My 55gal Journal

[Mikaila31]

I finally made up my mind about whether or not I should turn my 55gal into a hi-tech planted tank. Well I finally decided to go for it. I've got 100lbs of eco-complete heading my way at the moment . I'm planing on changing the stocking as well. ATM the tank holds 3 boesemani rainbows, 8 rummy nosed tetras and 2 adult rubber eels. I'm keeping the rubber eels but all the other fish will be sold and I will restock the tank with different fish. The rubbers will provide me with a challenge, because I doubt they are going to make aquascaping and planting very easy. I'm just hopeing they don't enjoy burrowing into the eco-complete. I am planning on getting everything done in 3 weeks or so. I still need to get a co2 setup, lights, ferts, and of course plants. I'll add more detail to this thread when I get a chance. Below is a current picture of the tank.

Cheers,
Mikaila31

 

[goin_all_out]

looks pretty good so far, more plants are a deffident must. algae can over come such a small amount of plants very quickly.

 

[Mikaila31]

The eco-complete is suppose to get here tomorrow. I'll probably pick it up from the post office.

The rest of my plans are as follows:
Co2 setup and ferts will come from Rex Grigg's (http/www.bestaquariumregulator.com/)
Lighting will be 2X55 watt from AHSupply.com- I need to build a hood for the lights and I may add another 55watt once things get established.
I'm not sure on plants yet, but I'll be ordering from aquariumplants.com and probably a few orders off ebay. The tank will be densely planted on one end. Any suggestions?

For stocking we will have the two rubber eels and then lots of nano fish (I love nano fish ) The biggest fish will be around 1.5", Below is a list of fish that I would like. I know I won't be able to fit them all in, I'll just work my way down the list until I'm fully stocked. Any fish that I can't get into this tank wiill most likely go into my next tank .

20-15 Boraras brigittae - I'm in the process of ordering them, they will be wild caught fish.
5 sparkling gouramis- I currently have
6 scarlet Badis(dario dario)- looking for 3 pairs of this fish. I will most likely release them into the tank and never see them again.
----------------------------------------------------------
Pseudomugil gertrudae
Pseudomugil furcatus
Iriatherina werneri
some sort of algae eater(probably oto)
1-2 random fish( you always have some, for some reasom )

 

[Mikaila31]

Well I added the eco-complete today. I got 60lbs today and will be getting 40lbs more tomorrow. So as soon as the tank clears up I get to add some more . So far I love it, I haven't seen the eels burrow in it once yet. I will be ordering the lights and CO2 regulator tonight.

 

[aaronnorth]

why you taking the rainbows back, i like them

Dont the eels have to burrow to help relieve stress? They coud become a big problem later on with uprooting plants. Nice fish though, its amaizing when they do burrow.

Nice size tank, do you know what CO2, ferts, lighting system you will be getting etc?

 

[Mikaila31]

Update July 10:

Heres a pick with the tank cleared up, I still have to add 40 more pounds of eco-complete that arrived today. I'm still messing around with the hardscape. ATM I'm waiting for my lights and light bulbs to get here.

why you taking the rainbows back, i like them

Dont the eels have to burrow to help relieve stress? They coud become a big problem later on with uprooting plants. Nice fish though, its amaizing when they do burrow.

Nice size tank, do you know what CO2, ferts, lighting system you will be getting etc?

I like the rainbows too, but they are just getting too big for my liking. They would eat all the other fish I want and I've already bred and raised them once before. I want to move on to more challenging fish, but I will really miss them .

Mine have never really burrowed, the hid out under the wood or hang out in the open. I'm planting with plants that have a lot of roots, like swords, crypts, Hygrophila difformis, and aponogetons. Stuff that will be hard to knock loose.

I'll be getting a pressurized CO2 setup with a solenoid and a couple different upgrades and a 5lb co2 tank. I'll be trying out EI doseing on this tank. Lights are 2X55 watt compact flourescent, I'll be using 9325K blubs. I bought a retro fit kit, once it gets here I will work on building the hood for it to go in. I'm still waiting for a quote on the C02 regulator.

 

[aaronnorth]

Good chioce with the plants, i had a 10" plec, i switched all of my stems for the tough rossette plants.

 

[Mikaila31]

Well, my lightbulbs got here. I'm still waiting on the retrofit kit. I also bought some cold cathode lights today. And I paided for the CO2 regulator and ferts. On monday I'm planing to go look for a co2 canister from our welding store. I still have to pay for diffusers and a bubble counter, then plants.

 

[catfish101]

it sounds cool cant wait to see it. however imo it will probobly be very difficult to keep 2 eels that size with the plants but iv never tried so good luck also for some of he random fish you mentioned its more then 1 or 2 but why not get a shool of like 6 neon dwarf rainbows they look great in planted tanks. also they are very peaceful and will not eat your other fish

 

[Mikaila31]

The lights are finally done . 2X55 watt and 2 12" cold cathode moonlights. I need to go to a store soon and pick up some glass canopys for the tank.

I've got my plant list sorted out too. Heres what I'm planning on.
Anubias barteri v. ‘Nana’
Gracilis (Anubias gracilis)
Crypt, Walkerii
Micro Sword
Anubias barteri v. ‘Coffeefolia’
Java fern
tiger lotus
H. corymbosa
Rotala macrandra v. 'narrow leaf'
Cabomba
Red rubin sword
Wendtii, bronze

 

[lljdma06]

Those lights look good! Looking forward to seeing the final product. It will be interesting to see a planted tank with eels.

llj

 

[Mikaila31]

Well an update: Things are not going so good . This is taking much longer than I thought It would. I've gotten quite a few bad items and also a completely unrelated speeding ticket that have slowed down my plans. I've received my co2 regulator and accessories, everything arrived but with one problem. The pressure gauge is messed up. Everything else looks really great though. I haven't hooked it up to anything yet since I'm thinking I will break the guage. Sent a message to the seller 5 days ago and am still waiting for a reply .

Heres a close up of the pressure gauge, its quite obvious what the problem is. The dial face is bent up, the needle hits it. It would be a quick fix if the dial face wasn't made of metal.

Here are the ferts that I bought with the regulator

The diffusers, bubble counters and other things I bought off ebay arrived as well. Two of the five items I bought arrived broken, a ceramic diffuser and a co2 drop checker. I've already contacted the seller and replacements should be on there way.

Also I ordered some fish, for a different tank. Got a call from the post office that my package was leaking this morning...... That didn't go well at all .

Also my plans to buy the b. briggate fell through. I could find two sellers and now both haven't been able to get this fish in for over a month.

I beleive this is what they call a bad luck streak....

 

[aaronnorth]

sorry to hear about the bad luck, isnt there a way to get the casing of the guage?

 

[Mikaila31]

Theres two screws on the back that line up with the two gold circles on the front. But I don't really feel safe fixing it myself, since the tank is in a daycare. It's going to be a liablity if it malfunctions. I mean if it was in my room I wouldn't care that much . Theres a welding store in town, I was thinking of taking it over there and seeing if they can fix it if I don't get a responce from the seller soon.

 

[lljdma06]

Well, that is not good. You are having some poor luck. Instead of Boraras brigittae, try B. merah. They look pretty similar and are readily available. I'm having trouble with getting B. urophthalmoides and B. brigittae (urophthalmoides ships poor, brigittae is unavailable in my circles), so have opted for B. merah. If you want, I can help you with the source, but what are you sources that you are looking into? Chances are we are looking in the same places.

llj