updated pics of the 55g

[tropicalcrazy]

sorry they are a little blurry they are a mobile upload. but here is what it looks like now with my plants. the java fern is going crazy. also i have a pic of 1 of my yoyo's. couldnt catch 2 or 3 of them together they are just way to fast lol.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

here is a couple more

the minnow was meant as a feeder for my bichir and has survived many attacks and almost eatin multiple times for the last 6 months

 

[jamiejay09]

cool wow lucky minnow !

 

[misterking]

Looking good, are you planning on upgrading at some point? The bichir and bala shark will require a much bigger tank as they grow.

 

[Newman]

yea i think he has planned on moving both out soon. great lookin tank btw. love the new green lighting.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

yeah i know about the bala. the bichirs growth has been stunted at the size hes at for the last year and a half but he is going anyways.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

yea i think he has planned on moving both out soon. great lookin tank btw. love the new green lighting.

thanks didnt expect it to be green it was just the only bulb that i could find around 6700k

 

[paperdog9]

Cool, I'm jealous!

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Cool, I'm jealous!

thanks lot of time and money and your never done but at least now when i get a 180 to 300 and hopefully i can pick one up within the next 6 months i will know what im doing its gonna have natural looking rock on the left side couple pieces of large driftwood for hiding and java fern the center couple small pieces of rock right side a large formation of rocks for hiding then a carpet of hc across the tank with like 5 amazon swords spread about and sevaral vals corkscrew along with a patch of a little taller and thicker grass than dwarf hair grass also gonna run a pressurized c02 system then do a bunch of schools of peaceful fish and probably 25 otos for tending to plants and algae and 10 botia striata loaches for snail control probably couple different dwarf gouramis a couple sharks and a bn pleco

 

[Newman]

i never found snails a problem in my planted tanks...partly cuz w/e i introduce new plants i hunt up and down until i either find their eggs or find the snails themselves and remove em. I try to remove 100% of any pond/trapdoor snails in my tnk when i see them. My 40 has never seen snails by this method, and in my 10 gal i only allow the free blue apple snails to roam about. cant believe i got like 4 of them free with the dwarf sag/HC order theyre so small and cool looking. I'm guessing you have a problem controlling common/trapdoor snails that breed like crazy?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

i never found snails a problem in my planted tanks...partly cuz w/e i introduce new plants i hunt up and down until i either find their eggs or find the snails themselves and remove em. I try to remove 100% of any pond/trapdoor snails in my tnk when i see them. My 40 has never seen snails by this method, and in my 10 gal i only allow the free blue apple snails to roam about. cant believe i got like 4 of them free with the dwarf sag/HC order theyre so small and cool looking. I'm guessing you have a problem controlling common/trapdoor snails that breed like crazy?

i did and they have never fully gone away. though that is my problem and havent tried the best to get rid of them. i just added new filter pads because the old ones were bad. the carbon pads are becoming shot so i need to get new ones but i was gonna let the bacteria fill up on the new filters before i replace so i dont loose all the good stuff. then i need to pull my hang on filters off the back and scrub and fully clean them of snails. inside the tank the yoyos have done a AWESOME job at eating them and riding them inside the tank but the filters are where im having problems with the snails. and when i do a bigger tank i will probably just rinse the plants off them introduce them into tank as long as i have the loaches because the snails will be a good nutritional snack for them then i dont have to feed as much when i first start out. for the most part im gonna know what im doing because the reason my post count is so high is because of asking tons of questions with tons of various things plus i have my 2 years experience so all that will help out a lot. dont get me wrong when i do it you will probably see me on here constantly with updates and asking tons of questions. i noticed how far you have come from asking questions and reading from when you first started on this site. i would say you are really knowledgable now

 

[Newman]

ok, i would say just forget my advice there, because i am not a loach expert, and youve kept them loaches for a while now. it does sound like they will be happiest with snails around, so your plans sound great! might be a bit hard to get a carpet of HC in a huge tank like that because of high lighting req. and CO2 which is hard to do in a huge tank, even w/ commercial systems. But i wish you best of luck on that, and hope to see a cool tank soon!

 

[tropicalcrazy]

ok, i would say just forget my advice there, because i am not a loach expert, and youve kept them loaches for a while now. it does sound like they will be happiest with snails around, so your plans sound great! might be a bit hard to get a carpet of HC in a huge tank like that because of high lighting req. and CO2 which is hard to do in a huge tank, even w/ commercial systems. But i wish you best of luck on that, and hope to see a cool tank soon!

but only certain loaches eat snails but yes they love them. literally if you had 5 loaches in a 55g and all the glass was filled and i mean literally filled to where you cant see the inside of the tank they can rid of them within a couple days

 

[tropicalcrazy]

might be a bit hard to get a carpet of HC in a huge tank like that because of high lighting req. and CO2 which is hard to do in a huge tank, even w/ commercial systems. But i wish you best of luck on that, and hope to see a cool tank soon!

when i saw a 180g that i was wanting it had 2 light bars that i believe were 48" long or maybe they were 2 36" long ones. so all as i would have to do is get the wattage that is needed for the plants that im gonna use. probably do around the 8000k range. for the C02 im gonna buy a pressurized setup meant for a tank that size. there are a couple out there. not saying they are cheap by any means probably set me back around 500 to whatever the more expensive ones run. i think the height was 30" so the lights wouldnt be that far up only about 6 inches from what im doing now from my 55g

 

[Newman]

you want a tip on growin that carpet? i got this idea from a friend of Orangecones'
Plant your HC then keep water level just barely covering the HC, meaning very shallow. itll grow very fast. idk how you would supply CO2 or fert to that but im sure you can figure it out It should give you a full carpet in one-two weeks.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

you want a tip on growin that carpet? i got this idea from a friend of Orangecones'
Plant your HC then keep water level just barely covering the HC, meaning very shallow. itll grow very fast. idk how you would supply CO2 or fert to that but im sure you can figure it out It should give you a full carpet in one-two weeks.

thats some good info thanks. it makes sense. my java fern and moss grow a lot better when in those conditions also. i get a lot of water evaporation so my water levels decrease a lot so it hits the top of that driftwood and cylinder that has the moss in the top of it and it loves the 6700k light i have in there. also i noticed it grows 3 times as fast that way but i hate my water levels that low but i do let them lower down there from time to time

 

[tropicalcrazy]

wow its been awhile since ive been on. i just finally got internet setup at home. otherwise i was using at work and we have been busy lately. well anyways since last there is a lot of change in my tank. here are some new updated pics. this is my latest creation. what do you guys/gals think?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

and some more

 

[Newman]

tank looking great despite the green algae (which is a good sign anyway!) !
your Gourami looks perfectly fine unless it acts weird...

 

[tropicalcrazy]

gourami has been fine. not worried anymore. green algae?? if you are talking about what is covering the castle, that is java moss. it was in ball form but came apart in another tank. i just got a handful. i just like it NOT in ball form. i like the way that it spreads out and can consume things. im hoping i can get a large bunch of it to cover the rocks around the castle, then once attached trim away the castle part and leave the rock part consumed with the moss. hmm, newman havent we been thru this before lol????