Water

caferacermike

Well I was concerned that you planned on plecos in your planted tank. Keep in mind that what they don't eat, they will uproot.

You are not going to want to add CO2 to the aeration line. The goal with CO2 is to keep it in the tank for as long as possible. This is done with the use of "ladders" (plastic or glass ramps that run back and forth on very low ramps so that the bubble moves back and forth for a few minutes) and into CO2 diffusers. These trap CO2 under a very fine membrane and purge very fine microbubbles. A good diffuser runs about $100 made from glass. Adding it to an airline would mix it with other fast rising bubbles and expel it to atmosphere before any saturation of the water can happen. If adding CO2 you may want to remove the airstone altogether. You want to disturb the top of the water column as little as possible. Bringing water to the surface will purge it of the CO2 you add.

NBT

Thanks for the confirmation that adding CO2 via piggyback will be counter productive... kid of thought so...but needed a second opinion.
Regarding the Pleco...I would love to get one... and one that get's a max of 4" - 8" total. Not too worried about plant's... and I would imagine if the Pleco is fed with an appropriate food... it might reduce the habit of chewing the plant's... I figure the Amazon Sword would be the first to get chewed on.
Not sure the Pleco would care for a PH of 7.6 though... so my search for "bottom dwelling" fish continues... though I am sure it would adapt.
I would much prefer to get species that prefer's the PH...vs having them adapt. (I am sure that's where tank raised is a better alternative here).
Just not sure which Pleco's are more apt to be tank raised vs. from the region they are specific to... is that common info upon ordering?
I planned on ordering my "fish from the net"... however I have found that there are a number of fish farms here in the Tampa Bay area..and may be taking a drive to one or two of them when the tank is ready.
I have time before the tank is cycled...as you can see from the latest lab's.

NBT

Here are today's lab values...
Is this acceptable?
PH 7.6
Ammonia .25 PPM
Nitrites .50 PPM
Nitrates 5.0 PPM

The fish seem to be fine, active, eating well, and without blemishes on the gill plates/ fins ect.

Pics:

Oldman47

Your water parameters indicate that your tank is almost cycled. Keep up the water changes whenever ammonia or nitrites get to .25 ppm and you will finish with a healthy fish environment. Then you just need to do enough maintenance to keep it that way.

NBT

Thank you...I was getting paranoid that I should be doing something. I checked my water tonight, and the values looked as if they were getting ready to change again.
Ammonia .25 ppm
Nitrite .50 ppm... but I bet it will be 1.0 in about 16 hours
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
I am going to test again in the morning, and do a small (10% ) water change.
Then test again and see where it put's me.