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Post by Carl on Mar 7, 2017 14:59:06 GMT -5
Does my plan look like a go (finally) for launch? Yes Wherever you can good good water movement Similar can be done with a filter bad with some Pillow/frog moss contained therein Carl
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 9, 2017 1:25:25 GMT -5
Moving Day!Got things rearranged and Loki transferred after my wife got home from work tonight. He spent all of about 90 seconds freaked out by the netting & move before starting to patrol. He slowly expanded coverage from home base of the filter wall/partition near the bottom. Within 10 minutes or so, he was covering the entire tank. I switched the light over to "night mode" after I got some pics so he could relax a bit more. He's been alternating patrols with breaks in either his floating log (which is captured by the tank lid now) or the cave. He appears to be a happy fish. He's currently coming up to say hello when I get near his tank. It's time for evening nibbles but I seem to remember a no feeding for 24 hours after moving rule. So he'll get fed tomorrow evening I guess. I may move the plant on the left to the other end to kind of obstruct the view of the sponge filter. Not until the 1st water change though. I'm going to let everything settle in & keep an eye on the water parameters. His leaf hammock fell shortly after this. Will have to find a good spot along the glass for it. Trying to catch him broadside, but not close enough Closer but kind of blurry Thanks for all the help getting me up & running with this setup. Now to get the 40G cleaned out good & get it cycling.
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Post by childofiam on Mar 9, 2017 8:08:38 GMT -5
It look's like Loki will be very happy here... I think he is smiling.
Richard
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Mar 9, 2017 13:26:15 GMT -5
Awesome!
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Post by Carl on Mar 9, 2017 14:45:39 GMT -5
Looking good and a beautiful Betta too! Carl
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 9, 2017 15:49:59 GMT -5
He's found a 3rd hangout. I'm calling it his zero-G place. Just enough current at the inflow of the filter to hang out for a bit. He's also been "perching" in the plants while on his patrols. I think he wants more plants and maybe a bit more driftwood. He really seems more active and engaged with the new environment. The lighting also make his color pop nicely.
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 10, 2017 13:28:12 GMT -5
Yesterday afternoon I was watching Loki patrol. I noticed he was toward the back of the tank more often than not and at some point I picked up on the fact that he was flaring. I don't think I've ever seen him in full on flare mode. At first I thought he'd injured himself as he was facing away from me and I caught a glimpse of him with gill covers fully flared. My first thought was that he'd somehow torn them. Then I slowed my brain down and watched for a bit. His aquarium sits on the fireplace insert. It is very dark brown. It causes reflections on the back glass. He was flaring at his own reflection.
I placed something lighter behind his tank & he settled back down. The only thing I had was a mostly white box. Not the most attractive setup, but I was concerned that he'd stress himself out posturing at his reflection all day. Thinking about a backer of some form vs maybe removing the box for increasing periods of time until he gets used to it. Do they typically figure out their own reflection isn't a threat eventually? I'm probably just being hyper-vigilant about his stress after his move.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Mar 10, 2017 16:35:51 GMT -5
Yesterday afternoon I was watching Loki patrol. I noticed he was toward the back of the tank more often than not and at some point I picked up on the fact that he was flaring. I don't think I've ever seen him in full on flare mode. At first I thought he'd injured himself as he was facing away from me and I caught a glimpse of him with gill covers fully flared. My first thought was that he'd somehow torn them. Then I slowed my brain down and watched for a bit. His aquarium sits on the fireplace insert. It is very dark brown. It causes reflections on the back glass. He was flaring at his own reflection. I placed something lighter behind his tank & he settled back down. The only thing I had was a mostly white box. Not the most attractive setup, but I was concerned that he'd stress himself out posturing at his reflection all day. Thinking about a backer of some form vs maybe removing the box for increasing periods of time until he gets used to it. Do they typically figure out their own reflection isn't a threat eventually? I'm probably just being hyper-vigilant about his stress after his move. Sounds right. I'm pretty sure he'll figure it out,
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Post by Carl on Mar 11, 2017 11:29:09 GMT -5
Do they typically figure out their own reflection isn't a threat eventually? My experience is mixed Carl
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 14, 2017 16:38:08 GMT -5
Happy Pi day! When I tested the water this morning, I had a decrease in NO-3 from the last test. It's showing a barely perceptible color change from 0ppm, but not quite fully 5ppm on the chart. I have algae re-establishing itself on the tank walls after scraping them down on moving day. Algae is also growing on the top of the outflow filter & hydro sponge as well as the leaves/roots of some of the plants. I suspect this is where my nitrates are going. Helping the "wrong" thing to grow. Plausible? Or maybe Loki just isn't presenting much of a bio-load.
KH remains steady, GH increased which I expected after putting in another piece of Wonder Shell. Possibly a larger piece than needed.
I'll try some Excel once I pin down the rest of my order. I also think I may order a mini hydro sponge as it's an inch smaller in diameter than the #1 that's in there now. The #1 was intended to be for a hospital tank but ended up in the Spec on moving day to further establish the bio-filter. That inch could be helpful in minimizing the visual impact in the Spec as it's only 7.75" in depth.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Mar 15, 2017 16:44:57 GMT -5
KH remains steady, GH increased which I expected after putting in another piece of Wonder Shell. Possibly a larger piece than needed. I wouldn't worry about it if it's not increasing to much. You'll figure how how much and balance them with a water change. Increase is nothing to worry about.
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Post by Carl on Mar 16, 2017 16:22:52 GMT -5
I have algae re-establishing itself on the tank walls after scraping them down on moving day. Algae is also growing on the top of the outflow filter & hydro sponge as well as the leaves/roots of some of the plants. I suspect this is where my nitrates are going. Helping the "wrong" thing to grow. Plausible? Algae growth is normal in any healthy tank. Certainly nitrates will feed algae Algae growing on filters is nothing at all to be concerned with IMO, as if this bothers you it can be cleaned off, or just as well left alone too. As for the leaves of the plants, this is not as good for the plants, but sometimes it is the older leaves that suffer this and simply trimming can help here Trying Flousish Excel or better, NilocG Enhance may help too with controlling algae growth Product Resource: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/BulkSeaSaltFerts.html#enhanceCarl
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Post by childofiam on Mar 17, 2017 17:31:09 GMT -5
A small current of water helps prevent algae from taking hold of the plant leaves. The NilocG Enhance is awesome. I treated my pond with it and all of the algae is gone. I first used Excel and it killed a lot but the NilocG worked even faster...
Richard
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 17, 2017 23:00:57 GMT -5
NilocG Enhance it is then. Among other things . I'll see if I can find a happy middle ground between current and irritated Loki. The pump is adjustable so I'll try removing the diffusing sponge on the outflow & turning the flow down. I'm reading 0 across the board for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. I know I had a cycle based on nitrates going up after dosing ammonia prior to moving day. Is there some point where I need to have concern or should I assume that Loki just isn't enough of a bio-load on the input vs the algae/plants on the output? I suppose I could feed him more. I'm sure he'd love it. So would the wife. I'ts kind of a struggle not to overfeed when he dances for us when we approach the tank. He's getting a tiny pinch of crumbled Carnivore which he mostly leaves uneaten rotating with 4-6 pellets of Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. He gets fed twice a day. A soaked freeze dried worm or 2 for a treat every so often. Maybe I'm already overfeeding. I've tried to test at varying times of day to see if I get any blips in ammonia/nitrite but nothing moves. Everything is steady except for the slowly rising GH that I'm not concerned about. I'll clean the Bio Sponge, remove what algae I can and tweak the flow Monday with a 20% water change. I'm curious to see how much mulm, if any, is in the substrate/sponge.
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Post by bettarescue on Mar 18, 2017 0:37:58 GMT -5
Edit and repost below
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Mar 18, 2017 14:23:15 GMT -5
NilocG Enhance it is then. Among other things . I'll see if I can find a happy middle ground between current and irritated Loki. The pump is adjustable so I'll try removing the diffusing sponge on the outflow & turning the flow down. I'm reading 0 across the board for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. I know I had a cycle based on nitrates going up after dosing ammonia prior to moving day. Is there some point where I need to have concern or should I assume that Loki just isn't enough of a bio-load on the input vs the algae/plants on the output? I suppose I could feed him more. I'm sure he'd love it. So would the wife. I'ts kind of a struggle not to overfeed when he dances for us when we approach the tank. He's getting a tiny pinch of crumbled Carnivore which he mostly leaves uneaten rotating with 4-6 pellets of Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. He gets fed twice a day. A soaked freeze dried worm or 2 for a treat every so often. Maybe I'm already overfeeding. I've tried to test at varying times of day to see if I get any blips in ammonia/nitrite but nothing moves. Everything is steady except for the slowly rising GH that I'm not concerned about. I'll clean the Bio Sponge, remove what algae I can and tweak the flow Monday with a 20% water change. I'm curious to see how much mulm, if any, is in the substrate/sponge. That's a larger amount of food. If he's not eatting the custom, I would stop feeding it. I do notice the bettas like the pellets, most likely because that's what they were raised on. You might be getting zeros across the board because of cleaning. I wouldn't clean until Nitrates get 20-40ppm. That's when I know. Don't clean the sponge until you see Nitrates. That will give a better idea, because I'm still thinking there's not a true cycle and now I'm thinking it could be to over cleaning/because it new and needs to be seeded.
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Post by gonzoid on Mar 18, 2017 22:35:24 GMT -5
You might be getting zeros across the board because of cleaning. I wouldn't clean until Nitrates get 20-40ppm. That's when I know. Don't clean the sponge until you see Nitrates. That will give a better idea, because I'm still thinking there's not a true cycle and now I'm thinking it could be to over cleaning/because it new and needs to be seeded. I have not cleaned the filters since setting up the tank. I started with some substrate from his original tank in a mesh bag put in when I set up the Spec. Dosed to 2ppm ammonia and eventually saw nitrates at 5ppm on 2/20. Saw them drop to 0 on 3/4, dosed to 2ppm ammonia and had 5ppm nitrate on the evening of 3/5 so I dosed ammonia again. On 3/6 in the evening I had 0 ammonia and 10ppm nitrate. No more ammonia added in anticipation of move. 20% water change on 3/8 (moving day) so I could get my hand in to clean off algae from tank walls & position the hydro sponge I moved over from his old tank without overflowing the Spec. It had been in the old tank since 2/7, so a month prior to the move. Will leave things alone until nitrates show up again. Will also dial back on the amount of food. Edit: Doh! I used Stability 3/4 to 3/8. Would that be enough to fool me into thinking the cycle was still OK while it wasn't a true cycle? Maybe I did let the cycle die when I failed to feed it for 5 days? Still leaving things alone but will step up the testing of water for ammonia/nitrate.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Mar 20, 2017 14:47:09 GMT -5
You might be getting zeros across the board because of cleaning. I wouldn't clean until Nitrates get 20-40ppm. That's when I know. Don't clean the sponge until you see Nitrates. That will give a better idea, because I'm still thinking there's not a true cycle and now I'm thinking it could be to over cleaning/because it new and needs to be seeded. I have not cleaned the filters since setting up the tank. I started with some substrate from his original tank in a mesh bag put in when I set up the Spec. Dosed to 2ppm ammonia and eventually saw nitrates at 5ppm on 2/20. Saw them drop to 0 on 3/4, dosed to 2ppm ammonia and had 5ppm nitrate on the evening of 3/5 so I dosed ammonia again. On 3/6 in the evening I had 0 ammonia and 10ppm nitrate. No more ammonia added in anticipation of move. 20% water change on 3/8 (moving day) so I could get my hand in to clean off algae from tank walls & position the hydro sponge I moved over from his old tank without overflowing the Spec. It had been in the old tank since 2/7, so a month prior to the move. Will leave things alone until nitrates show up again. Will also dial back on the amount of food. Edit: Doh! I used Stability 3/4 to 3/8. Would that be enough to fool me into thinking the cycle was still OK while it wasn't a true cycle? Maybe I did let the cycle die when I failed to feed it for 5 days? Still leaving things alone but will step up the testing of water for ammonia/nitrate. hmm. Maybe the not feeding was it. I'm not sure now. Does sound like your doing it right, so I would just keep feeding and wait for nitrate to register.
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Post by gonzoid on Apr 2, 2017 19:37:44 GMT -5
Just checking in. I've been testing for ammonia/nitrate every couple days and have been showing 0 for both. Did a full parameter test today and all looks the same as the last one I posted to my log except for the GH which is now at 268.5ppm. Algae growth has died back on the filter sponges, roots and glass. I do have a bit of new growth on one section of the substrate. I've also got a slight increase in snail population. I've not had my hand in the tank at all. I'm using pipettes to grab the water for testing. I've just been topping the tank off when needed. Is there a point at which the increase in GH from the Wonder Shell fragments would necessitate a PWC if all other parameters are good? Or maybe just reduce the Wonder Shell usage by either reducing the fragment size or waiting a few days after it is fully dissolved before placing another in? All inhabitants seem happy and I've got several daughter plants at this point. I seem to be in some weird magical balance with the ammonia ---> nitrate. Not complaining, just seems weird.
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Post by Carl on Apr 3, 2017 8:42:56 GMT -5
Looking Good! Is there a point at which the increase in GH from the Wonder Shell fragments would necessitate a PWC if all other parameters are good? Or maybe just reduce the Wonder Shell usage by either reducing the fragment size or waiting a few days after it is fully dissolved before placing another in? A Wonder Shell should not necessitate a water change (although water changes should be part of their usage too) If you found the GH is higher than the number you are going for, best is to reduce the fragment size. Best use includes at least a small fragment at all times Carl
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