Jade's aquarium journal. A Journey

[Jadenlea]

Prologue

I grew up with aquariums in our home. That was way back in the 80's. I remember at one point when fancy tail guppies were just starting to get popular,
my dad got the idea to breed and sell them.. Which he did for a little while. When I got married and moved out of my parents home I set up a tank, and then another. One tropical, once cichlid. I couldn't afford much back then so they were on make shift stands with equipment from walmart. The internet was not prolific back then so it was harder to get info than it is today. Eventually, the really cool electric catfish that I thought were really neat at the time, ate all my fish except for a few gigantic cichlids, but those cichlids made a mess of the tanks and I got sick of taking care of them and gave up.

In those days, when you set up a tank (unless you were extremely serious about the hobby) You set up a tank and dropped the fish in on the first day!

Fast forward to a year ago and moving into my first real house. While decorating I made the decision that I really wanted a beautiful aquarium done RIGHT. I resolved that I would do the proper research and take as long as it took to set it up to be able afford high quality equipment that would sustain a healthy, crystal clear, classy looking tank.

I started to research and keep my eye on craigslist for a nice looking tank.

[Jadenlea]

Where I am today

I researched and planned over the winter. I wanted to make sure I was not being impulsive and was ready to commit to maintaining the tank properly. As spring and summer came, my creative energy was diverted to landscaping and gardening my new yard. I work full time as a pet groomer in a veterinary hospital, and own my own house call grooming business in the afternoon/evening so one hobby at a time for me.

As summer has waned and fall is coming upon us, I have begun to get serious about getting started. After a few false starts with the aquarium purchase and a horrible, frustrating experience with Petsmart, I have found 2 amazing local small pet/fish stores and begun building a relationship with them. I have made the investment on a brand new 46 gallon bowfront tank and stand (picture attached)

I have purchased my aquaclear 110 filter and API test kit from amazon.com . Buying online the filter was HALF the price of the same filter in any petstore in my area. The test kit $10 less. I cannot recommend pricing things online before spending the money enough if you are on a budget.

With those purchases I am spent out for a couple weeks. I will have to slowly purchase my equipment over time to do it right. In the meantime I will continue to plan my tank in my mind and hope to be up and running by the mid to end of october.

[Jadenlea]

The new tank

[briden31]

Looking forward to seeing the build and final product!! I'm fascinated by other people's tanks. It helps me get ideas for my own. Do you have an idea of what you plan to stock in it? Will it be planted? Just curious!

[Dave66]

Neat! Have you decided on what type of aquarium it's going to be (freshwater, freshwater planted, etc.) and what livestock you're going to keep yet?

It will be interesting seeing your progress.

Dave

[Jadenlea]

Thanks guys.. I do have ideas!! Right now I am pretty positive that I am going with black substrate. I fell in love with the super naturals tahitian moon subtrate with a dark backround. Black also?

I plan to stock the brighter fish to really pop against the dark substrate and backround. cardinal tetras, glofish, fancytail guppies and that brilliant blue hammer's cobalt lobster. Maybe a couple of the bright platys or swordtails if there is room.

Definitely will be doing live plants. The tank came with t5 duel lamp for lighting.

I was doing some research this afternoon and following links online about the supernaturals sand and found a string on the planted aquarium forum suggesting black diamond blasting sand in its place. The people on the forum are swearing it looks exactly the same.. hard to believe with the price difference.

[Dave66]

Forget about the crayfish, it'll eat any fish it can catch. What's the wattage and color spectrum of those T5 tubes? You want about 6700K in color, and about two, or better, four, watts per gallon. With the latter, with a fine, iron-rich substrate, you could grow any plant you care to, including the stem plants.

Dark substrate and background will make the fish color up more, since they do so to 'blend in' so in nature birds won't be able to see them.

If you look up my book list (forgot where it's stickied on the forum) I'd suggest the Walstad book for building a proper planted tank substrate. Or PM me and I'll tell you how I do it.

Dave

[Jadenlea]

I can use all the help I can get Dave! The guy at the fish store said the watts per gallon is a myth.. I also read on the net that was an old way of doing things.. Do you disagree?

[Dave66]

I don't disagree, and it is an old way of doing it, but using light meters to gage lumens is a pain, so watts per gallon, isn't anything wrong measuring that way. Either you use lumens or watts per gallon, result is the same, intense full spectrum lights for planted tanks.

Dave

[Jadenlea]

A pleasant surprise

Yesterday I headed off to a house call grooming appt of a client who lives about 40 minutes away. As I was driving through a small town traffic cycle, what do I see but a tiny little shop called "The fish bowl"!

Have I mentioned that almost every small fish store in my area has been closed down by the economy and by Petco/smart?

I got to my appointment.. no one home. Grrrr. There is nothing more annoying then a client who lives far away that makes an appointment and then forgets they made. Anyway, the upside was I got to leave and hit "The fish bowl" before they closed. (most places on this main town street close by 6)

The place was very small, and not clean and bright like the big box stores, but boy did she fit alot in that small place. She had a long wall of tanks. The tanks were clean and clear and the fish looked great! She also had a tank of beautiful plants that gave me some ideas about how I want my plants to look. In speaking with her, she has been there for 30 years and is also discouraged (as other small pet stores have told me) with trying to compete with the big places.

Unfortunately, she did not seem to thrilled with my desire to use the tahitian moon sand either. She felt it was a risk to the filters (sigh) I really really think that sand is beautiful.

All and all it was a good visit and I will definitely head out there when it is time to buy the fish and plants.

I am still determined to stock as much as I can from the small local stores over Petco/smart.

[Jadenlea]

Also yesterday

Also yesterday I stopped at tractor supply. After hours of research monday and tuesday, following strings and links, I found so many recommendations of
Black diamond blasting sand in place of tahitian moon sand.

The price is ridiculous. 7.99 for 20 lbs??? That is a big difference from it costing about $60 if I do tahitian moonsand or Eco complete.

Unfortunately, the bag is sealed and not see through so I did not buy it. I am finding it hard to believe that it could possibly look the same for that price. I hate to buy it sight unseen. I have considered the blasting sand as a base and covering it with the moonsand for the shimmer.

[Aeonflame]

Go with the moonsand. they will both just get mixed up anyway. Im also not so sure about the sandblasting sand, as it tends to have a lot of impurities including metal in it. As for the sand getting into your filter, a simple pre-filter will prevent that.

[Jadenlea]

I have someone coming to look at the tank I bought on craigslist a few weeks ago. It is a beautiful 29 gal bowfront but once I got it home I decided it was to small for the area and wanted something larger so I relisted it.

If it sells, I can go out this week and buy more equipment toward setting up my tank!!!

Why does everything have to be so expensive. It all really adds up.

[Jadenlea]

Yay! Tank sold for $50 more then I bought it for.

Have an order with That pet place for

Air filter,
Prime,
Aquean Gravel Vacuum. (Is this the one I should get?)
A couple decorations

Still need to get
Gravel
Power center
LED bubble wall
and plants before I can start setting up to cycle.

Getting closer though

[Jadenlea]

Set up over the weekend. I am having trouble getting the water clear. I believe it was because I used "Instant Aquarium" substrate. I have been doing water changes daily.

Also, My lights came in broken so I had to send them back. Right now I just have a workshop light fixture on the tank in an attempt to keep my plants from dying. New fixture should be in on thursday. Here are some pics.

Set up.

[Jadenlea]

3 days later.

A few new plants. 4 water changes. and supposedly some baby shrimp were hiding in the xmas moss but I can't find them.

[Jadenlea]

First five fish are in the tank. I started with 4 glofish and a female beta.
2 pink, 1 purple and one yellow glofish.

The2 pinks and purple have hit it off and are swiming around having a blast riding the currents The female beta is acting typically beta, staying to herself exploring hiding places and going to the top for a breath occassionally.

The one worry is the yellow glofish is sitting on the bottom in a clump of plants. I believe it will die :( It makes me sad and makes me wonder what could be wrong with my water as the tank is only a few days old so it cant be an ammonia or nite issue.


Also some of my plants seem to be melting. I am so angry at "That Fish Place" First they sent a T5HO lights that were broken.. could happen to anyone, but they promised to send a new set out the day I called ( last thursday. I was expecting the lights to get here by saturday. I got mail on tuesday and the lights had not even been sent yet!!!!!!!! This was after talking to a manager who said she understood the pinch I was in and would make sure they went out THAT DAY. So now the plants are dying. I am wondering if that is fowling the water.

I have heard of plants melting though I guess I just dont know enough.

[Lab_Rat]

Nice start. The melting could be the plants adjusting to the new water parameters or could be due to the lack of light. Looks like you have a lot of med-high light fast growing stems. Are you injecting CO2?

[Jadenlea]

No co2 ...When I bought plants I tried to buy ones that said they would do ok without CO2. When the T5 H0 ever gets here I should have plenty of light.

I did buy some flourish excel. I have not added it yet.

[Jadenlea]

All good news today. My lights finally arrived. Nova extreme. t5 ho duel fixture with a 10 k daylight and 6700k grow light.

It looks really nice really brightens the tank! All the glowfish lived through the night and are active and happy except the yellow one. The yellow one is still alive and looks fine but is still hiding. Maybe he just feels like a pariah among all the other pink glowfish. the female beta is active and enjoying the plant.

The glow fish are really fun to watch ad I think i will go buy a couple more yellow/green ones and see if that makes my other yellow one feels better.

added flourish excel today in an attempt to save the Anacharis.

[dizzydezzy]

From what I understand, it's pretty normal for anacharis to melt in a new setup, especially if there has been a significant temperature change from its previous home.
It should spring back to life in a few weeks.

[Jadenlea]

hehe Dizzy I dont think there will be any left in a couple days never mind a couple weeks. :)

[Jadenlea]

Little yellow glofish has disappeared I fear he has parished. how sad.

Tested the water today to keep track

Ammonia .25 or lower. those yellows are so hard to read.
nitrite 0
Nitrate under 5.0 but higher then 0

Day 3 of fishless cycle and day 3 of stability.

[Jadenlea]

Day 4 of cycle and stability.

Last night added 2 more glowfish an orange and yellow to replace the one that died. They all seem happy and healthy darting around the tank.

Added a "Seachem Ammonia Alert" I have no idea how well it works but I will use it in conjunction with API test kit.

Also today I pulled out the anacharis. UGH what a mess that made, it just deteriorated in my hands. Ended up having to do a 30% water change just to vaccuum a bunch of the goo out.

Tank is looking good this evening after the water change.

Added some new plants also while I had the water out. A few Pygami chain swords.

[Jadenlea]

Day 5. Everyone looks happy and healthy. Water testing tomorrow. Not bothering today since I did a large water change yesterday.

[Jadenlea]

Day 6. Did a water change today. had ammonia and nitrites but no nitrates

[Jadenlea]

Day 7. Last day of stability.

Everyone in the tank is healthy. I think I forgot to post saturday that my local fish store had what they say are german blue rams except they had long fins. I know they need pristine water and are not good cycling fish but he was so pretty I couldnt resist.

SO.. My cycle fish have been
5 glofish
1 female beta
1 German blue ram

The ram loves the Danios and HATES the female beta. He will follow the danios around and when they are near him he comes out of hiding. They make him brave. Anytime the beta comes near his side of the tank he attacks her and chases her out. Why she keeps going back to his corner of the tank I do not know. She either loves him or loves tormenting him.

New runners on a couple of my plant and my dwarf Lilys have quadrupled their size.

[enzof9]

I'm just wondering, are glo fish dyed? I know they are genetically engineered but are they dyed? My sister REAAAALLLLY wants glo fish but I don't wan to keep dyed fish.

[Jadenlea]

Enzo, they are not dyed :) If glofish have babies they will be glofish also.

They have been great to watch and so bright against the black backround and green plants. I am really glad I got them.

[Dave66]

Glowfish are albino zebra danios that have had a gene from a jellyfish spliced into their DNA, which is why Glowfish breed true.

It was originally done as a science experiment.

Dave

[Jadenlea]

So today its day 11. As some might know I had a little accident on day 8. I sucked my poor female beta into the water changer tube and thought for sure she was toast but she is doing better and better each day.

Water tests today show
.25 ammonia (maybe.. def. more then 0 but not over .25) hard time reading the yellows. I wonder if I need new glasses.

Less then 5.0 Nitrate
and still 0 Nitrites.

I am not sure how far in I should be starting to see Nitrites. I have been averaging about a water change every other day to keep the water pristine for the German blue Ram.

I am wondering if I have enough fish for an efficient cycle.

Note to self, perhaps send a PM to Lady Hobbs later and ask what she thinks.

Water is nice and clear and planning a water change and plant rescape later in the day after work open house.

[Jadenlea]

Day 16. Tank is cloudy today Could it be a bacterial bloom? All fish are still doing fine. Water testings have been as expected. Added a snail a couple days ago to take care of a bit of algae on some rocks.

Named him Sneaky. Blue mystery snail.

[Jadenlea]

11/5 I believe I have a cycled tank.

As of today
6 glofish
1 GBR
1 female beta
1 albino bristlenose pleco
1 mystery snail

Thinking of picking up a couple otos to battle diatom but not sure. It seems like I have most of my activity at the bottom of my tank.

[Dave66]

Diatoms are common in newer tanks. As soon as they run out of silicates to build and maintain their 'shells', diatoms just slowly fade away. They'll be gone for good inside of a month, usually less.

Otocinclus aren't the answer, since they will soon starve to death after eating the diatoms, so patience is the best solution.

Dave