# New 47 gallon column planted build



## Chillwill007

Hello everyone been a member for about 4 yrs or so but kinda disappeared for a while. Organa tank was a filterless fully planted build. That build is in my sig. Lng story short had that for couple years tore it down got ride of it and was tank less for a while. Got a new house and got new tanks. I have a 40 breeder that my son has an about 3"-4" eastern painted turtle and a couple cichlids in. Can't really do to many fish in there so wife wantwanted a tank on other side of couch. Got a great deal on column tank stand glass canopy. Today went out to aquarium center for there black Friday sale and stocked up some. I work night and I feel this post is all over the place. I have to take a hour and half nap and get up for work. I'll list my setup layer tonight when I have my head together. Just wanted to get this started because I've been saying I was gonna do one for a while and never did it. If anything take a look at my old build and you'll get a good idea of what I'm gonna do for this tank.


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## Chillwill007

Ok I know it's late 1:32am but I work in a hospital over night and got some time. So here it goes. 
I have a 47g column tank set. So marineland tank with black silicone,glass top, wooden stand, and I upgraded the florescent tub to a marineland planted tank led light with built in timer. I love the tank with the black silicone makes such a big diffrence from the white silicone.

Only pic I have so far







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I'm going for a planted community tank. My old build was a community tank but was filterless and I went with the cheapest stuff I could find. For substrate I used peat moss and safe-t-zorb which cost me $5 each. The safe t zorb is a all natural clay used for cleaning up oil and stuff in a garage. I used a knock off single bright led that each led was only like .78 watts each. This time around I wanted a Lil better equipment so here goes the run down of that. 

Lighting marineland planted led light with built in timer. This is the newer model with 6500k white led and red green blue led pucks. It says it's equal to a 3 bulb t5 light so hopefully this will allow me to do a little more mid level light demanding plants. 

Substrate I went with 3 bags of eco complete. Tank is 20"L by 18" W by 30"tall so the 3 bags should give me a little over 3" of a sand bed for some good anchoring.

Filter I got an aqua top cf400 canister with built in uv light. Just wanted a canister so I can load with seachem matrix and I wanted something with a spray bar return and I wanted use an in line heater so I could save space in the tank. 

Heater gonna go with a hydor 300w in line heater attached to the hydor thermostat since only issue I've read is they get stuck on some times. But read lots of reviews that day as long as you have a thermostat there's no issues. 

Stocking as followed

Plants tried to go with combination of fast and slow growers and some green and reds. Forgive me for spelling not great with these names

Anarchis
Ludwig broad leaf
Anubis not sure which ones 
Cabomba 
Java fern
A red Lilly bulb
Some kinda of cork screw sword
Crypt Wendel
And a nice big tall piece of driftwood that almost looks like a check mark. One side is about 10" tall and other side goes up like 28" I'll have to get pic when I get back home. Want to attach one of the Anubis to the center of that.

Fish stock is in air some but mostly know
Will have a pair of angels. Son wants a koi angel so hopefully can find a bonded pair.

Want small school of Congo tetras
School of rummy nose
School of panda cories
Red tailed shark
A bristle nosed plec. Not sure which variety I just like the sound of green dragon pleco 

And maybe a couple other odd ball fish.


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## big b

Nice, I am a bit concerned about that red tailed shark. They are known to be aggressive, more aggressive when they are cramped I think. The tank does not look like it has a lot of floor space. I might get a rainbow shark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_shark They are semi aggressive, so I still might be concerned about your other fish but they are less aggressive then red tail sharks. If you would like a completely peaceful fish that looks some what similar to the red tail shark and is about the same size, then look at Siamese Algae Eaters http://tropical-fish-pictures.com/fish-pictures/siamese-algae-eater.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_algae_eater Or perhaps you could go with an oddball like the twig catfish http://www.aquagora.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L490xH226/Farlowella-2-4cb28.jpg http://dsmfishgal.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/06/farlowella_catfish_2.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farlowella The Siamese Algae Eaters (SAE) can school or be kept alone. If you want more then 1, then you have to get 3 or more. If you want a school, then 6 is the perfect number for almost any schooling fish.


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## majerah1

I would nix the shark. They get way too large for your setup.


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## Chillwill007

Yea the shark was my main iffy fish. I had a red trail shark in old setup and that was his favorite and he wanted one in this tank but I tools him I don't know about that. But he is 6 so I distracted him by letting him pick out a couple ornament for the tank.


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## big b

majerah1 said:


> I would nix the shark. They get way too large for your setup.


That would go for the Rainbow too I assume? What do you think about the SAE?


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## Chillwill007

What do you guys think about a small group of about 3 south American puffers I kinda want some kinda shrimp in there so that's why I didn't say anything about them before.

Side note I just finished planting and filing up the tank. Everything came from aquarium center in blackwood. For south jersey I don't think you can get any better then them. I didn't book up the filter yet for couple reasons. I wanted the plants to take root for a at least a week or so cause I think I ended up with a good 3" 1/2"- 4" 1/2" bed . Plus I figured I didn't want the filter to get clogged up right away with any plants that would melt . And finely and most importantly I don't have the in line heater. 

Is fish less so I the in some new life spectrum pellets and new life spectrum flakes for my starter I bought 2 liters of seachem matrix to go in the aquatop filter. I have a 40 breeder tank set up with an almost 4" eastern painted turtle, 3 zebra cichlids , and new knight goby. That tank has a marineland Emperor 400 on it with a bag of bio rings on one side and liter of matrix in other side. Plan is when I do set up filter take that let of matrix from turtle tank and mix that with another liter of matrix in one of the baskets in the aqua top to seed tank better. Then put the other let back in turtle tank to get seeded from the bio wheels and bio rings. 

I do have pictures of set up so fair but to tired to post now. I'm trying to take nap now with my daughter. Ive been up since 8 am yesterday with only 1hr and half sleep before work last night. So sorry if this is all rambled together. After I wake up and have dinner I will post up pics.


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## Chillwill007

My cool piece of drift wood


Here I already dumped the 3 bags of eco complete and got the driftwood in place. The light is already programmed from factory. This is just with the red blue green leds on.


Here is with the daylight and blue red green leds on


Front shot after planting. Instead of scattered I tried bunching them together like you would see out in nature.


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## big b

This is going to be a good looking tank. I can tel you that .


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## Chillwill007

big b said:


> This is going to be a good looking tank. I can tel you that .


Thanks I sure hope so.


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## majerah1

Looking good! I would have to read up on the puffers. I don't know enough about them.


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## Chillwill007

I know I read that the south American puffers are beat community friendly puffs but still need snails to eat so there breaks don't over grow. I never was bothered by snails. so if they came on the plants I just let them be. I just think I want to do some kinda shrimp in here to. I might just buy one of the 100 packs of ghost shrimp and dump them in here. That way if I do get the puffers it shouldn't sent them to much. But of course with the eco complete I want to have some colorful shrimp so might just do some cherries or something. I don't know guess I have some time to think about it while it cycles.


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## Chillwill007

Here goes some closer up pics from first day setup. I just got to tired to pay them other night. Bit I know yall all love pics so here they go. 

 fts of right side of tank


close up of right side of tank. Anarchis in back corner Ludwig broad leaf front and of course Nemo and flounder cause they belong in a freshwater tank lol


 fts of left side of tank

close up of left side of tank. Back corner cabomba front an Anubis of some sort and to the center it was listed as a cork screw sword. Also squirt is in there to but I kinda cut him off in the pic

 close up of front of tank. Perfectly orchestrated by Sebastian. To very left of him is a small grouping of crypt wendit and you can see the corkscrew sword little better. And to the left of the sword you can see the red arrow head Lilly bulb I planted.

top down shot you can see I just put the Anubis into a nook on the drift wood and hoping it will attach itself there. I also did that with the Java fern to a nook higher up on the wood. But I think I might switch them and put Anubis higher up and the Java fern on lower piece of wood


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## Chillwill007

Ok so ii forgot to wipe down inside tank with vinegar so now o have all these admitting micro bubbles all over the glass. How can I get them off. I wiped them off with my hand in tank but they seemed to come back. Should I use a paper towel and do that or am I gonna have to empty tank for that.


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## SueD

The footprint of the column tanks make them look really sleek, but present issues for stocking. Most fish use and need the length of a tank rather than the height. For sure, the congo tetras would be too large for that tank, as well as the shark and I think even the pleco. For the puffers, seriouslyfish recommends a tank of 47" in length

Colomesus asellus ? Amazon Puffer (Cheilichthys asellus, Chelichthys asellus) ? Seriously Fish

Smaller tetras may be your best bet or even some of the micro fish if you are to stock in proper sized schools.


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## Chillwill007

Man really don't think I could do the congos there my favorite tetra. I know I'd rather have a tank with length. But this is supposed to divide my living room from kids play area and wifeel asked don't they make like a column tank. And I said sure they do and was able to get this tank with in a week of her asking. When we first moved in her she only wanted the original turtle tank from the old house and no more tanks. So hence the column tank. 

What other micro schoolers are out there. I don't care to much for most other tetras. I was thinking harlequin rasboras maybe some cardinals. I definitely still want to do the panda cories. I guess maybe instead of the pleco I could do a bunch of otto cats.


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## Summer

I agree such a tall tank will present issues with stocking, as you dont have a ton of side to side room. Especially schooling fish, as they really dont have anywhere to school to.


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## Chillwill007

Well my in line heater came in yesterday. So I'm about to set up the aquatop filter. But my question is should I run the activated carbon in the filter tray? This canister comes with 3 trays. First one just had the course blue sponge and poly filter pad them second tray had poly filter pad and spec to be carbon But I was thinking of put the matrix in there. And then 3rd tray has poly filter pad and there bio balls. Our should I not use nothing but there pads in first and third tray and in second trat all the matrix


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## Chillwill007

Yive just heard carbon will strip water of stuff plants could be using. That's why I'm thinking switch carbon for matrix and then stuff 2 poly filter pads in third tray or just leave it with pad matrix and pad bio balls?


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## Chillwill007

Actually I do have 2 liters worth of matrix so I could just do 2nd and 3rd Try filled with matrix and just keep carbon for when I need to actually clean something or of water. Cause not like any thing is in there that needs to be removed. And matrix is a lot better then bio balls. I mean they serve same purpose but Matrix had more surface area to use then the bio balls.


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## FishFlow

Awesome thread. Subscribed.

Carbon isn't necessary, and will be a bit counterproductive with plants. Carbon won't *kill* plants though. 

One of the benefits of a canister (IMO) is it has MORE than enough room for all your media. Don’t feel like you must fill it up 100%. 

What are the dimensions of that tank? The pics make is seem much smaller than a 50g tank. If you put 3 bags of eco in it, it must have a large floor space, pictures do not do it justice.

LOVE that wood! And the plants.

Where did you get your plants?

That one Anubias in the substrate, it’s hard to tell, but in case it is, you do not want to bury the rhizome. Doing so, will eventually kill the plant.


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## Chillwill007

The tank is 20 long by 18 wide by 30 high. I wanted atleast a 3" bed for good rooting. It ended up being 3" in some places up to 4" in other. I have it kinda sloping down from back to front. 

As for the media I had bought two 1 liter bottles of matrix. And I had a 500 ml pouch on my turtle tank filter. So I put course pad and fine filter pad in 1st tray. 2nd tray fine filter pad and dumped the 500 ml pouch of matrix from turtle tank plus 1 whole liter bottle of new matrix. 3rd tray fine filter pad and left bio balls in there plus about 500 ml of new matrix. Hopefully the old matrix from turtle tank helps cycle the tank faster. I'm dropping micro pellets and some sinking wafers as ammonia source

I used the other 500 ml of new matrix back in pouch and put in one side of the emperor power filter. That tank should be fine cause only has 3 small cichlids and the turtle. That uses an emperor power filter that has 2 bio wheels plus have about 500 ml of bio rings that have been in there since I first started that tank so plenty of beneficial bacteria there to not hurt that tank. 

As for the plant and pretty much everything but the hydor ETH in line heater and hydor hydroset thermostat was purchased at aquarium center in blackwood nj. Tank,stand, plants ,eco complete, glass top, led light, filter all done there. Hydor stuff was bought on amazon


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## Chillwill007

For visual refrence how deep eco complete is


Full tank shot after rearranging the Anubis and the Java fern on the driftwood and installing filter


Look at fliter in stand


Close up of filter in stand. I'm also not running the uv light now


Just velcroed the hydor hydrostat thermostat to back of tank. 


And pic of other side that o velcroed the extention strip and box from led light


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## Chillwill007

Ok so after a full day of the aquatop and in line heater running I can say I love this setup. Filter is extremely quiet to the point where after the bubbles stopped pumping out of the spray bar I thought it wasn't working. Its so quite I had to shake the canister to see more bulbs come and put my hand in front to feel the water coming out. I have the holes on left side of tank facing in a downward diagonal direction to kinda get a circular flow in the tank. So I can see the Anarchis and Ludwig broad leaf swaying in the flow. I didn't even turn on the uv light since I had nothing in their but the plants and figured why waste. I plan on only using it if I start to build up to much alge or if I get some ich or illness in the tank. I heard again that a uv light in planted tank can kill some of the benificial stuff plants can use. This morning I noticed that the led lights didn't have any cloudiness to fight through. So in less then 17 hrs of filter being on it completely cleared up tank with no uv light. Can u guess what filter I'm gonna replace the power filter on the turtle tank with?????????

And as for the heater looks great not having an extra thing in the tank. When on great because the aquatop cf400uv uses 5/8" hosing and I got the 300w heater that comes with 5/8" connections. You can also get the smaller 200w heater with either 1/2" or 5/8" connection. I hooked it up to the Ot take hose and in the correct direction by following the big arrow on the heater. I let the filter run for about 30 minutes with out the heater plugged in so it can acclimate to the tank temp. I know they tell you to do this with regular heaters so I figured why not with this one. Beside I was waiting on the delivery of the thermostat which got there right before I left to get my son from school. So when I got back home I unbound the thermostat and plugged that all up and started the heater. Most heaters state set temp on heater and alow 24 hrs to bring up tank to set temperature before adjusting it again. Well let me tell you the tank was at set temperature of 84°(just for cycling purpose ) with in 6 hrs and set steady. Now my house temp is set at 72° so that a 12° diffrence. The heater clicked on and off a hand full of times. By the afternoon when I seen tank all cleared up I decided to drop temp down to 80° and it has been steady ever since. Can't say enough about this set up. If you have a canister filter on your tax k you should have this in line heater on it. Frees up space in tank and one less ugly thing to look at in tank.

As for thermostat great piece. Again I got this because I read the heater would stay on and over heat tank often. So to combat use a thermostat and I figured just so I don't hear no junk from hydor if this ever happened to me I'd get their thermostat so they can't say we'll you didn't use our product so no warranty. Now I opted to spend a little more and get the one with the led display. The unit is small and has 3 connections coming out the top. One is the plug to plug into outlet. Second is the plug for you to plug heater into. And third is the temp probe. They give you good amount of cord for each section. For the temp probably they also give you 2 suction cups so you can place where ever yo want in the tank. I placed it on upper left side of tank behind the rim so it's also out of sight. I put it there figuring it's not getting directly heat by the out take which is obviously where the hottest water is coming from because I have it pointed diagonally. The display on the thermostat shows current tank tempo left and to the right of it is the set temp. Only complaint I have of this unit is that it isn't back lit. So it's black digits on a greyish back ground so I usually use the light from my phone to see screen. So since I heard thermostat on heater clunKS out I have heater set to 82° and thermostat set to 80°(for now I will drop temp to about 78 when tank get stocked with fish) so that way the thermostat is actually controlling temp. Besides the dim display love this set up and makes me feel more comfortable knowing I have atleast one fail safe on temp.


So quick conclusion Aquatop filter hydor ETH in line heater and hydor hydrostat thermostat is an amazing combo and should be used together for a perfect system.


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## Chillwill007

Ok do been about 12 days since start ofthe tank and all seems good. My cabomba has grown a few inches and so has my anarchis. I have 1 or 2 stems of Anarchis almost reaching the top of tank. And the cabomba has fluffed up nicely and is also pretty far up the driftwood. My Ludwiga all has about 1/2" of new growth on all the stems that us a nice bright green. The banana plant I threw in a few days ago has already stretched up some. And the red arrow lilly has about 6 or so leaves already out. The Anubis and Java fern look about the same but I know those are slow grows so not to worried about them. Tomorrow I'll get some new pics. 

I'm hoping 500 ml of seeded matrix I put in canister filter sped up the cycle. I know I'm problem jumping the gun but I ordered 20 cherry shrimp from Bob's planted tank. My daughters bday is this weekend and wife is wanting something in there by party time sunday. I figured with plants and over sized canister and the 500 ml of seeded matrix (that has been established for about 1 1/2 yrs on the much dirtier turtle tank) it should be fine to add the tiny bioload of the shrimp. Besides the 500 ml is supposed to be enough for a 50 gallon tank not to mention the fact I have 2 full liters which is enough for about 200 galon tank in the canister. And then seeing how that goes maybe by Friday or Saturday I'll get small school of like 5 harlequin rasbora then wait a week to get another 5 and so on and so on. 

Hopefully everything goes well with shipment of shrimp because I would like to order some green neon tetras from them and also really want to get some of there thai micro crabs. They look cool. Only get to about 1/2" and are filter feeders like the shrimp. They eat left overs shrimp pellets flakes just about anything like the shrimp. They usually keep them with shrimp so no worries there. And since I plan on stocking all the smaller tetras and rasboras first they will be fine for a while. Just gonna be a risk when I gethe angel. Again I hope to get it as small as I can get. But who knows maybe he won't make it into this tank.


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## SueD

Just a suggestion. I'm not familiar with the filter you have but you might consider a prefilter sponge on the intake, especially for a stronger filter. Shrimp could get sucked into the intake and you find them in the filter compartments.


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## Chillwill007

Yea I was at petco today in anticipation for the delivery and looking for some kind of spine to put over the intake. But nothing I could find. I'm gonna have to run out to my lfs and sew if he had anything I could use. 

Just checked and shipment got to my post office so they should be here soon.


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## Chillwill007

Here goes some updated pics

Fts 


Shot of the Ludwiga 


Cabomba 


Anarchis 


Red arrow lilly


Crypt and part of the banana plant


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## SueD

I've used both of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Ocean...=1449692578&sr=8-4&keywords=prefilter+sponges

or this - Note: it is black, not blue as pictured

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DIRX2/ref=pe_1171840_158978790_em_2p_0_im

Do not use this one - http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-A1387-...d=1449692845&sr=1-1&keywords=fluval+prefilter

It is too fine and will clog easily, reducing filter flow substantially


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## Chillwill007

And so as I finished writing that last post I decide to go have a look see out the front window and there is my package. I take it inside and open it to see a nicely packed box. In insulated Styrofoam box stuffed with newspaper and the heat pack. When you order from Bob's you order single or 10 pack. I ordered 20 so I had 2 double bagged baggies with 11 shrimp in both. And labeled 11 shrimp on each. There was a few strands of Java moss for them to cling onto for the ride. I balled that up and stuck it in the tank as that's my only moss for now. I'm hoping it will grow from the little nickel size wod I put in. 

As for the shrimp they are a mix of nice big shrimp and a few small ones to. I belive I counted 3 berries females which I'm excited for. Hopefully they will spawn soon enough. Quility there not the brightest red shrimp but I knew that. This is his lowest grade cheapest shrimp he has. They were only $1.50 each and actually slightly less since you get small discount when buying a 10 pack. So some have red some are clear but they only been in tank for about 20 minutes. But I van tell you alot more are red now then when I first took them out the package. I floated bags for about 20 minutes then proceeded to drip acclimate them for about 40 minutes. Scooped them and dropped them in and they started right away cleaning up the ornaments and plants. For the price I'm happy with the 21 shrimp I recived. Not crazy bright red but alot better then trying to find ghost shrimp in a tank. And of they get eaten wasnt that much of a loss. 

Bobslantedtank does have all types of other shrimp. I mean they have Sakura shri.p that are about $4 a shrimp. And diffrent colors from blues yellows reds crystal reds and blacks. Tiger shrimp Amano freshwater thai micro crabs snails crayfish and lots of the smaller fish like green neon tetras. I can only find the regular neon tetra at all the stores near me. So Im sure I will be ordering from him again. I mean I order mid day Monday recived shipment email Tuesday and got shrimp on Wednesday


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## Chillwill007

About an hour or so after settling in the tank they all pretty much cherried up except one. One of them.is still mostly clear with a line of red down the back. Again I'm a 100% fine with this because I know I'm gonna have an angel in the tank (will be last fish added and smallest I can find) and know these shrimp will be at risk. So I didn't opt for the super red shrimp. There big and very active they have been bouncing all over my tank since they been in here. Even seen bunch of them hop onto the intake of the filter and hop right off. So I think since it's so packed with media I obviously slowed down the flow enough that the shrimp are fine on it. I have some pics that I'm gonna post up in a few minutes.


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## Chillwill007

Again these pics are only about 2 hours or so after getting into the tank and already having great color.

One of my berried females I belive I have 2 maybe 3


Here goes the back corner by the intake strainer. Here you can see one of the shrimp hoping off of it after picking at some of the plant stuck to it. And a few others 


Here goes a couple hanging out on flounder this seems to be most popular spot. I think it's because the flow from the spray bar kinda shoots everything into that side.


Here goes one that decide to climb the Anarchis in the tank and check out the view 


And here goes one that decided to got to the very top 


Another shot of a few on flounder. Maybe it's the yellow


Couple just getting some banana action


And couple by the Ludwiga


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## big b

Nice shrimp. I know the owner of bobstropicalplants.com site. I'm glad you chose him. He has reasonable prices.


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## Chillwill007

big b said:


> Nice shrimp. I know the owner of bobstropicalplants.com site. I'm glad you chose him. He has reasonable prices.


Yea I think you where the one that told me about them. So thanks for that. I read some bad reviews on him after I placed the order but was looking at the dates and most bad ones where from few years ago. All the newer reviews from this year where all good so i decided to try him out. And I'm very happy with his service and stock. I to now will be backing him up and giving his name out for shrimp and other products. I will be ordering from him again.


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## big b

Yeah it was me. I ordered from him once though, the shipment was good so now I recommend him for cherry shrimp.


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## big b

Chillwill007 said:


> Bobstropicalplants.com does have all types of other shrimp. I mean they have Sakura shri.p that are about $4 a shrimp. And diffrent colors from blues yellows reds crystal reds and blacks. Tiger shrimp Amano freshwater thai micro crabs snails crayfish and lots of the smaller fish like green neon tetras. I can only find the regular neon tetra at all the stores near me. So Im sure I will be ordering from him again. I mean I order mid day Monday recived shipment email Tuesday and got shrimp on Wednesday


I just received an order from a different site and I want to compare my site to bobs. How much was the shipping and for what kind of shipping?


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## Chillwill007

big b said:


> I just received an order from a different site and I want to compare my site to bobs. How much was the shipping and for what kind of shipping?


$38 priority express. Basically was one day shipping and again that was for 20 shrimp


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## Chillwill007

So woke up this morning and ran out to take soon to school lights where all blue. Took a glance and yeah shrimp jumping all around. But after running around and picking back up my son and get home, I noticed 3 dead shrimp on the substrate. :-( 

But doctoring I still have 17 and hopefully one of the berried females will pop soon. Figure its just a numbers game. I will probably do a big water change since I haven't done one yet. Probably around 40%-50% . 

But my question is should I take out the dead shrimp or just leave them in their for them to eat?


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## big b

The shells have calcium in them and I think that the other shrimp will gain the calcium from the dead shrimp. But I could be wrong about this.


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## garstrom

What is your lighting set-up, do you also use C02


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## Chillwill007

Nope no co2. Just the 3"-4" of eco complete. Marineland light has a built in timer and I'm using the factory setting on it. The schedule is as follows

9 am blue only
10 am blue and white
8 pm blue only
10 pm all off

Again the blue pukes have blue, red, green led in them abd the whits are 6500k. 

Was wondering if I needed co2 but so far don't think so. I'm also not dosing any ferts yet.


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## Chillwill007

So of course I jumped the gun and the shrimp all died. I ended up with a tank full of plants for the party. Every one squinting at the tank looking for fish. I said yea there's a couple glass fish in there let me know when u find them. 

So I found an app that will let me do side by side pics 

so here goes a pic of day one and day 14


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## Chillwill007

So after the shrimp died and I just left most of them in to continue the cycle. We do a Christmas eve dinner at our house so I waited till Sunday the 20th to go pick up some fish. I went back to aquarium center to stock up. 

I wanted some harlequin rasboras but all they had left was some glowlight rasboras,aka lamb chop rasboras. They only had 6 so I took them all. There more clear with smaller black marking and a more brighter orange outline around the black lamb chop marking then a clear rest of the body. I'm glad I got them instead. They actually school together instead of shoal together. They stay nice and tight together. I'm definition gonna get at least 5 to 6 more of them once they get them back in stock. 

Then I also got a mix of neon tetras. I went with 4 diamond head neon tetras and 4 regular neon tetras. They are actually doing pretty good at schooling together too. The diamond head looks just like the neon except the blue is just on the head and then where neon have half blue strip it's more of a sparkly silver.

Now I figured by then I should have been fine with my cycle but just to be safe I bought a small bottle of api starter bacteria. It was enough to help jump start a 110 gallons of water. I was supposed to use little less then half but I figured I'm dropping in 14 fish so I umped whole bottle to be safe. Plus I also did double the dose of the api water clarifier plus stress coat. It's supposed to help with the slime coat for injured or newly added fish. With that said and done first.night all fish hid down and in back of tank behind all the plants. Next morning I was glad to see that I the fish were all ok. All but one diamond head. So I'm down to 3 diamond head and 4 neon tetras and all 6 rasboras. That afternoon I did a water change of about 25%-30% along with sucking out the dead tetra and what ever left over shrimp bodies where there. since I use tap water I again did a double dose of the water conditioner plus stress coat. And no 6 days later they are all good and swimming around plus eating fine. 

I also added an extra hour of full light on just to see about plant growth plus to see if I can get some alge going for when o get my ottos. I am getting some on the 2 sides and front of the glass already and my cabomba and anarchis have really grown tall. I had to clip some of the Anarchis and toss it in my turtle tank. He eats it as a sorce of greens to go with his turtle pellets, blood worms, and brine shrimp. Both tanks are being feed same except for the turtle pellet in the 47g.

Busy week so I will try and load up some pics later today or tomorrow.


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## Chillwill007

Here goes some pics of the fish

Good one of both the tetras and rasbora


Closer shot of rasboras 


And some of the tetras was trying to get shots of both types of tetras so u can see the diffrence 


The 4 neon 


A good shot of one of the diamond head neon tetra


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## Chillwill007

And here goes some tank shots

Front right side where the broad leaf Ludwiga is


Front left of tank. Can see the crypts and the red arrow head Lilly bulb that sprouted to about 20 heads and the cork screw sword actually sprouted another small bunch


Right side of tank. This is what you see if you're sitting on the couch


Left side of the tank



And the full frontal lol


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## Summer

Growing in nicely


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## Chillwill007

Again I changed the light schedule to get a little algae before I get some ottos. I changed it to add just 1 extra hour of full lighting. So now schedule is as follows

8am blue light only
9am blue and white lights on
8pm blue only
10 pm lights all off 

I'll have to see when I get the ottos if I'm gonna change it back to original time of

9am blue only
10 am blue and white light on
8pm blue only
10 pm all off 

That one extra hour of full light really jumped the algae growth. I have some brownish green on glade and a neon green on some of the cabomba . So if they can clean up the tank in a few days I'll keep the new schedule on. But I think algae kicked up to because now that I'm feeding the tank more is settling on bottom more. If the food sinks to fast the rasboras won't go down to get them. The tetras will go lower but not all the way down. So gonna need to get them panda cories soon to help with that problem. But I will be doing a bit of trimming and vacuum the floor with the water change layer today after I put my daughter down for her nap.


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## Chillwill007

Went to aquarium center today since I know they get there shipments in on Tuesday. Hoping to get some ottos to clean up the algae I was purposely growing for them that I'm tired of looking at. But alas none where in this shipment. But they told me they did get the panda cories I've been asking about last week. They where so small and cute. They must have had like 40 of them in the tank and I wanted to take 20 of them home. But with my small column foot print I know I couldn't get that many. I ended up just getting a small school of 6 so when they grow they won't be all on top of each other.


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## Chillwill007

Got a few pics of acclamation but had to go out with the family. so they got dropped in and off we went . By the time I got home the blue lights where on already. They disappeared into the plants but I was still about to find about 4 of them. Will try and get pics of them tomorrow, but for now here are some from earlier today

Nosey fish.....hey what's in the bag?


Closer shot of them


And shaky shot of them drip acclimation


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## Chillwill007

Hooray woke up to all 6 panda cories zooming all over the tank. Never thought about it before but noticed them chomping down on some of the hair algae on the driftwood and plants. But guess that makes sense since your supposed to feed them algae wagers and such. I love the way they swim and they are fast little buggers.


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## big b

I am so jealous of you. You have a successful arrowhead plant, AND you have panda cory's! Take good care of the cory's . By the way, how much did they cost?


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## Chillwill007

Thanks bigB I've always had luck with the arrow heads. I had one in my 75 also. I really love these panda cories. They are active all over the tank eating algae they are looking kinda chunky already. I got them for $5.99 each. I did same when I added these. I bought a small bottle of seachem stability did double the dose and then added the api stress coat. Plus these are so small I don't think they put to much stress on my bio load yet. I've seen them just sitting on a Ludwiga leaf eating. That's how small they are


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## Summer

They are so lil and cuuutttee


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## Chillwill007

Summer said:


> They are so lil and cuuutttee


I know right. I love the way they look like little Chinese kung fu masters with the white barbells like in the old school Kung fu movies


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## SueD

I think pandas are one of the cutest cories. And they stay a little smaller than some of the others. Good luck with these. Make sure you feed them on purpose and not just expect them to clean up after the other fish.


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## Chillwill007

SueD said:


> I think pandas are one of the cutest cories. And they stay a little smaller than some of the others. Good luck with these. Make sure you feed them on purpose and not just expect them to clean up after the other fish.


No doubt I have algae waffer blood worms brine shrimp new life spectrum pellets and flakes. So they got food for them specificity plus the others


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## Chillwill007

Ok so aquarium center is still waiting on some ottos and my tank is filling with algae. So I cut back the photo period some just to knock this back some since I called today and they didn't get any in this shipment. I have mostly brown and green algae on the glass but getting brown and black hair algae on the plants and drift wood. I also had taken off the glass top since last water change because the middle piece blocked to much light. I would have to keep sliding light back and forth from front to back to hit all my plants. But I think with out the top it's getting a lot more light in and bumped up the algae quickly. I'm not to sure how bad the blue lights effect algae so I extended those lights and cut back the full spectrum lights. 

The photo period is as follows now
930 am blues only
12 pm blues and whites
7 pm blues only
10 pm all off

I did some timing of the Anarchis today and replanted a couple cuts and dumped the rest in turtle tank. He loves to munch them down. And I don't really give him much greens lately so clippings are his.

I have to pick up some more prime to do my next water change. So I can suck up some more algae


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## Chillwill007

So got antsy and went back to aquarium center and bought 6 amano shrimp and 6 horned nerite snails. Hopefully with shorter light period and those in there they can get the algae under control or atleast clear up some till I can get the ottos. The snails are tiny little babies so they are eating stuff on the glass but very small sections. 

My anarchis grows really fast. I have to trim it twice a week. I'm thinking I might start some fertz just not sure what to use. I was thinkin some of the seachem flurish but don't really know the diffrence between the flurish and flurish excel and all the other flurish stuff. I am getting lots of hair algae on the plants themselves plus like a neon green algae on some of the cabomba leafs and side of glass.


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## Chillwill007

Ok so called back and they still don't have any ottos. Now I'm just tired of the algae and hearing my wife complain about how ugly the tank looks. So I just scrubbed off the algae. I'm down to only 2 shrimp any ways and I can only ever find 4 of the snails at one time but u think other 2 just are in the plants. I didn't go to crazy cleaning the glass to much on back panel since that up against wall and so that there is still some natural algae for the snails. I also kind shook up some of the plants and got most of the thicker hair algae off plants and drift wood. Tank looks so much better now. I didn't take pics of it cleaned cause had an appointment with a painter. But I was able to get a couple night shot with just the blues on. Looks pretty nice with the arrow head Lilly really filling in and growing up high.


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## Chillwill007

Kinda fts


Little bit closer


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## ImBrovvn

You might have had a Nitrate spike with all that algae growing in. You should add some. pics.

I like your set up.


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## Chillwill007

Yea I think it was from me over feeding. I'm so worried about the cories eating I know I'm putting in more pellets them I need. Plus I still drop in a couple of 2 diffrent types of sinking wafers. One is a straight algae waffer and other is one that is for downward facing mouths catfish by hikira. So ive been switching to every other Dai feedings and trying to do less at a time.


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## Chillwill007

This was from Saturday with the lights on. I did do a water change and sucked up most of the hair algae off the plants today Monday 1/18. but didn't realize I didn't take any pictures after. So here are a couple more pics pre water change and algae removal. I work over night so I'll try to get pics tomorrow when I get home after light come on. 

FTS

Left side front of tank. My arrow head is growing crazy. Already have one pad at surface of tank and other one half way up. But I'm gonna have to move the banana plant. I think to many lilly pads on that side


Right front side my Ludwiga filled in nice. But I'm missing the red. I might start dosing something bit don't have no idea what to use. Excel or just co2 boost from api?


To down shot. That pad is now fully open and broke the surface


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## Chillwill007

Finally got around to doing a video of the tank. I'm really thinking about dosing but Just dont have a clue what our how to start. Any suggestions? Want to get rid of this hair algae. I read something about excel supposed to help stop that or even another guy that sells his own co2 algae busting liquid. But I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions please fire away

[ame="https://youtu.be/ho4OpkkisuQ"]https://youtu.be/ho4OpkkisuQ[/ame]


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## ImBrovvn

I think excel already has a good enough reputation. I also have just set up my own tank about a month ago and I am undergoing some algae issues. This is normal in a fresh planted tank so Im not freaking ot about it. You in the other hand, have a crisis in your hands.

I would say to give excel a try. Scrub off the stuff in the glass and start dosing daily. Of course it would bw better i you didnt have any fish in the tank because you could just overdose the tank with Excel, but seeing as you have fish in there, just go the simple route and wait it out by dosing excel.

Ive also heard that you can sometimes scrape the hair algae, but Ive never tried so myself. Might even have to remove the hair algae infested lights.

ANOTHER THING!!! You seem to have quite a bit of light in the tank, you should try having a pause in your lighting schedule just in case it is too much light that is causing the outbreak. For example I have a schedule of 3hours ON, followed by a 4 hour break and then back ON for another 3 hours. Just remember you cant replace light intensity by leaving your lights on for a long time.


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## Chillwill007

Yea l already scraped off the glass and this hair algae sucks up pretty easy when I do water changes but I know I'm not getting it all off. I was dumb it was doing great but I decided to extend my light time to get a little algae for ottos I wanted to get. I found that having algae in the tank already before getting them kinda helps acclimate them better to the tank. But my lfs just has been on back order for last month and a half so I let it get out of hand for nothing. Now I'm fighting it back like crazy. So if I go with Excel what would I be dosing at?


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## JenK

Damn your plants grow so fast! What is the temp and pH in that tank? I am trying to figure out what besides black magic is making those plants flourish so quickly.


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## Chillwill007

JenK said:


> Damn your plants grow so fast! What is the temp and pH in that tank? I am trying to figure out what besides black magic is making those plants flourish so quickly.


Nothing much good lighting. And most my plants are fast growers in general. I don't use any fertilizers as of yet. Temp is set at 78° and I know I'm gonna get yelled at for this but I have never checked any numbers on this tank. When I 
Plant heavy like this I just take time and add stuff slowly and just let the plants take care of the tank. I do small groups at a time and wait. And try to do weekly or every 2 weeks water changes. I guess I do about 25%-35% at a time.


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## ImBrovvn

Excel has their directions as to how to use it and how much to add.

At first use or after a 40% or more water change you use a capful for ever 10 gallons. Then afterthat a capful for every 50 gallons everyday or eveey other day.

So I think for yours it would be 4 and a half capfuls to start with on the first day you start dosing. Then a bit less than one capful everyday or every other day.

You should definitely try to correct your light schedule for sure if you have yet to fix that. Just remember that you will always have algae. Its just a matter of controlling it to the extent where it doesnt take over the tank.


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## Chillwill007

ImBrovvn said:


> Excel has their directions as to how to use it and how much to add.
> 
> At first use or after a 40% or more water change you use a capful for ever 10 gallons. Then afterthat a capful for every 50 gallons everyday or eveey other day.
> 
> So I think for yours it would be 4 and a half capfuls to start with on the first day you start dosing. Then a bit less than one capful everyday or every other day.
> 
> You should definitely try to correct your light schedule for sure if you have yet to fix that. Just remember that you will always have algae. Its just a matter of controlling it to the extent where it doesnt take over the tank.


Thanks for the info. Yea I cut down the actual full light down to 7 hrs of full 6500k light. I don't think the algae is growing more but just staying. But same for my plants. They don't seem to be growing any more. The Anarchis I used to have to clip every 2 days but I haven't cut them in about a week. Only thing that he was another lilly from the arrow head giving me 3 lilly at to of tank


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## ImBrovvn

Yeah. Ever since I placed my new lights in the fishtank, my amazon sword seems to have stopped growing. Im not super bummed about it since I have a small 5 gallon, but the leaves are not as green and they are not growing anymore.

Im gonna wait out another 3 weeks just to see if I get any growth to see if it just needed to get adjusted. Or I will switch my light schedule. Maybe Ill do a 3 hr break instead of 4 hrs. And make the light be on for 3 and a half hours at a time insteadof having them on for 3 hrs at a time.

Also bought a little dropper so I can be consistent in my excel dosing.


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## Chillwill007

Good idea with the dropper. I'll have to confiscate one of the children's medicine droppers.


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## ImBrovvn

Oh no no no. You want a clean one that hasnt been used before. Or one that hasnt been used with chemicals. You dont want to kill your fish. That or completely clean one. I dont know how but yeah. Theyre about $4 on amazon.


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## ImBrovvn

One thing I just read. If you put brand new substrate in your fish tank, the substrate might be just overdosing your aquarium with too many nutrients. Could be a thing but seeing as you have so many plants it might just be the light. Hopefully it's just the insane amount of light you placed into the tank. Make sure you do plenty of water changes too.


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## Chillwill007

ImBrovvn said:


> One thing I just read. If you put brand new substrate in your fish tank, the substrate might be just overdosing your aquarium with too many nutrients. Could be a thing but seeing as you have so many plants it might just be the light. Hopefully it's just the insane amount of light you placed into the tank. Make sure you do plenty of water changes too.


Yea this was a fresh new setup. So I think that is what gave me the initial boat in my plant growth. Just my [email protected]$$ fault messing with light to get more algae for some ottos that I've still haven't gotten.


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## ImBrovvn

You know, you can get ottos from a petsmart or petco. Try looking for another fish store near you. I know my favorite small fish store sometimes doesnt always carry everything I would like so I looked around for another store and found some other stores within a 20 minute radius.


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## Chillwill007

ImBrovvn said:


> You know, you can get ottos from a petsmart or petco. Try looking for another fish store near you. I know my favorite small fish store sometimes doesnt always carry everything I would like so I looked around for another store and found some other stores within a 20 minute radius.


Yea petsmart always have some in. But I'm scared to buy from them. Lay time I bought a couple Plecos from them they have my whole tank ich. I had bought all my other fish from aquarium center with my last tank except the Pleco and boom ich every where. I don't have room for a qt tank and I've never had a problem with aquarium center fish. Just acclimate and drop in. So this time I said no fish from petsmart or petco. Only other place would be online ordering but being as is in the 40° I don't want to order any animals.


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## Chillwill007

Ok so today I decided it was time to start dosing. I bought a 500 ml bottle of both seachem flourish and flourish excel. I did some trimming today and replanted about 4 clippings of cabomba and about 6 clippings anarchis back into the tank. I also now have 5 lily's all the way to the top. Since wad my first dose o did the recommended dosing of excel and flourish. I did do a little to much flourish I think but I figured for first dose is fine. But for the relationship dosing I'm basing it off of 40 gallons some my substrate is 3"-4" I calculated my water column as 20"long X 18"wide X 26" tall instead of 30" tall. And my light schedule has changed for last few days and this that actually helped cut back on some algae but not much. Here goes light schedule and dosing as of today.

Lights
10 am blues only
12 pm whites and blues 
7pm blues only
9:30 pm all off

Dosing
Excel: 4 1/2 caps full(approx 22.5 ml initial start up dose)

Flourish: 1 cap full (approx 5 ml)

My continued dose of excel will be 4 ml every day till I get rid of the algae then possibly switch to every other day. And flourish will be 3.5 ml once a week. That again is based of 40 gallons taking into account my 4" of substrate


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## ImBrovvn

Nice, this will not only help cut back on the algae but it will help green up the plants and increase growth if done correctly.

Are you using RO water by any chance?


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## Chillwill007

ImBrovvn said:


> Nice, this will not only help cut back on the algae but it will help green up the plants and increase growth if done correctly.
> 
> Are you using RO water by any chance?


No unfortunately not. I use a python water change thing and seachem prime. I was thinkingI was thinking about using distilled water from the store but just think that will cost to much. I might buy couple and use as my top off.


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## ImBrovvn

Well I was really just asking because I use RO water and it really messes with the plants. It lacks all the nutrients in tap water so I have to start dosing more stuff than just Excel lol. Pretty crazy stuff.

You dont need to use RO, just keep using what youre using.


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## Chillwill007

Ok cool I thought I read some where before that tap was actually better for planted tanks. And with my old unfiltered tank I used to top of every once in a while with out using and conditioners


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## Chillwill007

Ok it will be a week tomorrow that I started dosing. I do my water changes on Saturday or Sunday depending on my work schedule. I think I'm gonna try to stock to Sundays now since I'm dosing to be more consistent. I think in the week the plants have stayed looking more greener and my lilly pads have been a really nice red while growing out to the top. I now have 6 pads onto with the 7th about 3/4 up the water column. I was thinking of getting some water lettuce for the top but note that I have all these pads up top I might not need them. I've done 2 doses of the flourish at 3.5ml before today's dose. And been dosing 4ml of excel every day. The hair algae had thinned out but was still there but at least boring new was growing. I had bumped up lighting little longer again. So lights are fully on now 12pm-8pm. Today I did about a 50% water change and sticks up most of all the algae on plants but left good amount on the driftwood for the snails and cories to graze on. so I dosed a little more of the flourish. I did 4ml instead of the 3.5ml I was doing. I also did like the bottle says when doing greater then 40% water change dose at 5ml per 10 gallons so I dosed 23ml today and will go back to dosing 4ml every day. Surprisingly I didn't have any pearling at all this whole week so I might bump up excel to 5ml a day. That is also why I bumped up my full lighting time too. I think I'm still not getting enough spread front to back either still. So I've been thinking of either getting another marineland planted led light or getting a planted+ light so that way I can leave that on the 24 hr setting and have have this marineland light only come on say from like 1 or 2pm until about 7pm. If or when I do get another light I will put back on the glass lid to help defuse some of the extra light. That's it for now I'll be back with some pics of after the water change.


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## Chillwill007

This is a pic from a few days ago. I was sitting on the couch and actually saw almost all the cories together. There is 5 of the 6 all here scavenging. The 6th was climbing up and down the glass on the other side of the tank


Front full tank shop after water change


Left side full tank shot


Right side full tank shot. This is view from couch


Shot of the lamb chop rasboras schooling together. Best schoolers around I think. They stay like this all over the tank and I don't even have any big or semi aggressive fish in tank to make them school like that


And her goes 4 of the 8 tetras in there. These guys ate hard to get all together they do they're own thing but mostly they're usually at least 2 or 3 together at a time.


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## ImBrovvn

Looks like you've gotten rid of your algae problem so far. The tank looks good. One issue with tall tanks is that you can't always get light to the bottom of the tank. Try doing some research on how much PAR you light fixtures are giving you. I know there are some PAR charts that say how much the lights give at certain lengths. PAR is Photosinthetically Active Radiation. That's basically the amount of usable light by plants. I know Amazon sells some but I wouldn't reccomend you buy one unless you're going balls deep into the whole light business.

You don't NEED to get your actual PAR, you can just look online like I said. Just look for your lights specific readings and see if it is good enough for your plants. Some lights can't even penetrate deeper than 18". Thankfully my fishtank is about 9 inches so I don't have much to worry about as far as PAR goes.

Tank looks good though!


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