# My 30/25g Community Tank >))'.



## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Hello, Im new to tropical freshwater aquariums and would like to post some details about my new tank and get some feedback 

I currently have 30/25 gallon (120L) Tank with a built in Wet/Dry Filter. Right now as you can see in the photos that i have already done the basics of setting it up and filling it with a substrate. I have used 100% RO water right now because i live in an Asian country and its not wise for people to drink from the taps. 

Im in the process of cycling my tank with two goldfish (as seen in the photos), with a lot of fresh water plants. I know alot of people are now using a fishless cycle but its extremely hard to find the right products for doing it here.

*Tank Hardware:*

- All Glass 30 Gallon Tank
- Built-In 4/5 Gallon Wet/Dry Filter
- Cheap Chinese Mag-drive 237gph / 900Lph Pump (6-8 Cycles Per Hour)
- Cheap noisy dual tap air pump (No idea how much air) One goes out with the pump and another is connected to an air-stone.
- T8 10w Aquarium light (I open the blind behind the tank in the day which gives the tank extra non direct sunlight)

*Upgrade plans:*

- Eheim Compact 1000 pump
- Eheim 100 or 200 Air Pump

*My all glass tank:*


*Built-in Wet/Dry Filter:*



*Communty Fish Plans:*

I plan to add to Guppies, Mollies and Platties and nice pleco.

I will be adding 5 Guppies 2F 3M once my tanks cycled. I plan to keep the 2 goldfish if they survive the cycle, as ive grown fond of them lol.


My first question is, when should i change the water? Im planning to use a 50% RO / 50% Tap water to replace 25% of the water in the tank on the 7th day.

And No, I dont have any testing gear right now  I plan to get some Tetra Ph, No2, no3 and ammonia testing gear soon.

Thanks, Any feedback would be appreciated.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

You might want to take a look at the link in my signature.

It looks the live plants you have will do wonders for the tank.

But that's just my advice.

Which as usual is worth at most.

.02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

beasl - Never miss an oppurtunity to push your method, but can't take the time to give constructive criticism and tell the OP what could be wrong with their plan?

Sayonarax - I personally wouldn't want to put 100% RODI water. With complete depletion of the mineral content of the water there will be no natural buffers in the water to do things like hold your ph stable, allowing it to fluctuate or bottom out, which will kill your fish. Above poster knows this but wants to plant his seed to his ways first. I would disregard all he says as everything will be slanted in that direction.

You also may want to re-consider your stocking plan. Goldfish and Guppies usually would not be put in the tank together. Can be done, but one is a tropical and the other is not.

Your plan to keep using 50/50 RO/Tap is a good plan.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> beasl - Never miss an oppurtunity to push your method, but can't take the time to give constructive criticism and tell the OP what could be wrong with their plan?
> 
> Sayonarax - I personally wouldn't want to put 100% RODI water. With complete depletion of the mineral content of the water there will be no natural buffers in the water to do things like hold your ph stable, allowing it to fluctuate or bottom out, which will kill your fish. Above poster knows this but wants to plant his seed to his ways first. I would disregard all he says as everything will be slanted in that direction.
> 
> ...


I live in tropical climate so there really is no choice  

Yeah, i did some more reading on RO water after using 100% and people have suggested the 50/50 combo. 

Thanks for the feedback


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I decided to mess about the air pump and decided to try the smaller single tap air pump to see if it made less noise then my big dual tap. Turns out it is quieter when hung from the power cord as there's really no vibration on a surface to amplify the sound it makes. 

*w3

Now im only running the air through the powerhead as there were just to many bubbles near my filter intake preventing the surface water draining down the pump. This is good to keep food from going down but not good for surface debris , so i might think about turning it on at feed time only.

I also decided the 10w light wasnt quite enough and has been bothering me so i decided to see what options i had and came up with an easy fix to add extra 13w of light giving me 23w Total which should help to keep the plants happy.

*13w Daylight CFL and 10w Fluro:* (Its homemade with a plastic splash protector)



*New lighting makes it nice an bright:*


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

I'd advise against your stocking plan as well. When I kept goldfish (many years ago), I decided to add some tropicals. The people at the pet store advised me not to, but the reason they gave was that they both needed different water temps. I ignored this advice because I'd been keeping my goldfish in a heated tank anyway.

So I bought some fancy guppies and added them in. The result? Dead guppies. Despite their reputation for being relatively peaceful fish, my goldfish mercilessly bit the guppies until all were dead. 

Take my advice. If you want to put tropicals in that tank, rehome the goldfish. They'll eventually outgrow that size tank anyway.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Miss Vicky said:


> I'd advise against your stocking plan as well. When I kept goldfish (many years ago), I decided to add some tropicals. The people at the pet store advised me not to, but the reason they gave was that they both needed different water temps. I ignored this advice because I'd been keeping my goldfish in a heated tank anyway.
> 
> So I bought some fancy guppies and added them in. The result? Dead guppies. Despite their reputation for being relatively peaceful fish, my goldfish mercilessly bit the guppies until all were dead.
> 
> Take my advice. If you want to put tropicals in that tank, rehome the goldfish. They'll eventually outgrow that size tank anyway.


Thanks Vicky, Yeah im not sure what to do. Im really quite surprised two small gold fish need 30gallons alone! I see people on here with 5 larger goldfish in the same sized tank. Ive been doing more reading on the goldfish since having them to learn more about their behavior and general illness etc.

It would be nice to hear from others as well on the keeping of goldfish and guppies together. *c/p*


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I just did my 25% PWC. I was just looking for a long tube in my cupboard to drain the water and to my surprise i found a gravel vac! yay

When i turn off my filter the water in the sump overflows up to the bio balls (submerging them in water), will this effect my bio-balls? Should i leave my filter running if this happens and just vac out one load and then replace and redo?


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## Crazy (Mar 1, 2012)

chances are your water return line is in the water, if you remove it from the water so that the returning water actually waterfalls into the tank you wont have to worry about the sump filling up or backing up at all.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

The problem is the water flow's back through the powerhead and balances the displacement in the filter box. I know must people have there wet/drys outside the tank, but as you can see mines built-in. So my question is still remains, will submerging the bio-balls be harmful while i do a PWC.


*Powerhead at the mid bottom:*


*Backside View:*


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

Just want to add that the ratio of guppies should be 1 male to at least 2 females, so 2 males and 4 females would work better and reduce the harassment of the females. And the goldfish are not compatible companions.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

your bio balls are never actually dry. if they are, they dont function. submerging them for a short period of time shouldnt affect them as long as you get the filter running before the aerobic bacteria on the bioballs use up all the oxygen in the water. since that would normaly take a lot longer than it takes to do a water change, you should be fine.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

All the fish tanks that I saw in Thailand were like that tank. Same filter setup.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> All the fish tanks that I saw in Thailand were like that tank. Same filter setup.


Yes, i bought it at the market. Over 50 different fish shops there now a days as most small neighborhood ones are vanishing. There are people selling tanks with out the built-in but also seem to be twice the price for a bent piece of front glass.

The tank it self was rather cheap as its locally made.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Sayonarax said:


> The problem is the water flow's back through the powerhead and balances the displacement in the filter box. I know must people have there wet/drys outside the tank, but as you can see mines built-in. So my question is still remains, will submerging the bio-balls be harmful while i do a PWC.
> 
> ..


If I understand this correctly you're getting draining through the pumped return line when power is turned off. To prevent that you need to have part of the return line above the water line with a hole above the water line or the end of the return above the water level. That will allow air to enter the return line and break up the siphon and stop the draining.

my .02


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

beaslbob said:


> If I understand this correctly you're getting draining through the pumped return line when power is turned off. To prevent that you need to have part of the return line above the water line with a hole above the water line or the end of the return above the water level. That will allow air to enter the return line and break up the siphon and stop the draining.
> 
> my .02


Yes, I think a slight modification when i install a new pump will be in order. I was thinking of using a u shaped so its pumped up then down, that way when the pumps off no flow back


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Sayonarax said:


> Yes, I think a slight modification when i install a new pump will be in order. I was thinking of using a u shaped so its pumped up then down, that way when the pumps off no flow back


Good thinking.

But FWIW regardless of the shape of the tubing/pipe it will form a siphon unless air is added to break that siphon. I drilled a small hole above the water line pointing down on my pumped return lines for that purpose. When power was turned off you would hear a "gurgling" as air was sucked in. And the siphon was stopped. But that was on a marine tank so after a few weeks salt tended to fill the holes and I would have to run a drill bit through the holes from time to time as routine maintenance.

An another tank I just has the pumped return lines output just above the water line. so under power out the line was already abvoe the display water level.


my .02


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I went down to my local garden shops to check out the fish ponds and terracotta pots. I found nice 100 gallon pond that would fantastic outside my door for guppies 

I ended up buying some nice terracotta pots, one large one that's designed to look like a log and one small regular pot. A great bargain for a total of $3 dollars.

As you can see in the picture's below i have rearranged everything so the plants are closet to the lights to improve lumen exposure. The drift wood now makes a nice bridge across to the hidey homes. 

My goldfish love there new layout and its starting to feel more like a real home for them  I've also added active carbon under my filter to help with water quality and smell. I bough small bead carbon from my local RO and placed them in ankle stockings and its working great! 


*New layout with added terracotta homes:*



*Terracotta Homes Upclose:*


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

My tanks changed a lot since my last update.

I was out in the garden checking out my natural 90g pond and discovered baby plats and guppies. I have since removed all the fish from the pond because the pond is in slightly bad condition with lots of algae. 

I moved them over two days as the first day i only removed 3 guppies as that's all i thought was in there (plus it was dark lol). 

What i found?

- 5 Male Guppies & 3 younger guppies; Not sure what happened to the female, might of died of stress from the males.
- 3 Female / 1 Male Platy; The lovely red dawg one is pregnant by the looks of it. (I have since removed the male as hes annoying the community by his relentless show boating with the females)
- 5 Baby Platys; Looks about 6-8weeks old from photos ive seen of others 
- 6 Ity bity Fry; 1-2 Weeks old is my guess 5mm by my photo calculation


*Baby Platys in Nursey:*



*Older Baby Platys:*



*Tank looking busy:*



Im doing 25% PWC every 3 Days right now to make sure the water quality is good. Im in the process of setting up my other ponds to split the populations for male to female only. I will also be buying a 2.5g or 5g nursery tank for my next pregnant platy. If the others have fry while the nursery is occupied i guess the gold fish will curve the population for me.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

First, your tank looks FANTASTIC! You could even eventually try putting some low, carpeting style plants all along the front.

As for the fish, if you really want to keep the Gups/Plats, I'd re-home the goldies. Goldies are cold water fish (and also plant eaters - though Java Fern and Anubias plants are usually ok), and Guppies/Platys are warm water fish. 
As for Plecos, for a 30g tank (which is what 120L is,) you should try and go with one of the smaller species like Bristle Nose or Clown, as they only get around 3-5 inches, where as a Common Pleco will grow to 18+ inches. Oh, and Plecs need real wood, as they eat it.  (But I think yours looks real... is it?)

*as for why 2 small fish need a 30g.... just wait, those two small fish will get huge! Goldies are ginormous when they grow up, lol.* Problem is, if you keep them in a "too small" tank, hoping to move them when they get bigger, their skeletons get stunted but their organs continue to grow and they die from essentially exploding...


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

holly12 said:


> First, your tank looks FANTASTIC! You could even eventually try putting some low, carpeting style plants all along the front.
> 
> As for the fish, if you really want to keep the Gups/Plats, I'd re-home the goldies. Goldies are cold water fish (and also plant eaters - though Java Fern and Anubias plants are usually ok), and Guppies/Platys are warm water fish.
> As for Plecos, for a 30g tank (which is what 120L is,) you should try and go with one of the smaller species like Bristle Nose or Clown, as they only get around 3-5 inches, where as a Common Pleco will grow to 18+ inches. Oh, and Plecs need real wood, as they eat it.  (But I think yours looks real... is it?)
> ...


Hay Holly,

Yes, The that's real drift wood with attached plants. Not sure what kind of plants as i have not been interested in learning about what plants do what yet  I can see from your photo that you have a planted tank. I try keep my fish in a natural environment.

The Goldfish were bought to help cycle my tank as there little piggies and were going to be given away to my gfs mom. But her tank is so small and already has to many fish in it. I will put them in my 90g pond outside which is for my future male population. They Goldfish have been fine with the other fish and will keep them in there for a while longer as i need to make the conditions in my pond better. Because i live in a tropical climate, we get monsoon season so the pond is slightly tilted so the rain overflows and naturally changes the water.

I really want to keep my Goldfish in my 30g for a while longer also because i want there ammonia burns to finish healing. (pet shops are so evil)

As for the pleco, i have decided against one as they too are also crap factory's and grow extremely large with barbs. I previously had a larger pond in the middle of my U shaped house and the last pleco in there grew to about 12" or more. My baby platy's use the entrance of the cave to hide out some times, but tend to hide out in the plant garden area.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Today i bought the small tank for the baby platys, they seem to be enjoying it. As i didnt want to stress them, i removed everything except the gravel and let them school together before using my large net to let them slow swim in by them selves. I then used a 1L ice cream bucket to slide under them and then let them swim out in to there. 

They seem clam and happy an no mad dashing or odd behavior noticed.

*Tank Hardware:*
2.5g Nano version of my 30g
Bio-sponge air driven
No-light yet. Will get a 4W LED two mode ordered shortly


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

very cool! matching tanks! I like that. enjoy babies and change there water also(that and good food helps them grow faster).ENJOY!


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

*Need help with my Wet/Dry*

I did my 3rd PWC today which was about 35% due to water sharing with the baby tank and messy goldfish.

My question is that my mechanical filter is getting very dirty now and the water is starting to skip off it and the active carbon bag an heading towards the back. Should i change my filter pad yet? My tanks 13days running now.

Have not used any No2 or No3 test yet. I figure regular water changes every 3days will get my tank to how it should be till i find time to go the market as my locals dont have em :|


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> very cool! matching tanks! I like that. enjoy babies and change there water also(that and good food helps them grow faster).ENJOY!


Thanks. Its got tempered glass in the back with embossed fish. Its cute lol :fish10:


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

rinse your pad if possible.In dirty tank change water would be better, if not rinse under tap(pressure), since changing pad leaves no existing bact. either.I have raised sword tails now for three years. They grow faster in largest space possible.Mine start as fry in 29 then moved to 40 breeder.Fry want more food,more water changes(think of them like pupies{feed 3-4 x more than usaull, and clean up after them all the time}. 20% daily water change on fry is not even extreme. ENJOY!


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I was talking with the guys in the chatroom and they also gave me same advice. I didn't know a chunk of the bacteria colony was in there. I will leave it be for at two more weeks, as theres no need to fix it if it aint broke lol.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Recently did another 30% PWC and changed my active carbon and gave my filter a rinse in tank water to stop it sounding like a waterfall lol. 

All my fish are alive and healthy and i have since swapped there food to a Japanese brand *hikari tropical fancy guppy food*.

I will be also getting Tetra flakes to mix it up for them  I will also need to start timing how long it takes to them to eat, as i might be going alittle bit over


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

try tetra pro crisp for dry flake food. They don't dissovle so fast and your fish will love them.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> try tetra pro crisp for dry flake food. They don't dissovle so fast and your fish will love them.


I tried peas today and they loved em.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I did my last 3 day PWC change today which brings me back to my normal PWC day now i can go back to weekly changes. 

My Baby Platys in the Nursery are growing very well since moving them, they love there new home and arnt bothered by me scooping out there poop lol. Hopefuly they will be big enough to move to my main tank in two weeks. I've decided to bring the daddy fish back to the tank as the females don't seem to be pregnant which needs to change  Plus the one females getting bossy so she needs a man to keep her in toe


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I bought Tetra Marine Flakes and some check values for my air pumps. I also got a little value thingy for controlling the the air output line for my Nursery tank so i could adjust the air speed to stop it making popping sounds and lowering the surface turbulence.

*Here's picture of my baby platys getting bigger:*

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qqrgMpdH0x7nl2grauAgWZg-R1mRnGtILcfjvFsurQg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3JhaXqSDnfw/UESs6s429EI/AAAAAAAAAEE/KJLU9-qMBeE/s640/DSC00141.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/August?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">August</a></td></tr></table>

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J-fu5FSXI5YKHWNl3MEfVJg-R1mRnGtILcfjvFsurQg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eDCJzlGf7qU/UESsy4URPmI/AAAAAAAAADU/YApUP3HqSCw/s640/DSC00135.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/August?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">August</a></td></tr></table>


*Check Valve and Control Nozzle: *

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/D3KAI9MROifLxn3jSm2TsZg-R1mRnGtILcfjvFsurQg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-htdUehIK4sM/UESsxYuCYdI/AAAAAAAAADM/dwfXzGFqEeo/s640/DSC00134.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/August?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">August</a></td></tr></table>


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Im having issue uploading files to the website for some odd reason so ive resorted to using google picasa for now. My males doing his thing and i hope my girls will be ready again in a month! Enjoy the photos at last


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Found a nice surprise in my sump tank the other day. Baby fry 

I spent some time fishing them out as my sump tank aint easy to access with out ripping everything out. I now have 6 platy fry in my nursery with my 1 month old platys who will be getting moved to my main tank in about a week. One of thems getting fat and bossy time to show him hes not the biggest fish in the pond 

*Baby Fry Estimated Age: 2 Days Old*

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9mkRlKS1Sa8R3CvWDMEfb13ZKFdMOIsKNXBy6Zm-KR8?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FiWsZ_vQ1YU/UEnbxewO-qI/AAAAAAAAAE4/Zd0TY5bEE2Q/s640/DSC00151.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/DropBox?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a></td></tr></table>


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I potted some new plants as the old ones got destroyed by the goldfish digging at them all the time. These new ones i got don't seem to have the issue of dropping leaves like the old ones did. I also potted them in a soil base medium so the roots can grow, as i well be adding co2 shortly 


*Garden Area Thickly planted for Small fish to hide in*
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/o_5NWJJrGndZqvjIbNPZ9l3ZKFdMOIsKNXBy6Zm-KR8?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2PIh8lYY-ao/UE_2KDbTwII/AAAAAAAAAFg/WBcFQWDz8cs/s640/DSC00154.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/DropBox?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a></td></tr></table>

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I did a 40% PWC and moved the older baby plats to my main tank.

My waters really clear now i've noticed since doing my PWC. Baby plats love the space and seem to take to there space well. My male platy has since moved to my 55g with 4 male guppys. I now have about 10 fry which are 9 days old, i will post some photos of everything again tomorrow. I also have new member which is my female molly; i will be buying her a friend in the next few days. Im thinking black


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Here are the photos of the 2nd latest batch, as i have just discovered some new dark colored fry darting around my main tank today 

*Baby Platy 9 Days Old:*

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bwpln45GWaLbvuZJg-jZaV3ZKFdMOIsKNXBy6Zm-KR8?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-on1Vv0eyXT0/UFc4XtnBg2I/AAAAAAAAAH8/7ubquXf-sQc/s640/DSC00169.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/100149161530396521180/DropBox?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a></td></tr></table>

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Here's more photos of my recent changes including, my new molly and 6 week old platy baby's.

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

My goldfish are making use of the terracotta homes for sleeping in  

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## ilira (Sep 28, 2012)

holly12 said:


> First, your tank looks FANTASTIC! You could even eventually try putting some low, carpeting style plants all along the front.
> 
> As for the fish, if you really want to keep the Gups/Plats, I'd re-home the goldies. Goldies are cold water fish (and also plant eaters - though Java Fern and Anubias plants are usually ok), and Guppies/Platys are warm water fish.
> As for Plecos, for a 30g tank (which is what 120L is,) you should try and go with one of the smaller species like Bristle Nose or Clown, as they only get around 3-5 inches, where as a Common Pleco will grow to 18+ inches. Oh, and Plecs need real wood, as they eat it.  (But I think yours looks real... is it?)
> ...


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Thanks


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I've been having bacteria blooms when feeding my fish floating pellets. The problem is im feeding the fish to much at once and a lot of it runs off down in the filter. I've cut back, only feeding a pinch at a time and no more cloudy blooms 

*My current community fish diet is:*

Hikari Tropical Fish (floating pellets)
Tetra Marine Flakes 

*Veggies:*

Garden Peas
Morning Glory
Broccoli 
Chinese Broccoli









Asian Greens "Morning Glory"


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I thought it was time to post some new photos of my fry tank since i just did a 50% PWC and good scooping for poop and rearrangement of the deco. 

The plant in the tank has taken off growing roots from all parts of the stems, which is awesome because i never intended to re-pot or give it much attention. The fry love it and im sure the plant loves all the light and ferts from the waste.

The fry are now 25 days and are not the youngest ones i have, as there are 4 or 5 in my main tank which are full black and some black/silver. Its really hard to get a photo as there about 14days old and never sit still for long, but have made there home in the front area of my tank and can be seen pretty often.

I also found a new guest in my tank, i posted a picture below. (Its a snail  )

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I'm getting my tank ready for co2 to help my plants grow better. I've added another e27 13w Daylight to the tank to increase the total light to 36w giving me a 1.44 watt per gallon in my grow area. Im currently designing a DYI co2 system for my tank and I have drawn a diagram for people interested in how mine will operate. I will post details once i have got it setup and running.

My platy finally gave birth and i have fished out 5 and moved them to the nursery.


*16 Hour Old Baby Platy Fry:*

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

*My c02 Direct Injection System*

Today i finished making and installing my co2/o2 injection lines to suit my needs. Before i actually made it, i drew up a diagram which is posted below for anyone interested. I bought different colored lines so i wouldn't get confused what does what. The green fluro line is for the co2 system which travels down to a small bubble counter and then exit out the black soft line to the dyi co2 mix tank. The clear line is the o2 line for switching direction of flow to the air stone or power head. Very simple manual system controllable by the four valves on the lines and very inexpensive. 

The co2 is not currently running, as im still enjoying the soda in the bottle i need to use for the co2 mix recipe to generate the co2 for my system.

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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

I went out to the store and bought my ingredients for the co2 recipe today. I ended up buying brown sugar, instant yeast and baking soda. I mixed it all and placed in the 1.25L as i went and then connected it to my system. While the the co2 chamber was building pressure, i made a few adjustments to the air lines by adding two check valves to the lines so the co2 or o2 can never travel down each others lines by accident. The co2 has been running for 4 hours now and the bps *bubbles per second* is around one per eight seconds right now and is slowly increasing.

*co2 Recipe i made this batch*

200g Brown sugar
3/5 Tsp Instant Yeast
3/5 Baking Soding


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Feel free to leave me any questions or comments about my new tank addition.


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## rolesvillemollies (Sep 22, 2012)

I would not have mollies and gold fish together. Mollies will pick at the goldfish (pick at their slime coat) and eventually kill your goldfish.


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

Just tested my water with my new Seachem multi-test kit

Ph 7.6
Ammonia 0.2-0.4
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2


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## Sayonarax (Aug 17, 2012)

*New Updates*

So i have been pretty lazy to update my thread since i had a few problems with ammonia in my water source and i was drastically trying to solve the problem. I recently bought a Seachem Marine Basic Kit to test my water parameters and kept getting readings of 0.2 ammonia in my tap water when i tested. It turns out i was only testing the Nh4 which is gives me reading of 0.15 and nh3 reading of 0  Doing some research i found out Seachem Prime is the best water conditioner and will help protect your fish. 


I have also remeasured my tank and the actual size is 40g and not the 30g i had once thought it was. As it has hex front and a built in wet/dry filter system, the total volume for fish to swim in is 36g. I upgraded the lighting to help plant growth and the co2 is also doing wonders! Im also no longer running air-stones, as i have discovered my filter creates enough dissolved o2 in water. 

*Recent Upgrades*

Seachem Prime (Water Conditioner) 
Digital LCD Temp Guage
60w Lighting (2x25w 1x10w)
2.5L DIY co2 Mix Tanks (1x1.5 1x1.0)
12" Desktop Fan to cool tank


Feel free to leave my any questions or comments as always 

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