75G low tech (56k warning)

[Bobtheturtle]

Here is my 75g Low tech tank that's been running for about a year now. Just did a rescape on it and thought I would share it with this fine community.

The lights I'm running are 2 coralife T5NO for 8 hours a day.
Filteration: Running a Eheim 2036 Ecco Pro 300 and a Jebo 828

The fish I have in here are:

5 - Harlequin rasbora
5 - Diamond tetras
2 - German blue rams
1 - Blood parrot
1 - L144 blue eye Bristlenose pleco
8 - Otos

Plants I have are:
Crpyts not exactly sure what kind
Amazon Sword
Kleiner Sword
Jungle Vals
Some Lilaeopsis mauritiana i believe
and a couple of stem plants that i cant remember what they were called








Anyone know what could be wrong with this guy? He has a brown spot on the side of his face but he seems to act normally.








Been thinking of upping my Diamond Tetras and my Harlequins up to 10 and maybe adding a school of cories for the bottom of the tank and adding a couple more L144 bristlenoses to keep my one guy from feeling alone but not sure if I would be making it overcrowded or not.

Thanks all for visiting my album!

[Jadelin]

You should be able to add more of the harlequins and diamond tetras, about 6 cories, and one or two small plecos and not be overstocked, but you will be getting close to the edge. It will depend on your filtration and tank maintenance, and I definitely wouldn't add them all at once (remember to quarantine before adding anything new to your established tank!)

Personally I would up the harlequins and diamonds first, as those fish will appreciate the bigger schools.
Then I would add the cories, because I like them. I would get at least 6.
I would probably leave it at one pleco and the cories, but if you like the plecos another one or two should be okay still. They're not really schooling fish so one pleco will be fine by itself. In fact if you get more you will probably want to add more wood and/or rocks so they can each have a little cave or place to hide.

You also might want to consider adding some more stem plants to your tank, since the more healthy plants you have the better the water quality is and the more fish you can safely keep. I have low light tanks, and the stems I've had a lot of luck with are pennywort (Hydrocotyle), Hygrophila polysperma and difformis (water wisteria), and hornwort grows like mad in any tank. The difformis does better directly under a light; it tends to get a bit leggy otherwise.

[BBradbury]

Hello Bob...

I have several 55 G low light, low tech tanks. Not up on the fish as much as Jadelin. I'm into Livebearers and as much into planted tanks as anyone.

If you're not dosing some type of fertilizer for your low light plants, you might want to consider it. My tanks have been running for several years and I can tell you that low light plants need a little boost to grow well. I alternate dosing two or three different liquids several times a week and my low light plants are very healthy. An "old school" fishkeeper once told me that I should feed my plants a varied diet as much as I do my fish. He said he wouldn't want to eat the same thing every meal and neither do the plants.

I like what you're doing with your community tank.

B

[Bobtheturtle]

Wow I forgot to put some thoughts of what I was going to do with the plants. I was actually thinking of getting some wisteria but admittedly stem plants just don't seem to do so good in my tank mostly they seem to rot at the bottom of the stem or just get to leggy. Not sure if my lights aren't good enough for them or if I don't leave them on long enough ( leave them on for 8 hours) I do does ferts, Flourish, KN03 and KH2P04. My swords also aren't doing so hot but my jungle vals and the crypts seem to be doing well.

I think ill up my tetras and rasboras and get some cories and skip the pleco.

Thanks for the feedback guys

[Jadelin]

I was going to mention ferts, but I didn't want to blather on too long in one post.

I dose GH booster, K2HPO4, and KNO3. Seems like what you're dosing should cover all the bases, so I'm a little confused as to why your plants aren't happy. The only thing I can thing to add would be root tabs; whenever my swords start looking sad I give them some fresh root tabs and they start looking much happier. How often do you dose? You might consider dosing more; I was doing every other week, but I increased my lighting slightly (painted the inside of my fixture white) and started dosing them once a week and the plants responded well.

What kind of substrate are you using? It looks like either Flourite or inert gravel. If it's Flourite it seems like things should be fine. I use inert gravel in my low tech (not a good choice and I wouldn't do it again), but I've still had moderate success, so it's possible.

With two T5NO you should have plenty of lights to grow low light plants. I also leave my lights on for 8 hours; that's a fairly standard time and should be giving your plants adequate light. You could try having them on for a little longer, but I wouldn't do any more than 10; if you start having algae issues, cut it back again.

[Bobtheturtle]

I'm dosing once a week and I'm using flourite for my substrate. I have put some root tabs under them now so we'll see if that helps them. The only thing i could think of is maybe it's because I have hard water and some of these plants may like softer water. Just a guess though.

[Jadelin]

Yeah, that was going to be my last resort guess (water hardness). Usually that's not a problem, though, unless you're trying to grow picky plants, which you aren't. It sounds like you're doing everything right, so I really can't think of any reason why the stems won't grow for you. Maybe someone who knows more will have an idea?

Some people might say lack of CO2 might be the culprit, and it would probably help, but the stems I listed grow fine in my tank which has no CO2 or Excel at all.

[Postal Penguin]

Your albino bristlenose looks like it just has a patch of "normal" coloring.