Planted Community Hex Tank

[se-r altima]

Hello,
I am new to the forum and wanted to post a few pictures of my 42 gallon Oceanic Hex tank. I have owned this tank for 22 years and have cared for fresh water, salt water and now a planted tank. Please feel free to comment.
Cheers,

Hope to plant more in the tank

Cardinals, Black Neons, Serpae Tetra's

Not scratches on glass but air bubbles using longer exposure photo

Simese Algae eater loves to perch

15 year old Red Tail (Shark-ie)

 

[se-r altima]

I run a Magnum 350 with the micron filter, Duetto 100 and an under gravel with lift tubes. The Community tank has a good selection of fish including a red tail that is 15 years old, simese algae eater with a personality, he likes to perch and bounces when talked to, cardinal tetras, Black Neon tetras, cory cats, serpae tetras and one other tetra. A few different plants are doing good in the tank with just an 18in light but the bulb is a reptile uvb daylight bulb. It seems to help the plants grow better. I try and remember to change the bulb every year to year and a half as it seems to be important for the correct spectrum light it emits. I just cleaned the tank after some kid poured 2 containers of fish food in the tank. ugh, almost killed them but I pulled out the life saving multiple water and filter changes just in time. Luckily no losses. Here are a few more pictures.

Enjoy

 

[Kiara1125]

Lovely!! I love how well you keep this tank!! I also love your tetras and your red tailed black shark.

 

[MdngtRain]

Cool. I'm impressed on the age of the red tail. Congrats. Its looking good

 

[se-r altima]

Tank's so much!
Shark-ie is the name the nieces thought up and well it suites him well. He sometimes will pick a fight with the Siemese Algae eater and then the Siemese will try and give the armor plated cory's a little business but they only seem to act up when it's feeding time. Amazing how agressive they get when they smell the food. Like blood in the water. Ill try and get a few pictures of them. They are a unique species of cory cat with their markings.

I'll pull the plant name sticks and write the names of the plants because they must be hardy to live in deep water. Bet they would do well in most tanks. Between the snails and hawkstar (siemese) eating the edges of the amazon sword the rest are thriving. That Siemese reminds me of an old salt water Hawaiian Red flame hawk fish in his behavior I used to have. Here's a picture in the same hex tank as saltwater. 1991 I think. Moved to a 75 gallon salt eventually.

Here is when I had discus in the same 42 Hex. Shark-ie was around when the Discus ruled the tank. Love that shark. 1995

Cheers.

 

[KcMopar]

Nice set-ups you have had in the past and now! Most of those florescent lights loose most of their red spectrum with-in about 3-6 months if burning them at 16-18 hours a day. You could see better plant growth with more frequent bulb changes but, maybe not if you have shorter burn periods. Those corals you had look amazing!!!!!

 

[se-r altima]

Thank you Kc. Actually the light is on 24-7. Damn Oceanic ballast with no starter. From what I have read the blue spectrum goes first and the color shifts to the red spectrum. At least when it comes to HID lights. Maybe the far end of the red goes also. You are right about changing the bulbs often and is probably one of the most over looked items people forget to do. Usually that is when the bad algae's start to grow every where. That's why the reptile UVB lights work well for plant growth. They produce a higher quantity of low nanometer spectrum close to 280 to 320nm light. Like the actinic bulbs (420nm) but lower.

Thank's for the nice comments on the corals. They were really nice and expanded 3 times there size. The clowns used to play in the gonapora tenticales. It was awesome to watch.

 

[KcMopar]

Those HID's look good for sure!! Much better then most florescent do. I was unaware how the HID's shift with age. I have played around a lot with the florescent type with algae growth in my scrubber and have noticed the growth drops off sharply after about 3-4 months. I have since upgraded a couple of my tanks to some DIY 3 watt LED's. Boy, do those make the colors pop!!!! The LED's still hold over 80% percent of their spectrum after 10 years so I think these might become very popular in the future.

 

[se-r altima]

Agree about those led lights. They are really nice. Love to get a bunch of the ones on strips they use in cars because they are inexpensive and see what they will do. I know you can get really bright ones but unsure of the intensity/ color spectrum they emit.

Here are the common names of the plants in the freshwater setup.
I have been having good luck with them even in 18inches of water.

Bronze Wendth- kind of has a reddish bronze look and is rooting like crazy (grows well)
Lutea- Very green and healthy rooting and has new leaf growth (Like it and would buy more)
Hygrophila Kompakt- Small compact plant has small roots but is very nice in appearence (very cool looking see above)
Amazon Sword- does just ok in the tank but the Siemese algae eater snacks on the sides of the leaves.

Really want to try one called Dwarf Baby Tears.
Check it out.

 

[KcMopar]

Check out rapidled.com for DIY LED stuff. I have made a few purchases from them.

 

[se-r altima]

Check out rapidled.com for DIY LED stuff. I have made a few purchases from them.

I would have checked it out and still might for more light if needed.
Went to thatfishplace today and picked up a few new plants. Chinese ivy, Mint Charlie, Giant Temple and Narrow Leaf Ludwig. Gonna try Flourish excel for growth. Already using the regular Flourish. I replaced the bulb with a reef sun 50/50 6500K and grabbed a new led 24 inch light for the plants. This one is expandable. Its a mix of 15 10,000K white led's and 15 460nm blue led's. It is a good amount of light for just 9.5 watts. There was a much brighter one but was out of the price range I was willing to spend. I'm thinking I might be able to add strips to my exsisting hood if I need more light. Just want to make sure the power source is safe if I go that route.
I'll get some pictures up soon. *PEACE!*

 

[KcMopar]

Check out my new post of the DIY light I built. http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/do-yourself/64534-diy-led-lights.html#post615260

 

[se-r altima]

New Plants

Here are the new plants I picked up today.
Mint Charlie (Clinopodium brownei) -Also known as Ground Ivy and Browne's Savory, this plant is native to marshlands in the south.

Chinese Ivy (Cardamine lyrata) -This plant is an abundant wild marsh plant in Asia thriving in the water and around it. Chinese Ivy has fine, angular stems and graceful pale green foliage. It often grows water roots from the stems.

Giant Temple (Hygrophila corymbosa) -"Giant Temple" or "Giant Hygro", is popular and has several cultivated varieties Some have broader leaves while others are more narrow. (Mine seems to be broad leaf.) Most do not have roots but may grow roots in time. They can be easily pruned by trimming the stalk at the desired height.

Narrowleaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia palustris) -The Narrowleaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia palustris) has reddish-green leaves that are narrow and elongated.

 

[se-r altima]

Here are a few pictures that turned out good.
You can see how bright the new led lights are in this shot with the new reef sun 6500K bulb.
The color of the fish is now intense and vibrant.
Most of these pictures were set with an ISO of 400. The last 2 was an ISO of 50 with the white balance set to sunny day.

 

[se-r altima]

Cory Cats with nice coloring

Here is one of the cory cats with the nice markings. I am not 100% if they are Elegant or Leopard Cory cats.
Look like the Elegant Cory (Corydoras elegans) -Example of people catching in the wild: *GOLDFISH*
"Found near little stream about a mile inland from the Rio Orosa, a tributary of the Peruvian segment of the Amazon. Found in about 12 inches of actual water. The rest was a bed of dead leaves and lower down a grey and orange clay. The stunning colouration of the fish when pulled from the murky water. They were positively shining. The fish had amber fins and the colouration along the flanks of the fish was captivating."

Here are a few more pictures of the vibrant color on the cardinal tetras.

Shark-ie Swimming in the plants.

Serpae tetra, cool photo. LED light is bright.

 

[KcMopar]

That looks real Good!!!! The LED's real make a huge difference in any tank.

 

[se-r altima]

That looks real Good!!!! The LED's real make a huge difference in any tank.

Here is one of the cory cats with the nice markings. I am not 100% if they are Elegant or Leopard Cory cats.
Look like the Elegant Cory (Corydoras elegans)

The led's definitely make a difference.
I checked out the cory cats and it looks like the new smaller one is Corydoras trilineatus. Leopard Cory. It is commonly mistaken for Corydorus julii, but can be distinguished by the larger amount of black on the dorsal fin and the head markings.
It helps clean with the other two elegant cory's. I'll try and get a picture up soon if he will stay still. Some of the others almost pose for the camera.

 

[se-r altima]

I treated the tank with Mericide because of a few Black neon fish having minor ich. Seems to be in the distributors water. Common this time of year. Mericide is plant safe medication and so hit the tank with 3 doses over 5 days. Might throw it in 2 more times if I see anything rear it's ugly head. One black neon has something under his lip, right below it still.
On a good note I added a few more live plants.
Water Primrose (ludwigia Palustris, wider leaf version), Rotala Indica with bluish/purple flowers, New Zealand Micro sword lilaepsis brasiliensis, cryptocoryne (the genus is naturally distributed in tropical regions of Asia and New Guinea.) Mine says Asia. Also got 2 others not labeled and a small cut of another. I'll get a few pictures up soon. Another note about the plants in the tank already. Love the Hygrophila Corymbosa Kompakt, Growing slowly but steady. Lutea cryptocoryne is great. The Bronze wendtii is chuging along but the amazon sword needed to be pruned back for dieing leaves.

 

[se-r altima]

The led's definitely make a difference.
I checked out the cory cats and it looks like the new smaller one is Corydoras trilineatus. Leopard Cory. It is commonly mistaken for Corydorus julii, but can be distinguished by the larger amount of black on the dorsal fin and the head markings.
I'll try and get a picture up soon if he will stay still.

Here is the small Corydoras trilineatus. Leopard Cory.

 

[se-r altima]

On a good note I added a few more live plants.

Water Primrose (ludwigia Palustris, wider leaf version),

Rotala Indica with bluish/purple flowers

New Zealand Micro sword lilaepsis brasiliensis

cryptocoryne (the genus is naturally distributed in tropical regions of Asia and New Guinea.) Mine says Asia.

Also got 2 others not labeled and a small cut of another.