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30 Gallon Jungle

24K views 79 replies 29 participants last post by  boredincubicle 
#1 · (Edited)
Updated June. Starting with the most recent and going back to the beginning...






















Original post starts here..
Lighting is pretty low now, I have 2 15watt t8 bulbs sitting directly on top. They look a little brighter when it's not so murky from kicked up sand, but still low. Thinking I might get the 36" t5 2x39 watt fixture I've seen at local stores. I would probably just have one bulb in it for now, I don't have the money for co2 and just don't feel like going that route yet..

Also looking to add some more plants. I think all of the amazon sword over there will get too unruly so I may take some out and add something a little easier to keep in line. Am definitely open to ideas for some sort of bushy plant, or possibly some narrow leaved java fern and more driftwood, I'm not sure yet.

A couple pics of the new setup! Cave is made of 3 pieces of driftwood and I just have my rhizome plants tucked right in there.

The various catfish love the driftwood setup so far!





 
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#3 ·
was doing a water change and ended up knocking the drfitwood over.. It was finnicky to get back in place so I set it up a bit different. In the process I discovered that my peppered corys have been breeding!

the little guy:



kuhli:



cave:


shrimp:


schooling:



pygmy chillin:



FTS with new driftwood setup:
 
#6 · (Edited)
Opted for a more clean and simple look. Pulled out the sword and wisteria as they started to become a bit unruly. replaced the sword with "parva crypt" and added some more anacharis. Thinking next I may add a little bit of duckweed/frogbit to the side over the anacharis. I also want to add some more drift wood. Loving the way this tank is coming along!

Anubias growth:


Red Wendtii crypt growth:


Java Fern runners (have had lots of new leaves growing out of the base as well):


Parva crypt (want to add a little more where the java ferns are and re-home those):


Full tank shot:
 
#12 ·
Not a whole lot. I have root tabs underneath that whole area of the tank and use a liquid "co2 booster" thing every couple of days. I'm very happy with the crypt parva. Because of how lush it is I hardly ever see my pygmy cories anymore though haha.

the puffer is in a seperate brackish tank with the gobies, he hasn't shown any aggression towards them yet.
 
#15 ·
Nice tank. Be careful with that sand. It looks nice but gets compacted over time & 02 starved. Blue green algae loves the stuff. Make sure you get really good flow across the substrate. Do a search on the internet & most of the BGA issues you will see will have that white sand. I had it in my tank . 10% White sand ,85% Flourite , 5% coated gravel. I have been trying to slowly get the stuff out. I tried every trick in the book, finally by accident I nuked the tank for another reason using flagil & it has been gone since. Now the tank is cranking & looking good but there is still about 7% of the original sand in the tank. Periodically its a good idea to disturb the substrate to aerate it & use a credit card along the sides being careful not to hit the seam. Granted the stuff looks good, but be careful if BGA rears its head.
 
#16 ·
I have 3 Cory species. Peppered, emerald, and pygmy. Thanks for the comments on the parva. It's really grown above and beyond from what I expected from the few tiny clumps I started off with.


Also, thanks for the tip on the sand. I try to stir up some sand evry time I do a water change. No signs of bga yet. Bba on he other hand has been a bit of a problem
 
#17 ·
Are you using legos to elevate the lights off the tank hood?
 
#18 ·
Yeah, it is a temporary fix. I have the lights on for a little over 7 hours a day, but was starting to get algae growth on my anubias and parva crypt. Needed to elevate the lights to help tone things back. Planning on putting together a quick pvc pipe stand for them to hang down from.
 
#20 ·
This is a late response but no, I haven't had them spawn again since then really. If they have, fry haven't lasted long. as heavily stocked as the tank is, I wouldn't expect them to.

Re-scaped last night, spread the parva crypt out and made a bigger, more open cave. I also elected to get rid of 2/3 of the java ferns I had. Got tired of them sending runners but deteriorating after that and looking like crap.

 
#22 ·
Moved the piece of wood from the right to the left and put the filter and heater behind the wood to help cover them up a bit. I think I want to get some amazon frogbit for the right side, maybe enough to take up the right third of the top over there.

it'll give the betta some great places to hide and help clean up the waste from all the fish i keep in here.

 
#23 ·
took some of the wood out so I had more room for crypts.. sure got my moneys worth on the little package I bought from petco a few months ago lol.I put the piece in my brackish tank.. it'll be interesting to see if any of the nerite eggs hatch.

also, i added some cabomba to the back right corner and got new lights. got tired of moving shop lights around and i have a much more even distribution now. thinking things will look great once the cabomba shoots up. has already grown about an inch in the past 2 days.

 
#24 ·
WOW you have had a Crypt EXPLOSION!!!!!

VERY COOL TANK!!! I love crypts!

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Drew
 
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