Hi guys and gals
I dabbled in planted tanks about 6-7 years ago and had some modest success with it. Back then, I had a 55 g tank with two 55w PC, DIY yeast CO2, regular aquarium substrate and HOB aquaclear filter, which were all I could afford at the time, being a poor student. The stem plants grew quite well, but with such poor lighting and unreliable CO2 supply, I could never grow the red plants (except for red temple) and grass-type lawns.
Being still poor now
, but at least having a job, I decided to go all out and set up a tank with all the bells and whistles (so now if I fail, I only have myself to blame instead of blaming the technology). So, here is the setup:
Tank: 80g with matching stand
Light: Nova extreme pro 6x54w T5 HO with individual reflectors), on for 8hrs/day
Filter: Rena star XP 3
CO2: DIY CO2 regulator (with good needle valve bought from floridadriftwoods.com) and a 20pound CO2 tank bought from Bevco, which should last me quite a few years. CO2 is run inline (hooked directly into the filter intake). I currently run it at 1 bps.
Substrate: Aquasoil Amazonia II. I swear to god this stuff is worth more than gold. But since Oliver Knott, the Germany planted tank God as far as I'm concerned loves it, I coughed up the money to get it. Four 11L bags are needed for my tank.
Scapin' design: by yours truly of course. But since yours truly totally lack artistic tendency, I had to look to Oliver for inspiration. If you guys have time, look through his site to see which tank I took my inspiration from
http://www.pbase.com/plantella
Still, the scape sucks big time; so I might have to just pride myself on being able to grow plants well, instead of being able to create an awe-inspring scapeb
The tank was set up three weeks ago, at zero day
![]()
At the 14th day
![]()
And today
![]()
Stargrass closeup
![]()
Spectacular Rice paddy herbs (Limnophila aromatica) -- I can't believe this is the same "rau ngo" or "ngo om" that we Vietnamese use in almost all fish-related dishes
![]()
A blurry pic of my rummy nose tetras. These have to be my favorite freshwater fish
![]()
Potamogeton gayi closeup
![]()
I dabbled in planted tanks about 6-7 years ago and had some modest success with it. Back then, I had a 55 g tank with two 55w PC, DIY yeast CO2, regular aquarium substrate and HOB aquaclear filter, which were all I could afford at the time, being a poor student. The stem plants grew quite well, but with such poor lighting and unreliable CO2 supply, I could never grow the red plants (except for red temple) and grass-type lawns.
Being still poor now
, but at least having a job, I decided to go all out and set up a tank with all the bells and whistles (so now if I fail, I only have myself to blame instead of blaming the technology). So, here is the setup:Tank: 80g with matching stand
Light: Nova extreme pro 6x54w T5 HO with individual reflectors), on for 8hrs/day
Filter: Rena star XP 3
CO2: DIY CO2 regulator (with good needle valve bought from floridadriftwoods.com) and a 20pound CO2 tank bought from Bevco, which should last me quite a few years. CO2 is run inline (hooked directly into the filter intake). I currently run it at 1 bps.
Substrate: Aquasoil Amazonia II. I swear to god this stuff is worth more than gold. But since Oliver Knott, the Germany planted tank God as far as I'm concerned loves it, I coughed up the money to get it. Four 11L bags are needed for my tank.
Scapin' design: by yours truly of course. But since yours truly totally lack artistic tendency, I had to look to Oliver for inspiration. If you guys have time, look through his site to see which tank I took my inspiration from
http://www.pbase.com/plantella
Still, the scape sucks big time; so I might have to just pride myself on being able to grow plants well, instead of being able to create an awe-inspring scapeb
The tank was set up three weeks ago, at zero day
At the 14th day
And today
Stargrass closeup
Spectacular Rice paddy herbs (Limnophila aromatica) -- I can't believe this is the same "rau ngo" or "ngo om" that we Vietnamese use in almost all fish-related dishes
A blurry pic of my rummy nose tetras. These have to be my favorite freshwater fish
Potamogeton gayi closeup
