55 Gallon Planted Tank Log - Newbie

[Smitty]

Howdy!

I am now well on my way to spending a small fortune on getting my first fish tank in 5 years going, first ever planted tank. As I'm new I don't know all the names of things and ask that you bear with me as I'm sure I will mis-lable stuff, or use very general terms.

Specifics:
55 Gallon Tank
Dual 4' Lights (still need to rate the output)
Wet/Dry sump
100w in-tank heater
2 25lb bags of fertilizer
1 25lb bag of small rock

I do would like to have a lot of plants, and a variety at that. I won't be supprised if some stuff works and some stuff doesn't. I would like some grasses and tall, wide leaf plants plus some ferns. I would also like some kind of moss because I think it looks neat.

The water is still a bit clouded right now, but clearing up. Unfortunately I lost the cable for my camera to get the pictures off, so the only picture is from my phone:

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

That will be a good piece of center piece driftwood for a planted aquarium. Looks good.

 

[Smitty]

Thanks. I really liked the looks of that piece. Should be able to add some plants soon.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

It will look good with some moss on there and all the plants.

 

[Jnam]

Lookin good, what kind of fertilizer are you refering too? And by dual 4' ligth do you mean a single 4' fixture with two bulbs? I think some moss creeping up that DW (drift wood your first AA (aquariumadvice.com your second acronym) acronym) But for plants lighting is one of the biggest keys to success. Welcome to AA!!!

 

[Smitty]

I will have to look up the fertilizer from the store, I just can't remember the name of it for the life of me-just remember how hard it was to clean!

As to the light, it is a single 4' long fixture, 130w, that holds two T8 bulbs. I have Power Glow and a Life Glow 2 bulbs in there now.

I just added 3 plants yesterday and some moss stuff. I really need to learn the names of these things and write them down! I'll figure it all out tomorrow and post it up.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah man get some new pics up in here we can help ID the plants and such.

 

[Smitty]

Ok, took some pictures, here they are:

 

[rkilling1]

The second pic is a sword. Which one? can't say for sure, but probably an amazon. The third pics looks like Alternanthera reineckii.

As far as your light, that would be 64 watts not 130. A 4' T-8 is 32 watts.

 

[Jnam]

Yeah 64 watts. not 130... With T8s thats low light deffinately. Your sword may grow very slowly as well as the Alternanthera reineckii and even the moss. For your plan, you said you wanted lots of plants and a variety of them. Your current lighting is kind of limmiting. I use a 65x2 Power Compact fixture with two 10000K bulbs on my 55 and thats still medium to medium high light, and its hard for me to grow some plants. You may want to think about a new fixture I wish i had gone with a 48" T5HO fixture now because its a little more versitile. With your current lights you could still have the plants you listed in your first post. Some Java Fern and Java moss i dont know what kind of grass will grow though in a low light set up.... .

I like your arangement it looks awesome. Looks like your building up the higher left side, and following the golden rule.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Hey you could do what I am attempting for a "grass" or "carpet" type look. See javamoss if you pull it apart it is basiclly a bunch of strings, so i'm going to try to plant the indiviual strings in the substrate and eventually it will start to grow thicker and taller. So all you do is keep trimming it and shaping it and it would look great and also be great for fry.

 

[Smitty]

Well, I have added a couple more plants yesterday. I have them all written down at home, but I'm at work now and don't have their names. I also wrote down the names of all the others as well.

I also added a 3rd 4' light to the mix, it is currently just a "light" but will change it to a 10k at the end of the week. I'm hoping this will be enough light for everything. Is there such a thing as too much? I really don't want a big alge bloom. The aquarium shop seems to think the 2 I currently have with my setup would be plenty...

Also, I think I have fallen in love with a fresh water eel. I didn't buy it, but it looks really good. I strongly leaning to getting it. Right now I do have 4 fish, all are a variation of a Barb (again, name at home). They are almost clear with a single horizontal black stripe, the male has a red vertical stripe as well.

Oh, I think I fixed my filter issue, I bought some of the 1/2 blue, 1/2 white filter material that is in my wet/dry sump and put that in the tank-side. It keep the flow of water high, but won't let any fish in!

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well everything seems to be set for you, I think that eel would love your tank. Just make sure you have a lot of hiding spots for him. Some longish pvc pipes would be good or make some caves with rocks would also be better.

 

[rkilling1]

FWIW, when you need light bulbs, just go to Lowes or Home depot and purchase some 6500K bulbs. They work better then most 'aquarium' bulbs and are MUCH cheaper.

 

[Smitty]

Ok, everything seems to be going good with the tank. I plan on gettng the replacement bulb today for the extra 4' so that would give me two 6500k bulbs and one 4500k bulb. How does this sound?

Because I wasn't paying attention (yes, I have already spanked myself), I didn't know about the fishless cycle and did purchase 4 Odessa Barbs for the cycle. I found out AFTER I got them that even the local store doesn't recommend that, but I was being helped by someone new at the time.

I did get all the testing kits and they tested out the Ammonia at 0.0-.25 PPM, Nitrate (I think, 1st one in the cycle) looked to be 0 PPM, the problem child was the PH which looked to be off the chart that I had, putting it over 7.6 PPM (highest my chart would go). The pet store recommended a 10 gallon cleaning and then let everything sit for at least 5 days, then bring in a sample for another test... that will be next Monday.

Still, everything seems to be going good. I have got to get a feeding ring though because 1/2 the food seems to get sucked into the filter... but it is a great filther and the water is crystal clear all the time.

 

[Jnam]

Ph just needs to be stable. A higher PH happens what I would suggest is get the high range test kit for ph and check your tap water before you put it in the tank. Give the water a good shake before you test it to gas off any co2 in the water that will give you a good base line. Dont use any chemicals to alter the PH they just stip away the buffers in your water and the ph will swing back up. If you really want to lower your PH you can try amazon soil or peat in your filter. Even a nice piece of DW will help lower the PH and keep it stable. The draw back is most of these options will give your water a yellow tint. Bulbs sound good what kinda wattage does your ballast provide?

 

[Smitty]

I have one fixture that is a 65x2 wattage, the single is a 40 I think.

 

[Jnam]

Awesome That should work perfect for planting most medium light plants on a 55

 

[rkilling1]

This is confusing me.

I have one fixture that is a 65x2 wattage, the single is a 40 I think.

By the sound of this post, you have a TON of light. In the medium to high range. You would most probably need to inject CO2 and add ferts regularly. 65 x 2 is a CF fixture.

But...

I will have to look up the fertilizer from the store, I just can't remember the name of it for the life of me-just remember how hard it was to clean!

As to the light, it is a single 4' long fixture, 130w, that holds two T8 bulbs. I have Power Glow and a Life Glow 2 bulbs in there now.

I just added 3 plants yesterday and some moss stuff. I really need to learn the names of these things and write them down! I'll figure it all out tomorrow and post it up.

In this post you say that the 2 bulbs are hagen bulbs. I am not aware of any CF hagen bulbs. And you also say that they are T-8's. T-8's are not 65 watt.

Are these bulbs U shaped or just 4' long?

I am just trying to figure out what we are working with.

 

[Smitty]

Ok... Perhaps I was mistaken in the bulbs, but I'll just take the newbie out-I'm not really sure. As to the wattage, that was what the fixture was rated at for the 65x2, not the bulbs.

So, I'm pretty sure I have 4, 40 watt bulbs. 2x6500 and 1x4500. I REALLY don't want to inject CO2, too much for me too soon. I would much rather take one of the bulbs out than do that (actually, taking one of the bulbs out would help a LOT, but I thought I needed them all for a planted tank). All the bulbs are 4' long.

I didn't test my water last night, so I don't know the condition of it. I plan on taking a sample to the store late this afternoon for a test.

I now have what looks like a brown alge bloom. The stuff came up over night and is on pretty much everything but the glass (as this point).

On a side note, the African Sword is growing like a WEED!!! It has shot out about 4 runners about 10-12" long EACH in the last 3 days... 2 of those runners already have 2" leaves and 4-5" roots. I never saw a plant grow that fast.... I'm going to put some of the runners near the gravel so the roots will grow into the gravel. I didn't have time this morning before getting off to work...