A Tank Divided

[Blondielovesfish]

If you wanted something like that, why not do a summer - winter theme?

 

[attibones]

I'm rather fond of the continuous scene myself. Perhaps, though, you could show two sides to the same scene? For example, you could have your summer scene, but have one half representing the day or the night, or the excruciating heat juxtaposed with thunderstorms, something along those lines. My point is that you could subtly contrast between the two scenes, but still have something cohesive. 

 

[AlitaConejita]

Day 14 (or 13?) ammonia going down (I didn't post a pic but I got it to a shade of green that seemed to me to be between 2 and 4 ppm) ... No sign of nitrite, the nitrate test is starting to look a little orange. What's going on?


As for theme- I was rather disheartened by my "dream fish" being DOA so I told my daughter she can pick the betta once the tank is cycled (so it'll probably be pink or purple) and I'll let her pick the theme/decorations for her fish and I'll let my son pick the theme/decorations for his side since Jack Frost is was his b-day present anyway. Maybe I'll still try to unify the theme - like princess/castle on one side and knight in armor/swords on the other side, but we'll see what they want.

 

[AlitaConejita]

So - 0 progress on my tank   ... day 45
 
About 1 gal of water evaporates each week and I add it back. I also add another drop of ammonia (per Dr. TIm's directions) to make up for the gallon I've added. I test the ammonia and pH before and after adding the water. The pH had dropped two weeks back so I did a 50% water change to bring it back up and then added ammonia to get it back to 2-4ppm.
 
The weird thing is that the ammonia is staying at about 2ppm - with all that evaporation and then my adding ammonia when I add more water, wouldn't you think it would get more concentrated? The nitrite test is always a clear blue. The nitrAte test is sometimes yellow (zero) and sometimes a little bit orange but not enough to say it is significantly above 0. I stopped doing the nitrAte test a week ago because what's the point if I'm not seeing any NitrIte?
 
I'm using the API master test kit for freshwater and I've checked that none of the solutions are expired. I know the main opinion on this forum is that the quick start/bacteria in a bottle doesn't work .... but I'm frustrated and I bought some yesterday - will add some today after I check the water parameters ... just in case today is the day I FINALLY see some nitrite

oh, and before the water change, the water was so cloudy you couldn't see through the tank. Now the water is still a bit cloudy, but you can definitely see through to the other side.

 

[AlitaConejita]

I checked the water parameters before adding the API quick start - ammonia 2-4 ppm, nitrites  . I added the quick start Nov 12, I checked the water parameters yesterday (Nov 13) and the nitrite test looked almost purple - not the usual light clear blue ... I was very excited. When I went to test the water today, I noticed it was really cold ... tried to figure out why and realized someone had turned off the wall switch linked to the light socket the heater was plugged to I switched it back on and the heater turned on immediately.
 
The test results today were back to the usual - 2-4ppm ammonia and 0 nitrites (clear light blue). So bummed! I don't know if yesterday was a fluke or if the cold water killed off the few nitrite bacteria that were finally growing. Not sure if I should add more quick start. *sigh*

 

[AlitaConejita]

Nitrite - finally! I added a whole bottle of dr. Tim's one and only las night and today the nitrite test finally showed purple:


I've rethought my tank plan though. When I get back from vacation, I will remove the divider and make it a tank for my ADFs and shrimp. I'll move Jack (the betta) to the 5 gal the frogs and shrimp are currently sharing. I'm pretty sure the 10 gal will have an aquatic jungle look since the frogs and shrimp love hiding places. I'll have to start over thinking a theme for Jack's new home though.