# My planted angel tank



## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

350L (approx 90gal)

Low light, low tech, no CO2 no ferts added

Fish: 7 Angels, 5 Pakistanin loaches, 2 Clown loaches, 3 Cherry barbs, 1 Redtailed shark, 4 Otos, 2 Bronze cories, 1 Albino cory, 5 Common bristlenose, 1 Peppermint bristlenose & ? Riffle shrimp


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## comler (Mar 10, 2009)

Nice picture of a nice setup. Thanks for sharing!


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Looks great. What are you using for a substrate and how much lights do you have on the tank and what is your photoperiod. How long has it been set up? I'm sure people would be intrested to know more about the tank.

I love the driftwood, where did you find them from?


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

Thank you both.

5ft has filled out some more since the above pic (taken at the end of Dec 08), i'll try to grab a newer pic as soon as i can.

*Substrate: *a mix of gravel and 'RichGro Aquatic Mix', then it is topped with red gravel.

*Lighting:* 4ft Dalbarb double T8 (2x40W) & Hagan GLO HO T5 2ft singles (25W, one each side). This gives approx 1WPG. Lighting is on for 10hrs and is on timers

*Wood:* Most i have found, a few pieces i bought from my lfs

Above tank rescaped December '08.

Previous scape below (setup May 08)


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

Beautiful Tank! plants fish substrate are all beautiful!


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

I took a few new pics, moved some plants around, but otherwise pretty much the same


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

better than b4!!


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

Thanx petlover516


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Sweet looking, I'm wanting a tank that size or a 250 gal. One day I will have one.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Wow Alasse!

I love the planted tank! What is the kelvin rating of your light bulbs?? What type of plants do you grow in there anyway?


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

DarkRevoultions ~ 18,000K. Plants include: Java fern, Java moss, Ambulia, Blyxa, Various large swords, Pygmy chain sword, Crypts, Val & A.Crispus (i think thats it *L*)


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Alasse said:


> DarkRevoultions ~ 18,000K. Plants include: Java fern, Java moss, Ambulia, Blyxa, Various large swords, Pygmy chain sword, Crypts, Val & A.Crispus (i think thats it *L*)


WOAH!! 18,000k!! that isn't a low light at all!! you could grow a lot of low light plants, and high lighting plants in there with no problem


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

I've tried some higher light plants, experiemented if you like *L* with various other plants and they just dont do well, i'd love to get more 'red' type plants, but they turn green over time and get leggy. The crypts are the only real break in colour in the tank.

It might be the depth (18") that limits what will grow, unsure. This tank is still a work in progress though, so more plants will be tried over time to see how they go  Though i am looking at upgrading the tank to a 6x2x2 some time in the future, so the lighting will also be upgraded somewhat. So i've slowed down on adding other plants, 'cause if i gotta move it all *L*, well theres enough to change over in there now *L*


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## dingdong (Mar 17, 2009)

That tank looks amazing good job!


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Alasse said:


> It might be the depth (18") that limits what will grow, unsure. This tank is still a work in progress though, so more plants will be tried over time to see how they go


So then, your tank is 18" deep?? and if you wanted more plants to grow even deeper, you would need a stronger light??

My friend has a huge tank, bigger than the ones mainly seen in the pet stores or in peoples homes... he says he uses 20,000k bulbs or higher, and he needs about 10 bulbs I think for his big tank.. I think it is 1,000 gallons so then he grows plants..



Alasse said:


> So i've slowed down on adding other plants, 'cause if i gotta move it all


If you move all, or most of your plants around... will it stir up everything? What usually happens when you move your plants around?


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

Yep its 18" deep  If i want certain plants to grow healthy i would need more watts over the tank. I'll probably go for more T5's

If i move the plants it stirs things up a bit *L* If i have to pull the tank down completely to move it to another tank, it will make a big mess *L* But it settles fairly quick (24-48hrs). If it is moved i'll be adding some JBL aquabasis or some 'dino dung'. Havent really looked into it yet.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Alasse said:


> Yep its 18" deep  If i want certain plants to grow healthy i would need more watts over the tank. I'll probably go for more T5's
> 
> If i move the plants it stirs things up a bit *L* If i have to pull the tank down completely to move it to another tank, it will make a big mess *L* But it settles fairly quick (24-48hrs). If it is moved i'll be adding some JBL aquabasis or some 'dino dung'. Havent really looked into it yet.


I see. So then the plants you have are mainly low lighting plants and some medium to high light plants? like the swords? What is JBL aquabasis?


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Darkrevolutions,

I see she has about 105w of lights on her tank (since the 25 is split on each side). This is roughly just over 1wpg, so it is low light. And her photoperiod is 10hrs long. Don't get this confused with the Kelvin rating of the bulb (18000k). The k rating determines if you have a soft warm light (reddish), or a bright white daylight full spectrum light (blue). 

Another factor to consider is the type of lighting. In this case she has a T5 which is stronger than typical flourescent bulbs (higher lux). This means it has more penetration power and can get more of the light deeper into the tank if she has good reflectors.

Hope this clears things up.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Yehp  

Thanks for clarifying me on that


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

DarkRevoultions said:


> I see. So then the plants you have are mainly low lighting plants and some medium to high light plants? like the swords? What is JBL aquabasis?


I have mostly low light, some medium, no high light plants 

JBL aquabasis is a plant growing substrate, it goes under a top off of gravel or sand


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

OH Cool. I just use normal gravel. Usually I can get large gravel, but I have some plants that probably don't like it.. I have normal gravel because I can fit swords in there. Or I could get large gravel and put them in there too.. I don't know, but large gravel may POSSIBLY be easier to clean than the normal gravel, or sand... since sand is really light, and when I had it I had to stick the vacuum into the sand really quickly in order to prevent the sand from being sucked up xD


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