# My 6 ft. tank today



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Use the button that looks like 'Play". It will start a slideshow. Jump faster to the next picture with your space bar.
Pictures taken today, Thursday, Dec 16, 2010:

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=11f70af1-f175-49f4-b7e5-58d7d9027fbd

And a video from 30 min ago:






Next time consider having a big school of the same fish in a big tank. You see what they do in your living room

--Nikolay


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

Very nice, Niko. Amazing how simple elements can have such a great effect: sand, wood, and a single species of plant and fish.

Much be very easy to care for, as well.


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## kimcadmus (Nov 23, 2008)

the movement of the school is beautiful and mesmerizing. I want to see it in person.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

i wonder if the center wood-plant mass been more centered front to back, 
would the school swim in a continuous racetrack, rather than back and forth.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

This tank is beautiful as it is because of the fish. Without them it would be utterly boring. It is not a finished work anyway.

As you can see on the wood I have major Cladophora + some leftover BBA. My first priority is to clean the tank's water and find a way to maintain as little organics flying around as possible. I have it now to where you can look from one side and through 6 ft. of water see the neighbours' house 50 ft. away as if you are not looking through any water at all. But that does not mean it is clean from organics.  

That's why I've been talking more about filtration lately. What I see is that increased flow really lifts the dirt particles and eventually reduces their number. Don't know if they are accumulated in my filters or they just get broken down to smaller and smaller particles. My filters do not have mechanical media of any kind. The only mechanical filtration is that HOB Magnum 250 with a sponge on the intake + a micron fabric inside. I rinse it every two days. It collects a lot of stuff. But I doubt it filters all the possible flying debries. That's why I believe that the biofiltration does a good job.

This tank would be pristinely clean if I had about 100 Amano shrimp in it. Or at least 50 or so Otocinclus - not to eat algae but to stir the dirt and raise it up so the filters can take care of it. I'm thinking about putting 3 Garra sp. in it - these fish are always scrubbing whatever is under their mouths. They do not eat algae but by being so active will certainly stir most of the particles from the wood, plants and bottom.

--Nikolay


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Beautiful! And it made me hurry to Seriously Fish to look up the _Moenkhausia_.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

very very nice, what are the name of the fish in the tank.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Niko is this an experiment of sorts. Pretty much opposite of most nature aquariums where you have heavy plant load and low fish load, combined with good filtration, healthy plants and water change and you have pristine tank.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

niko - if you want fish to disturb the surfaces of your tank to get particles waterborne,
I would highly recommend a school of two dozen or more Corydoras hastatus which
will school in rolling cylindrical waves across the bottom - it's really amazing to watch.
I would get otos simply to rasp the wood clean, and to blend in well with these corys.
I have one very confused cory who seems to think a little oto male is his girlfriend.
there are several dwarf corys with various markings, but I think hastatus is best from a
distance, because of the two high contrast black on silver/white dots of it's eye and tail.


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

very nice tank.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

houseofcards said:


> Niko is this an experiment of sorts. Pretty much opposite of most nature aquariums where you have heavy plant load and low fish load, combined with good filtration, healthy plants and water change and you have pristine tank.


Oh yes it is a big experiment. You got that right. I want to see if my views on organics make sense. If I can create a pristinely clean tank with increased flow, certain flow direction, and a lot of fish that eat a lot then maybe I actually know something about how to run a planted tank.

I still have Cladophora that is hesitant to decide if it want to stay or go. It's pretty amazing that without CO2 and only 1 slow growing plant I can keep the Cladophora at bay. But it is there anyway. At this point about 100 Amanos will make this rather empty tank 100% algae free. But I don't have any Amanos. So I will be experimenting with adding CO2, upping the light and a very careful fertilizing regime. Or maybe I will try what Tex_Gal and Digital_Gods suggested for the Cladophora - 3 day blackout and then stop all pumps and spot treat the weakened Cladophora with H202.

The way I fertilize lets me have a very clear understanding on what needs to be done should problems arise. In most cases if you want to stop dead the growth of any algae all you do is a big water change. Or you fertilize more giving the plants a boost. Your choice, but the main point is you know what to do and you even have 2 ways to go about it.

With my fertilizing regime you supply everything in unreadable amounts - less than 0 (and in the very beginning less than 0.1). The amounts of fertilizers are increased as the plant mass increases. But it is all very gradual and always kept at the bare minimum. Interestingly enough if you stop fertilizing no issues develop - the system basically depletes itself from nutrients in less than 1 day and it starts to grow very slowly even under strong light. Algae does not show up. I wanted to call this approach "Sub-Zero" because the fertilizers are supplied in amounts less than 0. But maybe it could be called "Zero Momentum" or "Responsive system" because you can literally stop or accelerate the plant growth in the matter of 1 day - meaning the tank has very little inertia, or momentum.

To me knowing how to adjust for mistakes is basically winning the game. My recent posts about filtration have been exactly about that - knowing what is going on.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

spypet said:


> .....I would highly recommend a school of two dozen or more Corydoras hastatus which
> will school in rolling cylindrical waves across the bottom - it's really amazing to watch...


I've happened to have a group of about 300 Pygmy cories and they do school in the most amazing way - keeping a perfect distance from each other and the entire school moves as one organism. Even in a 25 gal. tank they do that every so often. It'd be very cool to have a big school of such tiny fish in a large tank.

Maybe one day this new 2011. Are you all looking forward positively at it? 

--Nikolay


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## Tex Guy (Nov 23, 2008)

Very nice. One of my favorite fauna schemes is just a large school of Cardinals. Your video reminds me of that in spades.


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## alta678 (Mar 24, 2009)

I have been privileged to see this tank in person. It just needs to be set to some soaring classical music in the background and a large comfy chair in front to be a perfect experience! The video just doesn't do it justice!


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## walterk (Feb 13, 2010)

Niko, that just ROCKS!!!

The schooling action of those fish is fantastic!

The fish you have remind me of what one might see in the ocean, and only rarely in an aquarium. It is very relaxing to watch your videos of that aquarium. Seeing it in person must be a treat.

I'm looking forward to your updates.


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