• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

40gallon

ICPjuggla

Seedling
Joined
12 Mar 2009
Messages
12
I'm new here so I though I would put up some pic's of my tank and start a journal..

Tank: 40gallon H
Substrate: regular gravel
Lights: corallife T5 2 x 21w, T8 1 x 18w
Filter: emperor bio-wheel
Ferts: EI

Critters
2- Sword tails
1- Blue garami
3- 5lined barbs
3- Rasbaras
3- Rummynose
1- cat fish (not sure of the name but it dosen't get bigger than 4inchs)
1- Daneo
1- Clown pleco
1- SAE
1- Roticulated loch
3- Hatchet fish
2- Ottos
Sorry if I misspelled the fish names not sure of the correct spelling

Plants
Not sure of the names yet of all the plants, I'm still new at this planted tank thing but not new to keeping fish.. I was told at the LFS that all the plants I have will do fine with 1.5w per gallon.

How the tank started out about 4years ago.
OldLayout.jpg

How the tank looks as of today. It's still a little clowdy from the gravel change and re scape..
NewBest.jpg


Comments Welcome!!
 
Well done for ditching that blue gravel ! Looking good, are the Rasboras 4 years old ? they look really healthy.

best wishes T
 
Hi there and welcome. I really like the arrangement of your large pebbles, they work really well.
I can see a few problems with the plants though, I have no idea what the stem is that is planted around the front right piece of bog wood? Either way, if it is a stem then in that position, when it grows it'll look quite strange being so far forward with nothing behind it?
If it were me, i'd make a choice as to what i wanted in the background, the Rotala or C. Balansae, IMO the two won't mix well.

Also CO2, do you use any?

Anyway, nice tank 8)
 
you have a lot of species of fish but in very small numbers. when they gradually die off you can then start to change this. (optional of course~!)

3- Rasboras
3- Rummynose up these to at least 5 each, dont buy any more danios and hatchet fish. it will look much better with a larger amount of one or two species than a few of ots of species.
 
TBRO said:
Well done for ditching that blue gravel ! Looking good, are the Rasboras 4 years old ? they look really healthy.

best wishes T

Thank you the Rasboras are about 3 years old.


Dan Crawford said:
Hi there and welcome. I really like the arrangement of your large pebbles, they work really well.
I can see a few problems with the plants though, I have no idea what the stem is that is planted around the front right piece of bog wood? Either way, if it is a stem then in that position, when it grows it'll look quite strange being so far forward with nothing behind it?
If it were me, i'd make a choice as to what i wanted in the background, the Rotala or C. Balansae, IMO the two won't mix well.

Also CO2, do you use any?

Anyway, nice tank

Thank you for your comments. This tank is my 1st real scape so, I'm sure some of the plants will change with time.. Also I plan on adding some plants this week to fill some of the free space that was left over from the rescape.. I also plan on switching the background to a black one...

No CO2 is added to the tank I do use the EI method to fertilize dry frets.


Nick16 said:
you have a lot of species of fish but in very small numbers. when they gradually die off you can then start to change this. (optional of course~!)

3- Rasboras
3- Rummynose up these to at least 5 each, dont buy any more danios and hatchet fish. it will look much better with a larger amount of one or two species than a few of ots of species.
Regards,
Nick

The tank was just a basic community untill I started to dive into the scaping aspect. I have been keeping fish for about 18years but I have never really keept a lot of plants just a few here and there.. I have also tryed saltwater with much success that just got way to expensive for me.. So, with that being said over time I will prob. let some of the fish die off and go with a few species instead of a lot of difrent one's.. I do have a 55gallon set up but I plan on geting ride of it soon to get a new tank. I'm looking to get a 75gallon or a 120gallon.. I've really got the bug for planted tanks... So, it would not make much sense to stick the fish in the 55 b/c it's going to be gone soon...
 
ICPjuggla said:
No CO2 is added to the tank I do use the EI method to fertilize dry frets.

With EI comes regular large water changes.
If you are not adding CO2 (be it pressurised, DIY, or a carbon liquid like EasyCarbo etc) then you will get CO2 swings with every water change. (As there is more CO2 in the tap water than in the tank)
This in turn is likely to induce some algae (most likely BBA).

I would recommend adding CO2 (well worth the investment IMHO) and keeping with EI or stopping the water changes.
The dosing frequency\amounts differs with both methods, but you can still dose dry ferts whichever method you choose.

EDIT - good start by the way! :D
 
a1Matt said:
ICPjuggla said:
No CO2 is added to the tank I do use the EI method to fertilize dry frets.

With EI comes regular large water changes.
If you are not adding CO2 (be it pressurised, DIY, or a carbon liquid like EasyCarbo etc) then you will get CO2 swings with every water change. (As there is more CO2 in the tap water than in the tank)
This in turn is likely to induce some algae (most likely BBA).

I would recommend adding CO2 (well worth the investment IMHO) and keeping with EI or stopping the water changes.
The dosing frequency\amounts differs with both methods, but you can still dose dry ferts whichever method you choose.

EDIT - good start by the way! :D


So what you are saying is I should add a pressurised system to my set up!. The only problem is I don't have the money right now, I have been saving up though.. Can I just add the EasyCarbo along with the rest of my dry ferts?.. Also, what days should I be adding the EasyCarbo in my dosing schedule?

Mon. Enjoy tank
Tue. Enjoy tank
Wen. 20% water change. add Macros
Thur.Trace
Fri. Macros
Sat. Trace
Sun. Enjoy tank

Light is left on for about 10hours a day!! 1.5 watts per gallon..

This is what I have been doing for about 3weeks now!! Any help would be welcome!!
 
Pressurised CO2 is lovely, I ran it for about two years on my tank and was really pleased with the results. I would recommend the outlay. Non CO2 is also good though, it is just a case of working out what you want and picking a method that works with that.

I went for daily dosing when I was running my tank EI, but your schedule looks fine to me. The baseline EI figures include a 50% WC and you have a 20% WC, I would increase the size of your watechanges. You might get away with 20% but 50% is definitely a safer bet.

If you are still changing using buckets then switch to a hose system as soon as you can! (check out the water changer posts in the DIY forum). With hoses the time and effort is minimal even if you change 90% :)

As to the Easycarbo dosing.... I have never used it so wouldn't be confident making a recomendation on dosing... I'd hazard an educated guess that you can chuck it in along with the ferts and on the same schedule without any problems. Daily might be better though as your carbon levels will then not dip on the 3 days it isn't dosed. I'll let someone else advise on that.

I hope my rambling is of some help!
 
Hi,
I'd advise daily Excel dosing per bottle recommendation to start off with and adjust as necessary.

Cheers,
 
ceg4048 said:
Hi,
I'd advise daily Excel dosing per bottle recommendation to start off with and adjust as necessary.

Cheers,


So will the Excel take the place of not having C02, until I can afford to buy a pressurized system??
 
Yes it will :)

If I remember rightly...

growth rates with a carbon supplement (i.e. Excel) are about 3 times non Co2.
Pressurised can give 5-10x growth rates.
So think of it as halfway between non-Co2 and fully pressurised Co2.
 
a1Matt said:
Yes it will :)

If I remember rightly...

growth rates with a carbon supplement (i.e. Excel) are about 3 times non Co2.
Pressurised can give 5-10x growth rates.
So think of it as halfway between non-Co2 and fully pressurised Co2.


Nice, thank you for the info greatly appreciated. I'm going to get some Excel 2day and start using it with my ferts... I'm also planning on picking up the black background 2day and a few other things.. I'll try to put up an update when I get it all done..
 
Your welcome. You can try Excel, or Easy Carbo, or Aqua Essentials carbon supplement (I forgot the name of it). They all do the same thing :)
 
A few updates on my tank. Got a few more plants and switched out the background to black. Also took the blue Garami out and got 5 Amano shrimp. I haven't seen the shrimp once since the 1st day I put them in and that was Thursday, not sure if thats normal?. I also started adding Excel to the tank since I have no C02 yet.. I'm planning on getting a new filer soon what do you all suggest?


IMG_1213.jpg


IMG_1216.jpg
 
I have thought about it for a few days and have decided to go with Eheim classic brand of external filter..
What Eheim do I need for my 40gallon tank? Also when I switch my filters out will it cause any problems? Or should I run both filters for a month on the tank so there will be ample time to get the new filter established, or is that over kill?
 
personally i'd run them both together but put some of the mature media in the new filter along with the new media just to give it a kick start.
just my opinion,im sure others have different ideas.

cheers dave
 
Has any of you heard of a Hillstream loach eating adult Amano shrimp? I thought the Hillstream was a sucker loach living off algae!


Here is a picture of my little guy!
Hillstream.jpg
 
Up date on the shrimp situation, its been almost 2weeks since the shrimp were put into the tank. Finally a few days ago some of the shrimp have started to come out and explore..
 
amanos always hide when they fitst go into a new tank, that is why it is advisable to have some nooks they can hide in. also, when the shed their exoskeleton they hide for a few days as they are 'vunerable'
 
Back
Top