arcab4's 60 gallon planted tank adventure

Nov 19, 2008
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Des Moines, Iowa
#23
t8's produce 30% more light than t5's but t5's are mainly used.

BEAUTIFUL OLD TANK

i like the look of the new one. i think if you leave what you have for plants in their and do a carpet of some sort, that would look smooth

cant wait to see the final setup, im working hard on my 16g then when im satisfied im ripping down the 55g and starting over from scratch. i think when i do that tank, i will do a nice open setup like your old tank. a couple rock pieces with a nice beautiful green carpet

one thing ive learned that when you put the florite in, if the tank is dirty, float some floating plants and they will catch a TON of debris and clear your tank faster
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
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Sunny Southern California
#26
thanks! to answer some questions....

this tank will be more natural and low maintenance. it's at my parent's house so it needs to be easy to take care of. I want it to the point where it just looks natural with plants and stuff everywhere. i don't think i'll be able to get that carpet look like my old tank (cause that was co2 high light etc) so i ordered some java moss and will try that out and see what happens.

i think maybe if i do a fw planted tank at my house, i might go back to the more precise look like my old tank (with c02 etc etc).

ya..the laced madagascar is my favorite...i was surprised at the size of it so hopefully it does well in the tank.

okay..thanks for all the comments! back to researching on some lighting choices...going to go with either the 2x55 watt setup from ahsupply (that i used b4 but i can't find it anymore) and run 1x55 for 4 hours..then another 1x55 for the last 4 hours...or a t5 setup somewhere.
 

Nov 19, 2008
702
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0
Des Moines, Iowa
#27
if doing low maintenance, as long as you arent getting any fish that dig or burry themselves, micro sword is a very hardy plant and doesnt necessarily require co2. ive known ppl to grow nice carpets without co2. although co2 is a miracle worker for plants it can grow without
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
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Sunny Southern California
#28
yea..i've had some before..will look for that and try it out.

just doing some lighting research..but they don't sell t5 lighting as a single setup do they? everything i've found is 2x55watt...no 1x55watt. afraid 2x55 watt will be too much lighting for the tank.
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
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Sunny Southern California
#29
another quick photo update. added a few more plants. baby guppies are getting a tad bit bigger. can't count how many cause they're hiding or just too fast.

ended up getting a lighting fixture at my LFS as you can see in the picture. ended up being a 2x30watt system. so hopefully that's enough.



 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
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Sunny Southern California
#34
thanks everyone. there's a reason why most of the plants are on the right side..it's where the substate is deeper.

some of the plants are potted...others are just stems...held together by a metalish band...do you guys remove it? i'm having a bit of trouble getting the stems to stay into the substrate.
 

Aug 16, 2009
1,318
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SW Pennsylvania
#35
The band will be fine if you leave it alone. I remove it when the plants grow strong enough roots to stay in the sand by themselves. I have two bands on my water wisteria at the moment. You can save the bands in case you ever have to anchor down the plant clippings that you want to grow new roots.
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
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Sunny Southern California
#36
thanks for the tip. for one of the plants, i left it on but didn't cover it up much so once the roots take hold, i'll remove the band then.

originally the light came with a single actnic light bulb...good for saltwater but not for planted so i got it replaced with just another day glo bulb.

here's a picture of it before and after.

 

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arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
48
46
Sunny Southern California
#37
a quick update...the baby guppies are growing and i'm finding a few other new ones. really interesting to see them swim around.

as expected..algae is starting to be a problem so my LFS gave me these pl*cos...can anyone ID them? forgot what they were called.

also some plants i ordered off the bay came in from overseas...if you're ordering moss and whatnot, it's much easier if it's already attached to some wires (see the peacock moss in the picture in the background) than having it loose...and don't buy pellia. omg...it just exploded in the tank and went everywhere. had to use some mesh and tie them all together.
 

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achase

Large Fish
Feb 1, 2010
765
0
0
British Columbia, Canada
#38
I like those plecos but I have no idea what they are called. They remind me of dragonflies!
Where did you order your plants from? I'm not familiar with "the bay"...besides it being a clothing store in Canada. Or did you mean ebay?