FresH2O's 20g planted rescape

[fishenthusiast]

Have you considered a low light tank? Many possibilities in terms of hardscape options and pant choice. I believe Staur repens should still do well in lower lighting. Crypts and Buce add a splash of color.

Edit: I believe TMaier has AR “mini” in low light too. I haven’t experimented with stems yet in my setup, but maybe one day I’ll get a little adventurous.

 

[Tacit Blues]

Autumn gave me some AR mini butterfly that’s growing really well in a medium lowish environment, but it’s not red at all. I really like how it looks still but YMMV

 

[TMaier]

I got my AR mini from fresh about a year ago. It’s still chugging along.

 

[Fresh2o]

Low light? It has crossed my mind. I have seen some gorgeous hardscape tanks with only moss and Buce.
I might keep one or two stems of the AR mini.
Funny, I’ve sold so many plants I forget where they’ve gone.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Tacit Blues]

That’s kinda what I’m trying to go for with my 40 gallon breeder—it’s just Anubias, Buce, and Java ferns, nothing that should struggle if I forget to add ferts for a day or 7. There are some seriously cool high tech things out there, but I think the low tech area has lots of cool avenues to explore too...

 

[PerfectDepth]

Haha. i missed several. Running low on bleach, time, and patience.
Check back in 2-3 weeks and there will be a nice green coating.

You might try hitting those rocks with a spray bottle of peroxide. Just a fine mist, 1 or 2 times when the water is low during your water changes should help a lot. You can even dilute it 50/50 at first to be on the safe side

 

[Fresh2o]

Stones are still relatively algae free for the most part (well, it’s a bit over two weeks). I still have a bunch of AR mini to unload. For now I have it floating over the larger rock formation.
I am thinking about ordering various Buces for this tank.

 

[Delapool]

Wish I was local and could pass across mine. A couple are free-floating and show up every month or so. The rest is just stuck to side of tank as out of room for plants.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Wish I was local and could pass across mine. A couple are free-floating and show up every month or so. The rest is just stuck to side of tank as out of room for plants.

I’ll take your buce if u don’t want it! [emoji23][emoji16] I bought some more last week and got the most pitiful amount for $60 literally 3 stems no longer than 1cm

 

[Delapool]

I’ll take your buce if u don’t want it! [emoji23][emoji16] I bought some more last week and got the most pitiful amount for $60 literally 3 stems no longer than 1cm

Lol, tempting to try! But it’s not much better from the local auctions. A cm or two and pretty difficult to do anything with in a larger tank. I honestly don’t know why I buy it except it’s the only plant I can find room for.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Lol, tempting to try! But it’s not much better from the local auctions. A cm or two and pretty difficult to do anything with in a larger tank. I honestly don’t know why I buy it except it’s the only plant I can find room for.

Haha yea it’s pretty painful to be honest. The growth rate is soooo slow. I’ll be waiting years for them to grow into nice little buce mats [emoji23]

 

[Tacit Blues]

When I bought buce a couple months ago it was really tempting to get one of everything but instead I tried to get a lot of one kind. That way I could start out with an almost-mat

 

[Delapool]

That’s what I found with hair grass. And it would go a few months ok and start to get some growth. Then in one night the yoyo loaches would destroy it [emoji35]

 

[Fresh2o]

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Growing plants, fortunately, has not been an issue for me, given the proper equipment. Recently, I’ve noticed the drop checker stayed a nice emerald blue color all day and the CO2 was at a measly rate of 1 bubble every 2 seconds. But plant growth has been fine.
So yesterday I SLOWLY increased it to 1-2 BPS. This afternoon I get home and the DC is bright yellow, ember Tetras are near the surface and the lone oto is on its side. The CO2 had been off for at least 3 hours. I turn it on just to check the count and it is still at 2 BPS and the tank is filled with micro bubbles. I drop it back to less than 1 BPS. I then do a 70% WC to bring the CO2 down. I also turned on the second LED to help the plants consume the CO2.
An hour later the plants are pearling like crazy and the DC is still yellow. One dead CPD. Oto swam off from where it was last so I assume there is a chance it will be okay. The remaining fish are acting normal and swimming in the lower half of the tank.
For the time being I plan on growing out the carpet of staur repens and downoi (to sell it off later). Maybe I will do low to low-medium light and grow Buces and moss. I’ve seen blackwater setups that look very interesting; leaf litter, driftwood branches, and tannins in the water. We’ll see.

 

[TMaier]

Your plants are indestructible. Everything I got from you last year just keeps on growing and spreading.

 

[Fresh2o]

Your plants are indestructible. Everything I got from you last year just keeps on growing and spreading.

I cant take the credit for that! You’ve done wonders with them. The tank with the fat (err, big boned) kuhlis is quite a site from top to bottom. Making me want more fish perhaps. Which is significant considering I’ve only made a handful (like 5) actual fish purchases since 2012. I don’t buy fish vary often. Which means when I lose any, it’s a big deal.

 

[Autumnsky]

That is a scary experience I think. Sorry to hear you lost the one fish, hoping for no further losses from the excess CO2 event.

As for the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" idiom, I am getting more and more nervous about just such situations, I really am pretty close to fearful of making any changes in my tanks. Seems a bad thing happens in a large percent of any changes.

You are a pico acreage farmer Fresh!!!

 

[coralbandit]

Close call indeed !
I searched but found nothing about using H2O2 to cancel out CO2..
It seemed to make sense to me and is used to ' neutralize ' many things but I found nothing..Sounds like an experiment is in need of ??

 

[Delapool]

Maybe it’s the adding extra O2?

I’ve seen the ph probe switch off here but had ph drop another 0.2 or more before filters can catch up. Although sometimes I wonder if the ph probe low ph cutoff switch sometimes has a mind of its own (or it’s just weird things in large tanks as water circulates?).

 

[Fresh2o]

Close call indeed !
I searched but found nothing about using H2O2 to cancel out CO2..
It seemed to make sense to me and is used to ' neutralize ' many things but I found nothing..Sounds like an experiment is in need of ??

Oddly, the thought crossed my mind last night. As H2O2 breaks down, it releases oxygen which might not necessarily reduce the amount of CO2 but it will bolster the levels of O2 (assuming that it why the fish gasp at the surface).

That is a scary experience I think. Sorry to hear you lost the one fish, hoping for no further losses from the excess CO2 event.

As for the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" idiom, I am getting more and more nervous about just such situations, I really am pretty close to fearful of making any changes in my tanks. Seems a bad thing happens in a large percent of any changes.

You are a pico acreage farmer Fresh!!!

Patience is definitely needed while making adjustments. Then again, I am using entry level equipment (not blaming just saying). It’s not GLA level.
The CPD is not the only loss this year. In FEB I added a dozen ember Tetras to go with the 4-5 I already had. Now I have 7. So 9-10 of them died off over the last year. Not around CO2 related events. Small fish + dense planting + hungry amano = no bodies.