The P3X-888 tank

[ange]

Today I flooded my first new tank in over a year. I'm thinking of picking up a red melon sword for the back left corner and maybe another stem plant to go with the Ammania and Pogostemon. This was cobbled together with plants from my other tanks and it's been quite awhile since making a purchase for my hobby. I haven't decided on what to stock, for now it just has a squad of Sterbai's from one of my other tanks alongside some wild type Neos. The biggest thing that I'm leaning toward are Kuhli loaches.

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Looks really good @ange!

[ange]

One of the things that always shocks me about tanks is how quickly things grow and change. I took photos because I added some livestock but what I really noticed was how my Pogostemon has doubled in height even though these are just trimmings. After the plants fill in I'll be adding in some floaters from my other tanks but I don't want them to compete with my other plants for nutrients while I'm trying to get everything to fill out.

Thinking about this tank in my downtime has led to my decision to leave kuhli loaches out of the setup. It doesn't feel right keeping them in a 10 especially without any undergravel tunnel systems for them to hang out in during the day. When I went to my LFS this week I wound up bringing my mom along and having her choose. We'll consider these an early 75th birthday gift, especially since the tank is so close to her wing of the house 🥰 I also got a tiger lotus and a banana plant to keep going with the semi-alien yet suspiciously similar to British Columbia aesthetic that I'm going for.

So far I've only dosed the tank with Flourish Advance, Flourish Trace, and Easy Green but I'll be monitoring it for stability now that I've significantly increased the bioload. My sponge filter was in my 50 hex for a few weeks prior to flooding this one so I'm not hugely concerned about a low count of beneficial bacteria but I prefer to be proactive rather than reactive.

If anyone has suggestions for a centerpiece fish I'm all ears. The mini Stargate was gifted to me with a larger one a few years ago and I've been wanting to pull off two concept tanks ever since I received the ornaments. This tank is based on the Goa'uld homeworld and the other one (which is actually my sparkling gourami's home) was rescaped a few months back into the "puddle jumper crash site."

[ange]

Did an algae scrape today. One of my Amanos is in but they don't tend to get the green spot algae and since the tank is next to a window, it does develop some. I was seriously hoping that the plants that I propagated would give me some snails to work with but I somehow have zero. I'll probably manually scoop out a few from my other tanks and add then over here to help with management.

The tank has cycled filter media and is doing a great job at supporting the number of fish. I tend to run species only setups so I've been nervous about the heavy stocking. This week I made the transition from my API test kit to ACO test strips (save for my ammonia test) and it's been a delight to say the least. I'm far more at ease with monitoring the new setup. I obviously have some bacterial bloom but I haven't had any losses and the bloom will sort itself out over time. Sometimes less really is more.

Forgot to add: Another factor in the algae growth is definitely the change in lighting. I moved my 20" Stingray 1.0 onto the tank after upgrading the light for my sparkling gouramis to a 2.0. Previously this setup had a Nicrew light that I've used on nano setups so this was a considerable change. The light is turned on for 6h/day and I didn't adjust the photo period when I changed the light.

Edited March 31, 2022 by ange
added the final paragraph

[Patrick_G]

I just got caught up on this thread. It looks really nice. Are the Sterbai Corydoras still in there? 

[ange]

On 3/31/2022 at 3:13 PM, Patrick_G said:

I just got caught up on this thread. It looks really nice. Are the Sterbai Corydoras still in there? 

Yep! That said, I used the wrong name. They're false julii and it's my first time keeping non-paleatus/pygmaeus and I hadn't brushed up on my species before posting.

[ange]

Today brings good news and bad news. The tank has officially had its first loss, one of the female guppies. This comes with the news that there are babies in the tank. I suspect that these were hers and she didn't make it as a result.

I've also discovered some tiny BBA on my tiger lotus and will be cutting my iron dosing to this tank while treating it. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I had the forethought to put in one of my Amanos when stocking the tank. Hopefully between them and the livebearers this algae won't stand a chance. I'll be feeding more lightly for awhile in the hopes that it will get mowed down by the livestock.

The main thing that I'm unhappy with is the glossostigma and DBT in the tank. I already disliked DBT due to its shallow roots and only had it due to a previous mishap. I really want to find someone locally who is looking for DBT so that I can say goodbye to this plant and get something that I actually enjoy.