A new Tank (56K Warning!)

[workfortheman]

Well, I spent 6 hours yesterday tearing down my 20 gallon tank, which housed fish and plants and setting up a 29 gallon in it's place. Not only that, but the new tank has flourite in the substrate! OOOOHHHH what a headache. But on to the picutures . . . .

Here's the old tank, taken before takedown:

Setting up the divider for the substrate on new tank:

Here's with the Flourite and Pool Filter Sand:

Overhead view:

I had to stick my canister on there with a bunch of floss, getting messy. Don't forget that my other tank is just sitting there, with a bubbler on it and 4" of water!

Planted, but still foggy. VERY hard to plant a tank you can't see into, but I was in a hurry.

The Result.

Blue Ram likes the sand . . .

So does the Goby . . .

Amazingly, both German Blue Rams survived this transition (so far. . . ) as well as all 7 black neons, 2 yoyo loaches, and the goby! One of the Rams is stuggling, so cross your fingers.

In hindsight, I would NOT set up a tank with flourite in it, while the fish are waiting to be transferred. It was super stressful, but now I have 6" more height to play with plants!! heheeeee

Comments/suggestions encouraged!

 

[workfortheman]

Okay, someone wanna correct my html language? I'm a noob >_< and it's frustrating me.


EDIT: okay, get em linked but is there a way to resize them? Something like

??

 

[Jchillin]

Amazing job! Looks really nice.

Unfortunately, no re-size tags exist on this board, you have to re-size em' on your host.

 

[BrianNY]

Great photo expose Ernie. I really like what you did with the substrate. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Zagz]

Looking good! I also like how you did the substrate.

 

[rich311k]

Looks good. Neat idea with the substrate.

 

[TankGirl]

Cool idea! Nice job

 

[travis simonson]

Nice work I really like how you set the depth of the sand off-center to the left. And you've got a lot of sand to play with too. Are you considering some ground cover that will creep out of the Flourite and help blend the sand edge in? You may have to create a tiny rake out of a fork or something to keep your sand groomed too I guess it depends on how messy your fish and plants are. I'll be very anxious to see how it progresses for you. Cool thread

 

[czcz]

Nice tank and site.

 

[fishfriendly]

Look good!!

Two pieces of advice from someone that setup a flourite tank w/ CO2.

1) be careful when you vacuum or else your sand and flourite will mix together and you'll no longer have the nice seperation.

2) I noticed that you have the CO2 ladder. I also thought that that would do the trick but in actuality it doesn't put nearly enough CO2 in the water. Look into a pressurized system if you're really serious about the plants.

Good luck, keep up the good work!

 

[workfortheman]

Thank you all for compliments and suggestions! I really appreciate the feedback, but I'm super bummed out about this tank now. The 2 German Blue Rams have passed on, I suppose not suprisingly. There was probably an ammonia spike or something, and not enough quick-growing plants to soak it up. RIP ~

Travis ~ I'm currently wondering about the blending of the 2 substrates. I tried to use driftwood to this end a little. I could use the sunset hygro, but with only 40 watts of light it probably won't "creep". . . or possibly the dwarf sag (lots of it in the other tank). Any other suggestions for plants to help that transition?

fishfriendly ~ Thanks for the warning about the mixing. I think I'm going to end up constructing a "rake" as travis mentioned, to pull back the flourite out of the sand. There are 2 peices of plastic buried in the gravel, about 1.5" tall each, that should help keep them seperate. I really don't plan on vaccuming at all . . . unless the sand becomes unsightly!

Oh, and in regards to the CO2, I'm only at 40 watts of NO fluorescents. So, It's really not necessary at all but I guess it's not hurting, either!

 

[TankGirl]

So sorry to hear about the rams. What a bummer. They have always been tricky fish for me, so I feel your pain.

I think as things grow in and the tank takes shape you won't worry so much about the blending of the two substrates - a little blending will take place, of course, but that will make it look all the more natural. Once things settle down and stabilize you can replace the rams - it is a perfect setup for them.

I am interested in how this tank progresses and evolves, so keep us posted!

 

[workfortheman]

Hey all, well the tank has been growing in and "cycling" for a few weeks. No more deaths, so that's good and today I've added 2 rosy barbs from my other tank. I'm hoping they will pick on some algae I've got in there (pictures included).



Started dosing nitrates and phosphate per greg watson and EI, in an attempt to reduce various algae:





I'm really floundering as far as co2 goes, since I've only got 40w NO on the tank. I've got a 2L into the ladder, for fear that my AQ70 impellar will break. I think I may just go no co2 . . . or just deal with crappy ladder. ANyway, what would you say is helping this algae grow? I've just given the tank 2 hours of dark during the day to break up the photosynthesis. What nutrient deficiencies would cause this algae? Any advice is very welcome!