The Planted Tank Forum banner

The Many Lives of my 55g

46K views 221 replies 36 participants last post by  AquaAurora 
#1 · (Edited)
[5/23/17]

someday i'll get a plant list up...

[1/23/17]


[1/17/17]
Last photos of the Riparium.. its reign has ended...






plant list:
Variegated Pothos
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum sp???)
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Cream Allusion')


[8/2/16]



[3/23/16]




[2/25/16]


Riparium Flora: Variegated Pothos
Aluminum plant (Pilea Cadierei)
Friendship Plant (Pilea involucrata)
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum sp???)
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Marble Queen (pothos)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Cream Allusion')

[8/13/15]

Riparium Flora: Pothos varigated
Aluminum plant (Pilea Cadierei)
Friendship Plant (Pilea involucrata)
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Marble Queen (pothos)
Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Cream Allusion')


[7/27/15]

Riparium Flora: Pothos varigated
Aluminum plant (Pilea Cadierei)
Friendship Plant (Pilea involucrata)
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Marble Queen (pothos)
Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Red Water Dock (Rumex sanguineus)
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Cream Allusion')


[6/30/15]


Riparium Flora: Pothos varigated
Aluminum plant (Pilea Cadierei)
Friendship Plant (Pilea involucrata)
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Marble Queen (pothos)
Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Red Water Dock (Rumex sanguineus)
Fiber Optic Grass (Scirpus cernuus)
Oplismenus basket Grass (Oplismenus hirtellus 'Variegatus')


[6/2/15]

Riparium Flora: Pothos varigated
Pilea Cadierei (Aluminum plant)
Pilea involucrata (Friendship plant)
Spathiphyllum "domino' (peace lily)
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Setcreasea purpurea (Purple queen)
Marble queen (pothos)
Maranta leuconeura (prayer plant)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)

[5/19/15]
Stock Update
Fauna:
1 Nerite snails (wtf where's the girl?? well at least no new egg everywhere now..)
???# Malaysian trumpet snails (i pulled out 280 a few weeks ago x.x)
6 Otos
8 False jullie cory
11 Cherry barbs 3m:8f
1 Angelfish
1 Madagascar rainbowfish
Submerged Flora:
none
Riparium Flora: Pothos (varigated)
Fittonia albivenis
Aluminum plant
Spathiphyllum "domino'
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Riccia
Purple queen
Marble queen (pothos)

[5/17/15]
new additions to riparium: purple queen and marble queen. Ghostwood removed, put in the old red cedar + pvc hides.




[3/26/15]






[2/23/15]


Stock Update
Fauna: 2 Nerite snails
???# Pond, Ramshorn, and Malaysian trumpet snails
6 Otos
8 False jullie cory
11 Cherry barbs 3m:8f
1 Angelfish
1 Madagascar rainbowfish
Submerged Flora:
Crypt (wenditt?) green
Needle leaf Java fern
Riparium Flora: Pothos
Fittonia albivenis
Tradescantia zebrine
Cyperus Umbrella Sedge
Aluminum plant
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum "domino'
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Syngonium
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Riccia

[12/13/14]




10/9/14
Finally everything is set up! Official start of the 55g riparium!
Filter: Eheim Professional 3 1200X (can we say overkill?)
Heater: Eheim Jagar 150 watt in diy pvc inline heater
Lights: 48" T5 6500k bulbs x2
Substrate: Black Diamond 'Sand'
Fauna: 2 Nerite snails
???# Pond, Ramshorn, and Malaysian trumpet snails
5 Otos (temporary)
12 Cherry barbs 4m:8f
1 Angelfish
1 Madagascar rainbowfish
Submerged Flora:
Crypt (wenditt?) green
Crypt Parva
Dwarf lily plant
Needle leaf Java fern
Dwarf lilly plant
Riparium Flora: Pothos
Fittonia albivenis
Tradescantia zebrine
Cyperus Umbrella Sedge
Aluminum plant
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum "domino'
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Syngonium
Riccia
Ferts:Seacehm Excel
Seacehm Flourish
Seacehm Iron
Seacehm Pottasium
Seacehm Phosphourus







9/17/14
photos of the prep






9/15/14
No photos yet but completely redoing tank, hope to have it functional again within 2 weeks. Pleco is gone and the aquaponic system has been removed.

4/30/14




INTRO
I've had this 55 gallon set up and running for a while now, the biggest issue with it is the amount of poop (and nitrates) my 9.5 inch Leopard Sailfin Pleco makes requires very frequent water changes. To deal with this I am going to be setting up an Aquapoics system..
What is aquaponics? Its a combination of aquaculture (raising fish for human consumption) and hydroponics (growing plants for human consumption using water rather than soil). Instead of soil/fertilizers, and liquid ferts as used in farms and hydroponics, the nitrogen cycle and broken down organics in the tank will give all the nutrients the plants need. I do not plan on eating my fish, and the veggies I like aren't conducive for the style of system that will be set up, but my family will be eating the produce.. produced by this ^^

THE PLAN!
My original plan changed so the new plan is to do a NFT system (nutrient film transfer) using 4 inch pvc piping and pvc "T"s to put planters full of grow media and a plant in. This method will allow fore more easy of adjustment (easily add/remove plants/"T"s, and increase distance between each as plants get bigger, or shorten if it stays compact).
I will be using the per-existing tank and canister filter, simply re-pluming the output to go into these pvc pipes with plants before re-entering the tank. The pvc grow area will be placed above the tank and most likely utilize simple shelving to hold it up. Since the tank is next to the staircase I will either hang over the stair's rail to "garden", or more like use a step stool to reach the plants.
Since the setup is in the basement and no natural sun will reach it I'll have to add some sun via T5 lights. Will start with 6500k for non blooming/"fruiting" plants, and get "warmer" spectrum bulb if I want non leafy veggies or herbs. The seeds have already been bought, I had my husband pick out what we try (what he'd eat/use). So we're going with Burpee organic: chives(/garlic), cilantro, oregano, spinach (Palco Hybrid), and lettuce (Valerie and Black Seeded Spimpson). Thinking of doing 1 each of the herbs and 2-3 of the leafy greens. I've already gotten 12 planter pots that fit perfectly for the pvc "T"s, got them for free from a nice little nursery nearby, nice people and plant selection there so will be going back to buy other things later (they had emersed form of some aquatic plants I might try in my other tanks.
I still need to decide on a media and buy it, I'm most likely going to go with an expanded clay or natural lava rock. Most nurseries around here aren't starting to sell stuff yet so I'll probably have to grab this item online.

All the finer details have not been set in stone yet but I am hopeful that my husband (going to be a big part of getting this set up and running!) and I hammer that out over the next week or two and start getting more supplies together.

I will update the first post and cram as much as I can in here as it's set up, then do updates via new posts in the thread after.

Photos!
Construction starts [3/7-9 weeked]
Seeds

uncut 4 inch "T"s (x6)

cut 4 inch "T"s (same 6)

Planter in cut "T" (x6)

4 inch cap (x2)

Pre assembling (4 inch diameter drainage piping between "T"s 3.5 inch lengths x7) + hose parts

Glue to bind pvc

Post glueing








Before....when it was just an aquarium: [pre 3/2014]
Most recent full tank photo:12/2/13
Brown Water Fish supply Plant Pet supply

Equipment:
"55" gallon Tetra tank (47.5 x 19.75 x 12) (Petco)
Cabinet stand (re-purposed)
Polycarbinate clear lids (HomeDepot)
Surge Suppressor and Light Timer (HomeDepot)
SunSun HW 304b 5-Stage External Canister Filter with 9watt UV steralizer and 525 GPH (amazon)
Marienland Double Bright LED lights 24 inch (x2) (amazon)
Eheim Jagar Aquarium Thermostat Heaster 150 Watt (amazon)
Whisper air pump and black 6 inch air stone from original 10 gallon tank
Small suction-cupped thermometer (re-purposed)

Hardscape/Substrate:
Specrtastone DeepRiver Gravel 25 lb bag (x2) (amazon)
1 medium-large driftwood (ebay)
2 small Malaysian driftwoods
Fauna: 9.5 inch Leopard Sailfin Pleco & 4 inch Madagascar Rainbowfish
Flora: Whatever anacharis the pleco has not eaten yet

See my other tanks
No-techs3 Gallon10 Gallon



Original post:
Starting up a new "55" gallon tank with my husband. Why is it in quotes? because internal measurements show its actually around 48.. lying s.o.b. manufacturer. Its been up for a little bit but I only just started proper cycling yesterday so I thought I'd keep a journal and add questions as I go. I wanted to try the pure ammonia fish-less way this time since last time I did a fish-in cycle.

Equipment:
"55" gallon Tetra tank (47.5 x 19.75 x 12) (Petco)
Cabinet stand (re-purposed)
Polycarbinate clear lids (HomeDepot)
Surge Suppressor and Light Timer (HomeDepot)
SunSun HW 304b 5-Stage External Canister Filter with 9watt UV steralizer and 525 GPH (amazon)

Marienland Double Bright LED lights 24 inch (x2) (amazon)
Eheim Jagar Aquarium Thermostat Heaster 150 Watt (amazon)
Tiny air-stone (hand-me-down)
Small suction-cupped thermometer (re-purposed)

Hardscape:
Specrtastone DeepRiver Gravel 25 lb bag (x2) (amazon)
1 medium-large driftwood (ebay)
1 medium driftwood (local woods)
1 tiny driftwood (Marimo ball covered)
1 large lava rock

Fauna:
Not until till cycled

Flora:
Anacharis (x8 small) (plantedaquariumscentral)
Hornwort (x2 small) (Petsmart)
Anubias barteri var. nana (x3 medium and small) (plantedaquariumscentral and Petco)
Java Fern (x? a lot medium and small) (Petsmart and plantedaquariumscentral)
Marimo covered driftwood (plantedaquariumscentral)

Photos:
Water Green Plant Pet supply Wood


Water Conditioner:
Tetra AquaSafe + (must find some SafeStart)

Starting Water Perimeters:
Temp:77 F
pH:74.7.6
Ammonia:0-0.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:10-20 (suspect from old tank media)


Goals:
Fully Cycled!
Add more fast growing low light plants (more anacharis and hornwort probably) and float all plants on surface
Add larger capacity air-stone/pump
Get a black background on back of tank to hide wires/hoses
Minor tweaks to larger wood piece and its surrounding gravel to be shelter for pleco
Remove smaller logs and all the anacharis/java (re-home in smaller tank once fish move)
Move Leopard Sailfin Pleco, Madagascar rainbow-fish, and Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami to "55"
Re-scape smaller tank with java, anubias, moss and maybe some new plants
Put dwarf gourami back in smaller tank
Add more Madagascar rainbow-fish to "55"

Ultimate goal:
Move Leopard Sailfin Pleco to much bigger custom built tank (working out details for it now, "55" is his stepping stone up towards final home)
Do capped soil substrate and a LOT more plants in the "55" once pleco is out
Add some more fish to "55".. maybe Angels


So far all the new equipment is working well. The tiny air stone won't be staying I just have it in there to humor me with adding a little more O2 during the cycling process.
I originally added old filter media and a large lava rock from my cycled smaller tank to the "55" but didn't have enough ammonia in the tank so I suspect all that BB died (whoops).
Got a hold of some pure ammonia yesterday -which is harder to find than you might think- at Ace Hardware store to begin a fish-less cycle.

Note on Plants:
They will not be staying like the first photo shows, its just to keep them spread out and well lit during cycling. The tiny anubias on the right of the large driftwood is whats left of mine from Petco, the roots were devoured by my pleco. That unsightly mess of swiss-cheesed java fern on the far right of the tank is whats left of my Petsmart purchase after my pleco got a hold of it... apparently he likes it more than lettuce =,= Some of teh rhyzomes have enw leaf growth so I am hoping they will bounce back from the beating they took.
The lush anubias with long roots, marimo covered smallest wood, short but healthy anacharis, and short lush java attached to the medium driftwood (which is mostly buried to keep it anchored) came from plantedaquariumcentral. Awesome seller, quick to answer questions, gave me extra anubias (with flower!!) java and a little extra anacharis from listed amounts, and all came in great condition.

Ultimately I will have a lot of fast growing floaters in the "55" so the pleco doesn't have anything to crash into and uproot. The only thing that will end up beign at the bottom (besides gravel obviously) is some peices of driftwood for him to hide in/behind/under.


Cycling log: (10/6-7)
Added about 5.5 ml of ammonia yesterday with pet medicine dropper to bring the levels in the "55" tank to around 3.5-3.75 ppm (using online calculator from fishkeep).
Color range on ammonia test (API test kit) today show between 2-4 ppm,...there's no '"3" on the reference. Not adding any ammonia today.
Will add a broken air-stone and mesh bag full of crushed lava rock currently sitting in cycled smaller tank to "55" once its built up more BB (going to give it a week or so to colonize before move).
Publication Yellow Font Liquid Material property

The "55" is across the room from my cycled tank and I could swear my pleco has been eying it since the large piece of wood was added as if to say in a whinny 3 year old voice "I wanna go overTTHHEERREE" He's been handing out in the corner of his tank closest to the new one (and farthest from his cave) a lot, but I'm probably just over personifying his actions.
 
See less See more
57
#2 ·
I got my black cover background from petdepot, petco also has them. Its one side blue and one side dark. 2.99 a feet i think. Also, that led light doesnt seem to be for plants. If i were you, i would return those and get a finnex ray 2 instead. Check out my journal if ya want.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Cycling log: (10/8)
[cue mad scientist scene] *ahem*
IT LIIIIVEEESS
I love you beneficial bacteria!!! Apparently my original seed material didn't loose the bb on it like I thought, behold! NITRITES!
Ammonia: 1-2
Nitrties: 0.25-0.5
Nitrates: 40-80

View attachment 218681

Added 1.63 ml ammonia to bring levels in the tank up to around 2-3 ppm.

An a random note: I don't know if my reference color chart ran low on ink.. or does API test kits suck for making same colros cover a wide range of ppm? I mean look at that photo, 10-20 is same color for nitrates, so is 40-80, and 2-5 for nitrites too.
Updated previous post with photo of 2nd days test tube results in cycling log section.


Questions for today:
Any suggestions for low to medium light floating plants that (large breed) plecos aren't prone to eat? I have no clue how plecos are with frogbit, water lettuce, and simular type floaters.







Thanks for the tip on the background. As for lighting, I based my choice on these threads:
Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts
LED Lighting Compendium
Currently Plants are at the bottom, 20 inches from light at deepest point -putting it in the "low light" spectrum from the charts and data-which works fine for the plants I intend to keep in there. The anacharis has already shown new growth, the hornowrt keeps getting stick behind the filter spray bar (will have to tie it off closer to the light) so not a lot of noticeable growth there. I don't expect to miraculously see new growth on the anubias or java in the less than week that it has been in there, but none of it is dieing (not counting the already half dead java from my pleco making a salad of it).
 
#9 · (Edited)
Cycling Log: (10/9)

Cycling Log: (10/9)
Not much to say today, the nitrite eating bacteria hasn't kicked in yet, but I shouldn't be expecting miracles.
Ammonia:2-4
Nitrites:2-5
Nitrates:40-80
View attachment 218993

Some close ups of the large driftwood:
Plant Leaf Terrestrial plant Wood Vegetation

Plant Vertebrate Wood Organism Grass

Must clean glass...

Questions for today:
I know ammonia can reach a level that's toxic for beneficial bacteria, what about nitrites?
 
#10 · (Edited)
Cycling log: (10/10-12)

Cycling log: (10/10)
Ammonia: 1
Nitrite: 2-5
Nitrate: 40-80
Added 3.27 ml ammonia to bring ti back up to 3ppm

Cycling log: (10/11)
Ammonia: 2-4
Nitrite: 2-5
Nitrate: 40-80
No ammonia added. Bought a bunch (about 6 stems) of anacharis from Petco and letting it float in the "55" for now. Found 2 snails on that anacharis so far, one went into the cycled tank with gourami (suspect he'll eat it), the otehr is in the Evolve 4.
Also bought a Evolve 4 from Petsmart on clearance ($30) and will start a journal for that soon.

Cycling log: (10/12)
Ammonia: 0.5 (its eating it quicker now)
Nitrite: 2-5
Nitrate: 40-80
Added 4.1 ml ammonia to bring it back up to 3 ppm.
Removed tiny air-stone to use in Evolve cycling since "55" water level is low enough from the filter output that its getting decent aeration from the spray bar.

One of the anubias nana looks like it has some bubbles under a leaf that is exposed to the most light (its the plant that has flowers when it came).

Questions for today:
Whats up with the weird translucent shedding skin look on the rhizome? The rhizome has never been planted so it shouldn't be rot.

Plant Flower Terrestrial plant Grass Grass family
 
#11 · (Edited)
Cycling Log: 10/13-15

So the "55" has be eating up ammonia like crazy, today it was at 0! but nitrite hasn't budged yet. I broke more of my API test tubes so I only have 4 left, enough to do an ammonia and nitrite test on both the "55" and Evolve (see signature for journal). I should be getting new tubes tomorrow hopefully and can keep track of nitrates again.
I don't think the plant mass in the "55" is eating up all the ammonia, could it? I have probably less than 30% plant mass in there... I wouldn't think it could munch that much ammonia in one day especially since over half of it is slow growers (java fern, anubias nana, and marimo moss)?

Anyways I am trying to prep some lava rock in my cycled tank to place into the two unfinished tanks soon. I bought some nylon stockings yesterday to place the lava rock in, turns out they're so tightly stitched together it locks air in.. it tried to float.. with rocks in it.. haha had to cut a small hole in each to push out air/let water in. I'm hoping once I add them to the cycling tanks that it will kick start the nitrite eating bacteria.

As a final note for the "55" today, I noticed some odd white film over the past few days in there, as first I thought it was from the nearly dead java fern I had in there, but I noticed the locally collected wood was covered in some nasty film today ew!! Removed the healthy java ferns from it and put them on some left over tubing from the canister filter that was cut. I scrubbed the wood under hot water and am going to try boiling the wood this evening after dinner to see if that gets rid of the film problem.

Plant Water Vertebrate Green Fish supply
Water Plant Pet supply Terrestrial plant Fish supply


As you can see from the photos, not too nice to look at...hopefully it doesn't have any adverse effect on the BB or java
 
#12 ·
Cycling log: 10/16

Cycling log: (10/16)
pH:7.4-7.6
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:2-5
Nirtate:10-20
GH:214.8
Kh:71.6

I feel like I'm doing the GH test wrong since it comes out so high... going from orange to green... well it takes several drops before it really turns orange.. but oh well, at least I never have to worry about my pH falling through the floor.
Accidentally added 0.1 ml too much ammonia when topping it off today so decided between that and the translucent slime/fungus left over from the wood that I'd do a 5 gallon wc. Came out eassily enough got a lot-but not all- of the nasty stuff from the wood. Grabbed about 5 gallons to dump back in and [censored][censored][censored][censored] forgot to de-chlorinate! Good thing no fish in there but I probably just killed off all my good ammonia munching BB. I realized less than a minute after putting the water in and dumped about 4x as much dE-cholinator as I needed in just to add to the stupidity.

Oh well it will give me an excuse to test out the tetra safestart formula I got along with my heater for the tiny tnak (see signature for journal), test tubes, and more de-chlorinator since my bottle was nearly (and now is) empty.
I'm waiting a few hours then will test ammonia again and add some as needed to bring it up to 3ppm and re-start the fishless cycle along with the tetra stuff.
 
#13 ·
you do not have to dechorinate water before putting it in the tank. If you put your water in straight from the tap all you do is add enough dechorinator to treat the whole tank (55 gallons in your case.)

As for killing your bb yeah it will take a little more effort than that. BB has to be exposed to an extreme amount of chorine in order to die off that fast. Or be exposed to tap water for hours. Or drying out the media and/or substrate usually kills it off nice.

You actually can rinse biomedia off in tap water without doing any harm. Hot tap water will kill it. Not a big deal.

That being said I prefer to clean biomedia in tank water, I rinse it in tank water once every other week. I clean it off in a bucket of freshly dechlor water once a year. Why risk it if you dont have to. Dechlor is dirt cheap. I go through a gallon a year on my 55 and I double dose it (high chloramines in my area).

Point being you didnt kill any BB unless you left the tank with the chorinated water in it for hours.

If you prefer there is nothing wrong with adding the water straight from the tap to the aquarium then treating the entire volume of water.
 
#14 ·
java babies!

I'm so glad I threw the chewed up java into the 55, its spitting out new babies all over, and those with intact rhizomes are making new leaves on there too. Here are a few shots of some of the new plantlets growing on damaged leaves:
Plant Terrestrial plant Organism Vegetation Grass
Water Plant Green Terrestrial plant Aquatic plant

Only 2 plants died completely, but the pleco had literally eaten them down to nothing but a stem...no more java for you poop machine pleco!
Aaaand update photo for the tank (wtf green tube? read "Cycling Log: 10/13-15" about fungus-y driftwood, ps: driftwood was boiled and will be going back in tomorrow to hold the healthy java fern)
Water Plant Pet supply Fish supply Wood





Well thats nice to hear ^^ I prefer to treat the volume being added before it goes in rather than treat a larger volume of the whole tank. Its the first wc I'd done on the 55 and between dragging the bucket out and grabbing the stool (the cabinet its on is higher than it looks) I forgot to grab the de-chlorinator.
 
#15 ·
Cycling log: (10/21)

Cycling log: (10/21)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 5
Nitrate: 10-20

Ammonia still gets eaten like crazy (keep adding several ml each day) but nitrites have not gone down yet. I've had some nitrates, but the plants seem to be eating it up so its not building up that much.
All the anacharis has been moved to my driftwood soaking bin along with one of the lights. I seem to have snails and they like to lay eggs exclusively on the anacharis so moving that out till I can give them a good 'clean' to get rid of those. I also moved about 1/2 the old java fern with plantlets growing to the Evolve, mainly smaller pieces that had a chance of getting sucked up into the filter. All remaining plants are on/around the large driftwood and under the remaining light.
All the healthy javas have new growth on the rhizomes, and I think one of the new anaubias nana even has a new leaf growing on it already o_O, the same one that was flowering (and still is).
I placed some pieces of a broken air stone I'd left sitting in my cycled tank for over a week into the "55" this morning when I did my daily pleco poop cleaning. I also added about (little more than) half a bottle of tetra safe start to the "55" the bottle says it works for up to 100 gallons. I don't know that it will work, I've heard reviews pointing both ways. But we'll see, if its eats my nitrites and keeps them down as I feed ammonia to the tank then I'll be a believer. If its a flop there's a money back guarantee so I'll just go that route and continue waiting for the nitrite eating bacteria to build up.

Still haven't gotten around to buying a background yet, I really need to. The green tubing makes the water look lime green (like the glass is covered in tiny algae) but its just an illusion from light bouncing off the green plastic.... seriously why green?
 
#16 ·
Cycling Log: (10/30)

Cycling Log: (10/30)
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrtie: 2-5
Nitrate: 40-80

Had ammonia and nitrite hit 0 two days ago but nitrite it went back up to 2 the day after, I also had another fungus outbreak the same day on the same piece of driftwood even after boiling it for 2 hours a few weeks ago (I wonder if these are inter-related issues).
I threw out the wood and have the java fern attaches to some small clear air hose piping for now. New leaves coming in on the healthy java fern ave clear tips which I thought meant they weren't getting enough light, but a Google search came up with it actually being healthy and normal. All the platnlets that grew off my half dead java never had clear leaves. The flowering anaubias nana (yet the flower is still alive o_O) has a nice new leaf on it that's nearly as big as the old leaves already and a nice light color still, it grew in really fast.
My old anubias nana (which I am actually starting to think is a petite because its stem is no where near as high as the new ones and leaves are smaller) also has a new leaf growing on it but its a bit slower. Not too surprising since it has less leaves to begin with and much shorter roots (thanks to pleco noming).
 
#17 ·
algae bloom?

Have some odd thread like clear stuff growing on part of the driftwood (closest to light) and some of the old half dead java fern with plantlets that's right next to it. what is this?
Water Plant Vertebrate Nature Botany

[I know the crud below the sting-y stuff is mulm from when i tried dumping water from a filter cleaning in there supposedly to bring over some BB... bad idea btw real messy.]
 
#18 ·
The battle begins!

So I have hair algae, I've reduce the time the lights on but about an hour and start doing peroxide treatments with water changes to try to remove the algae. Unfortunately the tank seems to be taking forever to cycle now, as the nitrites are back up to 2-5ppm =.=
 
#19 ·
the war on algae continues.. new warrior: duckweed!

So I ordered some duckweed that arrived today, hoping between it and the anacharis I can keep nitrate/algae from going crazy while I feed pure ammonia to the BB till I figure but and set up my final scape.
I dumped it in and realized the canister outflow was pushing a lot of it underwater, so I quickly secured some panty hose to the intake for the filter, and pushed all the floating anarchists into the substrate so it doesn't get completely covered in duckweed.
My biggest concern is the fast growing plants (mainly the duckweed) will screw over my java fern and anubias for nutrient in the water column.. or just flat out starve out the beneficial bacteria... but I'm probably getting worried for nothing ^^

Also removed the driftwood and have it soaking in a large industrial/construction trash bag in a sink with peroxide to try to kill off any remaining hair algae. Letting it soak a few hours then going to rinse/scrub the hell out of it, treat it with a quick de-chlorinator dip, then stick it back in the tank tomorrow after re-securing some new weights,
 
#20 ·
Nitrties, I curse thee!

Its been too long and the nitrites still won't go down and stay down. I got them to hit 0 for a day or two but they went back up. Incidentally they went down after I removed the driftwood to treat for hair algae, and went back up the day after it went back in (wood was treated, then rinsed well, and dunked with de-chlorinated water before re-entering the tank) no more hair algae btw. The wood was also drilled with holes to attached a river stone before re-entering the tank, the original weights were not working out well. I am thinking the wood contains anti-bacterial sap residue, but its only effecting the nitrite eating bacteria, the ammonia munchers still seem to be doing fine (nitrties go up and ammonai stays at 0). If this is so then I'd suspect it would effect fish negatively too.. and I'm surprised how durable the pond snails in there are, nitrates are already off the charts and they still are slowly crawling all over the tank.
I am giving the wood a week in the tank, it nitrites don't go back down to (and stay at) 0 I will permanently remove it. If this happens when the wood does out I will be gutting my Evolve4 (its been a bust) and put its filter media in the "55".
 
#21 · (Edited)
update with photos

Long babble... skip to end for photos!

So tank finally cycled a few days ago (it almsot ahd befoer but nitrties spiked again) So I decided it was time to bring down the nitrates, which were off the charts toxic.. except apparently to the pond snails which I now think are as indestructible as roaches (unless you .. you know.. squish them) in terms of water tolerances at least. I took out the driftwood to treat for hair algae again and started prepping for a big clean up.

Yesterday I took apart the canister filter and clean all the media within the water contained in the filter. When i say clean I simply mean just agitate the bio-balls and ceramic tubes around, ring out the thread pads and agitate the charcoal bags. By the time I was done I could not see 1 inch into the canister's water it was a thick black/brown (eww) dumped that out and put everything back in. I detached the green hosing (which I really wish they're made clear or black) used my husbands cleaning rod to get all the gunk out that had built up and was getting rather unsightly with the transparent tubing. Everything went back together ok after cleaning and resealed and started up just fine. I then did a tiny water changed (6-9 gallons) and got some of the snail poo out of the substrate.

Today I went at the gravel like a mad woman and ended up siphon cleaning the entire bottom (after removing all plants and about 1/2 the duckweed to a spare pot). Got quite a bit out and siphon worked well getting the water level down to about 2" above the substrate (with the high walls of the "55" gallon I couldn't get more out with it. I used a plastic cup and pushed a alrge ammoung of gravel asside to get out more water so the level was about 1" above substrate (when its level). My tank had ben ever so slgihtly off center for a while so i decided to try to move the 1" to the elft taht it needed to go... 50 pounds of gravel, 20+ of glass tank and another 15-30 in water = it ain't freaking budging. Oh well it hasn't burst yet, I can tolerate it being off center a little longer. Started re-fill with 1 4 gallon bucket of treated water at a time, and wouldn't ya know it... it was below freezing this morning so the tap was fudging freezing! I didn't have the patience to heat 1 bucket of water at a time then add it so I left the canister off (been off since the water level started dropping with the cleaning today) and added the cold water to the tank without flow. It dropped the temp from 78 to 60F, thats a bit low! So I grabbed the small 50 watt heater from my Evolve and threw it in the "55" to help the large heater along, I know it won't help much but its gotta do a little.. right? Well took a few hours to finish re-filling (had to run errands in between) but its full and the plants finally back in. The tank is only at 70-72 now (the plants bucket cooled down to about the same temp before they were re-added) but I'm hoping with the fitler back on and flowing it will heat up again quickly and not freeze out the BB.

Tomorrow I will do another water test and probably more water changes to get the nitrates down (went from blood red off the charts to red-ish orange from today's clean.... got to get it closer to yellow! If BB survived the clean and cold wc I'll be putting my Madagascar rainbowfish in to test that its all clear then in go the others!

Anyways enough talk onto photos!
first up: my origianl anubias nana (pleco ate most of it) look new leaves!! so my new nana in off to the left
Plant Terrestrial plant Groundcover Grass Soil


New anubias nana & old java fern (wrecked by same pleco) photo bombing it. Has new leaf and.. new rhizome growth! look at the right side its growing a new tiny rhizome with tiny leaves!
Plant Water Terrestrial plant Grass Aquatic plant


above view of old nana and both new one (also with new leaves) the white speck is a duckweed... the old nana doesn't look like the new one.. I'm starting to think its actually a "petite"
Plant Terrestrial plant Aquatic plant Natural landscape Grass


Above view of new java ferns (tons of new leaves)
View attachment 237785

Close up of baby java ferns that grew from old java the pleco had devoured (this is why I don't throw out the nearly dead java, it gives me new ones!)
Plant Water Vertebrate Leaf Botany


Tank is still a little .. cloudy from the clean and wc so no full views yet sorry.
 
#22 ·
Allllmooooost theeereeee

Sooo tank had a mini cycle from me cleaning out the canister too vigorously I suppose, but its back to "0" for ammonia and nitrite (yay!). Nitrates was 40-80 so did a 30-33 gallon water change and currently re-filling slowly. I swear I always have to do large water changes on days when the weather is below freezing =.=
I'll probably add my Madagascar from the cycled tank tonight so I can keep an eye on her and see if everything checks out with the "55" then stick the others in. Won't really have time to acclimate and add her before I run errands this afternoon so she'll just have to wait till dinner prep time. Wonder how big a pain she is going to make it catching her, she's gotten pretty big and fast. Will post pics after she's in probably tonight or tomorrow.
 
#23 ·
and they're in!

Things moved quickly and I ended up putting everyone in the "55" on Wed. and moving the Dwarf Gourami back out Saturday after re-scpaing his tank.
Walker (leopard sailfin pleco 7-8 inches) decided to be a real derp and go flying when I tried to move him to the temp bucket to acclimate him for the larger tank. I guess he realized the carpet wasn't all that great since he let me pick him up after his failed exploration attempt. He split all his fins a bit (at least 1-2 tears each) from the incident but they've already nearly completely healed. I put in his old drift wood as a "secrutity blanket" but hoped he'd use the new larger wood for shade... well as you can see in the photo below the retard loves his old wood pieces and smushes himself in between them most of the day =.= dumbass. Dot (Madagascar Rainbowfish) was the test fish for the tank and seems quite happy with the added sim space, but she still doesn't have a school to swim with (stupid pet store never restocks her kind). She use to swim with Ether and pretend she was 'top dog' flaring and mouth gaping at him, but he was never intimidated by her. She definitely got faster than him at feeding time though. Anyways its just her and Walker in the big tank for the moment. I'm going to go try yanking on the store manager's ear to get a shipment of Madagascars, as I'd rather not order a school in winter to ship to my home.

On a side note the duckweed was a bust, I tried it in 2 low tech and 1 no tech tank, it just doesn't want to multiply for me.

Anyways enough yapping here's some photos (poor quail thanks to iPhone sorry)
 

Attachments

#24 · (Edited)
baby photos and recent photos!

So found some "baby photos" of the fish from their first tank that are over a year old now, posted them in the journal for the tank they use to be in. You can view it here.


I also have some more recent pleco photos (the rainbow fish is lowing the extra swim room and won't hold still for a photo =,=)
I love it when he sucks on the glass and i get to see his pudgy belly!



Pleco over 1 year old and [strike]8 inches or so[/strike] turns out hes 9 inches!


Less than a month with me, and about 2 inches (fav photo of him had to share!)


Will pots updated tank shots later in the week.


EDIT:
btw walker's fins are all healed up since the 'lil "I wanna fly" incident ^^ No meds used in the tank, just clean water.
 
#25 ·
Very nice! Don't forget- the reddish brown stuff in your filters is not algae- that is the color of your beneficial bacteria. I wouldn't clean that off anything until your tank is very mature and the filter starts getting clogged- otherwise you will cause a nitrate spike and maybe a mini cycle.
 
#26 ·
Yeh I cleaned it thinking it was mulm before I intended to put the fish in.. set back the fish move by a week or so since it did a mini-cycle.. I just wish it wasn't transparent tubing, I don't want to see it >.<
 
#27 · (Edited)
just some more pleco photos

love getting shots of him when he'll hold still
height check (first in several months) had to do with tank lights off 9 inches of poop making monstrosity


full tank with some anacharis yanked up by the pleco who's acting all innocent on the glass (whoops had the wrong photo, fixed)


OM NOM NOM NOM.. stop staring at me.. NOM NOM
 
#28 ·
Fat cat attack

Ok so not really an attack, but the fat arse that is Snowball watching the fish in the"55" from the stool I use to do water changes (mostly just to set the buckets on). I think its the first time she's gotten to really look in the tank.
 
#29 ·
On Christmas eve me and my husband went shopping for our dog's presents at Petsmart (dog came along, he loves it in there). After picking some thins out I checked out the fish tanks, and wouldn't-cha-know-it, they had some Madagascar rainbow fish. All were 1/2 to 1/3 the size of mine but they were just a two short of a decent school or I would have bought them. Since mine is so large i will only guy more if I can get 8 at once as a minimum to spread the load of aggression my big girl will give them as "top dog" in there. I expect a bit of aggression since I can't get a ton of hiding places via plants with the pleco in there.

I decided to finally do a nitrate test yesterday. In the pleco's previous tank the nitrates always came out an orange-red (40-80) even with daily 50% water changes (soooo much poop). In the "55" I got... *drum roll* 10-20 ppm nitrate! This is doing an 8-10 gallon water change every other day and with tap water that comes out at 10-20 ppm (unless my test kit is faulty but at least its as low as tap water nitrates) so at least nitrates are staying down now yay!
 
#30 · (Edited)
Just another photo of the pleco, he's been stubborn for me, when the camera goes up, his lovely fins go down.. =.=
pardon the water stains and that's a large chunk of zucchini next tot him he likes to nom

 
#32 ·
The ever illusive aquatic dimetrodon

The ever illusive aquatic dimetrodon....Also know as a sailfin pleco (no real relation)
he does NOT want a photo taken when in full glory form (sail up) but I got him finally!!


And then thers a gaint brown blur and he's gone again..


You see those suctioncuped plants (anacharis) behind him? He decided to get back at me by ripping up 1/3 of them last night after I got these photos... thinking of switching to riparium plants to absorb nitrates and just give up on plants in the tank with him =.=
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top