I got some new fish for my second tank. I got two Guppies and four Bristlenose catfish. The Guppies straight away went for the Platy fry, but they are now few weeks old and were easily able to hold their ground (water :-)).
The drift wood in the second tank is not water logged after almost 2 weeks and I have to hold it in place with rocks. As a result I have to wait a while longer before I can set it up. I have also moved the three adult Platy from the old tank to the new one. They are settling slowly in the new tank and have not bothered the fry.
The Platy fry are enjoying the larger tank and I can see their growth rate has increased considerably. The plants in the new tank are also showing good growth. I am however planning to add some fine gravel to the tank since the current one is very coarse and not suitable for growing plants. Here are some photos of the tank as it sits now.
 |
| New Tank (rock is holding down the drift wood) |
 |
| Stem Plants are growing much better in the new tank |
The lights of my old tank went off today and I had to look for replacement. The replacement tubes were pretty costly and they are not standard size and only need ones supplied by Blue Planet. I changed the hood and the light fittings as it would have cost almost as much as new tubes. The new lights are a lot powerful. I now have 2 X 24W T5 (Aqua Zonic Super tropical Pink and Sun-Lux 10000K). This should help spur some growth in plants like the Hair Grass. I may reduce the length of time that the lights ON from 8 hrs to 6 hrs so that there is no Algae breakout. I will have to keep a close watch for the next two weeks to find out how the plants and the fish respond to the brighter lights. Eventually once I know how the tank responds I will increase the time back to 8 hrs.
First I removed the lid to which the old lights were attached and then used the brackets that came with the new light fittings. However, the tank lost all the glory...the black top with the lights and filter within the hood makes the tank look really good. I have managed to fit the new lights to the lid and have placed it back on the hood. Its looking good but I am not sure if the distance (2in) between the lights and the water surface is going to cause any problems. I have glued the lights to the lid and also secured it using fishing line. Here are some photos after changing the lights. I am also adding a couple of photos for the new tank.
 |
| New lights (tank without the lid) |
 |
| Fixed the new lights under the lid. You can see the fishing line on the top that holds the lights. |
 |
| Full view of tank. |
No comments:
Post a Comment