My 20g tank build: it's finally coming together

I don't think that flourite is inert.... it definitely raises a difference in growth of vals for me

 

Update: My cleanup crew should be arriving from AquaticArts tomorrow. I'm so excited to get them acclimated and into the tank; there's a bit of algae waiting on them.

I'm planning on doing a WC tonight, so they'll have a week where they won't have to worry about a big WC, hopefully that will help them adjust to their new environment. I have 3 mysteries, 5 nerites, and 3 japanese trap doors on the way, in addition to the shrimp.

I'll try to post pictures on Thursday when the aquarium lights are on.

 

I don't think that flourite is inert.... it definitely raises a difference in growth of vals for me

It's inert. Directly off of Seachem's Flourite webpage: "Flourite® is not chemically coated or treated and will not alter the pH of the water. Flourite® is good for the life of the aquarium and need not be replaced". Meaning it's inert. If it supplied plant with nutrients, it would cause break down allowing plants to uptake the nutrients.

I use flourite and I can say myself it definitely does something. Is there an article or something that says that flourite is inert that I can read please

Here is a chart that explains is has very low CEC (Flourite is number 19 and has a CEC of 1.7meq / 100g which is extremely low).




Directly on their website it states that is doesn't effect water parameters, meaning it's inert. If it wasn't inert, it would affect water parameters.

So, because it doesn't supply plants with any nutrients, it doesn't soften the water for better access to plant nutrients, and it has a very poor nutrient exchange rating, Seachem are misleading buyers into purchasing overpriced plain gravel with a fancy name and picture.

 

There's life!

A couple of changes: I had a pothos that was root bound that I saved from my office before the world went to heck, so it's out of the pot and living in the aquarium now. I can say that since doing that bit last night, there's definitely an increase in water clarity and decrease in brown algae. I'm shocked that it made that much of a difference so quickly (and maybe it didn't; maybe those things would have happened without the pothos). I also go more mini pellia and red root floaters - much better quality than what I got earlier that didn't survive "the famine" (that period of time before I realized I wasn't giving them any nutrients).

And now we have Bloody Mary RCS (somewhere about 11-12, plus a fry); Golden Mystery Snails x4; Red Racers x4; Zebra Racers x3; Japanese trapdoors x4. I will say this about AquaticArts - they gave me 1-2 extras on all the critters I ordered.

And now: PICS!

 

Baby trapdoor snails??

So, since I put the snails in yesterday, I've seen several small, almost translucent snails. I've assumed these were bladder snails and have removed them, but now I'm wondering: since I only started seeing these since the snails were added - could one of my Japanese trapdoors be giving birth? Have I wiped out baby snails?

 

More, better "small" snail pics: pest snail or baby trapdoor?

 

So, I found a second baby snail. Looks like I'm raising snails out the gate. Who wudda thunk it?

Today I ordered a bag of spirulina. I'll be making snello next weekend with my bf's daughter. I've been researching on here and elsewhere and I think I have a good recipe in mind. Do y'all think next weekend would be too early to introduce a betta? I'd like to be able to have the daughter here to help pick one out, but we could always wait until the next visit.

But, everything seems to be looking good in the tank - one of the vals that melted has started to grow; it's about an inch high in the back corner. From what I understand, once that starts growing it likes to spread, which would be nice. I'm seeing new growth on the two spiralis, and the all the anubias. I haven't been able to detect any new growth on the ludwiga, water wisteria, cabomba, cryptos or red rubin; maybe they're just a little slower to get caught up with the ferts and stuff, so I'm still hopeful.

Also, found detritus worms on the gravel today. I've seen here they're harmless, so I'm not going to stress too much about them, unless I get a "bloom" of them and need to do something about it.

 

I have absolutely no clue. I’ve just seen them with bettas on other posts here and think they are adorable lol.

Lol if you have females and males its going to be harder NOT to breed than to breed.

 

Lol if you have females and males its going to be harder NOT to breed than to breed.

And that's why I've chosen to go single betta only. The only babies I'll have in my tank are skromps and snails.

 

I did a thing.....I splurged and bought the Neptune Apex El system last night. SMDH

 

I did a thing.....I splurged and bought the Neptune Apex El system last night. SMDH

Nice buy! I'll likely end up getting one for my next tank....

 

Nice buy! I'll likely end up getting one for my next tank....

I was complaining to the BF last night that I needed multiple timers, and like 6 different outlets that could be programmed individually. I started researching and then....rabbit hole lead me to the Apex. After the sticker-shock, I decided that it was actually the best solution. Though, I will never tell the BF how much it was.

 

I hope things are going well in my tank; the parameters are stable and no one has shown distress: I have baby snails that seem to be doing well, after all.

This morning, I've noticed my first molting by one of the shrimp. I also see one that has a discoloration if the light shines on him, like a white ring around him, so I think that means he's about to start molting, as well.

I've been feeding them a shrimp food for omnivores that contains calcium, so I'm hoping there's enough of that in their systems for successful and healthy molting. I also tried my hand at making snello. I think the recipe was good, but the BF picked up peppermint Tums instead of berry flavored, and I think the peppermint is a turn-off for most of the critters - only 2 of the 4 mysteries seem to like this batch. I'll be making another back this weekend after I can go to the pharmacy and not have to use Tums.

UPDATE: Looks that one of the shrimp didn't successfully molt. I had to take out a dead baby.

 

Glad you kept writing updates, it was neat to follow the tank from its beginning. Very nice setup! Way to stick with it.

 

Aaaaaand it seems to be falling apart.

Monday evening, I checked params. Nitrites and Nitrates were .5 and 5ppm, respectively. Ammonia was still 0. We did a ~33% water change, and I dosed heavily with Prime.

Woke up Tuesday morning and the pH was only about 7.1, even after running the airstone all night with no CO2. This is about .5 pH below what I've normally seen. All my snails and shrimp seemed to be behaving normally; I did see another molt shell.

Tuesday evening, I checked params. Nitrites and Nitrates were even higher: 1ppm and 10ppm. Ammonia was very slightly green, so above zero, but looked to be below .25ppm. Another ~33% WC, and heavy dose of Prime.

Woke up this morning: the degassed pH is now only about 6.7, again with the airstone running all night. Now I'm finding a nerite snail floating upside down in the tank, another dead shrimp, and I'm not sure my baby snails are moving. Nerite is out in a cup of water, to see. Shrimp is removed. Checking on baby snails periodically to see if they're active, at all.

Another large WC is in order today, maybe I'll do 50-66% percent. My concern is that more shrimp died recently and I just haven't found their tiny bodies and their decomp is raising everything up. Would their decomp be dropping my pH though? Is there something else that would be doing that (perhaps the snello in the tank overnight?)

Things had been going so well, I'm worried it's all about to come crashing down! Advice, please!

 

So, I thought maybe I'd done this to myself. I was worried about the straight from the tap cold water I had been using, especially now that I have fauna in the tank. So I balanced the temp of the water between hot and cold to give me something that was close to the existing tank temp of 77*

It occurred to me that water that included hot water from the tank could be drastically different than not. I tested it: 0 copper, 1-2 kH, and 8.4 pH. That is indeed significantly different than the water I started in my tank.

I did another test on straight cold water from the tap: 0 copper, 1-2 kH, and 8.4 pH. Ok that's not different than the warm water that had some from the hot water heater, but it is still drastically different than my original water params from the tap: 0 copper, and 7.6 pH. (I didn't have a kH test to begin, but the first one of those, and what has been relatively consistent has been 5 or 6.

So, I feel like something has maybe happened to our municipal water supply. They've done something that's reduced the hardness, but in some way, raised the base kH. I'm absolutely at a loss for how to address things and get my tank back on track.

 

Sorry to hear about. :/
I've heard shrimp are rather sensitive to water conditions. Also, I've seen on here someone say about a Nerite floating and it just happened to be that there was air in their shell, maybe from them going above the water line?

 

Sorry to hear about. :/
I've heard shrimp are rather sensitive to water conditions. Also, I've seen on here someone say about a Nerite floating and it just happened to be that there was air in their shell, maybe from them going above the water line?

Yeah, the snail seemed quite fine in his little quarantine, and has been successfully returned to the tank.

And it would make sense I've had a die-off of shrimp this week, if the water params have changed significantly because of the theorized change to my municipal water.

 

I'm not sure on decomposition affecting pH but I know it can release harmful toxins. I pray this isn't the case. I am a 'low tech' tank person so I want to be more helpful but sadly don't know how.
Any chance of using an alternative water source that is more stable, such as RO water? Should be pH Neutral and demineralized so to not affect parameters.

 

I'm not sure on decomposition affecting pH but I know it can release harmful toxins. I pray this isn't the case. I am a 'low tech' tank person so I want to be more helpful but sadly don't know how.
Any chance of using an alternative water source that is more stable, such as RO water? Should be pH Neutral and demineralized so to not affect parameters.

I don't have an RO system and getting it weekly from the store is not an option right now. Maybe I should look at some home systems and maybe splurge on it. I would have to figure out how to do either do it for the bathroom sink, or do whole house. The kitchen sink is too far away from the tank to be able to use it.

 

I can get Primo Purified Water nearby and it's only about $8 per 5 gal. Since my tank is small (20g), I can use this. I'll go tonight and do a 10g water change with the purified water. Then perhaps another 10g WC tomorrow, and see if I can't get the water params back to a stable place before I lose all my fauna.

I researched the brand, and it's RO water that's been remineralized. I'll do a kH and pH check on the water first, and luckily I have alkaline buffer if I need it, but hoping I don't.

 

I don't have an RO system and getting it weekly from the store is not an option right now. Maybe I should look at some home systems and maybe splurge on it. I would have to figure out how to do either do it for the bathroom sink, or do whole house. The kitchen sink is too far away from the tank to be able to use it.

It would involve some effort but may be worth it. I've seen small systems at costco for $200 but haven't ever looked into them in detail. I'm still working on how to get filtered water to my 20 long when it moved to my home office.

 

I can get Primo Purified Water nearby and it's only about $8 per 5 gal. Since my tank is small (20g), I can use this. I'll go tonight and do a 10g water change with the purified water. Then perhaps another 10g WC tomorrow, and see if I can't get the water params back to a stable place before I lose all my fauna.

I researched the brand, and it's RO water that's been remineralized. I'll do a kH and pH check on the water first, and luckily I have alkaline buffer if I need it, but hoping I don't.

I hope it helps, and that it doesn't get to pricey.. doesn't sound good price wise for the long term but I know problems are immediate at the moment.

 

I hope it helps, and that it doesn't get to pricey.. doesn't sound good price wise for the long term but I know problems are immediate at the moment.

Certainly better than I expected; given I'd seen the RO water a Petco for significantly higher prices. And after this emergency, and I'm only doing a 25% wc weekly, it's really the equivalent of 2 trips to Starbucks.

 

Certainly better than I expected; given I'd seen the RO water a Petco for significantly higher prices. And after this emergency, and I'm only doing a 25% wc weekly, it's really the equivalent of 2 trips to Starbucks.

Glad to hear it. I'm sure you know how stores can slap a 'pet/aquarium' label on something that's for everyday use and it suddenly doubles the price since it's in the pet section...
I don't have many that I see in my area but when I travel to Arizona, I see the RO 5gal jug refill stations in a lot of places, at $0.30/gal. Granted their not remineralized but still.

Hope it works out, let us know.

 

So, I got 6 gallons of RO water; it tested kH and pH and realized it wasn't remineralized, and so I added Alkaline Buffer to raise the kH to 5.5, which is what the tank has typically run with. I drained and added the new RO water. Now I'm letting it circulate before doing some parameter checks later this evening.

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .25ppm
Nitrates: 5.0ppm
kH: 8

I drained and added more of the RO water to bring the kH down more.

 

Latest update: everything is looking good. I had a kH spike in the water last night and had to do yet more WC, but I got it back to a stable 7.5 before calling it a night at 2am. As of now, 8 hours later, there have been no casualties that I know of.

This morning, I have active snails and shrimp who are eating. During the downtime last night I made some snello, and will try that out today. I hope they like the recipe.

 

Latest update: everything is looking good. I had a kH spike in the water last night and had to do yet more WC, but I got it back to a stable 7.5 before calling it a night at 2am. As of now, 8 hours later, there have been no casualties that I know of.

This morning, I have active snails and shrimp who are eating. During the downtime last night I made some snello, and will try that out today. I hope they like the recipe.

2AM? Commitment!

 

2AM? Commitment!

I have too much invested in this little 20g tank to just go "oops; I'll start over".

 

I hope they like the recipe.

I shouldn't have worried. It's been gobbled up like nobody's business! So happy to see, since I know that they're all getting calcium in their diets.

 

Hungry, hungry snails.

 

I shouldn't have worried. It's been gobbled up like nobody's business! So happy to see, since I know that they're all getting calcium in their diets.

Nice! Would you be willing to link the receipe you found? There are a ton out there and it'd be nice to know which one someone here has had success with.

 

Nice! Would you be willing to link the receipe you found? There are a ton out there and it'd be nice to know which one someone here has had success with.

Here's what I did:
2 jars of baby food (I used Beech-Nut Naturals: Zucchini, Spinach, and Peas)
4 calcium tables (no Vitamin D)
1 tbsp each of: fish flake, blood worms, spirulina
8-10 algae wafters
1/2 tsp of garlic paste
2 packets of unflavored gelatin.

Crushed the calcium tabs, fish flake, blood worms and algae wafers to a find powder.
Added to the baby food the crushed mixed, spirulina, and garlic paste.
Heated in microwave for 30 sec; stirred; heated again 30 sec.
Added 2 packets of gelatin to 3/4 cup HOT water and stirred to dissolve.
Added hot water/gelatin to the baby food mix and stirred.

 

I've been struggling with high nitrites the last couple of days, now. I think it's because I've had shrimp die where I can't find it, and some of the baby snails. Of course, J.Traps don't like nitrites so some of the younger ones are dying, which compounds the cycle. I'm doing 5g WC daily at this point. I believe it's starting to come into normal again, thank goodness.

A couple of bright notes: some of the "older" baby J. Traps are definitely growing; one is almost as large as the thorn zebra nerites. One of the golden mysteries has grown - they were not that large when I started the tank. And finally when I was doing a WC earlier today, I saw a shrimp fry. Just the one swimming around, but I'm kind of excited, and I hope he makes it.

 

The daily struggle with nitrites continues. I'm honestly at a loss.

I'm doing 10g of WC a day, but the next morning, it's right back to .5 or 1.0 ppm for nitrites. I found a dead shrimp and removed it; I've removed all but the oldest j. trap babies.

The water I'm using is treated and tests 0 for ammonia and nitrites, but something keeps making a lot of nitrites in my tank, and not getting it all converted to nitrate, and I know I'm getting that conversion, since nitrates are in the 10-20ppm range every day, as well.

So goes another day in the life of my difficult tank. *goes to fill a 5 gal jug*

 

I think I'm losing the battle against nitrites. A couple of my mystery snails today are just hanging out, closed up, with their operculum pulled in. It's temporary...they'll chill like that for a bit; then they'll open up and move to another spot; pull in again.

I'm starting to be very frustrated and feel like it's all about to come crashing down.

 

So I broke down the tank. I found planaria in the tank and used fenbenazole. I kept all the snails out of the tank for 72 hours, and then put them back in, but later I read that fenbenazole stays in the substrate for 1-2 months, and even running charcoal/purigen for the water, the substrate would eventually kill the snails.

Given the issues with nitrites, then the planaria and the potentially fatal substrate, I broke down and decided to redo it all. I pulled all the snails and shrimp back out; removed all the plants and substrate and washed the tank out. I boiled all the driftwood and rocks that I could remove from the tank. I dipped all the plants in a bleach dip.

I set up the tank again. This time with Carib Sea Planted Aquarium Substrate. I layered on top of that fine black aquarium sand to give a smoother surface for the snails over what I had before. Replanted the tank and added back the driftwood and little ceramic houses. When the water was back up to 76*, I acclimated and returned the shrimp and snails.

So....now we wait. We wait to see if the snails were poisoned beyond recovery; to see if the complete redo of the tank is too stressful; to see if I've saved my critters.

Le sigh.

PS: some good news, though; both of the bamboo shrimp have been hanging strong; I hear that they sometimes die after a couple of days in a new tank. Since they basically got a new tank 2x over today (once to the temporary holding tank; then back to their newly remodeled home), let's hope they like it well enough to continue to stick around.

 

Eek. Wowsers... Good luck!

So I broke down the tank. I found planaria in the tank and used fenbenazole. I kept all the snails out of the tank for 72 hours, and then put them back in, but later I read that fenbenazole stays in the substrate for 1-2 months, and even running charcoal/purigen for the water, the substrate would eventually kill the snails.

Given the issues with nitrites, then the planaria and the potentially fatal substrate, I broke down and decided to redo it all. I pulled all the snails and shrimp back out; removed all the plants and substrate and washed the tank out. I boiled all the driftwood and rocks that I could remove from the tank. I dipped all the plants in a bleach dip.

I set up the tank again. This time with Carib Sea Planted Aquarium Substrate. I layered on top of that fine black aquarium sand to give a smoother surface for the snails over what I had before. Replanted the tank and added back the driftwood and little ceramic houses. When the water was back up to 76*, I acclimated and returned the shrimp and snails.

So....now we wait. We wait to see if the snails were poisoned beyond recovery; to see if the complete redo of the tank is too stressful; to see if I've saved my critters.

Le sigh.

PS: some good news, though; both of the bamboo shrimp have been hanging strong; I hear that they sometimes die after a couple of days in a new tank. Since they basically got a new tank 2x over today (once to the temporary holding tank; then back to their newly remodeled home), let's hope they like it well enough to continue to stick around.

.

 

So, the tank appears to be doing well. I did lose all of my red racer nerites, and one of the zebra nerites. My trapdoor snails (and the babies) seem to be as normal as before. My golden mysteries spent a few days in a very low energy mode, not eating, and I've been worried. However, the last day or so, they are showing more life and activity like I'm used to seeing.

My shrimp are doing well: I have lost a couple to molt problems, but am also seeing successful molts in the tank. Both my bamboo shrimp have survived the ordeal and at least one of them has been coming out at night and fan feeding in the currents.

I don't yet consider myself out of the woods, but I feel like I have something to be optimistic about for a change.

Fingers crossed.

 

My golden mystery snails are breeding; the last two mornings I have awoken to pink egg casing above the water line. My trapdoor snails are continuing to pop out little babies. I saw a shrimp fry in the tank. One of my bamboo shrimp has taken up permanent residence on the upper lip of the sponge intake to my filter.

All that said: at least two of my trapdoor adult snails spend the majority of their time closed in their shells and lying on their backs, or partially out of their shell, or somewhat dug into the sand. They worry me, though, I check every day, and there's no deaths.

All in all, maybe the tank is getting healthy and beginning to thrive; maybe I've still poisoned everything and it's just a slow death to the snails.