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skystrife's 75 Gallon Low Tech (56k warning)
Hello all!
Starting my first journal here, with my second tank ever and my first foray into the planted sector of freshwater aquaria. My goal with this is to be a relatively low-maintenance tank without sacrificing on the beauty. Equipment
Flora
So, here we go! First, the pretty stuff. The order arrives! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8442/7...9515bd83_c.jpg I bought them all online and was surprised at the quality I got. Will definitely do it again in the future should I need more plants. Getting them in the tank (using RODI water for the tank and the system isn't yet set up at this point): http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/7...bb639e4e_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7...77749276_c.jpg Filling it up: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7...cd568d84_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7...9b9c3209_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7...e46f7078_c.jpg All planted! lol http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7...fd23a2e71f.jpg Hardscape arrangement: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8436/7...f2ef8e34_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7...317a3721_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7...a356df7e_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7...5754a344_c.jpg Getting ready to plant! Bucket o' plants: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8444/7...07daefee_c.jpg First planted plant! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8306/7...5c480dfd_c.jpg The final product: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7...ee9b4059_c.jpg FTS: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7...27ee347e_c.jpg Closer to the wood. I'm hoping these Anubias attach... they are fairly loose. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8447/7...f6c49d8d_c.jpg Right side: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7...81c81cf2_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7...51929773_c.jpg Left side: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7...9574e63b_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7...1a1c3982_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7249/7...0973f916_c.jpg Crypt. parva: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7...a6687e3b_c.jpg Crypt. wendtii "red": http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7...2723a1ca_c.jpg View from the back: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8439/7...3412f9a0_c.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7...e537f34d_c.jpg The whole set, if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8570487...7631224930540/ Now, the update stuff. Wood still wanted to float despite being soaked for several weeks, so I had to tie it to tupperware lids with fishing line and bury the lids in the gravel. Easy, effective, and inexpensive. And non-permanent, which is a plus. Just got the filters and the heater running (@ ~79F) yesterday. Media is set up as follows (excuse the crude ASCII drawing) in both filters: ============== polishing pad ------------------------- purigen + bio stars ------------------------- fine foam ============== ehfisubstrat pro ------------------------- more ehfisubstrat pro ============== foam ------------------------- foam ============== Beginning to fishless cycle the tank now, after finally finding some clear ammonia at a Walgreens (everything else has surfactants in it). Bumped the Ammonia to ~4ppm and waiting for it to fall. I've remineralized the RODI water with GLA's GH Booster and added some buffering capacity with some baking soda, but it appears I overshot my target: Wanted: 1-2 dGH, 1-2 dKH, pH ~6.5 Got: 3 dGH, 4 dKH, pH ~7.6 So I'll have to play chemist some more to figure out exactly how much of each I need to add since I clearly overshot (I think it didn't dissolve right away so I didn't see the new reading and overdid things). Oh well---iirc the cycling goes more smoothly at higher pH anyway. And there you have it: a newbie planted tank journey, starting now! |
Looks like your off to a great start beside the whole water parameters, but they'll become stabile overtime I would think.
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Thanks! Hopefully I'll get the hang of exactly how much to add. I should probably start practicing remineralization in a barrel or something so I can figure out just how much of the boosters I need to add to hit my targets.
The ammonia I'm adding is in the form of Ammonium Hydroxide, so I suppose that could be raising the PH as well? |
And we have nitrites! That was really fast... Guessing that the plants must have had a significant amount of bacteria culture on them to get this going quickly.
Readings: Ammonia: 0.5-1ppm Nitrite: 5+ ppm Nitrate: 0-5ppm Adding some more ammonia now to bump it up to around 2ppm. Hopefully I'll start seeing nitrate production soon! |
Really like the setup. I'm trying to get ideas on a 75 gallon I plan on doing also. The only thing I'd add to your plants would be some Amazon swords. Where did you order your plants from?
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I've neglected my journal! This needs some updates, which will come a bit later when I get some better shots of the tank. It is (lightly) stocked now, though!
Fauna: 2x Bristlenose 6x Bolivian Rams 2x Amano Shrimp I've been noticing some aggression between the bristlenoses for some time now (they've matured quite a bit since they were first introduced to the tank). Is it any cause for concern? I don't think much real damage is being done, but I do occasionally see a ripped fin on the submissive one (he's mostly unphased though and still chomps through fresh spinach like there's no tomorrow). Quote:
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Awesome job, and I'm glad everything stabilized. What are your parameters like now that it's evened out?
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Quote:
I've been doing water changes rather infrequently, topping off with pure RO/DI water, and adding 1/4 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 for fertilization whenever I remember (trying for once a week, but that's certainly not happening---probably more like once every two weeks or when I notice deficiencies). Recent readings were ~7.2 for pH, 5 dGH, 6 dkH. TDS is ~173, and I read 0s across the board for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate (despite my fertilization...). I think the floating plants I won in a RAOK (thanks Nambroth!) have really helped the tank come into balance. I had some algae issues before (probably the light is too close to the top of the tank, since I'm just resting it there), but they are mostly gone with the addition of the floaters. Fauna couldn't be happier! I picked up a bunch of James's otos (11 of them), and couldn't be happier with them! They've actually bred two or three times in the tank already, but the offspring doesn't survive very long with the Rams hunting about. Oto party! http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5470/8...78aefbcb_c.jpg One of the little ones (still has an egg sac!): http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8...528b4c24_c.jpg The Rams have also been busy: since starting the tank I've had them spawn four times already. Unfortunately, none of the eggs have lasted the night because of the bristlenoses (one of which seems to believe he owns the entire tank). Here's the culprit, innocuously eating a Zucchini slice: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8407/8...b79beaa8_c.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3807/8...fb665da5_c.jpg And here's a video of him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMj0M17S7Uk Too cute for me to bear getting rid of him... maybe I'll move the pair of Rams to a 20g long when they start to get into breeding condition again... (in those above pictures you can see a suffering Anubias---not entirely sure what's wrong with it, as it was flowering several months ago! ideas?) But I got some really good shots of the breeding process! Proud female (3rd spawning, pardon the computer screen...): http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/8...7df89e6d_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8550/8...9f9f5604_c.jpg Proud female 2 (first spawning, hope the other pair didn't break...): http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2813/8...28672069_c.jpg You can see the male hiding in there---he was the same across all four spawns, and two different females. Polygamist! Egg laying: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/8...341d43bb_c.jpg The father: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/8...a801f4f7_c.jpg Spawning: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2856/8...1ddd2911_c.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5325/8...67da1ced_c.jpg I also shot quite a few videos of them chasing people away from potential spawning spots, cleaning them off, and a few practice runs---unfortunately the camera died before they actually started spawning, but you can get the idea from the "practicing" they did in the spawning location. Here's the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kais...1Cxc86MHSRna1I |
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