Le Dirté Freshwater 10g Planted Tank and 110g Koi Pond

[ECLS Reefer]

The freshwater tank is plugging along, looking great! 
 

@kimberbee does Wonton come up to you when you’re in front of the tank?

 

 

[kimberbee]

Yep! He's my kitchen buddy, since I spend my whole life there, either making someone food or doing dishes after someone has eaten food... 

[ECLS Reefer]

18 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Yep! He's my kitchen buddy, since I spend my whole life there, either making someone food or doing dishes after someone has eaten food... 

They kill me, how they follow you around like a fish puppy.

[ECLS Reefer]

Today was a crazy frustrating day! Started the boys on homeschooling which was painful, holy cow! Glad that’s not going to be permanent. The pond ran dry around 10am while still trying to figure out this last minute homeschooling thing with the school. Pump started SCREAMING and it took me a hot second to figure out what it was. Glad the thing didn’t burn up in that time. Decided upon taking it out and cleaning it to make it an external pump so plumbing ensued. I like it- much smaller foot print inside the pond now, easier to get to the pump for maintenance. 
 

Oh and Mr Tex said hi.

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

The pond has cleared up soooo much with the addition of gravel and plants. I hope the plants really start to take off soon. The guppies and mollies are doing well, but my koi and shebunkins remain shy and unfriendly. Annoying since I can’t dedicate one time a day to sit out there and try to get them used to me as babies. Guess I’ll have to wait until they’re much bigger like the last group was.

 

Oh and the first picture is of the koi’s unfriendly little noses. 

[ECLS Reefer]

Out of an abundance of boredom, I'm updating all my tank threads today 😂. 
 

 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

Well poor Tex the Betta, Rest In Peace. The cancer finally got him last week. So we ventured out for a new betta, and the child’s first pick.... died over night. Kinda hard to judge how healthy a fish in in a cup full of water. 
 

So yesterday we picked out another, this time easier to find (the other guy was as blue as the LEDs and impossibly camouflaged). He’s doing well it seems and is named Rex. 
 

 

 

I think Rex is pretty cute

 

The tiki head is just for @spectra

[ECLS Reefer]

Haven’t updated this in forever.

 

Recently upgraded the light to an AI Prime Freshwater light which has made the tank look completely different 

 

Put a few more plants in

 

Added new gravel. Tank looks much better and fresher now.

 

Am hoping in the near future to upgrade the tank to an AIO system, possibly a water box. This HOB has worked well for me all this time but recently has lost some efficiency I guess because it tends to stink, even with filter floss changed frequently and carbon. And if I have to get a new filter, I would rather go to an AIO system for neatness. 

[ECLS Reefer]

So the AI Prime light may be doing TOO much good for this tank... 🤔 Have had something of a plant-splosion. While a good thing, not sure the fish all agree. The snails are loving it though. The Cory cats had another clutch of eggs, which lasted only a few days before getting mowed down by snails. Poor guys just can’t get a clutch to hatch. 

 

 

Have really got to ask Santa for a new cabinet and larger tank for all these guys. 

 

Also added two new heaters to the koi pond yesterday. I know, koi are supposed to be able to tolerate low temps. BUT. These fat koi are very spoiled sub tropical Houston koi and they were NOT, NOT NOT, happy about the 60 degree water. They were all huddled like little sumo wrestlers under the water fall acting pathetic. At the moment am using two Hydor 400W heaters, but may eventually spring for an inline heater. Need to get a new external filter anyway. Talk has moved again to expanding the pond, new liner and more capacity. Hopefully this spring.

[ECLS Reefer]

Haven’t updated this thread in ages, but no real changes have happened in forever. We still have a guppy herd, the original Cory cat pair which try and fail regularly for babies (the snails eat the clutches every time), one remaining original Glofish tetra, the red dragon pleco and a Dalmatian Molly. The biggest thing is plants now grow like they’ve been hit with nuclear hydroponic mutant grow power and I regularly have to cull moss and whatever plant that is I’ve stuck in there (can’t remember 😳). 
 

The other two big items is: shrimp-splosion and duckweed. The 9 year old proprietor of the tank wanted to try shrimp again, and the duck weed came with, and now both have exploded! Shrimps are everywhere which is pretty cool to see. The duck weed is added to the list of plants getting culled weekly but I don’t mind. 
 

Overall this tank is doing well and on autopilot, and pleasing to watch these days. 
 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

Haven’t checked in with this tank for almost a year, but it’s doing well. There is a constant battle beating back the moss in there, which likes to take over, but it’s better than the time when I started this tank when I couldn’t make a single plant grow at all. Now I have to cull stuff every month or so to be able to see in there.

 

We also struggled at first to grow shrimp, but now they’re the most populated creature in there. We’ve tried guppies and they dont last, and we’ve tried platys, same problem. There is a neon tetra in there from the original tank start, making him about three years old now, and he’s still going strong. The most recent new additions are a male and female beta pair, which are doing fairly well getting along. Hopefully they will continue to do so for a nice long time and even give me the gift of grandbetas. There is also a two year old red dragon pleco in there that’s now nearly 3 inches long, which could become a problem eventually on tank size.

 

Worked all day assembling a new stand/cabinet for this tank, as the owner hopes to one day talk me and his daddy into a bigger AIO set up rather than this 10g HOB set up we’ve had. This cabinet should be better able to handle a nicer tank, and I’m pondering something like an Innovative Marine Fusion 20 or peninsula 20. Maybe the peninsula 14g. Will have to research the depth of the top shelf to see what it can support on tank size, and I’m not looking to go huge, since it’s no fancy FW setup. But those are plans for the someday.

≥÷