Joined
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3,011 Posts
That was one big sword! What did you do with it? I'm looking forward to seeing the tank reestablished since I just started a 75g of my own.
BPB's 75 gallon medium/low tech planted
Hey there folks. With renewed interested in my planted tank i decided to go ahead and get a journal going. Not necessarily to track growth, but just as a home base for all posts regarding my tank.
Been in the planted tank hobby for about 5-6 years. Jumped into planted tanks within a few months of getting my first fish, which was a betta in a plastic bowl on an impulse buy. I've been hooked ever since and had probably close to a dozen tanks of one kind or another, ranging from plastic betta bowl, to jam packed high tech SPS dominant reef tank, and everything in between.
2009. I've had this 75 gallon tank for almost the entire time and it has had many faces. Started as a home for a very large and aggressive tiger oscar. I was quite bored with a tank with only one "pet" type fish which prevented me from having any plants or any other fish, so after rehoming him, I stocked a basic community tank with sand, rocks and plastic plants.
After growing bored with that, I removed most of the rock wall, and tried some super easy freebie plants from some locals. My little 2 bulb T5NO fixture was barely sufficient for visible light, and my inert play sand provided nothing, so naturally the plants died. I was on a very tight budget and super bummed out that I couldnt afford the high lights, plant substrate, and gadgets necessary to have a beautiful planted tank.
2011. At one point I had a low tech 10 gallon (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=143464&highlight=) which looked actually ok considering what I was using. I did my first batch of mineralized topsoil and plain black plastic gravel from walmart. It did ok for a little while but ended becoming more of a chore than it was worth and had a bad blue green slime algae outbreak that killed most of the plants. I shut it down a few years ago and consolidated down to just my 75 gallon and my 55 gallon reef at the time.
2012. I eventually acquired a coralife 2x54W T5HO fixture and tossed a bunch of moss and java fern in the 75. It did ok for a while but just never really flourished and I constantly battled green spot algae. Decided to do another batch of mineralized topsoil, only I was incredibly particular with doing it totally by the book the way the orignal recipe intended. It was labor intensive and a total PITA, but I made a massive batch, more than I could use, and bought a bag of turface pro league from the irrigation shop down the road and replanted it with a more appropriate substrate. Added a bunch of swords and stems and that is how it was until last night.
Unfortunately I don't have alot of pictures from back in the olden days, as I wasn't really big into picture taking and it was just before smart phones had decent cameras
75 gallon a couple days after swapping substrate for turface.
The smartest thing I've done in this hobby came in May 2014. After being fed up with years of slow growth, unhealthy plants, and becoming so discouraged I just stopped caring about my tank and wanted to take it down entirely, and just focus on my saltwater side, I bit the bullet and purchased a cheap pressurized co2 system and some EI fertilizers. I figured, I was working a much better job, making decent money, and I had already dumped thousands and thousands on my saltwater tank, I may as well invest a little in the FW tank and see if I can bring it up to snuff. The 2-3 months that followed were the most explosive growth I could have possibly imagined. Dramatic is an understatement. It grew so fast I literally didnt have time to keep up and it turned out looking almost as bad as before, only on the opposite end.
After seeing the results of even simple and cheap CO2 injection, I don't think I'll ever run a tank without it now.
Fast forward to today!
I have never really fell in love with the color of the turface, so some months ago I decided I was going to go with a black substrate. I hate black substrates on salt tanks, but on FW tanks, black or very dark brown is the only look I seem to really like. I purchased 7 bags of caribsea floramax black to do the job. I've been putting this off for weeks because I knew what A pain it is to drain the tank, catch the fish, clean out the substrate and replant it. Last night I decided to just go for it. Rather than going gravel only, or mineralized topsoil, I opted for Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix. Ive had friends that have used it with tremendous success, and I figure it'll allow me to lighten my EI dosing, and use a little less ferts for the first 6 months to a year.
I'm also getting away from the heavy root feeders. I'll keep my Crypt Wendtii as a background plant but otherwise I want to go with carpeting plants and delicate stems. Really wanting to lean more toward the dutch aquascape style with reds in there, instead of the flooded swamp mess look I had going before.
Here's the last picture taken with the turface after a decent trim and cleaning. Couple days ago
aaaaaaand. empty
This amazon sword with root bundle was about as big as the 5 gallon bucket. The roots spanned the entire footprint of the tank
Temporary fish home. I didn't bother with filter/heater/flow as they were only in there for a couple hours.
A light dusting of aragonite and muriate of potash. I went with some left over caribsea special grade aragonite. I know dolomite is preferred for its magnesium content. but as I cannot source it locally, and didn't want to order a large amount online for just a couple handfulls of actual use, I went with aragonite. The low ph enviornment should dissolve it just as well over time and provide similar buffering ability. I've done this in the past every time without issue.
Then down went the MGOCPM. I bough a large bag of it. I rinsed/soaked it for a day while I was at work to try to water log as much of it as I could. Nearly all of it wanted to float, but I ended up straining out about a 5 gallon bucket worth of good stuff. It made for about 1.5-2" or so of soil. Then down went the Floramax. I love this stuff. It's very heavy and fairly uniform in grain size. My biggest complaint about the turface was how light it was. Nothing would stay planted for long without strong roots. This will enable me to finally get more of a traditional carpet going. I have it sloping up to about 5" in the back. It looks thick, but my experience is that over time substrates will compact and I usually lose about 1-2" in height over the first few months. 7 bags was just about perfect
Time to start filling. I used the clarifier packs that came with it, but it wasnt entirely necessary. The water was fairly clear upon filling with minimal cloudiness and no excaped soil floaters.
Couple fish shots. Had to include one of the clown pleco. He's super elusive and I rarely ever see him. Got a nice clear shot of him right up front. Next is the big featherfin catfish. Ive had this one for 5-6 years or so I'd say.
So there it is for now. I'm working all afternoon, but I'll likely run up to petsmart on my lunch break and buy them out of all their stem plants and get everything planted today. Likely wont be permanant plant choices but It'll be something to start filling in and looking like a real tank again. All said and done from tear down to build back up it took 4 hours working alone. In opposite order of typical fashion. I'll put my tank stats at the bottom here
75 gallon Clear For Life acrylic tank standard 48"x18"x21" dimensions
Custom built stand, birch, dark stain. 36" tall so tank can sit closer to eye level
Eheim 2217
10# CO2 tank with Milwaukee MA957 regulator. Junk. Id love a custom SS regulator but can't justify spending the 300-400 bucks until this one breaks
GLA inline atomizer
MGOCPM soil with Floramax black cap
Eheim Jager 300 watt heater
Fish: uncountable number of hybrid guppy/black bar endlers
featherfin catfish
clown pleco
tiger barb (straggler, waiting on him to die)
neon tetra (straggler, waiting on him to die)
3 otos
Stocking plans for the future are to get a handful of koi angels most likely and a couple dozen tetras of which I have not decided on. I don't like overly diverse fish populations despite what my list would indicate. I also don't like unnecessary culling of livestock so I'll patiently wait or possibly rehome them if we set up a little tank for my daughters room. I'd like to get more otos as well
Plants: sunset hygro
crypt wendtii
dwarf sag.
Those are the only 3 species I kept from the previous tank. I'll be looking to see how much Dwarf hairgras and downoi petsmart has today and probably begin planting my carpets this evening! Thanks for looking!
Been in the planted tank hobby for about 5-6 years. Jumped into planted tanks within a few months of getting my first fish, which was a betta in a plastic bowl on an impulse buy. I've been hooked ever since and had probably close to a dozen tanks of one kind or another, ranging from plastic betta bowl, to jam packed high tech SPS dominant reef tank, and everything in between.
2009. I've had this 75 gallon tank for almost the entire time and it has had many faces. Started as a home for a very large and aggressive tiger oscar. I was quite bored with a tank with only one "pet" type fish which prevented me from having any plants or any other fish, so after rehoming him, I stocked a basic community tank with sand, rocks and plastic plants.
After growing bored with that, I removed most of the rock wall, and tried some super easy freebie plants from some locals. My little 2 bulb T5NO fixture was barely sufficient for visible light, and my inert play sand provided nothing, so naturally the plants died. I was on a very tight budget and super bummed out that I couldnt afford the high lights, plant substrate, and gadgets necessary to have a beautiful planted tank.
2011. At one point I had a low tech 10 gallon (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=143464&highlight=) which looked actually ok considering what I was using. I did my first batch of mineralized topsoil and plain black plastic gravel from walmart. It did ok for a little while but ended becoming more of a chore than it was worth and had a bad blue green slime algae outbreak that killed most of the plants. I shut it down a few years ago and consolidated down to just my 75 gallon and my 55 gallon reef at the time.
2012. I eventually acquired a coralife 2x54W T5HO fixture and tossed a bunch of moss and java fern in the 75. It did ok for a while but just never really flourished and I constantly battled green spot algae. Decided to do another batch of mineralized topsoil, only I was incredibly particular with doing it totally by the book the way the orignal recipe intended. It was labor intensive and a total PITA, but I made a massive batch, more than I could use, and bought a bag of turface pro league from the irrigation shop down the road and replanted it with a more appropriate substrate. Added a bunch of swords and stems and that is how it was until last night.
Unfortunately I don't have alot of pictures from back in the olden days, as I wasn't really big into picture taking and it was just before smart phones had decent cameras
75 gallon a couple days after swapping substrate for turface.
The smartest thing I've done in this hobby came in May 2014. After being fed up with years of slow growth, unhealthy plants, and becoming so discouraged I just stopped caring about my tank and wanted to take it down entirely, and just focus on my saltwater side, I bit the bullet and purchased a cheap pressurized co2 system and some EI fertilizers. I figured, I was working a much better job, making decent money, and I had already dumped thousands and thousands on my saltwater tank, I may as well invest a little in the FW tank and see if I can bring it up to snuff. The 2-3 months that followed were the most explosive growth I could have possibly imagined. Dramatic is an understatement. It grew so fast I literally didnt have time to keep up and it turned out looking almost as bad as before, only on the opposite end.
After seeing the results of even simple and cheap CO2 injection, I don't think I'll ever run a tank without it now.
Fast forward to today!
I have never really fell in love with the color of the turface, so some months ago I decided I was going to go with a black substrate. I hate black substrates on salt tanks, but on FW tanks, black or very dark brown is the only look I seem to really like. I purchased 7 bags of caribsea floramax black to do the job. I've been putting this off for weeks because I knew what A pain it is to drain the tank, catch the fish, clean out the substrate and replant it. Last night I decided to just go for it. Rather than going gravel only, or mineralized topsoil, I opted for Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix. Ive had friends that have used it with tremendous success, and I figure it'll allow me to lighten my EI dosing, and use a little less ferts for the first 6 months to a year.
I'm also getting away from the heavy root feeders. I'll keep my Crypt Wendtii as a background plant but otherwise I want to go with carpeting plants and delicate stems. Really wanting to lean more toward the dutch aquascape style with reds in there, instead of the flooded swamp mess look I had going before.
Here's the last picture taken with the turface after a decent trim and cleaning. Couple days ago
aaaaaaand. empty
This amazon sword with root bundle was about as big as the 5 gallon bucket. The roots spanned the entire footprint of the tank
Temporary fish home. I didn't bother with filter/heater/flow as they were only in there for a couple hours.
A light dusting of aragonite and muriate of potash. I went with some left over caribsea special grade aragonite. I know dolomite is preferred for its magnesium content. but as I cannot source it locally, and didn't want to order a large amount online for just a couple handfulls of actual use, I went with aragonite. The low ph enviornment should dissolve it just as well over time and provide similar buffering ability. I've done this in the past every time without issue.
Then down went the MGOCPM. I bough a large bag of it. I rinsed/soaked it for a day while I was at work to try to water log as much of it as I could. Nearly all of it wanted to float, but I ended up straining out about a 5 gallon bucket worth of good stuff. It made for about 1.5-2" or so of soil. Then down went the Floramax. I love this stuff. It's very heavy and fairly uniform in grain size. My biggest complaint about the turface was how light it was. Nothing would stay planted for long without strong roots. This will enable me to finally get more of a traditional carpet going. I have it sloping up to about 5" in the back. It looks thick, but my experience is that over time substrates will compact and I usually lose about 1-2" in height over the first few months. 7 bags was just about perfect
Time to start filling. I used the clarifier packs that came with it, but it wasnt entirely necessary. The water was fairly clear upon filling with minimal cloudiness and no excaped soil floaters.
Couple fish shots. Had to include one of the clown pleco. He's super elusive and I rarely ever see him. Got a nice clear shot of him right up front. Next is the big featherfin catfish. Ive had this one for 5-6 years or so I'd say.
So there it is for now. I'm working all afternoon, but I'll likely run up to petsmart on my lunch break and buy them out of all their stem plants and get everything planted today. Likely wont be permanant plant choices but It'll be something to start filling in and looking like a real tank again. All said and done from tear down to build back up it took 4 hours working alone. In opposite order of typical fashion. I'll put my tank stats at the bottom here
75 gallon Clear For Life acrylic tank standard 48"x18"x21" dimensions
Custom built stand, birch, dark stain. 36" tall so tank can sit closer to eye level
Eheim 2217
10# CO2 tank with Milwaukee MA957 regulator. Junk. Id love a custom SS regulator but can't justify spending the 300-400 bucks until this one breaks
GLA inline atomizer
MGOCPM soil with Floramax black cap
Eheim Jager 300 watt heater
Fish: uncountable number of hybrid guppy/black bar endlers
featherfin catfish
clown pleco
tiger barb (straggler, waiting on him to die)
neon tetra (straggler, waiting on him to die)
3 otos
Stocking plans for the future are to get a handful of koi angels most likely and a couple dozen tetras of which I have not decided on. I don't like overly diverse fish populations despite what my list would indicate. I also don't like unnecessary culling of livestock so I'll patiently wait or possibly rehome them if we set up a little tank for my daughters room. I'd like to get more otos as well
Plants: sunset hygro
crypt wendtii
dwarf sag.
Those are the only 3 species I kept from the previous tank. I'll be looking to see how much Dwarf hairgras and downoi petsmart has today and probably begin planting my carpets this evening! Thanks for looking!
1 - 20 of 75 Posts
Lighting! Forgot to document specifics:
2x54 watt Coralife T5HO light unit with 2 GE6500k bulbs.
@FreeMananana Thanks for joining the journal! It was a humongous sword. It actually had a flower shoot (no flowers though) that came about 12" out of the tank which was kind of neat. It's still sitting on the back porch. I'll be throwing it in the compost like I do with most of my trimmings. It wasn't in the best shape, and amazon swords are a dime a dozen so in the event I ever want another I'll just run and grab one. I don't know anyone in town with a big enough tank to have housed it. Oddly enough this sword never sent off runners or propogated itself.
@ BBradbury. Thanks for joining. I will likely do a water change today to clean up some of the plant matter that made its way over. Dead plant matter that is. The filter has been running for years and Was just serviced a couple months ago so it's running at a good flow rate. With my low bioload I'm not too concerned with any ammonia spike but I'll definitely keep an eye on it. I've got the co2 going again and the floating plants should help lighten the load as well.
I'm considering adding a powerhead for a little extra circulation. Those eheim 2217 have such low flow. I'm also wanting to add more light. The single 2 bulb fixture is probably adequate but I don't quite have the coverage I want and suspending it way above the tank isnt an option, and I despise light spill into a room. I'm debating on either picking up another used 2x54 watt light fixture and adding a couple different color bulbs, undecided on what colors I would use. Another option is to get an LED bar as well. Ideas?
Bump: Yessir jimbo. Glad you found your way here.
and BBradbury. Gigem indeed. Co 2005
2x54 watt Coralife T5HO light unit with 2 GE6500k bulbs.
@FreeMananana Thanks for joining the journal! It was a humongous sword. It actually had a flower shoot (no flowers though) that came about 12" out of the tank which was kind of neat. It's still sitting on the back porch. I'll be throwing it in the compost like I do with most of my trimmings. It wasn't in the best shape, and amazon swords are a dime a dozen so in the event I ever want another I'll just run and grab one. I don't know anyone in town with a big enough tank to have housed it. Oddly enough this sword never sent off runners or propogated itself.
@ BBradbury. Thanks for joining. I will likely do a water change today to clean up some of the plant matter that made its way over. Dead plant matter that is. The filter has been running for years and Was just serviced a couple months ago so it's running at a good flow rate. With my low bioload I'm not too concerned with any ammonia spike but I'll definitely keep an eye on it. I've got the co2 going again and the floating plants should help lighten the load as well.
I'm considering adding a powerhead for a little extra circulation. Those eheim 2217 have such low flow. I'm also wanting to add more light. The single 2 bulb fixture is probably adequate but I don't quite have the coverage I want and suspending it way above the tank isnt an option, and I despise light spill into a room. I'm debating on either picking up another used 2x54 watt light fixture and adding a couple different color bulbs, undecided on what colors I would use. Another option is to get an LED bar as well. Ideas?
Bump: Yessir jimbo. Glad you found your way here.
and BBradbury. Gigem indeed. Co 2005
Well. First bit of bad news. Unfortunately my clown pleco didn't make it. I feel totally responsible. While I won't require grieving counseling, I am a little bummed. Was a cool fish. I think it was likely due to the fact that I had a very hard time catching him and he probably was exposed to way much bad stuff when I was vaccuming up the substrate and pulling plant root bundles. I don't think I'll get another clown pleco. If I did get another pleco it would maybe be a rubberlip as those are pretty neat looking, but I'm not real certain that's what I want. I'm still leaning heavily toward a handful of different colored angels and some tetras. Possibly a pair of GBR or Bolivians.
I didn't have the opportunity to plant my remaining plants yesterday after work. Wife and baby were out of town for a couple days and came home much earlier than expected so I was slammed with straightening up the house (oops, planned to have that done before they got back, didnt get around to it). I fell way behind on housework the past couple days on account of the 8 hour tank attention marathon of buying/selling corals for the reef, and redoing this planted tank.
I also dropped by the petsmart with intention to pick up a bunch of plants but they were pretty much fresh out of everything. I really wish there were more planted tank hobbyists in the area to get stems from. Really wanting alot of red. I've got none.
My 5# co2 tank was reading about zero on the left pressure guage but it was still holding stead at 3 bubbles per second on the milwaukee regulator even this close to the end, I decided to swap it out for a 10# tank at about 6 am this morning. That's one good thing about having a baby in the house, forces me to be up when it's still dark and I can get alot of stuff done before work. The literature and instructions online for the Milwaukee regulator always say to adjust the pressure knob to where the right guage reads 10 on the outer numbers. I cannot figure out for the life of me why they do that. You have to completely close the needle valve, and even the SLIGHTEST bump of it will go from nothing, to a full violent stream of air shooting through the bubble counter. If I turn the pressure way down on the right guage to where it reads more like 2-5 or so, the needle valve actually works, and large turns will yield a reasonable change in bubble rate. I've been operating it at a lower reading on the right guage for this whole tank I just finished and the bubble count was WAY more stable through the life of the tank and didnt cause an EOTD when the high pressure guage hit 50 psi like it did on the first tank I had.
I'm really considering ordering a couple higher end SS regulators with Burkert solenoids from a guy on Reef Central, but It's gonna take some convincing to talk myself into spending $700-800 on co2 regulators when A: I don't have a calcium reactor for the reef yet, and B: my Milwaukee regulator is still working fine. What can I say... I have expensive taste.
Still toiling over lights. I dont think my 2 bulb fixture will be adequate for growing a decent carpet and getting some serious reds out of some stems so I'm wanting to add another two bulb fixture for 4x54 watts total. Bulb combo I'm thinking is 6500k + 10000K in one, and 6500K + a zoomed flora sun red bulb. It'll be high light, but I've got a very nutrient dense substrate, plus all the EI ferts I can throw in the tank, and plenty of CO2.
Hopefully I'l get to actually plant my remaining bundles after work today and maybe get a background up. Probably going with a black background again and I cannot stand seeing wires and filter tubes behind the back glass
I didn't have the opportunity to plant my remaining plants yesterday after work. Wife and baby were out of town for a couple days and came home much earlier than expected so I was slammed with straightening up the house (oops, planned to have that done before they got back, didnt get around to it). I fell way behind on housework the past couple days on account of the 8 hour tank attention marathon of buying/selling corals for the reef, and redoing this planted tank.
I also dropped by the petsmart with intention to pick up a bunch of plants but they were pretty much fresh out of everything. I really wish there were more planted tank hobbyists in the area to get stems from. Really wanting alot of red. I've got none.
My 5# co2 tank was reading about zero on the left pressure guage but it was still holding stead at 3 bubbles per second on the milwaukee regulator even this close to the end, I decided to swap it out for a 10# tank at about 6 am this morning. That's one good thing about having a baby in the house, forces me to be up when it's still dark and I can get alot of stuff done before work. The literature and instructions online for the Milwaukee regulator always say to adjust the pressure knob to where the right guage reads 10 on the outer numbers. I cannot figure out for the life of me why they do that. You have to completely close the needle valve, and even the SLIGHTEST bump of it will go from nothing, to a full violent stream of air shooting through the bubble counter. If I turn the pressure way down on the right guage to where it reads more like 2-5 or so, the needle valve actually works, and large turns will yield a reasonable change in bubble rate. I've been operating it at a lower reading on the right guage for this whole tank I just finished and the bubble count was WAY more stable through the life of the tank and didnt cause an EOTD when the high pressure guage hit 50 psi like it did on the first tank I had.
I'm really considering ordering a couple higher end SS regulators with Burkert solenoids from a guy on Reef Central, but It's gonna take some convincing to talk myself into spending $700-800 on co2 regulators when A: I don't have a calcium reactor for the reef yet, and B: my Milwaukee regulator is still working fine. What can I say... I have expensive taste.
Still toiling over lights. I dont think my 2 bulb fixture will be adequate for growing a decent carpet and getting some serious reds out of some stems so I'm wanting to add another two bulb fixture for 4x54 watts total. Bulb combo I'm thinking is 6500k + 10000K in one, and 6500K + a zoomed flora sun red bulb. It'll be high light, but I've got a very nutrient dense substrate, plus all the EI ferts I can throw in the tank, and plenty of CO2.
Hopefully I'l get to actually plant my remaining bundles after work today and maybe get a background up. Probably going with a black background again and I cannot stand seeing wires and filter tubes behind the back glass
Got everything planted just now. Looks so bare in its current state. Almost all of these will be replaced as I'm able to source nicer stems.
Picked up some alternanthera reineckii cardinalis from the petsmart today. Haven't tried it before. Was a beautiful magenta color in the gel pack. I hear they can be hit or miss.
They also had an empty shelf labeled staurogyne repens, which is one of my planned carpet plants so I'll check back frequently for them to restock it. Also want to go with some downoi as well.
I'm going minimal hard scape, with the driftwood only serving to sort of hide the heater, as well as split the two different carpeting plants. Wife demands a background immediately. That's all for now.
Lol pic of tonight's work...it doesn't look "good" but I like to have ratty scraggly "before" pictures to track progress so here it is. Stems are all bent funny from curving toward the light when floating , they'll be right side up by tomorrow I'm sure. Usually are when that happens.
Picked up some alternanthera reineckii cardinalis from the petsmart today. Haven't tried it before. Was a beautiful magenta color in the gel pack. I hear they can be hit or miss.
They also had an empty shelf labeled staurogyne repens, which is one of my planned carpet plants so I'll check back frequently for them to restock it. Also want to go with some downoi as well.
I'm going minimal hard scape, with the driftwood only serving to sort of hide the heater, as well as split the two different carpeting plants. Wife demands a background immediately. That's all for now.
Lol pic of tonight's work...it doesn't look "good" but I like to have ratty scraggly "before" pictures to track progress so here it is. Stems are all bent funny from curving toward the light when floating , they'll be right side up by tomorrow I'm sure. Usually are when that happens.
Joined
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423 Posts
Looking good. I really hope the cardinalis takes off.
Sounds like another Aggie is in the house. Whoop!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sounds like another Aggie is in the house. Whoop!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Joined
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3,011 Posts
What is a 'simple and cheap' CO2 system? I my have overlooked it. I am debating CO2 now on my tank. It is the same size.
Don't mind the tufts of green hair algae on the wood. That area is really close to the lights and I'm going to physically remove it all tonight. The AR in the picture is from Petsmart and it's doing really well. It only grows to maybe 2.5 - 3" but it doubles in size (additiona stems) every three weeks. I was able to cover the whole front middle of the tank in about 2 months from one package. I also don't use C02, just excel. It will be a much deeper red with higher light and C02.
Tank looks good already. I think it would look better with more driftwood though. I'm a driftwood junky. I can't get enough of it
Bump: Your stocking ideas sound good. I absolutely love angels. I lost my Dantum when I moved... along with my feather fin Synodontis and my Clown Pleco as well as a bunch of other fish. It's hard to lose a fish that you've had for years and raised from a small guy.
Look into Bloodfin tetras with Angels. They are a good size, school pretty well, and are really cool looking. My other Angel at several Cardinals. I actually just picked up a Beautiful Zebra Veil Angel the other day in addition to another 10 Bloodfins bring my school to 20+. They are super active and are always in either a large group or several small groups.
Make sure you post pics of your Angels when you get them
Tank looks good already. I think it would look better with more driftwood though. I'm a driftwood junky. I can't get enough of it
Bump: Your stocking ideas sound good. I absolutely love angels. I lost my Dantum when I moved... along with my feather fin Synodontis and my Clown Pleco as well as a bunch of other fish. It's hard to lose a fish that you've had for years and raised from a small guy.
Look into Bloodfin tetras with Angels. They are a good size, school pretty well, and are really cool looking. My other Angel at several Cardinals. I actually just picked up a Beautiful Zebra Veil Angel the other day in addition to another 10 Bloodfins bring my school to 20+. They are super active and are always in either a large group or several small groups.
Make sure you post pics of your Angels when you get them
I didn't get email notifications for these replies so sorry took a couple days. Simple and cheap CO2 system to me was what I purchased. I bought mine used for $100 and it included:
5# CO2 tank
Milwaukee MA957 regulator with solenoid and bubble counter included
GLA atomic inline diffuser
It's a step above paintball, and alot better than DIY CO2, but this regulator will not last forever and the solenoid will likely need replacing at some point. I am almost certain it leaks. I can't verify that and I havent leak tested, but it's a cheap brass single stage unit, and those almost always have small leaks. Not a deal breaker. I would love to eventually invest in a not-so-cheap stainless steel custom regulator with high end solenoid, dual stage, and that'll likely run $350 plus. One day I'll purchase one down the road when I can't possibly think of anything else I need and have money to blow. You can buy a unit like that off of GLA, but you could build, or have someone build, an even better one using better components for about half the price.
Either way, pressurized CO2 is basically the tipping point that kept me in the planted hobby. If I hadn't gotten this running, Id have likely pulled all the plants and possibly even taken the tank down entirely. I was just never able to have healthy growth without it. Leaves always fell off stems, developed holes, and melted.
My only issue now has been BBA, but I imagine with time and enough CO2 that'll start to fade away. I'd like to get some shrimps to help keep my leaves clean but my fish stock prevents that, as they'd all get eaten.
Also, with each CO2 tank refill, I'm replacing it with a larger tank. The 5# tank, running at 3 bps, for 10 hours a day, only seems to last me a few months. I upped to a 10# tank last refill, and next time I'll likely go with a 20# tank.
@ The dude:
Thanks for the reply. The AR looks fantastic in your pic. Love those congo tetras as well. They don't munch on your plants? My AR is actually growing and has put on about 1.5-2" in the last week. I've dosed my full strength EI a couple times since I refilled the tank, which is probably not necessary being that it has brand new soil under the gravel, but it was more to encourage the plants to grow and root a little so they can actually reach that soil. I'll probably cease EI dosing for a couple months now unless I start seeing signs of deficiency.
The sunset hygro is growing tremendously fast. I'm going to wait until tomorrow, but I'll post a "1 week" picture. I know sunset hygro is cheating, but it's comical how fast it's grown. Literally sprouted back up probably 6-7" in just 5 days and the leaf bundles on the top are a beautiful pink color.
Another thing I've done this time around is I removed the acrylic top that set on the eurobrace and I moved the light to where the bulbs shine into the tank unobstructed. They used to shoot through a 1/2" thick layer of acrylic. I know that doesn't attenuate the light TOO much but when It starts getting that moisture film/algae/mildew on it, that shades the light quite a bit. No more par reduction with that, which is probably why the sunset hygro has turned red.
Shame about your featherfin. Mine has definitely become a true "pet fish" moreso than any of the others in the tank. I got the little guy when he was less than 1" and now it's humongous. Definitely a conversation piece. While it doesn't really fit at all with the Dutch scape theme I'm shooting for, and he may do a bit of bulldozing, he hasn't been too much of a bother with the plants and is pretty benign as far as cooperating with my aquascape. He stays.
As far as driftwood and hardscape goes, I'm really shooting for minimal and functional. Right now what I have serves to help hide the heater some, and gives the catfish and pleco something to cling to/munch on. I am contemplating adding a couple more small manzanita type pieces on the substrate to break up plant groupings a-la Tom Barr's 120 gallon dutch how he does, but in general I'm going minimal hardscape as I'm avoiding the flooded riverbed look. Not that I don't like it, just not going for it. Besides, it took this driftwood about 3 years to stop leeching tannins so I'd hate to go back to that all over again. i don't care for the blackwater look too much.
Thanks for the reply. The AR looks fantastic in your pic. Love those congo tetras as well. They don't munch on your plants? My AR is actually growing and has put on about 1.5-2" in the last week. I've dosed my full strength EI a couple times since I refilled the tank, which is probably not necessary being that it has brand new soil under the gravel, but it was more to encourage the plants to grow and root a little so they can actually reach that soil. I'll probably cease EI dosing for a couple months now unless I start seeing signs of deficiency.
The sunset hygro is growing tremendously fast. I'm going to wait until tomorrow, but I'll post a "1 week" picture. I know sunset hygro is cheating, but it's comical how fast it's grown. Literally sprouted back up probably 6-7" in just 5 days and the leaf bundles on the top are a beautiful pink color.
Another thing I've done this time around is I removed the acrylic top that set on the eurobrace and I moved the light to where the bulbs shine into the tank unobstructed. They used to shoot through a 1/2" thick layer of acrylic. I know that doesn't attenuate the light TOO much but when It starts getting that moisture film/algae/mildew on it, that shades the light quite a bit. No more par reduction with that, which is probably why the sunset hygro has turned red.
Shame about your featherfin. Mine has definitely become a true "pet fish" moreso than any of the others in the tank. I got the little guy when he was less than 1" and now it's humongous. Definitely a conversation piece. While it doesn't really fit at all with the Dutch scape theme I'm shooting for, and he may do a bit of bulldozing, he hasn't been too much of a bother with the plants and is pretty benign as far as cooperating with my aquascape. He stays.
As far as driftwood and hardscape goes, I'm really shooting for minimal and functional. Right now what I have serves to help hide the heater some, and gives the catfish and pleco something to cling to/munch on. I am contemplating adding a couple more small manzanita type pieces on the substrate to break up plant groupings a-la Tom Barr's 120 gallon dutch how he does, but in general I'm going minimal hardscape as I'm avoiding the flooded riverbed look. Not that I don't like it, just not going for it. Besides, it took this driftwood about 3 years to stop leeching tannins so I'd hate to go back to that all over again. i don't care for the blackwater look too much.
The Congos did develop a taste for my Downoi and crypts, but it wasn't too bad of a deal. I got to setup my 11gallon rimess tank as a result. Its going to eventually be a shrimp tank, but the Downoi is going crazy in there so I've started to refer to it as my Downoi farm. Everytime I've sold shrimp or Downoi I've literally had to turn down 4 or 5 people the first time I get around to checking my messages.
Ya the feather fin Synodontis was very cool. It.was.pretty rare for him to mess stuff up, but man was he cool. I'm liking where youre going with the tank and I always love seeing new scapes. It helps me get closer to my perfect scape.
When are you adding the other fish?
Ya the feather fin Synodontis was very cool. It.was.pretty rare for him to mess stuff up, but man was he cool. I'm liking where youre going with the tank and I always love seeing new scapes. It helps me get closer to my perfect scape.
When are you adding the other fish?
I feared that about congo tetras. I had a real nasty battle with a 9 fish school of buenos aires tetras which I purchased before I wanted to go planted and they're the most herbivorous fish imaginable. Nothing was safe even java fern and mosses. I hate getting rid of fish because I never know who the person is getting them and never know if i can trust their skills, but I had to rehome these as it was ridiculous, and the tank was so stable, they would likely live for years longer. Becasue of that i researched the larger bodied tetras extensively and it seems most of them develop a taste for some plant matter at some point.
I suppose I'm not in a huge hurry to add new fish. Fish have never been the primary focus of the hobby for me, it's always been the scape, so I'm really thinking about where to acquire some nice stems from. I've got a friend here that I can get some rotala from here soon, but I'd like 3-4 more varieties as well. The big box stores here are lacking in the plant department, and the wife wouldnt take kindly to me paying a stranger on a forum for plants to ship/giving our address out. She's paranoid, so I've gotta wait around until I can manage to get to an LFS out of town or a friend can stop by for me, which happens fairly often. It'll happen eventually. I'm very patient. I'll keep trimming my sunset hygro in the mean time lol.
I suppose I could technically add my angelfish any time. The sooner the better, so they'll get big. And start eating my guppy/endler fry, so that population will dwindle. I just would like to avoid the big hodge podge look of too many fish species and some adult angels would be very helpful in humanely culling some unwanted fish. Don't know anyone locally who wants any, and the big box stores don't take them in, even for free. So it's either net and flush, which i would never do, even to a 1cm sized fry, or allow them to be eaten by predators, which seems like a better plan. I do have one remaining tiger barb but he is like 6 years old now and doesnt bother anyone. When my full tiger barb school was going, they made short work of some angelfish I tried to add, so I've been hesitant to try them again, but now that I'm down to one barb it may be safe enough. I'll likely grab 4-5 angels at some point in a week or two, to see how it goes. I'm going to be limited to the veiltail koi type angels which is fine by me. Those look every bit as pleasing as the expensive rare varities so I'll be happy with that. What is everyone's thought about german blue rams at lower temps (79-80ish?) Can they tolerate it, or is it certain death?
I suppose I'm not in a huge hurry to add new fish. Fish have never been the primary focus of the hobby for me, it's always been the scape, so I'm really thinking about where to acquire some nice stems from. I've got a friend here that I can get some rotala from here soon, but I'd like 3-4 more varieties as well. The big box stores here are lacking in the plant department, and the wife wouldnt take kindly to me paying a stranger on a forum for plants to ship/giving our address out. She's paranoid, so I've gotta wait around until I can manage to get to an LFS out of town or a friend can stop by for me, which happens fairly often. It'll happen eventually. I'm very patient. I'll keep trimming my sunset hygro in the mean time lol.
I suppose I could technically add my angelfish any time. The sooner the better, so they'll get big. And start eating my guppy/endler fry, so that population will dwindle. I just would like to avoid the big hodge podge look of too many fish species and some adult angels would be very helpful in humanely culling some unwanted fish. Don't know anyone locally who wants any, and the big box stores don't take them in, even for free. So it's either net and flush, which i would never do, even to a 1cm sized fry, or allow them to be eaten by predators, which seems like a better plan. I do have one remaining tiger barb but he is like 6 years old now and doesnt bother anyone. When my full tiger barb school was going, they made short work of some angelfish I tried to add, so I've been hesitant to try them again, but now that I'm down to one barb it may be safe enough. I'll likely grab 4-5 angels at some point in a week or two, to see how it goes. I'm going to be limited to the veiltail koi type angels which is fine by me. Those look every bit as pleasing as the expensive rare varities so I'll be happy with that. What is everyone's thought about german blue rams at lower temps (79-80ish?) Can they tolerate it, or is it certain death?
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I'm not positive on GBR, but my LFS carries blue rams (look like GBR) at room temperature. They have no heaters or coolers at all in their system. I'm pretty sure they can live in those temperatures. I've seen people, on here, keep them in 76* tanks. Probably not ideal, but liveable.
Another update. Stopped by one of the big box stores and horribly overpaid for some plants, but I wanted to start filling things out, so I said what the heck. It's only money.
New additions:
Pogostemon helferi "carpet" started (front left of FTS)
Staurogyne repens "carpet" started (front center FTS)
Lobelia cardinalis planted (front right FTS) - I'm now reading this is not a true aquatic plant, but also reading that here and there people are having long term success with it under high light and co2. Damage is done, it's in the dirt. If it stays ratty and ugly looking over the next few weeks, I'll just pull it and go with something different. Pictures of this grown submerged look really nice though and I love how thick and bushy it can get. Also, being that I have a moderate interest in terrestrial gardening as well, I'm considering pulling a couple stems and planting them in a pot out back and seeing if they'll flower. The emersed pictures look real nice too.
Lastly for now Bacopa caroliniana planted (rear center FTS)
And the FTS for today, taken last night just before lights out. The sunset hygro is growing unfairly fast, and the AR is actually looking ok. Top sides of the leaves are bronze colored but the undersides remain red and it's grown a couple inches or so.
Suggestions for front center/left right in front of the driftwood?
Suggestions for center middle between the S. repens and B. caroliniana?
Suggestions for rear middle/right between the C. wendtii and B caroliniana?
Suggestions for what to replace the dwarf sag and C wendtii with entirely?
Also that's not sloppy dirty water spots on the glass, those are CO2 bubbles making the close ups look messy. Iphone also does a funky auto-white balance depending on where I take the pics at, so it looks like the lighting changes from picture to picture. If I adjust it to make the substrate look the same in all of them, it'll oversaturate the plant leaves.
New additions:
Pogostemon helferi "carpet" started (front left of FTS)
Staurogyne repens "carpet" started (front center FTS)
Lobelia cardinalis planted (front right FTS) - I'm now reading this is not a true aquatic plant, but also reading that here and there people are having long term success with it under high light and co2. Damage is done, it's in the dirt. If it stays ratty and ugly looking over the next few weeks, I'll just pull it and go with something different. Pictures of this grown submerged look really nice though and I love how thick and bushy it can get. Also, being that I have a moderate interest in terrestrial gardening as well, I'm considering pulling a couple stems and planting them in a pot out back and seeing if they'll flower. The emersed pictures look real nice too.
Lastly for now Bacopa caroliniana planted (rear center FTS)
And the FTS for today, taken last night just before lights out. The sunset hygro is growing unfairly fast, and the AR is actually looking ok. Top sides of the leaves are bronze colored but the undersides remain red and it's grown a couple inches or so.
Suggestions for front center/left right in front of the driftwood?
Suggestions for center middle between the S. repens and B. caroliniana?
Suggestions for rear middle/right between the C. wendtii and B caroliniana?
Suggestions for what to replace the dwarf sag and C wendtii with entirely?
Also that's not sloppy dirty water spots on the glass, those are CO2 bubbles making the close ups look messy. Iphone also does a funky auto-white balance depending on where I take the pics at, so it looks like the lighting changes from picture to picture. If I adjust it to make the substrate look the same in all of them, it'll oversaturate the plant leaves.
More changes. Did my first water change since I set the tank up last week. 50% water change (roughly 30 gallons) with 2 TBSP of GH booster added. I haven't ever really been big on testing the planted tank but as I was curious, I decided to check the nitrates the other day and I only got about 1 ppm on the Elos kit, which is a good bit lower than I'd like to be, so despite having fresh dirt under the gravel, I went ahead and did a full strength EI dosing, which I will continue to do twice a week now at this point. I haven't checked my phosphates yet, but I will eventually one of these days. That's the beauty of also being a reefkeeper. I've collected some fairly high end tests that are also good for FW as well. I only check phosphates on my reef once a month or so, and I've got a giant stack of reagents for the Hanna low range phosphorous colormeter.
Drop checker installed now as well. I havent been running it for several months. My bromothymol blue was long expired and was unable to hold any color at all (went clear almost an hour after putting into the 4 DKH solution. Thanks to forum member JasterMake for hooking me up with some plants and a fresh batch of blue liquid! Nice having a fellow high tech hobbyist only a couple miles down the road.
Speaking of. Added three new species to the tank this morning.
Hygrophilia Thai (brown). I understand this hygro will tend to hug the substrate if light is high enough. I planted it in the negative space just to the left of center, to separate the two carpets, I'm ok if it grows up a little even though it's in the front. I'll keep it about 4" tall at most though through frequent prunings. Looks ratty now since it was just planted,
Rotala rotundifolia planted rear right just next to the crypts. Quit a bit of this. Also kind of twisted up and funny looking, but as it grows I'll likely remove the crypts bit by bit and allow it to wrap around right behind the lobelia (which is actually growing and sprouting new leaves).
Rotala occultiflora planted in between the AR and Bacopa which i have condensed a little bit. Love this type of needle leaf delicate stem and I'd like more in this style, only with reds. As it grows Ill wrap it around in front of the bacopa to meet the rotundifolia
That's it for now. Here's a FTS. I'm really happy with the growth I'm getting so far. I have the co2 goosed with the drop checker yellow. The fish don't seem to be in distress so I'll leave it running full tilt for now. Hopefully the BBA dies away soon. It sure its ugly. Seems to be limited to my filter intake, back glass, and the crypts/dward sag. I trimmed down and replanted some sunset hygro stems as well to thicken up the bundle behind the logs. It grows unfairly fast.
Drop checker installed now as well. I havent been running it for several months. My bromothymol blue was long expired and was unable to hold any color at all (went clear almost an hour after putting into the 4 DKH solution. Thanks to forum member JasterMake for hooking me up with some plants and a fresh batch of blue liquid! Nice having a fellow high tech hobbyist only a couple miles down the road.
Speaking of. Added three new species to the tank this morning.
Hygrophilia Thai (brown). I understand this hygro will tend to hug the substrate if light is high enough. I planted it in the negative space just to the left of center, to separate the two carpets, I'm ok if it grows up a little even though it's in the front. I'll keep it about 4" tall at most though through frequent prunings. Looks ratty now since it was just planted,
Rotala rotundifolia planted rear right just next to the crypts. Quit a bit of this. Also kind of twisted up and funny looking, but as it grows I'll likely remove the crypts bit by bit and allow it to wrap around right behind the lobelia (which is actually growing and sprouting new leaves).
Rotala occultiflora planted in between the AR and Bacopa which i have condensed a little bit. Love this type of needle leaf delicate stem and I'd like more in this style, only with reds. As it grows Ill wrap it around in front of the bacopa to meet the rotundifolia
That's it for now. Here's a FTS. I'm really happy with the growth I'm getting so far. I have the co2 goosed with the drop checker yellow. The fish don't seem to be in distress so I'll leave it running full tilt for now. Hopefully the BBA dies away soon. It sure its ugly. Seems to be limited to my filter intake, back glass, and the crypts/dward sag. I trimmed down and replanted some sunset hygro stems as well to thicken up the bundle behind the logs. It grows unfairly fast.
Best kind of update. More pictures. My catfish has done a little bulldozing and I'm having to replant a stem every now and then but nothing real catastrophic. Last night I trimmed a few BBA covered leaves. I'm not positive why I'm still having it with my drop checker at bright yellow all of the time (even at night when the CO2 is off it doesnt get a chance to return to all blue. At any rate. Pretty happy with growth rates so far. Things are definitely looking happy and growing at a manageable pace. Took some top down shots for a change.
Bump: I'm also beginning to wonder how necessary another light really is from a par standpoint? I don't have a par meter. I'm wondering if more light will merely increase growth speed and not have any measurable impact on actual plant health and appearance. I know I'd be able to take advantage of more color options than just 6500k, which I know is perfectly adequate for growth alone, but it doesn't have the most pleasant appearance to me. If/when I do add another light, it'll mostly be to staggar the two lights, and run one, for 6 hours and the other for 6 hours with maybe a 2-4 hour overlap in the middle for an 8-10 hour total photoperiod
Bump: I'm also beginning to wonder how necessary another light really is from a par standpoint? I don't have a par meter. I'm wondering if more light will merely increase growth speed and not have any measurable impact on actual plant health and appearance. I know I'd be able to take advantage of more color options than just 6500k, which I know is perfectly adequate for growth alone, but it doesn't have the most pleasant appearance to me. If/when I do add another light, it'll mostly be to staggar the two lights, and run one, for 6 hours and the other for 6 hours with maybe a 2-4 hour overlap in the middle for an 8-10 hour total photoperiod
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More par would just be faster growth most likely. After medium light and CO2, more light and more CO2 are just faster growth. You can sustain almost all plant life with medium light and CO2.
Not a bad call. I'd still like a wider variety in color. More of a blue sunrise, and a red sunset, meaning on the front fixture I'd likely run a 6500K and a 10K, and on the rear fixture I'd run a red bulb and a 6500K. My GE6500k bulbs i'm using now are about a year old and could probably stand to be replaced. I cannot source them locally at all, and I'd hate to pay in shipping from another carrier just for those two bulbs alone. I'm placing a large bulkreefsupply.com order and unfortunately they dont carry the GE 6500k bulbs, but they do carry the Giesemann midday, so I'll likely add a couple of those onto my order, and for the 10k I've got a spare ATI Aquablue Special and for the red bulb I'll likely use an ATI Purple+
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