Pfrozen's 20g Aquascape Build

[LilyPipeDreams]

Yay I'm glad someone thinks so! I really can't get a good picture but I want to show them off lol. And H.Rassies it is, my son calls them raspberry fishies

They do have a lot of character but they are quite dumb as far as fish go lol. You'll see what I mean once yours settle in

Haha I’m looking forward to that. It’s comforting to be on the right path. They’re definitely hard to capture in images tho. Especially with a cell phone LOL

 

[Fishfriendof315]

That's the best part working with slate!
Aww dude I just read you have an aquarium already up and running. Anubis, bit of substrate, and some waste water from it, and you could've cut out some cycling time.overall looking most excellent!!!
Aww dude I just read you have an aquarium already up and running. Anubis, bit of substrate, and some waste water from it, and you could've cut out some cycling time.overall looking most excellent!!!

Yeah it seems like a great addition to any tank! I'm also trying to figure out of some type of val will work as a background plant even though I only have a sand substrate, and maybe an amazon sword as well. My java fern is also making babies so hopefully I can somehow cut and plant those around the tank?

Yes to all

 

[Pfrozen]

New pics, upped my lighting to accommodate the heavier tint. I tried to take a pic to show it better

Lights are at level 3/7 so lots of room to go! I plan on making it as dark as possible while still being able to diffuse light lol

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

New pics, upped my lighting to accommodate the heavier tint. I tried to take a pic to show it better

Lights are at level 3/7 so lots of room to go! I plan on making it as dark as possible while still being able to diffuse light lol

Very, very nice. Love the tint and structure.

After PM'ing with MacZ, my next tank will definitely have tinting, lots of wood and added materials. I love the heavily planted tank but how simple maintenance could be is very appealing.

 

[Pfrozen]

Very, very nice. Love the tint and structure.

After PM'ing with MacZ, my next tank will definitely have tinting, lots of wood and added materials. I love the heavily planted tank but how simple maintenance could be is very appealing.

Nice!! He has been super helpful throughout this whole build I have to say, the low maintenance aspect has been just fantastic. I really am enjoying this so much more now. My old tank never looked like yours though, I'm pretty sure I would have been happy with that gorgeous scape lol. And there's no reason you can't have a heavily planted blackwater by the way, there's tons of low light options and light diffusion hasn't been an issue with my strong light. The high settings are still way too powerful even with my tank's 16 inch height and heavy tint. Still lots of room for more

 

[MacZ]

Low maintenance?

Guys, I still religiously do my weekly 50% waterchanges with 50% RO, I have to switch out the filterfloss once every few weeks and clean the filter pump as gunk accumulates faster with all the botanicals that get stirred up from time to time. Also plants have to be maintained and I test my water at least twice a week. once before a waterchange and once a day after.
A lot of other maintenance mainly just doesn't have to happen because of things like feeding regimen (three fast days a week) and low stocking density.

Please keep both in mind, that all this still influences the amount of maintenance and may shift depending on the details of your tank.

 

[Pfrozen]

Low maintenance?

Guys, I still religiously do my weekly 50% waterchanges with 50% RO, I have to switch out the filterfloss once every few weeks and clean the filter pump as gunk accumulates faster with all the botanicals that get stirred up from time to time. Also plants have to be maintained and I test my water at least twice a week. once before a waterchange and once a day after.
A lot of other maintenance mainly just doesn't have to happen because of things like feeding regimen (three fast days a week) and low stocking density.

Please keep both in mind, that all this still influences the amount of maintenance and may shift depending on the details of your tank.

Very true haha, I don't have piles of botanicals or anything and my plants won't need trimming for a long time. I have a very robust cleaning crew as well, 5 amanos with a siamese algae eater, a few otos, a handful of cherries and ghosties plus bladder snails. As a consequence I don't really have anything to clean or maintain haha.

Eventually I would like to have a setup using RO water and thick leaf litter like yours for a true Blackwater. As I move towards that kind of setup the amount of maintenance I need to do will skyrocket

However, I'm enjoying the current state of my tank so much that I'm torn. I'm strongly considering leaving it as-is and turning my empty 40B into a true Blackwater instead

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

Nice!! He has been super helpful throughout this whole build I have to say, the low maintenance aspect has been just fantastic. I really am enjoying this so much more now. My old tank never looked like yours though, I'm pretty sure I would have been happy with that gorgeous scape lol. And there's no reason you can't have a heavily planted blackwater by the way, there's tons of low light options and light diffusion hasn't been an issue with my strong light. The high settings are still way too powerful even with my tank's 16 inch height and heavy tint. Still lots of room for more

Haha, well shucks. I'm happy, always ways to improve and tweak it. That's one of the things that I love the most about this hobby.
Are you fully stocked for where you'd like to see it? Always curious to see what further designs one has for their scape.

Low maintenance?

Guys, I still religiously do my weekly 50% waterchanges with 50% RO, I have to switch out the filterfloss once every few weeks and clean the filter pump as gunk accumulates faster with all the botanicals that get stirred up from time to time. Also plants have to be maintained and I test my water at least twice a week. once before a waterchange and once a day after.
A lot of other maintenance mainly just doesn't have to happen because of things like feeding regimen (three fast days a week) and low stocking density.

Please keep both in mind, that all this still influences the amount of maintenance and may shift depending on the details of your tank.

Oh I have no doubt that you're very fastidious about how you maintain your tank. From what I have seen in the photos, you work to keep it looking as good as it does. The same can be applied to any hobby - it all LOOKS so simple and the end result is what most see.
I suppose 'low maintenance' is all relative. I've discovered that I would probably never undertake a dutch style tank because I am not that much of a fan of maintaining my stems in my current tank. Although it is very satisfying after you've spent a bunch of time to make it look good. Waking up the next morning, after the water has cleared and there's that lovely pearling *swoon*
Having said all of that - the idea of having a tank that has a more 'natural' look is very appealing for the next journey.

 

[Pfrozen]

Haha, well shucks. I'm happy, always ways to improve and tweak it. That's one of the things that I love the most about this hobby.
Are you fully stocked for where you'd like to see it? Always curious to see what further designs one has for their scape.

Oh I have no doubt that you're very fastidious about how you maintain your tank. From what I have seen in the photos, you work to keep it looking as good as it does. The same can be applied to any hobby - it all LOOKS so simple and the end result is what most see.
I suppose 'low maintenance' is all relative. I've discovered that I would probably never undertake a dutch style tank because I am not that much of a fan of maintaining my stems in my current tank. Although it is very satisfying after you've spent a bunch of time to make it look good. Waking up the next morning, after the water has cleared and there's that lovely pearling *swoon*
Having said all of that - the idea of having a tank that has a more 'natural' look is very appealing for the next journey.

I'm actually having some issues with my pencilfish lol, nothing major of course. They have mouths that are too small to bite or injure anything but they are aggressive with their own kind. I have too many males and not enough cover to justify the ratio. It will get better as my plants grow out but until the cover is sufficient I won't be able to make any changes to my stocking... and that might take awhile yet

My end goal is to move my SAE to the 40B or rehome him once he grows out and move my 3 otos to another tank. Then I'll just have the two low bioload schools in there and I can stock either one male apisto or a pair

I really, really want an apisto eventually haha

 

[aquafrogg]

Following Although something I noticed while following your thread was that your nitrates were always low. That’s something that caused algae in my tank plus plants were struggling to grow. Once I stopped adding ferts except for enough KNO3 to keep my nitrates at 20ppm, all algae disappeared and my eyes pants suddenly were able to grow again. Beforehand my tank was always at 0-5ppm

 

[MacZ]

I'm actually having some issues with my pencilfish lol, nothing major of course. They have mouths that are too small to bite or injure anything but they are aggressive with their own kind. I have too many males and not enough cover to justify the ratio. It will get better as my plants grow out but until the cover is sufficient I won't be able to make any changes to my stocking... and that might take awhile yet

My end goal is to move my SAE to the 40B or rehome him once he grows out and move my 3 otos to another tank. Then I'll just have the two low bioload schools in there and I can stock either one male apisto or a pair

I really, really want an apisto eventually haha

For the Pencils: Do you have any fake plants somewhere in the back of a shelf or in a box? Otherwise maybe think about getting some grown-out plants soonish. Any way of giving them cover will be a good thing right now.

Yeah, an SAE should not be in a 29g. The tank could house a pair of Apistos, but only if you have a way of separating them if necessary. I won't get any more Apistos again unless I have that option.

Oh I have no doubt that you're very fastidious about how you maintain your tank. From what I have seen in the photos, you work to keep it looking as good as it does. The same can be applied to any hobby - it all LOOKS so simple and the end result is what most see.
I suppose 'low maintenance' is all relative. I've discovered that I would probably never undertake a dutch style tank because I am not that much of a fan of maintaining my stems in my current tank. Although it is very satisfying after you've spent a bunch of time to make it look good. Waking up the next morning, after the water has cleared and there's that lovely pearling *swoon*
Having said all of that - the idea of having a tank that has a more 'natural' look is very appealing for the next journey.

It is probably the ratio between actual work and work steps that makes the difference. I have many worksteps but little actual work. Probably that's the point.

Following Although something I noticed while following your thread was that your nitrates were always low. That’s something that caused algae in my tank plus plants were struggling to grow. Once I stopped adding ferts except for enough KNO3 to keep my nitrates at 20ppm, all algae disappeared and my eyes pants suddenly were able to grow again. Beforehand my tank was always at 0-5ppm

More than 10mg/l of Nitrates are all but good for Pencilfish, so this is a bit of a problem here. Also, I think the OP is not really into a clean and neat standard-planted/community tank look anymore. *insert villainous laughter here*

 

[aquafrogg]

More than 10mg/l of Nitrates are all but good for Pencilfish, so this is a bit of a problem here. Also, I think the OP is not really into a clean and neat standard-planted/community tank look anymore. *insert villainous laughter here

Haha! I had no clue about the pencil fish, what fascinating and sensitive little creatures! I was just suggesting possibilities as to why it kept failing. Best of luck this time OP! False-BW tanks are beautiful

 

[Pfrozen]

Following Although something I noticed while following your thread was that your nitrates were always low. That’s something that caused algae in my tank plus plants were struggling to grow. Once I stopped adding ferts except for enough KNO3 to keep my nitrates at 20ppm, all algae disappeared and my eyes pants suddenly were able to grow again. Beforehand my tank was always at 0-5ppm

Haha true, I actually tried dosing N but my tank was processing roughly 1ppm/hour. I think I have denitrifying bacteria in my filter media. I wasn't dosing 20 ppm at a time or anything but like MacZ pointed out I have some sensitive fish so I couldn't really do that anyways I also found that dosing ANY N would cause a Staghorn algae outbreak the next day. Honestly, I think my old tank was just contaminated with something.. I'm not sure if the silicon was aquarium safe for one :/

For the Pencils: Do you have any fake plants somewhere in the back of a shelf or in a box? Otherwise maybe think about getting some grown-out plants soonish. Any way of giving them cover will be a good thing right now.

Yeah, an SAE should not be in a 29g. The tank could house a pair of Apistos, but only if you have a way of separating them if necessary. I won't get any more Apistos again unless I have that option.

The salvinia in my other tank is growing out pretty rapidly, I should be able to cover half the water surface of my main tank soon I'll check out my plant place to see if they have some Vals for the back too. Thank you very much for the bubble advice by the way, turns out it was stressing out my fish. The back of the tank is now usable where it wasn't before so it made a big difference

This tank is actually a 20 lol, I do have a 40B ready to go for it though. Its been growing fast initially but I believe they take 3 or so years to reach full size. I have the ability to instant cycle it whenever and have most of the aquascaping stuff on hand for it already... just need some basic stuff like a filter/heater whenever I do that

And gotcha, one apisto it is haha. I don't think my 20 has enough room for breeding anyways. I was wondering about that

More than 10mg/l of Nitrates are all but good for Pencilfish, so this is a bit of a problem here. Also, I think the OP is not really into a clean and neat standard-planted/community tank look anymore. *insert villainous laughter here*

LOL!! right on the money

 

[MacZ]

The salvinia in my other tank is growing out pretty rapidly, I should be able to cover half the water surface of my main tank soon I'll check out my plant place to see if they have some Vals for the back too. Thank you very much for the bubble advice by the way, turns out it was stressing out my fish. The back of the tank is now usable where it wasn't before so it made a big difference

Sounds great! Though Val need too much light. Try to get some Cabomba or any type of lily.

This tank is actually a 20 lol, I do have a 40B ready to go for it though. Its been growing fast initially but I believe they take 3 or so years to reach full size. I have the ability to instant cycle it whenever and have most of the aquascaping stuff on hand for it already... just need some basic stuff like a filter/heater whenever I do that

I was going to write 29. Just slipped 9 and 0 are evidently right next to each other on the keyboard.

And gotcha, one apisto it is haha. I don't think my 20 has enough room for breeding anyways. I was wondering about that

If possible try a pair or trio first. Reason: The enrichment of having conspecifics is really worth a lot with these fish. But you will need a lot more plants to grow in before the conditions are right for them.

 

[Pfrozen]

Sounds great! Though Val need too much light. Try to get some Cabomba or any type of lily.



I was going to write 29. Just slipped 9 and 0 are evidently right next to each other on the keyboard.



If possible try a pair or trio first. Reason: The enrichment of having conspecifics is really worth a lot with these fish. But you will need a lot more plants to grow in before the conditions are right for them.

I actually came up with a great idea that will give the pencils plenty of cover with little effort.. just need to execute it It should only take an hour or so to set up so I'll post an update tonight or tomorrow

And I like the sound of that, I would much prefer a pair or trio!! I just think it'll be so interesting, I can't wait

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

I'm actually having some issues with my pencilfish lol, nothing major of course. They have mouths that are too small to bite or injure anything but they are aggressive with their own kind. I have too many males and not enough cover to justify the ratio. It will get better as my plants grow out but until the cover is sufficient I won't be able to make any changes to my stocking... and that might take awhile yet

My end goal is to move my SAE to the 40B or rehome him once he grows out and move my 3 otos to another tank. Then I'll just have the two low bioload schools in there and I can stock either one male apisto or a pair

I really, really want an apisto eventually haha

Ah yes! The Apisto. I would love to have one myself. The next tank that I do will have those. It would be a bit different in design tho. They're incredibly handsome fish and would really pop with a lot of crypts and moss.

I just got a email notification that AngelFins just got CPD's back in stock. I'm SO tempted to get some but honestly I just got 12 H.Rassies and while I was going to hold of another week before adding them, the CPD's would probably have to stay in the QT for 2-3 weeks so I can ensure I don't cause a mini-cycle in the 48.

*sigh* patience. must. be. exerted.

 

[Pfrozen]

Ah yes! The Apisto. I would love to have one myself. The next tank that I do will have those. It would be a bit different in design tho. They're incredibly handsome fish and would really pop with a lot of crypts and moss.

I just got a email notification that AngelFins just got CPD's back in stock. I'm SO tempted to get some but honestly I just got 12 H.Rassies and while I was going to hold of another week before adding them, the CPD's would probably have to stay in the QT for 2-3 weeks so I can ensure I don't cause a mini-cycle in the 48.

*sigh* patience. must. be. exerted.

Lots of crypts and moss with apistos sounds like a blackwater tank to me

I've always admired the CPDs too, and I feel like stocking them with Rasboras would make for an interesting community but Angelfins will have them in again eventually. Patience is my worst virtue so I totally get it lol

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

Lots of crypts and moss with apistos sounds like a blackwater tank to me

I've always admired the CPDs too, and I feel like stocking them with Rasboras would make for an interesting community but Angelfins will have them in again eventually. Patience is my worst virtue so I totally get it lol

Haha, looks like a BW it will be in my future.

 

[Pfrozen]

The pencilfish are much more relaxed after my easy cover solution. This will allow my floaters to spread out freely and the pothos will root across the whole tank for additional cover. I might rig something up to have my spider plant rooted into the tank itself instead of my HOB too but for now this has worked and I'm super busy with essays and exams

 

[Galactica555]

Wow!! Just amazing<3

 

[MacZ]

Good job!

 

[Pfrozen]

Unfortunately with 4 large males the pencilfish just are not working out. I redosed my other 10g tank with ammonia and added a bit of mulm and some more media to it.... as soon as it cycles I'll be removing and adding 3 males to that tank. They don't hurt one another during their displays and aren't stressed out themselves but the few females I have are visibly stressed, as are my otos. I'll add some more otos to this tank as well as they don't feel secure in a group of 3

edit: It seems that adding more might also be a good idea too.. I can order more but it will take two weeks and according to my LFS there's no guarantee that the supplier will sex them. I really wish there was more information on these guys :/

Another option is potentially moving all 7 to the 10 gallon for now.

Can anyone shed some light on this? opinions?

 

[MacZ]

I'll add some more otos to this tank as well as they don't feel secure in a group of 3

This is a risk. Then you will very much have to regularly feed them extra and this can be detrimental to the waterquality with the amounts they need to be offered, that just lay in the tank for hours. The tank alone won't sustain them. But generally yes, they should be kept in a bigger group, that's true.

 

[Pfrozen]

This is a risk. Then you will very much have to regularly feed them extra and this can be detrimental to the waterquality with the amounts they need to be offered, that just lay in the tank for hours. The tank alone won't sustain them. But generally yes, they should be kept in a bigger group, that's true.

I'm glad you're online haha. I was editing my update when you wrote this any thoughts on the pencilfish situation?

 

[MacZ]

With the pencilfish... I don't know how stressful this is to the females. I know with characins (pencilfish are closely related to tetras, the german names include our word for tetra even) in general as long as the males have competition the females are relatively safe. So... I would have to observe the situation for a bit to actually say something about it.

 

[Pfrozen]

With the pencilfish... I don't know how stressful this is to the females. I know with characins (pencilfish are closely related to tetras, the german names include our word for tetra even) in general as long as the males have competition the females are relatively safe. So... I would have to observe the situation for a bit to actually say something about it.

Ah, right.. well, the males are taking to chasing the smaller females out of their territory to the point where they pale out quite severely and hide. Amongst themselves the males just do the typical displaying but they've gotten pretty aggressive with others. I was reading on seriouslyfish (my go-to for hard to find info) and it seems they can get aggressive with females during territory disputes... the recommendation was to add as many as possible to help disperse aggression in that case. I don't want to stock any more fish though. At first I was thinking that removing a couple would do the trick because two of the large males seem to have declared all open space as theirs, but then they wouldn't be in a school anymore. I was also thinking that simply moving all 7 to a smaller tank might help but I realize they aren't cichlids lol. A 10g will work for them but I don't think its a sustainable solution. I'm kind of at a loss with this one

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

I can't recall the stocking of your tank, but would you consider moving the rassies to the 10g and adding more pencilfish? I imagine that the former would be more amiable to a move and you could make the latter's lives a bit easier through addition versus subtraction?

The rassies are hardy so they could tolerate a bit less of a mature, and smaller tank.

That's purely based on what I remember your stocking to be and what may seem easier - if pencilfish are readily available to you that is.

 

[Pfrozen]

I can't recall the stocking of your tank, but would you consider moving the rassies to the 10g and adding more pencilfish? I imagine that the former would be more amiable to a move and you could make the latter's lives a bit easier through addition versus subtraction?

The rassies are hardy so they could tolerate a bit less of a mature, and smaller tank.

That's purely based on what I remember your stocking to be and what may seem easier - if pencilfish are readily available to you that is.

Lol actually they all seem fine now. Dunno if they were acting like that because I moved things around or what. One of the females is gravid though so that could also explain their behavior from the other day they spawned once already but all the eggs fungused over.. maybe they'll spawn again and solve my issue for me lol

This is a risk. Then you will very much have to regularly feed them extra and this can be detrimental to the waterquality with the amounts they need to be offered, that just lay in the tank for hours. The tank alone won't sustain them. But generally yes, they should be kept in a bigger group, that's true.

I forgot to respond to this message specifically haha sorry. I was caught up in my work.

My tank is producing a lot more soft green algae now then my clean up crew can eat every day so I should be okay. I think upping my lighting is what did it. I'm going to stop leaving so many chunks of algae wafer around the tank for them now. Today the 3 of them are happily grazing on surfaces around the tank. I'll play it by ear but I should be okay to stock more soon

 

[Pfrozen]

So I woke up to quite a bit of biofilm on the surface of my tank and had a shrimp die from a failed molt. Did a full parameter check:

0 ammonia
0 nitrites
1-2 ppm nitrates

I'm assuming that I will eventually have 0 nitrates. Probably the houseplants/my filter

the weird thing is that my pH is 7.5. HM. Especially with so many tannins in my water that makes 0 sense. It went to 7.2 awhile ago and then returned to 7.0 like it usually is. so it changed by 0.5. thats quite a swing upwards

I'm gonna run out and get some test strips again.. I'm betting that my gH is through the roof but that doesn't explain the failed molt. it must be way out of hand

will update later today
-------------------------------------------
Results:
pH 7.5
gH 10
kH 4.5

Hardness is up a tad but nothing that should have caused my pH to go up. Its a mystery I guess

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

So I woke up to quite a bit of biofilm on the surface of my tank and had a shrimp die from a failed molt. Did a full parameter check:

0 ammonia
0 nitrites
1-2 ppm nitrates

I'm assuming that I will eventually have 0 nitrates. Probably the houseplants/my filter

the weird thing is that my pH is 7.5. HM. Especially with so many tannins in my water that makes 0 sense. It went to 7.2 awhile ago and then returned to 7.0 like it usually is. so it changed by 0.5. thats quite a swing upwards

I'm gonna run out and get some test strips again.. I'm betting that my gH is through the roof but that doesn't explain the failed molt. it must be way out of hand

will update later today
-------------------------------------------
Results:
pH 7.5
gH 10
kH 4.5

Hardness is up a tad but nothing that should have caused my pH to go up. Its a mystery I guess

I love the test strips, but are your result posted above from the full drop tester kit? I would also say that biting the bullet and buying a pH reader is a solid investment. Don't waste your money on a cheap one. I brought a $20 one and when I grabbed a $60 pen, it was like night and day.

Basically I found that the reading I was getting from the drop tester kit did leave quite a bit up to how you read the colour.

 

[Pfrozen]

I love the test strips, but are your result posted above from the full drop tester kit? I would also say that biting the bullet and buying a pH reader is a solid investment. Don't waste your money on a cheap one. I brought a $20 one and when I grabbed a $60 pen, it was like night and day.

Basically I found that the reading I was getting from the drop tester kit did leave quite a bit up to how you read the colour.

Actually I have a drop checker too, the fluval brand... its hard to read wrong cus each pH level is a completely different color haha. its only green between 7 and 7.5.

I think the issue is high phosphates in my tapwater... from what I've read if there's a lot of phosphates and enough acid (in this case humic acid, lol) then it can act as a buffer. Because my Kh hasn't changed at all I suspect that this is the problem. my understand is a bit limited though lol

I got a bit of greenspot the other day and dosed with phosphate.. within a few days it went away.. for some reason this works for me even though I have 0.75 ppm in my tap water.. I think I messed something up when I did that

I'm moving the pH sensitive fish over to my 10g tomorrow if all goes well so I'll just try not to dose phosphate.. if I get green spot I'll just scrub it off lol. As P goes down my pH should go down with it. I'll post some updates here and there to see if my theory is right. I might have the science wrong but hey

By the way, the pencilfish have calmed down dramatically lately.. I think they were just being wild for a couple days because I messed with their home lol. the salvinia has grown in and they have lots of cover now

 

[Pfrozen]

I haven't taken pictures in awhile so here we are! Lots of growth and heavy tint. Otos are gone so I can keep the front glass clean now

I took out the ludwigia, might do some limnophilla or another lily back there
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Its too bad that these pictures are so pixellated on a big screen. they look good on my phone but on my PC I can't see any details

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

I haven't taken pictures in awhile so here we are! Lots of growth and heavy tint. Otos are gone so I can keep the front glass clean now

I took out the ludwigia, might do some limnophilla or another lily back there
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Its too bad that these pictures are so pixellated on a big screen. they look good on my phone but on my PC I can't see any details

Looking sharp! Love the tint! Is that cholla wood I see as well? It adds a great visual element.
Also, I’ve noticed the same thing for pics. It seems like they’re scaled down or compacted.
Regardless, looking forward to more posts.^_^

 

[Pfrozen]

Looking sharp! Love the tint! Is that cholla wood I see as well? It adds a great visual element.
Also, I’ve noticed the same thing for pics. It seems like they’re scaled down or compacted.
Regardless, looking forward to more posts.^_^

Yup, its cholla wood! I have an alder cone or two in there as well lol. With the otos gone I don't have to worry so much about pH... both the rasboras and pencilfish are good down to 5. Should be fine as long as I don't have a rapid crash. I'm not adding any more botanicals until I see it start going down anyways though. Hoping to have it stabilize around 6-6.5

Too bad about the picture but one day I'll take good ones and upload them to imgur or something

 

[MacZ]

will update later today
-------------------------------------------
Results:
pH 7.5
gH 10
kH 4.5

Those are good readings but...

I'm not adding any more botanicals until I see it start going down anyways though. Hoping to have it stabilize around 6-6.5

To get your pH moving with botanicals, your KH has to go even lower, as I told you before.

 

[Pfrozen]

Those are good readings but...



To get your pH moving with botanicals, your KH has to go even lower, as I told you before.

Oh of course lol. Lower than 4 for sure anyways. I think the high phosphates are acting as a buffer.. once my plants absorb it all I won't be redosing. My theory is that my kH will start going down after my phosphates reach the normal range. My 15% weekly water change should only dose my tank back to 0.15 ppm which is ideal I believe

I don't understand the whole science but I do know that having high phosphates is doing... "something" to my pH haha. We will see. I know I was going to leave it but letting my plants clean the water isnt exactly an "intervention" so meh

 

[LilyPipeDreams]

Oh of course lol. Lower than 4 for sure anyways. I think the high phosphates are acting as a buffer.. once my plants absorb it all I won't be redosing. My theory is that my kH will start going down after my phosphates reach the normal range. My 15% weekly water change should only dose my tank back to 0.15 ppm which is ideal I believe

I don't understand the whole science but I do know that having high phosphates is doing... "something" to my pH haha. We will see. I know I was going to leave it but letting my plants clean the water isnt exactly an "intervention" so meh

Forgive me, but are you using RO water or is your tap very soft? I can’t recall - I was only thinking about that because I’ll definitely need an RO system to do a BW as my tap is about 7-8 kH at the best time of year.

 

[Pfrozen]

Forgive me, but are you using RO water or is your tap very soft? I can’t recall - I was only thinking about that because I’ll definitely need an RO system to do a BW as my tap is about 7-8 kH at the best time of year.

Not overly soft, my kH is 4.5 at the tap. its low enough that it should be slowly going down as I add botanicals and tannins. kH doesn't measure the full spectrum of buffering agents though, so I think that may be why I've seen no changes. Hopefully the phosphate theory ends up checking out

When I either rehome my SAE or move him to the 40B I'll probably look into RO. The rasboras appreciate low pH but don't necessarily need it... but the pencilfish really do need low pH to thrive. The species I have, Beckford's pencilfish (var. 'red'), are "ok" with pH up to 8.0 but they won't ever reach full coloration

 

[Pfrozen]

That 'dwarf' lily has now grown to take over a big chunk of the foreground and looks amazing I moved the pothos around so that the giant root is to the immediate right of the lily and encouraged the other roots to grow towards the back. I'm very happy with this tank, it is just so beautiful

And there is nearly 0 aggression among the pencilfish now, even between the males

 

[Pfrozen]

did some parameter checks since its been awhile. BOTH tanks are sitting at pH 7.4 despite my tapwater being 7.0. I've added alder cones to the 10g shrimp tank and obviously the blackwater has TONS of tannins and also has alder cones and cholla. Blackwater kH and gH seem to be rising too somehow. I think its sitting at kH ~6 and gH ~10. The 10g shrimp tank is sitting at baseline kH of 4.5 and gH of 8.

Guess I'll have to start using RO water for the blackwater. I'll look into small units in the new year. I can probably lower the pH in the 10g shrimp tank with botanicals though

still a mystery!

 

[Pfrozen]

Alrighty I haven't been here much so heres an update. The tank is exactly where I want it. The pothos has taken over everything and created a wonderful jungle like setting. Fish are happy and everything is great! Thinking I'll move the current stock to my 40g and do a species only peacock goby or apisto tank in a couple months

 

[MacZ]

Love it!

 

[Pfrozen]

I set up a 10g tank for my pencilfish today. It is a blackwater with plenty of slate caves. Its probably just going to have a lily in it. I filled it from the tap for today but I'll be using distilled from this point forward. My goal is pH 4.5-5.5

Then I can change my stocking up in the 20!

 

[Pfrozen]

In light of some recent allergy issues I decided to focus on this tank only for a bit. I moved my otos back over and planted tons of extra anubias. There was some BBA but my hungry SAE is still in there so all good. I'll just fast for a few days

Might add a fish, dunno. any suggestions? Currently have 7 pencils, 7 harlies, 3 otos, 4 amanos, and the SAE. I'm way, way overfiltered on this tank so meh

By the way, the SAE is doing great. I think its around 6 months old and already approaching 4 inches. Looks fat, healthy, and happy. Seems to be at maximum coloration and gets along great with all inhabitants. Given those circumstances I see no reason to move it out of the 20 just yet. Not to mention he has unlimited algae and biofilm to graze on. I'll probably get death threats over this (lol) but why fix something that isn't broken? Feel free to DM me your torches and pitchforks since everything is digital now

 

[Pfrozen]

I've overhauled the tank by stuffing it full of plants and moving my otos back in. They're very happy and active so far. I also switched to RO today with Nilocg liquid KH and liquid GH. I plan on remineralizing to KH 4.5 and GH 9. Whatever the pH ends up being with those additions will be the new target.

I want to keep lower pH fish but I also want to focus on just this one tank. So I've decided not to drop the pH after all. Using RO will remove the phosphate problem and help ensure that the water stays pristine.

I'll post some pictures as things develop!

 

[Pfrozen]

Behold!!!!!



I was told subwassertang wouldn't survive but I tore down the tank it was in. May as well try!

 

[Pfrozen]

Decided just to mix the water to KH 4.5 and GH 7. pH tested just under 7.0, probably 6.8-6.9. Perfect!

I found 2 more otos in my failed 10g when I tore it down. They had somehow been hiding for 2 months. Both were perfectly healthy too. So there's 5 in this tank now. All are quite happy to be out of that nightmare lol. They're chasing each other around frantically so hopefully they'll actually spawn. The conditions should be favorable since I'm changing out the water with softer, cooler water every week

 

[Pfrozen]

2 weeks later and the otos are doing well without supplementation. They have rounded bellies and have colored up nicely. The pothos roots produce a steady supply of diatoms and soft green algae grows on the walls of the tank as well so I think they'll be set.

I mean, I tried to supplement but the SAE is a pig lol. Speaking of that, I think I might just rehome it when it gets too large and buy another juvenile to grow out. I like having it in my tank and there's nothing wrong with raising a big, healthy fish and selling it to someone with a proper setup

 

[JLAquatics]

Nice tank you got there, Pfrozen! My favorite part about it has to be the Harlequin Rasboras, they are just amazing schooling fish to have!

 

[Pfrozen]

Nice tank you got there, Pfrozen! My favorite part about it has to be the Harlequin Rasboras, they are just amazing schooling fish to have!

I agree. I thought about rehoming them for something different but I don't think I can part with my prized rasboras lol

I posted this in a different thread but this is the main one so here's a clip in case anyone is following:

https://streamable.com/l3sijm