Freshwater for the Kids! Build

[AHP]

Here is a little update on what is in and how everything is going.




Light are doing great so far all my Swords have about 2 new leaves of growth and what I think is moneywort is staring to grow roots out of the stems. Good Times!



Moneywort and Ludwigia


Anabus (I think Nana)




As of right now when it comes to fish I have:
- 2 siamese algae eater
- 1 red tailed shark (for my son)
- 2 red cherry shrimp

I just tested my water and it is reading.
pH = 7.6
Ammonia = .25ppm (it could lean towards 0ppm but I am being conservative)
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 0ppm
GH = 4 Drops
KH = 2 Drops
Temp = 80 (I am having a heck of a time getting this Eheim Jagar 150W to calibrate, it is holding at 80 so I am not going to touch it).

[Roshan8768]

Awesome I will have to check out CRA ASAP haha!!

[AHP]

I just update one of my post that I wasn't able to last night.

[troy tucker]

It's starting to look greener. In a good way!

[troy tucker]

Fish Gallery is the priciest place in town but sometimes they will get things no one else has. It's fun to go look at fish Gallery.
Extreme Fish & Pets has lots of odballs. Their prices are good. Its also close to that Houston Aquarium Warehouse,& City Pets drive. Even if you don't find what you want, Its always Fun to look.

[AHP]

For some reason I cant post what I am writing I am getting an error but here is the picture. I will edit my story in later.



This is the third time I have tried to write something and I guess I am timing out.
Long story short the family and I went to Houston Aquarium Warehouse and noticed that they didn't really have a big selection of plants, just mostly swords of all different kinds. Which is fine, John is a great guy and I can see myself going back just to look for fish.
On the way home we stopped by CRA were I found a couple of Anabus (I think Nana) for 4.99, some moneywort for 6.99 & Ludwigia for 6.99 as well.

On top of all that when we walked in the door Hector must have gotten a huge shipment of SW stuff. Corals, cleaning crews of all kinds, starfish & I noticed a couple of pipefish. So I thought I would post so everyone could go take a look.

Anyways I will let this run for a bit and then do another water test. Here is one that I did yesterday before the plants got wet.
pH = 6.0
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 0ppm
KH = 5 drops 89.5ppm
GH = 2 drops 35.8ppm
Temps = 80

[Roshan8768]

Don't take my comment the wrong way, I'm a huge fan of CRA. I've only been there once and it was right after Hector opened up, he has a fantastic shop!! All I meant is he may not have the fish you were looking for since he just started up... I'm sure he'd be able to get them for you if you wanted. I need to go by that place again... great prices on everything, especially the saltwater stuff.

[AHP]

Yea we went to Fish Gallery two weeks ago. I was impressed with the store just not the prices for the fish. I did see some different plants and the price was ok.
Thanks for the heads up.
CRA is a nice place and i could see my self buying fish from him. Plus Hector is not trying to up sell everything.

[Roshan8768]

Cinco Ranch Aquariums has some plants, but you're better of going somewhere else for what you have in mind. Fish gallery has pretty good deals on plants, the pricing is much better on their plants than their fish. Also, they have a huge selection

[AHP]

I have never been to the new store in CincoRanch But its the closes place to you. City Pets has plants Extreme Fish and pets. But my Fav. LFS. is Houston Aquarium Warehouse.

Ahh great, thanks! I was thinking about Houston Aquarium Warehouse and City Pets because they are close to one another.

[troy tucker]

I have never been to the new store in CincoRanch But its the closes place to you. City Pets has plants Extreme Fish and pets. But my Fav. LFS. is Houston Aquarium Warehouse.

[AHP]

Thank you! I am hoping to cover the moss rocks and some of the DW with moss and plants.
Any good suggestions on LFS for plants? I can always do an internal search but I wanted to get suggestions.

[troy tucker]

Looks Fantastic!
You are cycled and ready for plants. Do them first. When you ad fish you may have a minni cycle for adding a bio loud. The Plants will help that.

[AHP]

Here is what it looks like with lights on and a new scape.

[AHP]

I will try to post them tonight; I do have to say that I love the lights. I just hope they work with the plants I am looking at.

As for the cycle, I had a lot of cloudy water for the first 2-3 days but didn’t have lights on. I also put some Purigen it the filter so i am not sure if it has cycled or I am in the new stages. Also the canister I have had about 50% use media and substrate, so I am not sure if that has helped.