Angel's Planted 40b Build
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OP
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That is pretty! Hmm...might have to try to find that one!
I have the SE on my 38 that I run on the 24/7 cycle, it's all low light plants and they seem to be doing well. I just set this one up on the 40 and run it on max for most of the day, since I unintentionally picked up a more demanding plant.
OP
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I have read they they have changed it with the SE. They improved the red the be more productive for photosynthesis, incorporated a full dark time from 3-6 am, and somehow combatted the algae issue from the previous version. I have had it running on my 38 for about a month. I am seeing new leaves on Anubias, dwarf water lily, and everything else seems to be doing well. I use the 24/7 mode, dose liquid ferts and use root tabs.
On this 40 I will be starting liquid co2 this week, and we will see how things go. I have had plants in since Friday and already I see improvement in my low light, easy plants, including ludwigia repens, bacopa caroliniana, and hygrophila. The first photo was then, the second is now. You can see the plants directly behind the left rocks, and the two plants far right have all straightened out and reaches higher.
I'm very excited about this because I haven't had any luck with ludwigia in the past.
On this 40 I will be starting liquid co2 this week, and we will see how things go. I have had plants in since Friday and already I see improvement in my low light, easy plants, including ludwigia repens, bacopa caroliniana, and hygrophila. The first photo was then, the second is now. You can see the plants directly behind the left rocks, and the two plants far right have all straightened out and reaches higher.
I'm very excited about this because I haven't had any luck with ludwigia in the past.
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OP
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Thanks! So I tested the water tonight and now ammonia reads 4 ppm. I'm assuming this is due to the TSS+ I added this morning, so I guess I'll just ride it out. If it goes any higher I'll do a water change.
My qt is definitely cycled to .75 ppm, so I upped the dose to 1 ppm and will test again in the morning. (I test twice a day while cycling) hopefully it won't be long until I have it back to 2 ppm, and can get my school going. That way they can have a good long stay in qt. I also find it odd that I have cycled it back so quickly. A little over a week ago I added a tetra whisper 10I filter, due to my diy filter starting to fall apart, custom loaded with sponge (I used pieces of scotch scrub pads I had lying around for cleaning algae) fliter floss and a fluval chI pkg of biomax, all of this I had laying around the house. None of it had been used previously. (Except the filter itself, which has been in a drawer for months) I'm quite surprised that it had seeded so quickly! I went ahead and tossed my diy, since I was going to have to cycle it anyway (then half a day later started second guessing myself) so I'm pleased by that!
So stocking gurus... since hopefully I will be considering this in the next week or two, I'm looking to decide on my school. I'd like to do a large school (as big as I can fit) of small schooling fish, that will be compatible with the rest of my planned stock, including:
BN pleco
4-6 Blind Cave Tetra
6-8+ glass catfish
*possibly a pair of Bolivian rams
I would like schoolers that won't bother my interesting "odd balls", and I consider the pleco my main centerpiece, as I plan to receive a yellow blue eyed guy from bizaliz3 . I plan on the glass cats to be the last additions, barring the final possible addition of the Bolivians. This tank will be moderately to heavily planted with manzanita driftwood and stone caves, plenty of hiding places.
Any advice regarding this stocking is greatly appreciated!
Anders247 TexasDomer
My qt is definitely cycled to .75 ppm, so I upped the dose to 1 ppm and will test again in the morning. (I test twice a day while cycling) hopefully it won't be long until I have it back to 2 ppm, and can get my school going. That way they can have a good long stay in qt. I also find it odd that I have cycled it back so quickly. A little over a week ago I added a tetra whisper 10I filter, due to my diy filter starting to fall apart, custom loaded with sponge (I used pieces of scotch scrub pads I had lying around for cleaning algae) fliter floss and a fluval chI pkg of biomax, all of this I had laying around the house. None of it had been used previously. (Except the filter itself, which has been in a drawer for months) I'm quite surprised that it had seeded so quickly! I went ahead and tossed my diy, since I was going to have to cycle it anyway (then half a day later started second guessing myself) so I'm pleased by that!
So stocking gurus... since hopefully I will be considering this in the next week or two, I'm looking to decide on my school. I'd like to do a large school (as big as I can fit) of small schooling fish, that will be compatible with the rest of my planned stock, including:
BN pleco
4-6 Blind Cave Tetra
6-8+ glass catfish
*possibly a pair of Bolivian rams
I would like schoolers that won't bother my interesting "odd balls", and I consider the pleco my main centerpiece, as I plan to receive a yellow blue eyed guy from bizaliz3 . I plan on the glass cats to be the last additions, barring the final possible addition of the Bolivians. This tank will be moderately to heavily planted with manzanita driftwood and stone caves, plenty of hiding places.
Any advice regarding this stocking is greatly appreciated!
Anders247 TexasDomer
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Blind cave tetras are kind of aggressive. They are Astyanax tetras, a Genus that is very colourful and doesn't appear in the hobby a lot because of their nippiness. I have personally been nipped by shoals of their eyed relatives in Belize - it is a weird sensation. The fish that were chewing me up as I drifted downriver in an inner tube were brilliantly coloured, but I have never seen them in an aquarium.
Blind caves get to 4 inches. The profile on Fishlore says they are a new arrival, but they have been common in stores since the 1940s.
The blind version is a bit more tentative, but is not a fish I would put with the super delicate glass catfish. Everything dominates a glass cat.
You also have a potential temperature issue, as cave fish like much cooler water than glass catfish. You have an easy 5-6 degree f difference between their needs.
Blind caves get to 4 inches. The profile on Fishlore says they are a new arrival, but they have been common in stores since the 1940s.
The blind version is a bit more tentative, but is not a fish I would put with the super delicate glass catfish. Everything dominates a glass cat.
You also have a potential temperature issue, as cave fish like much cooler water than glass catfish. You have an easy 5-6 degree f difference between their needs.
OP
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Thank you
Every site I have search (starting with seriouslyfish) lists their temps to be the same range (69-77) but I had completely overlooked the size! As interesting as they are, I scratch the blind tetras. I wasn't looking for such large fish.
So now that I have determined that this will mainly be a catfish tank I need to decide on a schooling fish, or at least narrow my choices...
CPD (keep readingvthey are terribly sensitive )
Dwarf emerald rasboras
Danio rario variety
Green neon tetra
Neon tetra (I'm wary of these, tbh)
Also, with the removal of the tetra, the Bolivians are definitely a possibility.
Every site I have search (starting with seriouslyfish) lists their temps to be the same range (69-77) but I had completely overlooked the size! As interesting as they are, I scratch the blind tetras. I wasn't looking for such large fish.
So now that I have determined that this will mainly be a catfish tank I need to decide on a schooling fish, or at least narrow my choices...
CPD (keep readingvthey are terribly sensitive )
Dwarf emerald rasboras
Danio rario variety
Green neon tetra
Neon tetra (I'm wary of these, tbh)
Also, with the removal of the tetra, the Bolivians are definitely a possibility.
Ohh, you don't see a whole lot of people saying they have green neon tetras! I've seen them at my LFS and they are pretty. I have never seen the dwarf rasboras
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OP
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The green neons are smaller and have a much larger temperature range: 70-95F according to seriously fish. I have never seen them locally and haven't really seen them much online.
Dwarf galaxy rasboras (which are actually a danio not a rasbora) are also very small, and more expensive Emerald Dwarf Rasbora (Microrasbora erythromicron) | Tropical Fish Keeping
kind of similar to CPD
I also received notification that my wood has shipped and should be here tomorrow! only took a week...
Dwarf galaxy rasboras (which are actually a danio not a rasbora) are also very small, and more expensive Emerald Dwarf Rasbora (Microrasbora erythromicron) | Tropical Fish Keeping
kind of similar to CPD
I also received notification that my wood has shipped and should be here tomorrow! only took a week...
Oh wow. Hmm I know Aaron is willing to ship fish. That's whose fish store I go to. He was willing to ship a Starlight Pleco to Dave125g if he found one before Dave did. I see the green neons on a pretty good frequency.
Ohh the emerald dwarf is beautiful!! Oh boy!
Yay!!!! Pics when you get the wood!!
OP
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OP
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So ammonia hit 8 ppm this morning so I did a water change. Used the laundry room. Sink drain was plugged. Flooded the floor. I used an entire load of freshly cleaned and dried towels in the dryer to clean up the mess. But now the cabinet under the sink is spick and span! Just another day with aquariums...
OP
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Omg I completely forgot why I wanted to set this tank up to begin with...blue king tetra! That's my schooling fish! Lol
So how many can I do in this tank? TexasDomer Anders247
I'm assuming they are not compatible with glass catfish... too boisterous and possible nippers. Would they be okay with a bn pleco?
So how many can I do in this tank? TexasDomer Anders247
I'm assuming they are not compatible with glass catfish... too boisterous and possible nippers. Would they be okay with a bn pleco?
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They're active swimmers, so yes, not compatible with glass cats. They should be fine with a BN though! Remind me what else you have in this tank? In a 40 breeder, I might only do 8 or so - they're pretty active.
OP
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Nothing but the bn, actually not even him yet. Literally going to be the school and a bn pleco. And plants
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Do you mean Boehlkea fredcochui?
OP
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OP
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I don't want to just have 9 fish in here, so what stock could I do with them. The idea had been to just have one school and a pleco, maybe a shoal of cories but hadn't decided.
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OP
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Phew! I've read they aren't the most friendly dudes, can be nippy, so I was going to pass on the centerpiece (well, technically the pleco is the centerpiece)
Eventually I may get some cories as well. Not decided though.
Eventually I may get some cories as well. Not decided though.
OP
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Sooooo.....
Have discovered my ammonia is climbing due to the osmacote I sprinkled under the sand. Did my 2nd 97% WC to get it down from 4+ to, well, hopefully.5-1, I'll check in a little bit.
Decided to go ahead and move some media from the 38 canister to this one. I have so not become efficient yet at working with those things. Water on the floor...thankfully tile. I took 1 bag of bio max (3 in there) and the totally nasty filter floss I had saved from my canister clean last week.
Put it in the new canister, dumped all the fluval cycle and stability I had left (not much) directly into the filter media, closed it up. I had trimmed my hoses, since I had it apart anyway, annnnnnnd
It won't prime. I had forgotten if the hoses are drained, you have to empty the canister so it will prime. So I had to take it all apart, dump the water in a bucket, and put it all back together and prime it. Then, to keep from wasting anything, I dumped that nasty water from the canister in the tank. Yup, it was gross. Almost completely brown. But it's already starting to clear and I'm hoping it'll start doing it's job!
Also really hoping I don't see a bump in the 38.
Have discovered my ammonia is climbing due to the osmacote I sprinkled under the sand. Did my 2nd 97% WC to get it down from 4+ to, well, hopefully.5-1, I'll check in a little bit.
Decided to go ahead and move some media from the 38 canister to this one. I have so not become efficient yet at working with those things. Water on the floor...thankfully tile. I took 1 bag of bio max (3 in there) and the totally nasty filter floss I had saved from my canister clean last week.
Put it in the new canister, dumped all the fluval cycle and stability I had left (not much) directly into the filter media, closed it up. I had trimmed my hoses, since I had it apart anyway, annnnnnnd
It won't prime. I had forgotten if the hoses are drained, you have to empty the canister so it will prime. So I had to take it all apart, dump the water in a bucket, and put it all back together and prime it. Then, to keep from wasting anything, I dumped that nasty water from the canister in the tank. Yup, it was gross. Almost completely brown. But it's already starting to clear and I'm hoping it'll start doing it's job!
Also really hoping I don't see a bump in the 38.
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It will do its job when I set up my new 20 gallon long, I squeezed my filter floss and sponge into the brand new tank! So gross but efficient
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I keep my canister filter in a bucket under the tank so when I take it out and service it, I don't get water everywhere.
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That's weird. I use copious amounts of Osmocote Plus in all of my tanks and I've never had an ammonia issue from using it.
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OP
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That's exactly what I did in the 38 cabinet. This one I can't without it being visible. So I'll just have to keep one handy to put it in when I need to.
at first I thought it was the tss, and figured I was messing up with the water change, but did it anyway. But I did not add it again. Second time I used fluval cycle, not impressed. (I didn't really give it much time to work, but I bought the big bottle and it only had enough to dose the tank twice, calls for daily dosing, says will treat 500 gallons. But ammonia kept rising. From 1 to 8 ppm in 3 days. The Ammonia doubles every day. I have not dosed a drop of ammonia at all, ever. I have a little in tap so I was going to start with that, but the first time I tested the tank it read 1 ppm. My tap only has .5 ppm. The only possible place it's coming from is either my wild rocks (???) or the osmacote. I'll check ammonia in a few minutes.
But my driftwood has arrived! Photos to come!!!
OP
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OP
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Manzanita-driftwood.com. Very pleased! And there are pictures of every piece, so you choose exactly what you want (I even compared). Really affordable prices too! I got all three for $65 shipped! (They were having a buy 2 get 1 special.) I paid $50 for the one piece of spiderwood in my 38 on eBay.
Usually give it a good scrub and soak. Smaller pieces you can boil too. This came extremely clean! Since I have no fish yet, I just plopped it in the tank. It's too big for me to try to boil. I won't have all three pieces in this tank permanently, and will be removing some rocks to make space, but I figured I'd get it all soaking so they will sink eventually! Right now they're really just crammed in there!
Usually give it a good scrub and soak. Smaller pieces you can boil too. This came extremely clean! Since I have no fish yet, I just plopped it in the tank. It's too big for me to try to boil. I won't have all three pieces in this tank permanently, and will be removing some rocks to make space, but I figured I'd get it all soaking so they will sink eventually! Right now they're really just crammed in there!
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Really nice! Love the natural look you created with the rock and driftwood! I'm curious, when you have rock like that do you place Styrofoam under the rock to protect the glass tank? Do you have to take the rock out periodically to clean underneath rock for trapped food or waste? Or, does rock-work in tank not need to be cleaned under?
Sorry, this question is for OP, not sure why I tagged you bigemrg - just the last post, I guess.
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