# James' Aqueon Evolve 8G - Start Date: 2/24/12 -



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

I'm breaking down my 5 gallon office tank and will be upgrading to a 8Gal Aqueon Evolve.

Can't wait until tomorrow, will have pictures then on this post as my first setup journal.

Here's the equipment so far:

Aquarium:
Aqueon Evolve 8G

Filter:
Stock Filter
(since i'm breaking down the previous tank, water and HoB filter will be placed into the new tank to keep the tank from cycling, this will be temporary for the next 2-3 weeks)

Lighting:
3x Fluval 13w CFL

Substrate:
- Layer 1 -
API - Pure Laterite
Osmocote Plus spread + DIY capsules

- Layer 2 -
20lbs bag of Black Eco-Complete Substrate

- Top Decor -
1x M Manzanita Driftwood
1x XS Malaysian Driftwood
Several Riverstones (white and rust colored, striped - don't know the real name for it)

Fauna:
[Not too sure if I should transfer the fish or trade it in with my LFS so I can get some other fish but here's what I have]

6x Flame Tetras (didn't want these, rather have rasboras)
1x Honey Gourami (Yellow + Red in color)
2x Otocinclus Affinis (Need 1 more)
2x Snail I cannot Identify

Flora:
Dwarf Sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata)
Ludwigia Repens X L. Arcuata (Ludwigia Repens X L. Arcuata)
Staurogyne Repen (Staurogyne Repen)
Cryptocoryne lutea (Cryptocoryne walkeri 'lutea')
Cryptocoryne Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
Cryptocoryne spiralis (Cryptocoryne spiralis )
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus)
Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri)
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)
Anubias minima (Anubias minima (Anubias minima))
Water Primrose (Ludwigia palustris)
Pogostemon Yatabeanus (Pogostemon Yatabeanus)
Limnophila sp. 'mini' (Limnophila sp 'mini')

Ferts and Dosing:
Osmocote Plus
Microblift Bloom & Grow Liquid Ferts
SeaChem Excel [paintball pressurized Co2 after I get my equipment] For now I think Excel will do nicely until I can get the tank more established.

==============================
-Pictures Of the Initial Start - 2-24-12 -
==============================
[Pictures Are Click-able]

Original 5Gallon Standard Aquarium









Fitting The manzanita wood in the aquarium - Very lucky it fit, I estimated the size without the aquarium present to test









Added Laterite and Osmocote Plus and Propagated Java Fern and Anubias nana (I think i killed this one)









Added Osmocote Plus DIY Gelcaps









Added Eco-Complete Substrate









Shaped the Substrate a bit









Propagated Plants, Filled with Water and added "EasyLife EasyStart" bacteria booster
Also Installed 3x Fluval 13watt Lights on a 12 hour timer -- will knock it down within 1-2 days to 8 hour sessions









Lights off:









Tank Cleared up a bit for more pics:




























Was greedy, went to LFS (Dolphin Pet Village) and picked up 6x Ember Tetras:









Final Setup w/the Ember Tetras, and added a whole large bottle of Tetra Safe Start:









Let me know what you think of the setup.


----------



## Pooky125 (Jul 30, 2002)

I'm curious to see how this turns out. Looking at that very long list of plant species, and comparing it to my tank, I've gotta ask. Will you be able to get more then one stem or plant of each in there?


----------



## xjasminex (Jul 26, 2011)

Yea, im wondering the same, with my own you have a limited amount of space... good luck to you!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

*Day 2 - 2-25-12*

I'm glad to walk into my office Saturday mid-day and find all the water cleared up and the tank crystal clear.
There are some white residue that is sitting on the plants that I would like to know what it is. [Will have pictures of it below]
I ended up giving plenty of plants away, only ones that I had multiple of - got a discount for my ember tetras

Video of the Tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0BqIf2rxuc

Video of Feeding the Fish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJb-B3Dbzo

Left Side









Center









Right Side









Center w/o Lights in the shot

















Back Right Stem Plants and Java Fern - [If anyone can ID the one that has a narrow leaf and also one that looks like mint that would be great]









Staurogyne Repens








[You can see there are some white residue that sits on these leaves, not sure why, but it's all over the aquarium.]









Crypts, Dwarf Swords, and a Dwarf Sag









Full Desk Picture from a distance









Tell me what you guys think. I'm fairly proud of this tank, just because it's the first time I've taken the tank to do all this.


----------



## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

cool little tank!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

Got my Pressurized Co2 Kit:

Pics of it installed -- My Hands now are in pain and the skins on my fingers are raw, but glad there's no leaks (tested).

The ASA on/off valve got scratched up but that was my fault -- besides that, I was totally stoked when the co2 went through the glass diffuser, I don't have a check valve yet but i plan to get one.

The paintball canister is a 20oz canister, I'm happy with it.

View of the gauge:









View of the needle valve:


----------



## depech (Dec 6, 2011)

Good job James. Would love to see it in person one day


----------



## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Your tank looks good. I like the three light fixtures. Nice fish.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

depech said:


> Good job James. Would love to see it in person one day


Thanks, heh if I take it home i'll let you take a look at it.



GMYukonon24s said:


> Your tank looks good. I like the three light fixtures. Nice fish.


Thank you for the compliment =) I got the idea of these 3 fixtures from another person in this forum. Credit goes to him!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

*Day 7*

There has been some changes to the aquarium.

1 - I ripped the java moss out since it was somehow browning out. I don't know why it would be browning out, could it be light? ferts? co2? no clue, but it's gone now.

2 - I am absolutely amazed at how fast these things are growing. These pictures are just 1 week old. I have seen my Ludwigia Repens X L. Arcuata Grow so fast I have to cut them soon (once they reach the top of the aquarium). All my plants have been growing and pearling since i've introduced pressurized Co2. Very very satisfied.

I've been upping the dose of this fert to 1 1/2 capfuls per day almost 2 capfuls:
http://www.microbelift.com/products...-aqaurium-products/bloom-and-grow-all-in-one/

3 - quite happy with the outcome, I will be obtaining some flame moss to propagate these bare limbs, the anubias nana's are not bouncing back as fast as I would like them to, but that's to be expected. I'm waiting for them to come back, they are not all out yet but they are fading for the time being.
================
Here are the pictures
================
LEFT: (the tall crypt have grown at least 1-2 inches in height since)









MIDDLE: Very happy with the 1 week milestone results
An addition to the tank -- Here's a picture of Gordon, my aquarium guardian.









RIGHT: You can really see the progress of the Ludwigia repens here, along with the L. Repens x L. Arcuata









My Staurogyne Repens have been strong, roots are forming quickly









A shot of the crypts









Close up of the L repens and some other plants (forgot the name)









Dwarf Sagg recovered as well as some of the baby java ferns with amazon dwarf swords









Another Full Shot as a summary:


























As a comparison
[Day 2]









[Day 7]









Best Complement I got today was a colleague dropped by and his jaw dropped and said "That is one sick looking setup!!!"

Made me proud of spending 6-7 hours the week before setting this up.

Let me know what you guys think. Critiques are always welcome.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 10]
Over the weekend, I adjusted the Co2 output a bit more. This ended up gassing all the fish

All except Mr. Honey Gourami.

water changed done (30%) dumped some more bacteria booster in to even out the load, will dump in a bottle of Tetra safe start, and put in some more fish, will be testing different fish at this point. I will still be using tetras, but will be looking for some schooling fish and otocinclus' again.

15% water change afternoon
added 6 harlequin rasboras and 3 ember tetras and 1 nerite snail

dosed large bottle of tetra safe start and 1/2 bottle of easylife easystart
agitating water surface aggressively -- adding only excel for 1 week, will start Co2 injection week after.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 11]
Water was still cloudy, constantly stirring up stuff so the filter can catch it and it won't stay in the tank. New fishes acclimated well -- took the food when I fed them willingly and easily.

Counting down until I can add more fish, there's a bit of an algae issue now since the fish death. Ludwigia Repens X L. Arcuata took well, had to prune them a bit, planted the new stocks somewhere else. Tank is filling in nicely for plants, but still waiting for the aquarium to stop it's cloudiness.

I need 2 otos =)


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 12]
Tank is clearing up nicely, need to vacuum some more and push the debris into the water column.

added 3 otocinclus to clean up the algae growth in the tank, the snails are not doing the job.

no more new stock for the time being

6x Harlequin Rasboras
3x Embers
3x Otocinclus Afinis
1x Honey Gourami
1x Nerite Snail

Got my Flame Moss and propagated it today, but I need to propagate the rest of it.
Got some floating plants in, not what I was expecting, probably going to end up tossing the bag.


----------



## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Word of advice... probably not a good idea to put fish like tetras in if your tank isnt cycled and you have to rely on safe start . 
And I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but those are not ember tetras, they are flame tetras I believe.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

kwheeler91 said:


> Word of advice... probably not a good idea to put fish like tetras in if your tank isnt cycled and you have to rely on safe start .
> And I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but those are not ember tetras, they are flame tetras I believe.


I know what I got in the aquarium. It's embers. I don't have and updated pictures. Tank is cycled already. Please go through the posts carefully.

I had 6 von rios(flames) and 6 embers. I don't have flames anymore. Fish didn't die due to any cycling issues. I gassed them on accident.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk


----------



## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

I see the embers now that look back through. those von rios must have outshined them right outta sight


----------



## dewalltheway (Jan 19, 2005)

Looks great!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

kwheeler91 said:


> I see the embers now that look back through. those von rios must have outshined them right outta sight


Thank you for posting, and appreciate all the concerns too. All aquarists gotta look out for each other.

Von Rios definitely outshined the embers, problem with the von rios is that they are not shoaling fish, they like to keep to their own territories when they are not in fear anymore. Plus they don't show their colors until they are comfortable.

Very peckish fish. embers are a bit more of a beta fish, they apply their personalities to other fish that are more dominant in the tank. [at least that's from what i've observed]

aquarium is on day 13, doing A-ok, still a lot of diatom in the tank and I still need to get a turkey baster so that I can get some of the debris into the water column so I can siphon it out of the tank.

All the fish are surviving and i'm just not happy about the algae, diatoms right now -- all due to the gassing. I think there are still some dead fishes in the sump, will most likely clean that out later today.

I'll update on Friday with pictures with the status.

Also my Co2 O-ring broke, need to get a new one.
Been Double dosing the tank with excel hoping to get rid of the diatoms and algae quick.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

dewalltheway said:


> Looks great!


Thank You for the comments =)


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

*Big Day [Day 14]*

So with the previous losses, I've regained some of my aquarium's composure.
It's kind of gone back to normal. As my previous post has mentioned, I've replaced the dead stock from being gassed, stopped Co2 for a week.

I've also gotten my O-Ring replaced on the Co2 20oz canister. I'm back in business.

I will begin my Co2 Regimen on Monday [Day 17]

Current Live Stock [repeat]:
6x Harlequin Rasboras
3x Ember Tetras (going to add 2 more)
3x Otocinclus Afinis
1x Honey Gourami
1x Nerite Snail
1x Unknown Snail

Here are pictures:
[Day 9 - End of the day]
Very milky because I've just redosed the tank with tetra safestart and easystart easylife bacteria booster









[Day 14 Photos]


















Bunch of Diatoms on my leaves as well as algae.
-+=It's Everywhere=+-
[It was twice as bad day 1 of the gassing]









Plants are recovering well









Left









I got some floaters as well as new Flame Moss


















Recovery Pictures













































Gordon (Fisherman) is back on top, guarding the aquarium again


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 18]

Trimmed the overgrowth on the right hand side of the aquarium away and replaced. You will be able to tell, this is now becoming a big mess, but I love this mess because I've never had so much success in planting in my life!

I'm on a high right with plant growth.

Flame moss was great, Threw away 98% of the frog bit that I bought from another rep on this forum, they were not in great condition. The Ones I did keep Overgrew in a weekend in the aquarium and I had to give it up to the LFS instead of tossing them.

I've kept 1-2 sprouts which will grow in the tank, now that they are acclimated.

I've began double dosing of ferts and a new bubble counter from my Co2 tank is helping me keep my eye on Co2 generation. I got my O-ring replaced from my Paintball canister and the Co2 is back online. I've not upped the Co2 yet, it's 1 bubble every 3-4 seconds.

Happy with my turnout right now.

Will have pictures of the trimming and trimming process tonight. I'll also have new pics from my Canon SD1000, trying out some manual photography.

Looking into buying a Canon S95 for the aquarium as well as the upcoming fanime convention.
==========
New Pictures
==========
Trimmings

















Left Overs

















Beginning of replanting

















Staurogyne Repens are Turning out well -- had to remove 2 stones for more room at the front for a carpet

















Finished Replanting

































New Pictures using my SD1000


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 20]
Don't know why, but most of the rasboras are swimming against the water current. Ahh well -- don't know if fish do that often, but it kind of bothers me a bit.

Co2 dosage is back in order 1 bubble ever 2 seconds still

all the plants are beginning to pearl more often, so that's a good sign -- I saw a bunch of pearling against my moss yesterday.

Everything in the aquarium is growing well.

Anxiously waiting for my new S100 camera so that I can take some nice closeup pictures.


----------



## Pooky125 (Jul 30, 2002)

I've never had a rasbora that didn't love swimming into a strong current. Or a weak one, for that matter. I wouldn't worry about it.

Looks like it's growing in nice. Wondering how quickly those swords are going to outgrow that little spot.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

Pooky125 said:


> I've never had a rasbora that didn't love swimming into a strong current. Or a weak one, for that matter. I wouldn't worry about it.
> 
> Looks like it's growing in nice. Wondering how quickly those swords are going to outgrow that little spot.


Those, luckily are Dwarf swords. They'll never get too big. Thank you for looking. =)


Your tank is coming along well too.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk


----------



## Pooky125 (Jul 30, 2002)

jamesyu said:


> Those, luckily are Dwarf swords. They'll never get too big. Thank you for looking. =)
> 
> 
> Your tank is coming along well too.
> Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk


Ahh, lucky indeed!

Thanks! I should take new pictures this weekend. Getting some interesting Bolbitus growth. Might be worth documenting.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

Pooky125 said:


> Ahh, lucky indeed!
> 
> Thanks! I should take new pictures this weekend. Getting some interesting Bolbitus growth. Might be worth documenting.


I can't wait to see the growth =D i'm very happy with mine.
I'm going to experiment with the Bayco 7000k lights, and i'm getting some 10000k lights from ahsupplies.com this coming week.

Going to swap out bulbs to see how they look.

on another side of the news, I got a new camera and am VERY happy with my first manual results -- i'm sure i'll have to fine tune the camera some more to get it to where I want, but i'm really happy about it.

Posting pictures on my next post!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

- Update -
[Day 22]

The aquarium is doing great, had to adjust Co2 output today to match 1 bubble per second or 1 bubble per 2-3 seconds.

I got my new Canon S100 and am VERY happy with it!!! :biggrin:

Here are some shots with it:

-+=Shot info=+-
Canon PowerShot S100
F-stop - f/5
Exposure Time - 1/25th Sec.
ISO - 800
Focal Length - 5mm
Max Aperture- 2
Resolution - 180 x 180dpi
Dimensions - 3000 x 4000 (didn't do wide screen shot yet)
Bit Depth - 24

Let me know what you guys think! 
The growth in this aquarium has been amazing. I have weekly trimmings and replants. I've gotten rid of some of my old plants (ie java fern + java moss)


----------



## Pooky125 (Jul 30, 2002)

It's growing in really lovely. I think I recall you saying this aquarium is in your office building? Probably no way to turn off the overhead lighting then? Or is it? Hard to tell with THAT much lighting going on. Hah! Eitherway, your shots are improving. My only thought on it, is they seem a bit over exposed and washed out. I would try upping the shutter speed a step or two, or, if you aren't running in full manual yet, adjust your EV down a couple notches. -.7 or -1.0 maybe? Maybe a touch more. That should darken up your pictures a bit, and give everything a little bolder color. At least on the full tank shots. The visible lighting tends to mess with a cameras sensors and wash it all out a bit. I also found removing the cover helped as well.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

Pooky125 said:


> It's growing in really lovely. I think I recall you saying this aquarium is in your office building? Probably no way to turn off the overhead lighting then? Or is it? Hard to tell with THAT much lighting going on. Hah! Eitherway, your shots are improving. My only thought on it, is they seem a bit over exposed and washed out. I would try upping the shutter speed a step or two, or, if you aren't running in full manual yet, adjust your EV down a couple notches. -.7 or -1.0 maybe? Maybe a touch more. That should darken up your pictures a bit, and give everything a little bolder color. At least on the full tank shots. The visible lighting tends to mess with a cameras sensors and wash it all out a bit. I also found removing the cover helped as well.


Thanks for the critique, the overhead lighting goes out around 8PM, it's not as bad, ambient light is okay, I cover the aquarium when I can for total darkness.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 28]
(Friday's update)

I bought some replacement 13watt CFL bulbs and they look great from AHsupply.com.

I have 10000k's and 6700k's I also bought some Bayco's 7000k 13watt CFLs.

I've had to sacrifice 2 of my 6400k bulbs from fluval before it's time, but I wanted the 10000k as soon as I can since they usually have a better color for my eyes to look at.

Tomorrow I'll have pictures up of the 2x 10000k CFL's and 1x 6400k CFL from fluval hagen.

The setup will look like this:
[T T T]
10000k 6400k 10000k

I hope the light setup will look nicer than just 6400k all across. I'm also hoping that the difference in color will help with fish and plant colors.

Steps that I took to replace the lamps for DIY setup.

1 - Buy a Fluval PCL13 lamp 13watt 6400k CFL
2 - unscrew the lamp and bend the socket down or up to break open the seal
3 - use a very small (precision tool) flathead screw driver to seperate the seal from the plastic collar from where you bent down the socket to break the seal.
4 - once you've gone around a full circle(you've bent the metal shielding away from the palstic collar) you can then break the lamp (make sure you're outside so you don't breathe the fumes in).
5 - once you do, continue to break the black seal by pushing through (you may need to clear up the broken glass or what's left over of the bulb/seal
6 - When the seal/socket/bulb has been completely removed - you'll be left with a collar
7 - you can insert a 13watt bulb into the collar and it should plug right into the fluval lamp, but you will need to use a dremel to shave off the tabs that don't fit properly.
8 - you can rescrew the collar back in and it should be snug against the lamp, there may be some give but that can be fixed by using some padding, though I would not recommend it due to the heat produced by the lamp.

Total time to modify the fluval lamp to fit any 2pin 13watt - GX23 light bulb 20 minutes for 2 lamps.

you can go to Walmart to buy bayco 7000k 13watt PCL for 2.58 cents. This will be a nice lamp to keep for future nano tanks. I might now buy more lamps so I can just have these setup for small nano's.

will have pics with lights and how the 10000k looks against the 6400k tomorrow.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 28]

Here are some pictures of the Modifications, lights make the tank look a bit more bluish, but that was what I was going for. Nice mix of lighting.

Bulbs I bought before modification:









How the bulbs look against the 6400k (10000k)


















How the light is affecting the colors in the aquarium, fish are more pronounced now









Color differences









Top down shot










Misc Images:


----------



## n8_crizzle (Jun 24, 2009)

I definitely like the lighting change...I have one 10k and 6.5k in my light, I love the blue that it puts in the tank. your take is looking great.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

n8_crizzle said:


> I definitely like the lighting change...I have one 10k and 6.5k in my light, I love the blue that it puts in the tank. your take is looking great.


Hey, thanks for the comment. I'm really happy that it turned out the way it did. The light change was a good idea, just sad I had to sacrifice the original light.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk


----------



## Miles03 (Feb 24, 2012)

Looking good, that's some crazy growth...Any updates


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 31]
New Image Updates today -- mostly to test out my new camera.

Here's the Stats for the picture:
F-stop f/2
Exposure Time: 1/125 - 1/120
ISO: 400

White Balance: 1/2 was Tungsten (forgot the swap to Florescent) Other half was Florescent High

White Balance Tungsten:

































































White Balance Florescent:


































































































































































Just Images from the camera -- Gallery is here:
http://postimage.org/gallery/12s7gyfo/448df446/

Growth is going crazy today.


----------



## Hibiscus042 (Mar 29, 2012)

Hey there, 

Saw your journal when searching for fellow Aqueon Evolve 8 users. I'm trying to do a similar planted tank but I'm having a hell of a time with the filter output disrupting everything from plants to substrate. I notice you have nice water cover with floating plants but from what I can tell even on the lowest setting my output is pushing them all into the corner. Did you modify the flow in any way or did I just get an exceptionally strong output?


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

The flow of the pump is pointed towards the glass and up. I then lowered the flow to about 70% of max rate. I don't see any issues with my flow at all. I have floaters which deflect most of the water movement when it gets to the front of the tank. I also wanted to add, it helps to have moss attach to the trees, it actually helps them stay put =)



Hibiscus042 said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Saw your journal when searching for fellow Aqueon Evolve 8 users. I'm trying to do a similar planted tank but I'm having a hell of a time with the filter output disrupting everything from plants to substrate. I notice you have nice water cover with floating plants but from what I can tell even on the lowest setting my output is pushing them all into the corner. Did you modify the flow in any way or did I just get an exceptionally strong output?




Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

[Day 38]
Came to work today and found 1 Oto dead, not eaten or broken up, so I suspect he died last night in the office. Most likely through starvation. The other 2 oto's were happy and eating, they ate well too stomachs so full -- must be great with algae lying around.

over the weekend though my dwarf sagg began to grow and is invading the space with my Staurogyne Repens, and so was my chain swords in the back. I also got another bloom of frog bits that I need to get rid of so i'll probably be ROAKing them.










Frog Bits:









You can see the invasion from the left and the back:


----------



## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Looks like you will be needing a larger tank soon 

great work on your evolve!


----------



## Jeromeit (Sep 30, 2011)

looks like the plants i sent ya are doing well!


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

Jeromeit said:


> looks like the plants i sent ya are doing well!


Yeah, they took off pretty well -- they are growing taller now, I need to mow them down and toss the problem leaves away. know of a good way to just chop them up or it won't matter? If I do chop them up will they be that damaged or will the ones that are rooted be sufficient in keeping the whole plant alive?

I've never done carpets so i'm a bit afraid =)


----------



## Jeromeit (Sep 30, 2011)

dont be afraid just chop away =]


----------



## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Those floaters are dwarf water lettuce, I think you said the frogbits I sent melted :/

I have tons of ludwigia repens, and currently propagating some limnophila aromatica and ludwigia glandulosa if you ever want a few color stems in the back.

If you ever get sick of fish you should convert to shrimp, less upkeep and higher survival rate, I only have 4 CPDs in my 9g now, none in the 6 or 5g, a little too unstable.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

New news, no more aqueon, moved it over to an eheim 10 gallon aquastyle.

I'm going to get rid of some rotala today since most of them melted, going to buy a new set to put into the tank. Also going to get some more plants to fully plant out the aquarium.

Going to re-arrange some things today, hopefully I won't make a mess, been a while since i updated this.

here's the current picture:









Will have follow ups once I get more greenage into the aquarium. Buying some today since i'm re-filling my co2 cannister and getting some more tubing to split the lines off.

[Note for journal] Betta died, huge spike in either ammonia or nitrites. Water kind of stinks and I had a 20% water change last night


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

New Entry -- Water appears to be good in the 6gal aquarium. 0 ammonia /0 nitrites/ 0 nitrates from the water test.

I think there might be some false positives in the 10 gallon though. Because ammonia read off the charts, went from yellow, to green, to extremely dark blue from the FW master test kit from API -- on the 6 gallon was yellow as the sun.

As far as the 10 gallon, ammonia is off the charts, nitrites are about .5ppm and nitrates are untested. though new inhabitants survived the day (I figured with that high of ammonia, dropping them in would have been fatal, but tested and no issues so far. Added some more bacteria booster (easy life/easy start) and added some further water conditioning to help for the time being. No changes in behavior.

In the 6 gallon, had 3 badis badis die and my split fin betta die =/. Those are hard to kill.... not sure what happened but tests didn't tell me squat. Got a fem and male feather fin/thread fin rainbow in the 6 gallon as a pair. Looking to add maybe 2-3 more fish in that tank including pygmy cories to clean up the fallen food.

10 gallon now houses, 3 nerite snails (variety), 1 yellow honey gourami, 6 ember tetras
6 gallon now houses, 2 feather fin paired (hopefully to easily breed), 2 nerite snails

looking to put 1 MTS in each aquarium and wait for them to run rampant
looking to also put maybe 2-3 cories in each tank in the future (after it further establishes) to eat up all the left over food. Right now I'm feeding every 2 days to keep it light.

Plants are starting to take off. I'm having 2 more fluval lights to come in so I'll need to make more modifications and more sacrifices with the lamps. 

10 Gallon will house 3 fluval perch lights 13watt in this fashion 10,000k - 6,700k - 10,000k

6 Gallon will house 2 fluval perch lights (replacing the current LED lights that are on the aquastyle now) 10,000k and 6,700k stock light.

Need to also find an alternative to the filter because to be honest, I hate internal filters and I think it's a big fault of fluval to use an internal filter.

Anyone got any ideas on what type of filter I can upgrade to with these aquariums? I would like a HOB, but will be sufficient and won't take too much room since the perch lights will be there. I'm thinking aquaclear, but not sure if that's a great idea.


----------



## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

New update -- using some aqueon filters in both my 6 and 10 -- changing the filters over to zoomed 501's and purchased 3 sets of lily pipes.

Fish are healthy

10 gal aquastyle
- 8 cardinals
- 1 honey grouami *yellow"
- 2+1 Pygmy Grouami (replacing 1, 1 died -- no idea why)
- 3 otocinclus (praying they last in this tank)

6 gal aquastyle
- 5 threadfins (2 fem 3 male)
- 4 sparkling gourami


This will be fun -- here's a current set of pictures:


----------

