Bryangar's 46 G Tank Build

Figured I might as well start a thread about putting my 46 gallow bowfront together. I’ll be updating every now and then.

I tried scaping the tank, but I just don’t have an eye for it. Anyways this is what I put together.




I ended up removing most of the smaller rocks. It looked too crowded.

Today, I went to home depot and picked up some dirt, Nature’s care organic & natural potting soil to be exact. Then I started sifting the dirt and added it to the tank.




It got too late so for now it only has 1/2 inch of dry soil. I’ll sift some more, going for 1-1 1/2 inch of wet dirt. I’ll update tomorrow.

 

It’s looking good!
I suggest only a minimum of two types of rocks for a scape, any more than that causes a disruption and makes it harder to focus on. I like using lava rock or river rocks, but dream of seriyu and dragon stone.

 

It’s looking good!
I suggest only a minimum of two types of rocks for a scape, any more than that causes a disruption and makes it harder to focus on. I like using lava rock or river rocks, but dream of seriyu and dragon stone.

Yeah. The picture with the dirt is what i’m going with, the rocks are almost the same color. I might change it up later tho, before I cap.

 

Here’s the finished scape. I still have to plant.

Thoughts?

 

Here it is planted. I might have bought too many plants.

 

New light came in. It is extremely bright, kinda hurts my eyes, lol.

It did get messy overnight. I’m not sure if it was a bacterial bloom or part of the dirted tank cycle but yeah.

Only thing I have running it is an AC50, it’s probably not enough so I might upgrade to a 70.

 

you can never have too many plants.

nice work, bryanger.

 

you can never have too many plants.

nice work, bryanger.

True, but I ended up leaving out like 4 pots of crypts that I bought.

 

Although many people don’t really like the nasty fungus that grows on the wood, I thought it looked pretty cool. Here’s a pic.

 

Although many people don’t really like the nasty fungus that grows on the wood, I thought it looked pretty cool. Here’s a pic.

We have the same tank!

 

We have the same tank! View attachment 469900

That’s awesome!

 

That’s awesome!

This is just my first forray into live plants. There is mostly just Java and other assorted ferns, an Amazon Sword and a few Anubias. I want to see how this goes before I delve into a dirted tank. It seems not too difficult and the range of plants I could do may be bigger. I have the sword in a pot in this tank. I had already built this one and then decided I wanted to try live plants. I don't want to tear this one down and disrupt the fish etc to put in a new substrate and all that. I am not even sure that can be done at this point.

 

This is just my first forray into live plants. There is mostly just Java and other assorted ferns, an Amazon Sword and a few Anubias. I want to see how this goes before I delve into a dirted tank. It seems not too difficult and the range of plants I could do may be bigger. I have the sword in a pot in this tank. I had already built this one and then decided I wanted to try live plants. I don't want to tear this one down and disrupt the fish etc to put in a new substrate and all that. I am not even sure that can be done at this point.

I see. I was definitely over complicating dirting a tank, it’s really easy. But I think I might have added too little, since I only did 1/2 an inch on the gravel part.

If you wanna dirt it then i’d temporarily re home your fish since the dirt will leech ammonia for sometime. I tested it to 2ppm today.

 

I see. I was definitely over complicating dirting a tank, it’s really easy. But I think I might have added too little, since I only did 1/2 an inch on the gravel part.

If you wanna dirt it then i’d temporarily re home your fish since the dirt will leech ammonia for sometime. I tested it to 2ppm today.

No I wouldn't dirt this one. If I were to do anything I would get some kind of aquarium soil for this one. I am going to dirt the 12 Hex I just bought. I probably won't even be able to the fish in until October. Assuming I get it up and running in the next week or so. Maybe even November to be extra careful.

 

Figured I should add my plant list:

-Front left: Moneywort, Crypt bronze, anubias hastifolia, anubias nana petite, crypt lutea.
-Back left: contortion val, hornwort, crypt spiralis.
-Middle: dwarf chain sword, crypt wendtiI green, crypt undulata.
-Right back: water wisteria, ludwigia repens, crypt bronze, anacharis narrow leaf.
-Front right: italian val, dwarf sag, red rubin sword.

Today I removed the ruffled sword and added crypts. Split up the crypt greens and removed the fungus from the wood. Everything is doing fine, still a little dusty tho.

 

Update: Plants have grown in nicely, I'm still growing out some plants in my 5 gal for this tank. and I ordered a madagascar lace plant still not here lol

oh, also look at how great purigen works.

Before:



After 24 hrs:




I also order some fish from Trin’s Fish, which came in really healthy. I got: 6 KuhlI loaches, 13 cherry barbs, a pearl gourami and a clown pleco, still in QT..Unfortunately, the pleco didn’t make it, and the tank now has Ich, which I still need to medicate.

But yeah, I think that’s all.

 

Here’s my pearl gourami temp acclimating:


And after a few minutes, he’s already looking around his new home.

 

Here’s my pearl gourami temp acclimating:View attachment 495444

And after a few minutes, he’s already looking around his new home.
View attachment 495445

I saw these guys at petco today... they're so pretty!!

 

I saw these guys at petco today... they're so pretty!!

I wish they had them at my LPS.

 

I wish they had them at my LPS.

my petco gets a lot of pretty fish. they just recently started carrying red cherry shrimp (they weren't in stock yesterday when I was there tho) and christmas, flame, pelia and java moss, plus lots of other plants and decorations. the fish always look healthy too. I rarely see any dead ones. my petsmart, however... what a mess lol

do you have pics of the other fish you ordered???

 

my petco gets a lot of pretty fish. they just recently started carrying red cherry shrimp (they weren't in stock yesterday when I was there tho) and christmas, flame, pelia and java moss, plus lots of other plants and decorations. the fish always look healthy too. I rarely see any dead ones. my petsmart, however... what a mess lol

do you have pics of the other fish you ordered???

I don’t think my Petco carries anything good, just the regular stuff from what i’ve seen. But I rarely go lol. Did you buy anything from your trip there?

I don’t...well not good ones. It’s just cherry barbs though, I barely ever see my kuhlis.

 

I don’t think my Petco carries anything good, just the regular stuff from what i’ve seen. But I rarely go lol. Did you buy anything from your trip there?

I don’t...well not good ones. It’s just cherry barbs though, I barely ever see my kuhlis.

just an overpriced ($10) red java fern i've tried 4 different plants in this corner and they've all died or done very poorly. i'm hoping this fern will survive.




they had cute veiltail cherry barbs too :3 kuhlis are cute, that's a bummer

 

just an overpriced ($10) red java fern i've tried 4 different plants in this corner and they've all died or done very poorly. i'm hoping this fern will survive.

View attachment 495910

they had cute veiltail cherry barbs too :3 kuhlis are cute, that's a bummer

Oh wow, that is overpriced. If the fern doesn’t work, your last option would be a fake plant haha.

I wanted a few of those for my group, but I might get some other schooling fish to make my tank more active..

 

midnahere’s a pic of my barbs, you can see the fin/tail rot they have.

Look at how awkward the cory looks.

 

midnahere’s a pic of my barbs, you can see the fin/tail rot they have.

Look at how awkward the cory looks.
View attachment 495992
View attachment 495993

you sure got a bad batch of fish, huh :/ i'm really sorry. luckily fin rot is (usually) curable. that's so odd that a fish with such little fins would have fin problems though. i'm also sorry about the pleco you got that passed also lol the cory

arghh!! I was thinking about a fake plant as a last resort, lol. but since java ferns are such low light plants, I doubt this thing will die. that corner gets no light unless I physically move the light. we will see.

 

you sure got a bad batch of fish, huh :/ i'm really sorry. luckily fin rot is (usually) curable. that's so odd that a fish with such little fins would have fin problems though. i'm also sorry about the pleco you got that passed also lol the cory

arghh!! I was thinking about a fake plant as a last resort, lol. but since java ferns are such low light plants, I doubt this thing will die. that corner gets no light unless I physically move the light. we will see.

yeah hahah. Its a case of bad luck. Let’s not forget about the 4 kuhlI loaches I lost during my ich treatment too lol.

 

Acclimating the kuhlI loaches!

 

Loving the Pearl Bryan. Give it some floaters. Will there be a female as well ?

 

Tanks looking great

 

Loving the Pearl Bryan. Give it some floaters. Will there be a female as well ?

Thanks! I was think on adding another pearl, do you think mine is a male?

 

Thanks! I was think on adding another pearl, do you think mine is a male?

I know for sure !

 

*

I’ve been dealing with really bad green hair algae and what looks to be the start of BBA, so I just did a somewhat trim, I removed a lot of the hornwort since it carried most of it, which is kind of a waste.

I see a lot of the females are egg bound, and saw some breeding behavior behind the water wisteria the other day, but I doubt any will survive in this tank.

Params are all good, fish and plants are all growing.

Here’s some pics








I love how the lily pads are growing

 

love that wisteria!!!

 

I got a picture of my kuhlI loaches hanging out on the sponge filter.

 

I got a picture of my kuhlI loaches hanging out on the sponge filter.

View attachment 501618

Brothers in crime !!!! Great shot !

 

Hey,

Can anyone recommend some plants for the places I circled? Or anything I can do to make it look better?




Thanks!

 

Hey,

Can anyone recommend some plants for the places I circled? Or anything I can do to make it look better?

View attachment 502259

Thanks!

S. repens or Crypt parva.

 

Picked up an angel fish, I just threw him in Quarantine!

 

What kind is the angel? Marbled? bizaliz3 (tagging you bc you probably know?)

The tank it was in labeled them as “assorted tropical fish”. The tank had a bunch of angels, bala sharks, 1 black tiger barb and a bunch of cherry barbs, each for $6. I thought that was overpriced.

 

What kind is the angel? Marbled? bizaliz3 (tagging you bc you probably know?)

The tank it was in labeled them as “assorted tropical fish”. The tank had a bunch of angels, bala sharks, 1 black tiger barb and a bunch of cherry barbs, each for $6. I thought that was overpriced.

It's a streaked marble with heavy black covering. Super cute!