# The 55 Gallon Planted Process



## bk.

That looks awesome. Thanks for the step by step.


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## Kaen130

Wow, very nice 


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## sohankpatel

Wipes drool off keyboard*
My 55g looks like a hot mess compared to this


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## shrimpNewbie

Looks absolutely beautiful, a perfect example of why the hobby is awesome. Great job 

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Not sure if it was intended but it added so much depth to the tank.

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## quiquik

Very nice tank Brandon. How do you like the Sun Sun 304b. I have a 50 gal. and was just curious about flow.


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## brandon133

Thanks all! I really appreciate it!



quiquik said:


> Very nice tank Brandon. How do you like the Sun Sun 304b. I have a 50 gal. and was just curious about flow.


I love the 304b. I bought it when I was still in college and was looking to save some cash... But I have to say this is the only thing so far that the less expensive option is equally as good. I'd reccomend.


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## quiquik

Ok sounds good I'll do some more reading on that model. Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving.


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## cromusz

Just saw this thread. That is a pretty great scape.


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## dixiedog

Brandon, that's pretty inspirational. I am planning my first planted tank and must fill my existing 24" tall 65 gallon, and struggle to figure how to fill in the height. Think I'll be cribbing your ideas, so thanks for posting.

Were you concerned all that rock on the left would focus all its weight on a small area of the glass floor, creating too much psi?


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## brandon133

Thanks! That means a lot!

I added a light diffuser panel on the bottom. It looks like a plastic egg crate. I purchased it from home depot for about $10. This diffuses all of the weight across the whole bottom.



dixiedog said:


> Brandon, that's pretty inspirational. I am planning my first planted tank and must fill my existing 24" tall 65 gallon, and struggle to figure how to fill in the height. Think I'll be cribbing your ideas, so thanks for posting.
> 
> Were you concerned all that rock on the left would focus all its weight on a small area of the glass floor, creating too much psi?


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## kalan850

You know what's cooler than this scape???? 


!NOTHING! Lol
Na but seriously tho great job looks amazing


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## bereninga

Whoever said that a 55g couldn't look good? This is a great one and glad you're proud of it! This grew out quite nicely. Congrats!


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## JimF

*Tips*



brandon133 said:


> My equipment is as follows:
> -Aquatek CO2 regulator
> -Rhinox 5000 diffuser
> -SunSun 304b canister filter
> -Commercial LED light (dialight brand) 60 watt, but with near 100% efficiency
> And after adding some RCS, neon tetra, harlequin rasbora, and otos, (and making occasional alterations in the scape) here is the progress after 3 months:
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> Bump:


Hey man, great build. This is an incredible tank and very inspirational. I am planning to do a 55g freshwater planted tank build and was hoping to have something remotely similar to this set up. This is just incredible so I am trying to model this but I was also planning to have a decent amount of fish. You think I will need more CO2 input or will the fish produce enough dissolved CO2? Also how much fertilizer/nutrients should I use and how often should I use them on the plants?

Thanks a lot. I appreciate the help.


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## brandon133

JimF said:


> Hey man, great build. This is an incredible tank and very inspirational. I am planning to do a 55g freshwater planted tank build and was hoping to have something remotely similar to this set up. This is just incredible so I am trying to model this but I was also planning to have a decent amount of fish. You think I will need more CO2 input or will the fish produce enough dissolved CO2? Also how much fertilizer/nutrients should I use and how often should I use them on the plants?
> 
> Thanks a lot. I appreciate the help.


Thank you very much! I'm really glad to provide some inspiration! 

Unfortunately, the CO2 output of fish is negligible no matter how overstocked. Most of the dissolved gases come from surface exchange, but I do inject CO2 since there is not enough naturally in the water column (even though my tank would be considered overstocked by many). This setup is certainly still possible without CO2 injected, but it will fill in much slower and the dwarf hairgrass may not do as well. I'd suggest trying pygmy chain swords as the carpet instead.

As for fertilizers, it entirely depends on the tank in my opinion. I stay very basic about it. My plants absorb the entirety of nitrogen and phosphates produced from the fish so I dose KNO3 KH2PO4 3x per week. After my weekly water change, ill also add seachem equillibrium. You ultimately need to just watch how the plants respond to your dosing and how quickly the plants absorb the waste products in the water column.


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## JimF

brandon133 said:


> Thank you very much! I'm really glad to provide some inspiration!
> 
> Unfortunately, the CO2 output of fish is negligible no matter how overstocked. Most of the dissolved gases come from surface exchange, but I do inject CO2 since there is not enough naturally in the water column (even though my tank would be considered overstocked by many). This setup is certainly still possible without CO2 injected, but it will fill in much slower and the dwarf hairgrass may not do as well. I'd suggest trying pygmy chain swords as the carpet instead.
> 
> As for fertilizers, it entirely depends on the tank in my opinion. I stay very basic about it. My plants absorb the entirety of nitrogen and phosphates produced from the fish so I dose KNO3 KH2PO4 3x per week. After my weekly water change, ill also add seachem equillibrium. You ultimately need to just watch how the plants respond to your dosing and how quickly the plants absorb the waste products in the water column.


Thanks for the quick reply. And thank you for the valuable information. SO, I could have a tank as awesome as yours without CO2 injection? That is good to hear.
I will look into the Chain Swords; do those propagate pretty well and will make a nice even carpet? 
Another thing, what do you mean by a dose? You just dump those supplements straight in?


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## brandon133

JimF said:


> Thanks for the quick reply. And thank you for the valuable information. SO, I could have a tank as awesome as yours without CO2 injection? That is good to hear.
> I will look into the Chain Swords; do those propagate pretty well and will make a nice even carpet?
> Another thing, what do you mean by a dose? You just dump those supplements straight in?


To answer the question of whether or not you can have a tank like mine without CO2, the answer is a vague "maybe." The reason I say that is because all of the plants that I use will grow without CO2, but the biggest concern for me not using CO2 is the war on algae as a consequence. CO2 allows the plants to uptake the nutrients competitively with algae. Otherwise, algae is much more efficient and will likely outgrow your plants. CO2 is not nearly as complicated and daunting as it seeems and, in my opinion, a very worthwhile investment.

For dosing - Yup! I scoop out the appropriate measurement based on what my plants uptake and what my nitrogen and phosphate levels are. Then, I just add them straight to the tank. You can also get liquid supplements as well. There is a bit of a science to it (albeit not much). No CO2 = slower plant growth = less fertilizer dosing needed and vice versa. Similarly, No CO2 + heavily bioload = Slower plant growth + less fertilizer dosing.


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## Freemananana

This really does look great. Probably one of the best 55's I've ever seen. The 55 is just so tall that it is hard to scape. I am a HUGE fan of the layout. I've become more of a fan of the 'open' center layout recently.


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## DavidZ

Nice job, whats your daily light period?


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## DOJOLOACH23

brandon133 said:


> I wanted to show a bit of a step-by-step aquascaping/planting process for two reasons:
> 1) I'm terribly bored at word and;
> 2) I'm proud of this tank and I hope some might enjoy it!
> 
> I started by gathering as many large rocks as I could from the beach near my home. They are the typical rocks you see used in the construction of jetties. I began by setting these rocks in place with hopes of adding height and dimension. I then poured driveway gravel behind the rocks in order to give it more stability as well as provide a means of stacking substrate while avoiding anaerobic pockets. Next, I added a few pieces of driftwood that I found on my beach as well.
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> The next step was adding substrate. I was running a bit low on eco complete and I managed to get a great deal on fluorite from an LFS. Because I like the black color better than the red, I added the fluorite first and capped with the eco complete. Then I added tan play sand to the front few inches of the scape to give a bit of a beach feel.
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> Now for the tedious (or fun for some) part... I added dwarf hairgrass as the carpet, Hemianthus micranthemoidesas the tuft on the right side along with a crypt, Ludwiga peruensis to give a bit of red on the left side, and then I scattered anubias and java fern throughout.
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> My equipment is as follows:
> -Aquatek CO2 regulator
> -Rhinox 5000 diffuser
> -SunSun 304b canister filter
> -Commercial LED light (dialight brand) 60 watt, but with near 100% efficiency
> And after adding some RCS, neon tetra, harlequin rasbora, and otos, (and making occasional alterations in the scape) here is the progress after 3 months:
> 
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> 
> 
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> Bump:



Ok, how risky is this on the glass? With the presser points and all?


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