The Check-In Thread

[Art]

Hi!

I’m going through a busy life period. My tank is doing well but haven’t been able to spend much time here with you on ScapeCrunch. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

I figured it would be good to have an ongoing thread where we can all check in with each other. If you are going through one of those periods that keep you busy and away from the site, it would be great if you can drop a quick check-in here on this thread.

We would also love to know you’re doing well.

I’ll start.

Been very busy with work and family lately. However, the tank is humming along with very little intervention from me. I feel like I’ve finally got the right balance of automation and plant growth for me. I’ll try to post a picture this weekend.

 

[ElleDee]

Honestly, this is has been a stressful few months, both at home and, you know, generally...

I've been enjoying how things have been developing with my big tank, but I'm ready to take down the other two and start something new. That includes my first tank ever, which I am sentimental about but I'm ready to move on. (The other one is a nano tank that has always been a holding tank for plants and shrimps. It's a very clean, low energy tank that has never gotten much attention from me.)

I had a vision for my next tank though - low light, open sand, Vallisneria and crypts, and dwarf corydoras. A school of something interesting, maybe Hyphessobrycon procyon? I might get a lower end Week Aqua light so I can have better color rendering. This will probably be in my 22 long tank, though I am always tempted to get something new. We'll see.

 

[BenB]

I always feel like I'm chasing my tail.
But so far, all the flu and norovirus that has been going around here has missed me. For that I'm thankful.

My tank is doing fine. Just trying to get ride of the GDA. It's a process.
Spring is coming, and I was planning on transitioning my tank over to something with easier maintenance for warm weather, but I still want to try some of these plants that didn't exist back when I was more active in the hobby. We'll see. Today is water change day.

 

[Phish Tank]

Tank and plants are settling in after post Helene reset. It's been really great to have scapecrunch these last few months. I've learned a ton, and it is a welcome distraction every morning with coffee.

A bit or worrisome tank drama this week. My hillstream loach has been terrorizing the new juli cories introduced to the 55 gallon tank this week. Hillstream might be rehomed if he doesn't chill out soon. Stinks because he's a really cool fish.

 

[Kwyet]

Tank and plants are settling in after post Helene reset. It's been really great to have scapecrunch these last few months. I've learned a ton, and it is a welcome distraction every morning with coffee.

A bit or worrisome tank drama this week. My hillstream loach has been terrorizing the new juli cories introduced to the 55 gallon tank this week. Hillstream might be rehomed if he doesn't chill out soon. Stinks because he's a really cool fish.

Wow, I thought they were entirely peaceful!

 

[HarryL]

I’ve been updating the cube tank journal pretty regularly, but on the side I’ve been spending a lot more time on maintaining the smaller 11gal.

There was an outbreak of staghorn algae and other filamentous algae due to the strong light and unstable water parameters. So I’ve been manually removing algae on a weekly basis, where I’d sit in front of the tank and pick them out bits by bits using a tweezer for an hour.

I’ve also turned down the light to the lowest power(14W) for most of the day, then higher power(27W) for one hour to keep the plants colorful. After a couple weeks, there are visibly less algae, but the problems are not yet solved.

I have a small group of Danio erythromicron in there, one of them had sunken belly for a few days and died last night. It’s been difficult trying to feed them since they are very shy and I don’t feed that often. Not sure if it has anything to do with lack of food in this case. Everyone else looks healthy and happy.

Also, while every plant in there has been thriving, the Vallisneria spiralis rubra are struggling for some reasons. They do send out runners but seems to have trouble growing the leaves. Being the only species that has trouble, and such an easy specie to grow, I’m puzzled.

Life isn’t all that great for me, it’s nice to be able to work on the tanks or just stare at them sometimes. Helps to temporarily forget about the stressful matters.

 

[Art]

So this went quiet after just 6 check-ins. Let's hear from you if you haven't posted in a while.

Yes, I'm looking at you. How you doing?​