So. What a nightmare of a move!!

All was going well until it came time to move the filter, all hell broke loose. First the primer broke out.. then the cheap plastic spray bar snapped. I got to the local MA for almost bang on 6, and purchased and EFX300, which is oh a much higher build quality than the APS I was running.

This lead to a slight problem, which I posted about on the forums. I had a BIG raise in nitrites. So carrying countless buckets of water (did a water change at 11pm, waking everyone in the house up..). All seems well now with nitrites back to 0. Can only assume while the filter wasn't working so good the bacteria went into a dormant state, and have now awoken.

Had a slight play with my stock.

I did have;

1 Opaline Gourami (three spot)
2 Kissing Gourami
1 RTBS
6 Cherry Barbs

I now have;

1 Opaline Gourami
1 RTBS
1 Red BN Plec
12 Cherry Barbs

I know the plec isnt best suited for my hard water, but I couldnt resist when I saw him in MA.

Next up will be the Lake Kutubu Rainbow fish who will add a bit of colour to the tank.

Anyway - an update photo from this morning. Will take one tomorrow when the new barbs have settled in.

Reflectors arrived and fitted.

Tank is now half filled, brought up to temp, awaiting transfer of fish and water from current tank. I've run a filter over night with some fine filter wool to try and pick up any dust that's left over from the gravel.

I used 2 different sizes of stone. The bigger of the two is from Unipac (which I am fairly disappointed), the smaller is the pets at home own brand.

Blog to show development of my new tank.

http://fishkeeper.co.uk/site/product/exclusive-aqua-oak-110cm-drawers-doors-aquarium-and-cabinet-vxa030

Current progress;
Tank + Cabinet (maidenhead aquatics)
T5 Lighting Controller 2x39w (ebay)
T5 Tubes (from lampspecs - cheaper than "aquarium branded")
APS 1000EF UV (from current setup, fully cycled)
APS 300W heater (again from current setup)
3D background (included with tank purchase... apparently worth £120)
2x resin bogwood (from the range)
25kg Unipac black aqua gravel (going to get some sand aswell)

Outstanding;
2x reflectors (in the post.. somewhere. As soon as these arrive I can start putting things together.)
Co2 kit (going to purchase next month when funds allow. http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/easy-aqua-twin-guage-regulatorsolenoid-p-6179.html for use with a fire extinguisher)
Plants
LED Night lights


Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Have now started (finally) cutting the Jewel rock and root panels.
I will add pictures this weekend.
I have cut away sections so the background is not so dominant and sculpted the (IMO) ugly pre-caste edges.
After trialing some mixes of sand, I have got a great match to the 3D background. Using silicon I have coated the sculpted edges with the sand and it blends beautifully (result!)
A bit of time and thought was put into fitting the outlet pipe from the filter into the tree stump, with the mouth of the outlet hidden in a wood knot I have cut away.
Another pleasing result was cutting through to the glass among the roots so that I can add a back light from outside the tank.
I have also made the planned cutouts to add plants into the 3D wall.
Into these I plan to insert aquarium planting media in small bags sewn together from larger Jewol filter bags. The idea is to cut a small cross through the bag and insert the plant roots so the soil does not escape.

The terracing I also purchased has now been cut to fit.
I now just need to decide on what mesh/sponge to use in the background to cover the cutaway for the inlet. Then it will be on to siliconing the main bits in.

Things waiting to go in are:
Aquarium planting media ( I also plan to use John Innes no2, providing I can buy one where all the ingredients are documented)
Sand ( v good match to the 3D background)
Pea gravel
Large Bog wood
Resin case tree roots, that I plan to cut to fit to the 3D background.
Heater (to be hidden next to the inlet behind the background).

will add pics soon. thanks for following.

Please help, i tried posting a few days ago about my blackmoors finrot, i don't think it worked so i'm posting again, i have been treating the tank with anti fungus and finrot treatment every time i clean out, which is every 2-3 weeks, but the problem seems to be getting worse still, especially in the past week or so, i'm really stuck and don't know what to do, please help if you can, thanks!

I finally got the perfect piece of wood after months of searching and fiddling with a pile of smaller pieces. So chuffed :D

Its been a while so heres some updated photos of my tanks

So, yesterday I did two 50% changes, one at 11.30am and the next at 3pm - I'll space these out a bit better today. Both sets of results showed the same outcome: Nitrates and nitrites still at 0, Ammonia at 0.25 and ph 6.6. The ammonia and ph remained the same from the previous day's test at 7.20pm. Odd.

I was advised that the tap water quality or the substrate could be partially responsible for the ph shift (I'm still getting the hang of all the terms, so if I guff this up, bear with me). Previously I had siphoned out the water when changing then added the 50% replacement and then added the aquasafe afterwards - not removing the filter whilst doing the change thinking leaving it in could be beneficial. However, after pondering on it for a while I thought maybe doing 50% changes with tapwater might possibly damage any trace of good bacteria in the filter before the aquasafe is added. So I took the filter out when changing the water yesterday and will continue to do this for a few days to see if that makes a change.

I also decided it'd be more beneficial to add the aquasafe to the new water before adding to the tank, again, to avoid any tap nasties affecting the good bacteria in the filter. Fingers crossed this helps.

I think I'm seeing growth on the plants in the tank too. I've been taking a lot of time to inspect and study what's going on, peacefully observing George and he's starting to get used to me now The plant has a little blob or two attached to it. First of all I was ready for ripping it out just in case it was snail eggs maturing - super worried about snails creeping in from shop bought plants. After poking and looking some more I think it is just plant growth, pretty cool!

I've been willing the marimo to reproduce, I'm pretty taken by this interesting little plant. It has a bit of a lump poking out at one side and looking around online suggests it might be splitting for reproduction. It could also just be my keen imagination, mind you. Either way I ordered two more 4-5cm marimo online which should be here by Tuesday.

Other things I ordered were Tetra 6 in 1 testing strips to assess the water hardness so I can take more action to help the tank cycle correctly as well as a bottle of seachem prime.

George looks a happy boy, I'm seeing colour in the top half of his tail where there was none before. Previously there was a large white patch brought on by ammonia burn and/or fin rot, but now the patch is split with a small flash of orange running down into a badly damaged spine. The bottom half of the tail seems to be gaining some colour too. By no means is it a 'need to put my sunglasses on it's so bright' affair, but any little sign that he's getting better is giving me more reason to smile.

Hello everyone.

Just posting an opening blog page to say hi, I'll use this blog to track the progress I'm making with George - my adopted ten year old single tail comet (well, that's what I think he is).

George lived in a bowl for ten years before I took him in last week. Now I'm learning from scratch about his needs and upkeep and now looking forward to providing him with a better life. As he was in a bowl for so long I think he's probably stunted growth wise although I think he's about six inches from nose to tail. Speaking of tail, he seems to have ammonia burn and little marks on his other fins which I worry may have been breaks which are now mended.


He's in good hands now.

See y'all around.

Joanne (and George)

I have a black moor goldfish and his eyes got like 3x the usual size and then I think they fell out. The eyes do not go out anymore like a telescope and I think he can still see but only a little this first started around a month and a half ago. If any of you think you know what happend to my fish, Tinky Winky, and or you know how to fix it PLEASE reply! Thank you so much!