40B Build - Doing Lots of Stuff I'm Not Supposed To Do

[BigJim]

I looked it up after buying the Black Blast, but before adding it to the tank. The threads and articles I read were split maybe 60/40 in opposition of using this stuff. However, a fair portion of the opposed didn't have a concrete reason and were erring on the side of caution. I believe some were also confusing iron slag and coal slag.

Here's the solid reasons why people were against using it and my dispute with the reasons:

1. It'll leach toxic chemicals into the water. - I really doubt OSHA would let something get sold as an industrial medium without disclosing all toxins on the MSDS.

2. It says "sharp" on the bag so it'll cut up the fish. Someone did an autopsy on a fish kept on the stuff and it was all cut up inside. - I ground the stuff between my palms and didn't feel anything really sharp. I compared it side by side with Quickrete Medium sand, on which I keep several happy panda cories, and the Black Blast was just slightly rougher. It's about the same texture as play sand that I use in another tank. I wasn't able to find these autopsy results anywhere.

3. It'll leach chemicals and cause algae blooms. - I was willing to take the chance. Worst case I have to buy a bag of Tahitian moon sand to cover the top. So far, there's only a little bit of BBA on one piece of anacharis and it may have been there when the plant went in the tank. I have a 4ft long T12 fixture with two 40W bulbs on the tank. It's on about 12 hours a day, split into two periods. Couple that with the ammonia I'm adding and the Flourish I've dumped in, and I'm ripe for some pea soup even without having the substrate leach anything.

So far, no algae blooms and the plants are growing like weeds. The anacharis has grown several inches in a week. The jungle vals are growing, rooting, and shooting runners like crazy. One little val at the front of the bunch has two runners coming off it, each an inch long. I cut it off a runner when I planted it. The water sprite is poised to explode. It wasn't looking so hot for a few days, but it's back to bright green and it's starting to grow. Guess it just had to adjust to the water.

I have a feeling that iron slag might cause algae blooms. Thinking about it, coal slag on top of iron slag mixed with ferts might make an awesome cheap substrate for plants, especially swords.

If you can't tell, I'm running with the motto of "No risk, no reward".

 

[BigJim]

I'm kicking myself for having lost the nitrite color card! I checked the ammonia and nitrite levels this after noon. The ammonia was at 0ppm and the nitrite is either at zero or just slightly above zero. I dosed two teaspoons of ammonia and will check again tomorrow.

I decided I'm only going with one piece of driftwood for the moment. I piled some red slate to make some caves. It looks really good against all the black. I'm off Monday, so hopefully that's stocking day. I'll get some pictures then.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You can get it here!!!

Downloads; Pump and filter Instructions, Test Kit charts

I need to post that one on another thread, the new kits have a single color card that covers all tests and the colors are way off...

 

[BigJim]

Thanks Floyd!

No fish in the tank yet. I got a little overzealous with the ammonia dosing and I still had some measurable nitrite levels yesterday evening. I'll check it again tonight. The ramshorns I threw in the tank are doing well though. I did glue some java ferns to the driftwood in the tank. They're all babies off the mother plant in my 29g. The biggest has leaves that are maybe 1/2" long.

 

[BigJim]

It's stocking day! I checked the tank parameters when I got home: Ammonia - 0 ppm, nitrite - 0 ppm, nitrates - 10ppm. I moved my praecox rainbows over from my 29g.

You can see the red slate I added in this shot too.

 

[LemurLad]

Oh that looks awesome! The blues of the rainbows really pop against that substrate.

 

[fort384]

Wow, really like that substrate Jim, especially with those fish. I enjoyed reading your analysis of the substrate... keep us posted with this tank!

 

[BigJim]

I checked the fish this morning and all four rainbows are in good shape. They're eating voraciously, as usual, and the largest male is displaying breeding colors and showing off like crazy. I'm wishing I had some females. The smallest rainbow was born in my tanks, but I can't find healthy praecox females. The females from my LFS seem to be susceptible to diseases.

I'll probably move at least one of my big catfish tonight.

 

[BigJim]

No more pictures yet. I've been a bit sick for the last few days. I moved my raphael and my pictus into the tank Saturday. They've happily taken up residence in the rock caves. I also made the mistake of dumping some junk liquid fertilizer into the tank and caused a minor BBA problem. The BBA seems to be receding with a PWC and some Flourish.

 

[ChizerBunoi]

You mean flourish excel? Those rainbows are nice. Do their blues show more under actinic lights?

 

[BigJim]

Nope, just regular Flourish. I threw off the nutrient balance when I added some cheap fertilizer. The Flourish seems to restore the balance. I had the BBA problem in another tank I dosed with the same discount fertilizer.

The rainbows are showing up blue because of the camera flash. They're actually silver with red fins. The blue is an iridescence that usually shows up best when the tank is dimly lit. I've got two 40W 6500K T12 bulbs over the tank for now. I've never run actinics, so I have no idea how they'd show up under those lights.

 

[BigJim]

Between work, Christmas shopping, refinancing the house, and remodeling, I haven't had much time to dedicate to my aquariums.

I move both my raphael and my pictus catfish from the 29g to the 40B. The pictus looks pretty incredible against the black substrate. Both fish have taken up residence in the red slate caves. The pictus comes out occasionally when I put food in the tank, but usually he stays put until after the lights go out. I haven't seen the raphael move much, but he's pretty content to wedge himself into a crevice and come out after it's completely dark. Neither fish seems to be bothered by the Black Blast substrate. The raphael is tough as an old boot, so I wasn't worried about him digging, but the pictus is scaleless.

I also moved some harlequin rasboras from the 20H. They're schooling up nicely and will occasionally school with the rainbows. I may have to pick up a few more rasboras. I really like the look of the school.

I did have one fatality in the tank. I lost the smallest rainbow, however, I don't believe it had anything to do with anything in the tank. When I moved him into the tank, I noticed he had something round and pink pushing up his gill plate and he wasn't as active as the other 'bows. He stopped schooling and started hanging by himself in the corner. I found him dead this morning after not seeing him for a few days. I can't say it was unexpected, but it's still sad. He was the only survivor from a surprise spawning.

The other bad thing I've had with the tank is an outbreak of hair algae. I thought it was BBA at first, but it's gotten really long. I brought it on myself by dumping that cheap fertilizer in the tank. I'm hoping to clean up the algae tonight. I have to check my nitrate levels. The plants have slowed down significantly since I stopped dosing ammonia. If I don't have any nitrates, I may not do a PWC this week.

I put a CO2 tank and Cree LEDs on my Christmas list and I'm going to order some dry ferts after Christmas. If everything goes well, I may be graduating to a high-light tank soon. I may try the LEDs on the 20H first to work out a good system before I do the 40B.

Maybe I'll get some pictures this weekend if I can get the hair algae problem down to a less embarrassing level.

 

[LemurLad]

Any updates on this tank? The readers are dying to know!

 

[BfishLpond78]

I'm with Lemur, I just read this whole thread and I am hooked. The blast sand looks incredible. I want to get black sand for my tank when I move and I think you just sold me. I also have two pictus cats and they are only about 3 inches, how long have you had them for?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I would like to put this type of sand into a 225 Mbuna Cichlid tank. I wonder if there would be any problems with that, since those guys tend to like to move the substrate around, and I wouldn't want to to cause lesions or anything.

 

[BigJim]

Wow, I never expected to see any response to this thread again.

I'll start with the not so good stuff. The 40B is still up and running with the Black Blast, but it's kind of on hold. I decided to try the LEDs on my 20H first because I had very little faith in my electronics skills. I figured blowing up an LED fixture meant for a 20"x12" tank would be a lot cheaper than wrecking one meant for a 36"x18" tank. The LEDs are working great on the 20H and I'm planning to do and LED fixture on the 40B, but it just hasn't happened yet. In the meantime I've still been running the 2x40W T12 fixture and it's too much for the tank. The plants are growing well, but everything is coated in a thick layer of hair algae.

The good news is the Black Blast has been a success. I've got a bunch of plants growing in it. I've kept GBRs in the 40B and RCS in a 5g that also has Black Blast for substrate. Most importantly, I haven't seen any signs of damage to the fish. My pictus and raphael dig in the substrate all the time and they're still healthy and kicking.

 

[mudraker]

The good news is the Black Blast has been a success.

That's definately what I wanted to hear!

I too was inspired by the whole thread and am really thinking of trying it myself.

 

[LemurLad]

Do you think capping dirt with the Black Blast would be a good idea? Or is that just overhaul on the nutrients?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

This is great news, I think that this summer I will be overhauling that 225 and putting in the black blast. The white sand just looks gross, and there's too much of it...

 

[Jason7894561230]

Looks awesome!