Rick's Aquarium Blog

6 - Zebra Danios
6 - Guppies
5 - Cory Catfish

Lovin them!  You can click to expand this post to see pictures!

Well, my 29g aquarium is fully cycled!!!  So what's left?  Well, I have to figure out this brown algae stuff that I have forming on my decorations and glass.  I had gone away on vacation from Thursday - Sunday and didn't have a timer for the light (ordered it now) and just left the light on all weekend.  The result - this brown algae has formed but the plants have grown a bit!  I guess you gotta look on the bright side of things .

So once I figure out the algae then I need to prepare to buy fish.  I am definitely getting 6 cardinal tetras to start out and am going to ask my wife about what schooling fish she wants - so yes, I will be adding 12 right off the bat, but with the amount of ammonia I add every day to the tank the bio-filter should be good.

Once I am ready to buy fish, I will drain 90% of the tank and move it to a stand I got from a friend and place it on it.  I also got well water from my parents house and should have enough to fill the tank up.  Once done, I will let it go for a day and check the levels (pH, kH, gH, Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia) - if all looks good I will pick up the fish and introduce them to their new home.  Of course one dilemma I am still having is where to get the fish from.  Petsmart has really made me mad lately so the thought of giving them more of my money is not to appealing, but if I can't find a decent store ini the near future I may have to cave in and just get my first 12 from them.

After a couple weeks I will be ready to start getting other fish on my list - I am really after some Zebra Danios and can't wait to get them.

I also have a project I am going to be working on.  Normally you can buy these backgrounds but they are either plain or really noisy.  I have decided I am going to get some poster board and paint my own background and put magnetic tabs on it to put it on the back of the tank - this way I can still clean the glass with my magnetic glass cleaner without having issues.

I also got the other items I need - fish nets, etc. So I am pretty much ready to go once I get the water switched out, etc.  Can't wait!

Well, the water company said they will be investigating as the water should not be below 6.5.  In either case, I'm not going to use it as it obviously will be inconsistent.

I wanted to use my parents well water, but they have added a water softener recently and I am waiting for a response on my favorite forums to find out if it will be okay.  I need a consistent kH and pH, even if the pH is slightly lower than I want (which of course is 7.0).

My tank is almost cycled, I had it up to 6ppm of ammonia last night (around 10:00pm) and it is now 0ppm.  Nitrites I am unable to read.  When I add the droplets the water in the test tube instantly turns a very dark purple, then after waiting 5 minutes like the directions say it turns to a very very light green which isn't on my card to provide a reading.  As a result, I can't tell if there is a ton of nitrites or none, but my guess is there are a lot of nitrites since it turns really purple right away.

I must admit I was dumb and didn't check the pH of my tap water (city) until just today.  I had initially checked it back when I was cycling my 5 gal and it was 7.2 - then the light went out.  I just assumed, and we all know what assumptions do, that the pH would still be 7.2 - IT'S NOT!  Its 5.2!!!  Now I am trying to figure out how to safely get it up to the 7.0 range again.  Not to mention the kH is a measly 20ppm which is horrible.

What brought me to test this?  Well - during cycling I have been adding ammonia to my tank - ammonia is a base so it would raise the pH and it also raises the kH.  However, since my tank is finally in the final stages of cycling the ammonia disapates rapidly which has led to my recent pH and kH readings of bottoming out.  My tanks pH is 5.2 or less right now!  My tanks kH is 30ppm.

I have posted the question of what to do on my most trusted forums that help me with these things and hopefully that have some great advice on what I can do before I start wasting my money on chemicals and such which don't actually work.

I installed the new light ballast and took a quick picture of the way my aquarium currently looks.

Last night I got home and noticed that my CO2 bubble counter/diffuser was not working! The bubbles popped out of the tube and went straight up rather than following the ladder up.

I took a closer look and came to find a gunk built up on the ladder, and actually everything within the aquarium. I ran my finger over it on the diffuser and it was a mucus like substance that came off. I am not sure if this is the beginning of algae or what, but I got it off the diffuser and sobbed in distress. I posted on my most trusted forums for advice to see what it may be and hopefully figure out how to resolve the issue - as of right now I can't figure out how to get the stuff out of the aquarium, which floats around, after rubbing it off of something.

I can say this - after I do the 90%+ water change I am cleaning the artifacts off - not the gravel (the gravel holds part of the bio-filter, if I clean that my cycling process would be wasted). The gravel has a whitish substance building on it as well but I cannot risk disrupting the bio-filter and once I get some bottom feeders and algae eaters in there I should be good to go.

UpdateAfter talking with people on the forums it has been brought to my attention that what is in the tank is not algae, but bio-slime.  Something unavoidable and completely natural.  As a result, I won't be worried about it and I will just make sure my CO2 diffuser stays clean.

Well, I finally have some progress!  I am up to 5 ppm in Nitrites, as soon as the Nitrates start forming the ammonia levels should drop rapidly as well as the Nitrites and the cycle will be complete.  Then I get to get fish!

I had to pull some plants out that weren't aquatic.  Petsmart will no longer be a place that I shop, ever.  The plants are now planted in pots and are doing good so far.

I changed out my CO2 system and added more yeast, now I am up to 3 bubbles a second which is the optimal amount.  However, it reduced my pH to 6.4, still trying to find out if this is okay - and then I have to make sure I can maintain it.

I have a stand picked out so once the cycle is complete I just have to get the stand and I can move the aquarium to the stand since I have to do a huge water change anyway.  This way I can get it off my kitchen table and in the living room.  I still have to figure out where I want my other aquarium though since it is where I will be putting the 29g.

Anyway, I will continue to post updates.  Oh - my new ballast and bulb should be in Thursday YAY!  Also - was able to get the other ballast in my 5g fixed with one of those fluorescent bulb fixtures.

Okay, so I mentioned in my last post I want to get both 2x75 watt bulbs in place - great, my current hood is angled and will make it hard, but it is possible.  What I concluded, however, was to build my own canopy

You'd think it would be hard but it really isn't.  You need a wood that won't swell when it gets wet and you'd need to stain it the color you want.  I am going to work on materials list soon and draw up some plans.  The nice thing is I can make the canopy however I want with whatever access points I want as well as fans.  Why fans?  Well to cool the lights of course, 2x75w bulbs put off quite a bit of heat and I don't want to overheat my aquarium - that'd be a sad experience.

Anyway, once I get plans and begin construction I will be sure to post the updates here