# My 33gal community tank



## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

Well today I took apart my 33gal tank and started over I didn't like the play sand that was in there before because my plants didn't seem to grow very well in it so I picked up a few bags of seachem flourite 1 was sand and the other gravel I put the sand down first then a bag of regular aquarium gravel(not sure if that was wise) then topped it off with the seachem gravel I also upgraded my stock lights with a aquaticlife T5 HO fixture with a 10k bulb and 6700k. Took me about 6 hours to tear it all down and fill it back didn't think it would take that long but the guy at the fish store told me I didn't have to rinse the sand if I was putting the gravel over top needless to say that was a big cloudy mistake

Here is a list of the plants I have added so far (not sure if the names are right or not)
Cabomba
Corkscrew Val
Anubias Congensis
mayaca fluviatilis
Banana Plant

This is the tank before








And this is after(still pretty cloudy hoping it goes away soon)








And here are some shots of my new plants






















the cabomba is hard to see its behind the driftwood all of the stems are bent over but before they where up straight is that normal? they where sitting in a bucket of water for most of the day


----------



## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

Here is a picture of the bracket I made for the lights(bought it used didn't come with legs)








Rinsing my seachem gravel was a bit of a pain I live in a condo so had to use my shower








Im hoping to add more plants soon just don't have the money for it right now will have to wait till payday any suggestions on what I should get or on how I could make this tank any better?


----------



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

Nice job Rickie, looks good. I hope you have better luck with plants than i do buddy.

I really like that bracket for your lights , did a good job , in my head i was picturing something totally different but it looks killer.


----------



## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

macframalama said:


> Nice job Rickie, looks good. I hope you have better luck with plants than i do buddy.
> 
> I really like that bracket for your lights , did a good job , in my head i was picturing something totally different but it looks killer.


Thanks never really built anything like that so im pretty happy with it and it was cheap to build I paid 7.99 for the flat bar and already had the black paint


----------



## pdoutaz (May 13, 2010)

Nice job on the brackets! Love the driftwood, I'm jealous.


----------



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Tank looks good. I have the same flourite gravel. Its a pain to rinse but looks very natural. Try adding a few large rocks and maybe a few smaller ones to give it a little more natural look. Landscape stores have a huge variety of rocks and they are always very cheap. The plants you have put in there all grow fairly tall so maybe adding some mid ground or foreground plants would be a good choice. I see you have banana plant in there. Its tough to see from the picture but make sure you dont plant the bananas in the substrate or it will rot them out. Eventually it will grow roots that will attach to the gravel. They can be tricky plants to grow but very neat looking. Good luck with the tank. Its always fun to start over. The tank looks nicer than before.


----------



## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Tank looks good. I have the same flourite gravel. Its a pain to rinse but looks very natural. Try adding a few large rocks and maybe a few smaller ones to give it a little more natural look. Landscape stores have a huge variety of rocks and they are always very cheap. The plants you have put in there all grow fairly tall so maybe adding some mid ground or foreground plants would be a good choice. I see you have banana plant in there. Its tough to see from the picture but make sure you dont plant the bananas in the substrate or it will rot them out. Eventually it will grow roots that will attach to the gravel. They can be tricky plants to grow but very neat looking. Good luck with the tank. Its always fun to start over. The tank looks nicer than before.


Thanks I really like the new look. The banana plants are about half way in the gravel should I have them all the way out? I wanted to get some small plants for the front but they didn't have any left new stock should be coming in by thursday apparently


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice job , looking good thus far!


----------



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

AcidFear said:


> Thanks I really like the new look. The banana plants are about half way in the gravel should I have them all the way out? I wanted to get some small plants for the front but they didn't have any left new stock should be coming in by thursday apparently


Google Aquarium Banana plant and read up on them. As far as I know the bananas shouldnt be under gravel but make your own opinion on it. I know the roots can take awhile to grow and if the leaves are big enough they float. Thats why I find them tricky.


----------



## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

AcidFear said:


> Here is a picture of the bracket I made for the lights(bought it used didn't come with legs)
> View attachment 11705


Well i found a slight problem with my lights i need something to block the light in the front its pretty bright and bugs me when im watching tv/my tank... so i think im going to get drill some holes in the bracket and screw on hinges and attach a door/lid to block out the light


----------



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I had to box in my light aswell. I used wood strips. I painted the outside black and the inside white to help reflect the light. All I used was black silicone to secure it to the legs of my light. Holds great and can be removed later on if need be. Im interested to see what you come up with.


----------

