# AsianFlyingPanda's 50 Gal Planted Tank



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Hi gang!

Welcome to my 50 gallon planted tank journal 

I hope this will be a fun adventure that I can share with you all. I've been away from the hobby for awhile so everything feels new! I'll try and document the progress as much as I can, and I hope you'll enjoy what my humble tank has to offer. 

So to start, some specs:

- 36x18x18 tank
- 2x GLO T5HO
- Eheim 2127 heated filter
- ADA Amazonia soil
- CO2 injection (Rex Griggs' setup, if you guys remember him/if he's still around from Barr Report)
- ADA glass diffuser

Plants (so far):

- Hemianthus callitrichoides
- Dwarf Hairgrass (Elocharis acicularis?)

*I started the setup a week ago. Going to try the dry start method.*




























*In goes the first plants for start up!*




























I've got the first week jitters, never done a dry start before so are there certain things I should look out for? I heard there's a chance of mold growing due to the humidity, is this common?

Anyways, till next update,
AsianFlyingPanda


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

great wood for that setup! I know nothing at all about planted tanks so ill be keeping an eye on this project  good luck!


----------



## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

Wow, mixed carpet, that isnt common  Cant wait to see it fill in!


----------



## Emily (May 4, 2010)

Looks like you are off to a good start, I look forward to seeing the plants fill in.


----------



## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

very nice!!! what fish or shrimps are you planning to get?? can't wait to see it filled in with plants and fishes


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

I'll definitely be adding some blyxa japonicas and rotalas (sp green and indicas) once the foreground plants fill in and I fill the tank. Besides that, I'm still planning/browsing for plants to add to the tank. I'm open to suggestions - I'll definitely be adding a couple leafy plants in give the tank some texture.

As for fishes and shrimps, I'll be adding otos and CRS in there - I've had experiences with these and love them. I'll be looking for a few other species of shrimps because I love them and they look very nice in a planted tank. I probably might not use Amano shrimps because they tend to dig out the HCs. For fishes, currently I'm thinking of keeping a couple schools of tetras. I use to have lambchop raspboras so maybe a mix of raspboras and tetras to accentuate the tank. I like smaller fishes that school together since they look nice for a planted tank, but again I'm open to suggestions.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Time for a quick update. It's been a week since the first planting and the HC has really taken off (to my surprise). The E. parvula on the other hand hasn't really been active and has lost a bit of the green it started with, hopefully things look better by next week.

I'm on a 8 hour lighting cycle with these plants, and I've been misting every other day. I'm hoping the mists penetrate pass the top of the substrate and provide enough water for the roots underneath. Mold is a main concern at the moment, so I've been a bit stingy on the amount of misting I do. With that said, the tank is keeping its moisture quite well - like a little tropical biome-in-a-tank.









*HC starting to fill in*


















*Had to wipe the mist off the glass to get these shots*









*Close-up on E. parvulas. Looking a bit sad*

Thanks for reading!


----------



## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

Your HC does look great! I'm cheering for you. The e.parvula doesnt look too sad at all. Is that all for the DSM plants? Can't wait to see what's next!


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

If i can get my hands on some pogostemon helferi, then I'll try your method and add that to the DSM. Besides that, I haven't decided if I should add a fern of some sort as another mid-ground plant. I'll add Blyxa Japonicas but I do believe that works only when the tank is filled.

As for background plants, unless I'm mistaken, they won't go in until DSM is done.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The DSM doesn't work all that great for taller plants. You'll end up essentially getting emersed growth and they'll just have a big die-off if you succeed. Better to stick with low foreground plants.

I'd offer you some P. helferi but I have two little fellas and boy these guys sure grow slow.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Yeah I figured DSM would only work for a certain amount of plants. I'll browse around and see if I can score some P. helferi from LFS within the next few weeks. I'm trying to be a patient plant grower this time around lol


----------



## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

2wheelsx2 said:


> The DSM doesn't work all that great for taller plants. You'll end up essentially getting emersed growth and they'll just have a big die-off if you succeed. Better to stick with low foreground plants.


Hmmm, funny you should mention this. My bacopa monnieri is going great guns emmersed in my DSM. Going to fill soon...uh-oh.


----------



## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

AsianFlyingPanda said:


> Yeah I figured DSM would only work for a certain amount of plants. I'll browse around and see if I can score some P. helferi from LFS within the next few weeks. I'm trying to be a patient plant grower this time around lol


Hopefully you won't have to wait as long as I did for mine! (months!) I have a feeling only Tropica is a source for this plant right now.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

greenfin said:


> Hopefully you won't have to wait as long as I did for mine! (months!) I have a feeling only Tropica is a source for this plant right now.


Unfortunately I might have to wait... Tropica IS the only source and from talking to LFS it seems the shipments are a bit spotty so who knows when they'll be available next


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Time for an update!

It's been a month and so far the HC and E. Parvula have been doing very well.

Here are pictures from the 2nd week:



















As you can see, the HC is growing wildly! The E. Parvula is slow, but steady. During this time I noticed some mold starting to grow on the tips of the leaves and on the substrate, but I chose to leave it alone since it wasn't growing out of hand.

And this is what the tank looks like now at the one month mark:





































I'll be flooding the tank tomorrow and adding some new plants in! So stay tuned, I'll hopefully have time to update the process.

Thanks for reading


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Phew.... finally, the tank has been filled!

It has been a long day and night getting ready for the big flood. I began by going out for a CO2 fill in my 10lbs canister so my CO2 would be prepped and ready to go once the aquarium is filled. Turns out, my canister has expired and needed a re-certification!?! That was a bummer, especially when I had to shuffle my work schedule so I could go out to KMS tools in Coquitlam. Luckily, I have a spare bottle (albeit an old bottle with CO2 from 5 years ago) to use for the time being.

After coming home from work, I quickly proceeded assembling my filter together and getting the CO2 regulator ready - I wanted to get my tank up and running as soon as I can so I can get the new plants into the substrate asap. That's when I found out my CO2 regulator was stuck somewhere!?! ARGGH. After disassembling the regulator along with its attachments, I finally found out that it was my stop valve that has busted and got stuck over the years. Phew... glad it was just the stop valve since they are cheap and I had a spare ready to go.

By now it's 11pm and I'm starting to run out of time. I quickly flooded the tank, being careful so that the HC doesn't get pulled out, and quickly attached the filter and CO2.

And so here's what I've got:









In goes the water!









Slowly and carefully... I'm not sure how rooted my HCs are so better safe than sorry.









After the flood. Bubbles everywhere.









Bacopa Caroliniana. One of the new plants that went in.









Rotala Rotundifolia, with its hints of red. I'm hoping these will turn bright pink-red once they've settled down in the tank.









Rotala Nanjenshan (I believe this is the Nanjenshan, there wasn't an official name to it at the LFS).









And.... what the tanks looks like after an hour. Looks like I'll be doing daily water changes for awhile till the muddy water goes away 

Next on my list, getting ahold of dry ferts and waiting for mid-ground plants to come in. I'm looking for Blyxa japonica, pogo helfri (if I'm lucky), and a few ferns that will add some texture to the tank. At the moment, I have my lights set at 7 hours/day, half of which with both my GLO lights on. CO2 is cranked to about 3 bubbles per second, but I'm using a drop checker as my guide on CO2 amount.


----------



## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

That looks great so far! Bet you were happy to put water in it! I like your choice of plants. Keep the pics coming as the plants grow! Glad to see you were smarter than I was and checked your photoperiod right away! Gotta love those late-nighters while aquascaping!


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you're in Burnaby, you should just go to Royal City Fire supply for the hydro-test and they will fill it too. Pick up after 24 hours when testing, but only take minutes if you're doing a fill. Cheaper than KMS too, by quite a bit.

Tank is looking good. Daily big wc after flooding will keep the algae at bay, for the first week or 2, until everything is settled in.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Royal City was a good idea, I sent in my canister today and should be able to get it back tomorrow. It'll be my backup canister once the current hookup runs out.

Planning on daily WC for the next while, especially since the water is still browning from the soil.
Does anyone know where I can find dry KNO3, K2SO4 and KH2PO4? I use to buy them from Solar in Burnaby, but I know it's gone now.


----------



## do-boy86 (Sep 3, 2013)

Jeez that carpet is gorgeous! 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

AsianFlyingPanda said:


> Does anyone know where I can find dry KNO3, K2SO4 and KH2PO4? I use to buy them from Solar in Burnaby, but I know it's gone now.


Jon's Plant Factory on E. Hastings. Or Pat at Canadian Aquatics.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Jon's Plant Factory on E. Hastings. Or Pat at Canadian Aquatics.


Ah, thanks. I PMed Pat on here, hopefully I'll hear back from him since I would like to start dosing EI asap.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

greenfin said:


> That looks great so far! Bet you were happy to put water in it! I like your choice of plants. Keep the pics coming as the plants grow! Glad to see you were smarter than I was and checked your photoperiod right away! Gotta love those late-nighters while aquascaping!


Thanks greenfin. I will definitely add pics as the tank matures and evolves. I've been enjoying your journal as well, keep it coming!



do-boy86 said:


> Jeez that carpet is gorgeous!


Thanks! I'm quite happy with it myself. I tried HC a long time ago with my first tank, but it wasn't anywhere as good as Aqua Flora's plants and it didn't really take root.


----------



## AsianFlyingPanda (Jan 10, 2014)

Here's what my tank looks like a week later:









This is a shot taken right after a water change. I've been doing daily water changes and have begun dosing EI.

Here are some new plant additions:









Hygrophila corymbosa "compact"









Blyxa Japonica. My blyxas are going through a rough time at the moment and you can see the tips are melting, but the roots are establishing so I'm hoping for a brighter future with these guys.









I forgot what these are called. 









Rotala Macrandra

After a week of daily WC, the water still turns a little murky and orange by the end of day. I'll continue to WC till the water clarity is settled.


----------

