6 entries · Page 1 of 1
Swapped the heater out, the old one was clicking every time it kicked on and it was driving me nuts at night. Put in the eheim jager 100w and it's dead silent so far, no hum, no click, nothing. Temp's steady at 78F still. Small thing but man does it make a difference when you're trying to sleep 10 feet from the tank.
Getting some hair algae and green spot on the rocks now plus brown diatom dust all over the sand. Pretty sure it's the photoperiod, I had the fluval running like 9 hours a day which is probably too much for a newer tank still finding its balance. Also been feeding a bit heavy trying to get the acei some color. Cutting the light back to 7 hours and skipping a feeding day to see if that helps any.
Added the first acei today, only a handful to start. Bag was floating up top acclimating for a good 20 minutes before I let any water mix in. Rocks are still pretty clean, no algae to speak of, tank looks almost empty with just a few small fish darting around the caves. Weird seeing actual movement in there after a month of nothing, kinda changes the whole vibe of the room honestly.
Two weeks of just watching an empty tank cycle and it's testing me a little. Ammonia's up there doing its job I guess but staring at bare rock with zero fish gets old fast. Water's crystal clear now at least, no more haze, just kinda boring clear water. Want to add fish so bad but I know better than to rush an acei tank.
Got water in and the filter running today, still no fish. It's pretty hazy right now, kinda milkish looking from the sand getting stirred up, should clear in a day or two. Rocks still look brand new, no algae or staining on them at all yet. Temp's holding around 78F already which is nice.
Spent an hour with a level and some shims getting the stand right before anything else happened. 75 gallons of water is not something you want tilting on you six months in. Stacked the seiryu stone and spiderwood dry first to figure out the layout, moved the biggest rock like four times before it looked right. No water yet, just staring down at rock and wondering if I'm overthinking the placement.