Crazybob's First Planted Tank

[Crazybob]

hey guys, so i finally got my planted tank up and running, thanks to everyone who helped me out with everything that i needed.

so like i said, its a 75g, im using a 48" florescent with a florasun (32watt) and a 48" aqualight t5 that has a 65000k and an actinic bulb on it (tho im not sure of the wattage as i got it from a friend.

for filtration i have an emperor 400 and a cascade 700. the emperor just has 2 foam pieces for mech filtration and the 2 biowheels, and the cascade and a foam piece at the bottom and 2 layers of biomedia.

i have 1.5" of flourite with another .5-.75" of a small pebble gravel for substrate

right now i am only using florapride to fert, but i am going to a hydroponics shop tomo to see if they have any dry ferts i can get as the only other places are online at the uk (im in the us and haent found anyone with them) and i feel the shipping costs would be outrageous.

as far as co2 goes im currently trying a diy yeast mix with 4 2 liter bottles connected to each other. it doesnt seem to be working tho as i dont feel any pressure on the bottles. i ofund a recipe on a website to use 3/4c sugar, 6c water, and 1/2ts yeast. does anyone know if there is a better recipe to use? ill mention that i do plan on doing pressurized with a fire extinguisher when i get the money for all the parts, but for now this needs to do.

okay, so in the tank i have some red ludwigia, money wart, ambulia, corkscrew val, dwarf hairgrass, and dwarf baby tears. and i have 9 flame tetras. i had 10 but i think one got sucked in the intake tube of my canister filter


i think thats about it for now. when i figure out how to put up pictures ill be sure to do it

 

[Crazybob]

this is the stand i built which was a primary reason it took me so long to get my tank going lol. i wasnt able to work on it except like 6 hours a week, but im very happy with how it turned out

this is my tank right after i finished filling.... perfectly clear lol

and finally the tank a day or so after filling

the last pic is my current co2 setup. all of the bottles are connect and run to a bubble counter that then goes to a power head in my tank.

 

[bordercollie05]

Cool tank so far! As for dry ferts check out http/www.bestaquariumregulator.com/ferts.html. It's Rex Grigg's site. I ordered from him (I'm in the US too) and it went well.


Laura

 

[aaronnorth]

this should turn out well if you absorbed all that info you asked about

 

[lljdma06]

okay, so in the tank i have some red ludwigia, money wart, ambulia, corkscrew val, dwarf hairgrass, and dwarf baby tears. and i have 9 flame tetras. i had 10 but i think one got sucked in the intake tube of my canister filter

It's a good start, you'll need more plants, though, a lot more. Especially if you are trying ferts and CO2. Shame about the flame tetra. Sometimes those filters can be pretty powerful.

llj

 

[Crazybob]

hey guys, its been a while since i was on but ive been having tank issues lol. one of my t5 bulbs burnt out and i havent been able to get a replacement yet, and ive had a difficult time adjusting my co2. tho i think ive got it settled as im just going to order the bulb online since the store doesnt seem to be ordering and im replacing the co2 mixture in a bottle every 3 days in order to try and maintain a steady output.

most of my moneywart has died off, but i got some new plants in yesterday. i picked up amazon compacta (with a number of runners on it), crypt. wendti, amazon sword plantlets, aponegeton boivianus, and crypt. balansae.

i had a couple of questions about them tho. with the aponegeton, do i plant the bulb under the soil or above it? i have it completely submerged right now.

and for the crypts. should the rhyzomes be above or below the substrate? i also have thos under at the moment.

i am off the the fish place again to get some more plants, and maybe a few fish. ill be on later with some pics and things.

thanks guys

 

[Crazybob]

CRAZYBOB IS ALIVE! haha

hey guys, sorry its been so long since ive been online. my computer died over the summer and i havent been able to get a new one until last week. but i have been taking some pics of my tank to show the progress of the tank. unfortunately however my lights burnt out and i havent been able to replace them so im running on only 1 48" florasun bulb. also i ran out of ferts, and am waiting to get dry ferts from rex griggs..... so all in all my tank isnt doing too well in terms of plantlife. all my fish are doing well tho, including both my blue rams and kribensis laying eggs. the rams ate their eggs and the kribs just layed them yesterday and are guarding them well, so i may be seeing fry in a little while. anyway, im going to start uploading some pics and ill try and post in a little bit.


crazybob 8)

 

[Crazybob]

hey guys, here are some older pics of my tank, since these were taken i have rearranged things because i thought that setup looked a little hogpoged and i wanted it to look a little more natural.

and another one...

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[Crazybob]

thats about it for now. like i said this is my old set up, things are moved around a little, but the plants arent doing so well atm since i have very low lighting and no ferts besides whats in the soil (im using flourite). but i ordered some dry powders, and i am going to order 2 new 48" t5 bulbs in the next few days. i am also expecting to order a co2 regulator system and make a fire extinguisher system in the near future as well, assuming things go as expected.

so hopefully my tank will start to turn around and i will have a very nice aquarium.

 

[Crazybob]

hey guys,
well i picked up a co2 tank (5lb) and 2 new t5's today. i should be able to get some pics up in the next day or so. im currently doing about 2-3 b/s. im going to test in a cpl hours to measure the lvls. anyway ill keep in touch.

crazybob