A Celery-Free 5G Journey

Last year was pretty exciting; found a dying goldfish in a bag that catapulted me suddenly into fish keeping, got married, and in Dec did an overnight rescue of 75G tank full of tropical fish and a massive invasion of Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Cleaned & repurposed the 75G for my goldfishes, found homes for the fish, saved some snails and put them in a jar along with sand, rescued bits of water wisteia, and marimos from my wedding.

The 3 snails I had have multiplied, and I've been daydreaming about a small invert tank for a long time... so I finally took the plunge to get a little 5G setup for them with some light and filtration:

Marineland ML90609 Portrait Aquarium Kit, 5-Gallon w/ Hidden Filter

...as I was reading through the technical information about the item on Amazon, I was delighted to see that it is a celery free Aquarium.?

It came today and I am busy setting it up to move the contents of my snail bowl into. They've never had a light or filtration, so hopefully they'll be okay with all of this. They've been pretty hardy in that little bowl for a year so this will probably be a nice upgrade. I'm also kind of excited that I can outfit this tank with some plants and Decor that would not be appropriate for my goldfish. They even ripped up even my marimo balls! If all goes well I may try some shrimp or other kinds of snails....

 

I'm so glad you found a celery free tank. It sounds like your goldfish might've eaten right through it otherwise!!!

 

I bet they were just thinking to themselves "I'm going to put in something stupid because no one reads this anyway." My favorite LFS labels all their fish with both the common and scientific names. They told me that when they got a shipment of particularly fat goldfish, they changed the scientific name from "Carassius auratus" to something like "Fata**-ius obesitus." They kept it like that for over a YEAR and no one ever said anything!

 

Hey now, don't underestimate the importance of good allergen labeling! What if a poor buyer with a celery allergy was new to the hobby and super hesitant about buying a tank! You never know what the scary Big Tank (TM) may have diluted that solid glass with.

I bet they were just thinking to themselves "I'm going to put in something stupid because no one reads this anyway." My favorite LFS labels all their fish with both the common and scientific names. They told me that when they got a shipment of particularly fat goldfish, they changed the scientific name from "Carassius auratus" to something like "Fata**-ius obesitus." They kept it like that for over a YEAR and no one ever said anything!

Hahahaha! I absolutely love that ;-)
I actually had a moment where I pointed something like that out. Many stores around here provide not just the names, but little cards above every tank that lists all the care requirements of the species (plus a photo so you know which is which), it has adult size, temp range, PH range, hardness range, what to feed it, if it is a social or aggressive fish, minimum tank length or volume, etc.
One time I was in a store, and it had a bristlenose pleco labeled as "Adult length: 150cm" (that's 5 ft!). I pointed it out to the owner and he sheepishly said that card had been there for as long as they stocked the fish (so probably more than a year) and not only had no one pointed it out, he'd never even noticed himself. He then started off on a tangent to another customer in the store (beginner) taking interest in our conversation, about how it was better this way than the other way around because normal people shouldn't keep common plecos and comet goldfish in their tanks, bla bla. poor guy.

 

Fata**-ius obesitus." Haha!

Well, my tank fits perfectly in the space, I drained the snail bowl and scooped the sand & snails into the setup tank. Put in the old water from the bowl, and topped off with water from my big tank.

When digging the sand out I found a few areas of dark grey staining, but it disappeared as soon as it got some fresh water? I'm guessing that some anaerobic areas formed along with some dead roots of water wisteria.

After about a half hour (and a cucumber bribe) I counted about 20 snails coming out of hiding

These guys have never had moving water so adjusting the filter will be a little trial and error. A couple of teeny snails were getting blown around so I turned it down a little. It's not much yet but it's a start!

 

Just make sure you move those beautiful java ferns in the front out of the substrate. The rhizomes need to be kept tied to a rock or driftwood like that one in the back

 

I'm loving the wineglass with the little marimo moss balls!!!

 

Don't you love that tank? I have two of them for two of my Bettas. One also has a couple of juvenile guppy females and both have snails. I just bought something recently (I don't remember what) that said banana free in the allergy alert. LOL

 

I'm loving the wineglass with the little marimo moss balls!!!

So, I have all these tiny ones because my one goldfish started pulling apart the marimos with a PASSION one day out of the blue... I rolled these up out of pieces I found on the intake... they were getting lost in the sand so I figured I'd give them a home~

Just make sure you move those beautiful java ferns in the front out of the substrate. The rhizomes need to be kept tied to a rock or driftwood like that one in the back

Wait, are they java ferns? I know basically nothing about aquatic plants, dude I rescued the tank from said it was water wisteria! I gave the big pieces away and kept a few scraggly bits... because my goldfish started tearing them apart for FUN Haha... one of them attached ITSELF to a ceramic media ball and it looks pretty nice.

Actually the snails are ALSO refugees from Copper the Trout-Mouthed Goldfish... I sense a theme... they say copper is dangerous to invertebrates, I guess they weren't kidding!

 

I saw that on Amazon when I was looking at this tank as a potential purchase! When I saw it I was like if I’m not getting some complementary celery with this, then you can forget it! Haha.
Loved reading about your story, also. And your goldfish, those little rascals! The wine glass with the small moss ball bits adds so much character to the tank. Simple and elegant— looked fantastic! I’m not the expert, but consider those leaves aren’t all completely smooth edged I’d say that’s not java fern... I think that it was labeled correctly. They’re just such small sweet baby plants it’s hard to see their details at first, I think.

 

I saw that on Amazon when I was looking at this tank as a potential purchase! When I saw it I was like if I’m not getting some complementary celery with this, then you can forget it! Haha.
Loved reading about your story, also. And your goldfish, those little rascals! The wine glass with the small moss ball bits adds so much character to the tank. Simple and elegant— looked fantastic! I’m not the expert, but consider those leaves aren’t all completely smooth edged I’d say that’s not java fern... I think that it was labeled correctly. They’re just such small sweet baby plants it’s hard to see their details at first, I think.

Believe it or not, those pieces have been in my snail bowl a YEAR. They never died, but they didn't really grow, either. They'd lose a leaf, grow a leaf. I'd call it "difficult" conditions...low light, no ferts (except old goldfish tank water) and plain sand. I think I effectively dwarfed them. Hope they do better in this situation. I want to aquascape this space, maybe even make some sculpture for it... so many possibilities....

 

It looks like maybe a Windelov java fern to me.

 

It looks like maybe a Windelov java fern to me.

By Neptune's Beard! I think you're right! That means I've been treating them wrong all this time. Time to unbury some corms! (Whoops)

 

By Neptune's Beard! I think you're right! That means I've been treating them wrong all this time. Time to unbury some corms! (Whoops)

I made this mistake once when I bought an unlabeled cheap plant and from the leaf structure (I think they were grown emersed when I got them), I thought they were swords for some reason and buried the roots. It never did well but didn't die either (java fern is hardy!), did not grow any new leafs but then it turned into a 'mother plant' and started putting out plantlets and roots from the tips of the leafs. Those grew well, then I plucked them off and replanted them ( ) and they would stall again. I thought swords didn't do well in my tanks and to this day, it is probably the only popular aquarium plant I've never had! Hahaha.. it took me nearly a year to realise that they were javas and pull them out.

Good news: as soon as they settle in again, with their roots exposed, they'll pick up growing like you never abused them in the first place.


.. for some reason I still never bought swords afterwards, my brain just thinks "nope, those won't grow in my tank" as soon as I spot the leaves and skip them. Bit of a waste really, they'll probably do well....
(That's it, next trip to the LFS I'm buying a sword!)

 

I made this mistake once when I bought an unlabeled cheap plant and from the leaf structure (I think they were grown emersed when I got them), I thought they were swords for some reason and buried the roots. It never did well but didn't die either (java fern is hardy!), did not grow any new leafs but then it turned into a 'mother plant' and started putting out plantlets and roots from the tips of the leafs. Those grew well, then I plucked them off and replanted them ( ) and they would stall again. I thought swords didn't do well in my tanks and to this day, it is probably the only popular aquarium plant I've never had! Hahaha.. it took me nearly a year to realise that they were javas and pull them out.

Good news: as soon as they settle in again, with their roots exposed, they'll pick up growing like you never abused them in the first place.


.. for some reason I still never bought swords afterwards, my brain just thinks "nope, those won't grow in my tank" as soon as I spot the leaves and skip them. Bit of a waste really, they'll probably do well....
(That's it, next trip to the LFS I'm buying a sword!)

Yeah these guys started making plantlets and I just let them float around... after the tank transfer this is what I have. I tried just taking them out of the sand and letting them sit, but the filter has too much flow in there getting blown around. So I'm going to have to attach them to something. But what? Too many possibilities!

 

They are Java Fern Windelov. Lovely little plants. Maybe glue them along a nice piece of driftwood?

 

I have a marineland portrait 5.

Get a fluval eco nano light for it. The light they ship it with is terrible.
I took out the filter tray and added a second 80 gallon pump with a home built water polisher...added some sponge media in the voids below that and and some bio rings.
I added an airstone behind the wall on the left side too.

Other than the light being rediculously weak its a pretty good AIO setup.

 

Ok! Following your advice, I have now attached my apparent JAVA FERN to a couple of little pieces of cholla wood salvaged off of a bird toy. Believe it or not, I don't actually have that great of an access to good pieces of wood and stone because I live in an apartment in the city. Most of the stones I have are actually mineral specimens and are not appropriate for the aquarium.

I boiled the wood to clean and saturate it. I was able to stick most of the pieces through the holes and make them stay, but a couple I had to glue with Superglue. The wood is still floaty but not like it was, pretty easy to make it stay partially buried until it's completely waterlogged. I dug out a suction cup I had left over from the tubing for my canister filter and used it to hang one piece from the back. I think it looks kind of cool. I also stuck in a hokey plastic plant I pieced together for a previous experiment with some brine shrimp that didn't work out. Cuz why not *shrug*

 

I have a marineland portrait 5.

Get a fluval eco nano light for it. The light they ship it with is terrible.
I took out the filter tray and added a second 80 gallon pump with a home built water polisher...added some sponge media in the voids below that and and some bio rings.
I added an airstone behind the wall on the left side too.

Other than the light being rediculously weak its a pretty good AIO setup.

Yeah I am *definitely* going to do some DIY with this tank. I'm at least going to hack this filter cartridge to start with; I don't like running carbon on my tank and I *hate* the idea of throwing stuff away. It works for now at least! I like the idea of adding biomedia to the void.

The tank I rescued these snails from had such a massive infestation that they were in every nook and cranny of the tank, its tubing, and filtration systems. They can get everywhere! The tank had been so neglected and overfed, they went CRAZY.

I've been drawing a few designs of what I might eventually like to do, the idea that I can sculpt something is pretty exciting. I have some extra air tubing, are stones, and joints for doing air lines. I might like to sculpt something that also has a bubble of future inside...hmmm...

 

Fluval sells biorings with net bags...one of those bags will fit perfectly under the ledge where the filter is now.
I just chucked the filter tray all together...installed an 80 gallon fountain pump right on the ledge so it could draw water through the sunburst hole. That has a small bottle with floss for a water polisher.to the left of the filter ledge there's two 1 inch thich foam filter media...then the heater..further to the left snother 80 gallon pump attached to the outflow and finskky in the corner an airstone. Its pretty maintenance free. I superglued a piece of black sponge media over the starburst hole too...I have shrimp and endlers.

Ive had it running without problems for about a year now.
You must have a later model of this tank. Mine was full of celery when I received it.

 

I love this tank. I was looking at the 3 gallon one since I wanted to start an all snail tank only but I noticed the 3 gallon is more expensive than the 5 gallon.


I gotta say though, I was disappointed the 3 gallon one was not celery free. It is made out of cotton though.

 

Cotton tanks always leak, and are so 1998.

 

That Cholla wood thing was genius! It looks so much better than just buried in the sand!

 

Fluval sells biorings with net bags...one of those bags will fit perfectly under the ledge where the filter is now.
I just chucked the filter tray all together...installed an 80 gallon fountain pump right on the ledge so it could draw water through the sunburst hole. That has a small bottle with floss for a water polisher.to the left of the filter ledge there's two 1 inch thich foam filter media...then the heater..further to the left snother 80 gallon pump attached to the outflow and finskky in the corner an airstone. Its pretty maintenance free. I superglued a piece of black sponge media over the starburst hole too...I have shrimp and endlers.

Ive had it running without problems for about a year now.
You must have a later model of this tank. Mine was full of celery when I received it.

It sounds like you've done with your tank what I hope to get to eventually. This info is gold! I've learned a lot of things but I am quite inexperienced, only been at it about a year and a half (and that was an unplanned accident! ) Now I'm soooo hooked...

I love this tank. I was looking at the 3 gallon one since I wanted to start an all snail tank only but I noticed the 3 gallon is more expensive than the 5 gallon.


I gotta day though, I was disappointed the 3 gallon one was not celery free. It is made out of cotton though.

Cotton! Haha! Yeah, the pricing on these tanks is a little weird. It must have to do with the number in stock and their ability to distribute. The one I was looking at before was an older version of this tank, (apparently the only thing different is an improved light) but the newer version was $10 cheaper?

That Cholla wood thing was genius! It looks so much better than just buried in the sand!

Thanks! Yeah I'm jazzed with how it looks. I'm just lucky I happened to have some hanging out. My neighbor gave me a whole bunch of random bird toys and pieces because he and his sister used to make bird toys as a business! He knows I have a cockatiel so he figured I would like to have them. I use them for the bird but also my rabbits. I didn't expect to be using pieces for the fish!

In other news, I have bubbles now! I have an output open on a big air pump I'm using on my 75G so I ran an airline to the 5G and rigged a short piece of a broken air bubble tube... thing. The trouble is, I have to bury it in the sand to get it to stay down, and it seems to be raining little pieces of sand everywhere. I'm going to leave it for now, but this will probably not be the final configuration by any means, haha

 

Modification #1: a little hood for the light. My typical line of sight on this tank is below the light and the glare was awful. Handily my hubby is a paper artist and made me an elegant black paperboard shield (from the aquarium box!). Ahh.... much better~

 

It sounds like you've done with your tank what I hope to get to eventually. This info is gold! I've learned a lot of things but I am quite inexperienced, only been at it about a year and a half (and that was an unplanned accident! ) Now I'm soooo hooked... Cotton! Haha! Yeah, the pricing on these tanks is a little weird. It must have to do with the number in stock and their ability to distribute. The one I was looking at before was an older version of this tank, (apparently the only thing different is an improved light) but the newer version was $10 cheaper?Thanks! Yeah I'm jazzed with how it looks. I'm just lucky I happened to have some hanging out. My neighbor gave me a whole bunch of random bird toys and pieces because he and his sister used to make bird toys as a business! He knows I have a cockatiel so he figured I would like to have them. I use them for the bird but also my rabbits. I didn't expect to be using pieces for the fish!

In other news, I have bubbles now! I have an output open on a big air pump I'm using on my 75G so I ran an airline to the 5G and rigged a short piece of a broken air bubble tube... thing. The trouble is, I have to bury it in the sand to get it to stay down, and it seems to be raining little pieces of sand everywhere. I'm going to leave it for now, but this will probably not be the final configuration by any means, hahaView attachment 638123View attachment 638126

You can buy suction cups to affix it to glass or get a rock with a hole in it, or use a couple of those flat tungsten weights they use on bunch plants.
You could probably ask your fish store for some of those.
Good luck with your aquariums, they look good.

 

Well, I did my first water test today. 0 NH3 (ammonia), 0 NO2(nitrite) and about 5 NO3(nitrate). Looks like I may already have a cycle going! I'm also growing a nice mulm on the plastic parts in the tank. I swished the filter cartridge in some tank water, (sounds like the charcoal is already done) I figure next week or so I'll hack the cartridge with replaceable media. I'm feeling very encouraged by my parameters and the little bit of algae and mulm that are appearing! I switched the air tube for flat round airstone and put an artisan glass paperweight on it. Much easier to deal with (and quieter too... the previous one squeaked a d twittered!

 

Love the stand that looks like a chair!

 

You can put the airstone in the space behind the black wall. Easier and you can use it to help out your filtration flow back there.

 

Love the stand that looks like a chair!

It's an antique humidor stand that has been in the family for years.... we always called it the Telephone Table cuz that's where we kept the (wired, actual-bells-inside 10lb black) telephone

You can put the airstone in the space behind the black wall. Easier and you can use it to help out your filtration flow back there.

Oohhhhh probably... I just think the bubbles are pretty

 

Is this a marble or part of the airstone? ❤ I love it! ❤ So beautiful!! Great colors!!

How big is it?

 

It's an antique humidor stand that has been in the family for years.... we always called it the Telephone Table cuz that's where we kept the (wired, actual-bells-inside 10lb black) telephoneOohhhhh probably... I just think the bubbles are pretty

Bubbles p;$$ me off, everyones got their likes and dislikes.

 

View attachment 640575

Is this a marble or part of the airstone? I love it! So beautiful!! Great colors!!

How big is it?

It's a glass paperweight about 3" across, it's from the 60s and has the artist's name on the bottom! Belonged to my grandmother. I just set it on top of the airstone.

Bubbles p;$$ me off, everyones got their likes and dislikes.

You are not the only person I've heard that from! I enjoy the glitter and pattern of movement; also in my 75G my goldfish have a blast with them. It's pretty entertaining... they are such clowns

 

It's a glass paperweight about 3" across, it's from the 60s and has the artist's name on the bottom! Belonged to my grandmother. I just set it on top of the airstone.

Well, it's gorgeous! And the fact it was your grandmother's makes it special.

 

Such a pretty tank! I'm setting up an invert tank in my room right now . Unfortunately, I don't think it's as well cycled as yours is!

 

Such a pretty tank! I'm setting up an invert tank in my room right now . Unfortunately, I don't think it's as well cycled as yours is!

These guys were all living in a huge jar for a year and I reused all their same stuff, which probably helped. I only ever refilled the jar with old tank water (I figured the nitrates would be good for the plants). Hooray for cycle jumpstart!

 

Well I did my first real clean/waterchange today... definitely got some mulm growth that needed cleaned off my fern fronds. Following suggestions, I moved the airstone behind the background wall. The bubbles kept carrying fine sand up with them and making a mess, especially when mixing with the mulm.

My parameters registered at 0 for everything which concerns me. I refilled the tank with water from my goldfish setup, which was registering 20-40ppm NO3. (I reckon the plants would appreciate it). If the NO3 drops over the course of a week I will figure that the plants are soaking up the nitrates, not that my cycle is broken!

I read that Malaysian Trumpet snails only live about a year but I swear I had some of these big ones from when I got started just over a year ago, they were already grown. One has a distinctive shell with a lot of white and it's still kicking!

 

Looking good!

 

Bubbles suck!!

 

Bubbles suck!!

Ahahhaa I thought of you as I moved my airstone XD