*Kwheeler's Stumped 55 gallon Community 6/3*

[kwheeler91]

The 40 gallon is no longer running and the 55 has turned out way better than anything else I have attempted and has become the focus of this thread. When I get some time im going to start a new cleaned up thread with a progression of fts for the 55 so its not so confusing.



Started threads on both of these tanks before but lost track of them due to never updating. Gonna try again.

55 gallon tank
hagen glo 2 x 54 w t5ho (6700k)
Baylees better bottom substrate, EI root caps
Light EI and excel
DIY CO2(only 1/2 bubble per second)

Stock:
8 pb angels
8 dwarf chain loaches
3 C. Melanistius
1 stiphoodn elegans
Snails
assorted danios:
Lake inle
Kyathit
2 redline rasboras
2 SAE
2 farlowellas
2 sewellia lineolata

Plants updated:
C. Spiralis
C. Wendtii red
C. Undulata
C. Lucens
C. Lutea
L. Arcuata
L. palustris
L. Repens x arcuata
L. 'red'
H. angustifolia
H. 'araguia'
H. 'bold'
R. rotundifolia
A. nana
Fissisdens fontanus
Java moss
Riccia fluitans
Frogbit
Salvinia minima

This tank is just a conglomeration of wood rocks and plants that didnt get used in the 40 and pulled out of smaller tanks I tore down when I moved. I like it though and the fish seem to enjoy it.



Sorry for crappy phone pics I dont have internet to upload them with the camera.

40 gallon or a close facsimile... Fish are lake inle danios, choprae danio, kyathit danio, sewellia lineolata, farlowella vitatta, otocinclus.
Plants are C. Wendtii red and tropica, lucens, parva, lutea, undulata, java needle leaf, marsilea minuta(makin a comeback), anubia nana(maybe petite), and java moss.

Lighting is a coralife t5 I think 48 watts? substrate in both is baylees better bottom.
Flourish but not lately.

I was thinking about adding diy co2, but not a large amount just enough to make things grow a little better... Will my crypts melt if add co2 though, even in small proportion?

Again sorry for bad pics...

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by kwheeler91

Started threads on both of these tanks before but lost track of them due to never updating. Gonna try again.

55 with pb angels, dwarf chain loaches, a few c. Melanistius and a stiphoodn goby.
Plants are java fern(regular, needle, windelov, and tropica), L. arcuata x repens and arcuata, C. spiralis, R. Rotundifolia, sprig of hygro bold, fissdens fontanus on my filter, java moss, hygro angustifolia, frogbit and and salvinia minima. Oh and riccia lol had no idea there were so many until I typed it out.

This tank is just a conglomeration of wood rocks and plants that didnt get used in the 40 and pulled out of smaller tanks I tore down when I moved. I like it though and the fish seem to enjoy it.



Sorry for crappy phone pics I dont have internet to upload them with the camera.

40 gallon or a close facsimile... Fish are lake inle danios, choprae danio, kyathit danio, sewellia lineolata, farlowella vitatta, otocinclus.
Plants are C. Wendtii red and tropica, lucens, parva, lutea, undulata, java needle leaf, marsilea minuta(makin a comeback), anubia nana(maybe petite), and java moss.

Lighting is a coralife t5 I think 48 watts? substrate in both is baylees better bottom.
Flourish but not lately.

I was thinking about adding diy co2, but not a large amount just enough to make things grow a little better... Will my crypts melt if add co2 though, even in small proportion?

Again sorry for bad pics...

Hello k...

I have several tanks of similar size as your two. You included quite a bit of info. in your post, so I'll add a little. CO2 is a nice touch, but I ruled it out because of the cost. It isn't really necessary for a planted tank. I've done three things for my large, planted tanks that have worked well for several years: I always match the lighting and the plants and still use the "watts per gallon rule". Up to 1 watt per gallon of tank volume for low light plants, 2 watts for moderate light plants, 3 watts for strong light plants and 4+ for bright light plants.

Before my tanks became so heavily stocked, I cycled different ferts in dry, liquids or granules to give my plants a variety. Now, the fish provide all the ferts.

Some time ago, I started doing weekly, large water changes. I remove and replace 60 to 70 percent of the tank volume every 6 to 7 days. This routine did more for my plants and fish than all the rest of the routine.

Flushing a lot of pure, treated water through the tanks kept the conditions very stable and IMO that's most important for healthy fish and plants.

B

[kwheeler91]

Did rescape today on the 40. The 55 is different now too but I didnt take any pics yet.

I always forget to take before pictures but I have some from not too long ago that arent much different.
Anywho here it is before:

And after, probably tweek it a little I always do:


sorry for hazy water/bad phone pics. I will try to upload some better ones tomorrow.

On a side note, my java ferns are strange. I have been finding the gametophyte form on the tips of some leaves, sorta cool, looks lile pellia or somethin. Today while trimming, I cut off a leaf with some staghorn and realized it was forked, not torn or split down the middle but actually growing two tips. Its not trident either 100% needle leaf. Anyone ever have this happen? It had one little baby at the tip so maybe it could be propegated? Found a small dying leaf on a plant that was in very low light for a long time that was forked as well. I could call it java fern 'snake-tongue' or 'serpent' or something more clever lol.
Here it is:

[Sophie and Mom]

I have one with one leaf like this. Probably just a genetic weirdness.

I like it.

[kwheeler91]

Me too. I think it would be cool if it could be isolated.

[Minja]

Nice... I like it too.

[kwheeler91]

The 40 gallon is comin down to try and consolidate before I move in a couple months. My 55 has a better light so I can grow stems, kinda got tired of ferns and crypts so I sold most of them off and now im focusing on the 55. It also has less algae issues for whatever reason so I rescaped it last night. Trying to achieve some depth in the narrow tank isnt easy, helped by sloping up in the back and using smallrt plants up front. Might add some more substrate in the back.
Ill never be satisfied until I can build my dream tank(NA dater and dace/minnow stream biotope) but I think I like it for now. I can never keep my hands out of the tank for long.


I have a bunch of loose fissidens floating around that I want to cram in between the black stones to get a sort of carpet look, and I have some Marsilea minuta propagating in an emersed set up with hydroctyle to add as well in a little while.

I have a few stem of H. Araguia in the mail that will be added somewhere in the mix, probably near the bold.

Some random shots:

[kwheeler91]

FTS


Added H. araguia and angustifolia(in the back)


Stuffed some fissidens into rocks and wood.








placed anubias nana in hole in the main stump and trimmed the wendtii and undulata due to staghorn it got in the last tank.







Im not sure if I like the rocks in there yet... Maybe once the moss fills in and I get the marsilea and hydrocotyle in it will look better. Also looks better in person because you can see the sloping and how they are stacked. I kinda need them to hold the substratr up anyway, this stuff dont really hold its shape and im too broke for aquasoil.

[kwheeler91]

Time for an update



Starting to notice the growth. Little bit of diy CO2 seems to be helping with minor algae problems. Also increased the flow by adding removing the ac70 and adding a 50 and 110 to the already established aquatech. Maybe soon I can sell all these and buy a canister. Trying to sell off tanks, plants, fish and equipment so I can buy nicer things for one tank and not have 5 tanks half a$$ed. The spiralis isnt getting as bushy as I would like. This plant has veen my bane ever since I got it. It will explode into ten leaves then slow way down it seems like.

Put all the fish out of the 40 into the 55 and bought two SAE. Lots of activity now and the loaches and cories come out more.

Going to start dosing EI when my ferts get here. Still dosing excel but wont use flourish comprehensive anymore.

Customary fish pics:

[kwheeler91]

Update time.
Not much has changed, still growing strong with no problems. Added some creeping jenny from out in the yard. Also added pennywort from other tank.
I grabbed some L. Repens out of a ditch and some giant hairgrass. Repens was algae-ified and snail egged so it got an h2o2 bath and is being grown out emersed to make sure its good to go. The giant hairgrass is in emersed tub for now too because its still small because it has just started to grow back after the winter.

Traded for Hg a while back, didnt fair to well in transit and was/is dying. It still has some green though so trying to revive that emersed as well. it came mixed with what looks like dwarf hairgrass and that is doing fine so not a total loss even if the hemianthus doesnt make it. MM in emersed is starting to get settled in. waiting for it to grow enough for a carpet in the 55 and I will convert it back to immersed because the snails and loaches always uproot it and I lose it to the filters or amongst the plants and I want to have a back up. Getting ready to set up a 20long for emersed so maybe I can put the MM in its own tub and submerge it to avoid having to transition back and forth between growth forms. Will also make some hemianthus bushes to help fill in the foreground if it pulls through. Misted it with flourish today hopefully that helps.

Anyway on to the pictures:
FTS



Left side: will replace the repens x arcuata with repens as the background fill behind the lucens as soon as its ready


Middle


Right side

[crazydaz]

nice job kwheeler! It's coming alo g well, and it will be a great looking tank once you get a little more growth in there. Wonderful fish selection too!. It is a little bit of a shame that you lose some of the hygro araguia in the substrate....it blends in and doesn't stand out unless you are focused on it. However, I really like the overall look of the tank...very natural feel to it!

[ua hua]

Those are some beautiful angels you have. Your ramshorn snails look like your water is lacking a little calcium. Mine looked liked that and bumped up the calcium I was dosing and are starting to look a little better but my water is super soft and keeping snails or inverts alive have been a little bit of a challenge.

[kwheeler91]

Thanks crazy, slowly but surely its coming together The white balance isnt the best on my camera, so it does lose the araguia in the pics, looks better in person though and its still growing out. Same goes for the few stems of bold just to the left of the araguia.

A year or two ago someone posted pics of trips they take through the springs in florida and I loved the look of the ludwigias and other stems growing around the stumps so I kinda went with that as my inspiration here.

Ua,
I have some tufa rock in the filters to help with that... Could be the mts sucking up all the calcium. Water around here is generally calcium rich, but I just moved out into the country kinda and we get our water from a resevoir a few hundred yards away and it might not be the same as the city
water that comes from lake erie which is alkaline. Ill have to give the water company a call and find out.

The angels are very pretty, but they will have to go before they start breeding and killing my little fish. I want get a bunch more redline rasboras. I have grown to like them more than my danios, they dont move too fast or too slow and hold a nice school. Not sure what the next "centerpiece" fish will be.

[speedie408]

Just thought I'd return the favor and drop by to tell you you've got a great looking tank bro. Your fish are super healthy and beautiful.

[kwheeler91]

Originally Posted by speedie408

Just thought I'd return the favor and drop by to tell you you've got a great looking tank bro. Your fish are super healthy and beautiful.

Thanks nick, means a lot comin from the owner of one of my favorite tanks of all time (pressures on for the new scape now lol)... Gettin all teary eyed... j/k