Rudles

6.4 - 6.6

I find that as my 29 comes together my stocking "plan" is changing. My driftwood still isn't waterlogged and a few videos I have watched mention that driftwood can lower pH. My current situation is that I need to raise my pH so a Bristlenose Pleco is off of my list because from what I understand is that it's best for them to have driftwood in the tank. Still up in the air on a Reticulated Hillstream Loach but for sure I want 10 Cardinal Tetras, 6 Sterbai Corydoras and 4 Kuhli Loaches. Currently I have one Angelfish and one Bronze Corydora. Not interested in goldfish, guppies or any other live bearers. Love to have a Satanoperca Jurupari but my substrate precludes that. Any ideas for other community members?

Thank you :)

Looking good, I think ..... Hoping my cycle is progressing. I got my plants planted today and added two more rocks. 05-21 0900 Ammonia .50 ppm Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 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 Nitrite has declined and Nitrate has as well. pH remains stable. Waiting for my crushed coral to arrive.

Thank you. I'm kind of leery about the Mayaca Fluviatilis but it is what it is. I hope they all survive though. I have another 7 plants coming from Aquarium Co-op so it will be a fairly heavily planted tank.

I got everything planted. Should I dose with Easy Green? These have been sitting in the box overnight at the Post Office then another three and a half days in my aquarium.

Thank you, Cory. Just exploring options. I guess I'll just wait for my crushed coral. Can't wait to get this tank habitable. My two wet pets, an angelfish and a bronze cory are still in my 20 which has the same pH. Will they have any trouble adjusting to the higher pH?

Are there any community fish that do well in low pH water (6.4)?

Love my SeaChem Tidal 55!

Thank you, Cory. I just ordered it along with your root tabs. Minimum order $14.99, came to $14.98 so I tossedin a 3 ml pipette 🤣🤣🤣

That would require me buying some crushed coral from Amazon which can take two weeks or more since they're using UPS and it has to go to Anchorage first then wait for enough freight to send it back south to me. Do you have crushed coral available?

Today's numbers; 05-21 0900 Ammonia .50 ppm Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 05-22 1215 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 5.0 ppm Nitrate 100 ppm pH 6.6 Ammonia fell to zero, Nitrite spiked, Nitrate rose but not as dramatically as Nitrite and pH is the same. Is this good or bad? P.S. I pulled the shrimp out at about eleven o'clock yesterday morning. Just in time, I think. They were smelling pretty foul and started leaving a cloud as I pulled them.

Sounds good. Thank you, Cory.

Set up my canister filter on my new 29. Was pumped to have a canister, HOB AND sponge filters ..... ooooops. WAY too much current. Lesson learned. So, gonna be running my 29 with my Tidal 55 throttled down and 2 sponge filters. I hope this saves somebody the expen$e and the hassle.

Awesome! Thank you. That's what I was thinking. I have sand below the gravel capping the soil so I should be able to mix it a bit without disturbing the soil.

I set up my 29 I'm a hurry and forgot to add Flourite Red to my substrate. Would it still be beneficial to put it in on top of my gravel and mix it in lightly?

P.S. thank you VERY much for responding!

I'd have to order it from Amazon. I'm wondering, should I go ahead and pull the shrimp out? I'm running a canister filter from my 20 high which has been running for three years. All I did to it was rinse the sponge filter in the bottom, I DIDN'T rinse the carbon pellets or the bio rings (2nd and 3rd trays) and I replaced the filter floss (4th tray). I'm sure (?) that this seeded at least the surface of my gravel, my sponge filters and the walls of my tank. I'm definitely going to order some crushed coral and put it in a media bag and put it in my Tidal 55 which I have running on my 20. At least it's my understanding that using an already colonized filter helps kick start the cycle. Over the weekend I'll be adding some granite rocks which I found on the beach. Before adding them I'm going to boil them for an hour each (l have 4 of them). These came from high enough on the beach that they are only periodically submerged in salt water. Currently I only have an angelfish and a bronze corydora but I'll be making a fish order next month. They are currently living in my 20 high.

Nitrite is up, Nitrate holding steady and pH is up slightly. After testing I dosed three pumps of Easy Green (low light) bottle says once per week. Should I stick to that while cycling? 05-19 0900 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0.15 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 05-20 0930 Ammonia .10 ppm Nitrite .20 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.4 05-21 0900 Ammonia .50 ppm Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6

Awesome, thank you, Cory!

Thank you. The latest I would be planting them would be Saturday morning. I have two more twelve hour shifts.

Can't get my planting done this moment because I have to get some sleep before work. Twelve hour shifts are hard on an old fat man. Will these be OK if I don't plant them until tomorrow morning? How about for a few days? Here's my parameters a few hours ago; 05-20 0930 Ammonia .10 ppm Nitrite 2.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.4

Update. I added one more shrimp, will be ghost feeding flake food and I added my two sponge filters. After the 29 is cycled I'll be moving the canister back to the 20 and replacing it with my Tidal 55 which is currently running on my 20 to get it seeded. And, of course I'll be testing my parameters daily. I would imagine that I probably shouldn't do any water changes for at least a few days. Is this correct?

Day two. I fired up my 29, a dirted tank toward the middle of the first day I tossed in a shrimp to try to raise the Ammonia. I started it with about seven gallons of water from my 20. I am also using the canister filter that I had running on my 20 so it should have plenty of beneficial bacteria already in it. Here are my numbers: 05-19 0900 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0.15 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.6 05-20 0930 Ammonia .10 ppm Nitrite 2.0 ppm Nitrate 80 ppm pH 6.4 Not much Ammonia yet and my pH actually dropped a little. Any suggestions? Should I add another shrimp? Maybe two?

Thank you :)