Daven's low-tech 20long tank

[Laeris]

We drop a sinking wafer or a few calcium veggie sticks every few days to make sure shrimp are well fed.

 

[Daven]

The new additions 1 platy and 10 Amano shrimp. I was hoping the platy would be a male because it was smaller than the rest, but it looks like it's probably a female. Oh well, I just was hoping for a male so it would stay smaller lol. OH and I noticed the platy nipping on the sides of the plants so I googled it, and apearantly they are known to eat some algae. So that's a nice surprise I wasn't expecting





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[TheresaM]

The new additions 1 platy and 10 Amano shrimp. I was hoping the platy would be a male because it was smaller than the rest, but it looks like it's probably a female. Oh well, I just was hoping for a male so it would stay smaller lol. OH and I noticed the platy nipping on the sides of the plants so I googled it, and apearantly they are known to eat some algae. So that's a nice surprise I wasn't expecting

Really nice color on that platy! I haven't had them in years but they were actually some of the first fish I kept when I got into the hobby.

The Amanos look like they're settling in well.

 

[Daven]

Really nice color on that platy! I haven't had them in years but they were actually some of the first fish I kept when I got into the hobby.

The Amanos look like they're settling in well.

I never really thought about getting them before, but i think the solid red looks nice and they dont need a group so i think its a nice addition. I like having a few oddball additions along with the schools. And the shrimp should hopefully settle in nice. I acclimated them over 6 hours or so to be sure because they came right out of the shipping bag that just arrived at the store

 

[Daven]

Ok, so I couldn't resist. I helped my mother setup a 45 gallon and pick out some guppies to start with (after I seeded a filter for her of course), and one of the little guys she picked out was this nice black one that I've had my eye on since. I was over there testing the water for her and I decided to stop and pick one of for myself too. Mine has some black on its lips too, so it appears this is a goth guppy of sorts now hopefully I will start to see some nitrate accumulating a bit. Never thought I'd say that lol



Now back to the tank itself. I feel getting rid of the mass of hornwort will help things more than I thought. Now water can flow around those parts, especially with the filter change to now have both an AC50 and AC30 I should have tons of filtration. Now I'm Interested to hear what you think about the hornwort not being draped over the driftwood... I liked it for a couple reasons, such as more shade for the corries, and the unique look (from what I've seen). But maybe it's not such a great idea after all. Although people seem to do huge groups of Java moss and etc without issue. Should I grow it to overshadow the left 1/3rd of the tank, or just to the top and trim it as is?


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[Daven]

Just had a scare with one of the shrimps lol apearanrly one already molted and I thought it was a dead shrimp. But they appear to be doing great and scurrying all over the place, so I think I'm good


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[Fresh2o]

Sometimes those molts look like an actual shrimp! There is one Amano in my planted tank that has puttering along since May 2013.
Regarding the shadowing, nothing wrong with it. Yes it may be affecting flow but may not be the algae culprit. If you like it, then let it grow back. I would stay on top of those water changes.


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[Daven]

Sometimes those molts look like an actual shrimp! There is one Amano in my planted tank that has puttering along since May 2013.
Regarding the shadowing, nothing wrong with it. Yes it may be affecting flow but may not be the algae culprit. If you like it, then let it grow back. I would stay on top of those water changes.


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I know the shade down underneath wasn't the problem, I meant the flow restriction makes sense to me to allow the build up of organics and I guess also make more by shadowing the farther down parts of the plant. That, and the odd flake getting caught there without something to find it. I always do a weekly change aside from having to prolong it a few days to start the new routine. But considering I haven't seen above 5ppm nitrates in this tank yet, I figured that would almost help things lol now I have a bit more load in there so I should be fine. And of course they are all smaller so if they grow to a point where it starts getting higher than I want, I can easily find a home for a guppy or two! I don't like anything higher than 20ppm nitrate myself, but it seems like 10ppm is more or less optimal to make sure the plants are getting a good amount. Correct me if I'm wrong!

The plan is to see if I see anything changes how it is and then if I'm not seeing much for that algae, I might grow it back a bit more. Then I can tell if it had an effect or not. If I still have issues I'll look into adding co2 somehow, but I want to try and avoid that for now since many get along without it somehow and excel seems to have its downsides like with my hornwort and such.

But I'm happy with the changes because I can finally see flow around the tank where before I was debating wether or not to get a power head. And as an added bonus, with all this flow i still don't have it pushing around my pool filter sand! That's always been a pain in my tanks since the HOB filters always seem to push it into a huge crater if I don't place something there to block it


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[Daven]

So this week I have some bad news to report first. I noticed one of the corries had white fuzz on him that appears to be fungus (although I haven't ran into an illness like this before). I moved it and two other corries to a 10 gallon quarantine yesterday and today two of them died. I'm pretty bummed that the corries don't seem to be doing well in my tank at all, considering my main reason for setting up the tank and going planted was to give them a great home. I maybe got a bad batch the first time as my girlfriends group of 4 seem to be doing good and are out a lot more. I am having a hard time diagnosing it for sure, but I have some medication that should be here soon to treat fungal infections. The stuff I ordered was API fungus cure powder. I hope it's a decent one since, again, it's hard to know exactly what it is and what the best plan of attack is. From what I've read it shouldn't be contagious, so maybe The fish other than the corries will be fine



In other news, tested 5ppm nitrates again before water change. Added a nerite snail because I liked the design. And both Anubis seem to be sprouting new leaves well. Java fern had some new leaves, but they don't appear to be growing much. Maybe just slower growers. And shrimp have started stealing the pellets for the corries, the little vultures. Seems the odds are really stacking against the corries... I'll be dropping a few more pellets now to be safe


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