# 40g NPT



## Brooklyngal (Jul 24, 2011)

I need to clean out the old tank; planning to keep some of the sludge/sand at the bottom and mix it in with about an inch- an inch and a half of soil. the soil will be put into a bucket about 2/3 full and soaked overnight/drained at least twice.

I'll cap with an inch and a half of either coral slag or (more likely) pool filter sand.

the tank will be heavily planted; I dont have a plant list yet, but I'm working on deciding what plants I want to use.

lighting will be a 24" 2 bulb T5HO centered over the tank, with 2 screw-in florescents on either side to illuminate the shadowed areas.

for stocking, I'm thinking maybe:
1m/3f platies
4-5 youngish angels
8-10 black skirt or serpae tetras (I've heard they dont nip so much in larger groups)
8 false juhli cories

is that a good stocklist? I know the platies will breed soem, but I figure the angels and tetras will hunt down most of the fry.


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## frroK (May 9, 2011)

sounds good to me.. i mean platies poop alot but since u have soil it shouldn't be a problem. i just got a bit of black beauty from someone and i really like it. want to get more. its really black but there are some straight pieces in it, its made out of the same stuff but its not super sharp so i guess its ok. pool filter sand looks nice also, the only thing that i don't like is that you would have to clean it alot since its alot of the gunk will settle on top of it. good luck...any pics yet?


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## Brooklyngal (Jul 24, 2011)

nopics- the tank in its current state is downright depressing. I'm hoping to tear it down after new years. fish will all be going into a bare 10g until i can decide if I want to keep any of them.

I do have a filtratin question- I was planning to use just an aquaclear 70 filter filled with biomedia with a filter sponge over the top as filtration, and rely on the plants for the rest. I'm working on drawing up a plan for planting and a species list.

I'm still debating between stocking some angels and some smaller fish, or doing all smaller species and having a big group of red cherry shrimp, or maybe just having a bunch of larger schoolers like tiger barbs, serpae tetras, and black skirt tetras.


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## frroK (May 9, 2011)

Cool. I look forward to updates. I'm int he process of tearing down my 3.5 gallon nano and setting up an ADA mini-m ingot for Xmas. Going to use the dirt from the old tank and add where needed and capping with black beauty and some fine black gravel from substratesource.com. I'll probably post that up pretty soon


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## Brooklyngal (Jul 24, 2011)

okay, an update on my plan:

as far as I can tell, I'll have medium light (2 24" T5HO centered over the tank, with 2 13-20watt screw-in florescents at either end to illuminate the shaded areas).

I think I'm going to have 2 2L (and maybe 1 1L as well) DIY CO2 bottles diffused via a powerhead changed about every 2 weeks (ish). 

substrate will be 1-1.5" of miracle grow organic choice potting mix, capped with and inch to an inch and a half of small grain gravel (pool filter sand, if I can find it).

stocking will probably end up being moderate to heavy, mostly to all smaller fish although I'll probably have a few dwarf cichlids and maybe some larger gouramis or some angels.

this is my (tentative) plant list thus far (plants with * are those I'm most on the fence about):
FORGROUND:
anuias nana tied to small rocks
pygmy chain sword (E. tenellus)
*some crypto parva

FORGROUND/MIDGROUND:
dwarf sag

MIDGROUND:
crypt wendtii (various morphs)
*cryp beckettii
*crypt willsii
various java fern morphs tied to wood/smaller rocks
*anubias coffeefolia
cardamine lyrata

BACKGROUND:
crypt spiralia
red tiger lotus
*bacopa caroliana
rotala rotundifolia
ludwiga repens
wisteria or water sprite
asian ambula

FLOATING
hornwort
*brazillian moneywort
dwarf water lettuce
salvinia
probably red root floater
(undoubtedly some duckweed will make it in)

hopefully I'll have a rough sketch of where I want to put what by tomorrow; as soon as I do I'll post it!


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## Brooklyngal (Jul 24, 2011)

okay, I have a rough plan for planting now. I've been drafting this over and over; I'm not 100% sure on the species, but it's a starting point...








1- Water Sprite
2- Crypt wendtii
3- Crypt spiralis
4- Asian Ambulia
5- Red Tiger Lotus
6- E. tenellus
7- Anubias nana
8-Ludwiga repens
9- Rotala rotundifolia
10- brazillian moneywort and/or Cardamine lyrata
11- Dwarf Sag
12- Wood (with various Microsorum pteropus morphs and bolbitis heudelotii)
13- Budha statue (http://www.petco.com/product/104119/Petco-Buddha-Standing-Aquarium-Decor.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch) which will have some anubias nana attached to its base

excuse the badly drawn numbers, I had to draw them in backwards for them to be legible in the photo.

so- any input on that?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

This is a very complex planting plan, with 13 species in a 40 gallon tank. It is very unlikely that you will be able to keep all of them within the small, discreet areas on your drawing. Especially problematic will be the fast-growing plants with runners: dwarf sagittaria, E. tenellus, Brazilian moneywort, and Cardamine lyrata.

But that may be OK. I often start a tank with more species than I want or expect to have in the final layout. Some will not grow, some will grow too well and become pests. For example, I started with 10 species in a 20 gallon. Now I am down to 6, and may remove one more. In my 40 I started with 10 species, and now I am down to 7. Both of these tanks are in what I consider near-final form, where the design is stable and easily maintained.


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## Brooklyngal (Jul 24, 2011)

ok, I narrowed down the list some more:








1- Water Sprite or Wisteria
2- Asian Ambulia (or similar plant)
3- Crypt spiralis
4- Cardamine lyata or moneywort
5- red tiger lotus
6- rotala rotundifolia
7- E. tenellus or dwarf sag
8- Crypt wendtii
9- wood w/ java fern and possibly anubias coffeefolia (I think that's what its called)
10- budha statue
11- anubias nana

plus floating hornwort (which will probably be removed eventually), salvinia, and dwarf water lettue

I'l undoubtedly end up removing the species which aren't doing as well as I'd like or are doing too well; I'm going to start off with fairly sparse planting (as in a good 1-1.5" between each individual plant) and see what does well. I'll rely on trimming and re-planting to populate the tank, and probably end up getting more of whatever does well to replace what doesnt quite fit in.

also- I'll probably let the ground cover fill in the substrate completely, eventually, but for now I'm not going to try to cover the whole bottom. that will come later.


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## frroK (May 9, 2011)

Well thought out plan.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Much better! 

I'll make one more suggestion. Your red tiger lotus will take up a lot more space than you show. I would take it out and just use the C. wendtii. Or, take out the C. wendtii and let the dwarf sag grow right up to the base of the lotus. Personally, I like both species a lot, so this is a tough call.

The dwarf sag/E. tenellus will rapidly fill the foreground once it takes off.

I look forward to seeing the tank when it matures.


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## nkambae (Nov 6, 2007)

You may want to rethink your plan to use Limnophila sessiflora as it is listed by the feds (and many states as well) as a noxious weed.

http://law.justia.com/cfr/title07/7-5.1.1.1.17.0.57.2.html

"Federal noxious weeds are listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, title 7, section 360.200. According to the Federal Noxious Weed Act, Title 7, Chapter 61, section 2803, federal noxious weeds may not be imported into or through the United States, unless in accordance with conditions allowed by the USDA-APHIS. The sale, purchase, exchange, or receipt of federal noxious weeds is illegal. For more information contact: Kevin Conners, USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), at 612-725-1722 or [email protected]."

Also, with leaves over two feet long, a Cryptocoryne spiralis might be a bit big for a 40 gallon. They can be trimmed but the plant might not be as attractive with the ends chopped off. There is a dwarf C. spiralis available where the leaves don't grow much more than a foot long or so. Good luck.

stu


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