Russell's Aquarium Journals: January 2010

June 7, 2010

Most recent photo, maybe the last of this tank. We are moving soon to Denver and as soon as I get things the way I want them, it is time to break down the tank and start over again. Though, my wife has said that she will let me get a 75+ gallon tank, which means I will be parting the three setups that I have here out within the month. Hopefully I can get enough to buy a tank and everything I need to get a 75 going. This time I am going to buy all used stuff, no need for new aquarium stuff.

May 21, 2010

Updated photo after trim

April 8, 2010

Here are some updated shots after a trim and a couple rearranging.

March 21, 2010

Video!

March 19, 2010

It has been way to long since I last posted anything. So I finally went to a pressurized co2 system using a 20 lb cylinder and a Milwaukee regulator and solenoid. I also ordered some dry ferts from bestaquariumregulator.com (Rex Griggs site), and I the difference has been quite dramatic. I have since dealt with some algae problems, mainly BBA, but hopefully that will subside as things settle in. Since the last time I also picked up a couple of male German Blue Rams and fit in really nicely in this tank and also added to my school of Corys. The last NACU meeting I went to they had some manzanita they were selling for cheap so I picked some of that up and rescaped my tank today. It took way longer than I though it was going to, but it turned out pretty good, still not thrilled about the wood position, but it was the best I could do for right now. I am thinking about putting some flame moss on the branches, but we will see. I added a couple new plants to the tank. alternanthera lilacina and roseafolia, diplidis diandra (a couple of stems you can hardly see on the right), myriophyllum mattogrossense (recovering from mostly floating for a couple of weeks) and Hemianthus Micranthemoides. Here some photos of the recent developments.

January 26, 2009

I wish I would have taken a picture before I trimmed everything, cause now it looks almost the same as the last post, other than the glosso is starting to fill in and I trimmed a bunch of moss and put it in on the other piece of driftwood. My wife really wanted a gold angelfish so we picked one up the other day too.

January 5, 2010

Canister filter got here a day early so I spend some getting that set up and trimming up some of the straggling plants. I am pretty happy with the scape. now I am just hoping everything starts to grow in well. I am curious to know how these lights with the reflectors I have on here really work.

January 4, 2010

Got my 55 watt bulbs today! Cleaned up the glass top and it is pretty impressive how bright this fixture is. Just waiting till wednesday to get my C02 going through my canister filter. You can see lots of plants floating around that I need to replant.

January 3, 2010

Santa brought some fun fish stuff this Christmas! I got a 2x55 Watt Bright Light Kit from AH Supply (ahsupply.com), found a used 29 gallon with black stand, and broke down both my 20 and 25 gallon tanks to put this together. I built a matching canopy out of 1/2 inch MDF board and installed the power compacts right into it with the ballast. It fits perfectly with the tank empty but when it has water in it the tank bows about an 1/8 inch on each side which makes a little gap, but it is hardly noticeable. I had to catch about 65 shrimp out of my 20 to put them into the 10 gallon apistogramma tank (now empty) in order to make it work. I sold the embers and rummynose tetras and so the stocking of this tank is:

4 Angelfish

3 Apistogramma Cacatuoides "Orange Flash" (1 Male 2 Female)

6 Harlequin Rasboras

6 Black Neons

3 Otocinclus

2 Corydora

I am thinking of putting some cherries in here but don't think they will last long, but with the amount of hiding space I have in here, it might work....

I am still waiting for a Penn Plax Cascade 1000 Canister Filter that I ordered, it will get here wednesday, so for now I will just be using a powerhead for circulation.

Tank and Stand I got for $40!

Here is the Ah Supply 2x55 watt bright light kit installed into the canopy I built. Those are just 36W bulbs until I get them in the mail in the next few days.

Planting Glosso is a lot easier with just a little bit of water in the tank. It can be a pain in the rear to get planted right, but sure makes an awesome carpet once it gets going.

Here is all of the flora planted, did it all dry to make it easier, still have a lot to do, but after spending all day on this, I figured to just get it done and do some cleanup later.