Adam's FLog: 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A couple of new pictures

Just a couple more pictures. If a few more come up I might just add them to this post.

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/peppermintshrimp01.jpg

The two-spot goby has decided that under this rock is his home now.
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/twospotgoby03.jpg

Monday, December 28, 2009

Today we went to the fish store and came back with a few much anticipated fish. We got four Bangai Cardinals and another green clown goby. The goby is still hiding in the crevices between the rocks; hopefully he will come out at some point again. The cardinals are schooling and they look like they're playing nice, of course there's nobody in the tank to really bother them. Here are some pictures.

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/cardinals01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/cardinals02.jpg

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/clowngoby01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/good/clowngoby02.jpg

Now it's time to start looking at tangs. There are several types of tangs out there but we need to find two or three that are compatible, that we like, and that we can actually find. That process should take until the cardinals are happy with their new home, then once the tangs are here, Sarge will finally be able to get rid of the cramped quarters he's been staying in for so long. I'll post pictures of tangs we're considering as they come up.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

New camera!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Update

So I haven't updated in a while, here's what's happened and what the plans are:

I haven't seen the green clown goby since we put him in the tank, I'm not keeping any hope that he's still alive, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

Last night we moved the blenny into the main tank. He was eating well and everything in the quarantine, and I think the white spots we would see sometimes were due to stress. He found a hole to crawl into pretty quickly, and we got a couple of (not so great) pictures:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/bicolorblenny02.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/bicolorblenny03.jpg

We also got a video, which should be on youtube soon. The cave goby has dug quite a hole in the front corner of the tank that he's grown attached to, and the blenny was a little too close to it, so the goby has been shooting sand at the blenny all night, and this morning there was a huge pile where the blenny was. We'll see how long it takes for that to work itself out...

With these exceptions, everybody else has been doing very well in the display tank. We got a firefish goby who is very shy, but will come out to eat and when there is nobody else around. Here's a picture:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/firefishgoby.jpg

The quarantine tank is empty right now, so this weekend I want to get some more fish. The cardinals are next, but I think they will go straight into the display tank. I'm still looking for one more blenny if one comes up, but I think that will wait until the sand war is over, and even then, things may not look so good for another blenny. 150 gallons is a lot of space but they seem like they would rather fight right now.

In other news, we managed to find some figure-8 puffers at a store about an hour away, so I'd kind of like to get something set up for them soon while I can still find them.

We lost the last paraguay tetra about a week ago in the freshwater tank. He was pretty old and he was the last one left, so I'm not concerned about the rest of the guys, but it was still pretty sad.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

More Gobies!

We went to the fish store last night to pick up some more gobies, and we came back with three new gobies and a blenny. Here are some pictures:

Cave Goby:
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cavegoby01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cavegoby02.jpg

Two-Spot Goby:
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/twospotgoby01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/twospotgoby02.jpg

We realized after we got home that these guys camouflage so well with the rock in the tank, making it really hard to take good pictures of them. I think a new camera for Christmas might be a little ambitious, but hopefully I'll have one shortly after...

Green Clown Goby:
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/greenclowngoby01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/greenclowngoby02.jpg

This guy is good at hiding; we haven't seen him since shortly after we put him in the tank.

Another picture of the Mandarin Goby, who is becoming a little less shy:
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin08.jpg

Bi-Color Blenny:
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/bicolorblenny01.jpg

I've never had this kind of trouble taking pictures of stuff in the quarantine. He seems to be doing OK though, he ate last night and seems pretty active.

The next fish for quarantine will be one or two blennies. We're looking at some type of forktail blenny or maybe a midas blenny. Also, next chance we get, we'll probably get a firefish goby. After all of those guys are in the tank, next up will be the Bangai cardinals. I'll keep posting as things happen or as I can get some more pictures of the fish.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Update on Mandarin Goby

Well, after a day or so in the quarantine, the Mandarin was acting a lot better, probably because the temperature finally got up to 79 degrees. I was told he would eat frozen brine shrimp, but he didn't seem interested in anything that we gave him, so I did a little bit of reading and I read that he mostly eats microscopic stuff that's in the live sand and live rock in the tank. With starvation outweighing the benefits of keeping him in the quarantine, we decided to put him in the display tank. He seems like he's doing a lot better now, and he spends pretty much all day grazing over the rock in the huge tank he has all to himself. We'll hopefully be getting some more gobies on Tuesday, and I think we'll get the two-spot goby then as well, since it doesn't look like we'll be able to quarantine any of them effectively. Here are some pictures:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin05.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin06.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin07.jpg

Hopefully he'll be happy in there. Since the gobies can't be quarantined, that means I'll be looking to find some blennies this week also. I'm not sure what kind we'll be getting, it depends on what's available, but I'll post pictures like before when the time comes.

Also, the clean-up crew has sort of spread out. The two largest turbo snails have made their home at the very top of the rocks -- I doubt they'll stay there when some of the more aggressive fish enter the tank, but it's kind of interesting to watch them as some of the other snails crawl up there and then crawl back down. Here's a picture:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc12.jpg

Hopefully I'll update again on Tuesday night...

Friday, November 27, 2009

First non-microscopic life in the display tank!

Today was a pretty exciting day: today I got the clean-up crew for the display tank, and they were just put in. The clean-up crew right now consists of:

20 Turbo Snails
10 Red Algae Hermit Crabs
about 7-10 Nassarius Snails
about 10 of some other type of snail (I'll work on getting an ID, and probably edit this post)
3 Peppermint Shrimp

Here are some pictures. I'll also add these to the facebook album in case you would rather look at them there instead of clicking on all these links:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc02.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc03.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc04.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc05.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc06.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc07.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc08.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc09.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/cuc10.jpg

Also, we got a Mandarin Goby. We have our eyes on a couple of other gobies, but here are some pictures of the new addition:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin02.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin03.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/mandarin04.jpg

He seemed pretty stressed out, because he had a long time in the bag before he got into the quarantine, so we'll see if he makes it. Here are some pictures of a couple of other types of gobies we should be getting over the next couple of days:

Two-Spot Goby (it's available to buy but these guys are sensitive so I want to wait a little bit before we get this one)
Yellow Clown Goby (probably two or three of these, they're on order, and I may have to buy them online if worse comes to worse)
Diamond Watchman Goby (we'd probably only get one of these if the Two-Spot didn't work out. Flip was a Diamond Watchman Goby)

Hopefully things will go well for these new additions: I'll try to update as things happen and maybe get some more pictures.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

An update...

I haven't updated in a while, which is because not much went on this week, except for more overtime at work. I've updated the Excel sheet for measurements, so here's the link again:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/fishtank.xlsx

The nitrites spiked on one day, which makes me glad I'm waiting to add anything live until the tank has been stable for a while. By this weekend, it will be ready for the clean-up crew, and I'll be looking into quarantining any gobies or blennies I can get my hands on.

Also, we went to the fish store yesterday and picked up a couple of things for the freshwater tank. I added some sword plant to the corner of the tank, and Herbert seems to really like it. I also got two leopard danios and another gold zebra danios, for a total of 7 danios in the tank. Everything seems like it's doing pretty well in that tank. Here are some before and after pictures:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/planted01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/planted02.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/planted03.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/planted04.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/planted05.jpg

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Cycle update and spreadsheet

Here are the measurements for tonight:

Thursday November 12
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

We can now start the clock for an ammonia and nitrite-free tank. In two weeks I'll add the clean-up crew, that will be on Thanksgiving. I made an Excel sheet for the cycle, and I'll continue to keep it updated just in case something goes crazy, but you can see a low-resolution version of part of the cycle...

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/fishtank.xlsx

I probably will only take measurements every other day after this weekend, maybe just three times a week, and if it's just a measurement update I'll just update the spreadsheet and not this FLog, but in the meantime I have two weeks to brainstorm exactly what types of fish will end up in the tank and which order that will go in. I've already started, and I'll probably post pictures of the types of fish I'm looking at.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Lots and lots of good bacteria

Measurements from tonight's test:

Wednesday November 11
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

This is awesome! The nitrites are already coming down! It seems too good to be true, though. I'm taking it to mean that I should at least wait a couple of weeks and see if the parameters stay stable for a while before adding any livestock, and hopefully I won't find out that there's really a big problem here...

More cycle happiness

I took some measurements last night, and I was actually kind of surprised:

Tuesday November 10
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm

I add enough ammonia to put the concentration well above 2 ppm, and in less than 24 hours, there's already enough of the right bacteria to take that concentration down to zero -- a clean zero, like more zero than I ever got from the last tank. I know this part of the cycle is supposed to go by quickly using this method, but I didn't think it would be this quick. Now we only have to wait until the nitrites come down and we'll be ready to fly.

I started seeding a couple of small filters: one off of the display tank (in the refugium) and one off of the quarantine. When I need them, they'll be ready to quarantine the first fish, which will be gobies and blennies. The clean-up crew (snails, shrimps, copepods, etc.) will go directly into the tank.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Kicking the cycle in the butt

Another update: I started dosing the tank with ammonia on Saturday, so last night was the third time I added ammonia. I add about 20 mL each time, but I'm not sure the concentration of the ammonia solution I use. Originally I put enough in to put the tank up to 4 ppm, which is a lot. Before adding ammonia last night the concentration was all the way down to 0.25 ppm. Nitrites are up to 0.5 ppm, so it looks like I've made some significant progress on the cycle. I've started brainstorming ideas for stocking the tank and exactly how I'll go about doing it, and hopefully I'll have a concrete plan by the end of the week. There are a lot of options...

Monday, November 9
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm

I'll be taking measurements every day. I may not post them every day, but updates should be more frequent and probably more boring for the next couple of weeks.

One other thing, I may have mentioned this a while back, but when I got some ghost shrimp for the freshwater tank, a fry accidentally made its way into the bag, and into the tank. I didn't realistically think it would make it, but it has grown to at least three times its original size and is starting to get more bold in exploring the tank, even towards the top. I know it's a guppy, and had thought it was a female for a while but it's starting to grow a nice tail so it might be male. I was finally able to get a decent picture of it, even though the picture isn't all that good:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/latrina.jpg

It's swimming right above the plant. It has a name if it's female: Latrina. I've always given female guppies ugly names, but if it turns out to be male, then I guess I have to rethink the name.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Float Switch and Cycle update

I've just finished installing a float switch that will automatically turn off the pump if the water level in the refugium gets too low:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/floatswitch01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/floatswitch02.jpg

This makes the system even safer, meaning that the pump should never run dry, and I'm super-sure that the plumbing won't cause any floods or bad things to happen. Setting it up was actually very easy. I could only use one zip-tie to tie it on to the mount because I wanted it lower than the mount would let me, so I hot-glued it in place as well.

After three weeks of no ammonia reading, I decided to start dosing the tank with ammonia myself. It will be a little more difficult to cycle this way, but it should be quicker, so hopefully in three weeks I'll be ready to start adding livestock. I added ammonia until there was about 4 ppm in the tank, and I squeezed the filter from the quarantine into the display tank to help start the process. I should be monitoring the levels closely from here on out, so even if I don't update every day, there will at least be measurements for every day when I do update. I know that isn't much consolation, but hopefully there will be some more life in the tank soon.

Oh, and by the way, Sarge says hi:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/sargesayshi.jpg

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Measurements and update

Here's an update on the freshwater tank: the plants are starting some new growth, and the java fern looks very good as a result of the lighting change. Even the fish seem a little more active and happy about it. On the sad side I've lost at least two of the ghost shrimp. I'm not sure why, I did an ammonia test and it was zero, and it appears that there's no other damage.

As far as the quarantine tank goes, I think it's about done cycling. I took some measurements last night:
Nitrite: 0.05 ppm
Nitrate: 7.5 ppm
The nitrite keeps getting closer to zero, and the nitrates are under control as well. It's nice to know that something in the saltwater world is going right...

The main tank, on the other hand, is starting to confuse me. I took measurements last night and I found zero on everything -- still. It's been 2 1/2 weeks and I haven't seen anything resembling a higher ammonia level. The raw shrimp I put in there don't appear to be decomposing at all, and it's gotten to the point where I'm wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong. I'll have to ask about this in the forums. Speaking of the forums, I think I'm going to stop posting these messages there because nobody seems interested. Oh well, I'm over it.

The float switch setup arrived in the mail. I'll be installing it this weekend for sure, since I now have everything I need.

Friday, October 30, 2009

More measurements

Hey, I've been working more overtime this week, so that's my excuse. On the other hand, not much has happened in the fish tank world. I have two sets of measurements:

Saturday, October 24:
Display Tank Ammonia: 0 ppm
Quarantine Tank Nitrite: 0.1 ppm
Quarantine Tank Nitrate: 10 ppm

Friday, October 30:
Display Tank Ammonia: 0 ppm
Quarantine Tank Nitrite: 0.1 ppm
Quarantine Tank Nitrate: 15 ppm

I still haven't seen a reading on the Ammonia, and it's been almost two weeks, so I may need to put some more shrimp in there to kickstart things.

I've ordered a switch that will act as a safety for the pump, it will automatically shut off the pump if the water level gets too low. Hopefully I can get that installed by next weekend and get some pictures. I'll also be looking into stocking the tank once I see that ammonia spike -- that will include some invertibrates and maybe some macroalgae for the refugium.

The plants in the freshwater tank have made some improvement, not enough to be seen on the camera, but I can tell there's some new growth. The fish actually seem more active too, even though they get kind of stressed out when the lights change. Hopefully I'll see some good long-term results from the lighting schedule. Time will tell though...

Friday, October 23, 2009

Measurements from Tuesday

Sorry I haven't updated. I've been working a lot of overtime this week and haven't had much time for anything. Hopefully this weekend I'll catch up on life, and stop by the fish store for a few things. I'll probably update at that point too. Here's what I have:

First, I've decided to put a timer on the lights in the freshwater tank. I had been leaving them on all day and even though the advice I got from the fish store said that was OK, it turns out that it will be better for the plants, and also the nocturnal stuff in the tank to have 12 hours of darkness each day. It turns out I have a lot of nocturnal stuff in there too: the neon tetras, Herbert, and (sort of) the snails.

The quarantine has had a zero ammonia rating for a while, and on Tuesday, I measured:
Nitrite: 0.2 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
...which looks promising.

I measured the display tank also for ammonia:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
...I don't expect to see a significant reading for a while but I'll keep measuring it anyways, and I'll be tracking it with the same spreadsheet I tried last time. After a couple of weeks I should be able to track the cycle pretty accurately, which is important since it's fishless.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

First Post!

This will be the first post in my new FLog format. I've decided to move the FLog to Blogger because editing it is easier here and I already have a Google account. I'll also be posting everything that goes here at aquariumadvice.com in order to get some questions answered quicker and because I'm sure they would like to see pictures and such. I'll update here whenever I feel like it, which should be at least every time I take measurements of any tank. Here's where all of my tanks stand so far:

20G Freshwater Planted Tank:
This tank is doing the best by far. I have an orange GloFish (Torpedo), 3 other zebra danios, a Paraguay tetra, 6 black neon tetras, 6 blue neon tetras, 8 ghost shrimp, an albino "bushy-nose" pleco (Herbert), at least two large (1") Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS) and possibly more that are still growing, and a fry that I accidentally got with the three latest ghost shrimp. I thought it would just be lunch for someone else in the tank, but it's starting to grow pretty large, large enough that I think it will survive. I think it's a female guppy, but it's kind of early to tell at this point. There is a piece of driftwood in the tank and I'm trying to get a java fern to root onto it. It's doing pretty well but it still needs some more time. There are also some anachris, ludwigia, and wisteria plants in the tank. The fact that all of these invertibrates and this fry are doing so well speaks of the stability of the tank -- it's been going almost two years now. Here's a picture of the setup:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/freshsetup01.jpg

Puffer Tank (10G):
The puffer tank is currently empty. I'm waiting on a figure-8 puffer to put in there, and I'm keeping the filter alive with some raw shrimp. I don't know how long it will be until I can get a hold of a figure-8 puffer, but hopefully it will be soon.

150G Saltwater Tank:
The last run of this tank didn't go so well. All of the fish suddenly started dying and I still don't know exactly why. I've spent the last month or so starting over, and last night I finally turned on the plumbing and put some raw shrimp into the tank to start a fishless cycle! The five damsels that made it from the last setup are in a 20G quarantine tank, which has almost finished cycling itself. They are doing very well. Here are some pictures:

Quarantine setup: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/quarantine.jpg
Magnum: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/05_bluestreak.jpg
Sarge: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/04_sarge.jpg
Butch: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/03_yellow_damsel.jpg
Ruckus: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/19_black_neon_damsel.jpg
Lemmy: http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/15_Lemmy.jpg

The display tank now has 250 lbs of rock in it. The rock is completely dead, since I had to be sure to kill whatever it was that was causing the last problem, but once that rock becomes live, it will be the filtration for this new tank. The wet-dry system is still there, but I removed the bio-balls and replaced it with rock rubble and filled the sump/refugium with more rock (it wouldn't all fit in the display tank). The refugium is now a 20G high tank, which along with the old sump/filter system gives about 30G total volume, which is where I wanted it to begin with. Hopefully in 6 weeks I'll have a stable enough tank, and I can put the damsels back in there along with a bunch of new fish. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fish I want but I have a pretty good idea. More pictures:

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newsetup01.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newsetup02.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newsetup03.jpg
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newrefugium.jpg

A picture of the first water put in the tank -- I'm using a Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionization (RO/DI) unit to purify the water, so it took a week to fill the tank up, but there is nothing but hydrogen and oxygen in this water, 0 ppm total dissolved solids, so I thought that was worth a picture.

http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/firstwater.jpg

That's all I got for now.

Adam's FLog