3 Gallon Picotope!- Clean Slate

[mbarton2010]

I use a diy ATO. Float switch hooked up to a small extension cord through a junction box with a tom aqualifter

Just make sure you have a snail guard around it because my damn snails have gotten on the switch twice and nearly flooded the tank before I put a guard on it

[JoeR]

17 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

That sounds like an awesome garden!  Got any pics?  The top down looks nice, I like the zoas  

Yeah sure, heres some older pics from a few weeks ago. The first picture is recent, one row of tomatoes. I've got 6 or 8 different varieties I believe, all labeled. Some are purple, some pink, some yellow, some cherry some steak, etc. trying to find what we like and what grows well.

 

the second is an older picture of my garden, it's more overgrown now lol.

[JoeR]

I don't know why I can't upload the bonsai garden pics... but here's some of my other time consumer, one of my fw tanks. Yeah that's a water stain.. idk where it came from 

19 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

lol no problem--you sound like you have a LOT on your plate!  Too much for me to keep manageable right now lol.  I do have a pico, link is in my sig but if you are on mobile you can't see it, so here's the link. 

Thanks for the link, super nice pico! I like the tanks proportions.

[JoeR]

8 hours ago, Mkbarton said:

I use a diy ATO. Float switch hooked up to a small extension cord through a junction box with a tom aqualifter

Just make sure you have a snail guard around it because my damn snails have gotten on the switch twice and nearly flooded the tank before I put a guard on it

Got any pictures?

[mbarton2010]

8 minutes ago, JoeR said:

Got any pictures?

I'll get pics later. Just got back from a fishing trip. I'm exhausted 

[fishfreak0114]

I wish I had a garden that big.  Love your freshwater tank, I wish I had the skills for that style  

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, fishfreak0114 said:

I wish I had a garden that big.  Love your freshwater tank, I wish I had the skills for that style  

Thanks! Yeah I love the garden, but everything's always a struggle. Again, like previous years, pests such as caterpillars are being a huge pain.  They can destroy all of my plants in less than 3 days no joke. I swear organic gardening must not even be possible anymore!! 

 

but If you can manage a saltwater tank you can definitely manage a planted fw tank too. They're way easier! Especially if you have a larger disposable income than what I have.

[Christopher Marks]

That's an awesome freshwater system @JoeR! It looks fantastic in that @UNS glass aquarium too.

 

I've always been curious to try a freshwater planted system. One of these days...

[fishfreak0114]

2 hours ago, JoeR said:

Thanks! Yeah I love the garden, but everything's always a struggle. Again, like previous years, pests such as caterpillars are being a huge pain.  They can destroy all of my plants in less than 3 days no joke. I swear organic gardening must not even be possible anymore!! 

 

but If you can manage a saltwater tank you can definitely manage a planted fw tank too. They're way easier! Especially if you have a larger disposable income than what I have.

Geez that sounds rough. In the tiny garden at my house there haven't been any pests at all. Perhaps we got lucky...

 

I actually have a couple planted freshwater tanks, but I struggle to make them look as lush as yours. I have zero luck with carpet plants. And generally, the scaping isn't much of anything, but I absolutely love the rocks in yours!  It looks so balanced. One day I will figure out how to scape properly...

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

That's an awesome freshwater system @JoeR! It looks fantastic in that @UNS glass aquarium too.

 

I've always been curious to try a freshwater planted system. One of these days...

Thanks! Yeah I posted it in the UNS thread- it's a superb tank, I tell people about how awesome it is every chance I get. I want to replace all my tanks with them honestly. I almost liked it better without plants, they softened the dramatic look too much IMO. I also want to add some tall red plants to spice up the monotonous look it's got.

 

Well all I can say if you do start one someday, is start with an UNS tank (duh) and keep it simple! Don't over complicate it, you're just gonna make it hard on yourself.

 

Check the rockscape before...

[JoeR]

4 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Geez that sounds rough. In the tiny garden at my house there haven't been any pests at all. Perhaps we got lucky...

 

I actually have a couple planted freshwater tanks, but I struggle to make them look as lush as yours. I have zero luck with carpet plants. And generally, the scaping isn't much of anything, but I absolutely love the rocks in yours!  It looks so balanced. One day I will figure out how to scape properly...

Yeah it is rough, last two years I got NOTHING from my tomatoes, very upsetting to put all that work into them for them to just to be a Japanese beetle snack... same thing with my cherry and plum trees. This year I'm determined to not let that happen! Do you live in a city? That may be why you don't have pest issues- we live in the middle of the woods so not surprising I guess that we have issues.

 

You should post your planted tanks! I'll help if you want. What lights do you use? That, or CO2 would be the reason you don't have success with carpeting plants. I personally can't afford pressurized CO2 so I don't use it. Do have the wish app? If so, they sell these "mystery aquarium" seeds for $1, which is what's in my tank, that supposedly can handle low light. As you can see I've had great success with them. Though, my lighting isn't low. But yeah I like the rocks a lot too, they're called ohko or dragon stone. Oh and if you have a low budget, look into walstad bowls- I got two bowls in thinking about using for one, the other a pico reef 

[fishfreak0114]

47 minutes ago, JoeR said:

Yeah it is rough, last two years I got NOTHING from my tomatoes, very upsetting to put all that work into them for them to just to be a Japanese beetle snack... same thing with my cherry and plum trees. This year I'm determined to not let that happen! Do you live in a city? That may be why you don't have pest issues- we live in the middle of the woods so not surprising I guess that we have issues.

 

You should post your planted tanks! I'll help if you want. What lights do you use? That, or CO2 would be the reason you don't have success with carpeting plants. I personally can't afford pressurized CO2 so I don't use it. Do have the wish app? If so, they sell these "mystery aquarium" seeds for $1, which is what's in my tank, that supposedly can handle low light. As you can see I've had great success with them. Though, my lighting isn't low. But yeah I like the rocks a lot too, they're called ohko or dragon stone. Oh and if you have a low budget, look into walstad bowls- I got two bowls in thinking about using for one, the other a pico reef 

I live in what is labelled a city, but I don't think 8000 people really counts.  There's only one row of houses between mine and the forest.  I know my friend a few houses away has slugs, but I've never seen one.

 

This is one of my tanks.

 

I would like some carpeting plants near the front.  I can often keeps plants alive, but they don't grow terribly well.  For instance, the pogostemon helferi at the front of the pic.  I haven't noticed growth in months.  On the tank in the pic, I'm running two of the LED "tubes" that come with the tank (fluval 26g bow).  I got the second at Christmas last year.  I don't know a lot about the light, sorry, just that it can grow plants decently.  I was dosing flourish Excel for a while, but I kept forgetting.

 

On my other tank, a 10g, I'm using a rapid led DIY kit, 6 LED's.  It makes for fairly high light.  I was also dosing Excel in there for a while, but again, I keep forgetting. I have been trying (and failing) to grow marsilea in (either hirsuta or crenata).  That tank has had numerous issues, first nasty algae that came in one some plants, and now greenwater (nearly resolved).

 

I don't have the wish app.  Do you know if they ship to Canada?  I'm guessing seeds can't cross the border?  I would hesitate to put mystery seeds in my 10g, I'm attempting a Dutch look (ha, like that'll happen, maybe in several years at the rate my plants grow ), but in the 26, well I just want it to be full and lush everywhere.

[Lula_Mae]

15 hours ago, JoeR said:

Yeah it is rough, last two years I got NOTHING from my tomatoes, very upsetting to put all that work into them for them to just to be a Japanese beetle snack... same thing with my cherry and plum trees. This year I'm determined to not let that happen! Do you live in a city? That may be why you don't have pest issues- we live in the middle of the woods so not surprising I guess that we have issues.

 

You should post your planted tanks! I'll help if you want. What lights do you use? That, or CO2 would be the reason you don't have success with carpeting plants. I personally can't afford pressurized CO2 so I don't use it. Do have the wish app? If so, they sell these "mystery aquarium" seeds for $1, which is what's in my tank, that supposedly can handle low light. As you can see I've had great success with them. Though, my lighting isn't low. But yeah I like the rocks a lot too, they're called ohko or dragon stone. Oh and if you have a low budget, look into walstad bowls- I got two bowls in thinking about using for one, the other a pico reef 

I think the South is just a marvelous breeding ground for all kinds of creepy crawlies lol.  I've had deer issues when trying to garden, and squirrel and rabbit.  And one year I tried squash but the squash borers got them.  This year I've got a purple bell pepper in a pot with basil, lime basil, lemon thyme, chives and marigolds.  And it's on the narrow covered porch so hopefully nothing will snack on it lol.

[JoeR]

On 6/12/2017 at 8:35 PM, fishfreak0114 said:

I live in what is labelled a city, but I don't think 8000 people really counts.  There's only one row of houses between mine and the forest.  I know my friend a few houses away has slugs, but I've never seen one.

 

This is one of my tanks.

 

I would like some carpeting plants near the front.  I can often keeps plants alive, but they don't grow terribly well.  For instance, the pogostemon helferi at the front of the pic.  I haven't noticed growth in months.  On the tank in the pic, I'm running two of the LED "tubes" that come with the tank (fluval 26g bow).  I got the second at Christmas last year.  I don't know a lot about the light, sorry, just that it can grow plants decently.  I was dosing flourish Excel for a while, but I kept forgetting.

 

On my other tank, a 10g, I'm using a rapid led DIY kit, 6 LED's.  It makes for fairly high light.  I was also dosing Excel in there for a while, but again, I keep forgetting. I have been trying (and failing) to grow marsilea in (either hirsuta or crenata).  That tank has had numerous issues, first nasty algae that came in one some plants, and now greenwater (nearly resolved).

 

I don't have the wish app.  Do you know if they ship to Canada?  I'm guessing seeds can't cross the border?  I would hesitate to put mystery seeds in my 10g, I'm attempting a Dutch look (ha, like that'll happen, maybe in several years at the rate my plants grow ), but in the 26, well I just want it to be full and lush everywhere.

Hmm can't help you with the lighting situation since I don't know the exact lights, but the other problem may be the substrate. Is that standard aquarium gravel you got in there? Carpeting plants especially need finer, quality soil to do well. Really nice tank though, My 30 gal is very similar. Oh and root tabs may be of use for carpeting plants, especially in aquarium gravel.

 

Yeah I've had some nasty algae hitchhike on my plants too, been battling it for months and it's just now finally going away. Oddly, they said dosing high amounts of excel helps get rid of algae but I've almost stopped using it now and the algaes nearly gone. Once I fully get rid of it, I'm going to buy ONLY tissue culture plants. No algae=no more headaches!!

 

I couldn't tell you if they ship to Canada, but the seeds came from China (everything on the app comes from there doesn't it?) so I don't see why that would be an issue. I was hesitant about the seeds too, but my cousin bought me them so I had to give em a shot. I'm beyond impressed with my results so I'd still recommend them, especially with how fast they grow. I'd like a Dutch style tank too but that's a lot of money worth of plants and CO2 haha.

11 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I think the South is just a marvelous breeding ground for all kinds of creepy crawlies lol.  I've had deer issues when trying to garden, and squirrel and rabbit.  And one year I tried squash but the squash borers got them.  This year I've got a purple bell pepper in a pot with basil, lime basil, lemon thyme, chives and marigolds.  And it's on the narrow covered porch so hopefully nothing will snack on it lol.

Oh I agree! In Montana we didn't have half the amount of issues, but the growing season there is so much shorter so it's still a trade off. Ooh purple bell pepper, sounds good lol especially with the herbs. I LOVE fresh basil but that and cilantro is literally impossible to grow here for us! We've tried and tried but they never make it. They grow well for a few weeks and then die

[JoeR]

By the way, I still have not seen the other two sexies... not even when I look with my flashlight at night. Is it safe to assume they're dead too? I really hope not, they were super cute! Plus that's $36 I'll never see again...

 

If I do decide to move the damsel to my larger tank, what type of goby should I get? What about a yasha pistol pair? I don't want it to hide all day though, would a yasha do that? Of course the new goby would have to be sexy-friendly too...

[Lula_Mae]

39 minutes ago, JoeR said:

Hmm can't help you with the lighting situation since I don't know the exact lights, but the other problem may be the substrate. Is that standard aquarium gravel you got in there? Carpeting plants especially need finer, quality soil to do well. Really nice tank though, My 30 gal is very similar. Oh and root tabs may be of use for carpeting plants, especially in aquarium gravel.

 

Yeah I've had some nasty algae hitchhike on my plants too, been battling it for months and it's just now finally going away. Oddly, they said dosing high amounts of excel helps get rid of algae but I've almost stopped using it now and the algaes nearly gone. Once I fully get rid of it, I'm going to buy ONLY tissue culture plants. No algae=no more headaches!!

 

I couldn't tell you if they ship to Canada, but the seeds came from China (everything on the app comes from there doesn't it?) so I don't see why that would be an issue. I was hesitant about the seeds too, but my cousin bought me them so I had to give em a shot. I'm beyond impressed with my results so I'd still recommend them, especially with how fast they grow. I'd like a Dutch style tank too but that's a lot of money worth of plants and CO2 haha.

Oh I agree! In Montana we didn't have half the amount of issues, but the growing season there is so much shorter so it's still a trade off. Ooh purple bell pepper, sounds good lol especially with the herbs. I LOVE fresh basil but that and cilantro is literally impossible to grow here for us! We've tried and tried but they never make it. They grow well for a few weeks and then die

I've got my plants on the porch so they're a bit shaded, since I've read peppers don't like direct sun in the heat we get down here.  Still gets full sun all afternoon, just not fully exposed.  The lime basil gets the most sun and has bolted already, started bolting almost immediately.  The genovese-type basil is in the back, shaded by the pepper, so it's doing very well so far.  Maybe try planting some in the shade of other plants?  So far all I've gotten off the pepper are blossoms lol.  Should probably take a Q-tip and make sure the blossoms get fertilized.

[fishfreak0114]

The 26 has seachem flourite gravel, and the 10 has flourite black sand. I always forget to put in new root tabs...speaking of which, I'd better go put some in haha. 

 

I tried high levels of excel, too, but it didn't help. If anything, it made it worse. 

 

I'll definitely be checking out those seeds!  One day, I'd love at true Dutch aquarium, but for now, a 10g  with clumps of stem plants (which amazingly I finally seem to be able to grow well) will have to suffice.  It's good enough for me  

 

I hope your sexies turn up. A shrimp goby pair would be very cool, I'm considering one. I'm not sure if yashas hide a lot, but in a small tank, I don't think it would be too hard to find it. 

[JoeR]

On 6/13/2017 at 11:54 PM, fishfreak0114 said:

The 26 has seachem flourite gravel, and the 10 has flourite black sand. I always forget to put in new root tabs...speaking of which, I'd better go put some in haha. 

 

I tried high levels of excel, too, but it didn't help. If anything, it made it worse. 

 

I'll definitely be checking out those seeds!  One day, I'd love at true Dutch aquarium, but for now, a 10g  with clumps of stem plants (which amazingly I finally seem to be able to grow well) will have to suffice.  It's good enough for me  

 

I hope your sexies turn up. A shrimp goby pair would be very cool, I'm considering one. I'm not sure if yashas hide a lot, but in a small tank, I don't think it would be too hard to find it. 

That substrate should be fine, so if it's not soil it must indeed be the light. I agree, if anything the excel made things worse it seems.

 

the seeds would be perfect in the foreground of a Dutch aquarium IMO since not only do they grow tall, bushy, and full looking, but also have a red tinge to the leaves that adds nice color.

 

 

i think my sexies are goners. I wake up at 3:30 AM for work, and I use a flashlight to check for them but STILL havent seen them. Super disappointing. But the main question is- where are the carcasses? No nutrient spike, all params are still perfect...

[Clown79]

On 2017-6-12 at 8:35 PM, fishfreak0114 said:

I live in what is labelled a city, but I don't think 8000 people really counts.  There's only one row of houses between mine and the forest.  I know my friend a few houses away has slugs, but I've never seen one.

 

This is one of my tanks.

 

I would like some carpeting plants near the front.  I can often keeps plants alive, but they don't grow terribly well.  For instance, the pogostemon helferi at the front of the pic.  I haven't noticed growth in months.  On the tank in the pic, I'm running two of the LED "tubes" that come with the tank (fluval 26g bow).  I got the second at Christmas last year.  I don't know a lot about the light, sorry, just that it can grow plants decently.  I was dosing flourish Excel for a while, but I kept forgetting.

 

On my other tank, a 10g, I'm using a rapid led DIY kit, 6 LED's.  It makes for fairly high light.  I was also dosing Excel in there for a while, but again, I keep forgetting. I have been trying (and failing) to grow marsilea in (either hirsuta or crenata).  That tank has had numerous issues, first nasty algae that came in one some plants, and now greenwater (nearly resolved).

 

I don't have the wish app.  Do you know if they ship to Canada?  I'm guessing seeds can't cross the border?  I would hesitate to put mystery seeds in my 10g, I'm attempting a Dutch look (ha, like that'll happen, maybe in several years at the rate my plants grow ), but in the 26, well I just want it to be full and lush everywhere.

An easy carpeting plant is the marsilea hirsuta. Its really nice. Looks like clovers.

[JoeR]

Earlier in the thread, I had said that I got some $1 zoa frags even though I didn't need anymore. Well, I'm sure glad I did though- they are starting to color up very nicely! As always, you can't tell the true color from the stupid camera, but this one frag has two similar types you can kinda see in the pic. One has an awesome orange/peach center surrounded by a nice turquoise color with a yellow skirt. The other ones are turquoise, red-orange, and yellow. Another separate frag is dark purple/black with a neon pink middle. BEYOND happy with them for $1 !! Wish they would spread as fast as my other Zoas though... maybe it's because they're dwarf?

[JoeR]

Still don't know where to put the pseudo-jackolantern coral... or how to take the plug nub off... anyone? It bleaches in too high of light so that must be taken into consideration. Need to buy reef safe glue for it...

 

Oh and how do I know if my ricordea is splitting? I've been thinking it's gonna split for weeks now. It has three "mouths" and is ruffled looking. I've added a pic of my chalice coral too; it's barely grown at all. I had no idea how slow they grow, all it's done is get "puffy" for lack of a better term. Wish I had known that before I bought it. Everything is doing well overall though, the birdsnest is bleaching at the ends oddly but the polyps are still extended so I guess it's just acclimating?

 

The sexies are definitely goners 

[fishfreak0114]

Do you have bone cutters?  That's what I use to break off frag plugs. You can cut the stem, or if the coral has a skeleton, apply pressure to the glue where skeleton meets plug and it should pop off. I once a had a mummy eye chalice, but it didn't grow at all so I gave it away 

[JoeR]

8 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Do you have bone cutters?  That's what I use to break off frag plugs. You can cut the stem, or if the coral has a skeleton, apply pressure to the glue where skeleton meets plug and it should pop off. I once a had a mummy eye chalice, but it didn't grow at all so I gave it away 

Bone cutters? Don't even know what you mean by that so probably not lol. I thought I could use my concave bonsai cutters but they're much harder than I thought. I've read about using wet saws but that would mean a lot of time out of water which sounds unnecessarily stressful and dangerous (to the coral).

 

So for softies- like my Florida Rico- you're saying to cut the stem where it attaches to the plug with a razor blade? Then just use reef safe super glue to attach it where I want?

 

Those mummy eyes look cool but just like you said, and same with my standard cup, you have to wait what like 10-15 years for them to mature? Little too slow IMO even for a pico.

[fishfreak0114]

This is what I was referring to.  I use a pair of those to break the stems off frag plugs.

[JoeR]

On 6/22/2017 at 7:56 PM, fishfreak0114 said:

This is what I was referring to.  I use a pair of those to break the stems off frag plugs.

Sorry, I guess I missed this post. I'll have to look for those and see if I can find some, maybe at a hardware store?

 

...

 

The corals and fish are still thriving, but whatever this stuff is- Dino's or cyano- STILL won't go away. It fluctuates; sometimes it's almost 100% gone, other times (like now) it's taking over the tank and covering everything. I don't know what's causing it, my Params are great unless my test kit is wrong. Zero ammonia, zero nitrate, zero or less than 5ppm nitrite. Weekly cleaning and ~30% WC with fresh filter floss. Whatever it is, Turk eats the long strands if that helps ID it...

 

I know it's hard to see, but it's this fluffy looking stuff with bubbles on some of it. Reddish in color. Maybe I kick stuff up after cleaning the sand and cause a spike in something, idk possibly chaeto could be of help here?