55 Gallon Planted Tank "trimmed Madness"

Hey guys, haven't been on this forum in awhile but now I'm back! I've been trying to create the best looking low tech planted tank for a few months now, and I'm hoping within the next few months I will get a bunch of

Here are the specs:
55 gallon freshwater tank
40 watt light = .7wpg
DIY CO2
Regular Gravel Substrate
Occasional Hagen Plant Gro dosing along with Seachem Root Tabs for amazon sword

Today, I started the java moss carpet


^ This became a failure, as I used plastic and the moss didn't root, also the threading degraded and it became a big mess.

This was the tank about a month ago


This is the tank as of tonight


Constructive criticism welcome and wanted!

Looks good though the blue gravel and the background really arent to my taste .
I would get sand or plain gravel (may as well put some soil under there while your at it ), and get rid of the back ground, either leaving it without one if the colour of the wall is nice, or getting a black one .

Then once it's grown in it should look stunning!

three-fingers said:

Looks good though the blue gravel and the background really arent to my taste .
I would get sand or plain gravel (may as well put some soil under there while your at it ), and get rid of the back ground, either leaving it without one if the colour of the wall is nice, or getting a black one .

Then once it's grown in it should look stunning!

Click to expand...

It'll be hard to put soil in now, but I'm planning on adding sand so that the dwarf hairgrass will grow into a carpet as well. The black background I've just been meaning to get to but haven't yet, I do love them as I had it in my old 29g tank.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Out of curiosity, what is the function of the bottle in the corner?

nosoup4you said:

Out of curiosity, what is the function of the bottle in the corner?

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That is the reactor for the DIY C02 contraption. The bubbles go in there and the water flows downward, allowing the CO2 to mix into the water at the best rate possible.

IovaykInD said:

It'll be hard to put soil in now, but I'm planning on adding sand so that the dwarf hairgrass will grow into a carpet as well. The black background I've just been meaning to get to but haven't yet, I do love them as I had it in my old 29g tank.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that wont work, the sand will just fall though to the bottom and leave the gravel on top again.

three-fingers said:

IovaykInD said:

It'll be hard to put soil in now, but I'm planning on adding sand so that the dwarf hairgrass will grow into a carpet as well. The black background I've just been meaning to get to but haven't yet, I do love them as I had it in my old 29g tank.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that wont work, the sand will just fall though to the bottom and leave the gravel on top again.

Click to expand...

It will work, I have a layer of gravel, and simply a layer. Meaning it consists of about a half centimeter of gravel as the base. I did not have much gravel when I started the tank and I moved a lot of gravel for the amazon sword to root as well as the water sprite to the left.

I don't quite get what you mean?

If you have a substrate on top that is of finer grade than on bottom, it will mix and the large grade will end up on top.

three-fingers said:

I don't quite get what you mean?

If you have a substrate on top that is of finer grade than on bottom, it will mix and the large grade will end up on top.

Click to expand...

Yes but with so little gravel, the amount of sand I will be putting will end up covering it.. it won't mix per say because there's so little gravel in the tank.

I see what your saying now. You should be OK then if you don't have any bottom dwellers, cichlids or MTS and don't gravel vac or replant then .

But because the gravel will make its way from the bottom to the middle, if you have/do any of those things, expect it to end up on top again.

imressive amoazon sword!

Thanks Elrohirthehasty :]

A little bit of an update. I have since changed the background to black.. I've always like black too but the colorful background was handy and my parents liked it. My old tank had a black background and I always enjoyed paying attention to my tank rather than the background.

Also, I took out the water bottle reactor because it seemed to distract viewers. I have the co2 going into the intake of the powerhead and the powerhead is now slightly turned towards the left. The reason I did this also was because I read more about higher turnover rates for planted tanks, and without the bottle there, the powerhead creates a lot of current in the tank, which I am liking so far. The bubbles almost disappear after going into the powerhead and it assures me that the entire tank is getting the co2 rather than just plants near the old reactor.

I have also moved the red ludwigia over the the right side where the reactor used to be. I think that it will work better over there because the piece of wood took attention away from it, I'd rather have the back there empty.

An update picture will come next week, any more ideas for the tank..maybe more plants where?
And also, can someone give me an idea on how I should go about adding sand to the tank? Will I need to remove my fish or can I simply use a reverse siphon to slowly siphon sand into the tank? Any ideas please..


A fun fact I'd like to include: In the year and a half this tank has been running.. I haven't done water changes and the water is crystal clear! I only add water that has evaporated! Bash on me all you want, but that is not going to change and my fish are thriving so I don't see why I would want to change perfect water!

Quick Picture Update:

Update time!

It's almost been a month since my last update.. hm, quite a few things have changed!
I've added moneywort and riccia, and moved a lot of things around. Added a 15w lightbulb to where the riccia is and changed my reactor to a powerhead with a spraybar on it now. So the co2 first goes through some filter mesh which creates little bubbles which go into the intake of the powerhead and the spraybar disperses the tiny co2 bubbles around the tank. Since the last picture, I've moved the dwarf hairgrass to the top branch of the wood to let it get more light and it has thrown out plenty of runners, something it barely did when it was on the substrate. The red ludwigia has not grown much the past month, but there is noticeable growth so I know it is not dead.

Here's a picture of the whole tank:


I've started tying riccia down, I used a clear piece of plastic and it looks fine, can't wait for the riccia to grow in..I think it may even pearl with the extra light! I only have 1wpg but I fully believe it will pearl and I will get a picture of it when it happens! Here's a picture:


Comments, Criticisms, Suggestions
Please! :]

looking good. looks a little like mine


I am glad to here the shipment got to you ok and thank you again for the purchase.