People get mad about them but I agree they work great and are mostly asleep when I'm awake.
Idontevenknowanymore
joined 1 year ago
WTH. It was working fine, I wonder what happened.
It just takes patience. Everything happens slower in a tank like this. There's sifted dirt on the bottom and then sand on top of that, so the plants have plenty of nutrients in the substrate. I deliberately introduced the dreaded Malaysian trumpet snails to keep the substrate stirred up. Lots of plants, nothing fancy just plenty of stems, mostly pearlweed. I've been dealing with a lot of hair algae but I got some amanos shrimp a couple weeks ago and they're beating it back. It's just a little ecology and I think a lot about every change before I make it.
None! That hang on back refugium just has some hydroton to give the plants something to hold onto and there's a power head pushing water around but that's it.
They look a lot like Brook Trout which are my favorites so it's no accident I ended up keeping them!
Still no ammonia so I YOLO'd the fish in. Now the problem is the total lack of alkalinity, so I threw in an eggshell and I'm gonna add some crushed coral to the substrate for long term. Fortunately pH is pretty stable.
Oh I just did the Walstad thing and picked the woody bits out of some organic potting soil so while I have no idea what bugs are there I'm sure it's pretty far from sterile.
I honestly felt bad for him. He had the pace but they made him wait until the tires were well done before they let him try. I mean the whining was a bit heavy but the point was there.
I'm gonna enjoy sitting on the couch and looking down the long side once stuff grows in more.
That's the energy I need! I reused all the fluval substrate for the cap and also about five gallons of original tank water, I did everything I could to drag over a lot of bugs. I'm hopeful that this balances my carbon economy, I've been fighting hair algae and I eliminated everything but low carbon and I don't wanna go to CO2 injection because I'm so so lazy.
36
I tore down my planted tank and dirted it today, what's the over/under on adding the fish back?
(mander.xyz)
It's a 20 long. I have 10 white cloud minnows, a few celestial danios and three pygmy cories currently at summer camp in a bucket with a sponge filter. I am trying to decide if I should leave them there and replace a gallon a day or chuck them back in the tank and watch ammonia like a hawk. I have a RO filter so water changes are no problem but I just can't decide which approach is best.
And yes, I know this could have all been prevented with better planning. Let's just stipulate that that ship has sailed.
How is this 53 minutes old when the thing launched hours ago?
174
That's...pretty much it. They must be kept in non-porous pots and trays (glass or plastic), water TDS must be below 50 ppm and keep water in the tray constantly. They will even bloom with gorgeous little flowers. No fertilizer ever, just bugs.
I can't emphasize enough a sunny spot. This window faces southwest and so it gets 8 hours of direct sun. This helps with growth and also makes the mucus shine which seems to attract the bugs.
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I'm powerless to stop them.