Kim's High Planted Tank Journal

[Rivercats]

I hate lids too! I'd move fish before using a hood. I don't care about evaporation loss either... lol!

That will make adding 2 more bulbs a lot easier for you. When I added more light I got a touch of hair algae in one spot and a little thread algae in another area. I had to make some photoperiod adjustments, lowered my micro's a touch as that seems to be what is giving the thread algae what it needs with the extra light, and that's about it. I did do spot treatments in those area's to get it under control faster. When you add 2 more bulbs try running them 2 hours the first couple week, then add an hour for a couple more, and continue until you build up to 6 hours. That way your not flooding the tank with double the light all at once.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Ok. I am ordering the 2nd light this week.
I think my minnows may seriously suicidal now. Even with this lid on, I had one jump through the little filter hole tonight. Got him back in, and he seems fine.....but I think I am over the minnows. Think I will just put. Them back in thier old tank this weekend and call it good.
Will the tank be ok with just 2 otos, 2 nerites, and shrimp (amano and ghost) until I figure out what fish to put in it? The tank is fully cycled and all params are good......

 

[Rivercats]

Ok. I am ordering the 2nd light this week.
I think my minnows may seriously suicidal now. Even with this lid on, I had one jump through the little filter hole tonight. Got him back in, and he seems fine.....but I think I am over the minnows. Think I will just put. Them back in thier old tank this weekend and call it good.
Will the tank be ok with just 2 otos, 2 nerites, and shrimp (amano and ghost) until I figure out what fish to put in it? The tank is fully cycled and all params are good......

I think your idea of putting them back in their other tank is the best. Something about that tank is not sitting well with them. How many are in there? Reason I'm asking is if you drop the bio load a lot your BB will also drop. But when your ready to add more fish you can fix that by just adding some seeded media from the other tank to boost the BB again.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Ordered my 2nd light today, and I also have 4 kuhli loaches, 1 gold zebra loach, and 1 pearl gourami arriving tomorrow. They will be in qt for a few weeks before I add them to the tank. I think I am going to move my GBR to the tank this weekend, hoping maybe it will help the minnows to have more fish in the tank. If they dont calm down, I will move them out for sure.

 

[germanyt]

Where did you get your plants? LFS or online?

 

[Rivercats]

Ordered my 2nd light today, and I also have 4 kuhli loaches, 1 gold zebra loach, and 1 pearl gourami arriving tomorrow. They will be in qt for a few weeks before I add them to the tank. I think I am going to move my GBR to the tank this weekend, hoping maybe it will help the minnows to have more fish in the tank. If they dont calm down, I will move them out for sure.

More fish might help, time will tell. But it might take all the new fish getting added in to really help put them at ease. So have they all stayed in the tank now?

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Is this BBA?
Got some Blyxa last week, split it up into 2 diff tanks (one my new planted, the other just a "holding" tank that I have running. Seeing this on the blyxa in both tanks now.
I know I can treat with hydrogen peroxide, but dont know the correct amount to use......help???

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Oh.....and the minnows are still skittish, but no jump attemts in a few days. Think they are calming down a bit.
On a bad note.........the needle gauge that measures PSI on my new co2 regulator is broken. I may have to go back to diy for another week or two if I have to send this back. Totally bummed....got it set up and turned on yesterday only to find the needle is stuck at 60 and doesnt move no matter what.....but the regulator works fine. Thank goodness I have a drop checker and solenoid. Lol

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Update : 1month
Lookin pretty good....if I do say so myself. lol
I added some Rotala Macrandra, giant hairgrass, blyxa, did a big trim on the cabomba and rearranged a bit. All the downoi I got from petsmart in the plastic pkg melted and I waasnt able to save even 1 root
Got my pressurized co2 running, but the gauge is broken so I might have to replace it. Added some red cherry shrimp, my mystery snail Gary, and my GBR.
I got my fish I ordered this week, too, but that was a train wreck. I ordered 1 gold zebra loach, 3 kuhlis, and a pearl gourami. I got the zebra loach ok, and only 1 of the kuhlis survived the trip.....they sent me a blue spot gourami instead of a pearl. An adult....not sure who was doing thier fish collecting that day.....but they might want to study up on thier fish knowledge. Now I have a blue gourami I dont really want. They are all in QT now......fun times.
Anyways, long post....sorry. What do y'all think of the tank?

 

[Ezzie]

What's that plant in the first photo at the far left back? I really like the look of it!

 

[Kimlafeiet]

It's Rotala Wallichii. It is a beautiful plant, and once I get more lighting on the tank, it should redden up more (I hope, lol).

 

[Rivercats]

The tank is looking good! And yes that is the beginning of BBA. What you need to do is pull up 3-5ml of hydrogen peroxide 3% in a syringe for every 10g of water. Turn off your filter, hold the syringe right up to the algae and slowly squirt it. Leave filter off for 20 minutes. If you have a lot you can treat an area a day.

Kind of sucks you got a broken part and a wrong fish!

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Thanks Janis. Did a spot treatment tonight......will see how it looks in the morning.
Bad news....lost another minnow.....found it behind the stand tonight. The 7 that are left are moving out tomorrow.
More bad news.....when I came home from work today, I found no co2 running into the tank.. I checked the setup, and discovered that the entire bottle was empty. I contacted Aquatek yesterday about the gauge, and they said it might actually be a pressure release thing and to take it off and reset it. I monkeyed with it a little but couldnt get the regulator off (too much pressure) and figured I had better not blow myself up trying, so I gave up. I must have loosened it though and it all leaked out....either that, or it does have a leak....because I lost a whole paintball tank of it in less than 24 hours. Good news is that needle valve was at zero, so I dont think it is broken, it's just me, lol. I put the other tank on it tonight, nice and tight....and I will check it in the morning. I guess I will know by tomorrow if its leaking or if it was just my bad.

 

[Rivercats]

I had a small leak but what you need to do next time is get a spray bottle, add some water, then add some dishwashing liquid. Spray all around your connections and see if you get any bubbles. If you have a leak you will get bubbles like someone actually blowing up bubbles or smaller leaks you get a bunch of little bubbles foaming up. Then you can turn off the CO2 and tighten/fix the leak.

Something in that tank is just not sitting right with those fish. Who knows what but no use losing any more of them.

Hopefully everything will be running smoother today!

 

[Kimlafeiet]

It was a good day. No jump attempts, and my co2 worked just fine, tank still full, no leaks detected. I am pretty sure it was my user error. Plants seem to be happy with the pressurized co2. My blyxa spot treatment did good, I see no more bba attempting to grow on it.
I ordered some HC with the credit I had from my messed up fish delivery last week. Should get it later this week. I think I am going to move the hairgrass to one side in the front and put the hc on the other side. The hairgrass is doing fine, but not thriving and no growth noticed yet........I should also get my 2nd light later this week, which will help with carpeting, but........think I am going to give the tank another week to settle before setting it up since I just rearranged and added plants, and was already seeing a tiny bit of bba.....and to make sure this co2 is going smoothly. Lol
Dont want to come home to an empty cylinder, extra light, and all kinds of fun new algae friends.

The minnows are going back to thier old tank in the morning. That tank has a solid oak canopy, and I think it is just totally freaking them out to be able to see everything above them, as before it was a dark canopy. I will find another schooling fish to add to this tank later on. My GBR is super happy, she is enjoying being queen of the snail pond!