Finally got my 55 gallon transfered to planted.

So with all the posts I've done recently I sold all my cichlids, pleco, and fake plants for $60 and picked up some eco complete and play sand. Man the play sand is so nasty and cloudy, but settling down now.

I picked up 2 medium Amazon Sword Plants got them situated in the tank, they look great. One I managed to plant into a piece of drift wood I had, it looks great. I'll be getting the lighting on the 10th and setting up a DIY co2 two liter bottle for now, and will be adding a second DIY co2 in the next month as I continue to plant the tank.

I would rather get the planted how I want it, then start stocking with fish. Got a nice ceramic center piece from Petsmart, it looks awesome in the tank, I plan to attach some Java Moss to it here soon.

I finally settled on a stocking list for the tank.

3 Black Veil Angel Fish
2 German Blue Ram Cichlids (male/female)
6 Nerite Snails
6 Peppered Cory Catfish
1 Rubberlip Pleco
2 SAE's
15 Rummynose Tetras


The Rubberlip Pleco will be be sold once he grows out, right now he's only 2", so far I like the stocking list. But it will take time to stock it. I plan on adding in the Rummynose Tetras first, let them run for 2 weeks, then I'll add in the SAE's and Cory Catfish, The Angels will be last in the tank so everything else has time to settle in.

If you have any suggestion, feel free to let me know, thanks.

So the sand cloud calmed down a lot over night, still a bit of cloudiness. Here's a couple pics of it so far

Full tank


Amazon Sword planted into driftwood




Ceramic Piece from Petsmart


Side shot of tank

I don't have the money right now for the lighting I want, but will have it after the 10th, I'm currently running two Power-Glo 18" bulbs, I have 2 amazon swords in the tank right now, will they suffice til the 10th when I can get my 48" Coralife 2x65watt 8,000k system?

I do have some eco-complete under my sand, and in the drift wood for the plant roots.

Well my 18 gallon is full of algae and the Rubblip Pleco is in there for right now, the snail will go in there too until I am ready to move them into the main tank. I plan on some zuchini spears for them in the main tank when algae isn't plentiful. As for the SAE's they will be the main cleaners for the main tank for algae.

The rubberlip pleco will be gone here in about a month, and ill keep a couple snails in the 18 gallon tank too.

Found the lighting I am buying around the 10th

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+16770&pcatid=16770

48" Nova Extreme SLR T-5 Fixture with a 4 bulb setup, I love this lighting setup, though I miss out on 22 watts compared to the coralife 48" setup, but oh well this setup is awesome and I can order it with 2 6,500k bulbs and 2 t5 ho plant bulbs in the setup.