Fishless Cycle Log/aesthetic Setup

[Paavn]

i started keeping a log after i did 2 50% water changes to bring the ammonia down to about 5ppm (was using test strips)

any suggestions to a change of look or rearrangement in the tank is more than welcome

i was thinking of switching the rainbow slate another rock because it just keeps breaking into little pieces and is starting to crumble. i was thinking black slate or some kind of granite or other rock along those lines



i'll post more recent pictures and the log results so far.

ps. sorry about picture quality i took them on my phone. i'll use a camera from now on lol

 

[Paavn]

these are from wednesday (12/24) i believe when i was having a random cloudiness episode

the water test stats till that wednesday are as follows:
12/21:
partly cloudy water, pH:8.0, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite.25ppm, nitrate: <5ppm, KH: 8.0, Temp: 79
12/22: added tetra safestart 2pm
partly cloudy water, pH:7.8, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite.25ppm, temp: 80
12/23: 2am, 12hrs after Safestart
partly cloudy water, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite: almost .25ppm, temp: 80
12/23: 2pm
partly cloudy water, pH:7.8, ammonia: > 4ppm, nitrite: .25ppm, temp: 80
12/24: pictures above
partly cloudy water, pH:7.8, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite: .5ppm, nitrate: 5-10 ppm, temp: 79
12/25:
less cloudy water, pH:7.9, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite: .75ppm, temp: 80
12/26:
less cloudy water, pH: 8.0, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite: 1ppm, temp: 79
12/27:5 days after Safestart, pictures below
almost clear water, pH:8.0, ammonia: >4ppm, nitrite: 1ppm, temp: 78

 

[Paavn]

the rainbow slate was pretty much becoming powder so i decided to take it out before it completely broke down to dust.
i got some black slate instead and must say i love the look of the slate

there will be a piece of bogwood on the left, its soaking in my bucket, i was surprised that it sunk instantly but then again it was pretty heavy for a fairly small piece of wood

if you have any opinions or suggestions for the lay out feel free to let me know

 

[Paavn]

hmmm i guess not lol

 

[waterdrop]

Looks like your fishless cycle is proceeding ok, do you feel that's true?

Even though you are going to try the bogwood to the left, you might still consider trying -everything- (the plant, bogwood and rocks) to the left. In nature, scenes that we see are seldom balanced and often are very unbalanced. If you worked out this "left-weighted" thing, you might then move your wire and hose that's coming down the back middle over to the left also and end up with a clear/bubble end of the tank.

Another idea, if that doesn't work out, would be to explore very dark, even, backgrounds, that hide the equipment and perhaps go back to a two-sided hardscape with some sort of path going from front to back that's not in the middle, but offset. You could easily enhance this in your situation by clearing the red gravel bits from the curving "path" and having it be only white. (Unfortunately, eventually you are going to find that white gravel is tough, it shows off the debris and algae too much usually, but you can wait and see for now.)

An aquascape is totally personal and should be fun and make you happy, so always allow for that when hearing others suggestions.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

What can we say Paavn? I love the look of my own tanks but guessing by what I see of yours, you would not like them much. The natural slate looks better than the rainbow colored sandstone.
For balance, you should think of decorating in thirds. You place things to make each third look consistent and set up circumstances with the decor that make obvious breaks between the thirds. To work along those lines, you would leave the fake plant on the left, shift the rocks a bit, not much, to the right and probably try to leave the air stone about where it is from left to right but make it form a dividing line by placing it behind the rock pile. The bubbles trailing up would give a dividing characteristic to the scene without the disk itself being visible. I like dense live plant tanks with natural colored sand bottoms rather than colored gravel and harsh rocky lines. For me the dividing lines are things like a sudden stop of tall plants on one side or something of that nature.
You may want to look at ways to hide the filter from view just to draw the eye more to the tank contents themselves. I believe I have seen backgrounds with rocky outcrops as the picture theme on them. They would lend your slate a bit of depth in some ways but might detract from the slate itself. The LFS would not have nearly as many decorations in stock if we all liked the same things.

Sorry but I'm not much of a decorator. My almost random plant growth gives, what is to me, a beautiful jungle look.

Edit: It looks like WD and I were having similar thoughts about personal preferences at the same time.

 

[Paavn]

thanks guys. i kind of have an idea of what i want it to look like now that i have wood in there. i'll post a picture as soon as i can get my other computer to work (having some intense windows issues)

i wanted to get a moss to grown on the top sides of the slate. but i was wondering what kind of moss i could use for that because i wanted to get the "green carpet" look on the top of the slate. (kind of like the greens you play on at a gold course)

unfortunately i know nothing about underwater plants. i know i can find the moss im looking for above the water though

 

[Paavn]

this is what it looks like right now (sorry picture quality is horrible)

for the bubble disk i dont plan on keeping it because its damaged. i got it for free and am using it while im cycling. i plan on getting a short bubble wand and as for the substrate i think i might change it to white sand. this is all so confusing

 

[waterdrop]

Actually I think your latest picture quality is better than any of the previous ones. The gravel looks much better now and the bogwood (and slate rearrangement?) are much more balanced now.

 

[Paavn]

thanks waterdrop. i read the post on how to take better pictures lol
12/28: almost clear water
pH:8, ammonia 4ppm, nitrite 1ppm, temp 80

12/30:water is clear
ammonia: 4ppm, nitrite: >1ppm, nitrate:10ppm, temp 81

1/01
clear water. pH:8, ammonia:4ppm, nitrite: >1ppm, temp 80

1/3
clear water, pH:7.9, ammonia: 4ppm, nitrite: >1ppm, temp 80

1/5
clear water, ammonia:4ppm, nitrite:1ppm, temp 80

1/7
clear water, pH:7.9, ammonia:4ppm, nitrite .25-.5ppm, nitrate:5ppm, temp 80

1/8
clear water, pH:7.9, ammonia:>2ppm, nitrite: 0 - .25ppm, nitrates:>5ppm, temp 82

umm i think im running into a problem here.... where are the nitrates going? i have no plants and i dont see any algae growth as of yet...

 

[Schmill]

Personally I wouldn't worry. As long as the Ammonia is dropping, and the NitrIte spikes, and then falls then all is well.
The NitrAte tests are apparently notoriously dodgy, and are useful as a guide at best. If the other 2 are behaving correctly your are quite safe to ignore the NitrAte test for a while, you'll probably find the next time you test it's gone back up, just make sure you shake the 2 reagent bottles REALLY well as certainly with teh API kit, one of the bottle (#2 I think), seems to seperate quite badly and needs a really good shake to mix it before you do the drops

 

[LauraFrog]

^ Beat me to it... while the other tests give exact numbers (and the numbers are important) the nitrate test is a rough guide as to how much accumulated gunk - including other substances from sources other than nitrification - is in your tank. High nitrates - as in really, really high nitrates - are used as an indicator that maintenance is infrequent, insufficient or sporadic. Other than its use as a diagnostic tool the nitrate reading really doesn't matter unless you are keeping nitrate sensitive species like rainbowfish. The reagents are uncooperative to say the least and the readings are often 10ppm either side of the correct number. Mix up the shaking-the-crap-out-of-the-reagents bit and your numbers skew wildly. It's far more likely that something is wrong with the nitrate reading than something is wrong with the cycle.

 

[Schmill]

Rainbow fish are sensitive to NitrAte levels? This I did not know
I'm keeping Dwarf Rainbowfish (melatonia Praecox (not sure on spelling!)), and have just ordered some more, and my nitrAtes are 40 from the tap according to the API test.
How 'sensitive' is "sensitive"?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well the answer is in your tank. you have them already.... are they fine or are they dying?!

remember nitrate test kits are dodgy as anything, don't trust that you actually have 40ppm even though thats what your kit says

 

[Paavn]

phew. thanks guys i was starting to get worried a little bit

i have this slime coating on all the silicone and on the plastic tubing in my tank... what is that? it kinda feels like liquid soap



EDIT: spelling