New pics, planting in progress

[happygirl65]

OK, so I once would have thought this was a lot of plants. LOL Now I know I need more, especially looking for tall background plants. I am posting in the barter/trade section. Since I have to buy my plants online anyway I would much rather get them from people here.

Comments or suggestions appreciated. Especially with placement. As I am unfamiliar with how big some of these will get, I may have planted them in the wrong area.

Some specs:
55 gallon about 2 months old...not certain without looking up the date, but new tank.

I began planting this tank at the same time as adding fish and have increased both plants and bioload as I can.

The lighting is 2x65w PC with both being 50/50 bulbs.

I am dosing modified EI once per week per suggestions from a few members.

I was inspired to use live plants when I first started looking at AA and saw so many lovely tanks with live plants. Then I set up my tank with a couple of plastic ones that I had in storage and I knew instantly I would never be happy with it. So I upgraded and have slowly added what I can.

I now know that I need a lot more plant biomass to help with the algae so I am looking to plant much more.

 

[maxwell1295]

Looks nice.....

Make sure you take an updated pic with the room lights off. You may also want to look into replacing those 50/50 bulbs with some daylight bulbs for better lighting. From my experience, tanks with 50/50 bulbs also seem to better at growing algae than they are at growing plants.

 

[happygirl65]

DOH!

I did turn off all the lights, the reflection is from windows that I cant easily cover SO I will wait until dark then try again...lol.

I am using the 50/50 bulbs so that I could avoid CO2 for now.....I do plan to upgrade some day, just not quite ready yet. So I hope they will be ok in there for a while.

 

[GlitcH]

That's the first thing I thought of too........replace the 50/50's.
But are you are or are you planning on injecting co2?
If you replace the 50/50s you should inject CO2.

I have some Limnophila Aromatica available in the barter/trade section.
It's a high light plant for the background that is considered "difficult".

 

[rich311k]

Looking good!!!

 

[happygirl65]

That's the first thing I thought of too........replace the 50/50's.
But are you are or are you planning on injecting co2?
If you replace the 50/50s you should inject CO2.

I have some Limnophila Aromatica available in the barter/trade section.
It's a high light plant for the background that is considered "difficult".

I think my light level is Med-low so that one may not be good for this tank.

I am not planning on injecting CO2 for a while yet, so I am not looking at replacing bulbs until then.

 

[drobertson]

Good looking tank!!!!!!!

 

[blazeyreef]

Awesome looking tank!!!

 

[majolo]

For what it's worth, I have a 55 and had the same lighting as you, then went for the full daylight instead of 50/50. I don't run CO2, and have had no algae problems (yet ). Fertilizing with Flourish only. It's been running for about a month, so we'll see what happens...

 

[Purrbox]

I would recommend some Rotala Rotundifolia for the background. It should do great with your lighting and will blush a pretty pink when it gets close to the surface. A variety of Anubias and Crypts could be quite nice too, and depending on the species would be appropriate for many areas of your tank.

 

[Peyton]

I like the looks of your hardscapes. Can't tell exactly but looks like you have some sunset hygro? That will grow to make a good background/corner plant. Corkscrew val, foxtail, and several ludwigias would look good as a background also.

 

[zenkatydid]

what is a 50/50 light?

 

[JustOneMore20]

For what it's worth, I have a 55 and had the same lighting as you, then went for the full daylight instead of 50/50. I don't run CO2, and have had no algae problems (yet ). Fertilizing with Flourish only. It's been running for about a month, so we'll see what happens...

Same here. I have a 6700K bulb and a 10000K bulb....and no CO2. I have some green spot algae on the glass, but its easily removed with an old credit card. Thats pretty much all the algae I have right now, and I've had the same lights over a year on my 55g.

 

[happygirl65]

For what it's worth, I have a 55 and had the same lighting as you, then went for the full daylight instead of 50/50. I don't run CO2, and have had no algae problems (yet ). Fertilizing with Flourish only. It's been running for about a month, so we'll see what happens...

Same here. I have a 6700K bulb and a 10000K bulb....and no CO2. I have some green spot algae on the glass, but its easily removed with an old credit card. Thats pretty much all the algae I have right now, and I've had the same lights over a year on my 55g.

Wow, that is amazing. How long per day do you have the lights on? I have green patches of algae already. But perhaps you are heavily planted. Where I am still trying to aquire enough plants. According to the advice I have gotten about it, that is where my problem is, not enough plants biomass just yet. I am working on it though.

 

[majolo]

(Thought I replied already, apologies if I double post...)
I run lights 6am-10am and 4pm-10pm. I've read some here saying that a midday break in the lights helps keep algae away. I do have some algae on the filter outflow, but almost zero in the tank itself. I don't think I'm heavily planted, but I do have a bunch of wisteria which I gather is a nutrient sink. I also have lots of pond snails, perhaps they are helping...

 

[garth7]

I love the rocks in the tank. I was thinking bout drift wood in my tank, but after seeing your rock setup I am going to go with rock. Thanks for the pics.!!!!

 

[happygirl65]

I love the rocks in the tank. I was thinking bout drift wood in my tank, but after seeing your rock setup I am going to go with rock. Thanks for the pics.!!!!

Thanks! It was pretty easy to make the cave structure with lots of flat rocks stacked like stairs and glued with silicone between every rock. That made it really stable and it will not collapse on the fish...I would just add that if you plan on planting your tank to plant the back of the tank before adding the rocks as I am now having difficulty getting back there I wish I would have back filled a little more to make it easier on myself. I have found that the large lava rocks are awesome though because I can move the whole thing to get behind it.