My new NPT project

Over the last week week my family & I set up a new Natural Planted Tank. We started with a 20 gallon tank. My son & I aired out the potting soil & then we put about 1.5-2 inches of soil on the bottom of the tank. We rinsed off the gravel and put an inch or so layer of gravel on the soil. (This was probably my son's favorite part) We put in on a great wooden stand that has a matching canopy - perfect for keeping 5 year old hands from playing in the tank (Thank You Shawn, aka madness, for the stand/canopy & all the answers to my newbie questions as well as the directions that put Garmin to shame ). Then we put the plants in, put the water in, treated it, and started up the filter. It was beautiful! Pearling on the gravel and all the plant surfaces. And then I put the canopy on. OH NO! The filter was too big for the cut out allowing for the filter & the light I had was too bulky to use with the canopy. So then it was decision time. We decided to go ahead with the canopy so I went down to Blue Sierra in Issaquah and thankfully they had a CoralLife retro fit kit that was the right size. And switching out my new filter for the one from the 10 gallon works better, but I still need to enlarge the cut-out a bit - I just need to find/get the right tool for that. However, now that I have a stronger light on the tank, I think I'll keep the 10 gallon tank as a low-light plant tank and make the 20 a med-high light tank. It's an addiction!! So, I've moved the low light plants over and now that it's bare in the NPT I am browsing/shopping online to decide what I want to get next.

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Nice set up.

I have always loved the look of live plants but I'm too chicken to try them. I do not have a green thumb so I dont even try. I should try some out in my 2.5g betta tank.

So, time for an update -

Day before yesterday my son accidently dumped the entire container of fish food into the tank. I vacuumed out what I could, but still overnight there was a huge algae cloud and the shrimp and 2 tetras died. After rescuing the molly & 1 tetra (thank goodness for back-up equipment!), I set to work cleaning it. While my kiddo was in his 1st day of kindergarten classes! Woohoo! And it's a good thing I waited til after he was out of the house because as I was refilling the the tank after siphoning it all out and cleaning what I could from the gravel - the hose popped off the vacuum tube! Water went everywhere! As I was getting down from the stool (I'm a short girl) it got even worse. Wall, lake on the carpet, soaked electrical socket. As I'm dashing to the kitchen, I trip over the hose & now I have water spray through the rest of that half of the family room & end up with a monster lake on the kitchen floor. Finally after getting the water turned off, the hose drained, and the water cleaned up I can check the breaker box - hasn't flipped, so I'll just wait to let it dry out. Long story short - who knew the GFCI out let in the kitchen (not on a sharing wall with that part of the family room!) would reset that half of the family room? But I'm really glad it does!

So, now I'm basically starting over. I've treated the water in the tank with conditioner & bacteria - but it's stinky and a bit cloudy. I'm certain there are no more fish parts in there, so I'm not sure if that will clear up after running the filter for a bit or not...

Wow, what a day! Sorry to hear about the problems. Thats usually the way things go, cant just have one issue; "when it rains, it pours".

So true... However there's an upside - as I was in Blue Sierra in Issaquah today for some supplies (and to browse the fish - I needed a bit of cheering up ) I found an aquatic banana plant! I'd seen them online and was quite interested, but not quite ready to buy it. So, Yay! I have a banana plant! It's currently hanging out in my back-up tank until I get the npt all ready for use again.

And from the whole experience I learned not to let much pressure/angle be put on the area where the hose joins the siphon/vacuum tube. So, lesson learned.

VsKitchen wrote:So, time for an update -

Day before yesterday my son accidently dumped the entire container of fish food into the tank. I vacuumed out what I could, but still overnight there was a huge algae cloud and the shrimp and 2 tetras died. After rescuing the molly & 1 tetra (thank goodness for back-up equipment!), I set to work cleaning it. While my kiddo was in his 1st day of kindergarten classes! Woohoo! And it's a good thing I waited til after he was out of the house because as I was refilling the the tank after siphoning it all out and cleaning what I could from the gravel - the hose popped off the vacuum tube! Water went everywhere! As I was getting down from the stool (I'm a short girl) it got even worse. Wall, lake on the carpet, soaked electrical socket. As I'm dashing to the kitchen, I trip over the hose & now I have water spray through the rest of that half of the family room & end up with a monster lake on the kitchen floor. Finally after getting the water turned off, the hose drained, and the water cleaned up I can check the breaker box - hasn't flipped, so I'll just wait to let it dry out. Long story short - who knew the GFCI out let in the kitchen (not on a sharing wall with that part of the family room!) would reset that half of the family room? But I'm really glad it does!

So, now I'm basically starting over. I've treated the water in the tank with conditioner & bacteria - but it's stinky and a bit cloudy. I'm certain there are no more fish parts in there, so I'm not sure if that will clear up after running the filter for a bit or not...

Im sorry, I really am laughing with you. I just wish that I could have got all that on video. I could have won some cash with one.

No, seriously, I was just picturing that happening to me.

Nice to see that its up and going, it looks really nice.

madness you are so bad!

I actually kind of laughed a little about it too, because I could picture that happening to me too.

Makes 3 of us laughing here. When I was kid I gave our angel fish some koolaid because I thought they were thirsty. Ahh to be a kid again. My dad was irrate to say the least.

fish_n_vw wrote:When I was kid I gave our angel fish some koolaid because I thought they were thirsty.

Isnt that the process they use for Dyed fish?

It's all good guys If it had happened to anyone else, I would have laughed. And, currently I'm at the smiling place - now that I have electric back in that half of the room, I was really worried there for a bit. And by next week I'm sure I'll be laughing about it.

My son really was trying to help, he just didn't wait til I was with him. I walked into the room & heard "DON'T BE MAD! DON'T BE MAD! DON'T BE MAD!" (which was a little funny cause he's a brazen little guy) so I wasn't too mad after hearing that he knew he made a mistake and him apologizing.

Time for another update! There've been no more fish-castrophes, or spontaneous water spouts in the family room - all good. About 2 weeks ago, I finally got my levels stablized and started planting.

This is it 5 days after planting (even with the filter & air pump off there was initially a bit of cloudyness due to the soil layer getting disturbed).
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This was taken a couple days ago. The val in the background has just taken off! The dwarf chain sword in the foreground melted a bit but seems the be perking up. Interesting tidbit - the crypt balansae has crinkled up a bit since being in the tank. I have slightly more than 3 watts/gal.
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After chatting with the ladies at Blue Sierra, I decided on my fish inhabitants. So I turned in my bully molly and the lone tetra survivor. And got a school of 7 rummy nose tetras.
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I got some RCS this weekend to help out the ramshorn snails. I found baby snails 2 days ago - so far just 2 though. I plan to get a school of harlequin rasboras this week (hopefully my rummy nose will have settled in by then) and eventually a betta (when I find one I'm in love with and the moss I ordered for the shrimp arrives) to round out the tank. I might eventually get some bottom feeders, but I'm going to wait to see how the shrimp & snails do.

Looks very nice so far. Is your son helping?

I have an NPT..NON PLANTED TANK!!!!

hah hah hah hate plants.

Spyral wrote:I have an NPT..NON PLANTED TANK!!!!

hah hah hah hate plants.

The "P" for me would be plastic.

He chose the rummy nose tetras. But he hasn't been interested in the tank as much as before, which to me is a mixed blessing. Currently, he's more interested in trying to get our dog to do his tricks for him instead of just for me & Hubby.

Kids the wonders of the world all 3 of mine are into fish at least but some of the names they give the fish drive me nuts...

sounguru wrote:some of the names they give the fish drive me nuts...

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My 5 yo named all 3 of her goldfish goldie that way she never forgets which one is which. The wisdom of a child wish i had thought of that when I had my kids!!!!

I named my most recent acquisitions. But I did so in fish language and unfortunately, humans can't hear fish language...and you can't really spell fish language.

Nice Spyral

czeiszler wrote:My 5 yo named all 3 of her goldfish goldie that way she never forgets which one is which. The wisdom of a child wish i had thought of that when I had my kids!!!!

Yep, my son named the first school of tetras we had Nemo 1, Nemo 2, & Nemo 3.

My mom had a coworker whose dog & daughter had the same name.

hows the tank doing? any updates?

The tank is coming right along. I'll work on getting some pics up soon. I recently got a little crafty with some plastic canvas & moss to make a little hideaway for the shrimp in the tank based off of some different things I'd read. I cut & rolled the canvas and fastened them with small sized zip-ties. I did a group of 3 so they are stacked in a triangular shape. Then I attached the moss to the canvas with a de-constructed bath scrubbie. I ended up sewing the edges of the scrubbie net mesh to the plastic canvas. Which was a huge pain in the patootie! But hopefully after the moss grows its new home it will pay off. The moss has already started sending some of its fronds through the mesh, but definately needs more time to get established. I'm thinking of removing 2 of the plants I have in due to just how long the leaves are, I hadn't really expected them to get so long & block so much of the light to the shorter plants. So, for now I've just cut them back while I debate thier removal.

A couple of days ago I added a beta. Who is absolutely gorgeous and wants nothing to do with the other fish. The tetras have nipped at his fins and tried to force him to school with them, but no luck on that. Bossy little tetras. He spends a lot of his time wrapped around the heater, lurking in a corner, hugging the walls or even hanging out in the shrimp tubes. He didn't eat for several feedings, so hopefully he'll settle in and get comfortable soon.

I'm thinking I'm all done adding fish to this tank. But plants might be another matter.