Some fish pictures

 

 

Close Look

After a Long Break

I haven't been blogging anything for a while. It was because the water of the fish tank has stayed cloudy for the last 3 months and I was depressed a little bit. I tried various approached but none of them actually worked. Finally I figured that there may be the problem about my setup of filter media. I tried adding some more ceramics rings into the filter and remove a bag of chemical absorbing media to make room for the rings three weeks ago. Since then the water started becoming better. I don't know if changing the filter media did help or it is just the time just came, but I am much happier now. :-)

Is It Sick?

Look at this rainbow fish. Is it sick? What is the thing below its mouth? I need to figure it out and decide whether I need to quarantine it.

BTW, I lost a red rainbow last week. It hasn't been eating anything for almost a month, and I didn't know what I could do to save it. I just watched it become weaker and weaker and die. So bad.

Cloudy Water

The water has got quite cloudy since last week. I have tried to give less food and changed some water. It is a little better now but still not back to clear yet.

Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels are all normal, and it is not green water caused by algae. I guess it is just bacteria blossom and I just need a little bit patience to wait for it to become clear again.

April 4 Update

Some of my equipments

The CO2 reactor, Fluval heater, and the output of the filter:

The pressurized CO2 tank that provides food to the plant:

The Rena Filstar XP4 filter:

Go Green 2

Some other photos after the plants have been fully set up.

I also move all the Siamese Algae  Eater fishes and Otocinclus (Oto Cat) to the new tank. I also got several new Otocinclus from the local pet store. Must be alert of the potential algae problem in the following weeks.

Although the staff in the store claim that Siamese is the best algae eater, I disagree with him from my own experience. The Siamese in my old tank not only ate plant (certain type of fragile plant), but also fight for the regular flake food that are prepared for other fishes, while in the mean time there are ton of algae waiting for them to clean up.

On the other hand, the Oto cats seem to be pretty much concentrating hunting on the algae.

Now let's wait to see what it will become in several months.

Go Green!

On Friday I started to set up the plants. All the plants arrived in a UPS next day air package from https://www.azgardens.com/. They have pretty good selection of plants, but the charge for next day shipping is really the killer.

The Light is on

Finally! I got the lighting set up.

I originally got the CurrentUSA Nova Extreme Pro 72" 12 lamp T5HO fixture because it seems to be the best budget choice for a high light tank. But it turned out to be "Extreme" noisy. It has four cooling fans and I can hear the noise they make even in another room.

So I just returned it. Have to let some money go for shipping back the 40lb box.

Then I ordered the AquaticLife 72" 12 lamp T5HO. It arrived yesterday. I put it up and it is just much better than the Nova Extreme in terms of the noise level. I am happy about it so far.

BTW most of the online pet stores I visited has some scary return policy like you have to return the item in totally new and resell-able, like if the item is damaged on the road they are not responsible on it you have to deal with the shipper yourself, restocking fee, blah blah blah. They just wouldn't take any risk.

Anyway, I put the light on and moved two fishes (I have to admit that I picked the two that I like the least. I feel guilty) to the new tank. They seem to be happy!