The Oto Journal
- Thread starter James0816
- Start date
10/13: May have done a bad. Yikes! Went down to do the water change and instead I decided I would work on the scape a little. Man! Did I stir up some crap! No...literally. It's snowing in the tank. Everything getting covered in a fine layer. Boy do I feel bad at the moment. Hope this has no ill effects on everyone. Will go back down and check in on them in about 30 mins and turn the light out.
On the brighter side, the babies are still working over the zucs even though they are covered in fallout.
Turned the airstone on for a spell. Not sure how long I will run it this evening. Hopefully keep a good circulation going in hopes the filter will pick up more.
CO2 started to get a little low so went ahead and recharged it. Still plenty of Jell-O left in the bottle so didn't have make a whole new bottle.
On the brighter side, the babies are still working over the zucs even though they are covered in fallout.
Turned the airstone on for a spell. Not sure how long I will run it this evening. Hopefully keep a good circulation going in hopes the filter will pick up more.
CO2 started to get a little low so went ahead and recharged it. Still plenty of Jell-O left in the bottle so didn't have make a whole new bottle.
10/15: I just checked on them and low and behold....left the friggin airstone on all this time. Crud! I've got to do a better job than that. Did see quite a bit of activity still in there though. Can't believe how fast these little guys are growing! It's amazing.
On a sad note....I can officially pronouce Natasha.
That's a real downer. Will have to get another one to keep Boris company.
Prepping two more zucs to throw in there.
On a sad note....I can officially pronouce Natasha.
That's a real downer. Will have to get another one to keep Boris company.Prepping two more zucs to throw in there.
10/17: Tank maintenance today. Going to try something else. I made a small gravel vac (basically just a small water bottle and tubing). Going to use it and a gallon jug. My theory is that I should be able to clean up small areas of the SMS pulling out minimal water. Everything would be captured in the jug. Any SMS would then be rinsed and and placed back into the tank.
Made a modification to the retaining wall that the Suesswassertang will grow on. Think that will work out much better.
Going to add a few plantlets of Downoi from another tank. They aren't doing that well in that tank so this will be a recovery effort until that tank is back in gear. Hopefully they will do ok.
On the Oto front, all still doing very well. Babies still growing fast.
Maybe I should try to get a web cam up on there. It is something watching all the wee ones swim all over the place.
Made a modification to the retaining wall that the Suesswassertang will grow on. Think that will work out much better.
Going to add a few plantlets of Downoi from another tank. They aren't doing that well in that tank so this will be a recovery effort until that tank is back in gear. Hopefully they will do ok.
On the Oto front, all still doing very well. Babies still growing fast.
Maybe I should try to get a web cam up on there. It is something watching all the wee ones swim all over the place.
i would like to see that myself... and a pic of the retaining wall mod.
anyway i'm still along for the ride... this has been a good journal to date. keep up the good work.
anyway i'm still along for the ride... this has been a good journal to date. keep up the good work.
Gravel vac idear worked out rather well I must say. No little ones were harmed in the cleaning of one area. I did have to shoo a few away but other than that, really well. It had just the right amount of suction to leave the substrate alone and pick up the gunk. Two gallons later....pretty good. Hopefully the plants won't mind being uprooted from time to time, but I may just add this into the routine for awhile. Just until I get it back into shape.
Congrats on the vac success! And it sure nice to see those babies thriving! I'm curious if you get a slimey filter like I do from feeding zucchini all the time? Drives me nuts...but goes with the territory I guess.
