20gallon Journal - Updated Daily - Indir

[indir-emir]

Lol atleast its below 5 Makes me feel better lol. Had to get 2 other people to confirm it with me haha.

Will post again in like 6-8 hours to see if it dropped (then ill be going to bed lol).

Got another question I bought a clay pot about 3 inches high and about 4.5 inches wide(at the top of the pot) and it slowly gets smaller to about 2 inches wide at the bottom. Would i need to do anything to make sure it doesnt put anything bad in the tank? Also, should i cut it in half or drill the hole at the bottom to be wider? Im not to sure what to do lol

Thank you,
Indir

 

[waterdrop]

(well, its 2 in the morning Sydney time as I post this so you Aus. guys probably won't see it, lol)

Glad you see progress Indir. As Thommo says, its mostly the fact that you've managed to remain patient and persistent and have kept just putting the food in that has made you successful. You would not believe how many people we see that just give up, can't stand it and then just end up with a mess, having to do large water changes and fish-in cycling.

I believe clay pots are almost always considered very safe and no problem. If you cut one, just be sure you protect your fish against any leftover sharp edges. Fish will dart into sharp things and get hurt, same as kids, so its a must to give them a safe environment.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Hey mate, nah i dont sleep much On a break for another month lol. Thinking of ways to change my tank around a bit to make room for the pot and leave nice swimming space for bottom dwellers

Im not sure how to cut the pot though. Or if i should even cut it at all lol. Any ideas would really help me out with all this thinking lol.

Thanks mate,
Indir

P.S Doing my water test, will post stats in a few min

 

[waterdrop]

I'm not knowledgeable at all about what shelters various cichlids need for breeding. I've had Jack Dempseys, angels and various others, but never worked on breeding them or understanding shelters particularly, so I'm just not qualified.

My one idea though, now that I think of it, is that if your substrate is deep enough at the point you want the pot, you can just bury up to half of it, on its side of course, and there you have a nice little shelter without breaking it. It may be too big of course, lol.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Well i have about an 2 inches of small gravel before the undergravel plate so ill burry it like that, that was my original plan lol. But only problem is there is a whole on the bottom thats about a 1cm in diamater and im worried fish may get stuck.. Should i tip it on a sort of angle to ensure its under the gravel area so that this cannot happen?

I think im gona change my tnak around. Gonna remove my big wall rock thing form the corner, move my 3 rock stack there and put the pot in the middle of the tank. Otherwise my tank seems to ahve to much stuff all over the bottom of the tank... I shall do that now Ill post a pic

Update on water paramaters:
Ammonia = 0 (good to see this has been 0 for so long, even though i doubled the usual feed amount just to make sure it would remove it all in time)
Nitrite = 1 (i can tell very well this time, last time it was bit harder to tell)
Nitrate = 40 to 80 (bit hard to tell which it leans more to towards, but i beleive more towards the 40 side. so its about 60? )

Thank you,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Okay have set up the new tank set up. Took out my rock wall and changed it up a little. Found a hilarious sign that i think EVERY fish tank should have

I burried a part of the pot into the gravel so i wouldnt have to cut it and risk hurting the fish, i put it up against the back glass and covered the hole with the gravel so that fish couldnt get into it for sure Tank is all messy now since i moved around all the algea and food i fed it off the gravel lol. Fed it a little more just to replace any algea that may have been on the rock wall i removed.

Here are the pictures of my new set up What does everyone think?
Full tank shot (new set up):

The hilarious sign i was talking about:

A close up shot of the new cave.

Hoping the Nitrite will drop below 1 in 12 hours (when i test again),
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Okay water update:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 1
Nitrate = 20 to 40 (i must not have been able to see well last time... real close to 40 now though)

Whats everyone think of my new tank set up?

Regards,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Okay yet another question for you geniuses Im thinking about getting some java moss to put on the pot (so it looks even cooler!) and to go over the rock stack. Would buy just a little and let it grow over the 2 things in time, question is:

How fast does java moss grow?

Regards,
Indir

P.S Someone comment on my new tank set up please

 

[indir-emir]

Water update:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0.5 to 1 (more closer to 0.5, its not 0.5 but its more pale then 1, woo hoo)
Nitrate = 20 to 40
PH = 7.4 (no drop or rise after putting in clay pot)

Also does anyone know how fast java moss grows? Im thinking bout making a carpet for the tank

Regards,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Oh oh thought of a great idea for the tank

My idea is to have the left side of the tank planted. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to use mesh with java moss tied onto with a hair net also (to get a lawn effect). Would this effect hurt any fish such as algae eaters or bottom dwellers?
Also could i tie the treasure chest to the mesh and have the java moss grow around it leaving the holes open as a cave type thing? Or should i take this out and use clay pots in some sort of cool looking set up for a bunch of caves?

Regards,
Indir

P.S Sorry to post so many times but ive come up with all sorts of ideas lol

 

[rabbut]

Water stats look OK, still some nitrite, but it's dropping for you Just a word of warning, fish can become trapped in nets and meshes, so make shure the hole size of said mesh is too small for fish to get into, and that there is no way a fish can get past any netting

All the best
Rabbut

 

[indir-emir]

Yeah at the moment im not sure if i will make this kind of carpet for that reason. But ill get some for the clay pot and the rocks so it looks more of a natural cave Gonna try find some java moss soon lol. Would this be ok to add during the cycle?

Regards,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Almost home! Water update:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0 to 0.25 (its alot lighter then 0.25 but its not the blue that 0 is, and its not 0.5 because its blue but as i said not a light blue)
Nitrate = 20 to 40

Someone please tell me what they think of the tank xD I changed it up now so i dont have to use the undergravel filter and how have 1 air bubble thing at one of the pipes, when my cycle is done i will go buy another air stone for the back of the tank Will run them throughout the day but off at night as my air pump is loud lol.

Regards,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Back for another question lol. Just hoping someone will know

Also i have decided what fish im going to be getting I am gonna get danios (would 2 male 3 female zebras, and 2 male 3 female leopards be ok together? I like them both ) and am gonna get dwarf gouramis, probably a neon blue one or others that are below 10cm, (1 male 2 females? or can i get 2 males 3 females?) and two bristlenose catfish.

Ive gotten my girlfriend hooked on fish keeping too lol, she wants to keep a fighting fish. Would she be able to put one of hers into my tank since they will attack eachother after breeding(so i have read)? Also if they were together in a 5 gallon would it be okay(she wanted me to ask)?

Regards,
Indir

P.S Will post another water up date in about 2-3 hours

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you can't keep fighting fish together, they need seperate tanks and the males are not suitable for community tanks at all.