125 Gallon Tank

[lyotim88]

how mature is the media?

 

[Night61]

tank looks good but the cat is adorable

 

[Amunet]

how mature is the media?

1 was in a filter for about 2 weeks and the other about 3 weeks. They're both from small tanks though so yeah.. guess I was just expecting too much lol.
I have older extra filter media I could use... stuff is so old that the media bag is just a big ball of slime, pretty gross handling it lol.
I'm not really gonna worry about it now though. Just keep up with a fishless cycle and hope it doesn't take forever heh

TY sailor Our Stewie is pretty adorable if I do say so myself hehe He's a big ole fat cat. We don't overfeed him, he's just lazy and ballooned up after we got him fixed. People always laugh when they see him and ask if he's pregnant lol
And some photos of Stewie! MUAHAHAHA

Took these 2 just a few mins ago. Our dog Kiwi nibbling on the cat. Stewie enjoys it even if it doesn't look like it in the pics heh. He'll actually follow Kiwi around wanting to be chewed on.

And a photo from last week of him sleeping on the back of our loveseat (that's a blanket we keep draped over the couch). Thanks to him and our dog Cid, the backs of our couches all have big indents in them where they lay

 

[Amunet]

Alrighty, tested ammonia again and it's at about a 1 or a 2 now.
Think I might actually bump it back up. I lost our freshwater color chart so googled one up, and I think the ammonia was at about a 4 before. So it wasn't as bad as I had thought it was
I'll check nitrites and nitrates in a little bit.


EDIT: Alrighty, checked ammonia again after adding about a teaspoon and a half more ammonia to the tank. Looks like it's at about 4.
And it seems as though my nitrate test is missing. BLEH. Maybe it got thrown away when we moved.. or it's still packed up somewhere *shrugs* Not really worried about that one though.
Haven't tested nitrites yet... will in a little while

EDIT #2: Checked Nitrites, still 0. Asked DH if he would stop by petstore across from his work tomorrow and pick up another ammonia test and nitrate test. I know he's going to forget lol He'll probably give me the excuse that we'll go this weekend, and then we'll never go hehe.
I really want to get at least 1 piece of wood in to the tank already! Really hope it does actually sink lol. Maybe I should test that tomorrow just to make sure it does.
Still waiting on the other plants I ordered. They better arrive alive or I'm gonna be super PO'd!
Oh, also want DH to go to that petstore b/c I think they might have wood they sell. I can't remember since it's been a while since we've been there. I know they have rocks, which is something else I want him to look at. Something we can perhaps glue the 2 light driftwoods to.

 

[Amunet]

Disaster!!! Well not really lol... just a setback.

Order of anubias and java fern came today. Wasn't very happy w/ how they were packaged, but for the most part, the plants looked healthy.

So excited to tie them to the piece of wood that I forgot to see if the wood will actually sink.
Well.. took me forever to tie them to the wood.... put the wood in to the tank... and.. it's not sinking!!!!
Dumb dumb me thought, oh it's a heavy piece of wood.. it'll sink.. PFFFFFT

So I have it floating around in the tank.... couldn't bring myself to cut off the plants from it b/c I got them in just the right spots and it took me forever!
SIGH

EDIT: Alrighty, so I went and put 2 of the rocks on it lol. I dunno if they'll stay put but it's keeping the wood down.
I see airbubbles coming out of the wood, so hopefully it'll sink on its own after a soaking a while. SIGH.

Also noticed that the vallis isn't looking too hot. Looks like alot of the leaves are starting to rot. BOOOOO Hopefully doesn't mean the plants are dead and we'll be seeing some new growth.

EDIT #2: Forgot to mention that tested the ammonia when I woke up. Still the same. Haven't tested nitrites yet today.. doubt I will since I doubt there are any yet.
Also hoping DH does go to that petstore and finds some slate or even some wood. Will probably tie the wood to some rocks (instead of putting the rocks on them) so they'll sink that way.... hopefully they'll sink on their own after a while.

 

[england]

couple of thing's, very good idea weighting it down, do you have fishing line?
if you can get hold of some tie it round wood and get some heavy rock's pref slate as easier to tie it to and weight it down, in time it should sink fully by it's self

 

[Amunet]

Yep, we have fishing line Got some last Sunday in prep for the plants That's what is holding the plants to the wood heh.
That's what I was thinking of doing. Trying to find slate or something and tieing the wood to it.

Of course DH once again forgot to go to that store.... sigh.... so will probably have to wait til this weekend before I find out if that place has any or not.

 

[england]

any thing heavy and aqaurium safe will suffice, i found a huge peice of slate at my local garden centre for 3pounds in dollars i guess half three pounds

 

[Amunet]

Well hopefully DH remembers to go to the store today heh I doubt they'll have anything but I can hope

Small update.... still no signs of nitrite, boo.... ammonia still the same as yesterday.
FINALLY got the red tiger lotus bulb thing. Took frackin forever, but I guess considering that it was coming from the other side of the world, 2 weeks isn't that long lol
Looks like it started to sprout leaves in the mail, so really hope it does well in the aquarium.
The vallis are NOT doing well at all. Most of the leaves are rotting off. Looks like a couple of them are dead. Hoping it's just the leaves falling off and new growth will pop up.
If not, think it's time to try a different plant lol.
Maybe just get some more swords since those seem to be pretty hardy plants. Always have luck with them



EDIT: Just ordered some more plants. Couple of swords, a crypt, and some dwarf sag... and uh, something else that I'm not remembering atm lol.
About to go and put the sword plants that we already have in to the tank. Gotta snip off all the leaves w/ the BBA on it though. ODing w/ Excel didn't really work this time and I think it's irritating the fish, so not gonna do that any longer.

 

[Amunet]

Alright alright, more photos since that's what everyone likes to see here lol (me included )....
Nothing really exciting, just felt like updating a little heh.

DH remembered to go to the petstore YAY! He said they had some kind of weird wood but didn't like the look of it. And bless him... I asked him to get a nitrate test and he brought home a nitrite not knowing that there was a difference lol.


So anywho... pics!
He bought himself a nice big rock at the store though. It is pretty. Has a weird metallic shimmer to it. The larger dark spot is a trumpet snail. I threw some in there when I was adding plants. Didn't think there were any alive heh

And some plant pics....
Here's the anubias that is tied to the wood... and a java fern stuck to them. I went ahead and threw in the rest of the java ferns and anubias. Don't want them in the other tank getting BBA all over them. ALthough this tank might get that now... sigh

1 of the sword plants (w/ another java fern clinging). Not sure what kind of sword it is.. maybe compacta? *shrugs*
I had to cut off so many of the leaves b/c of the BBA. It was very lush before.. hopefully it'll get that way again.

Bigger sword plant w/ some anubias I somewhat submerged in to the sand. Not fully, just a little bit of their roots to keep them in place temporarily.
Also had to trim SO many of the leaves off of the sword. You can see some dead BBA on the shoots coming from it.

These anubias aren't doing so well. I just have no luck with this plant! I guess it just didn't travel very well. Hoping it's not dead and will grow new leaves

And pics of the poor dying vallis. No idea what's going on with it. I've dosed the tank w/ ferts... it's in the eco complete section.. but it's still not doing well.

That's it for now. The planted part looks pretty messy lol. I totally suck at aquascaping, but I'm sure the fish will like it no matter what
Oh I ordered 2 pieces of mopani driftwood from dr foster etc etc... 1 medium piece and 1 large. It's MUCH cheaper than malaysian. I just hope it looks good. Sounds like it's gonna take a bit to try to keep it from leeching too much tannins in to the water. That's ok though so long as they're not rotten, they sink, and yeah.. *nodnod*

 

[Amunet]

Small update...
Ammonia still holding steady, no nitrites, ph still good.
SIGH! Cycle needs to start already! So tempted to take some of the old old filter media and squeeze out the dirty juices in to the tank lol. I really don't want to open up the filter to put some more mature stuff in there.
Actually, I think I am gonna do that! Do it right by the filter intake so it goes to the filter.. *nodnod*
Desperate to get this started already! Can ya tell? heh


EDIT:
Alrighty, did the thing that I said I was going to heh. Squeezed out all the fishy bacteria juice Has the water pretty dirty. Tryed doing it right by the filter intake, but it didn't suck up any of it :\

Also scooped out a few of the trumpet snails that are in our 29 gal (there are hundreds buried in the gravel) and dumped them in to the tank.

OOO And I also spotted some pond snails! YAY! I love pond snails! Some of the vallis had those snotty little clear things on them w/ the snail eggs. I was hoping they'd hatch and they did I just hope the little guys survive. Not sure how well they'll do w/ the cycling process.
So yeah, by the time we get fish, hoping there will be a nice size snail population for the clown loaches to munch on.

Pond Snail baby photos! YAY! Aren't they so cute

 

[poconoboss]

Nice tank!! Like the cabinet!

Glad to hear the FX5 is working well, I am thinking about upgrading to one, I have seen them on ebay for $199.

I would make one recommendation. Being as you have a fluval canister filter, you can easily attach and external heater like THIS ONE.

It easily attaches to your filter hose and heats the water on the way back to the tank and you never have to worry about hot or cool spots and the water enters the tank heated. My water temp. never fluctuates more that 1 or 2 tenths of a degree.

Keep up the updates!

 

[Amunet]

We saw one like that for a rena canister filter. I don't see where it would attach to the fluval hose though? *shrugs*
We're already putting a ton of money in to this tank, really don't want to spend more money on a heater when we don't need it lol.. although yes it would look nicer without the heaters in the back heh.
Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[Liam50]

Nice tank!! Like the cabinet!

Glad to hear the FX5 is working well, I am thinking about upgrading to one, I have seen them on ebay for $199.

I would make one recommendation. Being as you have a fluval canister filter, you can easily attach and external heater like THIS ONE.

It easily attaches to your filter hose and heats the water on the way back to the tank and you never have to worry about hot or cool spots and the water enters the tank heated. My water temp. never fluctuates more that 1 or 2 tenths of a degree.

Keep up the updates!

those heaters don't fit on a fx5

fx5 pipes are around 25mm they only fit pipe that is 16mm.

much to my disappointment

 

[Amunet]

That's what I thought about that heater. Looked too small for the tubes that come w/ the fx5. Oh well, that is a good idea though if we ever decide to replace the other filters we have for a canister

SMall update, went to Petsmart to grab a nitrate test and look at their plants.
We got a few plants (random stem ones, water wisteria and uh.. some red one that I'm sure will die lol)....

Got home, quickly did the nitrate test (yes I did it correctly heh).... and freaking ZERO nitrates! BOOOOOO.
I was hoping for at least some kind of nitrate reading but NOTHING. That mature media did diddly squat! So PO'd.
So yeah, this is gonna be a nice loooooooooooooooooong regular ole fishless cycle..... SIGH! We better get nitrite readings soon dangit! lol

Oh and we're gonna be getting a pressurized CO2 system for that tank. YAY! So excited DH figured we were spending a lot of money on plants, so might as well try to keep them alive as best we can heh.
Our lights in the tank aren't very good though, BUT the tank does get a lot of sunshine. Not direct, but the room gets pretty bright by midday. We're also gonna probably have to get some root tablets as well for the other side of the tank since it doesn't have eco complete on that side. That is if we get plants not tied to wood for that side. *shrugs* It'll be good hopefully