Jim

OK, over the last couple weeks, I've made a couple changes, most notable I changed the background from black to dark blue. I love the look, but unfortunately, between that and the new lights, I'm having a terrible time getting a good pic that isn't all washed out. I also switched from a HOB filter to a big marineland magnum 350 bio-pro. I've been experimenting with an idea I borrowed from another plantgeek on rigging my CO2 fermenter straight into the filter intake, and it's working great.
Fishwise, I had to get rid of the clown loaches and glass catfish, because they were eating my angelfish babies. Oh well, it happens, but it gave me rooom to get a few new (peaceful) critters. I have a bit of a problem with the chain swords. The aquatic leaves are spreading like crazy, but the left over terrestrial leaves were all dying, and it was too dense to just cut them out, so i bought 5 mystery snails to eat the dead stuff up. And so far it's working, they're munching on dead leaves, but leaving the live ones alone.
Oh, and I found a farluwella catfish! It's about the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's almost 6 inches long, but thinner than a pencil. I would love to get another one.

So anyway, here's a couple new pics:

Farluwella Cat


Purple mystery snail:


The front lawn:


The CO2 Rig:

Kevin

love that f. cat, and purple snail...i wish i could find one of those around here

COBettaCouple

looks great! i've been looking for those cats that you found, but they sure are hard to find. congrats on that pick up! a real shame about the angel fry being eaten, but did some survive?

Jim

No, I'm afraid not. It was really sad, they had just made it to the swimming stage. I wish I had taken a movie, it was hilarious. They were darting all over the place, while mom was going crazy trying to keep them all in a group. They spent that night on the driftwood spike, and most were still there the next day (around 15-20 fry). All that day they got the hang of staying together, and for the first time, I got to see the parents swimming with a little cloud around them. But they also started straying towards the chain swords on the bottom. I think they spent the night down there, and the next day they were gone. I'm sure it was the clown loaches. They're lightning fast, will eat anything, and definitly night-time hunters.
I spent all the next day draining the tank and chasing loaches. And let me tell you, that was a pain in the butt, I ended up having to drain the water past the holes in the tree stump to literally flush them out into the open. The LFS owner was really cool about it, and gave me a good credit for them.
That's where I saw the Farlowella cat. I was a bit stunned. I don't ever remember seeing one in a store before, but I had JUST seen it in Hiscock's book: "Aquarium Designs Inspired by Nature" There's a picture of one in the section on 'Flooded Amazon Forest', which FYI my tank is...almost. Unfortunately the Lucian crypts and Wisteria are not native to South America, so my tank is a sort of Amazon hybred. Anyway, there's a great picture of an F-catfish blending into a piece of driftwood, and I remember thinking to myself "I've got to have one of those..."
So when I saw it at the LFS, I just stood there with my jaw hanging open. I couldn't believe the luck, and the owner just saw me, laughed and started to bag it up for me without even asking. And so far it seems to be doing great. It's apparently an Amazon type fish, so the tank is apparently perfect for it. Now i have to find it a mate...lol.

Isabella

Wow, Jim, your tank looks so beautiful! Love your Farowella Cat! It's always been on my "want-to-get" fish list, lol . It's so cool, isn't it. And wow, didn't know you're running CO2 on your tank! And how would you describe your experience with running CO2? Any dramatic pH changes/swings in your tank due to CO2? How fast are the plants growing now? Is the improvement in growth very noticeable with CO2? I'd love to hear your comments, as I am myself considering CO2 but have always been afraid to use it. Love your foreground plants (Sagittarias, right?), and your Otos and the snail too

P.S. Some questions regarding your CO2 system: What kind of CO2 system are you running? Pressurized, DYI, or some other kind? What needle valve are you using? Where did you buy the system? What info source were you referring to when setting up your CO2 system?

Jim

Isabella, I've been running this for about a month. It's just a cheap nutrifin yeast fermentation system, but modified a bit. I added the valve and bubble counter from another brand fermenter I didn't like; but I kept those parts. The nutrifin system I bought originally came with a Hagen ladder, and the plants were showing some signs of growth, but it kept building up this nasty yeast "goo" near where the bubbble entered the ladder.
Then I came across this post on plantgeek:
http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewt...134&highlight=
I liked the idea, and I just bought a new Marileland magnum 350 canister, so I tried it. Basically all i did was drill a hole into the intake the same diameter as the CO2 tube and fed it into the intake tube so it's about in the middle. The theory is the bubble will travel into the canister, get stuck in the filter pad and disolve before it can get back out.
And it definitly seems to be working better. The last few days I've watched O2 bubbles just stream off wisteria & my broadleaf, osiris, and pygmy swordplants. My osiris sword is growing new leaves about once every 2 days, and the new leaves are growing almost an inch a day. The microsowrds (Lilaeopsis mauritiana) along the top of the wall are finally showing new sprouts. And the lawn in front is growing like mad. Oh, it's not Sagittarias, it's Pygmy chain swordplants; Echinodorus tenellus. I thought about Sagittarias, but I liked the "wilder" look of the chainswords. And I'm glad I went with them, they're spreading great.
As for pH swings, it's been pretty mild so far. i read that the best environment is a medium soft water, but with a higher Carbonate hardness (kH). Well, turns out kH is also your water pH buffer, so the higher it is the less the pH swings, at least in theory. And so far, as long as I keep the kH jacked up, the pH has been OK. FYI, increasing the kH is simple, you just add a little (I don't have the formula off hand) baking soda to your water.
My bigger problem was I almost suffocated my fish the other night. I forgot my basic plant biology. During the day everyone knows plants take in CO2 and give off O2. But what I forgot is that at night photosynthisis reverses, and the plants start to absorb O2 and give off CO2. And if the plants really are going good, they can suck all the oxygen from a tank overnight. Well, turns out it's true, because a couple days ago I woke up and my poor angels were gasping. It ws OK, because the lights were already on and before long the plants had churned out enough O2 to make them happy again. That day I ran out and bought a small pump and airstone and set it on a timer to only run at night. That'll fix things, but I have to be careful from now on.

Bill

I like that photo of the Co2 rig where you can see the back of one of your angelfish

Your tank looks superb - really natural and tranquil. The plants and the fish look amazing.

I wish I could change the background on my tank. I shoved it right up against the wall, and some water ran down the back. It weighs about 250kg/500lb full so I can't slide it forward... I can't get rid of the watermarks and it's really hard to slide a background in

BoSox Fan7

Great tank. How did you do that rock wall? And Please post more pics.

Jim

Oh, I remember learning that one the hard way...lol. I try and leave at least 5-6 inches space between the tank and wall from now on.

Jim

The wall was easy, I came across a box full of the slate pieces at an LFS I go to all the time. It was comical, i sat there on the floor of the store with some kid I never met building a wall out of the stones to see if I had enough. The kid was having a riot building it for me: while I picked out rocks, he fit them together and his dad shopped for fish in peace. It worked out great for all and the store owner just laughed.

Kevin

haha...gotta love the little engineers!

sirdarksol

That's awesome. I love reminders that not everyone is teaching their children to be little recluses. So often I see people pulling their children away from strangers, even in controlled circumstances, because anyone might be a kidnapper or molester.

And your tank looks great, by the way. I hope that my 55g can look half as good when it's set up.

Kribensis12

Got any angelfish pic's?

outlaw

I agree, As long as you keep them in sight...(my philosophy anyways).

My LFS has the F Cats. I remember going there a couple weeks ago with my wife and saying "Hey, that was the fish in that picture that looked like a leaf" lol

Nice Setup! I might "steal" your wall too when I get my 55Gal

voiceless_kat

Jim, everything about your tank is just wonderful. And that Farowella cat is amazing! Looks like you have yourself a great system, great fish and great decor & great story. Love to see more pics!

Val