55g tank/stand build

[vance1013]

And the rinsing begins

 

[Zimmanski]

NICE! have fun rinsing, and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing haha.
Cant wait to see it all come together

 

[vance1013]

NICE! have fun rinsing, and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing haha.
Cant wait to see it all come together

I know me too lol making progress needed a short break lol the first rinse couldn't even the water now I can almost see the sand

 

[vance1013]

Might do a couple more rounds but I think I'm there its also getting dark so the flash gets every little thing

 

[vance1013]

Sand bed in place















Then added my first few pieces of DW my main piece won't go in until bout saturday-sunday to fully cure the silicone

 

[vance1013]

Won't have water until tomorrow getting to late and I have to dig my aqueon water changer out as well

 

[vance1013]

So the filling starts atm my piece of DW on rock had to be resiliconed blah but at least I can get it running now

 

[vance1013]

And its up and running whoohoo I think I did good with the rinsing no cloudiness from the sand

 

[vance1013]

OK so I added media from both of my established tanks which are a ten gallon and 5 gallon I know its not much but I know its healthy and established went out and got pure ammonia so my first results are

PH: 7.6
Ammo: 4.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm

I added to much the at first had to do a quick PWC thank god for the aqueon water changer

 

[vance1013]

OK so I got my centerpiece in siliconeing wood too rock is a pain I need aquarium safe epoxy anyways before going in that the water was a weak tea color I know that is tannins what I'm not sure is if its from the dirt layer or from the DW my scaping is rough ATM so can any of you planted experts give me insight than in advance

 

[Zimmanski]

Tank looks great! As for the teat color, if you didnt dig deep enough to disturb the soil and assuming that you didn't presoak the wood since you're glueing the wood to rock I think its safe to say the brown coloring is coming from the DW. It will leach and get filtered out eventually, just takes some time. You can add some carbon or purigen in your filter to speed things up

 

[vance1013]

Tank looks great! As for the teat color, if you didnt dig deep enough to disturb the soil and assuming that you didn't presoak the wood since you're glueing the wood to rock I think its safe to say the brown coloring is coming from the DW. It will leach and get filtered out eventually, just takes some time. You can add some carbon or purigen in your filter to speed things up

Only piece not boiled or soaked is the biggest piece on rocks the rest boiled and I haven't dug into the dirt there is carbon in both filters that came stock with it I want to switch to purigen though and the coloring was there before the new piece went in so I think your right bout it being the DW I don't mind the color eventually Itll clear up any suggestions on placement

 

[vance1013]

Tank looks great! As for the teat color, if you didnt dig deep enough to disturb the soil and assuming that you didn't presoak the wood since you're glueing the wood to rock I think its safe to say the brown coloring is coming from the DW. It will leach and get filtered out eventually, just takes some time. You can add some carbon or purigen in your filter to speed things up

Oh and thank you

 

[vance1013]

OK tested today ammonia very high doing 50% water change to bring it down I don't think I did enough yesterday so will test a little later today after the water change

 

[vance1013]

OK got home tested and the pwc did the trick here is my results from today

PH: 7.4
Ammo: 4.0ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm

 

[vance1013]

OK test results for today
pH: 7.6
Ammo: 4.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.25 ppm
Nitrate: between 20-40ppm

 

[vance1013]

Is it normal to have nitrites and nitrates this soon

 

[vance1013]

OK so I did a 95% water change due to the fact I needed to level the tank more took the chance to rescape a little will test in awhile

 

[Zimmanski]

I hope someone else can answer about your nitrites and nitrates, I've only actually cycled a tank once the rest were with a portion of cycled media so I'm not sure. But if they're there, they're there, and the bacteria needed to consume them doesn't care when they show up, just that they show up so I'm sure its fine. Hard scape looks good, what's on your plant list?

 

[vance1013]

I hope someone else can answer about your nitrites and nitrates, I've only actually cycled a tank once the rest were with a portion of cycled media so I'm not sure. But if they're there, they're there, and the bacteria needed to consume them doesn't care when they show up, just that they show up so I'm sure its fine. Hard scape looks good, what's on your plant list?

Thank you for the compliment, I'm thinking some Amazon swords to start some dwarf hair grass maybe some water sprite this is my first planted tank so I'm still learning lol eventually will run co2 for now I'll use liquid any good suggestions for some plants oh and lots of java moss