Cgy_Betta_Guy

This is a reboot of the tank from this original thread 6G Fluval Edge Sw Fowlr With 10G Sump http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?/topic/31591-6g-fluval-edge-sw-fowlr-with-10g-sump-pic-heavy/page/7/&tab=comments#comment-2278418 20211023 Reboot time! The salt water tank experiment ran its course of about 2-3 years at which point it became over run with algae and some of the critters started dying off. Great learning experience and were I to do it again it would definitely not be in an Edge tank. Anyways, I basically refilled this tank with freshwater and ran it for a few weeks with a cup of bleach to clean it out after scrubbing the algae. Ended up being a slightly planted tank for a bit but wasnt anything fancy. Equipment: remains pretty close to the same as when it was salt water tank. Fluval Edge tank 6G Hagen 10 G acting as sump 2x MR16 LED bulbs that replaced the original halogens that came with the Fluval Edge kit 1 x 16" Finnex Fugeray Plant+ fixtures standing up on the glass on legs built from erasers glued together. 1 x Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED (18-24" size) In line CO2 diffuser on the return line from the sump with 5 lb Co2 tank attached Marineland Maxijet 900 rated at 230 GPH Substrate: Tropica soil powder Sump substrate: Tropica soil Critters (at time of initial stocking): 15x Celestial Pearl Danios 20x Yellow Golden back shrimp 3x horned Nerite snails 4x juvenile Amano shrimp and 1x adult Amano Shrimp many Malaysian Trumpet snail babies which managed to survive from the first clean out and rescape After rebooting the first Edge tank I made the decision to give this second one a reboot too, making a simple diorama style scape with a tree and maybe a stone or two. Went out and bought a number of pieces of spider wood for fairly cheap and constructed my tree from 3 seperate chunks. One full piece to serve as the main trunk and branch and cut some smaller chunks off the other 2 pieces to construct other branches. First time trying to attach wood together using super glue, cotton and saw dust but I think it turned out ok for $20. Attached a chunk of slate rock I had on hand to the bottom using silicon so it wouldnt float on me. Didnt take any pictures of this process unfortunately. 20211117 Took me a while to decide to actually clean out the tank and get to scaping. Similar to my other Edge tank, this one was already running with fluorite sand and had some plants in it that I was storing for use in other tanks but nothing truly display worthy. The plan was once again to drain, scoop out all the sand, put in new substrate and hardscape and plant it all in one session. Got an early start in the day on this one since the other took me so long to scape. Luckily for this one I was only planning to place the tree and a couple rocks. Decided to use the Tropica Aqua soil powder in this one since it fits the nano scale a bit better. Photo period is 4 on 4 off 4 on daily. Elatine Hydropiper Staurogyne repens Cryptocoryne nurii Heteranthera zosterifolia Rotala H'Ra Rotalla wallichii Hemianthus micranthemoides Pearl weed Piptospatha ridleyii Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo' All of the plants were tissue culture plants with the Monte Carlo being attached to the wood using super glue gel to make the tree canopy. First time trying Monte Carlo but I do like the looks of it and hope it fills in ok 20211202 Added a few other types of plants to the mix. Rotala macrandra Pogostemon erectus Eriocaulon cinereum Dwarf Sag Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping' moss Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' Homolomena Sp. 'Sekadau South' (AGAIN) Unfortunately my first attempt with Elatine Hydropiper failed as it died after planting over the course of a week. Bought a new TC cup and proceeded to plant again. The entire cup of Reinickii was dropped in with out splitting and weighed down in place with a couple plant weights. The Monte Carlo that was glued to the tree pretty much disintegrated or broke off and started floating. Heard it was a tough plant to grow but had hoped to have better progress. My TC weeping moss was attached to a lava rock using super glue and it also died. It was a costly end of November beginning of December buying TC cups for this tank. Lots of fuzzies growing on the tree which was to be expected. Scrubbed most of it off with toothbrush and brought my large Amano over from the other tank to help out. 20211212 The Elatine once again died off after being planted and I had to decide on what to do for a carpetting plant going forward. Figured out that the room these tanks are in were getting hot due to the cold weather outside. The furnace was going more often to heat the main floor which means my basement gets warmer. Tank temps were 28 degrees which I think is why the Elatine wasnt working. New portion of TC of weeping moss put into tank as well as a small portions of Ludwigia sp. 'Atlantis' and Ludwigia palustris 'Super Red', both of which were having a hard time adjusting to being under water in a quarantine tank I had them in since I bought them as pots.. Big blooms of fuzz on the tree continue as well as some of the diatom poofs in what is left of the monte carlo. There were some adult MTS in the tank when it was running as a storage tank as a result lots of malaysian trumpet snail babies started showing up with the growth of lots of green spot algae on the glass in this tank. Quite a different start in comparison to the other edge tank. 20211218 New plant for carpet Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'. Couple of stems of Bacopa caroliniana added, Zosterifolia removed and some rearranging of plants. 15 CPDs, 20 Yellow Golden back shrimps added along with 3 horned nerite snails to try and keep the green dust algae on the glass under control. 1 Japan Blue Endler livebearer male and a small endler fry were inadvertantly transferred in with the CPDs which were originally in my 31G Endler tank. Try as I might I could not catch these 2 strays. Will have to try again when I do a water change and lower the water level. 20211225 Finally getting some good growth from all plants and carpet starting to establish. Even the monte carlo in the tree has been growing ... breaking off but growing. Ludwigia Atlantis moved to the sump to grow out. Green dust and spot algae on glass starting to lessen. 20220106 Some rearranging again. Eriocaulon cinereum moved to back right corner. Bacopa caroliniana and Rotala macrandra moved to sump 20220110 Moved weeping moss rock over to left side... not sold on its positioning yet. A couple extra Eriocaulon cinereum put in on the left side again. Added additional small sized amano shrimps and what looks to be some susswassertang that came with the yellow back shrimp last month. Score! havent had that in a long time. 20220125 Growth! Had a small patch of black brush algae show up on the eriocaulon and nurii on the left side of the tank. Some small patch or two in the tree. Spot treated with peroxide only turning it white in this picture. Algae growths are coinciding with the cold weather and hot basement. 20220204 Happened to look into the sump and noticed some small fry in there! Feel like the endler fry female is too small to have birthed them and these are super tiny in comparison to any live born fry I have seen from the Endlers. I am hoping they are CPD fry that hatched from eggs stuck to plants that were transferred into the sump. Have no micro worms or anything to feed them so dropping in small quantity of crushed flakes once in a while. 20220208 Big rearrange. The weeping moss rock and staurogyne repens swapped spots in the left foreground.. Removed the Pogostemon erectus from the left and planted more H'ra. Put some Wallichii cuttings along back left background. Eriocaulon cinereum from the left join up with the others in the back right. 20220214 Moved the Ludwigia palustris stems into the back left to join some of the wallichii. Carpet of HC continues to fill in. Grabbed the loose monte carlo that has been floating and growing in both my edge tanks and attached to the 2 rear platforms on the tree. The left platform attached using super glue gel and the right platform tied with brown cotton thread. Hope they hold on. Missed a couple of water changes though and have some algae growing in the already attached monte carlo on the 3 front lower platforms. Moved the remaining 5 gold back shrimps into the sump to join the mystery fry... Think as the CPDs were getting bigger they were picking off the shrimp somehow. Hopefully their populations recover. 20220225 This week noticed one of the CPDs had a small white protrusion sticking out of the lower part of its gills. Still looked to be feeding a bit but the next morning found the body amongst the wallichii in the back. Added a Anubias Pangolino and another Piptospathi ridleyii attached to a stone that was not doing well in another tank. Amanos proceeded to inspect and clean a bit of them after they were placed. Added a black window film to the back of this tank to help the colors pop a little and considering if I want to do it to the mountain tank. Removed the most of the flower stocks from the Erio cinereum and placed 2 root tabs around them as they dont look to be doing well at the back corner of the tank. Trimmed the HC a little on the right side and seems to be recovering well. This is what I stare at during my boring work meetings 20220312 The fry in the sump are still in there and growing up! Still unclear if they are Endlers or Celestial Pearl Danios but I am leaning towards the CPD as they seem to have a different shape to my other Endler fry. Majority of them are still pretty small but I managed to finally capture a manually focused pic of this zippy little fella who seems the biggest of the bunch at maybe 1/4" or 4-5mm long. 20220319 S Repens in left side starting to fade and losing leaves. Some of the HC seems yellowy. Erio in back right seems to be coming back a bit but the flower stalks are coming in again so will need to remove them soon. Moss on rock seems to be yellowing a little bit but maintaining its shape. Nurii looks like its getting choked out by the HC a little so will have to get off my behind and trim the HC around it. 2nd Piptospathii lost its main leaf but appears to be growing back some smaller ones. Fish fry in the sump seem to be getting bigger. 2 of the remaining Golden Back Yellow Sakura Shrimp are femaie and both have been berried for a bit so hopefully will start seeing some shrimplets down there. 20220325 Speaking of cute little fry. 3 Endler fry have appeared in the display tank so had to lower the water level and finally catch the Endlers and put them back into my 30 G where my main colony is. Comparing this fry to the ones in the sump, I am pretty sure those are CPD as they do seem to have the same body shape as the adults. 20220330 Went to feed the inhabitants and opened up the cabinet to the sump. Seems conditions are good in the tank! Got me some Golden Back Yellow Sakura shrimplets! Pretty tiny... would place them about 2-3mm at most. 20220408 Updated pic of one of the bigger CPD fry. Still doesnt have any coloring and a lot of the siblings are still super small. Feeding them powdered bug bites/ flakes at the surface but I dont think the small ones understand that the food is there. Micro worms would be great but would need to track someone down locally that has them and I am lazy. Will need to come up with a strategy on how to transfer these guys up to the main display since they are of varying sizes and mixed in with the shrimplets among the plants down there. Will be for another day though since I dont want them to have to compete with the adults for food yet. 20220429 Updated tank shot a week after a big trim. Trimmed up the pearlweed which surprisingly wasnt growing out of control. AR mini getting too tall and the lower leaves were starting to die off. Trimmed and replanted the tops to hopefully get it to recover its bushy feel and color. Did major pruning of the HC cuba carpet and everything seems to be growing back in quite nicely. Tweezed as much of the HC from around the Crypt Nurii as I could so that it isnt quite so badly choked out. Monte Carlo that I have been trying to use as the leaves for my tree just arent working well so need to consider changing them to something else. Possibly the weeping moss or either Anubias Pangolino / Petite? Also not happy about the arrangement of plants behind and to the right of the tree. Feel like the wallichii is in the wrong place. Been needing to constantly pull the flower stalks off the erio in the back right which is a pain given the limitations of the opening on the Edge tank and the tree being in the way. They are also getting swallowed up by the HC so its time to consider replacing them with something else... maybe Blyxa japonica or ?

Glad to help! Looks good! Very nice to hear the peace has been obtained with the additional fish.

You could probably get away with a few more with the supplemental filtration you have. I used to have a group of 20 cardinals in my 30 gallon with various cory , ottos and endlers... maybe about 30 or so fish in total. Its good you are doing it in stages to allow the tank to adjust to the increased bio load.

Hey Welcome to the forum.

I dont test phosphates but I have before when noticing problems with growth on plants and such. Starting a dosing regime for the plants also involves testing to determine what levels of phosphates you might want to target. I have never been great with fertilization aspect of the hobby so hope someone else can chime in on the specifics of your questions.

the rummy might be ok... not too sure about the small cory. Dont remember my rams ever giving any attention to the cory but they might be shooed away occasionally depending on the size of what you get. If you do try with some be ready to rehome them or take them back to the LFS.

I agree with Blink about falling behind and things piling up. I believe that was ultimately the downfall of my tank as it was a small system and also not conducive to easy cleaning and maintenance. Sure was fun to watch the life in it grow though.

I have never kept 2 different varieties together in the same tank but I would think it might not be a good idea. Apparently hit and miss with gourami on whether they get along. The gold gourami are supposedly the most peaceful. In the past I also had a powder blue that was a complete jerk to everything in the tank. I currently have a group of 5 pearl gourami that were peaceful when they were all added to the tank as juveniles but a recent death has fractured the peace between the remaining.

Good to hear about the ich clearing up. The rams were so interesting to watch. Mine would lip lock once in a while and their breeding and parenting behaviors were really nice to watch. Had a couple pair up and lay eggs in my tank and got wigglers. At the time I didnt have the equipment, time and finances to put towards trying to keep the fry alive so they always got picked off in the tank.

A couple cory would be suitable but may be timid in small numbers. Could probably get an Amano shrimp or two as a good option as they are big enough to avoid being harassed by the guppies. Guessing that cherry shrimp may or may not become expensive snacks for the guppy depending on the fish temperament.

wait... is this the tank you are having issues with ich in currently? Think you were also sorting out territorial issues with the rams? If so you will probably want to wait and make sure everything is good in that tank before you add any other livestock.

I did a small fish and live rock (FOWLR) setup with no corals for my first salt water but basically tried to research, search and read some salty forums. Was a fun experiment to test whether I would enjoy doing a larger SW tank. I didnt enjoy the salt creep and I found myself having difficulties being on top of mixing water for water changes to the right salinity. If I were to do it again I would have a RO system specifically to fill up a storage barrel and a mixing barrel for water change H2O. Didnt have the cash to do anything like that at the time.

Dont own a flex but have read some people having bought snorkel attachments for the lower water intake in order to allow one to make the substrate higher along the back panel. Also have heard of lid hinges which keep the lid open for you for maintenance etc. Havent heard of anyone upgrading filter baskets but if I remember correctly from looking at it in the stores, the sponge on these are one big chunk with a couple gaps in the middle to put bio media? Will have to go look around for a picture of it now... I imagine using baskets might make it easier to configure filtration better, similar to a canister where you can pack whatever media you want. In regards to good or bad ones, I imagine they all are the same via 3D printing so as long as they give you good flow through the baskets they probably all work similarly. Are there different designs?

I am far from an expert on rams but I wouldnt try to put more rams into that size tank since it would increase your bio load quite a bit as they grow. I had 6 in a 3ft tank and they were very peaceful with one another so havent experienced what you are going through. Mine liked to sift the sand together in small groups so not sure if substrate is a factor in keeping them happy. My only suggestion would be to reset the scape in a different configuration that provides each a decent sized tank floor area by providing visual breaks between the sections. If I remember correctly, the conventional wisdom was to have areas of at least 30x30cm but you will probably need to research that. Hopefully that will allow the smaller one to carve out a space.

yeah I get bad collectoritis as it is with plants which is why I stopped myself from looking at plecs in the past. Might be the time to look....

rummy are one of my favorites... super bright red noses and the white on the tails when they are happy... if you notice they are fading something is wrong and check the parameters. I have never been a fan of guppies since they seems so derpy to me. Also found that in other peoples tanks they seem to be kinda jerks... constantly pestering other tank inhabitants that may or may not remotely resemble a female guppy.

Oh boy... not sure I should open this can of worms or not but I am gonna ask anyways... haha. What other smaller plecos are there? Really liking those black and white patterned ones.

Just discovered the joys of Tapatalk on my mobile devices... would be awesome to be able to read this forum on that app. Seems that app has made great advances from what I remember of it years ago and a lot of the forums I have been using from the past have all upgraded to different forum software which allows ease of connection.

Never had a pea puffer so cant comment on those. Guppys, platys or swordtails might be good option for live bearer fish. Have heard of them being aggressive to gourami depending on their size though. Endler live bearers are the closest thing I have had to a guppy and kept them with rams before but you would need a large group of them to make a visual impact. I find they are very active in all areas of the tank and might be an option but their babies will likely get picked off by the gourami and tetras. Another type of tetra perhaps? maybe a small group of 10 embers? Have you considered increasing the number of rummy nose? I have always found them to be quite active but my past groups were generally in the 15-20 range

Awesome looking! I have never kept plecos but have been meaning to investigate the bristlenose for quite some time since they are supposed to be stay small.

Welcome!

Nice!

Nice! Go big or go home.... well you are home I guess... look forward to following along!

Hey you dont need to act like it isnt your tank... cmon now... http://AlbertaAquatica.com/uploads/emoticons/default_wink.png Looks good!

Would imagine the 40 or so drops of chemicals from the test kits would be diluted quite a bit in 15 gallons and after your 50% WC. You will probably be fine but guess you will find out on subsequent tests. Let us know how it turns out.