Welcome to the Jungle: 55 gallon Rainbowfish haven & more. (New Pics! 03-20-13)

[Chaos_Being]

Originally Posted by BoxxerBoyDrew

WOW!!!

Your tank looks FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!

I LOVE everything about it! Your Fish and Plant choices are spot on with what way I believe I want to take my 55g!

What Bulbs are you running? I have 2-48"T5HOs over my 55g now, but I am thinking of stepping down to 1 and using a smaller bulb like you do! I am needing to get bulbs pretty soon anyway, so it would make it easier just to by 1 T5HO!!

I read through most of the journal, but my back is killing me, so I will finish it tomorrow! OH and I totally understand about the A.D.D. with hobbies!!! I have a few tanks setup right now, but I also Fish, Hunt,Reload Ammo, Woodworking, Car Audio and Electronics, and a few other things as well! So I feel your pain when it comes to other things getting in the way!

Anyway keep up the good work on the tank!
drew

Thank you! I'm glad that you've enjoyed looking at my journal I'm running one 48" t5 (non-HO, but it is a double bulb,) and one 36" T8 of all things. The latter came with the used stand that I bought. When it dies, I'm probably going to replace it with LEDs...the casing on it is pretty beat up, but luckily it's hidden inside the hood. Sounds like you have a bunch of interesting hobbies too I might get into reloading myself sometime...as if I need more hobbies LOL.

It's been about a month, so new pictures! I took these the day after a water change. I do need to clean my canister filter, there are too many particles floating around. I finally had to cut back some of my Anubias as one rhizome in particular was up against the glass. I didn't remove it though, I just moved it back into the rest of the clump. That's pretty much the approach I've taken with this tank the entire time, very little plant mass gets removed other than dead leaves. Trimmings get re-planted or moved. Which is why it's such a jungle...


New FTS. My java fern is getting truly enormous now!





Left side, close up:





Right side, close up:






Side shot:






One of these days I'll get a better camera than the point-n-shoot I have. At least it takes nice outdoor photos, which is good since that's mostly what I got it for (hiking, it's a waterproof/shockproof camera. No worries about rainstorms or accidental drops.)

[Chaos_Being]

I forgot to give an update on the newest residents of my tank. The dwarf puffer is doing great, it (well, I think it's a she) has at least doubled in size in the past month. She must be annihilating the snails in there! There's no danger of the snail population ever being wiped out, but the little bastards do seem to hide a bit more, so they're more out of sight at least Speaking of out of sight, that's what the Amanos do. I know they're in there because I see their sheds, and they tend to come out during feeding time. Otherwise, they lurk in the java fern. It's fun to see them when they decide to come out, though. I actually like the fact that I can't see all of the fauna in my tank most of the time. That means that there is always something different to see when I look in there!

[Imi Statue]

Simply beautiful, and more!

[Chaos_Being]

Thank you!

Appropriately for the first day of spring, my cories have been laying eggs today. Eggs, eggs everywhere. Which the other fish are, of course, promptly devouring

[kwheeler91]

Awesome job! I love the greenness of it.

[HD Blazingwolf]

your tnk is beautiful. definitely a rainbow habitat!! I Love it!

[crazydaz]

Wonderful, CB!! What a healthy, thriving system you have there! I love the lush green; it's very understated to the eye, but full of so many different textures from the moss, anubia coffeefolia, Sag subulata, and java fern. The hardscape really draws your eye left to right and "down." The Rainbows are the emphasis, and are the perfect choice for this tank. Masterful work.

[JEden8]

Beautiful setup! It's always good to see others out there with Boesemani's! You don't see a whole lot of people with them. I hope my tank gets to be as spectacular as yours!

[ccbeauch]

Do your plants ever block out so much light from each other that they die off? I wanted to plant some swords as close as you did but was afraid they would kill each other off if they were too close. Looks like you don't have this problem. How close are their roots together anyway?