The new 55g project (56k warning)

[dskidmore]

Majorly overdosing prime can reduce oxygen levels, but dosing to the total tank volume as directed on the bottle is fine. Even at double-dose, you'll be fine if you have an airstone or a HOB filter areating the water.

 

[dskidmore]

5-6:

pH:8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm (been dosing 1-2ppm, tank can get rid of it in about ~16hrs or less)
Nitrite: 5ppm
Nitrate:~40ppm (thats a BIG jump..)

well im lost on where i am at in my cycle or what needs to happen next, so any input is appreciated. im just going to keep doin the 1-2ppm dose i guess.

5-6 (noon):
pH:8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm (been dosing 1-2ppm, tank can get rid of it in about ~12hrs or less)
Nitrite: 5ppm
Nitrate:~160ppm (its a pretty dark red)

Might want to back off on the ammonia dosing, or start doing some water changes. Nitrates that high can inhibit bacterial growth. You definately have all the right bacteria in there, but the nitrite->nitrate bacteria are not quite a numerous as your ammonia->nitrite bacteria.

 

[JCatania43]

awesome looking stand. did it come with the tank or vice versa...how much did that run ya?

 

[joannde]

Hi - my nitrites were high FOREVER also. Do a PWC to get the level of nitrites down some - you're tank is cycling GREAT !
Make sure you do the nitrite and nitrate tests immediately after you do the PWC so that you have an accurate baseline to determine changes.

 

[cbk.o4]

Might want to back off on the ammonia dosing, or start doing some water changes. Nitrates that high can inhibit bacterial growth. You definately have all the right bacteria in there, but the nitrite->nitrate bacteria are not quite a numerous as your ammonia->nitrite bacteria.

im only dosing around 1-1.5ppm.

awesome looking stand. did it come with the tank or vice versa...how much did that run ya?

uh i got the stand, tank, canopy, and light for like 500 or so

Hi - my nitrites were high FOREVER also. Do a PWC to get the level of nitrites down some - you're tank is cycling GREAT !
Make sure you do the nitrite and nitrate tests immediately after you do the PWC so that you have an accurate baseline to determine changes.

i stopped doing nitrate tests, not going to do another one until the nitrites start going down.

well i added ceramic rings and bio stars to my xp3 today, also added some filter floss. and dumped out all the floating crud that was in my tank bottom. did a test and refill about an hour after and things looked just like they did before so im ok with it.

5-11:

pH:7.8 or so
Ammonia: 0ppm (been dosing 1-1.5ppm, tank can get rid of it in about ~8-9hrs or less)
Nitrite: 5ppm

got some new driftwood in the tank too. made my water yellow but it actually doesnt bother me at all, some of it will go away with the filter floss.

driftwood pic

 

[dskidmore]

Might want to back off on the ammonia dosing, or start doing some water changes. Nitrates that high can inhibit bacterial growth. You definately have all the right bacteria in there, but the nitrite->nitrate bacteria are not quite a numerous as your ammonia->nitrite bacteria.

im only dosing around 1-1.5ppm.

If you had fish in there, that would be a lethal dose. It's great for kickstarting the biofilter, but not necessary to maintain it. All the ammonia you've ever put in ends up as nitrate, so your nitrate is skyrocketing.

 

[cbk.o4]

that makes no since to me at all, how are the bacteria gonna survive with nothing to live off of?

 

[dskidmore]

I'm not saying cut it out all together, just maybe .5 ppm a day, or switch to feeding it fish food instead of straight ammonia. Your sky-high nitrates are evidence that you have mostly cycled, just not processig it really fast yet. You could do water changes before dosing ammonia if that makes more sense to you.

 

[cbk.o4]

5-15:

pH:7.8-8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm (been dosing .5-1ppm whenever i think about it, not closer than 12 hours from each dosing)
Nitrite: 0ppm (FINALLY)
Nitrate: 40-160+ppm (idk those colors suck on the ap master test kit, u cant really tell the difference..well at least i cant...im thinking 160+ though, cuz it is pretty red in the test tube)

so hopefully im done cycling, ill probably be giving it another week or two anyways, since my light STILL has not been shipped (bad choice on who to buy from on ebay..saved a few bucks but have been waiting for about a week for this guy to ship it out). im not going to be puttin fish in the tank until i get plants decided and put in the tank, and the new light (even though since im going with low light i guess i could start addin plants now..)

 

[Laser]

I really like your tank and stand, can't wait to see some pictures of your finished tank! =)

 

[cbk.o4]

5-26:

pH: 7.8-8.0
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate:10-20 ppm
Phosphate: 2 ppm
General Hardness: ~21° (375.9 ppm)
Carbonate Hardness: ~20° (~358 ppm)

 

[DeFeKt]

looks great!
4 words though, based on your water parameters...
African Rift Lake Cichlids
PERFECT!!

keep up the good work

Matt

 

[cbk.o4]

6-2:

got a bunch of plants yesterday, planted them all last night.

in there now i have:

Congensis (Anubias congensis)
Balansae (Cryptocrone crispatula)
Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
Dwarf Sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata)
Anachris (Egeria najas)
Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana)

here is the tank as of this morning:



still lookin to get some more plants for the forground, and some more taller plants for the back wall but im going to wait a lil bit and see how these do.

still treatin my gourami for popeye but it is doing much better than a few days ago, i think it should be back to normal in the next week or so.

water tests:

pH: 7.4-7.8
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate:5-10 ppm
Phosphate: .5 ppm
General Hardness: ~21° (375.9 ppm)
Carbonate Hardness: ~20° (~358 ppm)

 

[dskidmore]

Looking good!

Are you planning on a background? A light blue to match your spraybar and intake hoses would look nice.

 

[rich311k]

Looks great. I agree a background would be very nice.

 

[cbk.o4]

hopefully at some point i will have enough plants to make a background for me lol

that picture is really crappy...hate the new cam.

oh well

thanks for the comments, ill post later

 

[cbk.o4]

well it has been a bit since i have said anything in here. lets see what is happening with the 55g...

well my first fish, the dwarf flame gourami got popeye and is now completely better from that. lost my adf "wh$rehouse" (dont ask about the name it would take too long to explain how it got that name lol) for about 2 weeks, but a few minutes ago i finally saw the lil guy moving along the bottom of the tank. got alot more fish than the last time i posted...i dont even think i had one fish last time i posted...maybe i did i dont remember.

the new inhabitants are listed in my sig, but i have 5 tiger barbs now, one jumped and got wedged between my light and my canopy, found him the next morning during feeding...dried stiff....so far that is the only loss.

the two bn plecos are awesome, my tank glass is SOO much cleaner than it was before i got them. they get to me though when they kick up substrate and make a lil dust storm in the tank when they get spooked.

im thinking of gettin rid of my powder blue gourami to a friend who has a tank, and taking some of his tiger barbs, since he is lookin to get rid of them and get some new fish for his tank.

hmm plant wise...yeah that isnt going so great..my wet green thumb sucks lol. i lost all the anacharis, of the two Balansae plants i had i only have one now. the Dwarf Sagittaria was doing really bad, all the leaves were yellow, but now there is a good green groth coming out of the substrate. The Congensis is doing very good, there are numerous new leaves poking out from the substrate. Java fern is doing aight i mean it is java fern.. the java moss....well lets just say if i killed that i would have taken every plant out and called it quits right then and there. i added some hornwort i got from hulkamaniac, it is doing awesome, the fish are loving it also, they have a bunch of new hiding spots, and places to relax when they dont want to deal with all the other mates.

might be going ahead and gettin co2 soon and puttin my 160w of cf light back on top. see how that helps with plant growth. im wantin to get some more plants but idk if i should try right now, just want to see how well these do, also gettin dosing schedule and needs done right now so yeah.

well i took some pics, half of them turned out pretty cruddy, but i got a few good ones. some of the fish just wouldnt sit still like good kids and get their picture taken...well i should say all not some LOL.



One of the two BN Plecos.



Popeye, my dwarf flame gourami, hiding in the hornwort, just a nice pic of his coloration.



Wh$rehouse, my ADF. and my completely melted anacharis...thanks excel lol.



One of my tiger barbs gettin drunk with Rummy.




well those are all the non blurry ones i could snap tonight, might get some tomorrow during the day, idk.

laterz 8)

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Cool pics....

 

[Guest]

Very nice tank, can't wait to see it complete. Looks very sturdy.

 

[HannahJ]

That's an....interesting name for a ADF. Lovely tank, though.