[Dagon]

Hi everyone, I got super busy last year just after I signed up.
I've been wanting to get back on here lately, so here I am.
Allot has changed for me since I was on here on here last so I figured I may as well reintroduce myself.

So I first got my aquarium last year with the intention of using it in an aquaponics system for my small horticulture buisiness.

Well.....
I never came up with the money to build that aquaponics system....., however
I fell in love with my fish and I will be an aquarist till the day I die, not to mention every time I do a water change I save some of it and mix it into a gallon jug and fertilize my plants with it(HEAVILY DILUTED with tap water), and just that alone is great fertilizer.

Also I closed my unprofitable small start up business and made a career change into Medicine. I am now a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician.
Being an entrepreneur was not for me. I enjoy gardening more when it is not a buisiness as I hate sales and buisiness, Emergency Medicine is exciting and I can come home and relax with my plants and fish after all the comotion.

Someday I will build an aquaponics system but it's not a high priority at the moment.

Anyhow I've got 5 Skirt Tetras(3 are GloFish) - Artemis, Xena, Fin MacCool(Apollo just passed [reincarnate as a shark buddy]), and the Double Dragon Twins, 3 Albino Cory Catfish - Larry Moe and Curly, 1 Neon Tetra The Lone Ranger, and 1 Inca Gold Snail - Roberto Speedy Gonzalez.
Yes I name them. They are my little buddies and I talk to them too, I'm only crazy if hear them talk back.....

I may have a green thumb but I don't have a green fin yet..... Aquatic plants are still hard for me, I used to have very full apogonten ulvaceous and water Lilly but they are all but dead now, except the anubius plant has stayed strong.
So I got some new live plants(yes I cheated) Amazon sword and some red stuff I forgot the name of, and some bulbs of water lilly, onion and something else which are all showing early signs of germination.

Also I just rigged up a DIY CO2 Reactor with a 1liter Fiji water bottle the night before and currently it is putting out 1 bubble every 10 seconds.
I also run an aerator at night after the timer shuts the light off, until I go to sleep(currently my tank is right next to my bed and the pump is buzzy) and periodically during the day.

I'll post about that co2 reactor tomorrow.
And I'll post my water specs tomorrow too, seriously tired.


Any how here is a pic of the tank.
Glad to be back

 

[Dagon]

Aquarium Specs

*AQUARIUM SPECS*


TANK CAPACITY:
75.708 Liters (20G)

TANK DIMENSIONS:

(measured via outside)
-Length 610 mm
-Width 313 mm
-Height 420mm


CHEMICAL BALANCE:

(as of 22-02-16)
NO-3 : 40
NO-2 : 0.5
dGH : 200
Cl : 0.1
KH : 120
pH : 8.0

NH-3 : 0.5 - as of 20-02-16 (I ran out of ammonia test strips)


TEMPERATURE & THERMO REGULATION:

26°C

[Is what I usually keep it around but.... I think my thermometer is inaccurate, its an external strip, & almost 1 yr old, the fish where huddled by the heater when the pad read 27°c(80f) I'm getting 2 internal thermometers later today, 1 for each side of the tank.]

1 Internal vertical partially submerged Tube Heater

1 External Digital Strip Thermometer


FILTRATION:
Top Fin Filter Pump with bio fiber and balck diamond active carbon filter
(no bio filter wheel yet)


LIGHTING:
Day
All Glass 15 watt 18" T8 florescent tube light above tank
Evening
LED Bubbler Bar submerged vertically
External Black Light behind tank.
@ Night I give my aqua buddies(&me) darkness


AERATION:

Room Air / O2 via Hanging TopFin 20 Filter Pump (RA apx 21% O2)
RA via Long Life 50-60 Cycle Pump and tubing
CO2 via DIY 1 Liter Reactor, tubing, and air stone


SUBSTRATE:

- 9 kg Blue Aquarium Gravel via petco
- 2.26 kg # 5 Green Glo Fish Gravel
- 2.26 kg black w purple accent gravel
- 7.9 g Multic Color Glo Fish Gems / Accent Gravel
- 1Scull Shaped Glow In The Dark Hollow Hiding Spot Rock
- 6 Moon Rocks with Hiding Spots and Glow in the Dark Edges.
- 2 Round Hollow Hiding Rocks
- APX 15 Plastic Diamonds
- 1 Obsidian Polished Gem Stone
- 1 Amethyst Polished Gem
- 1 Aquamarine Gem Stone
- 1 Rose Quartz Polished Pyramid


FLORA:

Anubius? - small but hardy

Aponogeton ulvaceus - currently barely alive

Nymphaea sp. - currently barely alive

Ludwigia sp. mini super red - New & faring well

Echinodorus grisebachii - New & faring well


I used to have very full and flowering Aponogeton and very full Nymphea but they have dwindled to near death.
However I just MAcGyvered a CO2 reactor, and got some new bulbs for Crinum thaianum and Nymphaea sp. which are now germinating so hopefully soon this Aquarium will be a well Planted Tank again, if the Aponogeton doesn't recover I will get more bulbs, it was beautiful when it was full and flowering.



FAUNA

*Fish

1 - Paracheirodon innesi

"The Lone Ranger" (Neon Tetra)


5 - Gymnocorymbus ternetzi

(~) The Double Dragon Twins (Black Skirt Tetras)
"Yin"
&
"Yan"

The Three Musketeers (Glo Fish Tetras)
"Artemis" Cosmic Blue (Current Alpha Fish)
"Xena" StarFire Red
"Fin MacCool" Galactic Purple


3 - Corydoras aeneus (Albino Cory Cat Fish)

The Three Stooges aka The Three Amigos / 3 Kings
"Larry" AKA Montezuma III
"Moe" AKA Pakal
"Curly" AKA Pachacuti

*Snails

1 - Pomacea bridgesii
"Copacati 'Speedy' Gonzalez" ([Female] Inca Golden Mystery Snail)