Show me your aquarium
Discussion
Sway said:
Excellent!
Yank the prawn, it's done it's job... Might want a peg on your nose...
On the plants - lots of aquarium plants struggle/recede before restarting. Most are actually grown in shallow troughs with their leaves in the air as they grow faster. They'll shed those leaves once immersed, and regrow with adapted ones for underwater life.
Liquid CO2 is never a bad thing (dosed correctly!) to help them out though.
Once again cheers Sway!Yank the prawn, it's done it's job... Might want a peg on your nose...
On the plants - lots of aquarium plants struggle/recede before restarting. Most are actually grown in shallow troughs with their leaves in the air as they grow faster. They'll shed those leaves once immersed, and regrow with adapted ones for underwater life.
Liquid CO2 is never a bad thing (dosed correctly!) to help them out though.
My daughter is now asking when we can get fish, and I’m running out of excuses, especially with tonight’s results.
My “current plan” is to clear out the tank the night before we go to get fish, 100% water change (filter in some existing aquarium water!) comb the sand for a more asthetic look, replant those aforementioned plants, add my driftwood (that has been soaking for the last two weeks!) and then the following day to get a few fish (not many, don’t want to fully stock/overstock yet!)
LFS is a 30-40 min drive away and as I finish work late in the afternoon this needs to be planned…
Back in the day, starter fish were Zebra / red nosed danios… I guess they still are? Oh and as this is the “show us” thread, as soon as everything is ready, there will be plenty of pics!
As long as you're going for 'bread and butter' community fish, then pretty much anything is OK.
"starter fish" is rooted in people not really cycling, and having s
te filtration that wasn't really able to adapt quickly - so you put in the fish which were hardier and could cope with a bit of ammonia/nitrite.
Not pleasant really though.
If you grab a bottle of 'instant cycle' at the same time, and dose as you're acclimatising the fish in their bags, you're good to go.
I reckon you're probably ten days to a fortnight away...
"starter fish" is rooted in people not really cycling, and having s
te filtration that wasn't really able to adapt quickly - so you put in the fish which were hardier and could cope with a bit of ammonia/nitrite.Not pleasant really though.
If you grab a bottle of 'instant cycle' at the same time, and dose as you're acclimatising the fish in their bags, you're good to go.
I reckon you're probably ten days to a fortnight away...
extraT said:
It’s been a few days since my last update, and for those following my cycling drama (Sway!), I’m please to say that I’m now registering nitrites and nitrates!
Reading the vials I have in front of me:
Ammonia: 0.5-1 (but that’s because my prawn and fish food are still decomposing, so I fully expect this to be constant and won’t disappear unless I clear the tank out? Ideally would like this down to zero, but there is still a lot of prawn left.)
Niterites: 0.4 (light to dark purple)
Nitrates: between 1 and 3 (light yellow/pee coloured)
So I’m very very happy! And besides the prawn, I’m confident cycling is now going in the right direction!
[Plant stuff]
Thank you,
ET.
You should be able to get the ammonia and nitrite to zero, that is the point of cycling. The one you can't get rid of (biologically) is nitrate, although plants can reduce this, as well as water changes.Reading the vials I have in front of me:
Ammonia: 0.5-1 (but that’s because my prawn and fish food are still decomposing, so I fully expect this to be constant and won’t disappear unless I clear the tank out? Ideally would like this down to zero, but there is still a lot of prawn left.)
Niterites: 0.4 (light to dark purple)
Nitrates: between 1 and 3 (light yellow/pee coloured)
So I’m very very happy! And besides the prawn, I’m confident cycling is now going in the right direction!
[Plant stuff]
Thank you,
ET.
My adventures in cycling were documented here, using liquid ammonia though. When my cycle was complete, my tank was able to fully process 2ppm of ammonia, to nitrate within 24 hours.
I've only measured ammonia and nitrite readings of zero since.
Everyone is doing well!
Chester draws said:
You should be able to get the ammonia and nitrite to zero, that is the point of cycling. The one you can't get rid of (biologically) is nitrate, although plants can reduce this, as well as water changes.
My adventures in cycling were documented here, using liquid ammonia though. When my cycle was complete, my tank was able to fully process 2ppm of ammonia, to nitrate within 24 hours.
I've only measured ammonia and nitrite readings of zero since.
Everyone is doing well!
Hi Chester, yes I agree, my point was the prawn is decomposing at a constant rate, so unless I take the prawn out, I will never reach zero. My adventures in cycling were documented here, using liquid ammonia though. When my cycle was complete, my tank was able to fully process 2ppm of ammonia, to nitrate within 24 hours.
I've only measured ammonia and nitrite readings of zero since.
Everyone is doing well!
As Sway said, one prawn is many multiples of a stocked tank, so in the end this will only mean the amount of ammonia eating bacteria will be more than a when I actually add real live fish. At least that is the way I understand it!
Unfortunately I cannot get liquid ammonia here in Austria, so I’m having to bodge-job the cycling phase with the prawn and food.
Hopefully that makes sense!
Thanks
ET
Hmm, just thinking about the chemistry of one prawn per cycle.
Back of a fag packet calculation.
If we say a prawn is 10g, and it's 23% protein, that's 2.3g of protein.
The formula for deamination of amino acids in protein is
2NH2CHRCOOH + O2 +> 2CROCOOH + 2NH3
So 1 mole of amino acid gives you 1 mole of ammonia.
Molecular weight of ammonia is 17. Average molecular weight of an amino acid in shrimp protein is ~143. So 143g of shrimp protein gives you 17g of ammonia.
2.3g of protein gives you ~273mg of ammonia.
So on that basis, one 10g prawn should be enough to get 90l - 137l of water to 2-3mg/l of ammonia once.
Back of a fag packet calculation.
If we say a prawn is 10g, and it's 23% protein, that's 2.3g of protein.
The formula for deamination of amino acids in protein is
2NH2CHRCOOH + O2 +> 2CROCOOH + 2NH3
So 1 mole of amino acid gives you 1 mole of ammonia.
Molecular weight of ammonia is 17. Average molecular weight of an amino acid in shrimp protein is ~143. So 143g of shrimp protein gives you 17g of ammonia.
2.3g of protein gives you ~273mg of ammonia.
So on that basis, one 10g prawn should be enough to get 90l - 137l of water to 2-3mg/l of ammonia once.
Liking the science bit. 
1mg/litre = 1ppm (part per MILLION).
Point taken re the continuous dosing of ammonia from a prawn Vs the dump dosing of liquid ammonia. (Although a cycled tank with fish producing a constant stream of ammonia doesn't get high enough to record greater than zero).
I liked the liquid as I could take readings and make a SS and "see" better what was happening. Getting the ammonia up to 2 or 4ppm helped to see this, with the downside of greater final levels of nitrite. But prawns and food are accepted methods too.
Listen to Sway and otolith. I got there with their help.
1mg/litre = 1ppm (part per MILLION).
Point taken re the continuous dosing of ammonia from a prawn Vs the dump dosing of liquid ammonia. (Although a cycled tank with fish producing a constant stream of ammonia doesn't get high enough to record greater than zero).
I liked the liquid as I could take readings and make a SS and "see" better what was happening. Getting the ammonia up to 2 or 4ppm helped to see this, with the downside of greater final levels of nitrite. But prawns and food are accepted methods too.
Listen to Sway and otolith. I got there with their help.
otolith said:
Hmm, just thinking about the chemistry of one prawn per cycle.
Back of a fag packet calculation.
If we say a prawn is 10g, and it's 23% protein, that's 2.3g of protein.
The formula for deamination of amino acids in protein is
2NH2CHRCOOH + O2 +> 2CROCOOH + 2NH3
So 1 mole of amino acid gives you 1 mole of ammonia.
Molecular weight of ammonia is 17. Average molecular weight of an amino acid in shrimp protein is ~143. So 143g of shrimp protein gives you 17g of ammonia.
2.3g of protein gives you ~273mg of ammonia.
So on that basis, one 10g prawn should be enough to get 90l - 137l of water to 2-3mg/l of ammonia once.
Back of a fag packet calculation.
If we say a prawn is 10g, and it's 23% protein, that's 2.3g of protein.
The formula for deamination of amino acids in protein is
2NH2CHRCOOH + O2 +> 2CROCOOH + 2NH3
So 1 mole of amino acid gives you 1 mole of ammonia.
Molecular weight of ammonia is 17. Average molecular weight of an amino acid in shrimp protein is ~143. So 143g of shrimp protein gives you 17g of ammonia.
2.3g of protein gives you ~273mg of ammonia.
So on that basis, one 10g prawn should be enough to get 90l - 137l of water to 2-3mg/l of ammonia once.
My ammonia, on one prawn, is currently measuring between 2-3 mg/l (in a 196L tank) so you were pretty much spot on! Everyday is a school day!
Tonight I want to add my driftwood (soaking in non chlorine water for the last day or two, after being boiled and soaked for the last two weeks to get rid of the colour!) and some stones. Daughter and I went stone collecting the other day and got these.
Did the vinegar test. The smaller stones produce some fizzing, the two larger ones produce a lot more (think like a fresh glass of coke) I understand that they won’t be dangerous etc… but could increase the PH, is that correct? Am I asking for trouble by adding them, or should I tell BabyET her stones will look better in the garden…? Tank is 196L if that helps.
Thanks
ET
Did the vinegar test. The smaller stones produce some fizzing, the two larger ones produce a lot more (think like a fresh glass of coke) I understand that they won’t be dangerous etc… but could increase the PH, is that correct? Am I asking for trouble by adding them, or should I tell BabyET her stones will look better in the garden…? Tank is 196L if that helps.
Thanks
ET
As promised… finally able to stock the tank tonight!
We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
KILLER CRUSTACEANS
A little advice please chaps.
A few days ago it dawned on me that there suddenly appeared to be noticeably less fish in my tank all of a sudden. I know we’d lost two, (a cardinal tetra and a molly), but all water specs were fine, so I just put those two down to natural losses.
Then last night I caught our red crab in the process of catching and devouring a female guppy.
A quick head count of my remaining stock shows quite a few losses. A small angel fish, two male guppies, one female guppy, a gourami, a red-tipped shark and another molly.
We also have a decent sized African Blue lobster in the tank as well as the red crab.
We had a couple of red crabs in our old tank many years ago, but without the current losses. They always seemed content eating the algae off of the driftwood.
Would adding a crustacean specific food calm down the killer instincts of my crab and lobster?
How often should such food be added?
Would adding such food likely have negative effects upon my water quality?
Can anyone recommend a brand if this type of food?
Any other suggestions?
I do t want to have to get rid of my crab or my lobster, but I also don’t want to keep on suffering losses either.
Thanks in advance
A little advice please chaps.
A few days ago it dawned on me that there suddenly appeared to be noticeably less fish in my tank all of a sudden. I know we’d lost two, (a cardinal tetra and a molly), but all water specs were fine, so I just put those two down to natural losses.
Then last night I caught our red crab in the process of catching and devouring a female guppy.
A quick head count of my remaining stock shows quite a few losses. A small angel fish, two male guppies, one female guppy, a gourami, a red-tipped shark and another molly.
We also have a decent sized African Blue lobster in the tank as well as the red crab.
We had a couple of red crabs in our old tank many years ago, but without the current losses. They always seemed content eating the algae off of the driftwood.
Would adding a crustacean specific food calm down the killer instincts of my crab and lobster?
How often should such food be added?
Would adding such food likely have negative effects upon my water quality?
Can anyone recommend a brand if this type of food?
Any other suggestions?
I do t want to have to get rid of my crab or my lobster, but I also don’t want to keep on suffering losses either.
Thanks in advance
extraT said:
As promised… finally able to stock the tank tonight!
We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
Looks great. Test daily as that is quite a lot if stock if done in one go….any spikes do a 25% water change and withhold food. A spoon full of cooking salt can help reduce the effects of nitrite (I didn’t believe it either)We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
105.4 said:
KILLER CRUSTACEANS
A little advice please chaps.
A few days ago it dawned on me that there suddenly appeared to be noticeably less fish in my tank all of a sudden. I know we’d lost two, (a cardinal tetra and a molly), but all water specs were fine, so I just put those two down to natural losses.
Then last night I caught our red crab in the process of catching and devouring a female guppy.
A quick head count of my remaining stock shows quite a few losses. A small angel fish, two male guppies, one female guppy, a gourami, a red-tipped shark and another molly.
We also have a decent sized African Blue lobster in the tank as well as the red crab.
We had a couple of red crabs in our old tank many years ago, but without the current losses. They always seemed content eating the algae off of the driftwood.
Would adding a crustacean specific food calm down the killer instincts of my crab and lobster?
How often should such food be added?
Would adding such food likely have negative effects upon my water quality?
Can anyone recommend a brand if this type of food?
Any other suggestions?
I do t want to have to get rid of my crab or my lobster, but I also don’t want to keep on suffering losses either.
Thanks in advance
I think they are just being normal crabs/ lobster (crayfish) it is just what they do. You could try all sorts of food from tab type sinking pellets to something like smelt or frozen muscle.A little advice please chaps.
A few days ago it dawned on me that there suddenly appeared to be noticeably less fish in my tank all of a sudden. I know we’d lost two, (a cardinal tetra and a molly), but all water specs were fine, so I just put those two down to natural losses.
Then last night I caught our red crab in the process of catching and devouring a female guppy.
A quick head count of my remaining stock shows quite a few losses. A small angel fish, two male guppies, one female guppy, a gourami, a red-tipped shark and another molly.
We also have a decent sized African Blue lobster in the tank as well as the red crab.
We had a couple of red crabs in our old tank many years ago, but without the current losses. They always seemed content eating the algae off of the driftwood.
Would adding a crustacean specific food calm down the killer instincts of my crab and lobster?
How often should such food be added?
Would adding such food likely have negative effects upon my water quality?
Can anyone recommend a brand if this type of food?
Any other suggestions?
I do t want to have to get rid of my crab or my lobster, but I also don’t want to keep on suffering losses either.
Thanks in advance
extraT said:
As promised… finally able to stock the tank tonight!
We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
Looking good bud! We got a mix of neon tetras and orange armoured cat fish (or as my daughter calls them, “the clean up crew!)
Next week we will be getting two female betta to go in there too!
Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions (and especially for Sway! A big thank you and a virtual pint to you!)
Cheers
ET
And I'll gladly use you as an excuse to open a bottle...
Oh, you need to work on Little ETette.
It's clearly "da Klean Up Krew". They're fish from the ghetto...
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