dekstr's 55g - April 11

[dekstr]

A few days ago, I had just pulled an all-nighter--so I was kind of tired. For stress relief from studying, I went to BAs the next morning to window shop, found a good deal for a 10g for $10, so picked that up.

Long story short, when I got home my brother was free to help me move the 55 gallon tank + stand (I got it a few weeks ago in a good deal) from the basement to the main floor. It would be in the place of where the 20 gallon tank was (see signature). The original plan was to not move the 55g until Christmas time when I would be freer. Nevertheless I was all excited to do the upgrading!

So I rushed back to the local Big Al's to get some more substrate and supplies. They didn't have any flourite black. I was desparate, so I had to settle with the more expensive Eco-Complete. Also picked up two nice pieces of manzanita wood.

In the end, it took a huge effort to do everything myself other than the moving of tank/stand. The 10g turned out to be really useful--it was used as a holding tank for the 20g inhabitants while I did all the upgrading. Probably spent 10 hours in total to get everything set up. I was exhausted at the end. I didn't really spend too much time aquascaping--so the hardscape and plants look kind of ugly right now. I haven't worked out all the details in terms of scape, plant list/selection.

The end goal is to eventually have a low-maintenance tank. But right now, I just want the plants to fill out--so I'll start running DIY CO2 again.

Edit: Ooops wrong thread to update lol.

[Sponsors]

[dekstr]

Main Details:

Aquarium dimensions (outer): 48" x 12" x 20"
Filtration: Eheim 2215
Heater: 200w Eheim Jager
Substrate: Flourite Black, sandblasting sand, peat moss, Eco-Complete
Lighting: 2x 55w PC 5000k from AHsupply.com, 2x 28w T5 6700k fluorescent by Coralife
Total lighting: 166w
Note: The lighting kit from ahsupply has not arrived yet. Just checked status on-line, cleared customs this afternoon in Montreal, should be heading to Toronto already. Expecting arrival soon.

Water chemistry (approximate)
pH: 6.5-7.0
KH: 4
GH: 4
CO2: 3x 2litre DIY CO2 bottles hooked up to ladder. Note: Right now it's only 1x bottle, need to get more bottles.
Temperature: 76 degrees farenheit
Fertilizer: Dry dosing, trace elements once every two weeks, macro-nutrients as needed

Fauna: Carnegiella strigata, Corydoras panda, Corydoras pygmaeus, Hemigrammus bleheri, Neocaridina denticulata sinensis , var. red, Otocinclus sp.

Flora: Blyxa japonica, Echinodorus tenellus v. 'Tenellus', Eleocharis acicularis, Glosstigma elatinoides, Hygrophila corymbosa, Hygrophila polysperma, Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig', Microsorum pteropus, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Sagittaria subulata, Salvinia cucullata, Spirodela polyrhiza, Vesicularia dubyana

------------------------------------------------------------------------

55g and stand in the basement. This picture is a few weeks old. As you can see, the stand has not been painted yet. The final finish is flat black (keep scrolling to look at finished stand colour).
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3917/87327891vp3.jpg

Last picture of 20g: My first planted tank. Torn down for now, maybe more good things to come for this 20g.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7233/67827429ro6.jpg

Getting some equipment ready for upgrade.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8199/71020157de5.jpg

$10 for 10g--temporary holding tank. Already dreaming about new 10g planted tank in the future. Hint of things to come.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7117/28621179ko5.jpg

Pictures of 20g and 10g. I had to take about ten trips between the tanks while netting the fish and shrimp.
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6673/44646837sf3.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3619/12473855li8.jpg

Five hours later. Just finished setting up! Finally done! Very murky water. I should've taken more pictures during the set-up. But the place was a mess so I didn't bother to.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2199/77112371ql9.jpg

A few hours later, after intense filtration with 2x aquaclear 70 HOB, 1x eheim 2215. 56w coralife lights are on. AC70 on the right side is original filter--cycling purposes. Left AC70 is stuffed with all filter floss--polishing the dusty water. All of them have DIY sponges in the intake to protect the shrimp.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/1048/88508823si3.jpg
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6411/77231013hc1.jpg

A late night-time. Tannins are leaking from new manzanita pieces (didn't care to soak ahead of time).
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3778/42631350hs2.jpg

The next night, camera set to high exposure. Moonlights are on in pitch darkness--15 second photo exposure.
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6919/87382403nc2.jpg

10 second photo exposure.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8307/30177712oo6.jpg

5 second photo exposure.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1262/99522991km6.jpg

Regular exposure. Or is it 2.5 seconds? Don't remember :P
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/8867/13489404by3.jpg

Right now when you look close-up, it's kind of messy with dust and waste everywhere. I'll take macro shots very soon.

[toshi]

Make sure to keep on top of the DIY CO2 bottle. Although, when I first did my 55g, I only used one 2L bottle, I had problems with algae, even with minimal lighting/ferts. I eventually went with pressurized Looks like a good start though.

[dekstr]

Originally Posted by toshi

Make sure to keep on top of the DIY CO2 bottle. Although, when I first did my 55g, I only used one 2L bottle, I had problems with algae, even with minimal lighting/ferts. I eventually went with pressurized Looks like a good start though.

Wow toshi your tank is incredible.

May I ask what plants you used? I really like the foreground plants especially.

[toshi]

Originally Posted by dekstr

Wow toshi your tank is incredible.

May I ask what plants you used? I really like the foreground plants especially.

Thanks! I marked down the plants for you on the following image :

[dekstr]

Thanks a lot. Time to grow that one bunch of blyxa into a lawn.

[toshi]

Originally Posted by dekstr

Thanks a lot. Time to grow that one bunch of blyxa into a lawn.

It should grow nice and lush, at which point you can remove it and separate them for the lawn effect. That's basically how I got my Blyxa lawn - I only started with about 5-7 stems and it multiplied into what you see I think a key point in keeping them healthy is to have the water a bit on the softer side. You should have more than enough light for it - I only have just under 2wpg. If you give it a lot of light, then the tips can turn bronze/reddish. Looking forward to see your growth.

[dekstr]

Quick update:

Did some minor changes.

- moved AC HOBs to the back, moved all electrical wires to the back--everything looks cleaner now
- adjusted the eheim spraybar, added powerhead, planted some dwarf hairgrass

- I went to another LFS yesterday--called Finactics, freshwater fish-only store, tons of nice cichlids, pristine clear water, nice collection of rarer cories, small fish, well-stocked, very healthy fish, the owner knows his stuff and overall nice guy, and can import rarer fish. He said lots of people from out-of-town visit on weekends to trade in their cichlids.
- got 8 more rummynose tetras and 6 panda cories.
- got free stress coat bottle from Big Als for some reason--never used it before. I used it in the holding tank while acclimating the fish. It really drugged up the fish--they were pretty unreactive to nets and vibrations. So I guess it was really useful to keep them from stressing out too much during the acclimation process.


- added some sand to the front of the tank, now the tank looks really deep.
- bought filter carbon--the tank was way too yellow / brown from the tannins--now it's a lot clearer

Drip-acclimating the fish:
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3678/44231830qk0.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9259/12687944bi6.jpg

The only decent pictures I got out of like 10 shots. I'll take better ones when there's no external light source to reflect off the front glass.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1300/36244865de4.jpg
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/5642/95047812nm5.jpg

Still waiting for the 2x 55w lighting kit from ahsupply...

[dekstr]

Quick update:

Started planting right side with new plants. Recently, I've been liking grass type plants a lot. So I got a lot of grass plants!

Don't remember exactly: Hairgrass, a couple species of vals, and a stem plant (don't remember name).

Also got 6 pygmy cories.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7514/54258674ne6.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2549/46878795qo7.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/243/16618259mp4.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3071/45344909il2.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/594/36576386uq8.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/674/76603493ca8.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5906/64582824cd2.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4937/66143534wt7.jpg
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8202/80239337zz8.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3536/44222757dd4.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8476/11278877yj9.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8409/10oy0.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4245/11xn9.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1588/12wz0.jpg

[dekstr]

New Year's First Update!!!



Let's see... added blyxa japonica, blyxa aubertii, anarcharis (might be egeria najas instead though), cabomba furcata, hygrophila polysperma (the old ones were 'ceylon'), giant hairgrass, more java fern, Ammania gracilis, cardamine (floating), Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius, Hygrophyla corymbosa var. salicifolia, Nomaphila stricta, rotala rotundifolia, Rotala sp. mini and that's it I think.

New fauna list:
- 7 amano shrimp (3 died)
- 14 or so red cherry shrimp (some might have died or got eaten, no baby shrimp so far even after no longer berried females...)
- 18 rummynose tetras
- 19 pygmy corydoras
- 6 panda corydoras
- 6 bronze corydoras
- 6 botia kubotai
- 6 pearl gouramis (4 adult sized, 2 2-3")

Always open to comments / suggestions.

Edit: Fish are hiding because I turned on lights during night-time.

[demonbreedr16]

No offense meant but those are "panda" cories....I want some soon to....Corys RULE! ;P

[dekstr]

Yup panda cory cat is the common name.
Scientific name is Corydoras panda, so I guess I mixed those two up lol.

[dekstr]

Wow it's almost been 2 months since my last 55 gallon update.

Well I'm battling staghorn algae at the moment. Just cutting out the affected leaves and keeping water clean w/ weekly 50% WCs. I also cut back on feeding.

As for plants, I moved some around, and added more fast growing stems on the left side.

There seems to be a lot of fish, but I haven't had any deaths so far.
And fish are very healthy. However, one of the emperor tetras has a really badly damaged right pectoral fin, I don't know how it got injured like that. Otherwise, it is behaving normally. The bronze cories have grown quite a bit, when I first got them in December, they were the size of panda cories, now they are bigger than them. I also got 3 albino bristlenose plecos. WOW they are very good algae eaters. Much more powerful than the little otos. They are 2-3 inches long. My pearl gouarmies are the kings of tank but are very peaceful. Overall very peaceful tank inhabitants.

I bought a perfect condition, 2-3 month old Eheim 2215 for $60. I might add it to increase the water flow and filtration. No CO2 cylinder still, no money.

Enjoy!

[loachlady5]

Nice! What is that thick leafed grass plant in the foreground?

[dekstr]

Thanks!

I believe the thick leaved foreground plant is pygmy chain sword, Echinodorus tenellus.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/my..._tenellus.html

I believe I started w/ one bunch. It has done really well in my tank, propogating into many sideshoots. It started from the back near the middle. I actually cut out 3-4 of them due to staghorn infestation.