Waiting for the Money Train

Who isn't, right? Well, the tank is completely 100% ready to be stocked with frontosa, and it has been for a couple of weeks now. One day all parameters just magically slid right into place, and we are set. The pH is perfect (8.1) and I've got a hint of nitrate and zero ammonia and nitrite. Hardness is up there where I want it, and I am very pleased with the buffering properties of aragonite sand, and whatever calciferous rocks I have in there (not many - going for visual appeal and most calciferous rocks are too coarse and/or geometric for my taste).

I have now solved the problem of my background, and it worked out quite well in the end. One thing keeping me from taking the plunge (other than having enough money gathered together) and getting my Africans is that every time I walked by the tank I was bothered by the reflection of white sand on the back glass. You will recall that I simply had the plastic paper type of black background, taped to the back outside of the tank.

I kept kicking myself for not handling the background problem when the tank was empty, which is the rational and sensible time to do it. The idea of making a custom 3D background, all the rage on the aquarium forums, just gave me a headache to think about, and besides that I would always know it was not really rock, but faux rock. That, over time, would begin to bother me for sure.

I had the idea I was going to get sheets of Plexiglas and smear silicone on them, and then sprinkle black sand onto the silicone, and create a matte background that way. This could simply be cured and slipped into the tank as-is, without draining the tank and starting things all over.

I went to the hardware store and was alarmed at the cost of the Plexiglas. I saw next to the Plexiglas was some plastic board, which is hollow and made of styrene, I think. Very light and can be cut to fit with a hobby knife. I was pondering the idea of this material and its safety in an aquarium when the concept of slate crept back into my mind.

I had been to the landscape supply yard several times this summer and did not find any flat rock that was thin enough (I thought) for this application. After debating about my silicone and sand concept for a while I abandoned this and decided to head back over there and go ahead and get some slate - I knew I could get pieces 24" x 12", and that meant I needed 4 pieces, leaving room for the outflow box (this hides my intakes) and giving me a couple of extra inches that was not critical. I could place them along the back of the tank without having to drain the tank and starting over. They could be propped along the back and give a sheer solid wall effect that would not be completely natural looking, since the slate pieces are rectangles and very obviously cut by hand, but I thought they would blend in and be unobtrusive. They would be made of actual rock, and I preferred this.

I went to the landscape supply and picked out 4 slabs, and brought them home. They were very cheap. I scrubbed and rinsed, scrubbed and rinsed for a while and then happily began to install them.

Whoops! I know my tank is 24" tall and because of the large canopy I did not have to worry about the slate sticking up out of the water just a bit, right? Wrong! I forgot about the thick glass center brace that covers about the middle third of the tank. This means the slate was too tall, except on each far side. Ugh. You can't imagine my frustration. I just wanted a simple fix and plopping these straight pieces in side by side was going to be perfect. Now what? I hauled them out and decided I'd use a small hand held sledge type hammer (no shortage of hammers around here, of all shapes and sizes) and chip off the tops of these pieces. I thought about using a saw with a diamond blade, but that would be a delay, and I am not having delays once I get something started!

Also, I thought a jagged edge on the top would be a nice effect if it would be visible. I started by placing one of the slabs (1" thick) on the bottom step of the porch and stood on it, then leaned over and began to strike the top edge with my hammer. Nothing. Harder and harder I struck, getting out not a small amount of frustration on this stone. Nothing. The pieces were too thick. I tried to find the heavy chisel (it is actually a splitting maul but has worked well for me on stone in the past) and called my husband in desperation in case he knew where it was. To his credit, he did not even ask me why I wanted it! He could hear the stress in my voice and decided to leave the subject be for the time being. He gave me some clues and I hunted it down. This produced no results, either.

Well, the last strike of my hammer did not chip off anything from the top, but the entire slab broke in half on the diagonal! This was not a good thing. I needed 4 pieces, and now I was down to 2. I can't stack a triangular piece with the large side on top to match up with the opposite piece, if you see what I mean, so I was quite bummed.

Well, previously I had attempted to split blue stone slabs with a chisel, and though it worked to some extent, the pieces never split perfectly in half due to the fissures and other defects in the stone, and I gave up on that type of stone. I decided I'd give this a try on the slate. Well, let me tell you, slate splits beautifully! I had a 24" x 12" x 1" slab and next thing you know I had TWO 24" x 12" x 0.5" slabs! It is a lot of fun if you are into that type of thing. I don't know why, but it is very satisfying.

Anyway, I split the remaining three slabs and I wound up with more slate than I needed, and thinner pieces, which was better. The other good thing is that once they were split to half-inch thickness I could chip off the tops just fine, and I was able to line them up across the back of the tank without any difficulty. Whew!! Sometimes I get lucky, let me tell you.

You can see in the pic above (still home for the goldfish, which are going to go to a tank in my office at work when I get my frontosa) the finished product, with the slate and the jagged edges on top. The far right piece is one that broke accidentally on the diagonal, but I don't mind it and it is where I will suction my powerhead that is to go on that side of the tank. I am very happy with how this turned out, and am also happy that I have been able to wait an entire month to allow the tank to settle in somewhat. Another month would not hurt, and with my schedule as it is right now it may, in fact, be another month before I exchange goldfish for frontosa, as well as a trio or two of compressiceps, I think.

Please do not forget to admire how I have painstakingly managed to hide equipment. The outflow box on the far left that houses my intakes and heater is completely hidden in shadow, and the outflow pipes are next to it, but you can't see those, either, due to careful placement of my puck lights. This is a huge accomplishment for someone who really hates to see any equipment at all, not to mention this being a bare tank without decor to hide things like I have always done in the past with ease. Driftwood and plants have always been key players, but I don't have those in this tank, so hiding equipment has been on my mind a lot in the planning of this tank. It still looks bare and unfinished, but I can picture the blue and black frontosa gliding about, and it is going to look great someday!

Please answer in the form of a question.....

Still waiting. This is actually not so bad - the fish are happy and cavorting around, and I don't have to do hardly anything. No wringing of hands, no anxious examinations of potential signs of illness, nobody off their feed, no algae, no cloudy water, just status quo. When the Africans come in it will be a different story, and I will be Nervous Nellie once again, but for now we just test the water and wait.

My husband had a suggestion, and it really demonstrated how much he has learned about a hobby in which he takes ZERO interest, and often seems to baffle him. He wants me to put a rock or two in the 150 from another tank, or run one of my many duplicate filters on the 150 for a little bit and try to jump-start the bacterial colonies. What brilliance! I have been avoiding doing this very thing (I have not cycled a tank the old-fashioned way in YEARS!) but I was actually wanting to see how it went, rocking it old school, so to speak. I just think it shows that some of this stuff is really sinking in with Rick, and I was very impressed that he came up with this (so was he).

Anyway, I decided to humor him and I put in two smallish rocks from the 40-gallon leopoldi tank and we will continue to test the water, and Rick can see for sure what affect this will have. I was a bit leery about moving these rocks, since this tank has quite a few Malaysian Trumpet Snails that I don't want in the 150, but I scraped everything off the rocks that I could see. Likely as not the 150 will become infested with MTS anyway - such is life with this particular snail species. I don't have any other large rocks that I am willing to move that might have less potential for transporting vermin. I mean snails.....

I could move the large glass chunks from the 37-gallon, but they do not have very much surface area in spite of their size, being completely nonporous and smooth, and also the leopoldi pair in that tank has just now started coming out into the open since being moved in there a few weeks ago, and if I go rummaging around and removing structures they will take to hiding again, and I hate to stress them. Wild caught fish have to be handled with kid gloves sometimes. I sincerely doubt I will get a spawn from them, but I needed to thin out the group in the 40-gallon and I have become so attached to these fish that I'm content to keep them in their own tank (I am positive it is a male and female, with one male and two females in the 40-gallon, plus the domestic of unknown sex).

So, we'll see what happens with the small rocks, and maybe I will move one of the extra canister filters from the 40-gallon to the 150 for a week or so and see what it does to the nitrite value, mainly so Rick can see that he was right, and validate this little chemistry/biology lesson. I think every science class in middle school ought to cycle a fish tank. Things like temperature and pH will influence the progress of the cycle, and you can get as geeky as you like with it depending on the age group. It would also drastically limit the Failed Fishkeepers of the Future. This group is vast, an epidemic, really, and though a reduction in membership would mean far, far fewer cheap tanks at yard sales and on Craig's List, more people would find success and we could raise the geek quotient. I'm just sayin.

I have not mentioned Otis the puffer in a while, but he's The. Best. Fish. Ever. He's fat and a good solid 2", probably his full size. He enjoys his brackish tank that is open on all sides to the room, and is wickedly overfiltered with an AquaClear 70. Yes, I said 70. As mentioned long ago I had great plans to transition Otis to a 20-tall setup, which is a huge space for a 2" fish, but after having him for at least 18 months now there is no question that more water is better for puffers. He is a voracious eater, and even has nipped me when he's hungry and I reach in to do maintenance. He is always hungry, by the way. He has nice bright blue eyes and an almost fluorescent green pattern to his Figure-8, so I know he's healthy. His tooth plates seem well maintained, with about 90% of his diet being snails, which I cultivate avidly. Ramshorn snails, specifically. Woefully, MTS are much too hard for him to manage, but if he could eat them I'd have plenty.

I have coral rock in the tank with a bit of java moss that is miserable, and one remaining sprig of java fern that is perhaps even more miserable than the moss. I don't know why I can't grow brackish-friendly plants in this tank, but I have a horrible time. The tank is lit by a 13w CF bulb, plus overhead fluoro lighting sometimes during the day, the temperature is good, etc., so I'm not sure of the problem, but I don't sweat it too much. The tank looks like a SW setup with the coral anyway, so plants don't look particularly correct, though the java fern has a marine algae-like appearance that works. I have made arches and caves in the middle, so he goes through them to get from one side to the other. This gives him something to do. I think it would be good to build up the central structure a bit higher for more architectural interest for him. As long as I rearrange the furniture from time to time he is kept content. I am enjoying this fish immensely, in case you can't tell! I worried about getting him at first, since I'd never kept brackish and I'd never kept a species with such particular needs before, but it is working out okay.