# my 16g tall tank (pics)



## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

dimensions: 13x13x21 in
lighting: 2 clip on desk lamps each running a 26w 65k screw in bulb (3.25 wpg)
filtration: AC 30
substrate: ADA AS amazonia
will dose excel daily
DIY co2 when i get plants

pulled the tank and stand out of the attic the other day and decided to set it up. added a bottom and top shelf to the stand which is open on one side. mounted a power strip in there too.

as it sits right now:



stand with shelfs:



layout plans:



plants i got comin in the mail:
30+ leaves of needle leaf java (dark green)
20+ leaves of narrow leaf java (lime green)
3 golfballs of fissidens fontanus (teal)
1 golfball of java moss (teal)

fauna plans:
1 pitbull pleco
4-6 pygmy cory
couple amano shrimp
lots of rcs
nerite snails

need a schooling fish that will stay in the mid to upper levels of the tank. as you can see not all that much swimming space. id like a small group of glass cats but ive read they need room to swim. any ideas?


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## stewy098 (Mar 6, 2008)

cant wait to see it when it comes out


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

thanks same here


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

The wood is great and perfect for the height of the tank. I'm looking forward to seeing it planted.


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

thanks me too, friday couldn't come any slower lol


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

the little booklet that came with the ADA AS said not to wash it bc it would wash out the dirt or something like that. i didn't wash it, but im concerned that in a week when im digging gravel up to get the wood under the substrate ill mess something up with the aquasoil. should i be worrying? 

i didn't put the wood in and pour the gravel around it bc when i get all my narrow leaf java in im gonna be tieing a lot of it to the wood, which is way easier with the wood out of the tank than in place.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Don't worry about digging in the gravel. They expect you to plant your stuff. It will be fine. Just know you will have an ammonia cycle to handle with the ADA A.S.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Neat looking tank. I can't wait to see it when it's planted. Have you found a schooling fish yet? I was thinking a school of cardinal tetras would look nice, but I'm not sure about their space requirements. I have some red serpae tetras that school well in the middle portion, but they are agressive toward the 'weaker link' in the school, so I always have one that is on the brink of death. 

-Dave


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

Tex Gal said:


> Don't worry about digging in the gravel. They expect you to plant your stuff. It will be fine. Just know you will have an ammonia cycle to handle with the ADA A.S.


how long do you think it will take to cycle? should i be testing the ammonia levels daily? i put some gravel from another tank along with some AC underneath the ADA AS. also floating a biowheel in there from another filter.

as for the schooling fish i think im gonna go with boraras brigittae


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## chagovatoloco (Nov 17, 2007)

The red tone in the fish is nice, I wonder how it will contrast with the green.


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

chagovatoloco said:


> The red tone in the fish is nice, I wonder how it will contrast with the green.


hopefully well


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

got the plants in after 2 hrs of long hard work. not sure if im satisfied thought. i wanted fissidens fontanus but i think i got fissidens sp. not sure though. 

ada aquasoil leaves the water crystal clear at first fill up, but if you move it after its been in the water a while its almost as bad as flourite...

and my freaking driftwood still floats! the tank is too small to maneuver the substrate out of the way, jam the wood down into the substrate and cover it back up to keep it down. idk what to do to hold it down... its real annoying. any ideas?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Ive seen people drill a hole in a small thin piece of slate and put a nail through it into the dw that might work go very slow drilling through slate and use a good amount of water to not over heat the drill bit and you should be fine


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

ya i could just do that with some plexiglass. ill have to work on it tomorrow. its just really really frustrating lol


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

here is what i have:



here is a closeup of fissidens fontanus:
http://www.aquamoss.net/Fissidens-fontanus/images/Fissidens-fontanus-07.jpg

do i have fontanus or sp.? why is all my fissidens brown instead of bright green like the pics ive seen?


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

its not fissidens like the guy said. i got my money back so its all good.

the java moss i have is actually really pretty and frondy unlike most stuff ive seen. looks almost like peacock moss imo:



wtf is up with my water guys. this is the first time i filled it up, substrate was just poured in and then the tank was filled.



and this is after a 50% water change the other day and then a 90% water change today. i ran a hose into my room and clipped it over a plate, turned it up to a trickle and let the tank fill in the span of a little over 2 hrs and its still this cloudy...


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

can you take a pic of the tank with just the tank light on and no flash


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

ya here it is with no flash:


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

i would let it go for a couple of days and see what happens I'm not an expert but usually when my tanks go cloudy which is often due to the water i have in my apt it usually clears up it could have been crap in the hose could be crap stirred up in the sub straight if you have your room lights on and the tank light off and the water looks slightly green then you have alge bloom going on which can happen on new tanks i have also gone through that a million and a half times


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## coseal (Jul 31, 2008)

where can you buy boraras brigittae ?


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

a day and a half later:


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

coseal said:


> where can you buy boraras brigittae ?


pm a guy names milalic on here. hes got a site but i lost the address


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

jackh said:


> pm a guy names milalic on here. hes got a site but i lost the address


Here is his stock list. You can email him with what you want. This is their online store. They are still working on their website.
http://www.deepforestaquatics.com/aquabid/stocklist_07302008.htm


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

ya thats it thanks


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

found this pic in the ADA catalog:



i really liked the rocks so i found these:



yall think it will look ok?


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## Koolaid (Aug 8, 2008)

naw it will look horrible you should give those rocks to me for paperweights


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

well i didn't pay anything for them. they were under the rail road at my ranch lol. i cant decide if they look good or not, i might just end up gettin a few tiger lotus to put around the base of the wood. i think their color will look nice with all the green of the plants and dark substrate.


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## Koolaid (Aug 8, 2008)

well i have some rocks that look just like those and they look great, but most of my rocks are covered in plants anyways


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

maybe ill stick the rocks in tomorrow, but i still wanna put some lotus in there i really like the way they look and their color. theyre only $5 at the lfs too


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

put 2 layers of micron filter pad above the sponge to try and filter out the small stuff:







what is this?...


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

here are the test results. anything wrong? is the ammonia supposed to be this high?


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## jtburf (Jul 23, 2008)

Jack,
The Amazonia is releasing ammonia you need to do water changes very often when you introduce it for the first month or so.

John


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

so like twice a week or ever other day?


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## jtburf (Jul 23, 2008)

Jack read what Tom Barr has to say he is an expert ..

http://www.barrreport.com/search.php?searchid=84025

john


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

thanks





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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

my DIY co2 runs into that little internal filter which makes an ultra fine mist of bubbles that float all around the tank before reaching the surface. works real well. the lotus immediately started to pearl once they were situated for a couple min


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## stewy098 (Mar 6, 2008)

the tank is really coming out great nice job


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

thanks  i really wanna put fish in it right now lol


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

before a wc. the woods still makin the water tea colored, but i thought this was a cool pic



added a background, took out some rocks, moved some plants and added an anubias nana. what do you think?



growth of my moss


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

You will have great growth with the ammonia going into your water. Resist the urge to add fish until the ammonia tests zero. How long has it been set up now? Mine took about 4 weeks to cycle. I changed water every other day and added prime the days I did not change water.

I think you might want to stick some fast growing stems in there. That will help alot.


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

i tested the ammonia before i did a 100%ish water change today and it tested zero. i say 100% cuz i ran a hose into the tank and syphoned at the same time to get the water uncloudy after movin stuff around. 

on friday it will be 3 weeks old. i got algea growin in my filter and on the biowheel floating in the tank. i think the AC under the gravel and the biowheel helped speed things up alot. im leavin town this weekend so i think ill add some stuff next monday if the water still checks out fine.

what should i add first? algea control crew? i realy dont have much algea on the plants or anything so im kinda reluctant. if i add shrimp i would just feed them but idk what to feed ottos


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I added my amanos and snails first. I figured that way they were cheaper and I would be getting a head start on the algae. For feeding ottos just put in a zucchini or cucumber slice. There are also algae tabs which mine will eat as well.

Sure sounds like you're over the ammonia hump. If it test out a few days in a row to zero I'd feel safe to add fish!


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

since i did such a large wc im just gona let it sit for tonight and tomorrow, then ill test the ammonia tomorrow night

im gettin excited


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

theres stuff like this on the jf leaves and the anubias. it looks like fish or snail poop but theres no fish and not enough snails to make this much waste. anybody know what it is?


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

bump

i figured out that its diatom or brown algea, whats the best way to get rid of it? i got 2 ottos in there but theyre lookin skinny, i dont think theyre eatin a lot of it. should i just do water changes more often?


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## chagovatoloco (Nov 17, 2007)

Most new tanks go through this cycle. I add seachem purigen to the filter to get rid of it, but left alone it will go away too.


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

how long do you think it would take to go away? i didn't have this problem on the last tank i setup


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

is this flame moss?




is this ich???




an otto in my other tank has a similar spot on his nose. if it is ich, how do i treat it? will it kill all my fish?


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## ghengis (Jun 11, 2008)

Hard to tell from the pic if that is Ich, but I don't think that little fella is very happy, either way... He(she)'s got some serious fin clamping going on there, methinks. There are plenty of treatments around for this parasite, your LFS should have something. 

I'm curious about your ammonia levels (sorry, I came in late on this Thread). You say above that you did a 100% change and got the Ammonia down to Zero... Then did nothing for a while, then added fish. Have you noticed a massive spike in the Ammonia levels of late? IMO there's the answer for the apparent discomfort in your fish...


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

i did that huge water change, waited a couple days, tested at zero, waited a couple more days, still tested at zero, waited a couple more days and added the ottos. i just added 9 CPDs and theyre doin fine, so are the rcs that i put in there so im not soo woried about the ammonia level. what do i buy to treat the fish?


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## ghengis (Jun 11, 2008)

Just ask for Ich or Whitespot treatment. Most contain Formaldahyde as the main constituant, with (usually) Malachite Green, in a smaller percentage...


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

will it kill the otto is its left untreated? will it spread to other fish?


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## El Exorcisto (Aug 10, 2006)

Ich can kill if left untreated, but I'm not sure it is ich. I would be _very_ hesitant to treat with cherries in your tank, since they're almost certainly going to die. Ich can spread, but it is more a symptom of a larger problem than a problem of itself. Salt has been used to treat ich to good effect, and is less intrusive than M Green. Personally I would chock it up to a bad oto and move along. The hassle of catching him, treating him, and then releasing him without stressing him to death is a tall proposition.


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## jackh (Oct 9, 2007)

he died, along with another otto in my other tank. not sure what happened to that one though


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## nirutlee (Dec 6, 2007)

driftwood beautiful


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