My 50 Gallon South of the Border Community

[bignellm]

Small surprise in today's tests, Ammonia holding at 2 and Nitrites arrived to the party. Just short of 0.25. Hoping this is a sign cycle is going to move on faster than expected.

[bignellm]

Hmm... too early to sound the alarm here. Had 0 Nitrites yesterday, so did a 75% water change to knock the Ammonia down to near 0. Got 1 ppm out of it. Will be testing it again today. All fish seem ok, no abnormal behavior.

Side note, got a pair of BN Plecos to help eat up the extra algae; got something more as well. Something undesirable that I couldn't see, until was in my tank up against the glass. Horrified to see my nemesis has snuck back into my tank. Yes, the BN's had hidden Ich, that blended right in, with their two tone leopard spots.

Just when I was out of the woods, I get dropped off a cliff and sent right back in. Yesterday saw my new tank's first dose of QuIck Cure and higher temps.

[bignellm]

Good news, got my Aqueon Water Changer in yesterday and pounded out a 60% water change in less than 40 mins! Cut my time down from 4-5 hours!!! YES!!!

This is great, now that I have two reasons to do many water changes. The cycle and Ich plague (the idiotic lfs gave me). <<<< yes should of quarantined, and would have if thought my most trusted lfs were a bunch of fly-by-night amateurs. They're off my shop list for anything besides fish food.

[bignellm]

Two new adds to tank, 5 oto's and 2 very healthy BN Plecos. Needed these fellas to help keep my plants clean, so they can starve off some of the Algae.

For a treat, added zucchini and took everyone 12 hours to decide it's food, LOL. Today's chemistry? Ammonia 0.5ppm, 0 Nitrite, and ugh... 0 Nitrate. So, all is confirmed, we are at the starting gate still. Np, got this under control. Most of the plants are growing like weeds and even the Flame Moss is starting to grow. Sweet, cannot wait till the flame takes over some of the drift wood.

[bignellm]

0405121451.jpg
0405121452.jpg0405121452a.jpgThank you geowashlaw for the Purple Cambomba and Thank you Lady Hobbs for the Needle Leaf Ludwigia. They both look awesome. They look soo good in this tank. Never could of done it without either of these plants.
0405121452b.jpgFlame moss is back to life, and hopefully will thrive like crazy.

[bignellm]

The above growth has prompted me to rescape this tank, slightly. A tinker here and there.

Front:
Rescape 1.jpg

Plant, that I forgot the name of:
Rescape 2.jpg

Flame Moss Propagation:
Rescape 3.jpg

BTW, can someone tell me what the above plant is, that I forgot the name of. Been looking and looking, without success.

[bignellm]

Today's readings are: Ammonia 1.5ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 0ppm. Change from yesterday is a slowing of Ammonia buildup. It only increased .5ppm, however no change in Nitrite--even when gathering samples from bottom of tank.

Performed another water change today with my Aqueon Water Changer and tossed in 5 tablets of Start Zyme. Hoping this is the week, we go into stage 2.

[Old Marine]

Looks nice!

[bignellm]

Thanks, soo cannot wait till the flame looks like:



Its soo gonna set my tank off.

[dlee]

Plants look awesome!

A word of caution about the Aqueon Water Changer.....make SURE your hose is connected tightly! I learned the hard way! While changing water today the end of the hose that connects to the faucet end popped off while I was filling the tank back up. I had stopped the flow with the switch on the tank end for a second to re-arrange a plant, and the pressure build up of water in the hose was too much and the end at the faucet came off! The water proceeded to shoot out the little spout at the faucet, straight across the room, like a mini fire hose and caused a bit of a flood in the kitchen. What a mess. This is actually the second time this has happened to me

other than that they are fabulous!!!!