33 long jungle ridiculousness

Hello all. I have been away from here for quite some time. I have had a 33 long planted tank setup for around 3 years now. I love this tank and it has been a joy for the most part to have. It has a evolved a bit over the years, including tearing it down around the end of 2020 due to a move. I had set it up initially shortly before COVID exploded in the US, but due personal experiences, wasn't really able to do much with the tank until around June/July 2020. It is also a low tech planted tank, and I don't really do too much other than water changes and a bit of normal cleaning obviously.

Current stats:
Seapora 33 long tank - 48x12x13
Finnex Stingray light fixture
Seachem Tidal 35 power filters
Caribsea Sunset gold sand substrate

Fish/plants

22-24 Golden White Cloud Mountain Minnows
8 Lemon tetras
many Red Cherry Shrimp
--
Rotala Indica
Jungle Val
Crypt Wendtii
Crypt Balansae
Crypt Lucens

Tank first setup!




This is how the tank evolved into the first period of being setup.




I really liked how it looked. Some of the Glowlight tetras that I had.




I had tons of fancy Guppies and a small school of Glowlight tetras.




Then, in the fall of 2020, I had to tear down the tank completely because we were moving. I was very sad!

 

That is an odd tank! I like the 48”. I’ve never seen that tank before. So many different setups are possible. Where did you get it?

 

Beautiful tank, like a cut off 55gl. Any plans to get it up and running again?
With those dimensions it should not be too hard to find a good spot.

 

That is an odd tank! I like the 48”. I’ve never seen that tank before. So many different setups are possible. Where did you get it?

I of course don't know where that one came from, but I've seen them for sale here once or twice. While it's not a common size, it's not a custom tank.

I'd love to have one, but I don't have a place to put it.

 

Hello fish friends! Thank you for the comments! I purchased the tank from one of my favorite (sadly now defunct) LFS back in early 2020. This particular place used to carry them regularly and I walked out the door spending only a little over 100 dollars on it, which to me was a pretty good deal. It's made by Seapora, which for me, personally, the build quality on this tank is better than any thing I have seen in person for regular standard, budget type aquariums like Aqueon or Marineland.

And yes! It is basically a 55, but half the height. It shares the same footprint. Maintenance on this tank is sooo easy, which is one of the reasons I love it. That and I can grow plants in it pretty easily due to the height to light ratio. The less water penetration for light, the better it is for plants growth. Within reason, of course. My light fixture is a pretty fairly dim Finnex Stingray, so I don't have issues. If I had a really super bright light with all these low tech plants, I would have tons of algae issues most likely.

The tank is currently housing my favorite fish, White Clouds. And I added a small school of Lemon tetras recently, but I don't know if they will be staying or not.

I meant to post more pictures, but ran out of time! Also, why can I not make these pics larger?

The tank in summer 2021.









The tank at this point just looks like a jungle. No real aquascape, I just put things in places lol
But it looked super full.










This is basically how it looks now.




Inhabitants shots!

White Clouds enjoying an algae wafer! With special guest Cherry shrimp!



I got a lot of these Golden White Cloud Mountain Minnows around 2 years ago for a dollar a piece at my LFS, and a good number are still alive. I had a bunch that jumped out sadly. But that's the longest I have ever had fish live. Super hardy.






Cherry shrimp! Surprisingly, for the most part, the White Clouds don't bother the shrimp for some reason. At one point, I had like 50-60 of them. They have kind of dwindled recently.











They also loooove the algae wafers.






So at one point, I had both Gold and standard White Clouds. I decided to just rehome the standard ones, and get more of the gold ones. I may go this route again though just for some difference in contrast, but also because I do like the coloration on the standards as well.







Adding the 8 Lemon tetras I got last week.

 

I meant to post more pictures, but ran out of time! Also, why can I not make these pics larger?

Large pictures slow down the loading of threads so are automatically resized by forum software, if members want to see a bigger image they can click on the thumbnails.

 

Those are some nice shrimp.

 

Those are some nice everything’s I love the gold wcmm. If you can get your hands on the Vietnamese ones they just have that little extra flair ! That is a great tank size too

 

Large pictures slow down the loading of threads so are automatically resized by forum software, if members want to see a bigger image they can click on the thumbnails.

Ah, okay! I see now! Thanks!

Those are some nice shrimp.

Thank you! They are pretty cool. They also breed like nobody's business. I actually started out with just 12 originally, which within about a year turned into 40-50. I have also had Amano shrimp before, and they aren't as colorful honestly and are quite shy. Never end up seeing them.

Those are some nice everything’s I love the gold wcmm. If you can get your hands on the Vietnamese ones they just have that little extra flair ! That is a great tank size too

Thanks! Somebody did point that out to me recently. Unfortunately, they are near impossible to find and extremely expensive. The one website I do show, the price is like 9 dollars for one of them. Yikes! Way out of my price range lol

 

That's a beautiful tank, and those white clouds are just gorgeous!!! They are so colorful!

 

$9 per fish !!!!!! Wow I don’t blame you. They aren’t THAT much different

 

That's a beautiful tank, and those white clouds are just gorgeous!!! They are so colorful!

Thank you!

 

If this is not a poster ad for cherry shrimp I don't know what is! Spectacular with the color of that substrate.

 

Thanks! They actually say Cherry Shrimp look better on a darker substrate. But for me, there is no substrate that is sand based and is darker than this that I like personally. I have tried a blackish type sand before and didn't care for it.

 

All of it is beautiful! I love the 33 long, so many options. My daughter stole mine but they are great for the wide footprint and you don't need crazy lighting like deeper tanks. You called it a "jungle mess" (check out my 20/29 thread if interested for "jungle mess" lol) but I think that makes it look even better. It looks natural and when the plants send out their runners, you can't beat that!

 

Great looking tank. I'm actually a bit jealous, when I see some of the forums tanks they look so clean lol. Hopefully I'll learn from all of you

 

Thank you! I appreciate it! And believe me, if you saw my tank up close, you would know that my tank is in no way clean. I actually struggle with finding an adequate way of cleaning my sand substrate. I have really considered "upgrading," to a different setup as I am getting a bit stale and have had this setup for three years now. But, I think instead of doing that, I will change things in the tank as it will be a lot more productive and cheaper. A 40 breeder or 55 gallon are always cool in my book though. I really do love my tank, I just wish it had more water volume. It's been super enjoyable though, so I figure don't fix it if it ain't broken.

So I changed things up a bit in this tank. I added a black background. I also recently added a few more species of plants like Ludwigia and Amazon swords. It's still a trash, messy aquascape compared to others that I have seen... Lol. I also recently ordered a new Finnex Stingray 2 light fixture just to see how it would look. It's cool that it comes with a moon light. I will probably send it back though as I don't technically really need it. It's definitely super bright though. I can't technically really afford it which is a bummer as I would love to keep it... I didn't pay anything for it.

A few months back, I added 15 regular White Clouds, just for a contrast in color. Well, I only have 7 of them now as I setup a tank for my Dad recently and gave him some of them. A 10 gallon. I am quite jealous as I can't get my regular White Clouds to look that good in my tank, and they look excellent in his. I think it's something to do with the temps. My heating is a bit different than the heating at his house.

Also added some more pictures of the Cherries since people seemed to like them.

 

So. I have given a lot of thought to this, but I think at the end of the year, which will be nearing 4 years of having this tank, I am going to upgrade to a 40 gallon long. The tank is overall very similar. But adding a bit more water volume will be nice. And also, a little bit more viewing space would be nice too. An extra
4-5 inches of height for viewing space wouldn't be too bad. That's around 16 or 17 inches tall, which isn't as bad as a tank that is 21 inches tall or more. I don't think I could go back to a tank this size/height again. Now finding one for a good price, let alone finding one at all will probably be quite the challenge. I will probably have to have it special ordered for me through my LFS, which they have never had a problem doing as long as they can get them. It will probably be at least 150 USD though. I definitely lucked out getting this 33 long for only around 100 dollars when I purchased it. That was also before the coronavirus pandemic though. They went up after.

 

I have seen some members on this site shortening the height of their normal tank but cutting it. That may more cost efficient.

 

So. I have given a lot of thought to this, but I think at the end of the year, which will be nearing 4 years of having this tank, I am going to upgrade to a 40 gallon long. The tank is overall very similar. But adding a bit more water volume will be nice. And also, a little bit more viewing space would be nice too. An extra
4-5 inches of height for viewing space wouldn't be too bad. That's around 16 or 17 inches tall, which isn't as bad as a tank that is 21 inches tall or more. I don't think I could go back to a tank this size/height again. Now finding one for a good price, let alone finding one at all will probably be quite the challenge. I will probably have to have it special ordered for me through my LFS, which they have never had a problem doing as long as they can get them. It will probably be at least 150 USD though. I definitely lucked out getting this 33 long for only around 100 dollars when I purchased it. That was also before the coronavirus pandemic though. They went up after.

I got mine about three years ago when one of the big box pet stores was running their dollar per gallon sale on smaller tanks. The 40 was around $50.00, if I remember right.

 

I have seen some members on this site shortening the height of their normal tank but cutting it. That may more cost efficient.

Uh... So I'm gonna cut my 33 long even shorter than the 12 inch tall height it already is? Lol. A 40 long is taller than my current tank, at 16 inches tall. Second, unless you're some kind of structural engineer and know exactly what you're doing, I don't recommend cutting your fish tank in half lol

I got mine about three years ago when one of the big box pet stores was running their dollar per gallon sale on smaller tanks. The 40 was around $50.00, if I remember right.

I'm not saying you're wrong or anything like that, but I'm skeptical of this personally. Must have been a special store because none of the big box stores carry 40 long tanks. It's a special order tank. Petco only carries 40 breeders, and Petsmart carries the 40B too, as well as a few other oddball sized 40 gallon-ish tanks, but no actual tanks that are the "40 long," 48x12x16 dimensions. Petsmart carries a 50 gallon branded tank in Top Fin which is pretty close, with the dimensions being 48x12x19. But never seen an actual 40 long in stores. At least at those two retailers.

Pet Supplies Plus used to advertise an Aqueon branded 40 gallon long on their website that they supposedly carried, but I've never seen one in one of their stores.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong or anything like that, but I'm skeptical of this personally. Must have been a special store because none of the big box stores carry 40 long tanks. It's a special order tank. Petco only carries 40 breeders, and Petsmart carries the 40B too, as well as a few other oddball sized 40 gallon-ish tanks, but no actual tanks that are the "40 long," 48x12x16 dimensions. Petsmart carries a 50 gallon branded tank in Top Fin which is pretty close, with the dimensions being 48x12x19. But never seen an actual 40 long in stores. At least at those two retailers.

Pet Supplies Plus used to advertise an Aqueon branded 40 gallon long on their website that they supposedly carried, but I've never seen one in one of their stores.

But I was wrong. I had 40 gallon breeder in my poor old brain, not 40 long. Please accept my apology.

 

Ahh. No apology necessary lol I certainly would have loved to find a 40 long in stores though, let alone for 40 or 50 dollars!

 

Nope, I don't think there is an engineering degree necessary. Just good glass cutters and thick panes and silicone and self confidence. I am not able to find the member name, but long tanks are not as common, as you already stated.
Understandable that you won't want the risk.....Good luck