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Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
Tropical tank - just finished planting

This is my second 55g tank.

I couldn't resist buying plants today and finishing the aquascaping. The 4x54 T5HO light comes from Catalina on Tuesday or Wednesday, so hopefully everything will live until then. Right now, I'm doing liquid carbon, but I hope to add a CO2 setup at some point soon.

Substrate is Eco Complete, 5 bags worth
driftwood is Three pieces of malaysian and two pieces of mangrove root. Boiled all of them before they went in the tank.

Plants are all over the map, and I couldn't name half of them despite researching them ahead of time. There's a tall sword in the back, some val to the right of it. To the left I have an onion plant that I grew from a bulb in teh 10g. In front, I have some wisteria and rotala, some star moss under a net, a red plant whose name I can't remember (maybe Ludwigia?), dwarf baby tears and 5 bunches of microsword that I hope will grow into a continuous mat. The stuff hanging off the driftwood at the top left is something I completely forget the name of

There were some plants I wanted to get (like dwarf hairgrass instead of the micro sword), but the LFS doesn't carry them. I've had horrible luck with shipped plants, presumably due to the heat, so I'm skipping that until the temp cools down.

I put in tons of caves, hiding spots and general fish-safe areas. The three rocks in front even have a little cave scooped out underneath, facing away from the glass. I ended up not using the cement tree root I created because it took up a lot of space and provided no real value to the fish.

Filter is an AquaClear 110 with a sponge over the intake.

Oh, and all those fish came from an overcrowded 10g (2 mollies, one pearl gourami, a bunch of zebras and glofish, 3 snails). The only things left in the 10g are a CAE I'm going to try and give back to the store and some pond snails.

Pete
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Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
It's looking great. Certainly put a lot of effort into it. Keeping it looking that way would be a challenge for me, but it appears you've done the research to do just that.
Look forward to seeing it with the lights set up.
Lifesabeach is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Mentor
 
It looks beautiful, Pete! Great job! I have a 55g too and I can't imagine me setting it up like that. It's so cool! As what Life said, can't wait to see the lights up. It'll look great!
peacemaker92 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
Wonderful looking tank. The plant in the front on the fourth pic is giant baby tears and it looks like it is doing well but when you get the new light it should really take off. BTW the light you ordered is wonderful from what I have read. I have a 3x54 from Catalina waiting to be installed on a 55 gln. I did a lot of research before I bought it and they get great reviews and are much cheaper than the Coralife counterparts to boot!
What mounting option will you go with? I understand that the Coralife adjustable legs (the light tilts on swivels with these) will fit these as the housing is exactly the same as Coralifes.
Regarding the stump you made (which turned out great!) you ought to sell it here on fishlore and stow away a few bucks for your Co2 set up!

Last edited by Nate McFin; August 27th, 2009 at 08:05 AM.
Nate McFin is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
On the advice of others, I've moved the Coralife 130w from my goldfish tank to temporarily sit over the tropical tank. Sounded like the plants would all be dead by next week otherwise.

I can't wait until that light comes. Good idea on selling the stump. Shipping it would be somewhat expensive, but otherwise, if there's interest, I'd do that.

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Mentor
 
Your tank looks nice.....love it!

AlyeskaGirl is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
Thanks all

I'm really looking forward to the new light. It's a new design with a vented hood, individual reflectors, and a good name-brand electronic ballast. All that and on sale for $189 - a far cry less than the usual suspects.

The only thing it's missing is a splash guard, but I'll either cover the aquarium or rig one up.

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Moderator
 
Beautiful Pete! You've done a wonderful job!
Ken (and "thanks" for the computer tips!"
aquarist48 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
Thanks Ken, and glad to see you on the board

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 27th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
Your tank looks really good. Get ready to spend a lot of time pruning.
It's too bad about your stump not working out. It was really cool.
Regal is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
More pictures of new tropical tank

The 130w coralife is on this tank until the 216w Catalina arrives next week.

The sword in the back looks like it could use a little help (it's a bit curly, not sure what to do there other than wait for the new light and hope that's the problem). Otherwise, everything is doing well.

I dropped an algae tab in and took some photos.

I'm impressed with how much the darker snail has grown. The line on his/her shell from when they moved to my tank is clear as day. I've only had it for maybe a month.

My (giant) inca snail is doing well as well. It really loves the driftwood and has spent most of its new tank time on it. I posted a pic of him/her with the end of the 55g tank in view so you can get an idea of size.

I'm a little concerned about the Gourami. I've never seen him eat except for trying (and spitting out) some tropical food the first day. He seems very peaceful and happy to float around near the top of the tank. I guess that's normal behavior - at least from what I read. He does check me out when I come to the glass

And the glofish look AMAZING under the lunar LEDs at night.

Pete
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Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
wow amazing pictures. nice clean up crew. and gourami

Last edited by Time; August 28th, 2009 at 06:54 PM.
Time is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
That mangrove root looked horrible in the store (and was covered in black soot-like stuff, almost like pure carbon) but it has been great in the tank. I almost didn't get any, but I'm glad I did. Boiling steralized it and made it sink pretty quickly (I was told it would probably take a week or two)

It also mixes well with the malaysian driftwood. When dry, the colors are very different, but they look pretty close when wet.

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Moderator
 
Beautiful Pete! Great photos as well. The gourami is awesome!
Ken
aquarist48 is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
Now I'm really bummed. The gourami just died. He was down on the bottom on his side. I got to him just before my big snail did. The gourami pics I took right before I posted them.

I don't think he ever ate in that tank, but I can't imagine he starved to death. Maybe something else. Dunno.

I checked the water params and everything was perfect except temp (temp is a bit high at 79 due to August weather). I guess he just never made it through the stress of moving?

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
The tank looks very nice!
Sorry about the gourami
FishMagnet is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
That is not fair, at least gouramis aren't so expensive but the loss of a fish is always sad
Time is offline  
Old August 28th, 2009  
Fish Keeper
 
What a beautiful tank, great aqua-scaping. So sorry about the lovely gourami.
Je55*e is offline  
Old August 29th, 2009  
Fish Addict
 
I can't wait until you get your brand new 216 watt T5 HO lights!!

Neji is offline  
Old August 29th, 2009  
Fish Bum
 
Your tank is stunning! Best of luck stocking it!
Marisseas is offline  
Old September 4th, 2009  
Fish Helper
 
More recent pics here

New 4x54 T5HO Catalina light (pics)

Pete
Psychlist1972 is offline  
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