Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Aclaar877!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
Welcome to ScapeCrunch
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Hello Welcome, Aclaar877
- Thread starter Art
- Start date
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Aclaar877
New Member
I have a 155-gallon bowfront, well-planted, and I'm building up a school of cardinal tetras in this current iteration. I had discus over the past couple years, but had two mishaps (both while on vacation) where I came home to gassed fish, losing everything. I have Safe-T-Sorb substrate, and recently switched to RO water. For years, I felt like the tap had something the plants didn't like. Even when using Seachem Safe, plants seemed to rebel at large water changes, leaves would droop down or stunt, and things like that. And the plants always seemed sensitive to traces, even custom mixes.
Things look a lot better now, and it will be fun to have all plants growing properly and see what kind of scape I can come up with. I can't upload photos at work, but will post some soon.
Things look a lot better now, and it will be fun to have all plants growing properly and see what kind of scape I can come up with. I can't upload photos at work, but will post some soon.
- Thread starter
- #3
Looking forward to some pictures!
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Always seems to happen on vacation doesn't it? Same for me.
I'm using tap at the moment but used RODI for many years. I hope that RO will solve the mystery for you.
Are you buying the RO or making it?
Thanks again for joining.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Always seems to happen on vacation doesn't it? Same for me.
I'm using tap at the moment but used RODI for many years. I hope that RO will solve the mystery for you.
Are you buying the RO or making it?
Thanks again for joining.
Luciën
Community Member
Welcome, sad to hear about your discus they are such amazing fish.
Aclaar877
New Member
Yeah, it was really disappointing. One pair had even bred in the tank, but eggs got eaten by glowlight tetras probably. Perfect storm of end-of-Co2 tank dump, a powerhead fell and blew STS dust all over which clogged filters and reduced circulation even further. Might have them again someday, but a tank full of tetra schools is pretty nice too.
Aclaar877
New Member
Attaching some current pictures - I'm really excited with how well things are going with RO water (no DI). To be able to grow AR Mini, L Glandulosa without incident, and maybe some plants that I abandoned before like Acmella Repens, Rotala Florida, or Ammania Senegalensis will be really fun. I have a lot of room to work with, as this is a six-foot long tank. As you can see I have a lot of buce! I like the Ozelot sword, but it takes up a lot of room. I might move it center-right along the back glass, so that the flow and wood with java fern can keep the size somewhat contained. The stems along the surface were found locally in a pond - I thought it might be emersed Acmella Repens, but it wasn't. It grows very quick though, and I'll find a place for it.
I've been on PlantedTank and Barr Report for a long time, and have learned a ton from Joe Harvey, Gregg Z, Vin Kutty, and Fabrizio Ferraro among others. Years ago, I also kicked off a major "trace toxicity" debate on PlantedTank after frying a swordplant seemingly overnight with lots of CSM-B, root tabs and unknown tap water. I have a hunch that my tap has zinc and/or boron that isn't showing up in the annual report. Once I tried Flourish Trace per the instructions, and stunted several plants immediately - and it has a lot of zinc in it. Anyway, with RO I'm getting around that problem, and I can dose away and have a nice tank.
I've been on PlantedTank and Barr Report for a long time, and have learned a ton from Joe Harvey, Gregg Z, Vin Kutty, and Fabrizio Ferraro among others. Years ago, I also kicked off a major "trace toxicity" debate on PlantedTank after frying a swordplant seemingly overnight with lots of CSM-B, root tabs and unknown tap water. I have a hunch that my tap has zinc and/or boron that isn't showing up in the annual report. Once I tried Flourish Trace per the instructions, and stunted several plants immediately - and it has a lot of zinc in it. Anyway, with RO I'm getting around that problem, and I can dose away and have a nice tank.
