Step by step Noob 120g set up

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Day 6: I had even more luck today! Someone on craigslist was offering for free two black banded leporinus'. One is 5 inches, the other six and they are about three years old. The guy was getting rid of them because they were murdering plecos and silver dollars. He put them in the sump and was going to kill them and throw them out if someone didn't come tonight for pick up. I'm thinking, did you never do your species research? This is natural for them! Anyway, I thought, hey, a bit more bio load for the systems development with no risk to my personal stock. I can't keep them because they would certainly kill a few of my fish if I put them in, so they will be rehomed. Too bad though. I know I have a male and a female and they appear to have paired themselves. Research tells me I don't have a prayer of them breeding, but the male is doing some fun color change stuff like kinda turning silver, then back to normal within 30 seconds.

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Something bad did happen today. I have never looked closely at the goldfish, but I did today andI see some white specks on them...ick! This its my first experience with ick so I still need to do my research, but if you all have tips, great, please share. I don't care about the fish health so much ads I do making sure the tank is a healthy, sickness free environment when my fish move in.

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dhardwick said:
I would just turn the heat up 82 if it's ick it will run it's course
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I did some reading that said you can't break the reproduction cycle until 85 degrees. Doing that and salt seemed to be the most prefered solutions. Only problem now is that I don't have heaters that won't blow up! I have to wait until I get the recalled ones replaced. I'm taking the goldfish to the lfs tomorrow if they want them. leporinus should be good enough for the bioload. Once I treat, I'll add in my residents.

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Day 9 from first fill: Today was awesome. First, my caribsea crystal river came in today at the lfs.
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It looks better than what I hoped for and after I make sure tomorrow that I love it in the tank, I'll be ordering more since I only ordered 40 lbs.

While at the lfs, I noticed that their female retic (been looking for one) has been gaining some weight and looking better. The male they have looks amazing so I'm considering him and her, but right now they are both over priced ($120 each).

Also while at the store, I saw some hikari sinking carnivore pellets. I've read on here they make for an excellent diet option so I bought a bag. I've also read it can be hard to get rays to take them, but I've had recent success in getting my retic on frozen shrimp so I thought, what the heck.

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I get home and drop a pellet in. The ray swims over, puts it in his mouth...then spits it out. Then I tried something. I made a divet in the sand and put a small ball of black worms in it with the pellet in the middle of the worms..The ray came over and magic! The pellet and worms were gone. I'll keep doing this till he'll just accept the pellet.

Some bad news, I tested my new tank water with the liquid tests and got an ammo of .50 and a .25 in nitrite. Nitrate was 20. Not cycled yet, or its just showing the impact of the new Leporinus on the system? I don't know, but its ok, I'm not in a hurry to add my community.

Given the water conditions, I decided to perform the tanks first water change. I did a 20% change. Now thats a lot of water, and with the bucket system I was looking at a lot of grief. Well necessity is the mother of invention. I have a long siphon hose and taking water out to the toilet from the tank was easy, but to get water back in the tank is tricky because I have no sink hook up and even if I did that pressure makes my sink leak underneath (tried it). So I figured out this tonight.

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I had to get the green bucket up high, then I used smaller containers in the sink to keep the green one full. Made things a little slower, but way less elbow grease.

In some other news, I called the recall hotline for my stealth heaters. They told me to ship them in and they will send me a check for about $50 plus whatever I pay in shipping. I'm not sure if I said before but I was planning on an E300 heater from fluval that has an integrated heater guard. Now I've changed my mind. I'm going with a 300 watt inline from the canister heater from hydor. Same cost, both are fish safe, but the hydor has two advantages. One, it won't be seen by the tank observer. Two, the heated water will be more evenly distributed. I'll be ordering it tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll be rinsing the substrate and putting it in the tank :) additionally I'm hoping to get my black background up, some plants placed and a couple in the mean time decorations in.
 
Cool. As for the recent ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, it's most likely from the increased bio load from the two new guys. Just give it time and the bacteria will catch up. I wonder how well those inline heaters work, I thought about trying one out but ended up going with a Eheim.


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Looking good so far! Oh and just a warning that if you're using fake plants from craft stores, check to see if they have metal wires inside the plants. If so, they'll rust and kill your fishes. I just finish setting up my 120 gallon planted tank as well. Invested alot of time and money, but it's so worth it in the end :headbang2
 
My E3000 heater from Fluval broke after 6 months and couldnt maintain heat in a room temperature room. I have eheim jager heaters now. All of them were cheap and no complaints after a month.
 
Thanks for the great input guys. I'm trying to do the best job I can, and your help is making sure I don't mess it up! I wouldn't have thought about metal in the plants. I'll check today. There probably is in some. Dang.

About the heater, the reviews are good from owners, but I'll be sure to report.

Remember I mentioned seeing ich? Well I can't see a single spec anymore. Did it clear up, or am I just in a different part of the life cycle, or was I just seeing things? I don't know.
 
I checked the plants...metal all through em. Rubbish.

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