My 5.5G Desktop Planted Tank Journal

3113 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by samw, Nov 30, 2007

samw

Discussion Starter · Jun 7, 2007 (Edited)

2

SPECS:

5.5G Perfecto Tank
Up-Aqua 27W PC Light Fixture (8000K)
Elite Hush 5 power filter
Red Sea Flora Base
12 plant species (Crypto Wendtii, Red Lotus, Red Cabomba, Green Cabomba, Asian Ambulia, Java Moss, Rotala Ramosior, Rotala Indica, Alternanthera Reineckii, Bacopa Caroliniana)
5 cardinal tetras
4 red leopard blue guppies
cherry shrimps
crystal red shrimps

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

EdTheEdge

· #2 · Jun 7, 2007

Very Nice!!!!! How do you like the FloraBase?

macclellan

· #3 · Jun 7, 2007

Looks nice, *but* I have a red lotus in my 75g that is getting too big... a single leaf would cover the entire surface of a 5.5 once it grows in. You may want to find a new home for that beast.

samw

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 8, 2007

I don't have an opinion on Florabase yet as I am a newbie. The reason I picked it was mainly because I liked the look of it. On the Lotus, its a teenie weenie plant right now. I guess I will keep an eye on it and make adjustments when the time comes. Thanks for the comments.

samw

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 27, 2007

2

A couple of new pics taken 3 days apart. Almost everything is doing well. The Cabomba and new Banana plant are growing the fastest. Banana plant has shot a stem to the surface within about 2 days and its leaves have grown a lot over a few days. Cabomba has to be trimmed weekly and was trimmed before the 2nd picture. Tiger Lotus has grown nice new leaves as the original leaves were in bad shape to begin with.

The red plant on the left (no ID) isn't doing well though. I'm not even sure if its a true aquatic plant. I've only been turning on my lights 5 out of 7 days so maybe that contributed to its condition.

June 22

June 25

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LeapingGnome

· #6 · Jun 27, 2007

Looks great Sam.

hughitt1

· #7 · Jun 27, 2007

Looks nice

Just a thought but have you checked the water hardness? I know that some rocks I've added from outside in the past have increased the hardness of the tanks I put them in noticeably.

samw

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 28, 2007

hughitt1 said:
Looks nice Just a thought but have you checked the water hardness? I know that some rocks I've added from outside in the past have increased the hardness of the tanks I put them in noticeably.

Sorry I have not tested for water hardness. I got the rocks from a big aquarium chain store.

hughitt1

· #9 · Jun 28, 2007

If you got them from an aquarium chain store then you are probably okay. Aquarium stores sometime carry rocks that do increase the hardness intentionally, which is good for things like an African cichlid tank, but those don't look like the kinds that would do it as far as I can tell.

will5

· #10 · Jun 29, 2007

Hi

Hi your tank looks great. Keep up the good work.

Can i ask where i can get the

Up-Aqua 27W PC Light Fixture (8000K)

you are using?

rodney

· #11 · Jun 29, 2007

Looks great!
One of the few tanks where I have seen two different types of rocks used that look good together:icon_smil

fishymatty

· #12 · Jun 29, 2007

What r u using for a filter, hang on back or canister?
Do you use co2?
I tried that kind of wattage on a no co2 tank and I ruined all the plants with algae.

samw

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 1, 2007

Thanks for the comments everyone.

William, I got the light from a local store. I don't know where you could get it online but I can give you the link of the manufacturer. At this time, I'm not sure how common the 27W replacement bulbs are. The manufacturer is: http://www.up-aqua.com/ As you can see, they don't have any info at all about their lighting fixtures yet.

fishymatty, I just have a Elite Hush 5 HOB power filter. I don't inject CO2. I'm hoping that the shrimps in my tank can help with the algae.

samw

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jul 1, 2007

4

Got some new additions:

Two orange guppies (no ID), Hygrophila Corymbosa, and more crystal red shrimps. Two of the existing guppies found a new home to make space for the new additions.

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eklikewhoa

· #15 · Jul 1, 2007

Looks cool! I tried googling the light and came up with this thread twice and that was all that returned from google.
Don't worry too much about algae...I have 18w pc over a 2.5g and can't get algae to grow more less worrying about it and have 4x9w over my 5.5g.

You posted when I posted.....I would probably raise the water level a bit more to keep the HOB from splashing the water surface too much.

samw

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 1, 2007

eklikewhoa said:
Looks cool! I tried googling the light and came up with this thread twice and that was all that returned from google.
Don't worry too much about algae...I have 18w pc over a 2.5g and can't get algae to grow more less worrying about it and have 4x9w over my 5.5g.

You posted when I posted.....I would probably raise the water level a bit more to keep the HOB from splashing the water surface too much.

Yeah, I usually try to top the water up to the black frame so that the waterline can't be seen.

Oh, yeah, those "Up" guys should find a better name than "Up Aquarium Supply". They are a small company in Taiwan. Here's a bit more info, though not much more. The PL fixtures are on the bottom of the first link. I have the 27W PL PROlight which isn't listed. The fixture came with cool legs that allow the fixture to flip up. However, I prefer to have the fixture sit on top of the tank so I didn't install the legs.

http://www.up-aqua.com/00-dm-page/00up_dm-hummerlight-big.jpg

http://www.up-aqua.com/00-dm-page/00up_dm-T6-lamp-big.jpg

samw

Discussion Starter · #17 · Nov 30, 2007 (Edited)

2

Update. Changed some plants and got smaller cardinals.

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JustOneMore21

· #18 · Nov 30, 2007

You're tank is beautiful! If only I could get my 5.5g to look like that....haha. Its pretty sad atm. Yours is gorgeous though. It looks bigger than 5.5g.

I was also interested in where you got the light fixture. They are hard to come by for standard 5.5g tanks. I wish someplace that shipped sold them...they'd be a hot item!

Your guppies are beautiful as well.

samw

Discussion Starter · #19 · Nov 30, 2007

Thanks. I am using the Power Compact version (Single PL Tube) of the ProLight:

http://www.up-aqua.com/00-dm-page/00up_dm-hummerlight-big.jpg

Made by this company in Taiwan. Maybe email them to see if there's an online place that'll sell them?

http://www.up-aqua.com

I bought mine from a local fish shop.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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