Re-starting 15 gallon, 1st time with sand

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

So today I removed the canister filter and put that back on the oto tank, finally got around to planting the anternanthera, and did a 75-80% water change, giving the substrate a good clean.

Pic of the tank with the frogbit removed while I messed about with it and tidied it up;

Alternanthera. Doesn't look as bright as I'd hoped, we'll see if it copes it here, but not going to be heartbroken if it doesn't, and I can find something else for that gap;

Accidentaly uprooted a couple of rotala bonsai bits while planting the alternanthera, and it's developing some healthy looking roots, so that's good, even if it's a slow grower.

Tank after the water change/tidy up, refilled, frogbit replaced and new almond leaf added at the front.

 

[Retired Viking]

Tank looks great, I wish I could get frogbit. I had a few leaves mailed to me but it did not last long. I think the pond snails loved it.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Alternanthera. Doesn't look as bright as I'd hoped, we'll see if it copes it here, but not going to be heartbroken if it doesn't, and I can find something else for that

Yeh I remember mine taking an age to sort itself out - the leaves look like they're melting but seem to revive themselves. Are you adding ferts yet?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yeh I remember mine taking an age to sort itself out - the leaves look like they're melting but seem to revive themselves. Are you adding ferts yet?

I am! Added root tabs and the plantamin liquid ferts

 

[Wells]

Every time I check in here the tank is looking better and better. The rotala bonsai looks great.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Tank looks great, I wish I could get frogbit. I had a few leaves mailed to me but it did not last long. I think the pond snails loved it.

Thank you! Oh no, is frogbit hard to find where you are? If we weren't an ocean apart, I'd send you some to try again!

Every time I check in here the tank is looking better and better. The rotala bonsai looks great.

Thank you so much! Means a lot, especially from someone who creates scapes like yours! I'm not terribly experienced yet, but learning a lot from putting together this tank, and so happy with the plant growth over less than a month. The rotala bonsai really has picked up since I added ferts hasn't it? It's harder for me to see the growth really since I see it every day, but I just went back and compared how it is today to how it was in this post on the 4th;

And it really has grown pretty well, considering it's a slow grower, and that I've moved it a couple of times now. Really like how the alternanthera also acts like a divide between the l.sessiliflora and the rotala, so they're more distinct and not blending into each other, the contrast of the alternanthera really helps. Today;

Getting invitro plants is expensive, but worth it. I was worried they'd take forever to grow and fill out in my low tech tank, but there's so much more growth than I expected, in less than a month I love having a journal thread just for that, so I can go back and see the progress myself. It's so easy to forget, and not really see the difference when it's just small amounts of daily growth, until you look back at how it was a week ago and see the difference!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Sure enough, removing the canister filter has caused a mini cycle, so back to doing large daily water changes since nitrites keep appearing. Have just done another 85% change on the tank this morning. New canister hasn't arrived yet, and will need some time to grow bacteria anyway, although i'd seed it from the single sponge filter that's in their tank already. Trying to keep the feeding low, but tricky since there are still young fish in the tank who need small frequent meals, but the shrimp at least should have enough biofilm in the tank that they don't need too much extra food anymore. Only using the snowflake food for them at the moment since that's basically just soy husks and isn't meant to pollute the tank too much. Have some algae on the back wall they could eat up too.

Not a great photo, sorry, but the best I could get of my berried blue girl, who rarely comes to the front! She's usually hiding in the vallis at the back or on the wood, so hard to get pics of her.

I also like bending almond leaves so the fish and shrimp use them as hides, got some blurry action snaps of guppies heading under and emerging from the other side, lol

That male and the platy fry will be moving out. He isn't stressing the female yet, but she is gravid and he only has eyes for her, so will give her a break from his attentions and lower the bioload by moving him out with some of the platy fry, lighten the bioload while the cycle stablises again.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

New canister filter arrived on Monday, tried to seed it using the sponge on this tank since I don't trust the other tanks not to be contaminated by the pesticide plants. Still needing to do 75% daily changes to keep nitrites at zero though, which is getting frustrating. Fish, fry and shrimp seem to be riding it out well though, thankfully.

Hoping the bacteria colony will only need another few days to catch up, seems to be taking a long time for a mini cycle, feels more like a cycle from scratch.

 

[eatyourpeas]

There is light at the end of the tunnel! Your tank is looking amazing, for sure, and a true labor of love.

I went through a similar shrimp drama a few of months ago. Montecarlo that I bought online had been treated with pesticides and killed a lot of my shrimp. Bloo, my blue girl, survived, and was berried later. The little guy in my avatar picture is her offspring (reverted to wild type) and the tank is home to about fifty shrimp at the moment. Bloo is still there, doing well.

This left me pretty wary of purchasing plants, so I am limiting myself to propagating what I have or putting them in strict quarantine!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

There is light at the end of the tunnel! Your tank is looking amazing, for sure, and a true labor of love.

I went through a similar shrimp drama a few of months ago. Montecarlo that I bought online had been treated with pesticides and killed a lot of my shrimp. Bloo, my blue girl, survived, and was berried later. The little guy in my avatar picture is her offspring (reverted to wild type) and the tank is home to about fifty shrimp at the moment. Bloo is still there, doing well.

This left me pretty wary of purchasing plants, so I am limiting myself to propagating what I have or putting them in strict quarantine!

Thank you so much!! I do love these little shrimp, was so sad each time I found another one dead. I'm sorry you went through it as well! It's really not well known enough in the hobby how many plants have been treated with pesticides.

It's good to hear that you have survivors though and they kept breeding! I'm still finding a lot of shrimp moults, but have lost the odd one here and there still too. Still hoping to see some shrimplets soon, I'll feel like the worst has passed once some shrimplets arrive The fact that the deaths slowed down so much after moving them confirms to me that it was the plants though.

You can also buy plants that have been grown in-vitro! Grown under lab conditions, no algae, no snails, no pesticides Little more expensive than buying random plants, but the peace of mind is wonderful, and most of mine were in-vitro, and really pleased with how well they've grown. Worth it!

 

[eatyourpeas]

Yes, thank you. I just found out the LFS where I got Nicodemus has an amazing selection of tissue culture plants (in-vitro), so I will be getting them there from now on. Stay optimistic, I think the worst may be over.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Updated photo just to keep track of progress, wood has been removed because frogbit roots kept getting tangled while I'm doing large daily changes, and tank is still mini-cycling (has been for two weeks now!) so the daily changes aren't stopping anytime soon. Might see if I can find a smoother piece of driftwood next time I go to LFS.

Also trimmed frogbit roots since they'd become a tangled broken mess.

 

[Fishy_Dan]

Updated photo just to keep track of progress, wood has been removed because frogbit roots kept getting tangled while I'm doing large daily changes, and tank is still mini-cycling (has been for two weeks now!) so the daily changes aren't stopping anytime soon. Might see if I can find a smoother piece of driftwood next time I go to LFS.

Also trimmed frogbit roots since they'd become a tangled broken mess.
View attachment 118042

Wow! Your tank looks amazing.
You've had some incredible growth, the frogbit and limnophila have gone crazy.

What is your setup and routine? Light lumens, fertilisers, etc.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Wow! Your tank looks amazing.
You've had some incredible growth, the frogbit and limnophila have gone crazy.

What is your setup and routine? Light lumens, fertilisers, etc.

Thank you very much!
I don't do anything crazy, I have a cheap light from Amazon, a GOOBAT which was £27 or £28. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07JNKNQ1V/?tag=
Not in stock now, but I hear good things about NICREW lights - affordable, but good for plants. Planning to get a Nicrew one for my other tank where the plants are struggling. Lights are on for 8-9 hours a day, and has only had one dose of Tetra Plantamin so far. I added some cheap Chinese brand root tabs at one point, but they were causing nitrite spikes, so removed most of those now. Planning to get some TNC root plugs soon, and once the TetraPlantamin runs out, the TNC Lite liquid fert. @mbsqw1d uses those TNC products and has gorgeous jungle tanks and great plant growth if you check out his tanks, so I feel good about buying those products.

So this is luck rather than skill! Plants were all from Pro-Shrimp, most grown in-vitro, so started as tiny pots or blister packs, but grew like stink. My water is quite hard (253ppm) so that probably plays a big part.

Photos of the tank from today. Frogbit roots grew back really fast, some are reaching the substrate already, and I've removed a load of the frogbit to add to other tanks. l.sessiliflora also due for another trim!

I feed the fish on that left side, so they're all hovering hoping for another meal!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I am getting some spotty brown algae of some kind on these sword leaves now. Don't *think* it's diatoms, and it does seem to be only on the sword leaves and the back of the tank right now. Some of it does wipe off if gently wiped with a sponge, but some persistent spots remain. Should I cut the light period a bit? @mbsqw1d ? @Ch4rlie ?