# My 50 gallon setup



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Hey all,

I have had 20H and 10g planted tanks running for about a year now, but I was able to acquire a 50 gallon with substrate and light for a reasonable price from another member here (Thanks JDinh). I have had this tank set up for about a month now, but just finally got a digital camera, so I figured i'd share my setup with you. Comments and criticisms are very welcome!
50 gallon
Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil
Coralife 2X96W light (96W from 11-8:30, 192W from 12-6)
cascade 700 and cascade 500 canister filters
Pressurized CO2 with Rexulator and DIY reactor(run inline on canister)
Hardscape: Driftwood w/ riccia, riccia rock

Flora: HM, blyxa japonica, rotala colorata, rotala sp green, rotala rotundifolia, ludwigia palustris, ludwigia arcuata, eriocaulon type 2, riccia, limnophila aromatica, hygro sunset, hygro bold, Myriophyllum mattogrossense, rotala vietnam, rotala hippuris, Rotala sp. 'Goias', Polygonum sp. 'Kawagoneum', Ranunculus inundatus, echinodorus orientalis, peacock moss rope. I also just started to grow a mat of HC for the foreground using the method described by Tom Barr in a recent post.

Fauna: 15 harlequin rasboras, 4 bolivian rams, 2 northern blue rainbows, 4 julli corys, 2 pygmy corys, 4 unidentified otos (Anyone know what they are from the pic below?), rubberlipped pleco, 2 white cloud mountain minnows, 4 cambarellus shufeltii

Here are some photos. The tank is still filling in, and i'm planning to switch some of the plants out for others in the near future. Thanks for looking and for comments and criticisms!
Full tank








Left side








right side








UnID'd oto. Any help here?








dwarf cray








Rams:I think the first photo is 2 females, while the next 2 photos are a male. Anyone have opinions here?
























Rainbow









Sorry for the quality of some of the pics. These fish won't sit still!

Mike


----------



## Erk (Aug 21, 2007)

The tank looks great! I like a lot of the plants you have in there!

In regards to the rams...the ones with the pinkish bellies are female

Keep up the nice work:thumbsup:


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

thanks erk! I have been able to acquire many of the plants that I have wanted for this setup from the SNS here. Thanks for the info on the rams, as well


----------



## 03sonicstang03 (Sep 14, 2007)

Beautiful tank; lots of growth for a month. Does your crayfish give you any trouble?


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Thanks, sonicstang! The crayfish aren't troublesome at all. They are still juveniles, but they only get 1.5-2", as they are dwarf crays. They are very cool to watch, and they do a nice job searching the substrate for excess food, etc.


----------



## 03sonicstang03 (Sep 14, 2007)

I might have to pick one up! Again beautiful; I hope my tank fills in as well!


----------



## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

The tank looks good! Glad to see it again!


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Thank JD! I'm having a great time with this tank. it's nice to have so much more room to work with


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Here's a quick update. I made a few changes, because I received some new plants. I added some Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia', pogostemon stellatus, and an Aponogeton madagascariensis. Things are continuing to fill out, with little algae so far (keeping fingers crossed)

Full tank









Left side with new additions









Right side









Let me know what you think


----------



## Tdon1md (Jun 3, 2007)

Great looking tank. Thanks for naming your substrate cuz it's what I have and I didn't write down the name b4 tossing the bag. Now I can add it to my profile.........lol!
________
Glass Bubblers


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Tdon1md said:


> Great looking tank. Thanks for naming your substrate cuz it's what I have and I didn't write down the name b4 tossing the bag. Now I can add it to my profile.........lol!


thanks! Yea, it's not the best looking substrate, but it was free and seems to work well so far.


----------



## theelysium (Nov 18, 2006)

WoW! I like your tank. I hope mine becomes that some day! I'm glad to see that someone who gives advise really walks their talk! Good Job!


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

theelysium said:


> WoW! I like your tank. I hope mine becomes that some day! I'm glad to see that someone who gives advise really walks their talk! Good Job!


I appreciate that! I'll update next week once I get some new pics, as I've made a few changes


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Where are you guys getting blyxa japonica?
I can't find it anywhere.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

I got it from the SNS. I might have some to sell soon. I might be more willing to sell if you had some comments about my tank...haha


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

that's blackmail


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

absolutely. That's how it works


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

i didn't know praise meant so much to you.


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Looks nice, would look even better with some ET in the foreground. :hihi:


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

jaidexl said:


> Looks nice, would look even better with some ET in the foreground. :hihi:


Well, we'll see soon enough. Thanks again!


----------



## mikeb210 (Oct 17, 2007)

Whats the status on this tank?? Updates please!!!!


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

I'll try to post an update early this week. I should have some time to get some new shots on Tuesday


----------



## 24fps (Oct 12, 2007)

Hey man, 
Your 50 gallon looks awesome. very healthy, and cool 'scaping.
Do you have some updated pics?


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Here are some updated pics. Sorry, I forgot to clean the outside of the glass. I have made some changes. I took out the pogo stellatus and added rotala wallichi and cabomba furcata to the back left. I removed most of the blyxa and replaced with some crypt wendtii. There are some more changes to come once I get the rest of my plants. Here ya go

Full








Left








Middle








Right








foreground


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Looks great, almost seem like you have a big tree in the center. It's nice to finally see a shipment come back to me on screen  I'm glad you planted the ET next to HM, I was just wondering recently how they would look and how well they'd blend.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

jaidexl said:


> Looks great, almost seem like you have a big tree in the center. It's nice to finally see a shipment come back to me on screen  I'm glad you planted the ET next to HM, I was just wondering recently how they would look and how well they'd blend.


Thanks! Yea, it's still filling in, and I'm still shifting plants etc. The ET is growing fast, though! I really dig the look of it next to the HM


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Any updates? So, how many times have you had to pull the ET, about 4? :hihi:


----------



## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Nice tank! Thanks for sharing.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Just like my 20H tank, I left this one for about 3 weeks unattended. Unfortunately, the elatine triandra magically disappeared while I was gone. The whole front part of the tank was dug up while I was away. 

However, I was having some algae problems before I left, but now the tank is in much better shape, algae-wise. I have a feeling that I was dosing too much with the ferts (using EI recommended doses), as I do have a pretty high fishload that is likely providing a lot of the N and P for the plants. 

I was probably overdoing it with the lighting as well, so I'm going to reduce the lighting a bit. I do have lots of BBA on the driftwood, but I don't know why. I have upped the co2 in the past, but it got to the point where my fish were gasping, so I can't really add any more.

I also purchased an RO system from Buckeye Field Supply that will arrive this week. That should help me have better success with some of the softer water plants I have been trying, such as Cabomba furcata and some of the thin leaved rotala species. This tank needs some serious scaping work. Anyways, here are a couple of crappy pics


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

It doesn't look that bad. I bet the ET became a floating stand then rotted away on the surface. Mine tries to float after three weeks or so, the ferts and light only speed the process. Looks like you have a bit left though. Everything else looks nice and green. Back to the drawing board!

Haha, I'll probably be there myself in a week or so while I wait for a new needle valve from Rex, my last one blew and I'm trying to save the tank with DIY in the meantime... lots of blue on the drop checker. :icon_roll


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

jaidexl said:


> It doesn't look that bad. I bet the ET became a floating stand then rotted away on the surface. Mine tries to float after three weeks or so, the ferts and light only speed the process. Looks like you have a bit left though. Everything else looks nice and green. Back to the drawing board!
> 
> Haha, I'll probably be there myself in a week or so while I wait for a new needle valve from Rex, my last one blew and I'm trying to save the tank with DIY in the meantime... lots of blue on the drop checker. :icon_roll


You are probably right. It was just starting to really take off before I left. I should have trimmed it to prevent that from happening. 

I'm sure that is frustrating trying to keep the DIY co2 levels up. Hopefully the tank won't get too far away from you in the meantime. You can probably reduce the lighting to help prevent a big outbreak


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Yeah, I'm only running one bulb, almost the same dosing but on the lean side. Plus I hacked down my A.reineckii to the nub, because I know one little slip is all it takes to make it look awful.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Here's a quick update. I am still struggling a bit with growing rotala wallichi and nanjenshan, but they seem to be recovering from a bout with hair algae that required a blackout treatment. My co2 is solid now, so I have been good algae-wise for a few weeks now. I added some crypt parva and downois to the foregraound. The apon. crispus and others have really taken off since I added the fert tabs from MM. I think they are gonna be a bit too big for this tank now, but I am still undecided about what to do. Any comments/suggestions/criticisms are always appreciated. Thanks for looking

FTS









Left









Right









Foreground


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Looking good, your Bolivians look very happy.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Orlando said:


> Looking good, your Bolivians look very happy.


Thanks! They are some of my favorites. They seem to love the planted tank


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Well, I decided to re-do this one. I got a large quantity of manzanita from badcop, so I got out the drill and started trying to put something together. I ripped out a bunch of plants and moved some stuff around. It's real thin right now, but hopefully it will fill in the way I imagine it in my mind. 

Please excuse the equipment and bubbles in the tank. As always, feel free to rip it apart!


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Just a quick shot. This one is very healthy and growing nicely, with no algae problems to speak of. I still plan to make changes, but am currently just happy with the health of the tank. 

My lotus always stays small for some reason. I don't really know why, but I actually like it this way. It's pretty thin right now, as I damaged part of it during maintenance and had to remove them, but it should fill back in just fine. 

I had a couple extra seiryu stones lying around, so I tossed them in, but I didn't give a whole lot of thought to it. They don't look very good to me, so I may remove them or change the layout.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)




----------

