journal DemonCat and his Tank

[DemonCat]

Hmmm, so for the last few days my water has been slightly cloudy...

From what I understand, as my tank is fully cycled, it may be the first sign of an algae bloom? 

I do gravel vac each water change... would the best course of action to up water change % amount and/or frequency for a little while? 

From the forums experience, is there any other potential reason for this? 

I also did recently increase the water level in my tank so the water level is now above the hood, therefore closer to the led light. Could it also be light refraction?

[neo-2FX]

I noticed slightly cloudy water after I introduced my CRS. Two things I noticed:

1. They were digging up the soil

2. I may have overfed

To me there is definitely a big difference between the look of the light shining through the water like sun rays vs. cloudy/murky water.

My mind immediately went to the gravel vac when you mentioned it...what makes you gravel vac?

[DemonCat]

Hmmm... I have had an explosion of 15 shrimp to 50 in the last month. Maybe more shrimp are turning over the substrate? 

I try to be careful with overfeeding, but have been feeding shrimp pellets 4-5 times a week due to the jump in shrimp numbers, rather than the once or twice when I only had 15 or so. 

Regarding the gravel vac, just to keep things a little clean. I do a little section of the tank every water change or two as I use the gravel vac to suction the water out regardless. Is this an issue?

What did you do to get rid of the cloudyness?

[neo-2FX]

I never gravel vac, mainly because I believe the stuff in the gravel is beneficial for plants etc. It's like free mulch. Personally I find less touching the tank the better. Maybe leave it for a few days and see how it goes?

What do you feed? Have you got a photo of this cloudiness?

A small water change and cut back on foods that break apart easy but hard to tell. Sometimes you just have to leave it be for a few days so it can settle.

The other thing I noticed was that it occurred around about the time the weather started to heat up. What is the temp of tank? Warmer temps means bacteria grows faster.

Post a photo if you can.

[DemonCat]

I will post a photo tonight :)

Sorry, I didnt explain myself very well. I only gravel vac in one spot which is opposite all plants, which is where i feed shrimp pellets and algae wafers. The fish make a mess of the area before the shrimp clean up. When I see there is a heap of food piling up that the shrimp no longer graze on, I vac it a little. 

I feed a variety of things - stock standard is nano fish food mnini pellets or flakes once a day,shrimp pellets now 4-5 days a week. occasionally an algae wafer, blood worms or spinach (maybe once every two weeks).

 

My tank temp is room temp..., no heaters. The room is relatively cool though, and stable. 

 

I might do a 10% water change tonight on top of a 10% water change on sunday.

[neo-2FX]

Might just be me, but sounds like you're feeding a bit too much. I feed my fish like once every 4-5 days lol

If you're having to gravel vac leftovers, you're overfeeding me thinks. I'll leave that to your discretion.

Keen to see how you go :D

[DemonCat]

Sure, thanks for the advice. Will start skipping feeding days more often :)

[DemonCat]

Update - Tinkered slightly, rearranged a few things as I finally had a spare hour on the weekend. Also did a bit of a clean after neglecting the tank apart from water changes for the last two months. Still need to trim the Sunset Hygro... Also noted what I beleive to be GSA on a few leaves of the Hygro which is something new for me to look into and deal with.

I also found I have had a massive Snail death which is concerning. I used to take out 20 a week due to population booms. I have read this may be due to high PH - I did a quick test and it is slightly high, but nothing horrible and the shrimp and fish are fine. Maybe a coincidence of being all old snails? 

Edited January 18, 2016 by DemonCat

[DemonCat]

Also thinking of adding a heater, some frogbit and 10 cardinal tetras over the coming months. 

 

Thoughts?

[neo-2FX]

I think the frogbit will cover a lot of the light. I had cardinals but in the end ended up with some Maculata. IMO the smaller fish look better and have more character :)

[DemonCat]

23 hours ago, neo-2FX said:

I think the frogbit will cover a lot of the light. I had cardinals but in the end ended up with some Maculata. IMO the smaller fish look better and have more character :)

Is that the dwarf Rasbora? Fair point. From what I understand they need lower light, with lower water flow - like the Chili/Mosquito Rasbora (Boraras brigittae). Both of these are on a wish list if I get a bigger tank :)

[neo-2FX]

I thought the Maculata were smaller but could be wrong. I had a hard time trying to find some brigittae

[DemonCat]

Agree that smaller fish have character. I get why people love discus etc, but I prefer big tank, small fish and let them roam and dart around. Each to their own though, of course... lets be honest, every tank is pretty awesome :)

 

The dream for me is a 6 ft tank with 4 schools of nano/tetras being white clouds, cardinals, dwarf rasboras and brigittae - about 40 fish all up and some shrimp.One day.... one day....

Edited January 27, 2016 by DemonCat

[neo-2FX]

Imagine that! Me too! If only I had the room :(

[DemonCat]

I also trimmed the sunset hygro - Went from 5 stems to 10!

All about 3/4 height of the water now. Looking much thicker on the right hand side!

Edited January 27, 2016 by DemonCat

[FMuscle]

On 1/27/2016 at 9:21 AM, DemonCat said:

Agree that smaller fish have character. I get why people love discus etc, but I prefer big tank, small fish and let them roam and dart around. [...]

The dream for me is a 6 ft tank with 4 schools of nano/tetras being white clouds, cardinals, dwarf rasboras and brigittae - about 40 fish all up and some shrimp.One day.... one day....

Shrimp and small/nano fish in a 6ft?
  Somehow this sounds familiar...

[DemonCat]

Just bought an Eheim 150 watt heater. Will buy a cannisters filter when I get back from a holiday in April.

The second stage of the tank will begin!!

11 minutes ago, FMuscle said:

Shrimp and small/nano fish in a 6ft?
  Somehow this sounds familiar...

Been there, done that?

[FMuscle]

I'll just leave this here... It's due for an update, but it's not quite ready for one yet.

[buck]

its great to see people actually updating there journals! tanks looking good dude, keen to see it progress more!

[DemonCat]

Tank has been neglected the last week or so (as you can tell from the glass) but I feed some pellets for the first time in about a week and 31 shrimp came from nowhere!!! The photo does not do the colour justice either. These guys were my first batch of babies too! All grown up (well almost) - gosh I am proud. 

Will give the glass a good clean this weekend though - I promise!!

Excuse the dodgy mobile phone photo quality.

Edited February 4, 2016 by DemonCat

[DemonCat]

Also forgot to add, I will be upgrading from my Fluval U3 Internal to an Eheim Classic 2215 when I get back from overseas in April.

Finally, will be adding 10 cardinal tetras and 3 Ottos. May or may not add 10 dwarf rasboras... not 100% decided on that. Dont want to have the tank super full. 

Edited February 5, 2016 by DemonCat

[DemonCat]

Hi all, 

So I have big plans to rescape this tank and make it look a bit more interesting, a bit more enjoyable, and a bit more 'professional' haha.

I would like to share my plans with you for some further advice and comments. 

Currently, the tank is 3ft, has mosses, ferns, , anubias, HM, sunset hygro, blyxa, Aqua One PlantGlo 60cm 26 watt light, no co2, liquid ferts. white clouds and red cherry shrimp. 

One of my issues is I have three large bits of driftwood, but they are all quite similar in size and bulk. None have overly interesting branches or fingers.The layout is a bit all over the place, and while enjoyable for me, I believe after 8 or so months It can do with a proper clean and re-scape. 

Existing scape:

 

My proposed layout is below:

Forgot to draw a java fern or two attached to the wood, and the existing anubias!

I will add either C.Balansae or some native vals. The planned re-scape is to have more of a 'raised island' of vegetation which includes the existing driftwoods which are more interactive and visable. Furthermore, I will glue java ferns to driftwood or rocks rather than have them on tiles. The java moss will be tied to mesh acting as a pseudo carpet - instead of growing in a wild ball of mass. The blyxa and HM will remain as is. I propose to get rid of the sunset hygro - It also has holes in the leaves and never looks 100% happy. Bits and bobs of GSA (I think) pops up on it too.

Finally, I will be upgrading to a Eheim canister 2215 and adding 3 Oto's and 10 cardinal tetras.

Edited February 12, 2016 by DemonCat

[Disciple]

Looking forward to your re scape.

I am a bit worried about the Cardinal Tetras but we shall see how they go in your tank.

[DemonCat]

20 minutes ago, Disciple said:

Looking forward to your re scape.

I am a bit worried about the Cardinal Tetras but we shall see how they go in your tank.

Hi Disciple, what are your concerns? 

Having researched them, I was under the impression that they were hardier than neons so thats why I decided to go for them. 

[jayc]

24 minutes ago, DemonCat said:

Hi Disciple, what are your concerns? 

Having researched them, I was under the impression that they were hardier than neons so thats why I decided to go for them. 

I don't think Disciple was concerned about Cardinals vs Neons.

The concern would be

1) Cardinals are bigger and thus a bit bolder than Neons versus your shrimp. Cardinals have been known to hunt shrimp. Picking off one appendage (leg, antenna) at a time. Not saying your cardinals are instinctively shrimp hunters, but they could develop a taste for shrimps. If I had expensive shrimp like Taiwan bees in the same tank as Cardinals, I would move the fish out.

2) Cardinals and Shrimp prefer different (optimal) temperatures.

Cardinals like around 27-28deg C. While shrimps like a chilly 22-23deg C. 

One or the other will not be thriving. They might survive, but they won't be in the optimum environment.

In fact, Neons would fit better here with shrimps. Neons, being from further up the river, prefer the cooler water temps. Neons are smaller, and less likely to attack shrimp. Shrimplets are still fair game.