Above is an updated photo of the 55 gal. tank. The Cabomba on the right has been growing since day 1 with no signs of stopping. It will need to be trimmed back soon so it doesn’t start overpowering the plants around it. You can also see the Red Foxtail that was added yesterday.
It’s been just about a month since the overhaul of the swamp tank and things a really starting to take shape. The Crips. are growing much faster than I had anticipated and they provide a good amount of shady spots for the Corys to hang out in. The Hairgrass is starting to take root and fill as well. It’s just about time to trim the Java Moss, it grows great in this tank and fishing line that was used to attach it to the driftwood has completely disappeared.
For whatever reason I have been extremely lax when it comes to keeping a log of the “Grass” tank. I guess it’s because it’s the only tank that hasn’t undergone a significant redesign in the past few months.
So, in an effort to bring things up to speed…
Fish:
Black Neon Tetras (x16)
Harlequin Rasbora (x10)
Otocinclus (x2)
Cherry Shrimp (~20)
The Willow Moss was removed a month or so ago because it grew much too slow and was collecting algae. I also removed the Riccia since it did not lend anything to the overall look of the layout and turned out to be rather messy.
Overall I’m still extremely happy with this layout. Trimming the Java Moss “hill” is much more involved on the cleanup end than I originally anticipated but the end result is well worth it. And the openness of the layout provides ample room for the tetras and rasboras to play.
Today was a much anticipated day of new fish additions. A total of 14 new fish were purchased from the LFS as well as a few new plants.
4 Von Rio (Flame) Tetras were added to the swamp tank.
4 Harlequin Rasboras were added to the grass tank.
6 Cherry Barbs (3 male, 3 female) were added to the 55 gal. tank.
I also added some Red Foxtail to the 55 gal.
The 55 gallon tank has undergone a significant transformation over the past few days. When we first moved in it was thrown up in a hurry with no thought as to the layout or much of anything. Some Sag. Subulata and Java Moss were thrown in as well as a large piece of driftwood that came from one of the 40 gallon tanks.
This tank was your typical, off the shelf 55 gallon tank available at almost any pet store, and it just enough lighting to grow algae, and nothing else. I debated for a few months whether or not I even wanted to keep the tank. It was obviously going to take a lot of work, and money, to turn this tank into something I could be proud of. The other factor was that the only place available for the tank when it was setup was the main wall in our dining room. This meant that this tank was more visible than any other, meaning it need to look great, or it had to go.
To make a long story short, the decision was made to keep the tank and the process began.
I decided that I would take this opportunity to try some plants I had previously avoided because they either seemed too difficult to care for or required too much light than the other tanks had. Lack of lighting would not be an issue in the tank; I purchased a 260W Coralife Aqualight from an online supplier. That works out to 4.72 watts/gallon, much more than any of the other tanks I currently have setup.
Over the course of several days the tank was completely stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up. Below are the new specs.
Aquarium Specs:
Type: 55 Gallon
Lighting: Coralife Aqualight 48” 260W
Filtration: Whisper Power Filter Model 60
Heating: Visi-Therm Stealth Heater 200W
CO2: Pressurized System
Substrate:
Eco Complete
Plants:
Cabomba Caroliniana
Cryp. Wendtii “Bronze”
Cryp. Wendtii “Red”
Bacopa Caroliniana
Rotala Magenta
Rotala Indica
Ludwiga Repens
Rotala Wallichii
Myriophylum Scabratum
Ludwiga Repens x arcuata
Myriophyllum Simulans
Fish:
Cherry Barbs (x4)
SAE (x3)
For whatever reason I didn’t take any before and after photos like I normally do when setting up a tank. This photo above was taken a few days after the initial setup.
