55 Gallon Tank Journal

[drummer019]

This is more to match my own progress than anything.

55 Gallon Tank
30 Watts of Lighting
1 Piece of Rainbow Rock
1 Piece of Mopani Drift Wood
5 Young Platies
1 Silver Molly
1 Dalmation Molly
1 Common Pleco
1 Striped Raphael Catfish
1 Sun Catfish
1 Red Tail Black Shark

Seachem Flourish once a week

Currently have one piece of wisteria next to a rock and some Xmas moss tied to a different rock.

I should be receiving some Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata and some Rotala Rotundifolia within a week.

The Dwarf Sagittaria will be going in front of the drift wood and the Rotala will most likely go along the back wall.

 

[lljdma06]

As much as I am a fan of low light, yours might actually be a little low. That being said, your moss will be fine. The Wisteria is iffy, the Sag is a maybe (I've not worked with this species but seen it grown in low-light) and I doubt I'd recommend the other two plants at this time. Why don't you consider these species if you want to keep the lighting you have now?

Anubias
java fern
java moss
cryptocorynes
Some Amazon swords

I've grown all of the above with just average aquarium stock lighting. Granted the growth isn't fast, but you can get some nice growth and some decent root development. The other plants you have other than the moss and maybe the sag really would do better with a little more light and some CO2 injection. With about 1WPG, you would be fine to grow most of what you've mentioned.

llj

 

[drummer019]

Yeah I'm looking to upgrade the light but everything is pretty pricey. Any suggestions on cheap lighting?

 

[lljdma06]

Yeah I'm looking to upgrade the light but everything is pretty pricey. Any suggestions on cheap lighting?

Then stick to the species I listed until you upgrade your lighting. It makes no sense to purchase plants on the promise of an upgrade. For now, work with what you've got. Then buy different plants once the lighting is upgraded and you establish CO2 should you decide to go with that option.

Check out PARC

And check out Aaron's Back to Basics

Don't think lighting first, ask yourself if you want to inject CO2? If you don't, then stay with the lighting that you have or opt for only a little bit more, plant densly, and keep the plant choices to those plants that do well under those conditions. If you do, then ask yourself, how stable are you willing to make the CO2? For a tank your size, pressurized is always recommended, otherwise you'll be changing like 6-8 canisters of yeast and sugar water to get stable results. That's an aweful lot of yeasty ickyness. CO2 consumption is driven by the lighting. Less light = less CO2 and nutrients. The more light = more demand for CO2 and nutrients. If you don't meet the plant's demands for CO2 and nutrients when you up the lighting, you'll run into algae problems. This is very important to understand. You have to decide this first before you even buy plants. Once you decide to inject CO2, you've got to then measure how much you have. A dropchecker is typically used for this.

As for cheap lighting, you don't need much and many here use DIY lighting. How long is the tank? Four feet? Look for a fixture where the tube spans almost the entire length of the tank. You don't need the fancy lighting, period. You don't need HOT5s, CFs, uber hight output, a million WPG, etc. Just regular T8s will do nicely and are your cheapest option. WPG is only a very vague guideline but it still has its uses until all of us can afford PAR meters. Aim for about 1-1.5WPG. Don't go past 2WPG. We don't want crazy growth. More more than 2 is going to be overkill, IMO, because you'll have to invest in items you might not be ready for yet. Not much more than what you've got already, maybe another 30W tube spaced evenly from the other. That may be all you need to grow the basics and have a decent planted tank at an affordable cost. Coupled with some fire extinguisher CO2 and decent ferts, should you decide to use it, you'll be able to grow most of what you see in the trade for an affordable price.

 

[drummer019]

Yeah it's a 4 foot tank. The setup came with 2 24" light strips with 18" 15 watt T8's. I'm not sure if I want to inject CO2 or not.

 

[lljdma06]

Yeah it's a 4 foot tank. The setup came with 2 24" light strips with 18" 15 watt T8's. I'm not sure if I want to inject CO2 or not.

So the tank is braced in the middle then? That changes things a bit. I don't like removing the brace because of possible bowing of the glass (not safe IMO, though others have successfully done it). You could opt for two, 24" 2 x 15W T8 fixtures if you put glass covers on either side. That would give you a little over 1WPG and a nice, inexpensive option for either CO2 or a no CO2 tank. I've actually got one that is a spare. It came with my corner 36g, but I don't use it.

llj

 

[drummer019]

Yes it's braced in the middle. I was thinking of getting this light setup when funds allow.

 

[drummer019]

Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata and some Rotala Rotundifolia came in Saturday. Added them and fertalized with Flourish.

I like how they look

 

[drummer019]

New growth is starting to be visible on the Rotala Rotundifolia and Xmas Moss. No change in Dwarf Sagittaria though I've been giving 1 dose of Flourish after every 5 days while also doing weekly water changes.

I also added 10 Panda Corys. Heres a few hiding in a cave.