55g in progress (dialup warnin) - a journal

[pet-teez]

Ok, overall shot of the tank... the water has cleared a ton, the Crypt is melting it's butt off and the moss still looks, eh, weird, but the ends are bright green now. *sigh* I've never had this much trouble with a new tank :p

Tank:


Moss:


Anubias... I've been told it isn't petite, if not what is it? Most the leaves are about the size of my pinky nail but some (like on this first shot) are like thumb size... wha?

[pet-teez]

Ok, this has been cleared up. It seems that when petite gets a ton of light the leaves get larger. Thanks Momotaro

Originally Posted by pet-teez

Anubias... I've been told it isn't petite, if not what is it? Most the leaves are about the size of my pinky nail but some (like on this first shot) are like thumb size... wha?

[pet-teez]

Ok, I really want to change the planting in the tank but I'm not sure what to do. I would like to swap the Hygro with Ludwigia at some point but atm I only have one stem (how did that happen?)
I would like to keep the HM unless it totally dies, so far some is still alive though.
I would prefer to use Christmas Moss (Vesicularia montagnei) instead of the Willow (I think thats willow) since it seems it's from the Americas instead of Asia?
I'm contemplating swapping the Crypts out for Amazon swords but 1) because of the wood I have in there I'm not sure how hard it would be for me to get in that corner and 2) would swords fit in that corner or would they smoosh the HM I have in the front?

I just got some broad leaf E. tenellus and some nice looking Hydrocotyle leucocephala too.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the new tenellus but I'll probably replace my two straggly strands of leucocephala with two of my new strands.

I want something towards the middle back, maybe I should move the HM from the front/right to back behind the Malaysian driftwood?

I'm not adding any (more) fish to this tank until I have the plants figured out, I added a small Endler female on Thursday and than after she was fine all day I added three friends for her and thats it until later. It's Sat (duh) now and all are still peachy so thats good

Any opinions on planting?

[lauraleellbp]

Willow moss is from the Americas.

An Amazon sword would definitely be too big for that tank- they get massive, and I do mean massive. An E. ozelot or one of the new E. Kleiner bar might be better, plus would bring in a little color? These are a little more moderately-sized, though they do still need room to grow.

E. parviflorus "Tropica" has become one of my favorite swords- they stay very small and compact, and that would make a very nice low midground plant in there, IMO?

[pet-teez]

I set up a photobucket account, lets see how it works...

Tank as of today (the dark green up front/middle is all the rest of my A. petite being held down by a plant container with a rock in it, and thread. lol)


The male Endler in there, along with the top/right willow moss I keep showing you all.


An updated picture of that moss lump, it's getting some nice green tips.


A picture of the moss lump on the left side, it's further from the light


The moss in the middle of the tank, furthest away from the light


E. tenellus (tennelis? sp? I forgot) in the front left


HM on the back/left side


HM on the front/right side



Hygro (which kind? polysperma?) in the back/left corner


Mystery plant, currently floating... what is it?


Ok, one thing I like about the photobucket thing is you click in the [img] field and it auto copies for you, thats nice.

Also, I'm hoping to replace the Crypt in the back/right corner with a mid size sword plant, possibly the Kleiner Bar one... I'm also hoping to add some Echinodorus madalengensis to the tank and at some point replace the Hygro with Ludwigia (might be repens).

[pet-teez]

I got a great Sword today from Skewlboy (and some L. repens which will go in later) removed the Crypt(s) from the back/right corner and placed it in a bucket, made a kind of volcano space and put the sword in place... it was a bit hard because evertime I went to move my hands away to move substrate in place the plant started going away but I got it in place
I also finally planted my E. tennelus from Badcopnofishtank... that went on the left side of the tank. It's along the curve of the driftwood over there.

Before:


After:

[NeonShrimp]

Nice job Cassie, the plants are filling in nicely. I too like the volvanic dog-pile lplacement of the plants. Looks like the moss is in critical but stable condition, if it doesn't make it let me know I have some more for you.

By the way, carrying 1 gallon of water 55 times is great exercise in some culture but it is usually done outside Just kidding, I would have done the same thing but with a 3 gallon bottle, since I work out when I can

Thanks for keeping such a cool journal we can all learn from your experiences you share

[pet-teez]

Hey guys, I know this is a horrible picture but do you guys think this might be Ludwigia Brevipes?

Originally Posted by pet-teez

Mystery plant, currently floating... what is it?

[pet-teez]

Hiya NeonShrimp

Moss:
When I got it it didn't look like Willow and prettymuch died but started growing in one location, I figured I would give it a try... I want to try Christmas moss though. :p

Jugs:
(haha)... I didn't mind carrying them back and forth, it was just standing there filling a ton up was sooo monotonous!
Normally I use a 2g bucket but I figured this would be easier for initial filling up.

Thanks for stopping by

Originally Posted by NeonShrimp

Nice job Cassie, the plants are filling in nicely. I too like the volvanic dog-pile lplacement of the plants. Looks like the moss is in critical but stable condition, if it doesn't make it let me know I have some more for you.

By the way, carrying 1 gallon of water 55 times is great exercise in some culture but it is usually done outside Just kidding, I would have done the same thing but with a 3 gallon bottle, since I work out when I can

Thanks for keeping such a cool journal we can all learn from your experiences you share

[dekstr]

Hey pet-teez,

Your planted tank looks great!

I like the piece of driftwood but for some reason it seems too big for the tank, like it seems like it barely fits. But that's just my opinion. Maybe after the plants grow in it will look much different.

Also, how are the plants doing in high light and no co2 (if I read correctly)? With 4x 65w lights, it seems that there are not enough plants to uptake nutrients faster than algae. I have a 55g too, and have some algae issues even with some co2 with DIY co2. So I'm interested in the high light, non-co2 with your tank right now.

BTW, what kinds of fish are you planning to stock it with? I'm equal parts fish and plant person. So fishes are just as important to me.

[pet-teez]

*snicker*

I chose the big piece specifically because it was the length of the tank, I'm not sure why, I just wanted it. I have quite a few branches sitting outside but I decided I liked it and that I wanted it to look like it was floating for the most part. I have no idea why :p

I mentioned just showing my sister how it looked with 4x65w but I mostly run it at 2x65w (I turn on the second for a couple hours a day for fun).
I do plan on setting up pressurized next month but not yet. No algae yet but I suppose it's bound to happen.

For fish I'll be moving all the critters from my current home office tank which as mentioned are Endler's, Corys, Otos and RCS... plus adding more Corys and Otos at some point.
Right now four Endler's live in there.

Originally Posted by dekstr

Hey pet-teez,

Your planted tank looks great!

I like the piece of driftwood but for some reason it seems too big for the tank, like it seems like it barely fits. But that's just my opinion. Maybe after the plants grow in it will look much different.

Also, how are the plants doing in high light and no co2 (if I read correctly)? With 4x 65w lights, it seems that there are not enough plants to uptake nutrients faster than algae. I have a 55g too, and have some algae issues even with some co2 with DIY co2. So I'm interested in the high light, non-co2 with your tank right now.

BTW, what kinds of fish are you planning to stock it with? I'm equal parts fish and plant person. So fishes are just as important to me.

[dekstr]

Originally Posted by pet-teez

*snicker*

I chose the big piece specifically because it was the length of the tank, I'm not sure why, I just wanted it. I have quite a few branches sitting outside but I decided I liked it and that I wanted it to look like it was floating for the most part. I have no idea why :p

I mentioned just showing my sister how it looked with 4x65w but I mostly run it at 2x65w (I turn on the second for a couple hours a day for fun).
I do plan on setting up pressurized next month but not yet. No algae yet but I suppose it's bound to happen.

For fish I'll be moving all the critters from my current home office tank which as mentioned are Endler's, Corys, Otos and RCS... plus adding more Corys and Otos at some point.
Right now four Endler's live in there.

Sounds like the plan!

Looking forward to more pictures.

[pet-teez]

Updated full tank shot.


I got a pot of new HM but I'm not sure if I want to put it in the front right corner (probably not) or in the back left side between the wood and Hygro (eventually to be replaced with L. repens)... probably back left.

A closeup of my Kleiner Barr sword:


A more close closeup of the KB from the right side:


And last but not least... I recently (Sat.) came in to two Angelfish...

I was not planning on having anything this big in this tank and I'm sure that if I add all my other fish into the tank they would 1) help me keep down my Endler population but 2) probably try to munch the heck out of my RCS population. I really don't want them to eat all of my shrimp...
I went to SD with a friend to pick up a tank for sale and it came with these guys sooo, longer story shorter... I now have two Angels, and yes, they do try to eat the four current Endlers anytime they get close enough. lol

[lauraleellbp]

If you trim some of the yellow/brown leaves on the sword you may help encourage it to put out new leaves more quickly.

The tank is shaping up nicely!

Did you replace the other moss, or is it coming back OK?

[pet-teez]

Oh, and in case anyone wonders... the darkness behind the tank next to the filter is actually made up of wood flooring. I put three together and tossed it back there to see if I would want it as a background. I think I like it, but the picture looks like crud (I'll try again later) so it's hard to tell.

Originally Posted by pet-teez

Updated full tank shot.