My 55gal Tank Build Thread!

[Markw]

My little guys I got about a month and a half ago have gotten to be about 4.25 inches, and I think they are ready to move from their 20gal long into the 55gal. They have grown from about 2.5" since then, so 2" over the course of maybe a month and a half (maybe two months, Ill get back to you on that one.) seems good to me. I have one gold, one melanoid, one leucistic, and one wildtype. All feeding better than hogs on blackworms at the moment. Anyway, back to the tank. I am rinsing the sand as we speak, then I will post pictures of the tank and tell you all my plans for it. As for now, here are a few pics of my 20gal they are in now. These pictures were taken the day I got plants in there, so they are quite old. Like I said, I will update later.

Keep checking back to see the updates. It will happen frequently :wink:.

Mark

 

[Tanzaniterose]

I can't wait to see what you can do with a new tank Mark! I'm looking forward to the updates.

 

[Markw]

Im cleaning the sand, and its been an hour. I only have about a quarter gallon of sand clean. Would it be acceptable to just put in enough so that when I transfer teh axies, I can use the sand they have in their tank to top it off or would that throw it into another cycle? This is so tedious. haha

Mark

 

[ianclick]

Great looking Tank,

I too can't wait to see the new one. Great job

 

[Markw]

Well, since then the plants, almost all of them, died, almost died, or were eaten and it doesnt look half as nice. Thanks, though.

Mark

 

[Markw]

Ok, so update. After about two and a half or so hours of cleaning sand, and about another hour and a half of setting up the filter, and about a half hour of filling the tank with one gallon buckets, I officially have my tank up and running. It has been running since about 11:00 PM Saturday night, and the filter is working amazingly. I am running the Rena Filstar Xp4 (heres a link for more information on the filter: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/216513/product.web ) on the tank. The filter says its for tanks up to 265 US gallons. My tank, being only 55, I think it should work great, and so far it is. I am running a spraybar as you will see, and using the flow regulator to slow the flow rate as low as it can go. I positioned the spraybar so it is pointing up towards the water's surface. I figure this should keep the lower levels of water more still than if I were to point it straight at the wall of the aquarium. Anyway, here are some photos of the tank as it sits now. I am checking the water parameters now and I will post them within minutes.


The tank before adding sand. The bucket on the top left is what I will be adding from the axies' current tank. It has a few cups of dirty sand as well as a bunch of good ammonia-packed poo. Also about a half gallon of the water from the water change. (to kickstart the cycling process)

The bacteria-filled bucket.

The referred to poo and sand in the bucket.

A picture from this morning. All the sand has been added including the bucket and the filter and the light are both on. There is about 30ish lbs of sand on the bottom and as you can see, the filter has already sucked in some of the debris that was in the bucket.

Thanks for looking!
Mark

 

[Markw]

Water parameters came in.

Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
pH: 7.6

So, Im not quite sure I know which stage of the cycle I am in, if it has even started yet. I dont know where the elevated Nitrates should have came from, but as far as I know, I havent had a spike in ammonia or nitrites yet. Could this have been from the water I put in from the other tank? Any ideas here would be appreciated.

Mark

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hi Mark,

Water from your old tank will help catalyst the cycling process. I am not surprised if trace amounts of nitrates are present. If the majority of your tank volume is made up of fresh new water, it would still take time for the full cycling process to be established.

Cheers

 

[Markw]

I think im going to set up a routine where I check the ammonia daily to wait for the ammonia spike. Then, once that spikes, I will monitor the nitrites, then nitrates. I figure none should rise without the predecessor rising first, so why waste all the testing bottles. Should I add ht poo from the cleaning im going to do today into the tank to help kickboost the ammonia even more? I have it rigged now by having a net wedges in the corner of the aquarium with the poo in the net. The bottom of the net is flowing in the current, but the poo cant fit through the net's mesh, so the water is carrying all the good stuff out, without physically dirtying the tank. Should I put more poo in the net?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Azhael]

You can just throw a small piece of meat/shrimp/fish into the tank and let it rot. That will feed the bacteria which then will release ammonia to feed the good bacteria.

 

[Markw]

I think I will do that in addition. I will put it in some pantyhose or something similar first as I hear it will keep the sand clean by not letting the decomposing shrimp fall to pieces on it. If I do this, when should I take it out? When the nitrite starts to rise?

Mark

 

[melfly]

Hiya
Yeah its the nitrite spike your looking for to show the tank is cycling.
Be patient it could take a while lol

Mel

 

[melfly]

By the way you also need to keep the source of ammonia there for the cycle to continue.
Once the axolotls are in they provide the source of ammonia

Mel

 

[Markw]

Ok, so I think we might have a cycle happening here. I checked the tank this morning and the ammonia was up to .50ppm, the nitrite was a little offcolor from zero. I checked it a few minutes ago, about 10 hours after the initial checking, and the results came out as follows:
Ammonia: .50ppm
Nitrite: .12ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 7.6 (as always..)
So, with the elevated ammonia and nitrites (not high, but elevated from last time), I think the cycle of my tank has officially begun. Its only been running for about 5 days, so I guess this is a good thing. I am thinking about taking out some of the sand today and putting in some feeder guppies or mosquitofish (probably the latter). I will continue to check the water daily, and may post pics of the fish later on. I may also be getting some driftwood to put in the tank today also. So be sure to check back.

Thanks for looking.
Mark

 

[Markw]

So, I just checked the water and it came out as follows:

Ammonia: .25ppm
Nitrite: back down to 0.0ppm
Nitrate: up to 10ppm.

So, the ammonia is holding steady, the nitrites went up, then back down, and the nitrites are now rising. Does this mean that the cycle could already be coming to an end? If so, that would be amazing. I went to the LFS today to pick up more blackworms and they didng have any mosquitofish in, but they had tons of plants. I will be going back tomorrow. Until then, Id really like some feedback on my water chemistry.

Thanks.
Mark

 

[Markw]

Last night, I got some good advice on the chat, and I found out that I am experiencing a mini cycle most likely. So, just to make sure I have a real cycle, I decided to put some of the plants that were in the 20long and the filter pad in the big tank. I also added the basters full of poo that were left over from yesterdays feeding.

These are my miserable plants that werent doing so well in the 20. I think there was a little too much light for the green cabomba. Hopefully they will help with the cycle.

This is the rig I have to hold all the bacteria filled goodies. I have the net hanging from my filters spraybar and I baste the poo from the 20long through it. The net keeps the poo from dirtying the tank, but the flow from the filter helps carry around all the bacteria that will be helpful to the cycle. I put the filter pad in there also so that the goods off of that will be going into the waters also.

I tested the water this morning and it came out as follows:

Ammonia:.50ppm
Nitrite 0.0ppm
Nitrate: 10-15ppm.

So far, the ammonia has risen, the nitrites have stayed at their level of zero, but the nitrates seem to be rising? I dont much understand this. I will check back later, I guess.

Mark

EDIT: I forgot to add. I think that thermometer is a little off (I only paid $.99 for it.), or I have an issue. it says that the tank is steady at 76F. Thats way high. I will be picking up a digital thermometer today, but im a little worried about that.

 

[Markw]

Ok, so I put a fan on the top of the tank and it lowered the temp to about 71-72F. The fan is very low powered, so when I can get a fan that is stronger on it with this, it should lower it even further. I will still be getting a digital thermometer just incase. I took the parameters today, and they came out:

Ammonia: 1ppm (raised)
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm

So, with this, the ammonia has risen. Not too sure about what this means as of now, but I wanted to share how well the fan was working. 6-7F is a pretty good change, Id say.

Mark

 

[pieman21]

Very simple yet stylish! I do look forward to seeing the end product!

 

[Markw]

Ok, so I think I may be fully cycled. It seems mega fast to me, but I put alot of bacteria in the tank to begin with, so maybe not as unbelievable? The chemistry came out the last three days as follows with no fluctuation:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm

Since the ammonia went down, the nitrite didnt rise, and the nitrate didnt fall, there has been no fluctuation at all and I think that I may be cycled. Sound about right?

Mark

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hi Mark,

Looks good. The axies are ready to move in.

Cheers.