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SoveriegnR

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
Messages
94
Location
AZ
Thought I'd make a thread here and keep it updated. I always love showing off my projects :3

Nothing too much right now, but I picked up these cool rocks from my LFS just because they were super awesome looking. Little did I know... they had a hidden surprise. They were dusty when I got em, so I was cleaning them off tonight and noticed the little surprises. You can really only see it when they're wet, otherwise it glistens like graphite and is hard to make out. But am I crazy or do these look like liiiittle fossilized plants?

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I'm not sure, the fish store labeled the box as Sierra Rock. P:
 
They do! Super amazing! When i saw them I was like "YUP! That's what I'm designing this tank around. Those there rocks!" hehe
 
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Alriiiiight, we got operation: Water test in play now. I'm off the next 2 days (I figure a tank can fail easily within the first 24/48 hrs if it's a manufacture error), so it'll be a perfect time to test the tank, even though I'm fairly confident in Aqueon that they can make a darn tank correctly, paranoia requires me to be prepared.

Filled almost to the brim, siphon and buckets ready, I am prepared for the worst should it come. I doubt it thought.

I'll be putting in my plant order today and either today or tomorrow, wash the gravel. All my tank things will arrive Tuesday (with the exception of food but that's fine LOL) so by the time the plants arrive, it'll be perfect timing. Everything will start rollin'.

Decided to go with a simple black background to really showcase the fish/plants/rocks.


PS. Yeah I know my ugly fingerprints are all over the side of the tank LOL I gotta clean that

PPS. Even though I'll list it at a later date, I'll give ya guys my plant list:
Anubias Barteri coffeefolia
ROTALA WALLICHII
Ancharis narrow Leaf
Hygrophila corymbosa Siamensis
PROSERPINACA PALUSTRIS
Brazilian Pennywort (I love me some pennywort, idk why but it's my favorite plant!)
 
Nice progress.
Do you have an equipment list? Lighting? Filter? Fertilizer plan?
The Rotala wallichii is my white whale; had a go at it a couple years back and I could not get to grow properly.
 
Yeah, I was plannin to list it all once I set it up, but I can share it with ya :p

I'll be using an Aquaclear 50 filter
A 100w Cobalt Neo-therm hooked to a controller
The Finnex Planted+ 24/7 LED light fixture
2 separate thermometers on each end of the tank because i'm paranoid


As for fertilizer, nothing really. I'll be dosing API's Leaf Zone and CO2 Booster the following day after a water change (I've read that this is the proper way to dose these 2 items, since like Prime, they lower they oxygen levels in an aquarium. On their own it's nothing to worry over, but all 3 doses at the same time? I don't know how dangerous it can be, but from my readings that's the recommended way to dose)

Rotala wallichii is actually a plant I've never seen and I was looking for some 'other colored' plants besides green to put in my tank on the site I ordered from and that was one that caught my eye and looked really pretty. We'll see how it goes. I never hold my breath for any aquarium plant LOL but with the Finnex LED light, I'd like to hope it's capable of growing a variety of plants
 
On another note........... I just LOVE substrate... LOL

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It would easily be much clearer than this if I had access to a hose, but this 'house' has no hose sooo I got to crouch over a bucket of water and wash my gravel the fun way. Doesn't get as clean but it's better than if I had just dumped the bag right into the tank haha. I'll probably do a large water change tomorrow or something after I finish off the last few handfuls of gravel in the 50lb bag that way I can put my rocks and driftwood in place and it'll be ready for plants.

-waves my pruney hands all over-
 
I'm not too worried about it.

I did a 90% WC this morning and it cleared it up a bit, but it's still a little murky. Until I get the filter running I don't think i'll be able to get it out 100%.
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Not sure if this is the scape I'll keep, once I get it cleared up this week we'll see how I feel about it, but i love how the rocks pop against the dark stones and black BG. Sadly my driftwood pieces are a bit hard to see, but they're also really cool looking. Later I may buy some kind of moss to put on it, not sure yet.
 
Lights, camera, action!

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Clearin' up. Got the filter runnin' and the light goin.
 
Thank you. I need to scoop some substrate back still. It's too low in the back and too high in the front. I feel like I still may fiddle around with the rocks a bit more before plants go in
 
I use an old debit/credit card for moving and smoothing out substrate. It also works great at scraping the glass at or below the substrate line.
 
I must be outdated in gravel scraping I just use my hands hahah :p and a sponge for glass cleaning
 
WOO got my heater today, got the controller for it. Heater is set to 78 by default, figure I'll leave it there, my controller is set for 76 though which is where I want it. I figure to account for the differences in thermometers (I now have 4 if you could the heater internal thermo in my tank LOL) I'd leave the heater at 78 in case what it determines to be 78 is actually lower, or higher, either way, my controller should kick in.

Got a timer for my light (i work night shifts, I don't wake up till like 2pm, so i want to make sure my fish/plants get their adequate light), pushes gravel back, changed the layout a bit cus the heater is a bit too long for the gravel level back there haha so had to scoop that away.

Got repashy food for the fish, and my test kit.

Once my water warms up I'll dose ammonia and get the party goin!


Looks like my pH is about 7.5: The high range tester puts me at 7.4 and the normal pH tester puts me at 7.6. So i'm going to assume I'm smack dab in the middle of em. Looks like straight out of the tank before adding ammonia it's a default .5 ppm.

I haven't tested my tap for it, but once my tank is cycled it isn't something I'll need to worry about. I like to make sure I build a STRONG colony of bacteria in my tank before I even remotely add fish. Last time I cycled it took about a month. 3 weeks technically, but the 4th week was me literally just dosing ammonia to 4ppm every day because by the end of the 24 hr period I'd have 0 ammonia and nitrite. And of course I had plants consuming nitrates as well, but yes one big water change after that month process and I was ready xD.
 
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