# First aquarium - 80cm.



## MadMupps (16 Aug 2009)

Hello ! First post here 
This is my first fish tank, and my first attempt at planting. It is three months old, and has been planted for 3 weeks now. Stocked with Neon Tetra, Bronze Corys, Chain Loach, Platys and a young angel which I plan to move soon to my friends larger tank. I am fighting an ongoing algae battle but things seem to be improving !  

*Tank Stats:*
It is 80L x 30W x 40H, holding 95Litres (21 UK Gallons)
Just over 3WPG Lighting with 2x T8 20W, AquaGlo and PowerGlo and 1 T8 25W, LifeGlo-2.
Lights on from 12-7pm.
Feed once a day in the evening, alternating live food, frozen food, flake food and tablet food.
Currently using Internal Filtration that came with the tank, but would love to upgrade to external once I get some more cash.
DIY CO2 Yeast method with 2xCoke bottles diffused with a Hagen Ladder system. Again, would love to upgrade to FE.
I dose Aquarium Gardening Fertiliser range; Trace Elements 2mls every other day, Potassium 4mls every other day and Ferrous Iron 4mls every third day.
I do a 30-50% water change once weekly.
Prune the plants and clean the glass whenever it is needed. And in my case.. this is quite often  

*Plants:*
Anubias barteri var. nana
Blyxa Japonica
Didipilis Diandra
Egeria Densa
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'
Limnophila sessiliflora
Ludwigia repens
Riccia fluitans
Rotala rotundifolia
Vallisneria spiralis `Tiger`
Weeping Moss- Coming soon on the driftwood.

Some of these plants have been in around three weeks and are showing good growth, such as the vallis, Egeria densa, riccia and ludwigia, however others have only been in a matter of days; the limnophila, blyxa, didipilis diandra and the anubias.

This was how the tank looked a few days after being set up.. As you can tell, my aquascaping skills were pretty poor..

After researching and thinking a little about my fish, plants and scaping, as well as being inspired by the stunning tanks on this site, this is how my tank looks Mid-August 2009. IMO Ive leared alot.

*Mid-August 2009*








Any comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.   

Dan.


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## MadMupps (16 Aug 2009)

Sorry.. fixing image links now.

EDIT: Should be working now.


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## Nelson (16 Aug 2009)

massive improvement  .looking really good for only 3 weeks.
well done.
goodluck with the algae.good to hear its getting better.


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## aaronnorth (16 Aug 2009)

beautiful tank, i think some moss would look good on the redmoor


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## MadMupps (16 Aug 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> beautiful tank, i think some moss would look good on the redmoor


Thanks  I have some weeping moss on order, which should be here within the next week or so   



			
				nelson said:
			
		

> massive improvement  .looking really good for only 3 weeks.
> well done.
> goodluck with the algae.good to hear its getting better.



Thanks for your nice comment.


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## taylsimon (16 Aug 2009)

Great tank for your first planted you should feel proud of your achievements.  One reason you may be struggling with Algae is that you may not be getting enough CO2 with your DIY ladder setup, especially as you have 3wpg, but some of the more experienced aquarists on this site would confirm that, like Ceg.

Either way its a lovely tank and you have a nice scape there.

Simon.


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## chilled84 (14 Oct 2009)

I think your tank is brill! Its come on in leaps and bounds. Its so funny how when we start we just slap it all in and then we find a site like this that makes us think are tanks are absolutely dia lol. Its all good thou, because that feeling of utter hatrid to they way we set are tank up and what it looks like gives us the possive drive to realy make them changes that realy count. And you sir have done just that. Well done.


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## neelhound (4 Nov 2009)

i think the tank looks really proffessional now, and i agree that moss on the redmoor wood look good but honestly be careful whatever moss it is it can clog you filter and make it spit stuff up, or if not just be a pain by going everywhere


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