# middle ground



## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

hey, everybody. I have an extra 55 gallon that I was using as a grow-out. Now all the fish are in other tanks. I was going to go with an El Natural tank, but my girl is freaked out by fish so the tank need to stay in the fish room where there is no direct sunlight (or indirect for that matter). I just looking for some ideas. I'll tell you what I've come up with so far, and please input your own thoughts/ideas.

BOTTOM LAYER- mix of Schultz's aquatic/normal topsoil/sphagnum peat moss (2"or so)
TOP LAYER - playsand about 1" deep and maybe some already used Eco-complete for background

LIGHTS - 2 x 40 watt 6500k shoplights

FILTER - no filter. just one mini pump (80 gph max.) for water movement. I guess I could use the pump to make a small sump if I need filtration.

FAUNA - 30 or so Endlers 10 Cherry red shrimp and I might purchase some oto's. 

PLANTS - I have water sprite, frogbit, ludwigia, java moss, java fern, amazon sword and egeria densa available. Most of my other plants are med.-high light species.

MAIN PURPOSE - of this tank is to be a grow-out for some corys when they spawn.

NO Co2 - 


So, does this sound like a plausible idea?


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

I'd add a sponge to the mini pump and go for it. If your photoperiod is more than a few hours, you may need to add some CO2, or stick to the real nutrient sponge plants (sword, sprite, densa look most likely of the list you provided, but I could be wrong) to avoid algae.

What exactly do you mean by "freaked out"??


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## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

Like some people are afraid of snakes or spiders (I do not like spiders). Fish give her the willies.


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## benjavan (Dec 10, 2006)

I dont think I could date someone that got the willies from fish.


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## TeutonJon78 (Nov 10, 2004)

Sunlight isn't crucial, but very helpful. I think that the less sun you get, the more light you add artificially. So, the NPT/el-natural method says like 1.5-2 watts per gallon, so maybe go 2-3 or whatever. Of course, still depends heavily on plant load and fish load, etc.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I have a friend who is freaked out by fish too... She eats them but can't stand the head, body, slime thing.

I would leave out the peat moss in the soil layer... I have some in my nano, and the decaying organic matter is creating a lot of HS2? (hydrogen sulfide) gas. I mean, a lot.


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## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

^^^^^^Yeah, I'm getting that in my nano also. The other day I saw an air pocket, and pocket it. I was amazed as the bubbles came out it dropped the substrate almost an inch. It was the weirdest thing ever.

Back to this tank, I got some Black Beauty the other day so I'm going to use Schultz's for the nutritive part of the substrate mixed with Black Beauty then the rest will be Black Beauty. I just don't want to deal with compaction. 

I guess I can always use the sand and soil I bought today for an outdoor tub. I can always find an excuse to set up a new tank!


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

You can use schultz's AS for the top layer of your substrate... It's pretty much like flourite.
the sand will settle through the bottoms layer in time.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

deepdiver said:


> Like some people are afraid of snakes or spiders (I do not like spiders). Fish give her the willies.


That's different.


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## Velvetdragon (Mar 17, 2007)

I'm glad my girlfriend doesn't get the willies at my fish. Or my millipedes... or the hermit crabs.... XD But unique people make the world go round!

The sand layer could cause problems, as it may block oxygen from getting to the soil layer, which can cause it to go toxic. Medium gravel is usually recommended over the soil layer. I'm fairly new to this, so I may be a bit off. ;D


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