Aquatopia - 6x2x2 Low-Med Light, High Tech Nature Aquarium

[Aquatopia]

from that last picture, the tank is looking really nice

The lights are just starting to come on now but it looks very dark in there this morning. I think the tannins have gone nuts!

I'll get pics once the lights are on full.

 

[Aquatopia]

The Malaysian Trumpet Snails have also just turned up! So Damo's Fish does seem okay, he may not be the best when it comes to sending out the right orders first time... ...but he has sent the correct one out very quickly once I messaged him. They are now in the tank.

The tank lights are currently ramping up and... ...the water is very coudy and brown!

I have had filter floss in both filters since I started them up so I think the cloudiness is biological.

 

[Aquatopia]

I forgot to say - the floating plants didn't work out. The corral I made for them failed to contain them and there is too much surface agitation/flow for them to just float free. In the end I decided to give up on them, so I won't be having any.

I've just put the first lot of dry nutrients in for my EI mix. Those who have been following me will know I am front loading the macro's dry for the week then dosing the micro's on the other 6 days in a liquid mix. I'll start dosing the micro's from tomorrow.

I think the EI dosing is going to be a bit messed up at first though. I mean once the fish are here on Wednesday I'll probably be doing a 50% water change every day (unless it's not needed). So the macro's I've just added for the week will be reduced and then gone. I'm thinking the plants are just going to have to manage with what they can get whilst the tank is getting going. There is going to be ammonia in there for them.

 

[Aquatopia]

I've been watching the pH change throughout today, which has been cool. Before I turned on the CO2 at 10am this morning the pH was 7.26 then after 30 mins of the CO2 going in it had dropped to 7.11 and has been dropping slowly ever since. It's currently at 6.88 and seems to be dropping by 0.01 every 30 mins. I'm just waiting for it to stabilise now.

I've also got 3 full size prawns in the tank to produce ammonia as they rot. Maybe they aren't rotting yet but the Ammonia went up to a high of 0.165 at 3am this morning and then started dropping. It's currently at 0.059 and seems to be stable around there at the minute. It has been since 1:30pm anyway. There should have been ammonia from the aquatic soil and peat as well as the rotting food though. Maybe the plants are consuming most of it?

 

[Aquatopia]

Sorry but I just grabbed another crappy photo as the tank is very cloudy and brown.

It actually looks darker than that in real life. The tank lights are currently on about 35%. Do you think I should turn them up with the tank being so dark with the coudiness/tannins? There's no signs of any algae.

 

[Aquatopia]

One cool thing I just noticed - the O2 level has just started to go up! It's been at the same level all day but now it's going up after the CO2 has been dosing all day. I think this is because the plants are producing more oxygen and increasing it.