Fluval Spec Five

As MTS slowly returns and there is no real working cure, except giving in... I started fishless this Spec V, around 3 weeks ago.

I thought that I should at least wait until there is something to say before posting something.

But there it is, 2 weeks in cycling... I seeded the tank directly with water changes and filter squeezes from my shrimp tank. And with Ammonia at 2ppm, nitrite over 5ppm and rising nitrate... There is already ostracods swimming around... How can they stand that ?

For this tank I want a bunch of cherry shrimps and real fish... A large school of celestial pearl danios. Since I discovered lately that bettas are some kind of amphibian that lost the ability to walk out of the water and are not real fish indeed.

I found a good chunk of mopany wood to make a beefy center piece and a couple more botanicals to enhance hiding spots. I added everything at startup except the mopany that already had 3 weeks soaking in a bucket.

I when with two layers of different sand size of relatively same color and it already looks dirty

After an absolutely epic bacterial and fungal bloom, concurred by a total Coca Cola water episode that lasted 3 complete water changes.

I'm proud to announce that with a good glass scraping, plants are coming soon.

Ancillary Filtration is about to be installed and current filtration flaws will be attempted to be addressed at the same time.

Mini update.

Ammo drowned to 0.25, nitrite are off chart and nitrate increased to 40ppm. Fungus and cyanobacteria are recessing quickly as the good ones builds up.

But still, the seed shrimps are overriding the tank like pest and are actively cleaning all the glass for me. I believe they are creating more ammonia.

Since the new light came in yesterday I thought it earn a pic... All the little whites peckers doing the job they are doing... The left is nearly cleared.



Can you see these three evil faces in the wood ? 2 are really apparent the other needs another angle of view. But is terrifying. This piece of wood chose me in the store, I walked like a zombie to the cash, payed and when out.

It fits perfectly the height of the tank, is pretty thin and leaves a lots of place behind it. Both sides looks amazing. for a five pounds piece I felt like it was... (going to have a lots of tannins) a good deal.

And it is...

Well this is precipitating fast.

Ammonia is at 0, Nitrite are already dropping, and nitrate moved a little higher.

Since the two purple at the end of the API test, I cant differentiate (seriously, are you ?). I Cross tested with my Nutrafin A7860 kit. Surprisingly the Nutrafin test reported significantly lower nitrite levels. That could explain the seeds shrimps survival. The Nutrafin kit reported 1.6 ppm... On the API, it was (for my eyes) still between 2 and 5.

Detritus worms also appeared and are happily swarming the glass. reducing the thickening biofilm layer building in.

Some adults seed shrimps looked hungry today and where scanning the tank back and forth. I dropped in a pinch of Betta pellets that Big's hates.

Loll, under 2 minutes there was not a single seed shrimp swimming around.

A week later.

Some surprising results. The seeds shrimps are nearly done with a good part of the biofilm and slight algae.



But the cycle showed up with uncommon results. I have not done any water changes since the first time I added ammonia.

Friday these where the results: ( 2 center tubes are nitrite with API to the left and Nutrafin test kit to the right )

Strangely nitrates where coming down too ?!? I added 2 ppm of ammonia that day.


Today (Sunday):


Nitrites are finally nilllll and... Something is feeding on nitrates, loll

I Added 3 ppm of ammonia. Plants are coming soon

MaloK said:

Strangely nitrates where coming down too ?!? I added 2 ppm of ammonia that day.

Click to expand...

Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate. If you have a nitrite level in the water, the nitrate test kit will pick up the nitrite and say it's nitrate, giving you a false nitrate reading.

Colin_T said:

Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate. If you have a nitrite level in the water, the nitrate test kit will pick up the nitrite and say it's nitrate, giving you a false nitrate reading.

Click to expand...

Yes, I understand the zinc reduction to nitrite then using the Griess reagent to test the converted nitrates as nitrite and the fact that the current nitrite will be added to the converted nitrate.

But on the second pic all the nitrite is gone and there is no nitrate left. it's the third time it does that (no water changes).

Not that I really mind, but where are the nitrate going at the end, they should be building up.

Maybe the algae is using it.

Little Update...

Sponge filter is installed... Witch made me remark that... There is no channels to bring air tubes or electricity inside that thing. Had to lower water level and use power tools to fix that.

The seed shrimps and detritus worms nearly finished cleaning the glasses, So I'm skipping the glass cleaning for this one. loll.

The water is deep red from tannins, the light has difficulty to go trough and it triggered a ascension of dark Brown algae. I seeded thoroughly the tank with Bacter AE and under a couple hours the algae turned light brown and whitish... Started detaching in slimy patches. That's very good news... But I'm nearing another 90% water change soon.

Still bursting ammonia at 3 ppm as soon as it drops. Nitrates have started to remain. and complete process is accelerating.

There is a poor baby cherry shrimp alone in there. So I added a clump of java moss. to help the poor thing at least feel more secure...

But as long as fishless cycle goes, with the level of ammonia and nitrite off chart... It's growing and already showing colors...

Another observation I made: As soon as I add ammonia, the seed shrimps start swimming in open water in masses, every time...

I'm still tinkering on the plant setup... But it will be simple and overwhelming.

Running this one for an heavy load of micro fish and shrimps. My current choice has a pretty good common ground on water parameters and sociability. Cherry shrimps should be able to make it, with little dispositions.

I count on adding directly enough large schools of them to make everyone feel at home, on drop.

I skipped planting this week because I still struggle with the heater I got for this setup. The installation makes it quite slow to compensate. Once in line it looks stable. But there is a large discrepancy between the heater thermostat where it is and a thermometer in the tank, I'm still tweaking that.



I need two large areas for bottom feeders, one in plain view and one completely hidden, plus a good surface cover and a couple layer breakers, while leaving a good empty space under the surface for at least two third of the tank.

It's 5 gallons

Well it seems that the Java moss brought some undesirable hikers. When I got it, I wanted to put some in my shrimp tank too, but my little voice whispered "Don't do that..." Glad I've listened. I took the whole mutt and tossed it in the cycling tank.

I found this crawling on the glass this morning.



My first reflex... I refrained, squishing it is not a good idea to prevent the proliferation of stem cells in the water. I have traps that I'll have to dig somewhere. And setup asap. I was leaving for a job and didn't think at the moment to siphon it right away with a baster....

I'm killing so much snails at the moment from my betta tank, that my first thought was automatically to squish it. Loll.

BTW, No planaria entered the trap. But I can see less and less of them...

I've been procrastinating this tank for too long... My back hurts and I limited tank maintenance to survival mode for a while.

The tank digest 3 ppm ammonia per day. The nitrate went of chart for a whole week before I could find the courage to get on it... It was time, new algae had already started to sprout, the good ol' green hair and the filaments that spreads like spider webs. The bottom of the tank was completely littered with all the dead brown diatom that the Mopany wood created. The Light is doing great and the Java moss shows, since I got it. Worked them a little higher place for the moment and they like it.

While, still waiting for new stuff to sink and tinkering with the final layout. I forced myself in doing the next scheduled steps.

Dismantling the main media chamber, clean it and redo it with a 600% bigger bio media housing that wont clog like ceramic. And there was enough space to add a Thick layer of mechanical media topped with a easy to maintain coarse pre-filter. The amount of original sponge I removed is nearly insignificant, but.. The water flow, significantly lowered by the occasion. Still the water cleared quick enough after the incident to be confident that I haven't packed too much my bio media block this time.

Next. Vacuuming that layer of brown diatoms without loosing too much sand. Rinse the moss, the mopany, the cholla and the cones, all clean, change 90% of the water... Anyway there wasn't enough to do all the substrate alone...

Refill... Ahhhh, my back !!!! And I'm wasting good ammonia for weeks, I have to get trough with planting and stock soon...

The poor cheery shrimp that lives in there alone is still hanging in, after all I did... And it grows. The seed shrimps seems unaffected and are probably going to explode in response.

I have to tell myself that every week I wait, makes it better and better.

At least the last water change made the water clearer.

Another 2 week of procrastination added...

I keep ammonia at a survival level and try to remove nitrate as it should.

My mind is made on the rest of the scape I'm waiting till my back feels up for it. And still was able to slowly work on my water system.

The tank will need another cleanup + 90% water change soon. but the Moss is growing wild. and since I removed a major part of the brown diatoms another contender is using the occasion. The "green floating strings in the stream..."

I don't remember, not to had to cope with these two at some point in the past... But seeing them go along without having put anything but light and ammonia in the tank for the last months, makes me smile. I think it's been a month since I last added Bacter AE. The tank has been overridden with seed shrimps, they have invaded the place completely and are free swimming all around... A slice of cucumber is like a goldfish in an piranha tank in there... Loll.

And the "cherry" on the top... While she hides for weeks, Beth is still there hanging in...




Here, beautifully posed in the String Algae filled with seed shrimps...

I called her Beth, because I have Bet that it couldn't live trough a fishless cycle... From her colors, all seems to be going well.

But there's a lot to come...

Not much movement in this tank, since my back is till pretty much the same as last week and the one before... I's slow...

Beth molted with success this week and the same day her colors where brilliant.

The tank is invaded by green string algae. It looks very cool, all flowing in the current. and Beth loves it.

I'm letting it go, it's root is very localized but the strings traverse the whole tank. It sucks my nitrates for the moment and I can keep adding ammonia without having to change water...

I'm decided on the plants and have a little "Magnum Man" inspired installation in mind.

This time I'm going to put my anubias toward the back of the tank, so I can see the front of the leaves facing the light, instead of the back when installed in the middle or to much in the front.

Beth molted again. This time the molt was so thick I thought she was dead...

But she shows up weeks later going along... Or there was two of them ???

The algae layer has become so thick... 1/4 inch size o2 bubbles gets trapped under... And the bottom of the tank is getting really dark.

I reduced light, by enabling the default 8 beaches programmable thingy my led has... for the moment I only phased the default time to match my needs..

But it is very slow in the morning... And quick the afternoon, I might take a chance to explain all the current parameters and requirements this tank has to AI for fun... But, These intelligences gets out of context very fast and lose focus on the problem at hand... But some really interesting results can come along if you keep bringing them inline.

I will post a picture of that mess before next intervention, It's already worth it, lolll.