Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Not sad at all. HM is generally pretty easy to grow although I have never tried it after its been hit with excel. Hopefully it recovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Last week This week My lame attempt at starting a Christmas moss carpet We'll see if this experiment works... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 I've used crazy glue to stick moss to driftwood - works quite well if you pat the wood and moss dry before aplying the glue. The moss will eventually grow thru your mesh, tho - you just need to have patience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 With all the hard work you're putting in, you'll have exactly the tank you want once stuff grows in in the next month or so... Just on time to tear it all apart and try something new again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 (edited) Just thinking of tearing it all down and starting again is enough to make me want to pull my hair out! I'm looking forward to having the plants established so I can finally add fish!!! The Christmas moss is either already starting to take on parts of the driftwood I didn't stick it to, or somehow java moss from my 10 gallon upstairs snuck downstairs in the night when I wasn't watching. I'm really surprised. There were no long strands when I put it in and today I had to wind a few strands around the driftwood to keep it together. Odd? I broke down and ordered more plants, so I'm going to have to rearrange when they get here. I really want to try dwarf baby tears so hopefully they survive shipping and all goes well. I also threw in a few other plants (Corkscrew Vallisneria, Cabomba Red (Cabomba carolina) and Hygrophila polysperma (Sunset). The Cabomba Red looks gorgeous but is supposed to be difficult to keep alive. I decided I'm up for the challenge. I might have to lower the temperature of my water a little to accommodate it. I've been keeping the tank at 27C/80F and the maximum temperature listed for it is 26C/ 79F. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myPlants.php?do=view&p=30&n=Red_Cabomba_Cabomba_furcata_Cabomba_piauhyensis My plants probably wont arrive for at least another week and then I have let them establish. It's going to be Christmas by the time I can add my cory cats. OK, maybe not Christmas, but it still seems like forever :P I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow in search of some nerites to start up my clean up crew. I really like the turtle nerite I have in my 10 gallon. Hopefully AC still has a few more in stock. (I did originally have 2 of them but one climbed onto the heater and cooked himself...) Edited July 7, 2013 by McTurtle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 If you aren't keeping fish with high temperature requirements, keep the temp down around 75F if you can. Most plants will do fine at higher temps, but some don't (Cabomba). If you don't need te heat, don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I'm thinking tetras, corys and ottos as stock. I think I'll be ok for temperature. First 50% water change today. The Eheim drains the tank nicely. I just turned off the power, closed the valves, switched the output with an output with enough tubing to reach the drain and then opened the valves, no power required. Getting the fresh water in was more tedious. I'm filling 5 gallon buckets and then scooping it in with a 1L jar. 6 buckets and I'm done. There has got to be an easier way... Plants are growing! I have a bit of a collection of brown algae but it just brushes away. I put my nerite in today so maybe he'll eat some of it. I've got black fabric to hang as a backdrop. I didn't have time to put it up today. When I get it put up I'll post another photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) How about micro rasboras? Emerald dwarf, Celestial, Chili, Brigetta, with Hastatus, Pygmy and Habrosus Corys to go with your ottos? The little Cory's go all over the mid to bottom levels of the tank, the small rasboras go the top to mid levels? They all do well at 72-76F. A macro micro tank so to speak, just an idea ;p Edited July 9, 2013 by SuperGuppyGirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Getting the fresh water in was more tedious. I'm filling 5 gallon buckets and then scooping it in with a 1L jar. 6 buckets and I'm done. There has got to be an easier way... I use a garden hose. Add enough Prime (or other water conditioner - but Prime really does seem to be the safest) to treat the whole tank, then fill 'er up! I do 100's of gallons of WCs per week this way... it really is the only way! One note of caution: in winter, make sure to keep the return hose above the water surface to off-gas dissolved CO2 (and other gases) - it's quite high that time of year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) I use garden hose straight from the tap. On occasion i dont want to pull that out so i use bucket. You can attach a short length of hose to a utility pump that you can stick into your 5 gallon bucket to make it easier to transfer from bucket to tank. I have one and plug it into a power bar and use my foot to turn it on and off. Edited July 9, 2013 by Cgy_Betta_Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I use garden hose straight from the tap. On occasion i dont want to pull that out so i use bucket. You can attach a short length of hose to a utility pump that you can stick into your 5 gallon bucket to make it easier to transfer from bucket to tank. I have one and plug it into a power bar and use my foot to turn it on and off. These are the two ways I do it as well. Fish room isn't complete without a little utility (pond) pump for this sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Great ideas! I have a pond pump that I was using for my automated tomato seedling watering system I had going last year. It was exposed to tomato fertilizers but I can probably rinse it out well enough to use it for water transfer into my tank. I love the powerbar idea to switch it on/off. I need to invest into some short pieces of garden hose and a y connector. I'm using the water that normally goes into my washing machine so hot and cold are separate. To get the temperature right I have to mix it in a bucket. Still, being able to pump it out of the buckets instead of ladling it in manually will be a lot easier. Micro rasboras look amazing. Does anyone stock them in Edmonton or know of a good online source? How difficult are they to keep happy? I saw some ember tetras at AC last time and was pretty impressed by them but by the time I actually get around to stocking my tank they'll probably be sold out. Is it better to stick with one type of cory or mix them? I was thinking of starting with a school of ~10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) AC has the emeralds and celestial/galaxy in all the time same with the embers. Only problem I ever had with them was before I upped their schools to at least 8, then they were all over the place. Depends on the corys, a school of 10 of a single or 2 schools of 5 work well. If all from the same genus can get different color morphs. Say 3 albino aenus, 3 green aenus and 3 bronze aenus would work as all are the same but gives you 3 different colours. For the big guys schools of 5 really work the best, for the little guys 10 work the best. AC currently has the pygmy and habrosus btw Edited July 9, 2013 by SuperGuppyGirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 I got home yesterday after 5 days of camping to find a lot of brown algae. I think maybe the light cycle is too long. Anyhow, it wasn't too hard to clean up. At least the brown stuff just brushes off. I added a 1/2 dose of Excel to hopefully rid myself of the algae. I did a 50% water change and then dosed with ferts. My ammonia level is closer to 0.25 than 0, but I'm going to have to do water changes frequently for a bit anyway as I'm adding in my fish (hopefully) tonight. Most of the plants have recovered now, hopefully the small dose of Excel doesn't melt them again. I can't find my nerite. I hope he's OK. I don't think he could have escaped and I checked around the room just to be sure. I worry that he fell over and couldn't right himself. I'll look again tonight. The ramshorn snail is cruising around just fine. Big moment last night - I added in the first fish! Two female guppies. It's hilarious because, though they both have black tails, one is at least 3 times the size of the other. They don't seem to care and are buddies anyway. I had to dial back the current from my filter. I liked having the stronger current but it seemed the guppies were struggling to swim and the celestial danios I'll be adding come from pools so probably also won't like a strong current. The guppies seem quite content to be upgraded from the 5 gallon they were in. The smaller on spent a good few hours chasing bubbles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McTurtle Posted July 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 I love this tank!!! (Sorry I have to share here since my enthusiasm totally baffles my husband and my co-workers can't really be expected to listen to me talk about fish for extended periods of time...) I added 14 celestial danios and 6 Corydoras punctatus (my Spencer Jack order) last night. They all seem to be doing great. The corys are hilarious. I love watching them wander around. I have one "Lone Ranger" cory who likes to wander off on his own. His place is filled in by the larger guppy. I think the guppy is having an identity crisis... she thinks she's a cory. :rofl: I put in a Hikari Algae wafer last night and the corys and guppies were all over it and it was gone this morning. I assume the danios are eating the algae and the bits of wafer that flew off into the water. The celestial danios are super cute, but their colours aren't very intense. I'm hoping if I start adding some live food into their diet they'll brighten up a bit. They don't seem to be having an issue with the current, so that's a relief. Nerite is still missing - I think I'm going to give up hope soon. The rest of my plants are arriving today. I don't know how I'm going to fit them all in. I might need to remove some java fern and a piece of driftwood from the right hand side. I wanted to get the dwarf baby tears in before the corys arrived, but it just didn't work out that way. I'll just have to work something out so the corys can't uproot them. I'm thinking of moving my two amano shrimp from my 10 gallon into the 65 gallon. There's a lot of algae for them to eat in the 65 gallon and not much in the 10 gallon. I'm going to wait until I'm sure there'll be no ammonia spikes in the 65 gallon from all the fish I've already added. I'm just wondering if the amanos will go after the danios. The amanos are probably 1.5 - 2". They're kind of bossy and steal all the food from the cherry shrimp. I haven't found anything reporting amanos eating live danios but the danios are so small that I worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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