Rain
Posted by Anja on March 23, 2010 at 00:30 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:51Learned about rain water for my South American tank tonight. I’ve been thinking about that before, them preferring soft, acidic water and all, but hadn’t quite dared. But apparently it’s totally possible. Talked to a guy who does it all the time, and only supplies a bit of electrolytes. As soon as the rain barrel is back up (which should be soon), I’ll have to try this.
Tags: chemistry | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Rain | PermalinkTank full
Posted by Anja on June 23, 2008 at 19:29 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:31Added 3 ghost shrimp
… and 6 diamond tetras today
… and consider the tank fully stocked now. Water quality remains good, but I’m toying with the idea of getting a larger filter and putting this one on the 10 gallon I’m planning for the WCMM when they have to come out of the pond in the fall. We’ll see.
Tags: chemistry, Moenkhausia pittieri, Palaemonetes, plans | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Tank full | PermalinkStill no neons
Posted by Anja on May 4, 2008 at 19:21 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:24I wanted to divide the large java fern on the side, so took out half of the water to get at it, cut it up and restick it plus some seven or eight new little plantlets. First time I did a 50% water change since set-up. I hope the fish will be ok with this, and all the java fern divisions will survive. Unfortunately, I can’t take any pictures ’cause the camera broke. *sniff*
Even though I treat the new water with Blackwater Extract, the color of the tank water has cleared up dramatically with this. I can actually see that the rocks on the back wall print are gray rather than brown. Not sure I like it that much, but I guess I’ll get used to it, and the water will get a little more yellow again, too.
Tags: chemistry, Microsorum pteropus | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Still no neons | PermalinkEveryone is peachy
Posted by Anja on April 19, 2008 at 19:18 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:19… and the little pleco doesn’t look like he took any damage. I hope I caught it in time, and that the weeks he spent at the LFS were enough of a quarantine.
I still don’t know why the QT suddenly crashed like that, but I guess that small a system w/out any plants is always vulnerable. I might also change the filter material. I don’t trust those all in one pads that came with it. When you change one (though I hadn’t, so that wasn’t it), all the nitrifying bacteria come out with it. That can’t be good.
The mystery Ranger Pleco btw. seems to be a Pterygoplichthys weberi.
Tags: chemistry, Pterygoplichthys weberi, Rory | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Everyone is peachy | PermalinkQT crash
Posted by Anja on April 16, 2008 at 19:17 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:18Had a heart attack this morning. Went to check the ammonia in the QT as I did every second day, and it was through the roof. Did an immediate 75% water change w/ Prime and Stability, and the pleco, who’d been just hovering on the bottom immediately picked up a bit, but ammo was still not in any comfortable range. I did small 1 quart water changes every fifteen minutes for a few hours, w/out bringing it down any further.
Around 4p.m. I finally gave up on it, netted the pleco, checked him over for any signs of burns, but didn’t see any, and moved him into the main tank.
Lost one of my cories today
Posted by Anja on April 12, 2008 at 19:15 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:16He was the smallest and always a little less boisterous than the others. Yesterday afternoon I missed him at feeding time, and searched in vain all evening. This morning I found him still alive, but sticking to the filter intake. I put him in a QT by himself so he wouldn’t get picked on (not that there was a mark on him), and an hour later he was dead. I have no clue what killed him. All I can think of is that he was fighting something since I got him, and the stress of being moved to the main tank on Wednesday weakened him further. But I have no idea what he could have been fighting. Apart from the fact that he was half the size of the others (and they’re all not fully grown, so I thought he was just a bit younger), he didn’t look any different. He was definitely out and about and feeding with everyone else yesterday morning. Water tested the same as always (amm/trites 0, nitrates under 20).
Needless to say I’m keeping a sharp eye on the others now.