dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Blanching is to boil or steam just enough to make the vegetable wilt. Just plop a slice of green squash or whatever in a mug of water in the microwave. Heat until the water boils, drain water, let cool, serve.
75 BIG BAD GALLONS OF PLANTED GREEN & FISH (work in progress)[many pix i prmomis]
- Thread starter dmoney87
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
hey my cam is back so heres a few more updated photos with a few more extra plants.. oh and a few more extra fish ... few more.. k im done
As you can tell my water is a little tannin stained but i kinda like it.
The anubis? i think. I like it ill probably get another one. oh and my hygro already going nuts..
The massive amazon sword I got.. not sure if i like it yet... its a little to huge.. fish love it tho
Tryed to get one of those little otos.. cool little fish..
ne ways there you have it. I ordered my co2 system, should be here hopefully this week. Ive begun building my reactor thanks to sparkys thread.. and all is well .. although ive been battling with keeping the temp at a steady number.. because its starting to get cold at night but swealtering hottt in the day and i dont have AC .. oh yea so 20 + days later I finally got my miramo ball i ordered from malaysia off ebay.. and wow it was not a pile of brown goo.. looked absolutley fine.. except it wont sink.. just floats.. ne way hope u enjoi
-davE
As you can tell my water is a little tannin stained but i kinda like it.
The anubis? i think. I like it ill probably get another one. oh and my hygro already going nuts..
The massive amazon sword I got.. not sure if i like it yet... its a little to huge.. fish love it tho
Tryed to get one of those little otos.. cool little fish..
ne ways there you have it. I ordered my co2 system, should be here hopefully this week. Ive begun building my reactor thanks to sparkys thread.. and all is well .. although ive been battling with keeping the temp at a steady number.. because its starting to get cold at night but swealtering hottt in the day and i dont have AC .. oh yea so 20 + days later I finally got my miramo ball i ordered from malaysia off ebay.. and wow it was not a pile of brown goo.. looked absolutley fine.. except it wont sink.. just floats.. ne way hope u enjoi
-davE
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
It looks beautiful DavE! You are an artist! 
I would watch that annubias....they don't like to be buried in the sand the rhizome could rot away. You might try pulling it up and then just sticking a rock on top of the rhizome so that it still gets some circulation.
I love that huge sword on the right. It does dwarf your other plants but it will likely grow new leaves that are thinner and maybe not quite so tall. it still might reach the surface but it will look different a month from now after it has been completely submerged for a while.
The light you are talking about would effectively be like 50/50 bulbs which do work well...it's your choice.
So far I have experienced the best growth outcomes on my plants when the bulbs are 6700 k...just my personal experience and I have used 50/50 all 10,000 k, and a mix of 10000k and 6700 k. I plan on replacing all of my bulbs to 6700k when it is time. It is not as bright but I seem to get better growth. Your milage may vary of course. Others may pose a different experience.
I would watch that annubias....they don't like to be buried in the sand the rhizome could rot away. You might try pulling it up and then just sticking a rock on top of the rhizome so that it still gets some circulation.
I love that huge sword on the right. It does dwarf your other plants but it will likely grow new leaves that are thinner and maybe not quite so tall. it still might reach the surface but it will look different a month from now after it has been completely submerged for a while.
The light you are talking about would effectively be like 50/50 bulbs which do work well...it's your choice.
So far I have experienced the best growth outcomes on my plants when the bulbs are 6700 k...just my personal experience and I have used 50/50 all 10,000 k, and a mix of 10000k and 6700 k. I plan on replacing all of my bulbs to 6700k when it is time. It is not as bright but I seem to get better growth. Your milage may vary of course. Others may pose a different experience.
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
It looks beautiful DavE! You are an artist!
I would watch that annubias....they don't like to be buried in the sand the rhizome could rot away. You might try pulling it up and then just sticking a rock on top of the rhizome so that it still gets some circulation.
I love that huge sword on the right. It does dwarf your other plants but it will likely grow new leaves that are thinner and maybe not quite so tall. it still might reach the surface but it will look different a month from now after it has been completely submerged for a while.
The light you are talking about would effectively be like 50/50 bulbs which do work well...it's your choice.
So far I have experienced the best growth outcomes on my plants when the bulbs are 6700 k...just my personal experience and I have used 50/50 all 10,000 k, and a mix of 10000k and 6700 k. I plan on replacing all of my bulbs to 6700k when it is time. It is not as bright but I seem to get better growth. Your milage may vary of course. Others may pose a different experience.
Thanks your too kind =p, I wasent sure what exactly a rhizome was.. looked it up on google.. I think i got it good.. its hard to tell in the pic but i believe the rhimzome is above the sand.. just the roots are in it. (and its still staying put).. I just trimmed that huge sword.. took about 4 stems out.. also I had to pretty much pull all of the moneywort out.. apon further examination alot of the leaves near the bottom were melting away and collecting alot of fuzz crap.. not to mention it was a pure breeding ground for the snails as there were tons of egg sacs all over them and around them.. I took a few that still were strong rinsed them off and replanted them.. hopefully they make a comeback :S .. I also lowered my lights about 2 iches. ne ways im off to do a pwc .. i really need one of those phythons.. and Im kinda mad that I spent 70$ on a friggin DI tap water unit.. as it only produces 55 gallons per cartridge and the refils are almost 40$ .. stupid.. im just going to use regular tap water with dechlor from now on.. its very clean water with nothing in it and a ph of 7.6.. so it should be fine.. even when I get my discus. Hey anyone wanna buy a DI unit all it needs is a new cartridge
oh and as far as the lighting goes.. im way to broke to consider changing it out yet... lol-davE
phooka
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I really like that tank. Mine is starting to look like a weedy mess. I'm thinking I might need to thin and rethink. Great looking tank. There's something to be said for a more minimal approach.
dale
dale
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
thanks dale, That tank is not even a month old yet.. so give it some more time it will be filled in quite a bit more.. not to mention Ill be getting more plants when I get my pressurized co2 setup in the mail hopefully this week.
oh and
Im pretty sure I have that disorder where I really try to keep things neat and organized. lol
-davE
phooka
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Oh I have a disorder too.. I managed to catch tankophobia. Good thing this forum is Aquarium Anonymous (Aquarium Advice my butt.. it's AA alright). I have a 75 and a 10 quarantine with plans for another 75 to start by next week :-/
dale
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yeah I wouldn't chnge the bulbs now....you have to use what you have and if you like your results, don't change them.
Hey phooka....around here we call that MTS (Multiple tank syndrome) and there is no known cure I have it....and it is contagious from what I hear.
Hey phooka....around here we call that MTS (Multiple tank syndrome) and there is no known cure
I have it....and it is contagious from what I hear.
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
Soo hmm new developments? .. well a part of my sand has developed some type of blueish greenish algae, I scooped a bunch of it out but dosent seem to do much.. its usually back in the same spot a few days later.. and aswell as my moneywort.. has some type of bushy clear crap hanging all over it.. already had to pull a bunch of it out that didnt make it.. guessing the rest of it will have to go soon to.. but other than that everything is good..
Ok so I built my co2 inline reactor today, and I got a couple pics of the build. Still waiting on the rest of the equiptment though.
So yea about 30$ and 25 min later.. there you have it. easy as pie. Would have liked to use clear pvc like sparky but I couldent find it anywhere except online.. and they wanted 70$ + ship for a 10 ft length section.. no thanks..
-davE
Ok so I built my co2 inline reactor today, and I got a couple pics of the build. Still waiting on the rest of the equiptment though.
So yea about 30$ and 25 min later.. there you have it. easy as pie. Would have liked to use clear pvc like sparky but I couldent find it anywhere except online.. and they wanted 70$ + ship for a 10 ft length section.. no thanks..
-davE
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
yeah that stuff is not cheap. I paid $20 for a 2 ft section at a local plastics shop.
Nice work getting it all set up.
This blue/green algae.....you migt have a low flow area and usually direction of flow helps a lot.
Nice work getting it all set up.
This blue/green algae.....you migt have a low flow area and usually direction of flow helps a lot.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
hey so no real excieting updates yet. Although I do believe my tank is going through a mini cycle.. overnight the water went from pretty clear to very cloudy.. and some of my sand has started to color brown.. any suggestions? should I do anything or just let it be?
thanks,
davE
thanks,
davE
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Since you have fish in there now, monitor the ammonia levels daily and change 50% of the water if it gets above .25 ppm.
All you did was add CO2? Not shure why that would cause a cycle. There are forms of algae that will die with a high infusion of O2, possible your plants started kicking off enough O2 to trigger that? Seems unlikely, but my only theory at the moment. Did you stir up the sand in the process of the install?
All you did was add CO2? Not shure why that would cause a cycle. There are forms of algae that will die with a high infusion of O2, possible your plants started kicking off enough O2 to trigger that? Seems unlikely, but my only theory at the moment. Did you stir up the sand in the process of the install?
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
The brown is probably diatoms....(does it brush away easily like powder?) it will go away but can be a pain. Leave it be. Once it has exhausted it's food source (silicates) it will die off.
Cloudiness can be a bacterial bloom and should go away on it's own in a couple of days.
It is always a good idea to check parameters when anything looks different.
Cloudiness can be a bacterial bloom and should go away on it's own in a couple of days.
It is always a good idea to check parameters when anything looks different.
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
nope, I have not even added the co2 yet. Its coming this week i hope. The only thing I can think of that I did was ( I hung the bag of bio-chemzorb in my tank overnight because I noticed a film ontop of the water, like say if you had a bit of lotion on your hand and u put ur hand in the tank or something. and the only other thing was instead of using my DI unit to refill after my pwc I just used regular tap water with dechlor. Ive tested my tap water and it has 0 ammonia nitrite and nitrate. So yea im not sure what happaned here. I just tested for ammonia and its still showing 0 ppm not even a slight greenish tint. Nitrates however are a little higher.. at 20ppm and nitrites at .50 ppm. Im going to do another pwc soon. see what happans.
Its hard to say if it brushes away easy.. since its only in the sand, I tryed swirling overtop of it.. didnt do much really, stirred some of it up. its food source sillicates? im pretty sure %100 of my sand is all sillica sand.. yea i checked the water parameters as listed above.. just nitrite and nitrate are higher than the usual so im going to do another pwc.. and the fish all seem to be okay and are going about there daily habits so thats reassurring for me.
thanks
davE
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
oh and I was also wondering do or should planted tanks have sometype of airstone or bubble wand for the o2? I know that plants give off o2 just dont know if thats enough.. I would like to get a flex bubble wand as I do have a great idea for it but not sure if its really needed or if it could actually cause problems :S probably def going to get a small powerhead though because I have quite a few deadspots.. and parts are growing that blue green alage.. which probably if I had to pick any algae to have in my tank it would be that one but still dont want it lol..
thanks,
davE
thanks,
davE
If you're injecting CO2 then an airstone or bubble wand powered by an air pump is a bad idea as it does an excellant job of gassing off the extra CO2 that you're trying to inject. In an aquarium where CO2 is not being injected then it's upto the owner whether or not they want that airstone/bubble wand. Generally the filter (canister, HOB, etc.) does a good enough job at oxygenating the water that the airstone/bubble wand is mostly just for decoration.
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
I had read that the diatoms feed off of silicates but it is also a fairly common thing to have diatoms in the beginning of a tank set up. It should go away eventually. Mine always do.
With your water parameters it sounds like perhaps a mini cycle but sounds like you have it well in hand.
With your water parameters it sounds like perhaps a mini cycle but sounds like you have it well in hand.
OP
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
ok since i know how much you all like pictures, I just snapped a few now. Its hard to tell in the pictures but you can def see the browning of the sand and the cloudyness especially if you compared it next to my other pictures.. and same with the small patch of the blue green algae.. and dont mind my tongs in ther..
see in this picture when I first setup the tank the sand is almost blinding lol..
-davE
see in this picture when I first setup the tank the sand is almost blinding lol..
-davE
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dmoney87
Aquarium Advice Freak
hey so I got my co2 equiptment in the mail today... also went out and bought a 10lb co2 cylinder.. got it all hooked up and its running just fine woo finally I have everything I need besides more plants and fish .. also I went out and grabbed a couple more plants today..
- dwarf baby tears
- scarlet temple? was the store name anyway.. seems to me it looks like my hygro but purplish
and thats all for now.. still waiting on my cardinals .. and big als got some awesome cory cats.. seems like a cross between adolfoi and panda.. aswell they got some Agassizi Cory Cats.. gonna be hard time deciding when they realese them from QT in a few weeks.. also they got in some new discus but again im waiting especially now that ive got my co2 hooked up.. hopefully by end of october ill get some. anyways im still waiting on my tank to clear up..
-davE
woo finally I have everything I need besides more plants and fish .. also I went out and grabbed a couple more plants today.. - dwarf baby tears
- scarlet temple? was the store name anyway.. seems to me it looks like my hygro but purplish
and thats all for now.. still waiting on my cardinals .. and big als got some awesome cory cats.. seems like a cross between adolfoi and panda.. aswell they got some Agassizi Cory Cats.. gonna be hard time deciding when they realese them from QT in a few weeks.. also they got in some new discus but again im waiting especially now that ive got my co2 hooked up.. hopefully by end of october ill get some. anyways im still waiting on my tank to clear up..
-davE
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