# Progression of my 55 Gallon (Beware lots of pictures!)



## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Here I will be explaining the progression of my planted tank. I will talk about everything from hardware to inhabitants (Plants and fish) and how they have changed.










Simple eh? I knew I wanted to start a planted tank and keep it really low tech, so here is where I started. Everything you see here I bought for $100, stand, tank and all!










Here i added some real driftwood. Some more plants and river rocks. Also may have rushed adding the fish, but I was a little naive thinking that the plants would remove the whole cycling process...WRONG!










Here I added a few more plants. Still hated the look, and I also hated the play sand as the substrate, way too messy and foggy, so I changed to pool filter sand!










Now things are starting to look better, not great but better. I learned some simple things about basic aquascaping and tried my best to incorporate those tips, like off centering the drift wood and what not. I also changed the lighting, went from half watt led lights by marineland and changed to a 48" dual shop light with 2 GE 6,500k bulbs.










































Throughout these pics, I changed things up quite a bit. Added more plants (I assume most of you know the plants in there) and some better floating plants like frogbit (wasnt pleased with the wisteria). I also added more fish, especially 2 cool super red bn plecos!

I also started dosing some ferts and minerals like equilibrium and flourish, added some root tabs, and also removed the small vals I had in there, my water was quite soft for them.










Here I added a larger sword to help fill in the aquascaping. Beginning to look better, but there still seemed to be something missing. One of those things was swapping out the bulky driftwood piece with manzanita branches.










Now! This is where I am at now. Still dosing with Seachem Flourish, Seachem equilibrium, and Seachem root tabs. I had a problem several pictures ago with my swords looking like they had mineral deficiency, so I was directed to equilibrium and root tabs, and everything seems to be improving. The 2 larger swords were recently purchased so I hope all is well. I finally got ahold of the larger manzanita branch, and WOW! am I stoked! Also added 2 german blue rams, and some chain swords. So this is where its all at now, I am definitely pleased with it.

The only other thing I would like to do is change to a shop light that holds 4 48" fluorescent bulbs, instead of the one I have now that holds 2 bulbs.

Here are my current plants:
4 Anubias Barteri (Middle)
1 Anubias Nana (Middle)
4 Anubia Petite Nana (Right/Middle)
2 large Amazon swords (Left)
2 smaller Amazon Swords (Middle and Right)
Frogbit (Floating)
20 nodes Hydrocytle Sp. Japan (Front/Middle)
Scattered Java Moss
Ball of Pellia (Front/Right Corner)
Chain swords (Front/Left)
Lutea (Front/Left)

Inhabitants:
4 Angels
3 Oto Catfish
2 Super Red Bristlenose Plecos
2 German Blue Rams

I am still very new to planted aquariums, but I wanted to show my progress from the very beginning.

Any thoughts, advice, ideas and critics please bring them on and post! I want you to. I will accept any and all advice, everything from lighting, fish, plants and substrates.


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## MiniFishRoom (Mar 23, 2012)

Nice!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Forgot a couple things.

To the inhabitants, I also have 5 black neon tetras. Thinking of swapping these out with a different schooling fish...any ideas?

Also meant to add a hardware and fertilizer section for the setup.

Hardware:
Standard 55 gallon aquarium
Emperor 400, have an Eheim 2215, but currently working in a leak issue with it.
1 300w Aqueon Heater
1 dual 48" shop light with 6,500k bulbs

Ferts:
Seachem Flourish
Seachem Root Tabs
Seachem Equilibrium (to help with my really soft water)

P.s. Please forgive me if I don't know all the scientific names for the plants


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice progression on this tank!


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## zoragen (Nov 3, 2009)

Very nice.

Love the dw!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Any ideas, suggestions or advice? Open to all!


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

I really like the evolution of this tank! It has the potential to be an amazing tank once it fills in some more! The new dw is awesome as well, your manzinita scape is kind of what i hope to use on my next tank. I also like your stocking. Black neons are nice, and you could add to them and then compliment them with rummynose or cardinal tetra! I am going to use the rummynose/black neon combo in my tank.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

mitchfish9 said:


> I really like the evolution of this tank! It has the potential to be an amazing tank once it fills in some more! The new dw is awesome as well, your manzinita scape is kind of what i hope to use on my next tank. I also like your stocking. Black neons are nice, and you could add to them and then compliment them with rummynose or cardinal tetra! I am going to use the rummynose/black neon combo in my tank.


Funny you mention that. I have a nice lady that is going to be bring over 25 cardinals for free. Will add them after a week of qt!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Also what is it with rummy nose? I war everyone talking about them. Good fish?


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Rummynose tetra have a checkerboard tail with a bright red nose. Arguably the best schooling tetra, but a little bit more sensitive than most tetras. Great fish. But you have the cardinals coming, so you can do 25 cardinals and maybe even 10 black neons. Not sure about if that is too stocked though. Generally it looks better to have higher numbers of less species


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

I will be moving the black neons, and just keep the cards as the schooling fish. I may have to look into rummys though, especially if they are the best schooling tetra. I also saw that they are pretty precise with their water parameters.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Are there any shrimp that will be safe in my set up? Looking to get a cleaning crew in there to help with uneaten food and what not.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

MiniFishRoom said:


> Nice!


Thank you!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

mitchfish9 said:


> I really like the evolution of this tank! It has the potential to be an amazing tank once it fills in some more! The new dw is awesome as well, your manzinita scape is kind of what i hope to use on my next tank. I also like your stocking. Black neons are nice, and you could add to them and then compliment them with rummynose or cardinal tetra! I am going to use the rummynose/black neon combo in my tank.


Thanks by the way on the compliment!


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Cinbos said:


> Are there any shrimp that will be safe in my set up? Looking to get a cleaning crew in there to help with uneaten food and what not.


Even though amanos get pretty big, no shrimp is safe with angels lol


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

mitchfish9 said:


> Even though amanos get pretty big, no shrimp is safe with angels lol


 
I think I will be staying away from shrimp.


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## Mrturritos (Oct 26, 2012)

You could try a bamboo shrimp, they get big and are great filter feeders. Might be worth the try since they are cheap and when they are full grown can be very impressive. If you get a decent sized one at a LFS your angels shouldn't bother it. They are a cichlid so you have been warned!


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## Mrturritos (Oct 26, 2012)

Oh and I love how your tank progressed! I like seeing how I first started my aquarium from hardscape to were it is now (still needs more time) and love to see how much it has improved!


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## Icegoalie32 (May 8, 2012)

Nice looking tank, and a good progression.

I really like the Manzanita Branch. Do you have a local source, or do you order online?


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Icegoalie32 said:


> Nice looking tank, and a good progression.
> 
> I really like the Manzanita Branch. Do you have a local source, or do you order online?


I did for the larger one, but the smaller ones I bought from the guy in cali.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks for the nice compliments.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Just an update! Had an algae issue, made some changes and heres where I am at! Still digging it. I also added some new inhabitants! Several more otos, 7 nerite snails, added a female blue ram, changed out the shoaling fish to Serpae tetras, and sold 2 angels.


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Wow. Absolutely beautiful


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

The Dude said:


> Wow. Absolutely beautiful


Thanks man!


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## Rare Breed (Feb 3, 2013)

whats the grassy lookin plant under the driftwood and thevfront right of the tank?


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Rare Breed said:


> whats the grassy lookin plant under the driftwood and thevfront right of the tank?


Micro sword. I am trying it out. I have had it in there for about 2 weeks, and it seems to be doing well so far, but we will see.


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## Aqualady (Jan 14, 2013)

Wow, nice looking tank!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Aqualady said:


> Wow, nice looking tank!


Thank you, its still a work in progress. I will be tearing it down when I move and then changing the substrate with dirt and topping it with the pool filter sand that is in there now.


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## Rare Breed (Feb 3, 2013)

cinbos thanks for the reply. very nice looking tank


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Rare Breed said:


> cinbos thanks for the reply. very nice looking tank


Of course anytime, and thank you.


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## Elyssa (Feb 10, 2013)

Your tank looks awesome. It's nice seeing the progression and gives us plant newbies a lot of hope! The branch really is sweet. Work in progress...lol...so goes life


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Haha, yep. Thanks for the kind comment. I am still a newb as well. It has been trial and error, but I think I am getting it all down pat.


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## JerSaint (Oct 22, 2012)

Looking really good! I like the progression. One small thing I like to do is hide the heater as much as possible. You could add a tall stem plant on that right side or lay it down horizontally behind your driftwood. Keep it up!


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

JerSaint said:


> Looking really good! I like the progression. One small thing I like to do is hide the heater as much as possible. You could add a tall stem plant on that right side or lay it down horizontally behind your driftwood. Keep it up!


I agree. I was thinking about that, and I think I may put it behind the swords on the left.


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Enjoyed the progression and your design choices. Agree with Elyssa.."it gives us newbies a lot of hope!"


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Saxtonhill said:


> Enjoyed the progression and your design choices. Agree with Elyssa.."it gives us newbies a lot of hope!"


Thanks for the comment. I am still a newbie, but this shows that anyone can do it.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Heres an updated pic...


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## EngineChauffer (Apr 3, 2013)

Lookin great man. Filled in nicely and ya don't even notice any of the hardware anymore. Great job! I also like the darker substrate.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

EngineChauffer said:


> Lookin great man. Filled in nicely and ya don't even notice any of the hardware anymore. Great job! I also like the darker substrate.


Thank you! Really pumped with the way it looks now. Trying to think of think of things to do, but kind of stumped. Any suggestions or advice is very much welcomed.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

I updated the tank a bit. Added some rotala, dwarf sag, and some more rams as well. Also added some neon tetras, we will see if those suckers last lol!


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## Aquaticz (Dec 26, 2009)

Cinbos said:


> I updated the tank a bit. Added some rotala, dwarf sag, and some more rams as well. Also added some neon tetras, we will see if those suckers last lol!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I can not keep neons or rams but have no problem with cardinals or angels. I am liking the added dwarf sag. 


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Aquaticz said:


> I can not keep neons or rams but have no problem with cardinals or angels. I am liking the added dwarf sag.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


The neons were just bought randomly. Had no real use or want for them. The rams do well for me. Right now I am just waiting on the dwarf sag to take off. Also bought the rotala to eventually take the place of most of them swords...like the sag, waiting on them to take off also. I wonder why the neon and rams don't work out for you??? You know, Bolivian Rams are much easier to keep...you ever tried them.




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## Aquatica Portal (Jun 22, 2013)

Great tank...keep those pictures coming...never too many...


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Aquatica Portal said:


> Great tank...keep those pictures coming...never too many...


Lucky for you, I am changing this tank up quite a bit, so I will have a lot of pictures coming this way here in the next week or so. I am going to take out the manzanita branch and place that in the 125 gallon with my larger cichlids. Luckily I have about 8 or 9 other pieces of driftwood in my 125 gallon to work with. Heres the 125 with the driftwood pieces I am talking about...










Plus I am also getting rid of the 4 large swords I have in there. They just take up too much space. I am going to work with rotala and other taller crypts loke the spiralis I have.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

So I made quit a few changes to the 55 gallon. I removed the 3 large swords. They really made my tank feel congested. I also moved the large manzanita branch to my 125 gallon, and I moved some pieces of driftwood from the 125 to this one. The large manz. Driftwood seemed almost too big for this tank. Also added a cap of pool filter sand from the 125. I really like how the tank looked before with the sand in there, so I went back to it. Plus the the sand will allow me to pin point the poop. I hated not being able to distinguish the poo from the substrate. I still have the floramax under the sand. When I took out all the substrate to clean it of all the poop, I coated the bottom with muriate of potash and dolomite. I will also place dried dim size balls of clay deep in the substrate for the heaving root feeders, as well as giving those heavy root feeders root tabs.

During this whole process, several of the crypts took a beating, as well as the dwarf sag and pygmy chain swords. Here is to hoping they make a recovery. 

Just to clarify, I began this entire process because I noticed most of my fish had Ich. Hadn't dealt with Ich for this tank yet, so I assumed it was because I never cleaned the top of the substrate for poo, which led to deteriorated water quality. I had always done water changes and other maintenance, so if the poo covered substrate wasn't it, I am not sure of the cause.

Things I will be doing for this tank in the next few days:

I will be adding the fish back after treatment is done.
Add clay balls
Buy and add substrate tabs
Buy new bulbs
And add an extra canister filter to go along with my Eheim 2215

Here's all the updates, CHEERS!



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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Also any ideas for plants? Running DIY Co2.




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## adamkrom (Jun 27, 2013)

Nice tank! Angels if they find it and it will fit in its mouth, will eat it. I had a cherry shrimp hiding in my tank for over a month and somehow lived. Then i moved it to a safer tank.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

adamkrom said:


> Nice tank! Angels if they find it and it will fit in its mouth, will eat it. I had a cherry shrimp hiding in my tank for over a month and somehow lived. Then i moved it to a safer tank.


I think you may be referring to the neons, but I no longer have them. I took them out, due to being picked off. Unfortunatly my Blue Cobalt Angelfish died, quite pissed to be honest. Feed him, and then 2 hours later came back and he was just lying on the bottom. He ate fine, and was the boss of the tank, so I am not too sure as to what the cause was.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Came home today and found my male super red BN pleco dead and chewed up. Bummed, cause I got lucky finding these 2 and they happened to be a female and a male. Trying to get ahold of a male now. Really liked that guy, [censored][censored][censored][censored] happens I guess. 

So crappy week with fish keeping...lost 4 bloodfin tetras in the qt tank, my blue cobalt angelfish, 1 electric blue ram, 1 male gold ram, and my male super red BN pleco. All of these (besides the tetras) had some significant meaning or plans to me. Really need to upgrade my hospital tank from a 10g to a bit larger. These fish are dropping like flies...even with a daily water change.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Some more changes...











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## pantherspawn (Dec 21, 2011)

Losing fish sucks. I feel your pain. I have 8 different setups right now and in the past week have lost close to fifteen fish due to the change in weather. Tanks have been running hot cause of a heat wave. 

My opinion would be to make sure you keep the substrate clean, running fine sand prevents alot of the nutrients from waste penetrate and getting to the roots so it just sits on the sand and fouls up the water. In a heavy planted tank, your nitrate levels should never get above 40, even when not cleaned for a few, I use a very small pea gravel combo with fluorite, works amazingly. Also, if you're using flourish tabs, there's no need to use the liquid ferts, in my experience, it cause an algae outbreak every time. As far as plants go, I keep some red crypts, the things grow like weeds and are very hardy, also have red and green tiger lotus in my 55, I like the offset of the red and green plants. I also have four variety of anubis, java fern, amazon sword, moss balls. Also if you have more algae outbreaks or are starting tanks over, throwing in some anachoris, hogwarts and other stem plants, will help keep the tank water cleaner and cycle faster. Also, if you want a hardy schooling fish, you might think of harlequin raspboras, I've had my school for over two years. All in all, sounds like you've got a good grasp on things, your tank looks good, I wouldn't worry too much about being heavily planted and making making things congested, doubt that was a problem, sometimes things just happen, and most of the time tearing everything down and starting over doesn't solve anything other other than giving you a headache and hitting your wallet. Good luck with the tank, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. 

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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

pantherspawn said:


> Losing fish sucks. I feel your pain. I have 8 different setups right now and in the past week have lost close to fifteen fish due to the change in weather. Tanks have been running hot cause of a heat wave.
> 
> My opinion would be to make sure you keep the substrate clean, running fine sand prevents alot of the nutrients from waste penetrate and getting to the roots so it just sits on the sand and fouls up the water. In a heavy planted tank, your nitrate levels should never get above 40, even when not cleaned for a few, I use a very small pea gravel combo with fluorite, works amazingly. Also, if you're using flourish tabs, there's no need to use the liquid ferts, in my experience, it cause an algae outbreak every time. As far as plants go, I keep some red crypts, the things grow like weeds and are very hardy, also have red and green tiger lotus in my 55, I like the offset of the red and green plants. I also have four variety of anubis, java fern, amazon sword, moss balls. Also if you have more algae outbreaks or are starting tanks over, throwing in some anachoris, hogwarts and other stem plants, will help keep the tank water cleaner and cycle faster. Also, if you want a hardy schooling fish, you might think of harlequin raspboras, I've had my school for over two years. All in all, sounds like you've got a good grasp on things, your tank looks good, I wouldn't worry too much about being heavily planted and making making things congested, doubt that was a problem, sometimes things just happen, and most of the time tearing everything down and starting over doesn't solve anything other other than giving you a headache and hitting your wallet. Good luck with the tank, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2


Thanks for the advise. I have added a few more plants...more to see what grows well and which ones struggle. Surprisingly the anubias are the only ones that are still hurting...never had an issue with them before. Inalso added another 2 liter of diy co2. I upgraded my dual t8 shop light to a 4 t8 bulb shop light. All lights are still 6,500k, unless others would suggest mixing some bulbs. All fish have done well since the last "miserable" update. Im stoked to see how the s. repens do...they have been in the tank for 2 weeks now, and I have noticed growth since planting them.











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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

Made some changes, and trimmed the rotala.


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## MrG (Jul 29, 2013)

Why can't you keep rams?! I have...1 blue and 2 gold rams, 1 kribensi, and an Inka 60 in my tank and they don't do any harm. They actually have the most personality in the tank too.


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## Cinbos (Dec 8, 2012)

MrG said:


> Why can't you keep rams?! I have...1 blue and 2 gold rams, 1 kribensi, and an Inka 60 in my tank and they don't do any harm. They actually have the most personality in the tank too.


No problem with the rams. Just lost a couple when trying to treat for Ich. It was more due to the hospital tank being too small, I have since upgraded to a 29 gallon.


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