500 Gallon Peacock Bass Aquarium

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
With family in town I haven't done much, except work on the cycling tank. Small heater I had lying around is going between 86-87, waiting for larger Jager heater to be here to take care of that and get to 88 without maxing out. The water movement from the FX5 does not seem ridiculous currently, one outlet toward surface for lots of aeration and the other slanting downwards.

Stability is doing its business, readings were starting to show nitrite on the second day, ammonia at about 1, nitrates still at tap level (~10-15 ppm). Planning to let is cruise and go for fish-less cycle because it seems I don't require an ammonia source. I thought that before I did...maybe I had some dead matter in the filter to start with, who knows. I'll just wait to see when the ammonia goes away.

Pictures tonight, didn't get a chance before server upgrade.
 
Pictures of the thrown together "mini growout", 3-4" perhaps...mainly while I finish setting up the larger tank.

Cycling with stability is going great, with the results for the first 3 days so far below:

Ammonia: 0 ppm -> 1.0 ppm -> 0.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm ->0.25 ppm -> 0.5 ppm

Been trying to do a lot of reading on pH and pbass. My local tap water is pretty hard, kH between 7-9, with a pH of 7.6. I have read a lot of people that say this is too high, and a lot that say the fish will adapt to even at pH=8. Should I try to lower my pH chemically, which would take a lot of additives or just let is be. My main concern is the orinos are wild caught, not farm bred. I already have driftwood, and in previous tanks it only went to about 7.4, so without using peat or something, additives like Discus Buffer would be the only real option I see. For acclimating fish to just a drastic pH change is there anything additional to drip acclimation and salt to ease the shock? Or should I even drip? I am waiting to hear back from the vendor about their pH level.

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Your "thrown together" tank is much nicer than most "show" tanks out there. I'm no PH expert, but drip acclimation and salt should be fine IMO. Good Luck!
 
Thanks, the thrown together part is referring to cinderblock, MDF, a really big piece of glass for a lid, and a light that is almost twice the length of the tank! Fish arrive Friday.

Planning to have friends over this weekend to help move the large aquarium off the stand so I can make the stand modifications this weekend. Really excited to get that completed!
 
Last night ammonia almost to zero (0~0.25 ppm), nitrites are the same as the day before (0.5 ppm) so I'm thinking I missed the peak reading since stability has been cycling the tank so quickly. I will confirm that today. Put in a few of my wife's platy's last night to see if they would survive, and if my ammonia source has deteriorated or if enough bacteria are present. No deaths this morning, but they look like the flow might be a bit much for them. Planning to do a large water change tonight to prepare for the pbass. I was trying to use a buffer to soften the water, but it just made it harder with everything it added. So I'll take it back down to tap values and have the temp back where it needs to be by the time the fish arrive tomorrow.
 
When acclimating a drip should be fine. SHouldnt need to add salt. And as far as ph....i wouldnt add any chemicals to it. Just leave it......7.4 w/ the driftwood should be fine. Cant wait to see it stocked.
 
Took off work this morning to wait for the orinos to arrive. At my local FedEx site as of 2 minutes ago...can you tell I am reloading that page way too often?? :nilly:

Platy's are still alive in tank, ammonia and nitrite were still at 0.25 and 0.5 ppm, respectively last night, so I did a double dose of stability and a 5x dose of prime after verifying that cycling can still occur when prime bonds to the metabolites. Tested this morning and both are zero, talk about good timing. Stability finished the cycle in just under 6 days. I'll continue to dose for a while longer and test to make sure no mini cycle when the orinos go in.

Also got the Jager heaters last night, been working to calibrate the temperature scale, got it on the 3rd adjustment, tank is now cruising between 88 and 89 F.
 
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