My fiancee (sp?) bought me a 55 gal for christmas. Pretty sweet hey?
Here are my plans: Make wooden stand and canopy. Paint the back and 2 sides black. The stand will be 35" high and will be enclosed and in the front but there will be two doors for access. The canopy will house a run of the mill T-8 e-ballast 2 bulb fixture with daylight bulbs. The bulbs will be positioned in the front half of the tank to show off my fishes colors better. I am going to construct my own acrylic siphon overflow. The water will go to a sump (current 15 gal that I am using to house my fish). In this sump there will be two sections, the first will house the common house plant swath (used in those betta bowls with plant on top) supported on egg create and the other part will house some hornwort. This is my attempt to simulate a wetlands where nutrient export and microorganism reproduction will occur. This will be lit by daylight compact flouresent (cheap screw in ones). There will be two nylon socks containg peat and an ebo jager heater 150W in this sump. A quiet one pump will return the water. Also in the cabnet will be my 5.5 gal quarintine/fry grow out tank. For mechanical filtration there will be a whisper 20-40 and an aquaclear 50 on the main tank. A small sponge filter from the 15 gal will also be used.
Water change water will be composed of 50% city tap (11 dKH and ph 7.9) and 50% RO water (coralife's new 50 gpd unit $140) this ratio will be altered until the desired parameters of 5dKH and ph of 6.7-7.4 is obtained.
In the main tank i am going to use 40lbs eco-complete gravel with rest being red flint gravel. I will have java moss and java fern on driftwood and some easy plants mixed in with plastics. For surface plants i will use water westeria. I have no idea where i will get good quality plants from as of now.
This tank is being set up to replace my current 15gal. The tank contains 12 cardinals and 4 rams (small yet 1-1.5")
My goal is 20-30 cardinals, 6 cory cats, the 4 rams and 5 pencil fish (in office tank, yes i am addicted to fish keeping) and a few ottos. What do you think? I don't feel that this will be overstocked, yet the tank wont look empty. I am including surface plants and painted black sides and back and dark eco-complete gravel so that the cardinal will feel more secure. One pair of rams has already spawned in my 15 gal. I am not even using RO water yet!
The goal of this tread is to document my progress on the mighty 55 gal. Hopefully this will show beginners and seasoned vets a way a highly successful a budget 55 gal can be. We can only hope so. I will be constructing the stand in two weeks. I will keep everyone posted once I start! But before that please feel free to offer suggestions!
Here are my plans: Make wooden stand and canopy. Paint the back and 2 sides black. The stand will be 35" high and will be enclosed and in the front but there will be two doors for access. The canopy will house a run of the mill T-8 e-ballast 2 bulb fixture with daylight bulbs. The bulbs will be positioned in the front half of the tank to show off my fishes colors better. I am going to construct my own acrylic siphon overflow. The water will go to a sump (current 15 gal that I am using to house my fish). In this sump there will be two sections, the first will house the common house plant swath (used in those betta bowls with plant on top) supported on egg create and the other part will house some hornwort. This is my attempt to simulate a wetlands where nutrient export and microorganism reproduction will occur. This will be lit by daylight compact flouresent (cheap screw in ones). There will be two nylon socks containg peat and an ebo jager heater 150W in this sump. A quiet one pump will return the water. Also in the cabnet will be my 5.5 gal quarintine/fry grow out tank. For mechanical filtration there will be a whisper 20-40 and an aquaclear 50 on the main tank. A small sponge filter from the 15 gal will also be used.
Water change water will be composed of 50% city tap (11 dKH and ph 7.9) and 50% RO water (coralife's new 50 gpd unit $140) this ratio will be altered until the desired parameters of 5dKH and ph of 6.7-7.4 is obtained.
In the main tank i am going to use 40lbs eco-complete gravel with rest being red flint gravel. I will have java moss and java fern on driftwood and some easy plants mixed in with plastics. For surface plants i will use water westeria. I have no idea where i will get good quality plants from as of now.
This tank is being set up to replace my current 15gal. The tank contains 12 cardinals and 4 rams (small yet 1-1.5")
My goal is 20-30 cardinals, 6 cory cats, the 4 rams and 5 pencil fish (in office tank, yes i am addicted to fish keeping) and a few ottos. What do you think? I don't feel that this will be overstocked, yet the tank wont look empty. I am including surface plants and painted black sides and back and dark eco-complete gravel so that the cardinal will feel more secure. One pair of rams has already spawned in my 15 gal. I am not even using RO water yet!
The goal of this tread is to document my progress on the mighty 55 gal. Hopefully this will show beginners and seasoned vets a way a highly successful a budget 55 gal can be. We can only hope so. I will be constructing the stand in two weeks. I will keep everyone posted once I start! But before that please feel free to offer suggestions!
