Dwarf/Pea Puffer tank has landed!

[Andy W]

I went to have a look at some tanks today and came home with a tank and cabinet from one of the local stores I sell Bristlenose catfish too.

I had £86 store credit from fish sales so this meant I paid just over £53 for the set up:

http://www.aquaone.co.uk/aqualed.php

It's a 68 litre (18 US gallons / 15 imp gallons).

The plan is to use 'play sand' (stuff that they sell for kid's sandpits as it does not compact). We also bought some branched wood for the puffers to explore and will plant the tank and add a few capata leaves.

This is the first time I've used sand, I intend to add a large quantity of red ramshorn and malaysian trumpet snails which breed in my other tanks as live food for the dwarf. As the MTS also bury I'm hoping they will help with the sand.

I''m going to seed the tank with filter media/bacteria from my other tank and add some guppies to mature the tank.

Anyone see anything wrong with this set up?

[hadla]

Replied to your post on the topic below this one

[Andy W]

Squeed out and matured filter sponge into the tank last week, it made a bit of a mess on the sand - took some reading last night:

Ammonia was between 0.50 mg/l and 1.0 mg/l

Nitrite 0.50 mg/l

Nitrate 5.0 mg/l

All that is in the tank at the moment is a few small ramshorn snails and two trumpet snails - thought I'd let them get a headstart at making more snails!

Will take further reading tonight to see if the cycle is advancing.

[Pufferpunk]

No fish in there?

[Andy W]

No not yet, adding some flake now and again



Added some rocks and a couple of plants at the weekend - waiting for a delivery of plants from an online seller this week. Also have some redmoor roots to go in too - they're currently in a bucket of water as they just float around the tank at the moment.

[Pufftastic]

Once you have a jungle of plants, I'm sure a few DPs will be very happy in there. They'd probably appreciate a background, for security (feels less open).

[Andy W]

Yeah I'll be adding a background too.

Did water stats again yesterday

Ammonia very low but between 0 and 0.25

Nitrite 1.0

Nitrate between 20 and 40 though nearer to the 40

[Andy W]

Cycling nicely now - still adding flake daily.

Ammonia is 0

Nitrite 0.25

Nitrate 20

I've added loads of plants which are growing like wild fire - did have a big spike in nitrates which seems to be dropping due to the plants.

[Pufferpunk]

Do a 50% WC, if you're showing ANY nitrate.

[Andy W]

All sorted now - Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate less than 5.0

10 Guppies are now enjoying the space and will be in there for the next month. I'll be removing them before the puffers go in.