# Amazonfish's 47 gallon: update 1/6



## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

This is one of two "first" planted tanks. I'm also starting a tiny 5.5 gallon nano.

Here's what I have:

*Tank*
47 gallons, 48x12.5x18

*Lighting*
48" 56 watt coralife T5

*Filters*
two aquaclear 70

*Substrate*
Play sand, but I'd like to mix something not too expensive with it. suggestions?

*Plant Care*
The usual dry ferts, using EI
Flourish Excel

*Flora*
Java Fern
Windelov Java Fern
Rotala rotundifolia
still waiting for most of the plants...

*Fauna*
7 Laetacara dorsigera (waiting for a pair)
6 Celestial Pearl Danios
1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco
I might add bronze cories

Sand is going in today, and I'll post an update pic after I do that. 
Here's the first pic, a fresh slate! except for that huge chunk of driftwood that looks like a pterodactyl...


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## mumushummus (Sep 16, 2009)

nice start!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Thank you. So, I rinsed the sand and it's in the tank now. I'm quite frustrated because I think the sand is way too fine. I might go to home depot tomorrow and try to find something else. 

here's a very cloudy picture (i really did rinse the sand a LOT):


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## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

Hahaha it does look like a pterodactyl! 

Sand will do that...be patient with it and do a couple of big water changes and the cloudiness will clear up. It is a somewhat frustrating substrate though; if it's a really fine sand it will cloud your water for a few hours any time you disturb it much. Home Depot also carries a small natural colored gravel that is about the same price as the sand; you could mix some of that in. I've done that before and it's pretty good looking.


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

Ariel301 said:


> Hahaha it does look like a pterodactyl!
> QUOTE]
> 
> OMG i was just going to comment about that but you already did LMAO


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

The water is clearing up! It's starting to look much better, though I decided that I'm going to move the java fern to the center of the wood instead of on the branch. I might leave the windelov where it is though. From what I've seen of other peoples' tanks, java fern looks better in the middle.

I'm ordering some plants that should arrive next week. here's what I'm getting:
Needle leaf or narrow leaf java fern
anubias petite
crypt wendtii
HC
I think a couple of others. 

Here's the tank:









This is my first attempt at aquascaping, so I'm very open to suggestions about how to make it better!


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## Dragonstar (Oct 25, 2009)

I think this tank looks great and, cloudiness pains aside, sand is an awesome substrate.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Thank you! The only reason I'm considering changing the sand is because my fish sift through it and I'm afraid it might get into the filters. I do like the way it looks though. If I do change it, I'm just going to swap it out for a larger grain.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Cool piece of driftwood! Really like the new subtrate, exactly what I was thinking of getting.


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## Dragonstar (Oct 25, 2009)

Sand is really messy, and cloudy, and it gets everywhere, but... it looks so good and the fish dig it.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

My plants were a day late, but they're finally here! A few of them were melted away when they arrived, but the rest seem to be doing well. I ended up with extra plants though, so it all evens out :icon_mrgr I added a bit more sand and planted everything, but I HATE the way it looks!! It's really frustrating, because I planned it out, but it looks really bad. It really does look like I dumped everything in there. I haven't taken a picture yet because the water is still cloudy. 

I'm going to be sooo embarrassed posting a pic of the tank, but honestly...I really need help. I guess I don't have that "natural talent", but I hope I can improve. 

I might replant everything to see if I can get it to look better. I have an exam this Friday, so I need to study for that. If I have time tonight, I'll replant. I will get that picture up today though.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

JakeJ said:


> Cool piece of driftwood! Really like the new subtrate, exactly what was thinking of getting.


Thank you, but that driftwood is driving me nuts! If it has potential, I'd love to hear HOW from someone, because I sure can't make it look good!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Here it is... :icon_conf The two stem plants right in the middle are there because I don't know where I want to put them yet. Actually....that seems to be true for the rest of the plants, too! There's also still a pot of HC that I haven't planted yet. 









Left side (this is the side I hate most):








Right side (I think this side is alright. Not a catastrophe, but nothing special, either):









I have this piece of wood in my 125, and i was wondering if it has more potential than the "pterodactyl" (see first post):


















There are sooo many talented people here. I hope I can get some advice about this tank!


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

I think the driftwood look fine where it is, but its your tank. Can I suggest capping the sand off with some aquarium gravel? It will make the sand look less dirty, and may aid in keeping the sand down! Looks much better than my tank though! Good job!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Jake, thanks for the advice. I don't think I'll go with gravel though. I know that once I stop sticking my hands in the tank every two minutes, the cloudiness will go away. My 3 other tanks all have sand, and I never have a problem with cloudiness. It'll just take time!

Well... I tried the other piece of wood. Pterodactyl just wasn't working for me. I'm not inherently creative, and I guess I just couldn't use it properly. The good news is that I think this other driftwood has a lot of potential. I re-scaped the tank, and I like it much better now. There are still a few things out of place, but I like it much better. Again...it's still cloudy, but I'll post new pics when it clears. I wasn't patient enough to wait :tongue:

here it is:








left side:








right side:









Oh, and this fish is sooo cute, I just had to post a pic. I have 7 of them, and I'm just waiting for a pair!









As always, I'm still open to advice, suggestions, and criticisms!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

The water is more clear today. I'd really like to know what I can put on the very left side. Right now, I have some crypt. wendtii "red" in front of the crypt. balansae, but it's just hiding there. There seems to be a big open space under the wood. Should I fill it?

Here's a picture from 5 minutes ago:








And a close-up of the left side:


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

No comments? C'mon...I'm so sad, see? :frown:

To recap... here are my questions:

1. Any criticism or suggestions are welcome.
2. What to put under the wood on the way left side
3. I'm still up to moving things around. That includes the wood. Is there a different position that would look better?
4. How can I make this better?


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## Lindo (Apr 12, 2009)

I really like the layout. Personally I would let it grow in a bit. But then I too move things about too often as am impatient 

Its a lovely tank.


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## jhoops (Aug 17, 2009)

Your tank looks awesome! The pterodactyl was definitely unique and cool, but I like your new choice of driftwood better. It looks more natural and "flow-y". As for suggestions, I agree that as it grows in your tank will look superb.


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## mynameisjonah (Jan 22, 2008)

I also believe you should let things grow in, and see how the tank evolves by itself. Your set up is looking incredibly nice for an initial set up! Cories would be a great addition, especially for their sand sifting habits.


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## mybrotherdarrell (May 28, 2008)

I love your set up so far! I love how the crypt? in the back left is growing up around the branch - very cool. But I agree that something is missing from the left side under that driftwood. I think a plant that isn't green would look great there. I feel like my eye is getting drawn toward the right side of the tank with the pink, yellowish, and orangey plants over there. Your driftwood is so pretty, you should highlight it with some color.

I think it's going to look fantastic when it grows out a bit.


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## THaehn (Jul 14, 2009)

I really like this tank. I agree with everyone else who said leave it alone for now. Its really difficult to keep our hands out of the tanks but it will be worth it with your aquascape. 

I am a big fan of the Laetacara dorsigeras. I did some research on these little guys and I think I found what my next tank will hold. I have always wanted to get into cichlids and these seem like a good starting point. Anything you can tell me about them would be appreciated. And great looking tank!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

thanks everyone for the comments! There are a few changes, but not enough to post another picture yet. Maybe next week :icon_mrgr

Here's what has changed:

1. All my anubias (nana and petite) rhizomes rotted. None of them were in the sand, and I've had some of these for a year now! I'm upset because I really want anubias for this scape. I have no idea what killed them.

2. Another thing that I thought could possibly be related to the anubias problem... I think that the wood is partially rotting. Does anyone know what type of wood this is? a lot of the crevices are growing some white fuzzy stuff. I've had the wood for 4 months now. I love the wood, but I don't want it to negatively impact the fish and plants. Any ideas on if this is normal or not?

3. I moved the crypt wendtii forward (the one that was in the back left)

4. The plants have grown! The rotala and ludwigia arcuata (i think) have both grown about 2.5 inches each. 

There's a LOT of debris floating around in the tank, so I'm starting to think that my two filters aren't enough. I'm going to clean one out tomorrow and see if it improves things. I'd love to have an eheim 2217 in here. My favorite filter ever. 

Anyway, I'm sorry that I don't have any pics today! I know that that's the most interesting part of journals, so I'll have some up next week. 

If anyone has any insight on the anubias and/or wood, I'd love to hear about it.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

THaehn said:


> I am a big fan of the Laetacara dorsigeras. I did some research on these little guys and I think I found what my next tank will hold. I have always wanted to get into cichlids and these seem like a good starting point. Anything you can tell me about them would be appreciated. And great looking tank!


They are definitely cool fish. It's really neat to watch the 7 of them interact. They change colors (from that pale white to dark purple) in a matter of one to two seconds! I think it's amazing. They flare their gills at each other and lip lock sometimes, too. I'm still waiting on a pair though :icon_neut With 7 fish in there, there must be at least one male and one female! It's been about 5 weeks though, and no pair yet! I can't tell you much else about them though, because it's the first time i've ever kept them. What I have realized though, is that they REALLY like the tank planted. They were in there before I added any plants, and they didn't look entirely comfortable. Now they're really enjoying their tank. They're not picky eaters, and I really like that. i feed them NLS pellets and they'll take them from the surface or from the bottom of the tank.


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## Ravenmoon (Nov 18, 2009)

Very nice looking aquarium!


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Update! I'm impatient and so I had to stick my arms in the tank and rescape. I couldn't help it. I have a huuuge diatom problem though, and it's really frustrating me. None of the plants have that healthy plant glow because they're covered in a fine brown dust  I really hope it goes away, because it's really taking the fun out of looking at the tank. I don't think I like this scape any better. I'm also extremely frustrated because a) most of my anubias rotted away b) the HC won't stay down no matter what I do, and c)there are diatoms everywhere, and everything looks brown/yellow. I hope things get better soon.


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## isu712 (Jan 11, 2008)

Personally, I like that scape. Just give it some time to grow in and trim to get the look you want.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Well, everything seems to be growing, but I'm still battling diatoms :angryfire

It doesn't look like there's much growth, but I promise that there is!! I can see a difference... Here are three pics to show a short time lapse:

November 24:








November 30:








December 7:









I've ordered a Catalina 3x54watt light fixture (so excited) and I bought a sumo regulator off the Swap n Shop (so so excited), so this will soon turn into a high tech tank. I really like watching the plants grow, and it is SO slow right now. I'll be excited to see faster growth :icon_bigg I do have a 25 gallon that will take over the 'low tech' role though. I'll be starting a journal for that after my anatomy exam :angryfire Or maybe i'll need a study break before that


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## ket (Dec 10, 2009)

Looks good! Ought to look wonderful with the new lights.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

I was away for 2 weeks, and I definitely expected bad things with my tanks... I didn't want to post anything ugly, but in a journal, I guess you've gotta write about the good and the bad, right? 

So here's what I came back to:










I posted in the algae forum and I think the cause is that #1: my CO2 bottles stopped producing before I got back from vacation. and #2: too much light. 

I'll solve these issues and re evaluate after that. The algae isn't everywhere. It's just the middle of the tank. Here's a pic:










I removed the large chunk of wood, because I'll be rescaping with some manzanita wood. I wanted to let the plants grow unobstructed before the rescape. I also wanted to make sure that I can actually grow the plants well before I scape. Clearly, that's not working as well as I had hoped! I'm open to any questions, comments, advice. I haven't decided how I'm going to scape this tank, so I'd love suggestions! I'm afraid that my manzanita pieces are all HUGE though! They're all between 24" and 36", and quite thick.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Here are the manzanita pieces that were floating in my 125G. They've sunk! But you can see how large the pieces are. That's a 6-foot tank! Is it possible to make a nice scape with such large pieces of wood? My 47 gallon is only 12.5 inches wide.


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## Frogmanx82 (Dec 8, 2009)

Wow, lots of tannins. You maybe should have done a soak in the tub first with some Oxyclean which is a mix of sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate.

Activated carbon should clear that up, but the wood can continue to leach tannins for weeks. A high pH soak would really help to pull them out.


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

My south american cichlids are loving the tannins. I don't mind them at all, since there are only 2 low light plants in that tank. and those tannins are nothing! You should've seen the tank 2 weeks ago!! A few more water changes will take care of it


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

I decided that most of the pieces of wood are too big for this tank, so I put in another order for manzanita. I only ordered 7 pieces, since I do have 1 or 2 that are small enough for the tank. I specified "branchy pieces". Should be here Tuesday :biggrin:


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