New Characin guy - Glow lights

rsn48

Well I have my tank up and running and the planting density is towards a medium to heavily planted tank. I didn't intend to go high tech but I ended up there in error. I bought the double Hagen Glo high output T5's and with two 24 watt tubes, I thought I would be running just slightly over 2 watts a gallon, where I wanted to be. But after purchasing them, I realized because of the "high output" nature of the tubes, though they are rated at 48 watts total, in reality its more like 68 watts total.

So my 20 gallon gets Seachem Excel everyday, along with trace elements added, comprehensive, Iron, and potassium based on the schedule promulgated by Seachem, which they call "lean."

I recently added 8 Glow Light Tetras and then added another 6 today. I jump started my tank cycling with stability and combined with lots of plants, I haven't really shown much ammonia, no nitrites, and my nitrates have been at "5." The bio load on the tank isn't stretched beyound its means. Here's a link to the stocking calculator I have with the filters I'm running listed:

http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?A...chMode=simple&

I'm not going to add any more fish that my 14 Glow Lights; I might include about three to four shrimp, then I'll declare that tank done.

So I'm a Characin guy now, with a single specie tank of Glow Lights.

PS: They love Blood worms (frozen).

Byron

Sounds good. With the soft acidic water we have here, a group of glowlight tetras in a well-planted tank will be truly beautiful.

Your "cycling" numbers are no surprise; you will never see ammonia or nitrites if the tank is adequately planted from the first and with reasonable fish load (which yours is in my opinion). And nitrates at 5 further support the fact that you have bypassed any cycling issues.

You've room for some contrasting fish, like bottom dwellers, maybe a group of 5 corys, or a single fish like a whiptail, small pleco.

Now, we're expecting photos. Aunt kymmie will have you banned if photos don't appear.

Byron.

rsn48

I've come to a point where I prefer a tank that is understocked. Even now with my Glow lights, they will almost all disappear into the tall stem plants and I'll only see one or two; only to have - moments latter - a group schooling across the front of the tank. My only concern is that they are an active fish and trying to keep count to see if I've lost a fish is almost impossible.

I have considered Corys - Dwarf Cories at that - but I prefer the tank as is. At first I was concerned because the fish were missing food and it would drop to the bottom, but when I come back 15 minutes latter any trace of food is gone, they seem to find it. Then they spend the rest of time looking for further food.

I will post pictures soon. I'm working at trying to bring the colours out on them. Is there any place in the Lower Mainland where you can pick up live food, such as blood and white worms?

aunt kymmie

We are looking forward to seeing them! Yay for pictures!!

Byron

They will colour up in that environment, that was sort of my thought in the original post. In store tanks they are rather colourless, and many aquarists not blessed with soft acidic water think they remain featureless, but in our kind of water, what a difference. Just give them time to settle in. Good quality flake food: my characins love TetraMin flake, and once I got them onto Omega One they really go for it and I believe it is high quality. Frozen bloodworms are appreciated by any characin, all of mine go crazy on the 3 evenings I allow this as a treat.

As for live food, Noah's Pet Ark on West Broadway carries various types but as I do not get in that much living out here in PM I couldn't say exactly what or when; I know Graham the owner/hobbyist cultures a lot himself.

I don't know if Pet Boutique in NV carry live food, worth a call as they are in your area.

Island Pets Unlimited (former Big Al's) had a posting on BC Aquaria about live worms a week or two back; the server crash (and it was not a virus fortunately, but a system crash) wiped out the data and threads seem to be starting from scratch, but a post on that thread is likely to get a response from Grant the owner or one of his staff.

Byron.

P.S. I told you kymmie would be hounding you about pictures...

rsn48

I do have pics of my tank before I planted and fish were added, I can give you a link, I can't seem to post here. Also I'm having some problems with my albums and have to repost entire sets of pictures. Anyways here is a photo from a couple of weeks ago.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pk4KYRpVE44/S8...2/IMG_2099.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_pk4KYRpVE44/S8...6/IMG_2097.jpg

The light is not that great and we're having a bout of gray and dreary west coast days. I'll need to set up camera up on a tripod to get sufficient speed to stop the motion and get the fish sharp. As soon as I see the sun for more than ten minutes I'll be shooting some for you.

Funny you should mention Omega One, I just bought some.

rsn48

Byron, the water parameters have changed. My water has been consistently testing out at 7.4 however at Pet Boutique, they insist their water tests out at 5 which sounds bizarrely low.

Byron

Yes I know, but the hardness is zero or near zero, unless that has suddenly changed. My pH has been at 7.0-7.2 for months. But my aquaria still run at or below 6. With no GH and KH in the tap water, the processes in the aquarium easily let the pH drop and it remains low. In a new tank it can take a few weeks for this to settle out. It is the hardness more than the actual pH that is the issue with soft water fish.