Jen's Forgotten Forest

[Jen]

Where did you get your black sand from? I just went through the same process with black diamond blasting sand from Tractor Supply.

I picked it up from Hamilton Builder Supply for $10 per 55lb bag. Very very dirty, but so pretty.

That bit of wood in the first photo, Is it hollow?, you could hide a small sponge filter in it.

It is hollow-ish. While it is mostly gone, there is a centre part that sticks up almost the whole height. I hope fish use it as a hiding place, but I don't think I will put anything in it; other than maybe some plants.

 

[Jen]

Fishless cycle day 1.

The stump is a little on the buoyant side, so some slate is holding it down. I added some bronze Crypt Wendtii and some Alt Reineckii. I love crypts and plan on using many to create bushes in the mid ground. The Reineckii is there mainly because it had rock wool and was somewhat inexpensive. I will spread them out later, and also head to the better fish store soon to pick up more plants.

Water stats are all follows:
Tap water - KH 1 (drop), pH 7.6, ammonia 0.5ppm! Not too happy about that for down the road, so hopefully the city is just doing some cleaning right now.

Tank water -
Temperature 82°
Ammonia 1 ppm. Not sure why the discrepancy from the tap water. Its been sitting for roughly a week with brand new media. I cleaned all my old parts with diluted vinegar water but washed very well. 2 of the pieces of wood are from an old tank, but they have been dry since 2013.
Nitrate and Nitrate 0
gH 8 drops

I dosed with 1.5 ppm ammonia (3.35ml) to bring the total tank level to 2.5. Please let me know if I should increase that.

Here goes!

 

[cadd]

That tree stump is going to look awesome!!! Mind me ask how much a piece like that goes for?

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[Jen]

That tree stump is going to look awesome!!! Mind me ask how much a piece like that goes for?

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It was only $30 Canadian!! I've paid way more for much less.

As mentioned above it was the inspiration for the scape, so I'm going to try to cover it in moss and some clingy plants so it looks like a stump in the middle of a forest all overgrown. I can't wait to get it to match my vision!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The 1.5 ppm you added to increase the total to 2.5 ppm is a bit higher than I would have gone with the ammonia given you are using plants... the higher ammonia can cause trouble for plants, but these should be fine. For the future I'd only take it as high as 2 ppm, just to be safe.

 

[Jen]

Good to know. I did that in case the tank waters test was wrong somehow. So when I test on Saturday and need to add more, should I only add what would be the 1ppm dose or will I need go back up to 2ppm as what was in the tank water will have been used up?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd say stick to the amount you added to get to 1.5ppm.

 

[Jen]

Status Report: Nitrite 0, Ammonia 1ppm. Coming down!

 

[Jen]

Day 6 (yesterday): ammonia just under 1ppm, and nitrites are just starting to change colour. The blue has the slightest purple tint to it. I expect tomorrow will need dosing.

 

[Jen]

Day 10 stats: Ammonia 0.5, Nitrites 2 ppm. So I dosed another dose 1 amount (3.35ml)
Should have tested the next day, didn't
Should have tested yesterday, forgot.
Day 13 Stats: Ammonia .25, Nitrites 2ppm, Nitrates 5ppm.

Now I'm confused. I wasn't expecting to have to dose again for another 2 weeks, but it looks like I need another dose 2? Did I do something wrong?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Day 10 stats: Ammonia 0.5, Nitrites 2 ppm. So I dosed another dose 1 amount (3.35ml)
Should have tested the next day, didn't
Should have tested yesterday, forgot.
Day 13 Stats: Ammonia .25, Nitrites 2ppm, Nitrates 5ppm.

Now I'm confused. I wasn't expecting to have to dose again for another 2 weeks, but it looks like I need another dose 2? Did I do something wrong?

Nope, nothing wrong.

Things are going nicely. The best part of a fishless cycle... it can only ever go 'so' wrong. All is going well.

 

[Jen]

So freaking out, I added another 3.35ml last night thinking I had somehow messed up. I'm trying to match the graph in the cycle info page and when my data wasn't following the pattern I got nervous. I must remember that nothing will be perfect and the water will do it's own thing. This is so foreign to us that I'm trying to follow it to a tee and it seems like I'm on day 20 when I'm only at 14.

Speaking of day 14...
Ammonia: 0 (so my freak out dose last night got eaten up over night. Phewf!). I'm assuming I'm on a really sped up cycle and will be adding my snack dose tomorrow.
Nitrites appear to be holding at 2, but could be higher. My bathroom is a weird yellow orange (can't wait for that reno!) and I think its making results harder to determine.
Nitrates look to be somewhere between 5 and 10 (see above), so I'm calling it 7.5.

Happy to hear it's moving along nicely... everyday hubbs asks if we can just throw fish in there and be done with all this malarkey.

 

[Jen]

I scored big time and got this bundle of plants for $25!

A member in a local forum I'm on was doing a bit of a thinning and I got half of it. It essentially filled my entire tank.

I'll post a list of the individual plants later. Placement isn't set in stone, and is not the direction I was planning for this scape, but it's a start. We'll see where the plants take me.

 

[NickAu]

I like that, will look great once the plants grow in a bit.

This is my jungle

 

[cadd]

Nick. The floating plants. What are they? They look nice.

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