ArtesiaWells
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2012
- Messages
- 1,392
Okay, Friends.
Not really much to report, but I figured I would keep everyone updated on the status of the cycling 60 gallon containing the Black Moor -- since the last check-in, I have performed two small water changes (about enough to the point both HOB filters were not going to stop their motors or the water was going to drop below their intake cutoffs) with treatment of Prime each time, and we have added some more decor to the tank, which included an artificial "tree stump" piece from Petsmart that we have placed towards the left side corner of the tank, the tall red and green plants behind it. In the foreground, around some of the twisted "vines" of this stump, we placed smaller bushy plants and some green pointy varieties (kind of like Java Ferns) sticking out of the holes in the stump for effect. So far, our Moor has taken a liking to the stump, swimming in and out of it from beneath it, poking around underneath for food...however, once she gets bigger or we introduce bigger goldies, swimming through this decoration will not be possible. Additionally, we may need to remove the decor because she has developed what appears to be a "cut" in her back tail area presumably caused by scratching on some sharp object in the tank. I am very concerned about this, so I am re-thinking our decision to add log cave decorations and such that we originally planned for this artificial-aquascape. I have added extra Prime dosings to assist with repairing the Moor's slime coat and the damage on her scales...
The 10 gallon containing the two small goldies and the Red Cap Oranda? Well, they all seem to be doing fine, and I do regular gravel vaccs and water changes on that tank as well. The issue is becoming the Oranda -- he is definitely growing and getting bigger, and although he may soon outgrow this tank, I can't risk putting him in with the Moor because he will savagely attack her...
Getting back to the 60 gallon though, I'm beginning to lose faith in my original plan for a theme in this setup -- I suppose this is a subject for a thread all its own, but I will briefly go into what I have been thinking about. First of all, we wanted to move from a "pirate shipwreck" theme that we did in the previous setup in this tank (before it crashed from a bacterial infection breakout and which included blue gravel, a half-shipwrecked boat decoration centerpiece from Petsmart with white silk sails, a pirate skull, treasure cave and other stuff) to a more "natural" layout and design, with natural-colored gravel, green plastic plants and wood/log/rock decor, also artificial. The thing is, we were also thinking of doing an Asian sort of theme, being that we're keeping goldfish, as some of these tanks I've seen look really cool and inventive -- so my wife picked out a $10 "Chinese gazebo" decoration from Petco which has a gray roof, red sides and an attached bamboo plant, and which we put off to the right side of the tank (the log decoration is off to the left). This piece is hollow inside, so the Moor swims through the whole thing every now and then; however, this could also be the piece she cut herself on...we don't know for sure. Additionally, my wife cut up pieces of that Marineland "plant mat" so it looks as though there's a "Japanese garden" leading up to the gazebo piece; it's kind of neat.
But I have to tell you guys....the whole thing just isn't doing it for me so far. I don't know if it's the lighting over our tank, the lack of a background, the two 18" bubble bars blowing out strong streams of bubbles along the back wall, the strange mixture of the Asian decoration off to the right and the more natural tree stump piece off to the left or the fact that we don't have any other pieces of decor or plants in there so far, but the whole setup just isn't appealing to look at so far. I'm kicking myself thinking about mistakes we may have made this time around...last time, we had blue gravel (because there are shades of light blue in our upstairs loft where this tank resides, along with chocolate browns) but I don't know if the "natural" colored gravel is doing it for me...should we have gone with black to make the orange and reds of the goldfish stand out? Or perhaps another color...or sand? I just don't know...
Then there's the question of the decor -- should we have done another "sunken ship" theme but with more natural surrounding decorations? I don't know if the "log caves" and "tree stumps" are appropriate for a goldfish habitat coming to think of it now...I want to "build" this tank's background up with lush flora, but we want to do it with artificial plants, and I don't know if we have chosen the right kinds of groupings to do this (we put tall ones in the left corner behind the tree stump for now, with smaller ones coming out of the stump holes)...I've seen professional aquascapers put artificially decorated tanks together online and their sense of depth and scale is truly stunning -- I don't know how to emulate it.
When it comes to the lighting, again, I don't know what's best -- over our 10 gallon, we're running the stock incandescent lamps that came with the hood, but my wife doesn't like the yellowish hue it casts in the tank, instead liking the fluorescent glow of our 60 gallon. But on the 60 gallon, our Aqueon/All Glass fluorescent strip light looks way too "cold" and "sterile" in my opinion, not really casting that "natural daylight" look you want to aim for when doing the natural decorations in the tank. I don't know what to do...if I should start looking at the Marineland LED overhead lights, or the dual day/night systems Marineland sells, or go for a different kelvin of fluorescent bulb, or change to incandescent altogether...we don't have live plants, so that's not a factor for the light...
The tank, now almost two weeks in to a cycle, has also gone back to being a bit hazy and cloudy, but this could be due to the substrate being kicked up a bit when I re-arranged some decor yesterday. There was a ton of stuff floating around (probably overfeeding the one Moor in there now, so I've cut back) when I moved the gravel about, so I did a small water change and syphoned some of the debris out; I assume whatever was left the filters caught...but still, I'm beginning to wonder if the constant rush of the bubble bars have something to do with the "un-crystal clear" appearance of the water, or if it's just because the tank isn't near being cycled yet and we're still getting bacterial bloom...from the side, the water looks terribly cloudy, although from the front it's not too bad.
I realize and understand that most tanks should be set up in a way so that before any water or fish go in, all the decor, gravel and tubing for air pumps should be arranged and set to avoid sticking your arms and hands in the water and disturbing the inhabitants and substrate, but we had no choice to do it the way we did -- that is, we needed to get the 60 up and running as quickly as possible, even if we had no decor to put in, because the Moor's life was at stake staying in her two gallon holding tank; and so, I layed down the gravel, added the water, began Stability and got the filters pumping again, so that we could add the Moor rapidly. That meant that now, because our budget is sparse, we have to add plants and decor very slowly as we can afford them and as we see fit in terms of a theme, which has been a challenge on its own. And, unfortunately, it also means I have to constantly stick my hands in the water, in and out, to add or move items as necessary as the rest of the tank gets set up decor wise, thereby disturbing the Moor and her substrate (although she didn't seem to mind when I was in there yesterday, constantly coming over to my arm to peck at it
)
What do y'all think I should be doing at this point? Should I just let the cycle continue, or finish, and add decor then, or continue adding pieces as we find them? Is this okay to do to the substrate and fish? I have not yet taken API readings since the last time I posted, but I will soon, so I have a parameter to report to see what's going on with the water; in the meantime, I have been doing small PWC's. What about your thoughts with regard to the setup and layout of our "theme" or decor -- any suggestions/insight? I will snap some pics of the tank's current state so you can all get an idea of what we've done so far, and hopefully that will allow you to provide opinions and ideas, but I wanted to just get some thoughts from all or some of you beforehand with regard to the direction we should be going in as the tank continues to cycle...
I look forward to any responses and thoughts!
Not really much to report, but I figured I would keep everyone updated on the status of the cycling 60 gallon containing the Black Moor -- since the last check-in, I have performed two small water changes (about enough to the point both HOB filters were not going to stop their motors or the water was going to drop below their intake cutoffs) with treatment of Prime each time, and we have added some more decor to the tank, which included an artificial "tree stump" piece from Petsmart that we have placed towards the left side corner of the tank, the tall red and green plants behind it. In the foreground, around some of the twisted "vines" of this stump, we placed smaller bushy plants and some green pointy varieties (kind of like Java Ferns) sticking out of the holes in the stump for effect. So far, our Moor has taken a liking to the stump, swimming in and out of it from beneath it, poking around underneath for food...however, once she gets bigger or we introduce bigger goldies, swimming through this decoration will not be possible. Additionally, we may need to remove the decor because she has developed what appears to be a "cut" in her back tail area presumably caused by scratching on some sharp object in the tank. I am very concerned about this, so I am re-thinking our decision to add log cave decorations and such that we originally planned for this artificial-aquascape. I have added extra Prime dosings to assist with repairing the Moor's slime coat and the damage on her scales...
The 10 gallon containing the two small goldies and the Red Cap Oranda? Well, they all seem to be doing fine, and I do regular gravel vaccs and water changes on that tank as well. The issue is becoming the Oranda -- he is definitely growing and getting bigger, and although he may soon outgrow this tank, I can't risk putting him in with the Moor because he will savagely attack her...
Getting back to the 60 gallon though, I'm beginning to lose faith in my original plan for a theme in this setup -- I suppose this is a subject for a thread all its own, but I will briefly go into what I have been thinking about. First of all, we wanted to move from a "pirate shipwreck" theme that we did in the previous setup in this tank (before it crashed from a bacterial infection breakout and which included blue gravel, a half-shipwrecked boat decoration centerpiece from Petsmart with white silk sails, a pirate skull, treasure cave and other stuff) to a more "natural" layout and design, with natural-colored gravel, green plastic plants and wood/log/rock decor, also artificial. The thing is, we were also thinking of doing an Asian sort of theme, being that we're keeping goldfish, as some of these tanks I've seen look really cool and inventive -- so my wife picked out a $10 "Chinese gazebo" decoration from Petco which has a gray roof, red sides and an attached bamboo plant, and which we put off to the right side of the tank (the log decoration is off to the left). This piece is hollow inside, so the Moor swims through the whole thing every now and then; however, this could also be the piece she cut herself on...we don't know for sure. Additionally, my wife cut up pieces of that Marineland "plant mat" so it looks as though there's a "Japanese garden" leading up to the gazebo piece; it's kind of neat.
But I have to tell you guys....the whole thing just isn't doing it for me so far. I don't know if it's the lighting over our tank, the lack of a background, the two 18" bubble bars blowing out strong streams of bubbles along the back wall, the strange mixture of the Asian decoration off to the right and the more natural tree stump piece off to the left or the fact that we don't have any other pieces of decor or plants in there so far, but the whole setup just isn't appealing to look at so far. I'm kicking myself thinking about mistakes we may have made this time around...last time, we had blue gravel (because there are shades of light blue in our upstairs loft where this tank resides, along with chocolate browns) but I don't know if the "natural" colored gravel is doing it for me...should we have gone with black to make the orange and reds of the goldfish stand out? Or perhaps another color...or sand? I just don't know...
Then there's the question of the decor -- should we have done another "sunken ship" theme but with more natural surrounding decorations? I don't know if the "log caves" and "tree stumps" are appropriate for a goldfish habitat coming to think of it now...I want to "build" this tank's background up with lush flora, but we want to do it with artificial plants, and I don't know if we have chosen the right kinds of groupings to do this (we put tall ones in the left corner behind the tree stump for now, with smaller ones coming out of the stump holes)...I've seen professional aquascapers put artificially decorated tanks together online and their sense of depth and scale is truly stunning -- I don't know how to emulate it.
When it comes to the lighting, again, I don't know what's best -- over our 10 gallon, we're running the stock incandescent lamps that came with the hood, but my wife doesn't like the yellowish hue it casts in the tank, instead liking the fluorescent glow of our 60 gallon. But on the 60 gallon, our Aqueon/All Glass fluorescent strip light looks way too "cold" and "sterile" in my opinion, not really casting that "natural daylight" look you want to aim for when doing the natural decorations in the tank. I don't know what to do...if I should start looking at the Marineland LED overhead lights, or the dual day/night systems Marineland sells, or go for a different kelvin of fluorescent bulb, or change to incandescent altogether...we don't have live plants, so that's not a factor for the light...
The tank, now almost two weeks in to a cycle, has also gone back to being a bit hazy and cloudy, but this could be due to the substrate being kicked up a bit when I re-arranged some decor yesterday. There was a ton of stuff floating around (probably overfeeding the one Moor in there now, so I've cut back) when I moved the gravel about, so I did a small water change and syphoned some of the debris out; I assume whatever was left the filters caught...but still, I'm beginning to wonder if the constant rush of the bubble bars have something to do with the "un-crystal clear" appearance of the water, or if it's just because the tank isn't near being cycled yet and we're still getting bacterial bloom...from the side, the water looks terribly cloudy, although from the front it's not too bad.
I realize and understand that most tanks should be set up in a way so that before any water or fish go in, all the decor, gravel and tubing for air pumps should be arranged and set to avoid sticking your arms and hands in the water and disturbing the inhabitants and substrate, but we had no choice to do it the way we did -- that is, we needed to get the 60 up and running as quickly as possible, even if we had no decor to put in, because the Moor's life was at stake staying in her two gallon holding tank; and so, I layed down the gravel, added the water, began Stability and got the filters pumping again, so that we could add the Moor rapidly. That meant that now, because our budget is sparse, we have to add plants and decor very slowly as we can afford them and as we see fit in terms of a theme, which has been a challenge on its own. And, unfortunately, it also means I have to constantly stick my hands in the water, in and out, to add or move items as necessary as the rest of the tank gets set up decor wise, thereby disturbing the Moor and her substrate (although she didn't seem to mind when I was in there yesterday, constantly coming over to my arm to peck at it
) What do y'all think I should be doing at this point? Should I just let the cycle continue, or finish, and add decor then, or continue adding pieces as we find them? Is this okay to do to the substrate and fish? I have not yet taken API readings since the last time I posted, but I will soon, so I have a parameter to report to see what's going on with the water; in the meantime, I have been doing small PWC's. What about your thoughts with regard to the setup and layout of our "theme" or decor -- any suggestions/insight? I will snap some pics of the tank's current state so you can all get an idea of what we've done so far, and hopefully that will allow you to provide opinions and ideas, but I wanted to just get some thoughts from all or some of you beforehand with regard to the direction we should be going in as the tank continues to cycle...
I look forward to any responses and thoughts!
