Turtle's Fairy Tale

[SashimiTurtle]

Love corys. sterbai and emeralds were always my go to. Mostly because I started with them in my discus tank and they could handle the high temps. Large group of pygmy corys make a really nice effect also

Emeralds are probably what I'll be going with. I already have two, and like you said they can handle the heat where other corys prefer things a bit cooler.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Emeralds are probably what I'll be going with. I already have two, and like you said they can handle the heat where other corys prefer things a bit cooler.

My emeralds got pretty big. Lots of good food to eat in a discus tank lol

Love the group aspect of corys. Makes them fun to watch

 

[SashimiTurtle]

My emeralds got pretty big. Lots of good food to eat in a discus tank lol

Love the group aspect of corys. Makes them fun to watch

Absolutely horrible pic, but it's the only one I have. Their tank is disgusting, once the Blackwater is cycled I'll move them over and get better pics. They are at least 5ish years old.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Reef stuff... because, yea...

Elkhorn monti continues to show growth. I think it finally settled in. Starting to get a little more color also.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

One of the tri color frags... has already encrusted the glue, about to touch down on frag plug.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

If only the planted tank was a 72 bowfront and not a 36. Just popped up on the freshwater divers den. That bad boy is pretty... pretty expensive.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

If only the planted tank was a 72 bowfront and not a 36. Just popped up on the freshwater divers den. That bad boy is pretty... pretty expensive.

There are some very high well respected importers in the us that receive their discus direct and run them through QT prior to shopping out. That's what I recommend. All of mine were from Kenny Cheung. Can't say enough about him or his fish.

I believe he is still the sole importer of Forrest's discus as Hans is to Stendker

That is a fine looking specimen though. Some sort of albino pigeon blood strain

Few of my babies grown out from 3" juvies

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Albino red melon is what they called it.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Albino red melon is what they called it.

Oh yeah. My man Kenny brings those in and there is always a huge waiting list for them. His are much more vivid red though

 

[NY_Caveman]

Love Corydoras. I have had several. I remember calling my wife over once when they were mating. I gave play by play explaining what was going on, how they make the “T” and how the male “spits.” Her reaction was basically “EW!” LOL

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Love Corydoras. I have had several. I remember calling my wife over once when they were mating. I gave play by play explaining what was going on, how they make the “T” and how the male “spits.” Her reaction was basically “EW!” LOL

Always liked how one would shoot to the surface and cause a chain reaction and all the rest would follow

 

[SashimiTurtle]

FTS friday.... day late and a dollar short. Story of my life. Oh well I didn't get the blackwater finished until today when I could get to the LFS for driftwood.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Rummy-nose Tetras. Nice. Came out great.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Rummy-nose Tetras. Nice. Came out great.

Yep! One of the two or three tetras I've picked out... one may not happen because of how easily they die.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Test this morning;
Calcium 487ppm
Alk 8.8dkh

Backed dosing pump to 1ml a day to keep from dropping too low. Calculated consumption is 2ml a day.

Pictures of very few acros that have made it. Actually these guys are growing. All encrusted growth has occured in my tank. That last one 4 of the 5 tiny tips have encrusted together. That last one I think is because of how it was oriented on the rack and that corner was shadowed. These will get glued or duplicates traded off.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Pics of all acros together. Suharsonoi only one not pictured. Most of those are frags of the same tricolor colony.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sure glad I decided to try and save this one. It hasn't done much other than color up, but it definitely looks healthy.

Anyone got an idea on what it is?

 

[Janci]

Pics of all acros together. Suharsonoi only one not pictured. Most of those are frags of the same tricolor colony.

That is a nice pack.
Looking good.
And with the higher consumption, something must be eating that Alk

 

[SashimiTurtle]

That is a nice pack.
Looking good.
And with the higher consumption, something must be eating that Alk

Not too much consumption going on. Calcium and Alkalinity has been steadily climbing at only 4ml a day. I am enjoying the encrusting growth on a few of my acros. The bonsai looks to have grown down that dead skeleton some too. I'm going to cut a bit of clean tissue off soon and glue it to rock and see if that doesn't kick it into gear.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Tested nutrients last night.
NO3 8ppm
PO4 0.13ppm

Both need to come down by about half or a little more than half of what they are now. I'd like 2-4ppm NO3 and 0.04-0.08ppm PO4. I also understand that some "invisible" nutrients are in the algae.

Still fighting GHA. Changed up the H80 fuge light a bit. I dropped it to 6" instead of 8", increased the time to 24 hours instead of 18 and changed to the "bloom" spectrum instead of the "grow." It was suggested to me because of how much blue the H80 has in the grow spectrum. The bloom is supposed to be better for growth than grow. We shall see.

After the holidays I need to order ROX carbon, GFO and I'm gonna get some Blue + bulbs for the T5, the Actinic are nice for the UV spectrum the Kessils are weak in, but I think I want to mix it up with a bit more blue from the T5s.

My plan is I have able 6 months of use on my Actinics. From a little research on T5 bulbs, optimum life from an open uncooled fixture is in about 67°F ambient temperature. This cool room temp keeps up with the forced cooling fixtures for maintaining proper bulb temp for extended life.They last about 18 months or so this way. Since I keep my house at 70° year round, I'm going to run T5s for 12 months. All that explaining, I have 6 months on the actinic bulbs. I'll swap in 2 Blue + and run them for 6 months at which point I'll change out the Actinic that are still in the fixture for the Actinics I pulled out and run another 6 months. I will then have 12 months on all bulbs, and I'll replace them all at that point. Since my T5 are only 4 bulbs and used for supplemental lighting instead of the main punch, I should be ok changing them all at once.