Thanks! People come and take breaks in front of it, helps them chill out for a few minutes and get their mind right. This place can get crazy.
opcorn:I am lucky because I have a decent view of the front and one side sitting right in my chair.
75 gallon Planted Office Tank Journal
- Thread starter geekpryde
- Start date
Thanks! People come and take breaks in front of it, helps them chill out for a few minutes and get their mind right. This place can get crazy.
opcorn:I am lucky because I have a decent view of the front and one side sitting right in my chair.
Wow, someone subscribed to this mess, LOL?! Cool. :grinno:
Here are some status updates:
- Algae is getting under control. :clap:
- Tank is fully stocked.
- Not a single fish has died in the tank. (1 was DOA, 1 was put-down by me)
- No snails have died, none have tried to leave tank.
- Background stem plants have very good growth.
- Foreground plants have very POOR growth. :irked:
- With more fish in tank, my Krib aggression has chilled out.
- With algae getting in control, tank looks "brighter".
- Currently, my Red plants do not appear red. :irked:
- Switched from PPS to EI dry dosing.
- Switched to real 50% water change. I had been doing more like 30%, but I finally measured it and marked 50% on side of tank. :screwy:
- Curvicep is much happier with more (dither) fish in tank.
- Floating plants (Red Root Floater) coming late next week.
- Turquoise rainbows and parva rainbows are not that impressive looking right now, from what I read, they should really look prettier as they age. They better!
Looking for online fish vendor?
I can recommend Grey from the Wet Spot, if you are looking for easy online fish orders, with a very large selection and ~monthly updated availability/ pricing lists. I dont think the prices are way better than other places, but they seem fair, stock is healthy, and they stuck to their side of the deal on ship dates, etc. You can check them out at aquabid, or just deal with Grey directly, which is what I did.
That's all for now. Over and out.
Some shots before water change today.
FTS Day 24 (since planting)
Time to change the water. :werd:
FTS Day 24 (since planting)
Time to change the water. :werd:
I have been consulting with my local water district's yearly "Water Quality Analysis" report. Of course alot of factors can change water parameters from source to my tap, but I would guess this is at least a good starting point to look for water issues without having to spend a ton of time and money on water testing myself.
The link is here, which is of no direct benefit to you (unless you live in Southern Maine), but it should give you an idea of what YOUR "Water Quality Analysis" report could look like. I specifically looked at my report to find my Iron (fe) PPM out of the tap (in theory). Under the "Greater Portland Treated" column, iron is listed as 0.03 PPM. I believe the ideal planted tank Fe concentration is 0.1 -0.5 ppm. So .003 is way low. Obviously this is why I started dosing Fe in addition to the Fe already in Trace. But some people probably have way too much Fe in their tap water, so using a report like this, you could pinpoint those types of issues and perhaps skip dosing additional Fe.
The link is here, which is of no direct benefit to you (unless you live in Southern Maine), but it should give you an idea of what YOUR "Water Quality Analysis" report could look like. I specifically looked at my report to find my Iron (fe) PPM out of the tap (in theory). Under the "Greater Portland Treated" column, iron is listed as 0.03 PPM. I believe the ideal planted tank Fe concentration is 0.1 -0.5 ppm. So .003 is way low. Obviously this is why I started dosing Fe in addition to the Fe already in Trace. But some people probably have way too much Fe in their tap water, so using a report like this, you could pinpoint those types of issues and perhaps skip dosing additional Fe.
The tank looks great! I guess I forgot to actually comment before but I've been following along.
I just got my water report too but it doesn't have iron listed, a good idea anyway
I just got my water report too but it doesn't have iron listed, a good idea anyway
I must say that your tank is looking really good at this point I have checked in on your thread quite a few time and can say that you seem to solve your issues with a methodical well thought out approach.
I noticed that you mentioned your cities water test results, those like you said are a pretty good indicator of you water conditions but also like you said it is not all of what you might be getting, unless you know you are close to one of their sample points.
Just wanted to say I really think you tank if looking good.
I noticed that you mentioned your cities water test results, those like you said are a pretty good indicator of you water conditions but also like you said it is not all of what you might be getting, unless you know you are close to one of their sample points.
Just wanted to say I really think you tank if looking good.
Thanks for checking my thread out. I figured there are some frequent lurkers who follow along but dont really post, because I did that myself before started a tank. Now that I have a tank, a tank journal thread, and an ego, I like when people post little comments! I should have been doing that when I was a lurker, because comments like your's really helps to nudge me (and others) along. :grinyes:
Regarding you Water Quality Report, you need to keep in mind two things. (1) Most people (including me up until recently) dont give a crap about that report from their local water company. (2) Because of this, and to save money, most water companys mail (snail mail), only a limited report with very few measurements. To find the complete report for my local water company, you need to either call and request it, or much easier, visit the website. Maybe that is why Fe is missing, you only have the limited report? You probably already know all this, so I will shut up now. :grinyes:
Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I always wanted to be called "methodical". I think sometimes I am just shooting in the dark hoping something works, but that is exactly why I post just about everything I do in this thread. I want people to be able to see the back and forth, trial and error, that this hobby requires (in my experience). Allot of times, people seem to start their tank journals after the tank has been running for 6 months. You see the first day, day 60, day 90 etc, and it goes from a bare tank to a gorgeous tank in a few posts, and it seems to have magically come into being. Now, some people like Amano or Barr can probably set up a tank from scratch and have it be perfect right out of the gate, (and I am guessing here), but for allot people I think this impression almost does a disservice. It glosses over real problems that can hit a tank, and what the solutions can be. If normal members read 10 tank journals that seem to have sprung up as a perfect show tank out of thin air, people who trip up in the first months like I did, might be overly harsh on themselves, and maybe even quit all together.
I figure I will keep working until my tank if perfect, but I want you all to be able to see all the blemishes along the way, in the hopes that the next person starting the next tank can learn from a few (or allot) of my trials and tribulations, so as a fish-freakazoid community, we further the hobby along. There are hundreds of nameless people here at AC that I owe a large debt to because I borrowed (stole) the community consensus on what works, what doesn’t, best online vendors, etc. The way I figure it, even if my tank is a complete failure, there is still plenty the newbs could learn from it.
As always, thanks for checking my thread out, thanks for posting, and thanks for your kind words!
:iagree:
I also see the benefit of having the start to "finish" of the stages in the beginning of the thread (instead of buried). So to combine the good of both, it would be good to have the pics of the stages in the first string of posts, but including any stages with problems+solutions in there also. Then updates and comments will be in the posts to follow.
It also could be done if you can reserve posts and add pics/info as time passes, then all the stages would still be in the beginning of the thread, but you could still journal as you go instead of waiting 6 months or so to start it.
Just a thought
