[ChemGuyEthan]

Cycled!

Well, I haven't checked any of the parameters at all since I set it up. Just been doing weekly 50% water changes (2 total) and adding seachem stability when I think about it. Got a little bit of algae cropping up, some hair and bba (I think). Checked the parameters tonight and...



It would appear we're cycled! Not bad, 2 weeks. Guess that's what having a well-established filter will get you, haha! Did a 50% water change, I'll check it again tomorrow, and if all looks good, I'll transfer some of the fish back into it on Sunday! Already need to trim the stems in back too, so things are going quite well so far!

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Haven't moved the fish back yet, it was a busy weekend... Also didn't get the stems trimmed. They have reached the top, but I'll hack them back about halfway to set 'em straight.

Pic:

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Second update of the night...

Did a trim of the stems in back and the hydro japan, that stuff grows like crazy... Otherwise things are about the same. Got some GSA and diatoms on the glass, but that's about it. I'm trying to decide for sure if I want to move the cardinals back over to this one or leave them in the 12 gallon... Not sure what I would put in here otherwise. Suggestions?

Pics.

Before:


After:


Thanks for checking it out and commenting!

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

So it's only been a week, but I thought I would update again. I caught some of the amanos in the 12 gallon chowing down on the AR mini! So that tells me they're not getting enough food, that means I'll move them back to this bad boy here! Since the tank is newer and there's plenty of algae growing already, haha, they should stop eating my plants... :redface:

Plants are growing in nicely, have a few more smaller pieces of driftwood that I may add to one side or the other...haven't decided yet... Not sure whether they add to the scape or not.

Here are the pictures, I played around a bit with the saturation and coloring to get the photo looking a little more like it does in real life. I've noticed my camera tends to make things a little bluer than they are to the eye. Hopefully they don't look too fake, haha.





And here's one of the newly returned inhabitants, already going to town on some of the algae on a rock.



As always, thanks for the views and any comments! roud:

 

[Tiptop]

This looks fantastic! I'm digging the moss on the wood centerpiece.

A group of threadfin rainbows would look killer in there. Rainbows and bowfronts always seemed to work well together visually to me. Dunno why!

Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Thanks, man! You know, I've always thought about getting rainbows, the threadfins have caught my eye before... thanks for the suggestion!

This looks fantastic! I'm digging the moss on the wood centerpiece.

A group of threadfin rainbows would look killer in there. Rainbows and bowfronts always seemed to work well together visually to me. Dunno why!

Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update here since it's been a while.

Tank's doing well, had a bit of thread algae as of late, but it's going away. Plants are filling in and I've done a few trims and removed some plants. Trying to stick with rotala and rotala-like plants for the background. I dumped the ludwigia cuba as it's just growing too fast. I'd just about have to trim it twice a week... Removed most of the hydro japan as well. Also moved the hygro araguaia (which grows HUGE roots!). HC is filling in, anubias are growing leaves (and some GDA/GSA, haha).

Here we are post trim.


And you may have noticed in the right side, new fish!

Got some blue-eyed, forktail rainbowfish! They're fast little buggers and still quite young, but I've picked out a few males that should develop some nice colors here before too long. I bought 20 of them, the guy threw in a few extra, and I have no idea if I've lost any... I haven't noticed any missing, but I it's not like I can count them, haha.

Here's some blurry photos.



Might add the cardinals back in here, haven't decided.

On a side note, I decided on a whim to check my TDS tonight (~40% WC yesterday). Wow, 750! I've been getting distilled water when I think about it for topping off, but that's so high! Needless to say, I bought an RO unit tonight, haha (thanks to the wonders of Amazon). A little spontaneous, but the tap here registers 400+, and then with dosing, fish poop, and whatever else it's up so high. I have some cherries in a small tank of tap that haven't really been breeding, and this is probably why. Gonna do a 50:50 tap:RO and see where that gets me in the future. I want to set up an actual shrimp tank soon and I think I'm really gonna struggle if I don't do something, but that'll be for another thread, haha.

As always, thanks for looking!

 

[Dan110024]

Looking good! I've never had the annoyance of plants growing too fast. I guess it's one of those things you want up until the time you have it....then you end up removing them completely. Haha.

Are you running an internal or external filter? I can't quite make it out. If it's external, you need to make yourself an inline heater

 

[burr740]

The pre-crash version had grown into something pretty awesome. Looks like you're well on your way again. I like these rocks better.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Looking good! I've never had the annoyance of plants growing too fast. I guess it's one of those things you want up until the time you have it....then you end up removing them completely. Haha.

Are you running an internal or external filter? I can't quite make it out. If it's external, you need to make yourself an inline heater

Haha, thanks. It's an odd problem to have, most of my other plants don't grow out of control like this, just the algae, haha.

The filter is external. When the plants grow in, the heater and filter components aren't really noticeable. Especially when this tank is a little low, so you look down at it and can't really see the filter spray bar and I barely notice the heater now. Guess I'm used to it.

The pre-crash version had grown into something pretty awesome. Looks like you're well on your way again. I like these rocks better.

Yeah, the middle scape was good. Once I get the rotala trimmed and grown in how I want, it should be nice. I have rotala green to line the back and then indica and colorata that will grow in up front for a yellow/pink and red contrast to the green. Or at least, that's what I see in my head, haha.

That old wood from the last scape though was definitely rotting. The white fuzz just never went away even after months of being in there. When I pulled it out it smelled awful... This wood has no white fuzz and I'm not noticing any odd smells, so that's a plus, haha. I too like these rocks more. I keep debating whether I want to cover any of them in moss/anubias or just leave them bare... Might cover the small one on the front right in some anubias petite, should contrast nice with the s repens.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Here's an update as it's been a little while.

The rainbows are really growing and starting to show some great pronounced colors! The plants are doing their thing. Algae finally going away (have been battling green thread for a few weeks now). Added a couple otos for the dust algae on the glass. I was ready to take out the HC as it didn't seem to be growing much, but it's really been filling in finally, so I'll leave it. Last thing I'm waiting on is the other rotala to the right of the rotundifolia to grow in and cover up that heater and filter intake...oh well.

Here's the FTS:


And here are a couple of decent shots I got of the furcata rainbows:




As usual, thanks for checking out the tank!