Graydogs New 40 gal Breeder

[Graydog913]

Well when I came on board this forum I thought I was going to set up my old 75 gal BF
I decided to go a different direction , The main reason for me setting up was I wanted to get back into a
planted tank . So I purchased a 40 breeder on sale , bought a NICREW led light . I'm using a RENA Filstar xp3 canister fillter with a old live bi-o bag from a good friend . some old gravel that came back with my old 75 gal .
rinsed that gravel really good a few times dumped it in the tank, figured out my hard scape (rocks and wood )
scraped back the gravel in the areas that I wanted plants and dumped in some Fluval Stratum and covered it up with gravel added a few API root tabs . filled the tank with water added API Quick start and some DeChlor .
planted the plants and let it run for a few days with 12hr light cycle
added a few fish on the 3rd day
I did a 50% water change on the 5th day
plants are growing , fish are happy
10 zebra dans
4 Ottos
8 Cory cats
testing with ADVATEC 9 in 1 test strips , numbers are doing really good .
Tank has been up and running with Fish and plants for 3 1/2 weeks

 

[86 ssinit]

Tank looks great! All looks good. You may have a problem with the ottos. They only eat bio$film and algae and are usually added to well established tanks.

 

[Graydog913]

Tank looks great! All looks good. You may have a problem with the ottos. They only eat bio$film and algae and are usually added to well established tanks.

I have been feeding the Cory's and the ottos small sinking pellets and algae disks. And they are always working cleaning something

 

[Graydog913]

So I think I am done for awhile, added 4 of my favorite fish, I had kept them 20 years ago and just really liked the look and habits. They are one of the reasons that I decided to get back into this amazing world.

 

[Graydog913]

So was thinking about getting a backup filter of some sort in case of a failure with my current canister filter.
Everything is good at this time but I really don't know how old the current canister is , my nephew gave it to me when I picked up my old 75 bow front from him.
I'm guessing that that he bought 5 or so years ago and didn't use it much.
Maybe some sort of sponge filter for emergency use?
What do you think?
Like I said everything is going great right now, plants are growing and fish are very happy

 

[KeeperOFnano]

A good size sponge filter should help with this. We like having 1-2 running in seasoned tanks to seed newer setups and if anything like a filter fail happens.

Can't hurt,

Great looking tank!

 

[Graydog913]

A good size sponge filter should help with this. We like having 1-2 running in seasoned tanks to seed newer setups and if anything like a filter fail happens.

Can't hurt,

Great looking tank!

Thanks

 

[86 ssinit]

This is my back up filter on most of my tanks.
There is the one and a 250. Both work great and have 2 sponges. Makes it t real easy to start up a qt tank.

 

[Graydog913]

Plants are growing

 

[Graydog913]

What do think? I added this to my tank this morning

 

[86 ssinit]

Looks good! Brazilian swords make nice top plants too.

 

[Graydog913]

So I developed a small outbreak of BBA on my Java moss and driftwood , rather than dumping chemicals in
I added 4 American Flag Fish
4 red and orange Platys
2 SAE s
BBS is almost completely gone in just 4 days
Great clean up crew

 

[DanB80TTS]

So I developed a small outbreak of BBA on my Java moss and driftwood , rather than dumping chemicals in
I added 4 American Flag Fish
4 red and orange Platys
2 SAE s
BBS is almost completely gone in just 4 days
Great clean up crew

Great choices, I think SAE’s do the best at BBA in my experience and they are a really interesting fish, I’ve 2 that are over 5 years old.
The flag fish are incredible for hair algae so don’t expect to ever see that in your tank, I’ve had them be a little aggressive before but they levelled out.

 

[Graydog913]

Update on my 40b