Rudles

I finished my planting this morning and as I was planting a fair amount of gas was released. What kind of gas was this and is it good that it was released? Does this gas promote anoxic filtration? I have about an inch and a half of organic planting soil topped with about a half inch of Eco-Complete then two inches of play sand capped with two inches of fine gravel and Flourite Red mix.

My Nitrite and Nitrate are still too high. All I have currently is one Angelfish and one Bronze Corydora with eight Siamese algae eaters in the mail. I live on a remote island in Southeast Alaska and there is no LFS here.

I'm going to finish my planting today. I'm still trying to cycle my tank. Should I clean the algae off of at least the front?

I live on a remote island in Southeast Alaska. There is no LFS here. That's why I decided to try this. All I can do is order online and hope for the best.

Just for the heck of it I checked True Value and they had API Quick Start however it expired last month. Should I go ahead and give it a try anyway? 05-25 0900 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0.5 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.2 05-27 1010 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.6 05-29 1345 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 2.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.6

Thank you :)

I do believe I'll try a 75% water change on Sunday or Monday, probably Monday. I'm going to finish my planting on Saturday morning after work. I see algae growing on the inside of the tank and on my plants. Since I have used two heavily seeded filters I'm sure that I have a fair amount of beneficial bacteria by now. It will be interesting to see if my pH will come down a bit. Still a mystery as to why it spiked in the first place. I know that Flourite Red has a high CEC value but I thought it was inert.

@Fish Folkthere is no LFS here so I'm having to set everything up via Amazon, Aquarium Co-op and Aqua Huna. I set it up on 05/18. Took my first reading on the 05/19. What's really weird is the pH shot up. All I added was Flourite Red, which I forgot in the rush to get set up before my first plant order arrived. I started it up with a canister filter that's been running for three years and five gallons of water from my 20 high. I ran my HOB on my 20 high for four days before switching it over to this 29 just to get it seeded. I was running bio balls and whatever media came with it ( Tidal 55). I'm currently running the original sponge from the bottom of the basket and filter floss but I am keeping the filter media in the tank so that it accumulates bacteria. I'm thinking of switching from boo balls to ceramic bio rings. Getting a bit anxious though as I have an 8 pack of Siamese algae eaters coming from Aqua Huna. If worse comes to worse I could put them in my 20 high until my 29 fully cycles. There's plenty of algae in it.

Thank you very much! That's definitely a load off. Still a bit stressed though because I don't want to risk adding fish with that much Nitrite and Nitrate.

05-23 1440 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 2.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 05-25 0900 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0.5 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.2 05-27 1010 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.6 Just weird. Ammonia remains at zero, that's great. However Nitrite is up slightly. Nitrate is constant, no decline at all and my pH actually increased and I haven't had time to add my crushed coral. New plants are going to have to soak until Saturday morning when I get off work.

Thank you.

You're welcome :)

Here's a simple explanation.

Father Fish has a lot of videos about deep substrate on his YouTube channel. He has many tanks that have been running for over ten years.

I put down a perimeter of Eco-Complete filled in with organic planting soil amended with egg shells and banana peels (dried) then capped with Eco-Complete then sand and finally fine gravel.

Has anyone tried this? What's your experience?

I don't have any that are taking off right now but that's alright. I'm cycling right now. I'm hoping that the plants will help finish the cycle.

My second order of plants arrived today! This is going to be a heavily planted tank!

Aquarium Co-op didn't work for a discount. That's OK though. The only problem is with quantities. I had to get an 8 pack of Siamese Algae Eaters. A little more than I wanted. I ordered them anyway.

Thank you ❤

05-22 1215 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 5.0 ppm Nitrate 100 ppm pH 6.6 05-23 1440 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 2.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 05-25 0900 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0.5 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 7.2 No Ammonia, Nitrite is falling, Nitrate holding steady and oddly enough pH has risen. This is using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit as per instructions in the booklet. I'm hesitant to do a water change as I don't want to disturb the downward trend in Nitrite. Thoughts?

Thank you!

I pulled the biological media out of my filter and replaced it with filter floss. This cleared up the super fine particles. I also pulled my T-5 grow light off of my 20 and put it on here. I'm actually seeing a little bit of plant growth. This is exciting because there is no LFS within 300 miles and they won't ship plants or fish here. Thankfully there is one lady who can get fish here and she'll be placing an order next month. I also have 7 more plants on the way from Aquarium Co-op.

I pulled the biological media out of my filter and replaced it with filter floss. This cleared up the super fine particles. I also pulled my T-5 grow light off of my 20 and put it on here. I'm actually seeing a little bit of plant growth.