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56g High Tech Build

2K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  Taylor Goodhew 
#1 ·
After posting in the general/introduction, I think this might be a more apt place for this.

I was into aquariums/aquascaping years ago, and just slowly stopped caring. I had a very dirty 27g cube only holding a single kuhli loach, tha my gf absolutely loved. She ended up buying some guppies and did a pretty good job raising them. So I told her we would drain the 27g cube and start fresh. Well while picking up supplies for the cube we ran into a deal at petsmart, a 56 gallon with stand, hood, and a very low quality of light all for $130. And that's really where this build begins. We went ahead and bought new lighting filtration, heater, etc for the new tank.


Tank- 56 gal (30"x18"x24")
Lighting-2@ 30" Aqueon Optibight+
-2@ E27 Grow Lights
Filter- Fluval 306 with lily pipe
Heater- Hydor 300w inline
C02 Setup- Aqutek Mini with 20oz paintball tank
Substrate- 45lbs Flourite Black
-------------------------------------------
4- Cardinal Tetras
4- male guppies
Too Many Dwarf Ram Chiclids
----------------------------------------
Echinodorus Bleheri
Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
(all from thegreenhabitat.com)






-------------------
UPDATE
-------------------
My Hemianthus Callitrichoides didn't seem to be doing well, but at the same time they looked great, so I was quite confused. So I sat and just watched the tank for a bit, and the dwarf rams would swim up to the Hemianthus Callitrichoides and just strip off all of the leaves. So they were rehomed. And with that I decided to redo my stock in the tank, both plant and fish.... Also changed a bit of hardware

Tank- 56 gal (30"x18"x24")
Lighting-36" Finnex Ray2
-30" Finnex Ray2
-30" Aquaeon Optibright+ (just for color)
Filter- Fluval 306 with lily pipe
Heater- Hydor 300w inline
C02 Setup- Aqutek Mini with 20oz paintball tank
-Ista External CO2 Ceramic Reactor
Substrate- 45lbs Flourite Black
------------------------------------------
4- Cardinal Tetra
3- Male Guppies
1- Hill Stram Loach
1- Kuhli Loach
10- Blueberry Shrimp
------------------------------------------
Ludwigia Repens Rubin
Ludwigia Peruensis
Eleocharis parvula
Staurogyne Repens
Echinodorus Bleheri
Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
(all from thegreenhabitat.com)


The real owner actually in her tank
 
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#5 ·
Thank you sir. I feel pretty fortunate to have found such a fitting piece. I hope to grow baby tears on the top of it, and Xmas Moss on some of the lower portions eventually.

I did order a new light. So my new setup will be 36" Finnex Ray2, 30" Finnex Ray2, and now a 30" Finnex 24/7 planted +. I hope to run both ray2 for about 5-6hrs a day and then keep the 24/7 in the 24/7 mode. It seems like way too much lighting, but I don't feel like my bottom is getting enough.

Also found the nicest aquarium shop I've seen yet, in Dayton, OH. Gerber tropical fish, had the most freshwater and saltwater fish I've ever seen. And some of the best pricing. I picked up 14 more Cardinal tetra at $7ea, but on sale as buy one get one free. Also picked up the nicest looking beta I've seen in person there.

For some reason my ludwigia rubin has been doing poorly, so I removed it from the tank completely. And ordered 3 or 4 more bundles of Ludwigia Peruensis to replace it. I also ordered a bit of Hemianthus micranthemoides to try out and compare to my callitrichoides.

Bump: And blackheart, you aren't Brandon are you?

Lol I have a car friend that often uses the new blackheart, and I know he used to be into aquariums
 
#7 ·
Slow updating, been on the hunt for a new car....

But, got my 30" Finnex Planted+ 24/7. I was a bit disappointed turning it on, because it doesn't add all that much light. But after thinking about it, I already have 2 ray2 on there so it couldn't become much brighter. I've sent both ray2 to 5hrs on a day and the 24/7 is set to 24/7 mode.

The ludwigia repens/rubin has been replaced with more peruensis. And now I'm also trying Hemianthus micranthemoides, I may use it as a bush in front of the peruensis.

My Eleocharis parvula has baffled me a bit. Every patch seems dead, but there are a handful of bright green blades in each patch but the majority looks dead. Is this common? Does a bit of it die off while it's building it's root system.

The dwarf sag is doing amazing now. Everyday I see at least 2 new runners. The sword is growing quite well, but no new runners yet.
 
#8 ·
The bad- So the Hemianthus micranthemoides melted completely in like 2 days, no idea why. My hemianthus callitrichoides, weren't doing so well so I glued them to the top of my large piece of driftwood and they did even worse. So I ended up getting rid of it. I now have some xmass moss from aquatic magic glued to the top of the large driftwood. It's very brown but starting to get some green back. Also stuck a aquatop cf400uv on the tank to polish a bit and really to test a new intake/outlet I had just bought, unfortunately my betta somehow found his way into the surface skimmer and went into the filter. He was trapped next to the uv bulb, he was alive and I was able to get him back into the tank. He had several bruises but looked mostly fine, he wasn't swimming much and the next morning he wasn't swimming at all.

The good- My amazon sword is doing amazingly. It has more leaves than I care to count and 3 of those leaves are greater than 18". I didn't really think my Staurogyne Repens , was doing all that well so I took it out to clean it up and replant. The roots were about 3" long and I only ordered a single tissue culture, and now it would fill 3 tissue culture jars. My Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata has been doing amazingly as well. Everyday I find a new sprout of it, and usually 2 or 3 of them. My Eleocharis parvula had essentialy turned into brown balls of dead debris, and I had given up all hope. But then it suddenly started having green leafs sprouting and coming back. Switched to the ista max mix and it is leaking a tad bit, but pretty nice unit


 
#9 ·
Well my tank can grow stuff, seems like it will grow nearly everything.... But, by far algae is at the top of its abilities. Just picked up a Kent marine pro II scraper and it works amazingly just wish I didn't need it. My glass is completely covered in green dust algae every few days. And I am having a few different algae's pop up on my plant leaves. To correct this I am running a aquatop cf-400uv with the uv sterilizer on, turned off a 30" finnex ray2, daily glass cleanings, turned my co2 up a tad bit but also using a bit of metracide, and more frequent water changes. Because my sword leaves were so covered I decided to just cut them off and see if it grows back, If not I can plant a new one. This also gives the plants it shaded an opportunity to steal some real estate.

But, my plants are doing what I consider impressively well. I super glued a bunch of hemianthus callitrichoides to the top of my wood a few weeks back and it seemed to die. So I got some dead-ish christmas moss from aq magic and decided to glue it over the the top of the dead h.c. Well the h.c. must not have enjoyed that because it has revived and I can see growth almost daily. Now the hc and xmas moss seem to be competing for the top of the wood making and interesting look(much better than the pix would allude.) I find a new dwarf sag runner almost daily, it has some death but the same plant will also have big brand new leaves so I am marking it down as acclimation. My dwarf hairgrass isn't as green as I'd like but I was able to watch a root burrow itself in the gravel over the course of a few days, so it is growing. Did a bit of propogating on my s.repens and burried it much deeper and it is starting to take off again. And the ludwigia repens, which I thought I got rid of, is now doing great with beautiful leaves and thick stems.

But, my ludwigia peruensis has me a bit confused. It has not gotten any taller, stem wise it is basically the same height as when I put it in. But, the leaves and roots have more than doubled in size. The very top of each plant now has tons of leaves on it and those leaves are all growing algae. Could this be because of too much lighting? I'm kind of thinking I have so much light my plants don't have much reason get taller, just grow the leaves out more? I'm trying to use less lighting and see if it helps.

Also got some Eheim Pro3 g90/2073 for $90 shipped, so I will be swapping the Fluval 306 out for that soon.




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