55 Litre Nano

[Alba Cory]

My planted tank, not finished with the layout yet. I have an extra sponge filter in that provides oxygen to tank but also blocks the strong current from built in filter as I have honey gourami fry in the tank which are awesome but the current would fling them all over! The filter provides oxygen and keeps surface moving as well.

I really love the driftwood I have, it's got a wee passage that goes under it that my shrimp love to hide out.

I was thinking of something to carpet in front of the DW but the lighting is low light and as its pretty tall it would need to be something that grows really easily, any ideas?





Any suggestions on other plants or ideas? As its black sand I was thinking a few white stones maybe?

 

[Mebbid]

I would probably suggest looking into getting some red plants for contrasting color with your greens.

 

[Alba Cory]

I would probably suggest looking into getting some red plants for contrasting color with your greens.

Do you know any red plants that are easy to grow?

 

[Mebbid]

Do you know any red plants that are easy to grow?

Telanthera Rosefolia is a nice one as well as Limnophilia Hirppuroides

The only issue with red plants is that they require additional phosphate and good nutrients to really bring out their red colors.

 

[Alba Cory]

Telanthera Rosefolia is a nice one as well as Limnophilia Hirppuroides

The only issue with red plants is that they require additional phosphate and good nutrients to really bring out their red colors.

Thanks, will look at those! What would be the most cost effective way to add nutrients? I have dirt under my sand and was considering a cheap CO2 system later down the line.

 

[Mebbid]

I use dry ferts from aquariumfertilizers.com

Look at the micro / macro mix. It isn't very expensive and lasts FOREVER. I've been fertilizing my 55g daily over the past 5 months and haven't even used half of what I got.

The only thing it doesn't have is phosphate but you can go to a pharmacy and get fleet enema to dose that.

 

[Alba Cory]

I use dry ferts from aquariumfertilizers.com

Look at the micro / macro mix. It isn't very expensive and lasts FOREVER. I've been fertilizing my 55g daily over the past 5 months and haven't even used half of what I got.

The only thing it doesn't have is phosphate but you can go to a pharmacy and get fleet enema to dose that.

That website is not working for me but thanks for the advice!

 

[Scottyhorse]

I think that looks pretty great. Maybe add red fish if you don't want to dose ferts?

 

[Alba Cory]

I think that looks pretty great. Maybe add red fish if you don't want to dose ferts?

Well I'm hoping my RCS start breeding as they look amazing against the black and green. Looking at putting in a mustard gas betta I have ordered in which will hopefully add a lovely yellow to the tank. So hopefully have lots of red on the bottom and a beautiful yellow half moon tail to swim about. If the betta is too aggressive towards shrimp and ottos then I have a back up tank for him and then rethink a fish for the tank.

 

[Mebbid]

sorry. Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , , , Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , I typed it wrong

 

[Alba Cory]

sorry. Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , , , Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , I typed it wrong

Does look good but I'm in uk so seems quite expensive to get it delivered here. $12 becomes $26 which is about £18 or something, would you say it's worth $26 for what you get?

 

[Mebbid]

Does look good but I'm in uk so seems quite expensive to get it delivered here. $12 becomes $26 which is about £18 or something, would you say it's worth $26 for what you get?

Well for a 15g tank you can expect a package of that fertilizer to last you a year or more easily.

The package I got came with approximately 2-3 cups of fert mix (I never measured it and its sold by weight)

1/4 cup mixed with 500ml of water is the mix directions.
The dosing directions are 1-4 drops/gallon daily with 75 drops equaling 5ml.

Assuming it came with 2 cups of mix and you are dosing the maximum recommended amount there will be a conservative estimate of 4000ml of fertilizer.

At 60 drops a day you should get about 1000 days of use out of it.

So yep. I think $26 would be well worth it.

Another option would be to go with the seachem line of fertilizers which would give you more room for customization with your fertilizing, but imho that isn't really necessary.

 

[Alba Cory]

Well for a 15g tank you can expect a package of that fertilizer to last you a year or more easily.

The package I got came with approximately 2-3 cups of fert mix (I never measured it and its sold by weight)

1/4 cup mixed with 500ml of water is the mix directions.
The dosing directions are 1-4 drops/gallon daily with 75 drops equaling 5ml.

Assuming it came with 2 cups of mix and you are dosing the maximum recommended amount there will be a conservative estimate of 4000ml of fertilizer.

At 60 drops a day you should get about 1000 days of use out of it.

So yep. I think $26 would be well worth it.

Another option would be to go with the seachem line of fertilizers which would give you more room for customization with your fertilizing, but imho that isn't really necessary.

Wow thanks for the breakdown, it does see, great value and means I'd have plenty to use in my 125 litre tank as well. Thanks for the great advice and will look into this on my next payday

 

[Mebbid]

I would make tiny batches of it at a time rather than the full sized batch that it recommends. The mix tends to get a weird growth in it after it sits for a few months.