Kevin F.

@Beardedbillygoat1975 she really is the best. As far as the scape goes well have to wait about three months to see what happens. I'll keep yall posted with weekly updates.

I really wanted to finish filling it in. The wife told me she had been putting some money away so I could do just that. I've got to be the luckiest man in the world.

Just about.

Week 14. Added another 24 plants this week, and a new light. The light is a Fluval 3.0 48". I know it's not long enough for the tank, so untill I can get another one the old lights will make up the difference. Even though I've had a problem with stem plants in the past I went ahead and got some more to see if it was just the amount of light. New plants are, Anubias Gold Coin Anubias Nana petite Anubias Nangi Cryptocoryne Pink flamingo Cryptocoryne wendtii Dwarf sagittaria Cryptocoryne Tropica Backpack Carollnlana Scarlet Temple Pogostemon Stella's Octopus Stauropyne Repens Bucephalandra Green Wavy didn't get a photo straight out of the box but here it is in the tank There is also a Aponogeton bulb that has sprouted on the left behind the driftwood. Some of the plants showed up pretty beaten up, but all the roots looked really good so I thank they'll bounce back. Fish seem to be good. I did loose a zebra danio, don't know if it was from all the stress of the plants being added and me moving every thing around or what. Water test was somewhat good. These numbers are the same before and after water change (30%). Nitrate 50 Nitrite 1 Hardness 300 Buffer 120 Ph 7.6 Chlorine 0 Ammonia 0

What kind of light did you get and how long is it on for? Also do you have your lights on a timer?

My 125 was stored for 14 years. I do have to say it was stored inside the house in the back room. So it didn't see huge temperature swings like an outbuilding or uninsulated garage.

I don't put the frozen cubes in my tank eather. I put them in a cup of water to unfreeze them rinse them before feeding.

And here though I got lucky. Three months and the nerites hadn't laid any eggs, but on closer observation they do look like nerite eggs. Thanks for the input, it really helped narrow it down

Also any idea if these are eggs or not. It they are who do they belong to. There are many more than just what's in the photos.

Week 13. Sorry no update yesterday. Mr and the wife finally got a day to go out and celebrate my birthday. Tank is still stable. Putting together a list of stuff to order, and I got some Aponogeton bulbs yesterday. They also came with a Zephyranyhes grandiflora (water onion) and Nymphaea lotus green (water lily). Going to put them in the quarantine tank today and see if they sprout.

Definitely a python. Drain into the flower bed outside, fill from the sink with proper temperature.

Those are some great suggestions. I really like the wavy leafs on those.

Week 12!!! Can't believe it's been three months since I restarted this hobby. Plants are growing, I'm relearning a lot of stuff I had forgot. Now that the weather has cooled off a bit and I have the wife's permission, it's time to order some more plants. I'm going for now just increase the number of so.e of the plants that are already in here. Maybe add some different anubias and I'm looking for a plant to go in the background on the right side behind the drift wood with nothing on it. I really don't know what to put here. Originally it was supposed to be stem plants, but I've had no luck with them. So I'd like to get something different to put there. Any suggestions? The one on the other side will get another sword. Some of the zebra danios are looking really ruff, bent spines and discolored. I knew when I got them that they were to small and I should have waited for some more mature ones. So now I'm paying the price. The rest of the fish are doing great. Water parameters this week. First number is before water change second is after water change and fertilizer. Nitrate 25 50 Nitrite 0 0 Hardness 300 300 Buffer 80 120 pH 7.6 7.2 Chlorine 0 0 Ammonia 0 0

The wife simply loves them. She could set and just stair at the bubbles and listen to the sound it makes. The one downside to this bubble wand is the tiny holes get clogged up and I have to scrape it all the time to keep it more uniform.

Week 11. Everything still going good. The val is finally starting to get taller. Trimming the windelon java fern it really didn't seem to mind and is looking much better. Cleaned the glass tops today was really surprised by all the buildup on them. In hindsight I should of got a before and after shot. Fish are.all still doing good. Forgot to test water before the water change so no numbers today.

I was really hoping the AR would grow love the way the plant looks, but the last stalk gave up last night and is floating around now. I thankost of my problems with this plant and the slow growth of the other plants is my light. Yesterday I was cleaning the class hoods and had both on one side. The water had the shimmer effect where you could see the surface agitation. So we've started saving for some better lighting. I know many people have said it before and I can say without a doubt it's true. Go ahead and spend the money on good lighting.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try trimming it today during the water change.

Week 10. Still chugging along. During water change today I'll add some more root tabs to try and get the val growing taller, and one or two under some of the other plants. The danio that was put into quarantine is still alive but unable to swim properly. Hair algae is in decline but green algae is on the rise.

Week 9. Had another Oto pass and a zebra danio go back into quarantine. It is swimming very erratic and having problems with the current. The zebra danios were really small when we got them and not that there getting bigger I'm starting to notice some bent spines and off coloring. Every thing else is good. The SAE is starting to make a dent in the hair algae and some of the Denison Barbs are following him and trying to eat it too. Thanks to the root tabs the sword has already sent up 4 new leaves and looking strong I'll try to post water parameters tonight after water change.

Week 8. No problems this week. Also No water change this week. The numbers all look good so I'm going to try and go two weeks this time. The last three Denison barbs will be out of quarantine tonight. That will put this tank at eight of them. Still no new plants, hopefully by the end of the month it will be cool enough to order them. Not because of the Co-op (there shipping is outstanding), but because my mail is in a car trunk from abot 5 am untill noon or so. Its to hot for that. In the top left of the pic you can see there food varieties. Water right now is. Ammonia 0 Nitrate 10 Nitrite 0 Hardness 150 Buffer 80 pH 7.2 Chlorine 0

Week 7 over and done. New fish came out of quarantine, two Oto's. Love these little guys. Originally had 3 but one didn't make it out of quarantine. Tank is doing good. Fish are all happy l, even had the danios spreading eggs. Instead of posting the tank numbers I took three pictures of the test strips. The first one is before water change next one is after and third is after dosing fertilizer. Just can't wait until it cools back off a bit to order some more plants.

When I went to get back into the hobby. I did a lot of research, to see what had changed in 12 year's. The more I looked online the more the Co-op came up. I really liked the factual way the Co-op presented the information. No filler or well this is what these YouTube people said. It was real facts and well research products.

Week 6 over and done. Unlike last week everything went well. 3 more fish came out of quarantine. Two redlines and a SAE. As you can see from the photos the SAE couldn't have come at a better time. The hair algae has had a growth explosion. No other Cory cats have gotten sick. The reservoir situation has cleared up, our city put a new filtration system on the water coming in from there. It has really helped a lot. I also added some root tabs to the area the val is moving into. Just did a 25% water change. Water tested. Ammonia 0 Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300 Buffer 80 Ph 7.6 Chlorine 0

Unfortunately the smallest albino corydora didn't make. He was fine when I left this morning. Just got home to find him dead. All the other Corydoras are out foraging and look great. Hopefully this was a one off with the water and sickness.

Week 5 down, and what a week it was. I'm happy to report that all the fish are still alive. Last week I talked about how the city water was messed up and I wasn't doing a water change. Well Sunday I talked to the city and they said it was all cleared up and no problems. Went home after church ran the water it was clear and tested fine. Did a 25% water change. The next morning saw that the fish were acting a little off. Darting up and down, tested tank nothing was off. Tuesday lights come on at noon see some white spots on a couple fish and all the Cory's were in the corner barley moving. The spots were definitely ich. Couldn't get any ick-x so I used API Super ick cure. Followed the instructions treated for 4 days. Did a 25% water change today. Everyone is doing great except the smallest Cory cat. He's not moving around alot. I did see him eat a little during feeding this evening. Back to the city water. The reservoir we get to blind with the well water had high manganese and some other chemicals. That I'll have to wait until next week to find out what they were, when they release the official report. I did have 2 plants added this week. Water Wisteria and a Amazon Sword. I also added a longer bobble wand the old one clogged up. Almost forgot the tub I was using for a quarantine tank started showing some signs of fatigue. So I went down to the store and got a 10 gallon kit to replace it. The water tested almost the same as last week except Hardness was up somewhere between 150 and 300 and Buffer was 180.