Matt's 64 Litre Tank

Wood can take a frustratingly long time to sort itself out when soaking. 
Horray for the new lights, and best wishes for lots of plant growth. 

Very nice! 

Thanks @fcmf @Littlefish

I'm really proud of it.  I did it rather quickly trying not to stress out the fish too much.  They recovered quickly from the ordeal and I did a gravel vac today on bits of the tank I used to have plants, needless to say the water change bucket was somewhat brown... this is all removed now thankfully and I have new root tabs in place so things should also be a bit cleaner for them.

I also got my first set of test strip results... I knew my water had become harder as the water company changed our source water but it surprised me.  It was right near the top of the gbr's range. It does explain how my lone endler has survived for so long though! I'm also glad that with recent deaths in my tank, the water quality was excellent.  These were 4 days after a water change (bit random I know...) Ill do some more mid week.

Test results:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite looked like 0.5
Nitrate est 17
GH 150 ish (keen to retest as higher than expected and hard to read accurately)
KH 170 ish (keen to retest as higher than expected and hard to read accurately)
pH 7.7 ish (keen to retest as higher than expected and hard to read accurately)

Next steps will be to either: upgrade filter, switch to sand substrate around the outside (not sure if this would work but keen to have 'cycled' substrate for the new tank if I can), or to do a bit of restocking.

While I find the test strips accurate (and easier to read) for nitrite and nitrate, I find that they inflate the GH and KH quite considerably in comparison with liquid-based tests and my water company results (and give a lower than expected PH reading). For that reason, I wouldn't overly rely on the results for these measures. I'm assuming you have a separate test kit strip for ammonia as I'm not aware of a 6-in-1 test strip that covers ammonia as well? (JBL and Tetra have chlorine instead.)

Looking forward very much to reading how you get on with your proposed future plans.

I'd appreciate your support should you be willing to offer it:
https://fishkeeper.co.uk/gallery/

Done, and keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Plus one too. Good luck.

I've just been on and have noticed the website has been upgraded  . Don't know if anyone else regularly check the blog etc?

I'd appreciate your support should you be willing to offer it:
https://fishkeeper.co.uk/gallery/

It let me vote again.  +1 

Feeling slightly annoyed... 

I went to my local MA recently to pick up some more dechlorinator and take a look at what fish they had in stock. I've been planning a few different additions recently, after having a few of my gang go to fishy heaven. 

Over and above anything else, what I'm after is a tank with lots of fish with different 'behaviour'. For example, gourami behaviour I would describe as gentle inquisitive playful with their little feelers... my rams are also playful but more rulers of the tank and love how they seem to hover in the water then swim then hover as they inspect their territory, always after something to eat. Then there's the shrimp and snail's... I'm sure lots of you will know what I mean. This of course creates an unusual community but one I love.

As such, having never kept corys one part of my plan was I wanted to give one of the dwarf species a go as my tank isn't huge anyways and because the smaller bioload would allow my to look into other things like neon gobys (which I had discussed ordering in specially with the MA guy).  My local MA is a new store with enthusiastic staff and a really great store in my opinion (just want to make that clear). They didn't have any dwarf corys in (though dario dario might get their own tank at some point, or dwarf puffers, or... ) but they did have false julii cory labelled as 3cm max.

To cut a long story short I got three, thinking I might come back another time and get a couple more further down the line to boost numbers if they worked out ok in the tank. What I have since found out is that they grow to at least 5cm .  Far bigger than anything else in the tank and putting me mildly overstocked. Fortunately my water quality (since I started growing Sue's Hornwort like 3 inches a week by dosing micronutrients, I think the Hygrophila might be getting going at last now too Paddyc) has been superb, perfect in fact for every test so I think Ill be OK on that front. But its certainly put a hold to my plans for other species increasing their numbers...

They are fantastic characters and I love their sail like dorsal fins as they jiggle around on the bottom, going for the occasional surf across the glass and I've never felt comfortable with the thought of taking fish back to the store (why would you by something and put it through all the stress of being moved when you know you don't want it long term) so they are here to stay. 

So rather than feel annoyed by my plans being ruined I've decided to try and come up with a new plan for my community which will also translate into a larger setup whenever I decide the time is right to get myself that aquaoak 

Might even try and tweak the tank layout a bit later to give some more floor space, and plan for a sandy area, maybe an external filter to create some more room... 

Keep you updated