FishMagnet

Mixed half a bucket of water from the 49 with half from the 75.
Water is nearly identical. The 49 has slightly less nitrate.
Removed all fish but the 4 danios into the bucket for about half an hour.

Removed all plants. Real plants into a bucket of water form the tank. Most fake into the 29.


Shut off filters.

Added flourite into the tank. Mixed with the existiing gravel.
Major mess.

Added the driftwood.(still floats) Drilled 2 pieces of slate as anchors and will weigh them down when I can see into it.

Put fish into 49. Added novaqua and a touch of amquel just because.

Put sponges over filter intakes and turned them back on to help clear up the tank water. May have to put on the magnum HOT to clear it up enough to scape it but want to wait until the majority of the larger stuff settles.

8:24am Hooked up HOT with 1micron.

Fish seem ok in the 49gal.
Going out to mow while the water clears.

11:09 Water is clearer but not enough to work with it. Filter flow is much reduced am going to clean out the HOT and clean the sponges on the other two.

dee34

looks like u have everything covered there !

FishMagnet

For an update.
Before, during, during, and current.

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FishMagnet

Has a long long way to go.

FishMagnet

Ok, finished for now.
Planted the live plants where they will stay for the time being. That will be an ongoing effort.
Everything is situated rather precariously. The driftwood is statinary but any serious bumps will dislodge it. I have to be carefull when working around it. Its attached to slate with a heavy thread that I stole from my wife's sewing basket. I couldn't find my fishing line, and figured the thread would hold up long enough. Its a really heavy thread.
The Danios are cruising about as always. They ate fine, so...so far so good. I wasn't too concerned about any of this. The only question was the driftwood. But, thats also why I left the Danios in there.
What else?
The water is still cloudy.
I've made up my mind on the future of this tank. Going into it I thought South American biotope. Amazon. Blackwater. Specific river. Then I went to tetra only. Then I decided on the angels. Then I went back to biotope. Then I questioned it all.
For now I'm just taking it as a loose SA system. I'll only be keeping tetras and angels. A school of corys and some type of algae eater. All indigenous to South America. Low pH, plants native to SA, etc. Maybe as it progresses I'll move more towards a true biotope, or maybe I'll just move towards whatever I feel like. I really like the purity of a more natural aquarium. Always have.
Only addition in the near future is the CO2. I may just order one, as I need to order a few things anyhow.

Any comments?

FishMagnet

Temp 79
PH 6.8-7.0. I have a hard time discerning between those colors.
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Interesting. I did not change any water during the makeover.
Danios are acting a little funny. More erratic swimming than they normally exhibit. Could be the drop in PH.

FishMagnet

As complete as its going to get for awhile.
Going to change out the bulbs in the light to all 10k. Don't have a 6700k so...
for now they will have to be 10k.
Oh, and the Danios are fine.

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FishMagnet

Looking forward to getting these guys and hopefully gals back in.

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MissMTS

Your tank looks great! Your hard work has really paid off

FishMagnet

Thank you MissMTS, and by the way, I love your tanks! And those Angels!

Time

Very amazing tank! Looks like my substrate in there.

FishMagnet

Thanks Tim Keeper. Substrate is just a mix of plain gravel and Flourite.

Time

Fluorite! It must look amazing in person.

aquarist48

Beautiful job!
Ken

FishMagnet

Temp 80
GH 75
KH about 60
PH 6.8-7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

Danios seem ok, but two of them barely ate. Not sure whats going on there. They are normally voracious eaters.
Could just be the drop in PH.

FishMagnet

Thanks Aquarist48.

FishMagnet

Thinking of how I want to approach restocking. Obviously the Danios are going. They passed the test.
But, how to decide what to move back, and when. Thats the issue.

FishMagnet

9/12
PH 7.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate +10
GH 75
KH 80
Temp78
only changed 5g as that was all the water I had available at the time.

9/14 moved Danios into the 29g quarantine/hospital tank to be treated with all the rest.
After treatments they will all return.

Changed out all the RO filters and membrane.

Brown algae bloom. Too much light I think. Live plants aren't looking all that well either. Either too much light or not enough Co2. Or both.

FishMagnet

Parameters are same as last test.

Removed the aqualight Pro and put back on two standard strip lights on tuesday. A couple of the plants are looking really ragged.

Brown algae is bad.

FishMagnet

Made a DIY Co2 from a 2litre...just bubbling into the tank atm. Will have to work on it more tomorrow.
Wish I could afford a true system.

FishMagnet

Changed 15gal.

Inserted Co2 tube into filter intake. Noticable small bubbles coming from spray bar. Hopefully full of Co2.

Ok. Fish have been returned after their vacation. So far so good.
We'll see.

Going to set up a second 2litre Co2 maker tomorrow.
Need to figure out a good place to place them. Currently have the Hood off to set them atop the glass canopy.

ATKINSON

Hi FishMagnet, Please dont make back to back posts, rather edit. Your tank looks amazing by the way!!

FishMagnet

Temp 78
PH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
GH 75
KH 80

Homemade Co2 didn't quite work out, only lasted a day and a half. Looked up the formula and lessened the amount of yeast I used this time. Hopefully it will last longer this time.

Worried a little about the angels not eating the way I think they should. Added crushed 250mg tablet Metronidazole to their concoction of blood worms, brine and mysis. Only a couple feedings of this should kill off any internal bugs. Previous experience was too much will kill the fish.

Reading up on brown algae, brown diatoms. Suggested it is usually due to a lack of light, though previously I had plenty of light. Not sure on this. If the live plants take off this will hopefully rectify itself.

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FishMagnet

Thank you for the compliment.

I asked for this blog specifically to keep track of my water parameters, progress, successes, failures. An online log rather than keep my pencil and journal. Also to let others read it, look through it if they wished, as I would like to share my photos and experiences.
Because of this I want time/date stamps on everything I enter. I like the format of each post showing each step I have taken.

Maybe I don't understand the point of having my own blog here? I was under the impression it was my blog to do with as I have previously stated? I'll look into it.
Thank you, maybe I'm unaware of the rules.

aquarist48

Hello FishMagnet. You've done such a wonderful job on your tank! Beautiful. The brown algae or diatoms is very common in newly established tanks and yes it will go away on it's own with gravel vacuums and water changes.

It's your Blog and you can post to it as many times as you like.
Ken

FishMagnet

Thanks aquarist48. Its a work in progress of course.

Fish still not eating...much. Mostly I think its due to the stresses of moving so much and the inhospitable hospital stay.

The stress is obvious...they hide when I come near, of course they think I'm there to scoop them up again. They will learn. Soon I hope as they need to eat.

FishMagnet

Angels still being very very finicky eaters. Not all but some.
I think I'll see if I can't pick up some pregnant guppies, mollies or platys tomorrow...they'll love the fry. I hope...if not then its something more serious.
The feedings with metronidozle showed no results. Doesn't mean it didn't work, or that they didn't have internal parasites, but I had hope that would be the answer. Water parameters have been fine, they are back into a more natural, and larger tank with plenty of plants to hide amongst if they wish. The stress is/was definatly a factor. They were eating fine before I transferred them over for the tank redo and then for the fin rot treatment.

Hopefully some feeder fry will entice the poor eating ones back into a healthy diet.

Another problem is that only a couple will take flake food. And as they only get a small window of time for feedings I definatly need to do something. Live bearers is ideal and a timed feeder would be great if I can find a dried food they will eat.

FishMagnet

Temp 78
PH 6.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Changed 20gal and cleaned filters.

Yesterday evening added in 6 otocinclus cats, 2 additional albino corys and 4 more peppered corys to round out the cory population. Tank is now fully stocked. Perhaps overly so. Yes its overstocked. Only until I move the angels.

Angels were eating better today. Only worried about 2 of the black veils. The other 2 blacks are eating Ok, and the remaining 4 eat very well.

Found a snail. How many more am I going to find? Where theres one theres a million.

Having problems with the Co2 still. Can't seem to get it to push bubbles all the way down into the filter intake. I can see it move back and forth along the last couple inches of air line. I thought it might be the hole in the cap leaking but switched it out with a well siliconed one. It is pushing through now and then as I see the bubbles spray out from the spray bar, but nothing like when I had the 2litre right on top of the tank with a short air tube.

FishMagnet

Finally took out the hospital tank to dump the remaining the 5 or 6 inches of water and clean it before storing it away. To my surprise there were a number of fry swimming about. I found it interesting that they were there as the water has been sitting for a week now without air, heat, filtration, food etc. They were tiny and I coudn't tell what fish they were. Likely danios.

They made tasty treats for the angels.

Regal

Your tank is looking great! The driftwood is awesome! I'm enjoying your blog and I like your idea of having a blog to help keep track of everything.