Wild Green Discus Biotope

[Swedgin]

According to the aquarium builder the tank I ordered should be with me within a week, so I might as well get this thread started while I have some time.

This will be our largest aquarium in the house and will be placed in the lounge to get the best effect from it.

Planned stock so far:

8 Putumayo Green Discus
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9 Tefe Green Discus
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1 Pseudorhinelepis genibarbis (L095) (Google pic, don't have a good one of mine handy)
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1 Leporacanthicus triactis (L091) (also Google pic for now, he's always hiding)
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2 Crenicichla zebrina
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Originally it was planned to house 8 Pt. altum in the same tank, but since the aquisition of the pikes that idea is out the window, as the Altums are still small, too small to trust them not to be eaten.

Decoration will be simplistic, same as my other tanks. Pool filter sand, and for this tank I have a huge piece of mangrove (I think) which I will actually have to cut to make it fit.
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Filtration again very similar to the 220 blue setup, FX6, 2 Eheim 2180, TMC Sand bed filter (run by 500 gph canister), 2 x 25w UV (run by 400 gph canister). This will be the only one not blackwater themed, so Purigen will be added, too.

That's it for now, updates when the thing actually gets here.

[Swedgin]

FINALLY, they delivered the tank
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Looks small in the pictures, as a marker, total height is 6'3

Looking forward to starting the work finally

[rickztahone]

Very beautiful looking tank. Love the footprint. What are the dims?

[two utes]

That looks Sweet! I also like the timber you have for it. Can't wait to see it set up. Good luck with your new project.

[rickztahone]

Btw, is that am abstract of a rifle on your wall?

[Ryan925]

That will look amazing. Beautiful wilds and those plecos are awesome

[Swedgin]

Progress
Background foiled with frosted look
Have to decide how to cut the wood, but I think we have it figured out
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[Swedgin]

Btw, is that am abstract of a rifle on your wall?

No, that's some sort of Japanese watercolour with mask thing. Or Chinese , not sure. Asian

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[Swedgin]

Very beautiful looking tank. Love the footprint. What are the dims?

87 x 28 x 31

Looks smaller in the pictures, I think because the cabinet is 40 high

[rickztahone]

87 x 28 x 31

Looks smaller in the pictures, I think because the cabinet is 40 high

Cool dims. A bit tall for me but nice none-the-less.

[Swedgin]

Meh, too many bubbles in the foil. Black plasti dip to the rescue, the fish will pop more with a black background anyway.

[DatDiscusDude]

When are we gonna get some pics and video of this famed chrenchila I keep reading and hearing about? I am very interested to see them in the tank with the discus and all

[Swedgin]

So, filled the tank with water..... top bracing came off. Awesome

[DatDiscusDude]

Oh crap! Now what?

[Swedgin]

The builder will come by tomorrow, then we'll decide if I let them fix it or get a refund and look elsewhere. I'm quite upset to be honest, waited over 4 months for this

[rickztahone]

Wow, that does not bode well for their craftsmanship. How does the tank look otherwise?

[Swedgin]

Rest of the tank looks solid, as it should. I'll just have them redo the complete bracing I think. Alternatively they offered a full refund if I decide not to keep it.

[Swedgin]

Test no 2 in progress, so far so good, extra bracing added. If all goes well I'll start proper installations this week

[Swedgin]

Well, ****. Falling apart again, bubbles everywhere, even in the main glass connections. Will get a refund and start all over. 4 months waiting for nothing

[Phillydubs]

Just catching up on all this... But wow what a real bummer and set-back!!! Not fun at all!

[Swedgin]

New tank will be here the coming week, really need to get going on this to get the fish out of holding, as they are blocking the space for the heckel tank. Busy weeks coming up.

Quick pic of the Alpha so you guys don't fall asleep reading this

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[Phillydubs]

Wow, gorgeous, great spotting!

[Swedgin]

So, the new 325 finally arrived today. Getting to work on it straight away, 7 weeks till holiday and the thing needs to be running perfectly by then as Mom is looking after the zoo while we're gone. Using the cucled filters from the holding tanks, so no need to wait for ages to do the move.

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[Phillydubs]

What a monster very very cool...

[jmf3460]

I'm jealous
I'm druling

[sanjay21]

Wow ! this will be dream tank for me to have one like that :)

Can't wait to see the finished product ! Fish are looking great!! so is the driftwood.

[fishbubbles]

I wish you lots of luck with your project. Let's hope this one holds for ya! I can't even imagine how dis-heartening it must have been when that first tank failed.

[ScottW]

Awesome tank! What kind of water changes are you planning on doing with this monster?

[Swedgin]

Thanks everyone, really happy to finally work on it. Currently plasti dipping the back again


Awesome tank! What kind of water changes are you planning on doing with this monster?

Not a lot tbh, the 220 is currently on a every 2 weeks 25% schedule, so it will be something similar. I'll be using nitrate resins and several plants (pennywort, pothos). The 220 is at 0-0-5 with only the plants without any resins, and this one will be not very heavily stocked, 15 Discus, 2 plecs and 2 Crenicichla. I'll adjust as I go, but with the wilds I personally prefer as little water changes as possible while still maintaining optimal conditions. UV will be running on this one, too.

[Phillydubs]

Thanks everyone, really happy to finally work on it. Currently plasti dipping the back again



Not a lot tbh, the 220 is currently on a every 2 weeks 25% schedule, so it will be something similar. I'll be using nitrate resins and several plants (pennywort, pothos). The 220 is at 0-0-5 with only the plants without any resins, and this one will be not very heavily stocked, 15 Discus, 2 plecs and 2 Crenicichla. I'll adjust as I go, but with the wilds I personally prefer as little water changes as possible while still maintaining optimal conditions. UV will be running on this one, too.

Care to share your reasoning behind your less is more approach with wilds ? I agree by the way just love hearing from other wild keepers and the method to their madness

[Swedgin]

Care to share your reasoning behind your less is more approach with wilds ? I agree by the way just love hearing from other wild keepers and the method to their madness

As long as the parameters are on point, I don't see a reason to meddle with the water. A more stable environment seems to be the way for wilds, but I'm still learning as I go.
Plus it's less work, less stress on the fish.
Also the rest of the world doesn't seem to have such a water change fetish as most Americans seem to have lol. Proper filtration seems to be key here, tooo. If I only had a couple sponge filters in there it would be a whole different story

[Swedgin]

Plumbing in progress. All filters except the FX6 are stand ins and will be replaced with cycled filters from the holding tanks. One more Eheim 2180 to come, but only have one stand in right now. Ran out of hose pipe, more work tomorrow, hopefully including leak testing.
Sorry for the poorly lit pictures.
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[Swedgin]

Wifey siliconing my homemade weirs, she does a much cleaner job than I ever could. Should be able to push the tank into it's final space tomorrow and start scaping.

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[Swedgin]

The horde begging for food, they don't even mind the small holding tank

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[Phillydubs]

So cool. Love seeing the progress very fun

[true2uroots]

This is exciting looking forward in seeing more!

[Swedgin]

Thanks guys. Tank is in place, working on the lights and lid now. Scaping tomorrow. One piece of wood still floating, will need some weight. Shame

The cover: simple frame, two Juwel HeliaLux LED lights and a couple plastic sheets which will be attached to the lights with hinges for easy opening. Will spray paint the sheets tomorrow.
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[Discus-n00b]

Can't wait to see it finished and scaped! This one should be nice! The horde looks good.

[Swedgin]

The scape as it is now, will leave it for the time being. The rock on the right root will come off once it doesn't float anymore.
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[jmf3460]

gosh its nice. you are going to stain the water with tannins right?

[Swedgin]

gosh its nice. you are going to stain the water with tannins right?

The roots are still leaking a lot of tannins. Ironically this is the only tank which is not supposed to be black water themed. So the plan is to stay with clearwater on this one. The heckels will get very heavily tinted water though.

[Swedgin]

3 Colombians and the L091 are in. Lights off for the day, will switch on when in dusk mode.
If they are alright tomorrow (sure they will be) I'll move the rest.

[Swedgin]

They came out and started nibbling on the wood, so turned the lights on

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[Swedgin]

Everybody moved, and they already beg and eat. Cloudiness will disappear in the next few days, as will their stress bars.
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[jmf3460]

omg, beautiful beautiful beautiful. gosh that looks just like a snip out of the amazon. perfect tank IMO. I wouldn't change a thing. Love the black background and the rocks, love the wood placement, love the discus and other fish love it all. congrats Tobi

[DomiDiscus]

Sweet lord this is amazing, personally, I'd go blackwater with this but hows its tinted right now it looks great. Those pikes sure are somethin else.

[jmf3460]

Sweet lord this is amazing, personally, I'd go blackwater with this but hows its tinted right now it looks great. Those pikes sure are somethin else.

me too needs tannins

[Phillydubs]

Spectacular!!

[Swedgin]

Well the root is going to provide tannins for a good while, we'll see where I go after that.
Night mode is pretty cool, too. Will adjust to a little lower intensity tomorrow.
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[Swedgin]

Few more pics.

Some of the guys are still a bit scratched from the move, but looking much better than a couple days ago.

And some of them are already starting to mark their territory, but they are the ones I expected to do so eventually. Might have a pair on my hands, who knows

Fed mussels, makes a mess of the water.

Also added some water lettuce, hope it survives this time.


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[jmf3460]

Geeze louise. that is all I can say

[William1]

Nice spots!

[Phillydubs]

How are those pikes behaving themselves.

[Swedgin]

How are those pikes behaving themselves.

Very well so far, outside of feeding times they mind their own business, the discus aren't bothered by them at all. During deeding they started to steal the fdbw cubes, so switched to loose worms, as I feed the discus more often than the pikes. In return the discus eat mussels and shrimp that the pikes leave. So a perfect symbiosis, for now. The L95 cleans everything else up, be it mussels, pellets, worms or shrimp.

[Swedgin]

Just did my routine water testing, 0-0-5. No wc since it's been set up. And those plants are growing and multiplying. Seems I'm doing something right here.

[DomiDiscus]

My lord these greens are beautiful! Greens and or Heckels are for sure on my list.

[Swedgin]

Quick pic, Pistia is growing like crazy, the picture doesn't do justice to how awesome it looks, the surface is virtually fully covered bar the patch on the left which I need for feeding.

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[jmf3460]

TANK LOOKS AWESOME!! Discus are showing dark bar, is it because you are photographing them?

[Swedgin]

No, it's at feeding time, they always get really excited. I'll try to get some pics at a quiet time soon

[jmf3460]

no need to explain, mine do the same. its hard to photograph them without bar bc when I approach the tank, they automatically assume food and show bar.

[Swedgin]

Top view

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[Phillydubs]

Gorgeous. What a tank.

[Swedgin]

Going on holiday for 2 weeks tomorrow, mom looking after the zoo. Hope all goes well.

[NJDiscusGuy]

Nice looking tank. IS this a well known aquarium builder or a hobbyist DIY guy that you purchased the tank from? This si the first I'm hearing of the bracing coming off. Good thing it happened fairly quickly while you were around. It could have been a messy situation if the take gave out filled with water. Let us know how you make out.
Rob

[Swedgin]

Nice looking tank. IS this a well known aquarium builder or a hobbyist DIY guy that you purchased the tank from? This si the first I'm hearing of the bracing coming off. Good thing it happened fairly quickly while you were around. It could have been a messy situation if the take gave out filled with water. Let us know how you make out.
Rob

It's a well known Discus seller here in the UAE, but not well known for custom tanks.
But the tank is holding up well, no issues at all. The glass is terribly thick now, so the bowing issue is eliminated, and extra bracing to the point of overkill has been added to make sure it stays safe.

[Swedgin]

Not much news, still running well

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[Phillydubs]

Thank god my case is waterproof !! Droooolll

I love those big beasts in w the discus. Are they all
Getting along ??

[Swedgin]

Thank god my case is waterproof !! Droooolll

I love those big beasts in w the discus. Are they all
Getting along ??

Couldn't be better, they are absolutely peaceful and don't bother the discus or each other one bit

[marinum]

I love this tank, fantastic layout, great job

crenicichla zebrina is quiet?

[Phillydubs]

How big are they now?

[Swedgin]

How big are they now?

Guess would be smaller one 10, bigger one 12, just eyeballed though.

Just moved the Altums in with them, boy they look good in there. Lights are dimmed for sunset already, impossible to take a good pic with the phone. Will try tomorrow.

They seem to have taken a bit of flak in the other tank, hence the move and the rough finnage on some of them, a couple of the blues are crazy territorial.

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[Swedgin]

Omg!!

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[Second Hand Pat]

Nice :D:D Female on right and male on left??
Pat

[Hiball1]

That is super cool!

[Gabriel13]

Very impressive! Just read this whole thread and wow, what a tank. love it

[DiscusKev]

wow really nice. Those Altums are beautiful too. Congrats. It's a really stunning tank! Soon, wigglers :D

[Teleman]

Congratulations. Hope all goes well with the fry.

[jmf3460]

CONGRATS TOBI!!!!! That is really awesome isn't it. It is such a rush to look in the tank and see two parents guarding eggs.

[Swedgin]

Nice :D:D Female on right and male on left??
Pat

Would be my guess, too. To be honest due to work timings I didn’t have a lot of time to watch them



Very impressive! Just read this whole thread and wow, what a tank. love it

Thanks


wow really nice. Those Altums are beautiful too. Congrats. It's a really stunning tank! Soon, wigglers :D

Eggs haven’t turned white yet, but the tank is fairly dark, so can’t really see what’s developing in there. The other 13 discus or the altums will take care of the fry though


Congratulations. Hope all goes well with the fry.

Thanks. It won’t, but I have no intention to actually breed with them as such, just love seeing this kind of thing happen.


CONGRATS TOBI!!!!! That is really awesome isn't it. It is such a rush to look in the tank and see two parents guarding eggs.

Yeah I love it, only started tweaking the water about a week ago. Went better than expected

[brewmaster15]

Tobi, You have some beautiful fish and setups. You have done real well here. Thanks for sharing!

Al

[Swedgin]

Tobi, You have some beautiful fish and setups. You have done real well here. Thanks for sharing!

Al

Thanks Al, appreciate it.

[Swedgin]

They’ve hatched, so it’s a confirmed pair. Can’t take any pictures as they moved them behind the root, hopefully tonight when it’s dark out I’ll get a chance

Edit: can’t get pics, the tank is so dark due to the floaters and tannins I can barely see the larvae, let alone photograph them. They’ve moved them to the back of the wood, too. Taking excellent care of them though, proud of them as first timers

[brianyam1]

Awesome tank. I got a 250G with 12 wilds, arowana, and a l25 pleco.

[Swedgin]

Please enjoy the probably worst-quality-ever-on-simplydiscus foto of probably the first ever wild discus fry in the UAE eating mom’s slime

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[danotaylor]

we get the idea Tobi...that is so cool to see mate...it's a great day for you and the UAE!!

Now what? Are you gonna try to raise them?

[Second Hand Pat]

Now that is super cool Tobi :) and congrats. It took my wild greens three attempts to get to this stage.
Pat

[sanjay21]

Wow Tobi! That is so cool :) Please keep us posted, good luck ��

[Swedgin]

Water change picture, haven’t posted one in ages.

Look at them pretending they’re starving. Greedy bunch

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[Pices]

I love this tank and those wilds.

[danotaylor]

What of the fry Tobi? Did you remove them to grow out?

[Swedgin]

What of the fry Tobi? Did you remove them to grow out?

Unfortunately had to let it run it’s course. With work and the other project I wouldn’t have been able to do it properly. If they keep going at a more convenient time I might try

[Swedgin]

Recent shipment of wild discus included one Nanay green, or as it now turns out, half a Nanay green. So tiny, but ballsy, one of the most active fish in the qt.

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[Swedgin]

Quick shot from today. The pistia are not letting a lot of light through, need to harvest a few buckets next water change

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[Swedgin]

After the harvest. There will be light.

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And I’ve just noticed how far this one has come since I got him a bit over a year ago (ignore the ott red pigmentation , will disappear soon)
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[Hiball1]

You have amazing setups and some very beautiful fish.

[Swedgin]

You have amazing setups and some very beautiful fish.

Thank you. With some I got very lucky, some I had to put some work in, some didn’t get very far. Either way, I enjoy every minute spent with them.

[Swedgin]

Scored some nice Scleromystax barbatus for my greens tank today. Things are looking up in the fish species availability department here in Dubai. Always wanted those, very happy to have found them. Now need some Brochis....

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[Paul Sabucchi]

Glad for you, keep the photos and the info coming about these less frequently seen species

[Discluv]

The Scleromystax barbatus is an amazing corydoras sp., but will be very short lived at discus temperatures. They should never be kept above 77 degrees.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/scleromystax-barbatus/

[Swedgin]

Fair enough. Looking at other species from the exact same locations their temperature “requirements” vary largely, and from experience I can say that these numbers are neither always accurate nor set in stone. My tanks are all at the lower end of the Discus temperature range, with a max of 82-83, going down to 79/80 during the winter.

I do however genuinely appreciate your concern and am always happy to get these kind of comments and constructive “criticism”. And I’ll keep you guys posted on their progress.

Tobi

[Discluv]

Just a heads up, I know they are very expensive. Best luck to you.

[Swedgin]

PH crashed in this tank a few days ago, 4.7
Noticed because the fish developed pretty nasty ammonia burns over night.
It’s fixed now, but this is what the fish looked like that day (weird though, their behavior did not change one bit, begging their burnt little butts off):
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[Adam S]

Scored some nice Scleromystax barbatus for my greens tank today. Things are looking up in the fish species availability department here in Dubai. Always wanted those, very happy to have found them. Now need some Brochis....

Brochis splendens is good choice. Summer water temps can get as high as 90F/32Cl in the wild. Brochis multiradiatus prefer cooler temps like barbatus.

[Swedgin]

Brochis splendens is good choice. Summer water temps can get as high as 90F/32Cl in the wild. Brochis multiradiatus prefer cooler temps like barbatus.

Thanks Adam.

Splendens have been available here from time to time, but not recently. Will get some eventually.

[Swedgin]

Got some Angels in with the greens, they were supposed to be altums, but they are not. What are they?
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[Second Hand Pat]

I don’t know of any wild angels which has that a veil tail except domestic angels!!
Pat

[Swedgin]

Yeah I knew they weren’t wild when I bought them as they were too small. But they looked “altumy” and were declared as such.

[Second Hand Pat]

Oh dear :( Only one source of "domestic" altums and those are from Simon Forkel.
Pat

[Swedgin]

Little update. Still got these angels in there, I don’t know where to put them or who to give them to.

Removed all the water lettuce, it was just trapping too much food and gunk. The hornwort is easier, I can just shake it around a little before water changes and in between. Looks half decent, too.

If I’m lucky the guy I get my discus from will get a shipment of Nanays this week, and hopefully there are some good ones to choose from. Wouldn’t mind replacing the angels with 8 or 10 discus to fill out the tank a bit more.

Some shots during feeding from last night. I haven’t fed blackworms with red pigment for ages, yet the enhancers in regular granules, even the ones formulated for wilds, still redden the fins.

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[Mando]

You have one of my favorite plecos! Also, I love your greens. My greens originally had dark stress bars, but disappeared in the light blue background tank. They still looked nice. however, I'm a fan of the bars on these particular green wilds.

[Swedgin]

The bars only show when there is some action going on in or in front of the tank.
When they get fed.
When someone’s in front of them and they think they get fed.
When doing water changes and they think they get fed.

You get the idea.

The rest of the time they show no bars and are a beautiful gold/yellow. There is by far the least aggression going on between them compared to the other 2 groups. Don’t know why.

Will add more light soon, so their colors should pop even more then. Need to install the UV first though to keep algae in check.

[Swedgin]

http://youtu.be/LBMlzzQxcuY

[Second Hand Pat]

They are gorgeous Tobi :D One of my favorite past groups was the first group to young Tefe's I raised. I prefer to see the fish without bars myself.
Pat

[Swedgin]

Plants out, angels out, Heckels in.
The hornwort was still catching too much dirt, not worth it in the end. So more “hardscape” than biotope right now.

I’ll get 5 Tefe greens and 3 Nhamunda Heckels in a couple weeks, so if everything goes well there will be 8 more fish in there in roughly 6 weeks.

Couldn’t get a good picture as usual, but my worries that they might look crowded or too many were unfounded. Actually looking forward to squeezing the other 8 in there.

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[pastry]

Looove following this thread and your others. Shoot, I need to do more updates on my own!

[Swedgin]

Water change. He don’t care
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[Swedgin]

Him neither
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[Swedgin]

Another one just for kicks
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[Disgirl]

How beautiful! The green moss/algae on the wood, is it real? How did you get it to grow so well if real? Your tank is just great!
Barb

[Pices]

So gorgeous!

[pastry]

Yeah, those two that don't care for water changes, just hand them over to me.:antlers:

[Swedgin]

Looove following this thread and your others. Shoot, I need to do more updates on my own!

Thanks. And yes, you do... We all do, I’ve been slacking massively with my forum participation recently.


How beautiful! The green moss/algae on the wood, is it real? How did you get it to grow so well if real? Your tank is just great!
Barb

Hi Barb, it’s real, unfortunately. It’s just algae, and not only growing on theere but also on the glass, sand, everywhere. The tank has been getting way too much light recently since I took the water lettuce out. I’ve just adjusted the photo period and intensity hoping to curb it a little bit.


So gorgeous!

Yes Patty. Come on, get some wilds already. You know you want to ��



Yeah, those two that don't care for water changes, just hand them over to me.:antlers:

......

[Swedgin]

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[Jack L]

looks great

[Disgirl]

What are the plants roots hanging down? Fish are beautiful!

[Swedgin]

What are the plants roots hanging down? Fish are beautiful!

Sorry, I missed that. It’s pennywort. It’s hanging over the bracing so it’s locked in place and doesn’t swim around willy nilly where I don’t want it

[Swedgin]

Put some sera nitrivec (bb) in, looks funky.

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[fljones3]

Put some sera nitrivec (bb) in, looks funky.

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Cloudiness will clear pretty quick. It’s the best bio starter I have ever used. Really effective in canister media. Just pour over bio filter media.