# Glumag o Clabar - new tank!



## Heagney (5 Feb 2016)

so this is the story so far....life for my tank started off like any good glamour model..totally plastic! 



My daughter had 2 orandas (orie and spotty) but they croacked it due to my ineffective treatment of ich....RIP guys



The tank kinda went to pot but I still had my amanos and 2 nerite snails so I stripped the tank and added a piece of wood to soak. Had been soaking in a bucket for ages but still leached into the tank!!



I read toms bucket o mid and thought I need to get this back in the game so...stripped the tank put in John Innes No3 and capped it with Argos play sand. 



Last night I added all my plants and today (can't wait!! Although it's month end so have to work...damn you work) I will get my Fluval 206!!









I'll need to wait a few weeks before my shrimp and snails go back in plus the MTS's I bought and eventually get a few fish!!


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## Heagney (5 Feb 2016)

Couple of questions though....

1) where would you guys position the in and out flow bearing in mind the plant placement?
2) how do I position the out flow in the water? I want surface agitation for oxygen but I have floating plants and they will surely be blown all over the place??

The tank is a 63l with a lid and a measly 15w fluorescent single bulb


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## Heagney (5 Feb 2016)

Can I trim the Bolbitis by taking the tops off? Will this help it spread out more rather the growning up the way??

Plants are:

Bolbitis
Anubias Nana
Java fern
Camomba
Amazon sword
Alternanthera rosaefolia
Dwarf Hairgrass 
Weeping miss

Thinking about taking the rock with moss out to be honest which would be a shame but just looks a bit crowded


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## Heagney (5 Feb 2016)

So got my fluval in, seems most fish I like don't like much flow..oops. Does seem pretty strong in my tank so turned it down.
Also I know I was warned against it but stuck my MTS's in yesterday and they're doing fine


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## Heagney (6 Feb 2016)

Any advice re the bolbitis guys??

Also do you think Rams will be ok with Celestial pearl Danios or strawberry rasbora?


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## dw1305 (6 Feb 2016)

Hi all, 





Heagney said:


> Can I trim the Bolbitis by taking the tops off?


 You can trim the leaves, but you will probably find the new leaves will be shorter. It isn't a quick grower low tech, and I've always just let it get on with it, and for a few years it was pretty inconspicuous. The plant that those bits came from now fills most of a 2' tank, and has grown in semi-circle, mainly because it isn't attached  to any wood any more. It is quite shady tank, and I would expect in more light it will grow a bit more compactly. 





Heagney said:


> Also do you think Rams will be ok with Celestial pearl Danios or strawberry rasbora?


Rams like warm, soft water, so the Rasbora would be a better fit. Unfortunately a lot of commercially produced Rams are horribly in bred and disease ridden.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (7 Feb 2016)

dw1305 said:


> disease ridden.


I've never had rams infect a tank - instead they seem to be rather good at keeping themselves to themselves
Friend has a shop & new imports either seem to do just fine or high losses ... nothing easily identifiable, just rapid respiration, failure to thrive & then death over few days or weeks
(these are shipping through Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan)

Not sure about the level of inbreeding, but lots shipping with poor conformation or overly large & colorful (hormones etc) & even crossbred ...
- I've also seen "wild" shipments that are poor quality/conformation (suspect "pond" breeding rather than actual "wild caught") ... often see nicer gold & neon/electric blue color morphs than "wild type" blues


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## alto (7 Feb 2016)

Heagney said:


> Also do you think Rams will be ok with Celestial pearl Danios or strawberry rasbora?


I've mostly kept rams in groups rather than singles or a single pair, they focus on conspecifics rather than other species ... though I suppose their activity may be disturbing to some very retiring fishes


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## JohnC (7 Feb 2016)

re:Bolbitis you will probably find the leaves will go a little grotty as the newer growth suited to you parameters comes in. Snip them off at the rhizome. I find it always wants to slowly dump older leaves when changing water conditions and like Darrel says the low tech leaves will be smaller.


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## Heagney (7 Feb 2016)

I like the look of the Rams and the red line apisto so might get a small group of either


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## Heagney (7 Feb 2016)

I'll do that with the bolbitis then it's just quite tall at the moment and looks a little out of place


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## alto (7 Feb 2016)

Heagney said:


> I like the look of the Rams and the red line apisto so might get a small group of either


Tank is definitely not suited to a group of Apistogramma - I think by "red line", fish may be A hongsloi  so you could likely do a pair or single male ... check out Apistogramma.com for information on successfully keeping apistos
I think tank is 60cm x 30 cm x 36cm, even with rams Mikrogeophagus  you might end up with trio or single pair etc


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## Heagney (7 Feb 2016)

God damn you small tank!! Might just stick with the small danios or rasboras then. Can't have it all haha


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## Heagney (7 Feb 2016)

Looks better with the moss moved?


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## alto (7 Feb 2016)

You might jam some tiny bits of moss into wood crevices - I do like the open area that will (eventually) be surrounded by green growth

My suggestion would be to "sink" the stones & wood into the substrate ... but that is just a personal preference 

Keep your eye out for a "pair" of rams in the shop that seem to have paired up - female/male are fairly easily discerned in blue & gold variants - these fish are better added to an established tank.


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## dw1305 (8 Feb 2016)

Hi all, 





alto said:


> You might jam some tiny bits of moss into wood crevices - I do like the open area that will (eventually) be surrounded by green growth


I think that is a good idea. 





dw1305 said:


> The plant that those bits came from now fills most of a 2' tank, and has grown in semi-circle, mainly because it isn't attached to any wood any more.


This is the original plant. 




 

cheers Darrel


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## Heagney (8 Feb 2016)

I've got a little moss attached to a rock at the back, if it starts to take hold and multiply I'll move some onto the wood as well.
Wow Darrel!! How to put a man to shame haha my tank looks absolutely pitiful next to yours..very nice though it looks good and really thick


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## dw1305 (8 Feb 2016)

Hi all, 





Heagney said:


> How to put a man to shame


Give it time. That is about 10 years of benign neglect. 

It was a second hand tank and has second hand filters and second hand light unit. 

cheers Darrel


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## Heagney (8 Feb 2016)

Pretty chuffed! My Amazon sword had a leaf in the middle that has really grown some since I planted!! 2 new bits emerging on the bolbitis and the dwarf hair grass seems to have extended!! Only been going since Thursday, long may it continue


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## Heagney (8 Feb 2016)

Everyone seems happy enough at the mo


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## Heagney (13 Feb 2016)

Pretty sure these wee side shoots are promising? 



On a side note...my shrimp don't half sh1t a lot!! 



Quite like the wee buggers though!



On a good note, had my water tested by Maidstone today and pH is perfect but showing a tiny bit nitrite and some nitrate so possibly another week and the tank should be cycled, might actually get some fish!!

Going totally beginner with the choice of fish so sorry to you all....guppies...neons....endler guppies...

Would LOVE chilli rasbora, Galaxy rasbora and some Rams or Kribensis but just not got the money at the moment, not sold locally.

Galaxy rasbora were in Maidstone aquatics today but at £4 a pop...not just not thanks. Would want a school of 10 each of them and the chillies


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## Heagney (13 Feb 2016)

Oh forgot to say....found a 4x1.5x2 tank for £40 but it's in Exeter. I'm up in Bonny Scotland..I'll need to try and convince the Mrs that 
A) it will fit in the house
B) it's worth the journey 
C) fish aren't boring and pointless

Hahaha


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## Heagney (18 Feb 2016)

So..tanks been going a few weeks now and all the pants have new growth, apart from the sword which apart from the one new leaf that shot up hasn't done much else. Collecting some sag natans and rotala on Sunday which should finish the left hand side and back of the tank!! Think I'll buy some more dwarf HG then that's me done planting for the moment.
Probably throw some fish in in a week or two 
Don't really want to but my daughter wants a few guppies, she has daddy wrapped around her finger....


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## Heagney (20 Feb 2016)

New fish seem to be settling in well although they seem to be sorting out the pecking order at the mo


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## Heagney (21 Feb 2016)

Better or worse?? Added some dwarf sag and rotundafolia


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## tim (21 Feb 2016)

Like it without those white pebbles, maybe some crypt beckettii petchii between the eleocharis and alternanthera, would be nice transition between the foreground and background planting.


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## Heagney (21 Feb 2016)

I'm wanting it to kind of grow quite wild. Main thing I wanted to do was start with as many plants as possible. It's quite a small tank 
I was thinking about crypts as well  if I didn't have Java fern, anubias and Bolbitis I would get rid of the wood as it takes up lots of space. The rock behind it covered in weeping miss does as well.
Ocht it's going ok for my 1st attempt so far


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## Heagney (21 Feb 2016)

I'll be covering the back wall soon as well


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## dw1305 (22 Feb 2016)

Hi all,





tim said:


> maybe some crypt beckettii petchii between the eleocharis and alternanthera





Heagney said:


> I was thinking about crypts as well


You've got loads of space for some _Cryptocoryne_.





Heagney said:


> if I didn't have Java fern, anubias and Bolbitis I would get rid of the wood as it takes up lots of space


Not really, because it is 3D structure creates more planting opportunities. You can get a lot more plants in a tank with 3D structure than you can in one that just has a flat substrate. 

cheers Darrel


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## Heagney (23 Feb 2016)

From 6 guppies down to 2 after 4 days...don't know what's going on? The fish all look fine but I'm waking up to a dead fish each day


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## Swordplay (23 Feb 2016)

If you still have nitrite in your tank even at low levels this will kill fish.
Do a large water change and reduce food to a minimum.
Guppies are also massively over bred and are one of the least hardy fish you can add to a new set up.


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## Heagney (23 Feb 2016)

They seemed to think that there were no nitrite in the tank but I'll get the water retested. I've done a 100% over the last few days...nightmare


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## Swordplay (23 Feb 2016)

Maybe also add a filter additive like Seachem Stability or similar to give it a boost.


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## Heagney (23 Feb 2016)

Would nitrite not kill the shrimp as well? The shrimp are fine


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## Swordplay (23 Feb 2016)

I have found that Amanos of a reasonable size can be remarkably resilient to imperfect water, usually the first things to react tend to be things like Cardinals and guppies which you wouldn't expect to happen. There is also the possibility that you bought from a bad batch, but if you have any trace of Nitrite when you take water back to the shop for testing a lot of fish shops will not replace them, for obvious reasons.

Hope it all turns a corner for you.


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## Heagney (23 Feb 2016)

To be honest you sound correct. They were from 3 different tanks as I was as careful as possible selecting the fish. God I feel awful now


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## Heagney (24 Feb 2016)

No fish have died today!! 6 down to 2 though...going to let me tank settle in more before I add any more plants or fish. I seem to have brought up a small amount of mud when planting my last lot, maybe that's why the fish died


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## Wisey (24 Feb 2016)

If you disturb the substrate when planting or doing maintenance, try to have a syphon running so you can suck out any mud as it comes up. You should also do a large water change after substrate disturbance, both immediately after and it won't do any harm to put in some extra water changes for a day or two afterwards.


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## Heagney (26 Feb 2016)

So, I'm going to need to chop my cabomba as its grown to my water level now, I'll replant the tops. 
 My Alternanthera rosaefolia has grown a bit as well and I'm hoping i can give the tops a wee chop as well. Should this help it grow out more rather than grow taller? Also can I replant the tops as well?
I do have side shoots which you can see in a pic in the previous posts


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## Heagney (26 Feb 2016)

So 3 weeks in and the tank is doing ok. Cabomba is needing a trim and might do the same with the rosaefolia 



Do you think my new sword leaves look a little translucent? Lack of nutrients?? In the middle of the pic



Also what about my new growth on the anubias does this also look the same??


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## Heagney (6 Mar 2016)

Managed to spice a free 3ft tank so I'll be tripling my water volume! It's a 3ftx1.5ftx1.5ft tank. Think I'll take my time with this one sorting my lay out and plants and use my current one as quarantine/breeder.

The new tanks leaking hence its free but I'll pull it apart and re silicone it all


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