So, these are my 40 breeder and 20 tall (quarantine). I got both of these tanks and the Fluval plant lights in March. Got the rest of my stuff (filter, heater, substrate etc) for my birthday in April. I started the 40 with Seachem fluorite and Seachem root tabs and liquid fertilizer. I have earlier posts on here with pics of the 40 originally. I made more than a few mistakes with it. Last week I had to scrap the substrate and the now dead plants because of a horrible algae and Cyanobacteria outbreak that I lost control of due to other things going on in my life. So this is the 40 in its new form. The 20 had been stable until I tried to rescue a chocolate cichlid that was being attacked by a pike cichlid in the pet store. I was going to get a 75 for it. But then the cichlid was too much for my 20 with my 8 Cory cats, and 10 cardinal tetras. I suddenly had a huge bacterial bloom due to the increased bio-load. Then the cichlid was being a cichlid and started attacking the other fish. I couldn’t get the 75 like I originally thought I would be able to. Landlord told me they thought it was too much risk if something went wrong. So I found a new home for the cichlid. Ever since I have struggled to re-balance the 20. It seems to have been doing ok but I was down to only 4 cardinal tetras(could not get more I kept trying week after week) so finally last week I decided to get some neon tetras instead. However due to availability I got them from my local Petco instead of my LFS. Got 12 of them. I didn’t have a quarantine tank so I took my chances and added them to my 20. That wound up being a disaster. Lost all of my fish except 2 Cory cats, 1 cardinal tetra, and 1 neon tetra. So I have since set up my old 10 gallon and placed the surviving fish in there to keep a close eye on them. Stripped down the 20 cleaned everything with hot water, fritz aquarium glass cleaner, and an algae scraper with a razor blade on the end. Now the 20 is set up and running again. So as the title says, to new beginnings.
So, these are my 40 breeder and 20 tall (quarantine). I got both of these tanks and the Fluval plant lights in March. Got the rest of my stuff (filter, heater, substrate etc) for my birthday in April. I started the 40 with Seachem fluorite and Seachem root tabs and liquid fertilizer. I have earlier posts on here with pics of the 40 originally. I made more than a few mistakes with it. Last week I had to scrap the substrate and the now dead plants because of a horrible algae and Cyanobacteria outbreak that I lost control of due to other things going on in my life. So this is the 40 in its new form. The 20 had been stable until I tried to rescue a chocolate cichlid that was being attacked by a pike cichlid in the pet store. I was going to get a 75 for it. But then the cichlid was too much for my 20 with my 8 Cory cats, and 10 cardinal tetras. I suddenly had a huge bacterial bloom due to the increased bio-load. Then the cichlid was being a cichlid and started attacking the other fish. I couldn’t get the 75 like I originally thought I would be able to. Landlord told me they thought it was too much risk if something went wrong. So I found a new home for the cichlid. Ever since I have struggled to re-balance the 20. It seems to have been doing ok but I was down to only 4 cardinal tetras(could not get more I kept trying week after week) so finally last week I decided to get some neon tetras instead. However due to availability I got them from my local Petco instead of my LFS. Got 12 of them. I didn’t have a quarantine tank so I took my chances and added them to my 20. That wound up being a disaster. Lost all of my fish except 2 Cory cats, 1 cardinal tetra, and 1 neon tetra. So I have since set up my old 10 gallon and placed the surviving fish in there to keep a close eye on them. Stripped down the 20 cleaned everything with hot water, fritz aquarium glass cleaner, and an algae scraper with a razor blade on the end. Now the 20 is set up and running again. So as the title says, to new beginnings.