My 125 Gallon Fish Tank

This summer was brutal. I had a hard time keeping the water below 90 degrees for most of May June and July. The heat melted my large plants. And the conditions killed 2-3 fish. I'm not new to keeping a fish tank, but I tend to let things go about in a natural way. No testing. Top off every week. Water change once every 6 months.

This changed about 14 days ago when I got my plant order from Arizona. I went looking for information and found why the algae was growing freely. Nitrates and Phosphates An N ratio of 15:1. At this level, the plants can become locked and can't take up nutrients. At 10:1 the plants are unlocked and can take up the nutrients more freely. Right now the ratio is still close to 20:1.

I bought test kits and found that the PO4 was 10ppm and the NO3 was 200ppm. I bought a filter pad to remove phosphate and a filter pad to remove nitrates. Currently 1ppm PO4 and 80ppm NO3. The nitrate pad has only been running for 3 days and the nitrate level has dropped 120ppm to 80ppm. I'm hoping this pad will get me down to about 10ppm. The plants need the nitrate and 10ppm isn't that dangerous to old hardy fish. I would also like to maintain this level without the 50% water change every week.

I would post before and after shots, but I've only supported the site once or twice renting a car. It wasn't that bad, really. And am most likely the one member taking up the most bandwidth with my 3 pictures. I'm going to look for a car for my March trip from a vendor here on-site. It looks good as I don't have the rental set up yet and the lowest price is $223.00 for the week so far.

The $400.00 I spent the last two weeks got me new lights, 26 plants, filter pads, plant food, trace minerals, iron and potassium. A circulation pump that doubles and triples as a sump and powerhead. Gravel. Test kits and 2 fish. The two fish are on the righthand side. This is a work in progress and the algae will be removed in about a week.

Well, here it is: And I've already moved the powerstrip above the waterline

 

90% of that post was in a foreign language to me! Except the picture thing, if you don't wanna use up the sites bandwidth just link to an external photo sharing site like photobucket.

 

Get a couple of good catfish. That will help too.

 

Ichthyologist

Those look like Angelfish(easy), some black neon tetras, and some guaramis. Forgive my spelling on the fish names, I am going off of 40 year old memories.

I was that back in high school and junior high school. I was on a first name basis with the owners of the Fish Bowl.

I had five tanks. I raised discus fish and angel fish. With bunches of other fishies that I mainly left as fishies for the angelfish and discus fish to consume. I liked neon tetras, cardinal tetras, clown fish, etc.

I chose fake plants over live plants. I found no amount of plecostomus(spelling) could keep algea from NOT growing in my tanks. I just used the razor cleaners every day and tried to maintain the proper pH balance.

I went to college and my Dad decided to clean my tanks while I was gone. I warned him on how to do it, and that I would prefer he did not do it. I would clean the tanks over Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Did not matter. I go back for Turkey Day and I had five dead fish tanks. He probably hated paying the power bill. That was too bad he killed the fish because those angelfish and discus were worth around 25 bucks each because of their size.

Sold the tanks the next summer after college, 20 bucks each.

End of my Ichthyologist career.

 

Just passing time. Kind of bored today.

My first attempts were lost from the start. I was just too busy to manage the tanks and I was 5 miles away to boot.

Yeah, I could post all my pics to fb and then link to them here. I did support the site with a rental car or two. Certainly enough to cover a few pictures.

My most recent water test:

Water Test 9-28-2012

Temp 82
PH 7.5
GH 180
KH 120
NO2 0
NO3 20
PO4 .5
Ammonia 0

This is an improvement over what it was in August:

Temp 86
PH 7.5
GH 180
KH 120
NO2 1
NO3 200
PO4 10
Ammonia 2

I'm working and changing the limiting system. This will be even more foreign language to most. A limiting system is used to manage the water quality to prevent algae, or a system to manage plant growth. Right now I'm more concerned about the water quality and algae prevention. For water there are two types of limiting systems.

1. Nitrogen Limiting an N ratio of 15:1. This benefits Algae growth and the current issue in my tank as my ratio is 27:1

2. Phosphorus Limiting an N ratio of 10:1. This limits algae growth and where my tank is heading.

Limiting system for plants is basically limiting Iron to .1ppm.
Here is what I've added to the tank. An estimate of minerals. And where I want the tank to be. The one thing I need is an iron test kit. I will not be injecting CO2 for fear of killing my fish.

Dosing: trace 50ml, iron 20ml, potassium 50ml.
Inherent: NO3 40ppm, PO4 .5ppm
Estimate: iron .1ppm, K 10ppm, CO2 6-8ppm
Desired: Iron .1ppm, NO3 10ppm, PO4 1ppm K 20ppm, CO2 7-8ppm

I love my tank, plants and fish. It has brought me years of pleasure.

 

Wow, things sure got complicated since I had fish. Before college I had 6 tanks in the basement and raised fancy fantail guppies, swardtails,siamese fighters,kissing gouramies, neon tetra's, zebras, catfish and suckers. My pride and joy was a pair of African Mouth Breeders. I had mostly real plants, flo lights, and seldom cleaned tanks. Never had much of a problem with ph, must have been the city water was more suited to whatever is ideal for the fish. It was fun and soothig to watch them.

Jimbo338

 

I got rid of my aquarium a long time ago. My fish were too temperamental. It seems like every time I took them out to play they would throw some kind of fit.

 

Some of the equipment has changed. Under gravel filters are rare.
Canister filters are in. There are new fish out. You have to make
time to care for the tank. I only recently started testing the water.
It brings me great joy.

There's a lot of cheap fish tanks in Las Vegas.
There was one on craigslist that was 32'x8'x6' for $180,150.
I'm hoping to get a new car and a 13 foot tank In April.

 

Do I see VMB reflected in the aquarium?