# Octopus44's 55 gallon (Update 6/2/08) (56k!)



## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Here is my first shot at an aquarium (2 days old):


-55g
-4x65W light fixture (currently only using a total of 130W)
-aquariumplants.com substrate
-filstar xp3
-1/15 HP chiller (currently not in use do to cooler weather)
-DIY CO2 fed through pump (works great!)

(updated 10/26/07)
Plants:
Narrow Leaf Java Fern
Java Moss
weeping moss
flame moss
marselia minuta
Amazon Sword
hygrophilia sp. tiger
Val Nana
Hm


Fauna:
Ghost shrimp
Amano shrimp
4 otos
15 cardinal tetras
5 black skirt tetras
1 lone hitch hiking harlequin rasbora

The tank is a little bare at the moment but will look much better once the HC creates a nice carpet and the java moss fills in. I also plan on getting some _vallisneria nana_ for the left hand corner and some dwarf hair grass here and there. 

Any comments or criticism is gladly welcomed.










left side









angle









lengthwise (from left side)









Thanks for looking! :smile:


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## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Nice start alot of available lights. Your right it does look bare. But those swords will fill it in over time. I love how the wood is set up. I would add some a more variety of plants, maybe with some different colors. It will probably take awhile to fill in. Keep posted I like where its heading.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Thanks knuggs. That wood was a lucky find. I found a dead tree with its roots growing over some rocks on the edge of lake Pontchartrain. I don't want to do to many species. I think I like the look of just a few species. Seems more natural to me. We will see though. I am still new at this and am experimenting.


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## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

I hear ya. I started the same way. Do you know what kind of tree that is?


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## y84k (May 31, 2007)

Yeah I was going to say I like the wood you got for that tank as well. The tank almost seems to have some nice depth to it which from what I've heard is hard to acheive in a 55g!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

I'm not sure what kind of wood it is I am going to go take a look at it again and see if I can ID it. I was so excited about finding the wood that I forgot to take a good look at the tree.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I can already see this tank become a thing of beauty. Love the wood aswell.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

My DIY CO2 just starting spitting its first bubble out of the diffuser!! Sorry I know you all have been doing CO2 for a while, but this is so exciting! I have practically been staring at my bottles 24/7 for the last 2 days just waiting for a single bubble.

Thanks for the compliments everyone.


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## bruceb (Jun 26, 2007)

I have a really dim question.....I don't seem to be able to get my swords to grow....is there something I should be looking at? My fish are quite happily munching on the other plants which is good, but swords just go brown and die within a week. I guess this may be wrongly posted, and maybe there's a 'plants' section, so apologies in advance  Bruce


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

bruceb said:


> I have a really dim question.....I don't seem to be able to get my swords to grow....is there something I should be looking at? My fish are quite happily munching on the other plants which is good, but swords just go brown and die within a week. I guess this may be wrongly posted, and maybe there's a 'plants' section, so apologies in advance  Bruce


I cant help you there. I am still new at this myself and I just put the swords in my tank so I dont have much experience yet. 

There is a plant section on here which would probably be a better place to post this question.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

octo very good start. How do you like the substrate? Ive been thinking of getting some, but Amazonia is easy to get here. Can I suggest that you start with only two lights on instead of all four for now. Juss turn on the one in the front to help the HC. With low co2, low plant mass, and high lighting you may be asking for the algae monster:angryfire to creep into your tank.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

LOL I didnt read the part where you stated your only using two lights:tongue: Is this your first tank ever? cuz most beginers start with goldfish and plastic neon color plants and neon gravel LOL. I wish I started the way you did.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

MARIMOBALL said:


> octo very good start. How do you like the substrate? Ive been thinking of getting some, but Amazonia is easy to get here. .


I like the substrate so far, though I havn't had it long enought to give you a proper opinion. The color is good, it was easy to plant in, and after a very good rinse it didn't cloud up the water at all (filled it extremely slowly). When planting a little dust stirs up but settles back down very quickly. If you do get it when rinsing I suggest to churn the subrate as little as possible because it pretty easily breaks up and this just makes it dustier. I did just notice however that they raised the price by like $6 



MARIMOBALL said:


> Is this your first tank ever? cuz most beginers start with goldfish and plastic neon color plants and neon gravel LOL. I wish I started the way you did.


I can't technically say this is my first tank ever. I do have a tank for my turtle who has some tiger barbs as companions, this is my first tank specifically for plants and fish, and one that gives me the ability to scape(can only scape to a small degree in a turtle tank).


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## KnaveTO (May 25, 2007)

I have to say that your tank looks great! Love the wood and the simplicity of the arangement.


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## MrJP (Sep 20, 2006)

For the hardscape you get a 10 :thumbsup:, but I feel I got to give you a little heads up. If I were you there are a few things I would consider differently, most regarding your lighting.

I would have got a 2x65w, 48' fixture instead and use the extra money to get a good canister filter (I'm thinking an XP3). Here are the reasons why:

- 4X65w put you at almost 5 wpg, which is way too much for your size tank coupled with DIY co2 set up
- Even if you did have pressurised co2, it would still be too much light. However with pressurised you would be able to experiment with a 2-3 hours mid-day blast of all 4 bulbs.
- Although DIY co2 is doable on a 55g, you have to make sure you are on top things. By that I mean constanly making sure your co2 producing potion is blasting away, and avoiding any surface movement to prevent any co2 loss. With 2 HOB filters, you got your work cut out! :icon_roll So in the mean time make sure your tank is filled all the way to the top to minimize surface break. With a canister that would be much more manageable and will also give much more flow, which is a good tank for planted tanks.

Next is getting your tank cycled. Right now you only have slow growing plants and only 5 stems of fast growers. That is not enough. You need a lot of fast growing stem plant in the initial stages (first 2 months) in order to keep algae to a minumum. 

Algae in a new set up is almost inevitable. But when you have only slow growers and lots of light (even at 2x65w = 130w ~ 2.4wpg), than you have and algae disaster just waiting to happen.

Right now you need to keep your light on for no more than 7-8 hours a day, perhaps even less. Check to swap/shop section and get your hands on a lot of fast growing starter plants. Learn how to dose your tank with dry ferts and traces, daily.

Welcome to the hobby!  

It is fun and addictive. The initial algae battle and learning curve can *seem* steep. But once you learn how to balance your tank (ie lights, co2, ferts) than you are on cruise control and the real fun begins!:bounce: 

JP


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Thanks for all of the advice MrJP.

I definatly agree with you on the canister filter and I plan on purchasing one as soon as I have the extra cash. I do have the water filled to the very top and there is very little surface agitation. Actually one good thing has come out of the HOB filter. My CO2 bubbles get stuck underneath giving the co2 more time to disolve.

The reason I got the 4x65 is to give me room to grow if I ever want to get a 75 or 90 gallon tank (which I do). I am only using 130W right now. 

I am currently leaving the light on for about 9 hours a day but I will probably drop that as you have advised.

My DIY CO2 is currently pumping out about a bubble per second and I am going to do my best to find a good mixture to keep it at that rate. 

I will also get some more fast growing plants (I could use somthing to cover up the pump and tubing on the right side anyways). I really like the look of juncus repens. Is that a fast growing plant? I'm also going to get some amanos to help combat the algae that I know is coming.

Thanks again for all the advice!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

*Update*

Here's an update:



















The tank is now 2 1/2 weeks old. As some of you predicted and I'm sure many were thinking I did have an outburst of green fuzzy/stringy algae and a brown algae because of having mainly slow growing plants. Lesson learned. I have since added some val nana, val americana, micro sword, and two weeds from the greenhouse at my university. I will eventually remove the weeds and val americana and the ludwigia that i currently have in there. 

For the algae problem: I added 15 ghost shrimp, a CAE, and I have 15 amanos on the way. The CAE went crazy on the algae and has almost completely cleared it in a matter of days! I have also lowered the lighting to 7hours and upped the potassium I am dosing (I was dosing what the seachem bottle recommended, but I don't think this was enough. My tank is also completely cycled now so it is more stable and the NO2 is gone. I think that this is helping to keep the algae down. For a while i couldn't keep the NO3 levels down but they are now lower (due to the extra plants I think). I also thinned out the java fern leaves that were covered in algae. 

Some of my plants have had some issues and I was hoping some of you could advise me on this. Note: I am not on much of a dossing schedule, but what I am dosing is: Seachem flourish, seachem potassium, seachem nitrogen, and excel. I currently don't have phosphorus. I plan on getting some dry ferts (from rex) and getting on a regular dosing schedule by the end of next week.









Some of the larger leaves of my ludwigia have cracks in them. The cracks seem to be clear. Some of the leaves are also melting. 








A lot of my java fern leaves are browning at the edges and tips and it also has brown spots that slowly enlarge leaving holes in the leaves. Can anyone tell me if this is a good or bad snail?

My val nana is also browning and rotting at the tips and the edges of some of the leaves are dark brown. I am dosing excel (the amount recomended on the bottle) and I have read that vals don't like excel. Could this from the excel, is it a deficiency, or are the older leaves just dying off because of the new environment. I should not that they are putting out new runners and leaves which are growing very quickly and appear to be healthy. 

Some of my HC is browning but it is also putting out new leaves. And the dang shrimp keep pulling it out of the substrate 

Overall I am pleased with the way things are going, and I think the plants will improve once i get on a regular dosing schedule and the tank matures.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for you time and comments:smile:


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## kunerd (Jul 19, 2005)

its a ram. Personaly i think its a good snail. others may not think so


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## BigB (Oct 14, 2005)

Thats a great snail!! It will help combat the brown algae once the population gets a decent size. I have tons in all my tanks and they never harm any plants. The initial outbreak in population size is startling as it will get much to large very fast. After a while the population will level out and stay constant from lack of nutrients for them. Its part of an ecosystem, so why fuss with it just makes the tank more natural.

If you want you could get some sort of puffer in a spare tank for snail population control


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## sNApple (Nov 6, 2005)

i don't see an octopus


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Its hiding in the lower right hand coner. 


Thanks for the advice on the snail. Unfortunately there dont seem to be any more in my aquarium.


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## kunerd (Jul 19, 2005)

im sure if you ask for some people will send em to ya.


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## Jamez (Jul 27, 2007)

The wood looks nice. I think it could be centered a bit more.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Jamez said:


> The wood looks nice. I think it could be centered a bit more.



Thanks Jamez. It would look good centered but I like having a nice open area in the aquarium.


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## Jamez (Jul 27, 2007)

Fair enough octopus.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

*Update*

Its been a month since my last photo up date so I figured its time to put up some new photos. 




























Additions: 2 ottos and I finally got a canister filter (XP3).

Growth has been pretty good except in my HC. I can't seem to get it to do anything. I have also been battling BBA and GDA. The BBA has not been to bad though since I have found a better way to get CO2 into the water. It hasn't completely gone away though. It seemed to show up around the same time that I started dosing EI so I may lower my dosage a bit and see what happens. 

Plan for the scape: once the micro sword fills in on the left I plan on removing the amazon swords. This should create a nice slope from the HC to the micro sword to the val nana but still leaving the left area nice and open. I also plan on taking out the wisteria in the middle eventually as I think it is very distracting and out of place.

Thanks for looking:icon_bigg


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

octopus44 said:


> A lot of my java fern leaves are browning at the edges and tips and it also has brown spots that slowly enlarge leaving holes in the leaves.


This is normal java fern acclimation and reproductive behavior. Nutrients could be an issue, but even with perfect dosing this can happen. Pisses me off because every time I get a nice full java, soon after it turns brown and sprouts tons of pesky babies.


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## Subotaj (Oct 16, 2006)

Nice driftwood.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

jaidexl said:


> This is normal java fern acclimation and reproductive behavior. Nutrients could be an issue, but even with perfect dosing this can happen. Pisses me off because every time I get a nice full java, soon after it turns brown and sprouts tons of pesky babies.


Yeah, the browning was driving me crazy, but since that post its doing fine now. 

Thanks Subotaj, the driftwood is from the roots of a dead tree that was growing over some rocks. Not sure what kind of tree it was though.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

*Update*

I have been posting on here for a while do to school but I figured it was time for an update. 

After waiting for 3 months I finally have fish!
15 Cardinal tetras
5 Black skirt tetras
4 Otos
and one lonely Harlequin rasbora that tagged along with the cardinals

I cant seem to get my hc to grow so that I may try marsilea 
I am also battling BBA and it is driving me crazy. If only pressurized CO2 wasn't so expensive to set up. But until I can afford it I guess I will have to put up with the BBA.

Here are the photos (I need to get a camera that is higher than 2 mega pixels) Comments/criticism is welcome.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Tank looks good  ~~ would be so much more nicer with more carpeting plants  ~~~ I wish I can have a bigger tank like this size`~~


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

shaobo said:


> Tank looks good  ~~ would be so much more nicer with more carpeting plants  ~~~ I wish I can have a bigger tank like this size`~~


Thanks! I completely agree with you and...... 

I planted some marselia minuta today! I am so excited to see this fill out. 

I have been trying to grow HC for the past few months with no luck so I have my fingers crossed for the marselia.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

it should be a lot easier than HC. good luck, i like this plant too!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

I haven't been on here for quite a while due to how busy school has been keeping me. But, due to finals being done and my sister bringing over her very nice camera I decided it was time to post some updates. 

*Time for a trim!*



























*Without black background*


















*Trimming*









*After a small trim*




































I just pulled out most of the pennywort because it was blocking all of the light to the rotala. I also trimmed the rotala so that it can properly fill in under more light. I didn't post pics of this yet because the tank is cloudy due to bubbles from a water change.


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## CobraGuppy (Sep 23, 2007)

wow, very nice tank.

Looks like a jungle


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## fish dork (Jan 13, 2008)

I agree, this tank looks great! Sure a big change from the beginning. I'm on my first planted tank as well and did the same method, adding plants gradually and letting them fill in.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

wow, you have taken the jungle look to the max.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

yeah it kinda got out of control


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

fish dork said:


> I agree, this tank looks great! Sure a big change from the beginning. I'm on my first planted tank as well and did the same method, adding plants gradually and letting them fill in.


Good luck on your tank. Have you posted any pics or specs of your tank on this site yet? I went to the link and your signature but can't see the pictures because I am not a member.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Looks great! I love "jungle" tanks!!
Looks like it's 3 feet deep - front to back! Plans for more Cardinals?


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

roybot73 said:


> Looks great! I love "jungle" tanks!!
> Looks like it's 3 feet deep - front to back! Plans for more Cardinals?


I really want to get more cardinals but I am moving in August to Binghamton, NY so I am going to have to tear down this tank soon  . Just when I was finally getting the hang of planted tanks I have to take it down. On the plus side though it will be very fun to do a new scape!


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## rountreesj (Jun 12, 2007)

Quite nice if I say so mtself. Nice greens...I especially like the ferns


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## fish dork (Jan 13, 2008)

octopus44 said:


> Good luck on your tank. Have you posted any pics or specs of your tank on this site yet? I went to the link and your signature but can't see the pictures because I am not a member.


 
No, but will do right now!! I'll re-link my sig to that thread on this site, sorry bout that!:thumbsup:


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

you may want to control the vallisneria nana there. try it with a barrier of plastic sheet sticking out from the substrate about 3-4 cm. cover with some rocks foa aesthetic.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

wow, i love the jungle feel to this tank, wish mine looked like this!!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

ikuzo said:


> you may want to control the vallisneria nana there. try it with a barrier of plastic sheet sticking out from the substrate about 3-4 cm. cover with some rocks foa aesthetic.


I was easily able to maintain it for a while but it seems that the vallisneria has just started spreading very rapidly. I think I will pull out some more this weekend when I do a water change. Putting in a barrier is a good idea but I don't know if I would like the look of rocks bordering the vals and marselia. 

Thanks for the compliments everyone!


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

Really nice jungle! My favorite part is the plants growing out of the tank.


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

*Trim*

Here is a picture of the tank after a serious trim. It looks a little more like a scape now without the pennywort. Sorry for the dark granulated picture, I have a hard time getting good pictures with my 2 mega pixel camera. 










In case you are wondering, the blank patch in the middle of the marselia is going to be filled in with HC. After about a year of trying I finally have the conditions right to grow HC!


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## Bowles42 (Mar 5, 2008)

The tanks is looking good. I espcially like how the shadows created by the driftwood contrast with the light reflecting off the plant tops. It creates a lot of depth. The variation of textures from left to right also works well.


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## rountreesj (Jun 12, 2007)

If you ever trim out that needle leaf fern...let me know. Nice tank by the way...!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

rountreesj said:


> If you ever trim out that needle leaf fern...let me know. Nice tank by the way...!


I will be selling everything in this tank in July because I am moving. Since you asked I will give you first picks of the Java fern.


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

best 55 gallon I've ever seen!


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

I have to agree with what others have said. This is one of the best 55gal. I've seen in a long time.


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