125 Gal Angel Tank Build

[ImACoolguy]

I'd test your tap water. That many nitrates don't just appear overnight without an underlying cause.


Caleb

 

[Skai]

I'd test your tap water. That many nitrates don't just appear overnight without an underlying cause.


Caleb

I shall indeed do that post haste. It's just I haven't noticed this particular problem with my other tanks. I wouldn't think coming from a different tap in the house than I used for the other tank would make a difference but I'll test it to be sure. All of it has to be coming from somewhere after all...

 

[Skai]

I'd test your tap water. That many nitrates don't just appear overnight without an underlying cause.


Caleb

So I tested the Nitrate level of the tap I'm using and it's reading at right about 5.0 ppm. So it does have some nitrates in it. But would that cause the nitrates to rise that much so fast? And if so what would you suggest I do about it? I know that plants will help some and I have some in the tank now along with plans to add more but what about the different things you can add to a tank to remove excess Nitrates. I'm not keep on using additives if I can help it but I will if it means better water quality.

 

[sinibotia]

Try cleaning your filters, and maybe feeding less? Something has to be decaying to create nitrates like that. Did you remove all the kuhli loaches that died?

 

[Skai]

Try cleaning your filters, and maybe feeding less? Something has to be decaying to create nitrates like that. Did you remove all the kuhli loaches that died?

Well the filters are only just cycled a few weeks ago so I haven't broken it down to do maintenance on it yet. And I have removed all the kuhli loaches that have died that I found. Admittedly I haven't seen one for a while so if it died it has hidden itself away where I can't find it. I'll look around see if I spot where it might be hiding.

 

[Skai]

So, It's been a couple weeks and I got my nitrates under control. I cut back on the food as the angels weren't eating it in the morning when it was darker so I stopped morning feedings. That seemed to have done the trick. Honestly never considered that since my angels are all pigs. Now I have some plant issues which I think might be connected to a lack of CO2 but until I get my indicator for CO2 I'm going to just let it go for now. All of the plants for the most part are doing okay... just not as bright and lovely as I would like.

Ah, and I got myself a new pleco. I posted a thread in New arrivals so I won't rehash it all here. But I shall post a picture of him! For he is pretty. Or She... whichever. Oh, and a new shot of the full tank... I still need to get a background up cause that wall...

 

[Skai]

CO2 system assistance

So, next task is definitely a CO2 system. I'm definitely looking to go pressurized due to the size of the tank but I have no idea how to start off. I've been trying to compare the DIY sort of system or a prepackaged one. I've been looking at different boxed systems but I'm not sure which is a good one for my tank or if I should try to use parts to make my own custom system. Any ideas or advice? Considering how large a tank this is I'm also concerned with the price of refills on the CO2 bottles.

 

[Skai]

So, I'm looking very heavily at this system: Freshwater Planted Aquarium Plant Care: Drs. Foster & Smith Semi-Automatic CO2 System I know it doesn't come with a CO2 bottle but even after buying a bottle it's still cheaper than most other all inclusive kits I've found and most of what I've found about it is pretty good with the exception of the bubble counter. The other option I'm looking at is a kit put together by aquacave: Deluxe Planted Tank CO2 Package - AquaCave.com but even on sale it's much more expensive. I do like that I can adjust the different components in it though. I'm just not sure if it's worth about a hundred dollars more when most of what I'm getting would be the base things anyway. Thoughts?

 

[Skai]

Okay, here's another option I've thought of that I would really like some opinions on and advice if anyone's done it. I have thought of hooking up an inline CO2 with the output of my canister filter. I just don't know if that will really dose the aquarium enough since my output is rather close to the surface of the water. I don't want to go to the trouble of doing all of that and the CO2 just immediately escaping.

 

[Skai]

So, I've decided to hold off on the CO2 system and am instead seeing if I see improvement from dosing with liquid additives. I can't tell however as my pest snail population is really doing heavy damage on the plants. Seriously heavy damage. I'm not sure if all the plants will make it. I bought some assassin snails but they still need time to really kill off the snails to a reasonable level.

So, my thought is to remove all my plants and put them in a large tub where I can treat them for snail eggs and snails and hopefully let them recover a bit. The rest of my tank will just run without them and I will continue my efforts to remove the snails. Any thoughts on this? Would I need to filter the tub or just fill it with treated water? Would substrate be necessarily? I have spare gravel I can throw in the tub easily enough.

 

[Coursair]

Hmmm, Most snails only eat decayed leaves. You can also try putting a dish of greens or veggies in the tank after lights out. Pick it up during the night and remove the snails you trap.

A big tank needs a balance of ferts and carbon.

I use root tabs for Swords and Crypts
I'll get dry ferts for big tanks and use Glut till I get my CO2 rig.

Lots of plants melt or transition when placed in new tank.

This tank has always had snails...no plant damage.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skai]

hmmm, I was inclined to leave them in the tank because I was under the impression they wouldn't be an issue but yeah, they've reduced some swords to just stems... idk if it's because they just love my plants or if the plants aren't fully healthy or what. I have noticed some hair algae growing on some of the plants and as I'm reading up on it I'm starting to think the two things are related? This is the biggest planted system I've ever dared do so I'm sort of trying to figure out what's wrong since I didn't have these problems with the 35 gal. That's why I was considering a CO2 system, but I just got news my money is going to be getting tighter so....

 

[Skai]

So, I haven't updated this build thread since the beginning of the year so I figured I should update it with all that's happened and new pictures!

I lost both of my Koi Angels, one from what looked to be impacted eggs the other... idk she just dropped one day with no explanation. So the two boys were left alone. I took the chance however to get some Angels I'd always wanted. Diamond Scales. I ended up with three. So now, I have Three Diamond Scales and Two Blushing Blues. The Blues are both males (As I've seen them trying to fertilize eggs in the past) and I know at least one of the Diamonds is a female but I've only caught her trying to lay eggs once and at that time the colorations hadn't really come through strongly enough to pick out which diamond it was.

Bruno, which is the largest blushing blue in the tank was the king... and then Lefty (who only has one Ventral fin. The left. I believe this was a birth defect or happened very early in life as Lefty came that way) decided that despite being smaller wanted to rule the tank. Lefty and Bruno have an ongoing chase thing... The others: Steel, Karat, and Clarion are all just sort of chilling and letting those two have at it.

I still don't have a CO2 system but I've been making do with liquid additives. In the pictures I have some pruning to do, lol. I'm going to start dosing with a few new products as well to see if I can't get even better results. Ironically, the 35 which I'll be updating next, is super low-tech and just thriving with plants.

 

[marie74]

Beautiful tank!