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My First 55 gallon planted tank Journal.

3K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  alwaysoc0nfused 
#1 ·
I started a previous thread but a lot has changed since then so I wanted to start a new one. All I know is want a really nice natural looking tank with lots of plants, a few schools of fish and maybe a few larger fish as the center piece or just lots of smaller fish to give the tank a bigger feel. I dont really know what kind of fish I want and your suggestions will help. The tank has been up and running for more than 2 weeks. I have been testing the water every other day and all my readings are fine. Ph is around 7.4, I will be able to get the gh and kh of the water with the next few days.

It is currently running:
1 aquaclear 70g HOB filter
300w heater
right side has a 55 watt 9325k high output compact fluorescent strip-lite (got it for 30 bucks, original price was $130. The guy at the LFS said it was really good)
left side has a t5 full spectrum daylight lamp
substrate has 60 lbs of fluorite mixed in with gravel

I am not sure what the names of all the plants are since I bought them from my LFS without any prior research. Most of my plants seem to be doing great, the grass already has other little grass plants coming off of them (what is that called? runners? shoots? im not sure at all). I have changed the setup 2-3 times since the beginning of it all but so far i am the happiest with how it looks now. The left side of the tank needs plants that do well in low light so recommendations for that are welcome.

There are currently 6 zebra danios, 2 Glo fish, and 2 HY5(?? Im not sure if that is what they are called or please look at pic below and help me identify them). I would like to get a couple bristle nose pleco to help out with the brown algae problem but i dont know if that is a good idea. In the future i could like to get a group of corys, i prefer pygmy corys. Other than that i really dont know what to stock the tank with.

1st pic is of the tank before
2nd pic is of the tank as it is now. I did a lot of cutting and fitting. So I am curious to see what you guys think
3rd pic is of the tetra i need help identifying
the pics after that are just random shots of the tank, notice the algae.

Please guys your opinions, comments and constructive criticism will help. THANK YOU!
 

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#2 ·
Hi! Very nice! I really like your use of the wood, the plant on top of the driftwood, and the uneven substrate. Awesome! The right side especially looks very natural. Perhaps some smaller, rounded rocks would look nice scattered in small groups as if they'd tumbled down the hill/mountain naturally and landed amongst your plants. The right side would look lovely with a few floating plants, such as frogbit, or something like pennywort which can trail along the surface. Though, the val or sag you have in the back right corner will fill in to cover a bit of surface area, too.
On the left side, perhaps some hornwort and vallisneria would be taller plants that do could well in moderate to lower light. Water wister might do okay, but will be slow. And pygmy chain sword (narrow or wide, one of them gets taller in low light, can't remember which one is which) or various cryptocoryine sp. would be nice shorter plants. Java fern or various anubias would do well secured to a rock or wood.

Others will be better than me at IDing what plants you already have, if that's what you're looking for. There's some smart cookies around here!

On the tetra ID, I don't know if this thread might help- http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/characins/tetras-rio-ucayali-ish-tank-82455/#post847645 I was trying to ID a similar and probably related fish, and Byron's comment near the end of the thread may help you.

In any case, good luck! And its looking wonderful, good work!
 
#4 ·
Looks really nice it will look awesome once it grows some more good job.:)
 
#6 ·
So I woke up today and went to go feed the fish when i noticed one of the yellow glo fish were missing. I looked as hard as i could for it everywhere and i still cant find it. Another thing i noticed was one of the zebras danios was swimming really slow and to one corner on the top. This one looked way skinnier and sickly since day one so in fear of this one vanishing on me i took it out and put it in the 10 gallon tank. If he starts looking better in the next few days ill put it back in the 55g.

these fish have been in the tank for 4-5 days. all the other fish are very active and look normal.

Im gonna assume that the yellow glo died and its body is somewhere in the tank and i cant find it. Will the decomposing dead body throw off the balance on my tank? Do i need to tear up the tank to get the body? or will my snails and one ghost shrimp be able to take care or it?
 
#7 ·
Very nice aquascape. My suggestions would be a floating plant for the right side to lessen the brightness of the light a bit and even out the overall light perception, and some hardscape for the left (darker) side. Getting some largish chunks of bogwood, or even using largish rocks, to build up that side will make the dimmer light look very natural.

The tetra is Hyphessobrycon rosaceus, it is in our profiles, click the shaded name. It must have a group. In this sized tank, I would have 9-11 of them.

I would not get 2 Bristlenose pleco yet. Diatoms (brown algae) is temporary in new tanks. Wait until the tank is established (a couple months) and see how it develops. If you do go with a pleco, one will be sufficient. That also is explained in the profile.

Fish do die periodically. I wouldn't expect any ammonia or nitrite issues with the plants, so it was probably just something with the fish. If I see a dead fish, I remove it; but usually it just disappears, and this is OK.

Byron.
 
#9 · (Edited)
The fish in the profile photo is a male, the larger black dorsal is the clue. Your photo is a female. Should have mentioned this previously, sorry; when you go for more of these, observe those in the tank carefully and get a mix of male/female. The females are pretty but rather "ordinary" whereas the males will be displaying to each other whenever the mood strikes them--usually after each water change, or on a low pressure (cloudy) day. And to see the males in pairs, sometimes 3, with those fins fully extended, sidling up to each other among the plants (they like shade), is truly a sight to behold. The colouration of the fish in the store tank will proably be pale, but carefully look at the dorsal fins and anal fins, they are longer on males and black; plus their interaction if you just stand and watch them quietly for several minutes may clue you in.
 
#11 ·
Yes. I would up the danio too, if you like them. Say 8. Danio are more active, but this shouldn't bother the tetra too much. With lots of plants, the tetra will remain among the plants (as mentioned, they do not like overhead light) whereas the danio will be out front and centre.

Dwarf Neon Rainbow will work too. I would suggest 5, and keep in mind the male/female ratio mentioned in the profile.

Some substrate fish will complement nicely. You have several options, depending upon water parameters.
 
#15 ·
it means you have a moderate amount of minerals dissolved in your water, causing the hardness and raising the pH. it will slightly limit what fish you should have, as a lot of tropical fish need acidic water (pH below 7). you may have problems with fish native to south america. most of the fish profiles include what pH range they do well in. you pH isn't high enough to really limit you, though. there are plenty of fish who like pH around 7, and your numbers are close enough that they should be fine. be glad you don't have my tap water. i have a pH of 8.4, which very much limits me.
 
#16 ·
Ok so with my water my tetras and danios that i currently have are gonna be okay? I know the ph is okay but in the fish profile the water hardness is stated like this "Soft (hardness to 12 dGH)" and I am not sure how to translate this to the numbers my LFS guys told me. Thanks
 
#17 ·
i'll be honest, i have no idea what the hardness of my water is. but i know my pH, so i can guess at my hardness. i have a high pH, so i have hard water. since hardness and pH are directly related (low hardness=low pH, high hardness=high pH), if you pH is ok, your hardness shouldn't be a problem.

i'll admit, there are exceptions to this, but as a general rule, this work.
 
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#18 ·
The hardness of the water is actually more significant than the pH in many cases. This is explained a bit in my article on hardness & pH, here:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-articles/water-hardness-ph-freshwater-aquarium-73276/
so I won't repeat any of that.

To the initial question on the numbers, you have GH around 8 dGH to 9 dGH. This is medium hard, and not bad. Except for wild caught soft water fish, this should cause no problems. The KH (Alkalinity) is 9 dKH, which is also not bad. But it is high enough that the pH is likely to remain stable at the level it comes out of the tap. The previously-linked article explains how this works.

To convert ppm to dGH and vice versa, you use 17.9 and either divide the ppm number by 17.9 to get dGH, or multiply the dGH number by 17.9 to get equivalent ppm. Works for KH the same. I use dGH in the profiles because it is a bit easier to work with and most sites also use degrees rather than ppm (parts per million).

Byron.
 
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