A River runs through it

Hahaha! Yip. Thanks It's looking really awesome.

Is that the same Sumo Loach you got for your birthday? He really is pretty...

Sorry to hear of the 'lil Squirrels though. I guess sometimes nature will just take it's course.

 

Yup - that's the Sumo Didi bought me for my Birthday - fat,round and happy...lol

 

Well @Naomi - you might curse me later,but here's my way:

2x 10 000k T5's on for minimum of 18 hours a day - Water is plain Pretoria tap (Hard,'cos this promotes algae growth) and I've mixed in sea sand with my substrate to boost the Calcium levels(cage bird gravel will work if you not popping down to the ocean very often...) - algae likes that...
Daily dose of Excell - just over 1ml in 70liters and weekly Flourish Comprehensive - 1ml....

Removed a Checkers bag and a half of Hair algae from the tank a month(Came out of nowhere to that in like a week) or so ago - think things where going just TOO well...lol - This regime keeps my 5 Big sewelias,3 babies,One Stiphodon and now a Garra rufa fat as pigs on a free range farm...

I have not ONCE observed the Sewelias or the Stiphodon eating anything but algae - they dont even look at the prepared food(Tetra Pro and Tetra sinking Discus granules) - because algae is such a low quality diet,one has to assure a constant supply for them to munch on.... put a few rounded rocks in a plastic Washing up basin(Like 10 bucks at a plastics shop) with water and your filter washings outside in a sunny spot in your garden to "cultivate" extra algae for your Hillstreams - you can just swop the rocks round as they get cleaned off....

 

Hauled out the camera again last night for some pics:



FINALY got a pic that brings out the Gold line well on the Rasbora agilis...that took a while...lol

 

That tank is fish-heaven! Is that an aponogeton crispus? Looks lovely. I also like the lily, it brings a nice bit of colour.

 

I'm still mad about those hillstream loaches! Hopefully I'll be able to build my own river tank soon

 

@jedigenie - also thought it was A.crispus,but when the long awaited inflorescense produced a bulblet and not a flower,knew that it was actualy Aponogeton undulata...lol
Lilly needs to move - got like this little 1cm bulblett frrom a mate and just stuck it in the foreground - gone bos...like everything else in there...he,he

 

Thanks @azurekoi - will give it a try! Mine eats the algea wafers made by Hikari - at the moment I have to feed extra as there is no agea to be seen... looks like something licks my glass clean everyday! Have started the stones outside for extra, but they havn't got much algea on yet.

 

@azurekoi,

Can you please ID the fish on photo number 5 ?

I also have some of them which the lfs has sold to me as a "butterfly plec"

I'm sure thats not the right name ?

 

@gdt78 - It's a Sewelia lineolata - or Tiger Hillstream Loach.... Buterflt Plec is just one of those trade names that any Balitorid fish often gets lumped under...

 

Gonna have to rethink my "algae propogation" strategy... Hair algae now so bad that even with using Crystal algae Clear,I'm pulling handfulls of the stuff out every day and it's irritating me...
Will be cutting my lightin time period down by a third - let's see if this helps...

 

Have you considered an algae scrubber?
Promote the algae to grow somewhere else and then remove it on a regular basis, like what they do in marine setups.

 

Think that reducing the hours of light down to a more normal light period of 12 hours rather than the 18 to 20 I'm running at the moment should have some effect... the tank is not drilled for a sump,so creating a high light area in a sump is not an option...
My nitrate reading are minimal anyways - regularly comes in at below 5ppm... The hair algae has more to do with the long photoperiod and calcium enriched substrate im using... Cant do much about the substrate,but easy to just cut down on my photoperiod...

 

Who says you need a sump? :idea:
I saw an interesting take on an algae scrubber this week where the guy had a trough that looked like one of those PVC gutters, put a bit of mesh into it, and then mounted a light over it.
The water flows in on one side and out the other. Like a trickle filter, but for growing algae. It was mounted above his tank because it's in a cabinet, but you could attach it to the back of yours and use a powerhead for flow. The best part? He used a flexible LED strip for light and he had great algae growth.

 

Uhm... There is maybe 2cm space between tank's back panel and mt lounge wall... + my home made canopy's top is like 3cm above the water... no space in there with all the lights crammed in there...
Realy dont want to go through the hassle of making a new canopy that is "deeper" + I hate tanks that have these big canopies over them - distracting imo...

 

lol, okay. I suppose you really really don't have space.
Are you sure it's just calcium and light period firing up the hair algae?
Couldn't it be something like phosphor or potassium that you might be dosing?
And what other effects will you get from lowering the light period? Won't that also reduce the amount of algae that the fish have to eat?

 

Only dose a half strength dose of Flourish Complete after my waterchanges once a week,so doubt I have an excess of nutrients... this tank is HEAVILY planted,sure the plants are using it up... the Hair and Staghorn that is the problem is usualy due to an excess of calcium and magnesium in my experience...
Remeber that this tank is light city... Have removed the 2 x T8's in there and now just running the 2 x T5;s on their own...still pretty close to 1W/liter...
If the good algae Suffers due to shortened light period,I can always go buy some algae wafers for the dudes till I sort this inbalance out...lol - not to phased by this,just more annoyed at the amount of maintenance at the moment...

 

Reduced lighting times has not done much to reduce the algae problem....lol - probably going to be pulling this tank apart over the holidays... Splitting the stock up to just have the Sewelias and Gastromyzons in here... moving the other loaches and Rasboras to a new little project I'm starting... Plants will move with them and will leave the river tank as just an algae growing monster for the Hillstreams to munch...

 

No need for a sad face... The Hillstreams will love you for it :love: