Water Parameters (4-March-2015)Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 6 pH
KH: 1 dKH
GH: 5 dGH
Otocinclus
Latest water parameters show it's now safe to add livestock so last week, I added 12 otocinclus fish tocombat diatom infestation. They never disappoint. The tank has been suffering from diatom infestation for days and they can be seen building up on rocks, plant leaves, and glass walls. Once the "otto's" are in, about 90% of diatoms were gone the next day. And as of the moment I can barely see them, except on some plant leaves which I believe will also be gone in a few days.
I offered to give away some of the plants from my old tank and one of the fellow hobbyists who took it passed me some of these shrimps so it was a good deed.
They are now in the tank and doing well except for one that died the next day. I guess it was just not able to acclimate itself. The rest of them are fine though.
Diatoms
I know there's still a lot of silica and imbalance in the tank for diatoms to continue to flourish but with otocinclus fish in place, they will be under control from now on. Regular water change will still be on schedule but I will do it once a week from now on unless I see a huge build up of algae or spike in ammonia.
Hemianthus Callitrichoides "Cuba"
Compared to monte carlo, this plant's growth is extremely slow. I'm not surprised. I did not intend to keep this plant as my tank is not setup for it. I'm not using a chiller to keep temperature at 25C or below and i will not spend hundreds of dollars for an equipment just to accommodate this plant. Maybe in future, when i decide to use this as my main carpet plant on a new tank setup.
I can either keep this for now or just replace it with monte carlo. I'm leaning with replacing it as the monte carlo on other parts of the tank has grown considerably well already. Also, my old tank still keeps a thick carpet of monte carlo so it's probably a good idea to pull out some of it and move to this tank. I'll decide in a few weeks.
I can either keep this for now or just replace it with monte carlo. I'm leaning with replacing it as the monte carlo on other parts of the tank has grown considerably well already. Also, my old tank still keeps a thick carpet of monte carlo so it's probably a good idea to pull out some of it and move to this tank. I'll decide in a few weeks.
Ember Tetra, Gold Tetra
I want small schooling fishes. They create an illusion that the tank is big. I also prefer tetras, as they are amazingly beautiful. I choose Ember Tetra and Gold Tetra and there are now a total of 50 of them in the tank.
Yamato Shrimps, Borneo Sucker
I also added 4 yamato shrimps to complete my army of maintenance crew. While I was purchasing the shrimps I come across this fancy looking fish called Borneo Sucker. It's a type of pleco but with a unique looking mouth. I bought one and put in the tank as well.
Hydrocotyle Tripartita, Blyxa Japonica, and Brazilian Pennywort
It looks like a mess now due to diatoms but it's growing a few leaves everyday. I have to trim some of them during water change to keep them spread out.
The brazilian pennywort has established itself. However, as planned, I will soon replace it with pearlweed because the plant looks out of place in the aquascape.
Blyxa, just like tripartita looks like a mess too due to diatoms. But I'm not worried about these plants. They will be fine in time.
Staurogyne Repens, New Plant
I took a few trimmings from the old tank and plant them here. I will added a few more stalks in the next water change. These are one of my favorite plants. Unfortunately, I was not able to grow this properly in my old tank. I hope I can be more successful this time.
Bugs
I think they are cope-pods. They jump around very quickly on the glass walls particularly the area where there's build-up of green algae. I'm leaving them for now as they are harmless. They are feeds for fishes though.
CO2 Drop Checker Liquid Indicator turning clear
Well, I since replaced the liquid indicator and since then, the color has not turned clear. It seems that the problem will remain a mystery. It just got fixed on its own. Anyway, it's a minor thing so we'll see if this problem happens again. In the mean time, case closed.
I want small schooling fishes. They create an illusion that the tank is big. I also prefer tetras, as they are amazingly beautiful. I choose Ember Tetra and Gold Tetra and there are now a total of 50 of them in the tank.
I also added 4 yamato shrimps to complete my army of maintenance crew. While I was purchasing the shrimps I come across this fancy looking fish called Borneo Sucker. It's a type of pleco but with a unique looking mouth. I bought one and put in the tank as well.
Hydrocotyle Tripartita, Blyxa Japonica, and Brazilian PennywortIt looks like a mess now due to diatoms but it's growing a few leaves everyday. I have to trim some of them during water change to keep them spread out.
The brazilian pennywort has established itself. However, as planned, I will soon replace it with pearlweed because the plant looks out of place in the aquascape.
Blyxa, just like tripartita looks like a mess too due to diatoms. But I'm not worried about these plants. They will be fine in time.
I took a few trimmings from the old tank and plant them here. I will added a few more stalks in the next water change. These are one of my favorite plants. Unfortunately, I was not able to grow this properly in my old tank. I hope I can be more successful this time.
Bugs
I think they are cope-pods. They jump around very quickly on the glass walls particularly the area where there's build-up of green algae. I'm leaving them for now as they are harmless. They are feeds for fishes though.
CO2 Drop Checker Liquid Indicator turning clear
Well, I since replaced the liquid indicator and since then, the color has not turned clear. It seems that the problem will remain a mystery. It just got fixed on its own. Anyway, it's a minor thing so we'll see if this problem happens again. In the mean time, case closed.
I'm getting a new light set and hopefully I will have it installed before the next update. That's it for now. I'm happy with the progress so far and it's all coming along now. Just a few more weeks and the tank is expected to stabilize.
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