angiemike6
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2023
- Messages
- 13
Hi, now that I am retired at the age of 73 I thought I would take more interest in tropical fish communities. A little about my myself and my tank set first of all.
i retired 3 years ago after working until I was 70. I have been married for 45 years with 4 children and 9 soon to be 10 grandchildren.
I started in the hobby 30 years ago, and unbelievably was told to cycle my first tank with 6 cardinals. Surprisingly all 6 survived although in those days I believe the cardinals were of harder stock. I know have some difficulty in keeping cardinals mainly due i think to my water being hard GH 18 and with ph of 7.8. I was also advised to get a common plec in those days to keep control of the algae which it did a tremendous job. It lived for 28 years and got to 18 inches long.
My present tank is a Juwel Vision 180 which has a bow front and is a 40 gallon tank. This is a fantastic tank, easy to maintain especially the filter media.
Now for the controversy, as I know that I overstock my tank. The fish I have in my 40 gallon tank are 5 Albino Corydora, 2 Boesmani Rainbow Fish, 3 Bolivan Ram Cichlids, 1 common Bristonosed Plec, 2 Calico Bristlenosed Plecs, 2 Cardinal Tetras, 4 Clown Loaches, 1 Common Plec, 4 Congo Tetra's, 1 YoYo Loach and 2 Golden Dwarf Ciclids.
I am sure that many of you will tell me that my tank is grossly overstocked, but they are all happy, I never get any illness in my tank, and only lose fish due to old age, so I must be doing something right. Many of my fish are over 5 years old and I haven't purchased any new fish for probably 2 years.
My water chemistry is Ammonia 0, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates 20 ppm, ph 7.8, GH 18 dKH and KH 4 dKH.
My tank maintenance is done weekly where I change 25% of the water and vacuum the top of the gravel to remove detriment. I clean all the media sponges in the filter every week in the water removed from the tank. I use tap water to replenish the tank using Seachem Prime to remove the chlorine. I use Seachem Stability weekly to ensure that the bacteria in my filter is maintained. Stability is normally used to cycle a new tank, but I use it weekly as I wash out the filter sponges. I also use Seachem which helps to safely eliminates sludge and detritus and increase water clarity.
I hope the above is a good introduction to myself and my tank, and I look forward to taking part in this forum in the future.
i retired 3 years ago after working until I was 70. I have been married for 45 years with 4 children and 9 soon to be 10 grandchildren.
I started in the hobby 30 years ago, and unbelievably was told to cycle my first tank with 6 cardinals. Surprisingly all 6 survived although in those days I believe the cardinals were of harder stock. I know have some difficulty in keeping cardinals mainly due i think to my water being hard GH 18 and with ph of 7.8. I was also advised to get a common plec in those days to keep control of the algae which it did a tremendous job. It lived for 28 years and got to 18 inches long.
My present tank is a Juwel Vision 180 which has a bow front and is a 40 gallon tank. This is a fantastic tank, easy to maintain especially the filter media.
Now for the controversy, as I know that I overstock my tank. The fish I have in my 40 gallon tank are 5 Albino Corydora, 2 Boesmani Rainbow Fish, 3 Bolivan Ram Cichlids, 1 common Bristonosed Plec, 2 Calico Bristlenosed Plecs, 2 Cardinal Tetras, 4 Clown Loaches, 1 Common Plec, 4 Congo Tetra's, 1 YoYo Loach and 2 Golden Dwarf Ciclids.
I am sure that many of you will tell me that my tank is grossly overstocked, but they are all happy, I never get any illness in my tank, and only lose fish due to old age, so I must be doing something right. Many of my fish are over 5 years old and I haven't purchased any new fish for probably 2 years.
My water chemistry is Ammonia 0, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates 20 ppm, ph 7.8, GH 18 dKH and KH 4 dKH.
My tank maintenance is done weekly where I change 25% of the water and vacuum the top of the gravel to remove detriment. I clean all the media sponges in the filter every week in the water removed from the tank. I use tap water to replenish the tank using Seachem Prime to remove the chlorine. I use Seachem Stability weekly to ensure that the bacteria in my filter is maintained. Stability is normally used to cycle a new tank, but I use it weekly as I wash out the filter sponges. I also use Seachem which helps to safely eliminates sludge and detritus and increase water clarity.
I hope the above is a good introduction to myself and my tank, and I look forward to taking part in this forum in the future.