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Viriatha

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Hi! Haven't been around in a long, long time and I don't think I posted much then. I'd call myself Journeyman in skill level, my last tank was a 40 gallon freshwater. This week I bought my dream - a 55 gallon aquarium :) Tomorrow many of my accessories, including my water test kit, will arrive at my door and I can begin to choose fishes :) Today I finished painting the glass on the back (various shades of blue) and tomorrow I'm picking up sand for my substrate. My daughter uses play sand from Home Depot (at 4$ for 50lb!!!) and we're going to go get a bag of that as I'll pay for quality but if I can get quality less expensively, well no reason not to!

In this tank, not only would I like to keep fish but I'm thinking of trying to grow plants for the first time. Regardless, I've much missed my fish over the last decade and I really look forward to having my little finny friends back!
 
SnakeIce

SnakeIce

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Welcome back. I had a 55 planted at one point so I know what you are up against.
 
ROYWS3

ROYWS3

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Look into pool filter sand instead. It is not as messy and the grain size is just a little bigger so "dead spots" and anaerobic conditions are less likely to happen. It is a little more expensive than play sand, but not by much. I too had a planted 55g at one point and it can be a challenge because of the narrowness of the tank.

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress
 
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Viriatha

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SnakeIce, what do you think was your biggest challenge?

Royws3, I just looked it up and for 50 lb. it's only 2$ more, I can handle that :) Just for my education though, as I've usually done gravel in the past, why are these "Dead zones" a problem? What should I be looking out for? As for the narrowness of the tank, I'd actually felt that was an advantage. With the stand, the set up is 4'5" tall and I already need a step stool to get into it and was concerned about being able to reach into the back of it. Why is narrow a challenge?
 
ROYWS3

ROYWS3

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The dead zones are anaerobic pockets with little to no oxygen. They produce hydrogen sulfate (that rotten egg smell) that can be very detrimental to your tank. They can develop in any substrate but do so more readily in a substrate that's too deep or one that compacts and in this case it would be the latter because the grain size of play sand is so small.

As to the narrowness of a 55, it makes it a little more difficult to aquascape. It's difficult to create an illusion of depth with your hardscape and your plant choices (short - medium - tall) in such a narrow space
 
Rbishop

Rbishop

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Welcome back!
 
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Viriatha

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Royws3: It seems if it's ever been a problem in the past, it was never one I was aware of. If it develops, what effects would I see? As for aquascaping, I imagine it all depends on what you like to see :p I'm used to small tanks anyhow, so depth isn't something I think I've ever had lol

Rbishop: Thank you :)
 
ROYWS3

ROYWS3

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I gave you a bit of misinformation a few posts up - I should have said Hydrogen Sulfide not Hydrogen Sulfate.

It may very well never be a problem esp. if you manage your sandbed. If you vac it or have plants with healthy roots growing through it or MTS crawling through it there should really never be an issue.

search anaerobic conditions or Hydrogen sulfide and you'll get a bunch of info . . . mostly from people who were contemplating pay sand as a substrate or who had already put it in there tank and it started to develop problems
 
SnakeIce

SnakeIce

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The tank is deep and doesn't have much planting space to fit the short to tall progression front to back in. I did turface for my substrate in mine and that stuff is a bit light and doesn't hold plants down as well as some other options. So I had my hands down in my tank lots.
 
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Viriatha

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Royws3: Thanks :)

SnakeIce: I was thinking that instead of going short to tall, front to back; going short to tall, left to right. I'm putting a terrace in on the left for a plecostomus and it feels ideal for shorter plants. Longer plants on the right, to hide filter and heating assemblies, seemed like a fun idea. All interspersed with various decor and bits of rock. Have a general idea in mind but not anything really detailed as I expect the whole thing to come together organically as I find bits and pieces I enjoy looking at.
 
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