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urb 55 gal

21K views 111 replies 22 participants last post by  urbguy 
#1 · (Edited)
I should have started a journal way way before but I didn't know about the journal option so here it goes!

I'm a recent graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University and after that I pretty much bummed around the house. I got a temp job and had some excess money so I thought "Hey, my tank is kind of lonely...maybe I should do something about it." So I started out by adding my malaysian driftwood centerpiece. From there I thought that it was kind of boring, so I added 2 amazon swords. At that point I figured that I could actually do better than this because I've only heard of planted tanks but never really seen them. So I came to this great forum and found soo many inspiring ideas from a huge gallery of great tanks, and I'm very honored to see so many as well! So here is the beginning tank.

August 25th 2009


At this point this is what I had in my tank:

Equipment:
Rena XP3 Canister Filter
Hood light Fluorescent 25w single

Plants:
Amazon Sword
Wisteria
Driftwood
Some type of lily?

Fishes:
1 guppy
2 gourami
2 mickeymouse platy
 
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#86 ·
Week 3 Update:

I've lost for some reason 3 rummynose tetras and still cannot understand why. I checked the water for any clues and couldn't find any. Everything was where it should be. I also feed these buggers twice a day; however, when I pull the corpse out, it's totally been ravaged. Aside from the tetra's everything is growing quite well.

I've trimmed the Bacopa and have established them in other parts of the tank. They are growing rather quickly, I hope to have enough to one day replace the hornwort in the tank. The rotalas are also doing quite well. I forsee in a few months, I can trim and then have new cuttings to replant.

 
#87 ·
It's happened, the hornwort has detached and is all over the place. I am not sure if I should continue to keep them in the tank or not. I want to keep them in because it keeps the right corner full but I've realized my plants are growing at a pretty rapid pace where I can cut and plant. Also, I'm under the assumption that the rapid growth of the hornwort will keep algae down since it'll out compete the algae. Then again, the other plants are growing just as fast. Any thoughts?
 
#88 ·
A friend of mine has the fluval chi and has sand for substrate for slightly over half a year now. He has some real plants, namely bamboo, but he's been complaining about how his tank gets murky white. I told him I had sand once and it looks filmy even on the best days. I've been able to convince him to change his substrate. He's going with flora max, because of him losing the standoff between sand and good substrate, I said I'd give him plants since he's willing to switch over. Also since my tank is getting over run by hornwort and other rapid growing plants, I'd be happy to give him my clippings.

I did warn him of the impending doom of hornwort but he's willing to take it since he is sick of changing the water when the slightest hint of murk comes.

He's going to be setting up his tank tonight and ill be able to give him the goods tomorrow. Right now this is what his tank looks like.



I'm excited for him. He told me he changes water every week and be has to do a hard scrub down (doesn't really help). I told him he doesn't need to with low tech tanks so I'm sure he'll appreciate some more time with the new wife.

I'm pretty sure once it's all up and running, this tank will be good to go.
 
#89 ·
Week 4 Update:

Weekly Pic Update:
The hornwort is taken out of the tank, and good riddance. It was a pain in the ass. Did some major trimming and ended up with a few bushels, replanted to the side. Can't wait for it to fill in.


Got bored and couldn't sleep...Got work in the morning, at least I'll go into work knowing my tank is in ship shape.

Results:

Trimmed Bacopa and Rotala in back.


Anubias blooming.


Rotala trimmed


Side view.




Getting tired here.


Another rotala side shot.


Shrimp on a stick.
 
#90 ·
3 days ago, I brought the cuttings I had placed at a corner of my tank to a buddy of mine because he was interested in planted tanks. Also complaining about the tank being murky, the moment he added water into the tank with the flora max substrate, he noticed an immediate clarity that he hasn't seen ever. Not sure if I did good because I got word from his wife that he more or less got lost in the tank all night haha.



Heres to hoping everything turns out ok lol. He has some rotala, bacopa, java moss, and maybe 1 strand of dwarf hairgrass. I know the chi lighting sucks, Hoping to find him a better light.
 
#91 ·
Yesterday evening, after coming home from our local garden center with a custom made wreath, the girlfriend and I decided to visit out local petco. I wanted to buy some more schoaling fish and came home with 10 zebra danios. They were selling their amano shrimps for 2 dollars a pop so I just took the whole lot, which was 3. Will be back for me shrimps, my other LFS sells these bad boys for 5 dollars a shrimp!

I did some trimming and planted them as well as added about 2 packets of root tabs to the substrate. I've been a bit concerned with the dwarf saggitaria. It's not sprouted any runners and saw some melting of some leaves. While I was planting the root tabs, I noticed one dwarf sag plant sent out a runner. There is hope! Will post a picture update later on this evening.
 
#94 · (Edited)
Week 7 Update:
I did my bi-weekly trimming to get trimmings to replant. I was able to get quite a few bacopa and rotala trimmings and replanted into the less dense area.

Weekly Monday Pic:


Last week, I hope many of you guys took advantage of the pFertz sale...I know I did. Bought my refills and just waiting for it to ship. I bought a few more root tabs because why not? Nothing exciting happening in the tank I am still wondering what else I can stock. I've asked for suggestions and it seems the general consensus calls for either angels or german blue rams. I am worried about adding angels because I'm worried they may be a bit aggressive for my tank. I will; however, think of some blue rams as I've always wanted some.
 
#95 ·
Week 8 Update:
I recently got some root tabs in the mail from pFertz and planted them into the substrate. I did some more trimming around the bacopa and planted them around the already dense right corner. I thought it couldn't hurt to plant it around other locations. I want to be able to train the bacopa to possibly mound up. I know it'll be more work to keep the plant low, but hey, why not try.

Weekly Monday Pic:


Over the weekend, I bought some red eye tetras and I am totally digging this fish. It's super fun to watch as they seem to love to do the huddle from time to time. They are such fast swimmers and are a bit shy. I did notice that they love to swim against the current provided by the circulating fan. Aside from the red eye, these tetras are a bit larger and gives a bit of contrast in terms of size differences between the zebra danio and the rummynose. As for plant growth, I've noticed some considerable growth in the rotala within a week, I'm excited to see more!
 
#96 ·
My fissidens came yesterday and I couldn't have been happier. I couldn't want to put them into the tank. I didn't have any mesh avaliable until I opened the fridge. The garlic mesh carrier that holds 6-7 bulbs of garlic was a very lucky find since I was in such an impulsive state. I wrapped a few pebbles and placed them around the drift wood. Whatever I had left, I placed the moss right under the rocks as a place holder to hold the moss in place. Very happy with the delivery, moss was in great condition.
 
#100 ·
Week 9 Update:
Merry Christmas!
Upon doing some maintenance today, I have noticed a few strands of hairgrass algae growth as well as some BGA mats. This is the first time I've ever seen algae grow soo slow in my personal experience. I was able to catch the growth and remove it completely. With the addition of Excel I am able to control that to a minimum. I like this set up very much. I noticed that the growth probably means that I have a excess amount of nutrients that was not absorbed enough. I've skipped this weeks dosage.

Weekly Monday Pic:
 
#101 ·
Week 10 Update:
Happy New Year!
I've been inundated with house work and haven't really had time to check out the tank. I trimmed a few here and there and replanted again as usual. I am seeing a really nice defined shrub like feature on the right side and it's exactly what I had hoped for. I am also noting that alot of the rotala in the back are coming in very nicely. I have gone 1 week without dosing ferts hoping it all gets soaked up. No algae outbreak and from what I can see the BBA is again diminishing. Not a sign of any mats of BGA and that is awesome. My tank just turned off for the night, looks like I'll go cruise around Netflix until I fall asleep.

Weekly Monday Pic:
 
#102 ·
Week 11 Update:
House work is finally dying down. The new sofas come tomorrow and IKEA this weekend...anyway, I'm really excited this this week because I finally decided to hook back up the co2 system that I purchased almost a year ago. I cranked it up to 1 bubble every 1.5 second, big whoop right? My old diffuser for some reason has clogged up, but what can I say, it's been a year. I found a regular airstone and found success! The bubbles coming out of the airstone are just as fine. I'm a bit peeved about my dwarf saggitaria and dwarf hairgrass not spreading as quickly, I hope adding some co2 can help. I took some pictures to show some closer details of the tank.

The original airstone that came with the simple co2 system is soaking in a bowl of vinegar. I hope it will help break down whatever has calcified within the stone. If it doesn't work, I'm satisfied with what I replaced the original with.

Weekly Monday Pic:


Close up of bacopa bush.






Red eye


Side view of tank.




Top view


Full view
 
#103 · (Edited)
Week 12 Update:
Well my try at trying to save my air stone failed. I stuck with the one I used and its working fine. There is not much to report other than the co2 is doing its job and I've noticed an observable difference. I don't see much algae but I notice some small specs of BBA here and there. The rotala is getting considerably redder and its quite exciting to watch the plant change colors. I also noticed that the trimmed bacopa is slowly creeping which is what I want. Noticed I don't need high light for this to be achieved but I think it has something to so with the added co2. With my excess trimmings, I've sent some of them my friends way and I hope it'll do good over in his chi. I leave with my weekly Monday pic.

Weekly Monday Pic:
 
#104 ·
Week 13 Update:
I reflected a bit this week about how some plants aren't flourishing, especially my dwarf sagittaria. I asked around about how the plant propagates and it seems everywhere I ask, I get the answer it takes some time and it usually ends up with you not wanting the plant anymore. It's been about 10 weeks and I noticed only a very small spread of the dwarf sagittaria. I have noticed a pretty drastic difference in growth once the CO2 was added; so maybe the dwarf sagittaria will finally take off. Aside from all that, I have added 10 more red-eye tetras and the tank looks pretty amazing. The size of the red eye tetra definitely helps fill in any voids and I am loving it.

Weekly Monday Pic:
 
#105 ·
keep that bacopa trimmed and it should carpet and bush right up. I have bacopa in my tank and i just kept cutting and cutting and cutting.. the only issue is when it gets REALLY thick and bushy the lower levels don't get any light and yellow up so i try to keep it lower and not so super thick.

I use to dose pfertz, didn't read see if u were still dosing it, and saw some issues you had. But the normal dosing levels aren't what a heavily planted tank would require. I switched over to EI dosing and it is cheaper and i see lots of growth daily
 
#109 ·
Week 15:

Been almost 2 weeks and there are no drastic changes. I've decided to not mess with the lights because if I had gone with 2 weeks of neglect with 3 bulbs I would have pretty much been engulfed by algae. I'd like to say that this is the first time I had to throw away my bacopa trimmings for the first time ever! I'm happy with what I have now and I don't think I need add anymore other than just keep it maintained. I'll probably start posting bi-weekly pictures starting March. I've finally run out of CO2, whatever was left. I don't think I'll buy any more refills. I'm currently still working with excel and I'm happy with that. My only concern is the fissidens. It's not growing very well and I'm not entirely sure why it isn't. I know it's ridiculously resilient, but it is turning rather dull and it doesn't look exactly healthy. Everything else is healthy but the fissidens, it seems.
 
#110 ·
Week 18:

Today I did my first large trimming. Everything was cut down especially the rotala. I noticed that the rotala has grown to a unmanageable length. The bottom growth suffered a lot as I can see that the bottom growth wilted and was browning. All the excess rotala trimmings were bunched up and replanted in empty spots. Fed the inhabitants to say "sorry for disturbing you" and called it a night. I do notice that all the inhabitants love to hide in the dense bacopa. Makes me smile because I've always wanted my fish to enjoy its surroundings like clown fishes. Huzzah!
 
#111 ·
The Tank has come a long way!!!

I really like the looks of the plant arrangement! Everything is looking very healthy!!!
Keep up the great work!!!
Drew
 
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