ARMYVET

The dry fitting of the hard scale came next… Of course the spot I had picked out for this to go was not exactly to her liking….so 2plus hours of moving living room furniture around so it would be juuuuust right😡

I had to mail order because nothing locally was avail. To top it off I had to have it sent twice because Amazon lost the first one 🙄 I mean how do you lose a 2 ft x 2 ft 100lb crate🤷‍♂️ I went to the LFS and picked up a few pieces of spider wood and some rocks and black gravel substrate. And waited for her to come home and surprise her. And boy was she surprised….with how much it cost🤦‍♂️ Once we got past that ass whipping…uh I mean discussion🤕….she started to warm up to the idea that she could choose her scaping and design it the way she wanted. She got to pick the wood she wanted and the rocks. And goto my stash of 60 plus plants I have for my pond and pick out what she liked…

I have been in the process of building a 150 gallon outdoor pond. My Upper Management (aka wife) has not been overly thrilled about the idea and even less about the associated cost. My efforts to get her interested in it have all but failed ….that was until…. I got an idea to build her a tank of her own. She had once talked about long ago she had a beta in a bowl on her desk with plants in it and she loved it. So this is the start of me building her a upscale version that she will call hers. This is the tank….it’s a Landen 45cm Cube 21 gallon AIO tank

I would not throw the heater or sponge filter away or any of the decor....I would clean them thoroughly and reuse them. Not sure about the moss ball....does it look healthy? You could clean everything else and set back up and rinse the moss ball and QT it for a short period just to ses of anything funky is going on.

I pick the filtration based on the livestock I am putting in the aquarium, Whether it is high flow or low flow species. ect ect

Platys and swordtails are awesome as well as some of the mollies.....all will go with guppies and no interbreeding possible. All come in a pleathora of colors and are a real joy to watch swimming around. They are actually playfu at times and peaceful as can be towards everything else. My plan is have a 150 gallon live bearer tank with all of these and tons of plants and driftwood. My relaxation ZEN tank

I had a similar question where I asked about Iron testing and Cory himself gave me the perfect answer.....Here is the link to that conversation,

From what I read...purigen should not interfere with your easy green. I dont know that for sure but that is what I have read from multiple sources. I ma sure @Corywould be the best person to answer that.

If you dont have shrimp .... a clown loach will eliminate the snails in very short order....if you have shrimp they will get eaten.

Thank you sir.... I am sure it is something to do with the reagent being used for the test. Again I love the multi test strips ...they were a game changer for me.

You could be right...but there are some dechlorinators that specifically say theat they cannot use certain types of tests eg salifert so I just didnt know if this could be a similar situation. I did a water change that first evening to bring it down it a readable level. I am not in a rush so once I got it down to about 4 ppm Ill figured i would let it cycle out and let the plants enjoy all the nitrates...lol

Well Im just not sure if its bad strips or if these strips are not meant to read ammonium chloride. I just have a hard time believing anything from the CO-Op is bad...LOL

The Instructions said 4 drops per gallon. Take tank size (20 gallons) subtract 20 percent to account for decor and substrate....that leaves 16 gallons. 4 drops x 16 gallons = 64 drops. I put in 64 drops and waited 30 min to allow tank to fully mix together and performed dip strip test. it showed almost no ammonia. I then added 32 more drops and waited another 30 min and retested...same result....got API kit and got the result shown.

Hello, @Cory I have a question about the Ammonia test strips. What type of test are they. I am starting a new tank and was putting in Ammonium Chloride (DR. Tims) to do a fishless cycle. I put in the stated amount for my tank waited 30 min to all mix together and test with the strip but the test strip said I had hardly any so I added a bit more ammonia. Waited 30 more min but the reading in the strip did not change. I found that odd so I broke out my API test kit and the ammonia was reading off the charts high. I had to do a large water change to bring it down to get the 3 ppm level I was looking for. My guess is that the reagent that is used in the strip does not react with ammonium chloride but would like to confirm this as to help others who may want to start the cycle in their tank in this manner. I absolutely love the multi test strips they have made my life much easier lol. Has anyone else experienced this?

The little rainbow that thought he could....until he couldn't .....You will be remembered...RIP!

Its no problem at all. I wish I had someone or something like this forum when I was getting started. There would have been a lot less casualties in my history. Back then we had to rely on the fish shop owner to guide you and when your an 8yo kid like I was when I started with fish....you didnt get much attention lol. I am here to help in any way I can and there are tons of great people here that will come on shortly and they are even better than I am lol. Please keep me informed as to how it is going and feel free to ask any question you may have.....none are stupid and its the only way to learn. Cheers

Your going a great job so far and it looks like you have a good plan in place. I would definitely add an Otto in a 10 gal. The key is you want the Betta to be last in the tank. You want the tank to age some before adding in the snails and or shrimp so they have some algae to feed on. You can add them right away after your done cycling but you have to know you have to feed them as there will not be enough algae in the tank to sustain them. I target feed all my shrimp and snails. Get all your "dither" fish and live stock in place and when it is all running great for a couple of weeks...thats when you add your Betta. Bettas are very territorial....if you add him first then try to add other stuff he will pick on them. By adding him last....everything else is already established and he's the new kid on the block and he will adapt to them rather than the other way around. It is never a guarantee it goes smoothly but that is the best way for greatest success in my experience.

Oh and definitely redose the ammonia and let the bacteria do its thing. The will build a strong bacteria colony which is exactly what you want.

Well the first thing I would ask....what type of livestock do you plan on keeping in the tank? That give a general idea of where you would want you water to be at. At a minimum I would add crushed coral to your substrate....that would get all 3 water parameters up a bit...the GH, KH and PH. Seeing how you have white substrate it will mix in nicely. Do that asap and let it sit for a week and retest and you will be surprised at how well it works.

Well how do the plants look...do you see growth? How much ammonia did you dose to in PPM? I would say yes it is possible because plants do use ammonia as a food source especially if you were not dosing any ferts while cycling. What has me concerned is you have zero buffer and your ph is very acidic....is this your intention? Is this going to be a soft water shrimp tank? If not I would get some buffer in there and raise the PH a bit. I would also redose the tank with the ammonia and to 2-3 ppm and let it come down again. When you can dose to 1-2 ppm and it is gone in 24 hours you know you have built a strong Beneficial Bacteria colony and you can start adding in livestock. This is all just my opinion of course.

Well the results shows you did your homework…Very well planned and executed…the bad news is…this is like drugs…you will become addicted very very fast and you will contract MTS!!! You will be happy you did lol

That looks incredible !!! You did a great job. The layout fits perfectly. And you say this is your first?!? You are a natural !!

Put the plywood down like your thinking then take 2x4 and brace the ledge to the floor on both corners and you will be fine!

I would put the gravel in a bucket with the tank water and wait for him to get the tank and offer him the substrate....I would almost guarantee he would take it. I know I would because of the expense of substrate even if I didn't want the snails it would be my problem to deal with and you in the clear conscious wise. I am happy to see you are truly worried about their wellbeing!

Isnt he using the double paned green house panels you can get from home depot? Its easily cut to fit any size you need.