55 Nature
St. Louis, Missouri
Introduction
This is my first attempt at a heavily planted aquarium. I've always concentrated on the fish in other tanks, this one is about the plants and fish that support the plants in the best way. Once the plants are modestly grown, I want to add some Amano shrimp.
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- Anubias Barteri v.Nana
- sekunda2003
Filtration
Main filtering is supplied by a Marineland C-220 canister filter. It will run filter floss, ceramic rings, Seachem Matrix, activated carbon, and filter floss.
Also added a Marineland Penguin 350 to help with surface agitation and filtering.
Also added a Marineland Penguin 350 to help with surface agitation and filtering.
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- Harlequin Rasbora
- sekunda2003
Lighting
Lighting is provided by an Aquatic Life 2x54 watt 48" T5HO. 108 watts is much better than the 32 watts I had originally.
Lighting schedule is cut to 10 hours from 12 to try to control algae growth for now.
Lighting schedule is cut to 10 hours from 12 to try to control algae growth for now.
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- Water Wisteria
- sekunda2003
Flow
Flow will be provided by the Marineland C-220 canister filter. It runs at 220 gph in normal operation. Normal circulation for a planted freshwater tank is 4 times the tank per hour.
Added a Marineland Penguin 350 filter to help with surface agitation, water flow, and filtering.
Added a Marineland Penguin 350 filter to help with surface agitation, water flow, and filtering.
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- Neon Tetra
- sekunda2003
Phosphate
Nitrate
Nitrite
Ammonia
pH
Temperature
Iron
GH
Alkalinity
Neon Tetras, Otocinclus cats, Bristlenose pleco, Harlequin rasboras.
The Oto's are quite the characters, they like to swim around with the Rasboras when they aren't munching on algae.
The Oto's are quite the characters, they like to swim around with the Rasboras when they aren't munching on algae.
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- Cyperus helferi
- sekunda2003
17 Fish
1 Invertebrate
8 Plants
Equipment
Lighting
2
Zoo Med Ultra Sun
Heater
Penn Plax Cascade 200w
Aquarium
Stand
Powerhead
Controller
Aeration
AirPod APP4 Air Pump
Media
Food
Tetra Color Tropical Flakes
TestKit
Additive
Seachem Iron
Seachem Phosphorus
Seachem Potassium
Seachem Trace
Water-Rite Powder
Substrate
Bulb
AquaticLife 6000K Lamp
AquaticLife Roseate Lamp
Other
Australian Zebra Rocks
Additives
Seachem Flourish
Seachem Excel
Seachem Iron
Seachem Nitrogen
Seachem Phosphorus
Seachem Potassium
Seachem Prime
Seachem Excel
Seachem Iron
Seachem Nitrogen
Seachem Phosphorus
Seachem Potassium
Seachem Prime
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- Scarlet Temple
- sekunda2003
Feeding See more
Wardley Tropical Fish Flakes · Top Fin Freeze Dried Bloodworms · TetraColor Tropical Flakes · TetraMin Tropical Flakes
Feeding is once or twice a day in small increments of high quality flake and freeze dried bloodworms.
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- Cryptocoryne wendtii
- sekunda2003
On average you perform a 9.5% water change every 10 days.
0% total water change in March.
Diary Entries View all Diary Entries
Got home from work... back side of the tank had shattered and everything was on the living room floor. Water, fish, plants, rocks... Spent most of the evening cleaning and tearing out the basement til…
Totally redid the aquascape... Pulled out everything that was overgrown and did a lot of pruning. Pretty much started over, but the layout is much better than before.
Pulled plants on left side to clean up. Pruned all the best tops to return. Cleaned substrate. Returned tops to substrate
Cleaned the substrate right side
Pruned left side of tank
Cleaned partial glass
Inspiration & Goals
Goals are to have a healthy, plush planted aquarium with a small population of supporting fish and shrimp.
Takashi Amano and his tanks are a big influence, but this is not a copycat tank. Just doing what I can do with what I have.
Takashi Amano and his tanks are a big influence, but this is not a copycat tank. Just doing what I can do with what I have.
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- Java Fern
- sekunda2003
Words of Wisdom
Research, research, research. Don't buy anything until you know exactly what you want and how to make it all work together.
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- Otocinclus Catfish
- sekunda2003
Disasters & Regrets
When the tank was originally set up, I did a fishless cycle. Unfortunately, this went on way too long as I was unable to get fish or plants in when needed. This caused a serious algae problem that I am still dealing with and trying to straighten out. My first round of plants were overtaken by algae and did not make it.
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- Staurogyne
- sekunda2003