40 gallon breeder - Update

So, this is my first go at a high-tech planted setup, I have a Fluval Plant Light intended for 36-48", I have a 40 breeder so it is 36" only 16" deep and I feel like itll give me plenty of light to work with. I ordered 2 sponge filters off amazon along with a 60 gallon Air Pump for the dual output. I will be using 2 inches of fluval stratum (mixed with small amounts of vermiculite for aeration and prevent gas bubbles) underneath 1/2 of sand as substrate, tomorrow I will be getting a 5 lb C02 tank and dual valve regulator from my local welding shop and will also be constructing the stand for the tank out of 2x4's, pre-build pictures below and more to come in the future, let me know what yall think!

I need to get some glue to hold the driftwood on but I am holding it in the picture to get a visual of the scape I will be going with, all the rocks were found in or around the river on my property and still need to be washed.

 

Watching!

 

Got the stand built and painted, decided to go with the open look, I thought I wouldn't like it but I don't mind it

 

Well, everything is set up,

now I am just waiting on my plants to arrive. I forgot to paint the back of the tank so I will have to get a black background.
also I have never seen a plant pearl so fast than when I added the c02 to the water, I think I will be happy with the injected C02 route

 

never seen a plant pearl so fast than when I added the c02 to the water

What does that mean?

 

If you just filled the tank the plants are pearling from co2 from the air now in the water. My plants do this is I exposed them to air. If not congratulations plants will love the setup.

 

If you just filled the tank the plants are pearling from co2 from the air now in the water. My plants do this is I exposed them to air. If not congratulations plants will love the setup.

Ahh that makes sense, I did just add water to it

What does that mean?

When plants produce oxygen they release little oxygen bubbles off of them and they look like tiny pearls

 

I just got the **** scared out of me by my C02 popping because I accidentally put the check valve on backwardsead:

 

Plants came in 100% will buy again from PlantFactory

 

Based on your post I went ahead and bought 1 plant from Aquarium Plant Factory to see how good their products are. Free shipping (standard) so let's see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

 

Based on your post I went ahead and bought 1 plant from Aquarium Plant Factory to see how good their products are. Free shipping (standard) so let's see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

I was skeptical at first as well, it was my first time ordering plants off of online but they came very professionally packaged, vacuum sealed with water and covered in insulation sheets to keep them from freezing, a lot of measures were taken to ensure my plants got to me healthy, so I will reccomend them, I am sure you will be happy with your purchase!

 

I was skeptical at first as well, it was my first time ordering plants off of online but they came very professionally packaged, vacuum sealed with water and covered in insulation sheets to keep them from freezing, a lot of measures were taken to ensure my plants got to me healthy, so I will reccomend them, I am sure you will be happy with your purchase!

Nice! I went with standard shipping (free) so it may dicey as I live out in the East Coast, but if they do what they did for you, should survive! The shipping fees at other places usually make purchases so expensive.

 

Nice! I went with standard shipping (free) so it may dicey as I live out in the East Coast, but if they do what they did for you, should survive! The shipping fees at other places usually make purchases so expensive.

I also live East Coast and went with free shipping, ordered Friday Night and they got here today so it wasn't too bad

 

I also live East Coast and went with free shipping, ordered Friday Night and they got here today so it wasn't too bad

Nice good to hear. That way I can buy a la carte whenever I want and not have to worry about paying $12 shipping for a $7 plant. This could be a game changer for me.

 

Some of my Java Moss is developing hair algae very badly, if anyone knows a fix, it would be appreciated. I have dialed the light back and done water changes but it did not work

 

I feel your pain on the hair algae. I spot treated with hydrogen peroxide to get rid of it my tank. However you have to be careful if you have shrimp as they are sensitive to it. I found out the hard way. You can also suck as much of it out as you can with a turkey baster.

 

Platies would eat hair algae at least some of it. I find them to be great plant cleaners.

 

Platies would eat hair algae at least some of it. I find them to be great plant cleaners.

But they also like to eat shrimp

 

Surprised your shrimp aren't all over the java moss. Those are Amano correct? Manual removal would be best at this point. Take a pipe cleaner with the bristles or a new toothbrush and try to swirl it around on them and remove it.

 

I turned my tank's photoperiod down by three hours and that solved my green hair algae.

 

Surprised your shrimp aren't all over the java moss. Those are Amano correct? Manual removal would be best at this point. Take a pipe cleaner with the bristles or a new toothbrush and try to swirl it around on them and remove it.

Yes they are, I have 2 amanos at the moment, they have been doing a good job at keeping the hair algae off the other plants but I suppose the algae on the moss is too thick for them to find it enticing so I will probably have to do the pipe cleaner method

 

My platies don't touch my ghost shrimp. Amanos may be fine with them too aa theyre larger

 

My platies don't touch my ghost shrimp. Amanos may be fine with them too aa theyre larger

But I do plan on adding Blue Velvet Shrimp in the future, I like my Sunset Platies in my 55 but I am going for more of a nano fish setup in the 40 so that I can have a colony of shrimp

 

An update on my 40 breeder;
Algae is still a problem, hopefully the addition of floaters will help
The Hairgrass is slowly melting, I hope it comes back
I believe I did not have enough BB on my sponge filter before adding livestock and plants, enough BB that there is no ammonia spikes to kill fish but not enough BB to fight off algae, my ammonia levels are sitting at 0.05 so hopefully within a few weeks the algae will break down (my 10 gallon at first was riddled with algae bloom but 2 months later it is my cleanest tank)
I believe my hairgrass is just getting beat up by algae because it is on the bottom whereas the rest of my plants are doing much better because they don't have surface area all around them to have algae build up
Also any tips on keeping Salvinia Minima? (Floater)
Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

Hi, the tank’s looking good
I’ve merged your threads so members can follow the progress better rather than having to search past threads.

 

An update; hair algae is starting to die back a lot, brown diatom algae is starting to bloom heavily which I am not as worried about (this proved to me I did not leave the sponge filter soaking enough as it took far too long for the diatoms to bloom but took no time for the hair algae) some of the Ammania died past redemption so I just pulled it out, will probably be adding a small piece of spiderwood covered in Christmas Moss or Java Moss in the corner to fill the hole, the Bacopa Carolinia has shot up exponentially, on the left side it is already slightly bending to stay underwater, I will have to do some trimming as I have already done to the Ludwigia Super Red which was the main source of hair algae, my hypothesis was that the Ludwigia was just not meant to be as close to the light as it was getting and that's what was causing the hair algae, I trimmed it to be uniform with the ammania and the hair algae on the Ludwigia has all but dissappeared for the most part. The Dwarf Hairgrass is doing great now after the initial stagnant period, I can think the 100s of bladder snails that infested my tank for taking care of the hairgrass

 

Looks great! Love it!!

 

I also added a couple Almond Leaves for my shrimp, I saw a pregnant cherry getting some eggs out and couldnt tell if it was baby shrimp (so small) or her just removing bad eggs but I did see a lot of the neons having a snack of what she threw out, so I put the leaves all above where the shrimp mainly stay to add shelter and food source for the babies

 

Update: still struggling to get the hairgrass to carpet and my ludwigia completely melted, getting super frustrated with trying to keep my plants robust and healthy on the bright side my shrimp have bred like crazy and i added some cool endlers

 

 

The tank is finally coming along, still waiting on that hairgrass to fully carpet though, wanting to add a caridina species of shrimp to add a little variety, read that Tiger Shrimp have basically the same needs in water parameters as Cherry Shrimp (except for the TDS amount) any thoughts on putting Caridina in?