Missing Flagtail...

Just found out yesterday that my flagtail was missing from the tank.... highest possibility is that it was swallowed by the catfish, but I still can't believe it.... simply because my flagtail is big size, and there are red parrot and siamese tiger which are smaller in size than my flagtail....

Water Change

Done 8% water change last Friday (27 Nov).

New Mates

Well, my bro-in-law just brought over 2 of his 'expensive' fishes into my Kelesa's home, Siamese Tiger and Peacock Bass.

Well, ST seems too small compare to all other residents there, but the PB seems just same size with most others.

Anyway, will treat them a good meal tomorrow, maybe 100 pcs of feeder fishes? But first need to give my Kelesa 2 pcs of bull frogs!

Water Change

Done water change today, and added black water and salt as water conditioner. pH around 6.8 after 4 hour.

pH Status

The pH these days drops below 6. Thus today I add in 3 bags of coral chips to boost up the pH a bit. At the moment, pH rises from 5.6 earlier to 5.8 at the moment.

Water Change

Done water change 10% and cleaned first compartment's Japanese mats.

Added anti-chlorine and salt as conditioner.

Update

Topped up water as weather these days kinda hot again.

Bought some Talapia fish too and they're quite good cleaner and eater too!

Water Change

Done water change today, a bit more this time, ≥10%, with salt and black water as treatment. pH around 6.5 and temperature at 30°C.

Water Change

Done water change today, and added salt and black water as treatment.

Clever Kelesa

I thought Kelesa don't really think first before swallowing live food, I am wrong. Last night I caught a big frog and try to feed it to Kelesa. And, Kelesa tried and don't take it as it's far to big to fit into his mouth. Clever Kelesa!

Water Change

Done water changed today and cleaned the medias too for last compartments.

Froggies!

Bought 11 froggies and that should last for 2 weeks for Kelesa's diet.

Froggies

Well, today bought two small frogs for my Kelesa as food.

And.... @#$*&@#^@#&@*... Kelesa is killing and swallowing the frogs which I don't really feel good to watch it, LOL!

Water Change

Done 10% water change today, added salt only to treat new water.

Moving Home

To avoid further damage, moved the two 'terminators' back to the tortoise home!

Shocking!

Guess what?! My two tortoises just killed and ate my Oscar! Believe it or not, it happened!

Water Change

Done 10% water change today and added salt too.

Repacking Ceramic Rings

Done some repacking of my existing ceramic rings into smaller packs, in more durable bags.

Rain Water

Topped up tank water by rain water yesterday, as it was raining heavily.

pH these days between 6.1 - 6.3.

Measured my Kelesa this morning, he's now 12 inches length!

Night View

Just took this yesterday!




My Kelesa




Fei Feng (hard to get good shot, fast swimmer!)




Pleco (good cleaner)




TFB a.k.a. lampam




Tortoises!

Water Change

Done 5% water change last night, as water evaporated a lot during these days and I try not just to top up the water only.

pH this morning is around 6.3.

Close Up Photos

Here comes Kelesa!




Look here!





Fei Feng~

Water Change

Done water change this morning, around 10%. Added water conditioner, pH down and salt.

pH still high, around 7.6 at the moment. Hope it drops this time after water change.

Also, I moved my two green tortoises to Kelesa's home again.

Coral Chips

Just took out all coral chips from Kelesa's home. pH varies between 7 and 8, thus took them out and leave only the one in plant's pot.

Just now also blackout at my area! Luckily I got standby air pump.

New Plant

Just moved the plant I got from Bintulu to a new pot which I bought yesterday. I put coral chips at bottom as weight. The pot is high because that will prevent the powerful current from pump stirring up the rotten leaves inside the pot, thus messing up the water.

Feeder Fish

Bought some fast swimming feeder fish for Kelesa just now.

The reason I choose fast swimming fish is because I want to get my Kelesa to exercise as he needs to chase them in order to get them.

pH Reading

Today's the pH reads 7.1 - 7.3.

Major Cleaning

Just finished cleaning all filters medias, algae on glass surface and bottoms, all debris and dirts in aquarium, as well as cleaning all pumpsets, and pH probe.

Also, cleaned tortoises tank and moved Oscar to main tank.

Added pH down and salt to tank hoping to bring down pH and also killing all bacterias in tank.

It took me about 2 hours for all these task, but that gonna last a few months before next major cleaning.

Drop Scale!

Not sure what happened but found one drop scale near left head of Kelesa.

Will try water change later and put in some salt to avoid infection of bacteria.

pH Down Solution

Been using pH down for pass 4 days and only managed to drop pH by 0.4 so far consuming 2 bottles of pH down solution. Partly it's because the weather is hot and I top up 4 gallons of water every one or two days and my water source is over pH 8.

Today just bought another 3 bottles and hope can bring it to at least 7.

Will try water change this weekends.

pH Test

Tested pH today and it's really high!

Will try getting some more pH down and black water tomorrow.

Updates

Well, rearrangement again, but this time to the tank itself as I find the wood and plants looks better when they're all laying on the bottom.

Here are some photos I took just now:

Day Shot:


Night Shot:


Close Shot:


Will try to check pH tomorrow with pH test kit as my pH monitor shows kinda high reading these days.

Water Change

Done water change tonight before sleep. Well, it's too easy to do water change with sump filtration system. I really enjoy it now!

Sultan In Danger!

Can't get super worm and feeder fish as they're all out of stock, so I bought some bigger size 'Sultan' feeder fishes, 35 of them.

At first I scared they are too big, but when I released them into Kelesa's home, Kelesa zoomed towards them and swallowed few at one go. As they can only fit into Kelesa's mouth and also Cat fish's mouth, so when I'm backed from work, can't find any more 'sultan', and both of them got big tummy!

Poor lampam, nothing to eat. So I give some pellets again.

pH above 7, hope to bring them down later when free.

News

Back home yesterday and hope to see Kelesa taking pellets but...

So no choice, after 5 days still don't want to take pellets, so fed him with some prawn and getting some super worms later.

Water Changed

Just done water changed this morning, around 10%, and added black water.

Hopefully pH can maintain below 7 after I return from Bintulu. Currently pH is 6.8.

Top Up Water & News

Topped up around 15 gallons of water to the sump today as the water level runs low due to hot weather.

Also, shifted Oscar to sump as it is really a big eater!

pH around 6.9 recently.

Emergency Air Pump

Just got an emergency air pump yesterday and setup for Kelesa's home, as I'll be away for days and scared got blackout at my area during these days.

Water Change

Done 10% water change today, and cleaned the ceramic rings and pre-filter.

Also arranged the wood vertically for my tortoises to land on.

pH around 6.8 after water change.

Updates

Just did a small modification to overflow outlet to sump tank. Will try something new soon, if possible during Gawai holiday.

Night Shot

Not so clear but can see Kelesa and other tank mates.

New Tank Mate

Ok, I introduced two of my green tortoises into Kelesa's home. They are really cute!

Water Change

Done water change today, 10% as usual, and also cleaning up the japanese mats in first compartment, and add pre-filter to the outlets from the main tank to filter all waste.

Here is the pre-filter:

Update

Just put back a Tinfoil Barb and Oscar to Kelesa's home, as I think Kelesa is bored because no one fight him for food these days.

Also, tried to put my green tortoise into Kelesa's home and looks great! Will make a floating board and try again when free.

pH at the moment is 6.81.

pH Status

Just checked the pH of Kelesa's home, around 6.81.

Also, had moved two tinfoil barbs to accompany Oscar which I moved to sump tank yesterday. Might get them a new home because I might not want them in my Kelesa's home anymore.

Might try to move one of my tortoise to become Kelesa's tank mate, or maybe will buy a 麒麟 as new tank mate. We'll see then.

Rearrangement

Well, again I decided to change the arrangement of the filter medias. This time I put a layer of japanese mat at the bottom of second sump compartment, follow by sponge and the rest are the bio/ ceramic rings. At the third compartment, also at the bottom are two layers of japanese mats. On top of the mats are 5-6kg of coral chips as pH buffers as the pH these days quite stable around 6.4 and drops further over time. So hope to keep the pH stable from now on within the range of 6.4 - 6.8 if possible.com

Algae!

Wow! Just back from Bintulu and found that there are lots of algae grows in the sump compartments! Maybe due to weather these days (summer - hot).

Here's the photos I took before start cleaning my sump:





After cleaning the sump:




New plant I bought back from Bintulu:




pH before water change is 6.88. pH after water change is 6.45

Water Change

Done water change just now, about 10%, before going back to Bintulu this weekend. I sucked out dirts from tank bottom as well.

pH after water change around 6.63.

2nd Compartment

Close look at the new bio rings:




Overall view:




pH around 6.55 at noon.

Quick Update

Can't wait any longer so just finished put in and arranged the new bio rings into the 2nd compartment! (late at night!)


Arrangement at 2nd compartment now is as follows:

Bottom Layer:
- 1 layer of sponge.

Centre Layer:
- Ceramic Rings - Bio Rings - Ceramic Rings & Coral Chips.

Last but not least, water plant on top.

Thus in total I got around 10kg of ceramic/bio rings!


pH around 6.5 at 10 p.m.

Bio Ring

Just got another 3kg of larger and porous bio ring today!



Here the 3kg rings in the net, will put them into the 2nd compartment at the moment. Later will move it to 3rd compartment substituting the Japanese mats.

Rearrangement (Part 2)

Not satisfied with the arrangement yesterday so I bought another soft and more durable net to hold more ceramic rings.

Here's the new net with ceramic rings (around 2kg):




Here's the net that I bought yesterday (around 2kg):




Here's the coral chips I put in yesterday (around 1kg):




Here's the water plant I tied together with aluminum as weight/anchor.




Here's the first (Japanese mats), second (coral chips - 1kg, ceramic rings - 6kg, sponges) and third compartments (Japanese mats):




Here's the fourth compartment (just return pump, UV and some feeder fishes):




Overview (UV pumps water to Over Head Filter filled with 1kg infra-red ceramic rings and water return to first compartment):




pH reading today around 6.46 at 11:30 a.m.




Next "project" will be getting another 8 kg of ceramic rings for the 3rd compartment substituting the existing Japanese mats. Will be my next projects. Maybe I'll just get those red coloured one which I bought earlier that claims can release infra-red and create energy water.

Ceramic Rings Arrangement

Did some arrangement with the ceramic rings at the second compartment. Repack the smaller pack into a larger soft nylon bag I just bought and try spread them on the floor of second compartment so that water will flow through the ceramic rings evenly.

Here's the final result with some sponge at the bottom to stop dirts from first compartment.




pH around 6.3. Thus added in 1kg of coral chips.

My Plochilodus

Managed to take a nice shot of my Plochilodus aka Flagtail or 飞凤 ！

Major Cleaning

Today I did a major clean up for the sump filter.

First I cleaned all filter medias: japanese mats and ceramic rings by rinsing them.

Then I did some rearrangement on these medias. First compartment still japanese mats, 2nd compartments with ceramic rings, and some plants on top, and third compartment with japanese mats again. Might change the third compartment with ceramic rings in future.



Total water change should be around 30% - 40%. Added black water to calm Kelesa.

pH after 3 hours is around 6.37. Might add in 1kg of coral chips tomorrow if pH drops further.

Water Change

Done 20% water change today and cleaned and divided all ceramic rings into smaller 1kg bags for easier cleaning next time. All together I have ±7kg of ceramic rings at the filter compartments.

Also fed Kelesa with frozen prawn again after water change too.

pH reading at 6.73 after water change. Temperature 31-32°C.

Sun Bath!

'Summer' is approaching, so the direction of sunrise and sunset also changes (as per my own observation...)

Here is the photo which I just took, where Kelesa is having sun bath!

New Food

Was just trying to let Kelesa try some market frozen prawn and to my surprise Kelesa takes it! That's very good news to me as they're too many arowana just so picky about food and refuse to take prawn. Will start to give Kelesa prawn than super worms from now on as it's full of 'goodies' for Kelesa and also it's much more cheaper and easier to get.

pH Update

pH this morning was around 7.01, so I took out the coral chips that I put in earlier. Will continue monitoring it since the pH monitor is on 24/7 now.

Updates

Just got AC adapter to supply electricity to my pH monitor, so now I can monitor pH 24/7!





Also, custom made a small tank for my tortoises. I placed it beside my sump tank. Should be easy doing water change from now on.





Done setting up the 'energy water' for my tank, but not really sure whether it works as told. We'll see if Kelesa shows any 'sign' of satisfaction or enjoyment.



Here's the modified overflow:




Here's the inlet after UV light:



The overflow outlet:



Final Overview on Bottom Rack: