Demm
Fish Crazy
Hey everyone hows it going?
Well i havent been on here in forever. I had several journals already, a couple for saltwater and i think one for some cichlids over the course of about 4 years. I moved to a new place and it just happens to be on the 3rd floor, i gave my 55g saltwater tank to a friend because i didnt want to have all that weight up here. Which means that i had to get a new smaller tank, and as much as i miss saltwater, i decided to try my hand at a planted tank. I dont know much about planted tanks, so i decided to just jump into it and learn along the way. I've already done some stupid things, but hey, you live you learn! lol
also so at first i was just going to have a regular plain freshwater with a beta and a couple neons, and blackskirt tetras. So i went out and bought a 10 gallon. Looked through my stockpile of fish stuff and came up with this:
I think that lasted about 2 or 3 days, i had my beta in there (which i had moved from a 1.5g). I didnt much like this after a while, dont know what on earth i was thinking. This is when i decided to make it a planted tank. i went out and bought some plants. I got Rotala Pussilia, Anachris, Ammania Var. Bonsai. At least thats what the store had them labeled as. So then i came out with this:
Well it still didnt look right...after looking at it, it hit me like a punch in the face. Poreclin decor...pink gravel? What on earth was i thinking? Off to the store i go again! I got a bag of Flourite and A Hagen CO2 system, and some plants (. After about 2 hours of rinsing, i ended up with this (background also has plants on it, so it's a bit wierd to look at):
That looks much better now. Everything is nice and green. Of course I also had about 8 neon tetras, 8 Glo light tetras, and 6 Blackskirt tetras. Now i was content for about 2 or 3 weeks. Everything was going good...until the plants started to get a little brown. I couldnt believe it. I had a good 24watt 50/50 light on there! that's like 2.4 WPG! these plants are needy!! So i go searching online for answers, and i found the problem. A 50/50 light? yea this isnt a saltwater tank you moron i told myself. Off to the hardware store to find a new lightbulb. I found an 18 watt 6500k PC bulb. So i swapped the light out. Things started to grown big time after that.
Once again i was content for about 2 or 3 weeks. Then i pulled out my trusty testing kit. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20-25...wow these fish poop alot!! i guess weekly water changes arent enough. So i started doing water changes every 3 days or so. Which of course, after thinking about it, was a temporary solution, but not the solution to the problem. I had about 25 or so fish in a 10 gallon tank, that was my problem. Well i had to wait a couple weeks to spend a bit more money since i had other things to pay for (like bills
stupid bills!). Over the course of those couple weeks i also realized that i needed a new light. My tank was 20in wide and the like was an 8" light. Finally time comes around to spending more. I decide to get a 20g long, didnt wanna go to big since i still am on the 3rd floor. I also ordered a new light (78 watt HO T5 2 bulb 6700k). The light will be arriving in 2 days. I set everything up and transfered all the plants and fish. Meanwhile while i am waiting for my new light. I barrowed a light from one of my other saltwater tanks. Its a actinic bulb and a 12,000k daylight bulb. Only the daylight bulb is turned on. In two days the light will be replaced. And that brings me to where i currently am, this is what i have so far:
My LFS is getting their shipment of plants, so i will more then likely be going to look at them and see what i can find. Other then that no other plans as of yet. Once the tank gets algae, i'll probably add a couple snails, and also some more fish later on.
I'm welcome to comments, and suggestions, even if you just wanna post and tell me "you dummy why on earth did you do that???" lol
Thank you very much for reading, and i will be updating frequently as time goes by.
-Andrew
Well i havent been on here in forever. I had several journals already, a couple for saltwater and i think one for some cichlids over the course of about 4 years. I moved to a new place and it just happens to be on the 3rd floor, i gave my 55g saltwater tank to a friend because i didnt want to have all that weight up here. Which means that i had to get a new smaller tank, and as much as i miss saltwater, i decided to try my hand at a planted tank. I dont know much about planted tanks, so i decided to just jump into it and learn along the way. I've already done some stupid things, but hey, you live you learn! lol
also so at first i was just going to have a regular plain freshwater with a beta and a couple neons, and blackskirt tetras. So i went out and bought a 10 gallon. Looked through my stockpile of fish stuff and came up with this:
I think that lasted about 2 or 3 days, i had my beta in there (which i had moved from a 1.5g). I didnt much like this after a while, dont know what on earth i was thinking. This is when i decided to make it a planted tank. i went out and bought some plants. I got Rotala Pussilia, Anachris, Ammania Var. Bonsai. At least thats what the store had them labeled as. So then i came out with this:
Well it still didnt look right...after looking at it, it hit me like a punch in the face. Poreclin decor...pink gravel? What on earth was i thinking? Off to the store i go again! I got a bag of Flourite and A Hagen CO2 system, and some plants (. After about 2 hours of rinsing, i ended up with this (background also has plants on it, so it's a bit wierd to look at):
That looks much better now. Everything is nice and green. Of course I also had about 8 neon tetras, 8 Glo light tetras, and 6 Blackskirt tetras. Now i was content for about 2 or 3 weeks. Everything was going good...until the plants started to get a little brown. I couldnt believe it. I had a good 24watt 50/50 light on there! that's like 2.4 WPG! these plants are needy!! So i go searching online for answers, and i found the problem. A 50/50 light? yea this isnt a saltwater tank you moron i told myself. Off to the hardware store to find a new lightbulb. I found an 18 watt 6500k PC bulb. So i swapped the light out. Things started to grown big time after that.
Once again i was content for about 2 or 3 weeks. Then i pulled out my trusty testing kit. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20-25...wow these fish poop alot!! i guess weekly water changes arent enough. So i started doing water changes every 3 days or so. Which of course, after thinking about it, was a temporary solution, but not the solution to the problem. I had about 25 or so fish in a 10 gallon tank, that was my problem. Well i had to wait a couple weeks to spend a bit more money since i had other things to pay for (like bills
stupid bills!). Over the course of those couple weeks i also realized that i needed a new light. My tank was 20in wide and the like was an 8" light. Finally time comes around to spending more. I decide to get a 20g long, didnt wanna go to big since i still am on the 3rd floor. I also ordered a new light (78 watt HO T5 2 bulb 6700k). The light will be arriving in 2 days. I set everything up and transfered all the plants and fish. Meanwhile while i am waiting for my new light. I barrowed a light from one of my other saltwater tanks. Its a actinic bulb and a 12,000k daylight bulb. Only the daylight bulb is turned on. In two days the light will be replaced. And that brings me to where i currently am, this is what i have so far:
My LFS is getting their shipment of plants, so i will more then likely be going to look at them and see what i can find. Other then that no other plans as of yet. Once the tank gets algae, i'll probably add a couple snails, and also some more fish later on.
I'm welcome to comments, and suggestions, even if you just wanna post and tell me "you dummy why on earth did you do that???" lol
Thank you very much for reading, and i will be updating frequently as time goes by.
-Andrew
