# Jeff B's 65 gal low tech *photos: Tank at 2.5 yrs, 2 yrs 3 months planted* see page 5



## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Here are my hardscape layout ideas. With the Manzanita branches I ended up with it will look more like the right picture, but I still have to try laying out and tying together some branches to see what shapes I can get. Maybe something I between. 

Is there anything better than fishing line to attach branches to each other and maybe some rocks at their bases to keep them stationary?

The sectioned off area at the front of the tank will still be Eco-complete but sifted out to be finer for the cory cats to snuffle around in.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Built in cabinet. The doors above the tank open to 17" high by 37" wide open space. Cabinet to right will contain all filters, electrical, etc.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

From the list of plants that the supplier I am leaning towards has I made the following list. Apparently: “numbers per container vary but you generally get a lot of plants in each especially the stemmed plants. Even for the Amazon swords, you get 4-8 plants in each pot.”

Fairly certain to get:

*Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite' Dwarf Anubias:* for attaching to stones or Manzanita to hide areas where they are tied together 

*Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae *(Height: 20 cm – 60+cm Width: 15 cm – 20+cm): for along the rear wall of the tank

*Microsorun pteropus ‘Narrow’ Java Fern *(Height:10 cm - 20 cm Width:10 cm - 20 cm): for the bases of the Manzanita

*Phoenix Moss Fissidens fontanus :* for attaching to stones or Manzanita to hide areas where they are tied together and maybe to a coconut shell if I get anything livestock requiring a cave

I’m currently trying to narrow down these choices:

Probably two of these five types of Cryptocorynes:
*Cryptocoryne becketii 'Petchi' Petchi Water Trumpet *(Height:10 cm - 15 cm Width: 8 cm - 15 cm)
*Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green'* (Height: 5 cm - 10 cm Width: 8 cm - 10 cm)
*Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' *(Height: 25 cm - 35 cm Width:15 cm - 30 cm)
*Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' *(Height: 6 cm - 10 cm Width: 8 cm - 12 cm)
*Crytpocoryne wendtii 'Brown'* (Height: 15 cm - 25 cm Width: 10 cm - 15 cm)

Maybe:
*Echinodorus 'Red Flame' Red Flame Sword *(Height: 10-30cm Width: 10-20cm) look nice but may take up too large an area

For some colour probably one of these two, but I don’t know how or good reasons why to pick one over the other: 
*Ludwigia repens 'Rubin' *(Height:20 cm - 50 cm Width:10 cm - 20 cm)
*Rotala ssp. 'Colourata'*

I like these but they are probably redundant with the already selected plants:
Anubias barteri var. nana Small Anubias
Microsorun pteropus Java Fern (Height: 15 cm - 30 cm Width: 12 cm - 20 cm)
Flame Moss Taxiphyllum sp.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I will probably order my plants online for better price and selection. The risk is that I may have the plants arrive on a day different than when I have help to plant them. 

If I just had a 5 gal tank filled with water to hold them in for a few days until I could plant them would newly bought plants stay alive? Or are they going to melt and then melt again when I put them in the main tank from putting them through too many changes?


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

I will only comment on the stuff that I have specific experience with. I am sure others will be around to chime in on the various other aspects.

Fissidens Fontanus is a neat moss and looks good attached to stuff. The one concern about Fissidens Fontanus and most mosses (other than Java Moss) is that they seem to like cooler water to prosper. At 78 degrees the Fissidens that I have has not died or wilted but it hasn't really grown either. I am going to be cranking the temps down to about 75 in my tanks to hopefully benefit my shrimp as well so I am hoping that it will benefit the various mosses that I have that seem to be stuck in neutral. I actually have Fissidens attached both to driftwood and attached to a coconut hut like you are suggesting.

In my experience the java ferns don't take well to changing tanks and will look like they are dying for a while. They don't actually die but if you aren't prepared for them to go through that stage then it might freak you out if it happens. I had heard all about how easy they were to keep and I bought a very good looking large java fern attached to a rock as a sort of centerpiece and it just kept declining. Once I read up on it and saw that others had faced similar problems I just lopped off all of the bad looking stems and within less than a week I had a ton of small, rapidly growing leaves to replace the old dying ones that I had cut off. Your use might vary of course.

Is there a reason that you can't just float the plants at the top of the tank for a few days while waiting on your help to arrive?

I have put plants in a bucket of water temporarily and they have been ok but I typically toss a light at them since they have been 'blacked out' during shipping. Why not just put them in the tank and let them float for a few days. Then they have light, filtration and whatever nutrients are already in the tank water.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

That is an awesome looking cabinet, BTW.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks, 

I could probably run my tank at 75 degrees if needed. I like that the Fissidens won't take over a tank of get big fronds like some other mosses but still want some growth. Willow and Christmas moss are available but are too bushy for what I want. I was deciding between Flame moss and Phoenix moss. I like them both but think the Phoenix moss will be more versatile.

Chopping down the plants and taking off leaves when you newly plant them seems wrong but I keep reading that you need to do it so I will do it. I will have multiple specimens of each plant though, so there is room to experiment by pruning off some more than others and seeing how they respond.

The tank is not going to be in place and filled until I have the help to set it up. That person is hard to get around sometimes so I was hoping to get everything done at once. The plants can be planted later but wrapping the moss on the wood might as well be done when the wood is being placed in the tank instead of pulling it out again. Since I am getting them from the same place I want to get them all in one order. I will probably float them in a 5 gallon tank until the 65 is ready.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Tank is in the house.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Tank is planted*

The tank has been cycling since just before Christmas, so well over a month. Ammonia rose for a bit then dropped down to 0.25 ppm but has stayed there a few weeks. I’m not sure why it won’t drop further. I changed about 10% of the water and vacuumed the dirtiest gravel on Saturday (4 days ago) and another 10% while planting the tank on Sunday. Water is pretreated with prime before used to refill tank.

Here are the plants I have in there now:

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae (across the back)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' (left mid-ground behind log)
Cyrptocoryne nurii (left front)

Crytpocoryne wendtii 'Brown' (right mid-ground behind log)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green' (right front)

Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite' Dwarf Anubias (attached to various spots on the manzanta wood)

Crypts have Seachem Flourish root tabs in the substrate around them.

Tank is at 76-78o

Lighting is two Hagen Glo T5 High Output 36" Light Fixtures one with a Lifeglo II and one with Powerglo 39 Watt T5 High Output Bulbs suspended about 10 inches above the top of the tank. 

The lights are on timers. Front Powerglo bulb is set to come on in the morning until 12:30, about 5 hours. Rear Lifeglo bulb is set to turn on again for several hours in the late afternoon around 4:30 for about 5 hours. I have been leaving the front bulb on for a few hours longer so far to hopefully help the plants recover from their dark shipping adventure.

Here are a few pictures:


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

nice start. love the cabinet.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Question #1: My tap water has about 1 ppm ammonia in it. I add Prime to the water before adding it to the tank. I tested the pretreated water after adding the Prime and it still had 0.5 ppm ammonia. Is this ammonia that is still being detected going to harm the tank or is it “neutralized” by the Prime and is no longer toxic even though it is detectable? 

From the Seachem website:
_“Prime® converts ammonia into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank’s biofilter. Prime® may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity”_

Otherwise I am adding ammonia with every water change.

Question #2: My tank refuses to drop below 0.25 ppm ammonia. Is this still due to the filters maturing a full bacterial load and it should resolve with more time or am I probably missing something?


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*2nd week planted*

Plants are showing some growth. Only a bit of melting at the tips of some of the crispatula var. balansae but most leaves are still ok.

The new leaves are coming in different due to being in different tank conditions, with the Cyrptocoryne nurii showing most change. There is not a clear picture of it here but the new nurii leav are dark green and nicely patterned instead of the pinkish leaves it came with.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

3rd week Planted

Moved some Anubias around to balance the tank better;

Split and replanted some wendtii 'Brown' I was not happy with when I first planted it;

Most plants showing more growth, particularly after the twice weekly water changes;

Cyrptocoryne nurii is putting out more typical green leaves instead of pinkish ones;

I did not have time to buy shrimp or fish yet, who will soon hopefully enjoy snacking on the wood fungus.


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## Durgidog (Jan 16, 2012)

Gorgeous! 65 is my favorite tank footprint. Love the wood and the amazing cabinetry. Looking forward to how this grows in...


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks. I always wanted a 45 tall and was leaning towards it when I went to the store to take some measurements for the cabinet design. I realized that the 65 had the same height and width, so it would not take up any more room and had the same look, but gave me quite a bit more water for livestock and substrate area to aquascape with.

The tank just had its first sign of algae. A bit of green on the glass, which I have already cleaned off, and some brown diatoms on the wood. Hopefully I can get out to the store to get some shrimp and snails today.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*4th week planted*

4th week planted

I picked up some fish, shrimp and snails on Saturday.
6 cherry barbs (2 male 4 female)
6 cherry shrimp
3 “algae eating shrimp” (I am pretty sure they are Amano shrimp, which is what I wanted)
6 red cherry shrimp
2 zebra nerite snails
3 horned nerite snails

The cherry barbs are already spawning even though they are still small. I have seen a few eggs but they look like they are eating them all. I don’t have the time or setup to try to raise them right now anyway but hopefully it means they are feeling good about their new home. They did shake loose a few plants while wrestling through them that needed to be retied or replanted

Everybody else seems fine as well. The shrimp are busily eating down the wood fungus and already have made good progress cleaning it up. Plants are continuing to grow decently. Nerite snails are moving around.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Can anyone confirm that the grey shrimp are Amano shrimp?


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

A male cherry barb was chasing a cherry shrimp around today but I'm not sure if he was trying to eat it or just wrestle with it because it was also red and saw it as a mating rival.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*5th week planted*

Everyone seems to be healthy, plants, fish, snails and Amano shrimp, except for the cherry barbs that the dominant male cherry barb has been picking on. I took the two that I could find out and put them in a breeder box for now. I am pretty sure that he is mainly after them because they are red because the rest of the barbs don’t bother them and nobody goes after the Amano shrimp, which started out the same size and are now slightly bigger than the cherry shrimp. I may wait until the plants have grown in thick and try adding more shrimp then, but maybe yellow instead of red ones or only Amano shrimp.

I will probably get rid of the dominant male barb (if I can catch him) because he is constantly chasing everyone around. Ironically I think the other male is having more breeding success because he is calm and just hangs out near the plants on the left side of the tank so when the females go there to avoid the aggressive male he approaches them without charging around and spooking them away. Hopefully the remaining male won’t take on the same personality when he is the only one left but I will see how it goes.

My other option was to add another male and a female or two to spread out the chasing from the dominant one but I might just be compounding the problem doing that.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Two months planted*

These pictures are from exactly two months after planting. There are too many fish moving around at once to get perfectly clear pictures.

Added more horned nerite snails, panda cory cats, Hengle’s rasboras and otto cats over the last few weeks.

Plants are growing slow and steady, which is what I want for low maintenance. The anubias nana petite is putting out bigger leaves than it originally came with. I am not sure if this is due to changes in lighting or water flow because it seems that the plants in high current areas have the biggest leaves.

I’m still doing twice weekly 10% water changes. There has been some more algae growth since I added more fish but it is only some soft brown and a little green stuff that the otto cats generally keep under control.

Cherry shrimp are being kept in the breeder box in the hope that they will have some babies. Then I will put the adults back in the tankand grow the babies larger before adding them. The fish seem to have lost interest in the shrimp as everybody settled in.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Three Months Planted*

These pictures are from exactly three months after planting. As always there are too many fish moving around at once to get perfectly clear pictures.

Everyone is doing well except for the panda cory cats. The tank chemistry is fine and the barbs and otto cats are always breeding and one cory also looks super healthy, so it likely isn’t the tank conditions. Probably they came with some parasites or other disease.

Plants are growing well, always surge a bit bigger the day after a water change. The anubias nana petite on the branches is starting to show some signs of efficiency. I think magnesium (lighter green leaves with darker green veins), so I am going to start dosing a bit of Flourish. The same plants that have managed to send roots into the eco-complete look better, so they are probably pulling in some nutrients from the substrate and root tabs.

I’m still doing twice weekly 10% water changes. 

Cherry shrimp were showing no signs of mating in the breeder box, even after molting, so they are back in the tank taking their chances. The shrimp with no eyes won’t stand a chance with fish so I am keeping him in the box until I can find someone with a shrimp only tank to take him in.

First shot: Full tank shot,
Second: Cryptocorynes, nurii, wendtii Mi-Oya and balansae
Third: Cryptocorynes, wendtii green and wendtii brown and balansae


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Water changes from a wheelchair*

In case anyone is interested in how I do water changes from a wheelchair with pretty much non-functioning hands I am posting these pictures: 

I start a siphon by squishing the bulb against the side of the cabinet. The white foam on the intake end keeps any curious fish from being sucked up. The water goes into a Rubbermaid container on a wheeled cart.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

I then push the cart over to a toilet and drain the container into it using the same siphon.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Then I refill the box with new water using a shower hose and add water dechlorinator (Prime). I was originally going to use a pull-out faucet for this but ended up putting in a dedicating shower hose and tap instead to make it easier.


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## FlyingGiraffes (Jan 30, 2011)

Very well done system you got there. Glad you made everything work.

Tanks is looking good! Will look even better as it grows in.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

I then use a small pond pump to pump the water from the container into the tank.

It took about an hour at first but the time is getting shorter. Mostly it is waiting for the containers to be drained into and drained or pumped out. So I can do other things at the same time as long as I stay close by to keep an eye on things.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks. I could not find anywhere how anyone else did it so I made up my own system. Hopefully it can help others wo want to get into, or back into, the hobby.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Four months planted*

These pictures are from four months after planting. Plants are still growing well. I noticed that some of the petite Anubis that is growing on the branches are showing signs of nutrient deficiency, lighter green leaves with darker veins, which I think means magnesium deficiency. So I started dosing flourish 2.5 ml twice per week. This seems to be helping.

Cherry barbs and otto cats are still spawning regularly. One baby barb has grown big enough to probably be safe from being eaten and is now swimming around openly. you can see him up by the heater in the last picture. There are at least two more smaller ones that I saw today that may be ok if they continue to lay low. I also occasionally see a small otto cat that seems to be hiding out most of the time, so he might make it if he continues with being mostly hidden.


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## fishoutawater (Feb 9, 2005)

I Jeff this tank looks freaking amazing! Grats to you on your success and thank you for the journal and pics. Again..... Amazing....


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Six Months Planted*

These pictures are from six months after planting. Plants are still growing well. The wendtii 'Mi Oya' is also taller than I expected but it still works where I put it. It could make a nice background plant in a shorter aquarium. The Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green' was expected to stay: (Height: 5 cm - 10 cm Width: 8 cm - 10 cm,) while the Crytpocoryne wendtii 'Brown' has not reached the expected size of (Height: 15 cm - 25 cm Width: 10 cm - 15 cm). So the right side does not look layered as I was trying to get. The brown is still growing ok but the green has grown much larger than expected and blocked view of the brown. I will eventually thin out some of the green to try to remedy that. The crispatula var. balansae has reached the water surface. 

The petite Anubis that is growing on the branches that were showing signs of nutrient deficiency, lighter green leaves with darker veins, have noticeably improved. After I started dosing flourish 2.5 ml twice per week the otto cats started going into hiding. I think they are all still alive because I still see various one every once in awhile but they went from being out all the time at feeding and constantly spawning to almost never visible. The baby otto cats I occasionally see are still alive as well (but growing very slowly) so the water conditions should be fine. The ottos I see are usually full looking, so they are still eating. The flourish and change in otto behavior may not actually be related but adding fertilizer was the only change made around that time.

In case the otto cats were/are sensitive to flourish I cut the dose to 2.5 ml once per week. The leaf health is still improving at this dose. I could not find anyone else reporting flourish sensitivity in ottos so it may just be a coincidence.

There are now dozen’s of baby barbs of various ages. As they get larger l will have to give some away to keep the numbers reasonable.

I also added 8-9 kuhli loaches to help clean up leftover food etc. I’ve never had these before. They are nice to watch and have more personality than I thought they would. They are very active during the day, at least when food is available. Probably because they feel more secure with all the cover available in a well planted tank.


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## Er1n (Nov 4, 2012)

Hey Jeff, I like looking at the progressive growth in your tank...I know you'll update this thread with a new pic soon so hurry, I want to show some friends!
P.s. Ive just joined this site and will try to post pics of my 65 tank while its still sort off amature ish...Then you can see how mine progresses, with your help and inspiration of course! Thanks for all your advice  My fish seem much happier now


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## vanadium (Nov 4, 2012)

Very nice tank, i like it ! the drift woods are awesome. Are you going to fill them with moss or anubias ?


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

I love this tank I really want to do a scape like that some day!!

Great job!


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*One year planted*

I did not manage to find time to take and post the nine months planted pictures as I had planned but here are the ones from Jan 18, 2013, just two weeks less than a year planted.

The tank went from this:


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

To this:


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

I did not move any hardscape or plants Except for taking a portion of the wendtii 'Green' out that was overgrown and giving away a few end clippings of the Anubias nana 'Petite' 

A few comments:

Most of my plants have grown much larger than typical sizes given in sources such as the Tropica catalogue. Maybe the low light and higher current contributed to this. I don’t really know for sure but the Anubias nana 'Petite' in more shaded areas and in higher current grew larger than the ones closer to the light and in slower areas. All were clippings from the same two bunches originally so they should be the same genetics wise. I would have preferred if all of the plants had stayed within the typically expected sizes because I had planned my layout around that. It still looks ok but different than I had originally envisioned.

The Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae (across the back) really took off around two months ago from just reaching the surface to some leaves being 3feet long or more (Tropica says 20-60 cm, mine 90cm+). Some runners are springing up too far forward into the tank some I will need to remove these as well as take out some of the overly long leaves, but it seems a shame to do so.

The Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' (left mid-ground behind log) ended up reaching all the way to the surface (Tropica says 20-35 cm, mine 50cm+) . At this size it would be a better background plant than a midground one. The big one in the front left sprung up on its own from a root/runner. I originally thought it was a mutated Crypt nurii without colouration but it has grown into a really nice plant. It is too close to the front for a plant that size so will eventually need to come out but it is too nice to just pull out so I will find it a new home first.

Cyrptocoryne nurii (left front) was slow to start and looked a bit sickly when first planted but has really thickened up in the last few months. It stayed a good size for its location. Leaves in more brightly lit areas tend to have better colouration.

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green' (right front) grew like crazy. It is way larger than planned, easily 25-30 cm high (Tropica says heights from 5-15 cm 8-15 cm wide. When grown in an open space the leaves will virtually lie on the bottom). It is a nice plant but bigger and thicker growth than suited for that area. It is blocking the anubias growing on the branches behind it as well as the wendtii ‘Brown’ behind the log. I had trouble deciding between it and wendtii ‘Tropica’ when planning and chose it because it was supposed to stay smaller and the bright green would look nice in front of the ‘Brown’. Maybe I chose wrong but maybe the ‘Tropica’ would have grown just as big. I’m thinking of maybe taking out most or all of it and replacing with Staurogyne repens or something similar and/or some coconut shell caves covered in Anubias nana 'Petite'

Crytpocoryne wendtii 'Brown' (right mid-ground behind log) was fairly root bound and difficult to plant. For a while it kept up with the wendtii ‘Green’ but fell behind and is barely visible behind it. It still gets light from above and through the back glass so is doing ok and is just starting to show above the ‘Green’ again.

Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite' Dwarf Anubias (attached to various spots on the manzanta wood). Grows really well and I’m glad I went with this rather than cover the wood with phoenix moss like I had originally planned. Very low maintenance. I have taken off a few clippings and had to retie some with fishing line instead of the black thread I had originally used. At four months in some growing on the branches showed signs of nutrient deficiency but about 3 ml flourish once a week has pretty much fixed that. Anubias with roots into the eco-complete always are a nice green.

Crypts have Seachem Flourish root tabs in the substrate around them at first planting and again at about 5 months in. Besides that no other fertilizers and no added CO2 besides what come in with the twice weely 10% water changes. The plants do often noticeably green up and grow a bit right after water changes.

Tank is at 77 F

Lighting is two Hagen Glo T5 High Output 36" Light Fixtures one with a Lifeglo II and one with Powerglo 39 Watt T5 High Output Bulbs suspended about 10 inches above the top of the tank. 

The lights are on timers. Front Powerglo bulb is on in the morning 7:30 until 2:30 pm, about 7 hours. Rear Lifeglo bulb is on again in the late afternoon 4:45 until 9:45, about 5 hours. This lets me have lights on when I am around without having too much. This tank has never had any problem algae. I credit this partially to the lighting regime and partially (maybe more so) to the plants coming from a clean source and not bringing any in with them.

Fauna is now:

Cherry barbs (2 male 4 female became about two dozen or more). After I switched to the New Life Spectrum flakes and the plants grew thicker more babies survived. Most are male though. Maybe because they feed more aggressively, so grow past the easily eaten stage faster.

The 6 cherry shrimp did not make it. The male cherry barbs gradually picked them off. One original male barb was particularly territorial against anything red. They generally left the Amano shrimp alone. I makes me want to set up a spare 5 gal tanks as a shrimp only tank to try again but I am resisting. 

The original Amano shrimp all grew large but eventually died off of apparently natural (non fish attack related) causes. I put in two more and I think they are still ok but stay deep in the plants, hopefully helping clean up extra food etc.

2 zebra nerite snails, still doing fine and are quite large but not often seen. They look nice when they are out but I think they are mostly nocturnal in my tank. 

6 horned nerite snails. There are always at least a few visible and always working away at their cleaning duties. Also cool looking.

Otto cats were dormant for a few months after being the most active fish in the tank and spawning all the time. At least one or two babies made it to maturity. They are becoming more active again and really perked up when I added a few new panda cories and both species are often feeding on algae wafers together. Apparently some species of ottos and cories shoal together in the wild as well.

Kuhli loaches are impossible to count as they are in and out of the plants and rarely all in sight at once now that they are not swarming the food like when they came in starving from the fish store.. I lost 2 or 3 but the rest look healthy.

Added 3 glowlight platies because they looked super healthy and gave the tank some colour. I bought 3 females to avoid having too many babies but one has developed into a male so we’ll see what happens. It was probably just immature when I got it but it definitely had no visible gonopodium until a few days ago.

Hengle’s rasboras are doing fine. I had a few loses when they were very tiny but the 10 I have now seen solid. They are very peaceful fish. Nice looking close up but hard to see from far away with all the plants.

I also put in two gold honey gouramis. They are nice little fish and they get along pretty well with each other. The male occasionally makes a bubble nest but the tank is probably not warm enough to get the female to spawn. She checks it out and leaves. It gets wrecked during water changes anyway, which makes me feel a bit bad for destroying his efforts.

At the same time I put in what were supposed to be two red honey gouramis. They have gotten too big to be honeys and are likely thick lip gouramis instead. They are probably both females and the larger one chases the other around. They are close to the same size so it is not beating the heck out of it but I would have preferred the smaller more peaceful honeys instead. I specifically asked the store if they were honeys and not thick lip gouramis but they turned out to be wrong. Not a huge problem but I may need to find a new home for the bullying one if it gets too hard on the other. It doesn’t bother any other fish though.

Overall I am happy with the tank. It has been the easiest tank I have ever had in terms of maintenance as well as the best looking. Water changes take half the time they did at the start now that I have the system worked out. I am glad I went with live plants after my initial fear of getting in over my head. Choosing plants that grow slow and steady and don’t require much messing around with was the best option for me.

Here are a few more photos:


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

full tank shot


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Wow amazing progress! Great job. What kind of crypts do you have in there; affinis?


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Nevermind lol.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

right side


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

centre


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

crypt nurii


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

That's all the pictures my planted tank my account will let me load. How do other people have pages and pages of big clear photos like his thread with 39 pages (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40605) and others are even larger with beautiful high resolution photos but I can't add 4 pages worth? I'm sure i'm missing something simple. I do reduce my photos before posting but even if the other posters are reducing theirs more surely after 40 or more pages they should be taking up more MB than me. Not an angry question. Just wondering.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Just past 13 months planted*

Here are some recent photos. Just past 13 months planted.

Pulled out all the Cryptocoryne wendtii from the front right because it was too big for the area it was in. The Crytpocoryne wendtii 'Brown' is now looking much better and colouring up.

Pulled out some of the overgrown crispatula var. balansae that was encroaching from the back and overgrowing the left side.

Pulled out some wendtii 'Mi Oya' that needed thinning. It was sad to pull out the large 'Mi Oya' that had sprung up on its own in the front left because it was a perfect plant and the larger leaves were all going purple underneath but it was too large for the area it was in.

Plants were all given away.

Set up two coconut shell caves with anubias on them. The barbs and other fish use them a bit but I want to eventually get some Apistogrammas who would use them more.

Remove eco-complete from front and added Flourish black sand. Lessons learned: 

This makes a mess. Scooping eco-complete out made a cloudy mess. The best way was to siphon it out with a hose, which left almost no clouding. A python hose worked but clogged several times. A larger diameter host would work better.

Adding sand using the pop bottle method found here made a huge mess of cloudy water. Maybe it works better with coarser sand but not with Flourite sand.
(



) 
One bottle of sand clouded the water more than all of the rest of the sand combined when I was pre-rinsing the sand in a bucket until it ran clear and then adding it slowly with a measuring cup submersed and then poured close to the bottom. 

Working in small batches is faster and cleaner than larger ones. My last bucket of sand was bigger than the rest and made more clouding than all the previous ones combined. I should have split it into two batches. The deeper the sand is in the bucket to harder it is to rinse clear but it wasn’t obvious until it was being added to the tank and released a big cloud of dust.

The sand looks good, fish and snails seem to like it and it is getting darker as it settles. I wish I had known about it from the beginning and I would have made the tank all sand from the start. I just started planning for eco-complete early on and did not realize there was a sand alternative. Next time I set up a tank I set up will be all sand from the beginning and hopefully in the summer so the sand can be rinsed outside.

Photos (posting from photobucket to half answer my own question from above):

Full tank shot: 

Left side: 

Crypt nurii: 

Centre close to bottom:

Middle:


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Right side:

Full tank shot from left:

Full tank shot from right: 

Straight on shot:


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## manzpants92 (Dec 6, 2012)

amazing looking tank. great job on the tank and the cabinet as well


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## Aquaticus (Jan 7, 2013)

When I first saw the branches, I thought it looked weird, but after the plants have grown in, it looks awesome! Great job! It's giving me ideas on what to do with my branches.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I like it. It may be the nicest non-CO2 tank I've seen on the forum and it ranks among the nicest tanks period. The layout works and it's neat and clean with healthy plants. Really nice. Well done.


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

So what happened to the shrimp? Did you put them back in. Very nice looking tank.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks all of you for the compliments. I wish that I had the ability to take the nice crisp shots that some people have.



Aquaticus said:


> When I first saw the branches, I thought it looked weird, but after the plants have grown in, it looks awesome! Great job! It's giving me ideas on what to do with my branches.


 
I originally planned to cover the branches with fissidens moss but once I got it in the tank the Manzanita looked so nice bare with the grain highlights showing that I decided to just add patches of anubias petite to spots instead. The wood was too dominant in the tank at first but needed to be big for such a deep tank to not look bottom heavy and not get lost when the plants grew in.



Jeff5614 said:


> I like it. It may be the nicest non-CO2 tank I've seen on the forum and it ranks among the nicest tanks period. The layout works and it's neat and clean with healthy plants. Really nice. Well done.


Thanks, that’s a great compliment. I like the look of CO2 tanks but I don’t have the ability to deal with that much equipment and trimming. My tank took a few months to really start filling in but slow and steady works better for me than rapid results followed by more maintenance.

When I first considered setting up with live plants I thought it would be too complicated but as I learned about low tech and what plants to use it seemed more possible. I over did it on the light purchase before Hoppy told me that it would be too much light, but this let me put the lights 10 inches above the tank to get the right intensity and it also makes working on the tank easier. 
Nitrates are a bit higher than I would like so I am going to put together a system to allow a bit larger water changes in the same or shorter amount of time as well as try using some terrestrial plants growing in a spare HOB filter I have to pull out the nitrates.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

starfire12 said:


> So what happened to the shrimp? Did you put them back in. Very nice looking tank.


The cherry shrimp were gradually picked off by the male cherry barbs. I think because they were red and seen as competitors for mates (barbs are not too bright), not to eat, because they usually left the bodies uneaten and never showed much interest in the Amano shrimp. 

The original 3 Amanos grew really big stuffing themselves on all the white fungus growing from the wood. They gradually died off. I know that some shrimp breeders say feed less to have shrimp live longer so they may have lived large and died young. I put two more Amanos in and they have not grown as much, probably a combination of less fungus to eat and more fish swimming around so they are out in the open less and eating less as a result. It is hard to tell if one or both are alive because they disappear in the plants for weeks at a time.


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## raulfd4 (Dec 20, 2012)

Very impressive, Jeff. I have a similar setup that is only in its first month; seeing this gives me hope that my tank will someday fill out as nicely as yours has. Bravo!


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Best low tech tank. Period.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments. As long as you pick the right plants for low tech they can still look good. I think that my tank has a few things that helped it the most:

Good substrate with Seachem root tabs and primarily root feeding plants so I did not have to fertilize the water column very much. Although I would go with all Flourish sand for the fish if I were to do it again the eco-complete has been good for the plants. The only plants ever showing deficiencies were the anubias on the high branches. The ones that could reach their roots into the substrate never showed any deficiencies. About 4ml of Flourish once a week has taken care of most of what looked like a magnesium deficiency (dark green veins on lighter older leaves).

Most of all, the plants that I put in were ones that would do well and look good under the conditions I could provide. I eliminated from my choices anything that says: "can grow without CO2 (or fertilizer or intensive lighting etc.) but does better with" So I didn't bother trying to grow anything really red like I originally wanted because it would probably have just stayed green under my tank's conditions. So I did a lot of reading and emailed for some experienced plant growers opinions.

Twice weekly water changes. The plants grew noticeably after most water changes. Probably because this added CO2 to the tank from the water supply. I used tap water treated with Prime. I was changing 10% twice per week but am usually changing this to 20% twice per week lately because the crypts don't seem to mind and I want to keep nitrates down.

I use a split lighting schedule. I mostly did this so the tank is lit during the morning and evening when I am around to see it but have read that this has advantages for non CO2 added tank because it let's the depleted CO2 levels replenish for a second photosynthesis session each day. Apparently some people have measured that in a tank without CO2 being added it is almost all used up by the plants 3-4 hours after the lights go on.

Some people also think that giving the tank a few hours during the day with the lights out helps prevent algae. There are mixed opinions on this but the more thought out ones I have read seem to think that this mainly helps in non-CO2 added tanks.

My tank has not had any algae problems but how much of that is due to my lighting schedule and how much is due to me getting them from a clean source is impossible to determine. I have one branch tip with some black beard algae on it but that is all.

Also some luck.


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## Zlookup (Mar 3, 2013)

Thanks for providing so much detail in your post. Really helps me out a lot in figuring out what I should try. It's amazing to see how the tank grew in.


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## bibbster (Oct 26, 2012)

Jeff, I wanted to bring this thread up from the depths as it is a great resource for someone like myself who has been dead set against live plants because of maintenance. I've read about low setups before, but the information you provide, from the actual plants you used, as well as lighting schedules, etc. is immensely helpful.

I have stated as recently as three weeks ago that I won't do live plants, but now, after reading your post multiple times over the past week, I have some live plants, including moss, slated for delivery after Christmas. I too will be a no CO2 user, so if it doesn't work out then it's back to plastic for me. lol

So a huge thank you for your very informative post, and also a huge thank you to those folks that helped you out along the way. I can only hope that my aquarium looks half as nice as yours once I'm 'done' with it.


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## JohnEX (Jan 28, 2004)

Great looking tank. I like how the anubias, branches, and the tall plants in the back complement each other


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

Beautiful. Really nice compliment of colours fish, plants and all. Great job!


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## fishophile (Feb 6, 2012)

The tank looks great and it really shows how good larger plants can look if given the space.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

bibbster said:


> Jeff, I wanted to bring this thread up from the depths as it is a great resource for someone like myself who has been dead set against live plants because of maintenance. I've read about low setups before, but the information you provide, from the actual plants you used, as well as lighting schedules, etc. is immensely helpful.
> 
> I have stated as recently as three weeks ago that I won't do live plants, but now, after reading your post multiple times over the past week, I have some live plants, including moss, slated for delivery after Christmas. I too will be a no CO2 user, so if it doesn't work out then it's back to plastic for me. lol
> 
> So a huge thank you for your very informative post, and also a huge thank you to those folks that helped you out along the way. I can only hope that my aquarium looks half as nice as yours once I'm 'done' with it.


Thanks, I haven't taken any photos lately but plan to soon. The tank as been running for two years and is 5 weeks shy of two years planted. It still looks pretty good. The plants are more colourful. I need to do some trimming. I have probably given away $200 worth of clippings over 2 years from thinning sessions.

This tank has been the easiest tank to look after that I have ever had. The live plants have outcompeted any algae so they don't get that coated in crusty green or blue-green algae look that plastic plants always do. And if a leaf does get covered I just pull it out and a new one replaces it.


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## bibbster (Oct 26, 2012)

Jeff, thanks for the update and I look forward to some new photos of your setup.

And yet another great idea with algae donning leaves that may occur. So simple yet so effective.


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## Jeff B (Oct 16, 2010)

*Tank at 2.5 yrs, 2 yrs 3 months planted*

Here are some pictures I took a week or two ago. The tank has been running almost 2 ½ years now and has been planted for about 2 years and 3 months. These pictures are about 2 weeks after I did a major thinning. I forgot to take before pictures but there was almost twice the plant mass there is in there now. 

In the 27 months that I have had the tank planted I have done three major trimmings, taking out about a full three gallon bucket of plants each time, and there has been some minor trimmings here and there. 

The tank looks bad after a major trimming because all of the exposed plant stems in areas that get thinned are pale and leggy but in a week or two they colour up and new colorful shoots come up at the bases and it looks better than before. More light getting through seems to bring out the colours as well and maybe less plant biomass lets each plant have to compete less for the Flourish. I put in some new Flourish root tabs as well and that seemed to help bring out the colours.

I have switched to a larger water change of about 1/3 once per week due to not having much time mid week to do the 20% twice a week I was doing. About every 2nd week or so I do manage to fit in an additional 1/3 change during the week. The plants don’t seem to mind, except for the Crypt nurii in the front let, which gets a bit of melting but nothing major. The melting could be related instead to the plant being bigger now so that some of the leaves rub on the front glass and that irritates them, because those are the ones that melt.

[URL=http://s1296.photobucket.com/user/JeffB8/media/Tank%20Shots%20May%2020%202014/IMG_1872_1_zps12c220b9.jpg.html][/URL]


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## bibbster (Oct 26, 2012)

Awesome!

And now that it's been almost a year later since I asked about updated photos and I'm just now seeing these...how about some more? :lol:


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## wootlaws (Feb 25, 2011)

Looks great ! Keep up the good work!


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