55 gal planted tank

[Renn1206]

Hiyah forum ive been slowly but surely setting up my 55 to eventually be occupied by discus as of right now the only fish i have in the tank is an albino rainbow shark a striped raphael and one of my sons mollies from his 10 gal. I have also planted the tank with swords and something else i cant remember the name and dwarf hairgrass but my swords dont seem to be growing properly i dnt know exactly what light i have but it is not the light (95% sure i hope) i would like any tips and pointers. I have been movin slowly ob the tank and i dont have a water test kit so i have to take it to my lfs on my days off. Last time i checked it my nitrates and nitrites were a bit high im going to get it checked again tommorow. Also the fish that are currently in there will not be once the discus are put in.

 

[Renn1206]

Here is a picture o ut taken last night!

 

[Convict2161]

Here is a picture o ut taken last night!

Looks good. Ever think of painting the background? Also maybe another piece of driftwood or two. And some more rocks maybe? Just a thought.

 

[Renn1206]

Thank you i was thinking more rock didnt really think more driftwood. And i was going to paint the glass but im not doing it now that its full but i am going to get a black background

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Looking good so far! I recommend the API Master FW Test Kit. Gee, my swords are going crazy in my 60g. I just had to prune about 50 leaves lol. For lighting are you leaning towards bulbs or LED? I have a mix of both on mine, a double T5HO fixture with 2 54watt 6700K bulbs plus 2 48" TrueLumen Pro 8,000K LED strips. They combine to make the colors in the tank look stunning! Yeah I like the more rock idea. Are you planning to carpet the DHG? Also, you may want to consider a CO2 system on this if you get any higher lighting like mine...but a T5 fixture should grow the plants well without CO2 if you have a good dry ferts/root tabs...just some advice in advance

 

[Renn1206]

Looking good so far! I recommend the API Master FW Test Kit. Gee, my swords are going crazy in my 60g. I just had to prune about 50 leaves lol. For lighting are you leaning towards bulbs or LED? I have a mix of both on mine, a double T5HO fixture with 2 54watt 6700K bulbs plus 2 48" TrueLumen Pro 8,000K LED strips. They combine to make the colors in the tank look stunning! Yeah I like the more rock idea. Are you planning to carpet the DHG? Also, you may want to consider a CO2 system on this if you get any higher lighting like mine...but a T5 fixture should grow the plants well without CO2 if you have a good dry ferts/root tabs...just some advice in advance

I have bulbs that are t5 i dont know the wattage and output off hand i will check when i get home. But i also has 2 small led lights as moonlight. I think my lighting is pretty much set hopefully i dont need a co2 i didnt really want to go through that and as substarte the only thing i put down was the white gravel i dont know if i should put something in it to help the plants but they seem to be just making it. And yes i want a carpet of DHG i think it would look really nice. Is there an alternative to using co2?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

I have bulbs that are t5 i dont know the wattage and output off hand i will check when i get home. But i also has 2 small led lights as moonlight. I think my lighting is pretty much set hopefully i dont need a co2 i didnt really want to go through that and as substarte the only thing i put down was the white gravel i dont know if i should put something in it to help the plants but they seem to be just making it. And yes i want a carpet of DHG i think it would look really nice. Is there an alternative to using co2?

The lighting you have should be fine for most plants, but im not sure about the DHG carpet...IME the DHG is a higher light plant, especially if you want to carpet it. You can use Flourish Excel, API C02 Booster as a CO2 supplement if you really dont want to get into pressurized or even DIY systems...also the gravel can work if it is smaller grained, but a special plant substrate such as Eco-Complete, Fluval Stratum, Potting Soil, etc. would work even better. I use Fluval Stratum in my 60g...link is in my sig if you want to check it out.