55 gal Blog

[Japola44]

I have borrowed this idea from fishygirl, because while working on this tank i will need all the help i can get!

My orginal plans were to start cycling last friday, but due to the fact my mother has offered to pay for it all if i clean my room out first...i have taken up that offer haha. 8)
I have also way revised my stocking plans...again lol.

Bottom Dwellers:
My bichir
My BGK

Mid Dwellers:
Feeder Guppies
i am not sure yet...

Top Dwellers:
1 or 2 African Butterfly Fish
1 or 2 Leaf fish (granted i can find them)

Plants:
Java Moss and Fern
I am going to ask the lfs ppl so i can see the plants, but i want all different kinds of low light plants including floating and not.

Décor:
Sand
Black BG
Drift wood and tree root
and if availible sand stone caves

I will keep you all updated ask all my questions and all my changes here, and when i get all my stuff I will post pictures.

-Julia

 

[Japola44]

I set up the tank tonight!

I have sand and a little bit of gravel mixed in and i got a big peice of fake driftwood cuz petsmart is stupid and doesn't have any....o well. I also got some plants that i have in my 20 gal until tomorrow. I don't remember what they are....
I will post pictures in the morning yay!

 

[Japola44]

Ok i set it up last night and i'm pretty fustrated. It apears i didnt fully clean the sand even after a half hour of trying to clean it...that or else it wont settle.

Do you think it will be ok to just do a partial water change at 25% over the next week to help clear it up?

 

[rich311k]

The sand will settle, it just takes a little while. a water change wouldn't hurt.

 

[RoK]

I'm guessing you want the feeder guppies so the babies they make can give your fish some food? I'm pretty sure the bichir will be able to eat even the adults, if not now, most likely when it's a little bigger.
What kind of sand did you use?

 

[Japola44]

I used super naturals aquarium sand "moon light sand" Its a really fine sand.

I'm still debating if i want to breed some guppies in my 20 gal to feed my bichir and bgk as little treats.

I also decided on getting some snake skin gourami.

 

[Japola44]

10% water change...water still foggy
results from testing earlier today
80 degrees, 7.6pH , 0.25ppm for Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, 0ppm Nitrate

added a plastic cup full of gravel from 20 gal

 

[Toirtis]

I do see one potential problem....with sand tha fine, your bichir will probably be kicking it up all the time, sending a fair amount into your filter intake.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

When I did pool filter sand in my 55G, it was cloudy too. To clear it up, I just did a 60% PWC, and added the water slowly. I have 2 eels and a dojo loach, and they don't kick up enough to make my water cloudy, it settles pretty quickly.

 

[Japola44]

I do see one potential problem....with sand tha fine, your bichir will probably be kicking it up all the time, sending a fair amount into your filter intake.

I do plan on adding a thin top layer of gravel so hopefully that should keep it from getting to kicked up. I like the sand a lot so i dont think it will bother my much to clean the filter out every so often

If it doesnt settle by tomorrow night i will do another pretty big water change...maybe not 60% but atleast 30%

 

[RoK]

I hardly see healthy snakeskin gouramis at the stores around here, I would make sure to inspect them a bit. Look at their body shape and look for HITH (little holes in their head). Also, that the head is proportional to the body and not seeming a bit large. HTH
Here's a pretty healthy looking one: http://www.akvarium.sk/ryby/trichogaster-pectoralis--nahlad.jpg
The color on them can be much darker brown though.

 

[Japola44]

Thanks for the advice rok. I will look out for that.

todays readings:
water temp 75(i turned off the filters last night to help settle the sand it stoped the heated water from circulating)
Ammonia some where between 0 and .25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

Water is a lot clearer but still foggy. I will do a 40% water change tonight

 

[Japola44]

50% water change tonight... water is clearer but still kinda foggy
could it be from air? I noticed my filter makes a lot of bubbles :|

 

[DeathWarp]

Water changes wont hurt much; but sometimes sand can run you a bit of a problem. I used sand in my first FW tank and it ended up clogging one of the motor gadjets in my filter. Try putting some sort of plastic contaner in the water and fill that up slowly allowing the water to overflow and seep into the tank; rather than potentially kicking up more sand and creating more milky water. (And dont be like me... hold the container so that it doesnt sink and kick up a clowd )

 

[Japola44]

well last night i switched out my 10gal filter and put in my 20 gal filter, because it has more bacteria i would suppose than my 10gal thats only been running for a month.
What do you know Miricales happened last night!
I can see the wall behind my tank weee the water cleared up!!!
test results
80 degrees, 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrites, 0ppm Nitrates, 7.6pH

can i add in my fishies yet! o my patientce is growing short....

 

[Toirtis]

I like the sand a lot so i dont think it will bother my much to clean the filter out every so often

I would be more worried about it getting in with the impeller and wearing the impeller, impeller shaft, impeller well....make sure that layer of gravel is a good 1 cm deep, and get some trumpet snails to keep it stirred and aerated so it doesn't go all anaerobic.

 

[Japola44]

Will do tortis...my only worry is having a snail infestation...How likely is it for them to reproduce?

 

[Toirtis]

They will, and rapidly, but the population stabilises, and I have never had one become too much.....whats mire, they are pretty much out of sight during daylight hours.

 

[Japola44]

Another question...will they eat my plants?

 

[Toirtis]

No...not even slightly....they like the food detritus in the substrate...so they make a good clean-up crew.