new tank pics

[jimbooo]

yeah, thats the kind of thing i'm thinking of. i will need some taller plants though as the silver dollars are pretty nervous at the moment. splating them sevles against the glass whenever anyone walks past the tank. i feel a bit bad about that and need to sort it asap before they hurt themselves. i would go pressurised but it's all about the money i'm afraid, trying to save up for mortgage etc....

thanks for the thoughts, were on the right track i think.

 

[zig]

Hiya jimbooo

mmm........i forgot about the silver dollars, they have a reputation as planted tank wreckers, i probably start off by just throwing a couple of plants in there and see if the fish ignore or devour them, i like the vallis idea would definatly suit that tank, also the leaves on java ferns are very tough and might be silver dollar proof, i think the lighting might be a bit on the low side, a cf tube and ballast would sort that out but they are not cheap, but with the silver dollars in there it may not be worth spending very much money at all until you see how destructive they are going to be, i definatly wouldnt consider any sort of co2, that would be a major pain.

Really alot of things come down to the silver dollars, how many of them are in the tank at the moment?

 

[jimbooo]

yeah my thinking exactly. there's 2 at present. they came with the tank and are about 3 or 4 yrs old. i'd say noze to tail 7 inches, top to bottom 5 inches.

there is one plant in the tank already (dont know name i'm afraid, you can just about see it in the pics) i haven't seen them touch it once in the week they've been in there.

out of interest, are they pig poopers. i set up the tank last saturday with 80% dechlorinated tap and 20% existing tank water (filled up 2 20Ltr bottles when i emptied it in the other persons house). didn't touch the filter or gravel so bacteria are fine.

just tested this morning

nitrite - 0
ammonia - 0
nitrAte - 50

where has that come from in such a short space of time? theres only 5 fish in there the 2 silver dollars, 2 clown loach and a bristlenose.

sounds a bit high to me or have i been spoilt with the nitrate removal power of my other tanks!!??

filter contains the ceramic tubular media, sponge and carbon, nothing else (i know i need to get the finer biological media as well, getting that this weekend but that wont help with nitrate so irrelevant to this problem (i think)

any ideas?

also can i use that nitrate to fertalise the other tanks? just a thought?

 

[zig]

whats the tap reading for nitrate, wow they are big fish, never seen them that big, nearly the size of a discus, wonder how long they live

 

[jimbooo]

tap is between 5-10, cant remember exactly but not more than 10.

they are big, they look exactly like pirahnas (sory, kan nevr spel that!!) but silver. teeth and all. real ugly looking things. put it this way i had to ask the previous owner if they bite before i'd put my arm in.

 

[zig]

Its not a wet dry filter by any chance, these can cause problems, mainly because they are so efficient, seems a very high reading in a few days, id check the filter it could be filthy or have lots of gunk collected in the bottom of it, either that or your going to be busier than you thought doing water changes, mind you java ferns thrive in situations of high nitrates.

 

[jimbooo]

er wet/dry filter no idea what your talking about - sorry. i'm a juwel man myself so the fact that i've got a filter in a box under the tank is odd enough to start with....

it's a fluval 304 if that helps. my mate in the LFS said "pretty crap filter user wise but quite efficient". damn thing took about 3 hours to get started i just couldn't get the air out of it. replacement eheim equivelant is about £100 so the fluval's here to stay.

 

[zig]

Naw 304 should be fine, think gf has one of those, dunno to be honest, maybe just very large poopers, other than that water changes until you get it under control, but no idea really.

 

[jimbooo]

ok, thanks for that.

funny thing is i've never seen them poop. oh well i guess i'll get the bucket out tonight and cart 12.5 gallons of water from one end of my flat to the other.. (oh no wait a minute i've got to carry out the old water as well make that 25 gallons)


someone remind me why i started this....

 

[Lateral Line]

I think SD's and a planted tank are frankly mutually exclusive.

Cubes are quite difficult to light. You have a relatively small surface area so you can't use long lamps, but at the same time, quite a depth. CF's are maybe a way forward, with good reflectors or mylar.