Squirrel's 38g Progress Report

[phlawed]

Well, it's been a week and the water is beginning to look a whole lot better! Still a little cloudy and slightly green - but I think the worst of it is over. I know I could have just done the blackout and been done with it...but I just couldn't bring myself to cover up the entire tank for three days.

I'm still adding ferts --- but only once a week now. Hmmm...let's see - other changes: I gave the 4 praecox rainbows to my daughter and brought two of the boesmani's to my favorite LFS. I actually brought a total of 10 fish to the LFS (4 female congos and 4 blackskirts from another tank.) I felt so badly bringing them back.

Anyway, the tank is comfortably stocked now.

The cabomba grows like crazy and so does the lily! I had to cut two giant leaves off of it today as they were covering 50% of the surface.

Here's a current picture. I know my photo skills suck. Hubby suggested I read the owners manual. Imagine that -- hee-hee!! BTW -- the white thing on the bogwood is a snail. It's been in there for ages and its shell turned white a few months ago.

Also, I've been busy "tuning" the 29 gallon tank - which was converted to a planted tank in February. Yes, I've been keeping that one a secret!! Here's a picture:

I promise to improve my picture-taking soon!

Tanks are looking awsome, keep it up and LOVE LOVE LOVE the rainbows

btw any tips on keeping vals? mine have started to die but at the same time have began producing a alot of little ones, is this normal? The new ones look healthy while the old ones are just floating up to top with no roots.

 

[Alex_]

i found that vals need good lighting and good gravel just like most other plants.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

phlawed -- ooohh, I just noticed in your profile that you have one of those red rainbows -- very nice!!

Regarding the vals -- they like a rich substrate. I use laterite in several of my tanks and flourite in the 29 gallon. The vals in the tanks with the laterite grow much faster than the tank with the flourite. In absence of either laterite or flourite, the Seachem root tabs work pretty good. I use those for my vals in my low tech tank.

Also, I've read that vals prefer hard water....but my water is somewhat soft (4) and they still do well.

That's a good sign that they are producing runners. I find that the "babies" are healthier than the parent.

 

[phlawed]

phlawed -- ooohh, I just noticed in your profile that you have one of those red rainbows -- very nice!!

Regarding the vals -- they like a rich substrate. I use laterite in several of my tanks and flourite in the 29 gallon. The vals in the tanks with the laterite grow much faster than the tank with the flourite. In absence of either laterite or flourite, the Seachem root tabs work pretty good. I use those for my vals in my low tech tank.

Also, I've read that vals prefer hard water....but my water is somewhat soft (4) and they still do well.

That's a good sign that they are producing runners. I find that the "babies" are healthier than the parent.

Thanks i guess i will be adding a layer of laterite here pretty soon. Its black so it should also bring out some colors in some of my plants as well.

 

[Themuleous]

Looking good, the second tank looks great to, you obviously have a nack for growing plants

Sam

 

[Luke_e]

Love the bright greens on the plants, i'd like to get my plants bending at the water surface like yours are, looks great like that.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Just a quick update as it's been a couple of weeks.

The water is clear and no longer green. Although there is some algae growing on the shorter plants -- I believe mostly because they are being shaded by the lily and vallis. Plus, the CO2 is inconsistent. I think the tank is too big for the Nutrafins.

The plants are out of control and I'm having a hard time keeping them tidy. The vallis is crazy and it really needs to be trimmed often. If I wait a week, the entire surface is covered. Plus the lily grows monster-sized leaves. The cabomba needs to be cut and replanted every week. Basically, there is a lot of cutting and replanting going on in this tank. I would actually enjoy doing this a lot more if I didn't have other tanks to tend to. And isn't this really all about enjoying the hobby?

So....I've been giving this a lot of thought and I've decided to take down this tank and the planted 29. I'm going to move the 55 gallon into the kitchen and convert it to a planted tank complete with a pressurized CO2 system. (I've already ordered the upgraded lighting )

That will leave a really big opening in the living room. (Uh oh...) Well, I took the "Mister" to the LFS last weekend and he saw the marine section and was rather impressed with the 155 gallon bowfront tank filled with corals and brightly colored fish!!! You know know what this means?! One freshwater planted, one marine???

Anyway, all in good time. It will take me awhile to get the 55 setup in the kitchen. It will be nice to have one planted tank to focus my efforts on -- along with my sweet little nano, of course.

 

[lljdma06]

Awww, the end of an era. 38g. That's odd, I was able to get an easy and consistant 35ppm with only two units in my 36g when I set it up the first time. But maybe your water is different from mine.

But a 55g planted and an enormous 150g marine is a nice trade off.

Look forward, as always, to a new journal.

llj

 

[Parin]

You were doing a nice job.
And had nice fish too.


Good luck with the new tank! I'm sure it'll be spectacular.

 

[Luke_e]

The tank was amazing and i'm sure the 55g will give you more to play with so should be fun to see it 'grow' .

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Yes, it will be sad to disassemble the 38 (no disassemble Number 5!!!!! -- hopefully someone out there remembers that movie!)

However, it will be at least another month before that happens as it will take me awhile to move the 55 into the kitchen and get it setup.

I'll be using quite a few things from the 38 gallon -- so parts of it will live on!

I'm not sure what to do with the fish situation. There's no way all of them will fit into one tank!! I was thinking of keeping all of the African type fish and creating an African biotope setup. So, I could keep all of the congo tetras, kribensis and the upside down catfish. But I cannot bear to part with either of my plecs or my pair of pearl gouramis. Hmmm....I really like the cories and the rainbows, too. So now what? This is why it's going to take me a month!

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I've been very bad! I decided instead of planting the 55 gallon, I would plant a bigger tank instead. I brought home a 72 gallon bowfront!! So, this is what I did this weekend:

Setup the 72 gallon in the kitchen.
Scarfed plants from the 29, 38 and 55 gallon tanks for the 72.
Took down the 29 and the 55 gallon tanks. (how sad, they are empty now)

The 38 is still up and running and planted. For fish, it has:

1 sailfin plec
5 upside down catfish
4 female kribensis
4 black neon tetras
2 praecox rainbows

I need to rehome all of them. Actually, the praecox rainbows and the black neons are going to my daughter. I'm considering putting the USD cats in the 72 -- but that will be pushing the stocking limit. (Although I have two filters running --- an Eheim 2026 pro and an Eheim 2213 classic).

I have to rehome some plants as well. I gave a dozen jungle vals to me LFS and they're selling them for 3.99 each!!

So, the 38 gallon is coming to a close. Ironically, it looks the best it ever has. The water is clear as a bell and there is very little algae. It was my first planted tank and I learned a lot from it -- especially that: consistent CO2 levels are key, green water can be overcome, and all of the effort pays off in the end!

 

[lljdma06]

Oo, oo, oo, journal time!!!!


Do you have a picture? Four USDCF wouldn't be too much for a 72g, unless you have more fish in there. The 4 female kribs are tempting, I love kribs, but probably not a great idea.

 

[Themuleous]

You cant honestly tell me you're only having ONE planted tank from now on? How lazy is that!

Sounds like you've got a hum dinger of a new tank thou, looking forward to seeing the pics. Ass Llj says -> Its 'journal time'

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

You cant honestly tell me you're only having ONE planted tank from now on? How lazy is that!

Hee-hee! I'm such a slacker!!
But don't forget I still have the planted nano, too!