# Aqueon 15g Column Planted Build



## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

**FTS as of 4/27/15**









Tank: Aqueon 15g Column
Heater: Eheim Jager 50watt
Filter: Aquaclear 50
Substrate: Azoo Plant Grower Bed Substrate Brown
Rocks: Ohko Stone
Driftwood: Not sure the LFS sold it as "branch wood" lol
Controller: Reefkeeper Lite
Moonlight: TrueLumen 453nm 3led linking module
Light:Stock light for first few month or so then upgraded to Finnex Planted+
Flow: Koralia Nano240


I come from having reef tanks so this is my first planted tank. I haven't had a tank running for about 4 years now and bought this Aqueon on a whim when I saw it on sale late last year at Petsmart.

I'm just now finally getting around to getting it setup. I'm a total newbie to planted tanks so we'll see how this goes lol.

Here is the the tank after being running for about 3 weeks time. I had boiled the driftwood for about 3 hours and then let it and rocks soak for 2 weeks before setting up the tank:











The Reefkeeper Lite controller:










The PC4 installed in the stand with some Seachem products to start out:










What it looks like with the moonlights on:










Somewhere around the 4 week mark I bought some plants from a local aquarist from craigslist who also happens to be a plantedtank.net member. Really nice guy with a bunch of tanks running full of cool stuff.

Planted my tank that night with the newly purchased plants and here is what it looks like a week later. Got some Ramshorn snails and some other smaller black shelled ones as hitch hikers on the plants so thats cool. They seem to be taking care of the last of that white algea that sprang up on the driftwood.

Im not sure what all of the plants are(should have wrote the names down! :help but I did remember some.

Full Tank Shot:









Front:









Right Side:









Left Side:











Comments Questions and Advice are highly encouraged!

I'll try to keep this thread updated if you guys are interested.






I finally picked up an API master freshwater test kit and their GH&KH test kit.

Here are the results:

pH 7.4-7.6 (I'm not awesome at using the color charts)

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 20

KH 3dKH (3 drops)

GH 196.9 ppm (11 drops)

How are these numbers looking? Its looking like the tank is cycled but how are the KH and GH? Also am I using their chart to convert drops to the appropriate measurement units correctly?


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

The tank looks pretty good to me. I don't know how to scape a column tank so
you did much better than I would have.
The GH looks a bit high but not extreme.


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Today I changed out the stock light for a Finnex Planted+. To my eyes it looks brighter and the color spectrum makes the plants look really nice. 

There is room to add another Planted+ light under the hood which I may end up doing because the tank is so deep. Thoughts on this? I don't want to make an algae farm.

I also added a Koralia nano240 to help with some lower level dead spots in the tank. I'm digging the gentle sway of the plants in the current. Reminds me of my reef tank.

I'll take some pictures of the light on the tank once the sun goes down. Too much glare on the glass during the day for photos.

Is the GH being that high going to be an issue?


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## YoungClayB (Jun 2, 2012)

Lighting can be extremely tricky. Every time that I've tried to step up my game with better lighting, the algae started to take over. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Finnex Planted+ added in place of stock T5:


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

very cool tank  it already looks quite good but will look great after a little bit more growth


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Thanks! Im curious to see how the plants do under the leds considering the depth of the tank.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

The planted+ was a good choice. The depth of a tank is usually a large factor in planted tanks. I'm not sure the depth of this, but you may be putting out a lot of light with the planted+. It is fairly powerful.

How much do your plants sway in the nano 240? Any plans on fish? The tank looks pretty good, especially for a first attempt.


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

I'm planning on some shrimp and a yellow with blue eyed pleco from the plantedtank member i got the plants from since he breeds both. Other than that I keep thinking I might like a small school of cardinal or neon tetras. I don't really have a set in stone fish list. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

The Java fern sways a pretty decent amount but the other plants have a nice gentle sway. Maybe I'll make a short video once there is some fish in the tank. The nano240 was a really nice addition. Really took care of this tanks dead spots.


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Fun pic of one of the Ramshorn snails. Hoping to get some shrimp and a pleco today.










Also last night I notice a bunch of tiny white lines moving around on the glass. You can see a few in the pic above? Are these snail larva? I have been noticing a ton of the littel pond snails popping up over the last few days


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

maybe it is time to hire an assassin snail


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

I think I might have to! The pond snail population is exploding.


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Yesterday I picked up 20 RCS, 2 tiny yellow bristlenose pleco, and a juvenile bristlenose pleco thats dark colored with bright yellow spots from a local plantedtank member that breeds them. 3 plecos is pushing it for a tank this size but they are tiny and I am planning on setting up a larger tank in the near future that I can move 1 or 2 of them to.

I drip acclimated them for an hour before adding them to the tank. They are all very active. Its nice to have more life than snails to watch in the tank now!










The shrimp pooping up a storm while waiting to go in their new home.









Grubbin' on a few pellets I tossed in tonight.









Bump: FTS as of 4/27/15


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Added 15 Cardinal Tetras on April 29th. Picture updates to follow shortly.


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## DanMarkBen (May 26, 2015)

Can you elaborate a bit more on the light upgrade? The link on Amazon shows the smallest size available to be a 20 inch, but the tank is not that wide? Curious because I have been wanting to upgrade the light on my own column. Thanks!


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Hi there! I ordered a 12" Planted+ from amazon. If you go to amazon and search for Finnex FugeRay Planted+ and click on whatever size comes up first, within that page should have options for all the sizes the light comes in(12,16,20,24,30,36,48). Currently mine is placed within the stock lighting housing in place of the entire T5 assemble under the stock opaque plastic. I need to change that stock splash guard to clear plexi and situate the light more to the middle as it sits over the back third of the tank currently. The plants don't seem to care but the Cardinals don't pop when swimming in the top front section of the tank.


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## Mfam (Feb 9, 2017)

Great write up on your column tank. It looks great in the pictures. Hope it has continued to do well. I'm also in the process of building a 15 gallon column and am putting the planted+ light in the stock cover. How did you attach the light within the cover? Did you have to notch the plastic for the cord?


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## ERB82 (Apr 21, 2015)

Hi there. I used a dremel to take out much of the plastic in the hood. The moonlights are epoxied in and the Finnex is held in with zip ties. I can post a picture if you'd like.


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