# 40 Gallon Breeder Planted Tank



## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

I haven't had a tank in a few years since I was travelling back and forth while going to school, but now have a chance to start one up at work now that I have a permanent job, so decided to start a tank journal to show progress.

Here's the equipment list:
40 gallon breeder tank with glass top and stand (Thanks to BCAquaria member Colin for this  ).
Ebo Jager 250 W heater
Eheim Pro II 2026 Filter
Coralife 2 x 96 W PC Fixture (with 2 x 11,000 K bulbs)

Planned eventual fish stocking list:
8 x Corydoras sterbai
8 x Otocinclus sp.
12 x Hemigrammus blether/rhodostomus
3-4 x Apistogramma cacatuoides (1 x male, 2-3 x female)
+/- 4 x Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (german blue rams, maybe)

Attached pics are tank set up with substrate (Seachem Fluorite Dark) but no water. Sorry, first post with picture in it, just trying to read FAQ's to figure out how to embed image in post.

Pic is from June 29, 2018

--> Figured out posting pics now:


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Looking forward to see how this transforms ! If you're planning to use stem plants I would be a bit careful - be sure to add plenty of root tabs. I think Seachem Fluorite takes time to absorb all the nutrients into it.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Dou said:


> Looking forward to see how this transforms ! If you're planning to use stem plants I would be a bit careful - be sure to add plenty of root tabs. I think Seachem Fluorite takes time to absorb all the nutrients into it.


Thanks! I forgot to mention I also have a thin layer of potting soil below the fluorite, so I should be covered for iron, etc. for awhile. Stem plants will be not too numerous in general, and most species will be compact-ish.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Here is a pic of the tank with water in it and the driftwood to be used under a rock (haha) to get it waterlogged while cycling the tank. Pic is from July 19, 2018.










and threw a couple Ludwigia repent stems in from a LFS while I was waiting for my plant order from theplantguy.  Pic from August 7, 2018.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*August 9, 2018*

Plants!










So plants received to put in:
Eleocharis acicularis "mini"
Pogostemon helferi
Cryptocoyne wendtii Bronze "Tropica"
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Rotala wallichii
Staurogyne repens
Alternanthera reineckii "mini"
Nymphaea zenkeri

First time I've purchased from the plant guy and first time I've ordered Tropica's 1-2-grow plants and I was impressed with both. The 1-2-grow pots had a surprising amount of plants/stems in them and were in awesome, other than the A reineckii, most of which melted over the next week except for a few stems, but I was able to get some more shortly after (more on that later).

Here's a pic of the tank right after adding all the plants. Driftwood still weighed down in the middle, but I'll have a pic of it in its final resting place in a future post.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*August 13*

Added 4 C. sterbai as first fish. Took a few minutes to settle down but then were cruising around the tank looking for food.










August 16

Picked up some more plants from bcaquaria member stan6595 (Thanks again for the plants! ). Got generous amounts of Alternanthera reineckii "mini", Rotala "Vietnam H'ra", Bacon carolinians and Hemianthus micranthemoides. Looking good, but I may have to cut a few species once everything goes in. Driftwood was waterlogged enough to put it where I want it now too.


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## DunderBear (Nov 9, 2015)

Nice looking tank I recently just started mine up again also, just had one relevant comment that you might want some sand for Corys since they sift and can hurt their barbels on hard substrate.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

DunderBear said:


> Nice looking tank I recently just started mine up again also, just had one relevant comment that you might want some sand for Corys since they sift and can hurt their barbels on hard substrate.
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that. I haven't had any issues with keeping corys on gravel before and these ones look to be not having any problems so far, but I will be sure to keep a close eye on them. I'll be sure to keep checking out your tank journal too.


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## DunderBear (Nov 9, 2015)

tredford8 said:


> Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that. I haven't had any issues with keeping corys on gravel before and these ones look to be not having any problems so far, but I will be sure to keep a close eye on them. I'll be sure to keep checking out your tank journal too.


Might be a chance thing just from what I noticed when I kept Corys on eco complete and what others have told me, they had their barbels injured because they true to sift the gravel. Also sounds good I'll be keeping up with yours as well haha mine right now is very plain haha.

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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*August 18*

Added 6 otos. They started chowing down on the algae right away, did an awesome job cleaning up the driftwood.



















*August 22*

FTS









Left Side









Right Side









P helferi along the right front corner









Another shot of the corys


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Couple quick updates from the past week or so

*Sept. 3*

Added 8 rummy nose tetras. Took a day to settle in but were then schooling like I hoped. Other fish seemed to be more boisterous once they were in too. I think eventually I'll up the total rummynose count to 12

A few of them once they were settled in.









And a FTS from the same day.









*Sept. 5*

Picked up some Marsilea from bcaquaria member EDGE (Thanks Eric!) and a trio (one male, two females) of Apistogramma cacatuoides "orange flash" from bcaquaria member arash53 (thanks!). I think they look great in my tank! The Apistos took a few days to lose their shyness and start eating, but now they are eating well and cruising around the tank.

Couple shots of the new Apistos.



















I'll try to get a new FTS up next week.


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## `GhostDogg´ (Apr 22, 2010)

Looking good!


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

Looking great , nice Apistos  lol


tredford8 said:


> Couple quick updates from the past week or so
> 
> *Sept. 3*
> 
> ...


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

`GhostDogg´ said:


> Looking good!


Thanks! Starting to get there.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

arash53 said:


> Looking great , nice Apistos  lol
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


haha, thanks. Must be the good sourcing!


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*September 28*

Couple pics from the end of last week. Did some changes to the scape and took some plants out to give to my brother when I visited on the weekend, so the scape looks a bit different now. Will post an update when I get a chance.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*October 5*

Just a quick update with new scape. Mainly took out a few species and moved AR mini over to right. Also took the driftwood out and gave a good scrub to get rid of some algae. I did a quick sketch of the planting zones, posted in last pic.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*Oct. 30, 2018
*
Quick update: added 4 german blue rams and a couple each of otos and Sterbai corys to round out my numbers.

Pic of the new rams settling in:










And updated FTS:










I am now finished with stocking, and here is my final list:

8 x Corydoras sterbai 
8 x Otocinclus sp. 
12 x Hemigrammus bleheri
4 x Apistogramma cacatuoides (1 male, 2 female)
 4 x Mikrogeophagus ramirezi

And current plant list:

Eleocharis acicularis "mini" 
Pogostemon helferi 
Cryptocoyne wendtii Bronze "Tropica" 
Heteranthera zosterifolia 
Rotala wallichii 
Staurogyne repens
 Alternanthera reineckii red "mini" 
Nymphaea zenkeri
Rotala "Vietnam"
Marsilea crenata


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Quick update on my tank, with some pics from last week:

*November 28*

FTS, things starting to fill in:










Right Side









Left Side









P helferi starting to look bushy









As is the Staurogyne...









But the carpets of E acicularis mini and Marsilea are growing painfully slow, as is the typical downfall of low-tech/co2-less tanks


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Small update from last week:

*December 5, 2018*

I wanted to change up the left side of the scape, and felt like I needed some more dark green and something with bigger leaves. Threw in a small chunk of driftwood with some Anubias, and I hadn't ever had Bucephalandra before as it was not as big last time I had a planted tank (~10 years ago or so) so added some of that to the log.

A shot of the plants and wood outside of the tank after attaching the plants.










And some pics of it in its spot in the tank.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*January 8, 2019*

Haven't posted an update in awhile, so thought it was time. First update of 2019!

Left side of the tank, with the Anubias, Buce and Java Moss slowly growing in, Rotala Vietnam looking OK, and the Staurogyne carpet thickening up:










I'm pretty happy with how the AR red mini is growing in as well. Have at least 10 solid stems, with another 10 or so bases that i had trimmed from regrowing some fresh shoots:









The Marsilea took awhile to get acclimated, but its finally starting to grow fresh shoots and spread, and I spent some time trimming off most of the dead tissue and algae-covered leaves. The hair grass is still plugging slowly along. Wish it would spread a little quicker, but can't complain with low tech.









Shot of the right side, pretty happy with how it's looking after giving the R walichii a trim and hacking the star grass down a ton. Just have to wait for it to grow back in again.









And finally, an updated FTS. Thanks for reading.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Very nice carpet. Pretty impressive for low tech. Great job. 


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

crazy72 said:


> Very nice carpet. Pretty impressive for low tech. Great job.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks! The carpet is coming along slowly, but overall I'm happy with how everything has turned out in comparison to the relatively minimal amount of work I've put in.

Also, I figured I'd post what I do for ferts in case anyone is interested. I do a weekly water change of approximately 25%, and then add a capful of the Flourish Trace right after, and then one capful again mid-way-ish between water changes. I also add a capful of Excel every morning on weekdays, but don't add any on weekends, as the tank is at work and I'm too lazy to go into the office when I'm not working.  If I'm away for a conference or away on vacation, I have a buddy at work that adds pre-measured and labeled cups in, but only a couple times a week, so it gets less Excel during those periods, but that is only a couple times a year.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*February 4, 2019*

Tank has now been running for 6 months! A few changes along the way, so thought I would add a little more to the update this time.

Fish are still doing relatively well, have lost 2 otos and 4 C sterna over the past 2 months or so, but the rest look healthy and happy. The female GBR's have occasional showdowns with each other, but they don't last long and they are able to retreat and hide as necessary. A couple of the bossier ones actually spar with the male A cacatuoides on occasion, which is entertaining, but he seems to hold his own.

Plants have steadily growing and I have shifted a few around while adding a couple more species. I was going to chuck the Rotala vietnam, but it started to look a little better after I moved it to a higher light area. I have added a Lagenandra meeboldi and some Hygrophila araguaia over the past couple weeks and they are both starting to get new leaves. I also have cleared a spot in the back left corner for some Hydrocotyle tripartita but am still on the lookout for that at any of the LFS's in the Fraser Valley.

Now on to some pictures!! 

I was messing around with a couple of pics from above the tank angle as I really like when people post those, but I don't think mine hold up all that well, hahaha:



























I'm pretty stoked about how well my AR red mini is doing:









Here's a shot of the Buce/Anubias driftwood, with the new H araguaia behind it, and the empty spot of substrate where the H tripartita is going to go. 









End-on shot of the tank:









Right Side of tank:









Left Side:









and FTS:









Thanks for looking. Happy 6 months for this tank.


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## Daryl (Jun 1, 2010)

looks good. I especially like that you have taken care to try and hide equipment - I've switched to exclusively using hydor inline heaters with any tank that uses a cannister filter... I got too lazy trying to hide my heaters!


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Daryl said:


> looks good. I especially like that you have taken care to try and hide equipment - I've switched to exclusively using hydor inline heaters with any tank that uses a cannister filter... I got too lazy trying to hide my heaters!


Thanks! Yes, I do my best, but sometimes not that inconspicuous, hahaha. The heater came with the tank and is a bit overkill so I thought of getting a slightly smaller one, but it's probably better in the long run. Also thought about the inline heaters....how do you like yours? Easy to setup and effective?


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*February 14, 2018*

New plants! I had been looking for somewhere to get Cryptocoryne Flamingo within Canada for at least a couple of months, and happened to spot some while browsing Theplantguy's site, so had to order it. I also wanted some Hydrocotyle tripartita, so threw some of that in the cart too, and then had to sit and wait. Both looked in excellent shape when I received them despite the recent weather, and I got them into the tank.

Both are in the back left corner:










I couldn't bring myself to let all of my Staurogyne cuttings go to waste on my first major trim, so I put some in a "Dixie cup planter" haha:










And, an updated schematic of my plant layout:


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Enjoyed reading your tank journal, especially with all the updated pics. Thanks for sharing with our community. Love your choice of fish.

Anthony


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Enjoyed reading your tank journal, especially with all the updated pics. Thanks for sharing with our community. Love your choice of fish.
> 
> Anthony


Thanks, I was hoping to stir up a few others to put tank journals together. Looks like there's a few that have been active over past couple of months.


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

*March 28, 2019*

Quick update. Started dosing Equilibrium about a week ago. Boosted the GH up to 8. So far plants seem to be doing well, but not sure if there's a noticeable difference. Probably will take at least another week or two. Gave a trim to a few things, including the Rotala Vietnam and R wallichii. Hairgrass and Marsilea continue to fill in nicely, but slowly. I'm also very happy with the Buce and Anubias growth on the driftwood.

Also, considering a few scape changes and looking for input if anybody has any. I may have a few too many red plants, but who's counting.  Considering removing the Heteranthera from the tank, but wondering if the right side will have too many red/dark green species, and not enough bright. Also thinking about switching the Hydrocotyle and Hygrophila araguaia in the back left corner around, so don't have the Hygrophila right beside the red R Vietnam. Thoughts?

And some updated pics:

FTS









Right Side









Left Side









Marsilea and Hairgrass









Back Corner, with Driftwood









Hydrocotyle and Hygrophila


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## mom (Mar 11, 2018)

please let there be an update. This is so great.


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