The 125 "Redux"

keman

keman

New Member
Actually, It occurs to me that all of the plants in this tank, with the exception of the small group of swords, are tied to either rocks or wood for ease of cleaning and adjusting. The "Dead Cats" (Banjo Cats) will dig up most plants too, so another reason for tying them to solid objects.

I would love to find some cool low light ground cover for the area near the skull and over by the croc skull. Something that only gets an inch tall at the most, but will stay put in soft sand.

Image-1-4.jpg
 
keman

keman

New Member
I tried the glue trick, and did not really care for the result. Instead, I have been using 100% acrylic yarn to tie the plants. The plants in the back (kinda behind the croc skull) are actually tied to a chunk of black Matala mat. I tied them in, then buried the mat in the sand so you can't see it, yet with one little tug, that whole section of plants comes out for pruning and cleaning.
 
ShortyKiloGyrl

ShortyKiloGyrl

Well-Known Member
Staff member
keman said:
I tried the glue trick, and did not really care for the result. Instead, I have been using 100% acrylic yarn to tie the plants. The plants in the back (kinda behind the croc skull) are actually tied to a chunk of black Matala mat. I tied them in, then buried the mat in the sand so you can't see it, yet with one little tug, that whole section of plants comes out for pruning and cleaning.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea!
 
keman

keman

New Member
I am considering shaping a piece of green Matala and tying ground cover plants into it for the forward areas in the tank. If I do it right, you won't even see the Matala, just the plants and sand. If the cats dig it up, the green will be less obvious than black Matala.The Banjo cats will tear out any plant in the sand that is not tied down. I got one Black and one Green 1.5" thick 24" X36" of the Matala mat for a sump project that never happened, so I have lots to play with...
 
keman

keman

New Member
Might work on it this weekend, not sure If I have plants to make it work. The first step is finding the right moss or carpet like plant varieties to cover it. Since this tank will not have valuable fish for a while yet, I have lots of time the get the plants figured out and placed.
 
keman

keman

New Member
The tank is coming along nicely. Got .25 readings on Ammonia, waiting to see Nitrite and then Nitrate before doing too much more. Plans for more plants are in the works. Once I get the test results I want to see, I'll be moving the dead cats back in and the Bala sharks. Keeping the slow approach and making sure anything I add will be done in stages so as to not shock the balance. The cats and Bala sharks are in safe tanks right now, so I'm not in a hurry.
 
keman

keman

New Member
The tank is cycling nicely. Got Nitrite readings for two days and ammonia had gone up to .25. Now for the last three days zero ammonia and zero Nitrite, with a nice low color on the nitrate test. Moved the Dead Cats back in, and will be doing a little work closing off any cover gaps so I can start the hunt for Ropefish in a couple weeks.
 
keman

keman

New Member
Still testing daily, good readings. Added the three Bala sharks back in today. Now the only critters that will be going in are the rope fish at some point in the future. Still going to wait a few weeks for those to be sure this tank is 100%. Only test that is holding me back is PH, still a little on the high side.
 
keman

keman

New Member
My water comes from the tap kinda hard. so it takes a while for the tank to level out the PH. I have used PH neutral, but am not so fond of using more chem in the tank Right now, the fish in the tank are tolerant of the higher PH, Once it comes down on it's own I can start the hunt for rope fish.

When I set up the newt tank it did the same thing. stayed high for a month or so, then dropped down to 7.0 and has stayed right there ever since. (of course, that tank has more bio surface than water)
 
keman

keman

New Member
Ok... I "Had" said the only additional fish would be the ropes... Guess I am guilty of changing my mind. Found a pair of baby needle nose gar, and added them yesterday since the tanks reads so well. Restocked the feeders that have been slowly transferred out (feeding Katie's carnivores) with 100 tiny white clouds at the same time as adding the Gars (yes, I know they are not really gars, but it is a common name)

This morning, when I turned on the lights, I was shocked to find that I only had about twenty of the feeders left... It seems the little gars were hungry. I did see them take a few yesterday shortly after they went in, but had no idea they would eat that many in one night. I spent a full ten minutes looking through the tank in case the feeders had died off or something just to be sure, both filter intakes are pre-filtered so they did not get sucked away... Looks like I will need to find a good source for slightly larger feeders if Katie is to have any for her fish to eat...
 
keman

keman

New Member
Finally, after several weeks of good readings, I found three beautiful small ropefish up at the co-op...

Image-1-8.jpg


Not the greatest image, more to come later...
 
LancasterK26

LancasterK26

New Member
keman said:
Looks like I will need to find a good source for slightly larger feeders if Katie is to have any for her fish to eat...
Click to expand...

Yes... So that's why I now have three breeding pairs of convict cichlids. They will help in keeping me stocked with feeders, but what are you going to do, Keman?? Just kidding! You know that I'll share SOME of them with you...
 
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