I've been spending all my hobby time on the reef/FOWLR tanks, and due to some frustration with my lighting/inability to decide what I wanted to do with it, my 4 y.o. 55gal was severely neglected...
I have/had an 80w light strip (twin tube NO) on there, so my Valisneria was growing great, as well as the anubias and java fern. The fern looks good, but the anubias were trashed because I wasn't giving them any calcium.
I tore it down to gravel yesterday, stirred everything up, did two 90% waterchanges, traded in the big digging, hiding clown loaches and a few stragglers, including the lone gigundus SAE who's "wife" jumped a couple of months ago. He's been moping ever since. (anthropomorphizing much? LOL!)
I put a 260w strip on order... will have it Wednesday. In a couple of months I will add an injected CO2 system. pruned nearly all the dead off the anubias, saved all the tips, and bought more plants/replanted the whole shebang. I also put in 3 new tiny SAEs and a pair of Bolivian Rams. (I'm not especially worried about a cycle in the tank, bacterial load is still intact on all of the rootwood, and in my ceramic rings, as well as the substrate, though disturbed. 5 small fish in a 55g should be fine.)
2 weeks I will add a 1/2 dozen Sterbai corydoras, and a large school of Rummynose and Cardinals. I'll hit the tank with Bio-spira just to be on the safe side.
Anyways, here it is this morning... still slightly cloudy:
And here are the rams...
Can't wait till it grows in all jungly.
Stacey
