My freshwater planted nano tank project
Discussion
Everything is planted!
So fingers crossed that the Hemianthus calitrichoides and the Glossostigma get established and form decent carpets.
Quite pleased with the way the piece of wood intertwined with the plants - hopefully that effect will be enhanced as the plants get established.
I think the Pogostemon erectus (rear right, stem plant) is already melting though. It doesn't seem happy for some reason. Maybe it'll be one of those plants that melts a bit before getting established, or maybe I'll have to replace it with something else like hornwort, which is easy.
Hopefully the hair grass will get a bit thicker and taller. I'm also hoping the Cryptocoryne will become browner.
So fingers crossed that the Hemianthus calitrichoides and the Glossostigma get established and form decent carpets.
Quite pleased with the way the piece of wood intertwined with the plants - hopefully that effect will be enhanced as the plants get established.
I think the Pogostemon erectus (rear right, stem plant) is already melting though. It doesn't seem happy for some reason. Maybe it'll be one of those plants that melts a bit before getting established, or maybe I'll have to replace it with something else like hornwort, which is easy.
Hopefully the hair grass will get a bit thicker and taller. I'm also hoping the Cryptocoryne will become browner.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 20th December 17:07
I think I'm realising that my lighting is not as bright as I was aiming for - perhaps more on the high-ish side of medium rather than properly high lighting. But hey-ho, I'll just have to wait and see whether the HC and the Glossostigma will grow. At least the hair grass, the crypt and the anubias should be happy.
I think I'm going to build some kind of hood out of bits of wood, which I can paint on the inside with a white or silver reflective paint to direct more light downwards.
I bought some 35% ammonia solution off ebay, because I started wondering whether the surface scum might be caused by organic impurities in the er... natural ammonia solution that I have been using. Just five drops of it in the tank took the ammonia from zero to 3 mg/l - the stuff smells truly evil. And the surface scum does seem to have reduced considerably.
Some piccies... (There will soon be some fish and shrimps in this tank to justify it being in All Creatures!)
The Glossostigma is already growing and sending out runners, which I'm pinching off and replanting. It remains to be seen whether it'll stay nice and compact with the amount of light I've got...
The HC seems happy. No 'pearling' though; I was hoping for oxygen bubbles but I don't think my lighting is bright enough...
The Anubias looks nice, attached to the wood with a blob of silicone. Not doing much yet, but that's to be expected...
The cryptocoryne isn't melting (as they often do after planting). Even the Pogostemon in the background has stopped falling apart, so I'm feeling less pessimistic about that...
The Glossostigma is already growing and sending out runners, which I'm pinching off and replanting. It remains to be seen whether it'll stay nice and compact with the amount of light I've got...
The HC seems happy. No 'pearling' though; I was hoping for oxygen bubbles but I don't think my lighting is bright enough...
The Anubias looks nice, attached to the wood with a blob of silicone. Not doing much yet, but that's to be expected...
The cryptocoryne isn't melting (as they often do after planting). Even the Pogostemon in the background has stopped falling apart, so I'm feeling less pessimistic about that...
Turn7 said:
More light and more co2 should get them pearling away....
Indeed. My CO2 checker is green, so the CO2 concentration is right. I'm thinking I need more light, so I've ordered an Interpet 2x36cm 'bright white' LED light (possibly the same as the units that Otolith is using). By my reckoning these are about 800 lumens each (18 SMD LEDs at about 45 lumens apiece), so together with my existing light that should give me about 2000 lumens.If you assume that T5 fluorescents are around 70 lumens per Watt, my 2000 lumens would be equivalent to about 28W of T5 fluorescent, so about 4.5W per US gallon compared to the 2.7W per USG I've got at the moment. Generally anything over 3W per USG is considered high lighting, although it's usually reckoned that nano tanks need more.
I treated myself to next-day delivery, so I should get the new light on Monday. I will also start designing and constructing a hood, which will be necessary now that I'll have a second light fitting to accommodate.
I am seeing brown algae growing now, so I need to start controlling the nutrient levels a bit better. At the moment the nitrate is sky-high (about 160 mg/l) because I've been dosing with ammonia every day to keep my bacteria well fed, but I haven't been doing water changes. I reckon this is the reason for the algae, so it's time for a big water change.
As I hinted earlier in the thread, I did indeed hand in my notice at work and have now finished, so I have nothing else to do for the foreseeable future - this project should therefore get a bit more attention. I'll be spending a month or two pondering my career options, and might end up blowing my savings on further flight training, get a commercial licence and instrument rating, and see if I could get some kind of flying job. But in the meantime, my nano tank is my focus!
Edited to add: I did a big water change this morning which has brought the nitrate down to about 40 mg/l - still on the high side but better. The KH seems to have stabilised at about 3 degrees - slightly lower than my target of 4-5, but I think another water change in a few days time will help. Strangely the GH is pretty high - at least 10 degrees, possibly higher - so I'm going to try a water softener 'pillow' in the filter. If it works, I'll consider getting some Potassium chloride as a recharging agent for it instead of using Sodium chloride - having potassium ions in the water will be much better than sodium ions.
When I did the water change, I realised that I might previously have been screwing up the KH by boiling some of the tapwater to bring the temperature up. So this time I boiled some of the rainwater instead, so as not to denature the bicarbonates in the tapwater.
I've realised that I may have been overdoing the ammonia drops, and this might be contributing to algae growth. So I'm going to reduce that from 3 drops twice a day to one drop 3 times a day and see how that goes. I think I'll be adding fish within a week or so, so obviously the ammonia dosing will cease then.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 27th December 13:51
I bought a water softener pillow and put it into the filter. Within 12 hours it had reduced the GH from at least 180 ppm (the highest my test strips can measure) down to approximately zero! As expected, it has no effect on KH: it only swaps the calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions without affecting the carbonate and bicarbonate ions.
I clearly don't want zero GH, so I won't be using it in the filter in future, but will use it to pre-treat the new water during water changes, and then dose with a small amount of unsoftened tapwater to give me a target GH of about 5 degrees (90 ppm). I can't reduce the overall amount of tapwater any further to reduce the GH without ending up with a KH that's too low.
The instructions say to recharge the pillow using salt (sodium chloride), but I intend to try recharging it with potassium chloride instead. I think this should work, and will result in the pillow releasing potassium ions instead of sodium, which should benefit both fish and plants.
I temporarily rigged up the new light, and it certainly makes a difference. Within half an hour I was seeing occasional tiny bubbles rising from the HC and Glossostigma, which is a good sign of much stronger photosynthesis. No actual 'pearling' as such, but I'm much happier with the light level now.
I'm part way through building a hood. So pictures of more shonky woodwork to follow! I do enjoy making things out of wood, but I don't pretend to be good at it.
I clearly don't want zero GH, so I won't be using it in the filter in future, but will use it to pre-treat the new water during water changes, and then dose with a small amount of unsoftened tapwater to give me a target GH of about 5 degrees (90 ppm). I can't reduce the overall amount of tapwater any further to reduce the GH without ending up with a KH that's too low.
The instructions say to recharge the pillow using salt (sodium chloride), but I intend to try recharging it with potassium chloride instead. I think this should work, and will result in the pillow releasing potassium ions instead of sodium, which should benefit both fish and plants.
I temporarily rigged up the new light, and it certainly makes a difference. Within half an hour I was seeing occasional tiny bubbles rising from the HC and Glossostigma, which is a good sign of much stronger photosynthesis. No actual 'pearling' as such, but I'm much happier with the light level now.
I'm part way through building a hood. So pictures of more shonky woodwork to follow! I do enjoy making things out of wood, but I don't pretend to be good at it.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Tuesday 29th December 09:11
Turn7 said:
Still needs Shrimps!
Indeed! I'm very close to getting the fish and shrimps now. I'm thinking 8 chilli rasboras, 8 blue shrimps and 3 otocinclus.I'm going to try ordering all the fish online - since I'm a gentleman of leisure now, being at home to receive them won't be a problem. There's a shop called Kesgrave Tropicals that sells through eBay, and they get good reviews so I'll give them a whirl.
Ammonia and nitrite are both zero now, apart from the few hours after I've put a drop of 35% ammonia in. Nitrate still a little high at 40mg/l - but another big water change should sort that out.
Well, I've got some creatures in the tank already!
I picked a few sprigs of hornwort from the pond. This might not have been my best idea, because I've now got snails.
And, er, what appears to be a damselfly nymph!!
So what do you reckon will happen to a damselfly nymph living at tropical temperature? Will it grow into some kind of super-damselfly? Could I end up with a new comic book superhero - Damselman - whose development was transformed when he found himself moved into a tropical fish tank?
I picked a few sprigs of hornwort from the pond. This might not have been my best idea, because I've now got snails.
And, er, what appears to be a damselfly nymph!!
So what do you reckon will happen to a damselfly nymph living at tropical temperature? Will it grow into some kind of super-damselfly? Could I end up with a new comic book superhero - Damselman - whose development was transformed when he found himself moved into a tropical fish tank?
Nah, he's pretty puny. Good point though, I'll need to keep an eye on him! With any luck he'll eat snail eggs, so he's welcome to stay for now. Ultimately I'll have to fish him out, acclimatise him back to cold water and shove him back in the pond, because the aquarium lacks any stems for him to climb out of the water when he wants to transform to adult.
Here's two new adults from the pond earlier this year, complete with skin case:
Here's two new adults from the pond earlier this year, complete with skin case:
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 30th December 16:09
I've received my fish!
The shrimps are also nice and active, and there are in fact 9 of them.
Unfortunately the chili rasboras have not traveled at all well. All but 2 are completely torpid and stiff, not moving at all and look well on the way to being dead.
I am floating their bag and have put an air stone in there as well - the six torpid ones are swirling around in the water flow, but only 2 of the fish are actually swimming. I've tested their water, and there's no ammonia or nitrite although the nitrate is about 100 mg/l, which is very high indeed. The pH is at least 7.5, which is very much not ideal. I fear the shock of the change to my tank water (20 mg/l nitrate, pH 6.5) might finish off even the 2 that are swimming.
I will give them until later this afternoon, and then contact the fish shop. I'm inclined to drive up there tomorrow to collect my replacements rather than subject them to an overnight courier journey - I can get them home in less than three hours. I'll probably fish out the two good ones and release them, but keep floating the bag overnight with the air stone in it in case there's a miracle and some of the others do revive.
My first experience of live fish by mail order has not been especially great.
- 8 chili rasbora (Boraras brigittae)
- 8 blue phantom cherry shrimp
- 3 otocinclus (not sure which species, they might be macrospilus but not sure)
The shrimps are also nice and active, and there are in fact 9 of them.
Unfortunately the chili rasboras have not traveled at all well. All but 2 are completely torpid and stiff, not moving at all and look well on the way to being dead.
I am floating their bag and have put an air stone in there as well - the six torpid ones are swirling around in the water flow, but only 2 of the fish are actually swimming. I've tested their water, and there's no ammonia or nitrite although the nitrate is about 100 mg/l, which is very high indeed. The pH is at least 7.5, which is very much not ideal. I fear the shock of the change to my tank water (20 mg/l nitrate, pH 6.5) might finish off even the 2 that are swimming.I will give them until later this afternoon, and then contact the fish shop. I'm inclined to drive up there tomorrow to collect my replacements rather than subject them to an overnight courier journey - I can get them home in less than three hours. I'll probably fish out the two good ones and release them, but keep floating the bag overnight with the air stone in it in case there's a miracle and some of the others do revive.
My first experience of live fish by mail order has not been especially great.
Some pictures. Apologies for the poor focus - I think I might need to treat myself to a proper digital camera when I get myself a new job!
Shrimp on wood...
Oto and shrimp...
A shrimp takes a stroll through the oxygen bubbles exuded by the Hemianthus. Hopefully they'll eat some of the brownish cotton-wool algae (a filamentous diatom called Synedra, I believe, and a common bloom in new tanks)...
I gave up on the chili rasboras and flushed them away. There were no signs of life by late afternoon. Unfortunately the shop is now out-of-stock, and I can't find anywhere else with them.
The one survivor is patrolling the tank and has been eating, so that's a good sign.
Shrimp on wood...
Oto and shrimp...
A shrimp takes a stroll through the oxygen bubbles exuded by the Hemianthus. Hopefully they'll eat some of the brownish cotton-wool algae (a filamentous diatom called Synedra, I believe, and a common bloom in new tanks)...
I gave up on the chili rasboras and flushed them away. There were no signs of life by late afternoon. Unfortunately the shop is now out-of-stock, and I can't find anywhere else with them.
The one survivor is patrolling the tank and has been eating, so that's a good sign.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Saturday 9th January 09:12
AlexC1981 said:
Love the oto and shrimp photo!
It's the only one that's properly in focus! I may well have a phone round on Monday to see if I can find some chilli rasboras reasonably nearby. I found a mail order supplier in Guildford that claims to have them, but I'm sceptical because the accompanying picture is of Boraras merah (Phoenix rasbora), which is similar but not quite as intensely coloured. I've emailed to ask if I can take a look before I buy, because I'm in Woking so it would be easy to collect. Mind you, the one surviving chilli rasbora might learn to shoal with some Phoenix rasboras, in the same way that Corydoras shoal in mixed-species groups even in the wild.
The shrimps are great fun. You can see their front legs/pincers doing a constant little dance when they're standing on something, presumably picking up little fragments of potential food and shovelling it into their mouth. When they swim, their back legs beat the water for propulsion - but they also do random, explosive jumping movements. Lord knows how they can leap so suddenly through the water - how do they overcome water reisistance? One of them seems a little more reclusive and may be carrying eggs, so maybe I'll soon have more than nine, which would be good.
Good recommendation! I went today, and it's a great little shop. No chilli rasboras, though.
I called into a shop in Knaphill on the way home. Likewise, no chilli rasboras, so I consoled myself by buying this rather cool bamboo shrimp instead. It's quite elusive so this is the best picture I can manage...
I called into a shop in Knaphill on the way home. Likewise, no chilli rasboras, so I consoled myself by buying this rather cool bamboo shrimp instead. It's quite elusive so this is the best picture I can manage...
Yay!! I found a shop with chilli rasboras.
I did a search for mail-order suppliers, and found Sweet Knowle Aquatics, whose site said that they had chillies in stock. They're up near Stratford-Upon-Avon, so a bit of a trek for me but not as bad as Ipswich.
Now, I've visited hundreds of fish shops over the last three decades, but this one has a real wow factor. The fish are without doubt the highest quality aquarium fish I've ever seen on sale, by a country mile. Every tank looks healthy, and amongst the first fish to catch my eye were the best-quality blue Rams I have ever seen on sale. Further down the line were the biggest, healthiest-looking cardinals I've ever seen on sale. I believe it was feeding time, because when I stepped into the room housing the African cichlids and stood in front of some tanks, the fish went absolutely berserk - the water boiling with fish trying to elbow each other out of the way for the best spot to grab the food they thought they were about to receive. I have never seen such energy and vitality in fish-shop specimens. Every fish in every tank looked "right".
About the only criticism is that they don't really have any freshwater crustaceans to speak of, and it didn't strike me as having much marine either (but I wasn't really looking for that, so perhaps I simply failed to notice). But for freshwater tropical fish, this place is hard to beat on quality and value for money. They also had some big specimen fish on display that looked very healthy and active.
Seriously, this place is worth a visit. It's in the middle of nowhere on a farm. If you navigate to the post code you have to look out for their brown tourist attraction sign, then follow the signs through the farm. Beware the gang of Guinea fowl that will mob your car!
I'll try to take a picture of my new shoal of chilli rasboras when I've acclimatised and released them. I went for just six; I can always add more if necessary - they must have had a hundred or more.
If you live anywhere within 100 miles, this place is worth a visit: Sweet Knowle Aquatics CV37 8NR.
Slightly oddly, they're closed on Saturdays.
I did a search for mail-order suppliers, and found Sweet Knowle Aquatics, whose site said that they had chillies in stock. They're up near Stratford-Upon-Avon, so a bit of a trek for me but not as bad as Ipswich.
Now, I've visited hundreds of fish shops over the last three decades, but this one has a real wow factor. The fish are without doubt the highest quality aquarium fish I've ever seen on sale, by a country mile. Every tank looks healthy, and amongst the first fish to catch my eye were the best-quality blue Rams I have ever seen on sale. Further down the line were the biggest, healthiest-looking cardinals I've ever seen on sale. I believe it was feeding time, because when I stepped into the room housing the African cichlids and stood in front of some tanks, the fish went absolutely berserk - the water boiling with fish trying to elbow each other out of the way for the best spot to grab the food they thought they were about to receive. I have never seen such energy and vitality in fish-shop specimens. Every fish in every tank looked "right".
About the only criticism is that they don't really have any freshwater crustaceans to speak of, and it didn't strike me as having much marine either (but I wasn't really looking for that, so perhaps I simply failed to notice). But for freshwater tropical fish, this place is hard to beat on quality and value for money. They also had some big specimen fish on display that looked very healthy and active.
Seriously, this place is worth a visit. It's in the middle of nowhere on a farm. If you navigate to the post code you have to look out for their brown tourist attraction sign, then follow the signs through the farm. Beware the gang of Guinea fowl that will mob your car!
I'll try to take a picture of my new shoal of chilli rasboras when I've acclimatised and released them. I went for just six; I can always add more if necessary - they must have had a hundred or more.
If you live anywhere within 100 miles, this place is worth a visit: Sweet Knowle Aquatics CV37 8NR.
Slightly oddly, they're closed on Saturdays.
I decided the tank needed more shrimps, so I took a trip to Sharnbrook Shrimps to get some more. So I've added a dozen of these guys:
They're much better genetic quality than the first batch - these ones are all uniformly blue.
An algae wafer prompted an Otocinclus feeding frenzy, and the shrimp seem to like it too:
They're much better genetic quality than the first batch - these ones are all uniformly blue.
An algae wafer prompted an Otocinclus feeding frenzy, and the shrimp seem to like it too:
It has been a while since I updated this thread. Here's what the tank is currently looking like:
I'm very pleased with how the carpet plants (HC foreground left, and Glossostigma foreground right) have filled in and become established.
Since the last update I've added a dozen more chilli rasboras, although they're rather camera-shy in the above picture. I've had problems with them being rather nervous, and I felt that a larger group might solve the problem. The tank seems to be coping with the extra bioload without issues. You can see that I've allowed the hornwort to grow a lot in order to provide some surface cover. I also at one stage experimented with making 'decoy' fish out of pieces of red neoprene rubber - I think I may need psychiatric help:
Here are the chillies looking a bit more gregarious:
And judging by his colour, this guy has obviously decided he's the dominant male:
I have also added an LED controller, which allows me to limit the overall brightness of the lights and to ramp them up and down at the ends of the photoperiod. And I have incorporated a temperature controller to act as a second line of defence in case my rather over-powered 200W inline heater should fail in the "on" state. Here's what it's looking like underneath the tank now (yes, it is a faintly ridiculous amount of technology for a silly little tank):
I'm not sure whether I've lost some shrimps, or whether they're just very elusive. There are, however, at least two 'pregnant' females carrying eggs, and I'm sure I've seen a baby as well. Here's a female carrying eggs (the green mass underneath her abdomen):
And finally, the Otocinclus are doing great. My only worry about putting three of them in such a small tank is whether they'd get enough food, but their plump bellies belie that concern. So here they are in close formation, the world-famous Otocinclus display team - "The Red Otos"...
Edited to add: In some of my earlier pictures, you can see that the tank was suffering a bloom of brown cotton wool algae. That has now packed its bags and disappeared entirely, at around the same time that I started dosing plant fertiliser much more generously. I'm using TNC Complete, and I was dosing 2 ml every week - but I'm now dosing 1 ml every day to give an approximation of EI dosing. The lack of algae under this regime is extraordinary, and really buries the old-skool thinking that algae are caused by excessive nutrients.
Edited again: I'm actually thinking of applying EI-like dosing principles to my garden wildlife pond. The plants there are mostly emersed, so have as much CO₂ as they want - so they're probably nutrient limited and will grow much more strongly if I give a high dose of nutrients. This, I reckon, will keep the algae at bay despite traditional thinking that algae is caused by nutrients. I now believe that algae is prevented by nutrients and strong plant growth.
I'm very pleased with how the carpet plants (HC foreground left, and Glossostigma foreground right) have filled in and become established.
Since the last update I've added a dozen more chilli rasboras, although they're rather camera-shy in the above picture. I've had problems with them being rather nervous, and I felt that a larger group might solve the problem. The tank seems to be coping with the extra bioload without issues. You can see that I've allowed the hornwort to grow a lot in order to provide some surface cover. I also at one stage experimented with making 'decoy' fish out of pieces of red neoprene rubber - I think I may need psychiatric help:
Here are the chillies looking a bit more gregarious:
And judging by his colour, this guy has obviously decided he's the dominant male:
I have also added an LED controller, which allows me to limit the overall brightness of the lights and to ramp them up and down at the ends of the photoperiod. And I have incorporated a temperature controller to act as a second line of defence in case my rather over-powered 200W inline heater should fail in the "on" state. Here's what it's looking like underneath the tank now (yes, it is a faintly ridiculous amount of technology for a silly little tank):
I'm not sure whether I've lost some shrimps, or whether they're just very elusive. There are, however, at least two 'pregnant' females carrying eggs, and I'm sure I've seen a baby as well. Here's a female carrying eggs (the green mass underneath her abdomen):
And finally, the Otocinclus are doing great. My only worry about putting three of them in such a small tank is whether they'd get enough food, but their plump bellies belie that concern. So here they are in close formation, the world-famous Otocinclus display team - "The Red Otos"...
Edited to add: In some of my earlier pictures, you can see that the tank was suffering a bloom of brown cotton wool algae. That has now packed its bags and disappeared entirely, at around the same time that I started dosing plant fertiliser much more generously. I'm using TNC Complete, and I was dosing 2 ml every week - but I'm now dosing 1 ml every day to give an approximation of EI dosing. The lack of algae under this regime is extraordinary, and really buries the old-skool thinking that algae are caused by excessive nutrients.
Edited again: I'm actually thinking of applying EI-like dosing principles to my garden wildlife pond. The plants there are mostly emersed, so have as much CO₂ as they want - so they're probably nutrient limited and will grow much more strongly if I give a high dose of nutrients. This, I reckon, will keep the algae at bay despite traditional thinking that algae is caused by nutrients. I now believe that algae is prevented by nutrients and strong plant growth.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Friday 19th February 17:47
Alas, out of the eight chilli rasboras I ordered, six were virtually dead on arrival and could not be revived. One was slightly better but still didn't make it. One survived. I couldn't work out what had killed them: ammonia and nitrite were both zero in their water; nitrate was very high but that wouldn't have killed them if they were acclimatised to it; maybe it was the cold temperature during the night they were shipped. The shrimps and otocinclus in the same shipment were in great shape and are still doing well after six weeks or so. So my experience of fish by mail order has been mixed! I did get a full refund for the chillies though.
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