Personal Log, Star Date: 7/7/2002

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#1
Mission:  To boldly go where no nitrogen loving bacteria have gone before,  without going into warp 8.

55 gallon fishless cycle log


7/3/02  Washed (and washed, and washed) 60 lbs of African Cichlid gravel.  Left it sitting in water, to allow for settling of additional gravel-dust

7/5/02
Added 20lbs African Cichlid gravel.  
Added 55 oz of Laterite in center section of tank (for plants)
Layered regular gravel over Laterite.
Added another 40lbs African Cichlid gravel.

7/6/02
Scrubbed and rinsed large rocks.  

7/7/02
2:30 pm
Positioned large rocks in tank.  (Going to have to get more rocks.  Nowhere near enough)  
Added the extra java moss that had been saved from thining out planted tank.
Rinsed ceramic rings, added to 3rd filter basket of canister.
Installed all tubing and hoses for filter.
Installed 2 100 watt heaters.  (Did not turn on)
Installed 10" airstone from planted tank
Added about 30 gallons water.    
Water is cloudy - that was expected.

7:00 pm  
Started filter.


9:00 pm
Added another 20 gallons water.


10:00 pm
Added 2 capfuls clear ammonia.
Water is cloudy.



7/8/02
6:00 am
Barnacles!  "Out" tubing from filter had partially kinked overnight.  Straightened tubing, water is flowing freely.  Will get a clamp or holder to eliminate this from happening again.  

Water is cloudy.  (If still cloudy this afternoon, will reduce water flow through spray bar)

Placed 2 external LCD thermometers.  Waited 30 minutes.
Temp was 72F.  Set heaters to 77F, plugged in heaters.

2 large rocks had tumbled during the night - have to get more!
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#4
7/8/2002
5:00 pm
Temp is now reading as 78 - 80 F
Water is still very cloudy, and there are still lots of gas bubbles on the rocks and equipment.
NH3/NH4 ~ 2ppm
Add 1 cap of clear ammonia
Installed hooks to position tubing so that bending/kinking is not possible.

8:30 pm
NH3/NH4 ~ 3ppm
KH = 10 drops = 179ppm KH
pH high - off the chart.  Highest value this test can record is 7.6     Because of the African Cichlid substrate, I expected this.  Am going to have to get a high range pH kit...

Removed about 10 gal H2O, to make room for additional rocks.
(these 2 are huge)  
Added the new rocks, moved all rocks around to stabilize things.
Water clouded up even more, due to messing around with the rocks and substrate.
Added 10 gal H20 - (actually added more, about 15 gal.  I had walked out of the room, and upon my return it was overflowing.  Spouse did not find this amusing...)


7/9/2002
6:00 am
Water a tiny bit more clear than last night.  Decided to clean  microfilter material, hoping to increase clearing ability.
Microfilter material was pretty well covered with the Laterite.
Removed and rinsed microfilter.  Did not touch the 4 other pads or the ceramic rings.

BTW - the filter is a Rena Filstar 2XP.  It has four basket compartments (so, it runs at warp 2, and has 4 levels of hyper-drive)

"But captain, I'm giving you all she's got.  She wont hold together much longer"
 

M

mrfootball70

Medium Fish
#5
Oct 22, 2002
83
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#5
D*mn it, jim...this is fish site..not science a project.....african cichlid or planted tank?? try walmart for $60 hang on canister filter comes with polishing cartridge for all the small partilces...use as extra filtration or just use periodically for water polishing...
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#6
7/9/02  
7:30 pm
Water has cleared quite a bit more, but still cloudy.
Temp is steady around 78F.

Carbon-unit "spouce" demanded a reconfiguration of the spray bar - said the sound made him want to pee.  Changed positioning of bar, is now submerged.  Carbon-unit "spouce"
continued to scan for additional items to "report" on.  Activated my personal scanner, picked up no intelligent life...

Added 5 gal water - tank is now full.


7/9/02
10:00

NH3/NH4   between 2 and 3 ppm
Added 1 cap of clear ammonia.





7/10/02
5:00 am

Water has cleared significantly.  Slightly cloudy.
NH3/NH4:  around 6 ppm        No ammonia added
NO2 (nitrites): 0 > NO2 > 0.25  
                   It is present, but not by much   *thumbsup2*
 

N

Neon

Small Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
38
0
0
#7
[quote author=equinom link=board=freshwatergeneral&num=1026142336&start=0#5 date=07/10/02 at 06:27:44]
7/9/02  
7:30 pmCarbon-unit "spouce" demanded a reconfiguration of the spray bar - said the sound made him want to pee.  Changed positioning of bar, is now submerged.  Carbon-unit "spouce"
continued to scan for additional items to "report" on.  Activated my personal scanner, picked up no intelligent life...[/quote]

ROTFLMFAO
*thumbsupsmiley*
 

C

caveman

Medium Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
81
0
0
41
Mission Viejo, CA
#9
[quote author=equinom
Carbon-unit "spouce" demanded a reconfiguration of the spray bar - said the sound made him want to pee.  Changed positioning of bar, is now submerged.  Carbon-unit "spouce"
continued to scan for additional items to "report" on.  Activated my personal scanner, picked up no intelligent life...

*laughingcryingsmiley*
That is the funniest thing i've read in these posts since the "Fight with Girlfriend" thread. *thumbsupsmiley*
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#10
Glad to have brightened your day!

7/11/02
5:30 am

Water continues to clear.  The largest change in the cloudiness was after rinsing out the microfiltration pad - Will perform again.

Temp is steady at 78F
ammonia:  still at 6ppm  
nitrIte:  0.25ppm  
No changes made.
Continue to monitor.

Researching plants - suggestions for a mnuba tank?
Will be ordering today (hopefully)
so far have decided on:
microsorum pteropus  (java fern)
valisneria
possibly sagittaria
possibly tenellus quadricostatus  (pygmy chain swords)
possible rotala
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#12
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#12
mbuna, mbuna, mbuna, mbuna  

Look, I was running on impulse power.  My dilithium crystal turned out to be a cz...

Somonas - do I need to scan you, too? or just put up the shields?  Maybe I should look into that cloaking device I saw at Walmart...  
 

T

Troy-N-Eli

Large Fish
#13
Oct 22, 2002
191
0
0
#13
ROTF!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think I'm going to soil my linen!   *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley* *laughingcryingsmiley*
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#14
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#14
7-12-02
6:45 am

Got a high end pH kit:  pH is between 7.8 - 8.0

NH3/NH4   ~ 3.0 ppm
NO2     0.5 < NO2 < 1.0  

Moving right along!    *thumbsup2*
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#15
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#15
7/13/2002

9:00 am

NH3/NH4   ~  1ppm
NO2         ~  5ppm
NH3         ~ 20ppm

Add 1 cap of clear ammonia.

Until lighting can be updated, have positioned 2 13 watt power compacts on top, so now total wattage is 56 watt.
Still not enough, but have to do for now.   Want to get plants in, so need more light.

Will re - check chemistries tonight...
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#16
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#16
7/14/02
9:00 am

Temp is steady at 78F
Water is clear.
NH3/NH4 ~ 1.0ppm
NO2 ~ 5.0 ppm
NO3 ~ 20 ppm

Added 10 drops clear ammonia.

Except for the decrease in ammonia from the addition yesterday, nothing changed.
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#18
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#18
7/16/2002
6:00 am         (yawn)

NH3/NH4    negative
NO2          > 5ppm
NO3          ~ 5 ppm
pH            ~ 7.8


Tank does have java moss, so added 3 caps Excel, 1 ml Flourish and 3 caps LeafZone.

Added 20 drops clear ammonia.
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#19
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#19
7/16/2002
8:45 pm

NH3/NH4     negative
NO2           > 5 ppm


added about 2 mls clear ammonia




11:15 pm

NH3/NH4       negative
NO2             > 5

added about another 2 mls clear ammonia
 

equinom

equinom

Large Fish
#20
Oct 22, 2002
386
0
0
The Blue Planet
#20
7/17/02
2:15 am  (ya, ya    had to let the dog out...)

temp steady at 78 - 80F
water is clear

NH3/NH4        ~ 1ppm
added another 2 mls clear ammonia


Question:  Why are the nitrItes still elevated - with no changes?
NH3/NH4  goes to 0  
NO2        on the rise  -   nitrosomas OK    
NO2 present, NO3 present:  nitrobacter also growing.

Still supplying ammonia, why are the nitrItes not changing?          


The 2 rocks that were purchased from the LFS appear to be growing things.  One has a semitransparent gray/white growth, growing in the nooks and crannys.  It's pretty hard to remove with a stick.  There appears to be air bubbles trapped inside the growths.  My guess - fungus?


Second growth - burnt yellow in color, with a small granular surface.  Looks like lichens - but underwater? Didn't know there were aquatic lichens...

Both of these rocks were cleaned (hosed and scrubbed) before being added to tank.  These came from the pet store.
The rocks I got from the landscaping supply, were washed the same way, and they are fine... go figure.
 

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