TMX - Planted Tank / Betta Build and Journal.

[TMX]

So I have my original post over here. LINK
I am going to keep that one for asking all my various questions and looking for feedback.

This journal will tell the story, but I must warn you it will be slow to start, I do not want to get into a hurry as this is my first tank of any sort in 30 years, and my first planted tank.

INTRO:
Welcome to this wild and fun adventure, this will chronicle the setup, planting, stocking and life of my very first planted tank. The tank is a 20 gallon long and the main star of the show will be a Betta fish, but I am looking to have some community/tankmates as well.

Not sure where this will take me or end up, but I hope everyone that reads along, enjoys the ride!

I will post some pictures tonight when I get home of the very few things I have accumulated and of where we are placing the tank.

Let’s hope this is a great experience!!!

 

[fishywoo]

So I have my original post over here. LINK
I am going to keep that one for asking all my various questions and looking for feedback.

This journal will tell the story, but I must warn you it will be slow to start, I do not want to get into a hurry as this is my first tank of any sort in 30 years, and my first planted tank.

INTRO:
Welcome to this wild and fun adventure, this will chronicle the setup, planting, stocking and life of my very first planted tank. The tank is a 20 gallon long and the main star of the show will be a Betta fish, but I am looking to have some community/tankmates as well.

Not sure where this will take me or end up, but I hope everyone that reads along, enjoys the ride!

I will post some pictures tonight when I get home of the very few things I have accumulated and of where we are placing the tank.

Let’s hope this is a great experience!!!

Looking forward to it!

 

[TMX]

So, going to try and catch up on about 2 weeks' worth of action in one post
First thing, I am setting up 2 tanks as part of this project, the 20 gal Long as the main and a 5 gallon "Baby Tank" that will act as the transition / QT

First here is the basic idea for the hardscape of the Main tank




The 20 gallon in its home, sorry about the reflections and the gnome......



Prepping the Hospital/transition tank
Would like to have this one up and running with some plants this week.

Last night I got the "Baby Tank" set up and started the fishless cycle process.
Assembled the tank and supporting peripheral devices.
Dosed the ACO Easy Dechlorinator @ 0.5 mL for the 5 gallons
Added 1.5 mL of pure Ammonia - more on this in a second
Added a 2X dose of Top Fin Aquarium Readistart Nitrifying Bacteria Starter

Tested Water:

Here she is in all her glory!

Waiting on a mystery bag of "Easy" plants to arrive, also have some hides/caves arriving today and tomorrow.

The only substrate will be in the terracotta pots, along with the Root tabs, these will house the plants.
Tonight, I will test the ammonia and do another 2X dose of the bacteria.
From there I will test and track the ammonia, keeping at 3-4 ppm until the tank can cycle it out.
Then move on to the Nitrite/Nitrate testing

SO, about the Ammonia dosing. after I put the first 1.5mL I waited 2 hours and tested it, it was at 3ppm, however I set the test strip upside down, these are on a clear plastic strip, so looking at the back I thought there was no change, so I added a second round of 1.5mL. When I went to toss the test strip, I noticed that it was wrong way around, and that it was reading at 3ppm, I didn't retest, I will tonight, so I hope all is well, I am assuming it is, as all my reading said while high 6ppm is not drastic bad!

Now, everyone, even me, is all caught up

 

[TMX]

Test results from last night


a little worried about the GH
Also, this morning, the light came on for its 8-hour cycle!

Plants arrive tomorrow

 

[TMX]

Heading out to a local Aqua scaping store, looking at some substrate for the build.
Currently the idea is CaribSea Super Natural Midnight River Sand, on the "mountain or left side of the tank, and Aqua Natural Ice White mixed with Succulent and Cactus Gravel Pebbles to try and achieve THIS LOOK

The shop I am going Aqua Rocks Colorado has the Black Diamond Sand that is supposed to be very close to the Midnight River.

 

[TMX]

Baby tank water reading for today - day 4 of new tank cycle

 

[TMX]

Been working out the base structure of the scape, think I will go with some egg crate to achieve the overall contour of the floor and add some elevation and support for the large stone. The initial plane is to fill in the egg crate with Black Diamond Blasting Sand, with some Flourish Tabs, dropped in the egg crate openings in the areas where I “think” I will be planting.

From there I will Top with the CaribSea Super Natural Midnight River and the Aqua Natural Ice White, and plant all things plants
Would this Black Diamond Abrasive Blast Media work as the base substrate?

 

[TMX]

Plants from my mystery pack came in:
Anubias Nana
Java Fern
Ozelot Sword
Crypt Lutea
Anubias Barteri

Can I just float them for a few days
Should I take the Java and Anubias out of the pots?
I hope to be able to get them planted tomorrow

 

[TMX]

Today and yesterday's numbers
Still just waiting, I did replace that large reptile rock with a smaller one, hope to "plant" tomorrow.
Planting = BDBS in the terracotta pots with a root tab, and gluing the other stuff to a pot or rock
Need to add ferts, on the way by....

 

[TMX]

Today I got all my plants out of the rock-wool and in pots or glued to the rock cave.
I like the way this little tank is progressing.




I did spill my tub of washed substrate on the floor!



Last night these were my numbers:

Not sure what to do with them, I am adding Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green fertilizer, so that is probably throwing off the Nitrite reading, and not sure what impact the plants are having on the Nitrate reading.

I am dosing 0.5ml of Great Value pure ammonia so that might be anywhere between 1.5ppm and 3ppm depending on the strength (5%-10%) it is not listed on the label. I need to nail this down!

I have not added any livestock yet, and any advice is very welcome.

T

 

[TMX]

First water change today, went pretty well.
Ok, about a 80-90% water change
gH-60ppm
kH-80ppm
Ph-7
Nitrite (NO2) 3
Nitrate (NO3) 20
Amm - 0

Added an algae wafer
Again, there is fertilizer at play here, but I will do another water change Friday if you think it is needed

 

[TMX]

Today's readings - used the API Master liquid test for the Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate, and the strips for the others
Still see part of the algae wafer on the bottom
Will check again tomorrow!

 

[TMX]

So, pretty soon, I am going to be able to start adding fish to my QT. This means I need to plan out the stocking of my main tank.
I want it fairly simple so my thought is 3 species

Celestial Pearl Danio
Mix school of Corydoras
And 1 Betta Imbellis
Filtration will be a Marina S20, & 2 10 gallon sponge filters

Would like to have 8-10 of the schooling fish, will this be to much? Also, the QT tank will not take that much of a bio load, so should I do like 3 and 3 until I get up to my numbers or is there a better way?

Tim

Fighting to get through the initial cycle but making progress.
Today's numbers
I did not add ammonia last night like I was planning, went on date night with the wife instead!

Results are from the ACO test strips
Will check tomorrow and see what the trend is.
If numbers are the same or worse will do another max water change and go from there.

 

[TMX]

Did not measure ammonia, 90% water changes, the numbers are before the water change
Going to dose 0.75ml of ammonia should put me in the 3-4 ppm range, and then check it tomorrow
Like that I have no fish to worry about, but if I am honest, I am ready to move into having them

The AqAdvier report
Filtration: 20 gallon worth of sponge, 20gallon HOB
Selected species:
1 x Betta Imbellis (Betta imbellis)
8 x Gold Laser Cory Cw010 (Corydoras sp. Cw010)
8 x Julii Cory (Corydoras julii)
10 x Celestial Pearl Danio (Danio margaritatus)

Warning: You should add more aquarium filtration capacity.
Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 80%.Help on Filtration capacity
Recommended water change schedule: 44% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 99%

 

[TMX]

Current stocking Idea

 

[TMX]

Did some work on the polycarbonate lids for the main tank and the QT tank today.

Replaced the plastic back with the poly to help close up a gap I was not happy with,
Still need to add the hinges, just to keep everything attached.

For the QT, I did a complete lid replacement, the plexiglass lid I made a few weeks ago was kind of garbage.


Experimented with installing airline fittings through the lid to help clean up some of the tubing.
Just did it one side for the QT, but I will utilize this method when I run the air line for the main tank.




I have some last pieces of hardscape that should be in this week, so I hope to actually start laying out the main tank this week

 

[QuesosMom]

I love the plants in flowerpots! That’s so cute