new tank. new 2 forum

[koichiban]

sooo at the request of the powers that be. I've decided to say a formal hi. I currently have a 55 tank , and getting it under way. been having the lfs help me. got some dirty water live sand and a nice amount of live rock to cycle, which ended up not being as violent of a cycle as I anticipated . nothing in there except hermits, snails, just got a ricordia (jumped off his rock), a mini RBTA ( doing great), and a arrow crab(who I had too fed today cause he ate a hermit), and some polyps. nothign too fancy so far .. oh yeah I also have ,(this one might bother some peeps) a little neck clam that was supposed to be part of my meal but had a cracked shell, upon further research I found out you could keep them in a cold water DSB aquarium (which mine is not), but it was either that or the trash so I figure I'd give him a fighting chance, and so far to my suprise hes eating and doing well . Ive done chiclids , still have a fresh planted tank. and have been a hobbyist for roughly 10 years. I know reefing is the pinnacle of this hobby and very sensitive, but I also know you sometimes have to take small gambles, but in saying that I welcome any advice critisim or even blatant analness that you feel you need to say. It's great to finally get to do what I've wanted to for so long, and please feel free to post pictures of your aquarium because I'm kinda into that stuff.....


to strive for the unattainable goal of perfection is what makes life worth living!

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Welcome to R2R. Would love to see pics of your tank if you have any.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Plant tanks can be a lot harder than a reef tank.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R! Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[koichiban]

I'll have to get a pic tomorrow,( lights out tonight) and just FYI I've been waiting on my t5 HO for like 1.5 months now so I just have my old fluorescent light atm. (its on back order cause after I ordered there was a recall on the ballast) ya I love my planted tank its about 7 yrs old a 30 gal w/ 2 bleeding hearts, an angel, 1 (soon to be 2) German blue rams (my favorite), and a black skirt that refuses to die (jk). u already know TN water is hard as a brick. so I gotta buffer the poop out of there water and do more frequent small water changes, with spotty larger ones.

I at least got this one

 

[BarbH]

Hello and welcome to r2r, love the look of german blue rams although from reading others experiences they can be difficult to keep I had Bolivian rams in my 50g when I had it set up at a planted fw. Did well until I moved and most of my plants did not do well with the move, was in November and I think things got a little too cold for them. Look foward to seeing pictures of your tank :welcome:

 

[strange33w]

Welcome and post some more pics of your tank

 

[koichiban]

will do on the pics and . I only have one German Blue ATM . the lady will come a little later but Ill see if he'll pose for me

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

I'll have to get a pic tomorrow,( lights out tonight) and just FYI I've been waiting on my t5 HO for like 1.5 months now so I just have my old fluorescent light atm. (its on back order cause after I ordered there was a recall on the ballast) ya I love my planted tank its about 7 yrs old a 30 gal w/ 2 bleeding hearts, an angel, 1 (soon to be 2) German blue rams (my favorite), and a black skirt that refuses to die (jk). u already know TN water is hard as a brick. so I gotta buffer the poop out of there water and do more frequent small water changes, with spotty larger ones. I at least got this one

+1 on the German rams. I seen one of the stupidest things out at AC a few weeks back. They have made ballon rams now. They were the ugliest things. Does your plant tank have any wood in it.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Curious why a month and a half. I would be hot.

 

[koichiban]

no wood. I give my only piece to my friend that took my chiclids (I miss them so....) cause the upside down catfish that went with them loved it. he had a 90 gal. and wanted to get it going for his newly aquired daughter <--- (fish hobbyist joke). I helped him get it started and man it turned out nice. ESCPECIALLY MY BLUE AHLI!!!!!!!!! .....( jealous)..... I do have space now for new plants being that my angel took a liking to one of the biggest plants (I bought it a year ago so I do not remember the name) in the tank.... meaning she eat the mess out of it. the hardest part of that tank is cleaning in between the leaves without pulling everything up...

 

[koichiban]

oh yeah what the hecks a ballon ram. I'm not one of those gotta have the rarest..... I just want the healthiest lol

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

oh yeah what the hecks a ballon ram. I'm not one of those gotta have the rarest..... I just want the healthiest lol

Balloon ram oops. They look like the parrot cichlids. Ugly thing too. As for the wood question wood softens water so I thought might help. The water in the boro isn't that hard so I don't have that issue. And ph is 7 straight out of the tap.

 

[koichiban]

7.8 here and IM running it at 5.6-6.0 , usually 5.8 is my target......tis a pain. oh yeah and the light I am peeved but scince I work in electronics I can understand

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Before I went saltwater I had a 29g planted tank it was as low tech as it gets. Yeast in a 2 liter bottle and a fixture for a snake cage I found at petsmart with two 150 watt compact fluorescent bulbs that only use like 20 wats max. I got this one plant that I really don't remember the name but it had a giant bulb and as it grew the leaves corkscrewed. I loved that plant but it took up the entire tank and started killing all they other plants so I took it out and ready that you could let bulbs dry out and they would be fine for future use. Well it never grew again but I never had to do anything to the water and everything grew like crazy. At that time I didn't even test the water so I guess it was luck. Of coarse I also didn't know that a cobalt blue zebra cichlids would wipe out all my plants. Lol