[inclament]

Putting a tank into my newborn's nursery, as im off work this week im getting antsy, so its big project time! Levelled the dresser, called my dad to acquire the tank and equipment, and dug a big pile for substrate. I wet it in the buckets and thenspread it out on a tarp all over the driveway.

 

[RWaters]

Are you sure that the dirt from your yard is safe? No fertilizers, pesticides or other nasties?

 

[inclament]

Mud puddle

Yeah my father in law owns the property and they aren't or wouldn't be spraying anything, well water is fine so no contaminants there at least. I collected a little from the sheep pasture but dug down a bit before collecting, I was figuring the mineralizing process would break any of that down further. I'd be interested in any other concerns you think of though. Here it is drying.

 

[inclament]

Oh my

The 20 gallon dad brought me... Had no idea it was in this kind of shape, have a little leftover algaefix, gonna try that and some cleanup to rid it of the black hair algae, from reading the forums it sounds like it'll work.

 

[inclament]

Came with 7 of dads tank bred angels, anyone have experience with what I think I can classify as a walstad tank and this many large fish?

 

[gatorsmashed]

Not sure that a 20g will work as permanent home for 7 angelfish. I'd imagine there will end being a lot of pecking going on between them which will lead to a lot of stress and possibly deaths.

 

[inclament]

I was afraid of that, how many do you think would work?

 

[mistuhmarc]

for a 20? Maybe only 1, lucky with even 2 honestly.

 

[inclament]

Hrm yeah, kinda had asked him not to give me fish with the tank , guess I'll find a way to get rid of em

 

[inclament]

stock updated

All the angels are in a larger tank and much happier, prob not as big as they deserve though... anyways a friend brought me some stock as well so i think the tank is properly full now! Ive got 3 red and blue Colombian tetras, 4 turquoise rainbows, 2 bosemani, and an unidentified syno. Oh and 3 nerite snails, all different patterns.

 

[lauraleellbp]

Even a 90gal might end up not big enough once they hit sexual maturity and start spawning.

A local fish club may be a good way to re-home them?

Though... your current stocking list is also mostly fish that will quickly outgrow a 20gal, too. Ever seen any of those fish as adults? Most are 4-6" long.

 

[inclament]

Picked up a second strip for it (thanks Bill!) Thinking i may need to source a new filter as well, the aquaclear is getting noisy, blegh. Soil is almost finished second dry, and as always, all comments/criticisms are welcome!

 

[umarnasir335]

All the angels are in a larger tank and much happier, prob not as big as they deserve though... anyways a friend brought me some stock as well so i think the tank is properly full now! Ive got 3 red and blue Colombian tetras, 4 turquoise rainbows, 2 bosemani, and an unidentified syno. Oh and 3 nerite snails, all different patterns.

Going with this many rainbows, especially bigger Bosemani's is asking for disaster in a tank this size. Unless you're doing a water change every 2 days, an ammonia spike is bound to happen...try to go for smaller fish maybe?

 

[inclament]

I'd like to go bigger all around, but it's what I've got! It'll do while they grow up and I can petition the wife in the mean time. I couldn't turn down gift fish! The soil has been on its final drying, very slow going with this weather, I'm worried somebody used one of my buckets to mix some concrete before I wet the soil one more time, hoping that if they did the thin coating on the sides of the bucket I got into the soil won't cause any problems, didn't scrape the bucket out just in case, just poured it out

 

[inclament]

Dunno how well things are going... But they're going! Got a 10 gal quarantine/goldfish tank, my wife really wants goldfish. Filled it with 3/4" dirt and 1 3/4 petco sand, after it cycled I put the 20 gal fishes in there so I could dirt Jude's 20. 3/4" dirt and 1 3/4 black ceramaquartz s grade. Both tanks got 1/2" plastic mesh placed just above the dirt to keep any digging issues from happening

 

[inclament]

Jude's 20

Everything fine except the ph is climbing like crazy, don't know what's goin on! Maybe ph down to control it?

 

[inclament]

Almost finished!

So I have been very busy, in life and with the tanks, but Jude has a bottle in his face so I have a free hand to post! Hadn't washed the cquartz enough and it was driving ph off the charts basic. Vacuumed it all out with the siphon, washed it and replaced it. Problem solved. Here is the dirt mound I managed to keep in the tank

Bump:

 

[inclament]

And after housing my 45 gal fish in it while I dirted that tank, which proved fatal to my intrepid polypterus :icon_cry: , I'm back together and planted! Well until I get a few more to fill in some of the space.

 

[inclament]

And gonna have to source a bigger light, two 10 gal fluorescents don't seem to be cutting it