10G FW Planted Aquarium Build Thread #2

[Coleallensmom]

LEVEL UPDATES:

Okay, before I put all the new plants in, I actually did a 70% PWC last March 20, 2011 around 2PM-12th days of cycling because I cannot stand the tannins from the mopani wood.

Mopani wood is well known for it's leaching capabilities. lol If the tannins get to be too much, try adding a bag of Purigen to your filter (can't remember what filter you have on this tank?). Works really well and it's cleanable so you can reuse it as long as you want.

 

[daileene]

Mopani wood is well known for it's leaching capabilities. lol If the tannins get to be too much, try adding a bag of Purigen to your filter (can't remember what filter you have on this tank?). Works really well and it's cleanable so you can reuse it as long as you want.

Okay..I will keep that in mind...so far, the water has been clear..no signs of tannins anymore. Although since my bobo yesterday with the pure ammonia, there is some cloudy and slimy stuff all over the wood. It comes off when I touched 'em, but was wondering what could that be. I will attach some pictures of what they look like later. So far, my levels today since my PWC yesterday are:

Ammo: 4ppm (whewww..was happy it went down from being way off the chart yesterday when I dose pure Ammonia improperly)
Nitrite: became 5ppm....so I guess that is good?

Pictures on the way...

 

[daileene]

Hi DreD...the water has been clear since my PWC..so far. thanks for asking...

 

[Viper]

I love the cave-like effect that the DW has created. Nice looking tank!

 

[daileene]

Thank you viper...I love it too...

 

[anarekist]

wow, talk about humble beginnings, that tank looks good

 

[daileene]

Hello anarekist...thank you very much...

 

[daileene]

Okay, so here are the pictures I promised of what that slimy stuff attaching my mopani wood. It does detach easy once I tried sweep them with my fingers. Does anybody know if this was caused by my overdosing the tank with pure ammonia yesterday, even after I PWC? Please let me know if this thing will come back again and what I should do about it? Water is still clear but I can see that when I tried taking those slimy things, at the end of the day, they are there again...please advice...thanks in advance...:-(

 

[fort384]

Daileene,
Tank looks great! Good work.

Don't worry about the slimy stuff. I have had it several times with new pieces of drift wood. Just brush it off... it may last a few weeks, but it will eventually clear up.

 

[daileene]

Hi fort...thank you so much...also coming from you, it's a great honor...

Thank you also for that info about the DW...thought it was because of what I did yesterday...whewww...okay, I can relax now...

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Good to hear that you solved that mystery .

I didn't have it happen with some of my DW, but I know what to look out for with my Mopani.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

 

[McLumpy]

Hiya! The slime on your Mopani is a bacteria build-up that's more than likely caused by your lack of fishy friends. I went through the same thing for a day or so, but once my Pleco and Clown Loaches found the wood, it was gone!

If you were to take it out of the tank and soak it in extremely hot water for a day or so, it should remove the majority of the slime. Honestly, I don't believe it will hurt anything to keep the slime on there. Like Fort said, it will eventually go away on its own. This should happen almost immediately once you introduce fish to your tank... especially if you add a Pleco.

 

[daileene]

Cool...for now I am only brushing them as I see them. Although they won't all go away but I know it is not hurting anything so far. I hope I am a little fortunate on this baby when it come to cycling, coz I am itching for the fishy friends to come. LOL.

My levels yesterday around 6:48PM:

Ammonia: 1-2ppm (went down considerably from 4ppm)
Nitrite: 5ppm (still)

Today, or tonight rather around 9:33PM:

Ammonia: 0ppm (What??? LOL. The good bacteria ate my ammonia. Yayy! I added 1 teaspoon pure ammonia so they will not starve)
Nitrite: 2-5ppm (Hard to tell from the color chart)

Okay, I know I am a bug....but yesterday when I was trying to get a FTS of this tank and was gonna brush the slimy stuff after from the DW, I found some worms in the wall of the tank in the front and some attached to the DW. They are long and thin, white, and about 1/4 inch long. Thought you can only get worms when there are heavy bioloads? What are these? Please identify....

First, here are the FTS from yesterday. Water a little colory-ish....

Then here are the pictures of the worms:

 

[McLumpy]

It looks like Planaria to me. Were you putting fish food in the tank to help w/ the cycle? If so, that would make sense for you to have them if you have a lot of uneaten food in the substrate.

Oh and I'm really close to shipping you a small tank full of water w/ a seeded filter in it... just so you know. I'm anxious to see your tank full of fishies!

 

[daileene]

the first few days of cycling, i did put some flake food..then when I put the DW the first time, the tannis was everywhere, and so I did an almost 100% PWC and the levels went back to all 0 so I started back with the pure ammonia, that's when I started seeing the worms...

 

[daileene]

hehehe...did you really think of that? i can really use it...hehehe...thank you.

 

[daileene]

Oh good link about the planaria...the first picture actually looked like what I have in my 4.4G and this tank.

Thanks....

Since I am not feeding flakes in this tank anymore, I hope it will be gone...now, I have to take care of my 4.4G..

 

[McLumpy]

the first few days of cycling, i did put some flake food..then when I put the DW the first time, the tannis was everywhere, and so I did an almost 100% PWC and the levels went back to all 0 so I started back with the pure ammonia, that's when I started seeing the worms...

It could be that the plants you got may have had them and now they have taken residence in your tank. Maybe the major water change you did got them out in the open to search for food. With Planarias, (which is what they really look like to me), they'll be gone shortly since your tank has been cleaned extremely well and they don't have a food source.

 

[McLumpy]

hehehe...did you really think of that? i can really use it...hehehe...thank you.

Well... yeah. I probably couldn't get away w/ shipping a small tank of water though, but a baggie might work. Would UPS ship that?! LOL I don't know the first thing about shipping wet goods, but if it would help, I could hook you up.

 

[daileene]

Hmm...that might be it, the plants. I just started seeing them after I put the plants in. Well, they should be gone in a few days since I am not feeding flakes anymore...wheww to that...

And I don't know anything bout shipping wet stuff as well...let me know if you are serious about shipping me one in a baggie...I can pay you shipping through paypal..