New Tank & Baby Green Terror!

[Kustrud]

Thanks for all of the advice and feedback! Been super busy so have not had a chance to reply but here’s where we are at now! Changed to PFS and absolutely love it! Here’s some more recent pics of the fish as well, seems to be eating well and his colors are coming in! You can even see the orange forming on top of the fins! Added a Synodontis Catfish for a buddy and they’re perfect together. Catfish is about 4” long and does a great job cleaning up left over food off the bottom at night! LHe’s grown a bit too! Still prefers the flakes over pellets but he destroys em!

 

[Kustrud]

Here’s the catfish, he’s really pretty. This is his spot during the day! He’s really active in the evenings! Water is still a little cloudy but doing 50% water changes weekly and it seems to be staying clearer longer each time now.

 

[Kustrud]

View of the tank!

 

[scalareson]

Your GT is a pretty fish and looks really healthy, those fins are impressive.
Cloudiness will go away after a while once the tank settles, pretty common to have that for a bit in the beginning with freshwater. My tank is doing the same thing lol

 

[FINWIN]

Sometimes light color substrate makes water appear cloudier because of reflected light from any particles in the water column. Ever notice how white sand beaches always seem cloudy compared to black or darker sand beaches? Same thing.

 

[Kustrud]

Here's another picture, water is staying much clearer since last water change 4 days ago. I have not been feeding flakes at all and only feeding them the Hikari Vibra Bites. I noticed when I did my last water change I was able to shake a lot of crud off of the decorations in the tank as well as got a ton off the bottom.....all of which resembled old flake food. I think the flakes are generally just messier and make the water cloudier + I was probably feeding too much at a time. He seems to really like the Vibra Bites! I'll still feed the flakes some as I know he loves those, just less frequently and at much smaller quantities. Still cannot get him to eat the NLS pellets though....I'll put a few in and they do not disappear until the AM, I think the catfish grabs them at night.

His colors seem more and more pronounced!

 

[Kustrud]

More pics, water getting pretty clear!!!

The catfish in his other spot, upside down in the decor !

Whenever I get him a larger tank I’ll do away with the kids decor and set it up with some rocks and wood and stuff. Very happy with the progress though!

 

[Kustrud]

My filter is an Aquaclear 50. I removed the carbon after the first 4 weeks and added another sponge from Aquaclear + the Bio bag it comes with on top. So from to top top: sponge, sponge, Bio-bag.

What can I add to really clean the water up even more?

 

[Deadeye]

I remember seeing FINWIN (I think) mention how bright substrate will scatter light and make the tank look cloudier. Try putting up a black background and maybe some surface cover to break up the light a bit and see if that does anything.
If nothing else, the gt should at least look really good against the black.

 

[Kustrud]

I remember seeing FINWIN (I think) mention how bright substrate will scatter light and make the tank look cloudier. Try putting up a black background and maybe some surface cover to break up the light a bit and see if that does anything.
If nothing else, the gt should at least look really good against the black.

Yeah I've seen a few people say that as well! What's the easiest way to go about a black background? I've been wanting to do that just have not had the time yet. The sand is more of a brown than a white, so it's not near as bright as the white rocks I previously had.

Still curious as to what kind of floss or water polishing material I can add to my filter...?

Thanks for the help!