Show off your Freshwater!

[Mariaface]

Just now, Pjanssen said:

I didn't know FW got cyano

 

It does! It normally gets called 'blue-green algae' (BGA for short), though.

 

I'm trying out phosguard as a way to limit phosphates in the water column for both freshwater tanks (betta tank cyano keeps coming back after every 100% water change so something's in the substrate for sure). I already know I'm nitrate limited in every one of my tanks (FW and SW), though  

[Pjanssen]

I'm trying to get up the motivation to do a complete redo of my tank- all new substrate, lights, filter. Keeping nothing but the fish and maybe a couple of the rocks just because they have sentimental value (gathered during family vacations to N Carolina and Tennessee)

[Mariaface]

6 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

I'm trying to get up the motivation to do a complete redo of my tank- all new substrate, lights, filter. Keeping nothing but the fish and maybe a couple of the rocks just because they have sentimental value (gathered during family vacations to N Carolina and Tennessee)

 

Do it! Weekend project!

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

I'm trying to get up the motivation to do a complete redo of my tank- all new substrate, lights, filter. Keeping nothing but the fish and maybe a couple of the rocks just because they have sentimental value (gathered during family vacations to N Carolina and Tennessee)

If your rocks are covered in algae you can soak them in hydrogen peroxide and water. Scrub with a toothbrush and rinse. 

They will be like brand new.

 

Do you have cichlids?

Texas holey rock on black substrate looks awesome with cichlids.

 

Check out the nicrew led on amazon. It's really cheap and great for the price. 

[Lula_Mae]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Thank you.

He's different looking. We were worried He's go all blue but he kept his peach and blue colour.

Actually I decided on going with plastic instead of real wood. I don't like the discoloration the tannins in wood causes.

I tried it and my tank was tea brown. 

I used to have a mustard colored betta.  He was so pretty!  Had another "dragon scale" from petco that was a pretty turquoise blue body with gold fins. I think I will always have a betta or two in the house!

[Pjanssen]

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

If your rocks are covered in algae you can soak them in hydrogen peroxide and water. Scrub with a toothbrush and rinse. 

They will be like brand new.

 

Do you have cichlids?

Texas holey rock on black substrate looks awesome with cichlids.

 

Check out the nicrew led on amazon. It's really cheap and great for the price. 

Thanks for the tip.

No cichlids. I have 1 or 2 Gouramis, some type of shark. maybe a couple of cories, and a couple of neon tetras. IDK. It's my husbands tank and I try not to look at it as it hurts my eyes!

I was looking at this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GH9HURE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

[Pjanssen]

or this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016P96UA8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=APGLUTFSIU1LH&psc=1

[JoeMan02]

I'm posting a video on how to start a nice looking tank without breaking the bank on my youtube channel tomorrow! check it out once I post it and it may save you a good amount of cash! 

[Thunder Goose]

7 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

I'm trying to get up the motivation to do a complete redo of my tank- all new substrate, lights, filter. Keeping nothing but the fish and maybe a couple of the rocks just because they have sentimental value (gathered during family vacations to N Carolina and Tennessee)

I need to do a redo but my FW tank is 120 gallons. Bit more than a weekend project.

[Friendly]

anyone else with dwarf puffers here? 

 

I want mOaR piktures...please.  

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

or this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016P96UA8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=APGLUTFSIU1LH&psc=1

I just ordered a slightly different Beamswork for my FW.  Nice and bright, we'll see how the plants respond!  Nice white color temperature on the one I got too.

[Friendly]

32 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I just ordered a slightly different Beamswork for my FW.  Nice and bright, we'll see how the plants respond!  Nice white color temperature on the one I got too.

heh. amazon.ca says 'unavailable', LOL!

[kinetic]

11 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Thank you.

He's different looking. We were worried He's go all blue but he kept his peach and blue colour.

Actually I decided on going with plastic instead of real wood. I don't like the discoloration the tannins in wood causes.

I tried it and my tank was tea brown. 

Yeah, I put a piece of wood in my tank and it was the worst. I took it out, but even with a ton of water changes and carbon, it's still cloudy.

 

What plastic piece did you get? Where did you get it from?

[Clown79]

1 minute ago, kinetic said:

Yeah, I put a piece of wood in my tank and it was the worst. I took it out, but even with a ton of water changes and carbon, it's still cloudy.

 

What plastic piece did you get? Where did you get it from?

I was so upset at the brown water, it was gross! 

I immediately took the wood out, rinsed all the media(it was brown too) ran new carbon and did a massive water change. 

 

It seemed to work.

 

I got the "wood" piece at petsmart. It was a little long so my husband took the hack saw to it. 

Petsmart has really nice decor.

[kinetic]

1 minute ago, Clown79 said:

I was so upset at the brown water, it was gross! 

I immediately took the wood out, rinsed all the media(it was brown too) ran new carbon and did a massive water change. 

 

It seemed to work.

 

I got the "wood" piece at petsmart. It was a little long so my husband took the hack saw to it. 

Petsmart has really nice decor.

awesome! thanks for the tip =)

[Lula_Mae]

18 minutes ago, Friendly said:

heh. amazon.ca says 'unavailable', LOL!

This is the actual one I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DZQ4BD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I was so upset at the brown water, it was gross! 

I immediately took the wood out, rinsed all the media(it was brown too) ran new carbon and did a massive water change. 

 

It seemed to work.

 

I got the "wood" piece at petsmart. It was a little long so my husband took the hack saw to it. 

Petsmart has really nice decor.

+1 I have a resin rock cave thingie that I got at Petsmart 9 years ago and is still in my tank!

[Clown79]

5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I used to have a mustard colored betta.  He was so pretty!  Had another "dragon scale" from petco that was a pretty turquoise blue body with gold fins. I think I will always have a betta or two in the house!

They are underrated fish. Ppl think they are boring but that's because they see them in a tiny bowl.

When you give them a proper home they are actually cool fish.

 

Mustard would be cool. 

Turquoise is my fav colour. I wanted one but couldn't find one.

Wish you could have 2 together!

[Clown79]

5 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Thanks for the tip.

No cichlids. I have 1 or 2 Gouramis, some type of shark. maybe a couple of cories, and a couple of neon tetras. IDK. It's my husbands tank and I try not to look at it as it hurts my eyes!

I was looking at this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GH9HURE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

The finnex is a good light. It's recommended by many.

 

You could redo the tank fairly easily. 

 

If you do real plants you will want sand or substrate for planted. Gravel is too hard on roots.

 

When you have a nice looking tank it's so enjoyable.

I switched because the other 5g was such a pain and very hard to keep clean.

 

Does your hubby do any maintenance or would he care if you took over?

 

Pick a day to do the work.

 

Siphon some tank water into buckets, put fish in it with air stone/pump.

Siphon more water into another bucket to save.

 

Remove rocks, soak in hydrogen water mix.

 

Remove gravel if doing real plants, if not stir it and vacuum it well. No need to replace it.

 

Scrub walls of algae.

Siphon remaining water out. 

 

Replace rocks. Maybe add some new ones like slate to mix with yours. 

 

Clean filter media. Replace with saved water and new water. Add fish.

 

If doing real plants. Scoop out the sand or siphon it out with a larger hose.

 

Add new substrate. Add rocks, add plants.

 

Good beginner plants:

Vals, bacopa, crypts, and anubias nana, java, and wisteria. 

No need for co2 injection if doing low tech. But adding seachem excel will help not only the plants but helps reduce algae.

 

 

 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Friendly said:

anyone else with dwarf puffers here? 

 

I want mOaR piktures...please.  

I originally set up my tank for pea puffers. I couldn't get any. I think they are adorable.

[Pjanssen]

30 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

The finnex is a good light. It's recommended by many.

 

You could redo the tank fairly easily. 

 

If you do real plants you will want sand or substrate for planted. Gravel is too hard on roots.

 

When you have a nice looking tank it's so enjoyable.

I switched because the other 5g was such a pain and very hard to keep clean.

 

Does your hubby do any maintenance or would he care if you took over?

 

Pick a day to do the work.

 

Siphon some tank water into buckets, put fish in it with air stone/pump.

Siphon more water into another bucket to save.

 

Remove rocks, soak in hydrogen water mix.

 

Remove gravel if doing real plants, if not stir it and vacuum it well. No need to replace it.

 

Scrub walls of algae.

Siphon remaining water out. 

 

Replace rocks. Maybe add some new ones like slate to mix with yours. 

 

Clean filter media. Replace with saved water and new water. Add fish.

 

If doing real plants. Scoop out the sand or siphon it out with a larger hose.

 

Add new substrate. Add rocks, add plants.

 

Good beginner plants:

Vals, bacopa, crypts, and anubias nana, java, and wisteria. 

No need for co2 injection if doing low tech. But adding seachem excel will help not only the plants but helps reduce algae.

 

 

 

The only maintenance my hubby does is to do a massive water change and clean the glass every now and then and especially if we have company coming over. He would be thrilled if I took it over, but not if it ends up costing a fortune! He will not let me just get rid of it like I want to.

 

My biggest issue is that it is visible on all 4 sides. I'd like to get rid of the HOB filters but having a hard time deciding what to get. There is no place to hide a canister. All of the submersible filters I've seen are for smaller tanks.

 

My other concern is how scratched the glass is. It just seems to attract algae.

 

Definitely live plants. Probably going to use eco complete. Thanks for the plant suggestions. Aquascaping is challenging too because of all of the sides being viewable

[Clown79]

@Pjanssen

 

 

All the sides being viewable can be really nice. 

 

I drew up some quick rough sketches  to give you an idea on what can be done with full 4 panel view.

 

The first pic

 

- set up rock islands in the middle with a bit of space in between.

 

- plant high plants like bacopa or vals along each end and middle.

- plant some medium height plants with the high plants on the end.

- then sporadically place some low level plants a nana petites in the same areas.

 

From all 4 sides it would look really cool.

 

What hob do you have?

I'd just use that. Possibly placing it on theside panel will make it look less noticeable.

 

2nd pic

 

Get a piece of fake wood and place it in the middle on an angle. Place your rocks on one end. Add a dwarf Sagittaria in between the rocks and wood

 

Use high vals along the 1 side panel

Add medium plants into that one corner and some low level plants like nana in front of the medium height plants

 

In the other corner do some high plants, a medium height plant, and low level ones.

 

The one side in time will be more full than the other but you don't necessarily want perfect symmetry.

 

 

When you redo the tank, when it's empty, use hydrogen peroxide in the scratches to remove the algae. Then wipe down with a wet cloth.

 

 doing a planted freshwater can be just as enjoyable as a reef.

 

It doesn't have to be expensive.

 

I did low tech for cost effectiveness. I have no money after 2 reef tanks. lol

 

-Low light plants only with cheap low light led fixture.

 

-No c02 injection.  seachem excel 

- used standard sand with seachem root tabs. 

- seachem flourish

- plants

 

[Pjanssen]

@Clown79 Thank you for all of that! I'm much closer to moving forward. @JoeMan02 said he's posting some kind of youtube video on setting up a freshwater tank today so I figured I'd watch that. 

[Clown79]

You're welcome.

It's gives you some idea of what can be done

[Boggers]

13 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I was so upset at the brown water, it was gross! 

I immediately took the wood out, rinsed all the media(it was brown too) ran new carbon and did a massive water change. 

 

It seemed to work.

 

I got the "wood" piece at petsmart. It was a little long so my husband took the hack saw to it. 

Petsmart has really nice decor.

 

14 hours ago, kinetic said:

Yeah, I put a piece of wood in my tank and it was the worst. I took it out, but even with a ton of water changes and carbon, it's still cloudy.

 

What plastic piece did you get? Where did you get it from?

Blackwater tanks are not for everyone, but I like the tint and so do my Pencil Fish and Apisto.

[JoeMan02]

4 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

@Clown79 Thank you for all of that! I'm much closer to moving forward. @JoeMan02 said he's posting some kind of youtube video on setting up a freshwater tank today so I figured I'd watch that. 

What I posted should work with your size tank, however you may need to add an extra brace (because of water pressure)  and of course the entire filter would need to be amped up in size according to the tank you have. Message me if you need sizing help for pumps, chambers, etc...

 

 

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