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Hey guys, this is my 48G aquarium I hace 6(ithink) serpea tetras, 1 keyhole, 4 corys, 4 Zebra Danios and one Dwarf Gourami, now this aquarium is really buggin me because it looks like a mess, the plants are deying, and everything looks unorginized, but I was wondering if you guys had Ideas on what plants I should buy or lights and whatnot, thats alot...here are the pics

As for the lights they are...2 x Life Glo 36" 30watts flourecent bulb..those are the lights it came with.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3376.jpg

(these are my floating plants which I like...)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3361.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3378.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3379.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3380.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3381.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3382.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3383.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3384.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Xlinkinparkx/IMGP3385.jpg

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

sup linkin, actually I dont think the tank looks that bad, although I'm no aquascape specialist. Anyways, my only suggestion is to probably add more plants in the background and possible move the piece of driftwood more off center probably closer to the left. I love the floating plants, what are they?

Lastly just as I am thinking, the floating plants might be blocking the neccesary light for your other plants, which might be why they are dying on you.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

Omh I really didt think of that lol, but there arent too many and if there are I have other aquariums, Any ideas how I can keep them from moving and put them all in one spot?
BTW great sig....

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

The tank looks very nice I would just get a couple of low-light forground plants to stick in the front, as it looks a bit empty. Maybe some small anubias or crypt species?

Your plants shouldn't be dying, you seem to have sufficient light for them, so I'm guessing the water lettuce (if im not mistaken) is the problem. I would just take out half of it, so more light could reach the bottom. Also, are you using CO2 or plant supplements, such as Flourish? Those may also help.

I think it looks great. I will be starting live plants soon so I am not at all qualified but my first thought was that I would plant more in the background. that would help cover up some of the equipment too. Other than that it is very nice!

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Thats a nice tank. Anubius would look good as mentioned before.

I did the math and you have 1.25 watts per gallon...that is pretty low, but you could work with some low light plants. I'd suggest getting some compact flourescent lighting if you can afford it. ahsupply.com or naturallighting.com are the cheaper DIY options.

The anacharis on the left of your tank looks like the nodes/leaves are far apart making it look more open. You could thicken those up with better lighting. At 1.25 watts per gallon I don't think CO2 would help much though. You just don't have enough light to utilize it. The addition of supplements would help as well. Overall the tank looks nice though! Light and Ferts are the biggest challenge in any planted tank though! Good luck and I hope to see more pics as your tank develops!

First of all, I quite like that setup. I'd leave much of it alone because I think it's a pretty good one.

As for your lighting issue, here's something that you can do that will help that will be nice and cheap, and which will provide a bit of a boost to your lighting until you can move up to more powerful tubes.

Get some kitchen foil, and line the inside of the hood with it. Make sure you do this with the shiny surface reflecting the light and not the dull surface!

That will bounce more light into the aquarium if your hood doesn't already have a decent reflector. I did it with mine and hey presto, I have decent plant growth (in fact my Amazon Sword is staging a campaign for world domination at this moment!).

Next, you need to find a way of constraining your floating plants so that the underwater plants get enough light. How you would achieve this is an interesting head scratching exercise, though one way it could be achieved is if you can put some kind of clear plastic 'corral fencing' in there to keep the floating plants constrained to certain parts of the aquarium. That way you could grow your floating plants and take advantage of the fact that their roots will aid your nitrogen cycle management, and still let the subsurface plants gain enough light to grow with.

Once those two measures are in place, I think your problem will change from lacklustre plant growth and plant dying, to plants needing ruthless regular pruning to keep them in check like mine! Because your fishes should provide enough nutrients for the plants you have without the need for a CO2 injector or fertilisers. My plants have never needed this, and you want to see the rate at which my Amazon Sword keeps growing!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well my Java Fern's are doing awsome, but I too the plant fomr behinde my DW and replaced it with the babis(can i say that)of the plants in the right corner I am planning on getting new plants for that spot any Ideas?

I also put the Aluminum foil behinde the lights, as for the floating plants I'm working on it....

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Wow I think your tank looks great!

GFGxx

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

i think you should put some small plants in the front to add a little color to the open spot. maybe some crpyts or, petite nana

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"

That's what i was thinking but I didt know what kind of plant i should put in there, ill do some reasearch now...anyone know if the need lots of light?


10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys