It’s used with a Canister filter. There are a few benefits to canister filters

1. Less “stuff” taking up space in the tank. At the very least, the glass lily pipe and glass intake pipe look nice lol
2. A larger container means more filtration, both mechanical and biochemical. You have a TON more surface area for beneficial bacteria to live on and help clean the water.
3. Higher flow, which is helpful in larger tanks (mine is not, the high flow is actually an issue for me lol)

There are different glass pipes, each with their own shape and benefit. This one, the Lily, is named because it’s shaped like a lily flower - this shape allows the water to flow out of it nicely, creating a good even directional flow AND creates a small “vortex” above it, providing extra surface skimming.

1. It’s an alder cone I think. Good for shrimps because they have a lot of surface area, though mine have a bit of algae on them.
2. Ludwigia Super Red Mini, though it isn’t growing super well lol. It wants the lights higher but some of my plants don’t like it
3. That is my filters outflow pipe, a Lily Pipe.

Thank you :) and impressive, I only have three types in here.

Yes lol a bit too much money maybe. But it’s been worth it to me.

The plants, I’ll copy over my list here:

Monte Carlo carpeting the front

Ludwigia diamond and some other Ludwigia in the front-left

Lloydiella in the front middle (the bright round-leaf ones)

Ludwigia Super Red front right

Limnophila Aromatica in the front-right (the thin leaves, kinda looks like marijuana lol)

Rotala Indica in the back left and back right “bushes” (they are ugly at the moment because I trimmed recently)

Ammania Senegalensis in the center back, the orange-pink tall ones.

Crypt Sri Lanka & Anubia “Wrinkle Leaf” in the back right corner.

Somewhere in the center are a few Staurogyne Repens (I didn’t really attempt much with them, didn’t properly research how they grew)

There’s also a smaller anubia tucked in the center under the rise of that right rock, but it’s hard to see because of the other plants in the middle from this angle lol

EDIT: oh and Red Root Floaters floating on top lol

The tank is a 60p, with a WRGB2 Chihiros light above it and a Biomaster 350 filter. I am running CO2, and use remineralized RODI water.

I plan on getting a timer for these, but currently I turn them on and off manually. I only have them on when the over-tank lights are on, so 1pm to 8pm. Sometimes I’ll turn the backlight off early.

So far I’m not sure if it bothers the fish, they seem to be acting normal

Thank you

It definitely was expensive and unecessary lol I won’t deny. And thanks :)

Thank you :)

Thank you!

Your guess is a bit lower but close. All together it’s roughly $1600, including all the extra stuff like tools, towels, etc. Probably could have saved on some portions but I wanted to go all out and make it look pretty.

My plants and hardscape all came from a LFS (shoutout to Rivershore Aquariums in southern MPLS area MN) except for the Monte Carlo carpet, which were tissue culture cups from BucePlant.

I had a wider variety of plants at first but some did not survive my tanks conditions, especially in the first month or two where I was still figuring things out.

Are you me? Am I you? Are we us?

The pinkish red in the back is Red Amania. The smaller red here and there is Ludwigia Super Red.

And yeah lol bought it off Etsy. I don’t want them covering the entire thing because most of my plants need more light

Thank you :)

This is my first tank! What you’re seeing is a lot of research and $$$. I spent like 3 months googling, watching videos, browsing aquarium & planted tank subreddits etc. The channel that helped me the most was Green Aqua.

I would recommend lots of plants, and a good filter. Also there are small adjustments that can be made to really “elevate” a tank, like sloping low in front to high in back.

I planted it all in 1 batch to start, then slowly I’ve gotten more plants just to try here or there. Sometimes they don’t work out.

Yep weekly maintenance is a 30% water change, clean both pre filter sponges. Scrape walls occasionally and clean tubes occasionally. Every other week I am trimming something. Fertilizer is Easy Green twice a week.

Thank you :)

I used almost two full bags of Eco Complete (lava gravel wet with bacteria filled water) and a small bag of UNS Contrasoil just in the planted areas.

And yes I would make changes lol. I would have used maybe only 1 bag of eco complete - it was helpful to have the early bacteria but as you can see I filled it too high lol.

I also would have used more soil. It’s much easier to plant in compared to the eco complete.

60 liters, so about 16 gallons. And thank you :)

Though I guess it technically holds less because I filled up the substrate a little too high lol

A beautiful bichir!