Perhaps it's just me, but it does seem as if the elephant nose fish Ella feeds better and reacts better with the smaller feeding regimen. At this point I plan to continue with the once daily small feedings until Tuesday or Wednesday and at that time, I will return to the the twice daily small feedings.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Friday, April 9, 2004
Tonight I tested the water to check to see if there were any ill effects from changing out the substrate. Here are the test results:
I called Drs. Foster Smith and again talked to Greg the fish tech. I really wanted to see if I could go ahead and order plants and other live inhabitants for my tank. Greg suggested that I wait a week or so and then retest the water - just to make sure that the tank really is still ok. Sounds like a plan!
| Test | Results |
| NH3 (ammonia) | 0 mg/L |
| NO2 (nitrite) | 0 mg/L |
| NO3 (nitrate) | 10 mg/L |
| CA (calcium) | drops = 2*20 = 40 mg/L |
| PO4 (phosphate) | 0.25 mg/L |
| FE #1 (toxic iron) | 0 mg/L |
| FE #2 (chelated iron) | 0.1 mg/L |
| GH (general hardness) | 6 drops = 6*20 = 120 ppm = 6.72 dH |
| KH (carbonate hardness) | 7 drops = 7*10 = 70 ppm = 3.92 dCH |
| pH (high test) | 7.6 pH |
Everything looks likes it is in the green. If there had been any problems, I would have probably seen some ammonia and/or nitrites.
I called Drs. Foster Smith and again talked to Greg the fish tech. I really wanted to see if I could go ahead and order plants and other live inhabitants for my tank. Greg suggested that I wait a week or so and then retest the water - just to make sure that the tank really is still ok. Sounds like a plan!
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Wow, what fun... As the title states, I replaced the substrate in my aquarium today with SeaChem Flourite. I followed the directions/method mentioned in the Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums by David Boruchowitz. That is, I used two five gallons buckets and with the garden hose pouring water into one, I dropped the Flourite into the moving water - letting the dust and smaller particles pour off. I then drained the bucket and moved the now rinsed substrate into the second bucket. It took me about thirty minutes to completely rinse the two bags of flourite I had purchased.
I then removed about six gallons of the aquarium's water. I also removed the amazon sword plants and most of the existing gravel substrate. Once this was done, I moved the tank to it's new home on the side wall of Christian's room on top of the Eclipse System 12 Stand purchased from Drs. Foster Smith. I then started adding the rinsed Flourite to the tank - sloping it from the rear to the front. I also re-planted the amazon sword plants, placing the larger one in the rear of the tank. I'm planning on adding more plants, so I left some areas *blank*. I then refilled the tank with tap water that had been overdosed with SeaChem Prime (I overdosed to catch any residual chlorine in the substrate from the rinsing.) I also dosed the tank with the appropriate amount of Hagen Cycle - I did so to help with any bacteria die off that might have occurred when removing the existing gravel. I'm planning to cut back on the twice-daily feedings of the elephant nose fish and work back up to smaller feedings twice daily. (I had been feeding the fish 0.25 of a 1.75 ounce cube of Hikari Frozen Brine Shrimp.
I'm changing some of what I'm doing with the tank as a direct result of the Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums book. A lot of what I've read makes a great deal of sense. For example, the water changes make sense for diluting the pollutants in the water. I am also cutting back on the feedings because it seems that I was way overfeeding - and that could have been why the nitrates were so high in that last test.
I then removed about six gallons of the aquarium's water. I also removed the amazon sword plants and most of the existing gravel substrate. Once this was done, I moved the tank to it's new home on the side wall of Christian's room on top of the Eclipse System 12 Stand purchased from Drs. Foster Smith. I then started adding the rinsed Flourite to the tank - sloping it from the rear to the front. I also re-planted the amazon sword plants, placing the larger one in the rear of the tank. I'm planning on adding more plants, so I left some areas *blank*. I then refilled the tank with tap water that had been overdosed with SeaChem Prime (I overdosed to catch any residual chlorine in the substrate from the rinsing.) I also dosed the tank with the appropriate amount of Hagen Cycle - I did so to help with any bacteria die off that might have occurred when removing the existing gravel. I'm planning to cut back on the twice-daily feedings of the elephant nose fish and work back up to smaller feedings twice daily. (I had been feeding the fish 0.25 of a 1.75 ounce cube of Hikari Frozen Brine Shrimp.
I'm changing some of what I'm doing with the tank as a direct result of the Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums book. A lot of what I've read makes a great deal of sense. For example, the water changes make sense for diluting the pollutants in the water. I am also cutting back on the feedings because it seems that I was way overfeeding - and that could have been why the nitrates were so high in that last test.
Monday, April 5, 2004
Since I got my Hagen Master water test kit in, I haven't tested the aquarium water from before the water change on April 1st. Here are the results:
I will be replacing the substrate in the aquarium in the next few days. I'm removing the vanilla smooth rock substrate with SeaChem Flourite to provide the plants in the aquarium with a more appropriate substrate.
| Test | Results |
| NH3 (ammonia) | 0 mg/L |
| NO2 (nitrite) | 0 mg/L |
| NO3 (nitrate) | 50 mg/L |
| CA (calcium) | 2 drops = 2*20 = 40 mg/L |
| PO4 (phosphate) | 1.0 mg/L |
| FE #1 (toxic iron) | 0 mg/L |
| FE #2 (chelated iron) | 0 mg/L |
| GH (general hardness) | 7 drops = 7*20 = 140 ppm = 7.84 dH |
| KH (carbonate hardness) | 9 drops = 9*10 = 90 ppm = 5.04 dCH |
| pH (high test) | 7.6 pH |
Notes: Zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and some nitrate indicates that the aquarium is past "new tank syndrome." However, that nitrate number is higher than I would want. I guess it was good thing that I changed as much water as I did at the time.
I will be replacing the substrate in the aquarium in the next few days. I'm removing the vanilla smooth rock substrate with SeaChem Flourite to provide the plants in the aquarium with a more appropriate substrate.
Ack! It seems that all the tests that you use to test water give parts per million (ppm) or milligrams per liter (mg/l) - same thing. But everything in books or online for environments use esoteric terms such as dH or KH. I did some research and finally found the following equations:
1 dGH (dH) = 17.8 CaCO3 ppm
1 dKH (dCH) = 17.8 carbonate hardness ppm
But that is still a pain in the butt for having to grab a calculator to figure dH and dCH after water testing, so I googled further and was fortunate to find this.
Thank you Hagen USA.
1 dGH (dH) = 17.8 CaCO3 ppm
1 dKH (dCH) = 17.8 carbonate hardness ppm
But that is still a pain in the butt for having to grab a calculator to figure dH and dCH after water testing, so I googled further and was fortunate to find this.
Thank you Hagen USA.
Saturday, April 3, 2004
These are the first pictures that I have taken of the aquarium. It is an Marineland Labs Eclipse System 12 twelve gallon aquarium. You can see the Visi-Therm 100 Watt Submersible heater as well as the Penn-Plax medium car wreck decoration. (The elephant nose fish uses this as her hiding place.) Pretty much all that is seen here was purchased from Lang's in Glencoe, including the two amazon sword plants.
Aquarium
Aquarium - Amazon Sword Plants
Aquarium - Elephant Nose Fish
I will post these pictures in the Pictures of Aquarium link to the right.
Aquarium
Aquarium - Amazon Sword Plants
Aquarium - Elephant Nose Fish
I will post these pictures in the Pictures of Aquarium link to the right.
Friday, April 2, 2004
I wanted to know more about the elephant nose fish, so I did a Google search on it. One of the reasons for the research is that the place where I purchased the fish - Lang's in Glencoe - told me that the fish will only eat brine shrimp. I just wanted to check if there might be something else that the fish might eat.
Here is what I found: the elephant nose (gnathonemus petersii) lives in environments ranging in pH from 6.0 to 8.0, dH ranges from 5.0 to 19.0, and temperatures from 72° to 82°. This fish is a carnivore and can eat brine shrimp, as well as freeze dried tubifex worms and sinking shrimp pellets.
I'll probably order some sinking shrimp pellets from Drs. Foster Smith to provide the fish with some variety in her meals.
Here is what I found: the elephant nose (gnathonemus petersii) lives in environments ranging in pH from 6.0 to 8.0, dH ranges from 5.0 to 19.0, and temperatures from 72° to 82°. This fish is a carnivore and can eat brine shrimp, as well as freeze dried tubifex worms and sinking shrimp pellets.
I'll probably order some sinking shrimp pellets from Drs. Foster Smith to provide the fish with some variety in her meals.
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