All Is Well

Hi everyone!  Things are going 'swimmingly' with the new tank and its inhabitant. 

I actually got to take out one of the bricks holding down a piece of wood.  It looks much better without it of course.  I absolutely cannot wait to get the other brick out of there. 

Here is an updated pic. 

There we go.  Coming along quite nicely if you ask me.  I thought I was done planting, but I'm pretty sure the future fish will appreciate some more cover.  I'll probably cover most of the back wall with the long stringy grass that is on the left. 

I've also recently found out that one of the fish species that I will be stocking requires a smooth substrate.  So I am considering buying some of the black sand (I think it's sand) and just putting it over top of what is already in the tank.  The substrate that is in there really isn't that thick anyway so it will be an improvement overall. 

Okay that's it for now.  I'll leave you with a short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_XV11DTbU&feature=youtu.be

The First Fish!

Hi everyone! Today is the day!  After waiting for four weeks I have finally added my first fish. 

Here are a few pics.

This was him just getting home.  I know I didn't get his face, but I was trying to hurry so he wouldn't be as stressed out. 

Here he is in the acclimation bucket.  I used the drip method.  It came highly recommended. 

Then here we have a video of me putting him into the tank. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYrNMJZYHw&feature=plcp

And one more pic of him swimming around. 

What we have here is a male Dwarf Gourami.  His age is estimated at around 6 months or so.  That is if I can rely on the info I got from the pet store.  He is currently swimming around getting used to his new home.  Love it!

The New QT

I finally have my quarantine tank set up!  We went to PetLand today and picked up the 10g, and then over to Bert's to pick up some PraziPro. 

For those of you who don't know, PraziPro is a deworming medicine.  I'll be using this on all of my new fish while they are in a 2 week quarantine. 

The only fish that will not have to stay in the QT is the first batch. 

Thanks to a friend of mine, Miss Jordan Crow, I have a filter for the QT tank on my cycling display tank.  In a few weeks the filter media inside will also be cycled, and ready to go onto the QT. 

For now the tank is up and running with my little Betta, Roo. 

The bubbles on the side are kind of messing with the view, but they will go away in a few hours. 

For anyone who is interested, a QT is VERY important when you are adding fish.  Fish you get from the pet store are rarely ever completely healthy.  For instance if you get a fish that has Ich, and put it into your community tank without treatment every single fish you have will die. 

Here is how the quarantine works. 

Day 1

Remove Betta, and add new fish to be quarantined. 

At this time I will dose the tank with PraziPro at full strength. 

Day 4

50% water change, and dose PraziPro at 1/4 strength. 

Day 7

50% W/C

Day 10

50% W/C

Day 13

50% W/C, and add carbon to the filter to suck up all the meds. 

Day 14

If the fish check out, add them to the display tank. 

Not very complicated, but very necessary all the same.  I'm so close to having my display tank cycled that I'm getting antsy.  Lol.  Not that I haven't been the whole time. 

Thanks for reading everyone!

  Well there is some good news.  The nitrites are exactly where they need to be, and the nitrates aren't bad either.  Now if I could just get the ammonia to cooperate we'd be good.  It's starting to really get on my nerves, but there is still time. 

  According to my reading most tanks take three weeks to cycle completely.  This is day 14 so I've still got 7 more to go before I can really start getting angry.  Haha. 

  We bought the background for the display tank, and installed it.  It looks really nice.  We decided to go with a plain black to match the substrate.  The black on black really makes the colors of the plants pop, and I'm sure it will do wonders for the fish colors when they finally make it in. 

  We also got a gravel vac for when we do our water changes.  That'll make things much easier.  For some reason I have some algae growing on the wood.  Not much, and I'm hoping it stays that way.  At least until I get some bottom feeders in there. 

  While we were at the pet stores we looked at possible candidates for a quarantine tank.  I guess we're just going to go with a 10g and buy all the stuff that goes with it separate.  PetLand wouldn't give me any used media for some reason which gets on my nerves.  So I guess I'm just going to have to wait until my display tank cycles completely to finish up with the quarantine tank. 

  Anyway, the fact that the nitrites have peaked is encouraging.  I'll be jumping for joy as soon as the ammonia starts to work for me. 

Later readers!

I know, I know.  It's been four days since I've had an update, but as you're about to see there really hasn't been much need for one.  I've been keeping a chart of my tank's progress through the cycle.  Here it is:

And that's all I've got.  The ammonia levels went down, down, down, then WAY back up.  Now it is on it's way back down again.  The nitrates I'm happy to say are gradually going up.  As they go up I'm sure the ammonia will have no choice to go down.  I have no idea why it is so crazy, and no one on the forums really has a good answer to the 'why' question.  I'm just going with the flow for now.  If the growth of the Nitrites stops, or goes down, and the ammonia goes up again I'm going to do a water change. 

I tell ya I really didn't know just how much patience it takes to have an aquarium, and do it the right way. 

On Day 12. 

Impatience

Oh my gosh you guys.  I'm starting to get annoyed at the amount of time that I have to wait to put fish in my tank. 

It's not helping that we keep going to whatever fish section every store we go to has.  Lol.  We bought two more plants today, and I'm fairly certain we're done with it.  Now we're just waiting for the wood to saturate, and for the levels to run through.  I've been curbing my impatience by watching documentaries on the ocean.  They are really nice to watch right before bed.  It's also nice to sit in the chair in front of the tank and just watch the plants sway. 

The addition of fish will make it perfect!

A Little Less Empty

So yesterday we finally got our tank decor set up.  Sam pressure washed the driftwood and the rocks.  Then later in the day we made a visit to Petland where we picked up a plant called a Red Wendth and most importantly a test kit. 

As far as liking Petland the fish there all seemed to be in good condition, but the guy who was helping us, (aka sort of annoying us) knew less about fish than I did.  He tried to get me to buy something that would allow me to put fish in the tank and therefore give him a bigger sale.  I then explained to him for the second time that I was waiting for my tank to cycle, which can't be sped up.  He kind of looked at me in a confused way, and I said, "You know, the Nitrogen cycle?"  He then agreed.  Haha, poor guy.  We also got a new thermometer from there. 

We then headed to Walmart where I got some more Aquasafe and gravel.  Walmart's fish conditions were deplorable.  They actually downsized the tanks, and had so many fish crammed in them.  It was awful.  All the tanks had dead fish in them.  DO NOT buy fish from Walmart!  Well, I guess I'm tempted to save some from that torture, but I'm afraid I'll get some disease in my tank if I do. 

ANYWAY, here is the result...

I know the pic isn't that great, but I find it difficult to get my camera to take a good one of it.  The bricks of course are not part of the decorations, but they are there to hold the wood down until it is completely saturated.  They will probably have to be in there for a few weeks.  All in all I'm satisfied with it.  I'm going to get a few more modest plants so they don't end up taking all the swimming room.  I'm so excited to get some fish in there.  I know that patience is what is going to make a successful tank though, so I'll wait.