55 Gallon Tank Inexperienced And Setting Up A Planted Tank.

Hello,

I'm new to the hobby and currently have a 5 gallon planted Betta tank that it's doing amazingly well but yesterday I bought a used 55-gallon setup. The tank is in good condition as I personally saw it with water and fish. The guy gave me the tank, stand, new light, filter and air pump, all for $175. I think it was a good price. Anyhow, I want it to be a low tech planted tank and will be posting updates on how it's coming along. What kind of plants should I look for this kind of setup? Here is a photo of the tank, we'll see how this progresses. I already cleaned it and painted the background with plasti-dip. I'm pretty excited about this!!!

 

Nice !!!
Welcome to Fishlore and keep us updated on your progress.

 

The tank looks good, I would go with a black sand substrate and a nice LED light. Being your first planted tank start out with easy low light plants like Java fern, Water Sprite, Water Wisteria, or Anubus.

 

It’s a good start! But you need to move the mirror a little to the right...
Sorry, I have a thing for symmetry...

 

It’s a good start! But you need to move the mirror a little to the right...
Sorry, I have a thing for symmetry...

I decided to move it out of the bedroom, we rarely spend time there anyway. I'll put it in the dinning room, bellow another mirror and I will center it, I'm OCD as well, lol

The tank looks good, I would go with a black sand substrate and a nice LED light. Being your first planted tank start out with easy low light plants like Java fern, Water Sprite, Water Wisteria, or Anubus.

Thanks!!!, that's what I'm researching, didnt know very well the difference between high tech and low tech aquariums. Being my first planted tank I'll stay low tech, thanks for the plants suggestion!

 

Thanks!!!, that's what I'm researching, didnt know very well the difference between high tech and low tech aquariums. Being my first planted tank I'll stay low tech, thanks for the plants suggestion!

Doing low tech will make your life much easier starting out, plus cheaper.

 

Here's an update to my tank! I got some medium size lava rocks from a local landscape place, it was really cheap! As for the substrate, I used regular black substrate (the guy who sold me the tank gave it to me) and I put it in two laundry bags. I did this to gain height for some of the lava rocks. As for the rest of the susbstrate I used two 20lbs bags of eco complete and one 10lbs bag of caribsea sand. I got impatient and set this up without having the plants here but that's ok, I'll be ordering a bunch of plants soon. Here's a picture of the work in process! Let me know what you guys think!

 

Here's an update to my tank! I got some medium size lava rocks from a local landscape place, it was really cheap! As for the substrate, I used regular black substrate (the guy who sold me the tank gave it to me) and I put it in two laundry bags. I did this to gain height for some of the lava rocks. As for the rest of the susbstrate I used two 20lbs bags of eco complete and one 10lbs bag of caribsea sand. I got impatient and set this up without having the plants here but that's ok, I'll be ordering a bunch of plants soon. Here's a picture of the work in process! Let me know what you guys think!

Looks nice! I like the scape. What kind of plants are you getting?

 

Looks nice! I like the scape. What kind of plants are you getting?

I'm thinking about some Vallisneria for the background and chainsword narrow leaf, those will be to cover most of the rear glass, I also want some ludwigia to put in the corner where the filter is, behind the sand and some anubias nana nana petite to put them between the rocks and to attach it to a small piece of mopanI wood that I'm treating. I'll post more pictures when I add more stuff.

 

Hello guys, I have another update on my tank. I changed the position of the rocks a little bit, added some more pieces of lava rock and added a medium sized piece of mopanI wood (I have two more pieces but I felt that it was going to be too much for the tank). I also got plants, I was kinda worried because I have never ordered plants online but they arrived in good shape. I ended up getting jungle vallisneria for the back, dwarf sagittaria for the sand substrate, scarlet temple to add some red color, anubias nana petite for in-between some rocks and some anubias coffeefolia. I will start to add fish once they nitrogen cycle is completed, maybe like in a month or so. Anyway, this is how the tank looks now.

 

I remember having a lot of success with anubias afzelii, planted it into my substrate because I didn't have time to glue it to a wet piece of wood. rooted into my substrate real good and I see a new leaf every 15 or so days. Have you thought of the basic starter plants like anacharis or java fern?

 

I have java fern on my 5-gallon betta tank and tbh I'm not too fond of it, I didn't know about anacharis but I just googled it and it looks pretty cool!!! I might add it later down the road. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

I have java fern on my 5-gallon betta tank and tbh I'm not too fond of it, I didn't know about anacharis but I just googled it and it looks pretty cool!!! I might add it later down the road. Thanks for the suggestion!

Little thing I should mention right now, anacharis sets up a lot of roots like midway up the plant, so if you don't like seeing roots everywhere, anacharis is not a good idea. The good thing about anacharis is that it multiplies fast, lsat week I added some and it already has a few new plants popping up out of the sand.

 

Little thing I should mention right now, anacharis sets up a lot of roots like midway up the plant, so if you don't like seeing roots everywhere, anacharis is not a good idea. The good thing about anacharis is that it multiplies fast, lsat week I added some and it already has a few new plants popping up out of the sand.

Ohh that's actually cool, I don't mind seeing roots, I think it will add to the natural look that I'm going with the tank.

 

Little thing I should mention right now, anacharis sets up a lot of roots like midway up the plant, so if you don't like seeing roots everywhere, anacharis is not a good idea. The good thing about anacharis is that it multiplies fast, lsat week I added some and it already has a few new plants popping up out of the sand.

That isn’t how anacharis works. It’s a stem plant, it doesn’t send runners.

To the Op: Look into Crypts. Crypt spiralis is a taller background plants. Crypt wendtiI green/red/bronze and shorter foreground/ midground plants. All really easy plants.

I would also tie some moss onto the lava rocks, it’ll give it a more natural look. Christmas moss and flame moss are both my favorite.

If you’re looking for a carpet, look into pygmy chain sword, or dwarf sag. Easy plants.

 

That isn’t how anacharis works. It’s a stem plant, it doesn’t send runners.

To the Op: Look into Crypts. Crypt spiralis is a taller background plants. Crypt wendtiI green/red/bronze and shorter foreground/ midground plants. All really easy plants.

I would also tie some moss onto the lava rocks, it’ll give it a more natural look. Christmas moss and flame moss are both my favorite.

If you’re looking for a carpet, look into pygmy chain sword, or dwarf sag. Easy plants.

I thought about attaching moss to the lava rocks, I think it would look really cool, but I read that moss greatly benefits from co2 and I don't want to go that route at the moment (co2 is pricey and I have already spent too much $$$ and wife is not too happy about it, lol). As for the dwarf sag I already got it, I planted it on the sand, looks pretty nice!!

 

That isn’t how anacharis works. It’s a stem plant, it doesn’t send runners.

To the Op: Look into Crypts. Crypt spiralis is a taller background plants. Crypt wendtiI green/red/bronze and shorter foreground/ midground plants. All really easy plants.

I would also tie some moss onto the lava rocks, it’ll give it a more natural look. Christmas moss and flame moss are both my favorite.

If you’re looking for a carpet, look into pygmy chain sword, or dwarf sag. Easy plants.

for real?! I must've worded it wrong, here's a pic of my anacharis with roots n stuff, it's nasty because I'm just lazy, after I get the tanks into the new house it'll be rescaping, rearranging, and cleaning EVERYTHING. Also just realized the picture is garbage, those lines coming down are what I'm betting is roots, and there's a tiny plant alone somewhere under all the plants.

 

I thought about attaching moss to the lava rocks, I think it would look really cool, but I read that moss greatly benefits from co2 and I don't want to go that route at the moment (co2 is pricey and I have already spent too much $$$ and wife is not too happy about it, lol). As for the dwarf sag I already got it, I planted it on the sand, looks pretty nice!!

Every plant greatly benefits from Co2. But many can grow fine without it. Moss is one of those that grows perfectly fine without Co2.

Ah, yes! Not sure how I skipped you saying you bought dwarf sag.

for real?! I must've worded it wrong, here's a pic of my anacharis with roots n stuff, it's nasty because I'm just lazy, after I get the tanks into the new house it'll be rescaping, rearranging, and cleaning EVERYTHING. Also just realized the picture is garbage, those lines coming down are what I'm betting is roots, and there's a tiny plant alone somewhere under all the plants.View attachment 478245

It does shoot roots down, all stem plants do that. The small plant can’t be a runner, it’s probably a tiny piece that fell into the substrate and started growing. Maybe uproot it to check.

 

Every plant greatly benefits from Co2. But many can grow fine without it. Moss is one of those that grows perfectly fine without Co2.

Ah, yes! Not sure how I skipped you saying you bought dwarf sag.

I might venture into setting up a diy co2 system in a few months from now, the engineer in me wants to give it a try! Have you had any experience setting a diy system before?

 

It does shoot roots down, all stem plants do that. The small plant can’t be a runner, it’s probably a tiny piece that fell into the substrate and started growing. Maybe uproot it to check.

definitely worded it wrong then, I'll uproot it once I get the time (a bit busy at the moment)

 

I might venture into setting up a diy co2 system in a few months from now, the engineer in me wants to give it a try! Have you had any experience setting a diy system before?

I do not have any experience with Diy Co2. But from reading about it, it doesn’t seem too hard to do. You should try it out.

definitely worded it wrong then, I'll uproot it once I get the time (a bit busy at the moment)

yeah probably haha. No need to uproot it in that case.

 

Hello again guys, I have another update. The tank seems to have completed the fishless cycle, I've been dosing ammonia and monitoring the parameters daily (sometimes twice a day, lol). Ammonia and nitrite drop down to 0 a day after I add ammonia and nitrates are around 40ppm, I'll do a water change tomorrow morning to get those down as well. Also tomorrow I plan to go to the LFS to pick up some fishies!!!! I would like to get about 15 harlequin rasboras, 5 juliI corys, and 1 koi or marble angelfish. My dilemma is, should I get all the fish at the same time or should I add them slowly? I will keep monitoring the parameters very frequently until I'm confident with the tank. So what should I do get all of them at once? yes? no? Any other tips on introducing the fish will be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!

 

That’s awesome! How much ammonia have you been dosing, to what ppm? If you’ve been dosing up to 4-5ppm, then you should be able to add them all at once. But either way, that isn’t too many fish. And I would swap the julI cories for sterbaI or bronze/albino. They would be more temp compatible to the angel and HR.

 

Definitely get them slowly. Even being a completely cycled tank, they will pump out more ammonia than what you added in. It will take about a week for the bio system to catch up which is rarely normal. Just get the groups separate, nothing crazy like 3 or 4 fish at a time for a tank that size.

 

That’s awesome! How much ammonia have you been dosing, to what ppm? If you’ve been dosing up to 4-5ppm, then you should be able to add them all at once. But either way, that isn’t too many fish. And I would swap the julI cories for sterbaI or bronze/albino. They would be more temp compatible to the angel and HR.

I've been dosing about 4ppm ammonia (kinda hard for me to truly discern those colors hehe). I will look into those other fish that you recommended instead of the julii, I just like the jullI because of the pattern they have.

 

I've been dosing about 4ppm ammonia (kinda hard for me to truly discern those colors hehe). I will look into those other fish that you recommended instead of the julii, I just like the jullI because of the pattern they have.

Yeah, it should be fine, it’s a 55 gal with a few tiny fish. But keep an eye on your parameters, just in case.

SterbaI cories have an almost identical pattern, if not better.

 

Yeah, it should be fine, it’s a 55 gal with a few tiny fish. But keep an eye on your parameters, just in case.

SterbaI cories have an almost identical pattern, if not better.

Yeahhh I just googled the sterbaI corys, I like them better than the julii!!! Thanks!!

I've been documenting the progress that I've made with my 55 gallon tank, this is the latest update. I added more plants, some melted but that was before I got better light and the Easy Green fertilizer. I also added some more fish as well. Here's some pictures of the tank.

 

Can I come live in your tank? I'll just tuck myself into a nice cozy nook and you'll never even know I was there! I'm a peaceful community member, and I'll even do my share of the cleaning!!

But seriously, that is a beautiful tank. Can't wait to see the plants fill in!

 

Can I come live in your tank? I'll just tuck myself into a nice cozy nook and you'll never even know I was there! I'm a peaceful community member, and I'll even do my share of the cleaning!!

But seriously, that is a beautiful tank. Can't wait to see the plants fill in!

Thank you Otocinclus, I can't wait for the plants to grow more too!!!