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Jasmine's low tech planted goldfish tank!

66K views 452 replies 53 participants last post by  xjasminex 
#1 ·
Hello All!
This is my first journal, i have been keeping goldfish for about four years now and i absolutely love them!
At the moment i have two fancy goldfish, they started out living in a 29 gallon tank after about three years i decided that they have come close to out growing their tank, so i bought them a fifty five gallon tank.



They love it!

But then i got hooked on plants and i just had make their tank planted! Hopefully it will reduce my water changes and provide a more healthy environment for them!

So after modifying my hood for my new light and going through the motions of setting up a dirt tank i have created this...









Specs:
55 gallon tank
Solarmax HE 2 bulb light fixture (2 10k t5no bulbs)
Miracle grow organic choice potting mix capped with pool filter sand
1 whisper ex 70
1 whisper ex 45 (both with homemade filter pads and purigen)
jager 150 heater

Flora:
Ludwigia Repens
Cryptocoryne Crispatula var. Balansae
Red jungle Val
Corkscrew val
Amazon sword
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
Water sprite
Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis
Dwarf Sag
Pennywort

Fauna:
Two fancy goldfish
Two albino cories
Pond snail
Nerite snail
Ramshorn snail

If i left anything out that you would like to know just say so!
 
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#2 ·
Fantastic! I bet you love those plants. I'm really glad you started this journal. I can't wait to see how both of our tanks turn out. Maybe someday we could start a group for planted goldfish people here. It would be cool to have them all linked.
 
#227 ·
Good idea Gold Finger! I'm a newbie, first post actually. My first tank in 30 yrs is 20 gal, two sarasa comets with plastic plants and 80 ppm nitrates, so I planted anubis and anacharis 4 months ago. Nitrates slowly going down. I know I need a larger tank and have also become interested in ripariums. A planted goldfish group would be a big help to beginners like me.

jhenry
 
#3 ·
Hurray for planted goldfish tanks!

I really thought about using Miracle Gro Organic under my sand, but the stuff I bought wouldn't sink in water, even after having it in a test bowl for over a week. I would scoop out whatever was floating, and the next day it was all gross again. Even with a sand cap, I think it would have made a mess. I couldn't find anyone having the same problem, so I figured I had a bad batch, but decided to stick with root tabs anyway. I'll have to give my next tank a better plant foundation.

I bet your goldfish love their home!
 
#4 ·
Goldfinger- It would be cool! I know my plants have a long way to go but i really hope my vals, ludwiga and amazon swords grow big and strong because they can really make an elegant looking tank!

mjbubbles- hmmm, maybe your sand was too fine.....just a thought and sifting out the bigger wood chunks could help there too if you didn't do it that is. I really hope they like it, lol. And that they leave the plants alone, i had some pennywort floating in the tank for a week or so and they pretty much left it alone except for a nibble here and a nibble there but no real picking on it or chowing down. I hope that with the gel food i feed them and the kale, brine shrimp, oranges and what ever else i feed them that they will not have the need to eat my plants!
 
#11 ·
sadly no at first i had goldfish but it was during a new tank and i guess my goldies could not handle it and i was inexperienced so i had to change it to tropical.

what type of goldfish are they? one of them looks like a fantail or ryukin.
 
#16 ·
Its cute!
But i must urge you to upgrage her tank to something more like a thirty gallon.....i have read that while in a small tank that when goldfish stop growing their organs continue to grow...=/ im not sure if its true though.
Her fungus/parasite could most likely be cause by the size of her tank.
A goldfish that size produces so much ammonia, that tank probaly needs whater changes once a day or more to keep up with her bioload. Bad water quality leads to sickness....and yada yada yada.

Im not being mean, or trying to lecture you, i have been in the same shoes as you. Im only trying to educate.

A good substitute for a tank for her, if you dont have one on hand or the money to buy one at the time is a large rubbermaid container from walmart or some other big box store. Just reinforce the sides a bit add a filter and tadaw....goldfish tank!

The gab.org is a great site to help educate about goldfish, they are really friendly when it comes to newcomes who need help. They even have a sick fish forum and probably will be able to help you with what ever is going on with Dorthy!

Please dont think im trying to be mean or judgemental, i know how it feels for someone to tell you your doing everything wrong, if you have any questions id be happy to answer them for you!

Jasmine
 
#17 ·
Jasmine's advice is dead on. Plants to use up the fish waste are good. More room is better -- the larger the volume of water, the less likely the parameters are to get dangerous in an instant. (I just moved my fantail from a 10g to a 40g). The GAB has excellent information, definitely it's a great source for learning about goldfish. Your ryukin will be much happier and you'll enjoy her even more than you already do.

All of us have had to learn the hard way, I think. For me the learning curve has been very steep and all too recent!
 
#24 ·
Am thinkin' most of your plants will go unmolested by the fish. You know my vals are fine, and I read that most big leaved plants are too tough for golds to eat. Not so sure about the pennywort or the water sprite, though. Am waiting with great anticipation to see if they eat those because they are the two best nutrient exporters and the two I think are most likely to be eaten. They are both on my potential list of fast growing stems for my tank. I hope all of your plants make it. It's a great chance to learn a lot about goldfish friendly plants all at once. Oh wait, MJ said his(her?) fish destroyed his(her?) amazon sword... fingers crossed on that one.
 
#27 ·
I have watersprite and pennywort, and they've both survived so far. Mine will uproot the watersprite if I put it where she can get at the roots, so I stuck is between some driftwood and it wasn't uprooted again. As for the pennywort (which I adore), she'll nibble at occasionally, and has torn up several leaves, but the thing grows so fast the overall plant hasn't suffered and has gotten much bigger since I put it in the tank. She doesn't touch my argentinian sword, either, but I've never tried amazon. Actually, the only plants I've tried so far that haven't worked have been java moss and subwassertang, those were both nibbled into a huge mess and had to be taken out.

A lot probably depends on the individual fish, though. Good luck!
 
#28 ·
Hey Squid, I really like the look of pennywort. I understand that it needs medium light to grow fast. Do you think it is a good nitrate eating leaf feeder compared to, say, Cabomba.
 
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