22 Gallon ADA style tank - Lost Lake -FINAL - New pics 7/27 (56k)

[malaybiswas]

I just started this tank last weekend. This is my attempt to journal the setup and progress of the tank as it matures. I made my own tank and stand to reduce the cost while getting the ADA look and feel. The tank and stand DIY process can be found here. The journal of the second tank is here.

I just broke down a 80 gallon tank which will be replaced with 2 22 gallon tanks (including this one). So I already had the lights, CO2 equipment etc. required for the setup.

I also had a old tank which I had used to mature the filters artificially (added household ammonia and Fritz zyme bacteria and left it for 2 weeks to mature), so that I can jump start the setup process without harming any flora or fauna during cycling.

I named it "Lost Lake". Idea is to make a scape resembling a rocky lake shore that has dried up in the middle of a forest.

Here is a photo feature of the setup process.

First some power sand at the bottom


Covered up the rest of the base with Aqua Soil Amazonia - Type II. The front center has a dip to be filled up with sand. There is a small slope towards the side and a bigger slope towards the back.


The bigger rocks form the rear center of the scape


More smaller and medium rocks around main pieces to define the shoreline


Forest Sand Bronco mimicks the dry lake shore


Added a few bog woods and attached java moss to the bog wood and some of the smaller looks to give a "foresty" look with dead tree remnants and moss cover


Finally added the plants
Rotala indica and Ammania Gracillis on the background, red tiger lotus in mid ground and blyxa japonica and anubias barteri in the foreground.


The tank is filled up, CO2 and filter connections made. I'll have to add a background to hide the light bars etc.

Fishes will be added in a few days. I will try to publish pictures on a weekly basis to monitor the progress

[eyebeatbadgers]

Looks like a very good start. Are you sure you want to add fish so soon? I might hold off a couple weeks until the ammonia levels die down from the aquasoil.

[malaybiswas]

Originally Posted by eyebeatbadgers

Looks like a very good start. Are you sure you want to add fish so soon? I might hold off a couple weeks until the ammonia levels die down from the aquasoil.

Thank you very much. I have already done fishless cycling so my filter is mature and ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero. Nitrate is about 20 ppm

[CL]

Awesome diy! I look forward to seeing this tank mature!

[malaybiswas]

Originally Posted by clwatkins10

Awesome diy! I look forward to seeing this tank mature!

Thank you clwatkins.

[malaybiswas]

More pictures at the end of week 1. Meanwhile I added my fishes from my old tank in it. Fishes introduced are
Discus - I had 3, 2 died. I have thought of giving away the 3rd one before but my wife did not agree. So he (?) stays
Danio, Mountain Minnow (my first fish), rummynose tetra, H. rasbora, Ottos, platy and one dwarf pleco.

I also added a white foam board background (which I notice in the picture to be a little tilted...gotto fix that). Until next week...





Some pictures of both my tanks together




I am not a great photographer. Any ideas about aquarium photography would be greatly appreciated.

[malaybiswas]

I am having a problem with my co2 distribution. The setup has 2 tanks supplied from single cylinder. The adapter on the cylinder is connected to the solenoid valve which the connects to 2 lines with a T valve. Till now everything was fine. This morning I accidentally broke one of the diffusers while cleaning the tank and replaced it with a spare I had. Ever since, co2 is flowing to only one line under normal bps. If I increase the bps considerably it flows little bit to the other one too. Obviously some pressure issue. Any ideas on how to fix the flow?

[fishman9809]

wayyyy too tiny tank for any discus at all

but layout is nice

[malaybiswas]

Originally Posted by fishman9809

wayyyy too tiny tank for any discus at all

but layout is nice

i know. But the discus is still juvenile (about 4" long) and still happy, so I'll let it stay till it out grows the tank

[malaybiswas]

Tried some of my (non-existent) camera skills

Inhabitants




Dusk in the forest. All the stem plants have started to spread and grow.

[Outsane]

the dusk thing is pretty cool..... now I have to decide between that and moon lighting.

[malaybiswas]

Originally Posted by Outsane

the dusk thing is pretty cool..... now I have to decide between that and moon lighting.

Better if you get both. Both are beautiful in their own ways

i have
9 AM - 7 PM day
7 PM - 8 PM Dusk
8 PM - 6 AM Night (moon)
6 Am - 8 AM Dawn

It is pretty cool

[ER9]

that tank on the right looks freaking cool. looks like a mini swiss mountain range complete with conifer trees. what plants are those that look like the trees?

oops nevermind....overlooked the journal link. found it

[mott]

I love both of your scapes! I'm a little concerned about that ASII leaching ammo, have you checked parameters lately? I had a mature filter also but I still had ammo at 4.5 ppm for a week!

[malaybiswas]

Originally Posted by mott

I love both of your scapes! I'm a little concerned about that ASII leaching ammo, have you checked parameters lately? I had a mature filter also but I still had ammo at 4.5 ppm for a week!

Hmm...that's interesting. Never heard of that. Even the AFA guys never mentioned it. They did tell that nitrate will be high and indeed it is. Anyways, this is my experience. After I did fishless cycling of the filters and ammo went to 0 in about 7-8 days, I setup the scapes and introduced fishes on the 10th day.

For the first week ammo in both tanks increased a bit (fluctuated between 0.25 to 1ppm) so I cut back on the feeding and did more regular water changes. There was one nitrite spike and I lost some cardinas, but with water change that was normalized too and I could save my cardinals.

Currently I am checking the parameters every other day (ammo and nitrite show 0) and reduced water changes to once per week. I will continue to maintain my feeding rate @ once every alternate day, till I complete stocking (more cardinals) and filter matures to handle that capacity.