Unlabelled Planted Aquarium - My planted tank

May 24, 2019
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Planted Aquarium - My planted tank

My planted tank

Posted: 23 May 2019 11:47 AM PDT

I replanted my tank last weekend and I'm pretty happy with the result!

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:27 PM PDT

One month update on the planted nano tank! Everything is growing in nicely! Added shrimps and snails.

Posted: 23 May 2019 06:50 PM PDT

Since my last post I made Alot of changes. Had to stand on the couch to get it all in. 75 gallon cold water and 20 gal long tropical. I started with a 10 gal. Idk how this happened...It all happened so fast.

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:35 AM PDT

Loving the carpet, not a huge fan of the soda tank look.

Posted: 23 May 2019 10:45 PM PDT

A couple of my pygmy cories doing a relaxation on the leaves

Posted: 23 May 2019 08:30 PM PDT

This is 2 year old Tank. He laughs in the face of assassins

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:03 PM PDT

My little slice of heaven

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:14 PM PDT

All is well in the Flex 57

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:46 PM PDT

TIFU by not paying attention and almost causing mass genocide

Posted: 23 May 2019 07:24 AM PDT

Don't expect any content in this post. Just wanted to share my idiocy with folks who would understand. Also, this didn't happen today so, misleading title and all that.

I've been keeping planted tanks for years. As many of you know, a high tech planted tank takes quite some time to not only establish, but also to find the right balance of light, nutrients and CO2 to keep algae at bay and your fish and plants happy and healthy. Every tank is different and there is no rule book on how to find that equilibrium, you just have to keep tweaking until you get there. Once you find that balance, maintenance becomes routine and you fall into a sense of assuming everything will continue that way barring any major changes you make.

My story begins a couple of evenings ago while eating dinner. I notice that my bubble counter is slower than normal and I see that my regulator is showing the CO2 tank as empty. No big deal, it's probably been a few months since the last time it was refilled. The next morning I disconnect the regulator and take the CO2 tank to a welding supply shop not far from me to get it refilled. $18 later and I'm back home connecting everything back up.

Now, I have my lights and CO2 on timers. Lights are on from 2 - 10. CO2 runs from 12:30 - 9. Again, it's morning so by the time I get back home and connect the regulator up, it would have been an hour or two before the timer would have kicked on. I decided to just wait the hour or so to verify everything is good rather than disturbing the schedule more than it already has so I head outside to do some yard work.

When your aquarium is automated, it's very easy to fall into that routine of assuming everything will always be the same as you left it the day before. I fell victim to this sense of security.

By the time I get back into the house it's getting close to 2 pm (the time the lights come on). I decide to jump in the shower and check on everything after the lights come on. At this time, I noticed the aquarium was making a slight gurgling sound which is not unusual. Sometimes the water level gets low and one of my power heads breaks the surface of the water. No big deal, I thought, I'll just add more water when I get back.

I get back and the gurgling noise is much louder but now, it's more like a spitting sound. Then, my heart sinks into my chest when I see that all of my fish are either gasping at the surface or floating sideways near the bottom of the tank barely moving their gills. I quickly discover that the bubble counter is going insane. It's not really a bubble counter at this point, more like a pot of boiling water. Gas is flowing through the system so quickly that it's making its way through my reactor and exiting the spray bar as large visible bubbles, hence the spitting sound. My drop checker is so yellow, Big Bird would be jealous.

I go into emergency mode, kill the gas and get to work on a water change as fast as I could. All the while I have to stand there and watch the fish that I've so meticulously and lovingly cared for over the years struggling to breath. I start thinking what to do if I lose most or all of my fish? This has never happened to me before and losing the majority of live stock and/or replacing them would certainly qualify as a major change to the system which means I might have to prepare myself to re-cycle and establish my favorite aquarium all over again...

By the time I get some fresh water in there, along with a few other tweaks to try to maximize the gas exchange at the water surface, a few of my fish are starting to look a little better. While still at the surface trying to breath, at least they are all swimming upright. I have a large school of Cory's trapped at the bottom still gasping for breath so I try to angle my power heads so they can get some of that surface water down to the bottom of the water column.

At this point I move into investigative mode. I check the regulator, the lines, blow back valves, etc. Everything looks fine to me. When I get to the needle valve, it's damn near fully opened! How this happened I'm not sure. The valve itself is very sensitive and even small adjustments can be the difference between not enough and too much gas. The valve also has a fair amount of resistance so I thought the only way for it to turn would be deliberately. Meaning, I doubt that me removing the regulator and setting it aside while I refilled the gas tank would somehow have turned the valve by mistake. The only other explanation is that I turned the valve damn near all the way open and simply forgot but I cannot think of a single reasonable explanation for why I would have done so. I'd hate to make this sound like I'm incapable of making mistakes but I find the former far more likely than the latter. I suppose it's possible but that would be a major uncharacteristic brain fart on my part.

It's been 3 days since this happened and I'm happy to report that I came out of this ordeal with minimal casualties. This tank supports ~25 different fish ranging in size from 1/2" Neon Tetras up to 5-6" Gouramis and many in between. I'm sad to say that I lost 2 Neon Tetras because of my mistake but am glad because it could have been a lot worse. While I've never had something like this happen to me before, my overall experience with fish keeping helped me identify the problem and know what needed to be done quickly which most likely is the only reason I'm not at my LFS right now handing them my credit card and wallowing in self pity.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. I just needed to get my story out there to some folks who might understand what I went through. Can't really talk to any friends or family about it in any level of detail. Nobody really understands the task of keeping a heavily planted aquarium healthy and stable. Nor do they understand how sensitive it can be to external factors, regardless of how benign they may seem.

tl;dr - Accidentally injected far too much CO2 into my aquarium and damn near suffocated a tank full of fish.

submitted by /u/Phuque
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Is this considered a “runner”?

Posted: 23 May 2019 09:24 PM PDT

What do you guys think about my livebearer tank?

Posted: 23 May 2019 12:17 PM PDT

Do you know what nutrient deficiency is happening on this amazon sword?

Posted: 23 May 2019 11:17 PM PDT

First time i’ve seen pearling!

Posted: 23 May 2019 08:29 AM PDT

My first planted tank, one month in

Posted: 23 May 2019 09:04 AM PDT

Any tips? I'd like to trim this emersed alternathera reineckii and convert it to a houseplant. Will it be fine like propagating immersed stems or just dry up and die without an existing root structure?

Posted: 23 May 2019 05:12 PM PDT

Excuse the algae, my corner of ludwigia repens is slowly becoming more and more lush! Glad I decided to keep propagating it!

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:56 PM PDT

My mess of a ten gallon!

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:16 PM PDT

First attempt at a shrimp tank (shrimp not yet included), feedback -and tips appreciated :D

Posted: 23 May 2019 10:31 AM PDT

Added some foreground plants. What should I put in the back? Recommendations welcome! FG: Alternanthera reineckii, Eleocharis acicularis, Bucephalandra ‘red’

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:44 PM PDT

Rescape an established tank

Posted: 23 May 2019 08:07 PM PDT

I have an established 30 gallon tank with guppies, mollies, blue ram, amano shrimp and a plecko. It has some basic plants in it and gravel. Would love to get a nice planted set up.

How do I start?

Will I kill my cycle?

Can I do this without removing the fish?

submitted by /u/RandomLey
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My first ever planted tank. What do you all think?

Posted: 23 May 2019 01:44 PM PDT

Tabletop Ponds and Wabikusa. One Blackwater one Native

Posted: 23 May 2019 02:07 PM PDT

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