Joined
·
487 Posts
here is a photo journal of my 80 gal start up, it will be moderate to heavily planted.... not sure if this is the right section to post this.....
i purchased the tank off of a local listings website, got a canopy, stand, tank, giant driftwood, filter, heater and some chemicals all for 200$ great deal if i dont say so myself

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
setup:
using rena xp3 canister filter, have a canister heater atatched to the output water, very nice i might add
lighting: i have the coralife large light under the canopy running 4 smaller two side bulbs, 65w 6700 daylight, one bulb has gone out, but i keep it on about 12 hours a day so far ( i know its not the best for algea with high ammonia at first but it has been actually fine so far)
substrate: used playland sand (90lbs) after washing it thoroughly
scenery: few pieces of driftwood, rocks gathered from far up a canyon river near by, black gravel, and river stones all were tested for chemicals before added to the tank, and boiled for a few hours to wash out any tangents...
fish: 2 small bushnose plecos, about 20 feeder goldfish
my tank has been cylcling for 3 weeks, i did not go the fishless route, sorry you fish lovers, i know its sad but i have used feederfish, had one group of about 28 smaller feeder goldfish since their dirty, i over fed them quite a lot and they all died within two weeks, now its my second batch of feeder fish, and only 3 of them have died, the rest left seem healthy and happy and imune to the tank, no fish have died in the last few days

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
so now i have added plants, i planted quite a few, i would say about 7 different species and about 15 plants in all together reside in the tank

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
my readings after three weeks of cycling with fish and over feeding the tank are:
ph 7.6
ammonia 0.23ppm
nitrite 0
nitrate 10ppm
in the last three weeks i have done 5 water tests they have all been about the same there was a small spike of nitrate but now its lowering, ammonia seems to be dying down a bit, but too slowly
my questions are:
my birthday is on thursday ( 5 days away ) and my girlfriend is planning on taking me to buy my fish, i am planning on some south african chiclids since i will have plants i want some blue german rams, maybe a variety of rams, and some peacocks, but i want my ammonia to be at 0 when i purchase them, im thinking of doing a 35% water change today, adding about 8 gal of my friends established tank water, and dumping almost all my feeder fish, and feeding them lightly until thurs, do you think this will dramatically drop the ammonia?
so far i have only done one water change, my syphon i ordered off amazon took forever!!
my other question is for the planted geeks on here, please help since i have only had 3 tanks before, i attempted a 20 gal planted which ended brutally after i attempted a diy co2 system and algea exploded
i have a lot of plants now, and i plan on buying a co2 canister cystem since my diy last time was horrible i rather spend the money on better results and not ruin my tank, i have put too much time into this already to lose it to algea..... so my question is, i dont have substrate with nutrients, just sand in the bottom of the tank, play sand for children, i figure there has been so much fish crap and food on the bottom it has some nutrients, im using the general flourish liquid ferts once a week but is this all enough with co2 added to have a flourished tank??
thanks for all your help and please provide comments, it is much appreciated!!
stay tuned for more pics soon!!
i purchased the tank off of a local listings website, got a canopy, stand, tank, giant driftwood, filter, heater and some chemicals all for 200$ great deal if i dont say so myself

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
setup:
using rena xp3 canister filter, have a canister heater atatched to the output water, very nice i might add
lighting: i have the coralife large light under the canopy running 4 smaller two side bulbs, 65w 6700 daylight, one bulb has gone out, but i keep it on about 12 hours a day so far ( i know its not the best for algea with high ammonia at first but it has been actually fine so far)
substrate: used playland sand (90lbs) after washing it thoroughly
scenery: few pieces of driftwood, rocks gathered from far up a canyon river near by, black gravel, and river stones all were tested for chemicals before added to the tank, and boiled for a few hours to wash out any tangents...
fish: 2 small bushnose plecos, about 20 feeder goldfish
my tank has been cylcling for 3 weeks, i did not go the fishless route, sorry you fish lovers, i know its sad but i have used feederfish, had one group of about 28 smaller feeder goldfish since their dirty, i over fed them quite a lot and they all died within two weeks, now its my second batch of feeder fish, and only 3 of them have died, the rest left seem healthy and happy and imune to the tank, no fish have died in the last few days

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
so now i have added plants, i planted quite a few, i would say about 7 different species and about 15 plants in all together reside in the tank

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
my readings after three weeks of cycling with fish and over feeding the tank are:
ph 7.6
ammonia 0.23ppm
nitrite 0
nitrate 10ppm
in the last three weeks i have done 5 water tests they have all been about the same there was a small spike of nitrate but now its lowering, ammonia seems to be dying down a bit, but too slowly
my questions are:
my birthday is on thursday ( 5 days away ) and my girlfriend is planning on taking me to buy my fish, i am planning on some south african chiclids since i will have plants i want some blue german rams, maybe a variety of rams, and some peacocks, but i want my ammonia to be at 0 when i purchase them, im thinking of doing a 35% water change today, adding about 8 gal of my friends established tank water, and dumping almost all my feeder fish, and feeding them lightly until thurs, do you think this will dramatically drop the ammonia?
so far i have only done one water change, my syphon i ordered off amazon took forever!!
my other question is for the planted geeks on here, please help since i have only had 3 tanks before, i attempted a 20 gal planted which ended brutally after i attempted a diy co2 system and algea exploded
i have a lot of plants now, and i plan on buying a co2 canister cystem since my diy last time was horrible i rather spend the money on better results and not ruin my tank, i have put too much time into this already to lose it to algea..... so my question is, i dont have substrate with nutrients, just sand in the bottom of the tank, play sand for children, i figure there has been so much fish crap and food on the bottom it has some nutrients, im using the general flourish liquid ferts once a week but is this all enough with co2 added to have a flourished tank??
thanks for all your help and please provide comments, it is much appreciated!!
stay tuned for more pics soon!!