My new planted 55G tank.

[CompMage]

Well, tank just finished cycling and setting bla bla bla.

I've got 6 little tiger barbs in there right now. I'll be adding in 8 more this weekend. I'm trying to let the tank adjust to the new fish. Past that it will get 4 three-spot gourami and a rainbow shark. I'm going to try and keep it lightly stocked. With the filtration I could probably stick massive amounts of fish in there. I just like the lightly stocked look.

Without further delay.......The fish tank....for now.

Since this picture I've unpotted the plant on the right and scrubbed the back of the tank.

Sorry people, image hosting got messed up. Pictures will return as soon as I can get everything worked out.

[rich311k]

Welcome to AA. Looks like you are off to a great start.

[tetrin]

that is one neat setup. i love it. clear and crisp.

[QTOFFER]

I like the little hollow log/cave on the left. Are you planning on getting any bottomdwellers like corys or plecos?

[Jchillin]

Tank looks marvelous! I'm in agreement with QTOFFER...some bottom dwellers for the log/cave.

[Fruitbat]

The general landscaping looks quite nice and I hate to be the bearer of bad news....but....a number of the plants you have in your aquarium are NOT really true aquarium plants and are only going to survive submerged for a couple of months (if that) before they develop root rot and die. The sword plants (Echinodoras) that you've selected should do well but the rest of them won't make it for long.

-Joe

[CompMage]

Fruitbat. Yea.....I'm VERY unhappy about that I found that out recently. So this coming weekend I'm going to replant most of the tank. Going to put in some Small Rotala and some Orchid Lily. Perhaps some others. You can see the feel I'm going for. Clean and simple. I'm looking for some short greens for to sparsely plant around the bottom to help bring everything together. I may even pull the swords out and replace them with Java fern. My original plan was to keep every thing in south eastern Asia theme. But now I'm just going to try and make it look nice and make sure every one is happy together in there.

As for bottom dwellers, The rainbow shark will enjoy the cave. Pending how things work out I might get some corys.

Thanks for the complements on my tank. I'll have new pictures up as soon as I have a chance and more as I stock the tank with it's final residents. More tiger barbs(8 more), some three spot gourami and the rainbow shark. All the fish are simi-aggressive and should be able to deal with each other with little problem. The shark will be the big fish at 9 inches and most likly the most aggressive when it gets older.

I'm fiarly new to planted tanks thus my horriable mistake. I've already pulled some of the plants out of the tank and have them potted around my appartment and office.

[Fruitbat]

CompMage....

Sounds like you're going to have an attractive tank when you're finished. If you're trying to keep an Asian theme and you really want to replace the swords then I can heartily recommend the various Cryptocoryne species. They will do well in low- to moderate-level light intensities and there are some spectacularly beautiful varieties. Probably the most commonly-available are the varieties of Cryptocoryne wendtii and that plant can do very well in most aquaria as long as they don't get moved around much once they're established and as long as the water quality doesn't change drastically.

You don't mention how much light (wattage) you have over this aquarium but if you're using the standard light fixtures that come with the tank then you're probably in the low-light range. Cryptocoryne species, as well as Java Fern (Microsorium) will do fairly well in relatively low-light. If you don't mind venturing away from Asian plants then the various species of African Anubias can also be quite spectacular, especially if you attach them to pieces of driftwood or rocks. Another Asian plant that can be quite attractive in a relatively low-light tank is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris).

-Joe

[CompMage]

Thanks for the heads up. I've currently got 30 watts of light 2x 18" 15 watt, 900 lumen bulbs. It's not that bad on the light really. 6000K lamps. It's the best I can do with the money I have to spend currently.

Do to a current problem that's come up looks like the tank is going to go completely on hold for a while I hope them tiger barbs don't mind having that huge tank to them selves for a while.

Currently this is the list of plants I plan on putting in the tank.
-Rotala wallichii
-Microsorium pteropu (Java Fern)
-Barclaya longifolia (Orchid Lily) <-- Still in question about if tank will support
-Rotala rotundifolia (Small Rotala)
-Cryptocoryne wendtii (Red, Green)

The rock and the cave are going to be my starting points for decorating.

Currently, (Close your eyes people and try an imagine) I'm going to plant 3 Java ferns by the cave close to how the swords are planted currently and one more closer to the center. Looking to put a mixture of the different color Cryptocoryne Wendtii's (red, brown, green) around the rock. Have Some of the Rotala wallichii (A bright pink, red, and green small spear leafed Rotala) and the Small Rotala (Smaller broader leafs) spread out threw out everything and planted a little along the back and right hand side. I want to get them mixed in with the Java fern to bring out a contrast in colors.

And now we get into the realm of if I can. I would like to get an R/O unit to soften the water down as all of the fish I want like a softer water and lower [acronym:d085779189="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:d085779189]. I've found a few of the plants like it too. I've found a R/O unit for drinking water for 30 bucks at my local hardware store. It will do for what I need, and help to remove chemicals from the local tap so I don't have to use as much decorticator.

Something I am going to be doing and currently have. I'm going to be completely re-doing the substrata. It will be and from the bottem up. Sand (Pool filter sand) small gravel, a small layer of echo-complete (rocks that provide stuff for plants, look them up anyone that wants to have plants in a tank) then the rest will be about an inch or so of Med - large gravel that is currently in the tank. I've been doing some homework and plan on making this tank as nice as I can.

Thanks for the suggestions and complements everyone.

-Chris