# Holo's 50g Planted Tank Journal... (lots of photos)



## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

Hey All, 

here are some pictures of the latest aquascape I have been working on. I took some extra shots of some of the inhabitants too... since they were cooperating so well tonight.

I'll post lots of photos of the history of my tank, its been through many-a-change in its short 15month life. I just can't keep my hands out of the tank!!!

Here are some of the specs:

50g tank, 36x18x18
196 watts of CF light
eheim 2215 filter
DIY CO2 (hope to upgrade soon)
PMDD from homegrown hydroponics

.... and now the photos:


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

some more...


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

and the last couple... Pictures taken March 11th 2006


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## Suzanne (Mar 11, 2006)

looks fantastic! well done!


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

what a beautiful tank!! Can I hire you to do my aquascaping? lol

Everyone has discus except me....I am jealous!!! 

How many fish have you got in there? (I'm thinking of setting up an uglier version of yours this summer - lol I say ugly because I haven't quite mastered more difficult plants like lotus)

Also, how often do you do water changes and how much do you change?


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

I have a lot of fish in this tank currently. During the xmas holidays I picked up around 30-40 cardinals that were on sale for $1 each. They were sooooo tiny so I picked up a lot of them.... not thinking about the fact that they will grow.. quickly. So now I have a lot of fat large cardinals crowding the tank. Not sure if I will keep them all in there.

I do water changes once a week and change 50%.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

wow... its coming along great!!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Holo!

really really fantastic! The discus are breath taking along with some of the plants in there. Really really wonderful....


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Holocron, that is a gorgeous tank! A perfect representation of the much-sought discus planted tank. The plant growth looks great; can't believe that you've accomplished all that with DIY CO2! How many 2L pop bottles are you using for that tank?

I hope that one day my discus will be that comfortable with their surroundings as well.


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

*March 30th Update*

Well, I took some new photos of my tank today. I have been over haulin' some aspects, as the planted tank freaks out there know, your scapes are never complete right?

I was lucky enough to get a new glass CO2 diffuser online at the APC forums so now I am CO2'in in style. Looking forward to getting my pressurized system!

pict #2 - Proserpinaca palustris
pict #3 - Didiplis diandra
pict #4 - new glass diffuser
pict #5 - my xmas moss that is really not growing quickly.
pict #6 - Eusteralis stellata that I will be selling.


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

That is one awesome looking tank. Nice to see rams and apistos in the same tank. All your fish look great


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

*April 14th Update*

Here are some of the latest shots of my tank...

PICT #2 - this is a mystery plant that came bundled up with my Glosso. Any ideas what it is? Thank harold for spotting it 

PICT #3 - my moss is budding!!!

PICT #4 - massive blyxa japonica.


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## chompy (Mar 24, 2006)

I love the mystery plant . Are your discus doing any better now that you sold some?


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

yeah the tank is in MUCH better balance. The thread algae is going away and the O2 levels are great, no more gasping!


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

The plant looks like a myriophyllum sp.. It should get more red when there is sufficient like or when its close to the surface where the light is more intense, if its what i'm thinking it is


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## kwonger81 (Mar 29, 2006)

*awesome tank*

I love your tank. That's what I aspire to.

I wish I had seen your ad selling your cardinals earlier (just saw it today) - I love cardinals.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Wow matt, your moss is doing so well! 

I really like the leaves in #2.... that japonica is just wonderful.. Makes you wanna touch it. lol.


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Damn! That is a sweet looking tank. Your plants and discus look so healthy. How'd you control the thread algae?

As for the mystery plant, I absolutely agree with ranmasatome. It's 'Parrot Feather' (Myriophyllum aquaticum). My sister-in-law gave me some before from her outdoor pond. Grows pretty fast under high light and CO2.

I've got a bunch of blyxa japonica arranged in a straight row along the front of my tank. I'm now seriously considering arranging them into a few large bunches to make it look more 'natural'. I really like how the few large bunches of monster blyxa look in your tank.

Thanks for the pics. Absolutely gorgeous!


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

*May 7th Update*

I took some more pictures after the weekly water change today. Here is how the tank has progressed.

I have started to dry dose K2SO4 and MgSo4 today. I have been dosing K2S04 fairly heavily this week and thus far haven't seen a massive change, hoping this week to see lots of solid growth. I have also cranked my CO2 up to around 45ppm (all fish are in good shape).


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

man... the discus dont look upset or stressed at all! thats for sure.. 

Beautiful! ^_^


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## 66 north (Apr 10, 2006)

Very nice! Are you noticing a difference with compressed CO2?


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

That is a damn fine looking planted discus tank. Absolutely beautiful plant scape, and the discus look brilliant, healthy and happy. Nice pearling too!


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

Thanks for the great comments.

The pressurized has made a pretty big change. I notice a lot more pearling and much less algae. I am in the middle of getting my ferts in order (trying a modified estimated index by Tom Barr). Once that's done it should pearl like mad!

The pearling in that picture is definitely cheating.. it was after a water change. I hope to have it look like that every night!


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

I can't get over how green it is  Great plants my discus would never find there way out of the jungle (still in a bare tank). Your discus colours just "pop out" with all the green in there


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

it's looking great!!


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

*rock garden*

Here is a little update with my tank. I took out a lot of plants for the summer to reduce the maintenance and replaced them with some rocks I picked up at a beach. I treated the rocks by soaking them in water/bleach and then boiled them for a few hours. I am waiting for the left side to catch up to the right.

I am also having a hell of a time figuring out this algae thing. Ever since xmas my tank has just been plagued with all sorts of types. Black, green spot, thread, you name it. It's driving me nuts. The compressed CO2 didn't seem to help and my fert routine is pretty heavy.

I am actually contemplating a black out for 2 weeks. Take out all teh plants and just start over. Algae is such a son of a *****.

Here is a pict:


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## chompy (Mar 24, 2006)

I'm glad you chose to go with the small rocks, it makes your tank look more natural. I never understood why people use things like texas holy rock, lava rock and other unique rocks. I like the look of ordinary rocks that one wood find in a river or lake.

If you have to do a black out it might not be a bad thing. You can plan up a new tank, do some landscaping. I always like how Amano had different levels... not just a flat bottom.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Co2 doesn't magically solve your algae problems... it does help alot if you keep consistancy a key. 
Starting over isn't a bad idea...you can recalculate, re plan everything and see how taht works..


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

yeah thinking about it more and more... how long of a blackout would I need to totally eradicate the algae?


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Hey Holocron! That tank looks great. Really love the rocks in there.

I'm having a similar problem with algae. I've got lots of green thread algae. I even cut down my MH lighting to one fixture, increased the CO2... there hasn't been much success so far. However, my discus are growing like gang busters! It is a definite challenge to maintain an 'algae-free' discus tank, since I think the large amount of feeds creates an environment that can favour algae growth. But hey, the challenge is what makes it interesting.  

Thanks again for sharing your recent tank pics... I'll have to get around to posting some from my tank (I've been really busy with work, and we finally sold our house last night! ).


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

You sold it? Congrats!


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Excellent.

Could you give me ur pH/gH/kH?


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

What's your NO3O4 Holo?


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

wtac said:


> What's your NO3O4 Holo?


Oh man don't get into ratio's at 1am dude its harshing my mellow


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

hey guys,

the ph is around 6.6. To be honest I haven't kept up with the testing of the water. I think the last time I measured it was something like 2ppm PO4 and 15-20ppm NO3. THe kh/gh is 4-7 i think.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Generally one wants a 10:1 ratio of NO3O4. Though your ratios are in range, IME, PO4 higher than 1.0mg/L can lead to more problems with nuiscence algaes if you don't have alot of fast growing stemmed plants.

HTH


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

hehe I thought Holo was Harold- which I know now he isn't...

Funny thing I was in the store the other day and told Harold I really liked his setup with the discus and the microswords and so on and he looked at me like I was high and nodded...


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

hahah yeah I get a lot of PMs because I post Harolds email newsletter on the forum here.


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

here is what my barren tank looks like today.


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Wow, it looks very nice and has a natural look. The discus look great as well. Having a 'back to basics' tank (aka Diana Walstad) with low lighting, no ferts, and minimal CO2 may be most suitable for a discus planted tank. I think you're definitely onto something here.

Forgot to ask you... are you using one of those glass CO2 diffusers from Menagerie. If so, how is it working out for you?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmmhmm i would love to know too


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## j2quinn (Nov 23, 2006)

Hey, i have had my troubles with algae blooms and so forth. I found after installing a small powerhead, maxijet400 whatever to move water causes algae to not bloom. From what i have read and my experience algae really blooms well in non moving water. As well i used an enzyme that doesnt hurt snails,plants or fish and is available at the yonge/steeles bigals. It is called "algaegone" and its a small bottle about 7 bucks. It is environmentally friendly as well.


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## madfishdude1 (Jan 29, 2008)

hows you glass difuser working for you? btw great tank


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