125g Day One Planted Tank

[Drew Hawker]

Last night stayed up very late in order to finish planting these guys. A huge thank you to Trinsfish.com for the the plants. They definitely over delivered with great healthy plants.

Well here is the set up.

125g Tank
Fluval Fx6 Canister
Sera Flore Inline Reactor
GLA Co2
Aqueon 1250 power head
EVO QUAD LED (96x3w)
CalAqua Drop Checker
Milwaukee pH Controller



Inside the tank

-Pool Filter Sand
-Java Moss
-Dwarf Sag
-Dwarf Hairgrass
-Baby Tears
-Italian Val
(Looking to add more plants + fish soon)


The tank is hooked up to timers and the lights and co2 are automated.

Root tabs will be in place by the end of the night and will also fertilize the water column for the first time. Let me know what you think of Day one of plants! Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. (If only I spent a fraction of what I've spent on this tank on a new phone lol)

 

[coralbandit]

Very nice...
What you thinking for fish?

 

[Drew Hawker]

Very nice...
What you thinking for fish?

-25 Rummynose tetras
-10 congo tetras
-12 striped kuhli loaches


Open to just about anything from here. Was thinking an African Brown Knife not certain about that.

 

[Drew Hawker]

25 Rummynose tetras
-10 congo tetras
-12 striped kuhli loaches



Open to just about anything from here. Was thinking an African Brown Knife not certain about that. Possibly a few German Blue Rams.

 

[Bert2oo1]

25 Rummynose tetras

-10 congo tetras

-12 striped kuhli loaches







Open to just about anything from here. Was thinking an African Brown Knife not certain about that. Possibly a few German Blue Rams.

Looks great! Sounds like u have the good gear for it aswell! One thing I would change if I was u was the filter outlet position. I'm guessing the far left will be majority carpet and the right side will be heavily planted so I'd have the outlet mounted high on the far right and aim it down so it flows down over the far left carpet. Aim the other towards the front of the tank so u get a circular flow around the plants on the right.

Loving the driftwood choice! [emoji108]

 

[Drew Hawker]

Currently I have a powerhead slamming into the output of the filter. This powerhead as it sits draws in the co2 from the right output and chops it up then sends it all the way to the left hand side of the tank. Then the left side of the output is also getting caught in this current. I feel I'm getting a pretty good spread, but only time will tell. I will take that into consideration if I have issues with the dwarf sag coming in carpeted.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Currently I have a powerhead slamming into the output of the filter. This powerhead as it sits draws in the co2 from the right output and chops it up then sends it all the way to the left hand side of the tank. Then the left side of the output is also getting caught in this current. I feel I'm getting a pretty good spread, but only time will tell. I will take that into consideration if I have issues with the dwarf sag coming in carpeted.

Sounds like you've got it all under control! Can't wait to see it all grown out.

Good work [emoji108]

 

[Drew Hawker]

Thank you, I plan to post updates with fish and additional plants!

I originally ordered some Java fern but it was unfortunately out of stock. The plan for the java fern is to have it on the right hand side to fill in a "hole" I left for it where all the drift wood comes together.

 

[Drew Hawker]

Added 22 Rummynose

Got 22 rummynose tetras today. Planning on eventually having 40. With such a large tank even the school of 20 seems pretty small lol. Might go 50.

Sorry for the poor mans camera, cell phone.

 

[Drew Hawker]

Hope the picture works this time...

 

[coralbandit]

Nice ! Yah I was always counting my 25 Cardinals in my 180..Well trying to?
They never looked like I thought 25 would ..Always wanted more...
One of my buddies just got 200 wild caught cardinals from a seller on Aquabid..
Pretty good deal on them ...

 

[Drew Hawker]

Nice ! Yah I was always counting my 25 Cardinals in my 180..Well trying to?
They never looked like I thought 25 would ..Always wanted more...
One of my buddies just got 200 wild caught cardinals from a seller on Aquabid..
Pretty good deal on them ...

Are wild fish more desirable?

I've always thought they would school a lot better. They are aware of the harsh reality of another big fish coming up and deciding their buddy Fred is lunch. Never read anything about this really but I guess I should look into it.

 

[coralbandit]

Are wild fish more desirable?

I've always thought they would school a lot better. They are aware of the harsh reality of another big fish coming up and deciding their buddy Fred is lunch. Never read anything about this really but I guess I should look into it.

I don't know if wild is more desirable ? It makes a bit nervous ,but for the price I wish I didn't have EBA in my 180...Many do desire wild fish for one reason or another.
It is the fear of a predator that cause fish to school and dim their colors when the lights are out. Many predators are nocturnal .
Rummies are the BEST schoolers going and I had 20 at one time in with the cards...
The beauty of 'large ' schools in a planted tank is hard to beat.
Having one peaceful but larger fish can help encourage the group to stay tight. When comfortable completely the group can kind of fall apart.Not that there is anything wrong with a group of 3 fish going off on their own? It was always cool to watch them try to get back to school when spooked..

 

[Drew Hawker]

So just did some trimming. I allowed for the plants to grown in for about 5 days and get used to their new home.

Now I've taken all of the dwarf hair grass, trimmed and replanted for a carpet. I am very happy for how close to a hair grass carpet I've gotten in just 5 days! Holy cow this is awesome. A lot of work but the end result is epic.

Anyways here are some more fuzzy pictures for your viewing pleasure. Before trim and replant then after.

Also added 24 Serpae Tetras! They are an awesome addition.

Now have 20 Rummynose, 24 Serpae and 2 clown plecos. Everything is going very well and so far from the 48 fish stocked have only lost 2 tiny young rummynose.


One and only issue I am having is with the dwarf sag. It has a lot of melted leaves which I know is to be expect. It just does not seem to be doing well, or at least some portions of it.