Still waiting for the cycle to start lol. Dosed ammonia at 2ppm when I set it up and it's still just chillin' there
Right or wrong here's what i did tonight:
Did a maintenance 50% water change on the 55, topped off the 125 with some of the dirty water from the siphon. Washed both Aquaclear 70 mechanical filter sponges out in the 125 - holy cow they were filthy! Been a long time since I've done that. No doubt I seeded some bacteria in the process. I also added some large pre-intake sponges to the 110 aquaclears filters intakes inside the 125. They're black, but ugly and HUGE. As you can see in my initial picture there wasn't any, they were just late to ship. I also lowered them down more so they're in contact with the substrate now - I didn't want the basic intakes sucking sand. I also dumped 3 or 4 ounces of an API bacterial product I had just sitting around, no idea if it was even viable.
Based off Dr. Tims "fishless startup" One and Only I should see ammonia starting to drop (started Wednesday), and tonight I was suppose to redose ammonia but the level is still too high. (2ppm) Oh well! No rush, I hope it'll start sooner than later. Admittedly I'm not impressed with the promise the product made. I hope tomorrow I'll see that ammonia start to drop based off cleaning the filters from the other tank into the 125 tomorrow.
Regarding the upper strata and adding structure, I'm definitely going to add some emergent plants, probably common philodendron since I've always found it to be tough as nails. Its root structure should get pretty large in the tank for the loaches to explore. I saw another local fish store using it a few days ago and was impressed with the root wad in the tank. Plus we can decorate the wall outside the tank with the foliage as it grows.
Most importantly, I'm still thinking about the final community. I've shopped so many stores and the selection really stinks around here. Yoyos in the fish stores always look like crap to put it bluntly. I can't even begin to explain how bad they always look. This species must be VERY poorly handled in shipping or something, and consequently the fish stores always have fish knocking on deaths door from Ich or some other disease I'm not recognizing. A lot of loaches I first killed were yoyos, and it probably wasn't my fault directly. As Diana mentioned they are bullies, and my biggest one is just that. I love him and his little brother, but he chases everyone else so I'm rethinking adding anymore. One store always has quality kubotias, which I figure I'll add another 4, bringing the total population up to 10. I won't do this until I move the 6 out of the 55 to the 125 to free up quarantine space. The 2 golden zebras (if that's what they are) need a few more friends. Petco, of all places, gets them regularly and their 1" tops when they have them. I figure I'll add 3 maybe 4 to the quarantine tank, once the 125 tank is cycled whenever that happens. I've been thinking a lot about the striata. I have seen them at a LFS but there isn't a consistent source. A few of you have spoken highly of them. I'll ask the manager if they could get me 5 or 6. When I did see them, I wasn't in a position to be able to add them to the tank so that is what is is. Lastly, the first loach I ever fell in love with was kuhlis (before I found out about botias) - the orange and black striped guys. I would like to add a few of those, maybe 4 or 5. Based off what I've seen at many LFS, I'll never see them with the sand.
So.... help me evaluate the numbers on the high end. Am I stocking to much, considering I want think tank under stocked for water quality parameters?
10 kubotia
2 yoyo
6 golden zebras
6 striata
5 kuhli
2 angel fish
I'm in no rush, and as always thank you for your responses!
