[PlentyCoup]

Ok so he is in the tank now phew.
Totally miss read the directions. Pour out the water then tip him into the tank out of the empty bag. I didnt think that sounded right before you never add foreign water to your tank.

Best photo i have been able to get so far.
He seems to be slowly checking everything out.

 

[johnwesley0]

Oh, he's beautiful! Love the red highlights!

 

[PlentyCoup]

I think he is settling in just fine.
I have to start thinking of names now.

My kasa light timer turned on at 4 and i was able to lgrab a slightly better photo of him before i turned the lights back off.

He has already lost the stress strips he had when he first arrived.

 

[jatcar95]

Very pretty! What kind did you go with? I may have missed it if you mentioned before...

 

[PlentyCoup]

Very pretty! What kind did you go with? I may have missed it if you mentioned before...

I went with a green imbellis. I can't remember if I did say which type i went with.

He is small and I think frank said all his fish are 4 or 5 months old. I never asked what their mature size was but i do know they are the smallest of the betta species.

 

[PlentyCoup]

He seems to be settling in fine. He has gone right along with the 4 ember tetras and joined them when i feed them their flake food. I still have to go pick up frozen bloodworms just in case.

So i think that the tank has a taken a bit of a hit after almost 2 months with nothing but 4 emeber tetras. I should have probably started looking into additions sooner.

The imbellis betta is very small compared to the splenda so i am concerned about not having enough fish to support the plants.

I have kept up with dosing the micros about twice a month and have not seen any further signs of iron deficiency but i have had a significant decrease in plant growth.

Zimmerman had some endlers that were good for nano tanks, and i wanted to try those in the 36gal with the bluespots. Or am i better off waiting and seeing how if everything picks back up over the next couple of weeks.

Any other suggestions for a good nano fish maybe something that breed, johnwesley0 still had me interested on that dynamic from his journal lol.

 

[PlentyCoup]

So he has been setteling in but not really "setteling" in. Been holding onto his stress strips off and on. Have been checking the water. Everything was in range expect the gh kh and ph they were just slightly higher then what a he might be comfortable.
He was looking more stressed last night so i checked the water again.
Kh- 8 drops 145 ppm approx
Gh- 12 drops 214 ppm approx
Ph- 7.8 up from 7.4 last week.

So not good and he is not looking to happy either. I had finally ordered almond leaves and just got them yesterday. They are small all around 2-3in size.
I am a bit at a loss here i have never really had any issues with my water hardness or ph before, i have city water and everything has always been in the 110-125 marker, and my ph is usually 7.2-7.4.

 

[PlentyCoup]

Just double checked hardness for my area and its 104ppm so i have never had a issue before this.
Going to redo my test for gh kh maybe i was off somehow.
Either way he is currently not a happy camper.
Trying to get a decent photo of him.

 

[PlentyCoup]

So just had a bit of a ahha moment.
The CSM+B i have been adding to my tank twice a month for iron deficency for my plants well the amount of mg in it has slowly been raising my gh and i wasnt really making the connection.

I should have just gone and gotten cheletrd iron and added just that.
Heres the breakdown of the micros i have been adding.

 

[dwalstad]

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.

 

[PlentyCoup]

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.

Yah I knew it had to be something. With 104ppm from my tap water I have never had to give much worry to water hardness.

I will buy just chelated iron and use that since i know I have a history of deficiency. .
I will do a small water change tonight to try and get this lowered.
About how much can i safely remove? I was aiming for maybe 3/4 to 1 gal from a 3 gal tank.

 

[mistergreen]

You can buy or make tannin tea to put in the tank by boiling dry leaves. You can collect dry edible fruit & nut leaves that haven't been sprayed for pesticides. You can buy banana leaves in the Asian market to dry for this use. It's much cheaper than Indian Almond leaves. I would wash all the leaves first.

 

[dwalstad]

About how much can i safely remove? I was aiming for maybe 3/4 to 1 gal from a 3 gal tank.

If you know your water is basically safe (no chloramines or chlorine) that sounds fine to me.