HelplessNewbie's 65g living room aquarium

[HelplessNewbie]

My family has been in the hobby only 9 months as of March 2024. Now venturing into larger tank size, like this ~65g tank.

Here is yet another attempt to chronicle our adventures in learning!

Our ~65g (48 x 13.5 x 23 inches):

- start date: Feb 27, 2024. Bought the tank used 4 months prior. Hubby resealed it with GE Silicone 1 Clear all-purpose sealant. One 10.1 oz tube was all that it took. He let it cure for 2 days, then leak tested 4 days or so. It has stains (that we tried and failed to remove) and scratches, but we are ok with it.

- cycling via dark start method (no fish nor plants, covered for 4 weeks while ghost and/or ammonia-feeding everyday)

- 1/3 on right: wood cellulose capped with coarse sand-Black Diamond blasting sand mix, plan is to fertilize with diy liquid fertilizer and diy root tabs

- 2/3 on left: crushed coral and alkaline preloaded/pretreated calcined clay (Safe-T-Sorb) over under gravel filter (UGF)

- Fish: 11 serpae tetra, 17 kubotai rasbora, 5 cw097 cory, 7 cherry barb, 1 mystery fish, 8 amano shrimp, 1 mystery snail, 3 otocinclus, 4 Bolivian ram

- Plants: anubias barteri, vallisneris spiralis, ludwigia cuba, ludwigia dirt red, pogo octopus, bolbitis, amazon sword, sword (unknown reddish sp), crypt lutea, java fern, hornwort, susswassertang, lobelia cardinalis, hygrophilia (unknown sp), altlandsberg sword, marble queen sword, anacharis

- Planning:

- Filtration: UGF spanning left 2/3 of tank floor, with back 3rd built up to a hill through 2 inch thick large pore black foam. There are 3 uplift pipes. There will be 2 fitted with Sicce Syncra nano minipumps, and 1 air pump. But, right now it is 2 air pumps and 1 minipump

- Heating: temperature controlled Fluval stick heater ACO heater. Planning to be generally unheated. The stick is there only in case of extreme cold.

- diseases encountered: tbd

- Lid: plan is to diy 2 piece tank lid made from greenhouse polycarbonate panel (thanks again Cory!), since it has worked so well for our other tanks

- Lighting: 2 long Hygger submersible cob led lights. This will be a low light tank. Plan is to mount them close to the upper rim at the front, aimed down.

- home automated light control, leak detection and mitigation

 

 

Edited May 9 by HelplessNewbie
updated stocking and plants

[HelplessNewbie]

Feb 27, 2024: initial setup, filling and draining

 

Mar 2, 2024: during first week of dark start

[Whitecloud09]

Looking good there, can’t wait for the updates to come @HelplessNewbie

[HelplessNewbie]

On 3/2/2024 at 6:53 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

Looking good there, can’t wait for the updates to come @HelplessNewbie

Thank you! The wait is killing us.

We are trying to distract ourselves with small projects. Yesterday, we figured we could use a short but squat sponge filter for our nano sized quarantine tubs. Rather than buy another ACO sponge filter, I decided we should use spare materials already on hand.

DIY SPONGE FILTER:

1 net pot (I have plenty from ACO plant purchases) as the hollow core of the filter, oriented upside down

1 airstone and airline hose fished through the bottom-now-top

2 pcs black large pore foam (leftover from another project) wrapped around the net pot, kept in place with 3 zip ties

1 bottom lid from a store betta cup (that had bar across the breathing hole) zip tied vertically through the core and attached to the bottom-now-top of net pot, and the zip tie end left uncut as makeshift lift handle when lifting the filter out of water

3 rocks for weight, inserted in bottom

1 bulkhead through-pipe to funnel air bubbles and provide some venturi lift at the top

Here is the result:

We intend to test later on, in a clear container with dye to see if water is actually going through the filter.

Edited March 7 by HelplessNewbie

[Whitecloud09]

On 3/7/2024 at 9:14 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

Thank you! The wait is killing us.

We are to distract ourselves with small projects. Yesterday, we figured we could use a short but squat sponge filter for our nano sized quarantine tubs. Rather than buy another ACO sponge filter, I decided we should use spare materials already on hand.

DIY SPONGE FILTER:

1 net pot (I have plenty from ACO plant purchases) as the hollow core of the filter, oriented upside down

1 airstone and airline hose fished through the bottom-now-top

2 pcs black large pore foam (leftover from another project) wrapped around the net pot, kept in place with 3 zip ties

1 bottom lid from a store betta cup (that had bar across the breathing hole) zip tied vertically through the core and attached to the bottom-now-top of net pot, and the zip tie end left uncut as makeshift lift handle when lifting the filter out of water

3 rocks for weight, inserted in bottom

1 bulkhead through-pipe to funnel air bubbles and provide some venturi lift at the top

Here is the result:

We intend to test later on, in a clear container with dye to see if water is actually going through the filter.

Wow! awesome way to make one. You shoud share this to everyone as a DIY sponge filter topic in experiments lol! Very cool!

[HelplessNewbie]

Here is an updated plan for my plants. If all goes well, I am hoping for more dense plantings.

I got a variety with the expectation that not all plants will take.

[HelplessNewbie]

We did 30% water change, since nitrites went from 7ppm 2 days ago to zero yesterday and today, and nitrates were 50ppm.

Then, we put in the plants!!!

Plants were quarantined for 2 weeks, then reverse respiration treated for only 2 hours. We actually don't mind snails in our tanks.

I ran out of seltzer water, so, there is one more bunch of ludwigia waiting to be planted.

With ludwigia:

Edited April 7 by HelplessNewbie

[HelplessNewbie]

Stocked the tank with:

8 kubotai rasbora

5 cw097 cory (1 died in quarantine)

8 cherry barb

1 amano shrimp (2 died in quarantine)

In a few days, I will add 10 serpae tetra.

9 Bolivian rams are currently quarantining. I may sell off a number of these, since I only planned on one pair.

 

[HelplessNewbie]

Wow, I really like these kubotai rasbora! Their green color is eye-catching. They are not shy at all and school nicely. I ordered 16 more.

[HelplessNewbie]

The vallisneria spiralis melted back, which I sort of expected. I popped in some hornwort to help stabilize the tank, while the other plants are still growing in.

I also added Ludwigia Cuba in the center rear.

Added 6 more amano shrimp to the 2 already there 

 

Added 10 new kubotai rasbora to join the 9 Bolivian rams in quarantine. The other 6 are in another tub.

So far, so good with this AquaHuna order. Hope I am not jinxing anything.

[HelplessNewbie]

Still waiting for Bolivian rams to complete qt!

[knee]

On 4/7/2024 at 2:25 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

Still waiting for Bolivian rams to complete qt!

Can’t wait to see them in the tank! You’ll love them for sure. 

[HelplessNewbie]

Yesterday, before planting next crop of plants. The val is still recovering from initial melt, thus the hornwort. The hornwort is also disguising the minipumps atop the UGF uplift tubes. I had to re-soak the 2 types of ludwigia via reverse respiration for bba. Also temporarily switched off the right side light and adjust the lighting schedule, since green dust algae was forming on the back wall. Two of 4 Bolivian ram have paired up! There are 3 otocinclus now, also.

 

Edited May 3 by HelplessNewbie

[HelplessNewbie]

Doubled the plant volume. Scared the Bolivian rams with all the planting. Stuck the yellowed (due to weeks delayed shipping) anacharis in the left front corner, even if it is likely these will melt away. All plants underwent reverse respiration/seltzer soak.

Also covered the uplifts with diy sleeves made from black vinyl tubing that was split lengthwise, to disguise the biofilm and the white collar. Also added same black tubes for sneaky-feeding of bottom-feeders. Waiting on black-coated stainless steel wire to attach them straight (currently curved from coiling).

Added peat granules in a media bag to the output of one of the uplift's minipump; the big coral is sending kh of my soft tap water too high.

Added black sand on left corner, to give the other unmated Bolivian ram a refuge.

Edited May 8 by HelplessNewbie

[HelplessNewbie]

I just realized we could use black zip ties (instead of stainless steel wire) to attach the feeding tubes alongside the undergravel uplift tubes. Waiting on that delivery now.

Waiting to add 2 more Bolivian ram to the tank.

Edited May 8 by HelplessNewbie

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/8/2024 at 11:13 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

I just realized we could use black zip ties (instead of stainless steel wire) to attach the feeding tubes alongside the undergravel uplift tubes. Waiting on that delivery now.

Waiting to add 2 more Bolivian ram to the tank.

Life hack lol. Interesting I need to look into all the hacks for zip ties in aquariums…. You never know. Might be more. I have been following this topic for a while and hope for more updates @HelplessNewbie!

[HelplessNewbie]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:08 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

I have been following this topic for a while and hope for more updates

Thanks for the encouragement! I didn't know how complicated things could get in this hobby. The plants are a challenge for me.

[HelplessNewbie]

I do like the diy and problem solving aspect of keeping aquariums.

Here are some detailed photos of the "black vinyl tubing" project.

-  side view of "sleeve" that partially covers ugf uplift pipe on left, and of feeding tube on right (both made of black vinyl tubing):

- front view:

- top view showing the feeding tube protruding past the tank rim:

 

We learned from this forum that red tiger lotus roots tend to take over the substrate, so we potted ours in a recycled seltzer water bottle bottom:

 

The Bolivian ram seem to be settling in now and have been sorting out territorial disputes with some lip locking. This piece of real estate seems to be a hotly contested spot:

 

Here's the tank this morning with wisteria being floated. The yellowed anacharis in the front left corner melted away and any leftovers eaten. The middle third is a demilitarized zone for the Bolivian ram.

I noticed the fish gasping for breath the day after I doubled the plant volume and at the ugf: replaced one air pump with a water pump, so I threw in my diy sponge filter (all black) and hid it with java ferns in the left rear. Fish were all happy after that. Phew!

Edited May 10 by HelplessNewbie

[HelplessNewbie]

My next tank, if hubby will allow, will be a shallower one. I thought I was average height but apparently my arms are still too short to reach in this tank. I have some long tools, but sometimes one just wants to get in there with good old "digital" tools.