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Thread: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

  1. #31
    Registered Member sanjay21's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Looking great Eric !

    Nice shapes on them You are doing a great job !

  2. #32
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Thanks guys. These threads are nice because while I might not see the growth day to day, it becomes apparent looking back a few weeks ago. Also becoming apparent are the snakes vs turqs. I think I have 4 snakes and 5 turqs. Here are some pictures from today.

    IMG_2133.jpg
    IMG_2134.jpg
    IMG_2136.jpg
    IMG_2135.jpg
    IMG_2137.jpg

  3. #33
    Registered Member Maxx24's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Looking good! Nice images..!

  4. #34
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Thanks Max.

    A couple observations from this week.

    1) My 100W heater was no longer doing the job in the 29gal. I double checked the temp a few days ago and it wouldnt go above 80F. Surprising because I'm only filling the tank to about 20 gal or so but it is a cold basement. I up'd the heater size and now back to 84F.

    2) Ive started mixing in Al's pellets and BH flakes with every BH mix feeding. After a few days they are finally eating these as well.

    3) The fish are much happier with the 2x daily wc's. Usually with my work schedule I do a 100% water change every night. This week being home however I started changing another 60-70% around mid-day and the fish seem much more active. Also with the amount of BH mix Im feeding, Im wiping down the glass every other day as well. Granted, for me, this isnt a sustainable routine.

    4) Im surprised at the varied size difference in my group. I'd say there are 3-4 good sized fish. Then there is the runt who at this point is probably 1/3rd size of the others. Given the uniformity I've seen in some other contestants threads I can only speculate that I (a) started feeding BH too early, (b) am not changing enough water, or both. Like we've said before however, it only takes one fish to win - and I think the educational value of this contest for the hobby is awesome.

  5. #35
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Great observations and summary mate. I agree that the info/educational value of this contest is excellent. This is due to the existence of the contest and the open sharing of a number of key contestants, yourself included.
    Thanks!

  6. #36
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    7 week update...

    I think me being home last week and able to do multiple WC's a day really helped them. This week I added a automatic feeder with some BH flakes to go off twice while Im at work.

    I also picked up a 1200gph mag drive pump off eBay so the WC's are very quick again.

    Interesting that one of the fish is showing a lot of red in the fins as well (last picture).


    IMG_2147.jpg

    IMG_2143.jpg

    IMG_2146.jpg

    IMG_2148.jpg

    IMG_2150.jpg

  7. #37
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Also here's a quick (blurry) video update as well...


  8. #38
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Yours are getting thick and rounding up too Eric. They look great
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


  9. #39
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Looking good!! The runt is very tiny! Can you provide a link to the mag pump for water changes? I was just thinking that I need a faster way to do water changes since I’m doing it twice a day on my grow out tank.

  10. #40
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Mando View Post
    Looking good!! The runt is very tiny! Can you provide a link to the mag pump for water changes? I was just thinking that I need a faster way to do water changes since I’m doing it twice a day on my grow out tank.
    Thanks! The pump was used in an auction so I grabbed it for $40 or so. It’s the Danner Mag-Drive Utility pump 1200gph. It’s used but I only turn it on for a few minutes a day and for the last week or so it’s worked well.

    Yea the runt is a goner - but as long as it’s eating and not acting sick/harboring disease I’ll probably keep it around just for the numbers.

  11. #41
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Yours are getting thick and rounding up too Eric. They look great
    Pat
    Thanks Pat! Also very jealous of your picture- taking abilities in your thread...

  12. #42
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    2 months in!

    These past few weeks I have tried increasing my WC schedule to 150% or so a day. 50% in midday/late afternoon as able and then 90-100% in the evening. I'm continuing to see some decent growth and outside of the runt, I think they are becoming more uniform. I've also added an automatic feeder to feed BH flakes twice during the day while Im at work.

    Lastly, Ive been messing around with the room lights to try to get some better photos/videos. The tape marker down in the corner is marked at every inch. Last week I measured my largest out of the tank at 2.5 inches or so. Getting excited for the official measurement in 1 month! If we have a contest for the smallest - the runt may win...

    IMG_2188.jpg

    IMG_2187.jpg

    IMG_2186.jpg


  13. #43
    Registered Member Tshethar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Looking really good! You have some nice-sized turqs--I noticed in my batch that most of my SS were always the big ones, and my turqs were behind them for size. Looks like you've got some turqs that are keeping up with them. Everybody looks happy.

  14. #44
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Tshethar View Post
    Looking really good! You have some nice-sized turqs--I noticed in my batch that most of my SS were always the big ones, and my turqs were behind them for size. Looks like you've got some turqs that are keeping up with them. Everybody looks happy.
    Thanks! Yea my biggest (and smallest) is a turq but there are 2 SS’s that are close. Overall a fairly even split.

  15. #45
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    Default Re: Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

    Another interesting observation I’ve had from the competition -


    I don’t see any difference with those of us who used our own bio media and that from Al. This was a big concern of mine because I thought it could be a shock to new fish. Even if my biomedia didn’t have pathogens necessarily, it still likely had different types of bacteria in different ratios that may stress the fish. Even a fishless cycle has different types/ratios of bacteria from the fish’s original source. My filter came from a stendker discus tank and they seemed to do just fine. Given that a handful of us used our own media without disaster, I may be able to put this concern to rest.

    (Or we all got lucky.)

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