After the recent loss of Plecky, my 16in Common Pleco, I'm starting to get motivated in redesigning my tank again. Plecky used to love trashing any new plants, toppling rock structures, and generally modifying the tank to his liking more than mine.
His chaos will be missed, but now it's time for the Post Pleco Rebuild and I'll be using this thread to ask my share of dumb questions and post pics of the progress instead of starting a new thread for each new question or update that might happen.

Here is the current state of the tank:


55 Gallon, 6 Buenis Aries Tetras, 3 Brown Skirt Tetras, 5 Otos, and a large Dojo Loach.
Substrate is round pea gravel, natural 'river' colorations. The only remaining living plant is the small one stuffed in the driftwood, everything else is artificial, and that's what I want to change.

The lights are florescent tubes (have no idea what their K number is, or really what the K numbers mean), and the filter is an Emperor 400 Biowheel. There are 2 200watt heaters in there as one doesn't seem to be able to do the job as I'm comfy in a 64degree house in the fall/winter.

So, first questions would deal with plants and substrates. I'm on a fairly low budget and generally visit the local PetSmart for supplies. I plan on picking up a few plants today, I'm looking for something that will grow under the existing lighting and start filling up the left side of the tank with a good thick coverage. When I buy plants I'm generally pretty clueless and just grabbed whatever looked decent and seeing how Plecky used to destroy them in the first week, I pretty much gave up on them after a while. Any basic hints would be appreciated. (yes I'm snooping in the freshwater plants forum too)

For substrate, I need to build it up in places, I'm thinking another 10lb of pea sized would do. I was looking online and noticed they sell Glow In the Dark gravel. I've never seen this in use and am wondering if it looks cheezy like the stick on glowing stars, or if it looks cool like a natural phosphoresce. I'd mix 5lb of it with the current gravel for a random sparkly look if it looks natural enough, but I don't want something that looks too fake or gaudy.

Once I get the left side looking natural, that big ugly ornament on the right side will be taken out. Right now Dojo likes to hide under there, but I'd rather set up a slate cave for him again (Plecky crushed all previous attempts at building him one) and get that side of the tank well planted also.

Well, I've been typing for over 10 minutes, probably time to shut up and listen to whatever advice you can offer.

Thanks,
eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

Well, a 55 is a little small for a Common Pleco due to their large possible size. I myself had three commons, two L-052s, two Sailfins, a gold nugget, a snowball, a royal, a LF Albino BN and a L-015(not at the same time of course and yes I am a Pleco guy.) and they used to destroy my live plants to the point that I switched to fake. My friend uses Florite in his aquarium to help with the plant growth. That and then proper lighting will help the plants grow. You usually want a lot of substrate for planting plants, or thats what I have noticed. I right now have about 40 pounds of natural colored gravel in my 29.

I would stay away from the Glow in the Dark gravel, it just seems a little fishy to me(no pun intended?)

When looking for plants, take names, come home and do a little research on them and see what their requirements are. As most plants are different.

As far a Petsmart goes, I worked for the company. Not everyone knows what they are talking about. I was told I can keep an oscar in my 29G for its whole life. (Yes I was playing stupid to get a wrong answer XD)

As far as plecos go, if you dont want one that destroys your plants in a day I would recommend leaning towards the meat eating species, My L-015 would destroy shrimp and mussels as soon as they hit the bottom of the tank. But would turn down veggies -.-

Lets not forget theres a lot of things you can feed your plecos.

Pleco Dietary Thread

Another Forum I am part of. This is a huge list of things you can feed them, I think there is a thread on here as well.

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I plan on staying away from Plecos for a while. Plecky was sold to me at PetSmart along with my first 10gallon tank about 8 years ago, so I'm aware of the average IQ of some of the folks over there.
I just got back from a little shopping. The person working at least admitted she didn't know much about plants when I asked questions, so I got a couple Moneywort bunches and a clump of grassy looking stuff for a total of about $6.
I just rinsed and added 5 pounds of the Glow in the dark substrate. It actually looks pretty good but not sure how well it glows yet. It's a nice small white stone, and I think I like it better than the river rock look it just covered up.
Once the cloudyness settles (I was moving piles of gravel from one side to the other to make the plant bed deeper and stirring up lots of waste) I'll mix it in a bit better, and maybe take an update pic.
Total spent today $13 and change, next week I'll spend about the same til the tank looks like a tropical garden, next time might be AquaBid or LiveAquaria tho unless PetSmart gets a nicer shipment in.

eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

Can't wait to see what the new design looks like! (If you ever do decide you want a pleco again, you could go with a Clown, Zebra or BN Pleco - they usually max out at 5".) I'm sure there are other dwarf species as well.

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I'd try tying java moss (or another moss) all over the 'big ugly ornament' it will attach it'self after a while. Like that I think it would look fairly natural. stick to easy low light plants to start with. Java moss, java fern, anubias, marimo balls are good. Though not as bad as a pleco your Dojo Loach might still tend to dig up plants that are planted into the substrate but the ones mentioned do well growing on stones or driftwood, except for the marimo balls that are just left loose.

If you are trying not to spend too much check out plants before you buy them as some plants sold are not really aquatic and wont last long in the tank. Also some plants have special requirements like higher light or a nutrient rich substrate. A plant like anubias is slow growing and can be a little more expensive than other plants but is very hardy and will last and grow for years under most conditions so can be a good investment.

The other problem with the big ugly fake root is that it's hollow, and has been a fish death trap in the past. I currently have the openings stuffed with fake plants to keep fish from getting trapped in there. It's also just consuming way to much space, almost 1/4th the tank bottom.
I have some left over 6x6 slate tile that I plan on making a nice loach cave out of, will probably pick up some aquarium silicone tonight and start building a fish hotel of sorts.
Only one plant floating this morning, will re-root it after they eat their breakfast. Dojo doesn't bother plants too much, plecky was a bulldozer.

re: the glow in the dark TopFin gravel. It doesn't glow worth a crap. If you take a piece out and shine a flashlight on it, then it will glow for maybe a minute, normal aquarium lighting seems to have no effect. I do like the white substrate look, but if your seeking something that glows, don't bother with the TopFin gravel. btw, it's the same cost as the white, so no big loss that it doesn't glow.

Will add an update pic once the ballast on my other light kicks in (usually takes about 30 minutes)

eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

Looks better in person than in the photo....


I've been looking at different ways to stick rocks to each other, Silicone, Super Glue Gel, Hot glue gun, and assorted epoxy types. Been reading good and bad about most of the options. Anyone have a favorite method to share? Looks like for local pickup I can only get aquarium safe silicone in very small tubes and I plan on making a fairly large structure. If hot glue works well, that would be the cheapest option, but I have my doubts about it holding up.

eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

Got the Loach Motel built. Used some old slate tile which I shattered with a hammer then glued together with hot glue sticks. Probably used about 40 sticks and it's pretty solid. Even if the glue looses some of it's adhesiveness over time, it should be structurally sound enough to stand on its own (i hope).

I like the idea of attaching moss, so I might try that down the road a bit.

Here's a wide shot of the new setup.


eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

Went to PetSmart today looking for more Otos, 2 of my original 5 have gone MIA since the rebuild started, they were out of otos but had Black Skirts for $1.25 each so I added 5 more to the tank so they would outnumber the larger Buenos Aires Tetras.

I've got a bacteria bloom at the moment thanks to the new plants, gravel and slate, but that was kind of expected.

And as a result of my renewed tank obsession, my wife is now getting interested and I'll be picking her up a 20 Gal long tank, with stand, filter, heater etc off Craigslist tomorrow for $45. She'll be adopting the big ugly root for her new tank and we will probably be doing a molly or platty mix for her as she wants colorful fish while I prefer a more earth toned setup.

Just thought I'd post a brief update for ya,
eb

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55 Gal
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
8 Black Skirt Tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 Dojo Loach

This is a thread you might find interesting:
DIY Refuge Caves - Ideas?