MIA - working on the tank

Bloggin B has been MIA for a few days I do apologize.  One of the contributing factors (amongst others) has been the new 90 Gallon tank I purchased on New Years day which was previously noted here but for some strange reason the picture never uploaded.   So here are a few pics of the setup from day one along with some new pics of plant additions and some of the first creatures to be added.

Day One

So the first thing to do was to cycle the water.  Cycling the tank is the process where you prepare the aquarium for fish to live in.  There is a big chemical difference between tap water and freshwater or saltwater. Normally the rule of thumb is to let the water run through the filter for 24 hours before adding any fish I gave this bad boy 48 hours as its a little bigger tank and I have no need to rush in transferring the fish from the other tank.  As you can see the water is cloudy which is a result of both the cycling the process and the addition of the substrate which I choose to use a small gravel this time around.  I find sand gets too messy especially during cleaning time.


Day 2

 Second day I  added a few plants (close ups below), log and Mr Daewon's (Newt) lily pad and floating log.  Actually I plan on adding a Red Root Floater to give him a real plant to hang out on.
 

This plant (Water Hedge/ Didiplis Diadra) is really cool and will gradually turn partially brown once I have begun adding C02 and nutrient supplements.  

The Second plant is the Ozelot Sword which is a really tall plant and may eventually out grow the tank.

The third plant is a variant of the Corkscrew Val plant which I picked up on sale at Pet Smart. 

Next comes the awesome Banana Plant which floats around and sprout leaves at the top of the plant. 

Day 3

I began to add a couple small aqua-critters which will help begin the nitrogen cycle.  This is essentially where the tank begins to develop its waste decomposing system.  One thing many people do with a new aquarium is add 20 fish and then a week later most of their fish are dead.  A tank, including an established tank, needs to gradually develop the proper levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates which control the break down of the waste.  If any of these levels fluctuate too much your fish will die as Ammonia is highly toxic even in very small amounts. You can read more here if you want.  So I added the following water dudes to the tank

Assassin Snail

Assassin snails are really cool snails which I find quite amusing and necessary.  Anyone who has run a planted tank will attest to the fact that sooner or later you are going to have a snail problem.  Usually snails are transferred via plants, specifically located on the roots which at the time of purchase often are invisible to the eye because this is where the eggs are often found.  Assassin snails help to alleviate this problem because they ultimately assassinate any other snails they find.  These colorful little guys only eat other snails.  Second I am a fan of aquarium snails because they help to keep the bottom of the tank clean but the problem with many other species of snails they eat the plants more than they clean which is annoying so I vouch for these little dudes.

Ghost Shrimps

I purchase these guys in bulk as they are cheaper and serve a few purposes.  There are about twenty in the tank right now.  These guys clean the bottom of the tank from all left over waste. They grow about an inch and a half.

Platinum Hatchet Fish

So this is the first fish I added.  It is really small right now but will end up about 3 inches.  He cruises along the top of the water most of the time and it is the first time I have actually come across this particular species so I picked him up.

That's all for now but I will be adding more fish in the coming weeks very gradually along with more plants.  Stay tuned.
Aqua Blodgett