Bomber
08-01-2011, 11:04 PM
Hey all! First off I want to congratulate all of you on an excellent website littered with an abundance of information that has and will help me as well as others. Pat yourselves on the back for providing a place that us "newbies" can research and learn.
I've been lurking for a few weeks and finally decided to post. I've been into freshwater aquariums for approximately 15 years now. But I have always used artificial plants and large granulated gravel from the LFS for my setups. My current setup is a 55 gallon tank with both a 150 hanging bio wheel that has 2 baskets of bacteria infested lava rock plus a 350 canister. Unfortunately, a month ago my 9 year old Lephorinus died and so I decided to switch to an all natural plant and substrate aquarium. The only fish I had left when I did the switch was a 2 year old common pleco who has made the switch quite well. I kept about a 1/4 inch of my old gravel, all of my lava rock in the hanging 150 and all of the filter media in the 350 canister to assist in the bio cycle for the new set up along with our common pleco which we have named "Milo". Yes. I name my fish. The Lephorinus that died was named "Lenny".
Anyway, we have been running about a 1/4 inch of old gravel, 1/4 inch of soil substrate and approximately 1/2 inch of natural sand for the bottom and Milo. We ran that for about 2 weeks then introduced 10 Cardinals and 3 Albino Corys and since then all are doing quite well. I'm having issues with my Red Ludwigia Perunesis leaves dying off but they have many new leaves that are starting so I am keeping my fingers crossed there. Our Hygrophila difformis (or water wisteria as my LFS calls it) are growing like mad!! The Amazon sword, Java Fern and Cyperus Helferi are surviving with only slight growth and healthy appearance but from what I understand that is normal for new transplants. The Water Wisteria are trimmings from established plants from my LFS. The rapid growth there makes sense to me. I have been using liquid nutrients and liquid C02 for my additives. I monitor my Ph, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites daily. I do not, however, monitor my C02 levels yet. I am trying to find the best way to do that. I prefer not to run a regulated C02 system but if needed then I'll do so. I also have the Aquatic Life dual T5 HO fixture. One lamp is a 6,000K 54W and the other is a Roseate 54W lamp. I know this puts me in the low to low-med category but I think this should suffice for now. I plan to upgrade to slightly higher power lamps.
However, enough of me and what I "think" I know and wish to learn, I want to say Hello to all of you and appreciate everything I have read so far and will continue to read.
Thanks for reading. Many apologies if this too long and extravagent.
-Danny
I've been lurking for a few weeks and finally decided to post. I've been into freshwater aquariums for approximately 15 years now. But I have always used artificial plants and large granulated gravel from the LFS for my setups. My current setup is a 55 gallon tank with both a 150 hanging bio wheel that has 2 baskets of bacteria infested lava rock plus a 350 canister. Unfortunately, a month ago my 9 year old Lephorinus died and so I decided to switch to an all natural plant and substrate aquarium. The only fish I had left when I did the switch was a 2 year old common pleco who has made the switch quite well. I kept about a 1/4 inch of my old gravel, all of my lava rock in the hanging 150 and all of the filter media in the 350 canister to assist in the bio cycle for the new set up along with our common pleco which we have named "Milo". Yes. I name my fish. The Lephorinus that died was named "Lenny".
Anyway, we have been running about a 1/4 inch of old gravel, 1/4 inch of soil substrate and approximately 1/2 inch of natural sand for the bottom and Milo. We ran that for about 2 weeks then introduced 10 Cardinals and 3 Albino Corys and since then all are doing quite well. I'm having issues with my Red Ludwigia Perunesis leaves dying off but they have many new leaves that are starting so I am keeping my fingers crossed there. Our Hygrophila difformis (or water wisteria as my LFS calls it) are growing like mad!! The Amazon sword, Java Fern and Cyperus Helferi are surviving with only slight growth and healthy appearance but from what I understand that is normal for new transplants. The Water Wisteria are trimmings from established plants from my LFS. The rapid growth there makes sense to me. I have been using liquid nutrients and liquid C02 for my additives. I monitor my Ph, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites daily. I do not, however, monitor my C02 levels yet. I am trying to find the best way to do that. I prefer not to run a regulated C02 system but if needed then I'll do so. I also have the Aquatic Life dual T5 HO fixture. One lamp is a 6,000K 54W and the other is a Roseate 54W lamp. I know this puts me in the low to low-med category but I think this should suffice for now. I plan to upgrade to slightly higher power lamps.
However, enough of me and what I "think" I know and wish to learn, I want to say Hello to all of you and appreciate everything I have read so far and will continue to read.
Thanks for reading. Many apologies if this too long and extravagent.
-Danny