I'm moving my first post into this one for administrative purposes.
Well I
finally got around to getting something planted like I've been meaning to for quite some time. Up until now, the tank has just been bare, with some laterite on the bottom, and some pool filter sand on that. No plants, nothing. Just a lonely betta and some sand, and 80w of light (2x philips 6500k, 2x GE 9325k). Finally moved the betta out, put some Africans in a couple weeks ago.
Then I was sad that they didn't have anything to hide in and whatnot, so I picked up just one java fern plant while I was out. OK, obviously not enough. Then came a few bunches of Anacharis and a couple small corkscrew vals. Then I figured "what the heck," and picked up a couple super-huge amazon swords. Yes, I know they're giant, but I do have an empty 125gal sitting on the floor that might be a good home for them in the future. I just started dosing Flourish this week (1/2 capfull 2x a week), and once I realized I had blue-green algea all over the glass, and my water was cloudy white, I figured it was time for some CO2 action. I just made a quick DIY yeast job, and built my own diffuser out of an airstone, some undergravel filter parts, and some filter foam. Works fairly well, from my calculations I'm getting about 23ppm of CO2 right now after a couple days of bubbling. All of a sudden the algae is gone and the water is clear.
I had to trim and replant the Anacharis last night because it's been growing like crazy and shooting off side plants and stuff. I've trimmed the swords, but I'm not sure if I did that one entirely correctly - do you just trim in the middle of the stem, or do you have to cut it off at the bottom? Anyway, the corkscrews are finally picking up, and the java fern is finally dark green instead of a dull green.
Onto the pics then.
The tank:
http://synthetix.org/pics/tank/1-11-05/tank-close.JPG
Left side:
http://synthetix.org/pics/tank/1-11-05/tank-left.JPG
Right side, including my DIY diffuser:
http://synthetix.org/pics/tank/1-11-05/tank-right.JPG
Closeup of the diffuser. I have the outlet from my XP1 pointed somewhat near the opening of the diffuser to create a little turbulence. I still get a big bubble built up once in a while that releases and floats up, but I'm still getting a decent bit of diffusion it seems. I tried pointing the outlet straight at it, but that made the buble collect on the inside of the tube, and I don't know how effective that would be.
http://synthetix.org/pics/tank/1-11-05/c02-diffuser.JPG
That's it for the pics for now. I do have a piece of wood that I collected and want to put in the tank, but I'm trying to get it to sink. It's been soaking for a few days, and I've boiled it once, but still floats, though not nearly as bouyant as it was when I got it. Going to try boiling again tonight. I may have to break down and screw it to a piece of slate or something though
Let me know what you guys think.
Jason
Quote:
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Originally Posted by bigstick120
You need to add some hiding spots for thoes cichlids. Aren't they beating the crap out of each other? You have some pretty aggressive cichlids in there. That lone peacock or hap may be the first to be beat on. Those fish will get pretty large for a 29 gallon.
Other then that you may want to add some more fast growers to that tank to help with the algae the first few months and some hardscape for the cichlids and it would look much better
Also dont burry the java fern in the substrate it will rot, you need to tie it to a rock or driftwood
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Ya know, I figured I'd have some agression issues with the cichlids, but I have not seen one bit of it. There is a second peacock in the tank as well. There are actually two of each: snow whites, sunshine peacocks, bumblebees, and wtf ever the orange ones are - I can never remember their name...red zebras or something maybe?
The algae is pretty much cleaned up now thanks to my pleco, and the addition of CO2 and ferts. I think I just had too much light for too long for what I had in there and not using any co2/ferts.
I'll definately get that java fern tied to the driftwood once I get it to sink and put it in the tank, along with more fern and probably some moss or something.
Prettyhead: I've heard of that slate trick as well. I'm really wanting to avoid that though, so I can change the way the driftwood lays as I see fit - it has a few ways it could go in, and you never know, I do tend to change my mind often
As for them uprooting plants, they haven't. They've dug a massive crater next to the swords, but nothings gone floating (yet). I also haven't seen any signs of them eating the plants either (I know they don't eat the fern, but not sure about the others).
Thanks,
Jason