The day (or days) finally came and went, largely without any issue. Placed an order from Aquarium Plants Factory for a ton of plants. For anyone in the US, highly recommend them. Insulation is free, shipping is free over $100, everything showed up in great portions and excellent condition. Much better than the experiences I've had with Buce Plant. Friday night I got the light mounted and tank leveled - my floors are horribly uneven and this was a task, but it is now dead level. Got up nice and early Saturday and started the process while waiting for plants to arrive, but figured they'd arrive at the normal postal time. Nope, came on a different truck about 4 hours later than usual, so had to twiddle my thumbs for a bit and started sorting out the filter and pre-filter situation, got the scape together, etc. Somehow I managed not to take a single photos of the hardscape in the process. However, I thought the o-rings for the DC pump were missing from my order so I didn't assemble the SS filter. Just kind of got it plumbed and figured I'd grab some at the hardware store. Sent Tommy from AR Colorado a message and he got back to me Sunday morning - they were in the box all along, just a little hidden. Same goes for the pump holder, apparently that is somewhere in my possession as well, but I'll have to look around after work. DC pump is currently sitting on the floor of the stand, so I'm losing some flow due to increasing head pressure - BUT, I'm only running it at 50% anyway. Plants finally arrived at about 7 PM, so I went about planting the new plants and transferring some current plants. Took me about an hour to plant, and then I started to fill the tank up. This is where I ran into the biggest problem of the day. Throughout the entire day, it hadn't occurred to me that I should probably start making RO water. So, when I finished planting at about 8 PM, I had 20L of RO on my hands, and at about 4 AM, I finally had the tank filled after staring at it longingly over a few pints. Ended up throwing in 40L of tap to speed up the process, so KH is probably around 2 and not 0, but I need to check. No filter got hooked up as I was cooked. Based on my hazy memory, took about 135L to fill. Woke up Sunday and got the filter and CO2 rolling, set the light schedule, and realized I forgot to add the ADA sticks that come w/ Amazonia II now. Oh well, they'll make it in eventually. Currently running the Weekaqua Pandora P900 @ 40%, but will bump it in the coming weeks.
Still to do:
- Mount another power strip (doser, back light, something else I forget)
- Calibrate Doser
- Making K+ and Micro solutions
- Add Quick Discos to Inlet
- Mount Pump on top of filter (if I can find the pump holder..)
- Tweak CO2
- Add ADA sticks at WC
Plants: All other than those marked w/ an * were ordered from APF or obtained from a friend. * denotes plants already had on hand
- Fissidens Fontanus
- Riccardia
- Buce White Marble (probably should've waited on this one, but it was on sale for $8, so fingers crossed)
- Buce Godzilla
- Buce Kedagang *
- Buce Green Wavy *
- Buces - ordered a growers selection pack. Came w/ 6 different plants all w/ roots and a really nice sized rhizome for $30.
- Anubias Nana Bonsai
- Anubias Nana
- Anubias Nana Golden
- Staurogyne Repens
- Monte Carlo *
- Hygro. Pinnatifida
- Java Fern Petite
- Crypt Petchii
- Crypt Parva
- Crypt Pink Flamingo
- H. Tripartita *
- Eleocharis Parvula *
- R. Rotundifolia Red *
- R. Rotundifolia Green
- R. Ceylon
- R. Blood Red
- R. Wallichi
- R. Macrandra Mini Pink
- L. Verticillata White (Just wanted to try it out)
- L. Super Red
- L. Arcuata
- Tonina Fluviatilis
I think that's it..for now. Heading to a nice aquascaping shop since I'll be in Philadelphia on Saturday to get my fiance's ring resized. Maybe I'll find some more plants to supplement. Soil had been soaking for three weeks, so not worried about ammonia (esp w/ pH) and have a fully cycled filter. Probably will let it ride a couple weeks and then start to add some more fish once I'm positive things have settled in. Also will likely sell the 60cm and current RO system I have laying around to fund the purchase of a proper RO system (200gpd) from BRS. If I ever need to change more than 20 gallons at a time I am in for a mess waiting around. Promise to get some better photos once the water sufficiently clears up and things start to grow a little bit. Thanks for stopping by!