Scottyhorse's 25 Gallon Community Build

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

Thank you Tell your son Happy Belated Birthday for me. Also tell him he needs to like fish tanks. Lol.

He was actually into fish a few years ago so I got the Petco 6.6 gallon bookshelf tank. It was a phase for him Now it's long boarding, hanging out with his friends, cruising the mall, etc. That's fine; I will be making a shrimp tank out of the 6.6.

[Fresh2o]

I have been running the 30" Coralife aqua light dual T5 NO for the last 3 months and it works for low light and possibly low-med light plants. I have a 20g long; it's shallow so that helps. When it comes time to get new bulbs (in about 9 months) I'll probably switch to LEDs then if not sooner. Leaning towards the Finnex series.

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by bud29

Honestly I would get a different brand if I were you. Coralife fixtures from what I hear are pretty crappy, even odyssea fixtures (which are not known for their quality) can be better than coralife's. I have the 24" dual bulb Odyssea T5HO fixture, so far I have no complaints. It grows everything great (including baby tears ). I got it off of aquatraders.com, they have great prices there.

Ha! For what I paid for the Coralife dual NO I could have purchased an Odyssea dual HO! Argh!

[bud29]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

Ha! For what I paid for the Coralife dual NO I could have purchased an Odyssea dual HO! Argh!

Yup - the coralife fixtures are rather expensive, it makes you feel like you're buying a quality product when you really aren't.

[Old Scales]

Congrats on the new build Scotty. All the possibilities on a new tanks are exciting, don't you agree?. I just finished a new build three weeks ago. Research, research, research the net for info. especially living so far out. LOL I'm glad I only live a couple of miles from 2 lfs and still made MANY trips because of forgetting something. Your plant selection is awesome. All my plants are doing OK except the dwarf baby's tears, they're just sitting there. I also have dual T5 HO and CO2 and still they're not growing. Good luck and again, congrats! Caudially yours, OS.

[bud29]

Originally Posted by Old Scales

Congrats on the new build Scotty. All the possibilities on a new tanks are exciting, don't you agree?. I just finished a new build three weeks ago. Research, research, research the net for info. especially living so far out. LOL I'm glad I only live a couple of miles from 2 lfs and still made MANY trips because of forgetting something. Your plant selection is awesome. All my plants are doing OK except the dwarf baby's tears, they're just sitting there. I also have dual T5 HO and CO2 and still they're not growing. Good luck and again, congrats! Caudially yours, OS.

Don't get discouraged if your HC doesn't grow too fast - it's normally a pretty slow grower. Glad to hear everything is going well

[Scottyhorse]

Honestly, I think for a for a first planted tank light, it's not half bad. I think might go with the oddesya or however you spell it light or go for an LED...
Thanks for the encouragement OS! I appreciate it. I've already gotten my third tank! LOL I'm in the planning stage for the others I would like. Haha

[maddy.]

Originally Posted by bud29

Honestly I would get a different brand if I were you. Coralife fixtures from what I hear are pretty crappy, even odyssea fixtures (which are not known for their quality) can be better than coralife's. I have the 24" dual bulb Odyssea T5HO fixture, so far I have no complaints. It grows everything great (including baby tears ). I got it off of aquatraders.com, they have great prices there.

Bud! it's free shipping too! argh, what to do, what to do... my substrate came in the mail so I was hoping to set up the tank this weekend. but now i'm kinda, sorta, maybe thinking about returning/selling my coralife lights for these ones, maybe? hmmm

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by maddy.

Bud! it's free shipping too! argh, what to do, what to do... my substrate came in the mail so I was hoping to set up the tank this weekend. but now i'm kinda, sorta, maybe thinking about returning/selling my coralife lights for these ones, maybe? hmmm

IMO if it's possible, return the Coralife dual NO and get the Odyssea dual HO. You can still setup the tank and substrate assuming you don't have plants yet while you are waiting for the new lights to arrive. Plus, unless you have your scape design set, you'd probably be rearranging things until you get it just right.

[Scottyhorse]

It does grow mexican oak leaf and penny wort well. Too well almost. I trimmed it about a week ago and it's spreading across the surface again!

[redsea]

Hello!


How is your tank going? What do you have in it again?

Thanks!

[Scottyhorse]

It's doing pretty good. Currently is has 2 rams, 4 gold barbs (taking to the lfs) 2 guppies (taking to the lfs) 2 platies, 2 neon tetras, 2 pristella tetras, 5 cory cats. My nitrates have been very high so I am taking those fish back so hopefully that will help then I can finish the schools.

[redsea]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

It's doing pretty good. Currently is has 2 rams, 4 gold barbs (taking to the lfs) 2 guppies (taking to the lfs) 2 platies, 2 neon tetras, 2 pristella tetras, 5 cory cats. My nitrates have been very high so I am taking those fish back so hopefully that will help then I can finish the schools.

I am glad that things are going well for the most part. Good luck bringing down those nitrates, they are such a pain!

[Scottyhorse]

They are a pain!