Barber Mike, I'm so glad to hear the weird pressure thing has been resolved!! Just keep an eye on the color of the drop checker solution to make sure upping the bubbles per second isn't gassing the tank. Hopefully things will iron themselves out when you get a working bubble counter. If the solution turns yellow you know there's too much! You want it to go from blue to green. Keep an eye on it though, it does take a little while to really dial in.
This is my first real planted tank. I knew nothing about fish keeping until last October. Learned about cycling which at the time I felt so overwhelmed with just absorbing that knowledge alone!! Thinking back...now I know why my fish died back when I was 16
Crammed 40 fish in a 10 gallon...no cycling, no dechlorinating...and the people at the pet store said nothing and gladly let me pay for the tank and fish and watched me walk away...grrr!
Anyways...cycled a 5 gallon successfully, added plants because I read it helped with water quality, a light, co2 cuz I read plants liked it, ferts...not knowing what to do with all of it. Added my betta. Grew everything but the plants! Was a pro at growing diatoms (later found out my tap has 7.8 ppm of silicates which were to blame), grew nice long lush strands of green hair algae, followed by cyano bacteria, followed by some weird black algae. Needless to say, I tore the tank down in March...a month after I started the one pictured
BUT...I learned so much about lighting, co2, timers, ferts and of course very happy to report my betta is still alive and well!
I easily could've given up...and honestly I can see why people give up after the first try. I just so happened to be pretty stubborn which led me to read and read and read and read some more. I think it has paid off and I'm thrilled with how everything has turned out so far! So much so, not only do I plan on getting the original 5 gallon running again, I have picked up 2 more 10 gals, a 15, a 20 long, 3 33 longs and a 34 gal. 10 tanks...MTS for real! Oh, I can't forget to mention my husband now has an 11 gal cube in his office lol! MTS happened pretty quickly. What can I say, I caught the bug! What better way to add life to a home
I would test your parameters once a week. I was all about it during the first week...saw the rainbow of colors on the api liquid kit and figured it was best to not waste anymore solution and tested once a week. I do keep a journal of everything, from tank size, filtration, light duration, substrate, plants, test results, ferts, water changes etc etc. This way I can keep track of everything I do and monitor. I plan to do this for the other 9 tanks. This way there will be no guessing when what tank got water changes, last ferted etc etc.
I can't wait to see the progress on your tank and future tanks! Maybe get the Mrs. her own to scape, learn, watch progress and pick her own fish! You know what they say...if you can't beat em, join em!
This is my first real planted tank. I knew nothing about fish keeping until last October. Learned about cycling which at the time I felt so overwhelmed with just absorbing that knowledge alone!! Thinking back...now I know why my fish died back when I was 16
Crammed 40 fish in a 10 gallon...no cycling, no dechlorinating...and the people at the pet store said nothing and gladly let me pay for the tank and fish and watched me walk away...grrr! Anyways...cycled a 5 gallon successfully, added plants because I read it helped with water quality, a light, co2 cuz I read plants liked it, ferts...not knowing what to do with all of it. Added my betta. Grew everything but the plants! Was a pro at growing diatoms (later found out my tap has 7.8 ppm of silicates which were to blame), grew nice long lush strands of green hair algae, followed by cyano bacteria, followed by some weird black algae. Needless to say, I tore the tank down in March...a month after I started the one pictured
BUT...I learned so much about lighting, co2, timers, ferts and of course very happy to report my betta is still alive and well!I easily could've given up...and honestly I can see why people give up after the first try. I just so happened to be pretty stubborn which led me to read and read and read and read some more. I think it has paid off and I'm thrilled with how everything has turned out so far! So much so, not only do I plan on getting the original 5 gallon running again, I have picked up 2 more 10 gals, a 15, a 20 long, 3 33 longs and a 34 gal. 10 tanks...MTS for real! Oh, I can't forget to mention my husband now has an 11 gal cube in his office lol! MTS happened pretty quickly. What can I say, I caught the bug! What better way to add life to a home
I would test your parameters once a week. I was all about it during the first week...saw the rainbow of colors on the api liquid kit and figured it was best to not waste anymore solution and tested once a week. I do keep a journal of everything, from tank size, filtration, light duration, substrate, plants, test results, ferts, water changes etc etc. This way I can keep track of everything I do and monitor. I plan to do this for the other 9 tanks. This way there will be no guessing when what tank got water changes, last ferted etc etc.
I can't wait to see the progress on your tank and future tanks! Maybe get the Mrs. her own to scape, learn, watch progress and pick her own fish! You know what they say...if you can't beat em, join em!
). I was able to get the fluctuation level to only bounce back and forth between 5psi instead of 10psi. So, a little improvement - but I’m still dissatisfied with the Aquatek product(s). I tried all of your husband and your suggestions and it did decrease the swing range by half. So thanks guys I do appreciate all the help.
