# 4 feet of blessed rapture



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

hi all,
back in may i was given an old 48x18x13 tank by a few very good mates for my 21st birthday. since then i have slowly been collecting the rest of the components, until finally this week i was able to fill it with water and set it up in my living room.

i got the stand from st kilda aquarium. its their budget stand made from pine. i stained it myself with a colour called "english mahogany" then finished it with a few coats of clear gloss.



















i put a layer of peat down first to go under the substrate:










i used 4x9kg bags of eco complete. after laying the first bag, poured in a bucket of mulm and filter squeezings from my 2 foot tank.










layed the other three bags then filled the tank:



















and then my lights arrived this morning, a 4x55watt aqualina compact fulorescent unit. i am only running 2 of the 4 tubes tho because i dont have co2 up and running yet and understand hight light+no co2=algae. correct?










anybody have any suggestions, questions, etc?


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

hi all,
this week i went to visit a friend of a friend who it turns out is quite a plant expert, with eight massive tanks full of lots of lovely stem plants. he loaded me up with a backpack full of plants including hygrophila polysperma var tropica sunset, heteranthera zosterifolia, a couple a swords, some dwarf sag, and a ton of other cool plants.

this is the tank right after planting:









and a couple of days later:


















i also got 4 corydoras pandas during the week:









the tank is still unfiltered (but with airstones) but will shortly have an eheim 2213 that is currently being used on a 2 foot that will soon be dismantled. the inhabitants from this 2 foot tank (an angel, a BN and some rummeynose tetras) will be relocated into this new 4 foot tank when i install the filter. do you guys think a 2213 will be enough for this tank?

i realised the night before last that there are about 8-10 baby fish hanging out at the surface of the tank! unfortunantly they are too small to photograph but i think they are probably rainbow fry of somekind but i guess only time will tell what species they are. they must have come in with the plants, how cool is that?! dunno if a cycling tank is the best environment for rainbow fry but ill chuck some liquifry and frozen bbs in and see if they survive. any other advice?

there are a number of plants which i was told but have forgotten the names of so ill post pics of them here shortly, itd be great if you guys could help me out with info about them.


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Looks nice bro. That looks like a happy cory


----------



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Looks great. I think it looks really cool in that room you have it in, with the brick and hardwood floor. 

One thing though, I really liked your driftwood setup, and it kinda disappeared when planted. I guess its very early and you could always trim and rescape. Perhaps put some red plants in there.


----------



## Tankman (Feb 19, 2006)

Looks gr8, keep it up


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

bad news, 
just found two dead cories. 
here are the water parameters: 
ph:7.5+ 
kh:3dkh 
gh:5dkh 
NH3/NH4:<0.1ppm 
N:5ppm 
P:0.1ppm 

the worrying one is the ph i think. i always had really soft water with a low ph in this suburb. i have only been in this particular house a short time, but assumed that the water would also be soft and like 6.5-7ph. is it possible that two different houses have different water chemistry when they are in the same suburb? ill leave some water out to out gas the co2 tonight and then test it tomorrow for ph, kh, gh. 

of course the other possibilty is that there is something in the tank creating this, ie the eco complete. i have heard of ppl getting hard water as a result of using eco.


----------



## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

Oh no! So sorry to hear about those cories. They looked so sweet in your tank. You took such a great photo of them it was making me want to go out and find some c. pandas too! 

I hope you can figure this out soon. Are those tiny fry still there? If they're not having a problem might not be the parameters, might be the cories.


----------



## DubSack (Mar 20, 2006)

if you have a ph of 7.5 and your KH is 3, your not injecting co2. that gives you roughly 3 ppm co2. 

If you are injecting co2, something in your tank is buffering your PH. Wood maybe? 

and Yes, it is possible to have different water qualities in the same city


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

time for an update,
firstly, does anyone know what species these fish are? they are the babies that came in with the plants, the biggest of which are now about 5-7mm long.


















from memory, the tank the plants came from had many tetras, many different rainbows, and golden panchax. i figure the fry are one of these species. anyone recognise them yet?

also can you guys please id these two plants for me? i was told when i got them but i have forgotten their names.


















heres a quick pic of the tank,









i still have the remaining two cories, cruising around in there. added a bn catfish last night.

no co2 yet, just 2.5 mls flourish with water changes (about once a week).


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

OK...the first plant is most likely water sprite. I'm not sure on the second one.

Also, no one ever answered your question about the 2213 on this tank. It's probably not enough. At least consider a powerhead for more circulation, otherwise I'd go with a second 2213 or a single bigger filter. This screams 2128 or possibly 2126. The integrated filter on the Pro II Thermals is great.

I love the tank!


----------



## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

That is a baby rainbow, can't tell what kind until he gets bigger. Nice tank too.


----------



## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Sorry to hear about the cories, you'll have to get your remaining two a couple of new friends. I have no idea what the fry are, but that is quite a bonus - a load of plants and free fish! I'm jealous.  

I think your second plant picture may be pennywort, but I'm not the best with plant names.

Are you planning on repositioning the heater? Everything is looking great and its a lovely setup but that metal is a little distracting.


----------



## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

yoink said:


> That is a baby rainbow, can't tell what kind until he gets bigger. Nice tank too.


Yep, I second that. Looks like it might be a Pseudomugil of some type.


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

if they're psuedomugil sp. id be stoked. i already have a tank full of psuedomugil getrude so i know they definately are not gertrude fry. the suspence is killing me!

i think ill end up filtering this tank witth a pair of 2213s. can anyone fill me in on the best config to run 2 canesters? eg do i have an intake and an ouput at each end or do i have two intakes up one end and two outputs up the other end of the tank? or should i have the intakes in the middle of the tank and both outputs at the same end?

yeah too true about the heater, i reckon ill just poke it down a little bit behind the plants there so you cant see it.


----------



## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

First pic...WATER SPRITE

Second pic...HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA (Brazillian pennywort)


----------



## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

Does anyone else think that the Eco-complete was a bit deep at first set-up? I was looking back at his pics and there are 3-4 inches. Not being a pain ragga, just keepin a problem from starting!


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

IMO, 3-4 inches of eco is ideal. I wouldn't go any deeper than 4 to 4.5 inches though to minimize anaerobic issues.

The second photo is definately Hydrocotyle leukocephala.

Cool fry.


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

just found an egg sack on the front glass that looks pretty different to the snail egg sacks i am used to, heres a pic:









is this likely to be cory eggs or just some different type of snail?

also here are some more pics of the fry:



























man they're growing quickly. anyone know what kind of fish they are yet?


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

i have started to get a little bit of algae. can anyone recommend the best course of action? here are some pictures:









you can see the babyfish in the background of the above pic. they are getting pretty big! it has been suggested that they are probably celebes rainbow.










and can anyone identify this plant:









i think its an aponogeton of some kind.

and what on earth is this thing crawling along the glass??









thanks for the help guys!


----------



## kelliope (Apr 13, 2006)

I am by no means experienced in planted tanks, but I had a serious problem with a tank I set up using Eco-Complete. I had the fish for several months and everything was fine. Then I set up a brand new 36 gallon tank using Eco-Complete as the substrate. Plants were growing great and mid and top dwelling fish seemed ok, but suddenly a cory would die. No symptoms of disease - more like a bacterial infection. Barbels would drop off, then the fish would become lethargic and despite treating with M1 and M2 in a hospital tank, they would die. I would see red on the bottom near their gills and belly - like an internal infection. I lost 5 - and I had had these guys for several months and no fish had been added. So one day I noticed the remaining cories eating and I saw Eco coming out their gills. Plus I found leeches in my tank (which is what I think is crawling on your glass). None of my other tanks had leeches and I can only assume some eggs came in the Eco. So finally I tore the tank down and re-did the substrate with pure laterite with plain aquarium gravel on top. Everything else - plants, driftwood etc. was put back in and the tank looked exactly the same. No more fish deaths! The remaining cories are healthy and doing great as are the rest of the fish. 

Sorry so long, but I feel the Eco was the cause of my fish deaths. I know many people use it with out problems, but I had nothing but problems in that tank - all the while all my other tanks flourished - then when the Eco was replaced that tank and it's inhabitants started flourishing!


----------



## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

a school of black mollies would get rid of that soft algae problem. don't feed them though.


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

The think on your glass, does it glide along like a snail, or does it inch along like an inch worm?


----------



## raggamuffin (Nov 11, 2005)

update:
the leech things have all been removed. i still dont know if they were harmful, but they were definately ugly, so i removed as many as i could see and haven't seen any for a few months.

the baby fish turned out to be Melanotaenia Praecox aka neon rainbows. the 10 of them have their own tank now!

the new stocking list is:
2 angels
15 rummy nose tetras
6 panda cories
and a big fat bristlenose catfish.

i also began pressurised co2 on the tank, using a milwaukee reg. algae appears to be dying back.

here are a few qwick photos:













































the plant list includes:
heteranthera zosterifolia
hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig'
java fern
some type of apongeton
dwarf sag
lilaeopsis braziliensis

i want that whole right side to become really thick with the lilaeopsis.

any suggestions?


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

Sweet. Great looking angel, too.


----------

