My 24g And It's Evolution

[bennett]

the lighting will be here tomorrow according to the boss of the company.

only problem is that i assumed the starter in the hood came out without much of a fight instead of the bloody cover coming off without much of a fight. so i'm gunna be pretty hard pushed to get the 3 bulbs in there and not get them wet. i think it might have to be a case of squeezing one in behind the inbuilt starter and outside of the tank and then between the standard bulb and the flap.

i basically don't have the tools to remove the inbuilt starter.

all in all it's been a massively annoying evening

Sounds like you need to chase up your lighting ! gosh, you've not had an easy time getting the stuff you ordered quickly.

I'll pop some hornwort in the post for you tomorrow - that should take off fairly quickly - and will grow at the speed of lightning with your improved lights (if and when they come!).

Last pic is looks like you've come along in leaps and bounds

cheers ant. it's coming on slowly i just wish things would run smoothly....yes i am nieve

 

[bennett]

no lights-shocking

i did buy a hacksaw so i can remove the starter and postmens limbs

edit:

the hacksaw was good so i could take out the starter and put in a temporary cover with lighting attached (only one strip though)

on another note. i've tested my kH of both tap water and tank water are at about 11 degrees/196 ppm. how is this possible? according to chucks calculator i'm running at 22ppm of co2 in my tap water....


ARGH

 

[smithrc]

it could be your phoshates levels messing things up...

leave the tap water to stand for a while before measuring, gasses are forced into mains water due to the fact its under pressure, it could very well be at 22ppm straight from the tap

 

[bennett]

me n bloo sorted it out earlier. thank god for msn!

i have co2 running and 3 out of 4 lighting strips in! hurrah!

the colour of the cichlids has come out rather well! you're gunna have to trust me that the pleco is actually silver as that is the best pic i can get. sooo getting a new camera.

i'm now running co2 at around 33ppm, which is v good for a first prope try!

2x18w arcadia 172's have been added to join the 20w arcadia the tank already had. attaching the forth tomorrow when i get some time and the mrs is away

i now actually feel that i've achieved something now. even if it is to spend lots of money on things for a fish tank, but i can see the battle about to start and i'm chuffed!

 

[smithrc]

Looking a whole lot better

Good to see Mr pleco has settled in nicely
I'll get a piccy og the big one we have - I'm sure hes grown since you saw him!

 

[bennett]

dude this lil fella has grown since i've had him!

 

[Bloo]

New tank / new CO2 and now new camera on the list ! What next ?

Looking great with all the new light - much better already

 

[bennett]

New tank / new CO2 and now new camera on the list ! What next ?

bigger tank obviously!

 

[bennett]

my plants are pearling! hurrah.

note: there would be pics here except my gf has taken my camera (not that i had any say in it or knew) for a night away. grrr

 

[bennett]

ok i've changed things around a bit and it's apparent i need some mid size plants! at the mo i've got giants and then a crap "lawn" HAHA . however i'll leave that for a bit until the tank's more established!

these are the new pics. you can see how much the water sprite how grown! rather chuffed

(pearling)

 

[bennett]

ok update again

despite saying i loved the stocking i'm making a few sacrafices. i'm going to trade in all of my fish apart from the ranger plec. in there place i plan to get fish that are alot more suited to a planted tank(should happen friday).

oh and i've managed to buy an eheim 2213 to overfilter my tank. it's been used for a week then the inexperienced person was told they needed to upgrade so they ebayed it (£21 inc. pipes and media. just have to pick it up)

oh and a few more plants have been ordered from greenline- glossostigma elatnoides, echindorus tenellus, blyxa japonica(2) and bacopa monniera(2). hopefully these plants will give me the mid level plants i need.

 

[bennett]

hurrah i have new fish! and a crap camera and no patience for picture taking! tomorrow it will happen though.

i have now only

2 apistogramma pandurini
10 cardinals
5 oto's
1 silver guimares pleco (the only remaining fish from the previous incarnation and he was added late!)

so in catching all my previous fish i had to uproot EVERYTHING. it was theraputic though, and now i've added glosso whilst redoing the layout.

again pics will follow tomorrow (tempted to buy a new camera tomorrow as well)

 

[Animation]

if anybody read this, it's all sorted, thanks

 

[bennett]

new fish-
2 apistogramma pandurini
10 cardinal tetra
5 oto's
(plus my silver guimares pleco)

the last is the best pic i've taken EVER

EDIT:would be apart from where i've saved it as the wrong file! to be rectified....

the tank and it's planted goodness-

currently enjoying lots of algae. tempted to get some amano's previously but i think they're a must. i like the layout of the plants at the moment. i think that as a start to go for different plants instead of stems i will be more enthralled with the set up. my co2 is a steady smidge under 35 which and there are no signs of distress from the newly added fish, which is cool!

umm no idea on what plants i want in there as a final(if there is such a thing) result.

i still have to make my hood, and with that i can add another strip of lighting to give me 3wpg. obviously not a good idea to add it now with the algae being particularly agressive. also with the pics it's clear i've got laterite on the surface of my sand. this again obviously isn't as productive as having it IN or under the sand. so i'm going to get another bag this week just to give me a firmer substrate. i've also been a bit too chicken to dose any EI yet, let alone order trace (makes note). also i've only just put the glosso in, so i'm gunna trim it tomorrow evening whilst the other half is it work


all in all i am actually happy with my tank at the mo. it's definitely come along from where it was when we got it!

although it could just be that i have a new camera

feedback graciously accepted
B)

 

[Fella]

It looks really really great now, good choice of fish too!