Nate's Aquarium

Current Aquarium Info
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Here's some info on my current tank setup and whatnot.

Table of contents: Tank Info; Tank Decor; Tank/Water Conditions; Fish Info; Plants Info

55 Gallon Tank
homemade stand
(2) 15 watt flourescent bulbs
(1-Aqua-Glo and 1 Power-Glo)
(1) 48" Current-USA Satellite 2x65 watts
(2 65-watt dual 10k/actinic bulbs)
Aqua-Clear 300 filter
some heater
small air compressor pushing bubbles through 2 air stones at a rather slow rate

White Sand
2 medium pieces of driftwood
a fake-rock planter
a fake tree-stump
live plants
a few real rocks
2 air stones
tank background of plants and trees

Substrate
The substrate is a white pool-sand. We rinsed out a 20 pound bag and then dumped it in. I must confess, that while it may not be the most natural of environments for the fish, it has a really nice consistency ... it doesn't float much when it gets stirred up. All the dirt and waste sit on top of the sand, so its quite easy to clean. Even when using the tank vacuum thingy (the hose with that plastic piece on it), the sand doesn't get sucked up strangly enough.

I've finally gotten rid of the last of my fake plants and now only have live plants (read more about that below).

Driftwood
I have 2 medium size pieces of drift wood that occupy the majority of the tank. The down-side to the driftwood is it turns my water yellow after about a week ... so I keep changing my water every week right now. I just was too lazy to boil the wood in water ... supposedly that leaches the tanins from the driftwood and helps keep your water from turning yellow. So, for now, I'm just going to keep up with regular water changes.

Tank/Water Conditions

Date pH Ammonia Nitrites Nitrates

10/10/04 7.4

I do water changes directly from my tap water. I have well water, so I do not need to remove any chlorine or modify it in anyway before I add it to my tank. I do, however, have a water softener on my tap water, which removes the hardness of the well water.