Tuishimi's Coldwater/native Aquarium

[Tuishimi]

On order (soon to arrive):

Aquapod 24G (awesome deal for $169) + stand
Natural (somewhat fine) gravel.

Fish (eventually): Enneacanthus gloriosus (blue-spot sunfish) and Notropis chrosomus (rainbow shiner)
Already have thermometer strip, undergravel filter (considering a reverse-flow setup), supplies, etc.

Plants: java moss, lobelia, willow moss
Driftwood and rocks.

----------

I think this will look nice when setup. I had wanted to put in in our livingroom across from "G", but wife vetoed me. Might have to go in my "office" with my Nano cube. My concern about that is this room is always the warmest in the house and right now it is extra warm because my son has some triops growing. Ah well, I guess I will see... I don't want to buy a chiller. Room temperature is NORMALLY 76 degrees. sometimes a but warmer in July. The E. Gloriosus ranges pretty far South, the shiner too - so I am guessing they can take it.

I created my own spraybar for the return for the wet/dry mostly wet filtration system built into the Aquapod. I may have made the holes too big and some of them might not get a lot of water, but it should distrbute the return, create some good surface disturbance without too strong a flow. (Those pumps can be fairly powerful and I don't want the fish struggling in the tank).

When I get the Aquarium and set up, I will take photos.

 

[Tuishimi]

On order (soon to arrive):

Aquapod 24G (awesome deal for $169) + stand
Natural (somewhat fine) gravel.

Fish (eventually): Enneacanthus gloriosus (blue-spot sunfish) and Notropis chrosomus (rainbow shiner)
Already have thermometer strip, undergravel filter (considering a reverse-flow setup), supplies, etc.

Plants: java moss, lobelia, willow moss
Driftwood and rocks.

Here are sites with pics of what I will be keeping in the aquapod.

Animal Pictures Archive: Notropis chromosus

Jonah's Aquarium: E. gloriosus

Both species are relatively peaceful. For sunnies, the Enneacanthus group are very mild mannered. I will provide rock caves and a planted section for the sunnies, and some open space for the shiners.

I'll review the aquapod when it arrives and is set up, but from what I can tell, it is very similar to the Nano cube. The filtration system is set up in 3 chambers in the back, as a supposedly integrated, somewhat wet/dry-like system. Never dry. Just integrated I guess.

I just finished modifying an u/g filter to be a reverse flow system, fed from a pump coming from the 3rd chamber of the aquapod filter. This should provide additional bacterial breakdown of ammonia and nitrites.

Other than that and the spray bar I created, which will run off the pump that comes with the aquapod, I don't plan on making further modifications.

Now, however, I wonder if the shiners will be comfortable enough? The spraybar was meant to lessen the flow and provide decent water movement at the surface. But the shiners DO like some moving water and the sunnies are fine in slow moving rivers. I don't know. I think they will adapt well enough.

 

[Tuishimi]

No pictures just yet, they are forthcoming.

Well, my Aquapod 24G (and stand) arrived today, as did my plants and gravel. I started with the stand.

The stand is cheap. So cheap that I was actually worried that it might collapse under the weight of the Aquapod at some point, but I will trust that it will hold. It's particle board, an uses the twist on locking mechanism to secure all the pieces. The screws go into a piece of soft plastic punched into the wood, one came out when I was constructing. That means there is one less screw holding this thing together. THe lockers themselves are made out of that cheap metal alloy that you can accidentally break by over tightening, which I did... and I did NOT apply much pressure, FWIW.

Once together it looked nice.

Then I turned my attention to the aquarium. It was TRIPLE boxed with styrofoam between the first two boxes, and inside the third box. The aquarium was wrapped in a sheet of plastic, and the filtration media was in place.

The aquarium itself, once out, was covered in dust. I had to clean it first. Some of the dust came from the bio-filtration media.

Once cleaned and on the stand, I made my modifications. I added my U/G filter with the extra pump (a reverse flow setup) in the same chamber as the primary return pump. I then added my homemade spraybar (which might have to come off in the near future) to the primary return. To do this I had to shrink the inner diameter of the tubing and the flow is relatively weak (and I was worried about too much flow). Overall I am not satisfied with my modification and will likely scrap it.

I added some gravel, then my rocks, followed by the rest of the gravel. After the gravel was added I tied some of my moss onto my driftwood and added that, then I added the rest of my plants, including one potted plant.

I generally use the R/O water from our house for my aquariums, but 24 gallons would tax the system. I went to a local store and purchased 10 gallons of spring water, and filled the rest of the tank with raw water (we use softeners and an R/O unit for our house, but you can still tap into the "raw" water, which is chock full of mineral goodness).

I added some goo from one of my other tanks, and some CYCLE. Some snails traveled into the tank on the plants I stole from my hyper-planted Nano cube 12G.

The hood has 3 switches: one for the moon lights, one for the SunPaq Dual Daylight and one for the SunPaq Dual Actinic. Interestingly enough, the fan comes on only if the daylight bulb is switched on.

The lighting is good, but for the depth of the tank it could be much better. My Nano 12G's lighting seems much better, but then it is not nearly as tall.

The fan on the tank is relatively noisy - apparently aquarium manufactures feel that one LOUD FAST fan is better than two quiet, slower fans. Ah well. The pumps set up some vibrations as well, but I can tolerate them. They are no louder than an external box filter.

So far I am happy with the aquarium, tho' I do not like the stand at all. It still makes me nervous and I am contemplating changing it, but that will be in the not too near future.

The gravel I bought is pleasant. It is natural, but not as light as the natural gravel you often see, it has richer, more varied colors and I think it was a good choice. Cheap too! I bought it from Jonah's Aquarium where I am also buying my freshwater native fish.

As I said, pictures are forthcoming. I have some taken during setup but the water is a mess. It is clearing now and tomorrow I should be able to get some much better pictures.

Forgot to mention something else I did. I carved out a big hole in one of the giant sponges that come with the system. In the hole I put a bunch of Keta-Peat Nuggets. Then I put the other sponge over it to seal it in and prevent a tank full of peat.

 

[Tuishimi]

Some pictures. Be warned, these are large pictures so I will simply provide a description with links.

Aquapod on stand, no water, still a bit dirty.

Looking down into the aquapod. My U/G...

My spraybar mod. Also you can see the tube coming out to my U/G.

That's it for now. Well, O.K. Some cloudiness from the gravel which I did not thoroughly wash, as well as microbubbles because I really wanted to fill my water jugs up FAST from the outside faucett.

Picture of cloudy aquarium.

 

[Tuishimi]

Spray bar removed. Restricted flow too much.

 

[samyboy]

nice tank there shame about the spray bar, could you enlarge the holes i really want a spray bar set up

 

[Tuishimi]

nice tank there shame about the spray bar, could you enlarge the holes i really want a spray bar set up

It wasn't the holes so much as the connections getting there. The internal diameter of the hose coming from the pump was something like 3/4". I narrowed it all the way down to 1/4". The resulting reduction in flow made it all not worthwhile. I might revisit it and attach larger hoses in the next week or so, that would fix it! I just need to find the right connector for the tube...

Thanks, btw. The increased flow now that it is off has resulted in the tank clearing more in a couple of hours than it did running for a day!

Now I am battling another issue. Heat. These high output lights heat up fast. Even with the fans, the air in this bedroom is 7 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. The result is warmer aquarium water. I am shooting for a coldwater tank... over the summer these fish are going to be in warm water at this rate. For today, just to get the initial temps down (yesterday filling the tank, the tap water alone was in the upper 80's) I have cranked up the A/C to bring down the temps in the whole house (can't wait to see my electric bill) and I drained some water and dumped in a gallon of ice. The ice literally melted within 5 minutes. Brought the temps down and they are holding at the moment. I am making more ice. Our ice maker is R/O water.

 

[samyboy]

im so glad i moved onto tropical fish for indoors as my poor little cold water fish would now be sitting at 79 unheated

good luck with keeping your temps down

 

[Tuishimi]

Arg! I am THE worst "interior decorator" when it comes to aquariums. I can never get them to look the way I want them to look. Oh well. I've moved my plants around a few times, I don't want to move them too often...

I will stick with what I have for now.

 

[Tuishimi]

My fish arrived in pretty good shape, considering they were shipped in 110 degree weather. I actually got 2 more Blue-spotted sunnies than I ordered, which was nice. The shiners look GREAT for juveniles. They will be something when they get older.

The blue-spotted sunnies came with a bout of ick. 3 of them are dotted as well as spotted (heh) and at the moment, I cannot find one of them, so it might be lights out... I just wish I could locate the little corpse. It cannot get into the filter, so it must be stuck in a mass of plants somewhere. Maybe the snails got it?

Otherwise, they look great and the blue spots are about 10x brighter than I expected them to be. Very pretty, again, for juveniles. As adults they will be beautiful.

They are happily gobbling blood worms. Need to find other food tho'. I will try them on a bit of dry food in a few days, I just want them to acclimate to the tank first.

Ammonia and nitrite are nil. Nitrates are higher than I like but well within the safe range.

What surpised me was the hardness and alkalinity levels. I need to recheck them. They seemed oddly high... but then I remembered that I did not use R/O but a mix of spring and raw tap water this time.

Tank is not 100% cycled unfortunately and I may be getting odd readings here and there. I need a real test kit (I gave my good one, complete kit that cost me a bundle, away when I moved and am using not-to-accurate strips for readings).

Anyway... the fish are, besides the ick, looking pretty peppy and eat well. A good enough sign for now. I will take it.

The water temperature thing is still a worry. The fish do not seem to be gasping or struggling, which is good, but it is so much higher than what they prefer, and way above room temps. I would say the lights are the primary cause but the aquarium does not loose the heat overnight... I am guessing it is the pumps? I never really thought about them before, but it seems like they must be the source of the extra heat.

All guesswork at the moment. That's all for now.

 

[Tuishimi]

Wow! The Maracide seems to be doing the trick already. The fish look a little better. Blue-spotted #6 is not dead afterall... just was hiding somewhere in the rocks or plants. They are all out today poking around looking for food. I am happy about that... they are cute little guys and maybe the Maracide will take care of the issues. I also bought some preventative medication for after the maracide dosing... something called Prevent-ick from Kordon. It is supposed to be "all natural". I don't know...

 

[Tuishimi]

Oh man. I forgot to prop open the front part of the hood today... checked the temp because they looked a little distressed and WHOA. I won't even say what the temp of the tank was... suffice to say I wouldn't swim in water that warm myself.

I really don't want to spend a grand on a water cooler. The temps stay down when I keep the front propped open, but my son (he's only 4) thought the thing I used to prop it open was cool so he took it to play with it, and I didn't replace it this morning.

I threw a little ice in, and will throw some more in soon (little at a time) to bring the temps back down. But wow, what good is an aquarium that does not vent the heat it produces? Our house stays at 77, 80 in this room because of its location.



On the positive side of things, they STILL took food eagerly. The shiners are REALLY quick. I drop in the first round of blood works and zip zap zing they are gone. The poor sunnies don't get anything until almost the third round... but once they get one they go crazy and stuff their mouths full of them...

Tried some flake food... the shiners gobble it, the sunnies snub it.

 

[Tuishimi]

All inhabitants are doing pretty well. The ick seems to be gone, I did loose the youngest and most beat on of the sunnies. 4 of them are dominant (or at least fearless) and up front all of the time. They are starting to nibble the flake food, but obviously prefer frozen.

They are coloring up nicely. They have such a light, bright color blue to their spots and a sheen on their bodies. The rainbow shiners, well, they are doing well. It is amazing how they can eat, get fat little bellies then, an hour later look like they could eat again. And they are vigorous eaters. The sunnies really have to get their acts on to get some food!

I know this thread is dull without pictures. I try and get pictures of the fish but they are still young and never stop moving. Every shot I have taken has little blurs zipping through the picture. Sorry. Maybe I can adjust the shutter speed or something.

The tank is still cycling (for shame on me) and there is enough waste from the dead plant bits that algae is growing already. The plants are actually growing rapidly... I also have some invasive plants in my tank, like bladderwort. Grows in these twiny threads around the other plants. It's a pain to pull out of them.

The "grass" (micro swords) is spreading, the java fern has completely disappeared... the java moss seems fine (tied to my driftwood). Other plants also seem fine. Right now I am really iffy on the cambomba. It grows well, but it also dies off (lower leaves) constantly and I really don't like all the litter it produces. Pretty plant, great cover for the sunnies, but just messy. I feel like it is causing or WILL be the cause of many problems in the aquarium. The lobelia are growing more rapidly than I had expected them too. I had read they were slow-growers yet everytime I look they seem to be growing a new set of leaves.

 

[peediepixie]

All inhabitants are doing pretty well. The ick seems to be gone, I did loose the youngest and most beat on of the sunnies. 4 of them are dominant (or at least fearless) and up front all of the time. They are starting to nibble the flake food, but obviously prefer frozen.

They are coloring up nicely. They have such a light, bright color blue to their spots and a sheen on their bodies. The rainbow shiners, well, they are doing well. It is amazing how they can eat, get fat little bellies then, an hour later look like they could eat again. And they are vigorous eaters. The sunnies really have to get their acts on to get some food!

I know this thread is dull without pictures. I try and get pictures of the fish but they are still young and never stop moving. Every shot I have taken has little blurs zipping through the picture. Sorry. Maybe I can adjust the shutter speed or something.

The tank is still cycling (for shame on me) and there is enough waste from the dead plant bits that algae is growing already. The plants are actually growing rapidly... I also have some invasive plants in my tank, like bladderwort. Grows in these twiny threads around the other plants. It's a pain to pull out of them.

The "grass" (micro swords) is spreading, the java fern has completely disappeared... the java moss seems fine (tied to my driftwood). Other plants also seem fine. Right now I am really iffy on the cambomba. It grows well, but it also dies off (lower leaves) constantly and I really don't like all the litter it produces. Pretty plant, great cover for the sunnies, but just messy. I feel like it is causing or WILL be the cause of many problems in the aquarium. The lobelia are growing more rapidly than I had expected them too. I had read they were slow-growers yet everytime I look they seem to be growing a new set of leaves.

good thread, looking forward to some photos

 

[Tuishimi]

Well, this is literally the best picture I have at the moment. I just took 10 more or so and again, I am horrible at this! Maybe I should borrow my wife's fancy digital camera?

Anyway: http/www.candiazoo.com/images/suncorner.jpg

This is their (sunfish) favorite corner of the aquarium. I got a somewhat blurry shot of the shiners too, but I am not sure if it worth posting since you can only really see one of them, and they are still in juvenile colors.

As you can see, algae is a problem. You can see the plant I was talking about in the background. I also want to apologize for the streaks on the glass. You don't notice them so much ... I'll go clean the glass now.

All the plants, except the moss and lobelia, were transferred from another aquarium with a super-heavy bio-load (overplanted, with about 400,000,000 snails) so there was algae there that came with the plants, along with some snails and snail doo doo.

I don't even remember what the potted plant is (I potted it to see how it would effect growth) but it is growing rapidly (you can't tell in the picture, it is halfway down inside of the pot) and the leaves have red coloration in them.

I did not realize how many roots the lobelia were dropping until I looked at this picture. Wow.

Off to find an American-flag fish to help clean up the algae...

Nitrate@~20ppm
Nitrite@~0-.1ppm

Water is hard at ~120 (GH)

Alkalinity HIGH
pH around 7.8!!!!

I am about to do a water change. Could be the rocks I placed in the tank. I thought they were granite, could very well be wrong about THAT! Or... it could be all from the "Spring" water I used to fill the tank. But it was not so high when I first filled the tank. It was about 7.2 or 7.4 if I remember correctly. Either way I am doing a partial today. This will take awhile as the R/O unit produces water somewhat slowly.