I started this tank back on 11/1/2010 and finally have time to start a journal.
There has been a lot of changes since I first setup the tank and will post all pics and info from the beginning and then from this point on.
I have had great success in the first month/month half then started getting a large algae outbreak on all my plants. Not knowing exactly what the problem was I tried several things to narrow what the main cause might have been.
The tank it self is as follows:
-55 gallon tank (48" x 13" x 21")
-Stand from walmart for 55 gal tank (had this for years and used it for my previous tank about 5+ years ago)
-Primo CO2 System from GLA (5 and 10 lb tank for when one runs out)
-Eheim Pro 2 Series 2026
-Jager 200 watt heater
-Hydor Koralia nano water pump
-Aqua Soil Amazonia II (3X 9 liter bags) bottom layer, Aqua Soil Amazonia II Powder Type (2X 3 liters) top layer.
-ADA drop checker
-ADA glass diffuser
-Sundial T5HO 48" (running only 2 of the 4 T5HO bulbs)
yeah. the stand itself doesn't look bad. i suppose the person i bought it from didn't have it together correctly b/c the tank teeter totters on the center brace and i do not at all trust it b/c of that.
Unfortunatly the DHG did not survive the high temps I also moved most of the plants that were not affected by algae outbreak into another tank. What is left now is the AS Amazonia II and the discus.
A few weeks ago I ordered driftwood from Tom Barr and am very happy with it Below is how I think I am going to arrange it. It is actually 4-5 peices.
Right now the driftwood is soaking in the bathtube getting water logged.
I am going to replace the AS Amazonia II with Amazonia I. After a few months I realized the Amazonia II would break down and my cory cats would make my water column full of debris. Also going to use Miracle Gro Organic soil as a bottom layer and AS as a cap. Will prob do a 1.5" of soil and 1.5" of AS.
Will be receiving plants this Thursday. Will be getting the following:
Amazon sword
Crypt Wendtti red and green
Java fern
Java moss
Vals jungle
Dwarf sag
Red flame sword
Anubias nana
EDIT: Forgot to add. I will be adding an additional filter, an Eheim Pro 3 2071
Why use topsoil and aquasoil. If your redoing it completely I'd put something like Pool filter sand over the soil/AS. I think it would make it look better with the fish and plants, more natural look..
Actually was thinking about using sand but I think the darker substrate looks more natural IMO. If I wasn't going to have plants and just dim lighting and driftwood (like Matt - 100gal Wild Discus Bio-type) then I would def use sand.
Driftwood really wasn't that expensive. Take a look at Tom Barr thread. He has great pieces and are not that expensive. I actually messaged him for a piece that would fit my tank.
Ok after hours of browsing forums and the web in general I have decided to go with pool filter sand instead of Amazonia I. And yes fishykid you are right it does look more natural once I saw more examples of it roud:
Today (well yesterday) I called the pool place down the street from my work and the guy said he has a couple of bags and would just give them to me. Sure enough when I went down there on my break the guy gave me two 50 lb bags for free
It is not pearl white either which I like. More of a light brown color. Who knows though maybe after I rinse it off it will be white. Either way I am happy with the decision to go sand instead of AS.
Right now I am painting the back of the tank black. A few more coats of that and it should be good to go. Soon after that ill try to post more pics.
Are you going to use the soil underneath it? If you don't you'll need to put a lot of fert tabs in otherwise you'll have nearly no substrate nutrients...I'm doing my 75G as a MTS and sand tank. Can't wait for the pictures!
Lemme know if your doing it before Saturday... That's when I'm finally setting my 75G up! Yip Yip! Got the heater today, so that's the last part. Everything else is in place and ready to go!
Sweet! Must be as excited as I am!? I have all the equipment on the floor of my room with the tank laying on its side getting painted. As you can imagine I had to make little hallways so I could still get around my room lol.
Are you going to start a journal when you set it up?
I have a journal.. doesn't get much attention. I guess there's not many pics of the actual tank set up. I think I'm going to do a few 'DIY' threads on stuff I built for the tank and link them in.
I'm kind of upset right now. My angel that I got from a friend passed away tonight, and a couple days ago I had a killifish decide to take a sailing trip out of the tank. I'm kind of bummed. 2 fish in a week due to stupid reasons is slightly irritating.
Tank is all planted and going good so far. Will probobly be moving some stuff around but this is what I have so far Below are some setup pictures. Enjoy and thanks for viewing
Eheim Pro 3 2071
Eheim Pro 2 2026 and its parts
Tank with Hydrokable and soil
Pool filter sand and equipment
Tank with sand
Tank with driftwood and fully planted
I tried to keep it simple this time around. I got enough plants to cover some key areas but not enough to crowd the tank. Like I said I will prob position some of the plants differently (dwarf sag, which isn't as dwarf as I thought it was going to be)
Thanks... I wish she was still here. Such an active lil' girl.
It looks good. My 75G is going to be pretty bare for a few months until I get more plants. Hopefully my MTS does some help on the plants I'm choosing. Right now they are giving me he**!
Are you planning any co2 or anything for this tank now, or just fish poo and breathing?
Can't wait til it fills in and you get those discus.
I liked the original look also.. Just was to high tech and was too much maintenance.
The new layout I like a lot better and the pictures don't due it justice. This layout the discus will feel right at home and have lots of grazing room.
Discus are not hard to keep. They are just a big ol cichlid's. As long as you keep up on the water changes and the water chemistry stays the same you are good to go!
OK tank and plants have been doing very good. Nice slow/healthy growth. Have the CO2 hooked up and diffused using the GLA inline diffuser. I have to say this diffused works very well. The bubbles are so small, you have to go up to the tank to even notice they are even coming out of the spray bar.
Recently I started getting these fly type insects around the tank. They almost look like mosquitos but are smaller and lighter in color. After a lot of research I found out that they prob are nesting in the filter. Where they originated from, I have no idea!?! I have had several tanks in the past in that same location in my house with no issue with bugs at all.
As the weeks went on it just kept on getting worse and worse. Last week I cleaned out both my Eheim canister filters completely. I was not looking forward to this b/c the tank had just finished its cycle. I took everything outside and washed it out with the hose. At the bottom of the canisters there where all the larvae wiggling around so it looked like this is what the problem was. After spraying out all the media and replacing the filter pads with new ones I poured boiling water into the filters and let that sit for a while.
Its been about 4-5 days since I cleaned them out and I dont see any flies. Im sure it will take a couple weekes to a month to really see if they are gone for good. Also got some guppies (two male, 2 female) b/c I read that they will eat the flies as they float around in the water column.
Will prob wait another couple of months before getting discus so everything will be stable.
Ok here is an updated pic. I added two male and two female guppies a few weeks ago to help with the fly issue I was having. So far so good. The guppies mated and I have six guppy fry in a breeder box (at top of tank in pic). Also put in the two sterbai cory cats a few weeks back and everyone is doing great!
Yeah it definitely has lol. Seems like everyone goes through some kind of change after there first serious planted tank..
I really liked how it looked before (except the driftwood) but was un-realistic for discus.
Guppies are cool and very active but they will be moved to another tank once I get discus in about 3 months or so.
The diffuser from GLA is awesome! The bubbles are so small you can barely notice them in the tank.. Might raise the light and move the CO2 to another tank when I get discus though, not to sure yet..
Thanks for viewing my thread and good luck on your tank.. Looks like you are off to a great start!
well, good to see you're going back to the discus. they're so awesome, but i know they'd be too much for me to handle. pity they didn't go with the original scape...really loved that one.
they'll make short work of any hiding guppy fry you might have though make sure you check your filter too, lol.
Do you think the hair grass will grow in a Low Tech tank with 1.6wpg and without CO2? I've been looking for a grass-like carpet like this. Looks great though!
When you say 1.6 wpg can you be a little more specific as to what type of lighting you have (T5, T8, etc..), tank size/gallons and how far you have the light from the substrate.
I have grown it in low light with no CO2, it just grows very slow and takes some time to fill in.
The key is to separate it into small strands of around 10 blades each and plant them .5-1" away from each other. I also trimmed about an inch off the top and clipped the roots a little bit to promote new growth.
Where on earth did you get that piece of driftwood for your second tank. Very nice, I live in your neck of the woods so if there's a store about that sells pieces like that I might stop by.
I got it from Tom Barr (plant brain) who is a member of this forum and lives in CA. He usually has a thread where he sells all kinds of this driftwood. I private messaged him and told him what size tank I had and what I was trying to do and he sent me some.
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