Recent content by aseradyn

So, uh... hi! About a week after my last update, non-aquarium things kind of went to hell, and the tank has mostly been on auto-pilot the last year. Daily feeding, occasional water changes, but rare ferts and no gardening except to occasionally pull out bigger clumps of clado. I just kind of...

Thanks! Not too worried about the tannins. I actually think they've helped with my algae problem by keeping light levels low. I've added some frogbit, which should add shade, so I'm going to work on reducing the tannins and see how it goes. Life got crazy and I haven't had time to do much...

Some things I've blamed for faster evaporation: - Hang-on-back filters (especially ones with open tops) - Tops with significant gaps - Warm water / warm room - Fans or air circulation in the room - Riparium plants I haven't measured the effects to know how significant they are, but generally...

I'm too impatient to wait on my plant order! Stopped at LFS yesterday and picked up a few plants for this tank. Added 3 crinums in the back left corner, behind the wood. Well, kind of 4, because one is two plants on the same bulb. And I picked up an Amazon sword "compacta", which I thought...

It might help to say what kind of canister you have. There may be quirks to certain brands/models. I've only worked with a couple of brands of canisters (Eheim and Hydor), but here's what I can suggest. My canisters have all worked by siphoning water out of the aquarium, then pumping it back...

Yup - I've used cotton and polyester sewing thread and button thread with no trouble. Cotton will rot in time, but ferns and anubias usually cling to rocks and wood by the time that happens. Tie just snug enough to hold things in place - don't want thread to cut into the plant.

Stopped at LFS and bought a few plants for my big tank: 3 crinums and an Amazon sword "compacta" which I gather just grows slower. Twiddling my thumbs waiting for my online plant order to come in...

Found an old packet of Purigen that was dark brown but not yet black. Threw it in the filter, and the water is now a bit lighter than it was last week. When I dosed ferts last week, I added some extra (dry) KSO4. Hard to say if it's helped - the crypts grow slow, especially under low light...

Nice! Great color

Some general cleaning and trimming and fertilizing. The spray bar on my 29 gallon tank keeps getting stopped up, reducing the flow to a trickle. Every few weeks I have to take it off and scrub it out. I've just pulled it off for now, but I'm plotting long-term fixes. Maybe larger holes... When...

Wow. Looking great!

So, been crazy busy with life stuff, so haven't done much with the tank other than feed the fish and dump in fertilizer once in a while. On Saturday, I finally installed the new filter. I'm trying the Hydor Pro 450 on this tank. It has a nice set of features, but dear lord is it big. :eek...

They've mastered camouflage!

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant this stem plant.

Nice! Question: the plant in the back right, growing taller than the rest. What is it? I got some of that (or something very similar) unlabeled at a Petco and put it into my mother's tank. It's growing great, but I'm not sure what it is.