# 55 gal Amazon BioTope



## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i have a 55 gallon tank, soon-to-be an Amazon BioTope once set-up. the main progress will be easter sunday, and if my mom gets me my special aquarium easter basket instead of the wii, which ive been trying to convince her to do. if she does, all i will need will be AquaClear 110 and Lights(What kind)?
my fish stocking list will be as follows(shown in order of introduction to tank):
-100's of shrimp, (cherry red, neon yellows and blue pearls)
-4 black skirt tets
-6 panda cories
-15 cardinal tets
-4 emperor tets
-1 baby koi angel
-1 baby wild-style angel
-MF pair of GBR's

my unfinished plant list is:
-several Amazon Swords(centerpiece accents)
-Hornwort(big tree of the background)
-several Roseafolia(red accents to background)
-Micro Swords(foreground forest)
-Java Moss on driftwood(centerpiece) will be the only non-amazon plant

i need sometype of green, tall, straight plant to form a background plant. like valisneria, except val are not native to the amazon.

thanks in advance for help!


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## ELewandowski (Mar 2, 2009)

Cant wait to see a pic of that tank when you get it set up and stocked.


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

i dont know if you alredy have all those shrimp in your tank but all those shrimp breed with each other and will make for some ugly shrimp(IMO). I think you would be better off with one of those and have a huge colony.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

timbo83 said:


> i dont know if you alredy have all those shrimp in your tank but all those shrimp breed with each other and will make for some ugly shrimp(IMO). I think you would be better off with one of those and have a huge colony.


ok than. i'll stick to cherry red than.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i did some more research and found out that _Vallisneria spiralis_ is found in any tropical river-guess that means amazon! if i can find the cool corkscrew variety-that will be my backdrop plant. otherwise, i'll just go with straight.


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

that sounds like a good idea


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

thank u!


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

yet nobody answers the Q on lighting...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

maybe i can get a little more attention if i ask to have this thread moved to FW planted tanks...


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

i dont know if it would interest you but you i have amazon frogbit plants floating in my tanks. i dont know if it comes from the amazon but i love these plants. you can find info on them here PlantGeek.net - Limnobium laevigatum . if you are interested in buying some i get mine of aquabid.com from a user named John7429. i found him on another forum and his plants are great. here is his auction link if your interested AquaBid.com - Your Aquatic Auction Website or theres anothr auction for amazon frogbit and if you win you get some shrimp also AquaBid.com - Your Aquatic Auction Website


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

do you have any kind of lights yet? if so what kind are they


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

no lights yet.
im not really interested in floating plants, im fine with the current list.


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

you need to find out how much light your plant list needs then go from there. you can do your own light or spend up to several hundred dollars.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

from y research, all the plants need 2-3 WPG. can i just use NO fleuresecents ?


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

you can spend a lot of money on a light system or you can do a diy light like i did for my55. I took a 4 ft. piece of gutter and put end caps on it and installed 8 26 watt CFL's and that gave me 3.78 whats per gallon. thats more then enough to grow what ever i want.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

thats what the tank came with-but the plug was broken and the tin foil reflectors were a mess and the hood itself was all rusty. do u any good lighting brands?


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

you can take the old rusty hood and sand it down and paint the inside white( 4 or 5 cotes will do) and the out side what ever color you want(i did black) then install light fixtures and use CFL bulbs. I used 26 watt bulbs so i didnt have to use as many. as for the power cord you can just make one or use one of a old appliance. ive never bought one of the expensive lights so i cant recommend any


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

ok thanks! my dads a handyman and currently has his own business in doing garage doors-as well as a very experienced fish-keeper-he can definately help me out!


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i just found out that the lighting is on a ballaster-so we can't use it! my dad says i can get the system i need for 79.99 and he is one of those "Always Right" people and he really is always right.


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

one of my old hoods had a ballast in it also. it had the ballast, aluminum reflector and 48" bulb. theres screws that hold all that in and if you remove the screws the whole assembly should come out. mine was black so i spray painted a few cotes of high gloss white on the inside and was able to install 7 - 26 watt bulbs which gave me 3.309 watts per gallon on my 55 gallon. i already had the hood so with all the fixtures,wire and bulbs and paint it cost me less then 40$


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## aspects (Feb 22, 2009)

youre better off buying a T5HO, PC, or MH lighting kit. DIY will save you money, but when you cut corners, it will cost you in the end. plants only use certain color waves of light, and most of the light from the CFL's will get lost in the tank. also, to my knowledge, it doesnt penetrate as well as you need. this can be remedied with reflectors and such, but IMO, you get what you pay for. id personally rather spend the extra money to do it right the first time.


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

First off, if you are not using CO2 or a nutrient rich substrate, I would stay between 1-1.5wpg. Make sure you do not go longer than 8-10hr with lights on. When starting a new tank, I always go with less lights and shorter photoperiod until the plants begin to root well and start growing new leaves. Then I slowly increase them until I get to my target.

Most of your plants will do just fine under lower light conditions and this will keep algae down. Besides the wattage, you have to take into consideration other things, like the K temperature, lumens (penetrating power), reflectors, covers...etc. The K temperature is the color of the bulb and how it will make your tank look. Shoot for between 6500k (yellowish) and 10,000k (pure white) for plants. Newer bulbs like T5 and MH have higher lumens. This is especially good for deeper tanks and if you are trying to grow low ground cover plants. However because they are stronger, the wpg rule is not as easy to follow. You can get away with less watts because these bulbs are stronger and often come with better reflectors that aim more of the light into your tank. Too much wpg will definately result in algae problems. 

Do you have a price range you are willing to spend on lights? I think you would be fine with a single 54w T5 light. I would also suggest Dwarf sags over micro swords. They are easier to grow, look better, and spread faster for ground cover. Check out this link to see how fast they have grown in my tank:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/my-planted-75g-amazon-tank-1969.html#post13978


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i'll be listening to dad for right now. lets see what come up. he tells me he will get the regular light system and i'll just start with a box filter, peat moss in a sock, regular fine gravel, and the piece of driftwood with java moss. i'll slowly progress from there once its cycled.


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## timbo83 (Apr 6, 2009)

good luck


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

ok well prices are gonna be a little low...so MHs are a definate no! im fine going with dmaaaaax's idea. and yes that includes replacing microswords with dwarf sags.


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## ELewandowski (Mar 2, 2009)

You should do an update thread and take pictures along the way to show progress.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

ok i will once i get all the equipment.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i discoverred that vals need basic water, so im swaping to narrow leaf sags as background plants. when i said jungle, i really meant jungle. i want it dense, so i will be upgrading the lighting to a nova-extreme T-5 double fixture. i believe its about $150, single $120. im gonna stick to that. this automatically means lighting will be the last thing to get. since so much change has happened, im doing an update thread!


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## Nature neil (Jan 15, 2009)

I am sure you have planned for it but the angels will eat your shrimps! But as long as you have loads they will help control the population  have you decided on the substrate type yet? As a sand would look great and provide a good base for the plants to grow and root in. Good luck


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