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29 Gallons Under the Sea

26K views 174 replies 23 participants last post by  puriance 
#1 · (Edited)
Welcome to a story of preparation and disaster. All tied up into a neat little bundle of "well crap’s" and “omgican'tbelieveijustdidthat’s".

Table of Contents:

20 Gallons Under The Sea

Moby Fish, the Saga Continues

I Can See Clearly Now, the Murk is Gone

Update #1 - Stability Can’t be Bought

Plans for My Tank

Update #2 - Let’s Go Fishin’

Update #3 - I Just Couldn't Leaf it Alone

Update #4 - You're Not Such a Fungi Afterall


Update #5 - Let's Shrimplify the Problem

Update #6 - A Herculean Task

Update #7 - A Little Piece of Heaven and Other Nursery Rhymes

Update #8 - Bigger is Better... Right?


Update #9 - A Tank in Need

Update #10 - It's ALIVE

Update #11 - I'll Just Skim Over the Good Bits

Update #12 - Bad Luck is Still Luck

Update #13 - A Lapse in Time

The Story

I'm a novice fishkeeper, compulsive plant-buyer and amazon aficionado. I have one dog, one cat, one husband and 5 cars. I'm an advanced procrastinator, obsessive researcher and deep end swimmer. I either dive right in or I couldn't care less.

Low-tech planted tanks have given me quite the board to dive off of. I came into a small gift of money, so what is there that is better to waste it on, than a beautiful aquascape.

I have spent the better part of these last couple weeks, researching for at least 4 hours (sometimes 6) a day on different setups, varying views and appropriate processes for creating my own aquatic masterpiece. This is mostly impressive because I have just entered midterms week, and I’m learning so much. Not that any of it has anything to do with my studies, but I’m learning right? (...right?)

Regardless, I was Inspired by images such as this:



And this:



And this:



It was hard not to feel as though I had finally found something that would be a living representation of all the beauty that is trapped in my mind that cannot adequately be expressed through term papers and legal memos.

It all started with a friend of mine who offered to give me her empty 10 gallon when I showed her some of these inspiring aquascapes a few months ago. I would need to buy the hardware, but she had just moved her fish into a 30 gallon tank, and was looking at a second 20 gallon. Ergo, free tank.

After doing some minor reading on what fish I could stock a 10 gallon tank with, I quickly ran into the word “unstable”. Small changes in water chemistry would imbalance the entirety of the tank more quickly and thereby cause me stress, the fish stress, my dog stress (he’s always stressed) and end up being a lot more work with a lot fewer options.

I read a couple of forum posts (running into this forum) that suggested the best thing for a beginner, would be a 20 gallon unit, for a low tech, planted tank. Creating and maintaining an ecosystem was a lot more intriguing to me than babying and managing a forced containment of life. I love things that are beautiful, and happy things are always more beautiful. So this forum has been an invaluable asset to me and as such, I would like to share my progress here first for feedback, insight and obviously the knowledge you guys have so much of.

From this discovery naturally, the search was on. I scoured craigslist for the perfect 20 gallon tank. Unfortunately I flaked on a guy and lost out on a cycled tank with all the fixins, complete with stand (in my defense I had been awake for 36 hours and sort of… lost track of time).

However I snagged me this nice piece of aquarium driftwood:



(the marbles don’t make an appearance in the finished hardscape, they totally ruin my chi).

Before we move on I think it prudent to say that my last few attempts at fishkeeping have not gone well. Although my last Betta Wanda (I am aware it was a male) lived to the ripe old age of 3. So maybe not terrible, but certainly not well. That may be a story for another post on “what not to do with fish”.

So it is my duty to the memory of Fred the red Betta, multiple neon tetras, a baby pleco and some shrimp (I was a child don’t judge too harshly) and my last betta Wanda, that if I do this, I’m going to do this right.

I must stress that that caring for any animal is about their own welfare and less about your own selfish desires. I passed over a beautiful betta at my local fish store (“LFS”) that was silver with a teal body that melted into the fins. The little guy was so full of spunk, he turned and eyeballed me when I picked up his containment unit. I nearly put him into my cart right then and there. But I was there to purchase a quarantine tank and substrate, not bring home a betta to live in a cup for a few days while I sorted out my crap. As you will see later on, it was a good decision. (I did go back several days later and he was still there, so I bought him since my little tank was all set up. More on him later).

Now onward with my (in progress) Adventure. I hope that this picture journal may help any new aspiring fishkeepers, or at least provide an answer to some question somewhere held by someperson. I will be supplementing this journey with links of what I purchased, as well as the informational links that I found most useful. Not just the ones that told me what I wanted.

DRIFTWOOD:

This is where my inspiration came from.



After purchasing the driftwood I placed it in a 5 gallon bucket and weighed it down as it was quite buoyant. I left it in the bucket for 3 days, as it had been removed from its previous aquarium 3 months earlier, and had completely dried out. Picture here is on the 3rd day:




This Post, outlined all the necessary steps for determining if your driftwood was safe and what you should do before you put it into your tank. If you want to preserve any soft driftwood that is common in areas like a temperate rainforest (cedar, pine etc.), there are other resources to help with that. But it is not recommended (nearly universally) because of sap and short term rot.

However, the best and safest route is to go with roots (hah, how do you pronounce route?) or branches that are already found near a river or lake that are no longer waterlogged.

- Always clean them when you bring them home with a scrub brush and hot water
- Always store them in a bucket filled with water to let any tannins leech out.
- Tannins may not be harmful to your fish, but may impact the PH level of your water
- Also, brown water? Really?
- Some people recommend boiling new driftwood you have personally collected for at least an hour
- Some people recommend storing driftwood for a year before you consider using it
- Some people recommend baking it in your oven

The point is, at this juncture a lot of the information I found on driftwood was anecdotal. If you have a good source like I did for aquarium driftwood, then save yourself the hassle and go that way.

Otherwise if you find that incredible piece that inspires you to create a beautiful aquascape, clean, boil, and bake that baby before you use it in your tank and DON’T BE HASTY (Master Meriadoc!). Let it sit in a bucket of aquarium quality water to see if it alters the chemistry at all. Give it a couple of days and if the changes are minimal then I would infer that it is safe to use.

That’s just the noggin talking, not experience.

EQUIPMENT:



This is just meant to show you all the pieces that I bought, and provide links (where possible). Please don’t do the math. I don’t want to know. I researched at least 7-10 options before deciding on what I purchased online. Price was obviously a factor, but so was the product’s ability to do its job. Mostly what I bought at Petsmart, I bought because it was on sale. (Honesty is always the best policy).

MISCELLANEOUS:

TV Stand from the free section of Craigslist (best impromptu aquarium stand ever. Rear access, wheels and storage, designed to hold a lot of weight.)
Power bar
Extension cord (6 ft)
Timer
Coat Hook

AQAURIUMS:

Marineland 20 gallon biowheel aquarium kit:
Top Fin Imagine Aquarium kit (quarantine/Interim betta Home, have to purchase a heater with it)
Marina Submersible Heater (this is one of the few small tank heaters that has an internal thermostat and SHUTS ITSELF OFF)
DO NOT BUY THIS ONE (Heater) It just keeps going until you unplug it. Nearly fried my betta. Needless to say I returned it the same day



AQUARIUM MAINTENANCE:

Two 13 litre buckets one white and one blue:
One for treated water the other for the dirty water. Mostly because I don’t trust myself to remember which bucket is which even while I’m pouring water from the tank into the bucket.
Aquascaping Tools: (these things made my life so much easier. Even if you just get the tweezers, get the tweezers)
Seachem purigen: (untested thus far)
Magnetic tank cleaner: (The magnet is so strong, it works so well. I like it. Buy it.)
Python Water Vacuum: (swish and flick)
API Master Freshwater test kit: (This is still on its way. Since I’m just cycling anyway it doesn’t matter quite yet)
Seachem Prime

I got the strips for the interim, to just get an idea of where I'm at.

Two of these thermometers (my kit came with a strip one, but it doesn’t seem to be working so I picked these up)



SUBSTRATE:

Flat pieces of slate (scavenged from back patio)
10L bag of soil (no pesticides and minimal pearlite)
National Geographic Sand (paying this much for sand really irked me, but I only planned on using a small amount)
Seachem flourite: (this isn’t the same packaging, but the specs and price line up)


DECORATIONS:

[STRIKE]Illegally obtained[/STRIKE] Rocks from the river by my house
Decorative rocks from the dollar store
Ornamental bridge (this may have been an impulse purchase but it pulled it all together)
Natural looking plastic Rock den for betta: (he better like it)
Coconut reptile hidey hole. Like 3 bucks. Way cheaper than any aquarium pieces. Just for the quarantine tank, so looks aren't super important.



PLANTS:

LED Light Bar
Rhinox 1000 CO2 diffuser: (This arrived broken, so I returned it.)
Bought this 3-in-1 CO2 Diffuser instead. Check valve, diffuser and bubble counter all in one. With all the great reviews, hard to go wrong.
DIY CO2 System
Moneywort
Luffy Nano Moss Balls
Bacopa
Green Mondo Grass
Corkscrew Grass

(I am still in the process of acquiring java and riccia moss, as well as a couple Java ferns)

THE SETUP:

The very first thing that I did was plan. Before I bought anything, and certainly before I started opening anything, I made sure that I had a clear plan of how everything was going to unfold. The key to writing an A+ paper is all in your outline.

So I drew sketches, I found online tools:

(This online planner has more of the popular plants)


My idea was all based around the aforementioned piece of driftwood. It’s going to be a tree, and the rest of the tank, the meadow beside a river. It was a picture in my mind that I was making into a reality.

Now it is time to wash my rocks and my ornaments. One ornament came from a box that shipped from Toronto, and the other came from a petsmart shelf. Coupled with the undoubtedly soiled dollar store rocks and slate from my backyard without forgetting about the stones I pulled from my local river… Contamination was not just a likelihood, but distinctly probable.

I have the rocks separated because as I said the slate is quite thin. So I didn’t want it to break. (Please note: dog toys are not necessary to complete this task).



I had decided on a dirt tank for planting. I read this marvelous blog that answered all concerns in great detail and offered tons of advice. With a username like oldfishlady, it was difficult not to take her word as Gospel. But she did say some awesome stuff.

Naturally, using layers of dirt to build was cheaper than straight substrate, so it is a viable option for building a hardscape.

So after washing the ornaments, next came the dirt:



And more dirt:



Then some separation of dirt:



I watched youtube videos on creating a sustainable raised foundation in substrate And found these guys. (These guys are incredible. They walk you through splitting plants and building from nothing. Obviously they are selling a product, but they were a great starting point for me).

So I built the foundation:



And here is where the slate comes in:



The slate keeps the dirt from settling into a big mud puddle. There will be some settlement, but overall, it was minimal. The importance is visualizing bands, or rows of support.

Following this I placed in the driftwood:



This is the focal point of the scape, so its position had to maximize its viewing angle. The tall branch will be covered in moss, replicating a tree. I'm cognisant at this point about swimming space too. Remember while you're building, it is a balancing act for the tank, aesthetics and physics.

Next I braced in what was going to be the river and weighed down the driftwood:



Again this is just to keep the dirt in its place as it gets saturated.

Now the clay cap. I decided on fluorite because of its ability to cycle and redistribute nutrients to rooted plants. I like the look of sand better, but for holding down dirt and acting as a cap, fluorite seemed the better call.

Before this however, we wash our substrate:



Always wash your substrate:





((More updates to come, back to the books for me tonight))
 
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#3 ·
Looking forward to future posts if only because they're fun to read :).
 
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#4 ·
I didn't see a "natural potting soil" I saw the premium one, I would be careful using that as regular potting soil contains ALOT of things fish and plants cannot lived in submerged. Make sure you have all natural potting soil, its the only to-buy soil you can use pretty much. preferably MGOPS
 
#5 ·
I'm working on the next post now, should be up shortly. Thanks for the responses, I will try to keep up with the humour as I get further along :)



As to this, in Canada we have packaging legislation that requires disclosure of any additives. It is a real concern though, so I made sure to search for the best soil at my local hardware store. I'm keeping an eye on my levels too as I'm almost at the end of week one on the cycle of the large tank.

Do you know of any ways to test to make sure there isn't anything there shouldn't be?

I'm pretty sure that there isn't, but I don't want to test out a company's abilities to follow laws on my fish.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Moby Fish, the Saga Continues

Once the substrate was washed, I was pretty convinced that fluorite was just clay shipped here from Mars (now we know how NASA is funding all that research, it certainly explains the price).

I wasn't too concerned with how I put the cap down. I mostly just piled it on liberally at the top of the slope and spread it downwards making sure to cover the exposed slate. The total cap was probably about 2 inches deep.



(Pardon potato picture quality. I haven't mastered the art of not moving while I take a picture yet.)

I also filled in the tree a bit, thinking that the clay would settle along the sides. There is also a neat little hidey hole on the back. I originally wanted to position it so that I could see if any fish wanted to use it as a home, but then decided that the perspective would be thrown off because of the tree, so I turned the driftwood around.

Next I placed some more dollar store decor stones along the "river" so that the sand will settle and be more stable. For for later on when I'm gravel sucking the substrate like the heathen that I am.



Things are certainly getting steamy all up in here:



Now we move onto the building of the betta den. The idea here being the king overlooks and surveys his kingdom. Because betta are more surface fish, putting his den higher up serves a couple of purposes. It gives him a space to retreat to if he gets stressed out, and the filter is also on the other side of the tank. This will minimize the current that he is subjected to. It is a Penguin Biowheel 150B filter that came with my marineland 20 gallon kit. I have read a lot of mixed reviews on the filter, but I haven't had any of the noise problems that others complained of.

Anyways, it have read that the "waterfall" it emits creates a strong current that may be a bit too much for betta's. I will illustrate my work around later. Anyways, Sterling will have a nice corner lot and beautiful view of the aquarium.




I used my [STRIKE]Illegally obtained[/STRIKE] river rocks to build the foundation. In the case that the base dirt settled (which it did) the rocks were heavy and had a good flat face that allowed me to place the betta den on, raised from the potentially sharp fluorite cap.




Here we have another slightly potato quality picture. But this is where the egregiously priced sand comes in. The cap will eventually be completely covered in moss, but the sand will always be exposed.



Things are still pretty steamy, and finally coming together. I'm probably on hour 4 of setup at this picture. Maybe just a bit before. This is where the fatigue starts to set in. Word to the wise spending hours bent over without stretching, especially when you have a back injury, is not recommended. I may not be a healthcare professional, but I know a thing or two about a thing or two. Take a break, before you break.

Moving on.

Here we have our miscellaneous equipment that was mentioned much earlier.



While everything else seems obvious, where does the coat hook fit in you're asking. Well, I'll tell you!



(Gooby dog cameo)

As you can see, things that need electricity have cords as a means to transfer electricity from a source to an output in order to properly operate. However, water conducts electricity so we need to be careful in how we use water around these devices. So the marvelous people who have run into these problems before have suggested a drip loop.

Enter coat hook:



*kisses each bicep* These were the only power tools I needed. It isn't weight bearing so I wasn't too worried about the crack I made (although I was impressed by it). I tried to mitigate any splitting of the particle board by lining up the offset holes in the centre of the board. In the end it still cracked, but for drip-loop purposes, it will be more than adequate.

And now ladies and gentlefish, here is one of the last pictures before disaster struck.



Everything was lined up perfectly. My plants were chilling in a bucket. I setup my bowl to displace the water and I was ready.

I was so ready. I had been *literally* breaking my back for hours now. My brain was electrified.

I had researched.

I had read.

I was doing everything right.




A little colouration was to be expected. It would settle and clear up. The clay was mostly washed, and there was only so much I could do to prevent the residue. The water was coming in. It was filling up. Planting would soon take place.

And then I got excited.

I poured too quick.



Here's some light on the problem:



omgicantbelieveijustdidthat

4.5 hours of setup. And at 4.45 I messed it all up.
 
#9 · (Edited)
So, I did what any good fishkeeper would do. I left the house.

I went to pick up my husband and sent him pictures of my disaster. His wisdom showed itself when he said to me "it'll settle. Turn off the filter and tomorrow it'll be fine."

I went to bed and woke up and the water was still puddle-like. Gearing up for midterm 1 of 4, I was more than a little discouraged. Partly because of my decision to set up a tank instead of study, but mostly because said tank had been my brainchild for the better part of the semester and I may have ruined it.

All day, I shared the picture of defeat with anyone who would pay attention for longer than 1 minute. Word got around and even little old ladies were crossing the street with haste when they saw my gloomy mug coming.

I wanted comfort, a shoulder, I needed a fellow fisher to tell me it was all going to be okay.

Then 15 minutes before I started my first exam I get this picture:



I squealed like a fifth grader at a Justin Bieber concert and alarmed my classmates. I didn't care. It was going to be ok. And so was this exam.

I walked in that night at 8:40 and promptly set about planting my... plants.

Here is iteration 1:



I left the bacopa in its pot because to be honest, I was still physically remembering the day before.

You can also notice the settlement into the sand of the dirt that had been suspended. That was going to be rectified over the next few days of 30% water changes and gravel siphoning.

My first siphon I had a bit of a time trying to get the technique right. I made the mistake of asking my husband who started swiftly punching the top of the water with the vacuum, and started to upset the weighted down driftwood. I was very proud of my diplomatic screech requesting that he stop. I thanked him for his help and then shooed him away.

I quickly discovered the technique.

I put a couple of extra moneywort leaves in the quarantine tank and continued a 30% water change every day to suck up the settled dirt while allowing for bacterial growth.

I was getting there guys. It was going to be ok.

So day 5, I went back to my LFS to purchase a heater for my quarantine tank and wouldn't you know, 'ol stinkeye the betta was still there. Filled with .... and vinegar. It was destiny.

Meet Sterling, the halfmoon beauty:



(dog hair is a fact of life, don't judge)

He is fantastic.

He is classified silver, but is blue, or teal, or silver, or green, depending on the light you catch him under.



Here he is staring at Pablo Escargot, the snail that smuggled itself in on my corkscrew grass (likely a Mystery snail as that was all that was in the tank with plants).




Back to the tank. Here is the tank 4 days planted. There is a lot of growth. I have been leaving the light on for 12 hours a day. I'm still waiting for my CO2 diffuser since I had to return the broken one, so this growth is all just light, soil and water changes.



And now he's silver! Also Pablo!



Bubble nest #1!



This is what I see as of today. Everything is moving along nicely. I added a java fern to the bottom tank, and a sword plant to the top. Still waiting for the guy with the moss to get back to me. He was out of town on business. I'm sure once he realizes how important the project is, he will be in contact with me shortly.



Here is Sterling, guarding his coconut:



He keeps.... He keeps trying to fit in this hole. From in the coconut and above. I don't... I don't understand.



30% water change today and it seems to be nearly clear now. I will probably let this water sit for a week now and take a strip test tonight and let you know the results after I walk my dog.

And here is Sterling with his new betta hammock, which I must say is the cutest thing ever.



So that's where I am at. You are all up to date. Now I open the floor.
 
#21 ·
So, I did what any good fishkeeper would do. I left the house.

I went to pick up my husband and sent him pictures of my disaster. His wisdom showed itself when he said to me "it'll settle. Turn off the filter and tomorrow it'll be fine."

I went to bed and woke up and the water was still puddle-like. Gearing up for midterm 1 of 4, I was more than a little discouraged. Partly because of my decision to set up a tank instead of study, but mostly because said tank had been my brainchild for the better part of the semester and I may have ruined it.

All day, I shared the picture of defeat with anyone who would pay attention for longer than 1 minute. Word got around and even little old ladies were crossing the street with haste when they saw my gloomy mug coming.

I wanted comfort, a shoulder, I needed a fellow fisher to tell me it was all going to be okay.
I literally laughed out loud for your old ladies and gloomy mug comment. Love your writing style and attitude. Your tank start isn't bad, either. :smile2: You'll be okay.


 
#12 ·
Haha, that's all I'm hoping for!

I started with a nutrafin cycle to introduce bacteria as I haven't purchased pure ammonia. I'm on day 7 and I have 2.5 ppm nitrates, 0 nitrites and 0 ammonia. (I will post pictures of my testmaster kit results soon) I will also be using seachem purigen in my filter starting at the end of this week. I wanted to make sure that the bacteria had a good hold in the tank before I added helpful things.

My tank was medium planted to start, and I am still searching for moss. I may have found a good source but they are a city over, which is close, but I have midterms and there are only so many lengths I am willing to go to in order to avoid studying. So I will have to wait until this weekend most likely.

Sterling is doing great, he loves his hammock. However for some reason he wasn't interested in eating this morning? I put in some mison last night (little bug things from a betta treat wheel) and there weren't many left this morning. I know you aren't supposed to leave food in but I had to leave for band practice (yes, I'm THAT nerd) and went straight to bed when I got home.

I'm currently ignoring the rest of my study group right now, so I should get back to it, but when I get home tonight I will post my test results and plans for the future of my tank :D

Stay tuned.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Update #1 - Stability can't be bought

So here we are, day... who knows anymore. All the days seems to blend together. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun.

Hope is lost, and the light at the end of the tunnel draws ever closer. If I were to but reach out I could...

Have a completely planted tank! I managed to track down a somewhat local LFS, and sourced some of this beautiful carpet eleocharis, which I hadn't been able to locate anywhere in the lower mainland. (Blanket term for my metropolitan multi-city area). I was going to settle for java moss as my carpet, but this is way better and 100% what I wanted. So I bought it.

Also, this Rotala rotifunda, which should cover up my filter and heater quite nicely. I like the tropica grow line because the stem plants grow up nicely condensed (according to what I have seen online) so I'm looking forward to that. It will also be a nice splash of red to break up all the green.

I also have given up on my craigslist connection (will I ever truly find love?) for the riccia fluitans moss. I bought some from tropica as well.


So here are some pictures of my tank as of today!



I affixed the riccia moss to the tree with some loosely tied green cotton thread. Can you see it? No you can't. Because genius comes in many forms and colour matching is one them.



Also, I managed to find a topfin glass replacement for 23" wide tank which fit so perfect you might almost think it was made for my tank. Complete with a small gap at the back to allow for cords and the water from my filter. I am, one would say, pleasantly chuffed.



Onward and upward. Sterling is still beautiful and has taken to hiding in the small clump of rotofunda I put in his tank.

I was very excited to show you guys another stroke of ingenuity when it comes to my purigen that I purchased. I have these charcoal filters for my counter compost bin (unused, I promise) to sew a little pouch for the granules so I could put it in my filter.



BUT THEN, it turned out I didn't even need it.



if only there had been SOMEWAY that I was able to discover this before I searched high and low for my needle and thread. The last time using it being when I sewed together my dogs favourite stuffed animal, now aptly named frankenkitty.

Anyhow, enough of the boring stuff. You want to see my coloured water.

PH



Ammonia



Nitrite



Nitrate



This was before the Partial Water Change ("PWC") that I did today. I know I said that I would leave it, but I bought a snail. So, we both lied.
 
#15 ·
Plans for my tank



:O Thank you! You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Honestly, I think my husband is tired of me saying how happy I am with the tank and how everything has come together. It has indeed been a labour of love, but I sit for a long time and just look at it. It's so calming.

I also purchased a liquid supplement today until my CO2 diffuser comes mid-march sometime.

As for stocking my tank, I have come up with this plan based on this blog, which initially led to me discovering how much I COULDN'T fit into a 10 gallon tank.

I'm going to have
1 mystery snail that lives in my planted quarantine tank. With all the plants and the odd algae wafer when he grows, I'm sure Pablo will be happy.

In my 20 gallon tank I'm planning on stocking it with:

Sterling



8 or so Harlequin Rasbora's



4 Panda cory's



OR

6 pygmy cory's (depending on what my LFS has when I go to introduce them. I don't know which would work better or if they're about the same. Definitely open to suggestions. But I love the pygmy cory's tbh)



Mystery snail obv, and like 78,623,467,863,475 ghost shrimp (probably between 6 and 8).
 
#17 ·
It's a 20 gallon H, so panda's would be ok yeah? I haven't nailed down which I would prefer, but AQ suggests this:



Also with the snail, that was my concern too until the little hitchiker Pablo appeared in the tank with Sterling. He was really curious at first, and nipped at him, but Pablo just retreated into his shell. Now Sterling doesn't even acknowledge him.

I plan on doing a slow introduction. I will start with the rasbora's in the tank, and then the cory's after a week or so. Let everything settle and then I will introduce Sterling. I still have his original cup, so I will float that along the top and gauge his reaction. My new mystery snail is already in the top tank and I will likely have the rasboara's this weekend. All in all everything seems to be moving along nicely, and introducing a betta into an established tank in terms of population is the best way according to all that I have read thus far.

Those are just my thoughts anyways.

Bump: I think I would still prefer the pygmy's because they are super cute.
 
#18 ·
That big hill is all dirt, right? It seems like an awful lot; watch for bubbles as dirt is prone to going anaerobic which can pretty much kill everything in your tank. Poking it with a chopstick (or some other stick, my tool of choice is the bottom of a plastic coat hanger, chopped off to make just a long plastic stick) is how people generally go about reducing the danger.

For future reference, the safest dirt is anything labeled organic; I don't know anything about Canada's organic standards or if you have organic dirt, but it's generally the way to go when it comes to aquariums.

Otherwise, your tank looks great and it seems like you have some good ideas moving forward. Continue to monitor your parameters over the coming days and as you raise stock, I'd probably wait more like 2 weeks (at least 10 days) between introducing fish to be extra sure about their bioload and how it impacts your system. A lot of those "instant cycle" things don't actually have the right bacteria species to cycle your tank and especially with such a large tank and such low stock, your low readings could be suggesting a cycle that hasn't happened. I'd also test your tap water to make sure your nitrates aren't coming from there.

Overall, though, an awesome start--good job!

Edit: I'd also recommend at least 5 cories, they do best and are more fun to watch in slightly larger groups.
 
#19 ·
These are some fair and good points.

I will wait at least the 10 days after adding the rasbora's to add the cories. That makes total sense.

How often would you recommend that I aerate the soil?

I only noticed air bubbles when it was first settling. The whole "hill" has fallen by about an inch, but since then no bubbles. But we are only going onto week 2. So that's to be expected.

As for the soil itself, it was labelled no pesticides, but not organic. Which means that it is from a farm that may have used pesticides in the past but has not passed the 10 year mark where it can qualify as organic. So that's about as good as it gets up here. We have to label all additives that happen during processing. Additionally, we have incredibly rich soil from the temperate climate (similar to that in Oregon) and it was local bagged soil. So while I can't be 100% sure it's organic I can be sure that there isn't anything in it that shouldn't be.

I have read pretty good things about the nutrafin cycle, provided that the instructions are followed. I will test my tap water tonight to make sure that isn't giving me a false reading. Because that would kind of suck.

Thank you for the pointers! I will probably use the handle of the paintbrush (new one) that I'm using for dusting off the settled dirt while I vacuum, to simultaneously aerate the soil.

Also, have a snail. What should I name it?:

 
#20 · (Edited)
Update #2 - Let's go fishin'

Hello folks, back with an update.

Everything is growing along beautifully. I picked up 5 rasboras this weekend and they are quite lovely. They are interesting to watch and playful. Didn't take them too long to settle in, and they don't seem to hide anywhere. I did notice at night one night (to my panic) that they all lost their colour, their black triangles went grey and I frantically went out creating a bunch of buckets so I could house them while I did a water test if they were dying.

Then I had a small voice in my head that reminded me that the internet is a marvelous source for information, and before I subject them to further harm by dumping them into completely uncycled recently treated tap water, I should determine if their symptoms were from something specific.

Turns out, you marvelous people, already talked about this. So naturally my panic subsided, I hung up on the ambulance and turned off the lights.

SO FYI, tropical fish don't need to demonstrate their colours at night, and therefore pale when the lights are off. The next morning after I turned on the lights, about 5 minutes they were bright copper again.

They were all a little pale when I first brought them in from my LFS, but they coloured up within a couple hours. Especially since there were no other stressers present in the tank.

I used my algae scrubber with the ridiculously strong magnet, to pin the plastic bag to the side of the tank (I forgot to take pictures, sorry). I let them acclimate to the temperature for about 10 minutes and then used my handy dandy (unused) turkey baster to pour water from my tank into the bag over about 20 minutes.

Then I poured the little suckers into a bucket, catching them in a net and unceremoniously dumped them into the tank. One little dude likes to hang out underneath the bridge, and they like to eat the algae wafers for the snail. (I cut the wafers in half and drop them in every other day since I have no algae to speak of yet).

So today is day 3 of having them, and my husband often comes out of whichever room he was avoiding me in, and finds me sitting and watching them. So adorbs. They don't really stop moving, so my phone can't really catch them in action. So have some gratuitous pictures of my snail using the bridge for its intended purpose!



Also living life on the edge:



Everything is starting to grow nicely. I trimmed the moneywort in the right corner, and replanted the new growth. So that should be bushing up nicely. Also the betta mound has settled quite a bit, but has not disturbed the rest of the hardscape. I have pulled some slate so that it doesn't cut any of the fish, but only the pieces that were exposed.



Here are the tests from the second day after adding the fish (yesterday). I did a 20% water change after the test. My concern is based off of what geisterwald said about the tank not being completely cycled, even with the nutrafin cycle. So I will continue to test and do water changes between 20-30% every other day. I will probably add the betta after about 2 weeks, and another two weeks I will get the cories. I may push my school of rasboras up to 10, so I will probably get the panda cories. They are way easier to find in my area, and from what I have read, a bit more hardy. So to start (as a noob) panda cories may be the better choice.

Anyhow, here's my coloured water from yesterday!

PH



Ammonia



Nitrite



Nitrate






Also, look at how pretty he is.




I aerated the soil when I was doing some trimming. Just waiting for my CO2 diffuser to show up, and then I will hopefully see some great bushy growth, but so far things are coming along nicely with just the liquid additive I picked up. Wednesday's are going to be my liquid ferts day, and my diffuser is expected mid March. I'm going to move one of my eleocharis patches and separate it. Right now it's hidden under the moneywort and I think that that part will be so dense anyways that I don't need to have the carpet reach back that far. I may as well speed up the carpet in the rest of the tank.

So there you have it! Once again you're all caught up.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Update #3 - I just couldn't leaf it alone.

So the bothersome betta bullpen was an eyesore and I just couldn't stand it any longer.

I really like the bridge. I feel like the ornament suits the idea of the meadow. Picture yourself riverside, laying back underneath the shade of a tree, watching the clouds roll by. The painted moss is the right green, and the overall aesthetic is right.

The betta rock is not. Rather, was not. Sterling will have plenty of hiding places and once the plants grow enough, the current will be displaced a bit better and it won't be so bad.

So I took it out.

Now the problem with plants, If you weren't aware, is that they grow. Apparently water plants also readily root, reaching remotely for resources.

So in moving my sword plant back a couple of inches, which has now been planted for a few weeks, I withdrew this:



Those, ladies and gentlefish, are eight inches worth of root. Now in a dirt tank, when you move the dirt, things get, well dirty. As we previously discovered.

This being the first time I have rescaped anything other than minor replanting and removing slim pieces of slate, I had an unpleasant flashback, mentally and physically, to the previous muddy fiasco of February 2017.

I stirred things up a little too much.

Luckily some level of common sense was availed to me when I had removed about 40% of the tank water previous to moving things around. So once everything was placed (not that I could see) pouring in new water diluted the murk quite quickly, and I opened the top suction on the filter so more dirt would be sucked up.

The poor rasboras were swimming blind for a short while, but everyone was perky and hungry this morning, and none worse for the wear.

Yeah.

Anyhow. This is how it looked this morning when I woke up:



You will notice the amount of settlement that occured on the left side where the den used to be. But now I have the rocks settled around the sword which should grow a little taller and then fan out.

And now I am at peace with it.

Now it looks right.

Moving on.

I have decided that I am going to make my little qurantine/betta tank into a shrimp breeding tank.

I ordered some carbon rili's, which are beautiful, and should be here on Monday.



I only ordered 6, but if all goes well I should be able to add them to the upper tank in a few weeks. In the mean time they should be happy and breed abundantly in the little tank. I will fully scape it this weekend and update you guys when they show up at my door.

So I lied when I said looks don't matter for the little tank. They do.

All that slate that I pulled out of the top tank is really going to play a role and going to be awesome.

So once again, stay tuned.
 
#26 ·
I already did the cherry shrimp with my last betta, and wanted to try something a little more unusual. Paired with the fact that Sterling is blue/silver, and that the rili's were on sale this week, I thought that they would complement the scape quite nicely.

I have been reading on nano tanks and finding myself wanting to scape a little more.

Realistically I won't be able to convince my husband that another tank is a good idea, so I figured I should work with what I got.

I'm very excited!
 
#27 · (Edited)
Update #4 - You're Not Such a Fungi Afterall

All right, well due to some fiascoes this weekend and poor timing, I did not do the rescape in the "shrimp breeder" tank that I had been planning.

I unfortunately noticed a small white spot on one of my rasboras and immediately went into lockdown. I pulled the offender out and took him straight to my LFS, and upon my return to the store we discovered that the cories that were in the same tank as the rasboras, as well as some of the rasboras all showed signs of the same infection. Yay me!

Needless to say I found a new fish store after driving to another city to get proper advice and vowed to never to return to the previous one.

So while the one little dude is probably sentenced to death, I promptly bought some API Fungus Cure and treated my tank. Which is now an astonishing shade of green. I returned the one fish, so I am now down to 4 rasboras. Temporarily.

Before I treated the 20 gallon, I did a 50% water change. Added prime, but no bacteria as I had to remove my carbon filters. I will be able to put them back in in two days. I will likely use the new ones I just happened to buy a couple of days ago, rather than reuse the old ones. But it looks like I may have to start a small fish in cycle. More on that in a second.

I have now placed the divider that came with my betta tank, into said tank in preparation for the shrimp. Which were supposed to come today, but did not. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow, but I am working until the late evening, so they will be sitting in a box on my doorstep until I get home in the evening. If I am lucky they won't come until Wednesday since I finish class earlier in the day. But I can't put Sterling in the community tank yet for obvious reasons, and I don't want him to eat the shrimp, or stress them out. So I just moved most of the plants to their side, added a moss ball to Sterling's side, and will let everything root for a bit I guess. The holes are quite small in the divider so I don't think any of the shrimp will be able to get through.

Anyways, Sterling has some red on his fins that is showing through, and I was concerned. But they do not appear to be ragged, or bloody, just colouration which Butterfly Moontails are known to develop as they get older/more comfortable. Especially since he is a silver/blue Betta, this blog suggests that they may take on a red sheen as they age, especially if they are of a iridescent colour like Sterling is which may speak to some level of the marble gene.

Still, to be on the safe side I also picked up some aquarium salt and treated a half dose on the top tank and the bottom. The salt may harm the plants so it was recommended a smaller dose. Again I am just dosing to make sure it is not fin rot, but I have done a 50% water change on the smaller tank each week, and my water parameters are great. I will take pictures tomorrow as I was in a bit of a panic getting everybody dosed up. I'm like 98% certain that it is not fin rot as he still displays fully, no clamping, holes or lethargy. But considering my weekend I'm not taking any chances.

None of the rasboras that are remaining show any of the fungus, so I may have caught it in time, and with the treatment prevented the bacteria from getting too entrenched in the water column. I just completed my second dose tonight, which is 48 hours from when I first noticed the fish.

Luckily, I had listened to some sort of premonition that I had last week when I impulsively purchased:

Seachem Stressguard
Seachem Stability
Seachem Ammonia Alert

I dosed all the tanks with stressguard, and am waiting to use stabiliity on the top tank. But I did put some in the betta tank to help with the shrimp when they come. Just to account for the tiny bioload the tank is about to acquire.

The ammonia alert I bought because of the frequency of my water changes, I have been getting some skewed ammonia readings from Prime, because the API test kit also measures NH3 and NH4, which is ammonium. So the alert only measures the NH3, or free ammonia, which is what is toxic to fish. There has been no change since I removed the filters so I may be able to salvage some of the bacteria, and if not I have stability to ease the rasboras through a fish in cycle. Obviously not what I want to do, but at this point it's my reality. The API cure though, after some reading, doesn't seem to kill all of the beneficial bacteria, and it also doesn't kill snails (which was a huge consideration). So my bioload may be small enough in the 20 gallon that I may only be behind a week or so.

So yeah.

I'm tired.

It's been an uphill battle and a lot of work the last couple of days. My husband noted that fishkeeping was "labour intensive" and all I could think about was how I needed to resolve this before the weekend because I'm going away and all I want my roommate to have to worry about is feeding my fish.

ALSO

Sterling has NO INTEREST in the frozen bloodworms I bought, but the rasboras gorged their little bellies. It's funny watching a snail eat a worm by the way. Just thought you should know. Also the picky little betta doesn't like the pellets, so in desperation I tried my Omega fish flakes and he went nuts. So. Small victories I guess.

Turns out Pablo Escargot is a black snail.



I named the big white one Ivory. Because, irony.

Too tired to be funny today. Back to your regularly scheduled program in about a week, after I get back from being out of town this weekend, and I actually rescape my little tank, and when my water is no longer green.

Yeah.
 
#28 ·
OMG Puriance I am loving your journey :)

I can only hope that my stories will be as amusingly presented as yours are. I wish I had more time to write this all out. The adventures I have had so far have been kookie and I haven't even added water to my tank yet.

I will keep following you if only for the pure enjoyment of your writing.

:grin2:
 
#30 · (Edited)
Aaahhh, thank you! Honestly writing about it is cathartic. My husband has ZERO interest in my tank and it's sort of all consuming at this point. So I'm honestly using this journal as... a journal. heh. I guess. '-_-

I write at nighttime mostly or (as I am now) in the one class at Uni that happens to be in the field that I already work in. So as long as I pencil the important bits, it's ffiiinnneeee.

I felt the same way when I read your journal, so naturally I subbed. It's great to see a fellow lady Canuck who shares the same outlook on their experiences and excitement for fish! Well, rather tanks as art. Because if I had a 90 gallon I would be beside myself if I got it to look like yours.

However, I like being married to my husband.

So.

There's that.


Your journal is a lot of fun to read!

I swear that pic of the driftwood before you put it in a bucket, looks like a fish with two blue marble eyes. I have that exact same fake bridge, that same kitchen strainer, ditto.

Love the color of your betta, the teal ones are my favorites. So you took down his hilltop fortress?

I would suggest adding the betta to the tank last. He may not like sharing space... mine is ok with snails but was hunting down all my pygmy cories with apparent murderous intent; I had to take them back to the store :frown2:

I've got almost the same biowheel filter, too- mine's an older one the 170 model. If the current is too strong for your betta, you can make a baffle out of a plastic water bottle or fish cup.

When you're moving plants if you can get two hands in the tank, what I do is slowly pulling the plant up, aim a siphon around the base of it so lots of the released mulm/substrate gets sucked up. Doesn't mess up your water column as much.

Pic of your Silver trying to go thru the coconut hole cracked me up. One of my previous bettas always tried to squeeze himself into too-small of spaces just like that. But he kept loosing scales and getting scratched because of it. I ended up taking out the decoration that was the problem. Maybe you can widen the hole somehow? So he doesn't hurt himself.

Your Pablo snail looks like a leopard ramshorn. Better hope he really is a male, or you might have a population boom. (For some reason I like one ramshorn in my tank, I don't like hundreds- which happened to me once. But I'm okay with tons of mts on the other hand)

It's looking nice!

I love that you called it a hilltop fortress. Like, love. But yes I took it down, because it just wasn't quite right. It didn't fit 100%. I really prefer the way the sword sits within the rocks that made up the foundation. When I was planning on having tall plants all around the fortress it made sense. However as things are growing in, I don't want to lose that part of the tank, especially because I plan on kicking up my school of rasboras by 2, for a total of 10. Also, it wasn't 100% the right colour either. And that bothered me, and it is supposed to illicit calm, not... irritation.

I might... Have some issues.

Anyhow,

I will take a picture of my workaround for the biofilter (which I realised yesterday will keep some of the bacteria, so I may not have to recycle my cycle). But basically I took a small carbon filter (like the one I used for my purigen) and made a cap for the output using a zap strap. Rather ingenious really.

I do agree that I should add him last. I was playing with that idea only because of the shrimp, but once I remembered I had the divider for the small tank, that became a non-issue. So yeah, what you're saying there totally makes sense.

ALSO, PANIC, about the ramshorn. I started with 2 in my very first tank and had to cull them weekly. However if he is a ramshorn, he is the only ramshorn. So I panic googled (looks a lot like regular googling except with messier hair and only one contact in my eyes) and they cannot self-reproduce. So. No more.

Pablo is my one and only (<3)

Your plant idea is genius. Genius I say. I hope I never had to move it again, but when I undoubtedly do, I will... undoubtedly do.... that.

Synonyms are elusive sometimes. (Often for comedic purposes)

As for the coconut, I sadly had to take it out to fit the divider. I will reluctantly admit that I am actually quite fond of it in my little tank and may try and find another little tank to keep Sterling in because I do want to keep a dedicated shrimp breeder tank rather than buying shrimp every year or so.



So thank you for all your kind words. Certainly gives me motivation to continue! I shall reward you with some pictures of my fluorescent tank and Sterling with his newfound colouration.




I am also looking for a slightly taller cabinet. Hopefully the one I found on Craigslist is still available when I call today after class. It may be just right, also $25. I'm trying not to spend as much time bent over (shoulder lower back injury, YAY car accidents) and the cabinet it is on is quite short.

Anyhow, this is what I see right now:




And here is Sterling with the little bit of red showing on his dorsal fin, before I shrunk his tank. Today is his fast day (poor guy). His fins are showing more red but no tearing, and the clear parts of his fins are also filling with colour, blue and red and silver. So. He's just a colourful little character. (heh)




That's it for today, but I am hoping for the new cabinet, and some more plants today as I am scoping out a new LFS today. I'm going to be a little more discerning in picking them moving forward considering how much work this last weekend has been. So new update at some point. Also my CO2 diffuser valve check bubble counter should be here this week (I hope) and my drop checker in a couple weeks.

ALMOST THERE.

Thank "insert almighty deity of choice here".
 
#29 ·
Your journal is a lot of fun to read!

I swear that pic of the driftwood before you put it in a bucket, looks like a fish with two blue marble eyes. I have that exact same fake bridge, that same kitchen strainer, ditto.

Love the color of your betta, the teal ones are my favorites. So you took down his hilltop fortress?

I would suggest adding the betta to the tank last. He may not like sharing space... mine is ok with snails but was hunting down all my pygmy cories with apparent murderous intent; I had to take them back to the store :frown2:

I've got almost the same biowheel filter, too- mine's an older one the 170 model. If the current is too strong for your betta, you can make a baffle out of a plastic water bottle or fish cup.

When you're moving plants if you can get two hands in the tank, what I do is slowly pulling the plant up, aim a siphon around the base of it so lots of the released mulm/substrate gets sucked up. Doesn't mess up your water column as much.

Pic of your Silver trying to go thru the coconut hole cracked me up. One of my previous bettas always tried to squeeze himself into too-small of spaces just like that. But he kept loosing scales and getting scratched because of it. I ended up taking out the decoration that was the problem. Maybe you can widen the hole somehow? So he doesn't hurt himself.

Your Pablo snail looks like a leopard ramshorn. Better hope he really is a male, or you might have a population boom. (For some reason I like one ramshorn in my tank, I don't like hundreds- which happened to me once. But I'm okay with tons of mts on the other hand)

It's looking nice!
 
#31 · (Edited)
Update #4b - They Call Me Mellow Yellow

So it turns out that rather than stand his ground and fight the mirror, the little prince Sterling just runs away. Or... swims... away...

Whatever.

The point is, he is a wuss. I was trying to make him poop because I read that flake food may cause a betta to bloat, and he was looking a little pudgy. So in addition to making him fast, I am also making him... poop himself. Because that is just the kind of loving owner that I am. Also, he will probably do fine in my community tank. Seeing as he hides rather than be aggressive. Even to himself.

Moving on. I got the cabinet that I wanted for $25 off of craigslist. It is exactly perfect for my purposes. All I need to do (my husband needs to do) is add casters to the bottom of the cabinet so that it move easily if I need it. Look at it!



It even fits my buckets! Look at it!



Moving on.

I completed a 30% water change today and added the new carbon filters. In the future I will rotate my 4 carbon filters, but for the time being my previous ones were tainted (potentially) by the bacteria. So. New ones.

Also I mini scaped the shrimp side of the quarantine tank. I bought some Christmas moss and a broken ornament while I was scoping out a not so local LFS. My LFS that I was attempting to scope, smelt of hamsters and... cigarette smoke. Don't know that I will return.

Anyways my not so local LFS, gave me this ornament for 50% off:





Needless to say I tore out the little pretend grass. Because... really?

And I also bought some Christmas Moss: (If I typed that earlier, please blame the porter)



Oh my goodness am I reflective. Anyhow.

I used the handy dandy needle and thread to tie the moss to the ornament and cover the hole so little shrimpies don't get in it and die/hide/over exert the bioload without me noticing:



Sterling is hiding because my phone is out.



I took out the divider since the shrimp aren't here yet. I also emailed the place I ordered it from asking that they delay the shipment until I am home form the weekend because I don't want the shrimp to die because I wasn't home to get them from my landlord.

If you look closely you can see the reflection of my phone case!



With divider:



Here is Sterling showing a little more red everywhere:



I am very excited and will have more for you next week! I will reply to comments but I won't have anything new to add until after the weekend.
 
#32 ·
So in addition to making him fast, I am also making him $#!* himself.
That's a joke, right? Actually, if he's that timid good chance he won't bother other fish in the tank. Fast him a day and then feed a fourth of a cooked pea (minced into tiny bites is what I do) or better yet, daphnia (I don't know where to buy them).

Also I GOT THE CABINET THAT I WANTED:
Looks nice, but make sure that top surface can hold the weight of the filled tank. Are you sure you want to put wheels on it? all the weight on those four points could make marks in your floor... Whenever I see a stand for an aquarium with feet I always think of taking them off- to have weight spread more evenly.
 
#34 ·
Well sounds like that stand is probably sturdy enough- I have tested furniture by sitting on it like that.

I use frozen peas, just cook them so it's softened, and take off the skin. Maybe try letting him go hungry a few days in a row and then offer the other foods? They can survive up to 2 weeks without food (when you're away traveling) so I think 2 or 3 days to encourage an appetite for some variety would be fine.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Update #5 - Let's Shrimplify the problem

Hey everybody I got a box!



In the part that I whited out, there is the address and name of the company that I ordered my shrimp from. I'm so excited! My beautiful carbon rili's are here! Just in time for my tank to be properly coloured and parameters in line again.

Right?!

...

Well.

No.



Not only were they all red, they were all dead. So. That was no fun.

I immediately contacted the seller, as I paid extra for expedited shipping with no DOA guaranteed. So hopefully I will get another shipment. I did realize that since they are quite small, and travelling across mountain ranges in winter conditions may not be the best thing. I may pay for a hardier shrimp or wait until a warmer season. We will see what he says.

I'm going to another LFS I found today after I pick up a slightly bigger tank for Sterling (amazing craigslist deal on a rimless 5 gallon cube, complete, just need a light). I straight up have multiple tank syndrome ("MTS"), but it has to stop here. I have the current 2.5 gallon for Sterling which is going to be the breeder tank. It was only ever meant as a temporary home for him anyways.

Some people hide affairs, I hide fish tanks.

Unfortunately I have been doing a lot more reading and discovering a whole world of scapes that I'm enthralled with, so I have been planning something for this little tank since I found it online a week and a bit ago. I'm going to take a lot more time with the actual scape on this small one before it sees water. Dry start? We'll see. I don't have anything for the hardscape, but I want to bury the coconut in plants, because I am pretty sure he misses his coconut.

THAT ALSO BEING SAID,

I no longer want to add Sterling to the community tank. Hence the 5 gallon. He is beautiful and I enjoy watching him so much. I would like to keep him in my room on my desk, which is where I kept my last betta Wanda. I find watching him so calming, and he has really started to come into his personality these last few days. He's always following me whenever I'm moving around the top tank (he can see from the back of the cabinet).

Up until this morning I was also waiting on confirmation of a summer position in Ottawa, which came down to me and another candidate. However I didn't make the cut given my lack of political experience, but I was invited back next year. So in the light of that, I had been considering different stocking options in case someone else was going to have to take care of my tank.

Since I am not going anymore, I have a few ideas.

I already have the Rasboras, which I am getting 2 more today to bring my total up to 6. While at my LFS, I am also going to get a siamese algae eater ("SAE") as my CO2 checker/diffuser/counter has not shown up yet so my algae is starting to develop. I obviously wanted to wait for the tank to completely stabilize before I added any bottom fish. I was originally going to add cories, but I will lay out my reasoning in a minute.

The snails are eating pretty well, and Ivory has easily tripled in size. Pablo will be moved back down to Sterlings tank after the water change I plan on doing today. Additionally, I noticed a tiny unidentified snail on my glass. I have not purchased anything other than the Christmas moss which was put into my bottom tank, and like 4 strands in the top tank. I don't know what happened. So Pablo is getting banished.

Next step will be a loach.

Anyhow, we are now a few weeks into being completely planted, so have a look (complete with algae).



Right side of the tank:



My little tank is just planted with the leftovers of the top tank still. I'm going to give it some more attention after the semester, because I have way too much on my plate right now. Sterling is of course, chilling on his leaf.



But moving forward!

I have decided to go with a different approach! This LFS that I am visiting today, as well as the one a city over, have some really interesting fish. So I'm going to get a second schooling fish, and thereby school.

I'm debating on keeping with the southasian species since I have the rasboras. I like the looks of barbs (I like the look of odessa barbs, cherry barbs), or keeping it more with small schools and getting some tetra.

I'm kind of keen on a honey guorami, or dwarf blue. Not super keen on rams, only because of their eyes. They... They see so much.

No Rams.

Suggestions? I'm a couple of weeks away fron making any decisions beyond the SAE and 2 rasboras, so have at 'er!
 
#36 · (Edited)
Update #6 - A Herculean Task

So guess who found the holy grail of LFS? This girl!

The store is in an incredibly inconvenient place in the city with no parking and next to the stadium that houses all of our soccer and football games in addition to a ton of fairs, festivals and concerts. BUT all of their equipment is fairly priced, and while their livestock is a little more expensive per fish, they have the healthiest looking fish of any store I have checked out yet, and I have been to 6 or 7 since I started stocking my tanks.

So it turns out stalking your stocking source should eventually pay off. Once a week I have been checking out new places, and this is the place I will return to. Along with one more that is a bit more convenient, but not as much selection.

Their hardscape stuff was decently priced, so depending on what I envision for this next 5 gallon tank, I may purchase some driftwood there. Anyways.

Moving on. (I tend to belabour points).

Speaking to one of the wonderful sales representatives I realized this girl knows her stuff. So that was lovely. I went in for an SAE and left with two oto's instead, in addition to two rasboras. Bringing my total school up to six. I eventually want a school of 8 to 10, but I don't want to overwhelm my tank, especially right now.

Next.

*Steps onto stage and up to the podium, flexing and taking a bow* I happened to move my tank from my short stand to my new stand.

All.

By.

Myself.

For realz.

The Process

I put the oto's and rasboras in a bucket because they came from the same tank at the store, and drip acclimated them by sucking up a micro moss ball which minimized the amount of liquid through my siphon. After about 20 minutes, I moved the siphon into another bucket.

I emptied the tank of about 95% of the water, moving the 4 rasboras into a separate bucket, then added their new rasbora and oto compatriots, and proceeded to empty the tank, leaving a couple of inches. Just to leave enough for the plants to remain buoyant.



Being impatient after already a week of waiting with the cabinet staring at me from my living room, I wasn't willing to wait the 30 minutes until I had to pick up my husband. I wanted the beast to be filling in that time while I went to go pick him up. Also if I can pick up my butt and get out of bed everyday I should be able to move the tank.

So I wheeled the cabinet over to the bigger one that I moved into place earlier this week (that I did not end up putting wheels on) squatted deep, lifted it up, turned my feet and NEARLY DROPPED THE THING. But I didn't. So that's nice.



It is in its permanent home now. I have (for some unknown reason) a giant food grade canister that I will now explain the genius of.

The Genius of Siphoning

So I realized that since siphoning works off of the principle of gravity (which is a proven theory by the way), I mixed my chemicals in the canister and then filled it with water. Then I DUMPED MY BUCKETS INTO THAT canister while it siphoned on a higher surface beside the tank. Therefore, it mixes each new bucket of water AND it doesn't mess up my scape so I can just dump the water straight in.

GENIUS I say.

So as it filled up I added the fish in the bucket to the tank with the water (the other bucket had the petstore water in it and was emptied). I then left the full canister to siphon while I picked up my husband and came back to a nearly full tank!

I also picked up a 1-2-grow of s repens for my 5 gallon tank that I am going to start this weekend, because I'm going to give my 2.5 breeder tank to my roommate for his son before he heads back home in a week or so. So my schedule for the 5 gallon was pushed up a little. I also think my husband will be more open to the idea of the 5 gallon if it's the second tank, and not the third one.

So now to the pictures.



I noticed that the school is a lot more... schooly with the 2 new rasboras. It's really great to watch. Also there is a female in the group now. Overall the school is tighter and more uniform, where as before there was less of a hive mind. The new additions coloured right up, although the small one is a little more yellow than copper.



Previously unseen left view of the tank.



Oto's are cute.





They are always so busy.




Sterling overlooks the big tank now. Here he is being beautiful as usual.



This is my new favourite picture of him.



Pretty fish.

 
#37 ·
Sorry to hear about your shrimps. Hopefully the seller will make it good for you.

I've often pictured having a coconut half grown over with java fern, to make a hideout for kuhlis or a betta. You could grow java fern on his coconut, and block the hole with a rhizome or two, so he can't get stuck in it.
 
#38 ·
The seller has said that he will replace my shipment but I will have to pay for the express shipping because of the distance, he can't guarantee the shrimp, and I had misunderstood the shipping choices. Overall he has been great about it.

As for the Java fern, that may be a cool idea. Am I able to affix java fern roots like moss, by using glue?
 
#41 ·
Ahaha, it's almost like you were in my living room. My husband keeps bringing it up.

"Remember when you killed all the shrimp?"

"SHUTUP THEY WERE DEAD WHEN THEY GOT HERE."

Also, @JJ09, I have been using thread for my java fern and moss, so I could just continue doing that. I'm thinking along the lines of a river bed scape, modeled after the river I'm going to take my rocks from. Again.
 
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