fast as you get away from center. So I'm running a 2-bulb fluorescent alongside it for a few hours every day. Right now it's just running for 4 hours, about when the 24/7 peaks. We'll see how the plants do. Crypts are slow growers, and I'm trying to avoid creating an algae farm

Plants right now:

• Crypt undulatus, around the base of the wood pile
• "Assorted crypts" (maybe willisii?) divided out across the open area in the front right
• Italian val, right in front of the filters
• Java ferns, with assorted baby ferns developing - they keep floating sideways, need to play with them again!
• Anacharis
• Hornwort, floating, caught in the branches

The anacharis is temporary - I don't much like it, but I have it, so I'll use it until I find something better.

When the tank finishes cycling (I'm seeing nitrites spike already), I'm hoping to add a large-ish school of small fish - something like bloodfin tetra or harlequin rasbora. Depends in part on what I can find at my LFS. Once the little crypts have a chance to establish themselves, I'll move the corys over from my 29 - it's really too small for them.

 

[TMaier]

Very nice!

 

[aseradyn]

The fluorescent light got yanked after about two days; I hated something about the way the light colors mixed. I'll try to live without it, and see how the plants do.

After Week 1: strong new growth on the anacharis; the val put out two runners that have sprouted leaves; nothing seems to be melting or dying off; no sign of algae. So far, so good!

I tucked a fertilizer pellet under each of the baby vals and gave the tank a dose of Flourish.

I also snitched a piece of purple cabomba from my mother's tank. If it does well, I'd like to use it instead of the anacharis. She's got it growing in a 55 under the same light, and it's leggy, but healthy, so there's a chance...

But the best part is... the test kit indicates the tank has cycled! And my glass top, which was back-ordered, finally shipped! You know what that means??? It's almost FISH TIME!

 

[Reykur]

Tank looks great, hopefully you'll get some great fish in there soon!

 

[aseradyn]

I did end up with fish... just not the ones I had planned a couple of weeks ago But it's all good!

Moved in some peacock gudgeons and flame tetras from another tank. They seem to be settling in okay.

Glass tops aren't here yet - using a couple of old window screens for now, just to deter jumpers.

Looks like I need to re-plant the wisteria - it's making a run for it!

 

[Reykur]

Some fish are better than none, at least you don't have to test the water just to know if it's stable for the most part.
Any ideas for further additions, either flora or fauna?

 

[aseradyn]

I know I want some kind of cory. I'm very torn between going back to bronzes, which I just adore, or trying to find some c. habrosus, which look fun. Khulis would be neat... And I still want some small schooling fish.

What I end up with will depend on what I can find in shops that looks healthy. I'm trying not to set my heart on anything in particular. Just small, peaceful fish that don't beed like guppies [emoji57]

 

[aseradyn]

Was sitting here studying my fish tonight and the snails caught my eye. Most of the snails in this tank are not the ramshorns that have lived in my tanks for more than a decade, but what looks like bladder snails, which I've never seen before.

(Did I ID this correctly?)

That's a bit interesting because all of the plants in this tank took a two-month vacation in my other tanks, but these guys are just showing up now.

I've also started seeing MTS in my 29.

Should be interesting to see which species dominates each tank in, oh, two years...

 

[Reykur]

That is a bladder snail, I'm dealing with them in my 5 gallon. Word of warning, 1 will turn into 15, 15 will turn into a billion. They breed asexually and I had 1 small bladder snail lay 4 clutches in a day before I removed it and the clutches. I still ended up with a 2nd generation of them.

 

[aseradyn]

I already have a couple dozen, just from a quick count. The ramshorns are like that, too. I had a snailsplosion in my 29 a couple of months back, but it's better now [emoji106]

 

[aseradyn]

Bleh. Of all the algaes to contract, it had to be that one. #%&$ cyanobacteria.

Removed all I could see. Switched the light from 24/7 to max 4 on - 5 off - 4 on. 50% water change (last was on Sunday). Unplugged the heater (not that it was running much). Fish will miss a few meals this week. Dosed Fluorish and Excel.

I don't have a test for phosphates, which is what people usually point to, so I'm just hoping reducing time under low, red light and adding ferts will help the hornwort and anacharis put on a growth spurt so they can suck up some excess whatever.

Or I could make it totally worse! I haven't had to battle this stuff in years. Ve shall see....

 

[aseradyn]

Blue-green crap staying in hiding for the moment, though I'm also starting to see clado (expected that sooner, really) and something green on the substrate. Did some manual removal.

And just for kicks, decided to experiment with houseplants. These plants shouldn't need supplemental lighting in this room. I just used black nursery pots with extra holes in the sides, filled with hydroponic clay balls. Hung on the side with stiff, coated wire. For the record: square pots hang easier.

 

[flchamp89]

Looks good I like the plants. H2o2 works well for clado

 

[aseradyn]

Thanks!

I have a love/meh relationship with the clado. If it sticks to the wood and rocks, I rather like it; it gives things a kind of mossy, lived-in feeling. I'm just not a fan of picking it out of the stem plants, which is where it seems to want to go in this tank.

Sun finally went down so I could get a new pic of the tank:



Slow but steady, even new leaves on the crypts and new roots on the anubias. That's how I like it [emoji106]

 

[aseradyn]

Things seemed to be ticking along nicely, apart from rather too much green algae growing on the substrate and on the anubias leaves, and then my timer stopped turning off the light. There was massive growth of the algae on the substrate after the light ran for nearly 30 hours in 2 days.

So, I put it back on 24/7 mode, just until I could get to the store for a new timer... which seems to have been a mistake. Came home this evening to find several big new patches of blue-green algae on the highest branches of the driftwood. Inches across in just one day. Yech.

I've got 24/7 lights running on two other tanks with no problem, but on this one, it's causing trouble. So, I found a new (mechanical!) light timer, and set it for a 6-hour photo period, which is down from the 8 it's been on. I'm hoping that cutting the light back a bit will help slow down the green algae, and that cutting out the long, dim, red and blue light periods will discourage the blue-green.

It's just a theory, though...

In the meantime, mechanically removed as much algae as I could. Tomorrow is water change day. I WAS going to try dosing with potassium this week, as I've started seeing holes in some of the crypt leaves, but I think I'll leave off for now, as I want to see how the lighting changes affect algae growth before I add more factors.

 

[Caliban07]

Things seemed to be ticking along nicely, apart from rather too much green algae growing on the substrate and on the anubias leaves, and then my timer stopped turning off the light. There was massive growth of the algae on the substrate after the light ran for nearly 30 hours in 2 days.

So, I put it back on 24/7 mode, just until I could get to the store for a new timer... which seems to have been a mistake. Came home this evening to find several big new patches of blue-green algae on the highest branches of the driftwood. Inches across in just one day. Yech.

I've got 24/7 lights running on two other tanks with no problem, but on this one, it's causing trouble. So, I found a new (mechanical!) light timer, and set it for a 6-hour photo period, which is down from the 8 it's been on. I'm hoping that cutting the light back a bit will help slow down the green algae, and that cutting out the long, dim, red and blue light periods will discourage the blue-green.

It's just a theory, though...

In the meantime, mechanically removed as much algae as I could. Tomorrow is water change day. I WAS going to try dosing with potassium this week, as I've started seeing holes in some of the crypt leaves, but I think I'll leave off for now, as I want to see how the lighting changes affect algae growth before I add more factors.

Holding off on the potassium will affect the plants further which will help the algae. There's no reason to hold off on K. Some people correlate Cyanobacteria with a like of nitrates. If K is low its possible no3 is low too. You can buy potassium nitrate as a dry powder which will provide both.

What minerals are in your source water?

 

[aseradyn]

Holding off on the potassium will affect the plants further which will help the algae. There's no reason to hold off on K. Some people correlate Cyanobacteria with a like of nitrates. If K is low its possible no3 is low too. You can buy potassium nitrate as a dry powder which will provide both.

What minerals are in your source water?

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not sure precisely what's in my water. I have around 9 dGH and 4 dKH, based on the API tests, but I don't have tests to get more specific. This tank is running around 10-20 ppm nitrates with the current flora and fauna.

The algae does seem to grow faster the further from the last water change I get.. hmmm... I need a way to track that.

I just got a starter set of dry fertilizers (they came Friday), including KNO3, and mixed up a batch of macros for another tank. Sounds like they're not likely to hurt here, either.

 

[Caliban07]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not sure precisely what's in my water. I have around 9 dGH and 4 dKH, based on the API tests, but I don't have tests to get more specific. This tank is running around 10-20 ppm nitrates with the current flora and fauna.

The algae does seem to grow faster the further from the last water change I get.. hmmm... I need a way to track that.

I just got a starter set of dry fertilizers (they came Friday), including KNO3, and mixed up a batch of macros for another tank. Sounds like they're not likely to hurt here, either.

All though not a wholly accurate measure I think your GH and KH is ok. Can you pull your water quality report up off the web?

Nitrates seem ok. I've always wondered about the low nitrates causing BGA thing. Definitely keep up on the water changes but maintain those nutrients for the plants. You probably won't need much if your light is low.

For BGA, I have a bit at the front sandwiched between the layers of soil where the light is high. Always seems to grow there with soil and I haven't had it when using other substrates so dissolved organics could well play a part. If your fish load is high, you feed lots and don't keep up with the water changes then that definitely could help towards it.

 

[aseradyn]

The water quality report my district publishes is focused on contaminants that can be a threat to human health: arsenic, cyanide, that sort of thing. Nothing about organic or inorganic compounds that aren't regulated by the EPA. If I get some time during work hours tomorrow, I'll try to call the utility district direct and ask if they have other reports available.

Dissolved organics? Maybe... I don't have many fish yet (5 peacock gudgeons and 4 flame tetras), but food does occasionally get sucked into the filters when the fish miss it, and the filters are only cleaned every week or two. The wood is still pretty new, too, and leaching small amounts of tannins. I'll poke around for other spots gunk might collect.

 

[Caliban07]

Hmm sounds like you are on the ball and water quality shouldn't be deteriorating quickly enough to cause problems. Algae can be a mystery. Main thing is to focus on what the plants need.

What is your flow rate like? What about other important nutrients? The plants need stable and non limiting macro nutrients. What about phosphates? It's also possible magnesium is low. Even with medium range GH levels the GH can almost exclusively be calcium.

Still it sounds as though the tank is still finding its feet in terms of biological balance. Things will improve over time.