Dream Tank 2 72g Freshwater Planted Tank

Any idea what your kh and gh are of your tap? Most plants tend to like lower hardness levels. The aquarium will reduce the kh and gh for a while. But that will eventually run out.
 
iani said:
Any idea what your kh and gh are of your tap? Most plants tend to like lower hardness levels. The aquarium will reduce the kh and gh for a while. But that will eventually run out.
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If I did the api tests correctly, they are 3/53.7 kh and 4/71.6 gh but I don't really know what they should be yet or how to change them. TDS 86 and EC 173
am .25 and no3 5. Didn't bother with the rest. Ph this morning 7.1 and 4-5 hrs later iwth co2 6.68. C02 drop checker still blue. Prob. 3-4 drops per second

This is the part I have to learn. Last freshwater tank around 2000 didn't have all these resources.
 
Day 3
Hoping ammonia will be gone tomorrow. Mostly at .25 with no3 at 5. Will test tonight again. Eager to add my few fish to their new home. Water is pretty clear now. The lily pipe sucks air which drives me nuts. Need to figure out how to fix it. Maybe my water level needs to be a tad higher? Timer seems a bit slow as co2 should have shut off at 6. More plants arrive tomorrow. Don't need the weeping moss but will put on rocks and the stump. A few more bits on the driftwood. The flamingo crypt will be nice to add color I hope

Am loving this tank. Perfect scenery while I write! Lights going down now which is sad. Hopefully eventually I can increase higher than 8 hrs. Right now 11-7

This tank is calm whereas my saltwater gave more of a higher excitement vibe. An adventure. This tank just says relax and enjoy. Never thought tanks had vibes or emotions lol's. Here is todays image. Enjoy
IMG_4882.jpg
 
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Susan Edwards said:
Day 3
Hoping ammonia will be gone tomorrow. Mostly at .25 with no3 at 5. Will test tonight again. Eager to add my few fish to their new home. Water is pretty clear now. The lily pipe sucks air which drives me nuts. Need to figure out how to fix it. Maybe my water level needs to be a tad higher? Timer seems a bit slow as co2 should have shut off at 6. More plants arrive tomorrow. Don't need the weeping moss but will put on rocks and the stump. A few more bits on the driftwood. The flamingo crypt will be nice to add color I hope

Am loving this tank. Perfect scenery while I write! Lights going down now which is sad. Hopefully eventually I can increase higher than 8 hrs. Right now 11-7

This tank is calm whereas my saltwater gave more of a higher excitement vibe. An adventure. This tank just says relax and enjoy. Never thought tanks had vibes or emotions lol's. Here is todays image. Enjoy
View attachment 71622
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Looking good. I guess those baskets are the fresh water version of frag racks. I only see more popping up in the future.
 
MichaelB said:
Looking good. I guess those baskets are the fresh water version of frag racks. I only see more popping up in the future.
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lol's/ Not much more room as I don't want them on the front lol's. I didn't realize that they will also make cleaning harder! The sides aren't bad, but the back... But I'm not sure how clean I'll keep the back. Might leave it for the algae eaters. We'll see
 
PizzaOven said:
Looks great! Love the scape and plant selection.

it's normal to see bubbles continue out of your diffuser for a few minutes after the timer shuts off, just residual pressure releasing. If it's still bubbling an hour or two later, you probably have a leaky solenoid valve.
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thanks. co2 is new to me. I think my timer is also slow as I tapped it and it clicked off. I have a new timer but I couldn't get it working. Might try again with a light to test
 
Susan Edwards said:
Day 3
Hoping ammonia will be gone tomorrow. Mostly at .25 with no3 at 5. Will test tonight again. Eager to add my few fish to their new home. Water is pretty clear now. The lily pipe sucks air which drives me nuts. Need to figure out how to fix it. Maybe my water level needs to be a tad higher? Timer seems a bit slow as co2 should have shut off at 6. More plants arrive tomorrow. Don't need the weeping moss but will put on rocks and the stump. A few more bits on the driftwood. The flamingo crypt will be nice to add color I hope

Am loving this tank. Perfect scenery while I write! Lights going down now which is sad. Hopefully eventually I can increase higher than 8 hrs. Right now 11-7

This tank is calm whereas my saltwater gave more of a higher excitement vibe. An adventure. This tank just says relax and enjoy. Never thought tanks had vibes or emotions lol's. Here is todays image. Enjoy
View attachment 71622
Click to expand...
Love the emersed growth, the tank looks really nice!

I saw you posted in the shrimp thread, imo you can add neocaridina almost right away once planted tanks are set up. Maybe wait until anything that wants to decay decays but they're so hardy it likely won't matter.
 
Susan Edwards said:
If I did the api tests correctly, they are 3/53.7 kh and 4/71.6 gh but I don't really know what they should be yet or how to change them. TDS 86 and EC 173
am .25 and no3 5. Didn't bother with the rest. Ph this morning 7.1 and 4-5 hrs later iwth co2 6.68. C02 drop checker still blue. Prob. 3-4 drops per second

This is the part I have to learn. Last freshwater tank around 2000 didn't have all these resources.
Click to expand...
Those numbers seem just fine. From my experience the ammonia is from the aquasoil and will sometimes stick around for a bit.
 
iani said:
Those numbers seem just fine. From my experience the ammonia is from the aquasoil and will sometimes stick around for a bit.
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If I keep up with the stability and add prime ea day to bind the ammonia, do you think I can add 5-6 tetras/danios and a betta. I'd like to take down the 20 gal tall tank. Betta not happy I took all the rim plants away lol's. I do have no3 at 5 and 0 nitrites. Amm varies between .25-.50
 
Susan Edwards said:
If I keep up with the stability and add prime ea day to bind the ammonia, do you think I can add 5-6 tetras/danios and a betta. I'd like to take down the 20 gal tall tank. Betta not happy I took all the rim plants away lol's. I do have no3 at 5 and 0 nitrites. Amm varies between .25-.50
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Well the ammonia is not supposed to be as harmful at a lower pH. If I remember correctly people would add fish all the time with ammonia from aquasoil. It's been a long time since I've have a planted aquarium though.
 
iani said:
Well the ammonia is not supposed to be as harmful at a lower pH. If I remember correctly people would add fish all the time with ammonia from aquasoil. It's been a long time since I've have a planted aquarium though.
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I think if I keep the stability going (need to do for 1 week min) and then add prime I should be okay. I do have no3 and that usually indicates cycling done so I think it is the soil. If the amm gets higher I can do a water change. Prob. do a 20% or so on Sunday at the 1 week mark. Will be adding more plants today so that should also help. Will do the plants and then depending on time, do the fist
 
Plants arrive tomorrow but I added the fish today. Betta hasn't been coming up to eat since I took the rim plants off and is looking a bit ragged. He seems to like the driftwood. I'll get a few floaters (coralled) for him. He's been out swimming. Prob. more flow than he's used too but there are tons of places for him to get out of it, esp all the rim plants. This is what came from the other tank. The lights really color the glow light nicely. the orange/red really pops. Might consider maybe 6-8 more of those
1 betta
3 danios--they are loving the space
1 tetra
1 glowlight
1 black tetra or engineer?
2 corys--they did find each other and discover sand... They had gravel before. My nice sand path won't stay nice for long lol's

what will be hard is feeding as so few fish and big tank! I did make sure there wa sfood in tank so corys have food to find. Betta not eating. Usully I make sure it gets 1 or 2 pieces of food.. Put a few flakes in feeding rings. Sitting on my hands to keep yself from running to petsmart for more fish lol's. But no. A--too many die and 2, using Dan''s fish online as they quarentine their fish 2 weeks. Got my first order ready to order.
15 ember tetra
4-6 bandit corys. 4 if they will mix with my 2 leopard other wise 6.

10-15 galaxy rasbora is next--Dan's doesn't have
15-Cardinal tetras

need to refigure out algae eaters. Have to rethink hillstream loaches as I have no lid--and that's a bummer. I love those. and that might go for most sucker fish. Maybe not siamese algae eater.

I'll have to figure out how to attach videos again. save to youtube I think
IMG_4894.jpg
IMG_4895.jpg


IMG_4896.jpg
 
All fish active and alive!
Ordered:
20 Ember tetras. Be here next thur
10 amano shrimp. Want something in to start catching any algae when it starts. Ordered food to suplement Might have to raise my gh/kh when I add cherry shrimp

edit: I have biofilm/algae starting on driftwood. Not sure if it is all biofilm or a mixture

Need more corys but want to wait until plants a bit more rooted.
going to try the hillstream loaches--water is 1.5 lower than rim so hopefully that keeps them inside. Plus rim plants 2 sides.

Will wait until after the 16th for next batch if I can. Funeral to go to 14-16. Really hate to leave a newly set up tank. Not sure if I should turn off co2 while gone.
 
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