At long last, here it is
July 24, 2006
Day 1
Today, Old Town Aquarium delivered my beautiful 55 gallon acrylic aquarium with black acrylic canopy and base and retrofitted 2 x 96 watt compact flourescent lighting.
I set up my Eheim 2215, put the Eco-Complete in, filled the tank, installed my (new) heater and the powerhead they gave me for water circulation, and planted a few new little buddies in the black soil. I treated the water with NovAqua and dosed with Flourish Excel and Kent Freshwater Plant fertilizer.
I haven't had a chance to start what I'm hoping/anticipating will be a short fishless cycle because I haven't yet found pure ammonia, but that's definitely on the agenda for tomorrow night.
That's about all of the update for now; here are some pictures (forgive the bubbles, blurriness, and cloudy water)...
Tank with one bag of eco:
My new friend:
Full tank with eco:
Plants in:
Hopefully, the start of a beautiful Rotala Indica forest:
Terrific looking Anubias barteri v. coffeefolia that I couldn't pass up:
Nice looking little bunch of Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green':
I'm getting some Jungle Vals from a friend soon, and I want to find the right piece of driftwood and a few rocks/caves as well - but I like these little plants as a start.
The anubias is still in its pot for easy moving once I decide where it goes, and I'm guessing I'll have to move some other stuff around too.
That's it for tonight's update. Can't wait for the next step