110 Gallon South American Biotope

[eaglesaquarium]

Not happy.  Another issue with the order, and it will be ANOTHER week before the large addition of fish... Now I am starting to worry about the biofilter.  The tank was turning over more than 3ppm ammonia daily, easily, but with the delay of over a week and a tiny bioload during that time, I think I'm going to end up with a fish-in cycle.  The big question is, how quickly the bacterial colony can bounce back...  I've seen very different information on that.  If the bacteria go into a dormant state, then the cycle would be very short.  But, if they don't come back quickly, it will be a problem...
 
 
Decision time... I suppose the best course of action would be now to slow down the stocking rate....  

 

[greenmumma141]

do you have a small tank at home that you could bring in as a qt, that way you could add the fish periodically...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No worries... I've got it sorted out.  There are a lot of tanks at school actually.  About 5 years ago we got hold of one, and some students saw them.  They donated their old tanks so, we have about a half a dozen or so tanks just laying around. 
 
I've got the MacGyver solution.  
 
First, I took one of the Penguin 350s off the main tank.  I switched the powerhead back to an immersion circulator (increases its flow output from 160Gph to about 750Gph.  This actually INCREASES the circulation of the tank, so I don't have to worry about the plants being unhappy with their nutrient access.
 
Second, I put to Penguin 350 on a 20 gallon tank we have - 20 gallon tall.  I am now dosing ammonia onto the smaller tank to keep that filter media cycled for a large bioload.  Any drop in the other filter should be more than made up for by this filter.  Here's the description of what I've done.  3ppm on the main tank equates to 13.5mL dose of ammonia solution.  I've added that to a 1 gallon "tank" that was also donated.  I have an airline tube connected to that with a drip regulator (the same type used for drip acclimation processes) with a rate of drip of roughly 1-2 drops per second.  The 13.5mL dose of ammonia was added to the small 1 gallon tank and it is slowly adding the much more diluted ammonia solution into the tank, to emulate the rate of ammonia production by the fish... This should last a good 12 hours sitting on the tank (math below for anyone interested in how I came to the conclusion of how long it will last!).  I will top the tank off again before I leave tonight, and redose the ammonia as required.  In the morning I'll test the tank and see how it is progressing.  
 
Picture of the set-up:
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8451044534/]

[/url]
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8451044534/]Wide view of ammonia dosing[/url] by http/www.flickr.com/people/56876192@N03/]eaglesfan54[/url], on Flickr
 
Closer view of the tubing:
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8451043538/]

[/url]
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8451043538/]closer view of ammonia dosing[/url] by http/www.flickr.com/people/56876192@N03/]eaglesfan54[/url], on Flickr
 
Circulation pump (in the same area of the tank as the powerhead and filter were, in an effort to keep the same direction of flow... pretty close):
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8449955513/]

[/url]
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8449955513/]Circulation Pump in main tank[/url] by http/www.flickr.com/people/56876192@N03/]eaglesfan54[/url], on Flickr
 
 
This should allow me to stock the tank as originally planned, just not in the time frame I expected... 
 
 
 
 
 
MATH:
(20 drops is approximately 1mL, and 1 gallon is 3785 ml. - 75,700 drops should move and depending on whether it is 2 drops per second or 1 drop per second, I should get between 10.5-21 hours out of it.  I figure its actually somewhere in the middle... leaning to the 2 drops per second side.)

 

[greenmumma141]

That is definitely the MacGyver solution, pretty impressing.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Its been a while since I updated, so I figured I give a little update... I've actually been able to identify my corydoras in the tank sufficiently well enough to feel 100% confident that I am getting the correct species to match my current stock.
 
 
Pic 1: certainly not about to win any photography contests, but good enough to see one of the 3 larger corydoras, which have now been identified at C. leopardus.  I have an order for 5 more of them, to bring their total to 8 individuals.

C. Leopardus by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 
Pic 2: again, not great, but you can see that they are exploring the different areas of the tank...  This one has been identified as the only C. trillineatus in the tank.  I've got 7 more on order, so the number of each species will be 8 soon - not telling the date, as the last few times I've done that haven't turned out well for me.  Needless to say, I am a bit excited for the new fish to finally arrive!

C. trillineatus by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 
 
The vallis continues to be a problem.  A few of the stems are bouncing back now, with the half dose of Flourish being added twice a week.  A few others still seem to be unwilling to cooperate and just want to melt away to nothing.  When the new fish come, I'll probably pull some of the decor out to get a good look at the vallis and remove the dead/dying leaves at that point and just go with what's green.  It will either flourish in the tank, or it will die.  If it catches on a starts to grow, great.  If not, I'll just go for another type of background plant.  Maybe I'll just get more cabomba.  They seem to be taking fairly well to the tank.
 
Speaking of cabomba, every morning or so I find a stem of cabomba has been released to float around the tank, or get caught on the circulation pump.  I've lost a few that way - just destroyed and little bits floating everywhere!  I think the cories digging around them (they like hiding in the back where the heater and the cabomba are) has freed some of the stems that haven't grow strong roots yet.  They are still growing nicely overall, and I just replant them as needed.  
 
 
MORE FISH PICS:  Just grabbed a few quick shots - again, sorry for the quality of the pics...

C. leopardus in tank Feb.8.2013 by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 
All four together, which doesn't happen that frequently... usually the C. trillineatus is in its own hiding spot. Occassionally one of the leopards joins her.
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8456288090/]

[/url]
http/www.flickr.com/photos/56876192@N03/8456288090/]Photo on 2013-02-08 at 10.12[/url] by http/www.flickr.com/people/56876192@N03/]eaglesfan54[/url], on Flickr

 

[greenmumma141]

wow, seeing the cories next to the rocks really puts the rock size into perspective. Awesome cories and tank

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, the rocks are quite large.  It takes a strong constitution (and back) to lift the rocks into place over the glass and gently nestle them into place!  Being a 6'4" male with long arms certainly helps.  I haven't got a clue how someone with shorter arms would be able to reach all the areas of this tank with their hands - I struggle reaching things at times.
 
For some more sense of scale:
The large rock with the 3-line cory on it (I will call her "Trilly" from now on), is roughly a trapezoid 16-18 inches long at its longest and about a foot wide at its widest.  You can see where that rock fits in the entire scape when looking at the sig pic - far right side.  Not all of that rock actually shows up in the picture, partly because I can hide the filter assembly by cropping it out of the shot, and partly because with the lights out in the room and the tank lights on, its a fairly dark region of the tank and doesn't show up that well.
 
The large "tower" of rocks to the left are roughly 8-9 inches by 8-9 inches.  Some stick out more than that to offer different "hiding" spots for the fish.  This is the area where the cories were when I took their picture.  That area, as well as the cabomba region of the back seems to be the favorite spot of the leopards.  
 
The center area is a long rock that's also roughly 16 inches long, 8 inches wide and 4 inches thick.  The tank is 6 feet long, so keep that in mind when looking at the wide shots for perspective.  Also, the light fixture above the tank is 4 feet long.  Trilly has been hanging out a great deal in the hiding spots under the bottom rock - which was actually laid out that way to make an easy "cave" for the cories to hang out in.  Sometimes one of the others will hang out there with Trilly, but most of the time she is alone.  I can't wait to get her some friends.  

 

[eaglesaquarium]

One last pic video for today:
Link to video
You can see the 3 fish a little better than the photos.  (BTW, the video is actually a mirror image of what is actually happening in the video.  The cories are on the extreme RIGHT of the tank, even though it appears that they are on the left. Stupid laptop built-in camera!)
 
I'm not going to be adding so many pictures to the thread itself, but just linking to the flickr account.  I don't want to use up too much space on the server here. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Quick update...  C. leopardus are getting a little more boisterous from time to time, but still hide most of the time when the class is full.  The C. trillineatus has been spotted hanging out with the others a bit, but mostly sits alone.
 
 
Some of my students swear that she's dead, because she's always hiding in the same spot every day at the same time.
 
 
 
Bloodfin tetras are due to arrive tomorrow evening (for real this time... I hope!).  The cories are being delayed, as they aren't the right species, and I'd rather have the right species than a mishmash.  I'm going to head over to the store that i picked these up, in hopes that I might be able to get some friends for each... Now that I know what to look for in each to determine the species, I feel like I could be certain of the species in the store.

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

awesome tank mate, im following this one !

 

[greenmumma141]

Cories are very habitual, i always thought my first cory was dead on a daily basis as well, then i bought him a friend who swam around like a reg. fish and i thought he was crazy. now i love them all. It might help to bring a pic of your cories to the store with you, sometimes that's helped me a lot.  Can't wait to see the bloodfins in the tank!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, cories are good like that.  My students get to see just a tiny glimpse of the fish, and generally, the fish are in the spot that they feel most secure when the students arrive.  So, they just go back to their "regular" spot.  I was happy to see that she actually shoaled with the leopards for a little while yesterday morning to do a "patrol" of the tank.  But, then they separated again.
 
 
 
Just did a clean up of the tank, removing the bits of vallis that didn't make it.  I have all 12 stems still, but they have been GREATLY trimmed back.  Some of the vallis is now just an inch or two tall, as I removed all but the greenest leaves.  The good news is that nearly all of them had grown a very substantial root system, especially compared to what they had when I bought them.  So, that's a very good sign to me.  The cabomba are really starting to grow vertically now... Quite a few are taller than the middle rock formation.  I might get a pic later tonight or tomorrow once the bloodfins are in and settled.

 

[greenmumma141]

thats what my vallis did, the roots took off but the leaves melted and i in turn trimmed them down. I think you will start to see some regrowth soon   it will be so exciting to get more cories in there for her to shoal with!!  

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've seen some regrowth...  The jungle vals are coming along nicely, the italian are struggling a bit (unless I misidentified them, and its reversed!).   The jungle side has a bunch of the taller ones - about 4-6 inches tall - the italian are about 1 inch (give or take a half) and one of them is about 4 inches tall. 

 

[greenmumma141]

my italian bounced back faster too lol