|
Post by bikeguy33 on Dec 4, 2008 23:15:06 GMT -5
the ammo chips in a bag are fine inside the tank.
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 6, 2008 13:33:06 GMT -5
I did a water change on the 10g tank today. I took the filter apart and gave it a quick cleaning. I thought I would have difficulty with cleaning the intake for the surface skimmer but actually it came apart easily and was a cinch to clean. I am so happy with that Via Aqua that I think that is the only brand I'm going to buy from now on. The sponge prefilter is doing a great job of keeping the cartridge clean, I didn't even feel it was necessary to rinse the cartridge at all. I must pat myself on the back and say that that tank is really looking great and I couldn't be happier about it. The water is crystal clear, the fish are happy and healthy, Fudge the pleco and Spike the clown loach are growing well, it's just great.
|
|
|
Post by murdock6701 on Dec 6, 2008 13:43:00 GMT -5
if you have an hob filter, simply put the ammonia chips in w/ the charcoal! the other way works good too - you don't need a lot - a little goes a long way! good luck!
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 8, 2008 23:08:19 GMT -5
I would have put the ammo chips in the HOB filter but the box said that it was supposed to be a fourth of a cup for every ten gallons so that would be about a cup. It seemed like even if I slit the filter cartridge open and put it in there that it wouldn't hold a cup so I just put it in the little net bag my friend gave me. It seems to be doing the trick. The ammonia level has already gone down to 0.5 and unlike Prime it works continuously and so I'm not nearly so worried about losing the fish. I haven't had a chance to check my other numbers because my son and I are sick and frankly we're just moping around like zombies. My poor husband has been running around like crazy taking care of us and I just didn't have the heart to ask him to run the numbers on the big tank today on top of everything else.
The brown algae is everywhere now and I've been scraping it off with an aquarium scrubby brush thingy. Luckily it does come off quite easily. I have thread algae in the 10g and so when I put the gravel in the 38g from there it seeded some of that and now it is starting to grow. Since it grows so quickly I am hoping it will soon outstrip the brown diatom algae. I don't mind if I get a bloom of thread algae in the 38g because Fudge the pleco will go in there and frankly he can eat an amazing amount of algae and so I have to supplement him with algae wafers in the 10g.
I bought one of those feeding rings while I was out the other day because the one drawback to the surface skimmer on the Via Aqua is that it sucks in food before the fish have a chance to eat it, especially in such a small tank. I have to admit that the fish love the feeding ring and within two days now swim around only beneath it to beg for food. It's kind of cute.
|
|
|
Post by murdock6701 on Dec 8, 2008 23:31:10 GMT -5
sea salt will help w/ the brown algae but it still may take a while for it to go away - be patient....the finished product will be well woth it - if you have a 40 gallon filter and you put charcoal in the bag put in as much zeolite as charcoal and that will help - opps! 11:30 - gotta crash!
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 10, 2008 0:20:28 GMT -5
I was told that the loaches were very sensitive to the salt and so I was better off to not add any to the tank. Of course this could be misinformation.
As for the brown algae, I've had it in newly set up tanks before and eventually it just went away as the tank became fully cycled. Tonight I did a 30% water change on the 38g and I took the aquarium scrubby thing to the glass and got most of it off. My wonderful husband cleaned it off the fake plants as well. It was just bugging me, it's so ugly. I'll change the filter cartridge tomorrow since it's now probably filled with goo after that. Now that that thread algae is popping up I'm sure that it will dominate the tank and the brown stuff won't have a chance. My pleco is going to be in hog heaven when I put him in there. He such a little piggy, it will be nice to save the money on algae wafers for a few days.
Also, the pleco actually came out of the cave while the light was on the other day and I got my first really good look at him in a while. When I clean the tank and remove his cave to clean underneath his colors are all muted and pitiful looking because he's stressed and unhappy. But yesterday he came out of his own accord and even fanned his big dorsal fin. He really is a nice specimen. I noticed that the trailing edges of his fins all have a really nice reddish orange color that I have never seen on a common pleco before. It reminds me of Monarch butterflies because of the underlying pattern of spots. Also, he looks quite big when he puffs himself up and fans his fins. He was only two inches long when I bought him but he's about five now.
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 10, 2008 14:08:08 GMT -5
Current 38g numbers: Ammonia- 0.5 Nitrate- 20 Nitirite- 0 Gh- 150 Kh- 80 Ph- 6.8
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Dec 10, 2008 16:27:48 GMT -5
Good numbers (water parmeters)! It seems your tank is coming along well. As to Loach/salt sensitivity, they are sensitive to salt , but they CAN tolerate some salt. I prefer to only uses salt in the presence of loaches as a treatment, otherwise I provide other non sodium chloride electrolytes. See: Aquarium Answers; freshwater salt useCarl
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 11, 2008 19:38:46 GMT -5
Current 10g numbers
Ammonia- 0
Nitrate- 20-40 Nitrite- 0 Gh- 300 Kh- 80 Ph- 6.8
This tank is really doing well and I couldn't be happier. Now if the ammonia will just finish coming down in the 38g then I can go fish shopping for Christmas!
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Dec 12, 2008 15:43:18 GMT -5
Yeah, I dislike ammonia. It seems when a tank is cycling, the last ounce of it just won't go away. Actually that has been more the case with nitrite in my tanks. Still, it's the same concept.
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 19, 2008 0:04:07 GMT -5
OMG I spent four hours cleaning my fish tanks today. I wanted to go ahead and get them done because my brother's family is coming into town for the holidays and I don't think I'll have time again until they've gone again. The green algae in the 38g is starting to out compete the brown algae but there was still a good bit of the brown stuff on the glass and plants. So I painstakingly scrubbed the glass with the scrubby thingy and took out the Buddha and pagoda and cleaned them, too. It took forever. Then I did a water change, around 25% I guess, and vacuumed the gravel really well and then hauled buckets in to refill everything. Thankfully I ordered the valve kit from Carl so I can attach my gravel vacuum to the hose and let it drain into the garden. That way I don't have to haul buckets for draining and refilling, that's a bit much. The effort was very worthwhile, the tank looks so much better. And HOORAY!! I checked the ammonia level and it read 0!! Finally!! I'm going to retest tomorrow and over the next few days as well. Tomorrow I will also try and run my other numbers. I am soooooo happy the tank looks like it is finally cycled. Once it seems totally stable then I will transfer the cleaner fish from the little tank and let it settle down again and then I will go cichlid shopping!
As for the 10g, it also got a thorough cleaning. I have been trying to figure out where I'm going to put my new powerhead that I bought from Carl. I got the smallest size Via Aqua and it is so cute. It's just tiny, like the size of two matchboxes taped together. I wanted to experiment with it today but I need to buy a strip plug so that I will have enough outlets to plug in everything for the tank. Right now I only have outlets for the filter, heater, and lights and I can't very well replace one of those just for the powerhead. I'm trying to decide where in the tank to put the powerhead. I know I want it down low for the benefit of the butterfly loach I want to get, I'm just not sure which wall of the tank I want to add it to. I've got time, though, no one seems to have any butterfly loaches right now. I saw the angelicus loaches at Petsmart the other day. The guys I usually get my fish from said they had never even heard of them so I guess I will have to go to Petsmart for them. My regular LFS almost always has an awesome variety of SA cichlids that I'm not worried about availability in that arena.
Yeah! I'm so happy to be able to go fish shopping for Christmas!!
|
|
|
Post by brenda on Dec 19, 2008 0:26:22 GMT -5
Congrats...The butterfly loach is also called a hillstream loach maybe some people would recognise that name better. I think they may prefer cooler water though so you may want to check on that, I am not 100% sure. I love the Angelicus loaches...Their real name is Botia Kubotai but a lot of people recognise them as polka dot loaches. Anyways, it is alway SO fun shopping for fish, let us know what you get!!
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 19, 2008 12:15:16 GMT -5
Brenda I tried asking by polka dot loach, Angelicus loach, and Botia Kobotai but they still had no idea what I was talking about. I also asked about Zebra loaches and any other botia, but I guess as a rule they don't carry any botia other than clowns and Yo-Yo's. That's a shame because so many of the other botia are so much better suited to average size tanks than the clowns. I really love the botia loaches and some day I'm going to dedicate a whole 100g to different species of them.
They all know what I'm asking for with the butterfly loaches just no one seems to have any right now. They can be seasonal so I may just have to keep waiting and trying back for a while. In the meantime I'm going to pick up a bushy nose pleco to keep down thr algae in the tank. BTW, I kept a butterfly loach with my angels at my old house and he did great until someone poured a drink in that tank that killed ALL of the fish, my angels, my loaches, even my pleco and gouramis. It was really heartbreaking, it was a beautiful tank. So anyway, I know the butterfly loach will be OK in my 10g.
|
|
|
Post by babygeige on Dec 19, 2008 16:15:17 GMT -5
It's such a great feeling when the tanks are all nice and clean! Sometimes it can take a while, but it's so worth it in the end when all that yucky algae is cleaned away!
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 20, 2008 0:13:45 GMT -5
It is so nice when the tank is clean. That brown algae is just so damn ugly and it's not good for anything. When green algae gets going I just say to myself, "Well, I don't need to put algae wafers in the tank today so I'm saving money and my pleco is still getting a good meal." The brown algae just makes everything look so dirty and disgusting. I'm glad that the thread algae is starting to take over because my pleco just loves that stuff. It's the one thing that he will come out during the day to munch on. He's going to turn into a real monster of a fish in that 38g but I sure won't have an algae problem!
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 21, 2008 0:27:43 GMT -5
So I switched the clown loach and pleco over from the 10g to the 38g today. I put them in a one gallon container and floated it in the 38g for temperature reasons and then slowly added water from the new tank in to make sure nothing was a big shock to them. Clown loaches can be so touchy that I wanted to be extra careful. I think both of them are going to be very happy in their new home. The pleco now had much more room and cover options and lots and lots of glass to keep clean and the loach now has a bunch of little buddies that swarm around him like babies to a mama.
I have changed my mind about buying a bushy nose pleco for my 10g because I have heard that they can be awfully pushy and I don't want anyone bullying my aged gourami or my angelicus loaches. Instead I think I will get a clown pleco because they also stay small, are less bossy, and they're pretty to boot!
Today I went out and bought three angelicus loaches. Man, are they pretty, and quite expensive! They were $21 each and they're only an inch long! But, when a fish is only wild caught and it has to be airlifted from Southeast Asia, I guess I can understand why they are kinda pricey. Plus they are just not as common in the pet trade as clowns or Yo-Yo's. I really took my time getting them acclimated and I fussed and fretted so long that finally my husband was saying, "Put the damn fish in the tank already!" I hope all goes well with these guys, I hate to lose fish. But, at least they have a two week guarantee, not that I really want to take advantage of that, I would much rather these guys just be OK. Once I got them home and under the compact fluorescent aquarium lights I noticed that they are not black and white like I thought, but rather are a very pretty golden and black. I thought the juveniles were black and white and wouldn't become more golden until they got bigger. They have been very active, swimming around exploring and they have already picked a hiding spot, ironically enough in the hidey cave that the clown loach used to occupy. I have not seen any foraging behavior but I just got them this evening, hopefully tomorrow they will forage around and eat.
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 22, 2008 0:03:23 GMT -5
I feel bad today because both tanks seem like the fish are upset about all the recent changes. I could swear that my gourami has been looking around for the clown loach, Spike. They hung out a lot and now I feel like I have deprived him of his buddy. However, Spot the gourami has been able to move into his castle which was his hiding place for years until Fudge took it over. Spike is the only other fish he's ever shown any friendly interest in, but Spike had to go to the new tank, the ten gallon was merely a temporary fix after our hasty move and he was just getting too big. Spike also seems upset about having been relocated but he does seem to be happy to have buddies again. They all seem to be doing rather well, Spike just seems a little edgy but he'll do fine once he settles in. Fudge the pleco seems unchanged since hiding all day is what he's always done, but I can tell that he's been coming put and munching away at the algae in the tank.
The only fish that don't seem in the least concerned about the change in their surroundings are the angelicus loaches. I really didn't think any kind of fish could be goofier than clown loaches but I have been proven wrong. All three of them ride up the side of the aquarium on the current made by the new powerhead and then swim back down to ride it up again. They've been doing it most of the day. You can almost hear them say "WEEEEEE!!" as they go up. They take breaks and chill out in their hiding log or go around and clean the tank and munch on catfish pellets. But mostly they act goofy and ride that current. They are so active! They also did the very goofy thing of trying to "clean" Spot the gourami, which I can tell you he did not appreciate. I was worried that Spot would chase them around since they are new but he's only made a few half hearted attempts. I think he's just too old for that sort of foolishness. I think the angelicus loaches will do a very good job of keeping the tank clean when they can tear themselves away from their personal waterpark. Hopefully picks are coming soon!
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Dec 22, 2008 13:49:44 GMT -5
It sounds like the move is going very well for them even though you said some of them seemed like they missed their old tank mates. I'm glad they're all doing well. Especially the loaches, I wonder they would beat my other fish for silliness if I were to watch them. lol There is not one fish in my house that does not do silly things! XDD
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Dec 22, 2008 18:31:39 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Dec 22, 2008 20:01:25 GMT -5
both the tanks look awesome.....very clean and well thought out. hope ya give yourself a pat on the back everytime ya walk by them....
|
|