55g Planted tank (The Start)

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Sigrid

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Jan 8, 2011
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...I know this is off topic also....BUT when you live in an area where is nothing to buy, you once in a while cheating with fake plants as background in the piggy Goldfish tank...is a must.

The local mini-pet store folks would not know a dandelion from a marijuana plant, oooops "noxious weed", and that is the sad truth.
 

Bk718

No Monkey Business
Nov 29, 2007
7,148
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Brooklyn, NY
This week have really kicked into full gear with tank maintenance.
So far done the following:
Purchased, premixed and made a dosing schedule (will be following the EI)
Purchased starter plants (should be here by tuesday)
Tweaked the pressurized CO2 bubble rate
Switched the output of eheim to spray bar for more dispersed flow
AND THE BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT was the 60% water change (last large w/c was done a good year or so back)

At the moment the tank is somewhat cloudy due to the GH booster but overall, day by day, its getting back to looking more and more decent (still looks like crap but its better than it was before, algae covered and neglected)
Here is a crappy photo:



Plan for the next few weeks would be:
1- fix/replace 2nd canister filter
2- grow out the new plants ill receive
3- do a complete rescape, keeping the scape simple and clean looking. (maybe even do a restock of fish)

The pace of all this will be slow considering i barely have time to breathe.. but we will get there eventually..

Thanks for looking
 

myswtsins

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Jun 15, 2008
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Slow is good, makes you appreciate it more IME.

-How are you pre-mixing your ferts?
-What possible stock you thinking about? and what's in there now?

Glad to see this thread moving again and yay for gritty realistic photos! :)
 

Bk718

No Monkey Business
Nov 29, 2007
7,148
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Brooklyn, NY
Slow is good, makes you appreciate it more IME.

-How are you pre-mixing your ferts?
-What possible stock you thinking about? and what's in there now?

Glad to see this thread moving again and yay for gritty realistic photos! :)
lol gritty realistic photos.. Listen now......

The tank cleared up and looks great! Without the algae on the glass it seems like I added a whole new light fixture.

For ferts all I did was order dry and premixed it in 250ml bottle..so instead of dosing dry directly to tank i can simple use 5ml of liquid and be done. Similar to Seachem stuff..

Currently the stock is:
1 Female Adult angel
1 Male Adult Bolivian ram (looking for a female)
1 Adult SAE
5 Australian Rainbowfish
2 Rummy nose tetras
7-9 cories

I was thinking of getting rid of the larger fish and keep the tank with nothing but tetras/cories... but it will be hard to let go of these guys :/

Who knows maybe will set up my 10g again :lipssealedsmilie:
 

myswtsins

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Jun 15, 2008
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I appreciate you posting your less than perfect tank pictures. This hobby isn't always that beautiful lush tank so it's nice to see people share the other side of the coin too.

You have so many options with stock! Tetras always go well with planted tanks, but a nice rainbow tank is great too. If you love the fish you have just trim any extra species and round out the rest, they are all great fish.

Adding another tank is always the right thing to do!! :FIREdevil: But seriously don't over whelm yourself.
 

bgourami320

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Jun 13, 2010
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Bonnie
Your tank is looking good, it looks like you have moss tied to the wood? I like that.
if you want a female bolivian I think I might have two. I know you'd give her a good home, if you want one let me know. One I definately want to keep and I'd be glad to give you the other.
 

Bk718

No Monkey Business
Nov 29, 2007
7,148
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Brooklyn, NY
I appreciate you posting your less than perfect tank pictures. This hobby isn't always that beautiful lush tank so it's nice to see people share the other side of the coin too.

You have so many options with stock! Tetras always go well with planted tanks, but a nice rainbow tank is great too. If you love the fish you have just trim any extra species and round out the rest, they are all great fish.

Adding another tank is always the right thing to do!! :FIREdevil: But seriously don't over whelm yourself.
Beautiful tanks always have a dark side lol (im still waiting for the beautiful to be revealed...)
Now what I really wanted was a large group of cherry barbs!! those guys are great!

Your tank is looking good, it looks like you have moss tied to the wood? I like that.
if you want a female bolivian I think I might have two. I know you'd give her a good home, if you want one let me know. One I definately want to keep and I'd be glad to give you the other.
Thanks Bonnie,
moss on the wood? left branch? I had moss on it before but sold it.. have to remove the string still attached :x
Thanks for the offer as well, have you tried finding yours a mate? Just about all stores here have males. Ill message you in a week, maybe we can do a trade =)


On another note.. I received my order of plants today, majority of them came in good condition. After planting them the tank lit up with color. Will let them get settled in and hope they bloom. Will post photos maybe next week.
 

Hurley

aka Bunny13
Oct 2, 2005
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Hey BK! Nice to see you getting the tank set back up. I haven't had a tank set up in almost 2 years (and I haven't really been posting around here much either) but about a month ago I starting planning a new one and yesterday I finally got it planted. I'll have to post some pictures soon! :)
 

Bk718

No Monkey Business
Nov 29, 2007
7,148
1
60
Brooklyn, NY
Hey BK! Nice to see you getting the tank set back up. I haven't had a tank set up in almost 2 years (and I haven't really been posting around here much either) but about a month ago I starting planning a new one and yesterday I finally got it planted. I'll have to post some pictures soon! :)
Hey you gotta do what you gotta do.. Tanks will always be around, priority is making sure other things in life are flowing along smoothly first, then can have some aquatic fun.. But its great to see that you are still around here,
will be waiting for your updates
:grinyes:
 

bgourami320

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Jun 13, 2010
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Thanks Bonnie,
moss on the wood? left branch? I had moss on it before but sold it.. have to remove the string still attached :x
Thanks for the offer as well, have you tried finding yours a mate? Just about all stores here have males. Ill message you in a week, maybe we can do a trade =)

Haha, sorry, I saw the string, just thought my ol' eyes didn't see something small attached.
I have mostly males, nothing happening. There is one female and male that sleep near a cave at night but I haven't seen any signs yet. I did see some females in Petland, thought of adding some competition and maybe that would get things going:)
 
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