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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| 55 gal
Okay this thread is all about the goings on in my 55 gallon tank. At the moment I am trying to use regualer dirt as a substrate and I just put the dirt in so this is what it looks like. | 
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by angelfish220  Okay this thread is all about the goings on in my 55 gallon tank. At the moment I am trying to use regualer dirt as a substrate and I just put the dirt in so this is what it looks like. | I don't think the dirt substrate will work as the filtration works it will continue to stir up and make it muddy. They make substrate for planting like eco-complete that will work without messing up the clarity of the water.  | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| That water looks so yummy.....
I have heard of this apparently it is really hard to do, someone once recommended a book to me about how to do this properly but of course now i forget the name of it. I hear that if you can get it to work it is the best choice for growing plants. It will be interesting to see if you can pull it off.
good luck
Ryan | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Yeah, Susitna-flower I thought of that, so I'm Waiting till most of it settles then putting and inch of sand on top, wait till most of that settles, then do like a 75% water change to get everything else out. The tank has cleared up majorly and I hope it continues to ontill church is over and I can add sand.
Hey ThisGuy, Yeah there is a book on it. I've read it. And I'm trying to do it the way it said but that didnt really work so, I'm taking my approch  | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| cant wait to see how it comes along...what are you going to stock it with eventually? | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| The fish in the 30 gal, 2 honey gouramis, 3 platies, 8 zebra danios, 3 silver tipped tetras, 1 stiped rapheal, and hopefully a breeding pair of angels. | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| alright, Today I totally emptied all the water out of the tank, and layed sand ontop of the soil. The tank is still cloudy, but in a new tank sort of way, not muddy at all. The sand is keeping the soil from clouding the water. You know I think that this might just work!  | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| wow its coming right along well!! i love the two different subtrates..and thats my goal to have some breeding angels...goodluck!! cant wait to see this tank coming along | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| thanks! The big dip in the soil was where my syphon went when I wasnt looking and it sucked up loads of soil, but I didnt want to mess with it so I just filled it with sand. Oh well if the layers arent perfect! | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| Yes I agree..remember those different color sand bottles you filled at fairs that came out soo cool? or wait maybe your too young for those ...those were something I always had to do when the fairs came to town! | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| So are you just leaving the sand or are you going to put some gravel on top of the sand?
Its looking good what types of plants are you thinking about getting? | |
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May 25th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by ThisGuy So are you just leaving the sand or are you going to put some gravel on top of the sand?
Its looking good what types of plants are you thinking about getting? | that would look awesome! to put some brite colored gravel on top...not sure what shes doing but just had a visual LOL | |
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May 26th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Nope no gravel, My mom is already worried about the weight, I cant add anything else but plants.
For plants I have water sprite and java moss. I am buying an amazon sword and dwarf chain sword from Cory55 ( and if any one is looking for plants, I highly recommend seeing cory's list first, he is a great salesperson, and was willing to work with me, I havent acctually seen the plants yet (didnt want them shipped over a holiday weekend) but I'm sure they look great.)
Which remindes me...  Happy Memorial Day 
The tank is totally clean today, except for some algae growing on the glass that i need to scrape off. | |
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May 26th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Looking great! Also its a nice thick substrate so your plants will have a large amount of room to root and in the long run grow healthier.
Can't wait to see what it looks like in a few months.
Also I think the thick planted look can be achieved without CO2 and high lighting. My 55 is fairly thick, as well as one of my 29's and I have standard lighting and no CO2. Only some fertilizer for the plants added after each WC. All of my plants grow at a good rate and are healthy and green. So I am pretty sure that yours will come along GREAT!
What fish are you going to put in your 30 since the 55 will house those fish? | |
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May 26th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| The 30 houses my turtle in the winter (summer she goes in the garden pond outside) so I can't keep anything to stay in the 30. Ususally it is use to house livebearer fry, spawn zebra danios ect. | |
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May 26th, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| Quote:
Originally Posted by angelfish220 I am buying an amazon sword and dwarf chain sword from Cory55 ( and if any one is looking for plants, I highly recommend seeing cory's list first, he is a great salesperson, and was willing to work with me | Who is cory55 i tried searching in fishlore and Google, no dice all i got was profiles for dating web sites nothing on plants. | |
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May 26th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| sorry, Coryd55. Fellow fishlorian memeber. He is on this thread post number 14 | |
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May 27th, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| i found the best fish store today it was 3.49 for any bunch of plants $50 later i have new plants in all my tanks... Thanks anyways | |
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May 28th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Wow!  thats a good sale! | |
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May 30th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| I added some Java moss the other day, but other than that, nothing much has changed. Some tannis is leaking out of the soil, but a few water changes, after the cycle of course, can fix that. | |
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July 12th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Pictures of progress please =)
Looking forward to seeing how it looks. | |
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July 12th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| I'm doing a water change right now ( I do about 2 50% water changes daily uhgg!!!) but as soon as the tank is full I'll post a pic.
The soil leaches unbelivible amounts of tannis in the water and there is WAY to much algae growth, its going down little by little as the plants keep gaining ground.
The sand kinda got lost, as there were crazy amounts of gas bubbles erupting the soil.
It's a messy process, but I'm still confident that I'll get the results that I want, as the plants have grown amazingly fast for the amount of light that they have had. | |
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July 12th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| I think it looks lovely so far... what lucky fish if all works out well..... I have to learn so much more before every attempting such a goal... | |
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July 13th, 2008
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| | Fish Addict
| 2 50% water changes a day? Ouch i don't envy you right now but that will be awesome once it is finished. | |
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July 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Still no pictures? really would like to see how the plants are looking. | |
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July 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| sorry, I should, but my mom is basically tellingme no! | |
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July 31st, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| No to pictures or no to 50% water changes. | |
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