Yin Yang 40 Gallon Breeder Tank

Well my 40 gallon breeder stand is all build, so now for the other fun part, actually doing the tank!

Information on My Tank:

Size: 40 gallon breeder
Filter: EHIEM Classic 2217

Substrate: Sand

Temp: 77 degrees Fahrenheit

Moderately planted at least, Low tech

Planned Stocking:
8 Diamond tetras
8 celebes rainbowfish
12 KuhilI loaches (6 black, 6 banded)
1 or 2 Pearl Gourami
1 Queen Arabesque pleco
A bunch of mystery, nerite and MTS snails.

We'll see if this stays the same lol.

Theme: Yin Yang

Ying Yang is more then just a black and white circle, it's all about having two opposites coming together in harmony. I'm looking to create a balanced, peaceful community tank both in my peaceful fish I chose, as well as the decor.

I will be doing some plants before I cycle the tank. Then I will start to buy fish, quarantine them, then put them in.

Current Stage: Planning






I made this little template that will go inside my tank to give me the yin yang sides when I pour in the sand.




Here is tank on the stand and yes the pictures behind it will be moved.





I didn't want to go with an all white sand so instead I am doing a yin yang of dark and light.





I actually put this on my tank's front so it's the exact size of my tank. I'm a visual person and will be using this guide to work with the rule of thirds during my aquascaping.




I will be connecting these two pieces of drift wood and they will go right side of my tank.

Plants wise I need to figure out what plants to do to achieve yin yang dark versus light, big versus small any suggestions are welcomed.

 

The paper layout is pretty smart! Your sand will probably mix eventually bit I'm following this thread to see your end result

 

I agree with HappiestCamper, you should make you Ying Yang template longer so that even when sand mixes over time, there is still a visible portion of the black on the white side and vice versa.

 

HappiestCamper Yeah I have always been able to plan things out better if I can see it physically. Of course that means extra work lol.

Thanks for the suggestion Florian Pellet. I shall try to make it slightly longer, though I'm okay if it mixes in a little bit.

Tonight I am going to be giving the sand a rinse and hopefully adding it into the tank. Paycheck is tomorrow so will be able to shop around for plants, plus I am looking for another piece of drift wood to go into the other corner.

 

Found the second piece of driftwood and I am currently waiting for my background and lights and plants to come through the mail. I like this driftwood because it has nice cave down the middle, plus notches for plants and another place on the side to swim through. It will probably lay like this in my tank, but be at an angle on the left side.

 

Definitely can't wait to see the finished result. This makes me want to do a yin yang betta tank

 

The background came today. It came in a shipping tube and this is the first thing I saw when I opened our front door:




I thought that was kind of funny. Don't mind the dinosaur and little foot. My husband and I will be putting it on the aquarium later tonight. My lights came today too.

 

Here is the background:




I don't have my lid yet so it's not lit up as well. I was holding a phone to try and light it up while my husband took the picture. Looks a lot brighter in real life. I loved the darkness and the light spots of this background, beautiful night sky.

My sand is also in, though I need to rake it a bit.

PS: The pictures also moved, but still got in this picture!

 

Oh, I can't wait to see it when it's done!! It already looks amazing!!

 

Current Stage: Cycle and Plants and Rearranging

Got my plants, the top, and the light. I spent three days boiling and soaking the driftwood. The larger piece I actually put in my bathtub inside a plastic bag and filled it up with boiling water. They do all sink lol.

I glued a couple anubias to each driftwood, filled the tank up then planted the plants that had arrived. It's still a bit bare looking but I have a second order of plants coming. The picture also looks a bit cloudy because of the spray bar was just put on.

Alright so here are some pictures:

The entire tank is below




Then the left side.




This is the right side through the front.

 

I have started my fishless cycle. I use pure ammonia from ACE. Currently at 2PPM Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates. When I get closer to being done with the cycle I will buy my first group of fish to quarantine for 4 weeks.

PS: I am still waiting for second bunch of plants to come.

 

I will be posting pictures soon of my new plants, camera needs to charge. My tank cycling is now as follows:

Ammonia 2.0
Nitrites: .25
Nitrates: 0

 

I have nitrates already, that is so odd. My ammonia did go down to zero so I put it back up last night.

Ammonia: 2.0
Nitrites: between 2.0 and 5.0
Nitrates: Between 2.0 and 4.0

 

Nitrates could be from your tap. Have you tested it?

 

Nitrates could be from your tap. Have you tested it?

I am really lucky with my tap water it doesn't have nitraties, nitrites, nor ammonia in it.

 

I am really lucky with my tap water it doesn't have nitraties, nitrites, nor ammonia in it.

Well them you're in luck! You haven't primed your cycle with anything? Old media / TSS+ / ... ?

 

Well them you're in luck! You haven't primed your cycle with anything? Old media / TSS+ / ... ?

Nope just pure ammonia. You know not that I think about it my five gallon also cycled much quicker then I thought it would also used just pure ammonia.

I know temp. can effect it but it's only up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit on this tank.

 

Yay my camera is working again!

Ammonia was down to .25 tonight dosed it up again.





Nitrites is at 5.0 geesh do you think I need to get rid of some of that with a water change?




Nitrates is up to 20




My favorite plant so far is this little dwarf lilly just look at how many pretty lilly leaves it has now. It started with only two. It's just growing so well.




My crypts are having a melt down which is normal for crypts when first planted in a new tank, they will calm down, then get all happy with new growth they are emotional plants lol.

 

Ammonia went down to zero again, and nitrite is at 5.0 while nitrate is still 20. More plants arrived today so I'll be taking a picture of those tonight.

 

Ammonia : 0 (again)
Nitrite: 5.0
Nitrate: 20

I'm thinking about doing a small water change just to get nitrite down it's pretty high and I'm worried about stalling the cycle, what do you think @CindiL ?


Besides that my tank is now.....planted! It is a bit on the fuzzy side this picture due to planting lol.




My two girls picked out two decorations the Yin Yang dolphin and Skull.





What Plants I used:

Anubias Lanceolata (on driftwood)

Anubias Hastifolia (on driftwood) Water Wisteria Subwassertang Moss (on driftwood) Vesuvius Sword Cryptocoryne WendtiI Green Cryptocoryne WendtiI bronze Crypt Petchii Dwarf Lily Bulb Anubias Nana (on driftwood) Anubias AfzeliI (on driftwood) Radican Marble Queen Sword Narrow Leaf Anacharis

 

Hi, Are you still re-dosing ammonia when it gets to 0? When was the last time you dosed it? Depending on how long its been at 0 I would give it an extra 24 hours without re-dosing so the nitrite converting bacteria can catch up.

If its already been at 0 for 24 hours then yes I would do a 75% water change to get those nitrites down.

Everything looks beautiful

 

Hi, Are you still re-dosing ammonia when it gets to 0? When was the last time you dosed it? Depending on how long its been at 0 I would give it an extra 24 hours without re-dosing so the nitrite converting bacteria can catch up.

If its already been at 0 for 24 hours then yes I would do a 75% water change to get those nitrites down.

Everything looks beautiful

Yeah I actually gave it 24 hours without dosing ammonia hoping the Nitrite would go down. I'll do a water change tonight then. Thank you.

 

LOL now your tank doesn't look like a ying yang it looks like just 1/2 black sand half brown. It would be nice if you had a cylinder or circular tank!

 

LOL now your tank doesn't look like a ying yang it looks like just 1/2 black sand half brown. It would be nice if you had a cylinder or circular tank!

Kind of true, depends on your definition. I wasn't going by the literal Yin Yang symbol as much as I was by what it means, a balance of opposites. I went a little abstract and symbolic.

On the left I have darker substrate with a large driftwood and mostly smaller lighter plants. On the right I have lighter substrate with smaller driftwood and and mostly larger darker green plants.

The middle shows the two colors mixed together as well as the sword plant and the Yin Yang dolphin figurine bridging the two opposite sides.

 

Good News: I did do the water change and got those nitrites down lower.

Bad News: I forgot to add more ammonia to keep the Nitirtes...and now I have zero in everything. Oops! I am now starting the cycle again.

 

That sucks but hey at least your cycling correctly. Many beginners don't see the importance or understand cycling and they don't have the patience. Sometimes it takes a month to cycle a tank since you might have problems

 

That sucks but hey at least your cycling correctly. Many beginners don't see the importance or understand cycling and they don't have the patience. Sometimes it takes a month to cycle a tank since you might have problems

Very true, I'm very lucky I found this site and helpful people such as yourself. My ten gallon cycled so quickly with pure ammonia it must have been pure luck.

 

Good News: I did do the water change and got those nitrites down lower.

Bad News: I forgot to add more ammonia to keep the Nitirtes...and now I have zero in everything. Oops! I am now starting the cycle again.

How long were you without ammonia? I'm sure they're not dead, nitrosonomas can go a very long time without food, they go into a dormancy state. You should start seeing readings.

 

How long were you without ammonia? I'm sure they're not dead, nitrosonomas can go a very long time without food, they go into a dormancy state. You should start seeing readings.

Only a day so I'll see tonight what it looks like since I did add the ammonia last night. I usually test at night when the kids are asleep for this tank.

 

Alright so I must not have messed up the cycle too much because tonight my readings are:

Ammonia : between .25 and .50
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20

I do wonder why the nitrites are still zero unless my water change was just that good.

 

Its possible they finally dropped. Another day or two will let you know!

 

Nitrites should be at 0 so that's a good thing.

 

Well I know at least something is still happening because my ammonia does go down every time I dose it.

Tonight it is:

Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 20

 

See if its down to 0 tonight.

 

Ammonia went down again from my dossing last night.

Ammonia: .50
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20

 

You're not quite there but close. You'll be cycled when it can convert the 1.0 ammonia in 24 hours.

 

You're not quite there but close. You'll be cycled when it can convert the 1.0 ammonia in 24 hours.

I'm starting to think plant dips just don't work since now I have seen one ramshorn snail and several bladder snails. Do you think these snails will effect the cycling?

 

No, they won't effect the cycling.

 

I'm starting to think plant dips just don't work since now I have seen one ramshorn snail and several bladder snails. Do you think these snails will effect the cycling?

What did you use for a dip?

 

What did you use for a dip?

I used instructions for an Alum plant dip. The plants stayed in the alum solution for several days. Then I rinsed the planted really well with warm water before putting them into my tank.

As of today:

Ammonia: .50
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20

Man so close, so very close.