8ft. In place!

[OnceLoyal]

So ammonia is at darn near 0
Nitrites are at 2.0 ish
Nitrates are pretty much normal.
Seems a little soon to be closing up this cycle. I did dump in a crazy amount of bottled bugs.
1 niteout
1 stability
2 turbostart

Water clarity getting there. Fry all over the tank hiding and getting sucked into overflow lol chaos. Anyway all good. I am going to put some prime in for the nitires and let it ride longer before wc.

Casualties to date.
2 male swords. I think the other one kept beating on them. I really don't feel it was the nitrites. I feel bad as I figured an 8 ft. Tank and 6 females would be enough.

3 guppies one male was sick when I got him and I removed him.

1 female and one other male from overflow (he didn't make it into sump)

1 Mollie. I have no idea what happened to her/him.

Plants are looking good so far with some growth already.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Forgot the pic. This is without clean glass inside or out. Just a photo for me to go back too.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Just update.
Ammonia and Nitrite 0 12 days after fish. I guess the $ I spent on bugs in a bottle paid off a little.

So plants are growing babies are getting bigger. There are some mollies or sword babies (not sure which) that are almost big enough for the other fish not to mess with. Baby guppies are doing awesome.

We are ahead of schedule, but I don't think I will add the aro or armatus till after I am back from vacation in June. Will add some shrimp and maybe something else. In the mean time working up my stock of future home grown feeders.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Just update.
Ammonia and Nitrite 0 12 days after fish. I guess the $ I spent on bugs in a bottle paid off a little.

So plants are growing babies are getting bigger. There are some mollies or sword babies (not sure which) that are almost big enough for the other fish not to mess with. Baby guppies are doing awesome.

We are ahead of schedule, but I don't think I will add the aro or armatus till after I am back from vacation in June. Will add some shrimp and maybe something else. In the mean time working up my stock of future home grown feeders.

Celestial danios and ricefish breed quickly

 

[OnceLoyal]

I was going to add the rice, but I think at this point I will "nurture" what I have. I will add some cherry shrimp and maybe crystal ones. Hopefully they breed.
A few more plants .

Again it is inevitable that I will have to take the big jagged driftwood out on the left. I guess I will wait a bit as it is good hiding for fry.
I will probably also have to add "background" sides for the armatus. I will experiment with the fish I have and see if blacking the glass from the outside will work. Like if they stop the swimming up and down at the glass on the sides. The "mirror" issue. Personally I am not sure if doing it from the outside will work or not.

Big issue right now is how to stop small fish from getting sucked into the overflow. I have a net there temporarily. Fry isn't the issue in the far future but the 100 cardinal or neon tetras will be. I guess I will start looking for ideas on that.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

I was going to add the rice, but I think at this point I will "nurture" what I have. I will add some cherry shrimp and maybe crystal ones. Hopefully they breed.
A few more plants .

Again it is inevitable that I will have to take the big jagged driftwood out on the left. I guess I will wait a bit as it is good hiding for fry.
I will probably also have to add "background" sides for the armatus. I will experiment with the fish I have and see if blacking the glass from the outside will work. Like if they stop the swimming up and down at the glass on the sides. The "mirror" issue. Personally I am not sure if doing it from the outside will work or not.

Big issue right now is how to stop small fish from getting sucked into the overflow. I have a net there temporarily. Fry isn't the issue in the far future but the 100 cardinal or neon tetras will be. I guess I will start looking for ideas on that.

Get a strainer in front of the overflow

 

[OnceLoyal]

Current temporary fix

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Current temporary fix

View attachment 1311662 View attachment 1311663 View attachment 1311664

What is it,a net?

 

[OnceLoyal]

Lol, it is a media bag I split in 2.

 

[OnceLoyal]

What was your idea with a strainer? Which or what kind of strainer?