# 55 gallon low tech - now 75 gallons - 56K



## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

I started this tank in Mid-May. I originally didn't plan to plant it and was going to just do a hardscape. I ended up with some extra plants and moss and this is what I ended up with.

Lighting: 1 x54watt T5HO

Filtration: Rena XP2, Eheim 2213 - Both of these are temporary. I'm going to be tearing down my other "big" tank soon and I'm waiting until then to move the filters from that tank to this one. The good thing is both are fully cycled so I won't have any worries. 

Heat: Hydor 200 watt inline

Ferts: Modified EI

Substrate: Sand

Hardscape: "Dragon" Stone, Manzanita

Flora: Java fern, Christmas moss, Crypt Wendtii var tropica, Cyperus helferi, Hydrocotyle Verticillata - not exactly finished planting. I'd like to replace the Java fern with something, and I still need to do some more work to the left side of the tank. I'm planning to add a couple more of the same kind of crypts and some more Cyperus helferi. I might add some anubias and hydrocotyle leucocephala, but I haven't really decided yet. I have some in another tank growing out I picked up as a freebie from some plants I got on the SNS. 

Fauna: Amano shrimp - will stock more later.

I do intend to add more shrimp and a small school of fish and a few snails. I haven't decided on what fish yet. Highly considering a school of hatchets. Most likely marble or marthae.


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## Sad Panda (May 29, 2011)

Looks really neat!


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

nice design concept! i love those rocks!


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

orchidman said:


> nice design concept! i love those rocks!


Those rocks were a rather expensive gift from my gf. They took an entire month to get here. She imported them from Israel.


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## latnem (Apr 10, 2011)

Looks nice man.

Question: What are those very short plants on the bottom right that seem to have a single circular leaf. I don't recall ever seeing those before.


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## [email protected] (Apr 27, 2011)

Latnem, I believe it is Pennywort. Those rocks are AWESOME, great find. Since you have already went against your "hardscape only" routine on this, is it time to buy some more plants? Looks good already though. Good job.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

latnem said:


> Looks nice man.
> 
> Question: What are those very short plants on the bottom right that seem to have a single circular leaf. I don't recall ever seeing those before.


Hydrocotyle Verticillata


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> Latnem, I believe it is Pennywort. Those rocks are AWESOME, great find. Since you have already went against your "hardscape only" routine on this, is it time to buy some more plants? Looks good already though. Good job.


 
Too hot to ship plants...


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## fishyjoe24 (Dec 10, 2009)

looks good and simple, I like it... not over done....


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

fishyjoe24 said:


> looks good and simple, I like it... not over done....


Yeah, thats what I like about it.


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

looks great.


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## 99RedSi (Jul 31, 2005)

I love your tank - I think I may copy this for a new 20g I want to setup soon .


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

My LFS had some decent Anubias Coffefolia so I picked a couple of them up and put them on the driftwood on the left side. I also added some Hydrocotyle leucocephala that I had been growing out in another tank. After doing a WC in that tank my filters decided it was time to propagate it so I went ahead put some in this tank. Will post pic later. I still want 1 or 2 more crypt wendtii var tropica. I'm not sure I'm going to add anymore cyperus helferi. I kind of like the assymetric look with it on the right side only.


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## GreenEmber (Aug 23, 2008)

It's a really nicely planned out tank...


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

GreenEmber said:


> It's a really nicely planned out tank...


Actually I didn't have a plan. I didn't plan on planting it, but I ended up with some Xmas moss and few other things and no place to put them, so I retrofitted the fixture with t5 and tossed them in. For the most part everything was just something I had laying around except the shrimp and anubias.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Not the best pic. I'll take a better one later.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Finally got a better FTS since adding more plants.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Looking great. Hope it gets better as the tank matures.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)




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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

I've added more Hydrocotyle to the wood and finally got my hands on a few hatchets. I had the option to get Marbles but they didn't look as healthy as the silvers so I ended up going with those. I'm thinking of adding a few more but in the meantime I have a new tank to build. I'm still looking at other options for stocking and I still need to get my hands on a few more crypts to finish up the planting. Once the old 75 comes down I will finally have a nice uniform filtration system. The tank has been doing well so far for 2 months. I think that its been running since Oct last year has a lot to do with it. I did change out the substrate before planting but the only issue I've had is snails. I'm still slowly erradicating those but they're such a pain to get rid of. I'll try to get a pic up with the hatchets later.


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

i love hatchets but none of my tanks have lids. so i have to live through other peoples pics.


the last pic you posted looks really nice. love the crypts.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

nonconductive said:


> i love hatchets but none of my tanks have lids. so i have to live through other peoples pics.
> 
> 
> the last pic you posted looks really nice. love the crypts.


only 3 out of 7 made it... :-\ 

The next batch is gonna be QT for 2 months.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Update: All goes well I'll be moving everything over to the old 75 gallon this weekend. Got some sand last weekend but didn't have time to move things. I have a tank setup to stash the fish/shrimp and a bucket ready to stash plants while I set up the 75 gallon and grade the substrate the way I want it. For now here's a pic of the current state of the 55 gallon before I tear it down. Btw... it was feeding time.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

that's really cool! I like the island feel of it.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Looking absolutely splendid ! - You have an eye for aquascaping. As I watched the pics evolving from the start, I was going to suggest adding Anubias on the left side upper branches of the DW, along with a number of other things, but then clearly saw in the last pic that you had done pretty much everything I was thinking of.
Great work !


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

VERY VERY GOOD SETUP!!!

Quite a bit of plants, but still a lot of swimming room for the fish!!!

When I get tired of the high tech setup of my 55g, I plan on doing something just like this!

Couple of questions for Ya. Is there anything under the sand, ferts, soil, ??? No CO2, correct? Also what kelvin bulb are You using? Lastly what is the PH and hardness of the water in the tank?

Thanks for the info!
Drew


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Water is still a little cloudy but here's a preview of what things are looking like after the move to the 75 gallon.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

BoxxerBoyDrew said:


> VERY VERY GOOD SETUP!!!
> 
> Quite a bit of plants, but still a lot of swimming room for the fish!!!
> 
> ...


No CO2, no excel... nothing in the sand. I only dose the water column with dry ferts. EI dosing... started out modified dosing but decided to just hit it full on so I know for sure nothing lacks there. 1 T5H0 6500k @ 8hrs a day. pH is around 7.2 I haven't tested it in a while. The hardness is GH 5, KH 2.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

feh said:


> I retrofitted the fixture with t5.


What was the light originally? How did you retrofit it?

Hydrocotyle on the wood is not rooted in the substrate?


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Hilde said:


> What was the light originally? How did you retrofit it?
> 
> Hydrocotyle on the wood is not rooted in the substrate?


T8 fixture.. gutted it and the Hydrocotyle is just wrapped around the wood. Right now its giving me a fit because its too close to the light so I'm gonna rethink the lighting. I might end up with 2 bulbs at 12" over the tank. Not sure how I'm gonna fix it yet.


Anyway here's a pic after the water cleared up.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Did you buy a retrofit kit or buy parts individually?


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Hilde said:


> Did you buy a retrofit kit or buy parts individually?


Parts from another fixture. I'll try and take pics when my back heals. Kinda screwed it up working on another tank I'm building over the past weekend.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

So I got a little creative and decided to frame things up with the canopy I originally purchased to use with a different stand and used some left over trim to frame up the bottom. Stain still needs a couple more coats and I still need to go over it with a couple coats of polyurethane. Eventually I'll replace the stand which will give me more room under the tank. I hate having to split the filters up and not having room for shelves or anything to stash supplies and tools. Oh and I decided to hook up CO2 so I guess its no longer a low tech tank. Heh...


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

Just thought I'd toss out a new pic of the tank... now that things have had time to settle in.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I like that "Island" effect your tank has. I think there is a lot to be gained by the use of open space from a design standpoint.


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

DogFish said:


> I like that "Island" effect your tank has. I think there is a lot to be gained by the use of open space from a design standpoint.



Its just more to vacuum when cleaning... but i have grown to really like it myself. I have a pretty good size fish load in that tank... just hard to tell cuz ya can't see them all at once. 

4 blue rams
5 silver hatchetfish
25 rummy nose tetras
15 amano shrimp


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## feh (Feb 13, 2011)

So the Hydrocotyle grew a little bit... but this pic is about my buddy hanging out on a leaf...


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