A 30g in NY - 11.7.2012

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 :icon_wink



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

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

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

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

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!

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.