29 gallon FW build log

[MissFishy]

Fish will pale usually if they are startled or scared. If you've just switched the light on, they may be spooked and the color will be noticably paler. Fish can also color up better in warmer temps. I usually keep my tanks around 78-80 for just that reason, the fish look a bit better.

The tank looks awesome! I agree, the tetras are really perfect looking in there, what a great contrast, good pick! It is going to look fantastic as the plants fill in!

 

[forrestcook]

yeah - I had just come in from work so maybe that's it.... he looks a little better today, and always seems to follow me around the aquarium when I'm there... pretty sure he knows who rations out the food.

 

[forrestcook]

a couple tiny issues:

My underwater onion plant... no idea on the scientific name... is getting what I believe to be some algae growth on the leaves. it manifests as a dark green/brown fuzz... I can rub it off with my fingers, but it's definitely ugly. Takashi Amano I am not. Any ideas on what it is? feed less to get rid of it? I don't fertilize at all because I have fish and eco-complete to do it for me.

Speaking of eco-complete, when I do my water changes, i have not been vacuuming the substrate as i think it would stir it up and cloud my water for a while. I also don't want a huge buildup of detrius (sp?) in there, so it seems like im damned if I do and damned if I dont.

Next - in the absence of high powered lighting (only 20 watts for 29 gallons, right now) I've been opening the blinds in my office so the fish tank gets some natural light. it isn't direct light, but it's something. could this be the cause of my algae? Also, why is sunlight bad but false light is good?

My stats are still 0,0, and nitrAte 10ppm... after a full week. It's time for a water change according to my schedule, but don't the plants need around this much nitrAte to eat?

Finally - I think it would be cool to add some shrimp in there as little cleaners and something else fun to look at. Do they add a significant bio-load to the tank? My angels are still juveniles 1.5"-2" and i know the "if it fits in my mouth it's food" rule with them. Shrimp would fit in smaller pieces if bit apart though. Also - I have three yoyo loaches, which are just absolute gluttons, do these two species preclude me from having shrimp?

 

[forrestcook]

30" 130W (2-65 watt) Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture - 501015

anyone ever bought from these guys? higher wattage and cheaper price than what I've found before... but usually "too good to be true", especially on the internet, is. Any thoughts? I'll probably be ordering in the next two weeks.

 

[forrestcook]

well, I decided to go pick up a few amano shrimp. 6, to be exact. I love the way these guys look... so cool. Anyhow, none of my fish seem to care except for one of my angels (MC is apparently a seafood lover) He's been seeking them out and harassing them non-stop. So I made it night time a little early tonight to let them have some cover and get ued to the new digs. Hopefully MC will lose interest, but I think it's moreso just don't put shrimp into this tank with him here.

Oh well... Maybe I'll get my shrimp fix with a small planted tank... 10 or under. Im thinking about starting a 10 or under anyhow, maybe a dwarf puffer tank or something nice that likes shrimp.

Worst case scenario here - my fish get a nice meal, and I learn a $16 lesson.

 

[forrestcook]

blooooows.

Dead fish, that is.

Despite all the research that I did, I consistently ignored one piece of advice... quarantine and hospital tank. My pleco died (he never came out to eat... ever.) and now one of my yoyo loaches, who have been nonstop active since I got them, is lying listlessly in the plants, canted to the side. I expect him to be dead soon.

0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10ppm nitrAte.

and some brand new otocinclus and an ADF that my wife wanted.

I can't see anything specifically wrong with him other than his gills are moving pretty darn fast. temp is 80.5, but ive got a fair amount of surface agitation, so the airation should be fine.

Ideas?

 

[forrestcook]

a new decoration in honor of halloween... though I really do like it. I might keep it. I sat it in water for a day and tested both at the beginning and end, no real changes in any parameters. It also used to have some sort of decorative paint on it (to make it look old) but I scrubbed it off.

I want to get some ground cover plants when my new lights get in so that it will mostly cover the skeleton. (if I keep it) I think it would look totally cool nearly buried in plants.

Thoughts?

 

[Big Vine]

I really like it...looks kinda creepy without being too 'cheesy'-looking (as you'd expect with a lot of decorations like this). I think it looks great as-is. If it were me, I'd add maybe a tombstone or something...maybe even some sort of plastic white-pickett fence surrounding the underwater 'graveyard'---maybe even some submersible LED lights if you wanna get really fancy, lol. Of course, the plant idea you mentioned might work well too---it'd be like he's "pushin' daisies" or something to that effect.

Keep a close eye on those fish.
I know you said you removed all the old paint and tested parameters and whatnot, but any hint of a residue from cleaning product or possibly even the paint itself could cause problems...stay on the lookout!

BV

 

[Helena21]

WOW im lovin' that skeleton!
Like BV said, some LED's would look great! I have a red LED by marina in my tank, i hardly ever switch it on but when i do it looks really cool.
If you got one of those and made it shine on the skeleton, im sure it would look really good.

 

[forrestcook]

no cleaning products used on getting the junk off... just hot water and a toothbrush followed by a long soak in de-chlorinated water. I get what you're saying though, and I'm pretty anal about my testing so you don't need to worry about that

As far as my concern about my loaches, apparantly they just sleep on their sides in an effort to freak me the heck out. They're active and playful as always. Also, I'm noticing daily growth of my angel's fins! It's pretty cool to see fins growing in from when they used to be nipped and tattered from when I got them.

I'm also hoping that given the porous nature of plastic, I might get some algae growth on the skeleton to make it not so brilliant white... that's the cheesiest part so far

 

[forrestcook]

update:

new type of anubias plant in there... the first one was a nana, no idea what this one is. much taller with bigger leaves, though. I'll post pictures when I get them.

the new fish count (and final fish count) is:
2 angelfish (currently 2.5-3" in size)
1 three spot gourami (about 3")
5 yoyo loaches (all 2-3")
3 otos (oto sized)


no more tetras (took them all back today). The tank was just too busy with everything in there, and I didn't want to jst thin the herd out as I only had 8 to begin with, so I took them all back. Took me near 20 minutes to catch 8 of them though.... quick little buggers.

I'm getting some controversy on another forum regarding the adult size of yoyo loaches. liveaquaria says 3" adults, which is what I went off of when I bought them. loaches.com says 6". Anyone here have yoyos approaching 6"? If so - I might need to rethink this whole yoyo thing, because 5 six inch very active fish in a 29 gallon seems a bit much.

I am now working on saving for a CO2 system and the new lighting. I want to introduce both at the same time to avoid an algae bloom, so if anyone has any hot tips for the CO2 equipment, please share! I'm pretty well set on my lighting, but the CO2 seems pretty pricey.