Newman's 40 Gallon Planted Tank

[kenny1tothe6]

Haha, When I had hairgrass, I had less the 1WPG and it thrived and took over. When I planted it, it all crashed. I hope yours grows faster!

I'm planning on having D.H.G. in my 29 & 5.5...maybe 10 depending on how that tank goes. It's just holding 5 fry ATM.

[Newman]

i can see that the hairgrass is growin new white roots, and some bunches are even sending out runners. the unfortunate part is that the way i learned all this about the hairgrass is from observing the uprooted peices floating in the water >_<
I swear that ****in goldfish...

[Newman]

Well i went against my better judgment and bought 10 cherry shrimp...
I expected the goldfish to be all over them, but actually it cant even touch them...they are lightning fast

Only problem i see with them is the pH change. i bought them from water that had 6.0 pH or lower. My pH is 7.6 This might just shock them over the next few days. I acclimated them for over an hour to both the pH and the temp. Some cannot be seen, but about 4 are constantly eating stuff off my plants. I like these things already

Did some stuff with my 10 gallon today. Also added two 6700K bulbs to this 40 gallon. the light is so much brighter than before! much better visibility. Pics shall be taken next time, once the water clears (took come stuff out of the canister filter fow my 10 gallon)

[Newman]

Here are some pics of shrimp and week and a half old fry.

[Newman]

My tank has finally achived a reading of 0 Ammonia and 0 nitrites and 20ppm nitrates at the end of a usual week. For anyone who hasnt been paying attention, I overfeed like crazy because i have fry in there (mostly its hickari first bites clouding the water two times a day.) and i think readings like that are perfect regarding the current status of the tank: rotting vegitation, plants covered in dust particles, and algae growing everywhere.

In order to lower the nitrates, im going to stop dosing Flourish Nirogen for this week and hope that the reading will improve for next week. If the water stays this clean, i might add 3 otos next week. I really need to get this brown and hair algae under control.

I also lost one of my fry i have no idea where it went (probably goldfish ate it or filter slurped it up) but now i have 7 left.

Also i have lost a few of my anubias cuz theyve rotted. Theyre all in the shade of the cabomba. I dont get why thats an issue though cuz theyre supposed to be low light plats...and YES their rhizomes have been completely in the open water. the only thing in the flourite are the very ends of their long roots. could they seriously not be getting enough light ? .__.

[Newman]

Lost another fry, im now down to 6. still have no idea where these are dissapearing off to. either the goldfish is eating them at nigh/ morning or whenever the lights are off, or they somehow jumped out of the tank. its not impossible cuz ive found a dead shrimpon the floor today >_> damn goldfish must be scaring the shrimp into submission. I still have lot of shrimp in the tank. they just kinda hang out on the floating anacharis plants at the left in my tank.

Ill wait another week and do a routine water test/change on sunday. if i find that the water is clean enough for otos, im going to add 4 and hope that a few survive. I got tons of brown algae i want to get rid of.

[kenny1tothe6]

I like the Oto idea, but I'd add more then 4...they are very playful!

BTW: Sorry about the dead shrimp & Sword-fry. My ghost shrimp vanished, but I found an exo-skeleton today! I think he's still alive and just hiding.

[Newman]

Yea my shrimp have been molting too. i see that the goldfish even eats the white husks... Dx
thats proof that theyre growing. theyre constantly cleaning the plants and drfitwood and im thankful for that. mostly nocturnal for now.

Really? more than 4 otos? I planned on 4 cuz when the tank is finally done, ill have:

4 otos
7 panda cories ( iknow i switched from peppered)
4 swordtails

maybe i should buy 5 otos? wouldnt they just eat the algae to death and then die real quick? i'd feed them veggies, but still more than 4 might be a problem? dont know how many to buy at once (all 4 or buy in pairs on different weeks?)

[kenny1tothe6]

If you can implement supplimental feeding, I'd bump the number up to 6. Mine [R.I.P.] were always playing and were fine with 6 in a 55 [not too much bigger then a 40...]. They played alittle 2 much when they all jumped out of the tank one day.

[Newman]

Down to 5 fry...

I really want to punt this goldfish

just a joke

bought a trial oto. the rest 4 otos will be bought next week if my water quality permits it.