Crazy stupid good luck!

[Woogie23]

I started this tank 2 years ago. Used leftover white sand had I had used for a saltwater tank. The sand and tank was stored for about 18 months before being used for freshwater now. Anyways, I didn't clean or wash the sand as I figured that would be a bit tough to do. I let the tank "cycle" for one week, using a bio starter liquid. After one week I put 8 guppies into the tank just to help get thing started quicker. Not expecting them to fair to well. Well 3 weeks later 7 of 8 guppies survived. I got two blue gouramies, 6 silver tip tetras a siamese algae. So 2 years later, guppies won't stop breeding (I'm not trying to breed them) lost two silver tips, one gourami, and the algae eater. I've added two female Bettas (lost one a month later) and a Pleco (not sure of type, not a common one heh). I scoop out like hundreds of guppies what seems like monthly and give them to a friend.

At some point I would think they would stop breeding. Heh

[ScottieB]

Your doing something right for sure! Those are some happy guppies! 

Tank is looking good, I like the white sand. Its nice you have an outlet for the guppies too. 

[PineSong]

That's great about the guppies--I wonder if salt left over in the sand helped them survive? Two female bettas does seem like a recipe for disaster--I tried every trick in the book years ago to keep female bettas together and never had any luck, they always fought and I had to separate them. My "betta sorority" turned from one tank into every surface of my house having a 2.5g betta bowl on it until I was able to rehome some of them. 

[Woogie23]

Got some plants in the 55! Mr. Bristlenose already jumped on a leaf. Stuck some fertilizer pills in the sand. I'll probably drop some easy green into the tank as well. Did a test strip, results here as well.

[Woogie23]

Day 3 of plants in the 55, so far so good I think. A couple of spots on the leaves, but I think that's normal.

[Woogie23]

Took this pic a couple days ago. Tank doing good still. I've had to take out a few floating leaves and replant a couple of stems that "got away". I've since added a couple siamese algae eaters and 5 cherry shrimps. My wife called me this morning and said my air pump isn't pumping. Just got the coop pump like a week ago. We'll see what's going on after I get home from work this afternoon.

[Tihshho]

Since you didn't wash the substrate, any chance of there still being a decent amount of salt build up in it coming from a marine tank? I'd be curious if it shows up on a hydrometer or refractometer. 

[Woogie23]

On 5/23/2022 at 11:28 AM, Tihshho said:

Since you didn't wash the substrate, any chance of there still being a decent amount of salt build up in it coming from a marine tank? I'd be curious if it shows up on a hydrometer or refractometer. 

I'll find my meter and test. Good idea!

[Woogie23]

I lost one of my silver tip tetras which brought me down to 3. Everything seemed good in the tank. I waited a week and still everything was fine. So to keep them from picking on each other I bought 7 more. The plants all look good still. I did aim the canister inlet up to slow down the current. Seems to be a bit strong. I'm up for any suggestions on how to slow it down.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2022 at 10:09 PM, Woogie23 said:

So to keep them from picking on each other I bought 7 more. The plants all look good still. I did aim the canister inlet up to slow down the current. Seems to be a bit strong. I'm up for any suggestions on how to slow it down.

Maybe make a sleeve for it to act as a baffle?  Or you add on more holes on the output to diffuse it that way.

Let's say the pipe going out is 1/2".  You'd buy some 1" or 3/4" and slice it up similar to the way an intake is (or drill holes) and then the water would have to go out of one outflow then out of the next outflow and be slightly diffused.  At the end of the pipe, you'd cap one end, then on the other end just have a narrow pipe that matches what you have now for the OD of the pipe. If need be, use a reamer bit or a hand tool and slightly open up the hole so it press fits onto the output.

[Odd Duck]

I don’t see that anybody has mentioned it yet, but Java ferns don’t like their rhizomes buried.  You’ll want to either lift them to the surface enough so only their roots are in the sand, or lift them out entirely and either tie or glue them to a rock, wood piece, or decoration, etc.  You can also tuck their roots, rhizome and all, into a hole in something as long as the rhizome still gets good water flow around/across it.  Just in case you don’t know, here’s an article from ACO.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/java-fern-microsorum-pteropus-an-easy-aquatic-plant

[Woogie23]

On 5/26/2022 at 1:57 AM, Odd Duck said:

I don’t see that anybody has mentioned it yet, but Java ferns don’t like their rhizomes buried.  You’ll want to either lift them to the surface enough so only their roots are in the sand, or lift them out entirely and either tie or glue them to a rock, wood piece, or decoration, etc.  You can also tuck their roots, rhizome and all, into a hole in something as long as the rhizome still gets good water flow around/across it.  Just in case you don’t know, here’s an article from ACO.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/java-fern-microsorum-pteropus-an-easy-aquatic-plant

Thanks for the advise on the Java Ferns. I got them glued to a couple of small rocks and kind of half buried the rocks in the sand. I took a pic, hopefully I wasn't too late in getting them "planted" correctly.

I did check the tank with a hydrometer, salt reading in the tank was almost nil.

[Odd Duck]

I can’t see well enough to be sure, but they look OK.  I certainly don’t see obvious rot and the fronds look OK.  Just watch close and see how they do.  Tank is looking good, BTW.👍🏻