Update!

Did a water test to find a shocking result!

Ammonia was at a whopping 6mg/litre!!

Had no chioce but to perform an immediate water change.

Eeyer..... so cloudy..... All because of ammonia..... sian....

Cloudy untill the filter looks blur blur like tat.... YUCK!


Using a siphon pump to drain the water.


Water flows down by gravity...no pumps needed!
Its based on the siphon principle.


My Betta watching whatever I'm doing. Can you find him?


I've also changed to an Overhead Filter (OHF).
I'm using it as a temporary filter as I still haven't prepared my Canister Filter.

Added a bucket to prevent the cascading water from stirring up the gravel.

Charmaine, no offence but I'm sorry for using a KFC bucket.

Filled up. Water still quite cloudy.

Inside the OHF box. I'm using a Fine Filter Pad (blue).

The drip tray creates a trickle effect that adds O2 to the water, creating

an O2 saturated environment for the Nitrosomonas bacteria to thrive.

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BEFORE:

AFTER:

The cloudyness cleared up in just 2 hours!

This proves the effectiveness of OHF in clearing cloudy water. However, it loses to the Canister Filter when it comes to the surface area for bacteria cultivation. Thats why I need to setup the Canister Filter before the tank is fully stocked.

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If I got time, I should be adding the 1st group of fishes this week.

I'll be choosing hardy species like: Guppies, Mollies, Platies, Zebra Dianos & SwordTails.

Check out for the next update!

Water Parameters

Haven't been doing my weekly water tests. Been really busy with D&T.

Here are my Test Kits:
pH Test Kit

Ammonia/Ammonium Test Kit

Nitrite Test Kit

Nitrate Test Kit

All pics above are taken from http://www.fishandfins.co.uk/

Here is a graph showing the progress of the nitrogen cycle:

Graph from http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/

1) Nitrosomonas breaks down Ammonia to Nitrite

(NH4+) + 2H2O > (NO2-) + (8H+)

2) Nitrobacter breaks down Nitrite to Nitrate

(NO2-) + H2O > (NO3-) + (2H+)

As you can see, I'm currently in Day 23 where the ammonia spike has finally came down & I'm now encountering a nitrite spike. Most likely, the Nitrosomonas bacteria has already established themselves with the Nitrobacter bacteria currently undergoing estiblishment.

Following this graph, I should be able to add fishes by Day 35. YAY!!!

2ft Plant Nursery

Started this setup on 1st april '09. I'm using it as a nursery to prepare my plants for the upcoming 3ft Discus Community tank. Pics:

Washing the gravel. It took quite a while to get clear water.

Here's the tank. Its 2ft(L) x 1ft(B) x 1.5ft(H). Its gonna take a while to fill 11kg of gravel.

Pouring...

Still pouring.....container by container....

Adding water slowly to prevent stirring up the gravel.

In all, it took me 9 half-filled buckets to fill the 80 Litre tank.

Filled to the brim!!! Added a Corner Box Filter, will upgrade to a Canister Filter once the water clears up.

Angle shot.

Here's the light. I'm using a 55watt PL Light from Aqua Zonic.

Its Day 21 of this setup today. Had cloudy water from Day 7 by bacteria bloom due to high ammonia levels. Its already clearing up.

Water Parameters as of Day 1:

pH : ~8.0

NH3/NH4+ : ~0mg/litre

NO2- : ~0mg/litre

NO3- : ~0mg/litre

Will be updating this setup frequently from Day 1 to the day I decommission it.

Cbox

WOO HOO!!! Finally got a Cbox. Thks Charmaine.
Been really busy these few days. Will update on my 2ft setup if time allows.

Triband Lavender OHMPK

Finally restarted betta keeping since i gave up due to studies a year ago. Got him from a fellow forumer on 7th march. Very active fella. Haha.

Sry for the blur pics, still a noobie @ photo taking.

Also introduced him to other forumers. Check it out : http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363001&highlight

1st Post!

Still checking out what Blogger has. Will update soon.