Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon Planted Odyssey

[TMaier]

I see Buce!

 

[fishenthusiast]

I had a little scare with the tank last night. I cleaned out the filter, and a couple hours after, I saw water under my tank. There was also a little bit of water on the floor. My heart sank, and I thought the tank had sprung a leak. I placed towels around the tank in preparation for the worst. In the morning, the towels were pretty much dry. I thought that that was odd, and upon closer inspection, I found that the Eheim installation set (where the spray bar connects to the Eheim tubing) was leaking. All I had to do was tighten the screw cap more. Disaster avoided!

Edit: By the way, don't do squats and perform a leg workout before cleaning your canister. It makes it 5x harder haha!

 

[TMaier]

Lol. Glad it was an easy fix!

 

[Delapool]

Nice fix [emoji106]

 

[fishenthusiast]

The female Apisto is always camera shy. She loves bloodworms though, so I'll have to try to sneak one during a feeding.

 

[Delapool]

I'd like to keep these at some stage - do you do anything special for them? They look nice.

 

[fishenthusiast]

I'd like to keep these at some stage - do you do anything special for them? They look nice.

The cacatuoides and agassizii varieties aren't particularly fussy. The only thing that I did special for them (A. agassizii "Double Red") was I drip acclimated them to the tank. This tank has a pH of 7.4, and the GH isn't low either. They won't breed in my tank, as the pH would have to be in the 5s with more acidic conditions. They are more docile, in my experience, than Rams too.

 

[Delapool]

The cacatuoides and agassizii varieties aren't particularly fussy. The only thing that I did special for them (A. agassizii "Double Red") was I drip acclimated them to the tank. This tank has a pH of 7.4, and the GH isn't low either. They won't breed in my tank, as the pH would have to be in the 5s with more acidic conditions. They are more docile, in my experience, than Rams too.

Many thanks! I'll add these to bucket list to look into.

 

[fishenthusiast]

Nothing big to report. I've been busy lately, but this tank is suiting me well. Unfortunately, my female Apisto died from unknown circumstances. I've read that the females can be more finicky for some reason. The male is still alive. There has been a little plant growth, not a ton. I'll provide some pictures next weekend.

 

[Delapool]

Fingers crossed the male is ok!

 

[fishenthusiast]

There hasn't been a huge amount of growth, but some progress is being made. The Dwarf Sag has taken a nice hold, and the Buce seems well adjusted.

 

[Fresh2o]

Maintenance-wise, how has it been? Growth slow enough to where you can sit back and enjoy this?
Is that C parva at the front of the tank? I ordered some once and it was obviously grown above the water line and they were larger than the mature C wendtii. I ended up reading it before it switched to its aquatic form.

 

[fishenthusiast]

Maintenance-wise, how has it been? Growth slow enough to where you can sit back and enjoy this?
Is that C parva at the front of the tank? I ordered some once and it was obviously grown above the water line and they were larger than the mature C wendtii. I ended up reading it before it switched to its aquatic form.

Maintenance has been pretty easy to this point. I trim maybe 2-3 leaves a week, along with an algae scrubbing and a 30% water change weekly. I dose PPS-Pro 2-3 times a week. This tank fits my lifestyle pretty well. Growth is very slow, but it is rewarding. The Buce produces a new leaf every 3-4 weeks. This tank will look really nice once the NL Java Fern grows up. The entire foreground is Crypt parva. I'm trying to "carpet" it. It'll take a while to spread.

 

[Kodeman]

Nothing huge to report of. I sold off some plants, so this rescape is definitely going to happen...no going back. Basically, I took the first steps in transitioning my tank. I'll be having a huge plant selloff in the coming weeks (Mid-November?). The T5 HO fixture will be sold, and then after that, I'll purchase a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 and use its dimmer. After that, I'll be buying lots of Crypts (nothing too fancy...I'll be getting a couple rare-ish ones) and Anubias (lots of nana varieties, maybe some others). Fish/invert wise, I know that I'll be adding some RCS to keep the plants tidy. I thought about Threadfin Rainbowfish, but I'd like to keep it simple. Maybe I'll get some type of Barb, or a different type of small Rasbora (I currently have Harlequins). I could even get a small tetra (no Neon, Cardinal, or Rummynose though; I'd like something a little less cliche if I'd go the tetra route since I've had so many ordinary tetras the past 10 years).


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Try some gold neon or albino neon they are not so normal to see and i think looks hella cool with thier almost see through look and the golds have a nice red racing strip like the regular neon but the rest of their body is white or see through.

 

[fishenthusiast]

The tank is doing well. The male Apisto is colorful and the king of the tank. I’ll provide some update pictures in a few weeks. I’m planning on switching out the CO2 reactor with an inline diffuser. It has just become increasingly difficult to perform filter cleanings in an easy fashion. I’ll be putting my reactor up for sale in a month or so, so if anyone is wanting a relatively new reactor with 5/8” fittings, shoot me a PM. CO2 dissolution will not be as good as it was before, but it’ll make my setup and maintenance tasks simpler!

 

[TMaier]

It’s about time.

 

[Delapool]

Ugh, buce - it seems such a slow grower I’m not sure on persisting with it?

 

[fishenthusiast]

It’s about time.

Haha, the only drawback of a slow-growing planted tank! I feel as if one day it’s just going to completely take off. The only big difference at the moment is the Dwarf Sag growth. It has taken off, and I expect runners to pop up any time now.

Ugh, buce - it seems such a slow grower I’m not sure on persisting with it?

It takes a while for Buce to adjust and grow. It’d give it a year before ditching it. I think I may get a new leaf every 3-4 weeks per rhizome! My Anubias grows faster!

 

[Delapool]

It comes up pretty often at auction so must be possible to grow it. Tank is looking nice - I like the theme and lay-out.

I think that is planted tank end-point on growth? First it's all about getting any growth at all; then wild growth and lots of pruning every weekend; eventually a nice, slow-growing tank?!

 

[TMaier]

I bet it’s growing faster than you think. That’s why I take so many pics. It’s hard to notice when you are looking at it every day. But comparing pics taken a few weeks apart usually makes it much more noticeable.