FINALLY 180 stocked... pics

[cogburn]

well the day has FINALLY come... my 180 gallon has been done cycling since monday... i gave it til today dosing and testing everyday just to make sure all was well and for 4 days straight i have dosed 4ppm ammonia at 7:30 am... tested at 7:30 pm and had 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrIte and did a water change so my nitrAtes are 5ppm... put the 2 oscars in tonight and went out and got the rest of my planned stocklist... stands as follows...

1-red oscar
1-lemon oscar
1-banded leporinus
3-tinfoil red tailed barbs
4-clown loaches

brought them all home and acclimated them for 90 mins... all are out and about... fed them and every single one of them ate... they look good and look like their enjoying themselves exploring their new digs... funny how the oscars looked HUGE in their temp. tank and now look tiny in their big home hahaha... thanks for everyone that answered questions along the way during the cycling proces... and as promised... here is a pic...

 

[Zagz]

Awesome! Congrats on getting the cycle done. It looks great.

 

[CTD]

Patients pays off! Congrats and Thanks for sharing a Picture with all of us, I really enjoyed seeing your tank.

 

[cogburn]

thanks for the kind words everyone... im still so excited...

 

[Bigfoot1030]

Looks great, I really like the T-Rex skull. My son would love it!!!!!

 

[cogburn]

yeah i was worried the t-rex skull would look hokey but i really like it... kind of a desert theme... sand, lil driftwood a few rocks which i hid the airstones in so it looks like the bubbles come out of the rocks and the skull in the middle... im digging it...

 

[new2betas]

Looks Fantastic! I am sure they LOVE their new home! Very pretty tank, btw! Love the color!

 

[cogburn]

great... just when i think all is right with the world now ive got nitrite showing up it was up to 1ppm til i did a water change and i lost 3 clown loaches... took em back and got replacements... all was well then this morning i wake up to another dead clown loach... are clown loaches particularly nitrite sensitive that anyone knows about?... all the other fish appear to be fine. nobody seems to be gasping at the surface for air or anything... i thought all this crap was done... grrrrRRRRRRRRR... oh well looks like im doing pwc til the nitrite that APPEARED to be done gets done... this is just jingles...

 

[mr86mister]

I know that clown loaches are pretty sensitive. How long do you acclimate them? I used to acclimate mine for about an hour or a bit over depending on the differences of temp and pH.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

its a beautifukl setup and LOVE the rex ... sory to hear about te fish tho

 

[cogburn]

i thought i had acclimated them long enough... but to be honest... i prolly jumped the gun a lil... ill be that was the problem... i gave them 10 mins to adjust to the temp... then i took 2 cups of water out of the bag and added 2 cups from the tank twice... so maybe 30 mins tops...

 

[cogburn]

it seems the ship has been righted... water test is straight down the line... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrIte... nitrAtes are a bit high... getting close to 80ppm... but at least im FINALLY seeing nitrate rise... i think i jumped the gun by a week... instead of the nitrite test turning blue it was turning clear so i assumed it was 0... it apparently was not... im sorry a few loaches had to die to prove me wrong... but everybody else is doing fine... so ill let things settle for a week then get another batch of loaches... theres one in there that still seem to be doing fine but i want to get him some friends... fyi if your nitrite test turns CLEAR... its not 0 hahaha... ill do a pwc tonight to get the nitrates back to below 10 ppm... so now im breathing easier again and the fish seem happier... swimming around more and no more flashing against the sand...

 

[mr86mister]

We all make mistakes. You have to learn somehow. Keep us updated!

 

[cogburn]

yeah now im worried a bit about temp... it was way high... 77.4... im trying to get it down to 75... been doing it gradually... now this morning 73... grrr... i gotta try and get it 75... constantly work to be done

 

[djrusselljoseph]

Just did a quick search, found a very interesting article/write up -





"Clown loaches make no demands on extreme water elements, normal pH and KH will do excellently. On the other hand one should be careful with extreme water changes, these fish are sensitive to sudden changes in the quality of the water. Frequent small water changes are best. I reccomend changing water at least once every second week, preferably more often."

 

[cogburn]

hmmmmm.. interesting thank you for that... im sure the combo of hasty acclimation and rising nitrites didnt help anything... im gonna let the tank cool its jets before i get more loaches