Getting started ... Again

[Asteria]

So after having my tank striped down and empty for half the year I have finally decided to set it all up again.

The tank in question.
125 Jewel Rio
Natural sand
Bogwood
Planted
Maybe some rocks too..
T5 lighting

Plants for my tank

Guppy Grass
Anubias barteri v. ‘coffeefolia’
Utricularia graminifolia - needs co2/ Asia/ Carpeting
Hemianthus callitrichoidoes - Needs co2/NUSA/Carpeting/ soft-hard
Bacoba sp - Needs co2/Mid ground creaper/ carpeting
Ludwigia Rubin - Stem plant/High light needs/NUSA
Anubias barteri - Needs co2/ Africa / Rhizomatous

If someone would kindly help me find plants that would be great too !
Once all my fish are researched fully I will actually be looking at one region only, so i need to find a wide range of plants.


Fishes
Bandit Cory - Corydoras metae. Colombia. 6.5-7ph. 22-26c. 5-10 dGH
Adolfos Cory - Corydoras adolfoi. Brazil. 4-7ph. 20-26c. 18-90ppm.
Skunk Cory - Corydoras arcuatus. Brazil, Colombia, Peru. 6.8-7.5ph. 22-26c. 2 - 25 dGH
Panda Cory - Corydoras panda. Peru. 6-7ph. 20-25c. 2-12dGH

Lyretail Panchax/gold - Aphyosemion Australe. Africa. 5.5-7ph. 21-32c. 18-179ppm
Aphyosemion gardneri - Africa. 6-7ph. 20-26c. 18-179ppm
Fundolopanchax gardneri



Day 1 - 16/06/17

Bought play sand and filled up the tank. Tested all my equipment before hand, made sure it was all working. Filter is all up and running. water conditions are... cloudy with no chance of fish xD (don't worry the tank is being cycled fish are not even on my mind yet!)

Day 2 - 17/06/17
Filter was turned off overnight in hopes of letting some of the sand settle. The tank has become less cloudy, filter was turned back on and has cleared somewhat more. water change is possible to happen later today.

There is still a lot of rearranging going to happen in the next few days i think. and then the cycling will happen

Day 3 - 18/06/17

No water change has been done. The tank has cleared itself. I've ordered some plant substrate (i know im going to have to remove the sand i got too excited for setting it up again xD) ive ordered some rainbow slate, a new water test kit; as mine is too old now. And a background. These wont arrive untill day 5 or 6 so for now its just going to sit there. Lol


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[hobby5]

Hello!

Thx for sharing your project with us! I hope you don't mind some input

Rather easy plants not on your list: vallisneria, cryptocoryne and many echinodorus. Also consider some floating plants. Do you plan on using CO2?

Stocking:
Before choosing fish it would be wise to know your water parameters (KH & GH). Do you plan on mixing the fish you listed? I don't think it is a good stocking for any tank. I would highly recommend to discuss your stocking here, before going ahead.

 

[Asteria]

Hey thanks for the reply.

They are on my list, have had them before just wanted to try other plants too. If i need to use co2 then I will be going down that route.

I possibly should have said i wont be stocking this whole list. They are just ideas. It will be one corry species and one killifish.
I already know the kh and gh of my water.
This isn't my first time. I know i am in a hard water area and i'm looking at going r.o

 

[Asteria]

Thia is how bad the water is in my area

378.5 mg/l :Calcium Carbonate
151.4 mg/l :Calcium
26.344 °C : Degrees Clark
37.85 °F: Degrees French
21.499 °dH : Degrees German
3.785 mmol/l :Millimoles

 

[Asteria]

So I've missed out alot of days xD

Not too much has changed accept I've added the plant substrate, slate and the few plants that have arrived. There are floating plants that cannot be seen also.


My little aqua garden

 

[Asteria]

It cleared overnight and looks great
If i dare say so myself!
I am still waiting on some background plants to arrive yet also.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Very nice!

 

[Asteria]

Very nice!

Thank you

Heres a slightly better photo

 

[Asteria]

So the cycle staryed on friday. I added my first dose to the tank.
I tested it today on day three and got readings of
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrite - 1ppm

Is this good do you think, that im already seeing nitrite?

 

[Gruntle]

I've responded to your post in the Cycle Your Tank thread, it's a good sign that your ammonia is reducing, but don't add more ammonia until your nitrite is clearly over 2ppm (I've read many articles where people top the ammonia back up to 3ppm every time it drops, which leads to too much nitrite in your tank).

Sounds like you have started with a decent amount of ammonia eaters!

 

[Asteria]

Yeah i havent added anything yet. Ill wait untill i get 2ppm of Nitrite indeed.
I understand that added too much yoo soon can be bad!

Do you think it could be because i didnt empty my filter from when i had the tank running before? I just left the water in the filter

 

[hobby5]

Keep in mind you are cycling with plants. This makes things different.

 

[Asteria]

Keep in mind you are cycling with plants. This makes things different.

Indeed it does make things different.
Have always done it with plants.

 

[Asteria]

So haven't really kept you updated
But the cycle was done last week. And fish got slowly added.
More plants have been added also

 

[LyraGuppi]

Those plants look great!