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Journey of my fish Tank, it is long story just killing some time.
Warning long story and probably typos :)
Well since I have some time to kill, I guess I will write my journey that started 3 months ago, on getting back into the hobby but with more research and age.
First of all I got the tank on craiglist and it was tank and stand, 55 Gal why? not sure I just said it is big enough after having only 20gal and goldfish and no knowledge of testing water, I decided to give it a try. Before my fish didn't last and I gave up probably 20 years ago becasue of that.
So first I set the 55, and went and got me ofcourse tinted gravel why? whynot since I do not know anything and even I was not sure what I was going to get, but when I was getting the gravel I saw this African Cichlids tank (not looking healthy) since it was from one of those big stores, but I said I want those fish but first thing let me get the blue gravel ( I regret it now since I have an mbuna tank and sand would it be better but already spent the money).
I went ant set the tank fill it up and read about cycling and I got into fishless cycle so I did the drill for 6 weeks , tic toc tic toc, I almost went nuts but well why not I want to have healthy fish and not commit murder with fish cycling ;-).
meanwhile I was cycling i read about mbuna and i got me some terracota flowering pots, for caves but then later I regret it and got me some rock, and plants.
Now I have the fish and I have not lost any, 4 Yellow Lab, 3 Hongi, 4 Kenyi ( I know they might become a problem but will see), and 3 synos and one pleco.
So yes probably full bio load and ofcourse now my nitrates are climbing but I have to much gravel almost 4 inches, what!!! why? not sure, again I'm noobie, so I removed most of it, keep in mind this has been probably in the last month. Also my fish like the plants, :) yes, I know cichlids and plants sometimes do not mix ;-).
Still not happy , I want plants, my nitrates still high and what to do ( do you sense some sort of addiction now ;-) ). Well I started reading about de-nitrates too expensive, nitrate reducer media well that will only mask the problem, so why not!!! let me increment the gallons of my 55 with what? with a sump, and I ended up now with a refugium and moved some of my old gravel and mix it with subtrate for plants, and put also some shells as a buffer, and ofcourse all my plants, and DIY CO2 system.
I guess I had a lot of time to Kill writing this, but one thing for sure I really love the hobby and I missed it for 20 years, at least it keeps me calm and the best thign is since I work from home I can sit next to the tank the whole day and tweak it more (I really think i need to join Aquarist Anonymous soon), I know I only have this two tanks now but it seems like 10 well on my own reality.
Still I need to learn about aquascaping and making my tanks look nice but for now I feel happy and the fish seem like it too, there is always something new to learn on this hobby. Here is a pic of what I have, and I hope one of this days I will replace the gravel for sand.
Well since I have some time to kill, I guess I will write my journey that started 3 months ago, on getting back into the hobby but with more research and age.
First of all I got the tank on craiglist and it was tank and stand, 55 Gal why? not sure I just said it is big enough after having only 20gal and goldfish and no knowledge of testing water, I decided to give it a try. Before my fish didn't last and I gave up probably 20 years ago becasue of that.
So first I set the 55, and went and got me ofcourse tinted gravel why? whynot since I do not know anything and even I was not sure what I was going to get, but when I was getting the gravel I saw this African Cichlids tank (not looking healthy) since it was from one of those big stores, but I said I want those fish but first thing let me get the blue gravel ( I regret it now since I have an mbuna tank and sand would it be better but already spent the money).
I went ant set the tank fill it up and read about cycling and I got into fishless cycle so I did the drill for 6 weeks , tic toc tic toc, I almost went nuts but well why not I want to have healthy fish and not commit murder with fish cycling ;-).
meanwhile I was cycling i read about mbuna and i got me some terracota flowering pots, for caves but then later I regret it and got me some rock, and plants.
Now I have the fish and I have not lost any, 4 Yellow Lab, 3 Hongi, 4 Kenyi ( I know they might become a problem but will see), and 3 synos and one pleco.
So yes probably full bio load and ofcourse now my nitrates are climbing but I have to much gravel almost 4 inches, what!!! why? not sure, again I'm noobie, so I removed most of it, keep in mind this has been probably in the last month. Also my fish like the plants, :) yes, I know cichlids and plants sometimes do not mix ;-).
Still not happy , I want plants, my nitrates still high and what to do ( do you sense some sort of addiction now ;-) ). Well I started reading about de-nitrates too expensive, nitrate reducer media well that will only mask the problem, so why not!!! let me increment the gallons of my 55 with what? with a sump, and I ended up now with a refugium and moved some of my old gravel and mix it with subtrate for plants, and put also some shells as a buffer, and ofcourse all my plants, and DIY CO2 system.
I guess I had a lot of time to Kill writing this, but one thing for sure I really love the hobby and I missed it for 20 years, at least it keeps me calm and the best thign is since I work from home I can sit next to the tank the whole day and tweak it more (I really think i need to join Aquarist Anonymous soon), I know I only have this two tanks now but it seems like 10 well on my own reality.
Still I need to learn about aquascaping and making my tanks look nice but for now I feel happy and the fish seem like it too, there is always something new to learn on this hobby. Here is a pic of what I have, and I hope one of this days I will replace the gravel for sand.
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