Hello all! New to the forum and to the aquscaping world. Originally had a turtle tank, but decided to part ways with my beloved turtle, change up my feng shui a bit and head over to the planted side!
I'm planning to add a full layer of carpet plants (possibly HCs), and still figuring out what else to add in (maybe Christmas moss?)...shrimps will go in at a much later stage. I want to make sure all parameters are OK before I introduce the shrimps - plan on having cherry shrimps, not crystal shrimps.
Now that the introductions are over
Here is what I currently have:
TANK
Not the prettiest, just a regular 29 gallon tank.
30 x 12 x 18
FILTER
Eheim 2215
SUBSTRATE
- ADA Amazonia Light
- ADA Power Sand Medium
- ADA Substrate Additives: Bacter 100, Clear Super, Tourmaline BC
you are off to a great start, all you need a drop checker since you don't like equipment in your tank get one of those U ones that hangs on the top of the glass.
Nice scape! Once you plant it im sure it will look even better. I have some hc cuba that I'm not a fan of. If you ever need some let me know. Personally. I prefer how UG or hydrocotyle looks and im going to be moving over to those plants. I also have AR mini if you need it too . One thing to keep in mind is that the balls of substrate WILL go on top of your HC from time to time. It makes it look like the carpet is not fully filled in. Annoys me lol. Just brush it off the substrate and you should be fine
I'm uncertain that your CO2 system will hook up with the North American standard CGA 320 cylinders without an adapter. If you do go with a Sodastream adapter, it works well (well, mine does) But is a bit pricey . Best deal for Sodastream cannisters I've found is Canadian Tire.
Quick update....
CO2.ART shipped it to the wrong address. So I won't be getting it, which is king of a good thing because I ended up grabbing a used GLA regulator off someone here!
Bought the CO2 tank from Herbert Williams for a pretty good deal, but after talking to forum member default, he advised me that some tanks from there might be contaminated (not food grade).
And good thing he told me, because I will be returning it and just one up at the brewery.
Quick update...grabbed a bunch of plants from default, he was really knowledgeable, and rearranged the rocks a bit. Also grabbed a new co2 tank from camcarb and regulator off planter.
Just into my 2nd week in the DSM...and it's really testing my patience, lol
Just received this a couple of days ago in the mail. An acrylic co2 diffuser, and a glass u-shape connector. Regarding the diffuser, where should the placement of it be in the tank? Should it be close to the plants or is it determined by how the water flows?
DAY 27
Not much to update as of now....
Plants are growing, well. Some of the plants in the back corner have browned, so had to remove them. Other than that, I'm just waiting to fill this tank up.
So I decided to ditch the spraybar and grab myself a Hydor 425 to give it better flow (as recommended by default).
Since I will have shrimps later on, I'm a bit worried about my Eheim prefilter sucking in all the shrimps. Anybody use one of these for a shrimp tank have any tips?
UPDATE!!
Just filled the tank up yesterday as I had some free time...and with most projects I do, even with my fingers crossed, I had some hiccups along the way.
The acrylic and aluminum diffuser I bought both had leaks and the bubbles coming out of it were so big it looked like I was blowing bubbles with a straw.
Secondly, my regulator was leaking from the screw head. Tried it many times and still no positive result.
So, currently I'm using Excel for now, hopefully it'll buy me some time to go look for a new regulator.
After 1st water change.
Also removed some limnophila sessiliflora...being my first time aquascaping, I've been having troible planting these, not sure what I'm doing wrong but they either melt or dry up on me. Might try another plant later on.
Alright. So today will be the 5th day of consecutive water change for the 1st week. Yesterday I did about 90% water change.
Had some algae to get rid of, and I had some MCs turn clear on me. The ones that went clear are along the sand. Most likely my excel dosage was too little, and I still haven't found a regulator yet for my co2 tank.
Also had a bit of a scare yesterday when I realized my canister filter wasn't pushing out any water!!!
Took it apart and the water was really warm in the canister?? Anyway, realized the impeller shaft section was loose, so I fixed that and now it runs really good.
Need some advice please! Having a little trouble with my Monte Carlos, bunches of them seem to be turning clear and I'm not sure what the reason would be? Lights on for 6.5 hours, CO2 goes on half hour before light goes on and turns off half hour before the light does.
Performed water changes everyday for the 1st week. For the 2nd week, I decided to do water changes every week. And it's only the MCs that are having problems. Everything else is looking good.
Also added 2 vials of biodigest in the 2nd week, a friend hooked me up with them. Have no clue what it does, just know its good live bacteria.
Grabbed more plants from default, picked up 24 galaxy rasboras...1 unfortunately died when swimming in front of my pompom crab. Also grabbed 6 Otos.
We'll see how things go right now, need the cleanup crew to do some serious maintenance on the algae. Waiting on Amano shrimp and nerite snails to come in.
Yeah, I did. It was within 3o minutes of putting him in. Was climbing up some leaves and a galaxy just happened to swim by. Grabbed it and snapped the neck. Must've been in defensive mode.
Haha, sorry. Nothing too interesting has been happening, so decided not to post much.
So currently, there are 9 emerald rasboras, 23 galaxy rasboras, 3 Otos, 6 horned nerite snails, and a bunch of Amano and RCS shrimp. And a pompom crab.
I had a couple of Otos die on me, originally had 2 pompom crabs but 1 got aggressive so im down to 1....had 1 emerald rasbora die due to injury, but I have no agreessive species in the tank, and no marks on the fish other then a tiny cut under the belly. Found a small piece of glass in my tank, might've rubbed against it, not sure.
My water parameters are a bit off, but stable I guess...
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