Tank Envy.

You haven't hijacked it. Welcome to the party!

My cory will school with anything! They are very friendly. My shrimp do not like this behavior and will flee. Lol! My tetras will "school" with my cory, in a way. They're really following the cory to the food, like we do with bloodhounds.

I like the way sand looks in your tank. Your whole setup is very dramatic! How in the heck do you clean it, though? It seems like the sand would get very mucky with fish poo. Also, aren't you afraid of toxic air pockets? I've been thinking about changing up my substrate, as well. There's this stuff called LAYERITE that looks pretty interesting.

 

I'm aware of the toxic pockets ald have got a bamboo rod to poke and stir the sand and also having my corydoras and my cichlid they help stir the the sand I will be maintaining weekly water changes and stiring the sand once a week to every 4 daysand having the rod means I won't have to move any of my rocks as I placed them in the tank first so their is no sand underneath them so no pockets can form

and what do u mean by a dramatic setup and for cleaning the sand I have purchased a pet litter sieve and put fly mesh down so I can sift the sand through the bottom leaving the poo in the scoop nd the current from the filter is above the rocks so the poo is pushed down too the open part of the aquarium allowing for easy clean up

 

I mean you have a striking and high-contrast aquascape. Your lighting is centralized, which casts wonderful shadows on your hardscape. You have little tufts of plants peeking out from space between those wonderful rocks. It looks like you have two layers for your substrate. What's the lower one?

I hate internal filters, too! That's why I have a HOB power-filter. It's rated for a 30-gallon, but I use it in my 10 gallon. It's a BEAST! There's also enough room in the back to put other things, like ceramic beads from a canister filter for extra bacterial surface area. Woooooooooo HOB! As much as I love the things, I am restricted as to where I can place it.

 

haha yea space in a little 10 gal would be rather restricted I had one before I upgraded to my current tank

and thanks I didn't realise I had added that much detail to my aquarium and its all one substrate the light only reaches through the sand enough giving it the look of having two substrates I just emailed myself a photo of my tank I will update it soon it is a clearer photo thn the one I have uploaded

 

Ive never heard of these "toxic airpockets"
Tell me more?

 

the toxic airpockets build up underneath the sand from waste caused by the fish and when released can kill all the fish in the aquarium as its carbon buildup and amonian and many other chemical



here is a cleare picture of my tank got my friends to msg me through the photo and have just downloaded it too my computer for you guys too see how the filer is changing the sand and the look of the tank

 

So, as the story goes....

Anaerobic bacteria will feast upon crud in the substrate. The less room between substrate particles, the harder it is for their toxic gaseous wastes to escape. This builds up into pockets that can erupt when they build enough pressure. Once released, they get into the water and can kill your fish.

At least, this is what I've gleaned from the myriad posts in this website. Woot woot!

LOL! Demontay1 beat me to it!

 

haha my bad sorry about that but you did give a more indepth description of the pockets thn I did lol

 

Only 'cause I'm long-winded!

Sent from my Z796C using Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum mobile app

 

hahaha xD

 

Will you be able to see it if that were to happen?

 

no you can't tht is why you have too stir the sand at all times the only way it will ever be seen is if the bubble is forming right under the sand right next to the viewing pain but its better too be safe thn sorry and just stir the tank I have kept a sand botom before when I had a 4 foot tank with 5 clown loaches 1 rainbow shark and 3 mollies

 

All 4 of my tanks are sand.
One day I was doing something and I saw like a milky white cloud come out from under the sand.
It looked like smoke in the water coming out from under the sand.

 

tht would be a gaseous bubble from the sand tht we have just fore mentioned as its bad bacteria tht can kill fish if tht had relased and passed by a fish it would have almost instantly killed it

I have heard keeping plants tht root in sandy substrates helps too stop the release of the chemicals as the can help filter them out and also use them as nutriants too grow but I have no idea how to grow plants in a sandy substrate lol

 

I think ya just plant them in the sand with a root tab.. or use some sort of dirt or layerite underneath and put sand on top.

You can mix it up with water and freeze it, then insert the mudcicle into the substrate. It'll melt and you won't get big clouds of dirt in your water column. I read that tip in another forum.

 

wow I might have to give tht a go I have just posted a question on here toget tips from other members online

 

I have 2 planted tanks with just a sand substrate.
I use root tabs for certian one and API leafzone for the rest

All of them grow like there's no tomorrow lol.

Although a lot of people reccomend using some type of dirt under the sand.
But that will only last so long before all of the nutrients are gone.

 

this is very true didn't think of that but if their was dirt under the plant for ut to grow in couldn't u add fertilizer tablets to replenish the nutrients

 

Sure ya could! You'd just have to be careful when inserting the tab amongst the roots! It looks like everything comes down to root tabs, in the end! Lol!

 

it does hey haha well when I get some plants ill have to keep you guys updated on them and and how they grow and id have to get a light for them to be able to grow I highly doubht a generic desk lamp will do them any good

 

Yeah basically lol.
To get the plants in the sand you just move a little then push them to the bottom then move the sand back. Easy enough lol.

 

Demontay1 Argh, the light! That is such a pain in the booty. GOOD lights cost so much money it'll make your head spin. I just got a Marineland LED with a moonlight setting. It doesn't have a timer or a dimmer. So far, I have found it doesn't grow much beyond an Amazon sword. Thanks to Cap'n White Lobster (@Tropical Tanks), I have been pointed in the direction of wisteria. I will be ranting about my plants as they react to my little tank tweaks.

 

Lol. I have a light that also has the moonlight setting and I purchased an inline dimmer on amazon for about $5.
Just plugged it into the cord and it works great.

 

wow can you send me the link for the lights tht you both have cause I don't really need to grow more thn some amazon swords plants and more amazonian plants and other low light plants tht are native to oxbow lakes

 

..but this light isn't great for plants. It is, however, much-appreciated by my fish. The only plant doing well is my Amazon sword. My Crinum natans is actually growing pretty quickly, but I think it could be doing better. If you can afford it, go all-out. Spend that MONEY, woo!

 

haha ill probably only need to go up a little higher thn what you have as I said I only ned a light tht isn't needed to be very bright as its on the lower end of the spectrum thts why the sword is thriving as they do better in low lights thn bright lights but if I can go all out and get a light tht dims is definitely would but might take me a while as I don't really have a sufficent income woooooo the life of a student hahaha

 

Other one I built myself

 

cheers mate

 

That's really cool, but what happens if you lose the remote?

 

ejust been too the local hatdware store and it will cost me 30 to get a light fixture for my tank as I'm planning in building a hood and to save money I'm building it from scrath instead of buying one

 

Youd have to manually unplug it at night and in the morning until you order a new one.
But I don't have to worry about that because I have 2.
I also always make sure to keep the remote in the same spot lol.
That's for the satellite.

The other one I added a turn dial dimmer.
Although I am planning on buying a wireless remote dimmer for that aswell considering it only costs about $10.

 

My fish will just have to get used to old-fashioned toggle switches, lol! Considering they were in filthy Wal- tanks with no cover and lights on 24-7, their current home is a mansion! ....ugh, I need to get some wisteria, and fast!

 

Ill be trimming them soon. Prob tomorrow or the next day.
Its such a hassle lol

 

Yay! I will need something to replace my anacharis. It's just doing so poorly. I have a really pesky nitrite reading in my tank. It started up at the end of last week, when I found a dead snail. Two 50% water changes and a bottle of TSS later, and it's still elevated. It's about 0.5 PPM, and my fish exhibit no outward signs of stress, but I AM STRESSED about it, LOL! I am beginning to suspect my ailing anacharis is to blame. I am going to have to remove most of it, after dinner. Some of the branches, stalks.. fronds.. whatever, look like they're on the way out. *sigh*

 

Yeah dying plants will do it.
I'm pretty sure

 

I agree I'm pretty sure rotting and dying plants car raise the nitrates too but slightly high nitrates are good for plant griwth ☺️ been doing some research plants do better with a slightly higher nitrate but bot too high as to affect the fish

 

Fast growing plants will use it as a nutrient.

 

DRIVES ME UP THE WALL! I'm going to have this giant hole in my aquascape, now. What can cover up my airstone? Where will my shrimpies hide? I guess I could put in the cheesy plastic glow-in-the-dark thing I used to use. Ugh.

Oh, nitrates don't bother me. Nitrites do. Sigh.

 

opps my bad I read it as nitrates

 

Well they turn into nitrates lol.