55gal Planted Build Log Thread

Well, just as I feared, the larger angelfish has become more and more aggressive towards the smaller angelfish ... before it would guard its territory, now it's literally got the little angelfish in a corner. :( What's up with thiese bully fish... I'm going to see if my LFS will take the larger angelfish back, and if not I'm going to hope someone here or in craigslist can take it. :headshake2:

While I'm still waiting for my co2 system (was built and shipped today), I got a few things... 4 more sterbai cories, making six in total. A few pieces of slate, but they're very dusty and I'm not sure how to make them safe for the aquarium. A couple of liquid test kits (kh, gh, phosphate), 7 glass 250ml bottles to mix dry fertilizer solutions, 1ml pincettes to dose it... and I re-arranged the tank a bit so it looks much neater, but no pictures till I finally get the co2. :P

Oh well.
 
56k warning!

It's heeere... this is going to be embarrassing to me one day but I just had to post pictures. :D Woot!

Excitement level at this moment... very high
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The 5lb cylinder
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The timer
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The drop checker (tiny!)
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The diffuser
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And the holy graail, the primo regulator :) :)
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Also bought some dry ferts~
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And on eBay I also got a little scale to weight the ferts and some pipettes for easier dosing when I make a solution but...
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I got extras -- a flower-shaped funnel (useful!) and some little perfume spray bottles... not sure I want to smell like my fertilizers LOL! I appreciate the intention though :)
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Since the place I'm going to go fill up the cylinder is already closed and THEN I have to wait a day for the cylinder to warm up a bit I'm not going to hook this rig up for a while but I HAD TO POST THIS. I waited years to get a pressurized co2 system. Dunno if anyone is reading but this is special to me ;)
 
*is there anybody out theeere*.

Anywizzy, finally set up the co2 and planted lots and lots of plants :) Since I already went overboard with pictures, here's a full tank shot and a video heree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxlxldgs5g

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I'm having difficulties adjusting the co2 :[ I can't get it to turn green but I don't want to gas the fish for death either! I already have it at 3 bubbles per second. I'm going to get a canister asap since it's probably because of the current.

Also, if anybody has any experience (and actually read this thread) with the current usa dual outlet timer PLEASE teach me how to use that **** thing. It came with NO instructions and the only thing I can understand is how to get it to point to current time and where's the on/off switch... but how the heck do you program it??
 
Soo... I've got a few updates. I planted some baby tears and they're doing well, and the marseila minuta is already looking healthier. All plants are in good shape and none have died so far. Yay! BUT, during these last two weeks 2 platys and 4 sterbai corys died :( I wasn't sure why because I was doing everything to-the-book and I'm understocked, so I check the nitrates (I'm dosing dry kn03, potassium nitrates) and YIKES it was at 60 ppm. I did a 50% water change and it's still at 40 ppm. I'm supposed to keep it at 20.

Also, since there's not a lot of activity going on here I'm going to do most of my updates on a blog I started... http://fishlog.wordpress.com. That way I get to spam up my concerns all I want :)

If everything goes well with the nitrates, I'm placing an order from flguppiesplus for 25 cardinals and a pair of german blue rams. But that's if it goes REALLY well... gbrs are sensitive
 
Thanks :)

Well, I got some updates! Nitrate levels are down, but I've lowered the fertilizer dose. The nitrates are at 20ppm right now, none of the fish seem ill. Water conditions are stable so I felt confident getting those cardinals and the pair of german blue rams... received them today!

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Can you find waldo behind the cardinals? LOL. I got them from florida guppies plus. Drip-acclimated them for a few hours, and the cardinals immediately colored up after putting them to the tank. The german blue rams could be more colorful, but they seem fine... kind of skittish though! And whenever I bust out the camera to take pictures they go hiding. lol.

And in more of my stupidness... I apparently didn't seal the co2 regulator tight enough to the cylinder, so I wasted the whole tank. On saturday I realized it was empty. :( Since westair is open when I'm at work I asked someone to refill it for me but instead they swapped it for an ugly blue one... AK.

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Okay. Whatever. I'm over the aesthetics (they told me they'd give me a shiny aluminum tank in the next refill, plus it's inside the cabinet so no-one can see it) but what really bummed me out is along with the cylinder went the brass permaseal. :( I was going to buy one or two disposable nylon washers the next day to use them while I got a new brass one from mr internets, but looks like the minimum purchase with a debit card is $5... not having any cash at hand, and each nylon washer being $0.25... I now have a lot of washers.

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Not having co2 for a few days and lowering on the fertilizers because of the nitrates... well, a few plants aren't looking so good but surprisingly the baby tears have thrived and they're my fastest growers. Not even the marseila minuta is growing but these guys are! Hmm!
 
Looking good so far! I must have done the same thing with my co2 tank during my last refill. The tank lasted 5.5 months the first fill, and 1 month the 2nd. :uhoh:

I have the same type of timer..I honestly don't remember how I set it exactly...pushing the little black things down is the 'on' time. I pushed some down, waited to see if it turned on, and if it did I pushed the black thingies down in the same direction. I don't think what I write makes any sense but it worked for me I swear. Although looking at the date of your post, I'm sure you figured it out by now. :)
 
LOL... actually I'm ashamed to say but I didnt. I just went to petsmart and bought one of those coralite digital power center things. I still have that **** box in the cabinet! Maybe I'll try to use it if I need to one day, but we don't exactly look eye-to-eye right now...
 
The older one is still a grumpy old goon, but I noticed the little one started to defend himself so they've been OK. I named the small one Pinky and the bigger one Floyd btw. :D Pink Floyd, hahaha. I haven't been to aquatic warehouse but I want to... mainly I just go to pet kingdom, south bay tropicals (because it's like 3 blocks away from me), and the petcos/petsmarts. I've got lots of exploring to do :)
 
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