# 55g DIRTED -Never torn down, and on the Rebound!!!



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Hey Everyone,

Well it has been awhile since I had a planted tank, and I just can't stand it any longer!!! About 3 years ago I had my 55g set up as a planted tank, but due to Health, Money and a BBA outbreak I tore the tank down and went back to a African Peacock Tank with 100+ pounds of Holey rock. Well I had it going since then, but I grew tired of looking at White rock, brown gravel, and NO PLANTS and decided to get back to the Greener side of Life!!!roud: So removed the Holey rock, took the few peacocks I had left and put them in one of the Aquariums at my wifes Vet Clinic she works at , and am getting the planted tank set back up again!!!

So far I have moved the 18-20lbs of Cheap-o gravel to the front of the tank and put the Florite I had in the last planted tank back in behind it. When I tore down the planted tank from before I removed and rinsed out the florite and stored it in the shed in buckets with lids. While I was rinsing it out I removed and BBA I could find and threw that florite in my flower beds around the house. The cheap-o gravel is actually very large sand blasting "sand". It is probably 2-4mm in grain size and somewhat smooth, and $12 a 50# bag at local fish stores. Cory cats love digging in it and it is smooth enough not to hurt them! Anyway when the florite had been seeded by the old gravel I will remove what I can and mix the rest with the 20+ lbs of florite I still have in a bucket, or I might just leave it all in there to make sure my gravel bed is deep enough for the swords and other various rooted plants I will probably put in!:biggrin:

I still have 2 65w PC retro kits installed in the plastic light covers that came with the Aquarium, and the bulbs are only about 5-6 months old from when I replaced them from the old planted tank, so I think I can get 6 more months out of them before I have to change them again!

AS for filtration I will be using the Fluval 204 I have had on the tank since I bought it. I mainly use it as Mechanical filtration with bulk filter floss I get from Big Al's, and I put it in all 3 baskets, and keep a bag of Bio-balls in the top basket covered with the floss. I also still have me CO2 reactor I built from a water filter cartridge to use with my pressurized CO2 tank, and in the last tank I ran it with a power head and had a spray bar along the back bottom of the tank to release the CO2 rich water evenly along the entire tank. I will probably build another similar spray bar, as it seemed to work very well last time! It also helps keep any detritus from building up at the back of the tank!

The main thing that will be different this time is I will be using TAP WATER not R/O water! When I had the tank setup last time I was in a different suburb of Waco, and the watter was very unstable, but now We have bought a house and constantly receive our water from Lake Waco, and its PH ranges from 7.8-8, and my tests can't pick up any Nitrites, Nitrates so I HOPE it will be OK! I didn't hook up my R/O unit when we moved into the house as the Cichlids didn't need it, and even though I have replacement filters and carbon block I don't know if my 100GPD TFC membrane is still any good, and I don't want to spend the $100+ to get a new one! SO I PREY the tap water will be OK!!! I need to replace my Hardness kit, so I am unsure of the hardness, but I will do that ASAP!!! And before I start injecting CO2.

I am unsure of exactly how I want to setup the tank, but I all ready have 15 Golden Pencil fish to put in it once I get it up and going!!! They are pretty small now with most being around .75" and a few around 1". all of them already have red in their fins, but the bigger ones are getting red in their body's too!!! They are in my QT for now and it has a few Java ferns and a Mirimo Moss ball along with a few rocks to keep them happy! I don't know what other kind of fish I want to put in it either! I have a 5yo Albino Cory Cat that will go in it, as he deserves a nice planted tank and to get out of the QT! He is a TROOPER!!! I love the Peppered and Panda corys and most all tetras, Rainbows, Rams, and certain platys and Sword Tails! Even though I have NEVER had either Platys or Sword Tails in over 28+ years of Aquarium keeping!!!:eek5: Most people don't believe me when I say that, but I never had a place for them even when I had 10+ tanks setup! I have only kept Guppies once or twice! :icon_lol:

Well anyway I will be posting Pics as I go threw and setup the 55g again, and as for plants right now I bought what my LFS had, and that wasn't much! Their supplier stopped selling plants in other than large box quantity's and they only have a very few ever ask! So I got some Fox tail, Java ferns, and a couple of Mirimo Moss Balls (SP?), but I do have some trimmings coming from a few people here that I bought in the swap and shop section, and when I receive them I will go from there, and get some more ordered!

So THANK YOU for reading, and ANY tips or info Yall want to give, good or bad, feel free! This will only be my second attempt at a TRUE PLANTED AQUARIUM!!!

Yall Take Care!!!
Drewroud:


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Yay! I am posting first.  I can't to see that gravel sand and flourite setup. I am actually quite jealous of that idea. I love cory cats and have often thought about setting up a tank just for them. As far as tips go: have fun!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well THANKS to Sewingalot and Herns and a few plants from the LFS my 55g now has quite a few Bunch Plants and others in it to start it going with as little algae as possible! I got my CO2 tank filled yesterday, and I am in the process of setting up my DIY reactor I had used on the last setup. and trying to figure out what to do with my HARD HARD WATER!!! I was hoping to not have to hook my RO unit back up and go that route again, but I am afraid I may have to to keep my plants and Fish HAPPY!!! 

Well my KH was 21* or 210ppm in the tank and the PH was 8. that is with NO adding of ANY CO2, ferts, additives, or ANYTHING!!! SO that has my WORRIED at the moment! As for my Nitrates they are at 10ppm witch is dropping since I put in the plants a few days ago!!! And my 2 Hopplo Cats that are 5+ years old are LOVING the plants to hide and play chase in!!! Also they seem to be very happy there are NO AFRICAN CICHLIDS bothering them!!!

Anyway that is my update for now, and I will get some pics tonight after the sun goes down, so I won't have all the glare I got a while a go when I tried to take some pics!!!:frown:

Anyway thanks for reading and soon to be looking, and THANKS AGAIN TO SEWINGALOT AND HERNS FOR THE GREAT PLANTS!!!!

Drew:thumbsup:


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

You might want to disinfect those plants from me if you don't want algae.  I wouldn't worry about the water until you have to. There are several members with liquid rock and beautiful planted tanks. Just find the ones that work for you.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Sorry Everyone!!!

I have been having major CPU problems, and also health probs too, so no pics yet! BUT the plants I got here in the shop and swap are doing very well! I will have pics up by the end of the week, as I am going out of town in the morning.

I PROMISE PICS WILL BE HERE SOON!!!
Drewroud:


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Ok here are some pics of the OVER GROWN 55gal. I don't have any fish in it as of now, because I am getting my RO unit back online, as my water is SOOOOO HARD, it is as they say Liquid Rock! So I moved the Otos into my QT with the 15 Pencil fish that are going in the 55. 

Anyway here are some pics, and SORRY IT TOOK ME SOOO LONG TO POST! 

Thanks Again to all who helped with plants and equip I have purchased from here on the BEST PLanted Tank Site on the Net!!!


Left side shot w/ flash









Right side shot w/flash









Left w/o flash









right w/o flash









right side close up









left side close up









center










Again THANK YOU TO ALL who have Helped!!!!

I am going to do a trim and rescape next week and I will post more pics then!!!

Thake Care and Happy Mothers day to all!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Also a update on what I have running on the tank is:

2-65w 6500K Power compact retros installed in the original light hoods that came with the tank.

2-40w Normal Output 6500K Flo. in shop light fixture

1- Fluval 204- with normal sponges and Big Al's Sheet Filter Floss in the 3 baskets.

1- H.O.T. Magnum- with pleated filter installed, and output is connected to DIY Spray Bar that runs along the gravel at the back of the tank and is 30" in length.

1- 5lb Co2 Tank bubbling at 2BPS

1- DIY Co2 Diffuser made from clear RO Filter housing & DIY Bubble counter made from Glass Mason Jar.

1- 200w Compu-Therm Heater

90% Florite Gravel w/ other 10% being cheap-o aquarium gravel

3-pc of Lace Rock that are just randomly in there for now!

I use the Poor Mans Dosing method and it is working pretty well with only Green String Algae just starting on a few plants, but I will be getting fish, shrimp to combat it! 

There is also a BUNCH of Ramshorn snails along with some dang Pond snails! I do have 1 cool Albino/clear pond snail I will try to get a pic of next week! 

Thanks for looking and let me know what Yall think I should do with the scape!
Drewroud:


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

The plants are growing great! I've been wondering when you'd get us some pictures. Thanks! :biggrin: I like how you have the ludwigia arcuata x repens draping like that. Very lovely.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Sara!

It just grew like that! I did nothing to make it grow that way. although I only had the 2 55w PCs on it when I first put them in the tank. I am waiting to gt a few things in I ordered to trim and replant the plants to a better scape! Also trying to figure out what fish I want to add other than the 15 Pencil fish, and Otos. I KNOW I am going to do a group of Corys! Just need to figure out which I want. Also I am going to get a few SAE. 

I LOVE Rainbows, but that is what I had in the 55 the last time I had it setup as a planted tank. Angels are nice too, but I don't want them to eat the Pencil fish when they get big! I don't know what to do!!!! I also like Endlers, and some platys, but when I had Guppies in my last 55 setup, they over ran the thing with babies, and the LFS usually doesn't take trade ins on guppies!

Any suggestions???? ANYBODY!

Well ANY AND ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOME, and thanks for looking!!!!

Take Care Everyone!!!
Drew:wink:


----------



## alexem (Apr 12, 2011)

Nice work!!



Natural Aquascaping - Planted Aquarium Blog
www.naturalaquascaping.com


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are some more pics after a trim and replanting to get a better scape!

I FINALLY found a true SAE, and I picked it up last Wednesday along with what the LFS was calling a Orange Bee Shrimp. I brought them home, and drip acclimated them for a few hours, as the LFS Water is local water ( liquid rock) with a ph of 8 vs. my r/o & tap mix with a Ph of 6.8. Well to my SURPRISE the Shrimp which is a CRS is doing great! BUT the SAE made it till Friday. When I was getting ready to go to a Buddy's Funeral I saw the SAE belly up on the bottom!!!:icon_sad::icon_sad::icon_sad: It was still breathing a little, but it was too late! I have run out of the test liquids I need to test things, but they should be here today and Wednesday! IF UPS can do their job correctly!!!:icon_evil So I will update what my exact water parameters are then. So for now the ONLY wildlife I have in the 55 is a lonely CRS!!! BUT once I get the test kits and the rest of the stuff I need to get my Water 100% where it needs to be I will be adding the 15 Pencil fish, 3 Otos, and a few Cories! 

ANYWAY enough with the talk here are the pics!

Enjoy!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

SORRY ABOUT THE RED LIGHT in the reflection on the tank glass. It is my finger covering up the flash to try to get a more true color correct pic without correct lighting! :redface::redface::redface:

Also the water is a little cloudy still due to stirring pup the substrate when replanting!

Thanks for looking and let me know what Yall think, please!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well let my start off by apologizing about the length of time it has been since I have posted about my tank!:icon_redf

The tank is doing OK, but I still have some string algae, but it is getting better! I have been house sitting at the family Farm every other week while my Parents are dealing with my Great Uncle's Estate, so the tank has been on autopilot for the last month!

Anyway, I have just received a new set of AH Supply's 2 x T5HO 54w light kit to replace the 2 55w PCs and so I can remove the Shop light fixture from the tank as well! The PCs were a AH Supply retro kit I bought back in 04-05 IIRC, and the reflectors left a lot to be desired! They are just the flat reflectors with a 2/1"or so lip bent into them on the sides. They worked OK, but they have the Square Pin Sockets, and finding inexpensive bulbs is getting harder and harder, and with the cash to update the reflectors and end caps, I could get the T5s with the very good reflectors and find bulbs locally and for a lot less money, so I will be building a hood to hold the new T5s, and I will use the PCs on other tanks, or for my Turtles and Tortoises!

I also am FINALLY getting a AWESOME Post Regulator setup for my 5#Co2 tank! It is the $98 setup from btimmer92 with the Clippard mouse solenoid , Fabco NV-55 , JBJ style bubble counter , and the clippard check valve. Up until now I just had a Ice Maker Needle valve, and plastic check valve, which worked but is VERY HARD to get the bubble count exactly like I wanted it! So now all I need is a true dual stage regulator to keep from gassing my fish with Co2 when the tank gets low, and I will be set. At least till I can save up for a GOOD PH Controller!!!

Well I will post some pics tomorrow, of the tank how it is now, and then after I get my Hood built I will post the New Light setup!!!

Thanks for all who have helped and commented on the tank!!!
Drewroud:


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well here it is almost a month since my last post, and I finally have a few pics! Not a whole lot has changed, but just a little different plant layout. I am fixing to get my Hood done so I can mount the AH Supply 2x54wT5HO light kit, and I will then be really working on the scape!

A bit of sad news is I made a impulse buy from the LFS of some guppys to just have something swimming in the tank, and a few days later the very pretty Male Guppy came down with Velvet!!!:icon_cry: I tried to get some meds for the tank quickly, but he died as he had it pretty bad! So far I believe the rest of the group are going to be OK. Now I have 1 Male (Yellow Tail w/blue sides) and 7 female Guppys in the tank, and I decided to treat the whole tank to try to rid the tank of the Velvet, so when I do decide to put my group of 15 Golden Pencil Fish in there HOPEFULLY there will be no more problems with Velvet! HOPEFULLY:confused1:!!!

The pics are of the tank when it had gotten VERY OVERGROWN while I was away watching the Family Farm while my parents had to go out of town for a while, and the others are of the trim/mowing and of the replant setup. Again it is not the final setup, as it will have drift wood in it and not the Lace Rock!

Also a few pics of my Diffuser and Co2 Equipment.

Thank Yall for being Patient with me and to those h=who have helped me get here!!!roud:









































































Here is the tank when I first tried a planted tank Mid year of 2005 IIRC.









From 12-24-05









And here it is before we bought our House in 04/06, and it was torn down shortly after this pic was taken!









Will post pics as soon as I have my Hood finished and new lights going! HOPEFULLY in a few days!!!:icon_mrgr


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I have my hood 99% finished, but it is on the tank, my new lights installed, and 5 BEAUTIFUL BABY ANGELS in the 55, as well as planting a Glosso for ground yesterday!

I will post pics tomorrow afternoon when the lights come on!!!

Thanks for looking!
Drew


----------



## wespastor (Dec 20, 2009)

Thanks for sharing.

Great tank.

If I may make a small suggestion, When yopu get the Diftwood off set it from center a wee bit say by 1/3, i will look more pleasing to the eye over all.

Kind of like the way you had it in the picture in 2005

Here's a shot of my 30 gallon for example:











Best wishes,
Wes


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for the info Wes!

I am trying to find a few nice pieces of wood, and there are some awesome pieces that Tom have for sale, but $ is short at the moment! So I am headed out to the lake this weekend to see what I can find! Usually this time of the summer the lake is down a bit, and I can beach the boat on some sand bars and walk the shore where it is impossible to get there from the roads!!! So I bet I can find some nice pieces there! 

AS for the setup, I am nowhere happy with it! I have too many types of plants and not alot of what I really want either!! LOL Don't get me wrong the plants I have are GOOD PLANTS, and most have come for members here, but I just can't decide on what kind of display I want!!! I see soooooo many great ones here so it makes it hard to figure out which one I want to be like! 

Also with the High light I have now and the injected CO2 I can't keep some of the plants I would like to keep! I have grown very fond of the Anubias and Crypts, and I think they wouldn't like the T5HO lighting! I am just stuck with what I want to do! PLUS the Fluorite substrate is NOT IMPRESSING ME!!! I need to fertilize my substrate, because the rooted plants I have in there are searching for mineral needs, and are not finding them in the substrate! I will post a pic later on this morning of the big Apatho (sp?) ,in the center of the tank, root system! It reaches from 1 side of the tank to the other!!!!

Anyway ANY INPUT IS APPRECIATED AND WANTED, GOOD OR BAD!!!!

Thanks,
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Crypts grow great low or high light, just need a rich sub to supply the plant needs and crypts will overrun the tank growing huge too.

nice to see the thread up.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

I got a question for Yall fellow Plant Nutz!

On the 55g I now have a Fluval 204 and the Power Head that came from the Red Sea Co2 Reactor 500. I have the Output from the 204 in the Right Rear Corner about 5" from the top of the tank pointed toward the Front Center of the tank, and the Power Head in the Left Rear Corner about 3" off of the substrate. It is mounted on the side glass of the tank blowing across the length of the back bottom of the Aquarium.

So is this enough water movement for the 55g with 5 Baby Angels Dime to nickle size? 

I have a New Fluval 205 Ready to be installed on the Aquarium, but I don't want too much flow in the tank where it would bother the Baby Angels! I thought of building a spray bar for the 205, so if I do how long of spray bar and where would Yall put it if it was Yalls Tank?

Thanks for the input!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Racer!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are the Pics! 

Sorry the tank is low, but my R/O water heater got stuck heating, and as I was fixing to fill the tank I noticed the water in the Trash Can next to the tank was 93*!!! SO I am waiting on it to cool down . Plus I got my Plants from Wasser today so I will be adding them later on today.

Also in the pics are my 5 new BEAUTIFUL ANGEL BABIES I got from DrBotts, and I believe they were bread by JCox!:drool::drool::drool: 3 Look to be Black Zebra/Leopard and 1 Black Zebra, and 1 Silver Zebra. They Have been in the tank since Thursday, and are PIGS!!! The smallest one is about the size of my index finger nail and the largest is quarter size. They are all over the place, and are constantly looking for something to eat!! 

AS for the tank I finally got my Hood 99% complete!!! All I need to do is put a finishing coat of Poly on the outside and that is it! I will get better pics of it after I get the poly on! 

I also got my Glosso planted in the for ground! It started from a few pieces I got in a bunch of clippings a month or so ago. So I left them floating on the top of the water by the intake for my 204, and they grew like crazy!! So now that I have my 2-54wT5HO lights installed I planted it to see if I can get a carpet growing!

Lastly the pics of the underside of my tank are to show how large of root system the Aponogeton Longiplumulosus! They are from 1 side of the tank to the other!!! I am assuming that is because it is searching for food in the substrate! So I am gathering up some cash to order some Root tabs from Root Medic! 

Well that is about all I have for now, except I have that dang Thread Algae popping up now!!! It has really taken off since I hooked up the T5s!:icon_evil:icon_evil so I have been wrapping it around my 10" tweezers and pulling all that I can till I get the Ferts, CO2, and Light figured out! Hopefully I can get it all figured out before it takes over the tank!!!!:icon_frow:help::icon_sad:

Well on to the pics!

FTS










Left Side










Right Side










Silver Zebra










Black Zebra/Leopard










Try to find the Babies!!!














































Silver eating in Lace Rock










Apono Root Pics!














































And for those of You who like Puppies! These are my Mother-in-Laws Puppies My wife found homes for. They are Half Maltese and Half Cha-Wa-Wa( don't count off for spelling!!!:tongue They are 8 weeks old here and 2.5lbs. Louie is the Tan ones name and Lo-La is the Black and Whites name!










Anyway Thanks for looking Everyone, and PLEASE let me know what Yall think I should do with the Scape and about adding the 205 to the tank as well!!!

Take Care and God Bless!
Drew


----------



## drbotts (Apr 10, 2011)

Wow Drew, that tank looks awesome. Those Angels are going to do great in there. Lookin' good man.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks DrBotts!!!

I went by the LFS and the big box Pet stores tonight, and saw quite a few Angels, and the LFS even had some BIG ANGELS for a pretty good price, but they were NO WHERE NEAR the QUALITY of the ones I got from You! I am SUPER HAPPY I was able to get them and the shipped OK in the heat!!! I also picked up some frozen Baby Brine Shrimp to feed the little darlings to keep the happy and growing! I will order some of the Kens Food You told me about on Monday as well!

I also SCORED some Amano Shrimp at PetCO tonight too!!! They looked good, so I picked them up! I drip acclimated them for about 1-1.5 hours, and plopped them in, and man they took off!!! They were scooting all over the place for about 30 minutes, but have now settled in and are eating away! PetCo also had 3 Emperor Tetras too, and that is a FIRST to see them in the Waco Area for over 10years! And surprisingly enough they even looked Healthy! But I don't have a empty Quarantine tank, so they staid there. 

Well that is about it other than receiving some different mosses from Wasserpest and a few rooted plants! So I got the moss tied to a few scrap pieces of lace rock, and I will have to find somewhere to put the rooted plants! LOL 

Well anything good or bad Yall can advise me on to do to the tank is welcomed!!!

Take Care and God Bless!
Drew


----------



## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Very nice tank


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

haha luv the tank, luv the puppy shot!


----------



## JCoxRocks (Mar 22, 2005)

Glad you are enjoying the angels!!! Once they get some more size on them, they will also eat frozen bloodworms. Be sure to keep us updated with photos!

J


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Will do Guys and Thanks!!!

I didn't have any scape in mind here at all!!! I just threw everything in here, so nothing would cover up each other. It is just a jumbled mess. Once everything gets growing good, I will try to figure out a scape, but I need to find some Drift Wood to build the scape around!

So right now I am going to try to keep the algae away, and get the Angels bigger!

Thanks for looking and holler with ANY IDEAS!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Tank is looking wonderful!!! And looking at those aponogeton roots is too cool! I am in love with that shot! Those angels are so cute! I love little angel babies. I wish they could develop a dwarf angelfish that stayed that size.

Your dogs are so loveable and the Cha-wha-wha makes it even more cute!

(Okay, I officially sound like one of those gushy girls that annoy me, so I'm leaving. LOL.)


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Sara! The Root shots were a little fuzzy, I will try to get a better shot before I cover the bottom of the stand with insulation board! I think the tank bottom is too cold and that may be affecting some of my plants! We have a Pier and Beam house and the A/C and Heat run through the floor, and there is part of a air vent under the edge of the stand. SO I have some 1" Foam Insulation board left over from a project, so I am going to cover the inside of the stand under the tank with it to keep the tank bottom protected.


ANYBODY have any suggestions on adding the 205 to the 55g? I just have a 204 on it now, and 1 small powerhead, and I think I need more circulation.

ANYBODY???

Thanks Again,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

OK Guys and Ladys,

Sorry I have neglected the journal for a bit, but I have been out of town watching the family Farm for a while. Usually a week at a time, then back home for a week then back to the farm, ect..... Anyway during those times I am away my Wife and Son try to help with the tank, but mainly do what I have written down in a list for when I am gone!

So the Green String Algae had gotten pretty bad the last time I was out of town, plus the plants were VERY OVERGROWN! So I did a trim, pull, and replant, and have it looking pretty good. Well at least until the day following the trim and stuff, and BAM cloudy water!!! Not too bad then so I thought it might just be the sediment of the Fluorite substrate flying around due to pulling up and removing the plants that were overcome by the Algae! WRONG!!!!! Now it is a few days later, and I can only see about 2-3" into the tank from the front, and from the side it looks even worse!!!

So I checked all of the water parameters, and they are good to great! Really they are low due to me backing down the EI dosing while away! So I do another water change after the one I did the day of the trim, and 2 days later it is just as bad! So I haven't done any dosing since the 2nd water change and it has been 3 days and it is getting worse!!!

SO WHAT SHOULD I DO??????

I even tried turning the lights off after a few hours for a few days, and no help! 

I AM LOST, as I have NEVER have had this problem!!! In ANY TANK!!!

I also have added the Fluval 205 to the tank, so I now have the 204 and the 205 on the tank. Both are running the prefilter sponges, the bottom 2 baskets have filter floss in them, with the 3rd basket having the white porous ceramic rings for bacteria growth. 

I added the 205 AFTER the cloudy water hit, so I know it isn't it! 

The first water change at the time of the trim was about 35%, and the second water change was closer to 50%, and they were both done with R/O and my normal reconstituting additives( GH, KH). 

The cloud is GREEN by the way, so I know it is a Algae bloom, but WHY???? I have NO UV filter, nor can I afford to go buy one either!

I will take pics after the lights come on in the morning!!!

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP WITH THIS PROBLEM!!!
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

wow! sorry for the problems.
typing one handed so the heck with the shift key for caps lol.
stirring up the substrate has caused this to happen here and i use uv to kill it.
do you have any excel? 
i don't want to say throw h2o2 at it because of not knowing your fish list.
used h2o2 here for years and last night messed up and added >7ml to a freshly cleaned tank (spill) that killed 3 fat otto.
dosing excel or a complete blackout for 72hrs. should knock it out. 

need to keep up with the ferts for the plants though, running the tank lean won't stop algae.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well for fish I have:

5 Small Angels: 2 half dollar size,3 quarter size

1 otto

2 Amano Shrimp

and that is it! 

I do have 3/4 of the 16oz size bottle of Excel too!

If I go the black out route do I need to cover the tank, as it sits between 2 front windows. BUT it only gets a little bit of "direct light" for about 30 minutes in the AM. When I say direct light I mean threw the blinds, and not directly on the tank, but it stays pretty bright for the first half of the day. The windows are mostly blocked from the front porch and the direction the house sits. 

Also if I do the blackout I SHOULD NOT add any ferts or CO2 correct?

Thanks for the help!!!
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Blackout is total darkness or it won't work.
helping a friend i took a picture of the tank wrapped










wrapped the sides first and pulled the plastic under as possible taping it to the bottom. then wrapped the top and sides don't worry as you won't seal it air tight.

what we did on granny's tank was clean the hob filter, trim the worst of the bba off the plants and did a water change. wrapped the tank on Monday night and removed the plastic Friday morning. no peaking! fish were hungry but all did fine making it through the long night.

granny had neglected the tank for about 6 weeks, badly overgrown, bga on the gravel, bba on the plants, thread or hair algae too. tank even smelled bad. she didn't want to use chemicals and nowhere to put the fish to break the tank down.
a month later it looked really clear and the plants were filling back in. her son does water changes for her now every 2 weeks and the tank is back to low tech easy and stable. her trigger was neglect but i think stirring up the gravel caused the green water in you're tank.

start the blackout with clean water. vacuum the tank afterwards then dose the ferts and turn the gas back on.

hth


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

AWESOME INFO Racer!!!

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!

I believe I have the Thread Algae under control, or at least it is A LOT better!!! Unfortunately I lost all or most of all the awesome mosses I got in the SnS last month!:icon_cry: I have a few strands of Christmas and Flame that didn't get engulfed by the thread algae. The Glosso I got a while back as a few strands in a clippings pkg I got from Hearns is doing well! It is spreading all over the foreground, and I have been able to pull the thread algae out of it when I see it starting to grow, so i know the glosso is rooting very well!!!:tongue:

So I am going to feed the Angels god in the morning when the lights come on, and drop in a piece of a algae wafer for the otto and Amanos and then cover it up! 

So I need to keep it covered up for at least 72hrs, correct?

And should I run the air pump I am running at night now the whole time the tank is covered?

Again THANK YOU for the HELP!!!roud:
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

at least 72hrs and run the air pump

make sure it's completely covered blackout must be *zero* light getting in


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

THANKS RACER!!!

I am going to start the Black out in the morning! I got some black garbage bags, have fed the fish good for the last few days, and I am going to replace the filter floss in both canisters in the morning before I wrap the tank! 

IF after the 72hrs is up and the water is still green/cloudy, will I continue it for a few days longer? Also I was thinking of making a flap that I can drop some food into the Angels, and keep it taped besides when I drop a few pellets in. The slit would be between the glass lids where the used to be siliconed together. What do you think? 

AGAIN THANK YOU for all the help!roud:
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

fish will be fine without food so don't cheat.
should be a lot of dust in the tank but no green water when you unwrap it.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

OK going to wrap in a few minutes!

Thanks!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

OK, the Tank is wrapped! So I will be chomping at the bit to see it in 3 days! I feed the fish heavy for a few days, so HOPEFULLY they will be OK in 3 days time! Also HOPEFULLY the Green water and string algae will be gone too!!! I have my HOT with a new pleated filter cartridge ready to throw on the 55 as soon as the 72 hours is up, and it should polish the water clean of any dead algae, and I will also have 30 fresh gallons of R/O ready to do a water change to get the rest of the junk out! I never took a pic, as it just looked like green pea soup! I could see in the tank about 1.5-2" and that was it! Again I have NEVER had this happen before, and I am Assuming it was caused by uprooting quite a few plants to trash them as the thread algae had just taken them over while I was out of town! I pulled all of my Rotala, quite a bit of Wistera, and Mint Charley, and most of my B. Japonica too! 

I have NO root frets in the substrate, so I again I am Assuming it was all of the Iron dust that the Flourite had turned into! I GUESS??? 


Good news is my Lud., Crypts, and Aponogen, are doing great! I STILL have NOT been able to go look for drift wood in the lake, because my Boat registration is out, and I don't have the $ to spare to renew it at this time, so my hopes of finding some AWESOME drift wood are on hold!!!

I will post some pics in 3 days to let Yall see how it helped!

Thanks Again,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well the tank Black Out/ wrap up WORKED like a CHARM!!!:icon_mrgr:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I would up leaving the tank wrapped up for a total of 4 days/96hrs. I was only intending to go the 3 days/72hrs Racer told me to, but I had a Killer Migraine on the 3rd day, and took my meds and went to bed, and didn't awake till the next afternoon!

So on the 4th evening I unwrapped the tank, and put on of my old 55w PC lights on it as I had it handy, and WOW the tank water was CRYSTAL CLEAR!!!!:icon_mrgr:bounce::icon_mrgr I mean it was clear a Gin!!!

So I feed the fish, and they were acting like they were starving, and started to check out my plants. After looking the plants over 90% of them look good! The Glosso is doing OK but has a few leaves that have turned yellow to tan in color, and has also stretched out trying to find light. The Apono leaves are a little yellow on the tips and edges about half way down on each leaf, but that is about it!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

The GREEN WATER ALONG WITH ANY STRING ALGAE IS GONE!!!!!!! 

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH Wkndracer!!!!!

I couldn't have gotten threw it without You!!! I owe Ya one, Buddy!!!


I will get pics tomorrow before and after a water change!

Again Thanks Racer!!!roud:
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

:icon_redf who me? :redface:
it's the little things that help and you're very welcome :smile:
Lots of folks here have posted that 3 day blackouts do nothing but waste 3 days.
glad to read it helped and you finally fed those poor staving fish LOL


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

LOL I came back looking for the update


----------



## Bahugo (Apr 18, 2011)

Yeah, where's the updates? 

Wkndracer is always a huge help


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Sorry Guys!!!

I will get the update up in the morning! I have had a migraine most of the week, and also we have been getting ready for my Sons Birthday Camp out for this weekend too! So NO TIME and now NO MONEY LEFT!!! HE is bringing 10 friends + My wife and I to a Family type of Camp, and when Ya have 11 kids 17 years old and Older to feed it takes A LOT OF FOOD!

SO My Brother-in-Law is staying at the house to care for the dogs, fish and everything else, so we will be feeding him too! 

SO I am doing a Water Change in the morning, so I will get the pics then! 

The BLACKOUT REALLY WORKED VERY WELL!!!!!! 

It has been close to a week now since I uncovered the tank, and there is STILL NO Algae! Except the normal buildup on the glass! NO THREAD Algae or GREEN WATER!!! Most of the plants have now over come the darkness too. the Glosso is a little tall in places, but they will be trimmed tomorrow. Also the reds have colored back up in the Lud and Sunset Hygro. The crypts are doing great, and new leaves are popping up quickly! I NEED to get some Substrate Ferts ASAP!!! I am unsure weather I will order the capsule type or just get some Jobes Fern spikes? The spikes will be cheaper I am sure, and right now that is a HUGE PLUS! BUT it will have to wait till Monday, as the rest of my week and weekend are VERY FULL!


Again THANKYOU Racer for all the help, and the rest of Yall for checking out my Journal! I am Sorry for the lack of pics!!! 

Take Care,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

SORRY GUYS I didn't get the water change done today, and I am actually going to do it around 4am when I get enough R/O water to change 1/3 of tank volume! I got most of what I was planning to do this morning, but before I could start on the water change I sat in the recliner and fell asleep!LOL Then when I awoke this afternoon it was time to start cooking for the trip, so I couldn't do the water change and pics! 

SO HOPEFULLY the water will be settled down by the time the lights come on to get a few pics and post them! Well I will post pics either way since I have been saying I would for the last few days!!! So around 10am I will have pics up!

Again Sorry!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Hi Drew, glad that weekend fixed your issues with the dread green water. How is the tank doing overall? And happy birthday to your son!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are the pics!

The water is clowdy due to cleaning the glass! Before I did that the water was CRYSTAL CLEAR!!!

Sorry about the crappy pics, but I am in a HURRY to hit the road!

Drew






































































































AGAIN SORRY FOR THE PICS! 

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP EVERYONE!!!
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Hot dog! Peanut butter! Pictures at last!

and a couple nice looking angels in there


----------



## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

nice tank


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Your tank is looking fantastic. I especially appreciate the left side of the tank. Everything looks very pleasing and is easy on the eye as it travels to the right side right to those Cheez-its I now must have. Thanks for the pictures.

Have a great time, by the way.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for all of the comments!!! I didn't even realize I got all of that crap in the first pic! LOL That is the right side of my Recliner/Bed, and all of those Magazines are just a few months worth! Lots of reading done on all of my Hobbies! Planted Tanks, Fishing, Hunting, Shooting, Boats, Woodworking, Reloading Ammo, Casting Bullets, Lawn and Garden Scaping and Care, Car Audio and Electronics, and I think that is about it in that pile! LOL 

Anyway The Birthday Trip was AWESOME! We had a total of 9 16 and 17 year olds for 3 days and 2 nights, and we all had a blast! At the "Lake" behind the Cabin 3 Black Bass were caught over 6 pounds!!! Andrew (my Son) caught a 6.5, then 1 friend caught a 9.3, and another caught a 8.4!!! The lake/pond is Catch and Release, so we took pics and let them go! there are only the 2 people Paddle Boats there, so the fishing was a little tough in the 25-30mph winds we had most of the weekend, but still that didn't slow down the fishing and fun! 

Anyway I did a good trim on the tank before I took the pics, but I didn't get to trim the Glosso! Actually I forgot as the lights were off and it was around 4am! The Glosso had some tail growth due to the Blackout and the shading from the Water Sprite and Red Ludg.! So I will trim in a few days to give it time to fully recover from the blackout! 

I have a few plants that I receiver from the SnS that I am unsure of the identity, so I was wondering if Yall would mind helping me out?

1) Is in the 5th pic from the top. It looks like a clover, but it has only 1 irregular round leaf.

2) Is the Crypt in the 6th from the top. It's color is VERY WASHED OUT by the flash, but it is red/bronze/purple color.

3) Is the Crypt in the 8th from the top. It is Green and has long leaves.

4)Is the small plant in the 2nd pic from the top and is between the 2 rocks at the front of the tank next to the front glass.

Most of these came as extras and or SMALL pieces f plants that have grown after I stuck them in the substrate!

Thanks for any help!

PLEASE COMMENT ON WHAT YALL THINK I NEED TO HELP BALANCE IT OUT! I want some kind of Drift Wood in it, but I can't afford to order any that I like at this time!

ALSO what kind of Dither fish would Yall put in the tank to keep the Angels from messing with one another soo much? I know Cardinals will become expensive food once the Angels get bigger, and my Golden Pencil fish are out too. I thought about Pearl Danios, Tiger Barbs, Rummy Nose Tetras, and 5 line Barbs too! What do Yall think about those choices? I NEVER kept Tiger Barbs besides to use them as starter fish, then would trade them back to the LFS for credit for the fish I really wanted, but after seeing them in a members tank they looked pretty good with all of the green plants, but I am worried about them fin nipping the Angels! Rummy Nose Tetras are cool, but everyone has them! The 5 line barbs are good looking too, but I never have seen them locally, so a trip to Austin would be needed! Which is about 1.5 hrs from me and my Truck takes gas to get there! lol

Anyway let me know what Yall think, PLEASE!!!!

Thanks EVERYONE!!!!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

1. Hydrocotyle sp. Not sure which one. Can't identify crypts, sorry. 4. If it is the grassy looking plant, probably dwarf sag, but I can't tell for sure.

If you can't afford driftwood at the moment, think about trimming the plants and planting in an angle to give you an illusion of depth.

Danios are pretty cool fish. They are fast and great at avoiding others that want to eat them. 

Glad you had such a great time on your weekend get away. I don't know if I could have lasted a day with that many teenagers in a room. :0)


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Sara! 

I will try to figure out how to slope the plants like You are talking about! I really am getting tired of the Lud not wanting to grow upright! It makes scaping with it a pain! I try to trim it to get a better bushy look, and I always wind up leaving a big hole in the bush! But a few of my shrubs look the same in my yard after I get carried away with trimming them too! LOL And WOW the water sprite/wisteria ( I am unsure of what I truly have) will TAKE OVER THE TANK if I don't hack the hell out of it! It is really LOVING the T5HOs and EI dosing! I can almost watch it grow! It is sending runners/branches along the substrate, and they ROOT THEMSELVES IN VERY WELL!!! If I didn't like the look of the plant I would rip it out for good, but it, to me, is a pretty leaved plant, so I will keep it a while or at least till I can afford some better Stems! 

On a SAD NOTE I found my 1 Otto stuck in the corner behind the Red Sea Power Head I am using off of the Red Sea Reactor! The Power Head had slipped down into the corner almost sitting on the substrate, and Otto got stuck between the glass and the power head!!! So Now I HAVE TO go to PetSmart and pics up some more! I plan on getting 5 or 6, and hopefully ending up with 4 that survive the acclimation to my Soft and Co2 rich water! I KNOW I will be taking a chance on putting them in the 55 without a quarantine, but the green dust algae is already starting to build on the Lud from Otto being dead 1 day! SO HOPEFULLY PetSmart will have some good ones in! Our PetSmart is pretty good about taking care of their fish! Better than A LOT of other ones I have seen over the Years! PetCo here was getting VERY BAD, but they got someone now who I think knows a little about fish, so I PRAY they get better! As they were killing fish off faster than they could get them in for a while! But the Store Manager is a GOOD LADY, and she is trying her best!

Anyway Thanks for Looking, and AGAIN PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS on the tank and SCAPE! GOOD OR BAD! 

Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

what are you doing withe the lighting?
split photo period, shave an hour off the total maybe slow that down?


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Hey Racer,

How is the Elbow?

Well the Lighting is running around 12hrs at this time. The lighting kit is the AH Supply 2x54wT5HO kit, and it only has 1 ballast, so there is no way to run only 1 bulb unless I unhook one of the bulbs and do a bit of rewiring. Which isn't that big of deal, and I have REALLY been thinking of going to just 1 bulb, but the Color of the 2 that are in there now looks PERFECT to me! One is a 6,400K and the other is a 2-6-10 Pink colored bulb. They were what was recommended to me for running both and getting good growth and good fish colors. SO I am worried about loosing the natural (to Me) plant and fish colors when dropping to the 6,400k! I KNOW I can get a different bulb to have the best of both "worlds" but these bulbs have only been running a little over a month, and I don't want to "waist" them!

I believe I will shorten the duration of the Photo period to 10hrs to see what that will do! I am NEEDING to clean the glass EVERY DAY to keep it clean, and if I skip a day I can just barely see in the tank unless I look threw the Snail Trail Art on the front glass! LOL The Wife and I are headed to Pet Smart this evening to get some Ottos, because the green dust algae is starting to form on the leaves of the plants! OHHHHH CRAP ON THAT!!! Man I can't believe how much that 1 Otto was eating/cleaning in 1 day! 

I am also starting to see the DREADED BBA on some pieces of the Flourite!!!! GRRRRRRR
The CO2 is running pretty high too! It doesn't turn the DC Yellow, but by the end of the day it is getting there! BUT I have noticed that Flourite, or at least the stuff I have ALWAYS is getting BBA in it! It is NO WHERE ELSE in the tank either! I have been searching for it too! And after cleaning the glass a few minutes ago and seeing 12 tufts of BBA on the Flourite I am about ready to TARE THE TANK DOWN and switch the Substrate to DIRT!!! I have been VERY DISAPPOINTED by the Flourite! It is tuff to plant thin stalked plants in, Glosso is a HUGE PAIN to plant in it, BBA tends to grow on it when it is no where else in the tank, once it has been in there for a while it is almost as bad as what I have seen the dirt tank people showing when removing a rooted plant from their substrate, but it has very little advantages compared to dirt but with alot of the replanting problems! When I first got it I rinsed it for HOURS and it would never run clear! I have had MANY Tanks and have setup MANY, MANY Tanks with Crushed Coral, and it is much easier to rinse that Flourite! Also I am very TIRED of the look of it! 

Anyway Rant Over! 

So first I will shorten the lighting duration time, second will be replacing and adding more Ottos, keep a close eye on the CO2 levels and maybe bump it up a little and also get a timer to turn the CO2 on a Hour or so before I have the lights come on. Third I will keep on dosing and doing the weekly water changes and see how it goes!

Well THANK YOU ALL for reading and offering any Help/Advice Yall can! Sorry about the rant about Flourite too! But for the price I paid for it I think it should grow the BEST PLANTS, fight the Algae Monsters, need no added dosing, keep the plants trimmed neatly, and scape the tank to go head to head with Amano's best Aqua Scapes! Or at Least get more realistic it their advertising! When I bought it they made it sound like the best thing since sliced bread, and it AINT!!!

Thanks Again and Take Care Yall!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

After leaving flourite, I am not a fan of it anymore. It was a pain to plant in. And I felt the same way in the end. At first I loved it, but now I hate it. I really think it is a personal preference as I love turface and wknd thinks it's crap. But seriously, a little bit of BBA here and there isn't a big deal, especially since it is just on the substrate. Just play a game plucking it out. Make it a drinking game, lol.

Serious, the tank looks great and you needed worry about a little bit of algae here and there. It's only when you start seeing plants hurting that you should worry.

And your hedging descriptives sounds just like my issues. I got so made, I just ripped out the majority of the ludwigia in my tank. It has a mind of it's own.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for you opinion Sara! 

I am the same way on the Flourite! At first I thought it was the best, but now I am having a hard time not draining the tank, and poring the Flourite in my flowerbeds and tilling it in the soil for next spring! I will probably do that anyway in a few months! BUT for now I am doing the find and pull it out game with the BBA I find on it! 

Man I wanted to post a few pics as my water is just SO clear since I did the Blackout( again thanks Racer!!!) but even after shortening the photo period yesterday to 8 hours the glass had a coating of GDA on it when my Wife and I got back from doing the Fish store rounds yesterday afternoon! My lights come on at 12:30pm and are set to go off at 8:30pm. So yesterday they came on at 12:30 and we got home at 5:30 and there was already a light coat of GDA! Enough that you could easily see the Snail Trail Art in it! It wasn't green looking yet, but defiantly too covered to shoot pics, and if I would have cleaned it off the water would have been cloudy, so I left it on the glass and proceeded to acclimate the 6 Otto cats I picked up! I drip acclimated them for 2 hours so HOPEFULLY they will all make it! They were really good looking Ottos! So I PRAY they all make it, and didn't carry anything to get my Angels sick! I almost bought 6 2 weeks ago to go into the QT, but they weren't on sale so I didn't! I am KICKING myself for that now!!! They still weren't on sale yesterday, but I HAD TO HAVE THEM, so I paid $2.50 IIRC each for them. When they go on Sale, which is pretty often they are $1 each, which helps me on my VERY TIGHT BUDGET! BUT for the job they do they are worth 2X what I paid for them! I guess I am a Cheep Skate! LOL

Well I have to go watch the Farm for a few days, so the Wife will be watching the tanks for me as well as dosing them too! So my fingers are crossed the Ottos do well!

Again thanks for Yalls Help!!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I have been gone a week, and the tank grew into a Jungle again! I was able to get 6 Ottos at Pet Smart before I left, and they did a great job of eating all of the green dust algae off of the plants and equipment! I bought 6 Ottos and was hoping for at least 4 of them to survive the acclimation and new tank. Well after a week I had 5 alive, but 1 wasn't doing very well. I transfered him to the QT, and he passed the next morning! SO I have 4 healthy Ottos in the 55g and they all are eating like Champs! I think I got lucky and the Angels in the tank didn't get anything from the transfer of the Ottos straight from Pet Smart!!!! WHEEEEWWW!! 

I did a trim yesterday, and I will be doing a water change this morning before I have to go watch the farm again! So the Wife will be dosing EI for me till I get back. I snapped a few pics before the trim, so I will post them, but the water is a little cloudy due to cleaning the GDA off of the glass that the ottos didn't eat! I pulled the BBA off of the Flourite that I could find, but I now am seeing it starting to grow on the Spray Bar I have under the surface from the new Fluval205 I added to the tank last month!!! I had aimed the spraybar toward the surface to help with gas exchange, but I THINK that allowed the CO2 to be too low around the spraybar and that is why there is BBA on it! SO I turned the spraybar more to the front of the tank to see if that will help! I AM IN DESPERATE NEED of more timers, so I can time the CO2 to come on a hour before the lights go on as well as a hour or two before they go off! I also need to hook on up to the Air Pump for when the lights go out, because I forgot to tell my Wife to unplug the Air pump last week so it ran the whole time I was gone, and that too probably helped the BBA to grow! DANG STUFF!!! It is the BANE to my Planted Tanks!!!

Also I took the pics with my Son's Camera this time as I couldn't find mine! I don't know it's adjustments, so I let it Auto select them, and I held my Finger over the Flash in most of the pics which made the fish have a PINK COLOR to them! I will do better when I return from the farm! 

Anyway here are the pics before the trim, and I will try to get some after I get the WaterChange done today before I leave!

THANKS FOR LOOKING!!!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Fantastic growth! I am amazed at how quickly it filled in. As far as the BBA, I see none. You just need to look at the tank as a whole and ignore the wonderful little furry guy. Unless he starts to take over, that is. Your tank is very pretty, I love the color selection and the eye is now smoothly running across the tank. 

By the way, where is the Cheez-Its? :hihi:


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for Your VERY KIND WORDS Sara!!!

The overall look of the tank is growing on me! I still want to trade out some of the stems for different ones, and get a LOT MORE Crypts and Anubias growing in it! I have had good luck with the type of crypts that I have received in a few pkgs from the SnS! The trouble I have is I can't seem to get Java fern to grow worth a darn! I have a few pieces of J. Fern in the tank now that I have had since I set it back up as a planted tank, but it does NOT GROW WELL FOR ME!!! And it is supposed to be one of the EASIEST plants to grow!!! It will start to grow in the tank, but then most of the new growth leaves will turn transparent and stop growing! Then like a light switch is turned on it will begin to grow a LITTLE and baby plants will begin to grow on the older leaves then back to "Melting" again! I am trying to keep up on my EI dosing, and I am using Equilibrium, Epsom Salt, and Baking soda to remineralize my R/O water to a medium soft range! Well within what others are growing J. Fern in like mad, and NO GO! SO I am a little worried to start trying other slow growing plants! I know plants aren't as prized to most compared to their fish, but I HATE to get a plant and KILL IT too! I am going to be ordering some Flourish when I do my Big Als filter floss order next week to see if it will replenish something my R/O is removing that is affecting my J. Ferns and other plants as well! I have read good things about it, but the local Big Box Stores want 3X what I can order it for, so I have been waiting! Poor Plants!!!! 

Like I said before I am growing VERY TIRED of the Lud. growing horizontally instead of vertically, so I want to try L. Aromatica ( spelling it wrong, I know!) to replace the Lud. and the dam Water Sprite will flat take over the tank if I don't trim it EVERY WEEK! I really should trim it every few days to keep it from spreading like wild fire! But I see that as a goof thing, kind of! LOL I also LOVE Vals too, but in my last planted setup I killed it VERY FAST, so again I am a little worried about trying it too! I think I had my water too soft after doing more reading about the Vals, and that was their demise in the last setup!

Also I still am wanting some Drift wood, but I am still waiting to get the extra cash to register my boat, as well as the insurance is going to be due at the end of the month too!! GGRRRRR!! I LOVE BOATING AND FISHING, but I have figured out the a Boat is just a hole in the water that you dump money into!!! BUT my Son and I have had MANY, MANY GREAT TIMES in them, and Ya can't put a price on that!!!!

Anyway Thanks Again for your kind words! They make it worthwhile when Yall post on my Journal! I think I am going to try to figure out my Son's Camera settings, as it is a much better camera compared to the one I usually use! At least it is a newer model compared to the one I bought while working at Circuit City in the late 90's! Around 96 IIRC!!! LOL

Yall TAKE CARE and God Bless!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

P.S. The Cheese-Its are all gone!! Between Myself and my Son (17yo) and his friends they don't last very long!!! LOL

Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Definitely can't put a price on family moments. Favorite part of living for me.  Too bad about the CheezIt's I was going to offer a trade for them. :hihi: Don't worry on the java fern, a lot of people kill it. I suspect it's the lack of hard water? Seems like everyone that kills it has a RO/DI unit and softer waters. Actually you spelled Limnophilia Aromatica correct. I'm impressed! Took several months to get that one down. I really like that plant. I have a tiny stem of it hanging on for dear life in one of my tanks.


----------



## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

The tank is really looking good and the angels' colors look great. Good thing the blackout method worked out for you and I'm glad to see your plants are also growing very well. 

P.S. I also like to fish alot which almost goes hand in hand with keeping fish if you now what I mean. Thats just my opinion but anyways your tank looks great. keep up the good work. :thumbsup: !!


----------



## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Are you also going to add a schooling fish? I think something like a school of rainbows would be cool.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for the KIND WORDS EVERYONE!!!

I have been at the farm for almost 3 weeks, but I am now home, and the wife took great care of the tank!!! Looks better than when I am home!!! LOL Here are some pics! Water is SUPER CLEAR! The Asian Pennywort is exploding! It is a cool plant, I think! The only bad thing about it is that BBA is growing under it!!! 

Well I have the lights down to about 7 hours a day, and the green water has stopped, but the glosso is growing taller than I want it to. But the glosso is sending runners all over the place! 

So I am going to keep on letting it grow, and trimming the stems when needed, and keep on trying to pull all the BBA out I can get to! So far the BBA is only on the dam Fluorite, basically. I have found 2 small tufts on the piece of lace rock behind the A. Longiplumlosus, and a few tufts on the spray bar. The Angels seem to like trying to pick it off the gravel! They will have the tuft of BBA in their mouth and just shake the crap out of their heads trying to tear it off! It makes me laugh!

On a sad note I did loose one of my Amano Shrimp! It was fine one night when the lights went out, then the next afternoon when the lights came on it was at the front of the glass covered in snails being eaten! It was for sure dead, as the tissue was pinkish white. That has been 3 days ago and the other one is doing fine! So I am assuming it was just from age. 

The angels are getting big! I NEED to get some other fish in there with them as they are starting to spar with each other! The biggest of the is the Normal Silver Striped one. It is picking on everyone! I just don't know what I want to go with!!! The LFS got in some medium Rummy Nose Tetras and they are a good price, but they are soo common. They got in a few different types of barbs, but I am worried they will pick on my Ottos and Amano Shrimp! ?????

Any Suggestions???

Thanks Again for looking! 
Drew


Here are the Pics!

















































































So let me know what Yall think!!!
Drew


----------



## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

I like the tank a lot.
And i would suggest about 8 gold barbs. Always active; mine never pick on any other fish.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks jart!

I have been thinking about Gold Barbs, Cherry Barbs, Harlequin Rasboras, and a few others. The LFS got in some Puntius rhomboocellatus "Rhombo Barb". I have been doing some reading on them, and they seem like they will go pretty well too! They also got in some Odessa Barbs. I have had them with Angels before and they did great! I am going to the LFS today, so I will let Yall know what I picked out tonight! 

OH I am also getting closer to setting up my 40B too! I picked up the lights at the LFS last week, so now it is just waiting on a stand I need to build, a heater, and buying the dirt and sand for my First Dirt tank!!! I am getting pumped to set it up! If the dirt does as good as I think it is going to do I will switch the 55 over too!

Again Thanks for reading Everyone!
Drew


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

How did I miss this update?!? I love the new look! That hydrocotyle sip. is looking fantastic on the left side. It's perfect for your tank. Once the bacopa fills in a bit more, it'll be fabulous. How do you like how things are shaping up? And I do like the idea of Barbs as well. Have you seen Checkerboard barbs? I used to have them and adored there personalities.

Great on the 40B! Do you have a journal planned for it?


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

WOW, 

I can't believe it has been 10 months since I have touched my journal!!!

SORRY!!!!!

Man SOOOO much has changed! First I pulled the Lud., because I didn't like the way it was spreading and not growing to the surface!

I added a few different kinds of stem plants, foxtail, R. Indica, and a few others, but now there are only a few stems of each left, because I have Hydo. Gardneri, L. Aromatica, Staurogyne Sp. Porto Velho, Crypt. Wendti "Mi Oya, Pogostemon Stellatus " Broad Leaf", and Heteranthera Zosterifolia, all coming from Cris Ramos. They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow, IF USPS is on time! lol 

I think before I plant the new plants I am going to remove all of the DAMN Flourite and dirt the 55g!!! The Flourite has become a algae magnet, and BBA is getting worse even though I lightly vacuum it when doing water changes. Also a Marimo Ball I had in the tank fell apart, and now I have it growing all over the flourite too, along with a bit of green string algae. So I PLAN, If the Wife will spot me the $, to pick up some Miracle Grow Organic and some Black Beauty and dirt the hell out of it! 

I tried going down to 1 T5HO 54w bulb, but it wasn't enough light for me, so I went back to both! The bulbs are getting close to a year old now, so they aren't quite as bright as before, and the plants seem to like them!

The crypts I asked about a few posts ago are NOW HUGE!!!!! They are up against the front glass and some of the leaves are 15"+ tall!!! The Green crypt has at least 50 leaves while the brown/bronze has 35+ too! The plant on the left by the front glass turned out to be some kind of sword, and while big, it is maxing out at around 8" high and has 30+ leaves. The only weird thing is I got a Ozelot Sword in the same shipment, and it is still TINY!!! Only is maybe 3" in diameter and has maybe 6 or so leaves!!! So I put a 1/4" piece of Jobe's plant spike next to it a few weeks ago, and it is starting to send up new leaves! 

AS for fish the Angels all grew up to be good size and I got 2 pairs. 1 pair was the dark Black, and the other was the Red Eye Silver and the Red Eye Zebra. I sold the Blacks to a local breeder a few months ago, because the 2 pairs were fighting pretty bad and I liked the other pair better! So I kept the 1 pair with 6 rummynoses, 5 Albino Corys which 1 is a large female and just laid eggs for the first time in 6 years last week! But the other 4 are pretty small, so I don't think they were old enough to fertilize them, so I left them in the tank and the small corys ate them! The Angel pair I kept wound up spawning 6 or 7 times, and I got alot of eggs, but they always wound up eating all of them, and during the last 2 spawns the female (Zebra) would TARE UP the Male pretty bad, so the too went to the local breeder to see of he could have better luck with them! BUT IF HE DOES I will be able to get some babys from his later on!!!!!

So now all I have in the tank is the 6 Rummynose, 5 Albino Corys, and 3 Ottos! Pretty sparse for a 55g!!! BUT that makes tearing down the tank to Dirt it much easier!!! I have a few 20g and a 26g custom Oceanic tanks that are empty, so I have decided to put the plants and fish in 1 of them with the 2 Fluval 205s while I get the 55g dirted! I have 2 55w PC fixtures I used to run on the 55g that I can use over the holding tank to keep the plants going strong. and I will throttle the 205s down so the fish do feel like they are in a Hurricane!!!

I will post some pics later on tonight, as my wife is coming home with dinner rite now!

The 40B is still sitting in the Kitchen floor empty, but all I am waiting on now is a Ceramic Impeller shaft, a new impeller, and quick release valves for the old 204 to get it setup! I will be building the stand at the first of next week after I get done dirting the 55g!

Again SORRY for the lapse in the Journal!!! And Pics will be up tonight!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are a few pics, sorry there is no full tank shot! I am changing out CPU towers, and most of the pics are on a disk now. Anyway here they are!














































Longer root structure than before!!! Those are A. longiplumulosus and the crypts in the front of the tank!









Albino Cory 6+years old pushing eggs out into her belly fins!









"sticking" eggs to Crypt leaf!









Well that is all for now, but I will take some more tomorrow after water change!

Thanks for checking it out!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I finally did it! 

After reading about all of the people here dirting their tanks and having great luck with it, I decided to dirt the 55g! I used the Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil, and Black Diamond blasting grit (20/40 size grit), and it is looking good! So first off thankyou to Wkndracer for getting me started in this direction!!! Secondly it is SUPER EASY to dirt your tank! I did just like wkndracer suggested and put the soil directly from the bag with the layer being 1-1.25" deep, next I capped it with 1.25-1.5" of "sand". Then I used a cracked dinner plate and slowly poured my R/O water into the plats and filled the aquarium up within 2" of the top. Lastly I added the drift wood pieces that I had soaking in buckets and tubs, and now I am trying to figure out their placement, then I will plant!

The LARGE piece on the right is the same piece I had in the tank when I first started in plant tanks. I had a small "leg" piece attached on the front of the wood to give it a stump/cave look, but somewhere in the move to our house it was lost! But I still think it look good as it is, and I am sure the Bristle nose plecos will love it when I get them! The other pieces are some I have bought through out the years and had them in different tanks. They have been dried out in my storage shed for at least 4 years, but it only took a day for them to soak up enough water to sink again! I blasted them with the sprayer on the garden hose to remove some dried on BBA that I just left on them when I tore down the tanks they were in, and 99% of it came off after scrubbing and blasting with water. But if any of it comes back I will blast it with excel to get rid of it! HOPEFULLY! Dang STUFF!!!:icon_evil

I have another piece of drift wood, but it is a much lighter wood, so I left it out of the tank, as I thought it would be to different! I also have some really nice plants to go into the tank, but I want to get the driftwood arrangement good before planting! I have been keeping the lights off for the last few days to keep any algae out, and the plants are in my 40B still sitting in the Kitchen floor! I have been lightly EI dosing the water and have a new 36" Coralife 2 bulb T5NO fixture giving them light, and I also have been adding small amounts of excel so they will have some carbon. 

So anyway I would be GRATEFUL for any suggestions about the wood placement so I can get this sucker planted mid week! I also have some lace rock I am going to bust up into small pieces to put around the base of the wood for looks too!

All in all I think the dirt/sand combo is going to be GREAT for plant growth, and again was very easy to do, but I will suggest a couple of things! Number 1 is YOU MUST RINSE THE BLACK DIAMOND MEDIA!!!!!!!!! It was pretty dirty even though it states it is prewashed on the bag! I just took a large plastic drinking glass and put about 7 or 8 cupfuls of sand into a 5 gallon bucket. Next I used a adjustable head sprayer on the garden hose to get a some what spread out flow of water, then slowly moved the spray head as I filled the bucked with water till full. then dumped the water on the grass. The first few buckets I could barley see the bottom of the bucket form the "crap" in the sand. Also there was a significant amount of a oily film too! after doing this 5 or 6 times I could clearly see the sand at the bottom of the bucket and the oil film was almost gone! Then after draining all the water I could from the bucket without loosing any sand I used the cup to gently place the sand on top of the wet soil! I started at one end and made piles of sand with the cup, and when I had added all of the rinsed sand from the first bucket I again gently spread it making sure not to thin it out to much and get into the dirt!!! I continued this till I completely covered the soil with about 1.25-1.5" of sand. Lastly I spread the sand with a slight slope toward the back of the tank, and that is it! It took 1 whole bag of black Diamond, but I also added about 15 of the plastic cups from a second bag to make sure the sand was deep enough! I didn't put the sand around the front and sides of the tank to hide the dirt, since this is my first dirted tank I want to see what is going on under there!!:smile:

Also I THINK the 20/40 grit size is perfect! Tractor Supply had the 30/60, but after seeing a busted bag of it, it is way to fine! It was almost a Powdered Sugar consistency, and I feel it will compact to much and cause problems! Again I know this is my first dirt tank, but I have been in the Aquarium game for 25+ years, and I have used the super fine sand in fresh and saltwater tanks, and while looking good, it caused many problems! So I suggest staying with the 20/40 for good water movement through the substrate! You will also find some long ( .25-.75") pieces of the slag in the bag as well as some dark brown particles, but the long pieces seem to work their way under the surface of the sand, and the brown blends well into the black, so there is no worry there, and you really can't tell unless you look close. 

Well any way here are the pic!











So let me know what the wood looks like!

Thanks,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

By the way, here is a Plant List that I have ready to go into the tank. I might not use every type of plant, as I am setting up a 40B this week too, IF I can get the stand frame built!

New Plants:
1) Hydrothrix Gardneri
2) Limnophila Aromatica
3) Staurogyne sp. Porto Velho
4) Crypt Wendtii "Mi Oya"
5) Pogostemon Stellatus "Broad Leaf"
6) Heterantthera Zosterifolia

Old Plants: 
1) Aponogeton Longiplumulosus- longest leaf 36"+ from root ball to leaf tip!!!
2) Bacopa Caroliniana
3) Crypt Wendtii Green
4) Crypt Wendtii Brown- both green and brown have TALL leaves some 14"!!! Hope it grows smaller in dirted tank!!!
5) Echinodorus ??? maybe Angustfolius comparing its pic to pic in "The 101 Best Aquarium Plants" book by: Mary Sweeney
6) Hygrophila Difformis- tons of this stuff!!! lol
7) Hygrophila Polysperma "Sunset"
8) Microsorum Pteropus- I found lots of Java fern behind all of the Crypts that were against the front glass, bus as usual for me it looks "ratty" I don't think I keep my water hard enough for it to thrive. It always has leaves that will start looking good till they get pretty long, then the tips of the leaves go from solid green to translucent green, then get small holes, brown, the start making baby plants!

9) Vesicularia sp Java Moss small amounts
10) Subwassertang
11) Foxtail
12) Echinodorus "Ozelot"
The foxtail will not be going into the 55g, as it is just to fast growing!!! I can trim it to 10" in hight, and by the end of the week it will be grown all the way to the other side of the 55g! So I am VERY TIRED OF IT!!! I have it in my QT, but with 1-18w bulb ans a air powered UGF it grows slow, but I still have to trim it at least once a month or it will completely cover the top of the water where no food can reach the fish!

As for the Java moss and Subwassertang, most of it will be kept in the QT and maybe some in the 40B! The subwassertang came from just a few pieces from a trim pkg I got in the SnS last year, and it grew to cover a lot of the flourite in the 55g! It also got mixed with Java moss, and then attracted some green string algae, so I don't want to introduce it back into the 55g! I threw away any of it that I saw had the string algae, but I really don't want to take the chance! 

I will post some pics of the 40B and 20g high with all of the plants and some pics of the crypts that grew like crazy! The crypts grew very tall compared to what a lot of the books say! Like I listed some of the Wendtii green and brown leaves are over 14" tall! So I am wondering if it was because of the plain flourite not having enough nutrients, or what? So I am also wondering if they will grow shorter in the dirted substrate, and if so that will change where I want to put them!!! Anybody have a answer for me there?

Anyway Pics to come tomorrow when the lights come on!

Thanks for looking and ANY INFO, THOUGHTS, OR IDEAS YA WANT TO GIVE ME WILL BE APPRECIATED!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Also I am going to hard plumb with PVC, so the filter outputs will be changed from the Jerry Rigged junk that is in the pics!!!

I can't decide to stay with the Cerges reactor I have now, or to build a Rexx Grig, or do a in tank mister!!!

The Creges reactor is great up to a bubble count of 5 bps. Anything over that and it starts to spit bubbles from the spraybar! So I thought of putting a second creges reactor on the second Fluval 205 and splitting the Co2 between the 2 of them. BUT then I would probably have to get a second bubble counter and needle valve to make the Co2 go to both reactors! With the pressure difference between the 2-205s just putting a "T" in the Co2 line would probably cause 1 reactor to get most of the Co2! I have 2 extra/old inline water filter housings from a old R/O Unit, so really no money would be spent in making the 2nd cerges reactor! That is the main plus! 

In building a Rexx Grig type reactor I am unsure if I would still get the bubbles if the bubble count goes over 5BPS like the cerges, and I would have spent $20+ for nothing, which I can't afford to do!!!!!!!

So if I go with a glass diffuser or one of the Atomizers, will I be happy with the water looking like 7up all the time!!! The tank sits directly to the right of my recliner, so I am looking at it all day! I actually can't open the right hand side door of the stand if the foot rest is up on the recliner! So I don't know if I will like the 7up look!

BUT I am also unsure if I will need to run my Co2 as high as I did with the Flourite compared to the Dirt for good growth! Anyone know??

Thanks for looking and any Help!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

roud:roud:Hey TPT!!!

Well here are the pics of a few of the plants along with the 20H that the 6 Rummys, 5 Albino Corys + 1 fry about 3-4mm, and 3 Ottos are in. Also the 40B, still on the kitchen floor, but holding most of the new plants and the crypts and other rooted plants from the 55g. ON to the PICS!

20H with a lot of plants the fish as listed above and 1 of the Fluval 205s that was on the 55g, and heater too!
With flash









with out flash









40B filled with plants with about 8" of tank water and Coralife 36" T5NO 2 bulb fixture.
with flash









without flash









Apo. Longiplumulosus almost 36" long! These are new leaves too. It isn't very happy being without high light and Co2, but it will be going in the tank tomorrow! So maybe the dirt will make it happy again!!!









A few of the Crypt Wendtii green and brown. The green is huge!!! the brown is about half the diameter, but they both have leaves that are close to 14" in length! Will they put out shorter leaves in the dirted tank??



























Next the unknown Sword. Can ANYONE ID it for me with these pics?


















The rest are of the 11 Golden Pencil Fish that will be going into the 55g when it is ready to accept fish again, after I get it planted and scaped! Some of the pics are a little fuzzy, but it is hard to lean over, kneel down and hold the camera still enough! They are in my 10 QT that has A LOT of Java fern in it that I pulled from the 55g! I will be adding back some of the Java fern, but I will leave some to see if I can get it growing better.














































That is it for now! Tomorrow I will be working on the plumbing and planting the 55g! Also hope to get started building the 40B stand! Life is getting in the way of the tanks at this time, but family in front of hobbies!

PLEASE let me know what Ya think of the placement of the wood in the 55g, and I will also post a drawing of the plan I have for the placement of the plants to see what Yall think too! Feel free to comment good or bad! I can hack it!!!:flick:

Thanks soooooo much for any input!
Drewroud:roud:


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

OH please ignore the 12" tweezers in the 20gH! I dropped them while feeding, and forgot to remove them before pics! LOL

Also the temp in the 10g is actually 77*! The damn digital thermometer is wrong!!! I have tested it with 3 different thermometers both normal and a Little Time and Temp, that is 10y old, but still is very accurate! 

Thanks,
Drew


----------



## rustbucket (Oct 15, 2011)

Love the wood, can't wait to see it all planted up.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

OK TPT People,

Here are some pics of the dirted 55g about 2 weeks after planting! SORRY that took so long! The day after planting the tank I had to go play Cowboy for a week+, as my parents went on vacation, so I had to go watch after the Farm. Their cpu was on its death bed, so no internet for me! Then I get home to my CPU having problems, so I am just now able to update! 

ANYWAY, the tank is coming along GREAT! most of the plants are growing very well! The crypts are putting out a few new leaves a week, the Apo. Longi. has also put out 5 new leaves. The Star grass is growing well, along with the Limno! The Porto Velho is growing, but it is slow, MUCH SLOWER than I would have thought! And the Hydro gardneri is growing beautifully! I really like it too!

So far it is just snails: Ramshorn, Pond, and MTS, and a few Ghost Shrimp living it the tank! Ammonia and Nitrites have been undetectable, but I am getting the normal gas bubbles from the dirt, so I am holding off on adding the fish for a few more weeks! The only algae is a tiny bit of green string algae that was on some of the old plants, and a bit of Green dust algae on the right hand stump and tank glass! I have excelled the string algae and it seems to be dieing, and all of the snails are keeping the dust algae on the wood and plants down to a minimum! 


Last news of the post is that 1 BABY Albino Cory Cat hatched from her egg laying before the dirting of the tank, and is doing GREAT in the 20g the fish are being held in!!! It is about 1.5cm in length and is cute as a button! I have some pics, but the batteries in that camera are dead, so I will post them tomorrow!

ON TO THE PICS!














































Well the heater on the back glass is temporary, as the regular eater that is in the 55g is being used in the 20g. I also have yet to setup the PVC lines for the 2 fluval 205s yet, since I have been at the farm!

Let me know what Ya think, good or otherwise, PLEASE!
Drew

p.s. the lights were out about 1 hr before I took the pics, and that is why some of the plants are simi closed up! Also I knoticed that the center branch got knocked over, and I just now saw it! So it is pressing down on the bacopa, but I will fix it ASAP!

Thanks Again!


----------



## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

looking real good, the black background gives a nice feel


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Andrew!

It is just Black Spray paint. I usually do all my tanks that way, however after reading Hoppy's post about how the paint affects the reflection of light, I will try something else next time!

The water is still stained brown from the wood and the dirt as well! Going to do a water change tomorrow or next day. I will hook up the old Fluval 204 to the tank filled with carbon and I might get some Bio-Chem Zorb, or one of the other absorbers to get the tank good and clear!

Thanks Again,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Another thing I noticed in the pics is all of the tiny whitish specks all over the back. those are all POND SNAIL BABIES!!!!! Their is a big white/clear female that has been laying eggs everywhere, so I have TONS of baby snails! I just hope my MTS start producing babys like that! 

BUT I am sure when I put the fish back in the Corys will take down the babys, then I might get a loach or 2 to help with the big pond snails. OR it would be cool IF I could find some Dwarf Puffers pretty soon!!! I bet they would get big quick with all if the snails they could eat!!! LOL 

Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are some pics of the Baby Albino Cory Cat! Again the mother is a 6+ year old that I got from my friends LFS that has been closed for 5 years, and the father is a YOUNG guy from the only LFS left in Waco! She laid around 250 eggs, but I thought the 5 corys I added about a month before were way to small to be breeding age, but I guess I was WRONG!!! So I let the corys eat all the eggs up. Only 2 eggs were left and were on the bottom of a spray bar. So I pushed the 2 spraybars close together so no one could get to them. A few days later they were gone, so I figured they got eaten anyway. them a few weeks later when I was removing the old Flourite substrate to go dirted I was a tiny speck of white fly across the tank while I was catching the other fish! Well it turns out 1 of the eggs hatched and survived! 

So here it is about 5 weeks after the eggs were laid!



























I guess it is about 15-20mm in length. The gravel that in on the bottom of the very old 20g is mixed Flourite and 2-4mm blasting media. So you can kind of gage from that! 

I am going to be getting my QT tank ready for more eggs as soon as I move the Golden Pencil fish out of it and into the 55g! The QT is run with a undergravel filter with the 2-4mm blasting media ( small smooth gravel) and has tons of Java ferns, hornwort, subwassertang, and javamoss, so the eggs should be able to hatch and grow to baby corys with out a problem!

NOW IF I CAN FIGURE OUT HOW I GOT THEM TO SPAWN THE FIRST TIME!!! 
Drew


----------



## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

oh how cute!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

I was looking over the plant growth, and i noticed a few "things" on a few crypt stems and a couple on the drift wood. It looks like Apistasia anemones in saltwater tanks! There is one on the top of the big stump, so I took my 10" tweezers and touched it and it retracted like a Apistasia too!!! 

So what do I have growing in my tank??? I can only see 3 or 4 throughout the whole tank, but I didn't see them yesterday, and I bet there is or will be more soon! I don't have any fish in the tank yet, just snails and a few Ghost Shrimp, so I am up for treating them how ever!

Thanks for ANY HELP yall can give me!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well after posting a question in the invert section, I have learned I have HYDRA!!!!:angryfire

I don't see very many, but my tank is full of pond snails, and they are supposed to eat them. But obviously they hadn't eaten them all, because I can see around 8 of them different places in my tank!:icon_evil

So my wife is a Vet Tec, so I have a call into her to see IF they carry Panacur-C which is supposed to kill them very well! If not I will order it from the web, and get it that way!

What I DON'T UNDERSTAND is WHERE I GOT THEM FROM!!!!!!

I have the same plants in a few different tanks, and they are no where to be found! So I am wondering if they came from the Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil?????? 

I bought some plants from Crispino Labayen Ramos back in September, but they what I didn't use in the 55g is still in my 40B, and I see none in there, so I don't figure they came from him! I haven't feed the tank at all because there are NO FISH! NOTHING from any other source than my old 55g, Plants from Cris, and Black Diamond , and MGOPS!!!

Any thoughts????

Thanks for the help!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I remembered 1 thing I added to the 55g that I didn't add to any other tank, and that was some Malaysian Trumpet Snails!

So I BET that is where I got them, because the Hydra showed up a few days after adding them!

My Wife checked at her work and they don't use the Panacur-C, but one of the ladies she works with has some liquid Panacur, but it does not have the "C". So I am going to check that out to see if it the same stuff, and if not I will order the Panacur-C! I am also going to get 4 Honey Gouramies to see if they will help out as well. I have always wanted some anyways, so it is a win-win!

I will try to get some pics of the little devils just so I can keep my journal up to date with the good and bad that goes along with a planted tank!

I don't know if you can prevent getting the Hydra when it comes to live animals! I have see things recommended to use on plants, but not so much on animals themselves other than Quarantining them, but I don't know if that would help with something like this? I am unsure if the Panacur-C will kill the snails along with the Hydra> I guess I will find out!

Thanks for checking up on the journal!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well here are some pics from today 11-15-12. The Panacur-C is on order and should be here within the next few days! I am going to wait to add the rest of the fish till after I treat the tank with Panacur-C to see if that gets rid of the Hyrda, and to make sure it doesn't kill off the good bacteria and cause the tank to cycle! I have more Malaysian Trumpet Snails coming and I will wait to add them too! I don't want to kill them off!!! The Honey Gouramies haven't touched the hydra yet, but there were TONS of the little white crustaceans (copods or whatever they are called) in the tank since there were no fish in it after dirting, so the Honeys have been going NUTZ searching them out and FEASTING on them! They will barely take regular fish food, as they are STUFFED from the tiny critters!  But they are finding less and less of them to eat, so they are taking the New Life Spectrum tiny pellets more and more every day! I have noticed 1 of the Gouramies has some stringy white poo, so I am going to order some Seachem meds to get rid of it. 

But if someone knows FOR SURE that the Panacur-C won't harm the snails PLEASE let me know!

I haven't trimmed any of the plants since the dirting, but I will need to trim some of them, as they are growing along the top of the water and out of it too!

Other than that the Dirting has gone well! I still poke around in the substrate to release any gasses that have built up, but the gasses NEVER have any smell to them, so it might just be Co2! There tends to be more gas buildup around sticks that are in the dirt, because I will bump into them with the bamboo skewer I use to poke around with. Again there is never any rotten egg smell, so I am not worried! 

Anyway here are the pics!

Full tank shot









Closer in!









Left Side









Right side









Staurogyne sp. Porto Velho









Hydrothrix gardneri and Pogostemon stellatus " Broad Leaf" growing allong and threw the surface!









Apono. longiplumulosus, Crypt wendtii "Mi Oya" Growing in GREAT and the Mi Oya's new leaves are dark brown/bronze in color, and are very wavy to seersucker-rippled in shape!









Here is a shot of one of the Honey Gouramies. Also the unknown Sword is getting BIG FAST as well the Heteranthera zosterfolia (star grass) is filling in nice too! I wasn't sure about the star grass, but it has surprised me in it's beauty!









A little bit better shot of the Honey!









Well that is it for today! I still need to redo the plumbing, but I can't decide how I really want to! I am also going to try out a Rexx Grigg reactor to see if it works any better than the Cerges type I am using now. 

I am having to still add dry ferts to keep all of the plants happy, but I am unsure if all of their roots have reached the dirt yet, because in some spots the sand is a bit to deep I think! I haven't had much algae yet other than a bit of string algae that was on the Bacopa and Mint Charlie ( IIRC) that was in the 55g before! There was a bit of green dust algae in the beginning on top of the big stump an the right, but the snails have done away with most of that! I will post a few pics after I do some trimming this weekend! So stay tuned!

Thanks for looking, and let me know what Yall think, PLEASE!!!
Drew

Also Happy Thanksgiving!!!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I am going to try my best to get the 55g replumbed this weekend, and I was wanting some input! 

I am planning to use spraybars for the outputs of the 2 Fluval 205s I have on the tank! Only 1 of the 205s will have the Co2 reactor hooked up to it, and I am unsure where I want the Co2 output placed in the tank!

I am planning on putting 1 output on the top right side where the flow will go the length of the tank at the top. Then the second spraybar will be placed at the bottom left about 1" above the substrate. Again flowing the length of the tank creating a circular flow. The intakes for the 205s will either be both at the left end as they are now, OR I will place 1 at each end. 

I used this flow pattern before while having both intakes on the left end, and I did tend to get some build up of waste in the bottom right corner. That is why I am thinking of placing 1 intake at each end. 

So I was thinking of putting the Co2 Output on the bottom left to get better distribution of Co2 throughout the tank! BUT with the additional head pressure created by having the spray bar at the bottom I my be restricting the flow of the Co2 rich water! ??? IF I put the Co2 output at the top right I know it will have better flow, but when I had it like that last time I saw BBA on the gravel and rocks that were at the bottom left of the tank! That got me to thinking the Co2 wasn't reaching the left bottom corner enough! BUT I did have the OLD FLOURITE then, and I REALLY THINK IT had the MOST INFLUENCE on the BBA! AS I had BBA on the gravel directly under the top right spraybar, and it had a tiny hole drilled into the bend of the elbow to spray Co2 rich water in the back right corner where there was little flow before I drilled the hole! 

So what do Yall think? Co2 at the top right or Bottom Left, and intakes on 1 end or both?

I don't have a lot of extra cash right now, or I would try them both! So that is why I am asking for input from Yall!

The Spraybars will be either 1/2" or 3/4" PVC Painted Black with Krylon Fusion, and will be cut to fit between the front and back glass of the tank. So basically 12" long, and I can play with the output hole diameter to get the best flow vs. least restriction! The intakes will be the standard Fluval pipes, except hooked to PVC to eliminate the ribbed hoses from Fluval! I REALLY DISLIKE the ribbed hose Fluval uses! I know it is easy to work with, but by design it HAS to slow flow, and it is BAD about BUILDUP of junk inside the tubing in a short time! 

So PLEASE let me know what Ya think about the placement/setup!

Thanks,
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Hi Drew,

Put the bar with the CO2 injected in lower as planned above.
Being a closed loop system I don't believe the added head pressure is a concern having the return placed lower.


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for the help Racer!

I have found that the crypts are growing MUCH SHORTER in the dirt than they did in the old Flourite! They have pretty much lost all of their old tall leaves and the new leaves are only 2-3" in length! They are also putting out a BUNCH OF THEM! Like I said I am still dosing the tank with a light EI schedule, because when I didn't dose for a week I saw holes forming in the new crypt leaves as well as a few other plants, especially the stems!

So I am going to start slowly cutting back on the dry ferts one at a time to see which one they are needing most! I have tests kits for Phosphates, Iron and a few other odd ball ones other than the regular tests, but they are a few years old so I don't really trust them! So I will let the plants tell me!

I also think I have my sand a bit too deep! So seeing that the crypts are growing short, I am going to do some rescaping and move some of the plants around! I will see IF all of them are getting their roots into the soil and also find out FIRST HAND on how bad it is to replant in a dirted tank!!!  The plants haven't been in their too long, so I don't think/I am hoping that the roots aren't into the soil very far! But I will soon find out!!! LOL IF I find the roots haven't found their way to the soil I might just siphon some of the sand out when doing a water change and re-level it! I know at a few places I measured at it was 1-1.25" deep, but I also sloped it a little from the back to front, so it might be too deep at the back! And I would rather change it now when the growth is minimal and shouldn't disturb the soil, then waiting to see IF I have a problem a few months down the road and wind up pulling a ton of soil up!!!

I KNOW I will not use as much soil or sand in the 40B when it is setup! I will follow Wkndracers instructions to the "T"!

Anyway Thanks again Racer, and let me know what Yall think! Good or Bad! I can Hack it!!!
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

OUCH!!! 

just typed a 1/2 page reply and the friggin website ate it~!


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here are some needed pics! Tank is going pretty well. I have a little bit of some kind of green scrubby/stringy algae growing a few places. Mainly it is on the wood in a few places. It is east to pull it off, at least most of it anyway! It looks like the Miramo Ball algae, but it doesn't grow in balls! Other than that and the usual green dust algae ya get on the glass it is going OK! 

The Crypts, especially the Green Gecko is still having problems with holes in the leaves! I really think I got the Sand cap too thick, and the roots of the crypts aren't reaching the dirt! I removed some of the sand cap during the last water change, but it is still pretty thick on the large stump end! So the next time I do a water change I am going to remove the wood and change the plant layout some after I remove even more of the sand to see if that will help! I still NEED to replumb the tank, but I have been at the family farm for the last 3 weeks with pneumonia! I have to get a few things done around the house before I can really work on the tank, or my wife might banish me to the Farm PERMANENTLY!!!  I will updates with pics when I start the plumbing!

Thanks for looking! Let me know what Yall Think! PLEASE!


































































If Ya look at the substrate in a few pf the pics you can see where I have been using a bamboo skewer to poke down into the dirt to release the bubbles! There are very few bubbles being released any more. 

Thanks Again!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Forgot to say that the floaters I got a while back have really taken over the surface!!! There is a stem of Hydrothrix gardneri floating on the surface too! The floaters gather heavily on the left side due to the surface agitation and block the light to the Hydrothrix gardneri, so it is really slowing down its growth! So it will be moved around when I replumb and redo the scape a bit! 

I am also needing to do a trim, but I wanted to update first!

Again Thanks for looking!!!
Drew


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

made myself just sit and enjoy a journal read for the first time in months this morning

Went back to the 9/19/12 post and read through to the current updates.

Good details and I enjoyed it (TY).


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks Racer!

Well the tank is doing ok! I have put in my 11 Golden Pencil Fish, there are 6 Rummy Nose Tetras, 6 Albino Cories and 1 was born and raised in the tank!, 1 Blue Betta (from my son's Aquatic Science project, and 3 Ottos. Also at tons of Ramshorn and Pond Snails


The 2 problems I am dealing with now is a type of algae I have never had before, and I seem to have my sand cap too thick, and I am not getting water flow into the dirt under it! 

Problem# 1 some kind of Green String Algae that forms into clumps! I never had this before I introduced a Miramo Algae Ball last year some time, and a few weeks after adding it I started seeing a little tuft here and there. It is very slow growing and is easy to remove the majority of it, but it keeps coming back! I have tried treating it with Excel, and the Excel has done nothing to it at ALL!!! I don't know if it is actually Miramo or something else, but it is starting to annoy me!!! Here are some pics of it!



















And the second problem I am running into is, where I have been poking a bamboo skewer into the dirt to release any gas bubbles that form when first submerging the dirt, I am now seeing that no water is filling into the holes!!! I wanted to be able to see what the dirt was doing, so when I "dirted" the tank I didn't put the sand up against the glass like most do! I just put the dirt in all the way across the bottom and along the front and sides of the glass , then I capped it with Black Diamond Blasting grit (20/40 size). Now I am seeing no water flowing back into the holes where I poked the holes along the front glass! The holes I can see are basically empty! I can poke the skewer into the "dry" hole, and no gas bubble is released, but no water will flow back into it either! So I am going to remove the plants and rescape the tank, but while the plants are out I am going to remove some of the capping sand too! That will hopefully solve the problem! I put to much capping sand to start with (about 1.5-1.75"), so I am going to try to get it to about 1", and see what happens! Here are those pics. 




























You can see some whitish looking bubbles above the long holes in the dirt, and those are gas bubbles! I don't know why the camera makes them look milky, but they aren't in person. BUT the actual holes left from the skewer have no water in them! VERY STRANGE!!!

Well those are the only real problems I am having at this time! The Tank and Fish are doing good! I am seeing holes in the heavy root feeders such as the Crypts and Sword, so I bought some Red Natural Clay at Hobby Lobby, and I am going to make some fert balls like Sara has posted about, but I know what is causing that, so I don't really consider that a problem! 
Anyway on to the LONG needed pics!































































Well I just realized I didn't upload any full tank shot to image shack, so I will post some FTS in a bit! In these pics you can see the group of Albino corys, and the smallest one is the one who was bread and raised in this tank! Also the male Golden Pencil Fish are always displaying for the females, and their color isn't done justice in these pics! The dominate male will be almost solid Ruby Red in the mornings!!! If I remember correctly I have 4 good males, 6 females, and 1 male who has a bent spine, and is always having trouble staying in one place! He is always sinking!!! It is very sad, but he still tries to display for the females, and will color up and try to swim in competitive circles with the other males!!! So until he can't do his normal routine I am going to let him be! When he starts having too much trouble I will then put him to sleep!

Well THANK YOU for LOOKING, and if ya have any ideas about the algae, or "dry" holes in the dirt, feel free to let me know!! I would appreciate it, BIGTIME!!! Oh, I almost forgot, I also pulled the BIG piece of drift wood on the right side of the tank, because I always had stained water! Then when I was removing some of the Algae tufts I noticed that the algae that I was pulling off of the big piece of drift wood had a strong smell to it! So I was worried it was having some rotting problems, so I took it out! And MAN DID IT STINK!!! BUT it was still very dense, and I couldn't find any soft spots in it either!??? I have some more drift wood I am planning to add to the tank when I rescape it and I have also built some new spray bars and intakes for the tank, but I am needing some warm weather to spray paint them! But they will be in there soon!


Thanks Again,
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Here is a full tank pic. 

The Limno is looking pretty bad, because I was watching the farm for a week, and it grew sooooo much it shaded out the bottom leaves and they all shed off!!! So now they look like Dr. Seuss trees!!! 

Anyway here is the pic, and I will be rescaping the tank Monday when I will be adding the new Spraybars, Intake pipes, and RexxGrigg style reactor! I will also be removing about 1/2" of sand too!










THANKS for looking, and PLEASE comment on any layout ideas!
Drew


----------



## plecostomouse (Jun 9, 2011)

Those plants Look sweet, expecially the bacopa. The betta is stunning too 
Maybe incorparate some mosses in the New scape?


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Hey Planted People!!!

I know it has been a long while since I have posted anything, but I have been fighting clado algae in the tank for over a year now, and I am sick of it!!!! I can get most all of it gone, but is a month it will come back with a vengeance!!!

SO I am at the point now of TEARING IT DOWN, and starting over! I am not in love with most of the fish that are in the tank, and I can trade them in at the LFS, so no worries there. There are a bunch of Kribs, 5 Rummy noses, 1 Cherry Barb, 1 Gold Barb, 2 Ottos, and 6 Albino Corries. The Ottos and Corries I am keeping, but the rest can go. I have sooooo many Kribs it isn't even funny anymore! I have 3 pairs that constantly spawn, and even if I leave the babys in the tank 5-10 survive, so it is way overcrowded with kribs! I might keep 1 pair for a 20g I will be setting up, but anyway. 

The plants are going to be all trash! Even though many are doing very well in the dirt with no CO2 I don't want to risk transferring the clado to another tank or anyone else for that matter!!! 

The Blasting grit and M.G. Dirt will go in the yard, since I see NO WAY of getting the clado out of it! 

My questions are what to do about the tank, filters, and equipment???

Should I just run a strong dose of peroxide/clean water in the empty tank with all of the equipment in it? Or empty it and let everything dry out for "x" many days?

What do Yall think would kill the algae from the tank, inside the filters, ect...???

THANK YOU for any help yall can provide!!!
Drew


----------



## cephelix (Apr 8, 2013)

Wow, clado is tough to beat.i recently had an outbreak of clado as well in my 2ft but it all came under control once i added about 20 starving cherry shrimps in.they went at it until there was nothing but a faint green stain in my rocks where the clado used to be.

Anyways, why not do both? Soak your tank n equipment in bleach/peroxide then let it sun dry for a couple of days and air dry for the next week or so?


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

I was thinking of doing that, but I thought if I could get away with just doing the peroxide treatment I might be able to save the bacteria in my filters! I run the fluval ceramic "rings" in the top basket of the 2 fluval 205s, so I was wanting to keep them "alive" while at the same time kill the algae. I doubt now that I will be able to save the bacteria and use enough peroxide to kill the algae after doing some more reading online. 

Anyway I plan on working on the tank tomorrow, and I will post some pics of it before I tear it down to give this thread some closure! 

I just want to THANK EVERYONE for all of the help they have been over the years with this tank and all of the questions and help I have needed through out my planted tank life!!! I would have NEVER gotten as far as I did without Yall, so again THANK YOU ALL!!!! I am going to start a new journal for the 55g from the start and hopefully with more and better pics! I also will be setting up a 40B at the same time and will do a journal for it too! 

Again THANK YOU to ALL and this site!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I still haven't torn the tank down, but I have been battling the clado algae, and it is getting somewhat better, but it just won't go away! I have been able to keep it off my plants for the most part, but it continues to grow on the substrate, filter intakes and outputs and wood!!! I have been doing a lot of trimming and replanting and have increased my plant load A LOT!!! Many stems in the tank, but only a few different types, but I don't want to spend any cash on a lost cause! I have hit a serious cash flow issue, so I can't afford to put any money into my aquariums right now, but maybe next month! I have got some god pics and I PROMISE to post them as soon as my camera cord comes in! Should be in by the end of the week or the beginning of next week at the very latest!

THANK YOU ALL for the continued support and help with the tank!!!
Take Care!!!
Drew


----------



## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Well I AM SORRY IT has been WAY TOOOOO LONG since I have updated!!!

I was waiting on the cash to tare down the 55 and set it back up a bit different, but as most of you know LIFE gets in the way!!! So I have let the tank go on Auto Pilot doing a water change once a month and cleaning the filters at the same time. Feeding the ever expanding colony of Kribs every day and skipping every Sunday. Other than than doing nothing else but trimming plants when I couldn't see the back of the tank anymore!!!

Well It looks like I finally starved out the Clado algae by doing this!!! I no longer see any long stringy algae on the plants, sand , or anywhere for that matter!!! There is a bit of some kind of algae growing on the drift wood and coconut half shells I made for Krib hides, but it is short and very different and doesn't stink like clado did!

So the tank had been completely over taken by Bacopa Carolina from front to back , as you will see in the pics when I am able to post them in the next few days, so I did a major trim, and I am going to once again try to revive this tank!!! My plan is to remove most of the Kribs, keeping the best looking pair. Then I really want a German Blue Ram Pair, along with some Angels! 

Do Yall think the Kribs will get along with the Rams? I plan on putting a few coconut shell caves on each end of the tank so the Kribs can have 1 end and the Rams can have the other, or is this just asking for trouble???

As for plants I want to get more crypts! I have always loved crypts, but with the damn Clado I just didn't want to add them into the tank, but as long as it stays gone, I will for sure add a few different types!

I am on the lookout for some new driftwood as well! I am fixing to take quite a few kribs to the LFS for credit, and they have some nice wood most of the time, but I don't want large and heavy! I want branchy stuff to make a nice Angel Fish Tank! Anyway I will get the pics up ASAP, but my Camera is in my truck and my Wife has it out of town!

Thanks for checking this out, and for any help with the Krib/Ram question, or any suggestion for that matter! 


Take Care!
Drew


----------



## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Kribs and Rams is definitely asking for trouble in my opinion. They are both cichlids that occupy the same level of the water column. Kribs are already territorial when spawning and if the rams are spawning, it could be seriously problematic! haha. I wouldn't risk it.


----------

