A 30g in NY - 11.7.2012

[viwwo]

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>>Update: 11.7.2012<<

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Hey all!
I would like to share with you my new project. It will be a 30g tank and here is the check list for it.

Equipment
Tank: 30 gallon
Filter: Fluvial 206 filter with Lily pipes
Substrate: 2 large bags of ADA Amazonia and small bag of Nile sand
Light: Coralife { 2x30" t5 10,000k HO and 2x30" t5 6,700k})
CO2: Co2 5lb tank, Nano ceramic disc diffuser, AquaticLife CO2 regulator with Solenoid Valve
Ferts: Flourish Iron once every two weeks

Hardscape
Maryland stones

Flora
Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis) 3" and 6"
Blyxa japonica (Blyxa japonica)
Myrio - Green (Myriophyllum pinnatum)
Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia repens)
Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala rotundifolia)
Riccia (Riccia fluitans)


Fauna
Gold Pristella Tetra (Pristella maxillaris)
Panda Cory Cat (Corydoras panda)
Gold Algae Eater (Gyrinocheilos aymonieri)




I feel like I have missed something... eh, here is the picture.



Cya
EA

[viwwo]

OK! Let the fun begin!!!!!!

I finally got everything I need (CO2 stuff are on their way)to start the setup of my 30g.

I have painted the board a dark color so that it can match my desk -and I must say that I did a good job! I did it all on my fire escape because in NYC you don't have a yard............................................ no, some people do... but not many......



They are three little Blyxa Japonica, that I got from Bartohog along with Dwarf Hair Grass. They are sooooo cute! Thanks Bartohog!!



And there it is. Just the right size for the room. I really like it when the furniture is bigger then the aquarium and this is nooooo aquarium stand.

I must say, I was scared that it would not take the 300lb-ish but once again Ikea has surprised me. After filling it up I put on about 50lb of books and hit it a few times... Like a rock! I have a friend and she has a 55lb turtle tank on a Expendit . When I saw that my heart dropped to my stomach. But still, Please keep your fingers crossed for me.



I have used some of my old sand under the ADA because there are some little buggers that I still want.



My lights are only 30" and the tank is 36" so I could only really make a centered aquascape. The rocks are from the rivers of Maryland that I picked on my vacation. Some ADA Nile sand so that I don't get a large contrast between the Amazonia and the rocks.



This is not how a young lady's nails should look like



And how I have to sit and wait... I started putting in the plants but I can't see what I'm doing!!



Thank you for reading and leave a comment plz!

EA

[viwwo]

Two days later and my water is clear. I was expecting to wait a long time for that to happen. Just once I did a 20% water change. The ammonia is high so I will have to wait with my fish. (I feel bad for them because they are in a 2.5g tank.)

I keep my lights on for 5 hours only because I still don't have my co2. I got everything in the mail today for myco2, but I don't know why I was surprised by the size of my "5lb" tank. It way bigger then what I thought it would be. I don't think-little girl that I am -will be able to bike 3 miles one way to fill it up in +90F. So I may have to wait till Saturday when I can use a car.
Here are some pictures from today.












Thanks for looking!!

EA

[dubels]

That picture of the Lilly pipe makes me want to get a canister filter for my nanos

[viwwo]

Originally Posted by dubels

That picture of the Lilly pipe makes me want to get a canister filter for my nanos

Oh, and the Lilly + intake were cheap and are well made!! You should if you can get a small canister.

[viwwo]

It has been a week and I see some significant change in the plant development.



With more light and better substrate the plant are growing faster are dropping their old foliage and developing more lushes and bigger leaves. The Blyxa is developing new leaves with read spine and look really nice. Also, the color of this plant is turning a nice pink/peach with the high light. Anyone know what it may be? And will they stay this color or will they turn green as they get older?



The grass about two days ago stared poking out new hairs around the existing ones so that is really exciting. I have added co2 (don't ask me how much because I still don't know how to read the regulator) and I feel like the carpet development might explode now.

Its fun to watch the Green Foxtail grow. When the lights go off it develops new leaves that point straight up like a paint brush (it takes about three hours to grow them) and the next day it opes them up. Here is a picture of new and old leaves on the Green Foxtail.



So far I have been doing 20% water changes everyday and logging in the numbers. Today it looked like this.

Ammonia is at 0.75 ppm and it has been dropping very slowly
Nitrate is at 0-5.0ppm
pH has moved from 6.4 to 6.0 with the new Co2. (I'm worried about that)
KH is at 35.8 ppm

I will be adding new plants tomorrow so I hope this will help out the water. I really want my fish to get in to the new tank.

Thanks for looking!
EA

[viwwo]

The update.
AAAAAAAMMOOOOONNNIIIAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! WHY OO WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...... well I feel better.

Yes, my ammonia is really high and refuses to go down. Today I went out and got Nutrafin Cycle to see if adding that will make it go down a bit.

My plants are happy and I got some new Ludwigia sp. 'RED' Hybrid-thanks uptown193!. They are still stunned with the change and so they are not growing. The Riccia is tied down to two big rocks and just started to cover the net that is holding it down.

I also see my first algae on the rocks and the glass... Good for the snails but I wish it could have waited a few more days.

Here are some pictures.











EA

[viwwo]

Trim update!

It was time to cut and reuse the tops of the tails. I hope the new ones will take hold and the old ones will grow new lush green leaves.

Here is the before:


And after:



Tomorrow I'll update on some more trims and fish! (one weird fishy love)
cya!

[viwwo]

Btw. Does anyone have some tips for triming? I don't want to do it the wrong way and just mess up all the work the plants have been doing.

Thanks!

[Taari]

I love your scape! The rocks are perfect. I've been told to get that perfect-looking planted scape with nothing but beautiful tops of the plants, to pull up the whole stem, cut it off where you want it, and only replant the tops. Once I got as many as I wanted, I started doing this, and it does look better to have nothing but tops instead of stems and forks.

[Jegli09]

Nice scape. As far as trimming goes for the stem plants, just cut inbetween the nodes and re plant the clippings.

[viwwo]

Update:
Here are two pictures of the whole aquarium.

This one is from 8/1/2012


And this one is from 8/8/2012


I don't think I can keep up with the plants! Kind of scary.

A Fish Love:
For a few weeks I had one panda and one yellow dragon in there and they would stick to one another like glue! Where ever the panda was the algae eater was not far. I would see them chilling out one on top of the other... it was cute....... but they knew they had so say their good byes when more of their kind joined.

[izabella87]

soo prettyyy, nicely growing !

[Matthew_Machine]

Looks very nice! Great use of space and proportion. It will be interesting to see how that changes as this fills in.

[viwwo]

Originally Posted by Taari

I love your scape! The rocks are perfect. I've been told to get that perfect-looking planted scape with nothing but beautiful tops of the plants, to pull up the whole stem, cut it off where you want it, and only replant the tops. Once I got as many as I wanted, I started doing this, and it does look better to have nothing but tops instead of stems and forks.

Originally Posted by Jegli09

Nice scape. As far as trimming goes for the stem plants, just cut inbetween the nodes and re plant the clippings.

Thanks for the tips. It's not easy to keep new cuttings down. I think I'll trim in two weeks again and I'll cut is really low because I can't keep up with some of the plants.

The hair grass is slowing down and I don't know why. Maybe I need more co2.

Originally Posted by izabella87

soo prettyyy, nicely growing !

Originally Posted by Matthew_Machine

Looks very nice! Great use of space and proportion. It will be interesting to see how that changes as this fills in.

Thanks for liking it!