Dbt85's Aquarium Log.

[DBT85]

Well all the fish have now been in the tank a week. The Tiger Pleco didn't take any food for the first 4 days or so but seemed happy enough on the glass and plants. He's now started taking food though and there is some Courgette with his name on it in the kitchen.

Everything is looking good, the Sagittaria subulata has started sending out runners already. One shoot was sticking out just 5mm above the sand yesterday night and today is at about 15mm above the sand!

 

[DBT85]

We'll some weeks on and all is still well in the aquarium.

The plants have taken off and are all growing nicely, the grass at the front is sending out plenty of runners as well so it's all good! Had to do my first bit of gardening already as some of the taller plants were getting out of control.

Stanley the L002 Plec has really come out of his shell in the last 10 days or so. Every night now when the lights go off he can be found on the glass and he is definitly eating the pellets when I put them in. Previously when I thought it was him it was actually the Gourami!

Hopefully will be adding some more fish in the next few weeks, some corys and some Cardinal Tetra.

One thing I have noticed when trying to clean the sand is that the gravel cleaner just isn't up to it as the suction area is too large. I just use the long length of hose that I have for draining and use that to hose up the sand. It works much better as it has a smaller diameter and so will suck up the poo before I get too close to the sand.

Every time I do it however the Gourami seem to all wait until I'm finished and then take a massive poo again lol.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Very nice tank mate, every time I see black sand it makes me want it... especially with a black tank

Im suprised you can see the poo on the black though lol I thought that would be a benefit of the black stuff, if it annoys you that much why don't you get a powerhead in there and aim it at the sand, I hardly ever vac anymore, makes wc's much quicker!

 

[DBT85]

The poo all seems brown in colour so shows up easily. I have thought of picking up a powerhead, just not looked into it any further yet.

A new photo to show just how much the plants have grown. I didn't realise it was this much until I came back to this thread and looked!

 

[Tom499]

Love how the plants have filled out, and all that in just a month.

It's looking really something now.

 

[Flubberlump]

Looking very nice bet you're chuffed!

 

[DBT85]

Well I'm hopefully finally adding some new fish this coming Friday. I've been wanting to for about 2 weeks but I've been very busy with some other things so the chance just hasn't popped up.

I've called my local whom I have a £55 credit note with (only at that store unfortunately) and they don't have any Cardinal Tetra in at the moment which is a bummer.

Fortunately the store in Merton does so I'll probably just shoot over there and get some and use the £55 for something else (probably some Corys) later.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Wow - I want this tank! Beautiful!

Would you mind posting your plant list please? I honestly would love to re-create this look when I get a bigger tank.

 

[sadguppy]

Your tanks is fantastic and the plants have really grown well, I bet Stanley and the Sydneys (great names!) are in fishy heaven. It makes me want a 4-footer to complete my Roma set haha! I guess I'm gonna need a bigger house...

I must say I pinched your black sand idea as it looks so stunning when it is heavily planted. Can you share where you got your plants from?

 

[DBT85]

Wow - I want this tank! Beautiful!

Would you mind posting your plant list please? I honestly would love to re-create this look when I get a bigger tank.

The few plant names that I know are in the thread already. I have no idea what most of them are! I know that the short grass at the front is Sagittaria Subulata. Apart from that It's all just green to me.

Your tanks is fantastic and the plants have really grown well, I bet Stanley and the Sydneys (great names!) are in fishy heaven. It makes me want a 4-footer to complete my Roma set haha! I guess I'm gonna need a bigger house...

I must say I pinched your black sand idea as it looks so stunning when it is heavily planted. Can you share where you got your plants from?

The plants were all from Ebay and cost about £32 for all of them.


On the subject of the fish, we went to Maidenhead Aquatics in Merton on Friday and bought a few new additions. I originally planned on adding just Cardinal Tetra and Corydoras Sterbai but the wife saw the Marbled Mollies (Dalmation to some) and really really wanted them. I agreed that she could so long as she paid for them (Hey I spent all the money on the tank!). So we came home with 12 Cardinal Tetra (approx 2cm long), 6 Corydoras Sterbai (also 2cm long) and 6 Marbled Mollies (about 3.5cm long).

That tank is much more active now and I'm not back at work until Wednesday so I can monitor the parameters. The Corys are loving the sand and are snuffling around all over the place. The Cardinals are all sticking together for the most part and the Mollies are all over the place.

In a few weeks providing everything is going ok I'd like to have a few more Corys since it's a large tank with no other bottom dwellers apart from the Tiger Pleco and probably some more Cardinals. Will have to see how we get on first!


Looks fantastic now though, so much more activity.

Before we went out on Friday I drained half the tank out while clearing the crap off the sand, pruned most of the plants back that were going mental, put a few cuttings in of the longer ones to spread it around a bit and then refilled. By the time the new fish went in it was all back up to temperature.

 

[sadguppy]

Pics?

 

[aaronc]

Hey DBT85!
 
Loving your tank! Any updates?
 
I wanted to ask your opinion on the sand you put in.  Is it ok for your corys?
 
I want to use it but really worried about their little barbels
 
Aaron

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

Im still learning so if this question is really daft please dont laugh too much ha ha

If your not using an internal heater/element, then what does heat the water ? is it done wihtin your filter ?

 

[sadguppy]

There is an internal heater on the left hand side.

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

yeah but comment #21 he said it wouldnt be in there normally, it was just to bring up the temperature in the tank quicker after his massive water change. is there another way ?