Thanks FL

I did a 90% water change (treated tap water) and added 4ppm NH3 last night. NH3 is now reduced to 0ppm (after 10 hours) NO2 is at 4ppm. I'll monitor NO2 and see if there a significant drop over the next 12 hours. I'll do PWC whenever the NO3 hits 100ppm over the next few days

WAHAY (can you tell I'm excited)! it looks like the nitrospira are working overtime as well.

this is 12 hours after NH3 dosing, NO2 at 2ppm



and this is after 14 hours around .25ppm


water change worked a treat FL!

And wouldn't you just know it. 14 1/2 hours of dosing @ 4ppm NH3 - NO2 = 0ppm. Woot!!

Evening all! Ok been running the tank for 4 nights now and dosing to 4ppm. The NO2 is being reduced between 12- 15 hours. Noticed that as the nitrate builds up, the nitospira are less efficient. Shows how important it is for the weekly pwc and keeping the nitrate levels down. The NH3 is getting fully removed now within 8 hours!

Tonight will do a full water change. Have 400l mineralised R/O ready to go. Both 200l water butts have had an air stone running all day.

Then tomorrow... The best part . Getting the fish

Just want to double check. Can I add all the fish in one go or do I need to hold the rams back for a couple of days to allow the rest to settle in ?

Best update do far. Tank occupants are in.

15 lemon tetra, 10 corys and 8 Ram . All look in great heath and are all swarming around the tank exploring like crazy. Will post pics later today once the lights are on.

It's utterly compelling to watch.

All are juveniles and plenty of room to grow

I'll add the pair of bristlenosed in a week or so time.

Well worth the 2 months wait to cycle the tank

Tank pics !!

The 8 Rams are doing very well and just lovely to watch. They cruise around in a group and very interested in their new home

The 11 corys are very active and have covered the tank floor endlessly. Sometimes moving en masse or in small groups. Went for bronze in the end to keep cost down. Lovely long flowing tails.



The 15 Lemon Tetras and zipping around like a coordinated display team! Hard to photo so a general tank shot instead



I have had no algae at all, not even a diatom outbreak. And I have no idea why! Any clues? The lighting is a lot less bright than it appears. 80w in total perhaps low light prevents it ?

Morning all!

Tank update all have settle in really well.

It looks like I have ended up with 5 male and 3 female rams. All the males have found a feature in the tank which they have claimed as their own and are being very cute in defending form the other males. The 3 gals are keeping together going from spot to spot - checking out the bachelors pad perhaps...

Am I better off trying to get replace a male or two with a female. rather hard to tell the sex in the LFS display!

Looking good Luke. You may want to reduce males/increase females or add more décor. when they're ready to start breeding the excess males might be a problem.

I swapped 3 of the males for what I hope are 4 female (so 9 rams in total now). As it turned out I had ended up with 6M out the original 8! Luck of the draw right... well it seems to have worked out ok there appears to be a small group now of 1M and 2F around one piece of wood. A pair around another. A couple of males have each got their own spot. The other two are cruising around together so figure are F. 5F 4M and it all seems pretty harmonious.

Going to wait a 2 more weeks afore the BN pair.

Morning All

Sadly 2 of the males died 3 days apart and have no idea why. No obvious signs of illness and gills bright red etc . Perhaps they just could not settle in as both were very reclusive. The remaining 7 seem in very good heath and very interactive with the tank.

Water parameters: NOH3, 0NO2 and I keep the tank under 10ppm NO3 at all times I do 50L changes every 3 days. Temp 25, pH a shade under 7 and 4edgree hardness.

I think I'm not going to go with the BN pair . The dynamics between the Cory and Rams is nicely balanced.

The Lemon tetra have definitely grown. They like to spend most of their time zooming in and out around of the outflow pipes, it's as if they are playing a game! They will occasionally cruise the tank en masse and are so fast in moving at feeding time.

I am therefore tempted to add a second shoaling group (in about a month) as the other 2/3rds of the upper tank seems empty a lot of the time!