# **Journal** 55 Gallon planted community aquarium



## Brian A (Sep 3, 2002)

the plants will really help with the cycle. What is that grassy plant in the middle? it looks like Mondograss which isn't a real aquatic plant. If it is you might want to take it out because it will foul the water when it rots.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

flash69x said:


> the plants will really help with the cycle. What is that grassy plant in the middle? it looks like Mondograss which isn't a real aquatic plant. If it is you might want to take it out because it will foul the water when it rots.


Man I was actually going to ask someone the same thing. I'm not sure what the grassy plant is, but it's some type of aquatic grass plant that I got from Petsmart a few months ago and seems to be doing really well. Doesn't grow much, but isn't showing any signs of dying either. I'm really looking forward to the plants all growing. I'm getting CO2 system tomorrow, so that should help everything.


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## Brian A (Sep 3, 2002)

PlantGeek.net - Ophiopogon japonica

try that. That might help you ID it. Petsmart sells that stuff, i feel for it when i first started out.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

flash69x said:


> PlantGeek.net - Ophiopogon japonica
> 
> try that. That might help you ID it. Petsmart sells that stuff, i feel for it when i first started out.


Thanks for the link. I'll have to double check with Petsmart what kind of plant it is. Sure does look a lot like that mondo grass.  I'll definitely keep a close eye on it. 

I'm going to let the tank sit as is for a few weeks and see how things do. I'm getting the CO2 system tonight, but I still need to get a bottle. The system is supposed to use either paintball style hookup or the regular bottle style. Guess I'll try a sporting store later.

Also due to arrive today are some GE 9325K CF lights. I'll try them out tonight and take a photo and see which one works best.


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## esarkipato (Jul 19, 2005)

Nice looking tank. What kind of lighting/how much is on the tank?


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

esarkipato said:


> Nice looking tank. What kind of lighting/how much is on the tank?


I have the all-glass hood with 2 55watt PC bulbs. 2 watts per gallon, I thought about getting something more powerful like a 65 x 4, but my gosh they are expensive. I'll try this 110 watt setup and see how it does. I've seen other setups with 110watts and they look pretty good. hoping for the best.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*9/12/06 Photo*

Got the GE 9325k PC bulbs today and I'm really liking them. Not a huge difference over the 8000k bulbs, but it does as more contrast and makes the red betta more vibrant.


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

One thing i think might be helpful to your tank design is to avoid symmetries in the tank. For instance the wood that subdivides the tank into 3. You might consider placing them in such a way that it doesnt look to perfectly split.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Well I just added the Red Sea C02 Pro system last night and have it running during the day only at about 1 bubble per second. What is everyone else running? Also, is there a cheap way of setting it up to work automatically. I think that turning it on and off each day will get old fast and having to readjust the bubble count too.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

2-4 bps is what I normally run. depends on your GH KH etc...
a little over 70quid you can get a pH controller to automate it.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Well I've got the C02 running on auto now with a switch and I seem to have about 17ppm at the moment. I'm trying to get about 20 so I'll up the bpm slightly and see what happens. 

So now that I have C02 running, decent lighting 2.2 watts per gallon I'm curious to see if I need to start fertilizing? I came across this method called an EI dosing schedule that lists several different things to be added each week along with doing a 50% water change. Is this necessary? Will I get an algae bloom if I don't do this?


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

my CO2 is diffused via a little powerhead, and i have that on a timer that runs in conjunction with my lights. it's nice. when the powerhead isn't on, it doesn't get diffused and the bubble just rises to the top and out into my living room. i guess it's not the most CO2 efficient way. maybe you could mcguyver something up.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

caymandiver75 said:


> Well I've got the C02 running on auto now with a switch and I seem to have about 17ppm at the moment. I'm trying to get about 20 so I'll up the bpm slightly and see what happens.
> 
> So now that I have C02 running, decent lighting 2.2 watts per gallon I'm curious to see if I need to start fertilizing? I came across this method called an EI dosing schedule that lists several different things to be added each week along with doing a 50% water change. Is this necessary? Will I get an algae bloom if I don't do this?


I would up the CO2 to about 25-28%, then yes you need to dose macros and micros. EI is a good method if you don't like to test, but if you want to fine tune it, you can modify your dosing and do less water changes like 30% weekly or 60% every two weeks, depending on your concentrations. You do need to test though to get to that happy medium. I see you have some swords, so I suggest some flourish root tabs under those, or some ADA Iron bottom. Just make sure they are buried straight down in your substrate as to not get it in your water column. Don't wait to see IF you need to fertilize, because you will get one hell of an algae bloom. You will inevitably need to get to it, so start out on the right foot!


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

fresh_newby said:


> I would up the CO2 to about 25-28%, then yes you need to dose macros and micros. EI is a good method if you don't like to test, but if you want to fine tune it, you can modify your dosing and do less water changes like 30% weekly or 60% every two weeks, depending on your concentrations. You do need to test though to get to that happy medium. I see you have some swords, so I suggest some flourish root tabs under those, or some ADA Iron bottom. Just make sure they are buried straight down in your substrate as to not get it in your water column. Don't wait to see IF you need to fertilize, because you will get one hell of an algae bloom. You will inevitably need to get to it, so start out on the right foot!


Where can I get the recommened doses of macros and micros? Also, the substate is ECO-Complete do I still need to get some flourish root tabs for the swords? Also, what's the deal with the roots not being allowed in the water column? I'm a newbie! :icon_cry:


**EDIT**
Just placed an order from gregwatson.com for the following and will be doing a weekly water change of 50%. 

Product ID: Nitrate
Product Name: Potassium Nitrate 1 lb.
--------------------------
Product ID: PotassiumPhosphate
Product Name: Mono Potassium Phosphate 1 lb.
--------------------------
Product ID: CSMPlantex1
Product Name: CSM+B Plantex 1 lb


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*9/21/06 Pictures*

The plants are really growing well. The one in the back left corner is growing alot and so are the swords to the right. Lots of pearling going on with almost all the plants. Pretty cool!


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

fresh_newby said:


> I would up the CO2 to about 25-28%, then yes you need to dose macros and micros. EI is a good method if you don't like to test, but if you want to fine tune it, you can modify your dosing and do less water changes like 30% weekly or 60% every two weeks, depending on your concentrations. You do need to test though to get to that happy medium. I see you have some swords, so I suggest some flourish root tabs under those, or some ADA Iron bottom. Just make sure they are buried straight down in your substrate as to not get it in your water column. Don't wait to see IF you need to fertilize, because you will get one hell of an algae bloom. You will inevitably need to get to it, so start out on the right foot!


Just tested my CO2 level via the KH and PH and I'm currently at 23 ppm CO2. :thumbsup: I think once the PH gets down to 7.0 I'll be at an optimum level of CO2 ppm. Current CO2 BBs is 2 per second for 14 hrs a day. My lights are on for 9 hrs a day. The ammonia level is a .25ppm so I'm not adding any fish until it is 0 and i'll be doing another water change tomorrow of 25%.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*10/25/06 pictures*

It's been almost 3 months now that I started playing around with plants in my aquarium and I have learned so much in the short period of time. This forum has been a huge help to me.  It's funny, I have a nice big TV in the same room as my aquarium and I find that I watch my tank more than the screen. The tank is very stable and water conditions checked weekly. I have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and a 40% water change done weekly. Temperature is set to 76 degrees and the ph stays between 6.8 and 7.1. I have several neon tetras, 2 black tetras, 2 angels, 5 otos, 1 clown loach to eat snails, 2 zebra danos, 2 pracox rainbos and 2 platy's.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

I just added more light to my aquarium and the plants love it! I added 56 more watts with the Coralife T-5 AQUALIGHT now (3.3wpg) and about an hour later most of my plants start bubbling alot more than usual. So now I have 9325k GE CF bulbs along with a 6700k bulb and a colormax full-spectrum bulb. Beautiful is all I can say for this tank. The plants standout just as much as the colors in all the fish. It is very relaxing to watch...can almost be described as a state of meditation.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*November 12 2006*

Did a 50% water change this week with distilled water. My GH&KH dropped from 8&11 to 7&7. I may switch to spring water or strictly use filtered water. I've noticed that neons and angel fish are having trouble with high GH/KH levels. 

PH - 6.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
C02 - 28ppm
Nitrates- 20ppm
GH&KH - 7/7


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## Finch_man (Mar 21, 2006)

How many bags of eco complete did you use on your 55 gallon tank?


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Finch_man said:


> How many bags of eco complete did you use on your 55 gallon tank?


I believe I used 4, but looking back I should have tried 5.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*Green Water battle has begun 12/1/06*

I've been fighting this green water for the past week and things were not improving. Yesterday I bought a H.O.T. Magnum and ran the mirco filter with little luck. Today I decided to try my luck and added about 1/2 cup of diatom power to the Magnum filter and within 1 hour my water is the best I've ever seen it! The pictures just don't do it justice as the water is practically invisible now and it looks like my plants and fish are swimming about in thin air. I know that people say the filter is a temporary fix, but I've got that covered too. I have a UV filter on the way and should have it installed by the weekend. Here are a few pics from before and about 1 hour after.

These below 2 photos are of my tanks green water after 2 days of running the Magnum and the micron filter. It looks better than it did prior to using the Magnum, but obviously not good enough. Time to get serious and add in some diatom powder.

















I added 1/2 cup a diatom power to my Magnum filter and look at the results 1 hour later! the tank is amazingly clear. Yeah!!!! I'll be running the filter over night and once I get my UV installed I hope not to worry about this problem again.

















Rest of my photos from today CLICK HERE

Slide Show with some descriptions.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*December 9 2006 latest photo*

Well thought I would post an updated photo now that I have UV running and the water has been polished with my HOT Magnum. Everything is in great shape! I've been playing around with my camera NIKON D80 settings and this photo is as close to what it looks like in person as I can get. I had to set the white balance to 4800k, 100 ISO, 35mm, F/4.5, No Flash, 1/10th second.


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## skiboarder72 (Oct 13, 2006)

very nice, i'll trade you for my D50


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

skiboarder72 said:


> very nice, i'll trade you for my D50


I was so close to getting the D50 camera and would have got it if the D80 wasn't on sale. I know a few people that use the D50 for track events and auto cross and it works great! Nikon definitely makes some good cameras. Now I just have to get used to this new camera and all the settings on it. This is my first SLR camera and i'm loving it. Just wish they were a little more portable.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*My battle with Algae 12/12/06. Hope I won. ^_^*

Ok, just removed as much algae as I could possible with trimming, scraping etc and the tank looks darn near algae free. I also filled my CO2 indicator with distilled water at 4kh and it's showing almost yellow after being in the tank for 2 hours. According to the calculation my CO2 ppm should be 30 when green and around 70 when yellow. So I'm sure that I'm around 45ish ppm CO2 and with that I'm confident that my CO2 system is working well...maybe a bit too well so I turned it down just a bit and now the color indicator is showing very light green almost yellow. 

My water is as follows:
Degrees: 77F
PH: 6.7
KH: 7
CO2: 40+
NO3 (Nitrate): 20ppm
NO2 (Nitrite): .05ppm Must have stirred something up removing the algae. 
NH3/NH3 (Ammonia) 0 

As long as I keep these conditions in the tank, continue EI dosing and 50% weekly water changes, should I have any reason to worry about the algae coming back? I also have the UV running now as of a few days ago. 











Notice the algae in the background is gone.  Lots of manual work...hopefully pays off.


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## skiboarder72 (Oct 13, 2006)

looks like its going great!! get some newer full tank shots!


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## stupidplants (Nov 29, 2006)

caymandiver75 said:


> Man I was actually going to ask someone the same thing. I'm not sure what the grassy plant is, but it's some type of aquatic grass plant that I got from Petsmart a few months ago and seems to be doing really well. Doesn't grow much, but isn't showing any signs of dying either. I'm really looking forward to the plants all growing. I'm getting CO2 system tomorrow, so that should help everything.


Yea my friend got that same plant from petsmart. It doesn't grow then it rots. He had it for about a month and it started to rot. I would get rid of it if I were you or get your money back if you can.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*December 13th 2006*



skiboarder72 said:


> looks like its going great!! get some newer full tank shots!


Ok...here is a photo from today after the major algae cleanup and running the H.O.T. Magnum diatom filter for some water polishing. :biggrin:


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

stupidplants said:


> Yea my friend got that same plant from petsmart. It doesn't grow then it rots. He had it for about a month and it started to rot. I would get rid of it if I were you or get your money back if you can.


Yeah I figured that out a while ago. That plant wasn't growing as you described and the roots were starting to rot. I should have taken it back to Petsmart, but instead threw in in my snail tank for them to eat. They wouldn't eat it so I tossed it out. Lesson learned.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*Mission to increase my CO2 and kill off all remaining algae*

Feb 7th 2007
I just bought a 500ml bottle of the Flourish Excel and added 5 cap fulls and will add 2 cap fulls every day in conjunction with my CO2, which I just tested and it's at 16.68ppm! I'd like to keep the Red Sea pressure regulator, bubble counter and needle valve, but that RC 500 Reactor just isn't giving me enough. I'm going to try setting the reactor flow rate in the middle and turn up the bpm and see if I can see a change tomorrow in my CO2 level

I also raised the water level just now to reduce the amount of water agitation at the surface. I'll be doing a CO2 test tomorrow to see how the increase in bpm, adjusted reactor pump flow and reduced water movement at the surface affects my CO2 levels tomorrow at this time.

After adding the initial dose of Excel Flourish i've noticed that my water is slightly cloudy. That normal? Apparently so, my is relatively new so the additional carbon is kicking things in a bit.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*February 8th 2007*

After making the adjustments that I mentioned in my previous post I just tested the C02 level again and I'm between 26 and 33ppm. My kh is 7 and my ph is between 6.8 and 6.9.

I also double checked my CO2 yesterday via the Degas Method and there is exactly .5 difference between the cup of water yesterday and today, which means my water was indeed around 15ppm CO2 yesterday, so it looks like my adjustments to my CO2 worked. roud: Just to be on the safe side I'm going to do the same thing with the water today and test it via the Degas Method just to verify that it did indeed work.


Degas Method

(alternate method to measure CO2)

* Place some tank water into a cup.
* Measure the pH.
* Let sit uncovered for 24 hours.
* Measure the pH.
* The difference between the two pH values will show the CO2 level:

0.5 difference = 15 ppm

1.0 difference = 30 ppm

Example:

pH 6.2 --> 7.2 = 30 ppm CO2

pH 6.3 --> 6.8 = 15 ppm CO

I've got my finger on the trigger for a Rhinox 2000 and a eheim aquaball powerhead. Just wanna "dick" around with my current setup for a bit longer and see what happens first. Ultimately I'd like to get my CO2 levels consistent in the upper 30ppm's.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*February 9th 2007*

My water is clearer today.roud: I am going to continue doing the x2 daily dose of the excel for another 10 days or so and see how things progress. A few days ago I posted a picture of my tank after I did a major trim and manually cleaned out as much Algae as I could. Well it's now days later and it doesn't appear as though any of the algae is growing back and the little algae that is still on a few plants appears to be dying. :biggrin: My plants are all growing well and the fish all look fine. I'm going to test my cup of water today to verify that my current CO2 setup is indeed around 30ppm, but I have a feeling I'll be getting a diffuser in the near future.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Ok today I finally pulled the trigger and ordered (2) Rhinox 2000 diffusers from the guy on ebay located in Malaysia and ordered the Eheim Aquaball powerhead 1212. The Red Sea 500 reactor just can't keep the CO2 above 30ppm and I don't feel like dosing Flourish Excel everyday to compensate.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*Feb 18 2007*

Well my algae issue is completely gone. I dosed Flourish Excel for 10 days and it worked amazingly. Now I realize my fix to the CO2 worked, but in order to treat the cause I need to bump up my CO2 levels. Until my glass diffuser shows up I'm running both my Red Sea 500 reactor and using an Eheim pump to disperse CO2 that I have bubbling up through the intake. My CO2 is awesome now. Last I checked it was around 45ppm! 

Also added a cabomba plant in the back left corner, removed my amazon sword on the right and added more red ludwiga.


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## kwaquatic (Sep 18, 2006)

flash69x said:


> the plants will really help with the cycle. What is that grassy plant in the middle? it looks like Mondograss which isn't a real aquatic plant. If it is you might want to take it out because it will foul the water when it rots.



Amen to this. P&*)art sells this crap. It looks great, but will only last a short time.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*March 5th 2007*

Well I swapped out my 2 Red Sea 500 Reactors for 1 Rhinox 2000 diffuser and all I can say is wow! My plants have taken off in growth, the water appears clearer and all the fish are doing well. The CO2 ppm was maxed out at about 35ppm with 2 Red Sea Reactors. Now with just one Rhinox diffuser I can get it up to at lleast 70 if I really wanted to, but for the fishes sake I'll be keeping things around 35-40ppm CO2. I have an eheim water pump above the diffuser and it seems to be doing the job. The fish love the current and the tiny CO2 bubbles are spread out all over the tank.

Check out how much my Red Ludwigia has grown on the right!


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

Now you are cooking~
IMO you now have the tools, and your CO2 is such that your algae issues will be in check, so time to add more plants~


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

fresh_lynny said:


> Now you are cooking~
> IMO you now have the tools, and your CO2 is such that your algae issues will be in check, so time to add more plants~


Thanks! I sure hope I don't get an issue with algae again. I am also adding Flourish Excel every other day at the recommended dosage. Definitely time for more plants. What would you suggest for my setup?


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## PAINKILLER1009 (Jan 29, 2007)

So the rhinox 2000 is enough for a 55g? I thought about getting the 5000, I also have a 55g. What is your bubble count?
Does it bubble out the entire ceramic disk? I have a cheap glass diffuser that came with my set up now and am about to change it out.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

PAINKILLER1009 said:


> So the rhinox 2000 is enough for a 55g? I thought about getting the 5000, I also have a 55g. What is your bubble count?
> Does it bubble out the entire ceramic disk? I have a cheap glass diffuser that came with my set up now and am about to change it out.


Yeah the Rhinix 2000 is plenty for the tank. My bubble count is about 4bbs and comes on an hour before the lights do and turns off 30 min before the lights do. As for the bubbles, they do pretty much come out of the whole ceramic disk, but really depends on how many bbs I'm running. Obviously the more pressure behind the disk, the more evenly the bubbles come through.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*May 15th 2007*

Not much change since my last set of pictures. The tank is very healthy.

This red ludwigia is a monster. Each week I'm trimming over 2 ft of clippings from it.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*June 10 2007*

Tons of growth. Lots of trimming each week. Anyone want some Red Ludwigia clippings or some Cabamba? I didn't realize until recently that the Red Ludwigia is more of a floating bush rather than a planted one.


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

great looking tank.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Ditto :thumbsup:


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*June 2007 **Video***

The tank is doing amazingly well. I can't believe how the cork screw has pretty much taken over the tank! The fish love it, esp the cardinal and neon tetras. They like to sleep in that deep dark forest. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCaZFhp1U8


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*July 29th 2007*

Decided to get rid of my floating bush (Red Ludwigia) and now the rest of the plants beneath it are doing well again with the extra light. I'm maintaining my dosing regime, adding Flourish Excel every other day and doing my weekly 50% water change. No algae, fish are very healthy and the water is very very clear.

Oh and I had to replace my UV light this past week. It's been on 24/7 since January.


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## Jamez (Jul 27, 2007)

Nice tank you have there. The plants look healthy and lush. I think though that the wood placement could be changed a little bit. I think some black backing could help too, to help focus the viewer on the tank.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*August 25th 2007*

The right half of the tank is doing extremely well now that that giant Red Ludwigia bush has been out of the tank for a few weeks. The grass below it has all turned very green and the rest of the plants have thickened up and are hitting the surface of the water. I just trimmed about 12" off the tops of the Jungle Vals as there was so much on the surface that it was starting to affect the amount of light coming through.

And wow just look how clear the water is!


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## Geoff C (Aug 1, 2007)

Really nice tank, looks very healthy.I agree with jamez on adding a backround of some sort. I just added a black backround to my tank and it looks great, reflects the plants a bit and gives the tank more depth.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*12_8_07*

Haven't really done any changes to the tank. I'm doing the weekly water changes along with the EI dosing. I did accidentally hurt a bunch of the jungle val plants, but they are slowly coming back. I made a mistake and put a tad too much salt in the water. (oops) Other than that, no algae issues and all the fish are very healthy.


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## tropicalfish (Mar 29, 2007)

Why are you putting salt in the tank?
Salt is NOT needed.
Looks really nice, perhaps a background?


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

tropicalfish said:


> Why are you putting salt in the tank?
> Salt is NOT needed.
> Looks really nice, perhaps a background?


Well I had a new fish that I put in get sick and figured it was already too late to put him back in the hospital tank, so I tried a low dose of salt and turned the heat up just a tad. Won't do that again! You are right. Salt and planted tanks are a no no!

Still debating on a background. I just may throw up a black one and see how I like it.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

This tank has evolved nicely. I like it without a background.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*Black Background added 12_22_07*

Not really sure I like the dark background, but curious to see what you all think?

NO BACKGROUND:









BLACK BACKGROUND:









BLUE BACKGROUND:


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## awbowden (Jan 9, 2007)

From these pics I like the 'no background' the best.

Andrew


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

No background looks good, black background looks better, blue background looks silly.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I really like the No Background. But I also like the Black Background. Beautiful tank btw!


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## shwerm601 (Dec 16, 2007)

*no background > black > blue*

Normally I would think black would look best on a planted tank but yours might be the exception. No background looks very good because the white/off-white of your wall provides a nice color contrast with the plants. 

By the way, I just read through your thread and what a beautiful tank. Im hoping my 29 gallon fills up like yours has.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

The black looks good for hiding the equipment but I would do something about the grey parts and get the algae magnet out of the shot. The wall effect is cool, but you can achieve the same effect by building a box out of wood trim and a thin sheet of plywood or something, paint it, and light it at the bottom with a small linear desk lamp, then you can hide the hanging wires etc. Move the filtration to the sides or out of the tank completely for pics and you'll have some interesting shots depending on how you play with the box lighting. My wall has the same effect which I prefer, so I'll be building a light box in the future, till then I'm using black, sometimes white paper.

I'm not down with blue so much, it's refreshing to look at for a short time but I usually get sick of them pretty quickly.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions guys! I have learned quit a bit with this tank. We may actually be moving in a few weeks and this beautiful aquarium will have to start over at the new house. I'm actually thinking of upgrading to a 75 gallon, but know that will require a new stand, hood, etc.  Any of you have suggestion on how to best move a aquarium? I'm thinking about getting several buckets so that I can keep as much of the current water as possible since it's already been cycled and with the fish load I can't imagine what will happen with all new fresh water. (eeks) When I do the next setup, I will make sure I give myself more room from the wall and I'll have the filter stuff in the corners rather than in the middle.

Thanks again!


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## hughitt1 (Jun 19, 2006)

Very beautiful. The not-so-micro-grass carpet looks very nice


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Drain the tank to about 4-6 inches of water and get help moving it to the truck or car. Leave the filter and scape untouched during the move and for a few weeks after. If you save some of the water, that'll help avoid shock from a huge TDS or parameter change, but it doesn't have much to do with the cycle as far as housing bacteria. They're mainly stuck to the filter walls and media, and in the substrate, some on the glass and plants too. I've changed out over 75% with new water before while moving tanks without experiencing a mini cycle or ammonia spikes. My source water was reconstituted by myself so parameters always match, so just make sure you know everything about the water going into the tank at the new place before you decide how much to change at first. The more you can transport the better, but that's not always necessary, like if you're staying on the same water treatment plant or mix your own RO water.


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## pgtanks (Nov 28, 2006)

If you wanna save a lot of water just get an action packer and use buckets to fill it up. Wrap plastic around it with duct tape to prevent some of the splashing.


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## hojimoe (Dec 10, 2007)

just buy a 50G drum, or even buy a heavy duty 50G garbage bin/pail.... fill it up and use a dolly to wheel it around!


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

In the pics I'd have to say no background as well looks best.

Coolers always work well for a move as well, the handles and drain plug come in handy.

Good luck with the move.


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## spinal14 (Dec 24, 2007)

a black background would complete your tank.....


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

*1_12_2011*

Wow I can't believe how long it's been! I still have this aquarium going and I will say it has been great! Such a nice focal point for both my family and all who visit. I still continue dosing the E.I. Method, and everything else remains the same as listed in my signature.


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## caymandiver75 (Sep 5, 2006)

So after several years my AH Supply 3-6-10 bulbs died. Trying to replace them now only to find they are out of business and the bulbs can't be found anywhere. Anyone have suggestions on where I can find them or some equivalents? Thanks!


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