Fluorite Black

I've got the the planted aquarium substrate in place. The "special dirt" is now in it's home. I'm glad that I went and did about a bag and a half, it's given me a lot to work with. It doesn't look too deep as far as the tank is concerned, but there is plenty of room for root growth. The best part about having the extra depth is that I can shape the bottom and give it some life. A flat layer of gravel at the bottom of a tank is boring. When I look at my tank I don't want to see boring, so aquascaping is the way to go.



I actually added the substrate before the water, but since my camera was down I wasn't able to take pictures until after I had added the water. So for continuity's sake, I am posting the pictures of the finished substrate now. The strainer helped create an even sized substrate that looks quite nice. I am happy with the appearance of the results. I am excited to see what benefits the Flourite will bring to the growth of the plants that will be living in this aquarium.



One of the most exciting things for me is the rock while sitting on the gravel. It sits very securely and provides ledges around the corners. I have dug some of the gravel out from under these ledges and created a couple of small caves. It's a little difficult to see in pictures above and below this paragraph, but there are four areas of shelter created by the rock. This is wonderful, because a fish that has plenty of places to hide is much less likely to do so. The neatest cave is the one in the back right corner. It's so large that I can stick my four fingers into it all the way up to the knuckles. It definitely provides the most security, as the entrance to the cave is facing the black background.



I'm happy with my substrate choice up to this point. I read all sorts of warnings about the tank becoming forever cloudy if the substrate isn't rinsed well enough. I must have done a good job, because I haven't notice any cloudiness in the water even when I disturb the substrate. No problems here.

Water at Last

I've added water to the tank. It's about time. I've been slowly making changes to the tank for about 2 months now. I added dechlorinator to the water and let it reach room temperature before adding it to the tank. There really wasn't much of a reason to wait for the water to be the right temperature as there was nothing in the tank...but it seems to be a good habit.




I set up the two filters and ran them for a couple of days. I waited until I was confident that the bio media in the AquaClear 30 had established enough bacteria to maintain the cycled state when the smaller filter was removed.

Cycle Complete

The cycling of the rock is complete. I've been doing water tests on the rock in the bucket for the last couple of days. Recently the NH3 and NO2 have bottomed out and I have a rock and a small filter that are full of beneficial bacteria. I am going to move the rock and the whisper filter into the 10 gal tank soon. I plan on running the cycled filter and the uncycled AquaClear filter at the same time so that the power filter can get seeded with bacteria. More updates soon.

Rinsing the "Special Dirt"

So it's been awhile since I've posted. My camera has been out of batteries. Since photographs are such an important part of this blog, I decided to wait to post until I had a functional camera again.

In the time that my camera was down, I've made several changes in the tank. Most importantly I've added the substrate. I started about a week ago.When I opened up the first bag and caught a mouthful of dust. The entire bathroom went cloudy and I had to open a window to vent off all of the dust that accumulated. I realized that I had underestimated how dusty Fluorite really was. I knew that I had some work to do before I could put it into the tank.



I poured the bag into on of my 5 gal buckets. I filled the bucket full of water and sloshed the Flourite around in the water. Then I poured off all of the colored water into the spare bathtub that we have in the back of the house. I probably did this eight or nine times. Thats a least 40 gallons of water to rinse off most of the dust in the substrate. Then I took large handfuls of the gravel and rinsed them in a spaghetti strainer (for aquarium use only) for about a minute for each handful. The strainer let the smaller pieces of Flourite through and left me with nice even sized substrate.



This of course left a mess in the bathtub. A mess which I am yet to clean up. Oops.

Perfecto

I've made some little changes in my setup for my 10 gal tank, most notably I added a lid and an airpump. There isn't alot to say about each one so I'm going to talk about them mostly with pictures. Yay! pictures.



I added a top to the aquarium recently. I didn't have to go out and buy it, I already had it from when I used this 10 gal as a hospital tank. I pulled it out and got it cleaned up. It's a MarineLand Perfecto Glass Aquarium Canopy. I chose a glass top rather than a full hood. I don't like being limited in the amount of light I can put over my tank, so glass was the choice.



Unless I had a reason to not have a lid, I don't think I would do without one. The difference in evaporation loss is significant between having a lid and not. Besides, without a lid, I can't prevent jumpers. It works great. It's attractive and was very simple to setup and use. The plastic strip on the back is easy to custom cut to fit various aquarium equipment. Its also nicer to look at than an ugly black hood.



But the glass canopy wasn't the only thing that I added to the tank. I also hooked up an air-pump. I shopped around and chose a Hagen Elite 801 Air-pump. It was cheep. Only $8. I compared that to a $20 equivalent Tetra model. I chose the former, knowing if I wasn't satisfied then I could return it. I've heard lots of positive things about Hagen's products, so it was worth giving this one a shot.



I put a check valve into the airline and connected the airpump to a three way gang valve. I then split the air into two separate paths and led them with airline tubing holders into the bottom of the tank. I have air diffusers (airstones) at the end of each of the tubes. The third gang valve outlet is open just a little to bleed off extra pressure and help the air-pump last longer. For clarification, my CO2 system is bypassing the gang valve. The air-pump and CO2 systems operate independently of one another.



I guess I had more to say than I thought.
Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm still daydreaming about the possibilities.

Cycle the Rock

So with all of the solutions that I received for the $14 rock, I chose the ones that seemed the safest and simplest. I poured a pot of boiling water over and into the rock. This is to hopefully kill any dormant organic life remaining in the rock. Afterwards, I took the rock and put it in a 5 gal bucket. I put a Tetra Whisper In-Tank Filter in the bucket and attached it to a cheap air pump. I am going to cycle the rock in the bucket. The dead organic matter in the rock are going to decompose, providing an ammonia source. The rock is essentially going to fuel the cycling process. Here is what I've got.



I have been tracking the cycling process using my water test kit. Right now I have about 2 ppm NH4 and 1 ppm NO2. The cycling process has begun. Not all that exciting to watch, but at least it doesn't take any work. Nature takes care of it all. When I am done, I'll have a rock populated with a variety of beneficial bacteria ready to be placed in my tank. More updates soon.

Cat "fish"

I have a new catfish for my tank. She's young right now and will outgrow the tank in a few months. Check her out....



Actually, a couple of days ago, my dad and his girlfriend came home from dinner with a kitten. It had been abandoned in the restaurant parking lot. After about a day, it was fairly evident that she was going to stay. We have named her Luna and decided to keep her. She's about 8 weeks old and is possibly the most adorable thing on the planet.



She's too cute.