A newbie on a 2 ft tank

[j.c.koh]

@tetrakid,

ya one of my weakness is I tend to set to-do-list and deadlines on everything, if things turns out the way it should then great, if not I would start panicking and search for answers to make sure I make it on time.

as for the faunas it wont be anything expansive for now.

you are right about taking on too much at once, the stress and fatigue are slowly creeping in day by day.
a lot of research needs to be done as everything is new to me, adding more things lead to doing more research, more stress...

I'm gonna try to take it easy from now.

[simonyeeklang]

In the 1st place keeping a planted Aquarium is have beauty, experiences to learn but not to experiment on. 2nd when you have enough time and patience it will work. 3rd most people are ignorant just buy fish and dump in. (cont't)

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[simonyeeklang]

Once you have started you know you are the right track then don't do silly think ie buy this meds because lfs said so but take time and patiently read once those information is not contradictory then do it with smaller dosage at one step at a time. Not everyone know everything I for one don't like noisy tanks and dirty tanks but once it is setup don't be smart Alec and messy with it. Don't be lazy in changing water, cleaning filter, trimming, fert application,turn off the light once a while, check co2. And don't disturb it as well you never know what will pop in suddenly

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[simonyeeklang]

7 years 2 scales countless heart aches, many stupid mistakes, 4 air pumps, 1 hob filter, 1 china made filter, 30 bottles of meds, a bunch of air hose, a broken glass diffuser, 1 broken net,

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[tetrakid]

Actually fishkeeping is a journey in experience. It can be a splendid experience or a nightmare, depending on how one goes about it.

I often see enthusiasts bitten by the fish bug start spending a lot of money on a tank and countless accessories, chemicals and costly fish only to lose interest after the initial burst of enthusiasm when problems start to creep in. But make no mistake about it - such enthusiasm is healthy and desirable. It is only the methodology in going about it that is the cause of eventual loss of interest. Thus, starting on a proper footing is of utmost importance.

[simonyeeklang]

So understand this too an Aquarium is an under stress item. Don't push, don't drop treat like a very heavy item, broken glass, and shattered tank is no laughing matter, electrical shock can kill too, leaky tanks (please make the next owner will have working tank even if you dont rear anymore keep water in the tank ie silicon sealant can fail), when you cleaning the tank clean your hand before and after touching it you don't want to get sick or worse in hospital because of bacterial infection, skin disease etc. Keep the fish feed covered and out trouble ie pest like rats, lizard, insects,check for stone in the filter line both in and out, make sure water supply is covered and safe don't want something drop inside, keep a plastic sheets and plastic from lfs handy you never know when you want to give away or sell, use high pressure hose always for co2,check water circulation, do proper maintenance schedule, don't be distracted by other things while doing your cleanup, Maintainance etc because accident can and will happen, keep your meds and ferts separated and label properly,always check twice your dosage before application,feed sparingly, if you can change water after feeding (goldfish), before cleaning filter most of eheim pump should make gushing noise after a while showing it is full of gunk and needs cleaning ie time is about 1 month, once that happened you have cleaning to do make sure use tank water only to clean! Once cleaning is done please trim the water so that there is air molecule inside and if necessary shake the filter and don't drop it, once running check for leaks, rectify immediately,keep Teflon, white tape, silicon grease and sealant handy, your water supply also needs the necessary bacteria too.

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[simonyeeklang]

Don't mess around the filter if you don't understand it's workings

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[tetrakid]

Such valuable tips from shifu SimonYeeKlang is definitely beneficial to fishkeeping hobbyists.
Thank you for the tips.

[j.c.koh]

some updates,

green water is getting better but still around, on the bright side I'm not getting any nasty algae yet.
I cut down on my fertilizer dosage by 50%, once every 2 days. so far so good, plants not affected, water less green.

The problem I had with the floater salvinia cucullata is their leaves are very thick and narrow, lights were not able to pass through them causing the plants on the left side to suffer a bit. I got myself a few bunches of salvinia minima, discarding some of the salvinia cucullata bit by bit as the salvinia minima starts multiplying. now I'm left with salvinia minima.



the aim is to have it cover 20-25% but I going to remove it slowly as I don't wanna off set the balance with the sudden removal.


I intro the faunas a batch every 4 to 5 days to prevent any spike.
I picked the less popular green neon as the schooling fish, it's not as colorful as the cardinal or neon tetras but somehow the color appeals me more.



cant get a nicer picture as they always hide from me when I approach the tank.
I had 14 with me. 1 didn't make it during the second batch intro.
As soon as I intro them into the tank in the evening that 1 newcomer hided behind the rock refusing the school with the rest. I left it alone and next morning it's body's at the same spot..



for the cleaning crew I chose the otos fish, these are by far my favorite fish in the tank. great personalities and cute.



got 3 10 days ago, lost 1 yesterday.. quite strange as I'm sure they are well fed, think I have enough brown and some green algae in the tank, been eating Japanese cucumbers and other vegetables I added to the tank and the one dead seems to be the healthiest.


for shrimps I chose the red nose shrimp.



I had 5 of them with me. being through three 20% water change and still doing great.
for those who have shrimps i recommend adding a few of these to your collections.
the way they swim around are really entertaining and fun to watch.
the cons are due to their semi transparent body, locating them is like playing photohunt.




just did some minor trimming on the plants, don't dare to trim too much at one go.
the water below the floaters has a green hue, which is good because it means some lights are able to pass through.
when I'm using salvinia cucullata it's too shady like dark clouds on top.

I'm probably going to add some colored shrimps and stop at there. don't want it to get too crowded.

[schwip]

Yr MC carpet looks amazing!

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[j.c.koh]

@schwip,

Thanks,
it suddenly grew like crazy covering the front rock.

[schwip]

@schwip,

Thanks,
it suddenly grew like crazy covering the front rock.

How many weeks in did it do that? I'm still waiting for mine to get its spurt hahaha.

[j.c.koh]

@schwip,

I think me adding the chiller played a part in speeding up the grown a little. This picture and my last update was 20 days apart. After you mentioned I take a look back then realize difference so big.

[jackychun]

Yo bro JC! The tank looks great now! Well done!

The green neon looks nice also! Hard works paid off.


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[golfball]

Hi j.c.koh, Nicely done! I like your green neons. Where did you get them? I am starting looking out for fish now for my new tank.

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[j.c.koh]

@golfball,

Hi, I got 10 from aquatic avenue and 5 from y618.
Those from AA had brighter and thicker blue strips.
You can drop by there for a look before deciding which fish to choose, their selections not bad.

Good job on the mountain view scape btw, very nicely done.

[j.c.koh]

@jackychun,

Thanks bro!

[j.c.koh]

some updates,

I've been searching for months for the "perfect" shrimp to go into my tank.
it has to fit in all these criteria to be considered.

1. the color must be intense to add some flavor to the scape, like a ladybug on the carpet or something.

2. preferable to have 2-tone instead of a single color, something like the red crystal shrimp.

3. not demanding on the temperature and easy to care for.

4. does not cost me an arm and a leg.

after much looking I finally found the "perfect" shrimp.
The red rili shrimp.
I read it's basically cherry shrimp with a different color. the taiwanese breeders created them through selective breeding. so caring them should be easy.


the color is actually red and transparent but it gives you the illusion of a 2-tone color.
got mine at the green chapter, was looking for 8 pcs, but they are selling 1 for $2.50, 10 for $20. price of 8 and 10 are the same. end up bringing home 10.

Here's some of the gang,








and this is my favourite little boy, had me spent 10 mins luring him out from behind the tank filter at green chapter.



guess I'm done with stocking.

[schwip]

Lovely! Also you give me motivation to be patient and alow my tank to grow a bit before introducing my fauna hahaha.

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[golfball]

@golfball,

Hi, I got 10 from aquatic avenue and 5 from y618.
Those from AA had brighter and thicker blue strips.
You can drop by there for a look before deciding which fish to choose, their selections not bad.

Good job on the mountain view scape btw, very nicely done.

Thanks. Will check them out. Very nice shrimps you've got. And your MC is doing very well looking at from the close ups.

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