susitna-flower

Luniyn

Great to hear it all ended up well (if not heavy on the pocket).

COBettaCouple

I'm glad it held out long enough to get everything done safely. We look forward to seeing your bowfront 46. where'd you buy it? any plans for the cracked tank?

Sarcastic

I bought it from my favorite LFS, New World Aquarium in Manhattan, NY on 38th and 3rd. I got a really fair price on it and it came with a stand, even though I'd to pass on the package special (which included a cannister filter) since I needed to keep my HOB filter to keep the Biofilter intact. I'm now running two Aquaclear 300 (or Aquaclear 70, depending on your generation). If you're in the area, I highly advise you check them out - the fish are generally a bit pricey, but the selection is truly uncanny.

I'll take a photo tonight and see if I can get it to take tomorrow.

I put the cracked tank up on the free section of the local craigslist as a potential terrarium. The crack is high enough that I think it would work for a small red eared slider or two, in the short run, also. The tank was a gift, so I thought it apropos to put it back out into the world for free. I just got an email from a guy who's into geckos for his kids - seems like that's where its headed.*

COBettaCouple

sounds good. i'd love to have a store like that near us.. all we have is a petco.

Sarcastic

Update: Both Nitrites & Ammonia Still reading at 0ppm, Nitrates are down at 7 ppm, and the pH is at its usual 6.9. Looks as if everything went according to plan. I'm still waiting another week or two before adding any more fish just to be certain, and everyone's on a diet until then, too.

I'm going to gather some more rocks from a stream I know, and I'm thinking of putting in a good piece of driftwood in the middle of the tank.

Here's an image.

COBettaCouple

looks great.. i want one of those!

Sarcastic

So while I'm being flakey at work thinking about my fish, I'm contemplating how many of what kind I'm going to add. I think 3 more Silver Dollars, 2 more Dwarf Gourami, and 4 more Cory Cats.

Does a chart like this make any sense at all? If this is sensible - if not 100% scientific - than I'll be increasing the bioload by a factor of 1.7, while increasing my tank volume by a factor of 1.6.

What do you think about my planned additions?

Luniyn

Forget the chart, 1" to Gal rule is a better base to go from even if it isn't perfect. At your current load you are already at 47" of fish when they reach adult size.

2 Silver Dollars x 6" each = 12
1 Swordtail x 5" each = 5
4 Dwarf Gourami x 2" each = 8
4 Corys x 2.5" each = 10
6 Danios x 2" each = 12

12 + 5 + 8 + 10 + 12 = 47

I guessed at the size of the cory's as I didn't know which one's you had (not familiar with "armored" cory as it says in your sig) but it's a safe guess with them ranging from 2"-3" normally. In any event, you are already 1" over your tank size meaning you are maxed out on the amount of fish you can handle. If you went with the planned version you would be upping it to 79" of fish which would be way over. If you really want to add a few more fish then at most I would add the Dwarf Gouramis and maybe 2 of the cory's, or forget the Gouramis and get the 4 cory's. The cory's spend so much time stacked on top of each other that they have less of a problem with crowding and the other fish wouldn't be bothered by them since they are on the bottom of the tank.

Sarcastic

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll probably just add the corys, in the end.

I came up with the idea for that chart based on wide ranging criticism on the 1" to 1 Gallon method, but you're right, its not any better.

The "armored" cory is the common name under which I bought the two, I realize its not really indicative of their genus. I think they may be trilineatus except they have clear dorsal fins. The other two are paleatus, the albino variety.

Update for the day: Both Nitrites & Ammonia Still reading at 0ppm, and I seem to have lost the card that indicates reading of Nitrates but it can't be more than 10 ppm based on the color and my memory.

Gunnie

Well done! It sounds like your bacteria survived the transfer and all is well! Good job!

Luniyn

The problem with basing it on bio-load is that you can't determine what is a good/bad bio-load on your tank. As long as you have enough places for the good bacteria to grow, then eventually there will be enough to handle any amount of ammonia and nitrite you throw at it. But that's not the only problem in a tank. Just being a crowded space will cause as much stress as average water quality. When the fish get scared or want to get out of a situation (i.e. another fish in their path that they don't want to bother) they will dart off in another direction. If they dart off only to be stopped again or have to dodge in another direction this can make them want to just hid out most of the time and not move around. The other side is if the fish is too big for the tank then they don't have the room to stretch their fins. So although it isn't perfect, the 1" per Gal rule does the best job of at least giving you a starting point for stocking your fish tank.

Nice work with the tank though, it would seem like you avoided having to cycle again. Congrats!