# 55 gallon Excel tank (NEW UPDATE 8/14/09 WITH PICS)



## dhgyello04

no plant exp.... but pic number 9 is a German blue ram not a Bolivian ram


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## SpeedEuphoria

dhgyello04 said:


> no plant exp.... but pic number 9 is a German blue ram not a Bolivian ram


Yep my thoughts also, GBR.


Anyway nice tank, I just setup a 55G low tech that is similar except I'm using some ODNO lighting to get me ~2wpg. I'm following the same dosing except no Excel yet(I just put an order in as I decided to try it).


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## Chrisinator

Great set-up! and awesome pictures but that's a German blue ram not a bolivian ram


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## JRB77

Gorgeous photos! Inhabitants all look healthy & happy. Any plans of adding more plants?
Any problem with fin nipping between these fish?


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## Kolkri

Looks great but you'll need to remove the betta the angel well make short work of his tail in now time. And the don't care for all that current or depth.
Nice looking tank. Thinking I may use excel in my 75 gallon.
Hope you keep us updated on how this works out.


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## Aquarist_Fist

Beautiful fish. roud: Can you recommend a source for pineapple lyretails?


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## hungtran10

dhgyello04 said:


> no plant exp.... but pic number 9 is a German blue ram not a Bolivian ram


Ah! Thanks for the correct ID. Much appreciate.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

SpeedEuphoria said:


> Yep my thoughts also, GBR.
> 
> 
> Anyway nice tank, I just setup a 55G low tech that is similar except I'm using some ODNO lighting to get me ~2wpg. I'm following the same dosing except no Excel yet(I just put an order in as I decided to try it).


Thanks! I'm all new to this so I have nothing to compare it too. So far after 1 month, I have definitely seen significant growth in most of the plants. I think I might have taken a pic before the first trimming. I'll look for it and try to post a shot so that you can tell the difference in growth.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Chrisinator said:


> Great set-up! and awesome pictures but that's a German blue ram not a bolivian ram


Thanks Chrisinator. I appreciate the comment and correction.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

JRB77 said:


> Gorgeous photos! Inhabitants all look healthy & happy. Any plans of adding more plants?
> Any problem with fin nipping between these fish?


Thanks for the comments. I am definitely adding more plants but in stages. For the first month I wanted to establish some fast growing stemmed plants to help combat any algae. As things stabilize, I will be adding more slow growth foreground plants. I have a shipment of Anubias Nana and Sagitaria Subulatta coming tomorrow I hope.

As far as fin nipping, I have only seen it with my Zebra Angelfish. It happens rarely. He took a bite out of my red fantail guppy and occassionally nips at the Betta. Not often though.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Kolkri said:


> Looks great but you'll need to remove the betta the angel well make short work of his tail in now time. And the don't care for all that current or depth.
> Nice looking tank. Thinking I may use excel in my 75 gallon.
> Hope you keep us updated on how this works out.


Ya I think you are right. My betta seems a bit lost. He tends to hide in the plants and I've seen my Zebra Angelfish nip his tail a few times. :icon_frow
I'll definitely keep updates coming as long as there appears interests. Thanks for the comment and goodluck with your 75 gallon.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Aquarist_Fist said:


> Beautiful fish. roud: Can you recommend a source for pineapple lyretails?


Thanks! I got my Pineapple Lyretail Swordtails from Tong's Tropical Fish in Fountain Valley, California. Not sure where else that can be found. This was the first time I've encountered them at a local fish store.

- Hung


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## Brette

Well this is just lovely. You're a great photographer too!

I was thinking about getting a blue ram like yours. Do they move aroun a lot? Or just sit still? They're very pretty.


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## hungtran10

Brette said:


> Well this is just lovely. You're a great photographer too!
> 
> I was thinking about getting a blue ram like yours. Do they move aroun a lot? Or just sit still? They're very pretty.


thanks brette. i appreciate the comment. i have 2 blue german rams. they are active. they tend to scoot around the bottom of tank in and out of the plants. they will hover and extend their fins too. they seem to get along fine with the other fish. no agression that i have seen.

- hung


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## orion2001

Great tank! I've been in very much the same situation as you, I spent a lot of time researching on planted tanks before getting into it and from your pictures and setup it seems like you did the same! Using Excel to start off is a great idea, I did the same and I couldn't be happier with it. My hairgrass took off like crazy and I managed to get a lot of growth while keeping all traces of algae at bay. Now that I have enought plant mass in my tank I have backed off with the Excel and have converted my tank (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/70598-10-gallon-journal-betta-haven-my.html) into a total low-tech tank.

Regarding your setup, do you have plans for a hardscape? Also are you going for a dutch type aquascape? I guess for now the key is to make sure you have enough plant growth and that you keep the algae away. Once your plant biomass increases you can focus more on the scaping. 

Great photographs by the way, you're a very gifted photographer! What camera did you use to take these pics? Also did you use any special setup for the lighting for these photographs or are these just using a camera and a tripod? I'm looking forward to more updates.


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## hungtran10

orion2001 said:


> Great tank! I've been in very much the same situation as you, I spent a lot of time researching on planted tanks before getting into it and from your pictures and setup it seems like you did the same! Using Excel to start off is a great idea, I did the same and I couldn't be happier with it. My hairgrass took off like crazy and I managed to get a lot of growth while keeping all traces of algae at bay. Now that I have enought plant mass in my tank I have backed off with the Excel and have converted my tank (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/70598-10-gallon-journal-betta-haven-my.html) into a total low-tech tank.
> 
> Regarding your setup, do you have plans for a hardscape? Also are you going for a dutch type aquascape? I guess for now the key is to make sure you have enough plant growth and that you keep the algae away. Once your plant biomass increases you can focus more on the scaping.
> 
> Great photographs by the way, you're a very gifted photographer! What camera did you use to take these pics? Also did you use any special setup for the lighting for these photographs or are these just using a camera and a tripod? I'm looking forward to more updates.


Hello Orion2001,

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. I'm still in the "experimental phase" of sorts. I'm trying different plants to see which grows well under my tank conditions. So far what I have found is as follows:

Plants that grow well
- Amulia (Limnophila indica)
- Hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum)
- Ludwigia, Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens)
- Telanthera Rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii)

Plants that grows but only so so
- Vals, Jungle (Vallisneria gigantea). It grows but some of the leaves turn brown and slowly disintegrate

Plants that did not do well 
- Water Sprite(Ceratopteris thalictroides)
- Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)
- Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides)
- Regina Red (Syngonium podophyllum). I should have never bought this plant because it is not really a submerged plant at all. It is used in terariums and must be emerged. I saw it at a local fish store in a tank with other submerged plants and bought it on a whim. Serves me right for not researching it thoroughly before hand. Tsk Tsk!


I am currently working filling out the foreground. I have added 6 Anubias Nanas and a bunch of Sagitaria Subulata as a test. If the Sagitaria Subulata grows well, I will buy more to fill out the middle as well.

I am planning on getting some Tiger Lotus, Sunset Hygrophilia or maybe a Sword to fill out the back right corner. I tried placing the Hornwort there to hide the filter intake but the strands just get sucked up against the filter intake.

I would like to add some driftwood but I have yet to find a piece that I really like. I guess I am too picky. LOL! 

I'm glad you enjoyed my pics. I use a canon 20D with a tamron 90mm f2.8 macro lens for the fish shots. I used a tamron 17-55mm f2.8 lens with a tripod for the full tank shots.

I just cleaned out some of the dying plants (the last of the water sprite) and trimmed the Ludwigia repens and replanted it to spread it out more. I will try to post a shot of the current tank tonight.

best regards,

- Hung


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## orion2001

Hey, I don't know if you've come across this before but Vals do not do well with Excel. They have been known to melt in the presence of Excel. This is why I stayed away from them so far although I plant to plant some now that I've backed off with the Excel dosing. 

How do you like the Canon 20D? I'm contemplating buying a DSLR but I don't know which ones would suit me better...it's also harder for me to justify the cost, me being a poor grad student and all =)


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## hungtran10

orion2001 said:


> Hey, I don't know if you've come across this before but Vals do not do well with Excel. They have been known to melt in the presence of Excel. This is why I stayed away from them so far although I plant to plant some now that I've backed off with the Excel dosing.
> 
> How do you like the Canon 20D? I'm contemplating buying a DSLR but I don't know which ones would suit me better...it's also harder for me to justify the cost, me being a poor grad student and all =)


I later read about how Vals are sensitive to Excel. I'll give the current ones in my tank a couple more months. If they do not improve, then I will probably replace them with Crinum thaianum.

I love my canon 20D. This model is pretty old actually. Canon is about to release the 50D soon. But I'm still getting great pictures so I am going to hold onto my 20D as long as possible. DSRL photography is expensive actually considering the lenses and camera body. But for what I like to shoot, it's absolutely necessary. 

What are you studying btw?

best regards,

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Ok here is a shot from tonight, 8/27/08. 










I after I realized that the Regina Red (Syngonium podophyllum) must be grown emerged, I noticed that the leaves were disintegrating. I hated to see it go, but I decided to pull it out now rather than have the leaves decay in the water. I also pulled out the all the remaining water sprite. It initially grew well in the tank but then the main stems would turn brown and disintegrate.

I spread out the sagitaria subulata more across the front of the tank. As long as it grows well, I will be getting more to fill out the middle. I'm hoping for a lush carpet of green with a nice piece of driftwood to emerge above it to fill out the open space in the middle. 

I'm loving the Telanthera Rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii) on the left side. It is growing very well and I have been able to trim it down and spread out the stems to cover a larger area. It really adds a nice splash of red color to the green canvas.

I also trimmed the ludwigia repens and spread that out across the right side in front of the rocks. I hope it creates a medium height wall to separate the mountain of Hornwort from the middle area which should just be a carpet of Sagitaria Subulata. There's also some Anubias Nana placed around the rocks now to create some depth to the foreground.

I still have an open space on the back right side. Not sure what to put there. Any suggestions?


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## hungtran10

I finally found some driftwood that I liked and I added 2 pieces to the center right area of the tank. I found that the tank really needed this hardscape to focus the tank better. I also did some minor rescaping. I swear this will be it for awhile. I am going to try to keep my hands out of the tank for at least the next month.










I also added 3 more plants. I placed a Melon Sword placed behind the driftwood. The 2nd plant is what I am guessing to be a type of Hygrophilia (sunset hopefully??). I placed this in the midground to the right of driftwood. It is pictured below so let me know the correct ID on this plant if I am wrong.










I also got tired of looking at my withering jungle vals on the left side of the tank. They were growing but struggling (most likely due to the Excel). So I pulled them all out and trimmed off the brown fading leaves (which left very little left actually) and replanted them elsewhere in the tank. I replaced them with Onion Plants (crinium thaianum). They are supposedly much easier and hardier. I like how their leaves are bright green and very robust in texture. I planted them along the left side of the tank and will let their long leaves grow across the top for some shade.

The other major change was that I made a DIY co2 injection system. I have discovered that I am not as patient as I would have liked to think I am. I have given the fish tank time and stuck to Tom Barr's Excel dosing system. There is growth in the tank but I do noticed that some of the plants are also struggling. They will initially have good growth but then the leaves start to fade. I copied the DIY CO2 design from this site:

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#5

There was no reason to try to re-invent the wheel. So I stuck with a design that was simple. Plus I already had a Maxi-jet 600 pump. 










For my initial dive into the world of DIY co2 injection, I will just a 2L bottle. I know that most people say to used 2L x 2 bottles for a 55 gallon sized tank but I will see how 1 bottle does first. 

On a sad note, my zebra angelfish died a couple of weeks ago. I really liked him. Not sure what happened but he became very shy and reclusive in the last few days and would not come out to eat. Then I found his body on the substrate. He will be missed.


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## deleted_user_16

sorry to hear about your angelfish, but on a good note, fantasitc tank!!!!


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## hungtran10

fishman9809 said:


> sorry to hear about your angelfish, but on a good note, fantasitc tank!!!!


Thanks for the comment fishman! It's interesting how this tank has evolved in the last 2 months. I think I am pretty content with the scape now. I just need to leave the tank alone and let it grow out. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for stopping by.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

What started out to be a simple project has turned out to be more complex than I anticipated. (Don't most DIY projects turn out to be like that?!). So I started up 1 2L bottle of yeast mixture. Not much happened over night. It does produce bubbles out of my ceramic stone in the co2 diffuser but only if I shake the bottle to mix things up. It soon peters out after about 15 seconds. I decided to add a 2nd 2L bottle of yeast mixture to the set up.

I also discovered that the Maxi-jet pump does not work when I plugged it in. It turns out there were 2 problems. First I had but an "L" shaped pipe to point the co2 diffuser downwards. I guess that caused some back pressure and the pump didn't like it and would make weird loud noises. I took off the "L" shaped pipe and it still didn't work. Turns out there is this flapping lid inside the siphon tube. It is designed to open only when sucking water up into the siphon. However in this design, I want water to flow out of it which automatically shuts the lid. I had to take some needle nosed pliers and basically rip that lid out. The Maxi-jet / co2 reactor finally works. If I can only generate some co2 from the bottles at enough pressure to come out the air stone. 

Oh that's another thing I changed. I originally used a white ceramic air stone that is supposedly better for making fine tiny bubbles. I tested it by putting my lips around the input end and blowing. It is very hard to push air through this ceramic stone. I thought that maybe my DIY co2 generator bottles were not making enough pressure to adequately push the bubbles out the stone. So I went back to Petsmart and bought the cheapo 75 cent blue air stones. It seems to have bigger pores and the bubbles should have an easier time coming out.

The other thought as to why I am not generating consistent bubbles is that I may have a leak. The obvious source would be the insertion point where the silicon tube enters the soda bottle cap. However I ordered and used these nylon bulkhead fittings which are used for fuel injection systems for radio controlled airplanes. Supposedly it creates a mechanical seal instead of relying upon the inconsitent silicone seals. They seem pretty tight though.

Well I have 2 bottles set up now. One of which is new. I will see how things go tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some bubbles to show for my efforts.

Oh and another thing. The new driftwood pieces that I added to my tank this week and staining my water due to the tannins. I had boiled and soaked these pieces of wood for almost 1 week. Ugh.


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## chase127

your plant looks like l. palustris http://plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=155

its lookin good!


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## hungtran10

chris127 said:


> your plant looks like l. palustris http://plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=155
> 
> its lookin good!


Thanks Chris for the ID. I guess my hunt for the sunset hygrophilia continues!

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Still no bubbles after the addition of the 2nd 2L bottle. Ugh! What am I doing wrong?! Help!

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Woo Hoo! I finally have bubbles! C02 bubbles that is! Jeez it only took all weekend to work out all the bugs. LOL. Ok here is what I found.

- The problem came from many sources actually. What I did was set it up and then place the yeast bottles into a bucket of water fully submerged. I could see bubbles leaking out from the plastic bulkheads so it did not create an air tight seal.
- The air stone I used both ceramic and stone created too much back pressure for the co2 to push against. Hence they would leak out at the bottle cap plastic bulkheads.
- I removed the air stone and just let them bubbles run straight into the diffusor chamber.
- The plastic bulkheads that I used to secure and access the yeast bottles leaked. They leaked from the hole in the cap and they leaked from where the silicone tubing attaches to the bulk head.
- In the end, I just removed the plastic bulkhead, widened the hole in the cape just a bit and pulled the silicone tubing through. It was still a tight fit so that was enough in itself to created an air tight seal. Woo Hoo.
- I also ran 2 silicone air lines into the diffusor chamber. So each bottle had its own line. This eliminated the need for a T air line connector which is another potential source for leaks.
- I changed the filter floss in the diffusor chamber to a finer material. This caught the bubbles vast majority of the bubbles and prevented them from escaping while allowing the water to still go out.

Here are some shots to illustrate what I have done.

1) My betta is checking out the DIY co2 diffuser. He seemed quite impressed.









2) Here is a shot of the precious c02 bubbles. 









You guys don't know how frustrated I was this weekend with this darn diy project. What started out seemingly so simple and straight forward, ended up having so many bugs and kinks. It may be a small triumph but I happy that I stuck with it and got it to work. There were a few times where I was quite close to trashing the whole idea. 

Now the next step is to figure out the optimal yeast recipe that will last the longest. Any suggestions anyone? I've been using the search function and there are many different opinions. Anyways, its late and I gotta get some sleep. Night all.

- Hung


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## untamedfox

Go with pressurized!


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## Karackle

I just wanted to say that your tank and your photography are both stunning! 

I'm totally low-tech and have never used DIY or any other kind of CO2 injection though, so unfortunately I can't answer any of your questions about that, but I'm glad you got it working!


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## hungtran10

untamedfox said:


> Go with pressurized!


lol. ya ya ya. i'll probably eventually get a pressurized system. however, this initial "craiglist list low cost tank project" is starting to rack up some bills! :eek5: heheheh. thanks for looking.

- hung


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## hungtran10

Karackle said:


> I just wanted to say that your tank and your photography are both stunning!
> 
> I'm totally low-tech and have never used DIY or any other kind of CO2 injection though, so unfortunately I can't answer any of your questions about that, but I'm glad you got it working!


Thanks Karackle!

I'm hoping the added co2 will help to fill out the tank more and create a more "lush scape." I will keep you guys posted with more pics as the tank matures.

best regards,

- Hung


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## asimkhatri

nice tank and amazing pics dude..

by the which camera r u using


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## hungtran10

asimkhatri said:


> nice tank and amazing pics dude..
> 
> by the which camera r u using


Thanks asimkhatri. In regards to my camera, I use the canon 20D. For lenses, I use the tamron 17-55mm f2.8 for the wide angle full tank shots and I use the tamron 90mm f2.8 di macro for the close ups.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

*I got me some sunset hygro. Yeah baby!*

Ok here's an updated pic from tonight 9/14/08.










After 1 week of the diy co2 injection, I can really see some noticeble growth in the plants. Right off the bat, I saw for the first time, "pearling." 










The anubias would create these small streams of oxygen bubble smoke that would drift up to the surface. It was very pleasing to "watch" photosynthesis happen. Especially after all the trouble setting up my diy c02 system gave me.










I tinkered around with the co2 diffuser chamber today. I had an extra siphon and used a longer tube so that the bubbles had more room to churn around in. Despite having the filter floss to plug up the end, some of the bubbles would eventually escape. Having a longer tube helps to prevent most of the wayward bubbles from getting out.










I finally got my hands on some Sunset Hygrophilia. Woo Hoo! Mucho thanks to dewalltheway for selling it to me on Swap and shop. Man that place is addictive. 










Ever since purchasing the sunset hygro, I find myself going back to that place to look for more plants to buy. I seriously have to resist myself from buying even more! My 55 gallon tank is pretty much filled to capacity with plants at this point. Alot of the plants still need to grow taller and fill in their areas more, but I am planning on replacing some of the plants that do not seem to be growing well and looking kinda shabby. In particular the recent Melon Sword that I bought from the lfs is turning brown and there are growing holes in it's leaves. I had thought that the increased co2 would help as well as doubling my weekly fert dose, but the melon is still fading. I also plan on replacing the Amulia (Limnophila indica) and Hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum) at some point. I just purchased tonight 2 stems of Hygrophyla corymbosa "stricta" so those will be coming later this week. I will take out the dying melon and plant the hygrophila corymbosa stricta in its spot. Hope it works out better.

Ok one last shot for the night. 










Here's my hard working Otoclinus taking a break on the Telanthera Rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii) watching the oxygen bubbles floating by. Night all!

- Hung


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## lauraleellbp

Those pictures are absolutely amazing! What camera do you use, if I may ask?

The tank looks beautiful now, and is going to be fantastic once it all fills in- really nice work! :thumbsup:


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## Karackle

As usual, absolutely gorgeous tank and photos!


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## cah925

I just read through your journal here. You have a very nice tank so far and your photography skills are A+. As far as DIY CO2 goes, I went through the same thing when I first tried it-you're not alone. I look forward to more pics as this tank matures.


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## hungtran10

lauraleellbp said:


> Those pictures are absolutely amazing! What camera do you use, if I may ask?
> 
> The tank looks beautiful now, and is going to be fantastic once it all fills in- really nice work! :thumbsup:


Thank you Laura. I used a canon 20D and 2 lenses. I use the Tamron 90mm f2.8 di for the macro shots. I use the Tamron 17-55mm f2.8 lens for the full tank shots in conjunction with a tripod.

I can't wait for it to fill in. I really need more height in the plants in the background, but I just need to be more patient and give it time. 

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Karackle said:


> As usual, absolutely gorgeous tank and photos!


Thank you Karackle. I appreciate the comments. Glad you enjoyed the pics.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

cah925 said:


> I just read through your journal here. You have a very nice tank so far and your photography skills are A+. As far as DIY CO2 goes, I went through the same thing when I first tried it-you're not alone. I look forward to more pics as this tank matures.


Thank you cah925. I'm glad to hear that I was not the only person to have some trouble starting up a diy co2 system. When I read the how to articles, it all looked so easy. I thought to myself, this should be a piece of cake. When it didn't work like it should have, I was really frustrated with myself. I thought that if I can't get this simple project to work, I must really be a retard. LOL. Thanks for the support. I'll keep you guys posted with more updates.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

I recently got a shipment of plants from Carlos05. I had ordered 2 stems of Hygrophila Corymbyosa stricta. When I got the package, it turns out that he had included a bunch of extra plants for free. Woo Hoo. The package arrived on time and was carefully packed. If he sells more plants in the future, I highly recommend him as a seller. I love swap and shop!

I've been feeling the itch to do some minor rescaping. Each time I walk by my tank, there are aspects about it that bother me. Do you guys get that feeling too? I am fascinated by aquascaping and yet it is also very frustrating at the same time. It's like I want to express an idea but it comes out all jumbled and doesn't look right. Will I ever find peace of mind with my aquascaping?! Hahahah. Probably not.

Anyways, for now I think I will take out my Hornwort in the right corner. I have hated this plant ever since I first put it in my tank. Yes it is a very fast grower, but the problem is that it does not root well. I have tried attaching lead split shot sinkers, tying the base together with string and using the lead weighted strips to keep it down. Eventually what happens is that the base stem rots or freys and it breaks and floats up to the surface. Or it gets pushed around in the currents and taggles up with other plants. This has been a continual battle ever since I have started this tank. Enough is enough. I am tired of having to replant it every week. It has fullfilled its original purpose which was to be a fast growing stem plant to combat algae during the initial months of the new tank. Now it is time to go. Bye bye! I am also going to take out the Melon Sword behind the driftwood. I have come to terms that it is dying a slow death. 

I also bought 2 new fish. I will take some pics this weekend and post them. Oh and my diy co2 first batch is now approaching the 2 week mark. I still see plenty of co2 bubbles perculating around my co2 diffusor chamber, but I noticed that the oxygen bubble streams from my plants have slowed down. 

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Ok today I finally got some free time. I had to get my new plants (from swap & shop) into the tank, so I did a bit of rescaping too. Just like I mentioned in the last post, I have decided it was time to yank the Hornwort out of the tank. I was so happy. This plant just makes a mess in my tank and I am always having to replant it literally every week.

I moved the Sunset Hygro into the right corner to give it plenty of room to grow out and get bushy. I was about to yank the original Vals but they seem to be making a slow come back. I guess they have adapted to the Excel by now. I decided to give them more time. Here's a shot from tonight after the rescape. 










I am so glad that I decided to go with Eco complete. Despite all my digging and constant rescaping, the dust really settles down quickly. I also tinkered some more with my diy co2 system. Using the long siphon tube for the diffusor chamber ended up being a mistake. It basically forced all of the outflow water right into the substrate. Slowly, it pushed the substrate and made a big hole. This was the reason why the Hornwort became dislodged and floated to the top. I ended up going back to the smaller siphon tube. I also changed where I inserted the silicone co2 line. Instead of going directly into the diffusor chamber, I rerouted it into the maxi-jet pump intake first. You can see the silicone co2 line going into the maxi-jet pump intake on the right upper corner of this pic.










Who needs an airstone when you have an impeller in the pump that sucks the bubbles in and turns them into super fine bubble mist. Most of the fine bubbles either dissolve into the water in the diffusor chamber or get trapped in the filter material. Some bubbles eventually pass through the filter material and merge into bigger bubbles underneath the diffusor chamber. These bigger bubbles don't seem to escape to the surface luckily since they like to hang out underneath the diffusor chamber.










I think this latest version of my co2 diffusor system has the best results for diffusing the co2 into the water. Making and collecting co2 from yeast doesn't do any good if most of it just bubbles back up to the surface and then escapes the tank. I wanted to make sure that as much of the co2 that is generated by the yeast, gets diffused into the water to get to the plants. Hopefully this will be my last version my of diy co2 system.

I bought 2 new fish this week. I'm really starting to like lyretail swordtails. I originally bought a pair of male and female pineapple lyretail swordtails. Unfortunately the male eventually died. I stopped by the lfs and saw that they had some Red eyed, Red velvet Lyretail Swordtails in stock. I quickly bought a male to keep my pineapple female company. Check out those eyes! Its like the red eye effect on pictures when you don't use the correct flash setting on your camera.










Looking around the store, I also saw some Killifish. I have never had one before. Watching them swim at the surface, I liked their irradescent yellow/green color. I bought one just so that I could take it home and photograph it. It seems these days that alot of what goes on in my decision making in regards to which fish to buy, is influenced on which fish I would like to photograph. LOL. I got lucky on this shot. I snapped it right when he turned at the right ankle to show off his pretty irradescent colors. Most of the time, he just looks yellow. He tends to loiter at the surface most of the days until it is feeding time, then he starts zipping around.










Oh I forgot to mention that I found some new runners coming from the Sagitaria Subulatta. That made me very happy to see that they were growing and spreading across the foreground. I think the diy co2 injection is speeding up that process nicely.

Ok folks that is it for me for tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will keep my hands out of the tank for the next few weeks. I really need to just let it grow out instead of constantly fussing over the scape. 

- Hung


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## Karackle

Tank is looking beautiful! VERY cool red eyed swordtail! I've never seen anything quite like it, and the killifish is beautiful  

Don't worry, you are definitely NOT the only person who finds it hard to keep their hands out of the tank :hihi: I think we all see that one little thing out of place that we just HAVE to fix pretty much every time we walk by our tanks.....ok maybe that's a slight exaggeration....every other time we walk by our tanks


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## hungtran10

Karackle said:


> Tank is looking beautiful! VERY cool red eyed swordtail! I've never seen anything quite like it, and the killifish is beautiful
> 
> Don't worry, you are definitely NOT the only person who finds it hard to keep their hands out of the tank :hihi: I think we all see that one little thing out of place that we just HAVE to fix pretty much every time we walk by our tanks.....ok maybe that's a slight exaggeration....every other time we walk by our tanks


Thanks karackle. I think I just need to learn to be more patient and give the tank and plants the time it needs. I am satisfied with the current scape since I have finally gotten rid of some troublesome plants. As long as no further plants become dislodged, I should have no problem keeping my hands out of the tank. Hehehehe.

I've decided to increase my dosing schedule since I am injecting co2 now. I have adopted the EI method:

1/2 tsp KNO3 3x a week
1/8 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
1/8 tsp traces 3x a week 
1/2 cap Excel 2x a week

I still would like to keep the water changes to every other week, but I will watch the plants and fish and see how they look. I'm also keeping a close eye on the algae. I have noticed green spot algae on some of the plants now. I have 4 otos. Do they eat GSA? What if I got some Siamese Algae eaters?

- Hung


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## hungtran10

I decided it was time to put in a fresh batch of yeast into my diy co2 soda bottles. The original recipe lasted 3 weeks. Not bad but I did noticed that the last week the rate of co2 did go down quite a bit. 

This time around I changed up the recipe at bit. Here is what I used:
- Approx 8 cups of water. I basically filled up the 2L soda bottle until it tapered close to the cap. I find that if you limit how much air is in the bottle, the start up time for bubble production into the fish tank is dramatically shorted. I was getting co2 bubbles in the fish tank in about 30 minutes.
- 1.5 cups of sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda. (This combats the change in ph due to increasing amounts of alcohols produced by the yeast which ultimately kills the yeast.). 
- 1/4 tsp yeast rapid rise
- 1 cube of chicken bullion. This is something new I am testing in this particular batch. I have read that the yeast extract and protein in the bullion helps to keep the yeast alive longer. I'm already seeing much stronger co2 production from the start as compared to the last batch. The question is how long it will last. 

I also tinkered with the diffuser chamber some more. By having the silicone co2 line go directly into the intake of the maxi-jet pump, I got great diffusion of the bubbles. However everytime a bubble would get sucked into the maxi-jet pump it would make this harsh farting sound. Seriously. That got to be annoying so I went back to threading the silicone co2 line into the diffusion chamber as originally designed. I also added a zip tie through the bottom of the diffusion chamber to block the filter material from popping out of the end. It seems like after the filter material fills up with bubbles, the filter material gets pushed out of the chamber at the bottom. The zip tie across the bottom now prevents that.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

I had a bit of a scare tonight. I walked by the fish tank while making dinner and noticed that both of my German Blue Rams were at the surface. This is very odd because most of the time they are swimming at the bottom of the tank in and out of the plants. They only come to the surface during feeding. I took a closer look at them and they looked like they were gasping for air. Uh oh. I took a look at the rest of the tank. Everybody else seemed ok, but I did notice that the Harlequin Rasboras and Rummy Nosed Tetras were not as active swimming as they normally were. 

I wondered if my new batch of yeast was producing too much co2 and lowering the ph too much. I did not think this was possible using 2 x 2L soda bottles with the above recipes for a 55 gallon very well planted tank. I took a sample of tank water and tested the ph. Now I only have a water test kit that is designed for salt water aquariums. So the lowest ph that it can detect was 7.4. It only went higher from there. After I added the reagent the color corresponded to 7.4. 

My question is if my ph is actually 7.4 or is it lower but my test kit was not designed to go lower. I got worried and I unplugged my co2 set up. Ironic isn't it since I have put so much effort in trying to make it as efficient as possible in getting the co2 dissolved into the water and retaining as much co2 as possible. I also redirected the outflow nozzle of my HOB filter so that the water agitates the surface more in hopes of out gassing the co2.

Can I really inject too much co2 with a diy setup consisting of 2 x 2L soda bottles for a 55 gallon tank? I'm a bit skeptical.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Ok I'm back. I decided to temporarily suspend the co2 injection until I got a drop checker into the tank. I unscrewed the caps on the yeast soda bottles under the tank. Big mistake. I later went back to take a look at the tank and noticed that the water line was much lower. 

???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The co2 line created a siphon effect and sucked water out of my tank and into the stand. Luckily I had placed the soda bottles in a bucket just for this possibility. I opened that tank stand and found the bucket to be almost filled with water. Some water dripped onto the floor but it wasn't too much and was easily cleaned up. If I hadn't kept the soda bottles in a bucket, there would have been a huge spill to clean up.

Once again this "simply" diy co2 project is getting more complicated and expensive. I just ordered off ebay the following:
- Glass drop checker
- check valve to prevent back siphoning.

Tomorrow I will head out to Petsmart and get a ph test kit for fresh water tanks.
The saga continues....

- Hung


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## hungtran10

After last night's drama. I took out the co2 diffusor from the tank and left the lights on all night in hopes that it would continue to stimulate the plants to continue photosynthesis and thus soak up the co2 in the water thus lowering it. I woke up this morning and checked on the tank. After a whole night of no co2 injection, I still found my plants pearling this morning. My anubias nanas were still emmiting their little oxygen bubble streams. Wow. There must have been quite a bit of co2 dissolved in the tank last night. But at least the fish look good this morning. My German Blue rams are back down at the bottom swimming around like they normally are. Their red gills have faded to. Whew. That was a close one folks. 

At least I can say my diy co2 system works pretty darn good! That new recipe yielded way more co2 emmsions than I was prepared for. Jeez. That little chicken bullion cube that I added was the only major diffference from the last batch. I still have the 2 x 2L soda yeast bottles bubbling away in my bathroom sink. I think once I get my drop checker and ph test kit for fresh water aquariums, I'll just hook up 1 of the 2L bottles first and see how that goes.

- Hung


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## Karackle

I know nothing about CO2 injection so I'm afraid I can't offer any advice about that, but I'm glad your fish seem to be happy and healthy today!


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## hungtran10

Karackle said:


> I know nothing about CO2 injection so I'm afraid I can't offer any advice about that, but I'm glad your fish seem to be happy and healthy today!


Thanks for the support Karackle. You know I started this tank with the premise of being low tech and simple. It sure doesn't seem like I followed that original path. LOL.

- Hung


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## h2osanity

Otos don't eat GSA. Mine can't scrap it off, it is too hard for them...SAE's will eat it as will the smaller plecos (bushynoses are great).

And just to comment on the angel/betta thing....My betta ancient betta Methuselah suddenly attacked and ripped apart my mated pair of 4"+ angels for no apparent reason one day after inhabiting the same tank with them for 1.5 years. (They lived, but were scarred quite badly) He was moved into the fancy guppy/shrimp tank and is quite happy there, little brat.


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## hungtran10

h2osanity said:


> Otos don't eat GSA. Mine can't scrap it off, it is too hard for them...SAE's will eat it as will the smaller plecos (bushynoses are great).
> 
> And just to comment on the angel/betta thing....My betta ancient betta Methuselah suddenly attacked and ripped apart my mated pair of 4"+ angels for no apparent reason one day after inhabiting the same tank with them for 1.5 years. (They lived, but were scarred quite badly) He was moved into the fancy guppy/shrimp tank and is quite happy there, little brat.


Hello,

I think I will need to get a few SAE to start working on the GSA. I think my lfs recently got some in stock. 

In regards to your betta attacking your angel, that is quite remarkable. My betta is the total opposite. He is quite timid and hides under the driftwood all day. I thought that he would be a stronger personality in the tank being a "fighting fish" and all but alas, it was not the case.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Quickie update before I go to work. After a day of unhooking the diy co2, I measured the ph to be 7.6. I then hooked the 2 x 2L co2 back up. After 1 day the ph was down at 6.6. Fish seem fine so far. My drop checker is in transit via the mail so hopefully I will get it installed soon.

I also installed a check valve on the silicone co2 line. I am amazed at how easily it forms a siphon once I disconnect the co2 soda bottles. You would think that I would have learned the first time but I had a couple more spills to clean up. Jeez. Anyways the check valve should prevent that now.

I went to the lfs to look for siamese algae eaters. They were out. I saw some nice fancy guppies and bought 5 for $12. My fish tank is getting pretty full in regards to fish load so I need to really exercise some restraint. But in my defense the guppies are very small sized ones and oh so colorful. I can't wait to photograph them and post them here for you guys to see. Hahahaha.

I'll also post a full tank shot this weekend. The plants are filling out nicely.
Have a great day all.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Ok here are the pics as promised. I present to you, the 5 amigos...er guppies. I do not know their specific names. The names I have used are purely descriptive.

1) Light blue stripped delta tailed guppy










2) Red orange guppy










3) Yellow leopard guppy










4) Red leopard guppy










5) Blue guppy










As you might have noticed, alot of these guppies' tails seem a bit tattered. That's because someone in my tank has been quite a bully. I have not actually witnessed the fin nipping but I am suspicious that the blame belongs to this fellah.

6) Yellow Pearl Angelfish










When I first bought this fish, it was pearly white. After it acclimated to my tank, for some reason it turned a yellow hue. Not sure if it was the water or the fish flakes. I must say that the yellow color tones really make it much more interesting. I don't think I have ever seen a yellow angelfish before. Weird.

7) Here is a full tank shot from tonight.










The recent Hygrophila Corymbyosa stricta has straightened out and is now starting to fill out the section behind the driftwood. The Alternanthera reineckii is really taken off since adding the diy co2. It has gotten much longer and the color has turned a deeper reddish hue. The plant also looks more robust instead of the algae covered withered look that it had before. The sunset hygro is also starting to extend some of its longer stems which is nice. I really want it to become nice and bushy in the right back corner.
I still think the tank needs some siamese algae eaters to clean up the green spot algae on the anubias leaves, but the amount of fish in this tank is close to the max. When I was taking pics of the individual new guppies, I had a hard time getting an isolated shot of each of them because there was always some other fish in the shot. LOL.

- Hung


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## SpeedEuphoria

hungtran10 said:


> When I was taking pics of the individual new guppies, I had a hard time getting an isolated shot of each of them because there was always some other fish in the shot. LOL.


You my friend take very awesome pics!!! 

The tank is looking great!


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## Karackle

The tank is looking great! I love the color variety in the guppies! I have a yellow leopard guppy too!  I bought a male and female blue lyre-tail delta at the same time, but both of them died, which I was upset about, they were so pretty! but it reminded me why i don't go to Petsmart for fish. Unfortunately my good local fish store doesn't carry the lyretails. Ah well. I'll just have to look at pictures of yours :hihi: 

Anyway, your plants are filling in really well and the tank looks nice and full of fish and plants. Please keep up this journal, I love watching the progression of this tank, and I love your photography


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## F22

nice tank man, i cant wait to post my pictures now.

haha


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## hungtran10

SpeedEuphoria said:


> You my friend take very awesome pics!!!
> 
> The tank is looking great!



Thanks SpeedEuphoria. I appreciate the comment. I think I finally have my aquascape down to where it doesn't bug me anymore. I just need to be patient and let it grow in more.

- Hung


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## hungtran10

Karackle said:


> The tank is looking great! I love the color variety in the guppies! I have a yellow leopard guppy too!  I bought a male and female blue lyre-tail delta at the same time, but both of them died, which I was upset about, they were so pretty! but it reminded me why i don't go to Petsmart for fish. Unfortunately my good local fish store doesn't carry the lyretails. Ah well. I'll just have to look at pictures of yours :hihi:
> 
> Anyway, your plants are filling in really well and the tank looks nice and full of fish and plants. Please keep up this journal, I love watching the progression of this tank, and I love your photography


Thanks Karackle. I appreciate your comments. 

Sorry to hear about your lyre-tail delta guppies. I find them quite beautiful. When I was a kid with my first 10 gallon fish tank, I started out with guppies. They are amazing fish in my opinion. Easy to keep, active, hearty eaters, peaceful and easy to breed. I still think they bring amazing color and activity to a community tank.

I will do my best to update on a weekly basis.

- Hung


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## Karackle

Thanks for the kind words, I was sad about it too, They were both beautiful. But I couldn't agree more, guppies really bring some stunning color into a tank! I had to resist getting more guppies than I did for fear of overstocking, all of my tanks are pretty full! :tongue:


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## hungtran10

Quickie update tonight. Here are some comparison full tank shots to give you an idea of how things are growing in.

1) Full tank shot from 9/21/08










2) 10/3/08










3) 11/15/08











I've added some fish recently. I bought an albino bushynosed pleco and 4 siamese algae eaters to help clean up some of the algae. I'll post some close up shots of them later this weekend when I get a chance. 

I have been really lazy lately. My last batch of diy co2 soda bottles petered out and I have not kept up with mixing up a new brew of yeast. So for the last week or so, I have not really injected any co2 into this tank. This goes to show me that I do not have the diligence to continue this diy co2 long term. I really should be looking into getting a real co2 system. 

I have also slacked off on my fert schedule. However, the plants are still growing and the fish look good. Well maybe not all of my fish. I have been losing some of my Rummy Nosed Tetras and Cardinal Tetras due to some weird fungus that grows on their scales and makes them bloated looking. It is helping to thin out my fish load because my tank definitely looks overstocked as of late. I'll post more details later.

I definitely need to trim the onion plants on the left side. They are growing quite long and are not reaching almost halfway across the top of the tank. I'm concerned that they are blocking alot of the light that the other small plants need. 

Check out the Hygrophila Corymbyosa stricta in the middle. Man that plant is growing like crazy! It also has 2 stems growing out of the water now. I'm going to need to take a weed wacker to that plant and trim it down. 

The Sunset hygro has also filled out nicely. Its a bit lanky so I will need to trim it up too and replant it a bit. 

In the last rescaped, I moved the Ludwigia repens and it did not do well in the new location. Most of it turned brown and rotted away. There are a few new stems that are green and coming back. Not sure if it will survive though. 

The sagitaria subulata is starting to fill out more. I'm not sure how I like it for a foreground plant. Hopefully as it completely fills out it will look like more of an even carpet.

The Alternanthera reineckii continues to grow tall and now has emerged out of the water. However the lower stems look ragged and ratty. It is now where near how pretty it started out as. I think it might have to do with the tall onion plants growing over it and blocking its light. I will need to trim that onion plant this weekend. If the Alternanthera reineckii does not improve, I will probably yank it out and replace it with either pennywort or red lotus.

Stay tuned.
- Hung


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## MistyRiver

Wow, thats a beautiful tank! I can't wait to read more about it. Keep us updated! :thumbsup:


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## David Hui

Hung,compressed CO2 is the way to go.


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## Karackle

Wow the tank has really grown in amazingly! It looks gorgeous! 

Sorry to hear about the fish though, you should think about separating the ones showing the fungus into a quarantine tank so you can treat them with some fungus medicine, otherwise it will most likely keep spreading to the other fish. If you you're seeing it on a lot of fish, you MAY need to treat the whole tank. 

Good luck!


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## brt_p

i'm jealous seeing your Hygrophylla...:redface:
My brother and i, have them in our tank, but it becomes more green-no red...:icon_cry:

anyway, nice FTS..your tank looks simple and enjoyable..


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## markopolo

keep trimming the sag to make a full carpet, if you trim it vigilantly it will send out more runners = more carpet!


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## lauraleellbp

Can you trim Sag leaves w/out the leaves dying? (You can't Echinodorus species...)


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## skabooya

Beautiful tank. Its comming along nicely. Yes you can trim sag without it dying. I do it all the time.


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## matt1045

Looks awesome. I think adding a nice black background would be really great and help the fish and plants stand out even more


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## hungtran10

Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it. Yes I am going to look into getting a compressed co2 system going. Even though things look pretty good right now without any co2, I know that the plants' leaves would look even better with co2. Plus it would allow me to try a wider variety of plants. 

I've also been thinking of adding a blue or black background as one of you guys have suggested. I'll have to stop by the arts and crafts store and get some poster board. I have use a laminated paper background on my 40 gallon salt water tank and it did not look good. It had a few wrinkles and the winkles would reflect light and stood out.

So this past weekend I did a water change and trim. I resisted the urge to rescape the tank. I really want it to grow in fuller at this point. I even trimmed the sag leaves. I wasn't sure how short I should have trimmed it so I left a bit so they could still get some photosynthesis. I also pulled out 1 entire Hygrophila Corymbyosa stricta. I felt that the 2 in the tank were getting so large that it really took up too much space. They grow incredibly fast considering I do not inject co2 anymore. It was interesting when I pulled one of them out. Its' roots had embedded itself firmly into the driftwood. That sucker did not want to leave the tank! Crazy root system.

Anyways here are some recent shots from last night.

1) Full tank shot









2) Here is a shot of the tank from a different angle. 









3) Right side of the tank. You can see the Sunset hygro. I trimmed it short to make it more bushy.









4) Left side of the tank. You can see the onion plants. In my opinion I like them much better than vals. Their leaves are must sturdier and they grow very fast even without co2. They do not seem to be affected by excel either unlike vals. Also their leaves are more vibrant green. Great plant! I just trimmed it to water level since it had been growing across the top surface of the tank and blocking the light.










5) Here is a close up of the Sunset Hygrow. It seems that only the ends leaves of each stalk gets the nice pink colors.









6) Here is my new albino bushynosed pleco. Originally I did not think that they were attractive fish, but I have developed a particular affection for this one. He works very diligently to clean up the algae and for that he has my thanks. Its hard to get a good shot of him in the open though. He usually prefers to be at the bottom of the tank, under leaves.









7) Here is my "Algae Eater." The lfs claimed that they were true Siamese Algae Eaters. However when I checked with website I got confused.

http://www.petresources.net/fish/article/sae.html

It is either a False Siamese Algae Eater or a Flyingfox. Go figure! I guess as long as it eats algae and remains peaceful then I will not have a problem with it. Time will tell.



















8) Here is a shot of my sick Cardinal Tetras. You can see how the fins are rotting and there is this white bumpy stuff on the scales. Any ideas on the disease? Is it a fungus?










Well Thanksgiving is next week. Hopefully the tank will look clean like this for all my guests to look at. Trimming the plants down made such a huge difference. There is so much more room for the fish to swim around and it doesn't looks so cramped. It also helped to make the tank look bigger if you know what I mean. Also cleaning up some of the decaying plants and siphoning up the fish poo from the substrate really spiffed up the tank nicely. For awhile my interest in this tank waned a bit, but now after I trimmed and cleaned, it's almost like I am falling in love with it again! LOL. Ya I know I am a dork.

=P

Have a good day.

- Hung


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## brt_p

for cardinals, place them in the different tank..give them some anti-fin rot..i'm afraid it infect other fish..hope it's not too late..:biggrin:


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## lauraleellbp

I had a few Cardinals that were in about as rough shape when I bought my last school. I treated them in QT with Melafix and Pimafix for a week and they responded well, I'm pretty sure I haven't lost any and this was about 3 months ago. 

The white patch just before the tail has me a little worried. I don't want to overreact but that does remind me of fish TB. I'd QT them and get some treatment going ASAP.


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## moogoo

unfortunately those are not true siamese algae eaters. the stripe on their body is too straight and smooth. plus the dorsal fin has color in it. true siamese have a zigzag black stripe and colorless fins.

as for your sick fish, i would quarantine them ASAP and treat them as best you can. looks like a combination of fin rot and fungal infection. rummies and cardinals should be QTed after purchase anyway due to their sensitive nature.

good luck with that. always sucks to lose fish.


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## Karackle

Tank is looking great!

I'd agree, you should get those sick fish into quarantine though, probably get all the cardinals into quarantine if you can and then treat them, i'd probably suggest a combination of melafix and pimafix. If you don't treat them or at least remove the infected fish, there is a high probability that the disease will just keep getting transferred to the other fish, especially because if one dies the other fish will likely pick at it (yes it's gross but true, fish will cannibalize the deceased fish) and this makes the disease spread even faster.


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## agustine

Awesome! Justice given to this beautiful tank by being a great photog:thumbsup:


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## crimper

wow! that's all I can say.


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## mkus

Very nice goes to show you what can be done with a magnun 250 and powerheads.When set up correctly.
I have almost the exact same setup on a 29 and my tank is crystal clear!
Great job!


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## D-007

Just read from beginning to end and I am really impressed with what you have accomplished. I also agree that the sick fish should be removed and treated in a seperate tank so as to minimise further losses.

Subscribed and looking forward to more updates and pictures.roud:


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## hungtran10

Hello folks,

Sorry for my long absence. It's been awhile since I have post anything hasn't it. LOL. Anyways, my 55 gallon planted tank project is still going. It's been a year into the project so I have decided to take a look at what I have done and give you guys a status update.

The last time I posted, I was struggling to get the diy co2 yeast system going. Growing frustrated with the process, I yanked the whole thing out. From the beginning of the year until about april, I totally neglected the tank. I didn't lose interest in it. I just lost interest in fussing with it. I just wanted to let it grow out. I even stopped all ferts, excel treatments and water changes. I wanted to see how this ecosystem I designed would fly on its own with only me adding fish food. 

To my surprise, it did fairly well. The fish had no problems. The plants grew, but at a snails pace (which was good because then that meant I didn't have to prune). But the plant quality was poor as evident to the some of the ratty, holey leaves. Also I was starting to get filamentous algae growing at the bottom of the tank. It formed a dark green carpet and started to cover up the Sagitaria Subulata in the foreground. Also the growth of the sag subulate was so slow that I have yet to achieve a nice carpet. 

I finally did a trimming, water change and starting adding ferts/excel again. The filamentous algae receded and eventually disappeared. Go figure! Hahaha.

Now after my last water change, I had a shocking crash in my fish population. I did a 50% water change (which I normally do) and immediately after filling the tank, I noticed my Harlequin Rasboras starting to swim listlessly. Same thing with my rummy nosed tetras. I know there was a chemical that was killing the fish which was introduced by this water change. Chlorine and chloramine were the likely culprits. Unfortunately I used tap water direct from the backyard hose and I ran out of my water conditioner declorinator. Arrrrg. I lost over 50% of my fish within the 1st hour after the water change. Lesson learned.

I also had a snail explosion on my tank. It was so bad, that my dad asked me if I was raising snails or fish in this tank. Grrr! I bought 3 clown loaches who pillaged the snails and the population dissappeared within a week. Amazing snail eaters. Unfortunately the clown loaches also brought with them the dreaded Ick which spread and killed alot of my other fish. 

One pleasant surprise through this was the survival of my Ludwigia, Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens). It was literally on its last stem. Most of it had turned brown and rotted away. I was tempted to yank it out of the tank and be done with it but there was still a green stem alive so I left it. During the winter-spring period where I didn't touch the tank, it slowly grew back with a vengeance. It is huge now. In the full tank shot that I will post later, you can see the big bush on the left hand side. Nice! Quite the little survivor. 

Ever since I have been slowly repopulating my fish tank. I decided against getting anymore cardinal tetras. No offense. They are pretty but just too common. I prefer the tightly schooling rummy nosed tetras so I got 10 of them for the tank. I also added 3 red line torpedo bards. Man they look so cool when they school around the tank. Reminds me of those huge aquarium exhibits where you watch schools of tuna swim through the kelp beds. 

Recently I have noticed that my sunset hygro is dying at an alarming rate. The main stems are turning brown and breaking off. Also some of my anubias leaves are turning yellow and holey. Sigh. 

I've come to the conclusion that it's really time to invest in a co2 injection system. That tank is unable to become as lush as I want it to be. Alot of the plants that I introduce into this system initally grow only to hit a plateau and then wither away. 

Anyways, if you guys have any suggestions on affordable co2 system and parts, please post me a link where I can order it. 

Anyways, here's some shots from tonight.

1) Full tank shot 8/14/09










2) Red lined torpedo barbs - expensive but wicked cool looking fish!










3) Orange Sailfin Molly. I decided the tank needed more color and since the local fish store didn't have any healthy swordtails, I decided to give these guys a try.










4) White Lyretail Sailfin Molly.










I also added some cherry shrimp and "algae eating shrimp" as the local fish store clerk called them. I hope they are amano shrimp but I can't tell. I have yet get a clear pic of them. They like to hide under the anubia leaves.

Ok that's it for me. 

- Hung


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## fastfreddie

Hung,
Though I've never posted in your thread, I've admired the photos countless times, and even shared them with non-aquarists at my job. You've documented your experiences well, and you've been honest about your ups and downs with the tank. I have learned from reading through your journal. 

I understand why you would want to move to pressurized Co2. It is the next logical step and maybe some fancy new equipment can give you the excitement you need to dig your hands in the tank again. Maybe one day you can start another low tech tank, perhaps with soil next time. 

Needless to say, your photos are awesome! Looking forward to future pics after the Co2 injection. 


Keep up the good work,
Freddie


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## hungtran10

fastfreddie said:


> Hung,
> Though I've never posted in your thread, I've admired the photos countless times, and even shared them with non-aquarists at my job. You've documented your experiences well, and you've been honest about your ups and downs with the tank. I have learned from reading through your journal.
> 
> I understand why you would want to move to pressurized Co2. It is the next logical step and maybe some fancy new equipment can give you the excitement you need to dig your hands in the tank again. Maybe one day you can start another low tech tank, perhaps with soil next time.
> 
> Needless to say, your photos are awesome! Looking forward to future pics after the Co2 injection.
> 
> 
> Keep up the good work,
> Freddie



Thank you Freddie. I just got my regular and 10 lb tank today. Just waiting for my diffuser to arrive. Will do some rescaping and replanting. Will keep you guys posted, but I guess this journal will probably be moved out of low tech...

- Hung


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## oldweasel

What light fixture is that? trying to find it online with little luck


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## Kittysnax

updates? ^_^ /poke poke


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## hungtran10

Hey folks!

I just moved this journal to the Tank Journals & Photo Albums section. Follow this link to read the my latest update and pics.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals-photo-album/100355-started-low-tech-but-now-hi.html

thanks

- Hung


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## eNdoubleU

Quick question.. if this thread is still active.. Did you use Lee's 5" length and 1.63" diameter gravel vac? Thanks.
O and nothing happened to the impeller after co2 bubbles going into them?


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## Hilde

The fact that the ludwiga is growing so well shows the good substrate makes a difference. For the Hygo sunset I think dosing KNO3 will help it come back. It is officially a weed thus rarely dies.

I had tried the yeast recipe and hated the smell of it in my small apartment. I wonder what it would smell with the chicken bullion? Smell like you were cooking?


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