Barrow Family 29 Gal (updated 04/18/2018)

Post Last Updated: 4/20/2018

Media:
Tank Picture (04/15/2018):



Tank Video (03/11/2018):

Tank Video (03/22/2018):

Tank Video (03/31/2018):

Tank Video - Additional Mechanical Filtration Added (04/02/2018):

Hardware (04/02/2018):

1. TopFin Essentials 29 Gallon Aquarium
   21.3 gal capacity after substrate deduction
2. Custom built sliding glass top.
3. Aquatop CAF-25 Sponge Filters, 25 Gal (2)
   Biological Filtration & Mechanical Filtration
4. Tetra Whisper Air Pump, 40 Gal (1)
   Pushes both sponge filters via a splitter and inline valves for flow control.
5. Topfin Silent Stream 30 Power Filter
   Filled with Poly-Fil Extra-Loft Batting
   Mechanical Filtration & Water Polisher
6. Eheim Jager TruTemp 100W Submersible Aquarium Heater (2)
   
7. Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 CC 30" LED Aquarium Light (2)
8. Eco-Complete Substrate (3 x 20lb bags)
9. APC Back-Ups Pro BX1500M

Products (04/01/2018):

1. Seachem Prime
   During water changes, to remove chlorine and chloramine from tap water.
2. NilocG's Thrive
   EI Based fertilizer for water column feeding plants
3. NilocG's ThriveTabs
   Fertilizer for root feeding plants
4. NilocG's Enhance
   Liquid Co2
   Algae Control
5. Seachem ParaGuard
   As needed to treat parasitic, fungal, bacterial, and viral issues
   -Saprolegnia (cleared this up in a Rasbora)
   -Fin Rot (Pymy Cory's may have had this at one time)
   -Flukes (Gill and Body)
   -Ich (White Spot)
   -Velvet (cleared this up on my Betta)
6. Seachem KanaPlex
   As needed to treat illnesses that need an antibiotic
   -Dropsy
   -Fin Rot (ParaGuard will treat this as well)
   -Hemorrhagic Septicemia
   -Mouth Rot
   -Popeye

Stock (04/16/2018):
Total Fish: 36
AqAdvisor Stocking Level: 137% (Overstocked, LOL)

1. 1 x Male Betta (Betta splendens) (Ezra)
   
   
2. 9 x Harlequin Rasbora (Trigonostigma heteromorpha)
   
   
3. 6 x Pygmy Cory (Corydoras pygmaeus) (A-Team)
   
   
4. 3 x Dainty Cory (Corydoras habrosus)
   
   
5. 8 x Golden Oto (Otocinclus affinis)
   
   
6. 1 x Guppy Fry (Poecilia reticulata) (Graham)
   Note: Hijacked his way into my tank via my Dainty Cory purchase.
   
   
7. 6 x Black KuhlI Loach (Pangio oblonga)
   
   
8. 1 x Albino Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus)
   
   
   
9. 1 x Black Racer Nerite Snail (Neritina pulligera)
   
   

Foods (04/01/2018):
I feed my fish once per day.
I feed for 6 days in a row, then have 1 fasting day.
I alternate between dry foods and frozen foods each day (if yesterday was dry, today will be frozen).
I work my way through my foods list to keep variety up, changing foods each day.

1. Dry 1 - NorthFin Community Forumla (0.5mm)
   First Ingredient: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal
   Second Ingredient: High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal
   Notes: Dry pellet, sinks pretty fast.
   
2. Dry 2 - HikarI Micro Wafers (?? mm)
   First Ingredient: Fish meal
   Second Ingredient: krill meal
   Notes: Dry pellet, sinks somewhat slowly, not as "clean" of an ingredient list as the NorthFin products.
3. Dry 3 - NorthFin Betta Bits (1.0 mm)
   First Ingredient: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal
   Second Ingredient: High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal
   Notes: Dry pellet, sinks pretty fast, not really needed, pretty much the exact same product as NorthFin Community but with a larger pellet size and a higher percentage of Krill.
4. Dry 4 - NorthFin Kelp Wafers (14.0 mm)
   First Ingredient: Kelp
   Second Ingredient: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal
   Notes: Dry wafer, large, cut into 1/4ths for servings, sinks to the bottom, lasts a while as the fish pick at it.
5. Dry 5 - Zoo Med Spirulina 20 Fish Food Flakes
   First Ingredient: Salmon Fish Meal
   Second Ingredient: Spirulina Algae Meal
   Notes: Flakes
6. Frozen 1 - Omega One Frozen Blood Worms
   First Ingredient: Blood Worms
   Second Ingredient: N/A
   Notes: Large blocks, I cut a small part off for feedings and thaw it in a small dish of tank water before pouring it into the tank.
7. Frozen 2 - Omega One Frozen Brine Shrimp
   First Ingredient: Brine Shrimp
   Second Ingredient: N/A
   Notes: Large blocks, I cut a small part off for feedings and thaw it in a small dish of tank water before pouring it into the tank.
8. Frozen 3 - Omega One Frozen Mysis Shrimp
   First Ingredient: Mysis Shrimp
   Second Ingredient: N/A
   Notes: Large blocks, I cut a small part off for feedings and thaw it in a small dish of tank water before pouring it into the tank
9. Frozen 4 - HikarI Frozen Squid
   First Ingredient: Squid
   Second Ingredient: water
   Notes: Large blocks, I cut a small part off for feedings and thaw it in a small dish of tank water before pouring it into the tank.
10. Frozen 5 - HikarI Frozen Daphnia
    First Ingredient: Daphnia
    Second Ingredient: water
    Notes: Large blocks, I cut a small part off for feedings and thaw it in a small dish of tank water before pouring it into the tank.
11. Frozen 6 - Omega One Frozen Community
    First Ingredient: Salmon
    Second Ingredient: Halibut
    Notes: Large blocks, does not break down when soaked, I cut a small part off for feedings, sinks to the bottom and lasts a while as the fish pick at it.
12. Fresh 1 - Raw Zucchini
    Notes: I add this to my tank primarily for the Oto's. I wanted to make sure they had something other that just algae to eat and while it took them a few days to figure out it was there for them, now they flock towards it. I cut off a fresh slice of zucchini, cut off the skin, then put it on a bamboo skewer which I push into the substrate. I keep it in the tank for 24-36 hours before I remove it (so it doesn't fall apart and get all over the tank).
13. Fresh 2 - Minced Garlic
    Notes: I feed the fish either fresh garlic, minced myself or minced garlic that's from the grocery store. Most of the fish seem to go for. From what I've read, it's a great, natural way to help keep the fish healthy and prevent/fight disease.

Plants (04/18/2018):

1. Ludwigia Cuba (Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba')
   
   
   
2. Crinum Calamistratum (RELEASE THE KRAKEN!)
   
   
3. Rosette Sword (Echinodorus parviflorus)
   
   
4. Narrow Leaf Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)
   
   
5. Marimo Moss Balls
   
   
6. Staurogyne Repens
   
   
7. Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum)
   
   
8. Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus)
   
   
9. Anacharis (Anacharis densa)
   
   
   
10. Banana Plant (Nymphoides aquatica)
    
    
11. Anubias barterI var. barteri
    
    

Maintenance (04/01/2018):

• Water Changes:
  3 gallons (14% of 21.3g) changed every 2.3 days (so 42% changed each week)
  Prime added at 0.1 mL per gallon to condition fresh water during water changes.
  AqAdvisor suggests changing 56% of the water each week based on tank parameters, species types/quantities.
  My nitrates are usually about 5 ppm when I test it so unless I see it slowly increase, I will probably keep with this water change schedule which is less than whatsuggests.
• Fertilization:
  NilocG's Thrive
  Standard Thrive dosage is 0.2 mL per gallon of water (so 4.3 mL for my 21.3 gallon water capacity), 1-2 times per week.
  I'm dosing this daily, splitting my weekly 4.26 mL amount into 7 parts, doing 0.6 mL each day (keeps things simple for me).
  I dose it in the am when I feed my fish.
• CO2 Supplementation
  NilogG's Enhance
  Standard Enhance dosage is 0.1 mL per gallon of water (so 2.1 mL for my 21.3 gallon water capacity), dosed 4-7 days per week or "as needed" (whatever that means).
  I'm dosing 2.0 mL each morning when I feed my fish.
• Lighting Schedule (04/16/2018):
  
  

Milestones:
01/29/2018: 10 Gallon tank built.
03/05/2018: Upgraded from 10 Gallon tank to a 29 Gallon tank.
03/21/2018: Last time ammonia showed up on my water tests.
03/24/2018: Replaced Aqueon Glass heaters with Eheim Jagers
03/30/2018: Switched from Seachem Flourish and Flourish Tabs over to NilocG's Thrive and ThriveTabs for plant fertilization.
03/31/2018: Added 1 x Banana Plant, added 1 x Anubius Barteri
04/01/2018: Added 4 x Golden Oto's
04/02/2018: Replaced my two airstones with the Top Fin Silent Stream 30 Power Filter that came with my aquarium but had been sitting in a box. Removed the carbon cartridge that comes with the filter and used a bunch of Poly-Fil Extra-Loft Batting I picked up at Wal-Mart to do additional mechanical filtration and work as a water polisher.

 

I would swap out the fake plants for easier real plants like anubias, java fern, java moss, and anarcharis.

 

Not to be rude or anything, but you're quite overstocked. It is recommended to keep bettas in communities in a 20 long minimum as they can get quite violent. A 10 is also too small for the pygmy cories and the rasboras, IMO. Both are quite active and need space to move.

AqAdvisor is also a tool and shouldn't be used for final stocking plans. Doesn't take bioload, activity, or aggression into consideration.

 

Additionally, some people say crowntails can be more violent than other breeds of better.

 

Despite your slight stocking issues, I admire your perseverance to start fishkeeping right and for a newbie you did really well! I also name all my fish either as a collective name for a group or individual names it's super fun naming all my fish! I have

Raspberry (red guppy)
Cloudberry (yellow guppy)
Budica (first fry. Little trooper for surviving)
Three muskateers (the next 3 fry born)
Nadzieja (Polish for hope. Sole survivor of a deadly epidemic)

So lose hope because you messed up the first time (we all did), and hopefully you will fall in love just as we have <3

Oh, and welcome to Fishlore

 

I would swap out the fake plants for easier real plants like anubias, java fern, java moss, and anarcharis.

Maybe at some point, right now I didn't want to juggle plant health and fish health at the same time. Pretty happy with the aesthetics of the current setup as well.

Additionally, some people say crowntails can be more violent than other breeds of better.

At the local fish store there were plenty of Betta's in bowls, like at most pet stores, but they also had a few other tanks that were community tanks that had individual Betta's in them. I ended up picking one of the Betta's that was in one of the community tanks already so I didn't have to gamble as much in regards to its aggressiveness.

AqAdvisor is also a tool and shouldn't be used for final stocking plans. Doesn't take bioload, activity, or aggression into consideration.

Thanks for the reply!

Just FYI, AqAdvisor's FAQ page () says it does take those items into consideration when it spits out its report based on each individuals tank.

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Here are some of the attributes considers before displaying warnings:

Bioload Factor - used along side Size attribute. Size alone isn't enough because species of the same size don't always produce same amount of waste

Minimum tank size - minimum footprint required to keep the species happy and healthy.

Aggression factors between same species, different species, during breeding and ability to defend aggression.

-

I just swapped out my large size, black gravel with Eco Complete. I wasn't happy with the large gravel, food/poop was getting caught in between the large pieces making it a pain to clean/vacuum. Also I didn't realize it was coated to make it black, I kept spotting white pieces where some pieces of gravel had broke in two or where the coating wasn't applied throughout. The Eco Complete looks very nice and seems to be a much better substrate over the generic gravel I was using.

Today I decided to get rid of the fake plants and go with a live planted setup. I'm returning the Nicrew light I bought almost a month ago and I have a 20" Finnex Planted+ 24/7 CC light on the way. I'm going to be using Flourish to help the plants grow.

I started out with basic live plants from the get go, so I just don't see the point in fake plants

Just thought it was simple. No need to trim or maintain, look is always the same, etc. That's a pro and a con. It didn't take long for me to convert over to live plants. About a month, LOL.

2/18/2018 Update:

I lost a Rasbora this am. They all looked fine yesterday, even looked fine this am. I took my daughter to a Futsal game and when we got back a few hours later one was dead, upside down at the bottom of the tank. No visible damage.

Then a bit later I noticed some white looking film on my Betta, I didn't notice it yesterday. I showed a few pictures and this video the the folks at my local family-owned pet shop and they thought it looked like Velvet. Then upon further searching online looking at other pictures of that disease, I'd have to agree with them.

This could have been the reason my Rasbora dropped dead out of the blue. It could also be the reason some of my Cory's seem to be getting beat up recently by the Betta, if he is stressed he may be attacking them (at least I hope that's the reason).

I picked up some Seachem ParaGuard and started my first treatment today. Day 1 of 21... Good times!

 

I got to admit, crinum calamistratum looks awesome!

 

I like your tank. The only issue I see with your “plan” is the weekly water changes.

Those should be dictated by your nitrate levels. As heavily stocked as you are, I doubt 30% weekly won’t keep nitrates below 40ppm but we’ll see once you’re cycled.

I have a tank, heavily stocked that requires 2 30% pwc a week. My other, moderately stocked tanks only need one a week.

 

I like your tank. The only issue I see with your “plan” is the weekly water changes.

Those should be dictated by your nitrate levels. As heavily stocked as you are, I doubt 30% weekly won’t keep nitrates below 40ppm but we’ll see once you’re cycled.

I have a tank, heavily stocked that requires 2 30% pwc a week. My other, moderately stocked tanks only need one a week.

That's where live plants come in

 

I like your tank. The only issue I see with your “plan” is the weekly water changes.

Those should be dictated by your nitrate levels. As heavily stocked as you are, I doubt 30% weekly won’t keep nitrates below 40ppm but we’ll see once you’re cycled.

I have a tank, heavily stocked that requires 2 30% pwc a week. My other, moderately stocked tanks only need one a week.

Yeah, I agree. I will monitor nitrates closely and if I need to change water more often, or in a higher amount, I will do so. Like you said, that will be adjusted depending on readings once the cycle fully completes.

That's where live plants come in

I've recently swapped out all the fake plants for live ones. I have 5 plants in there now. I've been bitten by the live plant bug!

 

I've recently swapped out all the fake plants for live ones. I have 5 plants in there now. I've been bitten by the live plant bug!

I started out with basic live plants from the get go, so I just don't see the point in fake plants

 

My 36 bowfront that aqadvisor says is stocked at 105% has 3 swords, java fern feet of hornwort and a couple others I don’t remember right now and I change 10 gallons (30%) on Sunday and 15 gallons (45%) on Thursday and I barely get my nitrates under 20ppm.

You may have better luck than me.

Good luck with your disease.

Seems like you are on top of it.

The whole hobby is addictive; tanks, fish, plants. There is satisfaction when you get it right.

 

My 36 bowfront that aqadvisor says is stocked at 105% has 3 swords, java fern feet of hornwort and a couple others I don’t remember right now and I change 10 gallons (30%) on Sunday and 15 gallons (45%) on Thursday and I barely get my nitrates under 20ppm.

You may have better luck than me.

Wow, yeah, I'm going to have to keep a close eye on it.

What target do you shoot for? Depending on where I look, I see varying recommendations for Nitrate levels. The API Test kit says keep it under 40. Online some sites say 5-10 while others say under 50. Just not sure what's an "okay" zone without getting too anal about it.

02/18/2018 Update 2:

Just a few hours after adding the first 5ml dosage of Seachem ParaGuard to my tank and the Betta already looks better. The white film on the top of his head (in the video above) I can't even see any more. He had some under his mouth, on the bottom of his body (which you don't see in the video) that's still there but I'm surprised at the visual changes to the top of his body in just a few hours! Maybe it's because I caught this so soon, or it's just a kick- product. Either way, I'll keep monitoring.

 

I do a water change when it gets to 40. I’m gone 2-3 days a week but notice the nitrates rise less, probably since they aren’t being fed.

On my established tanks I only test for nitrates unless I observe something funny going on.

 

02/19/2018 Update:

Woke up this am, turned on the light to check on the fish, 1 Rasbora had died overnight, no damage just dead. Within the next 30 minutes or so I saw another Rasbora struggling to swim and kept flipping upside down on the bottom of the tank until he just stopped moving.

I did a water test, ammonia was 1.0ppm which had been normal lately and I had been dosing Prime daily to keep that amount neutralized but something is happening and I'm tired of losing fish. I know it's par for the course when adding fish to a non-cycled tank, especially being new to the hobby, but it still bothers me.

I did a 30% water change.

I went to the gym, then returned a few hours later and tested the water for ammonia again, it was at 0.5 ppm this time.

I did another 30% water change.

I waited a bit and tested the water again and now it was down to 0.25 ppm.

I'm still adding Prime to the tank daily to neutralize the ammonia, but I'm no longer going to let me water sit above 0.25 ppm. If I see it higher, I'm going to do a water change (or changes) to get it down to 0.25 ppm or lower, even if it takes longer to cycle the tank.

The ammonia reading after the first 30% water change is on the left, the ammonia reading after the second 30% water change is on the right. I may end up doing another 30% change later today to make sure the reading is below 0.25 ppm:

 

Stick with it.

Probably too much stock in the beginning. But you are on the right track managing your ammonia. Any nitrites?

 

I had some nitrite show up daily starting on 2/05/2018, lasting through 2/13/2018. Each day within that time meframe it was at 0.25 ppm. On 2/14/2018 it went to 0 ppm and hasn’t shown up since. I added my Cycle Log to the original post.

 

IMO you were better on 2/13 then you are now.

I did a 25%_33% on all of my tanks on Thursday 2/15, tonight one 20 tall with 1 mommy guppy and about 22-25 3 week old guppies was just under 40ppm. The community was over 60ppm and my 20 tall with 9 cherry barbs, 2 mystery snails and 1 nerite snail was just under 20ppm.

The guppy tank got a 25% water change, the community got a 33% water change and I left the cherry barb tank for tomorrow.

But the good news was my dirty tank read ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates about 10ppm. I moved 2 fish in there, zebra danios. One male and one female that is fat, probably full of eggs. Tomorrow I plan on moving a pair of cherry barbs in too.

My plan was to put 6 sterbia corys and a betta fish in this 20 long but may use it as a breeder until it is well seasoned.

The dirty is heavily planted.

 

02/20/2018 8:30am:

I did end up doing a 3rd 30% water change yesterday to make sure I was <=0.25ppm ammonia.

All the fish look good this am. A few of the Rasboras that looked to be struggling to swim/breathe are better today. Fed them just a little bit and they all seemed to be eating.

Tested the water this am:

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0.0ppm

I just ordered some Amazon Frogbit for my tank, I wanted a bit of coverage from the top and I think the roots hanging down will look pretty cool.

 

And eat nitrates once you get your cycle complete.

I have lots of plants in all of my tanks but the floating plants eat the most nitrates thus reducing water changes.

 

02/20/2018:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: None
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

02/21/2018:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: None
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

02/22/2018:

Ammonia: 0.50 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: 50%
Ammonia (after WC): 0.25 ppm
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

Tank Picture (02/22/2018):



New Finnex Planet Plus 24/7 CC installed yesterday. The lights seem to have a PAR value of 63 at 12" depth (top of substrate). Now, since I have a glass top, my research shows that will reduce the PAR value by 10%-15%. Taking the average of these two off the top, 12.5%, that gives me a PAR value of 55 at 12" depth when the light is on its Max setting which I'm going to run for 6 hours only (12pm-3pm and 3pm-6pm windows).




I was toying with the light schedule after reading that there can be some concerns with Algae if I run these lights too long per day without C02 and I have the current schedule I may stick with.

 

Your tank looks good.

May I suggest a back cover. Black poster board is cheap and makes the colors of fish really stand out but I prefer commercial ones. A couple of mine are black and silver although I hate the TRaiders. But they make my fish pop.

I like the sponge filter too.

Let us know when you start showing nitrates.

 

Your tank looks good.

May I suggest a back cover. Black poster board is cheap and makes the colors of fish really stand out but I prefer commercial ones. A couple of mine are black and silver although I hate the TRaiders. But they make my fish pop.

I like the sponge filter too.

Let us know when you start showing nitrates.

Thank you!

I really like the idea of black backdrop, I never even thought of that. I knew I didn't want one of those fake tropical backgrounds but a solid black one sounds pretty cool. Great idea!

 

I had some nitrite show up daily starting on 2/05/2018, lasting through 2/13/2018. Each day within that time meframe it was at 0.25 ppm. On 2/14/2018 it went to 0 ppm and hasn’t shown up since. I added my Cycle Log to the original post.

View attachment 411216

I just realized something, on 2/12/2018, at some point in the day I replaced my black gravel completely with Eco-Complete. After looking at the numbers, and how long the tank had been cycling before replacing the substrate (2 weeks), I'm betting that swap pretty much restarted my cycle. The days following that swap I see the nitrite and nitrate numbers drop to the point they were both back at 0. I'm betting the replacement of the substrate removed a great deal of the bacteria that had started to form in my tank. I don't regret making the change, much happier with the Eco-Complete but at least now I have what seems to be an explanation to why my numbers changed. So if that in essence restarted my cycle, I'm about 1.5 weeks into the new one.

 

Tabs are in! Time for root feeding!

 

02/23/2018 Update:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: None
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

Days since tank built: 25 days
Days since substrate changed (aka cycle restart, whoops): 11 days

 

02/24/2018 Update:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: None
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

Days since tank built: 26 days
Days since substrate changed (aka cycle restart, whoops): 12 days

 

You're tank looks awesome !
Glad you're betta got a better home with much more space so he can thrive in it

 

You're tank looks awesome !
Glad you're betta got a better home with much more space so he can thrive in it

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

I have a black background planned, blocking the view of the wall.
I also have some Frogbit on the way to add some coverage from the top and roots hanging down into that water that should look pretty cool.

 

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

I have a black background planned, blocking the view of the wall.
I also have some Frogbit on the way to add some coverage from the top and roots hanging down into that water that should look pretty cool.

Can't wait to see it !

 

$7 Background added! Thanks Home Depot!

 

Looks great!!!

 

Took advantage of the Petsmart $10 off $10 coupon today and picked up a pack of Staurogyne Repens for a bit more small plant coverage on the bottom of the tank. The package contained 4 small plants that I used to fill in a few bare areas of my tank (what a pain to plant in Eco Complete!). Also, my Frogbit came in today from Ebay. I'm glad I ordered 6 of those, they are tiny (you can see a few of them floating on top of the water).




Here's a "moonlight" setting I have configured on my Finnex Planet Plus 24/7 CC, 0% White, 0% Red, 10% Green, 10% Blue. It looks a little bright in the picture due to the TV being on in the room when I took the pic.




02/26/2018 Update:
Ammonia: 0.50 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Nitrate: 0.0 ppm
Water Change: 50% (20% morning, 30% late afternoon)
Ammonia (post WC): 0.25 ppm
Prime: 0.25 ml (to neutralize 0.25 ppm of Ammonia)

Days since tank built: 28 days
Days since substrate changed (aka cycle restart, whoops): 14 days

 

In a month you have come a long ways!

Let me warn you, you are addicted!

Bet you are already thinking/planning your next tank?

I started one 11/1/17. I now have a 36, 20L, two 20T, a 5 and just started another 20T this past weekend.

Then i’m done!

Until I do my 90, angelfish tank but I want to wait at least 4 months.

Great thing is you can use a filter in your existing tank to cycle your next one.

Several days later. I was at LFS today. I asked if they regularly have the 90 for $179.00 and they said yes. Gonna start building the stand. I’ll take photos along the way.

Won’t be pretty but will be strong.

 

In a month you have come a long ways!

Let me warn you, you are addicted!

Bet you are already thinking/planning your next tank?

I started one 11/1/17. I now have a 36, 20L, two 20T, a 5 and just started another 20T this past weekend.

Then i’m done!

Until I do my 90, angelfish tank but I want to wait at least 4 months.

Great thing is you can use a filter in your existing tank to cycle your next one.

You have no idea... I was looking at tanks on Craigslist and the Facebook marketplace last night. My wife would kill me!! Ate up...

03/01/2018 Update:

Cycle News:

Day 17
Still keeping ammonia low, at <=0.25 ppm with water changes then neutralizing that 0.25 ppm with Prime.
Still no nitrite yet.

Plant News:
Plants are doing really well since adding Flourish for the water column feeders (02/20/2018) and Flourish Tabs for the root feeders (02/23/2018) and replacing my Nicrew ClassicLED light with the Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 CC (02/21/2018). I'm seeing nice growth on a few plants already.

Lighting News:

I noticed my Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 CC's custom schedule wasn't working as intended. I had intended on having complete darkness between 12am and 6am but I woke up today at 5am and noticed there were lights on in my tank. I shot an email to Finnex and they actually called me to discuss it. It seems that this light slowly transitions between time periods, it doesn't do an instant cut (which is pretty cool). So while my initial plan had 3am set to complete darkness, I had my 6am setting set to 10% for all the lights (white, red, green, and blue) to give a sort of "sunrise" feel to the tank. But the way the 24/7 works it was slowly transitioning from complete darkness at 3am to the 10% I had set for 6am between the 3am-6am window.

That also made my realize that my goal of having 6 hours of max light wasn't working as intended because I had my 6pm setting set to 50%. This had my tank start to fade from 100% at 3pm to the 50% I had set at 6pm so between the 3pm-6pm window I wasn't getting the full light I wanted.

I now have things working the way I want it. I have have 6 hours of complete darkness, 12am-6am. I have a slow sunrise starting at 6am and the light then gradually increases until 12pm when it hits the 100% max intensity I have set. I then have max intensity from 12pm-6pm. Then I have a semi-slow sunset from 6pm-9pm when the "moonlight" mode kicks in. Then the moonlight slowly fades away until 12am when the tank goes completely dark.

PAR settings in the screenshots are based off the Finnex specs, measuring the distance from the light to my substrate and then subtracting 12.5% off that number to compensate for having a glass lid the light has to penetrate through which supposedly kills 10%-15% of the light intensity.

Original Plan:



New Plan:

 

Kool. I bought one for my community 6 weeks ago. But the glass top I ordered came broken.

The replacement is at my other house. I plan to install it Sunday night.

I want what you have, or close to it. I want 8!hours of max light, 8 hours of dark.. that gives 4 hours to transition on and 4 hours to transition off.

Is that doable with this light?

If I have issues, I may reach out to you.

Depending on plant growth, I may adjust from there.

 

Kool. I bought one for my community 6 weeks ago. But the glass top I ordered came broken.

The replacement is at my other house. I plan to install it Sunday night.

I want what you have, or close to it. I want 8!hours of max light, 8 hours of dark.. that gives 4 hours to transition on and 4 hours to transition off.

Is that doable with this light?

If I have issues, I may reach out to you.

The custom mode works in 3 hour windows, but it fades between transitional periods so I think you can get close but you may have to be flexible with your hard set goal of 8 hours.

From 9am-12pm I'm getting some light but not max light because it's transitioning into the max light I have set to start at 12pm. I then have 6 hours of max light from 12pm-6pm. Then again between 6pm-9pm I'm getting some light, but not max light because it's transitioning to my "moonlight" setting that starts at 9pm. Then the moonlight (which is pretty much just for looks) slowly fades away until 12am when it goes black.

So due to the transition feature, I'm sure I'm getting really close to what you're looking for, but still utilizing the cool transition effects that makes the 24/7 CC special. I think it's really cool once it's set up, it looks very nice in action. It really feels like a true day/night cycle vs. the feeling of flipping a light switch on/off.

If you need to adjust light amounts to control plant growth, it's fully under your control. You can adjust intensity for each 3 hour window to tweak it out like crazy to find the special amount of light you want but you have to take the transitions into account. Each color spectrum, white, red, blue, green can be adjusted up/down by 10% increments for every 3 hour window. You have tons of control and ability to manipulate this light like crazy to find what works best for your tank/needs.

 

Thanks

 

Frogbit is growing, roots taking off already...




03/03/2018 Update:

Finally, 33 days after starting my tank and 19 days after changing my entire substrate out (in essence starting my cycle over), I have Nitrites! I’m also getting a 5.0 reading on Nitrate but I get the same reading with my tap water.

Let me warn you, you are addicted!

Bet you are already thinking/planning your next tank?

Guess who now owns a 29 gallon tank?

 

Guess who now owns a 29 gallon tank?

It's a slippery slope... better slow down now or be forever doomed to a life of fish