Stef's first planted tank - 50g build.

[Stefernini]

I was gonna say "whatever" to the "window shopping"

I wish the little nitrite buggers would get their act together, the ammo guys are having a party!

I've fully settled on my stock plans except for one tho.

10 shrimp
4 otos (after a month or two)
6 panda cories
6-8 celestial pearl danios
10-12 lemon tetras
3 swordtails

The ones I can't decide on is either a betta or a couple pearl gouramis.

 

[Kharrnn]

With the gouramis I'd go with the amano shrimp then. They're bigger and less likely to be eaten.

 

[tiger terror]

Imo just leave your tank&no more dosing of the ammo..give the denitrifying bacteria time to grow,in time you'll see both ammo&nitrites at 0ppm..cycle complete-finish with a large pwc

 

[Stefernini]

Stop dosing ammo? Wouldn't that leave them ammo eating bacteria to starve and stall the cycle tho?

 

[tiger terror]

Stop dosing ammo? Wouldn't that leave them ammo eating bacteria to starve and stall the cycle tho?

Hello,no harm in doing such if only for a few days.You could put some crushed fish flakes in for your own sound of mind though..

 

[Stefernini]

I've started getting algae, as expected, but I've also started getting hair like stuff all over my rocks, is it whats called hair algae? (first two pics, hard to see)

Also my dark green, algae covered amazon leaves started getting bright, almost perfect circle, spots on them and confusing me. Until today. I found the culprit. Apparently snails are super beings that can survive ungodly amounts of ammonia and nitrites? (hes the little guy on the back leaf in the last pic)

 

[Kharrnn]

Is the hair-like stuff white? If so it's similar to algae but will disappear on it's own. If you have anything that eats algae they'll it too.

Maybe you should get a few more of those super snails to take care of the algae lol. Looks like you might be able to get Otos right away

 

[Stefernini]

Its not white. Its kind of brown. Having otos right away would be cool, but there still might not be enough algae in there for that.

 

[Kharrnn]

Algae has a habit of growing quickly and you're still a couple weeks from adding fish so there's time

I'm not sure what the hair-like stuff is. I'm certain you're doing this, but keep an eye on it and if it gets out of control you might need to pick it out and clean stuff. I'm pretty sure algae eating critters would take care of it if you left it though.

 

[Stefernini]

Sucked up a bunch of it with a water change today. I also pulled up my glosso and separated out the healthy pieces from the dead bits and planted them individually, hopefully that will help. I also vacated my little friend. Not knowing what kind he is, I decided to not allow an infestation.

I didn't dose ammo last night, and I'm hoping between that and a water change that I can get the nitrite to a readable level and see if it moves or if I've actually stalled.

 

[Kharrnn]

Poor guy He was cleaning algae for you. Oh well. It'll leave more for shrimp and otos.

Did you dose back to 4ppm ammonia after the pwc? Hopefully the glosso will take off now. I had to do that with my stargrass and now it's almost out of control.

I'm not sure it would stall unless you had a ph drop but that's not likely. Keep us updated though. I like reading about your tank, it prepares me for what I might encounter with mine lol

 

[Stefernini]

Here's some new pictures













Sadly, skipping an ammonia dose and doing a 50% water change did nothing for my water readings :-(

 

[Stefernini]

WOOHOO!!! I'm sooooo excited!!!

Check it out!




Dosed ammo back to 4, got my fingers crossed for the same results tomorrow!

 

[Kharrnn]

You have some massive nitrite bb in there!

 

[Stefernini]

Ya I guess that water change I did yesterday was exactly what I needed to do! Can't wait to check it again tomorrow night!

 

[Stefernini]

Well I definitly have a cycled tank! Now I can get serious about stock

Here is my list:
10 cherry shrimp
4 otos (to be pruchased later)
1 albino bn pleco
10 lemon tetras
6 celestial pearl danios
3 swordtails
1 pearl gourami

Thoughts/complaints welcome.

 

[Kharrnn]

The only problem I can think of is that your shrimp will be harassed and eaten by the gouramies. Amano shrimp are bigger and might survive better. I know you have hiding places, but 10 shrimp in your tank will disappear fast and have a hard time breeding if they get split up.

Of course if you add the shrimp first and let them establish and start breeding you're more likely to have some live. Or if you get really small gouramies that might help too.

Edit: everything but the otos will chase the shrimp. Thats a tough one...

 

[Andysol]

If you put a decent amount of moss on your driftwood, your cherries will be ok- otherwise, kharrnn is right- they're toast.

I had dozens of cherries that bred like crazy with gouramis, red tailed shark, tetras, cories- they knew when and when not to come out. In fact, I thought they were dead and rarely saw one on occasion (I assumed the same one). Then, when I broke down the tank on a move, there were maybe 100. I started with 12 4-6 months prior.
If you give them cover to breed, they'll reproduce faster than rabbits.

 

[pamelarowley57]

congrats on your newly cycled tank!

 

[Stefernini]

congrats on your newly cycled tank!

Thanks!