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Planted fish tank

In the picture....

Java Ferns. I had both the green and the red. They had totally wrapped themselves around that driftwood. I also had the standard Anacharis and some Wisteria. It was just a twenty long so I needed shallow plants.

I can't find anymore pics dagnabit. But I'll keep loo:dunce:king.
 
tom e said:
Yeah put them up Chip, I'd love to see them.
I'm trying to source equipment for the CO2, but it's kind of a mystery. And pricey, but I know I'll have to do it eventually. I'm fertilizing with the pfertz system currently, but not too heavily as the tank is still cycling..
Click to expand...

Rexgrigg.com for your regulator and needle valves. As for supplemental CO2 and nuisance algae, Flourish Excel will be a best friend of yours! When I get some time, I'll go into more. You're off to a great start!

Here's one 125 of mine:
23r3ltw.jpg

5pmmao.jpg


My other one is an African cichlid tank, and I'm more "proud" of it. Can't find a small image right now, though... I have pics of the equipment and so forth too, but it's way past my bedtime and I've organized my picture folders horribly!
 
Speaking of driftwood.. This is a piece my brother found for me. I'd love to use it, but I've been soaking it for a while and while it still doesn't sink, it's getting kind of soft. Also whenever it goes under water it lets out this steady stream of bubbles. Seems it's riddled with holes from some kind of aquatic creature.
But check out those roots! And the rocks they are holding tight to. Do you guys think it could be used or is it best to avoid?
 
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elrojo said:
Rexgrigg.com for your regulator and needle valves. As for supplemental CO2 and nuisance algae, Flourish Excel will be a best friend of yours! When I get some time, I'll go into more. You're off to a great start!
Click to expand...

Rexgrigg.com learned me all about CO2 (well it's purpose anyway- I still need some help with putting the thing together). That guy has a way with words, and his site helped a lot.

I didn't notice that he was selling anything though! I'll check again, thanks.
 
Looks like some serious lightening Mopani wood ya got there. Put that wood in a bucket of heated water for a few weeks to release tannins. After the water quits getting tea colored, see if it's changing the pH much. That's a sweet piece, I'd want to use it.
Yeah, Rex makes the best damn regulator on the planet, and he's not shy about telling you that! I added some pics in my edit, but those are about a year old.
 
:bowdown::bowdown: Great tank! Brings to mind what Jen and I were discussing about mine.. I need to separate the plants into bunches by kind. Mine's a little jumbled at the moment. I'm planning on doing that as I trim though, pulling out some of the rooted parts and replacing with trimmings in a more ordered fashion.

Is that one at your house or in the store?
 
nice. my mom is into fish real big. she accidentally breeds them too. haha. she has a ton of baby rams and black guppies. and some cichlids she thinks soon. her one tank is a 70 gallon fluval osaka. maybe ill post up some pictures. i love just sitting there watching the fish. its a full live tank too. i help her with that tanks water change every week. so im learning a lot about it.
 
It's at the store now. I built two 125's into the wall for planted display tanks. That one was easy because I had everything at home on the same sized tank. I just can't remain as much of a hobbyist in my spare time when I do it 70 hours a week at work.
Here's a shot taken during construction, I'll find some better ones soon! If I can't, I'll take new ones.
s3j4vp.jpg
 
Gorgeous, Chip!

I second Rex Grigg...that man rocks, even though he's a crotchety old cuss, you can't help but be in awe of him.
 
Few updates.
I lost a guppy last night who has chewed up looking sections of her tail just behind her caudal fin. It could be some sort of skin problem (they came from petco looking a bit raggedy in the fins, but we were mostly past all that) but for her to be that bad today after looking fine yesterday, I'm blaming the CAEs. Plus this is quite DEEP- totally like a notch taken out.
So I'll be yanking everything to get them out with the net.
On the bright side, I'll get to do the rescape that I was both itching to do and dreading at the same time..
Thing is, a 55 gallon is not very deep front to back, so the space I used for the rocks, is probably better suited off being used for planting medium and lower height plants. This thing has no depth as it is. Also I've got the plants all mixed up, and I want to sort of put them together by kind. I'll put up 'after' pics when I'm done.
I'd love to say I'll be using that wood too, unfortunately I think I'd have the same problem and it's still not sinking yet anyway.
 
There's nothing like a well done planted tank. I've done them in the past. My time, energy, and patience is put in other directions currently. Thanks for sharing the pics, all of you!

D80
 
Tom, you said your tank was not cycled yet? I've found fish like that, but over the years have noticed that if a fish is already weak, the other fish will become opportunistic and pick on it until it succumbs, AND it's also possible that the fish died overnight and the others fed on it after its demise. Tearing everything out is likely to prolong your cycling process. Just something to consider. Best of luck.
 
On the other hand....being that heavily planted, you're unlikely to go through any type of visible cycle. *sigh* I need a nap...please disregard my drivel. ;)
 
Well that's a good point..
It IS cycling I think. I'm checking the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia daily and it's just gotten to where the ammonia is virtually nonexistent and the nitrites are starting to really be seen.
I think I will risk it though. I would rather keep up on the frequent water changes than have the CAEs grow any bigger and the plants getting rooted to where it's more trouble to get them out..
I'll be gentle though. I don't expect to have to do much but gently tug the plants out, put them into buckets by kind, lower the water about halfway and then net the fish and put it all back together.
I'd do a 50% water change today anyway, so the only change is the plants and the fish.
As far as the shrimp go, they'll just stay in for the whole process.
 
Agreed Lori....

LBoz said:
On the other hand....being that heavily planted, you're unlikely to go through any type of visible cycle. *sigh* I need a nap...please disregard my drivel. ;)
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I would always cycle a tank normally with Stress Zyme, then add the plants, but thats just me.

Tome here is another pic I found, again not the best, but it shows are set up for the reptiles and aqariums before we moved and had to get rid of em. The two on the right you'll aee the Rainbows up top, the plant tank on the bottom, and on the left the 55 with the Oscar. I'm trying to find the pic of the Oscar, she was a big fish, lived 8 and a half years.
 

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Would you guys believe I've heard a lot of conflicting information about that? ;) Whether or not to cycle a heavily planted tank that is..
When I use my little API tests, it looks like it's cycling very well (and quickly) but on the other hand, theoretically if my plants were sucking up the bad stuff it would look like that anyway right? I am not too worried though, my bio load is REALLY low for a 55 and I check the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia daily.
The rescape is done anyway, and the CAEs are no longer in the tank. I ended up having to use the trap anyway, as they were impossible to net even with the water half gone and the plants out. I just sort of chased them into it..

I'll post pics after the cloudiness settles.
 
Even under stringent laboratory conditions, you'd be hard pressed NOT to end up with nitrifying bacteria in the presence of ammonia or nitrites. Your tank WILL cycle, it's just a matter of how fast or slowly it happens. Plants are wonderful for the overall health of a tank, so you really can't go wrong there.

Craig, I've never been a fan of StressZyme, but that's just me. I know others that swear by the stuff. The only thing I've ever used with success personally is bio-spira. I was sad to see it leave the market, although the developer...Tim something...has apparently repackaged it under a new name after leaving Marineland. If your lfs doesn't store it right, though, it becomes an expensive package of dead bacteria.
 
I used the nutrafin cycle, which I have heard is garbage from most people. The thing is, it's what they had at the local store. But actually it looked like it did do something. I had been reading from .25- .5 ppm of ammonia and from 0-.25 ppm of nitrite everyday for a week when I added it. The very next day I had 0 ammonia and 1.0 of nitrite. It's been like that every day since. I may have gotten a lucky new bottle of the stuff, or I might have just run into a coincidence where my tank would have started that process anyway the next day. It wasn't too expensive though, so I'm glad I did it anyway.

What do you guys think of bristle nose pleco? I'm debating between those and the SAE at the moment. I still have 7 fat little oto cats working hard for me.
 
tom e said:
I used the nutrafin cycle, which I have heard is garbage from most people. The thing is, it's what they had at the local store. But actually it looked like it did do something. I had been reading from .25- .5 ppm of ammonia and from 0-.25 ppm of nitrite everyday for a week when I added it. The very next day I had 0 ammonia and 1.0 of nitrite. It's been like that every day since. I may have gotten a lucky new bottle of the stuff, or I might have just run into a coincidence where my tank would have started that process anyway the next day. It wasn't too expensive though, so I'm glad I did it anyway.

What do you guys think of bristle nose pleco? I'm debating between those and the SAE at the moment. I still have 7 fat little oto cats working hard for me.
Click to expand...
I love BOTH of those, Tom! I was breeding ancistrus for the longest time, but just recently gave them all to a charity fish auction. I kept my largest albino male and a calico female. I really adore them.

Otos are awesome, but I've not heard of people having good luck getting them from petstores, at least not the chain stores. I'd look around for your local fish clubs and see if anyone has them. If you DO get them from a chain, I've always heard that you should buy at least a dozen in the hopes that at least 3 or 4 survive. I'd wait just a bit until your tank becomes a bit more established before trying them...I'm not trying to sound like I know it all, I certainly do NOT, but I do know an awful lot of fish geeks, so I'm familiar with the trials and tribulations of others.

I'm breeding yellow shrimp. Let me know when you get a second tank set up...it's already getting a bit hot for priority shipping, but come fall, I should have a pretty good sized colony if you're interested in trying them. You can't keep them with your cherries, but they look nice in a planted tank.
 
Right on! Yeah, I'll wait then. I had heard the same about the otos. I was worried I lost one (and at least a few shrimp actually) because I couldn't ever count them all when the tank was full of plants. Turns out that they were just hiding. All present and accounted for.

Do you have to keep the shrimp separate so they won't interbreed? I understand some varieties of shrimp are really the same species but you'll start breeding 'normals' if they go together.
 
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