58g Planted w/overflow and sump

[myswtsins]

Not much going on but I did get a buce flower in between my vacations. I don't think it flowered properly though, I'll show pictures later.

Mollies are doing fine in their 2nd QT (the 29g) and even released some surprise babies during that vacation time. Now why are they surprise babies? Well no females were fat, at all. But there was that one really fat male (remember him?) with his very pointed elongated anal fin..hmmm...funny now he is not fat anymore! WTH!? Seriously? What is going on? lol There is no denying his "male" anal fin but he was fat to point of bursting before I left a few weeks ago and now he is deflated. This is typical of how my life goes lol. I only found a few babies so far (just noticed them yesterday) but they are almost the same size as the babies in the breeder box who are 6 weeks old so obviously I need to get them out of the box.

Haven't seen much of the female RCS in the past few weeks...until today. Found 3 saddled females and 2 more getting ready to molt. The last batch of babies are nearing adult sizes, yippee! Things are going well for them but they need a new tank so this tank can become a FISH tank.

Summer time is a super crazy time for me so expect less updates, changes and additions. Sorry. Although I did go to a new store again today but wasn't impressed, yet again. Am I too picky? Is it on par to have dead and visibly sick fish at a LFS? Cause of the 10 stores I've been to recently only 1 had no dead fish and ALL the fish looked healthy (snails on the other hand were all dead, must have been a shipping issue though) and that was a petsmart! I saw a fish today that was SO emaciated I don't know how it was alive but it was actually very active.

 

[myswtsins]

Been a month since the last update but really nothing happening, I did get another buce flower though. I do plan to make some small changes though so one last update of the same stuff. Been really busy so nothing has been done to the tank and I do mean almost nothing. I've been slacking on water changes, not dosing at all except some excel once in awhile and no supplemental feeding. But this has had nearly no effect on the tank. Plants are fine, shrimp are fine. RCS are still reproducing but slower and with less survival to adulthood but that's not a big deal. I do have some BBA on the roots of the buce though. Small price to pay for my neglect IMO.

Things I want to change with the tank, eventually...

• Replace plants - The balansae just isn't doing well enough. I think it is a lack of light cause the back light is on an angle cause I don't want to have all that pouring into the overflow box. So that corner gets shorted on light. Looking for something that gets about 18" tall and has low light needs, nothing springs to mind.
• Clean-up plants - Just need to sell some crypts and re define the groups.
• New plants? - Thinking about trying some of the unidentified crypts from my 29g over here. Hoping I can hold out for some parva from a friend too
• Wood/Buce - The wood has disappeared, figuratively and literally. They ate the one piece to near extinction and the rest is covered. I am thinking of some tall spindly pieces to help fill the blank space above the crypts. And adding the buce to it. I think the buce would better closer to the light and with more current flowing over it.
• Glass tops - Found someone who will cut glass for me, was so excited I forgot to ask about prices though lol. They are about 40 minutes away though so it's kinda a task. So I can get the glass tops on here which are much needed because my ceiling fan is right above the tank and with the overflow too the evaporation is pretty high.
• Sump redesign - Right now it is just one compartment and although it works it could be much better. So if the price is right I might get the glass guy to cut some baffles for me too.
• Glass residue - The crap on the glass drives me crazy. Gonna try a magic eraser next.

I also want to redesign my water aging system. Might make a new thread about this. But right now I am having trouble AGAIN with iron in the water even though I've spent over a grand to fix the problem. UGH!! So frustrating.

I am going to be selling plants so let me know if you want anything! (Of course the 2 people who reads this thread already have my plants lol )

Anyways, here are some pictures! Yes they are cloudy! I always take pictures after WCs and never learn my lesson lol.

 

[dougall]

Doesn't look bad to me... Looks great.

And if I have anything you are interested in, just yell... It's yours assuming I can spare some.

 

[myswtsins]

Thanks but I don't know what you have lol. Anything you can think of that is about 18" and likes low light? I might try to add a bit more light there instead. Just don't wanna mess with things cause they are going well overall.

 

[dougall]

You have crypt retrospiralis? Pretty sure I could spare a few..

There are a few other crypts too.

I do need to make over a tank or two

 

[fishorama]

I think it looks good too!
Don't hold your breath on parvas. Well, they look the best of some unhappy crypts

Spiralis (or was it retrospiralis?) grew better for me than balansae does. But that was a different house.

 

[myswtsins]

(please ignore my horrible grammar, feeling under the weather and my mind is mush!) I do not have retrospiralis but I think it gets too tall. I really should say I need something under 18" but taller than 10". Not giving a big range there huh? Maybe I will do something different there....like a wall of anubias! (dreaming) I wish I could keep java fern alive cause I could attach some narrow leaf to some wood and it would give me that thinner leaf structure I want back there to break up the usteriana and hudoroi (which look very similar besides size). Maybe I'll just try some retro! lol

No worries Nancy, I'm really in no rush. I am itching to do SOMETHING but this water issue has me at a stand still ATM. Very super frustrating!

To distract myself I took some pictures!

This is an unidentified crypt that came with my package. It is super brown but always gets holes and falls apart.



These nerites are such good cleaners! This guy was even moving the substrate to get those hard to reach places. Mrs. Amano was there to clean up any scrapes too




A favorite foraging area


Just a big berried amano



Pretty good color on this little guy.




What's this!?

 

[fishorama]

That "brown" crypt looks red or at least pink in your LED lit pics. Could it be wendtii "brown" or maybe "bronze"? It's hard to tell size too. Cute shrimp pics!

I haven't given up on crypt parva sharing by any means...it's just going to be really SLOW! But I did know that...I just didn't think the others would go all melty after a WC either, sniff.

I need to update my poor grow out tank with yucky pics soon, lol.

 

[myswtsins]

I'm leaning towards bronze due to appearance and because I've had others do this to me in medium light setups. If I gave them CO2 and dosed everyday they perked up but I'm not planning to add CO2 here. Maybe I'll move it to the 29g!

Slow is the name of the game with parva. And melt for crypts!

 

[myswtsins]

Forgot to mention at last week's update that even though I didn't add any ferts for at least a month, at WCs I still had about 5 nitrate. I think this is important to note because I believe some nitrates need to be present at all times to keep a planted tank balanced. Zero nitrates tends to always lead to problems.

Also didn't mention that I saw newborn shrimp that day. And today I see NEW newborn shrimp. Those berried mommas are such great hiders!

So I tried a magic eraser on the stubborn build up on my glass but to no avail. It's really frustrating that nothing will take it off and it is getting worse so one day it might be unbearable.

NO FTS shots today cause I am in the middle of changing some stuff. But here is a couple quick pics to hold you over.

I love these guys! I love that even their heads have the zebra lines! And their freaky little blue-ish eyes! Nom Nom Nom


That must be a yummy stick! Is what you think at first but then you will see what is REALLY going on....That big one in the middle just released her eggs and molted and yup the 2 on the ends are the 2 males of the tank. lol