# Re-entering the hobby



## eug (May 18, 2012)

Hello,

It has been a while but I've recently decided to take up fishkeeping again. I used to own a 20 gallon tank with different types of tetras and some corydoras back in my high school days, and a visit to the local public aquarium just resparked my interest and I just HAD to set up a new tank...

Pics:
Photo Album - Imgur

New 112 L (~30 gallon) tank, currently going through a fishless cycle using 25% ammonia solution. When I first started the hobby I did a fish-in cycle, and it was a traumatizing experience that I vowed never to repeat again. 5 days in, and there's finally a measurable amount of NO2 detected in the tank, hurray!

The plants are Java ferns just free floating for the time being. I have a big piece of bogwood that still refuses to sink that is soaking in the bathtub to which the Java ferns will be attached. Sand substrates just look so awesome, so I had to try it this time. 

So here comes my question, the first fish I want in this tank is a nice group of corydoras, not sure what species yet - Schwarz and Sterba look interesting. I have pretty hard water here, 16 dGH, 7.5pH. What is your experience with keeping corydoras in such hard water? I've read that cories are generally tolerant of harder waters - are there particular species that I should definitely avoid, for example?

Once the tank is cycled, I think the filter should be able to take on a full load since I've been aiming for 5ppm ammonia. Say I am aiming to have 10 or so Cories in this tank. Is that too many? If not, my question is whether I should try to buy them all at once so that the biological filter has a full load to deal with and therefore the filter bacteria that I've built up won't starve? That is to say, if I buy 5 now, and wait for weeks, will that kill off too much of the filter bacteria that when I go and add 5 more later, I will experience ammonia/nitrite spikes?

I appreciate any input to make my re-entry to the hobby as painless as possible!


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Hello and welcome to the forum :wave:

I have hard well water and my cories have been around for a few years and are thriving. I've got a mix of albino, bronze, and one pepper cory (he was alone at the pet store for weeks and I had to give him some friends LOL)

As for adding them all at once, that's not a good idea. Add fish just a few at a time to give your bacteria a chance to catch up to the added bioload that you're going to be adding each time you add fish. A good water conditioner like Seachem Prime will go a long way in helping the fish if you do have an ammonia/nitrIte spike while stocking your tank.

Good luck with your new tank and fish friends.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Hi, and welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum. Glad to have you with us.:-D

Cory species vary in their adaptability. Those Romad mentioned are tank raised and have been for decades, and aside from this their natural range in South America is large and includes quite differing water parameters. This tells us that the species has considerable adaptability. As opposed to a species that occurs only in one stream and no where else; this fish will not adapt well, and even more if it is wild caught as it likely will be.

C. schwartzi is one such species. It is endemic to the Rio Purus system close to the mouth where it empties into the Amazon. This is good for you though, because it has a wider pH range than it might in some other systems. Fishbase suggests pH 6 to 8, while Planet Catfish restrict the upper limit to 7.5. PC also says one published report of spawning occurred in water with a GH of 11. So you're probably fine.

Corydoras sterbai I believe is being raised commercially now. So similar parameters as above are suggested. As noted in our profile [click the shaded name, and profiles in general are under the second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page] this species occurs in the Rio Guapore system and the Mato Grosso region in Brazil. Wild caught fish thus need soft slightly acidic water. But as I mentioned, tank raised fish should adapt better.

I checked your photos and would strongly suggest you add more plants, and a few chunks of wood, before acquiring corys. All species need shade, and they browse continually over surfaces of wood and plant leaves. They also need shelter, such as under chunks of wood, or in crevices, where they can go to rest or if they feel threatened. Corys are highly social, so a large group is advisable, but they are also very skittish and in sparse surroundings this will severely stress them.

Some sword plants would work well. Echinodorus bleherae and Helanthium tenellum are in our profiles. Floating plants like Water Sprite, or Brazilian Pennywort.

Hope this helps.

Byron.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Thanks guys,

As I mentioned I have a very large piece of bogwood that should provide good shelter, but there will be about half the tank that will be fairly in the open. The bogwood is gonna go on the right side of the tank and hopefully cover up the heater and filter inlet/outlet from view. Maybe I'll arrange some Brazilian Pennywort to float over the wide open area so that the cories will have adequate shade? Should I reconsider the concept of having wide open spaces altogether?

To give you an idea what the bogwood looks like:
http://i.imgur.com/lXoQD.jpg

My lighting is poor, with only 2x 16W tubes for a 30 gallon, which is why I've put just java ferns. I've also read here at Seriously Fish that their natural habitat often doesn't have any plants at all, which is why I thought sparsely planted would be fine.

Any tips on getting bogwood to sink? Apart from leaving it in the bathtub to sink with a weight on top to weigh it down, I've poured boiling water over it a couple times as well as taking a power drill to it and doing some 'accupuncture' in an attempt to create places where the water can more readily be soaked up...

Byron, I noticed you have a BMus. Also a musician by any chance? I play the violin, also have a BMus...


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

> As I mentioned I have a very large piece of bogwood that should provide good shelter, but there will be about half the tank that will be fairly in the open. The bogwood is gonna go on the right side of the tank and hopefully cover up the heater and filter inlet/outlet from view. Maybe I'll arrange some Brazilian Pennywort to float over the wide open area so that the cories will have adequate shade? Should I reconsider the concept of having wide open spaces altogether?


Yes. More on this below.



> My lighting is poor, with only 2x 16W tubes for a 30 gallon, which is why I've put just java ferns.


Assuming these are fluorescent tubes, this is more than sufficient light for moderate-light requiring plants. I have a single 25w tube over my 3-foot 33g, photo below. Most swords will do well under this, even with fairly thick floating plants as you can see. This particular tank has a lot of bogwood. There are two species of loach in here, but corys would be in heaven in this setup.



> I've also read here at Seriously Fish that their natural habitat often doesn't have any plants at all, which is why I thought sparsely planted would be fine.


This is true but it is not the whole story. Most streams and rivers in the Amazon are lacking aquatic plants, largely due to the dim lighting. The forest canopy shades the forest considerably, and there will be terrestrial vegetation overhanging most watercourses. The easiest and best way to provide this effect in an aquarium is with plants in the tank. Not only does this make for a better aquascape, but the benefits of live plants in the water are considerable. And corys are sensitive to water conditions. Floating plants are always advisable. The fish will feel more secure, and thus be out and about more, and usually display their brightest colouration (this applies to all forest fish). Also, one must remember that for half the year the forest floods and the fish move into the flooded forest among heavy vegetation, and this is when they spawn. My 70g tank [second photo attached] replicates the flooded Amazon forest.



> Any tips on getting bogwood to sink? Apart from leaving it in the bathtub to sink with a weight on top to weigh it down, I've poured boiling water over it a couple times as well as taking a power drill to it and doing some 'accupuncture' in an attempt to create places where the water can more readily be soaked up...


I use Malaysian Driftwood to solve this problem. It is heavy and sinks immediately. The tannins are not too bad, and tend to leech out fairly quickly. All the wood you see in my tank photos [under "Aquariums" below my name on the left] is Malaysian Driftwood. With other types of wood, some hold it down with rocks until it remains on its own; some attach a piece of slate to the bottom side and bury this under the substrate.



> Byron, I noticed you have a BMus. Also a musician by any chance? I play the violin, also have a BMus...


Yes, i took music at university. Started with the violin, then keyboard, but did musicology (music history) as my major. Retired now.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Thanks again Byron.

In the meantime I've read your excellent 4-part article on planted tanks, and now realize that this watts-per-gallon rule of thumb is totally irrelevant. For some reason I had it in my mind that to have a successful planted tank you have to have 5 watts per gallon with CO2 injections and lots of money spent on fertilizing... but it seems that this isn't the case at all. I'll definitely look into getting some sort of floating plant especially in the areas with no bogwood cover.

I wish I'd known about Malaysian driftwood before I got this piece at the LFS, but oh well. I quite like how it looks, and it's slowly becoming more water logged in the bathtub so hopefully it goes down on its own, or maybe I'll have to think of another plan like mounting it on slate like you suggested.

That's very interesting about the flooded forest habitat. I'll definitely bear this in mind as I develop my aquascape!


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Byron, your suggestion for me to add Pygmy Chain Swords sounds good - I like the look of it and I can imagine it would look great in the foreground. From my pictures you will note that my sand substrate is not all that deep. I still have some unused sand that I could add, but even in its current state with about 1 inch of sand substrate near the front of the tank (its' more like 2 at the back) will this be deep enough for the roots of the Pygmy Chain Sword? From what I understand other swords like the Amazon Sword would probably need a deeper substrate than this, but I wonder how this smaller sword plant would do?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

eug said:


> Byron, your suggestion for me to add Pygmy Chain Swords sounds good - I like the look of it and I can imagine it would look great in the foreground. From my pictures you will note that my sand substrate is not all that deep. I still have some unused sand that I could add, but even in its current state with about 1 inch of sand substrate near the front of the tank (its' more like 2 at the back) will this be deep enough for the roots of the Pygmy Chain Sword? From what I understand other swords like the Amazon Sword would probably need a deeper substrate than this, but I wonder how this smaller sword plant would do?


Sounds fine. If you have Echinodorus bleherae, you can push the sand deeper to plant it. But otherwise, an overall depth of 2 inches is good, with less in the front and more in the back.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Great thanks! This is kind of in the wrong forum I guess to keep asking plant questions, but while we're at it... 

As I said my GH measured 16 degrees, ph 7.5 (also matches the official values given by the municipal water website).

Other official values:

Na -- 22-44 mg/L
Lead -- < 0.005 mg/L
Nitrate -- 0.7 - 4.9 mg/L
Fluoride -- 0.1 - 0.52 mg/L
KH -- 9.3 - 12.4 (My test kit reads 9)

The question is, based on these parameters can you recommend me an appropriate fertilizer to start me off with? Let's say I plant some pygmy sword, Brazilian pennywort, hygrophila polyspersma (I've had this plant before and I remember it being super easy and fast growing? Decent alternative to a big amazon sword?) and my already-existing java fern.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

eug said:


> Great thanks! This is kind of in the wrong forum I guess to keep asking plant questions, but while we're at it...
> 
> As I said my GH measured 16 degrees, ph 7.5 (also matches the official values given by the municipal water website).
> 
> ...


A basic fertilizer like Seachem's_ Flourish Comprehensive Supplement_ or Brightwell Aquatics' _FlorinMulti_ will be sufficient, prob just once a week. Make sure you get whichever exactly as named, both manufacturers produce several different products in the Flourish and Florin lines respectively.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

So I've got some plants and got impatient with the HUGE bogwood and just put it in: 










It's hard to tell in the photo, but there's a polypropylene freezer bag full of aquarium sand sitting on top of the wood to hold it down. I do hope it gets waterlogged enough to stay down at some point, but if not I'll have to find a similar-weight rock to use instead of the sandbag. Ugly rubber bands to fasten java ferns... Hopefully they dont' take too long to attach themselves to my HUGE piece of wood.

In the back there is H. polysperma, middle-ish there is Braziliain pennywort and in front are pygmy chain swords.

I really was surprised to realize what a huge piece of wood it really is, and at first I felt some buyer's remorse - but I think it makes a bold statement. The only "problem" is this corner:










First of all that side of the wood is well, sawed-off and ugly and second, because the wood is so tall on that side this front right corner gets very little light. An idea we've had is to put a tallish rock directly beside it, and have some java moss or something grow onto both the rock and the bogwood blurring the lines.

Also, do you think water flow will be sufficient in this corner? As you can see the bogwood obstructs a significant portion of the tank here.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I see two options for the wood--and I do like that chunk. My first would be placing it standing on the cut end if it will fit. Trying to figure the length it may not, but it is worth a try because I think if it could stand just off-centre it would be very dramatic and take up a bit less horizontal space but add vertical depth to the tank by extending full height. Tip the wood up onto the cut end and then turn it almost 180 degrees so the long branch piece is jutting out toward the front centre. You can play with this and post the photos if you like. If the cut end is flat on the aquarium bottom glass (push the sand out) will it still allow the tank cover? If not, I've an idea to solve this, but first my alternate (but less favoured) option.

Turn it a bit counter-clockwise (looking down from above) so the cut end is aimed more toward the right rear corner. It will then appear to be jutting out from somewhere in the distance, and I have had good effect with this sort of placement in some of my tanks. The wood abruptly ending where it does (the cut end) is what is causing the visual problem and shrinking the perception of space.

But if the wood does look good standing, but is just a tad too tall for the cover, I would take it out and saw off 1-2 inches across the cut end. Nothing will be lost. Just enough so it fits with the cover on and the cut end on the bottom glass. If you can set it this way without the cover, and sit back and view it, i think you will see what i am visualizing. A thick stump rising into the water would be a very natural scene.

Byron.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Unfortunately the wood would would end up being much more than a couple inches too tall if I placed it vertically, and I'd have to saw off so much that I decided to work with the horiziontal arrangement.

In order to turn the wood counter-clockwise I had to trim off some of the branches on the front, as well as a bit from the back. 

Before:









After:









The wood is more tilted against the back glass, creating somewhat of an impression of a hill or a mountain sloping towards the back right corner - this has definitely helped create more depth and I think it feels more spacioius. The entire log is also nearly up against the right glass now though - there's about 1-1.5 inches of space. I figure since the filter intake is in that back right corner, water would naturally be sucked through that "valley" anyway so it wouldn't be too much of a flow problem, but I'd be curious to know what you think.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

I decided if after soaking the wood in the bathtub for 2 weeks, it still needs ~3KG of sand placed on top of it to get it to sink, it might take a looooong time (or never) for it to sink on its own.

Soooo away I went on a creative DIY mission - Clearly the approach of screwing something to the bottom of the wood to weigh it down seemed the easiest approach. I didn't want to however run around town looking for the perfectly sized piece of rock, which would probably be severely overpriced anyway when I find it. That also rules out inert metals like stainless steel - 3KG of that would really cost a pretty penny.

So what if I could use the sand that's already there to my advantage?

My new idea was, I'd screw some sort of stiff board to the wood but with 2-3 cm spacers, enough to leave a gap to stuff in enough sand between the board and the wood to provide enough weight to hold the wood in place. I found a cheap cutting board and some polypropylene plumbing to act as spacers. Drilled holes into the cutting board and put screwed the board to the wood with spacers sandwiched in between. Stainless steel screws of course. I would have taken the time to take a photo of this, but I was in a hurry because I had taken out 75% of the water and stopped the filter temporarily so I could re-scape more easily. I needed to do a big PWC anyway since nitrates are going way up now in my fishless cycle, as well as nitrites still being off the charts. So yes, I was in a hurry to get the filter back running again so no time for photos. 

But the end result:









I think the basis for the scape is done! I'll just wait for the plants to grow in - pygmy sword already sending out runners with baby plants all over the place! - and take it from there.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

That is better, it doesn't appear as a chunk now but more natural and spacious. And the flow is fine, I do much the same.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Thanks for the input!

As for adding fish - because we're going away for 3.5 weeks in July I want to keep the stocking very low. I know it seems horrible to buy fish and only a month or so later leave them - I can either buy an automatic feeder or ask a neighbour to help out. It would almost certainly mean going almost a month without a water change, though. 

Any thoughts? Stocking ideas so far have been Corys as mentioned earlier in the thread, and something along the lines of Black Phantom Tetras - i.e. a hardy species that produces relatively little waste. Is it even sane to think of adding fish before leaving for holidays? It would mean my fishless cycle would be wasted, but if you guys feel it's really risky to leave a tank unattended after only ~1 month establishment time, I would certainly reconsider.

edit: ~ 1 month establishment time excluding the couple weeks of fishless cycling I've already done.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

eug said:


> Thanks for the input!
> 
> As for adding fish - because we're going away for 3.5 weeks in July I want to keep the stocking very low. I know it seems horrible to buy fish and only a month or so later leave them - I can either buy an automatic feeder or ask a neighbour to help out. It would almost certainly mean going almost a month without a water change, though.
> 
> ...


This is a situation i would not create for myself, setting up a new tank with fish and then leaving it to its own devices for a whole month so soon. The "cycling" is the least of the issues, as you have plants.

Food could be handled by a neighbour, if that person knows something about aquarium fish, or if you leave out pre-measured food with clear instructions. Feeding every 2nd or 3rd day would be fine, with a pre-measured amount. Forget the vacation feeders whether contraptions (that frequently fail and pollute the tank, killing fish and plants) or feeding blocks that can do similar.

The more significant issue is water changes. These are mandatory in new tanks (all tanks for that matter) because during the first 2-3 months the tank is establishing, and sudden fluctuations in pH, nitrates, etc can be catastrophic. While the plants--and you have enough of them generally--can be relied upon to handle most of this, there is still a risk. Plus the heater or filter if new should be monitored more. Again, an experienced hobbyist brought in periodically could deal with this. But I would not risk it.

As for the fish, Hyphessobrycon megalopterus is a sensitive species. This fish should be added to an established tank. Also, the initial first weeks could be risky for pathogens, protozoans and parasites that may not show up for 3-4 weeks, and if this occurred just before you left, it would certainly be disastrous. I just went through a bout of some protozoan that has decimated one of my large tanks, brought in with new fish, and after 4 weeks I now have it under control.

My advice would be to hold off on any fish until you are present to properly provide for them.

Byron.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I also can imagine it would kind of spoil my holidays since I'll be constantly afraid that a disaster might have occurred, and imagine the panic that would set in if my neighbour calls to say "I think something's wrong..."

I think you're right (and my fiancee agrees with you) that I should be patient. I've noted in past discussions that you mentioned that cycling the tank doesn't really apply for planted tanks, which was news to me. So, would you say that I won't have to repeat this procedure again, with the very intensive adding of pure ammonia to build up the bio filter before adding fish?

I guess the advantage is that I can continue to work peacefully at my new aquatic garden and when it comes time to add fish it should be a really great environment for them to live in.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

eug said:


> Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I also can imagine it would kind of spoil my holidays since I'll be constantly afraid that a disaster might have occurred, and imagine the panic that would set in if my neighbour calls to say "I think something's wrong..."
> 
> I think you're right (and my fiancee agrees with you) that I should be patient. I've noted in past discussions that you mentioned that cycling the tank doesn't really apply for planted tanks, which was news to me. So, would you say that I won't have to repeat this procedure again, with the very intensive adding of pure ammonia to build up the bio filter before adding fish?
> 
> I guess the advantage is that I can continue to work peacefully at my new aquatic garden and when it comes time to add fish it should be a really great environment for them to live in.


You will have no observable cycle with the plants. And I would never add ammonia to a tank with plants after they are in it.

Make sure the lights are on timers, excess light for that period would decimate them. And I would reduce the photo-period to 5 or 6 hours a day, no more; make sure the windows are well covered to prevent bright sunlight or daylight, this adds algae too. There will be no source of nutrients beyond the limited organics in the tank (some snails would help here, the Malaysian Livebearing especially) and excess light will cause algae to proliferate.

Byron.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Neat, it's like I'm learning a whole new philosophy to running an aquarium... Sorry for flooding you with so many questions!

I do have the lights on a timer, from 9 AM to 6 PM so a 9-hour period - when I go away, and there is no source of fresh nutrients and trace elements replenished regularly by water changes and regular fertilisation, I should reduce the light period to compensate for this lack of nutrition. Have I understood everything so far?

By the way, does that light schedule sound reasonable for normal operation when I'm there to take care of the tank? Our apartment gets quite light during the day, so there's daylight from outside from 7 am till 8 pm during the summer, which means there's about 2 hours before and after the artificial lighting period where the tank will get ambient lighting from outside. The window is north-facing so we don't really get much direct sun, but it still is very light.

I coudn't find the fertilizers you mentioned locally so I bought a bottle of Dennerle V30 Complete. One notable feature is that it lacks nitrogen and phosphorus altogether - I assume because they assume plenty of N and P supplied by fish/food/etc. Do I need to supplement these if I am going to run this aquarium fauna-free for the time being?

Snails, hadn't thought of those - I have no idea about caring for those, can I just throw them into the tank and not worry about them even if I go on holiday?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

> Neat, it's like I'm learning a whole new philosophy to running an aquarium... Sorry for flooding you with so many questions!


Questions are never a problem. I know i speak for the other members too when I say that we are more than willing to help where we can.



> I do have the lights on a timer, from 9 AM to 6 PM so a 9-hour period - when I go away, and there is no source of fresh nutrients and trace elements replenished regularly by water changes and regular fertilisation, I should reduce the light period to compensate for this lack of nutrition. Have I understood everything so far?


That's correct. Plants can manage fine with 5-6 hours of light daily, so even if nutrients were present, this is going to do no harm. But algae will be largely thwarted.



> By the way, does that light schedule sound reasonable for normal operation when I'm there to take care of the tank? Our apartment gets quite light during the day, so there's daylight from outside from 7 am till 8 pm during the summer, which means there's about 2 hours before and after the artificial lighting period where the tank will get ambient lighting from outside. The window is north-facing so we don't really get much direct sun, but it still is very light.


The light duration can vary, but should be fairly consistent day to day. Six hours normally is the minimum, but it can be as long as 15--provided all the nutrients are available for the period, plants will photosynthesize. Algae is the issue. If algae begins to increase, that means light is greater than what the plants can utilize in balance with nutrients. Most people will probably start out somewhere between 8 and 12 hours daily, and monitor algae; if it starts increasing beyond what should be normally present, cut back the light by an hour or so and monitor another couple weeks, etc. I run my tanks at 8-9 hours; anything beyond this and brush algae increases noticeably.



> I coudn't find the fertilizers you mentioned locally so I bought a bottle of Dennerle V30 Complete. One notable feature is that it lacks nitrogen and phosphorus altogether - I assume because they assume plenty of N and P supplied by fish/food/etc. Do I need to supplement these if I am going to run this aquarium fauna-free for the time being?


I don't know the product, but Dennerle is a respected name in the industry in Europe, so it should be fine. And true, nitrogen and phosphorus normally need never be added to a natural system as nitrogen (ammonia/ammonium) will be plentiful and phosphorus occurs in fish foods at levels sufficient for plants.



> Snails, hadn't thought of those - I have no idea about caring for those, can I just throw them into the tank and not worry about them even if I go on holiday?


Talking the small common snails, like pond snails or (especially) Malaysian Livebearing Snails, yes, toss in a couple. They sometimes arrive with plants. The MLS may have to be purchased. But they will quickly multiply according to the food source. Snails eat all organic matter, meaning fish waste, decaying plant matter, uneaten fish food, microscopic plankton, algae. They speed up the natural breakdown of organics by bacteria. They will exist at a level sustained by their food.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Just thought I'd post some progress. First pic shows the latest additions, the rock in the middle left and the Java moss on the drifwood and rock. The photo doesn't do justice to what a beautiful, graceful effect the moss has. Also note how well the Pygmy Chain Sword is spreading - runners are going everywhere, spreading until the hit obstacles (like the tank glass) at which point I've at times re-routed the runners back to where I want them growing. Diatoms (brown flecks, as well as brown fluffy cobweb-like stuff which I also think might be a form of diatoms) are starting to grow more rapidly. Also, I'm not decided yet on what to do with the back left corner. Candidates would be some medium-sized rockwork that kind of slants towards the center (I'm trying to build that off-center spot where the rock currently as the focal point), or a medium-sized sword or other plant.

Second pic shows the newest inhabitants (well, one of them). There should be 10 of these snails (which I believe are the Malaysian livebearing type) altogether. The LFS told me they order them as feeder snails and just gave them to me for free.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Yep, those are MTS. Soon you will have hundreds =)

But don't worry, they stay under the sand during the day for the most part so you won't see them all. They keep the sand nicely aerated, and break down debris quickly for plant food.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

For the left rear, I would suggest another chunk of wood though smaller this time. A vertical piece that could resemble a tree trunk perhaps, something like the piece on the right in the 29g pictured below. Staying with the same "hardscape" material creates a more natural aquascape and tends to enlarge the space visually. The more different materials you have, the more they draw attention to themselves and the space. And the wood on the right will seem smaller with a chunk in the left corner.

You are lucky on the Malaysian snails, they are often expensive. I could you find them in one of many stores a few years ago, and paid $5 for 2 of them. I now have hundreds.:lol: Very helpful critters.

Byron.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Hmm, I hadn't considered more wood, but what you say does make sense. It'd definitely be nice to give some balance to the left side somehow, and that's also interesting what you say about different materials causing the tank to feel smaller.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

I thought since its 1 month since planting the tank, I'd post a before and after.

Before:









After:









Notable changes are that there is another piece of bogwood in the back corner, which has a white gooey fungus growing on it which may cause me to chuck the whole piece and look for another. Since there are no fish, I've chosen to just observe the growth for the time being. Also the brazilian pennywort is now being grown as a floating plant rather than burying it into the substrate (and constantly dealing with it becoming uprooted, since it doesn't really root into the substrate). The Java Fern has been moved around since the first picture, and java moss was added to the bogwood also at some point couple weeks ago. The once bright off-white sand is quite brown-tinted now, presumably from just general waste, also produced by the snails, and also the tannin-stained water making the substrate look more yellow-brown.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Have you noticed how that wood in the left rear corner has made the tank seem larger as i suggested?

That white fungus can be trouble.


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## eug (May 18, 2012)

Yes indeed, thanks for the tip! The tank has an added sense of depth now. It's a shame about the fungus, considering the pretty penny one pays for "aquarium safe" stuff from the store... I will ditch it if the fungus persists when I finally add some fish in August.


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