My First Journal

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

So here it goes, my first journal....

I forgot to take a photo of the tank empty (I was too excited to get it set up)

firstly i washed the sand and put it in the tank....

then I filled the tank with dechlorinated water.....

then i put in the old filters from the old tank....

then i put in the heater....

then i put in some small hardy fish, just in case.

ok here is where i can put the first pic

after a couple of days when the sand settled and the fish calmed down i then added 2 half terracotta pots as caves and a few pepples

thats all so far (not much to show really)
but tomorrow i plan on going to the lfs and purchasing a light and a couple of amazon swords and/or java ferns (depending on what they have)
anyway thanks for looking, any ideas for what i could add or change would be greatly appriciated.

cheers

 

[Cory_Dad]

Firstly, take whatever I say with a grain of salt. Although I was heavily into aquariums as a boy then when my kids were young I had a community tank and just now got back into the hobby, I am in no way an authority in fact I consider myself as a noob amongst the rest of the members.

Anyway, nice tank size and layout but I'm wondering why you don't have any plants? I always thought that plants help to remove nitrates from the water and act as a buffer. Of course frequent water changes does that too. Plants also give the fish a place to hide though the flower pots are a nice touch.

If you're planning to breed the Cory's I found that about 50% of the eggs in my first batch were on my amazon sword plants. To date all the eggs harvested from the glass died, where most of the eggs on the sword plant leaves survived (I clipped off the leaves and placed them into the nursery tank rather than scraping them off; it's hard on the plants but...). Of course, your mileage could vary.

I can see the filter in the right rear corner but can't make out what type it is.

You were much smarter than I was by using sand; I was making a community tank with a mixture of small/med./large gravel (the 'boss' liked the look). "The best laid plans of mice and men...".

Good luck with your tank and keep us all up to date.

Cheers.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi cmfoggy

Your tank is very attractive so far. I'm looking forward to seeing it progress.

I like Amazon Sword plants, but they don't seem to thrive in my tanks. Java ferns do better since they like lower light levels and I like them since, because they are not rooted, they are so very portable. I can switch them from one tank to another whenever I feel so inclined. I can also get by with less depth in the substrate and this avoids any problems with gas forming in the sand.

Since you've posted in the Cory forum, I suspect you are planning to keep corys, but what kind?

 

[rmanpf]

your tank looks pretty good so far!

what kind of corys are you stocking?

And what fish do you have in the tank already? hard to tell.

I cant wait to see the finished product!

 

[cmfoggy]

Hey all

Thanks for the comments.

The reason there are no plants in yet is that was about day 1 or 2 when the photos were taken and there were no corys in there then, but as you will see (hopefully) in the next updated photo there are 2 plants (and soon to be more).

Filter, unsure of what it is, it was the old one.

Im not neccesarily doing it to breed corys I just like the look of them but if they do breed, COOL.

The fish that were in there was a goldfish and some feeder fish that my daughter brought years ago, they are no longer in the tank.

Today I added 2 plants, 1 amazon sword and a crypt (not sure of what sort) I tried to get java moss but they did not have any and they only had 1 java fern that looked dead.
I also added 1 rock formation and my 5 corys.

So here goes....

http/i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj276/cmfoggy/0072.jpg

http/i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj276/cmfoggy/0052.jpg

http/i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj276/cmfoggy/0042.jpg

Still not much to look at but remember its a work in progress

Tomorrow i plan on getting a background, 1 or 2 more plants and 1 more peppered cory, making that 2 albinos, 2 bronze and 2 peppers

cheers

 

[phistar]

can't wait to see this tank come along

 

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

well i brought that other peppered cory the other day

here he/she is

and here is the tank so far with the background and some more larger stones

the left side

and the right side (sorry about the airstone, its got to go in the back somewhere)

front view

next week i plan on getting 2 more corys (dont know which ones to choose, maybe another albino and bronze or 2 more peppers or 2 different ones altogether) and hopefully get some more plants, I would really like some java moss or java fern but they seem hard to come by.

and here are all occupants of the tank so far except one albino (was camera shy tonight )

P.S what would be a good small plant to go in the front of the tank that is a low light plant and easy to get??

cheers

 

[rmanpf]

beautifull corys, very healtghy looking!

 

[ICEEGRL]

I just thought I would make a few suggestions. You will need some kind of plant tabs or something put in the sand where the roots of the plants can feed. The sword especially... It is a heavy root feeder.
Corys like to be with their own kind. Most people suggest 6 or more of each kind being kept together. It makes them more secure and less shy.
I would get a couple more of the rocks in the back and put with the ones you have. Then you can hide the air stone in the middle of the pile. Then the bubbles can come up around the rocks, but you won't see the air stone. You can also bury the line in the sand so you won't see that either.
If it were me... I would add some water sprite or val in the back and maybe some pygmy val in the front... again you will need to add plant tabs to feed the plants a little.
You may also may want to raise your plants a little. (not so deep in the sand) They do better if you have the top of the root ball at the top of the sand so you can barely see it. I found that the leaves rotted and came out when I had them down in the sand where they joined the root ball. That could have just been me though.
Good Luck... it is looking nice so far.

 

[Cory_Dad]

Ya, I was going to mention that about having more of the same type rather than a couple of each type. They definitely do seem happier the more of them there are (is that gooder English?). There's also something about seeing a shoal of fish swimming together.

Nice idea about the air stone. I was gonna suggest on getting a longer air stone and creating a bubble curtain in front of the heater. That would also give you better water circulation.

I didn't know you could get plant tabs! I use a liquid fertilizer 2 days after each water change. I was adding it right after the water change, after I put in the tap water stabilizer and then it hit me; the stabilizer takes out chlorine and heavy metals and the fertilizer adds iron for the plants... talk about counter productive!

I can see you're putting a lot of thought and loving care into your tank.

Cheers.

 

[cmfoggy]

Thanks ICEEGRL and Cory_Dad

I do plan on getting more of the same corys, I'm just doing it slowly so as to not overload the filter all at once.

I really like that idea of putting the airstone in amongst the stones........cool.

I will try and get some plant tabs on the week end or early next week. Are they easy to put in

I was wondering if I planted the plants too deep, being new to planted tanks and all, now I know....thanks, I will try and fix that on the week end as well. (WOW, you can learn so much on this forum )

Thank you Cory_Dad for bringing to my attention that my liquid fertilzing efforts have been pointless....

cheers all

 

[jollysue]

Nice Efforts!

Do you have test kits? It would make a nice addition to the log to note what your water stats are along the way. Charting the water temps through the day and seasons and the ph readings too from tap to seasoned tank. You will learn a lot along the way and teach us too.

I am too lazy to keep a log. You can do it for me. LOL

 

[cmfoggy]

Hi jollysue

Funny you should mention keeping a log, cause since I set up the tank I have kept a log, doing daily testing just to keep an eye on the water parameters (incase there were any rises in ammonia and nitrite because it was a newly set up tank)

I was keeping a record of:
temp
ammonia
GH
KH
pH
nitrite
nitrate

I was using the 5 in 1 test strips but i ran out of them and i changed to individual tests (no longer doing GH and KH) Do you think these are important tests to do...

I did notice the strip tests and the individual tests did not have the same results, with the strip it was saying <10 for nitrate now the new test is saying <20.

I did hear somewhere that the 5 in 1 strip tests are not as accurate as the others, unsure

So my next photo update may include the water parameters (If that wouldn't be too boring)

Anyway till next time, cheers

 

[jollysue]

Maybe just if you see something unusual or something changing. State the base goal and then note if there are changes and what was going on or different that might cause it.

Test strips are nororiously wrong. Can't be trusted. Get a better idea of what is going on in the tank watching the fish that with test strips, imo.

The ph is known to change from the tap once it is in the tank and also over time, for instance.

You are diligent.

What temp have you chosen for you base with that mix of Corys?

 

[Cory_Dad]

Thank you Cory_Dad for bringing to my attention that my liquid fertilzing efforts have been pointless....

Well, I wouldn't say it was pointless, it's just that the iron will get taken out by the conditioner (iron is a heavy metal, isn't it?) but the rest of the stuff in the fertilizer will still help.

I just figured it that since I'm spending money on fertilizer that is "Iron Enriched" I might as well get my moneys worth.

Cheers.