Hi all. Long time follower of aquarium coop, but haven’t had much to share. Over the past few months I have built a 40g breeder with a 20g long sump with a Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0 rated for 568 gph. I think I am getting around 360 gph on my return pump, I have it set up for two self-priming siphons drains, but am currently only running one 3/4” siphon at about 85%. I think. I built the cabinet from lumber but need to finish the trim figure out how to build a door.
the tank is cycled, I have been running it for almost 8 weeks. It ran for 3 weeks with no rock or fish, only filter media and some organic matter to spike the ammonia. I drained the main tank and just ran the sump for about ten days while I constructed the drain boxes, rock feature and planters. I filled it all back up, let the everything settle, and waited for nitrates to show up. Once I was testing for nitrates I added Fluval stratum to the designated plant areas. I also added 2 guppies to see if I could sustain life.
all has been good for two weeks, I changed 10 gal of water 5 days ago and am getting 0 ammonia, 3-5 ppm nitrates, 7.9 pH, and 77 f temp today. I have a a 24-36” fluval 3.0 plant that is running for 8 hours at about 40%. I think I am ready to start stocking.
I initially wanted to have a pair of apisto’s, celestial pearl danios (or harlequin rasboras) and a sterbi Cory or loach group of 7-10. I cannot find apisto’s locally, and have taken a liking to the yo-yo loach over the sterbi Cory.
I have added 2 valisnaria, one crypt of unknown specs, and several clumps Anubias nana petite hidden in cracks that are hard to take pictures of. I have one plant that I have no idea what it is, I think it was a hitchhiker, but looks like some sort of rhizome plant of unknown origin.
I wanted to introduce myself first and show my project. I have been fish keeping since I was a kid, kept mbuna cichlids in a 90g that was poorly planned and hard to maintain, but had some really neat fish with lots of personality, but they didn’t allow any plants. Most recently I have run a low tech planted 20 long for the last 18 months with guppies and cherry shrimp that donated the starter plants for the upgrade.
let me know what you think? Am I trying to do too much? Or is this a realistic project to continue?
