75 BIG BAD GALLONS OF PLANTED GREEN & FISH (work in progress)[many pix i prmomis]

[dmoney87]

Ok so as far as I know it is a regular outdoor garden hose you can find at home depot. with this in mind I have drank from it many of times lol. But no idea if it was coated or not. I plan to replace most of the water with RO water soon as I get the package in the mail. So i have the sand and water in the tank and I turned my xp3 on for the first time. everything works no leaks bravo. of course theres something though. I neglected to remember to prewash the bio-chemzorb pack, as on the package it clearly notes "IMPORTANT - remember to rise for any dust" or something along those lines. Now with no fish or anything in my tank I fail to see the importance (unless it somehow ruins my filter? but of course Im sure it will affect something.

My father owns a company which manufactures autoclaves for hospitals, which got me thinking. what better way to sterelize something than with steam! now if i could convice father to let me use an autoclave that would be awesome! but I have a feeling he would rather not want to be putting wood into a $100k machine. So i figure what about those personal steam cleaners for around the house. High heat high pressure steam.. should work great for my DW.

Im still waiting on my lights off ebay, so I cant plant anything now anyway. but what would be a good plant to use for biomatter perposes/cycling tank?

I did the smell test on my aquarium (if its suppose to smell anything like hair dye ammonia I cant smell a thing but fish water. The kit i used was API Freshwater Master Test Kit and when I said purple I ment very dark green almost bluish. I just did the test again now, and still off the chart green. or possibly the highest one on the chart. I did have 3 guppies all die within a week.. doubtfully from disease as they were 2nd gen guppies I had n raised in the same tank for about two years. All three bodies were found & removed, I feed my goldfish (3) one long finned tetra, two cardinal tetras and one chinease algae eater twice daily and just a couple pinches. Yes i realize i have goldfish and tropical mixed but they all honestly have been in my tank for well over a year without any problems. I think it may be overstocked as my goldfish are growing at significant rate. I recently about a month ago purchased a new filter for the aquarium, (the one before didnt even have bio filtration just a pad and carbon) It didnt take long for the bacteria to accumulate within the new filter and its a much higher more effciant rated power filter than the last. Ill give the API company a call tomorrow see if i cant find an expiration date although i highly doubt its expired.

thanks again everyone for your help and yes I know this last post was a novel. (but atleast u only had to read it once but I had to do it twice because my mouse fell off the table and somehow SOMEHOW managed to click the little x button in the corner.

-davE

 

[dskidmore]

I neglected to remember to prewash the bio-chemzorb pack, as on the package it clearly notes "IMPORTANT - remember to rise for any dust" or something along those lines. Now with no fish or anything in my tank I fail to see the importance (unless it somehow ruins my filter? but of course Im sure it will affect something.

Probably just some clouding. Some poly material in the filter should catch it if it's bothersome.

what better way to sterelize something than with steam!

Hm... there are some products for the dye industry used for setting the dye into the fabric that might be big enough.

what would be a good plant to use for biomatter perposes/cycling tank?

Whatever is cheapest! Seriously, those plants are cheap because they grow so fast and are easy to propogate.

I did the smell test on my aquarium (if its suppose to smell anything like hair dye ammonia I cant smell a thing but fish water. ...I did have 3 guppies all die within a week..

A stronger than usual fishy smell would be a sign of high ammonia levels. The 3 dead fish though makes it totally believable that your ammonia is that high. Cut back on feedings to one pinch once every other day until the ammonia levels return to normal. When going back to feeding twice daily, feed just enough so it is all eaten in less than 3 minutes. A couple pinches twice a day sounds like a lot to me.

 

[dmoney87]

Yea that makes sence about the plants thanks , Yea I guess twice daily is a little to much there just so big dosent seem like alot eat it so quick. Ok so heres a shocker for you that I dont understand myself. I Filled my tank with sand and water last saturday, on sunday i did a 50% water change on my 30g goldfish aquarium (due to high levels of ammonia) and the water from that i poured into my 75g which is only 3/4 full because i havent planted yet. Today being monday almost tuesday 11:48. I did a water test on the 75g. My readings -

ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm
nitrate - 10 ppm

and i didnt test for ph

but how is that possible. tanks dont cycle in 3 days. do they? :S confused. no plants . no fish . sand and water. less then 15g of dirty aquarium water.

thanks all,

Dave

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

many test kits are not accurate on nitrate below 20ppm.

But you could have some bacteria there, but it will die w/o more ammonia/nitrite as food.

Whats your tap water readings?

 

[dmoney87]

yea ok cause I was going to say.. lol Ill test my tap water tomorrow im very tierd. but I do have a question i really need an honest answer at. Ok so i cheaped out and got PFS instead of a good plant subtrate such as eco or flourite. Yet i plan on getting a very expensive 4x65watt current usa sunpaq flouresent fixture @ $360. Now i dont know if im kicking myself in the *** or not about getting the sand. How seriously is this going to affect my outcome? High light, half *** substrate. or should I just save myself the cash on the light and get something more like 65x2 watt same fixture less lights. because my plants are in sand?

i want swords, sometype of chain plant to cover the bottom, and something to grow on my DW and any other very vibrant green colored plants. (not very good on plant names at all, any recommendations on the lights/substrate/types of plants would be great. I really want to make something impressive yet homey and roomy for discus.

thanks again
davE

 

[Purrbox]

Poolfilter sand is a perfectly good substrate, it just doesn't come preloaded with nutrients nor does in hold nutrients. However with time the mulm will build up providing the roots with nutrients, and you can supplement with root tabs. Most plants do perfectly well taking their nutrients from the water column, so your plants should do just fine.

 

[dskidmore]

on sunday i did a 50% water change on my 30g goldfish aquarium (due to high levels of ammonia) and the water from that i poured into my 75g which is only 3/4 full because i havent planted yet. Today being monday almost tuesday 11:48. I did a water test on the 75g. My readings -

ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm
nitrate - 10 ppm

So you've had elevated levels of ammonia in your other tank for a few days. The bacteria population there is probabaly climbing through the roof and is partially in the water column. You dilute some of this water by a factor of four, and the bacteria, suddenly relieved of the pressure of working in a toxic enviroment go to town on the remaining ammonia.

You could take advantage of this and keep it up, moving water from the 75G to the 30G and back again, and solve both problems, an ammonia source for the 75 gallon, and dilution of the ammonia in the 30G.

Normally I wouldn't recomend water changes during a cycle though, so we'd have trouble predicting how long your cycle will take.

Whatever method you use, the 75 gallon should keep getting an ammonia source to keep alive any bacteria it may have gotten from the 30 g.

Is it possible that there is a dead fish or something under the decor or in the filter? Your ammonia levels will stay peaked until that is removed. It should go back down fairly quickly if there is no continuing source of ammonia, like a rotting fish or food.

How much of the food you feed is getting sucked up into the filter? If it just rots there it will release ammonia into the water.

 

[brutus]

wheres them pics of that big bad planted 75?...just kidding cant wait to see

 

[dmoney87]

Is it possible that there is a dead fish or something under the decor or in the filter? Your ammonia levels will stay peaked until that is removed. It should go back down fairly quickly if there is no continuing source of ammonia, like a rotting fish or food.

How much of the food you feed is getting sucked up into the filter? If it just rots there it will release ammonia into the water.

I guess it could be possible, Ill take apart my filter to check (i moved all decor to middle of tank to do gravel clean and no bodys. Ive gone to only feeding them once every other day until I see the ammonia levels drop significantly. not very much of the food actually gets sucked up, my goldfish do a very good job at devouring the food the second it floats near them. then when theres nothing floating they start to dig and tear everything apart to find more.

So I got my parcel in the mail toady containing -

-API RO water filter
-large magnafloat
-flourish exccel
-tom digi thermometer

My tank was about half full so approx 35 gallons, i emptied half that water and currently replacing it with the RO water. once its filled ill adjust using the recommeded electroright that came with the filter. "Discus Aqauriums : For acidic amazonian water with ph of 5.8 a conductivity of 90 (60ppm TDS) a GH of 30ppm, use two teaspoons (10ml) for each 10 US gallons of Deionozied water. so i figure theres probably around 60 gallons of RO water so 60ml of electroright. and ph buffer probably wont be nessesary.

Yes I know i want to see it planted just as bad as the next guy er gal , but i cant plant anything with no lights, and I cant get lights without money lol. Im currently collecting EI due to layoffs so the money is slow going. I plan to go look for pressurized co2 tanks and parts today. My brother scubadives for fun so im sure he will be able to help me out with this. Aswell pick up some more bio-chemstars and or ceramic rings for more media to grow the beneficial bacteria.

oh and my camera is off on vacation. Somewhere in the middle of one of our great lakes =p

thanks,

davE

 

[dmoney87]

Poolfilter sand is a perfectly good substrate, it just doesn't come preloaded with nutrients nor does in hold nutrients. However with time the mulm will build up providing the roots with nutrients, and you can supplement with root tabs. Most plants do perfectly well taking their nutrients from the water column, so your plants should do just fine.

thanks purrbox, your insight in defintly valuable, Im glad to hear it so indeed I will go for the more expensive higher wattage light setup. and use root tabs until hopefully this mulm you speak of builds up. and sorry probably sounds quite novice but in my reading i have not come across a "water column" what is this?

 

[dskidmore]

Mulm is rotten fish poop and plant leaf parts. All good soil is made up of rotten organic matter, so don't let it gross you out. A coarse enough sand will allow much of the mulm to sink into the sand and nurish the roots within. Boy it makes life easier on us planted tank folks, as we don't have to vaccum our substrate much when doing our water changes. Just wave the sipon near any unattractive dead leaves, or loosely attached algae, and don't stir up the sand.

Water column is just a term for the things disolved in the water. Purrbox means that the plants can take nutrients from the water as well as the soil.

 

[Purrbox]

Dskidmore is dead on with both explanations. Never be shy about reminding us "oldtimers" to explain any terms that you're not familiar with, at one time these were new terms to us too.

 

[dmoney87]

gotcha! thanks purr and skidd once again.

Hey, So today hmm. I filled the rest of my tank 75% with the RO water or deionized i think it is from the kit i got today. I found a pot at a garage sail big enough to boil my driftwood in (had to rotate it a few times to get it evenly) so i boiled my DW and placed it into my tank (just the few pieces i have so far) I also turned on my heater, and hooked up my Tom digi therometer. currently sitting and stay at a good 83*F.

I did another ammonia test on my 30g goldfish tank after it being off the charts and doing a 50% PWC. Its now sitting at about 1.5 ppm which is still high but only being the day after I did the pwc its seeming to calm down.

After filling my 75 with the RO water i used a product called Electrolight and followed its directions. I also got a product called "multi-purpose bio-support" or "stress zyme" claims to have beneficial bacteria to help with cycling. Now ive never used a product like this but i did this time following its instructions as per setting up new tanks. anybody use this? does it work, or is it a waste of money.

Second what plants melt from use of flourish exccel?

I tested my 75g for pH and Nitrate about 12 hrs after doing everything noted above.

-pH was oddly high at 7.6 (was very light blue but no green or yellow)
now it was my understanding that RO water has no pH value or anything else for that matter whats going on here? Should i go out just yet and buy pH buffer to LOWER the pH? oh and my test kits lowest ph reading is 6.0 when i read discus prefer acidic water of 5.5-5.8. is this a problem?

-Nitrate 10 - 15 ppm (slightly redish more orange)

just a few updates for yall.. tank is looking good with everything (except co2) up and running i got to say cant wait for plants and fish

davE

 

[Purrbox]

Personally I would only use some waste water or a product to reconstitute the RO water (I'm guessing this is what the Electrolight is) and your declorinator. Stress Zyme and the rest of those products are a waste of money in my opinion. Even if they do provide some benefit, they are too expensive for what they provide when you can get the same results through good aquarium maintenance.

Excel has a tendancy to melt Anacharis, Vals, and Riccia. Riccia has generally only been reported when dosing 2x or more to fight algae.

RO water will take on the pH of whatever it touches and will change easily since there is no buffering at all. What you need to do is add something to add back a little bit of KH and GH. I thought this was what the Electrolight was for, but maybe not. RO Right is one that I've heard meantioned as a good one.

 

[dskidmore]

I can't find the product you refer to. Do you mean Electrolyte? Is there a brand name on the Electrolyte you bought?

You may find the pH going down after you add that driftwood, so a pH down product is not the right thing to do. As Joy suggested, something that buffers the water would be better. Personally, unless things are way off, I go for stability over target numbers. Most fish can acclimate to the current conditions.

 

[dmoney87]

I can't find the product you refer to. Do you mean Electrolyte? Is there a brand name on the Electrolyte you bought?

You may find the pH going down after you add that driftwood, so a pH down product is not the right thing to do. As Joy suggested, something that buffers the water would be better. Personally, unless things are way off, I go for stability over target numbers. Most fish can acclimate to the current conditions.

the bottle of "Electro-Right" made by API came with the tap water filter that was made by API aswell.

on the bottle it reads:

"Since deionized water is to pure for tropical fish. Electro-Right adds the right balance of elecotrolytes and trace elements including potassium, magnesium, chloride, sodium, calcium, sulfate, iron, vanadium, titanium, strontium, and maganese to deionized water. These hydrominerals are nessesary for proper gill function, regulation, and blood pH, oxygen uptake, and other metabolic procceses."


http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA...815/cl0/aquariumpharmaceuticalstapwaterfilter

Ok thanks purr for that note on the stress zyme, yes it is expensive so if its not worth it i wont bother. (glad i didnt by the huge bottle lol) and as far as the "Electro-Right" buffer, I will stop to using it until i figure out if its any good or not. What is this RO buffer u suggested might be good? also is KENT a reputable name in aquarium products? they also have a buffer specifically for discus.

 

[dmoney87]

Excel has a tendancy to melt Anacharis, Vals, and Riccia. Riccia has generally only been reported when dosing 2x or more to fight algae.

shucks i liked the anacharis or myb it was anubis i was thinking of? hmm, also the vals.. eg a corkskrewval wouldent work either then. oh well i wont use flourish for long id much rather the presurrized co2 but that has to wait till pops gets home from vacation because i know he has empty tanks, regulators and such.

 

[dskidmore]

The filter you link to is a DI filter, not an RO filter. RO filters usually include a DI filter, but the reverse is not always true.

There's still value in having it though. I'm not familiar enough with the requirements of discus to know if this is good enough, or if you need RO.

Kent is a good name. I also like Seachem.

 

[happygirl65]

I completely agree with the PFS so far I like it better than the ecocomplete I tried, the plants seem to like it better too. It looks nice and the plants seem to love it.

Also with the discus, you don't have to use R/O water...if you are dead set on getting your pH down low enough because you want to breed the fish then that is a time to use it, but if you are looking for a display tank the important thing is that your pH stays stable. Even if is is in the high range toward 8.0 it is better than it fluctuating around on you. Stability is the key more than any magic number.

I highly recommend getting all of the planted tank stuff down and settled before adding any discus since you will be playing around with ferts and schedules etc, also I would add your cadinals and corys well in advance. That way they are all in and well established before adding your discus.

Also the discus will love that sand....good choice.

Check out simplydiscus.com for more information on discus and a wealth of info and some excellent breeders.

 

[dmoney87]

I completely agree with the PFS so far I like it better than the ecocomplete I tried, the plants seem to like it better too. It looks nice and the plants seem to love it.

Also with the discus, you don't have to use R/O water...if you are dead set on getting your pH down low enough because you want to breed the fish then that is a time to use it, but if you are looking for a display tank the important thing is that your pH stays stable. Even if is is in the high range toward 8.0 it is better than it fluctuating around on you. Stability is the key more than any magic number.

I highly recommend getting all of the planted tank stuff down and settled before adding any discus since you will be playing around with ferts and schedules etc, also I would add your cadinals and corys well in advance. That way they are all in and well established before adding your discus.

Also the discus will love that sand....good choice.

Check out simplydiscus.com for more information on discus and a wealth of info and some excellent breeders.

wow awesome info thanks happy! Im glad you agree with the PFS as I was thinking to myself "you get what you pay for" right and at just under 9 dollars for 50lbs! a bag was a steal. lol.

Yes discus will definitley be the last thing to be put into the tank and well after its established, the prices of discus around here are very high. (as im sure they are many places)

soon as my camera is back from vacation ill be taking more pix, maybe by then ill have my plants in? well see, I wish I could get plants ordered over the net as it would be much cheaper then stores. but shipping plants overseas or across the border I have a feeling wouldent be very great for plants where do you guys get your plants online of those who do? thanks for the site too !

-davE