High-Tech ADA 60P (IMAGES)

Very excited to share how this scape progresses with you guys! This is my first true fully aquascaped tank, and I’m sure it will teach me a ton as it progresses. For now it’s filled up all the way, but I’m considering draining it a couple of inches and doing a moss wall up the back of it. We’ll see how it goes I guess, I’m just flowing with it.

Without further ado, let’s get right into it! Thank you for following me on this scaping journey, I hope it inspires you as well.

Stats
Tank: ADA 60P
Filtration: Eheim 2215 + JARDLI glass pipes
Lighting: Chihiros WRGB + Commander 4
Substrate: Tropica Aquasoil
Hardscape: Seiryu stone and ghost wood
Fertilizers: NILOCG Thrive S
Co2: Co2Art regulator+diffuser + 5lb cylinder

Plant List:
- Micranthemum ‘Monte Carlo’
- Staurogyne repens
- Hydrocotyle tripartita
- Hygrophila pinnatifida
- Hygrophilia siamenesis
- Rotala indica
- Ludwigia Peruensis/Gladulosa var. Diamond
- Hygrophila Difformis
- Riccia fluitans
- Ludwigia Natans ‘Super Red’
- Proserpinaca Palustris
- Ludwigia Sedioides
- Taxiphyllum Sp. ‘Christmas’
- Taxiphyllum Sp. ‘Peacock’
- Vallisneria Sp. ?
- Phyllanthus fluitans

I haven’t decided on livestock yet, but most likely a big school + a centerpiece fish pair + invertebrates. I’m concerned that the seiryu stone raising the ph and the substrate lowering the ph will cause fluctuations and difficulties for fish. The tank is at 6.6 ph right now, but as the soil buffer wears out, rising ph might be an issue. Not sure whether I should be trusting and stock lower-ph fish or higher-ph fish. Either way, this journal will chart how that progresses.

Hardscaped on November 10, 2019.

 

Planted and filled on November 19, 2019.

 

Day 1

Cloudy so far, but that’s to be expected! Those bright green Eheim pipes look so bad haha, I’ll be replacing them with glass pipes and clear hoses soon! Setting up the canister was a bit frustrating, as it’s my first canister and I wasn’t sure exactly how to use it. Once I get the hang of it though I’m sure it’ll be fine, I’m already loving this canister compared to HOB’s and internals I’ve had in the past!

Plants haven’t rooted yet, obviously, so they keep floating up. I’ll just continue to replant them until they take hold I guess. Still dialing in lighting and co2 periods.

 

Day 2

Water’s clearing up and plants are settling in more! No maintenance this day, just adding some liquid bacteria to get that cycle started. I spotted some pest snails that snuck in despite my plat quarantine... I’ll make another thread about the whole plant struggle setting up for this tank. It was quite the ordeal

 

Day 5

Jumping a couple of days to Day 5. Today I did the first water change on this tank. 50% water change from the tap. I considered using remineralized RO water for this tank like I do on my smaller tanks, but with the larger volume it just wouldn’t be worth it. Especially since I don’t have a RO unit, I have to drive to fill up my water jugs. Plus, my tap parameters aren’t too bad.

There’s noticeable growth on the plants compared to Day 1 already! I trimmed the tall stems on the carpet to promote spreading, and the Monte Carlo seems to already be crawling sideways. Can’t wait to watch it fully carpet over in time.

Also replaced all the pipes+hoses except for the outflow today. Lily pipe glass outflow is coming soon in the mail





Added the riccia fluitans to some branches at the top.

 

This is amazing. I'm totally subbing!

 

Wow! Gorgeous!!

 

Looks amazing! I added a lily pipe to my heavily planted 29 on a SunSun302 and its so smooth. Your gonna love it.

 

Tank looks great! Thanks for starting the thread . How big is the tank?

 

Tank looks great! Thanks for starting the thread . How big is the tank?

I just searched the ADA 60P and appears to be a 6 gallon.

 

Thank you guys! Glad everyone’s interested Yep, I’m quite excited for the other lily pipe to come, I’m already loving it with the hoses+intake switched to clear. Outflow coming soon! Also, they’re oddly less fragile than I imagined. The glass intake feels quite solid and quality, probably because it’s the more expensive JardlI one. Thankfully I got it for free, my friend upstate mailed it to me because she didn’t need it anymore

I just searched the ADA 60P and appears to be a 6 gallon.

ADA 60P’s are actually ~17.5 gallons! It’s my biggest tank to date, haha. Still not that big, but the perfect size for scaping! Small enough to be mostly-afforable, while big enough to have room for interesting hardscape and good plant mass.

 

Fantastic start.

Glass wear will really make this build and plants pop.

 

ADA 60P’s are actually ~17.5 gallons! It’s my biggest tank to date, haha. Still not that big, but the perfect size for scaping! Small enough to be mostly-afforable, while big enough to have room for interesting hardscape and good plant mass.

I stand corrected thanks for clarifying. Yes that is a great size. I wonder why when I searched it it came up 6 gallons hmmmm.....

 

Day 8

Tank’s still chugging along. Chopped down and replanted the water wisteria in the right-middle and also the ludwigia sedoides on the left.

I had originally bought the sedoides with the plan of the tank being only 3/4 full. If you’re familiar with sedoides then you know how beautiful they are on the surface of the water! I’m still very unsure if I should drain the tank a couple inches or not. If I did, I would make a lush plant and moss wall up the back of the tank. What do you guys think? Probably better fully filled, or go out on a limb? Also thinking about stocking, I’d have more options fully filled.

 

Day 8

Tank’s still chugging along. Chopped down and replanted the water wisteria in the right-middle and also the ludwigia sedoides on the left.

I had originally bought the sedoides with the plan of the tank being only 3/4 full. If you’re familiar with sedoides then you know how beautiful they are on the surface of the water! I’m still very unsure if I should drain the tank a couple inches or not. If I did, I would make a lush plant and moss wall up the back of the tank. What do you guys think? Probably better fully filled, or go out on a limb? Also thinking about stocking, I’d have more options fully filled.

View attachment 639623

I think it’d be fabulous 3/4 full. You could add some riparium plants to the top of the drift wood above water too and it’d be stunning! You’d also still have 11.25 gallons, so you could still do some micro fish and shrimp or maybe a betta and shrimp.

Just my personal opinion though! Do whatever you think would be best!

 

I just keep thinking how great a pair of rams would look in the tank , but have not seen tank temperature mentioned and I am all but certain it is not warm enough ..Micro fish and or shrimp will look great and enjoy themselves also !

 

I think it’d be fabulous 3/4 full. You could add some riparium plants to the top of the drift wood above water too and it’d be stunning! You’d also still have 11.25 gallons, so you could still do some micro fish and shrimp or maybe a betta and shrimp.

I think it might, but the other issue is the filter outflow and the lights. I haven’t ordered the lily pipe outflow yet so I can change it, but from what I’ve seen, no one sells extra deep lily pipes? Like, I’d need one that went 5 inches deep into the tank, but they pretty much only make 2-3 inch deep ones. I don’t know if I’m making sense haha, but it’s frustrating!

The other thing is that the light is right over where the plant wall would be, making it hard to do maintenance. I can’t move it forward because the filter pipes are there. Also not sure if this would be too much light/heat for the wall plants, I wouldn’t want them to get crispy

On a lighter note, I wouldn’t have to buy any plants to add to the wall. I have tons of moss and houseplants I can take cuttings from, on top of tank trimmings. Yay, plant hoarding tendencies coming to the rescue of my wallet

God, I wish I could keep my Betta with shrimp... he’s an invertebrate destroyeread: Otherwise he wouldn’t he relinquished to a 5 gallon all alone. At least he likes it that way! Psycho that he is. Love him though. Small fish might be an option for the 60P, though having a centerpiece fish would also be nice. Hard to decide on stocking while I don’t know how the parameters will be in the future.

I just keep thinking how great a pair of rams would look in the tank , but have not seen tank temperature mentioned and I am all but certain it is not warm enough ..Micro fish and or shrimp will look great and enjoy themselves also !

I love rams! A pair of golden rams would look so awesome in this scape... but if the seiryu stone wins against the buffering substrate eventually, the high ph wouldn’t be good for the rams. Assuming they live through the parameters changing, as I’ve heard they can be quite sensitive. Temperature isn’t an issue, it’s at room temp 73F right now, but I could always add an inline heater

 

I think it might, but the other issue is the filter outflow and the lights. I haven’t ordered the lily pipe outflow yet so I can change it, but from what I’ve seen, no one sells extra deep lily pipes? Like, I’d need one that went 5 inches deep into the tank, but they pretty much only make 2-3 inch deep ones. I don’t know if I’m making sense haha, but it’s frustrating!

Would it be possible to extend your return hose further down into the tank? Nevermind scratch that idea the lily pipe has the bend that loops over the top edge. I should know that I have one on my 29.

 

I love rams! A pair of golden rams would look so awesome in this scape... but if the seiryu stone wins against the buffering substrate eventually, the high ph wouldn’t be good for the rams. Assuming they live through the parameters changing, as I’ve heard they can be quite sensitive. Temperature isn’t an issue, it’s at room temp 73F right now, but I could always add an inline heater

Over 80f ?? We have several threads going on why rams [not Bolivian] need such warm water ..
I breed rams now for several years and feel 80f + is a must ..Less is a slow death for most rams ..

The tank is beautiful just the same !
My understanding is most plants do not like the temps that high ?

 

Over 80f ?? We have several threads going on why rams [not Bolivian] need such warm water ..
I breed rams now for several years and feel 80f + is a must ..Less is a slow death for most rams ..

The tank is beautiful just the same !
My understanding is most plants do not like the temps that high ?

Yep, you’re absolutely right for the rams. I could probably stretch the plants to be okay in that warm of water, I’ve done it before with bettas! But I think I’ve crossed rams off of the list for parameter reasons. If the seiryu stone is going to make the water more hard as time goes on, I wouldn’t want to keep a ram that prefers soft water in the tank! One day I hope to have rams though, they’re absolutely gorgeous.

 

Day 11




Water change, plant rearranging and trimming, fertilizer dosing, and glass scrubbing went on today! I also added some more S. Repens to the right foreground because it was looking sparse. I’m doing bi-weekly water changes for now, hopefully moving to once weekly as the tank matures.

Algae is trying to take a foothold, but it won’t last up against me! Diatoms mostly, which is a normal phase in a newly setup tank. I’m sure it’ll disappear once the tank is cycled.



I can’t stop taking pictures of this corner of the tank! It just looks so amazing I’d say 70% of the plants are settled in, but I’m having some issues with my Ludwigia Gladulosa and Ludwigia ‘Super Red’. Especially the super red is turning brown and melting away You can kind of see the Gladulosa struggling in the top right of the picture above. Anyone have ideas as to why? Lighting is high (and I’ve been increasing each day) and fertilizers should be good between the aquasoil and liquid solution. I’ve been upping the co2 as the days pass, trying to get that sweet spot of the drop checker being green very early on in the lighting period. All the other plants are doing great, especially the riccia, which has just exploded. I’m so glad I added it to the tank! Carpet is also starting to spread, which is great.

Anyways, I think I’ve decided to keep the tank filled as-is instead of doing a riparium-type idea. Don’t worry, though, riparium coming soon on a smaller tank of mine I’ll link the tank journal for it when I start the build.

Still playing with stocking ideas. So far I’m thinking:
- my cherry/sunkist shrimp colony
- amano shrimp
- school of medaka
- panda loaches

Still looking for a centerpiece fish that’s good looking and mostly shrimp safe. I’m smitten by peacock gudgeons, but there’s a chance that they’ll eat the shrimp so I’m not sure. Any suggestions? I’ve been neglecting to chart the parameters haha, you’d think I was a newbie ignoring the nitrification cycle. Last I checked the ph was 6.6, gh 5, kh 2, but with seiryu stone in the tank, I expect all those numbers to rise eventually. The only tank inhabitants are some bladder snails at the moment, they’re helping cycle the tank.

 

Day 15



Carpet and foreground is coming in nicely, it’s just the stems in the back that need work. I’ve noticed that the aggressiveness of the diatoms is increasing, and it’s spreading faster. I bought some liquid ammonia today, I’m going to start dosing it to speed up the cycle so I can add some cleaning crew soon (other than the pond snails in there now).

During maintenance today I removed the struggling Ludwigia super red and trimmed off all the dead leaves. Replanted and it looks pretty sad lol, but hopefully it will recover! I can see new offshoots growing from the stem already. Gladulosa is going to be the next to get a chop, the tank’s going to look very green for a while while the reds are trimmed short.

Also, lily pipe came in today, so the ugly old Eheim tubing is finally gone! The lily is so pretty, but I feel like it’s not giving me enough surface agitation. Probably should have gotten a poppy pipe, but they look weird to me lol. Oh well!

 

Day 29


Haven’t updated in a while! Added some Taxiphyllum Sp. ‘Christmas’, Taxiphyllum Sp. ‘Peacock’, and Vallisneria Sp. ???. Not sure what type it is, but the vall is pretty small. I’ll probably remove the new mosses soon, I’m not liking them. There’s some wrapped on the wood (which is the moss I want to remove), and a bunch wrapped on little rocks in the mid/foreground. I have tons of extra riccia because it grows so fast, I’ll add more of that back in soon too.

Did the first trim on the carpet earlier in the week, it’s filling in great. Chopped all the stems in half and replanted the tops to start building up the bush thickness. The red ludwigias are finally over their weird dieback period (especially the super red), and are starting to grow again!

Diatom algae is still fighting strong, unfortunately. I’ve been slacking on starting to dose ammonia to cycle the tank because my life has been so busy. I’m thinking about stocking still... assuming I just use tap water, my schooling fish options are danios or medaka. For the centerpiece fish I’m still thinking peacock gudgeons. I also have the option of mixing tap with RO to get a more desirable, lower ph, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the struggle.

I’m struggling to find a replacement stand for this tank. The one it’s on right now is temporary, none of the supplies fit in it and have to sit next to it. When I get the new tank I’m also going to add a frosted background because seeing that light switch is distracting! Otherwise, my only other plans are some big plant rearranging coming soon!

 

This looks so good! Have you thought on getting a small clean up crew (shrimp and nerites) to keep diatoms in check until things establish properly?

The new mosses may look a little better once they filled in, and if you can, would reccomend holding out for a bit until it all fills in? :/

 

This looks so good! Have you thought on getting a small clean up crew (shrimp and nerites) to keep diatoms in check until things establish properly?

The new mosses may look a little better once they filled in, and if you can, would reccomend holding out for a bit until it all fills in? :/

Thank you! Yep, I considered it, but since I’m going to be adding pure ammonia to the tank to cycle it soon, nothing would survive while the tank has a high ppm of ammonia in the water.

I’m sure they will once they grow in, but that also means that I’d have to drain the tank and wrap some more further down on the branches to make it flow together, and that’s a lot of work. This is one of the areas where I think I’m going to slack I’ll keep the moss on the foreground little rocks though, they look nice. I’ll focus on growing those stems thick first, but if I get bored in the future I’ll probably add it back!

 

Day 41



Alright aussieJJDude , you win, I kept the moss and added more Still considering adding yet more. I have a lot in a holding jar haha. Not sure if that bottom branch should be mossed or if it looks better bare, hmm.

Since my last update I lost my ludwigia sedoides, and I switched the places of the rotala indica and proserpinaca palustris in the scape. The proserpinaca isn't doing too well, I hope it makes it

The stems aren’t growing as fast/well as I’d like them to, but the carpet+midground is doing good. Tradeoffs, I guess, but I want to work on making the stems thick bushes, and they aren’t cooperating lol. I think it might be a fertilization problem tbh.

Still not cycled yet unfortunately, but I’ve decided on stocking finally! A school of glowlight danios, one or two pairs of peacock gudgeons, and an army of amanos

Algae is still present unfortunately but I’m working on it. That’s all for now... Happy last day of 2019, see you in the next decade

 

Day 57



Big update: first livestock has been added! It’s five amano shrimp from my LFS, and they’re settling in very well so far, some have molted already. They like to stick together in a little pack for the most part, I wonder if I should add any more, as they seem to be really chill with each other. Anyways, I have a in-tank heater (hidden behind the wood+plants) in there right now to keep them comfortable, but I plan to replace that with a Sunsun in-line heater and Inkbird temperature controller this week. Trying to keep all the supplies out of the tank.

Also, yes, I know the right-side Ludwigia Gladulosa looks lanky and weird. I’m trying to grow it out a bit more before chopping and replanting to get the bush thicker. My brown Cryptocoryne suddenly took a turn one day and leaves started to melt off, sadly. It’s taken a substantial hit, but I’m sure it’ll recover eventually. Some browning on the carpet because of algae, but once I trim it it’ll be hidden for a bit. I’m super happy to see the Ludwigia Super Red doing fabulous, especially compared to when I almost lost it to melting at the start of this tank! So far I’ve only lost one plant species overall, my Ludwigia Sedoides. My Prospernica got close to death, but I saved some stems and hopefully I’ll be able to bring it fully back eventually.

Algae still growing steadily, but nothing bi-weekly maintenance can‘t hide. A couple different types of algae, which is concerning. I’m just working on getting plant health optimal at the moment, it‘s all a big learning experience for me. I’m dosing 2x pumps of ThriveS ferts daily, (was doing 1x but I noticed signs of nutrient deficiency), but I’m not sure if that‘s the right thing to do. Fertilizer amounts are a mystery to me.

I did the first canister cleaning today, it was pretty gross haha. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, though, I‘m really loving this canister filter. It’s tolerating all my first-canister mistakes haha. Lily pipes and hoses desperately need to be cleaned, I‘m doing that in a couple of days. Co2 supplies will be bleach dipped with the lilies.

The black cabinet that the tank is on is old, not sturdy (or level), and not big enough for my equipment. So, after weeks of searching for a proper new stand that also looked stylish, I’ve found the right one. Of course it was delivered broken, thoughead: Just my luck haha. The replacement arrived in good shape yesterday, though, and I plan to transfer the tank onto it this upcoming weekend. So excited to finally have a proper sized cabinet! I’m going to design the inside to be just right for my needs, and I may also put put LEDS in there to grow plants

Overall I’d say the tank looks a lot dirtier and messier than it has in the past, but I believe by the end of the week that’ll be fixed. In the meantime I’ll be busy cleaning lily pipes, switching cabinets, installing the heater, trimming plants, organizing hoses+cords, and adding more livestock... I’ve got a long week ahead of me I also plan to set up a new 5 gallon, so I definitely have my hands full.

Alright, that’s all for now. See you with the next update, probably a picture-heavy one of the new stuff being upgraded and added!

 

Tank looks great. A colony of shrimp would eat your algae problems. Maybe some Otto cats too. I don’t use it but I thought co2 was used to help plant growth and limit algae.

 

Tank looks great. A colony of shrimp would eat your algae problems. Maybe some Otto cats too. I don’t use it but I thought co2 was used to help plant growth and limit algae.

Thanks! I had considered that, and I have a colony already in another tank that could be moved in, but I also find that when I have shrimp in the tank it makes it really hard to clean. They’d definitely get sucked up by my hose when I press it into the carpet and just use it all around. Yep I’m considering Otos, but I’m not sure, as they like softer water, and once the substrate looses its buffer on this tank the water will be on the hard side.

Co2 itself doesn’t limit algae, algae uses it too. Rather, it provides optimal growing conditions for plants, which deters algae. Algae generally doesn’t grow on perfectly healthy, growing plants. But the conditions have to be just right, with lighting, co2, and ferts at the correct levels. I’m still figuring it all out

 

Yes my smaller. Shrimp do get sucked up. I drain into 5 gal buckets than spill into slop sink and try to save as many as I can. Yes time consuming.
Thing with the ottos may be with them in the water and the water get harder they may adjust. A quick change may kill them but a long change will probably not bother them.
What flourish ferts are you using? I’m using comprehensive,iron and potassium.

 

Yes my smaller. Shrimp do get sucked up. I drain into 5 gal buckets than spill into slop sink and try to save as many as I can. Yes time consuming.
Thing with the ottos may be with them in the water and the water get harder they may adjust. A quick change may kill them but a long change will probably not bother them.
What flourish ferts are you using? I’m using comprehensive,iron and potassium.

If I had gotten the otos, yes the slow change might not have bothered them, but the swing when I do water changes would have for sure. I’ll be removing the stones I think, I’m tired of fighting the water.

I’m not using flourish ferts, I use APT complete. I just switched this week though, before I used Nilocg Thrive S which wasn’t ideal for high tech.

 

Day ??



Sorry for going inactive for such a long time! Tons of changes in this tank have happened.

Livestock-wise, one of the amanos I added died within the first days, but the other 4 are doing great. I added 6 more to make it a group of 10. The other day I called one of my LFS to make sure that they had glowlight danios and amano shrimp in and they assured me they had plenty of both in stock. I show up the next morning and they don’t have either of them I ended up getting 4 gold barbs because I sure didn’t drive 40mins there for nothing. The barbs are quite cute, though, I’m liking them. They’re pretty small right now, but I might have to rehome them when they get bigger so that I’m not overstocked. I still really want those glowlight danios, I might have to end up ordering them online though if none of my LFS have healthy ones. I also drove to get a pair of peacock gudgeons and they did great for two weeks, but I think the stress off swinging parameters and maybe in combination with overfeeding (?) caused them to die. I’m super sad about it, they were great. Then when I left for Japan I came back to one of the gold barbs dead. I’ll be rehoming the remaining barbs now.

So, those swinging parameters... the death of the gudgeons really is spurring me to think about removing the seiryu stone. I plan to do it this week or the next I think, once I remove the livestock.

I bought a Hydor 200W inline and an Inkbird206 heat controller, and as a pair they’re working great to keep the temperature at a stable 76-77 F. The heater is so huge it takes up a lot of cabinet space though, annoyingly.

The crypt that was melting stopped dying and is now recovering, but now the stems are getting inundated by algae. It’s definitely a lack of nutrients that’s the limiting factor, I haven’t been dosing a high power fertilizer like I should have been. So I’ve started dosing APT complete to get that in check. I added two new plants, some type of bolbitis and pogostemon helferi, and the pogo is doing great. Bolbitis is harboring tons of staghorn algae.

I switched cabinets since the last post! I’m loving the room inside of it. Here’s some pics from a while back.



I’m temporarily holding some container plants in there but they’ll be moved soon. In the meantime the blue light contrast is cool haha.

 

Day 93



Alright, now for the bad news update. I went on a 10 day vacation to Japan and came back to my 60P completely coated in staghorn algae.

This will not be an easy battle at all, but I’m determined to cure the outbreak without resetting the tank. Any tips are appreciated! I’m thinking about the one-two-punch method ( ) and then starting preventative measures from there to keep it from returning.

I’m super disappointed, the tank was going so well Also crushed that I lost my gudgeons and a barb. Hopefully I can use this as a learning experience though.

 

How I got rid of it...

.Take a toothbrush and remove as much of it as you can.
.Clean filter and remove as much mulm as you can from inside the aquarium (essential)
.Increase circulation (Stag hates decent flow)
.Blackout for 7 days.
.No dosing for a couple of weeks.

After this reduce fert dosing to 25%

 

How I got rid of it...

.Take a toothbrush and remove as much of it as you can.
.Clean filter and remove as much mulm as you can from inside the aquarium (essential)
.Increase circulation (Stag hates decent flow)
.Blackout for 7 days.
.No dosing for a couple of weeks.

After this reduce fert dosing to 25%

Yep, I’ve been manually removing as much as possible but it keeps coming back just as fast. I cleaned the filter recently and have been carpet vacuuming as much as is possible in an all aquasoil tank. The staghorn seems to be in the high-flow places the most, so I don’t think it’s low flow that’s the problem. I considered a blackout but I don’t think my high tech plants would survive it, sadly! Thanks for the input though, I appreciate it

 

I am no plant guy but have used the 'One Two ' punch before for different issues .
I like that approach first

 

Ughh sorry about the algae and the loss of your fish. My planted tanks are low tech and I’m constantly trying to find that perfect balance!
Could you post a close up of the stag horn algae? I’m still trying to learn all the algae types.
But your tank is still gorgeous!!

 

Yep, I’ve been manually removing as much as possible but it keeps coming back just as fast. I cleaned the filter recently and have been carpet vacuuming as much as is possible in an all aquasoil tank. The staghorn seems to be in the high-flow places the most, so I don’t think it’s low flow that’s the problem. I considered a blackout but I don’t think my high tech plants would survive it, sadly! Thanks for the input though, I appreciate it

Obviously you'll need to approach this conundrum however you feel is best. My advice is always rooted in the balance approach as opposed to chemicals because of an inherent fear that once the chemical effect has subsided the underlying root cause will still be there.

If you look at your day 93 photo and draw split the tank into 3 thirds (horizontally) I notice that the staghorn is more prolific at the top two thirds.

Plants store energy and would be fine with a blackout but again, your aquarium, your approach. And I hope it gets sorted asap. I had cyno/blue green algae until just recently so I know how much of an annoyance it can be.

 

Day 141




So, good news, I cured my staghorn algae with 2 rounds of the One-Two-Punch method. Bad news, 4 weeks later my co2 canister ran out for a day and the staghorn is coming back with a vengeance I'm also still dealing with diatoms (I think? do diatoms cling to surfaces or does it brush off easily? mine's clinging on until I cut the affected leaf of the main plant). The only possible reason for it to be sticking around must that my tap water contains silicates, so I've started mixing in RO to my water change water. Hopefully that will make a difference, and if not, it's always better to have softer water in my case.


amano

Livestock update, still have some amanos kicking' around the tank, this one female in particular is massive. Almost 2" I returned the 3 remaining gold barbs to my LFS and got a school of red neon blue-eyes, pseudomugil luminatus! They're also called Paskai rainbowfish. I have 8 right now, and I'm looking to add some more soon. These little guys are pretty expensive and have a short life span, so I'm going to be breeding them and raising up the fry to maintain the population, and maybe make a couple bucks. I've already spotted some unplanned fry hiding in the red root floaters, they're making it difficult to clean the tank! So far I lost one male a couple days after they were introduced from jumping, but these fish are (thankfully) not really living up to their notorious jumping reputation! I have been keeping the water level a bit lower than normal to discourage it, but they were really intent they could still take the leap. it's working so far anyways.

These rainbowfish are absolutely gorgeous, the males are constantly displaying for the females and against each other. They have such personality too, really great fish overall. Here's some close up shots of males flaring, and then a snapshot of a male and his group of females in the tank so you can get a feel of how they look in the tank.








I've come to the conclusion that an Eheim 2215 isn't a strong enough filter for my 60P long-term, and I wish I had gotten the 2217. The flow just isn't cutting it for me, I'm not getting proper co2 distribution and that's showing in the plants. The piece of wood sticking out a couple inches away from the output is also blocking a lot of the flow. Lesson learned for the future. I wonder if this lower flow is just the result of the intake getting almost completely clogged while I was on vacation, if there was damage done, maybe it's just showing now. I'm getting crazy surface film that's impeding O2/CO2 exchange and just making everything look scummy. Very annoying and detrimental, I'm looking into a built in surface skimmer/intake glass pipe, but I'm afraid stray rainbow fry will get sucked up by it.

Not sure if I mentioned already this or not, but I switched to APT Complete as my fertilizer and I'm liking it.

I went ahead and removed all the seiryu stone in the tank, and I'm so glad I did, the parameters are started to stabilize. I hate that stone with a passion haha. My water's still much harder than I'd like it to be, but that's as expected because my tap water is pretty hard. One day I'll go full RO hopefully, but for now I'll just mix little bits of it in and do top offs with it. Another lesson learned... never use stones that will change your parameters in any way.

Overall, mixed feelings about this tank right now...


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It still looks gorgeous to me. And Wow those are really, really cool fish!!
I use 100% RO/DI in my freshwater tanks but contrary to popular opinion, I can’t seem to make the “perfect” water. And I’ve probably done 100+
different test buckets to try to figure out the perfect mix. Apparently my water has a mind of its own lol!