Turning the 55 community into a Planted TANK!!!

I decided I like my 10 gallon planted tank so much I'm going to go larger scale and make the 55 fw tropical into a planted tank! I bought a 48" PC light today on clearance ($125). Right now I have 7 Rosy Barbs, 1 Red Tail shark, 1 high-fin pleco, 1 rubber lip pleco, 3 giant danios, 1 pictus catfish, 1 painted platy and 1 black banded leporinus. I am contemplating moving the Red Tail, Black Banded Leporinus and perhaps Pictus into the cichlid tank? Or maybe another tank for just them... ideas? Would they be alright in a planted tank? I would also love to add some of the following: 3-4 Neon Swordtails, 4-6 Julii Corys, perhaps 6 or so Odessa barbs. Still in the planning stages... right now, the current fish are working on their tans from the lighting, lol. Some are apparently getting sunburned! Just kidding!

I'm going to be buying more of that planted tank substrate I bought before because it worked really well for me thus far. I know Fern is going to have ideas for me on this adventure!

i love planted tanks, two are planted right now, my 55 is in limbo. decididng if i'm going to get juvie discus or not.

if i were you. i would remove the pictus. there to boisterous and would uproot or damage plants. the other fish sounds fine but the neons would quiver in fear from the barbs, i think.

what was the substrate you used in your 10 gallon? is the lamp 2 or 4 bulb?
2 should be good till you get your plant stock up. make sure you dont have actinics in the lamp, they make the tank look cool,but dont help plants much.

i love statrting a new tank, let me know if you want any plants i usually have some to spare.

This was my 55 gal before the new pc lighting:


This is my tank now!


The substrate I used in my 10 gallon was called Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate, made by CaribSea. It's worked really well thus far. I can't wait to start "renovating" the tank. I think I'm going to move the Black Banded Leporinus and the Pictus cat to another tank (possibly the Cichlid tank?) Should I put everybody in a bucket while I take out the gravel and add substrate? Or put them in a temporary tank... I am not sure if my water will get all cloudy while I add the stuff or not, because I'm going to drain most of the water off of it (because the tank is already cycled and full) so I wouldn't think it would be as cloudy.

Very nice choice. I have some good plant hook ups. I will give you a list here tommorow of what I can get.

Very nice Miranda.. Discus and Angelfish looks really good in a planted tank. Good luck on your new venture! Congratz.

alan j t wrote:

i love planted tanks, two are planted right now, my 55 is in limbo. decididng if i'm going to get juvie discus or not.

if i were you. i would remove the pictus. there to boisterous and would uproot or damage plants. the other fish sounds fine but the neons would quiver in fear from the barbs, i think.

what was the substrate you used in your 10 gallon? is the lamp 2 or 4 bulb?
2 should be good till you get your plant stock up. make sure you dont have actinics in the lamp, they make the tank look cool,but dont help plants much.

i love statrting a new tank, let me know if you want any plants i usually have some to spare.

Thanks! The light is a 2 bulb, no actinic. What kind of plants do you have? I may have to try Angelfish (in answer to Cajun's post). I look forward to keeping you all updated; I'm getting my new DSLR camera tomorrow so you will probably be seeing a lot more photos!

CajunGator wrote:

Miranda i will send a pic later of a planted tank with WC angels i saw in Houston..

Is it of the one at Fish Gallery, cause if so, It was beautiful!

i've tried eco before, good stuff
let me double check what i have over growing around here

Has anyone tried this stuff?

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Freshwater_Aquarium_Plant_Substrate_p/ss.htm

It seems like it would be comparable to Eco-Complete, but much less expensive... Anyone?

It seems that I read about some bad experiances with the Aquarium Plant Substrate.......................I would go with what ever Alan J T reccomends........I have gotten some fantastic plants from him.

(Alan, if you read this check your personal messages)

i have AP stuff in two tanks, i would reccomend it.
but turface pro is the same sh@t.
i bought a bag for a plant buddy. i gave him all my low light plants and is doing good for the lighting he has. wich is not ideal at all.
50# bag will cost you 12 bucks. just rinse and add plant jobes or root tabs and your good to go.
i gave him some CSM+B watered down(micro nutrients) and it works for his tank.

dano i gave you all of my ferns, all i have are tiny ferns starting to grow out.

ohh, i just did a huge plant order and still have quite a bit of crypte spiralis and crypt wendtii/bronze with a few trimmong of ludwiga repens,sunset hygro and some runners of e. tellenus

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Freshwater_Aquarium_Plant_Substrate_p/ss.htm
I have this in my tank and it does great for my low light plants.