65 gallon rebuild

[Wyomingite]

Last Thursday I added 15 cardinals and this morning I only have two, some died on the descent to the back sump but I solved that from Saturday and anyway they just disappeared. This is not the first time I have seen this, in the LFS they have brought batches of 80-100 cardinals and they all die within 3-4 days, this has happened several times with them, I have no idea why it happens besides, they all ate well since they arrived.

That's too bad. You know, I have never had good luck with cardinals, which is why I always lean toward neons.

Looking good, Lalo!

WYite

 

[fishorama]

I like your latest tank set up, Lalo! You & I both know you need more kubotai loaches...

Yeah, cardinals can be hard to adapt...but once they do, they're nice! Neons can have issues too...but might be angel food...sooner or later...

 

[Lalo J.]

Thanks WYite, I would just like someone to explain why these fish die so easily, why large and small batches progressively disappear overnight, even throughout the day. I only have one cardinal at the moment and I'm sure that by tomorrow it will be gone.

That's too bad. You know, I have never had good luck with cardinals, which is why I always lean toward neons.

Looking good, Lalo!

WYite

 

[Lalo J.]

I like your latest tank set up, Lalo! You & I both know you need more kubotai loaches...

Yeah, cardinals can be hard to adapt...but once they do, they're nice! Neons can have issues too...but might be angel food...sooner or later...

Hello fishorama, thank you, I also like this tank and that is difficult to achieve, usually I'm not happy with the appearance of my aquascapes but now it's different, this reconstruction I like, and the aquascape of my saltwater tank I like it too, and I'm not going to move anything in both tanks.
Of course, I need more Kubotai loaches, the problem is availability, I hope there will be good news soon.
Last Thursday when I added my 15 cardinals my red cap angelfish tried to eat the little ones, although they did not fit in his mouth but I definitely want cardinals in this tank, which indicates that there should not be angels, I would love to see my albino pearlscale female angel swimming among all the plants but she would uproot them and eat the leaves, as well as attack future batches of cardinals.

 

[Lalo J.]

The most recent photo of my tank, taken today after last night's water change:

Fish:
-4x Diamond tetra
-Red Cap angelfish
-Paracheirodon axelrodi
-Corydoras elegans
-Corydoras agassizii
-Peckoltia vittata
-Hemiancistrus sp. Blue phantom L128
-Pseudolithoxus tigris L257
-Hypancistrus inspector L201

Plants:
-Anubia minima
-Anubia lanceolata
-Anubia bartieri striped
-Hygrophila diformis
-Rotala rotundifolia
-Hygrophila polysperma rosanervig
-Cryptocorine pontederifolia
-Cryptocorine wendtii brown
-Cryptocorine nevilli
-Cryptocorine sri lanka
-Echinodorus amazonicus

 

[Lalo J.]

I did a general test before the water change this past weekend and I expected to find high levels of nitrates due to the amount of food that my tetras sometimes waste, and in reality their presence is almost undetectable, I cannot say the same of my GH and KH levels that are quite high than they should be, any suggestions to lower them? I must say that there is nothing in my tank that raises these levels, the problem comes from my water supplier who handles a pH of 7.2 but GH and KH are high.

 

[Wyomingite]

That is filling out and looking really nice, Lalo!

WYite

 

[Lalo J.]

Thank you WYite

 

[Lalo J.]

Some of my Cryptocorynes look bad, I attach a couple of photos I hope they can help me identify what they are missing, I have Rotala rotundifolia which is a medium requirement plant and is growing quite well, but these Cryptos look really bad, I hope that dougall can see this, in my opinion and in my low knowledge in plants I think it could be the phosphorus, but those yellow dots in my Cryptos in the first photo I have no idea what they could be.

 

[dougall]

It looks like it might be a magnesium deficiency to me. Maybe phosphorus, maybe nitrogen.

But remember that crypts will often melt if transplanted to an aquarium, especially if from different conditions.

How are nutrients getting to the plants? Crypts are heavy root feeders, so will benefit from root tabs or a long established aquarium with the substrate full of fish waste.The rotala is more likely than the crypts to get nutrients from the water column.

The hardness of your water will play a part in keeping crypts, I don't think you have anything needing soft acidic water, but something to bear in mind.

My instinct is going to be to add some sort of complete root tabs or similar, making sure N,P&K is taken care of as well as micros.

Sorry, sitting in a waiting room so no time to go back and look to see if any of this was already answered.

Hope that helps.