New 55 Gallon Log

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well, the WC's deff do not help, they added CO2 from, the tap water(assuming its high, deff higher then in the tank).

Anyway, everyone know that CO2 fluctuations are bad, well cause algae outbreaks/issues.

The Rotala went from straight up, looking good, to leaning over again. All in 24hrs or less.

Algae is frustrating period, I would not wish it on my worst enemy. I have staghorn in 1 spot/plant(from my 10G, which also has this on the new wisteria which I spot dosed today also). The main algae that I have, I thought was GBA(green Beard algae) or but actually looks more like Rhizoclonium as can be seen here:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
I believed to be caused from my low dosing of Nitrate to start since I have no fishload, possibly ammonia also. Yes I'm a newb but like learning.

So I have done much reading and got some new stuff from my order at aquariumguys.com. Great fast shipping IMO(although the tracking info was slow and had me worried).

I got 2L of Excel to start dosing, doing ~2x the daily dose to start( 1 capful), today I dosed the whole tank. I've read that it only last 11hrs or less than 24hrs. So I'm going to turn off the filter for ~10min), spot dose 2x strength on different areas everyday. Then see how it comes out at the end of the week or 2. At this point if the algae is still present and the plants look OK I may try doing a blackout.

Also got a Phosphate test kit, my tap water seems to have 1.0 phosphate, so I dont have to dose that much(at least right after a WC)l assuming the test kit is accurate. Will do some more test to see. I also found out that many water companies add phosphate to the water to raise the PH to 7.0 or above, this is so the PH is not acidic and corrodes the pipes.

When doing water changes, I'm going to let the water off gas, I dont think a python would be a good idea at this point. After I pull through this I may try straight tap water again to see if I have issues, just for reference.

Most of my prob lies in using plants from a higher light/CO2 tank, then they have to adapt to my tank. Then low nitrates(my fault), and possible fluctuating CO2 from tap/WC's.

The Rotala is growing new stems, like 3 off of 1 main(its leaning sideways), so I think it is adapting. The main is still pink but the new is green.

Made another new purchase today, 5 baby BN Pleco's and 5 Blue Brigs snails. I hope they will help me win this algae battle for the time being. Then I will prob trade all but 1 BN back to my LFS and pickup more Otos if they have any.

Wish me luck!

 

[new2betas]

Made another new purchase today, 5 baby BN Pleco's and 5 Blue Brigs snails. I hope they will help me win this algae battle for the time being. Then I will prob trade all but 1 BN back to my LFS and pickup more Otos if they have any.

Wish me luck!

Did you get the BN's at a lfs? I can't find any around me....that is why I got my rubberlip pleco....not sure how much algae she eats, but I love to watch her....she is the cutest thing. I am beginning to think I am just a betta/catfish girl

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Nothing wrong with catfish, the BN are basically the easiest Pleco's to breed from what I've read. They are very calm and large enough to do well with most fish, oh and they eat algae(seems other Plecos like meaty foods or dont care for algae as much)

Maybe thats your next tank

I'm bought them from aquabid.com, they will be shipping on Tuesday from GA. I Got 5 baby BN and 5 small Blue Brigs snails(apple snails), all for $26 shipped. My LFS did not have any BN when I was there last but they seem to get them from time to time.

 

[brutus]

there great fish eat algae non stop all day...do you have any sae in there?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Nope, no SAE(not sure if they have these locally?). I have 3 RCS, 4 male Endlers, and 2 Oto's in there now(a couple snails which I am removing). Soon to have the 5BN and snails. I did try to add the other Oto but did not catch him and since I bought the BN I'm not worried about it for now.

Its deff Rhizoclonium algae(well have small BBA and GBA/fuzz possibly also), so I hope the Excel will help.


Side note: I got a magfloat and wow its much nicer than I expected(thinking I could get away w/o one). I would deff reccoment it for people with larger tanks.

 

[brutus]

Yeah i just replaced my old one with one of them. Good magnet on them just dont get gravel stuck between it

 

[harmy4993]

well since you got a magnet floating thing i had to get one to. those things are nice.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Yes the magfloat is deff nice!

Well I have been fighting with this algae, seem to have it under control. The Rotala is growing many new stems(although they seem thin?). Its now the fastest growing plant in the tank.

I have been doing ~2x(slightly less) daily excel dosing, which seems to help but the spot dosing deff kills BBA(turns red in hours). I will be just doing spot dosing of the excel from now on.

Also I have swaped plants from the 55g into the 10g and then they get clean very well of algae in a couple days, then I put algae free ones back into the 55g. Seems to be helping so far. Also have not been feeding the 10g.

I still have some of this Rhizoclonium, BBA now on the driftwood where the other algae is gone now. I did a large waterchange again and most of the water was not let sit to off gass this is when the BBA appeared. I still need to do this, but its hard with only a few buckets and my filter splashes like crazy with the water level low and i dont want to have it turned off for like 12hrs to off gas the water. I plan to just stick with 15% max water changes from now on till I get through this or get more buckets.


I got new fish yesterday and today.
5 baby BN Pleco's, the largest one is ~1"
5 Blue Apple snails
4 Oto's slightly smaller than the ones I got last time

I had 1 Oto die on me a couple days ago, I believe it was due to the excel dosing. It was laying funny on the bottom when i discovered it, so i quickly netted it and put into my 10g as there is no excel in there(figured it was the only chance), it never recovered. All other fish seem fine with the excel, even the ones that got sucked into the filter when I was redoing the intake side with new 3/4" hose and a sponge prefilter. The filter seems to have slightly picked up some flow as I can now have it all the way in the corner and farther below the surface and the opposite corner does not become stagnate like it did before. I still need to redo the outlet size but I need some suction cup holders and an outlet flow director/diffuser.

I also have noticed at least 5 baby RCS in my 10G so I plant to keep adding to the 55g, so far the ones in ther are OK even with the excel dosing.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I made 1 more order, for supplies.
Aquarium Plumbing: Directional U-Tube

Getting that to finish up my outflow side, will be using new 5/8" hose.It gained some flow but I dont think its nearly what others seem to use so I decided to order a Koralia 1 also.

So the new layout is going to be Inlet on left bottom(where it has been), then 304 outlet in the top left corner(above the inlet) aiming straight across the back. Then Koralia 1 on the right side mid way down aiming to blow across the front. I will play around to get a good circular flow, may switch the circulation the other way between the outlet and the K1?.


I'm trying to get ahold of 5-6 Peacock Gudgeons, which I would like to get asap. I'm not sure if I will be able to get them or not?

I also plan on getting 6 Bosemani Rainbows from a guy that is somewhat local.

 

[harmy4993]

hmmm i notice no new pictures in couple of weeks. time to update

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well the center brace just cracked again, I heard a crack last night and looked around and did not see anything. Just a couple minutes ago I heard another crack, checked it and its no good. The tank still does not leak but it does bow out. So I drained about 20 gallons so its not bowing.

I have access to another 55G for free but that center brace is cracked also, thats why I took this one. So I may take that one and fix the rims, then just swap them. So I can leave this one running 1/2 full till then b/c it would be a tight fit for all the stuff in my 10G, lol.

If I do it that way I may as well just spend $26 more and get 2 more rims so I can fix both 55G's and maybe I'll set the other one up also in the future


So going to think about it and call around tomorrow to see what I want to do. I dont care too much for the 55G footprint, but its OK to me and 4' lighting is cheap.

 

[harmy4993]

ya i think getting the brace is a good idea about now.

 

[Purrbox]

I've heard of some people removing the plastic brace and then silaconing a glass piece in to replace it. Might be something to consider.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I've heard of some people removing the plastic brace and then silaconing a glass piece in to replace it. Might be something to consider.

Thats the thing, I need more info about it. As far as I know silicone is not an adhesive just a sealant(well in my mind its slightly adhesive but not structural). I guess I need to look into some stuff about sealing tanks. If the silicone used is an adhesive I may just leave the top rimless and use glass like you stated. Got any links? I'll be searching the net for info.

now if mine was broken in the middle of the brace it would be an easier fix IMO, as I could screw/rivet/ect another center brace to the existing one with another material like acrylic ect..(or sandwich it), but mine is cracked on both ends right by the normal tiny lip around it. So its not as feasible.

The thing I saw that I mentioned in post #30 doesnt seem safe to me as the contact area of just some wire doesnt sound good to me

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I have been reading and found all kinds of info, seems its quite comon on 55G tanks, but thats prob one of the most sold tanks.

There is a thread on here where someone bought a 55G new and ~2yrs later the center brace cracked.

That didnt give me a lot of confidence in these plastic trims. I considered using the wire since that would be feasible just that my outer trim is not in great shape either as there are a couple cracks here and there.

Seems also that I should have use some plastic epoxy in the 1st place to try to fix it as other stuff doesnt seem to stick well to plastic(as I noticed)

Ideally I would like to remove the top trim and just silicone a 4" wide 1/4"-3/8" thick piece of glass for the center. I'm not very confident in this thought and didnt find much info on it.

I'm going to call thatpetplace.com in the morning as I saw multiple links to them saying they had the trim but its not on there site anylonger. Actually one post was from last month and said they got it from there. It would be a less tedious repair IMO and I could still use my glass tops(dont really use them much now unless the water level is low to prevent splashing).

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well it took me a couple hours, but its officially topless

I can get a frame locally but would have to wait almost 3weeks. Can get black or oak.

thatpetplace.com is a joke, the 1st 2 times I called the people said that they do not sell them, the one lady said that they have them in the retail store but would not sell me one. Then I just called again and a guy quickly found the part and gave me the part # for online. They only sell Black and get it on a special order truck that only comes once a month
Frame - Black - 48 in. x 13 in. | Fluorescent Fixtures | Lighting Systems | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

That all glass cages place only has black and can ship Monday, so I have till then to decide what to do.

I can get a piece of glass for $3 in the correct size, and leave it rimless. I'm considering this option. I may go with 2 4" glass braces(one on top of the other with space) either in the middle or just 1 every 2 feet. I can pick that up Monday morning and some aquarium silicone.

Still need to get more silicone off around the top. I found I can get a 50breeder for a great price locally, too bad my stand and lights are not right for it. I though about it, the lights wouldnt bother me much hanging over(well it would) and thought about putting 1 or 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF on top of my current stand but not sure about that either.

I'll just be happy with what I have I guess, even if I order a black top trim Monday.

 

[newfound77951]

Hmm....kinda looks neat like that! I'd still keep an eye on it, even half full, as it's not designed to not have that top brace there. But with any luck it will be OK.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well ordered the new black frame Monday from glasscages.com, it got here Wednesday and I put it on later that night. I ended up getting a tube of silicone from them as they had a good price and it would be good stuff, I also got 2 frames just incase I ever redo the bottom frame or if I get the other 55G that is available to me I can swap the top on that.

The silicone says to cure for 7-14days, thats for building a tank, so I'm keeping the water low for a couple days longer(till this splashing water drives me nuts, lol). I think 1-2 days would be ok, but why risk it. This silicone smell is strong! it also says to check the PH of the water, but most of the silicone will be above the water line so i dont think it will be an issue.

I have been watching as seems like my oto's and BN have been hiding, likely being stressed, I know some crap fell into the water, just not sure what else I could have done. One Oto had a red belly, did not look good! Well its still alive but I dont think it will survive, I found a different one dead today. I can only see 2 Oto's that seems fine, and 2 BN's, not sure where the other ones are at? The 3 Endlers are fine as are the snails and RCS.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well the red bellied Oto is looking much better, it still has a full belly with slight red/pink.

Tank is filled all the way now, seems fine. I have all the adult male endlers I have in here now(5) they seem to get along fine. Added more RCS also.

Got 6 Bosemani Rainbows today(drip acclimating them now), hope they are good ones, lol.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well its been a couple weeks, some plants are good, others seem just present. No algae issues

I think I may go to pressurized CO2 in the near future

The Oto is doing fine and all the red has gone.

I purchased 9 Serpae Tetra's and 1 beat up Angel. The Angel did not last and the Serpae's are "stalkers" of pretty much anything that gets there attention(angel fins and RCS). I took them back last night and now have 2 new Angels.

I just wanted to say, I believe that it is possible (Serpae Tetra's and Angels) to coexist as it has been done. Personally the hassle was not for me. I think a large tank and larger angels would help maybe luck of the Serpae tetra draw also.

So 1st day with 2 Angels, One is a White Veil and the other is standard fin mostly black some silver/gray. They are out and all over the tank with no fears. The Bosemani Rainbows could care less for the most part.

Also the RCS are out more also as the Serpae's would kinda hunt them or at least nip them which gets the very fast rainbows hot on the trail which is not good except that they have small throats. I've seen 1 small RCS that was pointed out by the Serpae's, get kicked around then in the 1/2 in the mouth of the largest rainbow(not fully grown) but eventually got spat out as it was too big to swallow, the RCS looked ok afterwards but not sure if it made it? Today there are more RCS out of hiding than ever, I think I have ~25 in here now as I prob added ~30 but i think a couple got eaten?

I am very happy that I too the Serpae Tetras back.

Should finally be getting Peacosk Gudgeons soon, I would have had them already but have not checked my email in the last week