26 Gallon Aquarium

Due to hectic home and work loads lately, I’ve been neglecting my 26 gallon aquarium. It’s been over run with duckweed (though it has been beneficial), algae, and the water level has been a bit low.

I haven’t been keeping up with the fertilizers, and I haven’t changed the water as often as I should, which is somewhat amusing, since my last post was about water quality.

My fish and snails are doing good, and most of the plants are still growing.

I just removed a bunch of duckweed a day or two ago, along with a bunch of string algae. I have tufts of algae on the substrate, mostly where I had planted dwarf hair grass. I don’t overfeed, and I can’t imagine that much fish poo being on top of the substrate for that stuff to keep growing like it does.

As it is, I’m still learning about this hobby, only being in it for about 2 years now.

I wrote a post a while back about tearing this aquarium down and starting from scratch. I still plan on doing that. Maybe if I actually set a date to do it and order the rest of the things I need it’ll actually get done.

Along with that, I still have to set my smaller aquarium up so my fish have a home while I finish the project.

I have all my aquarium maintenance stuff on my Google Calendar so I won’t forget what I need to dose and when to clean the filter, etc. I just need to adjust my schedule so that I keep up on it.

I’m also thinking about moving the aquarium out of my kitchen so I can enjoy seeing it more often.

I think some of the neglect comes from me not seeing it all the time. There’s plenty more places it could be than in the kitchen.

Do you neglect your aquarium(s)? Send me photos of your neglected aquariums, and let me know how you overcame the neglection. Send photos to beau at liening dot us, or upload them to your favorite photo sharing site and send a link in the comments.

Here’s some more photos of this aquarium:

Algae on filter intake



Substrate algae

More substrate algae

I want to give the glass a thorough cleaning. I will be replacing my red flourite substrate with natural soil plus a sand cap.

What I already have:

26 gallon aquarium
Fluval 205
Hydor Koralia Nano Powerhead
Sand banks for raised areas
Driftwood
Fish

Things I still need to purchase:

Organic soil
Tahitian Moon black sand
Medium gravel to make raised areas
New heater
Rocks
A ton of new plants

I want to make a better moss wall, covering the whole back of the tank, using magnets to hold it in place. My current moss wall is mostly a failure. It only covers about half of the back wall and growth is sporadic.

I will probably try the “dry start” method, to promote fast growth before I fill the aquarium completely with water.

You might think I’m converting to an “el natural” tank, but I’m staying high tech. I’ll be using the same lighting, same filter, same pressurized CO2, and adding a power head for more circulation.

I still need to plan out what plants I’ll get this time, and also plan out the aquascape.

I’m keeping the same fish, except eventually I might get rid of the Chinese algae eaters and replace them with a couple otocinclus. I’d also like to get a few zebra nerite snails. I love my neon tetras, but I only have 7. I might bring that number to 10, I’m not sure yet.

I’ll have to get everything I need before I start this project of course. And then I’ll have to setup the 20 gallon aquarium and cycle it before I move the fish and snails over.

I also need to figure out where I’m going to put the 20 gallon. Not much room in the kitchen right now. Maybe I’ll put it in my office for the time being. I’ve been planning an “el natural” setup for this one, so I’ll probably set it up the way I want it so I won’t have to redo it after I’m done with the 26 gallon.

So that’s the plan. What do you think?

In theory, a heavily planted tank with plenty of water circulation and plenty of mechanical/biological filtration, you shouldn’t need to use chemical (carbon) filtration.  In my filters, I use mechanical (sponges and pads) and biological (ceramic noodles, bio-balls) filtration.  I also have a few blue mystery snails, and 3 Chinese algae eaters.  In my opinion, if you have a good combination of plants, water circulation, mechanical and biological filtration, water changes, and a good cleanup crew (fish, inverts), you’ve got it made.

There are a few reasons I would use activated carbon in a planted aquarium though.  Sometimes when new driftwood is put into a tank, the wood leaches tannins into the water making the water murky.  Activated carbon removes the tannins from the water.  I would also use activated carbon in the first few weeks of setup,  if I were using a soil-based substrate, to help control the amount of excessive nutrients leaching out of the soil.  Carbon is also good to use to remove medications from the water.

Do you use activated carbon in your planted aquariums?  Why or why not?

Blue Mystery Snail

One of my favorite aquarium inhabitants is my group of blue mystery snails.  I only have 4 or 5 of them.  Since many snails are grouped as Mystery Snails, I’m not sure what exact species mine are.  Water temperature should be kept between 70 and 82 °F.  Most care sheets and websites say that the pH should be kept around 8.  My pH is around 7.4 and the snails seem to be very happy.  Most mystery snails are active at might, but mine are active throughout the day.

Unlike most snails, mystery snails are asexual.  That means there must be a male and a female snail for them to breed.  In the two years that I’ve kept these snails, they haven’t bred once.  They lay their eggs above the water level, so if you want them to breed, you must leave some room above the water line.

They feed on algae, dead plant matter, and other uneaten fish food.  They also eat vegetables, such as zucchini and cucumbers.  Did I mention they love vegetables?  They do.  I should note that these snails are very safe in planted aquariums.

Since these snails can grow to the size of a golf ball, the general rule is 2.5 gallons per snail.  Most websites also reccomend that the aquarium be covered.  My aquarium is an open top and I have had any snails escape.

For more detailed information, check out the Mystery Snail Care Sheet at petfish.net.

Fissidens fontanus from Aqua Botanic

I’m planning on making a tree/bush using Fissidens fontanus for my 26 gallon aquarium. I’m still researching on ways to do this, and also the best ways to trim to keep the tree/bush look.  I think this will look really good in my aquarium, once I’m able to replace the substrate and work a new aqua-scape.  I think it will look really good sitting close to my Cabomba furcata.  My new aqua-scape will be kind of a hill scape, with driftwood.  Of course I’ll have a ton of other plants in there, along with cryptocoryne parva, cryptocoryne wendtii, anubias minima, vallisneria nana, hygrophila corymbosa kompact, christmas moss, and peacock moss.  I might also try dwarf hairgrass again.  I’ll keep you updated once I start playing with the fissidens fontanus.

Do you have experience with Fissidens fontanus?  Leave a comment!

This regulator can be used by itself, or with a pH controller.  I have mine on a timer instead of a pH controller.  AquariumPlants.com also has this regulator with an optional LCD 8 digit resettable counter instead of the LED.  The digital counter also has a backup battery, so it won’t lose its count.  They also recently started offering the counter by itself, so you can use your own regulator.

Overall, I’m very happy with this regulator.  It’s super easy to setup and use.  You can see how I have mine set up here.  I plan on getting another one of these regulators in the future, when I get a large aquarium.

I have a dual strip light fixture on my 26 gallon aquarium, giving me 130 watts, which is about 7.5 watts per gallon. The fixture I have is a Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixture Dual 24″ Dual Daylight 6,700°K/10,000°K and Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm.

This fixture has four electrical plugs. One for each dual bulb, one for the LED moonlight, and one for the cooling fan. I have my lights on a timer that also turns on the cooling fan (which is built in to the fixture). The lights are on for 8 hours a day. When the lights turn off, the LED moonlight turns on.

I need to replace both bulbs soon, but I’m wondering if I should replace the dual actinic with a second dual daylight. If I go with a second dual daylight, I can see if there’s any growth difference.  There’s a lot of talk on the forums I visit about the usefulness of actinic bulbs on a freshwater planted tank.  I’d say it’s about a 50/50 whether or not they are useful.  I think I’ll do my own tests.

My lights turn on one hour after my CO2 turns on, and turn off one hour after my CO2 turns off.

I use a total of three timer power strips for all of my equipment. I’m planning on building a “power center,” which will be made out of plywood with electric outlets built on. I’m going to have a couple outlets for non timer equipment, such as my cannister filter, power head (which I don’t have yet), and heater. I’ll also have and outlets for the timer strips. I’ll consolidate both light strips, cooling fan, and moon light onto one power strip. This will allow better use of the cabinet space under the aquarium.

That’s about it for my lighting setup. What kind of lighting do you use on your aquarium?

Equipment:

1. 10 lbs CO2 tank
2. Electronic regulator
3. Glass diffuser

The electronic regulator let’s you adjust how many bubbles of CO2 you want in a certain time frame (4 bubbles per second (240 per minute) down to 1 bubble per 10 seconds). Right now I have it set to about 4 bubbles per second.

The glass difuser has a ceramic disk that turns the CO2 into tiny bubbles to help it disolve into the water better.

I have to refill my CO2 tank about once a year.

I need to get a drop checker so I know I’m getting the right amount of CO2 in the tank. I had a drop checker before I moved in to my house, but I still can’t find it.

I plan on getting a Hydor Koralia Nano power head to help evenly distribute the CO2.