32 gallon Waterhome - Tropica Powder

[tanksalot360]

Whipped this tank together last night.
I picked up a few plants from another hobbyist and had to get the in water before the end of the day.
-The tank I got used, took some vinegar and RO water and cleaned it up in a hurry.
-Had a fresh bag of Tropica Powder soil (10L?), a piece of spider wood and some new red stones for the scape.
-Lighting will be dual 39w T5 glo fixture for now with bulbs 6000K and floramax. The stock canopy is dual t8 and will do well once it's cleaned up. I'm also considering adding a 24w T5ho sunblaster to the stock canopy.
-Threw on an aquaclear 70 for now and a fluval tronic 200w heater
-Plants are: dwarf baby tears, glosso, chain sword, Stargrass, ludwigia, asst. hygrophilia, Willow and Christmas moss, dwarf penny wort, and mermaid weed.
-Filled tank with ~7 gallons RO water and the rest with tap.







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[charlie]

Thanks for posting Liam.
I would suggest adding as much more plants as you can now, the unwanted can be removed later when the tank is matured & settled, i have some clippings of star grass ( which i just tossed mere seconds ago before i read your post) , i will retrieve in case you want it.
I find  the white stone on the right distracting, may be it`s just the way the light hits it.
Errol

[tanksalot360]

Thanks Errol, I'll have to pick up more plants this week. I have about a cups worth of star grass that I didn't get to planting last night. I can salvage some water sprite plantlets and a few corkscrew val from the other tank. But I still need more mass.
The reflection off that white rock isn't so bad in person, I agree it needs work - would like to cover it with moss. I'm trying to balance the weight of the left with a larger rock. I still need to breach the upper parts of the tank with more wood.


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[tanksalot360]

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[Jody]

Looks great!

Thanks for sharing the build

Jody

[tanksalot360]

Here's an update.

Current stock:
Pair of Apistogramma sp. "Steel Blue" (2 weeks)
Half a dozen Blue Eyed Rainbows - Pseudomugil tenellus (1 week)


After an early CO2 leak the tank has been running Co2-free with an occasional excel dose (1 cap/week or with waterchange) but the tank developed lots of hair algae. I've been running a 4-5hour photoperiod to slow this down.
I found a leak from the solenoid - using soapy water. After replacing the oring on the piston, it seems to be working now as of Thursday. Running at <1bps.

Up until the addition of fish - I've been doing weekly 30-50% waterchanges to dilute the ammonia from the soil/cycling.
TDS is ~110ppm - considering tap water is 50-60 and my RO is 0, the dissolved solids must be from wood tannins and fertilizers/organics from the Tropica soil.

Waterchanges have been relaxed since noticing Apisto fry! Hoping these little guys make it. I'm topping up with RO now to keep things relatively soft.

Christmas Moss

Baby Tears




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[tanksalot360]

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[daworldisblack]

Looking great Liam!

[tanksalot360]

A few photo updates.


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[lucius]

, what's the name of that plant flowering?

[tanksalot360]

Limnophila aquatica - it reverted quickly to an emergent form and flowered a few times during a shorter photoperiod. I was running one pink aquaflora bulb and one 6500k during this period.


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[zy1011]

what is the name of the blue apisto in the picture.

[tanksalot360]

what is the name of the blue apisto in the picture.

"Steel Blue" - found the pair at Big Als.
http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Apistogramma_sp_Steel_blue.php


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