Posts by dwalstad
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Could be that your water is too soft. What is the hardness of your water (i.e., GH)?
You have plenty of plants. Now you just need to get them growing.
You have plenty of plants. Now you just need to get them growing.
The GH and KH sound good.Ok tested twice using API GH KH test kit.
8 drops for GH -143.2 ppm according to their chart and 6 drops for KH - 107.4 ppm according to the chart.
I had taking under a half gallon of water out just by cleaning the debris snail poo sitting on the top of the substrate on Monday.
I noticed that you've lost your Water Wisteria and floating plants. Your rooted plants haven't grown that much. You've got the soil and the water hardness, so it's something else. Maybe too much cleaning, water changes, filtration, and not enough fishfood addition.
Do you have a photoperiod of at 11 hours?
You have a 13 hour photoperiod, which is very good. So it's not that.
Since you lost your floating plants, that suggests an iron deficiency in the water.
Did you use compost? Real mineral soil contains plentiful iron, but pure organic material like peat does not. If so, it could be your tank is deficient in iron.
I would add a micronutrient fertilizer and/or chelated iron. Try again with floating plants. Your goal should be to have enough nutrients in the water to grow floating plants.
Your rooted plants may be getting just enough iron from the substrate mulm to keep going, but not enough to thrive.
Manganese is another micronutrient that oxidizes in the water, so if your substrate is gravel/compost, start out first with a micronutrient fertilizer. Then, you could go to a chelated iron powder, which is cheaper.
I think Ember tetras would be fine with a Betta.
Since you lost your floating plants, that suggests an iron deficiency in the water.
Did you use compost? Real mineral soil contains plentiful iron, but pure organic material like peat does not. If so, it could be your tank is deficient in iron.
I would add a micronutrient fertilizer and/or chelated iron. Try again with floating plants. Your goal should be to have enough nutrients in the water to grow floating plants.
Your rooted plants may be getting just enough iron from the substrate mulm to keep going, but not enough to thrive.
Manganese is another micronutrient that oxidizes in the water, so if your substrate is gravel/compost, start out first with a micronutrient fertilizer. Then, you could go to a chelated iron powder, which is cheaper.
I think Ember tetras would be fine with a Betta.
Yes, soil naturally contains nitrifying bacteria. I suspect that nitrification would occur in bagged soil sitting around for awhile, whether or not it was fertilized. Organic matter contains protein, DNA, and other molecules that contain nitrogen. Decomposition converts this to ammonia, CO2, etc. Nitrifying bacteria convert the ammonia to nitrates. This all happens naturally as an aerobic process before you ever add the soil to the tank. All this activity nitrogen cycling we talk about in our tanks also takes place in terrestrial soils.
You want plants growing well to get a head start on algae, get their roots established before the soil layer begins turning anaerobic, etc. Bacteria in the soil layer don't really get cranked up in activity for a week or two. Ideally, the plants should be getting established and starting to grow at the same time.
You want plants growing well to get a head start on algae, get their roots established before the soil layer begins turning anaerobic, etc. Bacteria in the soil layer don't really get cranked up in activity for a week or two. Ideally, the plants should be getting established and starting to grow at the same time.
Make sure you have a photoperiod of at least 12 hours. Floaters need lots of light.
You'll have to experiment with the iron dosing. After you add the floating plants, if new leaves are yellow (chlorotic), that suggests iron deficiency. Then add a little iron.
However, if old leaves on other plants, especially slow-growers (i.e., Crypts), turn red/brown and disintegrate, then you have iron toxicity. Fast growers grow fast enough to dilute the iron inside their tissue so that it does not reach toxic levels.
You'll have to experiment with the iron dosing. After you add the floating plants, if new leaves are yellow (chlorotic), that suggests iron deficiency. Then add a little iron.
However, if old leaves on other plants, especially slow-growers (i.e., Crypts), turn red/brown and disintegrate, then you have iron toxicity. Fast growers grow fast enough to dilute the iron inside their tissue so that it does not reach toxic levels.
Excellent documentation of iron-dosing results! Also tank is as cute as can be.
Seeing these pictures persuaded me to add a little iron to some of my tanks.
Seeing these pictures persuaded me to add a little iron to some of my tanks.
So many aquarium fish are bred strictly for color, uniformity, fast growth, etc. No selection for disease resistance or longevity, so the resulting fish are genetically weak and susceptible to any disease that blows their way. My article 'Guppy Longevity' (available on my website) describes the problem and my solution with fancy guppies, but I am sure that it applies to many other exotic, highly bred aquarium fish such as yours.
So sorry. For people that want to promote aquarium-keeping, they might want to focus on the fragility of commercially bred strains. Dead fish are a real downer for the hobby.
I'm a little curious and not well versed on Bettas. Did you choose this vendor, because his fish are known to be healthier than fancy Bettas sold in LFS?
Sounds good! Thank you for the explanation. I applaud you and him for focusing on what is truly important. Not just the cheapest fish or the Bling...Yes I choose Franksbettas because of the health of his fish, I had heard nothing but good things when I was researching.
Some of the fish in my LFS are stunning but I cant deal with a fish that I will get attached to and have it live less then a year. I know many betta people consider it "rescuing" and giving the fish a good home for however long it has, but I have tried that route twice and would rather support someone who cares about the health of their fish and as a bonus their natural envirornment as well.
He is very, very much into conservation and breeds wild bettas to return to natural areas they have disappeared from. The wild types he sells are more then 8-10 generations removed from actual wild bettas.
I picked out a Betta one of the green Imbellis from the videos he sent me. He is about 4 months old. I am not sure how or even if i even can post a video on here. So I am just waiting for him to send a invoice and then i will finalize the purchase. I have contacted a transhipper as well.
Good you figured this out! The Mg (magnesium) would increase your GH. Plentiful Mg and very little calcium is not natural.
Be careful when adding fertilizers. They can cause more problems than they solve.
Be careful when adding fertilizers. They can cause more problems than they solve.
If you know your water is basically safe (no chloramines or chlorine) that sounds fine to me.About how much can i safely remove? I was aiming for maybe 3/4 to 1 gal from a 3 gal tank.
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