Journal Jay's 60cm Brazilian

[JayP]

I am sure you saw the the recent Dennis post about considering plant choices in low flow area.

So I did go back and read @Dennis Wong's comments about eddy currents and yes, that's exactly the issue here. Those currents in the lower left corner are leading to BBA on the dwarf hair grass, s. repens, crypt parva and the hardscape. I also had a "not-so-great" buce I was hoping would come back to life but it was quickly consumed with BBA there as well. Only spot in the tank it's happening. So far, I'm just trying to trim and clean the spots it's growing, but I don't want to have to keep doing that so I need to come up with a better flow.

 

[Koan]

actually had several items from them in my Etsy cart

Right? Same he had Brownie Ghost but it's currently sold out..

need to come up with a better flow

Somehow I got on Hygger's mailing list they have a new DC Nano pump for flow that looks interesting

 

[Kwyet]

I tried that Hygger Wave Maker last year. It worked great for about a day, then quit. I took it apart and “cleaned” it (nothing there since it was new), and it worked for 5 minutes. Then it wouldn’t ever work again.

 

[Koan]

worked for 5 minutes. Then it wouldn’t ever work again

Good to know!

Good reason to stick with Koralia / other proven nano-reef pumps

 

[JayP]

I want to avoid putting more equipment in the tank. I'd completely forgotten, I do have a couple jet type glass outflow pipes coming from China. I just got a delivery tracking reminder today which is what reminded me. I'm going to try that with a pipe holder that lets me direct the flow in the tank differently.

 

[JayP]

Spent some time today working on my video skills. Hopefully my Youtube videos continue to show improvement, but there are still things I'm working on which are mostly related to dialing in the camera settings. In this video, I wish my focus had been better across the entire image, but this was the best of multiple videos I made and I just finally decided it was good enough for today. Just 2 minutes long but I know even that is probably too long for many these days. Best viewed full screen in 4k.

 

[JayP]

Let's talk about the little pests that we love. The first inhabitants of this tank were neocaridina shrimp from my farm tank. Those shrimp started from a used scape I purchased over a year ago. I originally thought the 7 -10 shrimp from that tank were all Yellow Golden Back but soon saw when they began breeding in the farm tank that there was a mix. What I ended up with was predominately yellow and dull/dirt colors but eventually, what I think would be classified as Black Rose, began to appear in large numbers. I even started seeing what would best be described as Red Cherries.

When I set this tank up, I collected about 10 good specimens of Yellows for this tank and 10-15 Black Rose for my 49g tank. Breeding has been strong in both tanks and interestingly, in this tank, they are staying fairly yellow with a few that are more plain colored, and those in the 49g are staying mostly black but I'm getting more reds now as well.

So why are they pests? See all that aquasoil on the sand? I can clean it every day and they will have it like this again in no time. It's, of course worse on days I give them treats like today, especially since I moved my 4 remaining big Amanos here. There may be 100 in here now from that original 10. So moral of story; combination of shrimp, aquasoil, and sand will drive you nuts if you're even a little bit OCD.

WB 25 Shrimp.webp

• JayP
• Mar 26, 2026

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

You might know this already, but most aquasoils are magnetic from the iron content -- a super powerful magnet on a stick will pick up the loose aquasoil from your sand super easily!

The only way I ever dealt with this annoying-ass behavior from shrimp was with a magnet.

 

[JayP]

You might know this already, but most aquasoils are magnetic from the iron content -- a super powerful magnet on a stick will pick up the loose aquasoil from your sand super easily!

The only way I ever dealt with this annoying-ass behavior from shrimp was with a magnet.

Yeah, that's what I do at least every other day, especially before photos...except this one.

 

[JayP]

Regular maintenance day. Do you think it's time for a trim ? It's interesting that after a trim, there seems to be very little growth for a week, and then all of the sudden, there's a growth explosion.

WB 25 4_10_26.webp

• JayP
• Yesterday at 2:17 PM

 

[MrJG]

Yeah might be time for a trim lol. Looks great and healthy though. Great camera work too.

How do you tend to go about the process with the intermingled species on the sides? Curious as I enjoy the maintenance aspect of what we do but sometimes esp during summer I find it hard to fit in extended trimming like I want or even partial resets.
As it warms I tend to be outdoors on weekends so my maintenance has to shift to evenings after work barring a rain out here and there.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Looks really healthy and algae free!

 

[JayP]

Yeah might be time for a trim lol. Looks great and healthy though. Great camera work too.

How do you tend to go about the process with the intermingled species on the sides? Curious as I enjoy the maintenance aspect of what we do but sometimes esp during summer I find it hard to fit in extended trimming like I want or even partial resets.
As it warms I tend to be outdoors on weekends so my maintenance has to shift to evenings after work barring a rain out here and there.

I'll try to answer with a post trim photo. Post trim, the tank's much brighter. I'm still trying to learn how to trim most effectively. I see these beautiful Brazilian style scapes, where the bushy background stem plants are meticulously formed, and I haven't really gotten the hang of that yet.

As for finding time to do maintenance, outside of work, I have no life . I'm a single guy over 60 with no kids and selectively social. I think you can see that by how much time I spend on the forum. And I don't plan to work more than a couple more years so I'll have even more time, which is why I have a lot of empty tanks waiting to be scaped.

WB 25 Post Trim.webp

• JayP
• Yesterday at 7:05 PM

 

[JayP]

Looks really healthy and algae free!

Thanks! All my tanks are in a really good place in that regard right now (knock on wood). I had some minor struggles with BBA in the front left corner of this one early on but managed to get it cleared up.

 

[Kwyet]

Your fish look like little jewels in that tank.

 

[JayP]

Your fish look like little jewels in that tank.

It's easy to understand why they're so popular isn't it?