Ao's tanks update

[aokashi]

So I got back from Australia to find out that my housemate didnt really know how to top up tanks. the tanks were left with only a little bit of water when I came back.

I refilled everything, and with the exception of a bit of algae and dried moss, everything seems to be in good order. The poor nerite however, is missing :(







Enmersed



And some before and after pics

[MSG]

Jugs of water are heavy to lift. I'm assuming you left conditioned jugs of water around so they didn't have to condition it first?

Since people nowadays seem too lazy to type out an entire word, I doubt they will want to exert any extra energy to pick up a bottle of water to refill a tank they have no interest in. haha....

• So you have 3 tanks now?
  
• Before pictures were from December 2012?
  
• After pictures are from the past week?

I can't tell if certain plants were MOVED or melted.

BTW, do you ever feed your snails/shrimp? Or do they just survive off the other microbes & bio-film in your tanks?

[aokashi]

Yep I left him a gallon of conditioned water. plus the tanks are tiny :(
but I guess some people are just not very plant or tank oriented , lol. I do feed my snails, but the population has vanished... makes me a little sad.

I moved some plants. There has been no melting. There was a huge piece of ludwigia palustris that simply did not fit in my 2.5. There is a one month difference between the before and after pics. I also took out all the floaters in the 1 gallon. The 6.6 is grown entirely enmersed and I have no plans of ever flooding it.

quite a few plants carpeted, including pearlweed(HM) and my dwarf hair grass. I trimmed some giant baby tears.

I have some Utricularia Graminifolia coming in that I'm kind of excited about :)

[Laki]

Ugh sorry to hear about your pet sitter.
The tanks look better now :)

[MSG]

I use 2.5g to 6 gallon food grade water cooler bottles to hold my conditioned water, but now since it's so cold now I need to add the water back into the tank before it cools 10 degrees below room temperature.

I prefer the cooler bottles with the handles because once it's filled with water, it doubles as a giant hand weight. It's fun to pick them up with one arm.

Also I remember you mentioned something a while back about snails gathering at the surface... means bad things about the water in the tank.

• What exactly does that indicate again?

I RARELY feed my MT & RH snails, limpets, but since I've been testing out different dried food options to the surprise batch of fry.....

Basically I'm crushing various type of prepared fish foods into smaller pieces/powder with my fingertips. Within 30-60 minutes the snails make their way to the surface to get better access to the remaining bits of uneaten protein powder.

[aokashi]

Lol, ofcourse snails are going to head in te general direction of food ;)

usually when the water parameters are unfavorable for snails they will slow down, retract and the smarter ones will look for a way to escape the water column.

I use a 1 gallon poland spring bottle and my trusty airline.
here's an interesting article on acclimation from msjinkzd :) If i haven't showed you already

Kuro's back :)

[MSG]

Before the surprise batch of fry, I NEVER purposely added food for the snails.

That's probably why I lost a few of my favorite larger ramhorns. I have to remove their hollowed out shells.

I gotta track down this fella that I bumped into yesterday with a 6 year old betta he paid $50-$60 for. Wayne mentioned he wanted to buy another one, but his won't die.

Anyway my plan was to give him one of Phoenix juvies for FREE so I can updates & see how my fishies grow up.

• Why is K banished to your giant glass cube?
  
• Not allowed in the 2.5G?
  
• How long do your rams tend to live? Mine seem to have only lasted maybe 6-8 months. The RH snails were probably 1 year old.

[aokashi]

Get some calcium clay. Soft water erodes snail shells and lead to their inevitable premature demise :)
I've kept my nerite snail's shell shiny and sparkly with a small pinch at water changes.
I couldn't fit the heater in snuggly for the 2.5 since I have the water level lowered half way for some emergent plant growth. I think Kuro's ok in the 1 gallon for now, he's slowed down quite a bit as he matured. Not the same hyperactive betta he once was :) But that may also be attributed to me lowering the temps at bit to accomodate the plants I have.

I didnt instruct the baby sitter to cup him during his feeding sessions, but it still swam right in after coming home. seems like it's permanantly conditioned into him now..

Im still expanding my plant collection.
when you start buying plants at $15/ea...>.>
Kuro was only $2! lol

Phoenix juvies?

[aokashi]

Manicured! also added blyxa

[Option]

Your tanks look cleaner than mine on a good day. LOL