One Step Closer...

Now that I'm back from Long Beach, I'm pretty excited to get this thing under way. I bought three 20 lb. bags of "eco-complete" substrate, not because I necessarily think it's essential to a healthy aquarium, but more because I'm not really sure what else I'd do. I think experimentation with different substrates is best left for future aquariums.

Anyhow, because all the water was already in my tank, I had to kind of drop the bags in one at a time, cut them open, and gently pour the contents along the aquarium floor. Now, I don't know how I could have been more effective, but not surprisingly, the water was very dirty after this. I had wisely brought no fish home, and I gave it overnight to settle down and clear up. The reason I could not put this down before adding water is because it's supposed to have lots of beneficial bacteria colonies already, and adding chlorinated tap water would likely kill most of them. By waiting, I not only saved alleged bateria colonies, but had established some on my bio-wheel by running it with fish food all week.

I also went ahead and bought the lamp I'd be "feeding" my plants with. My plan was to get the Coralife they were using to light the aquarium in the front of the store, but they didn't have the bulbs to go with there 36" fixture. So instead, I got the Satellite brand fixture that needs its own bulbs that I'm assured are just as good as the Coralife bulbs. It cost $10 extra, which bought me a single LED to light the aquarium at night. Whatever.