curt_914

Ok guys I am just getting everything togeather for this tank and am currently building it. Here is a list of what I am doing in my 55, Pics to follow as soon as I can.

Tank- 55 gallon AGA

Lighting- DIY T-5 with 2 54w Geissman 6000k middays 1-54watt current 10000k bulb over driven to 80Watts (188 watts total light, 10000k only running for 4 hour a day to start) All bulbs have individual ICECAP Parabolic reflectors

Substraight- 40lbs Eco complete, 20lbs Taheation moon sand, 15.7 each Florite Black, and Black Sand

Heating- Hydor 300 watt inline

Filtration- eheim 2217, Pentiar aquatics Customflo kit

Co2- 10lbs tank, jbj regulator/buble counter and selinoide, DIY inline Reactor

Driftwood- Manzanitta

Rock- River and Slate

Caves- Coconut

Flora to include;
Echinodorus Parviflorus tropica
Echinodorus Quadricostatus
Eleocharis Acicularis Giant and dwarf
Vallisneria Gigantica
Hydrocotyle leucocephala/ Brazilian Pennywort
Heteranthera Zosterifolia (Stargrass)

Fauna to include;
15-Apistograma Cacatoides Double and tripple reds juvies (will be thined to 2 small harems in the next few months)
1 pair- L144a Ancistrus temminckii
12- Rummy Nose Tetras, Hemigrammus rhodostomus
12- Glowlight Tetras, Hemigrammus erythrozonus
12- Neon or cardinal Tetras or Black neon tetras
12- Masked Corys
6- Otocinclus Affinis

Let me know what you think of this set up. It will all be coming togeather in the next month with build pics to folow. I would like to give a big thank you to travis at Aquamartonline here in lakewood for all his help, as well as fishandturtlejunkie for my manzanita, and jessie for some plants.

Curt

davemonkey

Sounds like it will be a great set-up. Can't wait to see it all put together.

bratyboy2

wow and they yelled at me about my stocking list!!! wow i would cut that down a bit really. maybe just one harem and maybe two schools of tetras and the cories and otos.

aquamancanada

i think I would agree with bratboy on the schools of tetras. Maybe even choose one species for your upper school and do 18 of them instead of 36 fish split into three groups. But hey thas just my humble opinion, either way im looking forward to seeing more.

fishlover

To my mind,There would be too many fish in the tank. I suggest one school of 10-15tetras,(neons are really nice), with only 1 harem of cichlids, a few otos, corys and 1 or 2 ancistrus,
two many fish will upset the ecological balance of the tank as well as the visual harmony, not to mention all those apisto would have serious territory issues.
Other than that, the project is interesting and if you change your fish list you will have a very nice regional tank.

curt_914

Thanks for the input guys. I am still working on my fish list. All the apistos will be split up as soon as they are old enough to sex and pair off. My age ranges are between 3-6 months. I am hopeing to start breeding them in this tank as I think it would add to the tank dynamics. Also the rummys are a shoe in for my tank. All the others I am still debateing about putting in the tank. I am also tossing around the idea of some hatchet fish for my upper region. I am deffinitly going to do 6 otos and a pair of bristle nose pleco's. I am also includeing the corries.

So I guess the fauna list as of now is,

1 pair - L144a Ancistrus temminckii
6- Otocinclus Affinis
12- Masked Corys
10- Rummy Nose Tetras, Hemigrammus rhodostomus
6-8 - Apistograma Cacatodies

And mabye 6 hatchet fish but I am not sure yet.

I am hooking in the reactor and heater, tomorrow morning as well as picking up some of my plants. Will try to have some pics up monday night.

Curt

bratyboy2

okay the list is looking much better. but i want to tell you still if you want to add the hatchets then i would seriously cut back on the cories...thats just to many for the tank, plus that will take up a lot of room on the floor of the tank. and not give the apistos any room to "add" to the appeal of breeding in the tank. just cut back on them and i bet you will enjoy your tank even more.

curt_914

Update time,

Filter and reactor are running. I also got the lights up and going. Have 1 pair of L144a, in the tank as well as a good # of my plants. Will get pics up in about a week. Also need to run my reactor in a closed loop as filtration has droped to 100 gph. Will see you all soon,

Curt

travis

I'm anxious to see some pics of this thing with your custom fixture fired up Curt. I know you've got a lot of plants and fish to add yet but, being the hardware geek that I am, I take a lot of pleasure in seeing a well-designed lighting system fired up and causing the first symptoms of macular degeneration for the poor fish below it who aren't able to find protective cover

And, having a bit of insider knowledge of your stocking scheme and hardware design, I think the fish load you've got planned should be just fine to start out with. The L-144a bushynose is a small pleco, even when full-grown, rarely exceeding 4" in length and has a thin sleek body compared to most plecos. Six Otocinclus affinis will hardly make a blip on the bio-filter's radar. And if my memory serves me correctly the masked Cories you're looking at are dwarf Cories, possibly C. panda or C. axelrodi, both maxing out at 2", but commonly a little less than that. Ten rummynose will make a perfect school for the mid-water of a 55G. I also know that the Apistos you've got are just a starter group of high-quality juveniles that are only 3-4 months old right now with several coconut shell caves already in place to house them, are going in as a large group to better allow them to pair off, and will be separated out to a few select breeding pairs once they couple up.

Sure, at a glance it may look like a big load of fish, but when you stop to consider their relative mass it doesn't total up to much more than would a few large angels or a handful of African cichlids; well within the capabilities of the Eheim 2217 to take care of. And all but the two plecos and the Apistos are schooling fish which really should be kept in numbers to do their best. The individual species were also chosen to be complimentary in that each one inhabits a different area of the water column and/or hardscape. Given their small size relative to the tank's volume and dimensions they will have plenty of room and ample cover - be it wood, rock, caves, or plants - in this 55G. Throw in the fact that this tank will be heavily planted with weekly large volume water changes, featuring very high light and an enriched substrate, using a reactor-driven, high-flow-rate, custom-built, closed-loop CO2 system on a completely separate circuit from the bio-filter loop allowing the Eheim to run full-bore, the two circulation loops combining to turn the 55 gallon tank volume over six times an hour on a bad day and creating ideal water flow, circulation, and aeration through the use of a tweaked Pentair Aquatics Custom Flo water handling system, with overdriven photosynthesis producing 100% O2 saturation in the water column before Curt even finishes his breakfast, and I don't think the fish load will be anything to worry about, even if you include a school of hatchetfish desperately braving the riptides and blistering sunlight at the surface. Trying to keep all the plants trimmed down to manageable size so that he can even see his fish may be his biggest concern

JustOneMore21

I agree ^^. The tank is a 55g, 4ft tank and the fish are all pretty small. The numbers looks like alot, but its a good stocking IMO.

Just out of personal preference, I'd probably pick 2 schools of tetras and have about 17. They look awesome in large numbers.


Yes, because you were gonna put fish that grow too large in a small tank.