[Lupin]

Welcome.:wave:

I openly encourage anyone to critique my setup now...because I thought I did a good job. I am quite nervous though having jumped 9x in size.

Why so nervous?:mrgreen: Your information is excellent.:thumbsup:

yet my readings this morning were zero for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Now the fish 'appear' to be doing fine, in fact they continue to swim all over the place exploring, but I want to know where my Nitrates went since my tap water out the faucet gives a reading of 20-40ppm?

What test kit are you using? Your tank appears to not cycling yet.:squint: I'd recommend getting your lfs' established filter media and stop using that 'bacteria' product which is a waste of money.
Your fish are fine at the moment as you don't have ammonia and nitrites however once both become detectable during the cycling phase, your fish will show symptoms of poisoning and gill and fin burns. Be sure to monitor your fish and water parameters closely.

Do I have too much water flow in the tank with all this filtration? I am worried about the fry being thrust around although they seem fine so far.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fry. Mollies are just too prolific.

Now, although it is not directly in the sun, natural light does hit this tank more then it did the old 10 gallon, so I am curious about these UV Filters for algae and pest control, like ick. I may pick one up to go on the return from the Mag350, but I am sort of waiting to see signs that I need it. Comments on this?

IMO, I wouldn't locate a tank in an area where there is sunlight. It is very difficult to remove green floating algae once they bloom. High nitrate and phosphates are also to blame for the green water phenomenon. UV sterilizers will not remove the algae totally and the sunlight just increases the temperature.

As for ich, it rarely happens provided you quarantine your fish, prevent stress-related factors and very low temperature. Keep your temp steady. Any swings just stress the fish increasing their vulnerability to ich. Ich will not appear until a fish becomes stressed but neither will it appear unless introduced via a carrier(unquarantined fish).

 

[Lupin]

One question I forgot to add to my other crap, is my pH is ~7.8 out of the tap and in the tank. I would like to get this down to 7.5. Any recommendations for such? I have used drops in the past but am weary of that.

No need to lower the pH. Don't fiddle with it unless you are keeping fish that will require it. Lowering it is only asking for trouble.

 

[Lupin]

I read that Mollies like 7.5, and if I want to introduce other types of fish or creatures (not yet), I didn't want it to affect them.

Your fish will adapt. There's no need to change the pH.

What is your plant? I believe your plant is consuming the nitrates quickly. I assume it is one of those plants in the category where they are just undemanding and fast growing. Any pictures? The picture of your tank is not working.:squint:

Question further about sunlight...are you saying a room without windows at all? I figured if people put their tanks in living rooms and bedrooms, then mine could handle being in a dining room, just that it is not up against the window and there is an overhang and trees in the yard that blocks the sun directly.

Yes. A tank is best situated in a place where there is no penetration of sunlight. Sunlight alone increases the temp but if the room temperature is cool, probably not that much but the sunlight will also serve as a culprit for algal blooms so I prefer not to situate the tanks in areas where there is sunlight.

Dlil's suggestion is better though.

 

[Lupin]

Nice tank.:thumbsup: Any close-up pics of your plants?

 

[Lupin]

Slight growth of algae in a tank is ok but rampant growth is something to be concern about. If your pH fluctuates, then there could be something increasing it so try to find what causes fluctuations. Lowering it is done by use of peat, driftwoods or ketapang leaves but you should know your KH as well as KH when very high makes lowering pH almost difficult, if not impossible.

pH changes will still happen especially when your plants try to use up oxygen and CO2 during the night and day respectively. pH increases during the day as the plants use up CO2. It lowers when your plants use up the oxygen along with the fish who compete with the plants hence the recommendation to switch on airpump at night. This is more common in a heavily-planted or overstocked tank.

 

[Lupin]

Also, the hood only has one bulb in it. How am I suppossed to get 2 watts per gallon (90 gallons) for plants to work with this? I only got the 13" deep one, so I do have space behind it, I am wondering if I am suppossed to get just a twin-bulb strip then. Seems like a lot of lighting for 8-10 hours a day.

You might have to make a new hood which can fit more than just two light tubes.:thumbsup:

sorry to be a pest.

Pest nothing. I'm glad you asked a lot of questions. There's no such thing as a stupid question.:mrgreen: The only stupid question is the one not asked at all.