33 Gallon 'Party on the Ground' Tank

dinnerwithwolves 2014-04-01, 14:14

I haven't been on this forum in a while due to a bunch of excuses that aren't even good enough to say. Upon the action of trying to be more active on the forum, I'll introduce my new tank and a little background behind it in a slightly organized matter:

Background
I started my first tank last summer - 'first' meaning my own and not counting the hex my parents had when I was younger. It was a 29 gallon that I quickly filled with Tetras, a Gourami, Cory's, a Super Red Bristlenose, and a bunch of Red Cherry Shrimp (which doubled as an expensive introduction treat for my tetras). After a couple months of watching my new friends and diving in to all the deep research on tanks and species, I had come to a conclusion that I had 'multiple tank syndrom' already. But more simply, I wanted two main things out of a new tank: Plants and Cory's. The plants presented a challenge (still being new in the hobby), and the Cory's are the coolest little creatures I've seen in a home aquarium. So, I left the tall tank world and invested in a short and long tank to begin construction for my new low flying Corydora friends.

Set Up
- Glass 33 Gallon Long Tank (shoutout to Cory and Aquarium Co-Op for awesome customer service and a super rad store!)
- Fluval 206 Canister Filter (Mix of Carbon and Peat Pellets - I think that's a good combo for my well water)
- 200w Heater
- Short airstone and Whisper Pump
- Finnex FugeRay LED Light plus Moonlights (ohh, ahh, Moonlights...)
- $1.00 Thermometer

Plants/Decor
- Substrate is a 1 inch(ish) layer of sifted organic potting soil, with a 1-2 inch layer of silica play sand from Home Depot
- Rocks
- Manzanita Stick (From the Co-Op. Absolutely beautiful)
- Amazon Swords
- Dwarf Swords (which looks like Dwarf HG...)
- Some sort of Sagittaria (grows like wildfire as you can see - started with 3 bundles)
- A random stalky plant that I forgot the name of, but it's not growing well anyways...

Community
- Panda Corydoras
- Sterbai Corydoras
- Super Red Bristlenose (her name is Harriet Tubman)
- Amano Shrimp (four gigantic females and one very...happy male)
- Trio of Oto's
- A single Horseface Loach
- Inseperatable pair of Minnows (left over from cycling)
- Assassin Snail on a never ending chase to rid of the biker gang of pond snails

I haven't ran a water test in a few weeks, so I'd be making a very random guess as to what the parameters are. I plan to update this journal from time to time as a place for me to personally keep track of progress, and take in any critisicism anyone may be willing to share.

My tank is far from perfect, but I hope to keep it looking good and the family (of fish) happy and smiling.

Thanks in advance for checking it out!

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