# Anna's 28 gallon planted transformation!



## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Just wanted to show-off my 28 gallon's transformation.
It's my favorite tank at the moment. I've got 4 other NPT's at the moment along with a 10 that I'm about to switch over from bare-bottom to NPT. Then eventually whenever I figure things out on if I'm moving soon and where I can put it, I'll be doing a 50 gallon NPT thanks to Skyewillow 

Anyways, heres some pics!

When I first really got into the idea of doing a planted tank October 2012

When I started the specs on the tank were:
2 tetra 10 gallon filters (was working on buying the new one thats running right now)
aqueon single tube t-8 flourescent. 18w 6500k bulb
tetra 100w submersible heater








Flora in this pic: 2 amazon sword, anarchis, bacopa monierri, rotala indica, marimo moss, anubias nana petit, banana plant, and java fern (probably more that I'm forgetting)

December 2012, when I finally got a hardscape going.







\

Finally got a pretty decent plant package in, it helped fill up my tank quite a bit more February/March 2013









The day I changed out the clown puke susbtrate over to NPT style.
It was really dirty then but it's the only pic of have from that time/day
Mid-April
2013









After adding co2 to the tank and having it running for about 2 weeks, here is the result so far:
Today, 5/5/13
Tank Specs Now:
Aquaclear 50
Finnex Ray2 6500k LED's with high par (can get more specs on it if asked)
Paintball co2 injection, UP Aqua Regulator, Aquatek paintball adaptor, aquatek bubble counter, UP Aqua drop checker, Aquatek co2 diffuser
Flourish Comp. dosed 2x/week -- looking into getting PPS pro dry ferts package










As of today this is my stocking::
Flora: Baby tears, myrio mattengrossense (sp), vallisneria tape + jungel, ludwigia repens + ovalis, bacopa carolina + monnieri + australis, rotala magenta, telanthera, amazon sword, dwarf saggitaria, mayaca fluviatilis, hygrophilia polysperma regular + sunset, java fern, apongenton, dwarf chain sword I think (something grassy with runners), guppy grass, crypt balansae + wendtii + parva + petchii, water wisteria, brazilian pennywort, and I think that's it.
Fauna: 5 female betta, 6 GBR (hoping to get a pair before I seperate and rehome), 2 green dragon BNP, 2 albino BNP, 2 ADF, 4 tiger endlers, and 4 peppered cories. (yes, I know it's overstocked. working on thinning things out quite a bit ATM, no worries! everything tests good)


I will probably update pictures on this tank here every few weeks so that I can get a sense of what's growing well and what's not, what needs more nutrients, etc.

thanks for looking!! any questions, comments, suggestions, constructive critisicm, etc. is welcome!


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

cool! love the wood. where did you buy plants?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I'm so looking forward to the photos of the 50 NPT! -drool-

I also love the term "Clown puke" for that gravel! XD

It looks great, especially once you added the hardscape and switched the sub!


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## Anime Fish (Apr 28, 2013)

lol I was wondering what you meant by "clown puke!" 
Your planted tank looks so nice, the fish must be enjoying the many plants!


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Thanks everyone!!



registereduser said:


> cool! love the wood. where did you buy plants?


I bought alot as package deals on aquabid, a few from petsmart/pet supplies plus, and then most recently went on a shopping spree on peabody's paradise LLC.
Peabody's Paradise is by far my favorite place. Very reasonable prices, large bunches, 8-10 stems/bunch @ 8+" tall, rather than the normal 5 stems at 4-6". 
http://www.peabodysparadise.com/shop/



Skyewillow said:


> I'm so looking forward to the photos of the 50 NPT! -drool-
> 
> I also love the term "Clown puke" for that gravel! XD
> 
> It looks great, especially once you added the hardscape and switched the sub!


I'm looking foreward to it too! Thanks so much for letting me have it 
it really was clown puke! I hated it! Just a collection of all the different left over gravels from other tanks because I didn't want to buy anymore when I first started this tank. Oops!




Anime Fish said:


> lol I was wondering what you meant by "clown puke!"
> Your planted tank looks so nice, the fish must be enjoying the many plants!


Haha, well, now you know!
Thanks!! The fish are really enjoying it a lot from the looks of it. Plenty of hiding places for them, which kind of sucks because it's hard for me to find a lot of them when I need to do head-checks! especially with the endlers


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

aemaki09 said:


> I'm looking foreward to it too! Thanks so much for letting me have it


I wasn't planning on using it, why not pass it along? ;-)

I'm almost thinking about finding a tiny piece of driftwood for mine. Pancake loves all of the foliage and says thank you!


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## gorillakev (Feb 21, 2013)

Lookin good..let me know how the pps ferts goes. I want to switch over to the EI method once all my ferts are done seems more economical.


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

Oh GBRs! I love them so much! I am sure they are happy in your tank. You have done a great job.

Any words of wisdom on keeping them?


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

VJM said:


> Oh GBRs! I love them so much! I am sure they are happy in your tank. You have done a great job.
> 
> Any words of wisdom on keeping them?


Thanks! Words of wisdom, no more than 2 pair in any tank smaller than a 40 breeder, don't put them in a 10 either, parameters aren't even stable enough in those. You'll want to purchase more than you want because it's pretty much guarenteed for everyone to lose a couple. An if you decide you won't want to breed, get 2 females rather than 2 males. Still somewhat agressive, but not neearly as nippy as my males.





gorillakev said:


> Lookin good..let me know how the pps ferts goes. I want to switch over to the EI method once all my ferts are done seems more economical.


I will definitely let you know! It may be a while though as I'm clueless on the whole dosing regiment of it. Someone suggested it to me and I figured tht I'd try it, but have to figure out HOW to mix and dose it and all that goodness first lol




Skyewillow said:


> I wasn't planning on using it, why not pass it along? ;-)
> 
> I'm almost thinking about finding a tiny piece of driftwood for mine. Pancake loves all of the foliage and says thank you!


Driftwood would look great.
PEt supplies plus carries nice pieces of Malaysian DW in their reptile section, that's where I got my piece, may want to chek it out, I got mine for like $10 so it's pretty cheap IMO


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

aemaki09 said:


> Pet supplies plus carries nice pieces of Malaysian DW in their reptile section, that's where I got my piece, may want to chek it out, I got mine for like $10 so it's pretty cheap IMO


Fabulous! I'll have to look there when I get paid again! ^_^ Thank you!


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

No problem!
Just make sure you stay away from grape wood, that stuff rots like nobodies business


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## Picasso84 (Feb 11, 2013)

Wow!! Your tank is beautiful! I LOVE IT!!! This is exactly what I wanna do! Probably won't b able to get this kind of set-up started 'til the fall, but I wanna b able to grow baby tears plants, ~Have always Loved the Looks of it!~ so I guess I'll need a higher light situation as well, would love to do Co2, but that will be a little ways away... Thanks for the peabody website! That is great to know about! Thank You, Thank You!  Happy Growing!


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Picasso84 said:


> Wow!! Your tank is beautiful! I LOVE IT!!! This is exactly what I wanna do! Probably won't b able to get this kind of set-up started 'til the fall, but I wanna b able to grow baby tears plants, ~Have always Loved the Looks of it!~ so I guess I'll need a higher light situation as well, would love to do Co2, but that will be a little ways away... Thanks for the peabody website! That is great to know about! Thank You, Thank You!  Happy Growing!


Thank you!! I really appreciate the compliment. I wanted to do something more fancy, but love the overgrown look, so I'll keep it like this for now.
It's actually fairly inexpensive to start an NPT but does require a LOT of work! Took me a good 6 hours to get everythig done from rinsing sand to removing everything existing and to filling it back up again. But totally worth it.
You'll definitely need co2 and high light to get a good mat of baby tears if you are talking about the dwarf kind. Mine are the regular So I didn't necessarily need co2 but with all the red plants I have and with a couple needing moderate/high light, I figured I'd go that route to stop algea growth.
Co2 does get expensive though. Cost 150 total for the entire set-up and that was with the cheapest double gauge regualtor with solenoid I found on amazon.
You can do it cheaper if you skimp on the regulator which is something I don't recommend.
If I were to do anything different, I may have done dual or quadruple t5ho bulbs rather than the Finnex led's because I've heard that LED's tend to not have the right spectrum for red plants.

The peabody's website is officially my favorite place to get plants from. I hope you like it as well as I do, check their YouTube channel out too, they have give-always weekly which may help you get started.



I think In total, I've spent nearly $300 on upgrades for this tank. Which is a lot for me being a full time student with a part time job, but I don't regret it for a second.


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

aemaki09 said:


> If I were to do anything different, I may have done dual or quadruple t5ho bulbs rather than the Finnex led's because I've heard that LED's tend to not have the right spectrum for red plants.


This very true of Finnex, but there are some other options. I am looking for a new light for my 12g long, and have finally found an option that fits the spectrum/price/PAR requirements. It took months. 

I wanted to give you a special shout out to doing this as a student. It's important to have something that isn't related to academics for your own stress management. And, with all the work students have to do, it is so awesome to see someone doing it right.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

What light did you end up going with? I do like the look of LED's so when I start with my 50 I may have to look into whichever you went with.

Thanks!! It's definitely a lot of work keeping planted tanks, but I absolutely love it and its a nice stress reliever so I'll keep at it for a long time to come.

Here's an updated shot taken today 5/7/13


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

I am going with the Current Satellite Freshwater LED +. For a shallower tank, I think it is just right. Otherwise, buildmyled would be my choice, with a custom spectrum for red and green plants. They are super helpful on the phone, if you have questions.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

VJM said:


> I am going with the Current Satellite Freshwater LED +. For a shallower tank, I think it is just right. Otherwise, buildmyled would be my choice, with a custom spectrum for red and green plants. They are super helpful on the phone, if you have questions.


I've heard a lot of good things about both companies. I was considering going to buildmyLED because of their customer service, but then I figured it'd end up being a little too pricey for me.


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

aemaki09 said:


> I've heard a lot of good things about both companies. I was considering going to buildmyLED because of their customer service, but then I figured it'd end up being a little too pricey for me.


Me too! The Current is low lightish (although opinions vary on what that is), so for my shallow tank I think it is perfect. Might be an issue with something deeper. 

I know with Finnex, you can run a Monsterray as additional lighting for your red plants. I just get irritated paying for and looking at two lights, when it should be one. 

They also have a clamp on light with better spectrum, which you can use in multiples. Gets spendy though.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yeah, finnex is kind of pricey, last night I was on the hunt for some moonlight LED's and found some finnex clamps that I'd never seen before and was somewhat shocked by the price. Theres no way I'm going to spend that much money on a clamp light LOL I ended up finding some for $10 in the 6500k spectrum that I'll probably go with for my bowls and see what happens.
I don't know what my plan is for the red plants, I honestly dont even know what exactly I need to be looking for the reds (any ideas?) but I haven't seen much issues with them losing color yet, so hopefully I'll be okay.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Updated pic:
5/13/13









Starting to regret not getting a larger co2 tank! I have 2 20oz paintball tanks that I use, one lasts about 10 days...I'm thinking about getting a 5-10lb tank, but I don't know where I'd be able to get it filled? I get my 20oz tanks filled at duhnams or dicks sporting goods but I don't think they'd do anything larger than that...
Any ideas ?


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