# 55 gallon aquascaping adventure



## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

Moving from a crowded 10 gallon to a 55 gallon. I’m new to fish keeping and excited to share the step by step process of starting a new 55 gallon low tech aquascape.










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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

Not a bad choice, that's what I started out on. The 12" depth front to back means you only need one light instead of two but it does limit aquascaping options a bit depthwise. Excellent size for fish though--a lot of options with a 55. I've let mine languish a bit as you can see.


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

goodbytes said:


> Not a bad choice, that's what I started out on. The 12" depth front to back means you only need one light instead of two but it does limit aquascaping options a bit depthwise. Excellent size for fish though--a lot of options with a 55. I've let mine languish a bit as you can see.




Glad to see your comment! I’m just in the process of buying a light and didn’t know if I should pick up 2 24” LEDs or 1 longer 47”. 


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

I go to bed each night thinking of the ideal aquascape. I went to a local landscaping place during our NJ snow and picked out these beautiful green rocks. I poured vinegar on it and tested for pH change after 3 days. These all cost me $21!










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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

I cleaned out my tank. It’s so cold here that the water froze when I left it in the garage!









After I mounted the tank onto the newly painted stand, I sketched out a layout using dry erase marker directly on the glass. 










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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

With clean stones, on a new day, I played around with the layout for hours....









I bought a bag of organic potting soil and put that down after I realized moving around these big stones was scratching the tank bottom. 









Then played with the layout some more. 












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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

I bought some manzanita tree branches. I broke them into smaller pieces and stuck them into the deep substrate of potting soil and Eco Complete. I plan to add Christmas moss to the branches later. 

I set up a used HOB aquaclear 110 and set the heater to 75. I’m ordering replacement filters and a new LED which I should hopefully get this week. 

And I filled up the tank, adding 5 gallons of waste water from my 10 tank to get bacteria started. And used Seachem prime, flourish excel, and flourish. 

I planted 2 sad Amazon Swords from my 10 gal. I also brought over 2 Marimo balls and a few Java Fern baby plant that have propagated from the old tank. I’m ordering s.repens to carpet the tank. 




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## C5rider (Dec 30, 2017)

Thanks for sharing! 

I like the idea for the rocks. There's a place right down the road from me and I'd been wondering what I'm going to do when I set out on my planted tank adventure. Now I know where I can get some rocks! 

thanks for the idea.


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

C5rider said:


> Thanks for sharing!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I bought a new LED light and went for a canister filter from Amazon which should arrive tomorrow. Can’t wait! Will share updates. 

The rocks look too dense on the left side. I’ll work on rearranging them. I like how it looks on the right side. 



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## DrDraake (Nov 6, 2017)

Looks great so far!

Great idea using the dry erase marker to draw aquascape on the glass.

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## Proteus01 (Mar 12, 2017)

Nice upgrade. I’m a fan of rocks from a landscape yard - so much cheaper, and in most cases a better selection for each available type. You won’t find dragonstone there, but river rocks, slate, lava rock, etc can pretty awesome. 

I’d recommend squeezing out your old filter media into the new tank, or setting it in the new filter. If you had gravel, for instance, bagging it up and setting it in the new tank is a great way to get the bacteria going. The water share isn’t very effective - bacteria live on surfaces much more that free floating. 

What’s the livestock?


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## agrasyuk (Jan 5, 2018)

Be careful with those temperature changes - glass can be picky. I tried to move a glass table top from inside the house into unheated attached garage (we were in around 0 degrees here last few weeks ) . I say tried as it litteraly exploded into small shards in my hands in few seconds into the cold. I briefly remember hearing strange crackling moments before it did. luckily didn't get any spray of that glass goodness in my face. 

Other then that I really like your rock setup (even though I'm more of a driftwood guy). Following.


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

Proteus01 said:


> Nice upgrade. I’m a fan of rocks from a landscape yard - so much cheaper, and in most cases a better selection for each available type. You won’t find dragonstone there, but river rocks, slate, lava rock, etc can pretty awesome.
> 
> I’d recommend squeezing out your old filter media into the new tank, or setting it in the new filter. If you had gravel, for instance, bagging it up and setting it in the new tank is a great way to get the bacteria going. The water share isn’t very effective - bacteria live on surfaces much more that free floating.
> 
> What’s the livestock?




I’m debating on the livestock. I love Greggz rainbowfish but I haven’t seen nice ones at my LFS. 

I was considering a ton of cardinal tetras if I could have one of those nice iwagumi setups - but my beginner attempts are not coming anywhere close to a nice layered look. 

I love the blood parrot or silver dollar tetras but I don’t think they will do well in a planted tank. So...don’t know quite yet. Leaning towards nice rainbowfish at this point. 


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

agrasyuk said:


> Be careful with those temperature changes - glass can be picky. I tried to move a glass table top from inside the house into unheated attached garage (we were in around 0 degrees here last few weeks ) . I say tried as it litteraly exploded into small shards in my hands in few seconds into the cold. I briefly remember hearing strange crackling moments before it did. luckily didn't get any spray of that glass goodness in my face.
> 
> Other then that I really like your rock setup (even though I'm more of a driftwood guy). Following.




Thanks! I’m glad To report the tank transitioned inside nicely. There were too many rocks, the left side felt heavy. So after setting up the new LEDs and a cascade 1000 filter today, I tried takin some rocks out to see how it would look. I’ll give it a few days for the cloudiness to clear up and reassess the aquascaping. Should be at least 2-3 more weeks before I add any livestock so I can move these rocks around as much as I like!











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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

For anyone considering a gravel path...I highly recommend NOT doing it. The colored stones are hard to keep in place. It’s more maddening now than anything to see this uneven stone color... Especially after spending so much money on eco complete. 


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## agrasyuk (Jan 5, 2018)

stock is a very personal thing, plus there is an element of local availability. 
I really loved when I had school of pencilfish (still have a lone survivor, but its been over 3 years now). I always had a silver or 3dot gourami in every larger tank and I always had a bristle nose pleco, IMHO a community tank without them feels incomplete. It so happenes that right now I'm setting up a 55gallon as well. It will be heavily planted. besides the mandatory gourami/pleco I plan on having ~5 or so ottos to help control any algae. the rest is still a question mark. 

good luck!


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

agrasyuk said:


> stock is a very personal thing, plus there is an element of local availability.
> 
> I really loved when I had school of pencilfish (still have a lone survivor, but its been over 3 years now). I always had a silver or 3dot gourami in every larger tank and I always had a bristle nose pleco, IMHO a community tank without them feels incomplete. It so happenes that right now I'm setting up a 55gallon as well. It will be heavily planted. besides the mandatory gourami/pleco I plan on having ~5 or so ottos to help control any algae. the rest is still a question mark.
> 
> ...




How did you decide on who to include in your 55gal? I’ve been researching community fish and I’m leaning towards rainbows. 


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## Niccoj (Oct 17, 2017)

Super gross white mold growing on all my manzanita driftwood. All sites say this is normal and if I had shrimp they would love it. 

I just did the 3rd water change. The water still turns yellow/brown after 4-5 days. It’s nice and clear now with lots of bubbles from the fresh water being added.









Still cycling into 3 weeks. Very high nitrites and nitrates. 


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## Proteus01 (Mar 12, 2017)

Rainbows are a good choice. But, now you have to figure out which ones. Many good choices. My advice would be to figure out which one is your primary “I want it” fish, and pick all inhabitants with that one in mind. I wish I had done a better job of that myself. 

My manzanita has always made the white gross stuff, it has always faded without trouble - even without shrimp. Fish and snails picked at it, too.


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