55g in progress (dialup warnin) - a journal

[pet-teez]

I picked up this tank during the last Petco sale, it was supposed to get set during Sep. for my birthday but I finally just worked on it this month.
90% of the work was done today (eegads, toting 1g containers across the house to get 55g was evil... tiring for sure) but it still needs things.
The stand is just a heavy duty storage shelf (aka gorilla rack) which we'll be making a facade for later:

Step one, tank in place and layer of SMS Charcoal in place:


Step two, added some ADA amazonia on both sides, a spot in the middle for fun and some along the front (don't ask why, no idea. heh):


Step three: lay down some flexible plastic cutting boards to keep the water from roughing up my substrate and have a crazy sister help start the water process!


Step four: keep adding water forever than remove cutting boards and start putting plants in at about half full:


Step five: wow, this turned out dark and murky! Added my three pieces of chosen malaysian driftwood towards the left and big manzanita (or ribbonwood, I forget which these are) branch and smaller branch:


Step six: fill up the rest of the way and try out filter which works, I need a spraybar... also realize your smaller branch needs to be held under for awhile so it looks weird right now... start tying moss onto branch and add a couple Lobelia plants


Step seven: was to add my three special lumps of petite Anubias... they are mounted to a sponge like product called EpiWeb which is used for orchid growing and more recently used for dartfrog tanks... the anubias is one of two experiments I started with it in this tank...


Step eight: toss on my "new" light fixture and show my sister what it looks like with 4x65w over the top...


Step nine: place three groups of three large rather bright "pebbles" just for fun... and now sit back and figure out what your going to want to change, and think about how weird it looks to have two different growth styles of those Lobelias together and wonder what I wanted to put in front of the cut end of that malaysian driftwood towards the middle...


- Tank is an AGA 55g standard
- Filter (for now at least) is a Marineland H.O.T. Magnum, I've had one for about 8 years and it has served me well so I bought another.
- Heater is a, uhm, one of those Stealth ones... works like a trooper, 200w
- Light is a 4x65w JBJ thingy
- Used SMS Charcoal color, ADA Amazonia and am testing some EpiWeb
- Malaysian driftwood and either Ribbonwood or Manzanita

Current plants are:
- Hygrophelia (polysperma? unsure, back left)
- Pygmy chain swords (supposedly, the tallest leaf is about 7-8" though, front right)
- HM (back left next to hygro and front right)
- Lobelia cardinalas "small form" (middle leftish)
- Crypt wedntii (back right)
- Moss (gotten as Taiwan but once grown it's looking like Willow to me, three spots on the branches)
- Anubias barteri nana petite (three spots on the branches)

Planned inhabitants are:
Endler's livebarers, Coryadors, Otos and RCS... hopefully a couple bristlenose plecos

[Sponsors]

[pieky22]

thats a hell of alot of light u got there for a 55 gal. i hope you are planning on getting a co2 system soon... or you could just take out 2 bulbs

[BiscuitSlayer]

Thats not that much light. If I were going to go with a 55 or a 75, thats how much light I would run.

Pieky22 is right about CO2 injection though. That amount of light takes the tank to a high tech level.

[lauraleellbp]

IMO that branch would look a bit better reversed, with the smaller branches higher and the thick area on the substrate...

[imeridian]

Wow, did you really fill that tank with 55 trips carrying one gallon jugs?

You need a Python, put it right at the top of the list of things to get next.

[eyebeatbadgers]

Yeah, a DIY python takes about ten minutes to make and mine cost about 15 bucks.

Forget everything else until you do that. You will thank yourself forever.

[icex]

Definitaly get a python. I feel your pain having to fill it with jugs, except I used 3-4 gallon buckets, one at a time to fill a 46 gallon bowfront. What a pain.. I finaly got my python and even though I have to use it outside on the garden hose, its 10x easier than buckets. I can only imagine filling a 180 gallon with buckets...

Tank looks good, by the way.

[pet-teez]

I was just showing her how it looks with 4x65w, that fixture has two seperate rocker switches, I only have one set of 2x65w on. If I set up c02 I'll turn on the other set

Originally Posted by pieky22

thats a hell of alot of light u got there for a 55 gal. i hope you are planning on getting a co2 system soon... or you could just take out 2 bulbs

[pet-teez]

55 bottles, not 55 trips. We carried about 5 empty jugs each to the kitchen and 2-4 full bottles back at a time. The filling of the jugs was super monotonous.

I've been curious about using a Python for about ten years now but none of the faucets in this house have the right kind of thing to put a Python on to, they need a threaded part right?

I wanted to use a hose since this tank is about 5' away from a window and outside there is a hose set up maybe 10' away buuuut I was told 'no' because of the wood floors. *shrug*

Originally Posted by indiboi

Wow, did you really fill that tank with 55 trips carrying one gallon jugs?

You need a Python, put it right at the top of the list of things to get next.

[pet-teez]

Hmm, running a python via hose. That would solve my problem with not having the right kind of sink fixtures in the house I suppose. I'm still not sure how a Python works, I've never actually used one.

If the tank would have been 180g I would have 1) broken the house since we are on a raised subfloor, 2) not filled it up all the way and set it up as a paludarium and 3) used the hose, I would have gone nuts for sure filling up 180 stupid apple juice containers!

Thanks for the compliment. Now I'm looking at the main branch and yadda yadda. ohwell. Aquariums are like art, they are never truly finished!

Originally Posted by icex

Definitaly get a python. I feel your pain having to fill it with jugs, except I used 3-4 gallon buckets, one at a time to fill a 46 gallon bowfront. What a pain.. I finaly got my python and even though I have to use it outside on the garden hose, its 10x easier than buckets. I can only imagine filling a 180 gallon with buckets...

Tank looks good, by the way.

[loachlady5]

I love the thin branches at the top. I think I may need to go get some myself...

[Vonzorfox]

Nice start on the tank. For the lighting may I suggest you put a timer on each of the plugs and set one to turn on for about 4.5 hours and then shut off and have the other come on for another 4.5 hours to give you kind of a dawn to dusk effect. I do the same with mine but instead of one turning off at mid day I run all 4 for a few hours for a "noon burst". I don't suggest that for you because I have co2 and dose fertilizers too otherwise you will have algae problems.

[pet-teez]

Now I'm looking at the main branch all weird...
I'm sure there was a reason I had it that way, ah! In the "middle" the branch goes down, I have that sitting kinda on the Malaysian driftwood to keep it up where I want it, it's a bit crooked right now, even for how I wanted it so in a couple days I'll adjust it a bit, the thick side is actually supposed to be about halfway between the top and bottom.

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

IMO that branch would look a bit better reversed, with the smaller branches higher and the thick area on the substrate...

[pet-teez]

I think I must be reading your message wrong, it's coming across like "at 9 am 2x65 will turn on until 1:30 and at 1:30 it will turn off and the other 2x65 will turn on until 5:30 and than turn off" which can't be right because that would be no different than just leaving 2x65 on for the whole nine hours?
Sorry, my brain must not have turned on yet this morning

Originally Posted by Vonzorfox

Nice start on the tank. For the lighting may I suggest you put a timer on each of the plugs and set one to turn on for about 4.5 hours and then shut off and have the other come on for another 4.5 hours to give you kind of a dawn to dusk effect. I do the same with mine but instead of one turning off at mid day I run all 4 for a few hours for a "noon burst". I don't suggest that for you because I have co2 and dose fertilizers too otherwise you will have algae problems.

[Vonzorfox]

It would put more light on one half of your aquarium at a time. Similar to a sunrise/sunset. Also you would get even use of all your bulbs instead of running one set all the time. Sorry if I confused you, my teaching skills stink.