10nineteen

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today I spent some more time working on the aquarium. In a previous post, I described a bit about what I wanted to do with the plants and the focal point of the aquarium. Well, I’m still not 100% sure what the focal point will be, but I’m leaning towards a reddish plant, while all the other plants will be green.

I chose black and white for the rocks and gravel respectively, so that the fish and plants would have an extra pop of color. I placed a couple plants from the old aquarium into the new one, and you can see how the green stands out against the black background (some foam board from the craft store). I’m quite happy with it so far!

I also added more substrate (the gravel) on the sides so that I could angle the slate rocks up a bit, which creates some nice hiding areas for the fish. I think that the algae-eaters will need those places (and that leafy plant) to take refuge in after the tiger barbs are moved over, since those fish can be aggressive. I hope they get along!

I’m not sure if I want to keep the large plant that’s on the left side permanently, though. I wanted more grass-like types, but for now this plant is helping to keep the water clean while the bacteria get settled in the new tank. It usually takes a few weeks, but I kind of kickstarted the process by putting some bio material from the old aquarium next to the filter of the new one. Hopefully it won’t take too much longer for the bacteria to begin thriving.

In the meantime, I’m doing daily water tests, and it seems the ammonia level is the only thing to be concerned about right now, so I do a 25% (5-gallon) water change when the ammonia gets too high. The three algae-eaters that are in the new aquarium seem to be happy and healthy! 😄

Please take a look at the rest of the photos in the gallery below:

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I hope you had a nice weekend!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

Hi! Today was another scorcher. In the photo above, the asphalt looks dark and wet, but in reality it was just so hot that the tar took on a different look. It seemed like it was ready to melt into goo!

I was on my way to the local fish store to buy another Siamese algae eater and check out some of the live plants. There are some benefits to having real plants vs fake in the aquarium, the most important is that they improve the condition of the water by absorbing ammonia and CO2. But they also are a lot of fun to grow!

You will have to do a little trimming once in a while, but it’s not often and it is very easy. If you turn off the filter and then trim, the cut leaves will float up to the surface and it’s easy to gather them.

I didn’t buy any today, though, just looking and deciding how to plant the new aquarium. I have lots of ideas, but am thinking about what the focal point of the aquarium should be. Will it be a large rock (think mini-Half-Dome), a nice piece of driftwood, or perhaps a striking red plant? I haven’t decided yet… but I think I want to plant a bunch of small ground-cover type plants, and then some tall grasses in the background.

There is a whole art of aquarium design called “Aquascaping”. It’s fascinating and beautiful! Most of the tanks are very wide (and large) for a nice panoramic design, but my tank is a “tall” style, so it will be a bit different, and there are not many aquascaping examples out there for this type of aquarium. So, I am taking my time to figure it out. I did find this site that has a lot of nice layouts and the plants they used to create them. It’s a huge help!

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！

– B