I've been busy and had no time for updates. Essentially though Saturday I ran up the 12 gal, tore down the 5.5 and the 2.5 gal tanks, quickly set up the new tank and went back to the valley. Then on Saturday night I set up the 5.5 (it's in another thread entitled Ariel's New Home) before jumping on a train Sunday and going back up tomy place, where I worked on the new tank.
Whew.
The tank is pretty much cycled right now. I added probably about 4 lbs of gravel from the old tank to my (prewashed) Flourite. Also I poured the majority of the old tank's water into this one, squeezed out some of the old filter's water onto the bio-wheel and poured some Microbe-Lift into the tank and onto the bio-wheel.
I ran into a snag with the tank, as the pro filter was far too strong for Gyarados. His enormous fins were like sails, and he kept on flying backwards whenever he tried to swim. Luckily I have the big resin stump in there, because he managed to find good shelter under it before I could fix the problem. What I ended up doing is placing 2 black socks on the intake strainer, which greatly slowed the intake of the water but didn't stop it completely. Also I cut up a chunk of new dish sponge and taped it to the front of outflow so that the water going into the tank arrives a bit more softly. The only thing that's worrying me is that the socks have made the bio-wheel stop turning. Is this a big deal? Should I make further adjustments so that the flow is great enough for the wheel to turn?
Most of my plants are from the old tank.
-I have some riccia, 3 kinds of anubias (1 I picked up at Petsmart) and java moss that I secured on the stump with fishing line.
-Amazon swords are towards the back.
-Tons of pups from my old lace and reg java ferns are up front.
-Also I bought two small plants my lfs people call baby bok choy. Not entirely sure what it is (possibly water cabbage, a european bog plant), but I trust them enough to recommend it to me.
-There is some anacharis and a tiny bit of duckweed and riccia loosely floating around at the top. It's mainly to give the DT something to rest on and feel secure in.
-and finally there is a large wad of Christmas moss in front of the stump that I just bought, It's going on a flat piece of driftwood I am boiling right now that's going to hide the heater as well as provide some more moss coverage for the eventual shrimp.
Speaking of shrimp, may be getting about 4 Amanos tomorrow. In about a week I'll then pick up some RCS and after that the Platies will go in.