LaurieinIA

@BBQRacer no problem!

Check out this thread, it may help. I have my eye on an item or two

@lefty o thanks! Of course, the USPS is the wild card here 🙄 I’d rather have them sit at home for a few hours than potentially sit at my workplace all weekend. I’m ordering now 😊

I’m in NW Iowa and and setting up my first planted aquarium. If I order live plants today, when can I “expect” them to arrive? I work 30 miles from home, so they’d potentially sit outside for 4-6 hours if delivered during the week. I’m afraid if I ship to my office, they will arrive on a Saturday when no one is here. Will they be OK outside in these temps or should I make alternate arrangements?

@Isaac M thank you! I didn’t know about the option to “filter by placement” so I’ll try that. The photos are amazing and your tanks are beautiful. I really like the 10 gal with the vallisneria and dwarf sag. I like the simplicity. However, I also really like this plant from your 55. Is that the red tiger lotus? Thinking it could be a cool centerpiece with the Val and sag, or no?

@Isaac M That does help! Just having an idea plant numbers and of what to place from front to back is helpful. New plants look so little and not knowing how big they get in reality makes it hard for me to know how many to get. Thank you! @Patrick_G I’ll search using “aquascape design plan” and see what I find. I was striking out using the search terms I tried. Thanks for the advice!

@lefty o so many choices is right! I think that’s why I’m a bit overwhelmed and undecided. I’ve seen so many amazing setups, both via this forum and youtube, but I know I can’t do it all. I’m considering ordering one of each of Cory’s Top 5 Easy Aquarium plants (https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/top-5-easy-aquarium-plants?_pos=1&_sid=ee00e6814&_ss=r) or the ones on his Top 10 Easy Aquarium Plants for Beginners (https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/easy-aquarium-plants?_pos=4&_sid=ee00e6814&_ss=r) I know some/most will spread, but reality tells me I might kill a few, too. Five plants doesn’t seem like enough, but is 10 too many? So many options 🤯

I’m in the process of setting up my first planted aquarium. The plan is have either a single species of tetras or a bunch of similar sized tetras in different colors. Maybe flame tetras, lemon tetras, or Columbia blue tetras as examples. The tank is appx 40 gal and is 20w x 18d x 25 tall. So not a large footprint, but I have height. I’m a visual person and, as I’ve never done plants before, I’m having a hard time deciding on what plants to order and where to put them when they arrive. Is there such a thing as a “blueprint” that I could look at examples and the just follow the “recipe”?

I’m hoping it’s temporary. Thanks for your opinion!

@KaitieG here’s the results. To my eye, the test strips show lower results than the API liquid test. I’m reading the tap strip as under 20. The aquarium strip as 20-40. On the liquid tests, I see 10-20 and 40-80? I wish there was an affordable way to just get an actual number instead of comparing colors

That would make sense! I’m in rural NW Iowa. On City water, but they have to get it somewhere...

Thanks for the reply! I understand that my tap water will never cut the nitrates as far down as RO water did for exactly the reason you mention. However, either due to the change in my testing method and/or a change in the water itself, the nitrate out of the tap seems higher than originally accounted for. Per the photos of my tetra test strips (above in this thread) nitrates from the tap were reading well under 20 - at least to my eye. If they were 20ish like I feel the API liquid test is giving me, I might have re-thought my decision to add this third tank and switch to tap water. Maybe not? I kind love my fish 😊 But, buying/hauling water for a 75, a 40, and a 5 will get old fast. I have used treated tap water in my 5 in the past with no noticeable changes. That’s what makes me wonder what changed at the source... will it come back down and when? The 40 is empty right now, but will soon be a planted community tank so I’m sure that I can get away with tap water there. I think I might have a few of those tetra strips left. I’m going to check the tap with those again tonight just to see how it compares.

Update and a bit frustrated... On April 3, I set up my new 75 gal African Cichlid aquarium and changed to using tap water instead of buying/hauling RO water from my LFS store 30 miles away. My pH is great (8-8.2) without buffer. Ammonia and nitrites at 0. Unfortunately, I’m battling nitrates. I can’t seem to get them under 40. Per past posts (above) I did check my tap water prior to making this decision. Nitrates were under 20 according to the tetra strips I had. I was also using the Fluval liquid test, which indicated the same. I have added Matrix as well as another Nitrate reducing pad to my other media. I’ve been doing 25-30% water changes about every 3 days, using Prime to treat the water. I have also changed to using the API liquid test because I was having trouble reading the colors on the Fluval one (it was running out, too) and it indicate nitrates from the tap to be closer to 20. I don’t over feed... I actually cut back from what I was feeding these same fish in their previous 40 gal home, so I’m confident that isn’t the issue. I’ve been considering adding live plants, but that will take a bit to establish and with Cichlids, might no go well anyway. I really don’t want to keep doing water changes every 3 days forever... not when I was doing them every 10-14 days before. Were my previous testing results (Fluval liquid and/or tetra strips) just that far off? Will the Matrix, media pad, etc eventually help? Do I need to switch back to buying/hauling RO water?

I’m newish to fishkeeping... but wouldn't Matrix usually be used to LOWER nitrates, not increase them? Or am I misunderstanding?

Glad I could help! I know using Cycle might not have been 100% necessary, but I felt it was the right move for me. I dosed per the bottle for the first 3 days along with following the “fish in” guidelines for dosing Prime and doing water changes from that blog post. It took the guesswork out of it for me and I feel it was less stressful for me and my fish.

I transferred/upgraded my African cichlids to a new 75 last weekend. I agree with everything above... just do it all at once using your basic plan of putting the fish/ plants in tubs while you’re working. It took about 3-4 hours from when I started to having it all cleaned up. I transferred all water, substrate, decor, etc. My water was still a little cloudy when I dropped the fish in, but within 2 hours it had cleared. Transferring everything you can with BB on it from your old tank should be enough to get the new one going. That being said, I personally still felt like I was doing a “fish in” cycle, but with a head start due to the existing BB. It has been 8 days and I am confident that I have fully cycled new tank. I chose to use Fluval Cycle to help move things along and I used Prime to treat my tap water. Then, I treated with Prime daily, as needed, to protect the fish from higher than 0 levels while working thru the cycle. I did have the normal ammonia & nitrite spikes that are expected with a new cycle, but they were short lived. Today, I reached 0 ammonia & 0 nitrites. Nitrates were a bit high (as expected) but a large water change took care of that. I plan to test daily for a while to be sure things are stable, then will start getting ready to redo the old tank as a planted community tank. This blog post was helpful to me in deciding how much/when to dose with Prime and how much/when to do a water change. https://fishlab.com/fish-in-cycle/ Since I will need my HOB on the old tank again soon, I actually have both my new canister filter and the old tank’s HOB running on the 75 right now to keep that filter & media going while also giving the new filter system a longer chance to get better established. Depending on what you have for filters, you could probably do that too - just to give the new one a boost - even if you aren’t going to use it again later. Good luck!

I have a pretty supportive fiancé. He didn’t care much either way last August when I set up #1 in the dining room. I slipped in #2 (a betta tank) when he was gone for a week. BUT they gave grown on him! I think it helps that my African cichlids act like puppy dogs when he walks by 😉 Last weekend he picked up my new 75 that now sits in the living room where the sofa used to be 😁 He doesn’t know/care how much time/money I spend on them. He’s a long haul trucker and we keep our finances separate... so if it keeps me happy and busy while he’s gone, he’s good with it.

Got it figured out! My LFS rocks!

I decided I’m going to take it to the LFS where I bought both the tank and filter and see it they have a solution. Or maybe exchange the filter system for something that is more secure? It’s a 60 mile round trip and will kill a bunch of time I’d rather use in other ways... like aquascaping... but I don’t want water everywhere either.

I think I’m going to use black, just for continuity. But first, I have to figure out how to get my hoses attached to the frame of the tank. Grrr... they aren’t very secure and the gap isn’t large enough to go over the “lip”

I’m setting up my new 75 today. I put a black background on the back last night. The tank sits in a corner and, before I fill it, so I’m trying to decide if I should also put some sort of background on the end that’s towards the wall? I was considering either black or even just getting some “frosted glass” type like you’d use for privacy on a window. thoughts?

I have zero experience with the fish you are keeping and am fairly new to the hobby. That being said, I’m picking up tank #3 tomorrow. 😊 A 75. When shopping, all advice was to go 75 because I wouldn’t regret the extra room and it’s only 5” more front to back. The length/height is the same.

I don’t have liquid tests for those right now, but based on what has been discovered today, I think changing to tap water will be a good move. Thanks for your input!

Considering that I’ve been using RO water, I think I’m doing pretty well 🤔 but it appears my tap water will be better. My substrate is the CaribSea Eco-Complete African Cichlid sand and the only thing I add to the water is a bit Malawi buffer to boost the pH a touch more. It was always more like 7.2-7.4 before I started adding the buffer to push it up. I’ve hit 8.0, but it stays at 7.8 pretty consistently. here’s the most recent aquarium record, using test strips. I take the time to do my liquid tests about every 3rd week, unless something really looks different in the strips.

@Dwayne Brown I agree that it appears I’m wasting money, time, and effort by buying and hauling water... at least as far as these readings go. I’ll probably do my liquid tests too, just to reconfirm. What other things should I be checking? I’ve seen tests for things like phosphate and calcium. Should I be concerned about testing for these?