Lo's 29 Gallon Home Aquarium

[Lolita]

Lo's 29 Gallon Home Aquarium

Lo's 10 Gallon Office Aquarium Journal (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?p=614876#post614876)

Tank Specs:
Size: 29 US Gallons
Dimentions: 30(L) x 12(D) x 18(H)

Equiptment:
Heater: 100 watt Aqueon Submersible Heater
Air Pump: PETCO brand dual airpump with airstones
Filter: AquaClear50(200)
Lighting: Coralife 30 Inch
Thermometer: ESU Reptile Digital Thermometer

Plants:
Background: Amazon Swords, Java Fern
Midground: Borneo Fern, Anubias
Foreground: Anubias(200)

Other:
Substrate: 40 lbs Eco-Complete
Decorations: Fake driftwood piece, sand bar

Fish Plan:
*** This list is subject to change. ***
Schooling: 10 - 12 Neon Tetra or Cardinal Tetra
Algae Eaters: 4 - 6 Otocinclus Catfish
Livebearers: ~ 3 Platies
Centerpiece: 1 Male Betta

[rich311k]

Sounds like a good plan. The sword will need to be trimmed often as it will fill the tank by itself if you let it.

[Lolita]

Sounds like a good plan. The sword will need to be trimmed often as it will fill the tank by itself if you let it.

That's a good thing at the moment lol. Right now it's pretty small, the shortest are about 4 inches and the tallest maybe 9. I'll let them grow a bit, then start trimming. =D Thanks for the advice!

[cfgsteak]

Nice planning! That tank will be awesome!

[Lolita]

After sitting a week without a filter (it came broken and I had to have a replacement sent), I'm finally cycling! It's a good feeling, I just hope it all goes smoothly... every time I go to the store I stare in at the fish I want forever... the people that work there must think I'm nuts! xD

Anyhow, here's a picture and a little video. I added a couple more plants after taking these, but it looks pretty much the same (just added a few more swords to the back to fill it out).

http://i35.tinypic.com/2vmbkuv.jpg

See the Video here (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=jj6a6r&s=4)!

Can't wait to get fishies!!

[Lolita]

Nice planning! That tank will be awesome!

=D Thanks so much!! I'm trying to be as organized as possible. I want to make sure I do this right so I can have a happy, healthy community to keep me company!

[cfgsteak]

=D Thanks so much!! I'm trying to be as organized as possible. I want to make sure I do this right so I can have a happy, healthy community to keep me company!

I LOVE the picture! That is the kind of tank I appreciate the most. Great job. Your fish will love it.

[Lolita]

I LOVE the picture! That is the kind of tank I appreciate the most. Great job. Your fish will love it.

Thank you so much! I appreciate any feedback, this is my first planted tank... my last (and first ever tank) was a 10 gallon with 1 goldfish..and I didn't really know what I was doing when I started out.

I'm looking forward to the plans filling out more over the next month while I cycle. I want to make sure there's plenty of hiding space for my fishies!

[VoidParadigm]

Looks good! If it was me I'd get six neons and six cardinals. I personally think seeing the two schools interact would be interesting, but whatever floats your boat. Good luck on the tank!

[Lolita]

Looks good! If it was me I'd get six neons and six cardinals. I personally think seeing the two schools interact would be interesting, but whatever floats your boat. Good luck on the tank!

=D I like that idea a lot actually! I was considering it before, but I didn't know if Neons liked to be the only tetra species in the tank or not. Cardinals are probably similar enough anyway, though.

Thank you for the suggestion!

[VoidParadigm]

Thought it up mainly because my Uncle has a tank with neons and cardinals (and a few million guppies :lol:). Always see them together in his.

[Lolita]

Thought it up mainly because my Uncle has a tank with neons and cardinals (and a few million guppies :lol:). Always see them together in his.

Lol! It would definately add just a little more variety to the tank--and they'd probably school together, right? ^_^

[Lolita]

Thinking about changing the background to a dark blue metallic or non-metallic... I thought the silver would be nice to make the tank look double the depth, but... it's just reflecting light weird.

Opinions?

[Lolita]

I had my tank so perfect ;_; But I was stupid...and I wanted the stupid black sand...

I couldn't find moon sand, but I found this planted aqurium substrate that IS a sand, and looked just like the moon sand but I figured "hey, it's for planted aquariums, even better!"

So... I moved some stuff around and took out my fake driftwood, then started slowly pouring it in figuring I could smooth it out as I went and mix it with the eco-complete.

WRONG. It turned my water BLACK. Completely black! I can't see into my aquarium, it looks like a big black box now and I'm SO MAD. I know it's probably just the sand floating around before it settles...but I waited about a half our and there was no difference, so I got impatient and emptied half the water...

Now I'm mad at myself for being impatient cause I don't know what to do!

At least I was only 3 days into my cycle...so it's not like it'll make a big dent.. *sigh*

I kind of want to cry.

[VoidParadigm]

Some sand can take even a few days to settle. Try not to be too impatient. Don't worry about it. You did what you thought was best, and as you said, it's not a big dent. You're doing great so far. thumbs2:

[Lolita]

;_; I wish I'd known that before I started to panic and tear everything apart. At least I remember my layout and it should only take me about two hours to get the whole thing up and running again... *sigh*

[VoidParadigm]

On the bright side if you ever set up another tank in the years to come you'll have this experience to look back on.

[Lolita]

Lol. Thanks.

Operation: Replant is complete.

now I just have to fill it with water... >_> which I plan to do one cup at a time to try to keep it from stirring up more crap. My python hasn't arrived yet xD

[Lolita]

Ooookay... well, at least it wasn't a complete disaster... x_x

My tank has been redone in 2 hours--lol that was a lucky prediction. It's pretty murkey, but really not nearly as bad as it could have been. I filled it literally cup... by cup... by cup... as slowly as possible because my python is in the mail at the moment.

It was worth it though. That black mess that happened earlier would have driven me nuts. This I can deal with--it's just...cloudy, really:

http://i37.tinypic.com/2r1zkv4.jpg

If I'm lucky, by the time I wake up, it'll be clear again like yesterday ;_; one can only hope... and I can re-start my cycle. I AM happy to say that I am now 99% happy with the set up, and have no plan to add anymore plants. I think I that when I redid everything, I managed to plant the swords and ferns nicely in a line in the back so they make a nice hiding area. They'll be even better once they grow a bit more. I can't believe how much my anubias has grown since I got it, though! Especially considering it's supposed to be the slowest growing plant in my tank xD what's going on there?

There are bubbles all over the tank too which is kind of hilarious. My driftwood piece looks like it's silver because of the bubbles!

Anyhow. I need to eat something now because I haven't eaten since lunch...and that was 12 hours ago. I'm going to throw up if I don't eat something soon... xD Ironic...

Thanks everyone for helping me out during my embarrassing, ridiculous panic mode!

[Lolita]

Holy crap! I went downstairs to make myself a snack, and by the time I got back to my bedroom, an hour hadn't even passed and my tank is already crystal clear again!!

http://i38.tinypic.com/311wec8.jpg

Yaaay! I'm so happy =D I'm going to drop some ammonia in now before bed and start up my cycle again. If I'm lucky, since the media stayed wet and it was only off for about 2 hours... maybe it didni't hinder anything.

Wish me luck! I'll get better pictures tomorrow when there aren't so many bubbles to make my flash go nuts!

[Lolita]

Haven't updated for a while. Ammo hasn't moved yet, so blah blah blah...

I'm going to petsmart now to get some stability. BirdOfPray used it successfully in a fishless cycle so I'm going to give it a try! If it works and my tank gets cycled as fast as hers did, maybe I can surprise my parents and have both tanks fish-ified before they get back from Aruba on the 10th! =O

Lol wishful thinking...

[Lolita]

Still no changed on the cycle. I'm getting so impatient, but I have no other choice but to wait.

The good news is that I haven't seen any more snails... I've been doing a pretty thorough seach every night after lights out, and morning before lights go back on. I haven't seen anything at all, so hopefully that one was on its own...? Doubtful I know, but...

I hope the bacteria starts growing soon! =(

[Lolita]

OMG! I did a test this morning on my water, but I was in a rush so I just put the tube in my pocket and ran out of the house..

When I checked it after getting to the office, I noticed something WONDERFUL!

My ammonia has dropped to 1! YAY!!

When I get home I'll add more to bring it back up to 4/5. I'm so excited! FINALLY some progress!

[Northernguy]

Thats some great news!thumbs2:
I wonder why it stalled for so long?

[Lolita]

Thats some great news!thumbs2:
I wonder why it stalled for so long?

I have no idea. xD I am about 90% sure it was your gift that pushed it along. Lol! Is there a gift in the system that like... encourages you to also win the lotto? That would be great. :hmm3grin2orange:

[vegas2k]

It's all about the bottle! TLC StartSmart in my case, same thing probably anyways :)

[Lolita]

The Stability did seem to help! Though I seem to have stalled again. It's been at two again now for two days without me adding anything and I'm still not seeing nitrites...

I think my low pH is inhibiting growth somehow... maybe I should put something in the tank to raise my pH while it's cycling?

[Lolita]

Okay so it's been a few days... D: and my cycle hasn't budged at all. Still no nitrites or nitrates...and my ammonia has been at 2 for... five days now. :help:

[Lolita]

=D Weee, finally something has happened.

Ammonia dropped to 0, so I added more to bring it up to 2-3.
Nitrites are at 5!
Nitrates are a higher than 10.

Yaay!

Hoping to see some more movement in the next few days. Can't wait for this thing to be cycled.

[Lolita]

Still no change.

Nitrites aren't dropping, but ammonia's dropping to zero every day... It's been over two months now..

[Taurus]

Lo, you're going to wake up some day and those nitrites will be at 0 and you'll test positive for nitrates. It will happen that fast when it does. It just takes time and patience.

[Lolita]

They drop from 5 to .5 every day. Sometimes even .25 D: but never 0. I have to wait 2 days without adding ammonia for it to drop to 0.

[Taurus]

If your nitrites are being consumed that fast and your ammonia goes to zero, then your tank is cycled and ready for some hardy fish. If you don't add fish, keep adding ammonia to keep the cycle going. CONGRATS! thumbs2:

[Lolita]

xD yaay. I'm such an idiot. thumbs2:

I think I'll do a nice big school of glofish. Something really bright to stand out against all the black.

[Taurus]

xD yaay. I'm such an idiot. thumbs2:

I think I'll do a nice big school of glofish. Something really bright to stand out against all the black.

Lo, you're not an idiot..far from it. You did well and had patience with the fishless cycle. Again, congrats. thumbs2:

[Lolita]

Lo, you're not an idiot..far from it. You did well and had patience with the fishless cycle. Again, congrats. thumbs2:

xD I think I did TWO on this one tank alone actually LOL

Thank you <3!

[Lolita]

So, for the past two years my tank has looked exactly the same... and I decided tonight that I was sick of it. :) So I'm redoing it.

This is how it has looked since 2010:

http://i47.tinypic.com/23jlp46.jpg


:) Now, I have torn out everything and am redoing it.

Unfortunately... my pleco ripped apart all my anubias. :( I'll have to pick some more up.

[Lolita]

Just realized that I never posted any pictures of my remodel in here!

I tore the tank down, and moved everything around.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2w1v6l4.jpg

Tried to catch all the guppies...there are still 7-10 left in there, which I'll try once again to catch in the next week.

Here's how it looked all done, but still with cloudiness in the water:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2ajdxxk.jpg

[Lolita]

Since taking that picture, I have added 5 more cardinal tetra for a bigger shoal.

I'm also thinking of adding a shoal of Harlequin Rasbora if I can fit it. Opinions on that??

[Lolita]

It's been a while since I updated here...

We had a few bad power-outages here with the recent storms. I lost all of my cardinals and my betta to them... and all the guppies have been taken out.

Unfortunately, that left the tank empty with nothing but a pleco and my absurdly resilient oto's!

I added a small starter shoal of 6 harlequin rasbora. One died on it's way home, and three more died after the first night. When I went back to buy more, they were out--so I'll have to wait until next Wednesday to add more. It's driving me nuts having only the two...but they are doing very well. They are very active, eat a lot and their colors look great!

I also added a pair of GBR. They are my favorite fish and I had never had luck with them before. These two look to be doing much better than the previous pair I had, and my pleco doesn't other them at all like he did with the previous pair--in fact, he allows them to sleep and hide in his little cave that he made under the driftwood, which really shocked me.

They still have their vertical black bars which worries me a little. I'm not sure if this is just their coloration or if they are stress bars. Their colors are otherwise vibrant and the female's belly is so pink!

They're also very active and eat very well, so I can't tell if they're stressed or just...stripey. They've been in the tank now for about a week now without a sign of stress aside from the bars. My water parameters are perfect, but the temperature is a little low since the power outage knocked out one of my heaters. I'm waiting for the replacement to arrive. Right now my tank is holding steady at about 78 degrees. I'm hoping that when I get the new heater in and the tank gets back up to it's usual 82 degrees they'll be a little happier!

[Lolita]

So my Rams are doing awesome! They're really settling into the tank and are getting along very well with all the other fish. They're very active. The male tends to hide far more often than the female--but the female is constantly out and about in the front of the tank! :) Right now they're getting a varied diet of flakes, blood worms, Spectrum pellets and the occasional sinking wafer. I plan to get them a few other types of food soon (when I'm not broke from Christmas shopping haha.)

They've also gotten cucumber twice! :)

Here's a picture of them:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/703660_10100113037988106_716223052_o.jpg

[Lolita]

Oh yeah!

Also, I upped my school of Rasbora to 13! One of them is actually a black harly, but he doesn't know he's different than the others. :) He was all alone at petco, so I saved him (They gave him to me for free!) I got the other 10 at petsmart.

The petsmart near me is actually really impressive. Two of the girls that work in the fish department actually know what they are talking about. I talked to them for probably a half hour the other day about fish keeping and was happy to hear someone at a store like that who knew their stuff. I directed them here and they'll hopefully join.

I've mentioned before that I'm teaching my 18 month old nephew about fish! I let him feed my fish with me every day and he's getting so good about it! He knows which foods they get and picks them out from the shelf on his own!

This is him waving "hi" to his fish 'puppies.' lol...

http://i50.tinypic.com/35apwty.jpg

[steeler58]

Tank realy looks good!!!

Black Harleys are cool, one of the few color morphs I like. Good on you to rescue him/her.

[Lolita]

Tank realy looks good!!!

Black Harleys are cool, one of the few color morphs I like. Good on you to rescue him/her.

:D Thanks!

Yeah I liked it, too. I also kind of like that (s)he is the only one in there.

The kid at petco is really nice so when I came in asking if they had any harly's and only saw him I was like "Aww, he's all alone. I'll take him." And so he gave him to me for free!