# My new 50 gallon



## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Pics of my setup tank after 2 days.
Coralife Aqualight lunar 192watts with a 10,000 and 6700 cf bulbs.
Tank is 36x18x18 with 1/2 glass top to give room for adjustable mounting legs.
Substate is Aquariumplants own about 3-3 1/2 inches deep.
Plants are Sags on left back and side. Vals on right back and side.
Anubias midground with mostly green small on left and gold small on right.
Will try and keep the sags and vals to see how they will do.
Filtering currently is with a Emporer 280 and it sure did clear up the tank after putting in
the substrate and planting overnight. Will be adding canister later.
Stand is from Petco. Lights are set up on a Coralife Digital timer controlling three cords 
and running full time with the other cords for the pumps, etc.
Comments appreciated.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Very nice start! 50G tanks are easy to aquascape, I've been enjoying mine for a while now. 

With the light wattage you have you will need to add pressurized C02. Make sure that the lights are on daily for only 8-9 hours. If possible you may want to run just run 1 bulb, at least until you get C02 injection.

To me it looks if you may have your Anubias planted too deep. You want to leave some of the rhizome showing. Planting it at an angle is usually best. 

Don't forget to start a fert routine soon.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

The rhizomes are attached to small lava rocks and are juist above the substrate.
I adjusted them slightly.
I did get about 200 free plants with the Sags. Duckweed


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## Navarro (Feb 12, 2004)

looking good my friend!


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Great, the vals and sags will fill out very well for you. Are you going to fill out the front with a carpet plant?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Looks good. Before you know it, you will have a forest of grass in there from the vals and sag!


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Looking good old man!

Is that Eco complete you are using?


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

It is not eco complete, but similar to soil master. Sells at aquariumplants.com for about $45.00 for a 5 gallon pail and will definitely cover a 55 gallon tank to about 3 inches in height. I actually bought it because of getting the free pail and the price seemed reasonable. A little light in weight to plant my stem plants, but managed to do it with patience and the crown a bit deeper on some, but plan on trying to raise them a little after they get their roots established if needed after the substate settles.
Next project will be pressurized C02 and then a front carpet and some kind of plant on the driftwood. Will see how this does for awhile first. 3 Small 1" swordtails enjoying helping it cycle right now with probably three more next week.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Update on tank: Got my fish load up to about 10 baby swordtails, no nitrites, nitrates, ammonia.
Plants doing ok with the exception of a couple anubias showing signs of probably
nitrate difficency (clear to yellowing leaves) See pic on bottom left. Added some 
java moss on a thin rock on top of driftwood and another moss and anubia 
in the crevice front middle. Sags holding in substate, but will try to raise them a 
 bit next weekend. Running just the 6700 bulb about 8 hours a day so far. Any 
suggestions for adding more plants welcome and other ideas on the yellowing, 
brown spot in middle and clear leaves.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Hey "OldMan", the tank looks great. Maybe could use some color. The layout is great and I REALLY like your driftwoood. I may have a little somethin' for ya'. I'll PM you.

As far as the substrate, your plants will root in quicker than in some other substrates, and after that you won't have the 'floating' problem...but until that time...
Anyway, it's done a GREAT job with my plants, especially with root tabs added. I've also had great results with the Seachem line of ferts and the EI fert method. (Not trying to say it's better than another brand, it's just the one I've been using. Pfertz also had a good line of products.)


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## HoustonFishFanatic (Feb 26, 2007)

Great start. Keep us posted.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your tank looks so healthy and clean! I like how you have a high side of your tank and a low side. If that is the look you're going for and you would like a little more variety you could put some stem plants on the left high side. You could do a few different types and then keep them trimmed shorter and shorter as you are heading toward the low side. On the right side you might what to have behind or in the middle of your anubias, blyxa or some sort of plant the size of blyxa that will grow higher than the anubias but still stay no taller than 1/3 of your tank height.

I always like to mix up the shape, size texture and color of my plants. It seems more interesting to me. I have seen some nice monotone tanks that remind me of the deep woods as well. Those are done with the all greens but different shades of greens and different leaf textures and sizes. 

It really just depends on what type of look you're going for here. I do think whatever you do you need a little more variety of plants for more added interest. 

... but I have to say... great start!


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

High left and lower right was what I was going for. I'm hoping the sags on left will get taller and perhaps shade the anubias a bit. Once things get to growing a little I'll probably arrange the anubias a little differently as they are "portable" attached to small rocks. Ever seen the golden anubias on the right? Hard to tell in the pic, but they really a lighter shade of gold (yellow) than the other ones. Hard to tell in current pics, but will get closeup of them for comparison. Holding back on my light for awhile until I see how well these do.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Got a few more pics. A couple of these pics show the contrast in color of the anubias green and gold. Still trying to figure out the yellow-brown spots on leaves. Best seen in the bottom of pic two.
Started adding ferts (seachem line of Flourish and Excel plus a little nitrogen. Will probably begin using trace next week. Still running one bulb 96 watt 6700. Enjoying the lunar lights although I havn't been able to spot TexGal's Pleco's yet. No more pics until probably next week as going to add a few gift plants from members and redo my 40 gallon hex. That will be a project in itself probably.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I would trim off the dying leaves of the anubias so they don't contaminate anything. I can only see a slight diff between the 'gold' and 'green', but it's always hard for me to tell with a picture. Seeing things in person is the only way to really 'see' them.

It's good that the anubias are portable. That was a great idea!  

I can't wait to see what you do with the tank once the new plants arrive.

-Dave


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I have the gold anubias in my shrimp tank. Mine is Anubias barteri var gold. I always feel that yellow in gardens make all the other plants "pop". In the tank it does the same thing. 

Looking forward seeing what you do with the new additions in your tank. It's fun to see all this creativity at work!


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Tommorrow is the one month anniversary of my tank and decided to give an update. Things have gone smoothly and here is a list of plants and fish in it now.

13-swordtails (they growing quite nicely)
2- Bushynose Pleco's
3- Corydorus paleatus
3- Corydorus caudimacalatis
5- ottos (next week)

Bolbitus Fern (should it be this dark?)
Hygrophilia Sunset (small stems)
Ludwigia repens (small stems)
Bacopa caroliniana 
Various Crypts
Various Anubias
Vals
Sags
Java Moss
Java Fern "windelov"

Dosing with the Seachem line now and plants beginning to take a hold. One of the pics shows how deep I left a couple Sags as they were growing well and didn't want to disturb them.

I know it looks like a disorganized aquascape, but will be doing a bit of moving around after the smaller plants and anubias get settled in. Still unsure about doing a low foreground and even thought about using the Hygro sunset with small trimmed stems, but that would be a job to keep trimmed.

The last pic is in another tank of two anubia's. I removed about 5 "portable" ones that were very algea coated and put them in a three gallon bucket. Dosed twice in a week with algeafix (API) and this pic shows how it cleaned them up compared to the one on right not dosed. The one on the left was a lot worse than the one on the right.

These latest pics were taken with my new Canon G9. Great camera not so good photographer, but for first time using I guess they better than my others.

A special thanks to Luis, Dave and Texgal for the advice and plants.

Comments appreciated.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Looking good! Now you're getting some plant mass in there!! In a couple of weeks it's gonna look good. I think the bolbitus will make it. Some people trim all the leaves off the rhizome and just let it grow out again. It's a slow grower. You have to have a lot of patience for these slow growers!


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

Looks great! Hopefully the bolbitus will grow back


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## missewell (Jul 12, 2007)

I like your tank it looks good. Where did you get the stand for your tank? I like that design. Keep up the good work


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

I found the stand at Petco. Only available in stores. Really nice, but the bottom will only support the shortest canister filters because of the drawers.
The back is enclosed with cutouts for tubes and cords. Think it is made by Aqueon and will support up to 48" x 18".


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## Scouter (Mar 3, 2008)

I know it's very taboo to say this, but when my african fern wasn't doing well, I put it in a small critter-keeper tank and let it sit in a window. (I thought that it was beyond hope so I didn't care) I changed the water out about 1-2 times a week and that was it. I have never seen it grow so fast! For that matter, I've never seen my java fern look so bright green as when it gets sunlight. Then it was easy to put back into my tank. I don't know if you want to try it, but it did wonders for me.
Scouter


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Not taboo for me. I just might give it a try. Got a small tank in window with a sponge filter for babies with hornwort and java moss. They both do well, so might try some of it in there. Gets lots of light and algea seems to not form much. All my babies are in the big tank now so got room for a piece or two. It is very slow growing and at my age can't wait to long.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Howdy, Glenn! I just got back from vacation and saw the updated pics. The tanks looks good with the variety and extra color. I agree with Scouter about the bolbitus (no such thing as "taboo" in my book when it come to aquariums  ). I'm glad you were able to find a place for most of the plants.

I thought for sure I would come home to a disaster area, but many of my new plants from TexGal started filling nicely and my Vals started taking over again. Only problem was some film algae, but it was easy to clean up. I found a moss in Ohio and I'm trying it out to see if it will grow submerged (I think it may be stricktly a terrestrial species of Sphagnum, but we'll see).

-Dave


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

My 60 day anniversary for this tank is coming up next week and since I got the day off today before a 3 day weekend and a hurricane on the way I thought I'd give an update. Start out with the good news. I think I won the battle with a bad case of BBA. I've added a few more plants and all is well with most of them. The Bolbitus is coming back now, but you'll never find it in the pics. I trimmed off all the black and found some new growth at the bottom and it is up about 2 inches, but hidden by a lot of stuff in front of it. It may show up in the next month or so dor a picture session. I found out that baby tears grows really fast and I had just trimmed it back before I took the pics. Should have used it for a background plant as it has grown faster than the vals, but they may have been effected by the extra excel dosing with the bba. I moved the gold anubias out to another tank as they looked bad after I tried to dose them with algeafix for the bba. Bothered the green a little, but not as bad. The gold ones found their way to my barb tank and found out the Rosy Barbs had the dead BBA cleaned off of them in less than a day. They coming back now with new leaves and seem to be adapting well in that tank. Filled up their space with a variety of plants and it looks a bit overrun now, but everything is doing so well I'll just let things grow for awhile. Oh, I guess you will notice in the pics that I added a bit of hornwort to try and keep any algea from returning and it seems to be doing the job. Also the duckweed is growing like a weed and added a lot to the barb tank as well, but they also made short work of it too. They eat anything. 
About the only bad item was the marineland 360 that was to tall for my stand. I put it under the barb tank and in 30 days it developed a bad leak from the block inside and they replaced it. Got it today, but told them I wanted the 220 instead and will give it a try. Seems they had a lot of defective ones. Hope this one holds up better. I really do like my Eheim and the Aquaclear 70 hob with a skimmer. Both are quiet and very efficient. Everyone have a great weekend.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

It's looking good! Everything looks healthy and happy. Those 'Sunset' hygro's and Ludwigia will start growing super fast the closer they get to the surface (nearer the light).

-Dave


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Boy what a difference! It's looking great! I'd love to see it with a little more Ludwigia and a little less hornwort!:eyebrows: It'll look great when the bolbitus is visible. My bolbitus is about 2" sprouting too. I think when I got it it was just a little old and ready for resprouting. I also cut off all my old black leaves. Love the new ones growing out. People say once it gets going it will grow rather quickly. I'll enjoy seeing that.

I miss your gold anubias. I love that variety. I have it in my 10g shrimp tank. I would like to bring some over to my anubias tree but have to wait for it to grow. I haven't' seen it available locally or I'd buy it up.

Great job! Now that you have the BBA behind you you can start fine tuning and grouping your scape. Such fun!


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Just keeping the hornwort to make sure no algea resurfaces. The plants are growing well now so can probably move it out soon. The gold anubia's getting some new leaves so it will be ready soon to journey back to the tank.
You better hope you don't pick up to many of them as they cost me $20 ea. They better make it. Is Bolbitus also known as African Fern? I heard Ted Nugent mention it last night on Glenn Beck. Saw a tank at lfs with that written on a tank yesterday, but none in it.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Yes, African Fern is the common name for the Bolbitus that is used commonly in the hobby.

BTW, I bought a bristle-nose today at PetsMart! It was the first shipment they have ever had with them at this location. All the bristle-babies are just barely showing hints of bumps on their noses. I wanted to get 3-4 of them, but I could only get ONE since they were $10 and my wife was there to "help me manage the funds". [-X

Oh well, the fewer fish I have to move, the better. 

-Dave


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

That is about the price they going for here at my lfs. Hifin's and albinos go for about $15.00. My oldest one had just a few bumps too, but they are growing now and should start branching soon.
We need to send our wifes to shoe stores when we go looking for fish.eace:


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

The old man said:


> We need to send our wifes to shoe stores when we go looking for fish.eace:


ound: YES!! Even my wife thought that would be a good idea!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I originally got my gold anubias from Aquatic magic. They sell them on Ebay for $3.75 each. I really like this plant. It puts so much color in the tank.

Some places that use the name African fern sell a plant that is not an aquatic. Make sure if they use that name that it is truly bolbitus.

I'd be careful about that shoe shopping. If they are like my sister (affectionately know as "Emelda") you won't have any money left for fish!


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Here is an update on my tank after Hurricane Ike. Plants and fish all survived and after a minor trimming (Hate trimming)  and getting rid of a lot of the baby tears I'm trying out a different foreground plant and even added a small lily from my hex tank that seems to be doing much better.
Still got a little hornwort and duckweed just to keep algea at bay for awhile until I'm sure it not coming back for awhile. The Bolbitus is growing nicely although you probably can't find it in the pic and the repens and sunset are getting quite red and pink. I've included a pic of the sample foreground plants that Dan at HAW gave me to try, but forget the name. Anyone got an ID for me?
Waiting on DaveMonkey to get the word and come here bringing his shovel and Pickaxe to help me thin out the Vals and Repens.



















Any suggentions welcome. Is this plant BLYXA JAPONICA


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

The old man said:


> Any suggentions welcome. Is this plant BLYXA JAPONICA


Hey old man! Yes, I think you are right that's Blyxa japonica. I have dense row of Blyxa that served as background for my tank. It survived Ike and probably kept my tank from having an algae bloom when we got power back. Its gets too tall to serve as for a foreground plant though.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

The old man said:


> Waiting on DaveMonkey to get the word and come here bringing his shovel and Pickaxe to help me thin out the Vals and Repens.


ound: I actually got the official word on Friday. I'll bring the PickAxe and Shovel! [smilie=l:

How do I join NASH?

-Dave


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Just watch the NASH forum and we'll see when the next meeting is. I'll try and keep you up to date and we'll go to the meeting and get you signed up. Dues are minimal and you should get a free plant at your first meeting. Maybe a duckweed (singular)


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

davemonkey said:


> ound: I actually got the official word on Friday. I'll bring the PickAxe and Shovel! [smilie=l:
> 
> How do I join NASH?
> 
> ...


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks, Bunbuku! I'll keep my eyes open. It'll probably be the November mtg since I won't actually be there until Nov. 1....unless the October one falls during my house-hunting trip. I can't wait to meet everyone.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

The Blyxa should only get about 3 to 6 inches high with my high lighting I hope.
That is about what I want in the front as the other plants behind it are quite tall.
Bunbuku, did you ever get any flowers and how hard is it to propagate from the basal side shoots?


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

The old man said:


> The Blyxa should only get about 3 to 6 inches high with my high lighting I hope.
> That is about what I want in the front as the other plants behind it are quite tall.
> Bunbuku, did you ever get any flowers and how hard is it to propagate from the basal side shoots?


I get little white flowers coming up all the time. I have 150 watt MH + CO2 for my 60P - the Bylxa pearls like crazy! Its easy to propagate as you describe.


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